The Grinder

Expert men starting line (above) and take off (below).

The trails at Curt Gowdy State Park are completely mind bending. Each rock, each boulder and every rock wall "no joke" breaks you. So I can not imagine any better way to spend two hours on a Saturday afternoon then to smoke your legs on 18 miles of "epic" Curt Gowdy single track.

This years Grinder was a bit different then last year. The expert class in 2009 was less than 20 riders and this year the expert class had over 60. The race started off very fast up a long double track climb before jumping into the single track which made up more than 95% of the race. According to the spectators, most riders would pass the start/finish line saying that they wished it was their last lap. A good friend of mine says, "if you ain't hikin' then you ain't biking", and that was all that was running through my mind on this race. There were so many sections that required a 'hike a bike' that it sometimes felt that you were off the bike as much as you were on. The Gowdy Grinder was the most technical race I have ever rode and one that I'm sure nobody will ever forget.

Besides a few bumps and scraps, all of us Casper riders finished well with our bikes in tact. Thank you to everyone who was there to cheer us on and hand a bottle off after each lap.

Remember, the next Fat Fish ride will be June 3rd. Stay posted as Location has not been picked yet. I have at least 4 different rides that I have set aside for us, so we have plenty of options.

See you at the races,

Adam