Gravel Race Up Spruce Knob (2019)

[drevil]

@secstate 192032 wrote:

The 158-mile route was a wild ride with a huge range of conditions, from fast, paved downhills in the fog to an abandoned stretch of forest service road ridable only with a mountain bike (or, as we discovered, a highly modified Subaru). It was also a wonderful tour of that part of West Virginia.

What was your bike and tire setup? (For you, and anyone else that did the GRUSK and doesn’t mind sharing. Pics don’t hurt also )

[josh]

@drevil 192033 wrote:

What was your bike and tire setup? (For you, and anyone else that did the GRUSK and doesn’t mind sharing. Pics don’t hurt also )

Didn’t do the Grande/Loco, but the ~75 mile Epic race. My do-everything bike: Santa Cruz Stigmata cross bike, 38mm tubeless Schwalbe G-Ones (~40 psi front, ~44 psi rear), 50/34 x 11-32, MTB pedals (hi Subby), 2 water bottles. No flats, high enough gearing so that you’re not spun out stupid quickly on the paved descents, low enough gearing on the other end that the gravel climbs out there are as minimal a problem as they’ll ever be — what more could you ask for? I didn’t crash on the grassy doubletrack this year (or at all), so I’m happy about that.

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[Sunyata]

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Bike: 2019 Salsa Warbird frame with SRAM Rival 50/34 x 11-36 with Force hydraulic brakes and Stans wheels (front is an Iron Cross, rear is a Grail since I destroyed the Iron Cross at DK)
Tires: Maxxis Ramblers 40mm, tubeless with Finish Line sealant
Pedals: Time ATAC 8’s (again, Hi Subby!)
Bags: Apidura frame bag, top tube bag, and front roll; Revelate Terrapin seat bag
Hydrations: Two bottles and my trusty Source hipster

It was an awesome two day event. I learned a lot about fully loaded riding on a drop bar bike (especially when it comes to pushing it uphill thanks to FR 244 being completely washed out and my rear hub blowing up with 2.5 miles to go).

Final numbers:
156.46 miles
11,181 feet of elevation
6,662 calories burned
12 Subarus attempting Canaan Loop Rd
1 Hellbender Burrito
10 trophies on Strava
1 busted Stans 3.30Ti hub

Once I actually have time to sit down and write up a race report, I will share it.

[secstate]

I have only one bike, so I used it!

The Space Horse worked just fine with Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 35mm tires and a light hand to feather the cantilever brakes well in advance of hard turns.

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[Subby]

I did the grande loco and the epic and my main recommendation would be to not do that? Or do it but don’t be fugging dumbass and use road pedals. And if you use road pedals, don’t have them ratcheted down so high that you cannot unclip as you slide into a ravine (theoretically). Also don’t use road pedals just because they happens to also be tiny power meters bc no one gives a shit about your power and the most you are going to do with that number is look down and see it and go “hmmm that’s interesting” and then you will ride through bb-deep creeks and short them out anyway.

bike: giant revolt advanced 0
gearing: 50/34 and 11/34t in the back (comes 48/32 stock up front but echoing what Josh wrote I wanted a little more for the flats – also the 34t is completely unnecessary and I will swap it for 11/32 as soon as it wears out).
tires: 40mm Giant Crosscut gravel – tubeless (I ran Donnelly 36mm last year and I think I prefer those – 40 is a bit much for the paved and hardpacked gravel stuff)
bike color: all black (this is the most important thing)

Here it is in it’s office post-race and post-wash

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[AFHokie]

@Subby 192082 wrote:

bike: giant revolt advanced 0

bike color: all black (this is the most important thing)

Here it is in it’s office post-race and post-wash

[ATTACH=CONFIG]20240[/ATTACH]

My 2015 black Revolt 1 approves:

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930AZ using Tapatalk

[rcannon100]

Sunyata: what pressure did you run your tubeless 40 tires at? Pretty low?

[Sunyata]

@Subby 192082 wrote:

bike color: all black (this is the most important thing)

[Sunyata]

@rcannon100 192091 wrote:

Sunyata: what pressure did you run your tubeless 40 tires at? Pretty low?

I was running lower than I should have considering how much pavement there was on the second day. I think I was right around 28/r 26/f, which was perfect for day one. I would have liked to have put a bit more air and ran 32/r 30/f on day two. But I forgot. Whoops.

[musclys]

@Subby 192082 wrote:

I did the grande loco and the epic and my main recommendation would be to not do that? Or do it but don’t be fugging dumbass and use road pedals. And if you use road pedals, don’t have them ratcheted down so high that you cannot unclip as you slide into a ravine (theoretically). Also don’t use road pedals just because they happens to also be tiny power meters bc no one gives a shit about your power and the most you are going to do with that number is look down and see it and go “hmmm that’s interesting” and then you will ride through bb-deep creeks and short them out anyway.

I like this. You should start a blog and do ride reports. You would have at least three readers (me, sjclaeys, and old_swole_soul).

[sjclaeys]

@musclys 192144 wrote:

I like this. You should start a blog and do ride reports. You would have at least three readers (me, sjclaeys, and old_swole_soul).

Come for the whine, stay for the post-ride beer.

[secstate]

Registration is open for 2021! Main races & rides are Saturday, July 10, with longer rides starting on Thursday and Friday.

I did the 2-day GRUSK Grande in 2019, taking advantage of the gear shuttle, and had a great time — a challenging diversity of terrain and fun crowd. Supposedly the organizers have worked to put more on gravel and less on pavement for the new routes. This year I am tempted to do the new 213-mile ride over three days.

Route and registration info here: https://www.bikereg.com/48638. Discounted registration ends next Friday.

Here’s hoping this summer’s events can go on.

[Sunyata]

@secstate 204161 wrote:

Registration is open for 2021! Main races & rides are Saturday, July 10, with longer rides starting on Thursday and Friday.

I did the 2-day GRUSK Grande in 2019, taking advantage of the gear shuttle, and had a great time — a challenging diversity of terrain and fun crowd. Supposedly the organizers have worked to put more on gravel and less on pavement for the new routes. This year I am tempted to do the new 213-mile ride over three days.

Route and registration info here: https://www.bikereg.com/48638. Discounted registration ends next Friday.

Here’s hoping this summer’s events can go on.

I signed up for the Venti. The plan at the moment is to enjoy the scenery and take 2.5 days. Sign up and ride with me!

[secstate]

Hope to see a few forum folks at the GRUSK this coming weekend. Bought a pair of WTB Resolutes (700C x 42) for the ride. I had to switch my registration to the Tall (1-day) but am excited to ride the new course!

[Sunyata]

@secstate 210984 wrote:

Hope to see a few forum folks at the GRUSK this coming weekend. Bought a pair of WTB Resolutes (700C x 42) for the ride. I had to switch my registration to the Tall (1-day) but am excited to ride the new course!

Heading out to WV in a few hours to start the Venti tomorrow morning. See you at the finish!

[Author]

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