Wow, that’s a lot of “Rs” in that post title, eh? WSI Cycling was represented (yeah, another R) at the 2018 Melting Man as we are all anxiously awaiting the warm weather that hopefully is just around the corner. Kudos to Dan and Matt for their hard work! Enjoy the reports…

Dan Frayer

I spent the week leading up to race #2 of the Michigan Gravel Race Series moving my family from Galesburg to Kalamazoo. Many late nights and several hours of manual labor on Saturday kept Sunday’s result in question.

With limited prep time (Had not touched, let alone maintained by gravel bike since Waterloo) I had no front brake, a dirty drivetrain and a few un-identified gritty sounds coming from the metal warship. This did not add to my race-day confidence.

Instead of bailing on the race, I made the decision to eat an entire pizza the night before, drink an extra espresso shot on race day and see what would happen.

Raging speed happened.

I fell off the lead group quickly and settled with a small group of stragglers. A guy with a drop bar fat bike, a 62-year-old beast and a couple guys in my age group. We lost the fat biker in the last pavement miles but stayed close to the finish line.

28/203 total racers.
9/29 in my age group.

Matt Wright

Vandalia, MI was 30 degrees and windy on March 25th for this race. I competed in the 24-mile event, they also offer a 35-mile route. The roads were in perfect condition for riding; hard packed and smooth. I was able to hang on to the lead pack from the start for the first 3 miles, then got dropped on one of the hills.

I averaged 14.79 MPH and finished in 1:37:22. This is always a fun and well-organized event. They had sub sandwiches and beer at the after party, a welcome treat after a great ride.