The GTDRI Stories; The Pay-Off

Three weeks after the GTDRI in 2016 I was headed to Gravel Worlds

 "The GTDRI Stories" is a series telling the history, untold tales, and showing the sights from the run of Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitationals. This series will run on Sundays. Thanks for reading!

The run-up to riding in a Gravel Worlds for me usually was not a planned one. I rode a bike when I could ride a bike, and because I had obligations to test product and write reviews, often times the focus was not on training. So, typically my efforts at any gravel event were subject to my priorities I had previous to said event. That meant I usually wasn't trained properly, or at all, for any sort of success. 

I had come close to finishing Gravel Worlds before. Within 40 miles twice, and it seemed to me at the time that a bit more than 100 miles was going to be all I'd ever get in. But I kept signing up for stuff and they were all longer rides. I stayed away from Gravel Worlds for three years or so there in the early twenty-teens, but in 2015 I went back and got cooked again. 

2016 was a unique year. I had done a few longer rides in the heat on gravel, because by this point I was doing gravel reviews only, no MTB stuff. I had excuses to ride gravel, and so I was doing just that. Recon for the GTDRI was huge in terms of a build up of miles and endurance. The actual GTDRI was a full-on dress rehearsal for a Gravel Worlds. Even the heat was spot on.
 

Late into the 2016 Gravel Worlds. A shot of me by Kevin Fox.

Even the timing was right. That GTDRI being about three weeks ahead of Gravel Worlds, my "taper" was pre-programmed for me, and that was very fortunate. I did NOT plan any of this. It all just fell into place. But looking back on the success I had at Gravel Worlds in 2016, it is easy to spot how the GTDRI was integral to training fitness and bearing up to the miles that equalled a finish at Gravel Worlds. My only finish!

Another shot of me at the 2016 Gravel Worlds by "Gravel Guru"

I finished alongside my good friend, Tony McGrane.

So, I credit the GTDRI and the preparations for the 11th version of that ride for my only Gravel Worlds finish. Somehow, it all worked out to be just what I needed. to have. I don't think that, had you told me I'd finish Gravel Worlds less than a month later, I would have thought that the GTDRI was a good ride for me as I stood in that ditch waiting to get picked up. But I do believe that now. 

So, in a strange turn of events, the GTDRI stories had to include this successful ride as well, because in my opinion, the eleventh GTDRI is responsible for my success at Gravel Worlds, so the story belongs here. I don't know that I'll ever get that done again, so I always celebrate that success every chance I get now days.

Official finishing patches. This image and the one above are by Kevin Fox.

I'll close this out by relating a story about this Gravel Worlds. I found it very strange at the time, and even now I think it is rather curious, but there was a big to-do amongst some folks there concerning my finish before it happened. Somehow word must have passed after Tony and I left the last checkpoint that were were looking like we'd finish. I say that because we came across Kevin Fox several times and the Gravel Guru even tracked me down for an image. 

It seemed a bit strange because, while I get that many were pulling for me, it seemed a bit over the top for just well-wishing me to a finish. But I could have that all wrong. I just found it a bit strange in that it seemed I was getting a bit of a VIP treatment here. Nice, but strange. 

Next: Things changed