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On Site at the Red Granite Grinder: Photos, Podcast, and Recap from Seeley Dave

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On Site at the Red Granite Grinder: Photos, Podcast, and Recap from Seeley Dave

From The Nxrth

My gravel season began early in May with the Hungry Bear in Cable, and it ended in October with my first Ironbull Red Granite Grinder in Wausau. I really enjoyed seeing the Red Granite Grinder and might sign up for the 85-mile route next year.

Riders have a mix of surfaces throughout the event, including some singletrack. Photo credit: Seeley Dave

The race has 12, 50, 85 and 144 mile options. The longer courses include a nice mix of pavement, gravel, two-track, and even a little single track. The race starts in downtown Wausau with a police lead out where the 144 and 85-mile racers then grind 800 feet up Rib Mountain and white knuckle (or hike-a-bike) a technical downhill. That monster climb really separates the wheat from the chaff. The 50-mile course is more pavement than gravel, but does include a section that goes through a corn maze!

The courses seem to change a bit each year, and this time the long routes went through some private land that you can only ride during this race and on narrow land bridges between some beautiful minnow ponds. In keeping with the typical gravel race ethos, riders are responsible for any mechanicals, but the race does include some aid stations, and even a drop bag locations on the two longer courses. The aid stations were manned by local volunteers who brought a little something special to each rest stop. There were even grilled cheese sandwiches at one aid station!

Wausau’s famed Red Eye Brewing taps a special One Lap Pony keg of their yummy craft beer for the event. There was live music at the finish and something I have never seen at a race before: an automated bicycle chain wash and was machine, The Vonbuckinator!

Something else that made the Red Granite Grinder unique was the option to sign up for two free women’s clinics the Friday before the race. The clinics were run by ultra specialist Laura Weismann-Hrubes, who races for Broken Spoke but and also works for Embark Maple Energy, made in Viroqua where she lives.

The fall colors are peaked at the Red Granite Grinder. Photo credit: Seeley Dave