HIGH ALPINE GRAVEL
AUGUST 10, 2019
WINTER PARK, CO
HIGH MOUNTAIN GRAVEL GALORE
High-altitude views abound in every direction. Crisp mountain air exhilarates the senses. And swarms of riders fire each other up. And that’s before the ride even starts!
Both the 68- and 97-mile routes get right down to business, taking riders from downtown Winter Park onto remote gravel roads and up into the mountains.
Brand new for 2019, Crooked Gravel takes a few cues from an exploratory event the legendary Ron Kiefel put together a decade ago called Crooked Roubaix. Back before gravel bikes were really a thing, Kiefel and some friends set out on a 95-mile dirt-road adventure from Winter Park up into the high mountains on road bikes.
Fast forward to 2019 and gravel bikes are a thing. Our two routes take in the very best of Grand County gravel, with long, winding climbs up through aspen and pine forests, wide open descents under the massive Colorado sky and – on the long route – some secret tracks never before explored in a cycling event.
If nothing worth doing is easy, then Crooked Gravel is certainly worth doing… Both routes tackle over 5,000 feet of climbing on gravel, beginning in at 8,500 feet elevation.
It’s all held in downtown Winter Park. Winter Park is a Rocky Mountain Mecca for skiing and mountain biking, but only a select few know what an incredible place it is for gravel riding. Crooked Gravel will change that.
Riders will all set off en masse regardless of which route they are doing, how old they are, or how fast they want to go. This is how we Roll Massif.
Once the timed segment on the climbing starts, riders who want to test their legs and their friends will power ahead, while those who would just prefer to go their own pace will settle in for the climb. There is no one right way to ride Crooked Gravel.