Final race of 2025 down in Pueblo today. Grassroots Gravel is always a great event and has sort of become one of our local mainstays on the racing calendar.
I was feeling pretty good after The Rad and having won the short course at Grassroots last year. But you just never know how things are going to play out and who is going to show up.
This year was definitely more competitive than each of the previous two years. We got a good group of several riders that got into the lead group after the first hill. There was a minor crash on the dreaded S-turn heading out, and as a result of that and the long, gradual climb up to the turnaround, that quickly became four riders which eventually became three.
Jess from Rust Cycling did a long attack going out, but Micah and I stayed together and caught him on the long downhills before the S-turn coming back. Jess is more of a steady state rider, and small, so he tried to attack up the last hill on the highway (which Micah and I knew he would do).
Coming down to the finish Micah attacked very early, but I covered his attack and we dropped Jess temporarily. Micah and I stayed side by side and started the sprint about the same time before the final right turn. He had the inside line, so we was slightly ahead for awhile, but I gave it one final push at the very end, including a bike throw across the line, for the win!
Reflecting on this race and 2025, I think this year is going to be hard to beat. In this race I set my highest 60 minute power ever (in Colorado). I won five of the seven races I entered, and all of those were overall victories except the first race of the year where I won the overall Masters category. This is possibly when I peaked, but only time will tell. It's like a combination of experience and continued hard work, bike upgrades, and nutritional changes I've made over the years (eating enough, taking the right supplements during the season) all coming together. I don't know where things will go from here, or what I'll want to do next, but for now, I'm just enjoying it all.
