By Dan Pedroza

If y'all recall from last year, nobody really knew that the Castell Gravel Grinder was a race until everyone heard Daniel Curtin running around the parking lot yelling "I'm gonna win it, I'm gonna win it"   Win what?

Riders on the gravel of Texas Hill Country. Credit: Curt Slaten
Anyhow, DC, Captain of Austin's Bicycle Sport Shop Cyclocross Club, got close to winning it but some other top dogs also were singing their own songs on the other side of the parking lot.  Meanwhile, I thought it was a great opportunity to see how long I could hang with the big dogs until they dropped me like a bad habit.  I wound up winning the 50k Half Grind.

Fast Forward to 2015 and everyone telling me since November when registration opened, "You gotta go back and defend your crown!"  Thankfully, I didn't have any pressure to defend it because I decided at the end of last years' race that I wouldn't enter the Half Grind again, it wouldn't display any sort of cycle progression on my part.  I figured I'd just try the Full Grind and again see how long I could hang with the big boys, the real cyclists, the fast guys.

Then CG Officials decided to throw a wrench in my plans and introduced a 72k course called the 3/4 Grind.  Hey, that may work out for my fitness even better!  I thought I might be able to stick to my initial plan of riding the first 50k with the fast guys as long as I could and then go solo for the final 22k etc.  Well, that didn't work out quite as planned....

The courses for 2015 had the 72k riders turn off after about 5 miles of southern loop.  They also had us running the same course from last year but in reverse direction.  That doesn't sound so bad except that all who rode last year's course remember the final section called Keyserville as the most difficult and challenging part of the course.  Long sections of deep sand, extremely bumpy washboard roads and it was downhill.  Reverse it and now we're going uphill....in sand.....over murderous bumps.  The initial group of fast riders lasted about a mile and then it strung out into a long train of riders jostling for position for five miles trying to get into a good position or group to work together.  Just when I was about to catch on to the tail end of one of the fast groups I was forced to turn off on to Post Oak Rd. and found myself alone.....all alone.

For the next 33 miles of this 43-mile tour I would be by myself.  Nobody to help work with me except the cows and the deer and the chickens.  Talk about being lonely.  I went through the first checkpoint with about a two minute lead over the next riders.  (I had no idea of the lead at the time, I just know I kept looking back and seeing nobody).  I knew that someone at some point would be charging for me, working together to track me down so I put my head down and worked as hard as I could to maintain my 17.5mph average.  Up the hills, against the wind, through the sand, over the bumps.

Sure enough at about mile 25 I looked back and saw a couple of riders chasing me down.   So many thoughts went through my head, "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, they're just gonna suck me up, pass me and spit me out like roadkill."   I kept putting my head down and charging forward.  Accelerate on the downhill and get out of the saddle on the climbs.   5 more miles pass and they still haven't caught me.    I look back, yup they're closer, but still not charging as hard.  Another 5 miles go by and they *finally* catch up to me.  We exchange a little small talk, a few jokes and they motor ahead working with each other.

At this point we have about 5-6 miles to go and I think to myself, "I'll be damned if I'm going to work my ass off by myself for two hours straight and not give them a fight."   ....and then I go on and suck on their wheel for a while.  The three of us work together rotating shifts up front pulling each other through the climbs.  It was just enough to rejuvenate my legs and give me the rest I needed.  Had I continued by myself I would have blown up toward the end, but that little bit of rest in the draft was what I needed.

With 1/4 mile to go we see the finish line and we all look at each other, "Y'all ready to sprint?"   And we're off.   My legs are jelly but I get out of the saddle one last time and pump that last 1/4 mile.  I manage to hold off the others and make it across the finish by half a bike length.

*phew*

The author wins the sprint for the line. Credit: Curt Slaten
Again...like last year....I know it's not a big win.  We're the junior varsity to the heavy hitters that rode the 100k.  Those guys averaged 19.8mph to our paltry 17.5mph.  Next year there will be no pressure to repeat.  I know I have absolutely zero shot at winning the 100k so no pressure to "Repeat."  I do have goals to make top 25 or top 30, but that's more realistic.

Again...it's the little things.

And bragging rights of course. Credit: Dan Pedrosa

For Dan's write-up of the whole event click here: The Castell Grind: Heavy Hitters Hammer the Texas Gravel

For information on the 2016 running click here or go to www.castellgrind.com

Dan Pedrosa is a member of the Bicycle Sport Shop Cyclocross Club in Austin. He rides a 2014 Specialized Crux on 40mm WTB Nanos and will never run on anything else.

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