Signing up for a gravel road race in April in Michigan, you never know what you’re gonna get. The weather turned out to be pretty decent, me on the other hand… not so much. I had been battling a cold for a couple weeks before the race (4/6), it was still lingering the day of and to top it off I woke up with a headache and nauseous.

I stayed in a hotel in Grand Rapids and signed up for the race early enough to get a discount on the race fees, there was no way I wasn’t at least attempting to do the race. A quick stop for a banana and some gas for the truck and I was off to find the start line.

Without a steady data signal on my phone and not getting directions before I left, I drove around for awhile before I finally found registration and a place to park. Not knowing what the weather was going to be like, I packed all my cycling gear. After a quick trip to get my race number, I decided on bibs, tech shirt, shoe covers, tights, wind shell jacket, winter cycling gloves, and my buff. It was a little chilly before the race started, but I wasn’t too cold once we got rolling.

The race start had three waves and I was in the second. The first wave was called up and the second wavers filled in behind, I looked around and saw quite a few “Wave 2”s around me and thought I was good. Well, the folks in wave three were anxious to get going and lined up directly behind the first wave. When the gun went off for my wave, I had a hard time navigating through the crowd… I wasn’t the only one :(.

Being on a singlespeed, I had hoped to find a peleton to ride with, but that idea quickly faded after the botched start. Nobody likes a wheel-sucker, but that was the only way I was getting through the race. I spent most of my time behind a lady with a sweet LeMond road bike (with surprisingly narrow tires). Without her, I’m not sure I would have finished the race… definitely want to do this race again, maybe the fall race next time!