Gravenger Hunt 2.1 Lake Washington Wrap Up


Wow!  What a blast!

I had a ton of fun putting GH 2.1 on, and I'm thrilled with the response from everyone!  Thanks for trying this out, because it was fairly ambitious on my part, and so much of it went really well.  There wasn't much in the way of setbacks or hiccups, but I still learned some refining points for the future.  

GH 2.1 was the 5th one of these I've done, but the first one with racing added, and then the crazy complexity of 6 different start locations.  It's unlikely I try that at a different course location, but we'll see. 

I also had to roll with the "closure" of the 520 bridge and the snow weekend, so I'm glad I was able to leave the course open and extend the insurance out a little longer to get more riders riding.  

57 registrations, 79 registered riders, 49 racers, 38 finishers.  16 teams.  $280 paid out in cash prizes to the top category finishers - Alec Osenbach, Jo Lister, Riders on the Storm, You Got Chicked ;), and Rising Sun.  

The Webscorer results are here if you hadn't seen them, and I also put up a spreadsheet so that you could compare times across the Timed Sectors, no matter which start location you selected.  

Yay and good job everyone!

And then quickly up to 309 members of the GHA Facebook Group, with lots of people sharing their experiences.  I hope to keep the conversation going, even while there's not a course up.  I feel like I'm terrible at marketing, so if you have ideas of how to attract more attention and more participants, please let me know!

So yeah, a lot of returning riders, everyone was a new racer, and then #handupday.  Good times.  Thanks for playing bike with me.  The best part was meeting a bunch of new people.  

Everyone wants the "official" route, and it's below, but I have a favor to ask.  This course isn't TOP secret.  And I was only combining some routes that others* had shown me, but I definitely added some of my own.  So I'm asking you to not PUBLISH this course as the Gravenger Hunt 2.1 Lake Washington course.  It would be cool if you hide it on Strava, but I'm really not even asking for that.  

Publish it to Facebook or Pinkbike or Gravel.com or wherever people find routes?  I'd ask please no.  Copy it?  Yes.  Ride it?  Yes.  Ride it with friends?  YES!!  Send it to a friend so they can ride it?  I'd prefer not.  

I'd like to keep the course and some of the connections that it makes off the radar.  While the next Lake Washington GH course will be different, there's only so many trails and connections out there.  Consider the "official" course as something that's reserved for those who have at least registered for GH 2.1. You'll have a leg up your friends because you know where Poopstation is, and they don't, right?  

Just as an example of how tight I'm being with this, I'm not going to mention this GH blog post on FB.  The link is only going to registered riders. And I'm also going to make the RWGPS link hidden soon too.  Let's say I'll leave it up at least through March 25th, so grab it soon!  Don't forget to share this link with your teammate!  The Webscorer email only goes to one address!  


I think it looks like a buzzard or an elephant.  Funny, right?  There's a slight re-route in the Totem Lake area.  It avoids some of the car interactions and makes for a better ride experience.  There was construction happening that made me shift the GH 2.1 course away from this, the preferred route.  It bumps the distance up to 42.3 miles.  

Look for another survey for GH 2.1.  I got a lot of great feedback from GH 1.3, and I think it influenced the success of GH 2.1.  

So next up is another big step up!  I'm aiming for the hills of Prosser in the Yakima Valley for Mid-April through Mid-May, but I'm working through some land access issues right now.  

The course will be bigger and more of a gravel ride.  None of the piecemeal urban sectors found in GH 2.1.  Longer runs.  Navigation should be very different, as some of where you're going isn't mapped out by Google Maps.  But like GH 1.3 Ravensdale, you'll have enough info to piece together where you need to go.  I'll also be aiming for distances in the 40 and 80 mile range, and the Timed Sector "race" parts will be much longer, and will require some navigation in the middle of them.  It's a blank canvas.  

Sound fun?  If I have anything to do with it, it will be!  I have some other fun ideas up my sleeve.  

So please tell your friends, and plan a trip to the Eastside for some better weather.  Wish me luck for getting it together!










































*Pruitt, Burton, and Dusenberry.  Thanks fellas.  

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