Cory Wallace made the last-minute decision to join his Kona Adventure Teammate Rebecca Fahringer at the Oregon Gravel Grinder last week. The Kona Adventure Team has a real affinity for this event, which like the Grinduro, strikes the perfect balance between party and race. I’m sure the fact that the pair finished on the podium (Cory in second and Becca in fifth) will keep them coming back.
All Photos: Wil Matthews
The Oregon Gravel Grinder is one of the coolest weeks all year we get on the bikes. Five days of gravel racing, camping, and hangouts in the Cascades. The crew at Break Away Promotions are some of the best in the industry at welcoming riders to some superbly organized events. Thank you for a great week in Oregon.
Racing wise we had some great GC battles all week with Aussie Matt Bird, American young gun Cassius Anderson, and multi-time Canadian CX champ (and finger relocation world champ) Michael van den Ham. In the end, Michael proved to be the strongest, stamping his mark on the sandy XC sections. I’d wind up second overall with a Stage win on the Queen’s stage. Happy to have made the last-minute decision to come race this rad event.
Next up seven days of mtb racing at the BC Bike Race back in the homeland – Cory Wallace
OTGG is a staple event on my calendar. This was the fourth year of the event, and my fourth as well. The first year, I won the women’s race and was in the top 10 overall. The previous two years this race was one where I participated with low expectations as I had health setbacks. This year I used the race as a testing ground for where I am. Given the last two years, I was pretty happy to find myself riding with the lead group of women for the first half of day 1. Then, it pointed uphill for a really long time. In typical stage race day 1 fashion, my body was confused and refused to cooperate. I rolled in for 6th, looking forward to four more days.
Day 2 of OTGG is net uphill, and while they hurt, I got to ride with a good friend and fellow Kona rider Brenna Wrye Simpson. We climbed all day and brought it to the line in a sprint for 5th. Of the two of us, I was the worst.
Day 3 was an Enduro with a timed uphill and downhill segment. The climb was… 8 or 9 miles. After a mile or so, I decided to try to go hard, because, why not? I was able to animate the race and take second for the climb, 20 seconds or so behind the leader. For the decent, even though there was pedaling, I kept it upright and took the win! This gave me the overall win on the day by minutes. Maybe all days should be mini-segments.
Day 4, The Queen stage! I started out slow, and just took the big climbs at my own pace. I remembered the day before when trying hard didn’t kill me and tried to feel a little discomfort. By the time the descending started, I picked off some riders and went from racing in 5-6-7th place to one of four fighting for the lead. We rode together for 10-15 miles and took it to a sprint finish, and I came 2nd place in a bike throw. And thanks to an untimely illness of a fellow competitor, I moved into 3rd in the GC!
Day 5, the final day. I started the day worried I was a bit ill, I finished it fairly sure I was a bit ill. In the middle, I tried to push the pace when I could and paid the price when I eventually had to slow down. Of my four years charging up this 9-mile climb to the finish, this year’s edition was hilariously slow, and I slipped from 3rd overall to 5th. But, it felt good knowing I left it all out there on the course.
The camp vibes were good and the racing was strong. Plus, I won cornhole, and not just like on the winning team, I sunk some bags. It was amazing. This was a good year at OTGG. – Becca Fahringer
