I raced valley of tears yesterday, 2nd year in a row. Last year was cut short due to heavy snow and lots of people bailed on the race, but this year was perfect racing weather.
I highly recommend this race for anyone looking for an early season challenge. The course has a bit of everything, including ~5 miles of single track and a bunch of long/deep sand sections.
They definitely cater to the pro/elite side with a Friday night pro crit in town, but also very family friendly with kids race that night also. They do a mini vendor expo in town and did a drawing for an $8k enve mog that night (I didn’t get it). And good bbq and beer at the finish. It was also some kind of national event for usac juniors and collegiate teams, so very cool seeing all the youngsters out there riding hard.
Anyways, just a well run event put on by great people with a passion for bike racing. Consider giving it a look next year when filling out your calendar.
My race went pretty well for easy season fitness. One of those rare days where a very specific race strategy actually played out as I planned. And I think I may have finally figured out how to race sand sections without getting dropped. I can’t say the same for the single track, but it was still a great day of racing on a tough course.
A really nice recap from Russell with lots of great footage.
His comments about the selective sections are dead on. Not your typical gravel race where it favored one skill set or bike setup. Big tires ruled the day in the sand sections and railroad gravel, but there were a lot of exposed fast/smooth crosswind sections that were selective as well. I ran 2.2 race kings and I rode the last 2/3rds of the race with a strong young dude running 45’s. He was an absolute beast on the flats, but he got dropped early in the sand. I got dropped from the leaders at the singletrack (because I suck at that even with MTB tires) but the young dude caught me at around mile 40. We rolled the rest of the day together, he was killing me on the smooth stuff and I was stronger in the sand and chunk. We worked well together and nobody caught us from behind. I’ll probably do the race again next year, might bring my MTB for that one selective stretch in the Park and then see if I can hold on on the fast sections.
I was at VOT this year and did the 50 miler.
Was signed up last year but being i live a little over an hour away, i decided to bow out as the drive up there was looking sketchy the morning of.
This year was fantastic. Decent amount of good ole west texas wind to deal with and sand… But overall the course is incredible. The section through Caprock Canyon State Park was awesome. Great views, great good ole dirt roads and the occasional Bison while in the park.
I ran 50c Maxxis Ramblers that were pretty decent overall, but on flats, my buddy on 45c Specialized Pathfinders was clearly in a better spot for those sections.
I think the volume i had was about right, maybe with some better rolling tires would have been the sweet spot.
Overall incredible race put on by some great west texas people who love racing.
This race is only going to continue to grow i think.
I’d recommend adding it to your calendar next year for sure.
Watching that Gravel Crit really makes me want to see the top gravel racers do a cross race together. Just one. Lifetime can add one to the series. It’d be great!
I was there too. I had a blast! I’m a newbie, only been gravel riding for a year with a fairly low FTP compared to most of the riders there. I do have some mountain bike experience though. I did the medium (50mi) course on 50mm Schwalbe G one rx pros . It was definitely a tough ride. It seemed like the wind was always blowing in our face! The Canyon trails were beautiful and technical. I’m no expert, but I think a mountain bike would perform well for amateurs. The vibe was great and everyone was friendly. Turkey is very remote and most of the lodging is at least 30 minutes away. But that just adds to the ambiance. 10/10 Would recommend!
