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by Dave Mable

Minneapolis, Minnesota sits about 250 miles north of Des Moines, Iowa. Very few residents of Central Iowa find themselves saying, “Hey, I want to ride there.” The direct route on Interstate 35 would be a long ride, but make it gravel, hilly gravel at that, and that’s just crazy talk.

But that’s exactly what the participants in the 24 Hours of Cumming gravel race were up against. 400 kilometers (248-miles) of hilly, powdery-dry, rocky South-Central Iowa gravel.

The race starts and finishes in Cumming, Iowa, just south of Des Moines. Most out-of-staters believe Iowa is flat, with their only perspective of the state coming from a drive through on I-80 or I-35. Southern Iowa, however, was untouched by the latest glacial epoch and features a constant undulation of steep climbs and winding valleys.

Riders head out for one of the four 100K loops at the 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Riders head out for one of the four 100K loops at the 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Steve Cannon, author, motivational speaker and 24 Hours of Cumming race founder, said he hopes the race serves as a chance for people to push themselves beyond their limits on those Southern Iowa hills.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself, pushing into uncomfortable distances,” said Cannon, who has run around Lake Michigan, completed 40 marathons in 40 days and this past winter completed the 350-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational on a fat bike. “Longer distances give you the opportunity to learn a little bit about yourself, maybe find some parts of yourself you didn’t know you had. For anybody who’s ridden gravel, especially Central and Southern Iowa gravel, this is no joke.”

A Rather Loopy Ride

The 24-Hour of Cumming race is a little different than its now-defunct (RIP) 340-mile cousin Trans Iowa. Instead of one giant loop, the course has four different 100-kilometer loops that all begin and end in Cumming.

“The first 100K loop is one of the easier of the four, and it’s still over 3,000 feet of climbing,” said Cannon. “It’s not so much that there are big, giant hills out there, but they just don’t stop.”

With an 11:00 a.m. start and a finish time expected to be between 16 and 20 hours, riders face the challenge of tackling the gravel hills through the night.

“At any length, it’s going to give you a test, and the 400K route is a different breed,” he continued, “That’s 248 miles. You’re going to be riding until at least three or four in the morning, so the “bad people” are going to come to visit. You’re going to learn plenty about how you handle adversity and this is a great place to do it.”

As the solo riders in the 400k roll out on an overcast late morning, they are accompanied by riders in the 2 and 4-person team races, who will each complete one of the 100K loops before handing off to the next person on their team, and can, therefore, maintain a quicker pace than the solo riders.

Shawn Omara was the last rider to finish the 400K in under 24 hours. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Shawn Omara was the last rider to finish the 400K in under 24 hours. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

The “Bad” People Are Coming

“[It was important to] ride conservatively early on,” reflected Adrienne Taren of Tulsa, Oklahoma, one of the lone women competitors who was sitting second overall after 200K. “My legs actually felt better on leg three than they did on leg two. Iowa is basically a series of endless hills and you could blow yourself up smashing them in the first leg. It’s a little hard to set ego aside and let the relay folks take off without you, but I had some quality me-time and rolled a nice steady pace.”

The dry, dusty hills and distance eventually caught up with Taren as she neared the 300K mark.

“It was super-dry out there, and I went through fluids much faster than anticipated,” said Taren. “Most of the solo guys out there with me also ran dry. I sat and drank a lot in between laps two and three, but I felt kind of nauseated going back out. It became really nauseated with some roadside dry-heaving. I couldn’t get anything in me from 1 to 4 a.m. and rode the last 20 miles of lap three very slowly.”

Adrienne Taren was the sole female to try the 400K race. She nearly finished the grueling ride. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Adrienne Taren was the sole female to try the 400K race. She nearly finished the grueling ride. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

As Cannon suggested, the bad people would come to try and pry you off your bike, but Taren fought them off, at least for a bit.

“I was pretty convinced I wasn’t going to be able to go back out for the last lap,” she said. “I laid in the grass [in transition] for almost two hours. I eventually drank a quart of chicken broth and ate a bag of potato chips, said $%^& it and rolled back out to see how far I would make it.”

A couple of hours of riding and Taren would call it, having done as much as she could do.

“I went another 30 miles total and was glad I did,” said Taren. “Some of the prettiest scenery was in those miles. I felt done and at peace with it at that point so I rolled back in on the bike trail.”

A Tough Last 100K

Meanwhile, the men’s solo leader was struggling up and down the steep inclines of the final 100K loop. After clocking three loops in approximately four hours each, the last 100K took Lucas Barloon of Decorah, Iowa, nearly double that.

“Lap four had quite a few steep inclines and a strong south wind,” sad Barloon. “After tackling the afternoon heat in lap two, I was feeling pretty exhausted physically and mentally. I knew it was going to be tough to maintain my current pace, especially during lap four.”

Fortunately, Barloon caught a second wind as the sun set as he left for his third loop. Even with the constant hills he was able to maintain his 14-15 mph pace through 184 miles but slowed during the final loop as he worked to keep his cadence steady and reserve some gas for the final stretch to the finish.

“My focus on lap four was to maintain a steady cadence so I wouldn’t blow up on the climbs,” he said. “I wanted to finish the race strong, once the soul-sucking climbs were no more. I wanted to enjoy a sunrise finish, but got to enjoy a view of a large storm front rolling in with strong northwest winds that followed as I rolled into the finish.”

Once the hills were behind him, Barloon fought the gusty headwinds to roll across the line as the first solo finisher shortly after 6 a.m. for a 19:17:47 400K ride.

400K winner Lucas Barloon at 6 a.m. after his win. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

400K winner Lucas Barloon at 6 a.m. after his win. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Kevin Ehrlich of Dubuque, Iowa, finished second about an hour and a half behind (20:42:32) and Joseph Frost of Rockford, Illinois finished third some eight seconds later (20:42:40).

Marc Bigsby of Rochester, Minnesota and Shawn Omara of Emporia, Kansas were only other solo riders to finish within the 24-hour limit (22:41:12 and 23:48:25 respectively). Jim Koziol of Omaha, Nebraska, was the only competitor to challenge the punchy Iowa hills on a single speed and completed three of the four laps before calling it done.

“Like many others I know, when it comes to cycling, gravel riding has become a huge addiction, and I enjoy pushing my limits,” Barloon said about why he wanted to take the 400K challenge.

Race results are below.

Notes:

Only 5 of the 12 registered were able to finish the 400K. Sixty-seven of the 69 starters finished the 100K race (Lisa Vetterlein and Luke Wilson winning the women’s and men’s respectively). Sixteen of 34 finished the 200K race, which was won by Cory Smith and Heather Poskevich.

The 400k winner’s bike was a 2018 Trek Boone Disc with a 1×11 SRAM Force 1 drivetrain. Forty-tooth front with an 11-36t cassette. Paradigm Elite wheels and Schwalbe G-One Allround 35mm tires.

Luke Wilson, winner of the 100K, is the first winner of all three distances, the 400K, 200K and now 100K. Wilson began with hopes of maintaining a 20+ mph average speed to break the three-hour mark but fell short when gusty south winds pushed back on him for the first half of the race. Wilson finished with an 18+ mph average in 3 hours and 18 minutes.

Luke Wilson is the only person to win all three 24 Hours of Cumming distances. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Luke Wilson is the only person to win all three 24 Hours of Cumming distances. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

400K Results: 24 Hours of Cumming

PosBibNameTimeCategory
1197Team Move Up Off-Road Pain Train14:13:444 person relay
2198Team Em216:42:204 person relay
3179Team Oaktown Gettin' Down Grinders17:46:392 person relay
4146Lucas Barloon19:17:47Open
5178Team Team Noah Racing - Type Ii Fun19:30:282 person relay
6136Kevin Ehrlich20:42:33Open
7138Joseph Frost20:42:41Open
8181Team Badassbitches21:27:382 person relay
9196Team Team Puck It22:25:164 person relay
10180Team Slow Dogs22:26:362 person relay
11139Marc Bigsby22:41:12Open
12140Shawn Omara23:48:26Open
13199Team Icgravelluers23:50:364 person relay
DNF137Cole LedbetterOpen
DNF141Mike TeskeOpen
DNF145Edward PszczolkowskiOpen
DNF147Adrienne TarenOpen
DNF148Matt CopelandOpen
DNF149Dustan ShepherdOpen
DNF151Jim KoziolSingle Speed
DNF176Team Ol Dirty Grinders2 person relay
DNF182Team Cummins/tice2 person relay

200K Results: 24 Hours of Cumming

PosBibNameTimeCategory
1119Corey Smith7:32:44Open
2109Brad Stoermer7:56:39Open
3123Heather Poskevich8:08:24Open
4103J. Scott Ingersoll8:28:08Open
5106Joe Mann8:42:16Open
693Bobby Thompson8:52:43Open
7150Jacob Spath9:26:00Open
892Mark Stender9:45:39Open
982Scott Sumpter10:03:47Fat Bike
10105Juan Cerda10:56:15Fat Bike
11104Katy Muelhaupt11:08:06Open
12116Brian Hegland11:10:30Open
13117Tyler Johnson11:25:22Open
1494Barbara Becker13:11:46Open
15124Greg Bryan16:43:32Open
16125Jocelyn Kovaleski16:43:37Open
DNF83Squirrel SquirrelOpen
DNF90Lance PetersonOpen
DNF96Nikki SorensenFat Bike
DNF97John NoonanOpen
DNF98Kyle PlattsOpen
DNF100David RollFat Bike
DNF101Bruce NelsonOpen
DNF102Matthew FloyOpen
DNF107Murray NelsonOpen
DNF111Nick PriaulxOpen
DNF112Bradley BrownOpen
DNF113Jamie BeauchampOpen
DNF114Donnie RobinsonOpen
DNF115Dave RoddaOpen
DNF118Scott BlubaughOpen
DNF120Daren MunroeOpen
DNF122Steve FalckOpen
DNF142Josh MagieOpen

100K Results: 24 Hours of Cumming

PosBibNameTimeCategory
122Luke Wilson3:20:40Open
256Jason Laughlin3:30:39Open
375Lisa Vetterlein3:31:06Open
478Jordan Costello3:41:13Single Speed
536Jeff Rierson3:41:43Open
667Brad Patty3:43:52Open
7121Darvish Shadravan3:43:54Open
865Bruce Reese3:43:55Open
970Dustin Chambliss3:44:17Fat Bike
1054Brett Bonebrake3:47:35Open
1139Joe Short3:49:01Open
1274Dave Ostrem3:55:00Open
1350Mark Wiggins4:03:59Open
1451Dean Chmielewski4:04:04Open
1535Deanne Herr4:04:19Open
1633Eric Price4:04:22Open
1753Kirk Cox4:11:55Open
186Sonya Heitshusen4:15:14Open
1928Shawn Baker4:15:46Open
2030Joel Frye4:19:47Single Speed
2114John Koelsch4:24:34Open
2260Marshall Mallory4:24:40Open
2337Bob Clark4:25:42Open
2449Matt Ernst4:27:03Open
2540Christopher Kyhl4:29:43Single Speed
2641Matt Laboe4:29:46Open
2738Scott Rice4:31:30Open
2872Brian Johnson4:31:32Open
2927Connie Mann4:32:58Open
30108Michele Smith-Jones4:33:29Open
3125Chris Mayer4:33:35Open
3280David Gannon4:40:07Open
3358Alan Johnson4:40:15Open
347Jennifer Borst4:41:17Open
3516Robert Baumgart4:42:21Open
3648Scott Richardson4:44:41Fat Bike
3744Doug Sullivan4:46:05Open
3877Jeffrey Nichols4:47:20Open
3981Katherine Roccasecca4:47:39Open
4063Jessica Stroud4:47:57Open
4145Jason Hemmer4:54:52Open
4246Matt Minard4:54:55Open
4324Jake Burton4:58:33Open
4455Kathleen Porter4:58:35Open
4518Jordan Miller4:58:37Open
4626Mark Mcculloch5:00:21Open
471Jeff Isley5:02:24Open
4879Tim Miller5:13:27Open
4920Jarod Hart5:16:37Open
5073Rose Willey5:23:04Open
514Sherri Huff5:24:16Open
5221Eric Hart5:25:37Open
533Scott Newbury5:27:25Fat Bike
5431Brenda Frye5:40:57Open
5557Adam Gebauer5:45:19Open
5632Steve Burt5:58:15Open
5762Tina Khan6:02:29Open
588Karen Chicken6:04:05Open
5952Kelsi Jurik6:05:43Open
6042Jen Eggleston6:28:03Open
612Dave Mccloney6:36:56Open
6215Brandon Kipp6:36:59Open
6334Martina Schubert6:40:17Fat Bike
6469David Schubert6:40:20Fat Bike
6576Jeremy Stephenson6:47:38Open
6671Derik Spoon6:56:21Open
6723Derek Stocking7:20:16Fat Bike
DNF5Richard SorensenFat Bike
DNF47Ray CunninghamOpen