Greenland Gravel Grinder - Monument, CO

A rider has a question about the gravel in the area and how it compares to The Koppenberg in Superior, CO or the Boulder Roubaix. We don't have experience on the north side of Denver, but it sounds like those may be rideable by road bike.

Does anyone have some thoughts for him?

We, at Front Range Gravel, advise him that, while you could do it on a road bike because of the current state of the GGG gravel (perfect this past weekend...smooth and packed over a good amount, little dust, not too many washboards), it's not going to be the fastest, smoothest, or most comfortable. Anything less than probably 28-30's and you're increasing the flat risk. Especially considering that this route is headed over a pretty good stretch of minimum maintenance road. We, at FRG, hate flats - the time and mental energy it takes offsets the grams.

The Koppenburg and the Boulder-Roubaix are definitely road bike courses, no problem on a 25-28 tire.  30s are usually overkill, but definitely smoother.  I can't add anything in comparison to the Greenland course.

Speaking of Greenland, the profile graph looks deceptive...steeper and hillier than they likely are.  Anyone have feedback on the actual climbs?  It looks like they are mostly rolling?  I'm planning to rock the singlespeed and was just sorting out my thoughts on gearing.  Thanks!

The roads around Boulder tend to be hardpack with minimal loose gravel and require no skills foreign to a roadie. You should be prepared for lots of looser sand and gravel on the Greenland course. It looked like people finished on 30s and on fat bikes and everything in between, so what you choose comes down to your personal preference and skill level. On the Pedal 50 course, sometimes the gravel was just a thin veneer over hardpack but there were places where it was a bit deeper and you could easily spin out the back wheel or plow in the front wheel. Probably 10-15% of that course was the kind of fast rolling hardpack that you find around Boulder. I can tell you that while there were no climbs of any significance in terms of length or steepness on the Pedal 50 course, the rollers are pretty constant and my Garmin said that I'd climbed 3400 ft over 55 miles.

The first 2WheelWeather.com custom CycleCast for the Greenland Gravel Grinder will be posted by tomorrow. How many rides or races have you done that have had their own weather forecast?! Check back here for more information!

The first CycleCast for the Greenland Gravel Grinder has been posted! What is a CycleCast? It's a custom weather forecast for a specific ride or race. Kristin from 2WheelWeather brings her meteorology expertise to her cycling passion and gives you just what you want to know.


For the custom ride forecast, head over here: http://www.2wheelweather.com/current-cyclecasts.html

Here's your full Greenland Gravel Grinder forecast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11dkWH1kezs

Thanks Ben for another great event.  Great riding, great scenery, and great people.  It doesn't get any better, except for maybe the post ride beer at Pikes Peak Brewery.  Thanks to all the sponsors of the event.

Dan

Thanks too Ben, also the advice on a bike you gave me yesterday was appreciated. \n \nJerry

Very much agreed regarding thanks to Ben; it was my first grinder, and had a great time. Hard, but worth it. Will definitely be back for more next year!

Doug G

Thanks everyone. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for coming on the forum. Good stuff and I really appreciate it.
JerryHR3, if $ isn't too much of an issue on the build, I saw this one this morning....may be your ticket if you go the Moots route: http://www.northcentralcyclery.com/?p=4577 . If not, hard to beat the http://salsacycles.com/bikes/2014_warbird_ti since you're not going to have to worry about the width too much. Also, you may want to make a post out under the Bikes category here on the forum and ask others. I'm sure there is plenty of good insight out there.

Ben that Moots looks sweet, but my wife would shoot me.

PS. Ben we should start a new thread: What is more important bike or wife. notice I put bike first, good thing she does not read this,  

I've uploaded over 50 more pictures from the ride. Check them out over at: http://ridinggravel.com/greenland-gravel-grinder-pictures-2.html