Originally Posted by
Koyote
I've never ridden gravel in the lower peninsula of MI, but from this description it seems pretty tame.
Yeah, I’ think that’s true, but we’ve got great, gravel road riding, remembering that before Unbound, before Dirty Kanza, before gravel riding was big business, our Barry-Roubaix was the largest gravel race in the world, and still attracts thousands of riders every year. Other big gravel events include Michigan Mountain Mayhem Gravel Grinder, and the Coast to Coast 200, which Bicycling’s Selene Yeager declared in 2018 “might be as hard as the Dirty Kanza.” She’s podiumed both, as well as at SBT Gravel and Big Suga. And although it’s not strictly gravel (it’s open to MTB and fat), Iceman Cometh shares monument-like status with Barry Roubaix for graveleros who want to push the limit. Michigan’s own Jukebox/Enve pro rider, Alexey Vermuelen, who grew up riding many of the same gravel roads I do, has an Iceman victory to go with his BWR California win in ‘22, which he won soloing off the front in impressive style…in road pedals, FWIW.