Truckee Tahoe Gravel

Friday’s pre-ride ride out around Prosser was a bit understaffed, I tapped in and helped leader Robert with the largish group as it spread out and got cut up by a lengthy train crossing. We rode out into some heavy cloud cover and even had a few of those serious-looking high-Sierra raindrops; luckily just enough to generate some petrichor and tamp down the dust. Legs felt good, bike’s first big foray into the wild on 50mm tires felt great.

Main event this year was no hero ride. Mid-week delays getting up to the mountains meant we were a critical day and a half behind SpO2 acclimatization (spiked back up on Sunday, ofc). Weather turned out “fine”; a bit cooler and breezier than previous installments but generally more comfortable … until we pointed into the afternoon headwinds.

Huge crowds again, Riverview Sports Park absolutely jammed with riders. Whole group rolled together like a long caterpillar through a neutral start till we got up out of the park to Highway 89. Lots of talk about people wanting to check out Bovine.

Fresh punchy legs, a little tailwind and a bunch of adrenaline required some focus to reign in the early efforts. It all felt so flowy. 50mm Schwalbe G One R Pro were epic for the primary surfaces: mostly-fast-pack with some embedded chunky chunks and no-see-um dips, occasionally punctuated by some deeper aggregate gravel.

Surface seemed to have fewer surprises with fewer of the crashes and mechanicals which were so prevalent last year. Perhaps by now gravel events have settled into a homogenous standard for equipment and skill levels and we’re generally pointed in the same direction. At times I felt like I was on a whole other timeline, though, flying past dozens of riders at a time, rolling and gliding.

*An unfortunately-positioned arrow marker in the center of an early trail fork sent a group of us confidently hustling up a 20 minute side quest till we found a SAG truck heading back the other way, also lost, to turn us around. This added a chunk of extra climbing and ride time and effectively nulled much useful comparison to the previous couple of years.

Lemon Canyon still one of the highlights, the relatively-flat rapid flowing route rewards momentum and confident lines. It connects into another highlight, the distinctly-open and looser “Sierra Butter” gravel rollercoaster which dips and bobs out toward the Bear descent where Jay disappeared into a haze of dust.

The nine-mile long Smithneck climb started to feel more like 90… Then up in the meadows around about mile 50 my thin veneer of training started to wear off as aches and pains turned up everywhere; neck shoulders arms back legs… everything kind of tapped out together then floundered against the headwind which turned up for for the return effort.

Gear notes:

• Schwalbe G One R Pro in 50mm were decently rapid on the pavement and absolutely flew on the gravel. This is the way. Like the 45mm size, they’re grippy, plush, and rapid with a very nice damped and responsive feel. The extra volume soaked up the chunkier trail detail and made for a much more confident and focused ride.
• iPhone 17 struggled to activate the camera in those brief windows I had hoped to capture some riding action. Missed a bunch of shots this year…
• SRAM Rival AXS rear derailleur acted up and lost all my chain tension. Appears the main mounting bolt (or its spacers) has worn out allowing the whole body to wriggle around causing mis-shifts and chain jumps. Cranked on all of the B-screw but it’s time for some proper reworking. I’m still not a happy SRAM rider…