Three weeks before my first gravel race, everything went sideways. I got super sick—bad enough for two urgent care visits in two weeks—and didn’t touch my bike that whole time. Then, with just one week to go, I went out for a light spin and managed to snap my derailleur. Awesome. So my bike sat in the shop the entire week leading up to the race.

I finally picked it up literally 24 hours before hitting the road for race day.

And of course, I didn’t pack right. It was 55°F with 15–25 mph wind gusts, and there I was, dressed like it was summer. Not ideal. But once the race started, things turned around.

Thanks to a beautiful tailwind, I was flying—hit 38 mph on flat gravel (shoutout to the wind gods). But the joyride didn’t last long. That same wind turned into a brutal headwind, and I was crawling along at 8 mph for the next eight miles. Still, I pushed through and ended up snagging 4th place in my age group.

All in all? A crazy lead-up, but an awesome day on the bike. Already counting down to next year’s race—hopefully with fewer curveballs.