Gravenger Hunt 2.3 Redmond Ridge Wrap Up

Babyheads are round cobbles, right? 
My kids call these angular cobbles goblinheads.

THANKS

Hey!  Thanks for riding the GH 2.3 course!  There were a lot of new riders since the last one, so I hope it met the good kind of expectations that you might have for a bike ride where you get lost.  

My impression was that everyone had fun.  A lot of fun in fact.  If they didn't finish, many people went back to finish from where they left off.  

But I also sense that people weren't moving as quickly as I expected.  I'm guessing it's from 2 factors - 1) riding slower when you aren't quite sure where you're going, 2) time at checkpoints.  There were 27 of them, so if you spend 2 minutes at each one, that's an hour of navigation time added to a ride.  Oof.  That's a lot.  

I'm not sure I can do anything about 1), but I try and keep the number of checkpoints to a minimum.  The nature of the trails and how Google Maps shows how to navigate affects how and where checkpoints get placed.  It would be easy to just put some points out there and let you find your own way there, but one of my goals is to keep you on gravel and away from cars.  Plus some twists and turns so you can't predict where you'll be going.  It can be tricky to strike a balance.  If you made it that far, the second half of the course had some longer runs because Google Maps allowed for it.  

That said, I plan on having a short option for the next ride (GH 2.4) in the range of 10-12 miles.  The long course will be in the 24-30 range depending on some loops.   But there's also a lot more linear miles with runs of a few miles at a time.  More moving.  Less stopping.

SAP CONTEST

There were 11 SAP QR codes out on the course.  There were 2 "gimmes" that were on the Nav Checkpoints, so I'm sure everyone saw a few and figured out that the theme was Washington Apples.  

There's still time to submit an entry if you think you have a high number, but I'm going to shut it down by 12:00 am 11/30/21, so please get them in. 

We have 3 entrants that are tied for the lead, but I need to do some doublechecking on one when I take the course down.  When I can confirm the correct answers, I'll announce the winners and then do a random draw to see which team wins the boxes of Clif Bars.  I'll update it here.  

RWGPS LINK

Here's the "Official" Gravenger Hunt 2.3 Redmond Ridge course.  

Feel free to copy it, ride it, and take friends on the route or parts of it.  But I'm asking that you don't "publish" it as GH 2.3 or even send it to friends.  YOU did the work of registering and riding the course.  Did your Strava followers?  Did your friends?  It's YOUR experience, but maybe think about making your GH ride hidden.  (And no, I'm not going to check.)  I think exploring is part of the fun.  If I do another one, I'm likely to do some of the same connections again, but mix it up.  There's only so many trails.  If you want me to do more of these, it's hard for me to sell "those dumb old trails that everyone is tired of riding", right?  Ok.  Let's get off this "fun police" moment.  

The GH 2.3 RWGPS route will go back to being hidden on December 12, 2021, so if you want it, grab it now.  

ALS DONATIONS

I know it's not a fancy 501(c) (3) charity, but there were 38 registrations for GH 2.3, and that means that we raised $190 for my friend Aaron Turner.  If you missed that part, he's a friend and a bike community guy with some challenges ahead with ALS.  Plus, a rider donated $20 more just because.   I'll be sending Aaron the money via PayPal.  

RIDER SURVEY

I want to hear from you!  What worked.  What didn't.  How can I grow this?  

Gravenger Hunt 2.3 Redmond Ridge Rider Survey

GRAVENGER HUNT 2.4 MAPLE VALLEY

You're hearing it here first!  GH 2.4 will be similar to GH 1.3 Ravensdale, but completely different! 

I'm looking at Saturday, December 18 to Sunday January 2, but MAYBE I bump it an extra week for 4 weekends of riding.  

The course is intended to be for gravel bikes, and that's what I'm riding when I'm scouting it.  But there's more single track, and it's definitely rougher than GH 2.3, so you might consider a hard tail MTB.  Saying there's rocks and roots is an understatement, but there will be some rolling gravel miles too.  A GHA goal is to have you wish you were riding on a different bike at some point in the ride.  

Stay tuned for details.  The official announcement with a few more details will happen on the GHA Facebook Group. 

Cheers!