Durango’s Ruth Holcomb and Fort Lewis College’s Isaac Allred haven’t been in the gravel space long, but they certainly made an impact with their speed and skill on two wheels on Saturday.
Holcomb and Allred, like many Durango natives or Durango-based off-road riders, traveled to Emporia, Kansas, to compete in Unbound Gravel. They didn’t compete in the 200-mile race but competed in the Life Time Grand Prix’s new Under-23 division and raced the 100-mile course.
Holcomb finished second in the women’s 100 race and was the top female U-23 rider. Allred finished second in the men’s 100 race and in the men’s U-23 race.
“I'm pretty excited,” Holcomb said. “I just got into gravel racing this year. So, I wasn't really sure, and honestly, Unbound wasn't really a race I was looking forward to that much. So I'm definitely pretty happy with it.”
The Durango native finished second in the women’s 100 and first in the women’s U-23 100 in five hours, 12 minutes and 31 seconds. Tiffany Cromwell finished first in the women’s 100 in 4:59:13. Alexandra Charles finished third in 5:12:54.
Holcomb is a third-year University of California, Santa Barbara student who’s been mixing it up on two wheels the last few years. She raced mountain bikes for a long time and then switched to road racing for a year. Holcomb was then connected with Santa Cruz Bicycles and had the opportunity to join their team and race gravel.
She wasn’t very excited about racing in Kansas and wasn’t excited about what Kansas had to offer. There was also an intimidation factor with Unbound because everyone talks about how hard it is and it’s arguably the biggest gravel race in the world.
“A few years ago, it was a super muddy race; people were walking their bikes in the middle of a 100 or 200-mile race and I do not want to be doing that,” Holcomb said. “So I didn't really know what exactly I was getting into. But the roads out there are pretty amazing and the course was super cool. It ended up being one of my favorite races I've been to so far. I understand why everyone is really excited for Unbound every year now.”
It is the first year of the Life Time Grand Prix U-23 program. At 22 years old, it’s Holcomb’s last season in U-23. The Unbound 100 and the Sea Otter Classic in California were the two qualifying races for the U-23 program. Since Holcomb won the U-23 women’s Unbound race, she’s officially qualified for the rest of the Life Time Grand Prix U-23 women’s season.
Holcomb and the rest of the women’s U-23 riders will race against the Life Time women’s elite riders in the last four events, but will be scored and placed separately. The winner of the women’s U-23 standings will automatically qualify for the Life Time women’s elite field next year.
Unbound’s length, even at 100 miles and not the 200 or 350-mile race, was something new for Holcomb with her mountain biking background. She felt good early in the race and the somewhat flat and rolling terrain suited Holcomb.
Unfortunately for Holcomb, a big crash occurred right in front of her around 30 miles into the race near Divide Road. This separated Holcomb from the leading pack and gave her some more work to do.
There were about 1,800 riders in the 100-mile race, with about 1,500 men and 300 women. Holcomb said there were a lot of riders who hadn’t raced in a pack and were very aggressive, resulting in crashes.
After the crash around mile 30, Holcomb lost touch with Cromwell after following her wheel for the first part of the race. Holcomb found a groove riding with Charles and Raylyn Ness for most of the race. Charles and Ness had some issues toward the end of the race that allowed Holcomb to separate at the finish.
Next up for Holcomb is the Lost and Found Gravel Grinder race in Northern California from June 12-15.
Allred had a much more dramatic finish than Holcomb, finishing in second in 4:40:13, only one second behind the winner Hayden Christian.
“I'm super happy with it,” Allred said. “I felt really good that day and took the race into my own hands. It was really fun. I rode super hard all day and never felt like I was really on the limit.”
The Fort Lewis College student was at the front of the men’s 100 field for nearly the entire race. Allred went off the front early, around mile 15, to avoid any of the crashes early on with a large field. He was alone for about half an hour and realized he didn’t want to waste any energy, so he slowed down to allow a group to catch him. Allred then saw Christian coming up on his own. Once Christian caught him, they had a mutual agreement that they’d work together.
He and Christian separated from the rest of the field and had a three-minute gap on the rest of the field halfway through the race. Allred said the two didn’t talk a lot but they worked very well together to increase the gap to the chasers.
It came down to a sprint finish and Allred admitted that he went too early in the sprint. He and Christian had to pass some riders from different age groups near the finish and Allred thought he had to go earlier than he’d want to.
“It’s a good experience, though, because I've never really been in a position to sprint for the win like that after like 108 miles,” Allred said. “So it’s good to learn that you're not going to feel so great in this sprint.”
Allred ran 47-millimeter Specialized Pathfinders tires en route to second place. He liked the mix of speed, durability and flat protection those tires gave him on the tricky Unbound course. Allred rode the Trek Checkmate bike and felt super happy with his setup.
Like Holcomb, Allred is now a part of the Life Time Grand Prix U-23 program. He’s going to race in the Pikes Peak APEX Gravel in Colorado Springs this weekend.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
