The BEST GRAVEL Race You've NEVER Heard OF! (Big Horn Gravel : Colorado)

what's up dude so this one time in Gypsum Colorado I raced two gravel races back to back yeah is it cool if I do the 50. are you serious yeah I'm serious let's go do it again huh [Music] hey EVC here and today we're talking about a race in Colorado my favorite gravel rates I've been to ever so here's Denver here's where we are it's a little town called gypsum and it is maybe the best gravel race that you've never heard of Dylan Johnson was there uh getting ready for Leadville dude's absolutely flying also on suspension forks uh so here's the layout of the big course okay so there's two courses there's the Bighorn and the little horn we're racing the Bighorn and it is stacked after Unbound I was at an all-time low with my confidence and just like in my head and so I had actually chosen this race because it's like it's a second year race like it's only happened one year before and I thought dude the competitions like to be that that stiff like I'm gonna be able to go and like poach a good result and like up my confidence bro there was so many people here and so many hitters also it's at elevation it's from 6 000 to 10. okay elevation hurts so at elevation you're top into your motor is basically sheared off you also don't have very many matches okay so like recovering under an effort so if you're trying to do your sea level Watts at 8 000 feet boy you're gonna blow up quick so I'm trying to Pace myself but everyone's flying so I check in with my garment how am I doing yeah you suck cool thanks Carmen thanks for the confidence the competition here was extremely stiff uh there was about 10 or so lifetime competitors all getting ready for Leadville uh we've barely started we haven't even gotten to the first section yet and so we hit the first climb okay so what makes a good gravel course I've gotten that opportunity to race so many different courses and in my opinion it's it's where a course can suit any type of writer like whatever skill you have you can apply it to a course right so if you're really good at downhill if you're really good at steep climbs and Punchy stuff uh maybe you're really good at long climbs maybe you're really good at elevation like that's what I love about gravel so much is that it finds out like who's the best overall Rider right pacing fueling bike handling it's just it's just so amazing now I came into this wanting to Pace myself because I did not pace myself at Unbound and I am Pace myself right out of this race I I did go maybe a little too hard right at the beginning and I got kind of scared because of elevation I was like oh I gotta really tone this down a little bit um and I'm just thinking this whole time oh dude I'm gonna get these guys later Dylan Johnson's still behind me so if I'm in front of Dylan no big deal right and then all of a sudden Here Comes Dylan and then I was like oh I should jump on his wheel nope there's just no way I could get on his wheel the dude went from like 50th or 60th all the way up to third it was insane so like he did the strategy I'd hoped to do we Crest the top of the hill and I'm gonna take a survey of like how far back am I right so I start counting all the heads it is too many to count I want to stop but we keep writing I tell myself that I'm gonna get back all these spots later so I'm trying to get past some guys this guy really did not want me to pass uh he kept taking this one line I was like all right cool it's no big deal I'll pass you later I can't like I did not want me to pass and so dude I've passed I'll zero people until these two and so then like yeah man all right I actually passed two people I know how to ride a bike maybe it's the small things right gotta build your confidence so then we hit this rip in descent [Music] thank you [Music] pretty crummy start that was uh man a lot at the beginning kind of tried to Pace it we're way back but we feel good just did not have the spice at the beginning so we're gonna work our way through time to work so we hit that first really steep climb Red Hill and now we're on to gypsum Creek which is really really long really big uh very flat we've now connected into the little horn which so they skipped Red Hill okay so all these people are from the the smaller course so many people right and actually pretty decent because we're getting a little bit of a draft here through them uh it's pretty good timing that we caught the short course in that section I mean it's not a ton of drop but it's something but it's a bummer because this is where that front group is just Motoring whoopsie now the racer promoters that told me I needed to get over Red Hill with the front group to have any chance because gypsum Creek is so long it's such a long climb but it's very it's very shallow it's uh it's super fast if you're in a group and so it kind of worked out well for me because I was catching the the little course so I kind of had a little bit of a draft but essentially you know me and like six seven guys we're kind of Motoring I'm feeling like I am going as hard as I possibly can I'm very happy with with where my power is but and I want to talk a little bit about where my power has fallen is that I mean I I keep writing I keep training I keep getting fitter but because I keep doing all this Ultra stuff and that's been my focus and that's really my strong suit is that I've completely changed my power profile it's a little bit frustrating when you go to races because they just don't have the top end that I used to but I have the ability to go forever with that said look how beautiful this is wow it is beautiful this rips okay so my power here's my zones roughly okay they fluctuate but this is where they are right now most people would track like eight to six hours six to four four to one mine's 45 to 25 hours 25 to 15 15 to 30. so that's insane okay the the amount of time I can spend in these zones but as I've been doing more Ultra stuff my top end has just gotten smashed this feels amazing but then just right over that this feels like death it's so weird it was always me versus me it was never me for the shoes [Music] it was always me versus me it was never me for sure it was always me versus me it was never me for shoes so we get to this really really steep part the whole climb is really shallow and mellow it's no big deal uh but then right at the end it's it pitches up big time now again like I was talking about my power it's very strange you know I can just go forever uh right below threshold okay but as soon as I go over threshold or I start to go into those higher numbers man I just I just crumble so quickly and so it's frustrating but right now man I am trying to go as hard as I can I don't think I'm gonna do this again [Music] [Music] yeah dude yeah okay so we caught a few guys on that last climb but I wasn't with the group so this is it this is where I'm Gonna Catch everyone I brought the suspension Fork you know we're rolling this is so much fun the single track is great this was probably one of my favorite Parts just like visually uh and it was so much fun sir yo Rock whoa gnarly okay so we had a really steep climb we had a fast descent wasn't very technical then a little bit of road then some flat then that really long climb and then now we're into some single tracks so just what this course is offering is just is it's everything it's everything you would want out of bike racing now I think I'm absolutely going warp speed there's no one that could possibly going faster than me but why haven't I caught anyone and I hear someone behind me hey can I get by and I'm just like well how many people was I holding up dude like I thought I was I thought I was ditching everyone and then like again this guy's hey man when when you get a chance can I get by like being super nice and then I'm like okay I mean sure and then I get over and it's just a train of dudes I got railed by a train of dudes cool damn it oh man I was a total squid dude I I just was not vibing us dang it dude I lost so much time on that thing all righty just kidding this is the time that I'm really gonna put it down and I'm Gonna Catch everyone here because this is the hardest and biggest climb everyone has gone way too hard no one knew how to ride I'm Gonna Catch everyone I'm gonna go from 50th to first right now that's the plan anyways because long steady climbs This Is My Jam and I live at 3 400 feet which isn't really elevation okay uh but I most my rides go up to 72. I feel like I'm pretty good at elevation and at this point I've I've really locked in like where that limiter is for me which is way higher than I thought it was so it's like it's so strange my power like 400 watts and I'm getting that fuzzy feeling where you have no oxygen in your blood and you feel like you're gonna puke uh and and then your power just completely falls off a cliff but like around like 320 to 350 it wasn't it was fine it was so strange and so I'm motoring I'm feeling good I'm catching no one right Dad like maybe I'm super far back I mean I think I caught like three people and so cool I I moved from you know 48 to 44th like but dude who cares it's so pretty out here and I am absolutely having the time in my life but I am on the limit I know it doesn't look like it but I'm on the limit [Music] oh [Applause] so then there was an out and back because they had to change the course for uh snow reasons and now we're gonna fly down this descent and you know this guy in the red it was really crazy we went back and forth like freaking 30 times huge descent and so let's just do we got suspension bro [Music] thank you [Music] so I connect with these two guys I've been connecting with with like one or two people throughout the entire race either I would climb better than them and they would sin better than me or vice versa or whatever we're just kind of going back and forth and we're going to talk about this little tiny section in between you know before the next big last climb we get this double track bro I think I'm going as fast as I can but these guys just dust me I mean it's super fun out here I mean it's great but when you're racing and I'm feeling like dude I'm not doing very well uh I'd like to be doing better I was kind of really questioning what was going on like why I wasn't be able why I wasn't able to descend faster I don't really know the answer to that I was running on 38s my tire pressure was a little hard who cares whatever we get to a rest stop I stopped at zero so I have no opinion on the rest stops they could have been the best rest stops ever I don't know didn't stop at them maybe maybe that's another reason why I've fallen into this like zone three pit where I can just ride pretty hard forever for days uh at a time you know but I just don't have that high end I don't have that top top gear race pace is because I don't like my fueling is so slow and I've gotten dialed to where like again okay spoiler alert I do this course twice uh and I didn't stop at any stations whatsoever zero stops 10 hour ride Zero stops okay so I've got all my stuff on me maybe that's an issue we hit into this another single track probably for me the best part on the course I I wasn't going very fast okay people were definitely flying through this thing but I was having the time in my life the berms and there was like some chatter so the suspension was working really well the ups and downs I mean this just to me feels like Moto like we're flying right it's a little hard to tell but the colors in my mind the way I remember this was so vibrant and there was a section where I was kind of going through some like purple flowers like right here there's like flowers on the edge and I mean you're just flying it didn't feel so good and that's another big part of why this is an awesome gravel Race So this course is awesome is that there's many different things there's good racing but there's also Parts where you're having fun good work dude good work getting some encouragement because that's what we do we're behind this guy in all black me and him have sort of been glued to each other like he's just killing me on the descents and then I'd catch him on the climbs and just back and forth back and forth again Dynamic racing so I passed him and he said he couldn't get rid of me now a really good course wouldn't be a good course or a dynamic course without a little bit of mud okay now I'm very traumatized by mud but we do find ourselves a mud section [Music] about it [Music] it wasn't that bad it was like a hundred feet of mud so no big deal now talking about a dynamic of course this course ends with this crazy super steep very technical uh pitch and look if you're a climber like this is this is your bread and butter this is your chance to get away from these these absolute you know Cinder dudes um I felt really good on it my gear ratio is crazy uh this is a 46 in the front and 11 52 in the rear so I've got all the gears we Crest the top of the final climb there's a little rest stop at the top here doing whiskey and bacon that's like uh kind of like a surprise like you've done all the hard stuff here's some whiskey and bacon I didn't stop because I didn't stop any rest stops we hit this really fast Ascent again Dynamic course also means bike choice so whatever bike you brought there was a section on this course that absolutely lended itself to that bike and I was very happy I brought a suspension Fork I should have done a bigger front tires on the 38 should have went way bigger than that also should have brought the dropper post but I was kind of trying to go wait so my American-made 3D printed custom fitted Cav helmet absolutely the move I'm coming in here to the Finish uh 42nd okay Tyler yeah is it cool if I do the 50. is that do you think I have time oh you want more yeah if I went out and did the 50 course right now he'd win it in fact so well I mean is that okay yeah I'm serious actually yeah dude amazing like unbelievable like everything you would want in a race course and just like the town and the vibe and you know if you just went down the list like everything is just there's so much to say about it but like it has something for everyone like whatever your skill set is and it was really cool how it raced you know I'd I'd catch guys on the the long steady climbs which is such my jam then I would just get absolutely annihilated on the technical descent and then I'd come back and then get past and I was back and forth and back and forth and I mean I think me and this one dude in the blue like passed each other like 50 times is crazy and like how awesome is that you know but dude I had so much fun so much fun in fact I'm actually gonna go out and do the other course the 50 mile so we did the 80 Mile and you know I'm not done I'm so hyped right now I'm so vibing and I and maybe that's like oh well he got clapped out in the race and then he's just gonna do more to like Flex I gave it my all dude I honestly raced the best race I possibly could have normalized 262 Watts for freaking five and a half hours I mean dude I was rolling I was really happy with my power uh just kind of rode a little goofy but anyways whatever dude let's go do it again huh look I wasn't done riding and this course was ripped and what am I going to do just hang out so the short course uh cuts out two of the climbs from the big course and so we're gonna do it again because I want to because I like riding bikes and I wasn't tired which is frustrating because it's like in my head I think well bro if you're not tired just ride harder be better be faster use this all this energy in a different way but my body is just like in this mode where I just I feel like I'm on the limit like any harder I go I'm gonna just explode but clearly that's not the case because I get done with the 77 mile ride at 10 000 feet of climbing at elevation and I'm my heart rate's like 60. so of course I'm gonna go back out and ride I'm in Colorado I got nothing to do my family's not here what am I supposed to do I want to ride I want to check out this place and this second lap has the hyping man I was just crushing in my American-made custom fitted 3D printed helmet from Cav this matte white this helmet that I'm wearing dude you've never seen anything like it it's custom fitted to me it's 3D printed it has no retention strap the thing is money you can check out Cav sports for more on the helmet so we hit this double track section again absolutely flying love this thing love love this whole course like I've already said a thousand times but so why again am I doing this why am I writing this course again when there's no reason I'm not racing anyone there's there's no point it's not like there's a double header where I'm gonna be like oh I was the best to do double where I I won the Big Horn double I'm the only one out there doing it I'll say that I don't really totally know why other than I just genuinely like riding bikes uh I was already here in Colorado my family's not here like what else am I gonna do I want to ride and look at this look at this purple flowers yellow flowers green dude this to me is where I'm like you know just in my element now the other thing is that I've got this big race coming up 502 miles 38 000 feet of climbing ultra distance Nationals in Oregon so I do need to prep for that uh I already told you in the Unbound video that I kind of like got real in my head about even wearing that Jersey and accepting that because like how prestigious is it but I don't care dude I want to win it again I want to be a two-time so we're training huh we did it that's all the climbing wow that was fun dude and a 502 mile race takes a totally different type of power profile and that's why a lot of the ultra guys they don't really look really fast like they don't look super fit they just um they just can ride forever and that's kind of where I'm at now 124 miles 10 hours 15 000 feet of climbing zero stops 80 wasn't enough huh I had to do it again man [Music] hahaha [Applause] [Music] here we go buddy climb those stairs to get ourselves fifteen thousand feet I genuinely love riding bikes all day long I wanted to do that I'm stoked you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] know

Channel: VC Adventures

Views: 193,452

Keywords: vegan cyclist, vegan cycling, health and fitness, bicycle riding, road bikes, cycling, bike racing, cycling tips, the vegan cyclist, go pro cycling, cycling go pro, bike hacks, cycling racing, tips for cycling, vegan athlete, cycling videos, cycling workouts, sufferfest cycling

Id: AJlE4XZN1_A

Length: 23min 31sec (1411 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 01 2023