Race 3 in the Vancouver Island Gravel Series.

Another gravel race and another wildly different course. I am finding that this is one of my favourite aspects. The lengths and total elevation gain have been similar and yet each race in the series has been radically different.

Burnt Bridge was by far the roughest of the 3. The smoother parts of the course often featured soft loose gravel. The descents were bone rattlers. The final uphill was narrow and featured lots of grapefruit sized rocks that needed to be avoided. I was very pleased I ran such low pressure in my tires (37psi front and 40psi back).

The pace started off very hot. I was spit out of the lead group almost right away. Right off the gun I didn’t feel great. I felt pretty flat. I had a very long week at the office and didn’t have the kind of week I would have liked leading into the race - way too much sitting at the computer. About an hour into the race my legs turned a corner. Just needed some time to get going.

This course features two extened climbs. The first one shortly after the start, wasn’t a great one for me as I didn’t have my legs under me. Much of the race is a punchy affair on the plateau that follows that climb. The descent from the plateau was one of the roughest decents I have done on a gravel bike. Seemed like it was just a continous stream of washboard on steep pitches. It was scary at times - thankfully no issues for me.

The second climb broke me. It came right after the last aid station, about 60K into the race. While it wasn’t super steep it seemed to go on forever. The course here was very narrow and there was endless exposed grapefruit sized rocks which meant either trying to power over them or weaving back and forth across the double track. I went through a real mental low up this hill. The descent off this climb was very challenging with very deep loose gravel and tight turns - it certainly wasn’t a fast downhill.