Iowa’s 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Ride Throws Riders for a Challenging Loop

by Dave Mable

Minneapolis, Minnesota sits about 250 miles north of Des Moines, Iowa. Very few residents of Central Iowa find themselves saying, “Hey, I want to ride there.” The direct route on Interstate 35 would be a long ride, but make it gravel, hilly gravel at that, and that’s just crazy talk.

But that’s exactly what the participants in the 24 Hours of Cumming gravel race were up against. 400 kilometers (248-miles) of hilly, powdery-dry, rocky South-Central Iowa gravel.

The race starts and finishes in Cumming, Iowa, just south of Des Moines. Most out-of-staters believe Iowa is flat, with their only perspective of the state coming from a drive through on I-80 or I-35. Southern Iowa, however, was untouched by the latest glacial epoch and features a constant undulation of steep climbs and winding valleys.

Riders head out for one of the four 100K loops at the 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Steve Cannon, author, motivational speaker and 24 Hours of Cumming race founder, said he hopes the race serves as a chance for people to push themselves beyond their limits on those Southern Iowa hills.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself, pushing into uncomfortable distances,” said Cannon, who has run around Lake Michigan, completed 40 marathons in 40 days and this past winter completed the 350-mile Iditarod Trail Invitational on a fat bike. “Longer distances give you the opportunity to learn a little bit about yourself, maybe find some parts of yourself you didn’t know you had. For anybody who’s ridden gravel, especially Central and Southern Iowa gravel, this is no joke.”

A Rather Loopy Ride

The 24-Hour of Cumming race is a little different than its now-defunct (RIP) 340-mile cousin Trans Iowa. Instead of one giant loop, the course has four different 100-kilometer loops that all begin and end in Cumming.

“The first 100K loop is one of the easier of the four, and it’s still over 3,000 feet of climbing,” said Cannon. “It’s not so much that there are big, giant hills out there, but they just don’t stop.”

With an 11:00 a.m. start and a finish time expected to be between 16 and 20 hours, riders face the challenge of tackling the gravel hills through the night.

“At any length, it’s going to give you a test, and the 400K route is a different breed,” he continued, “That’s 248 miles. You’re going to be riding until at least three or four in the morning, so the “bad people” are going to come to visit. You’re going to learn plenty about how you handle adversity and this is a great place to do it.”

As the solo riders in the 400k roll out on an overcast late morning, they are accompanied by riders in the 2 and 4-person team races, who will each complete one of the 100K loops before handing off to the next person on their team, and can, therefore, maintain a quicker pace than the solo riders.

Shawn Omara was the last rider to finish the 400K in under 24 hours. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

The “Bad” People Are Coming

“[It was important to] ride conservatively early on,” reflected Adrienne Taren of Tulsa, Oklahoma, one of the lone women competitors who was sitting second overall after 200K. “My legs actually felt better on leg three than they did on leg two. Iowa is basically a series of endless hills and you could blow yourself up smashing them in the first leg. It’s a little hard to set ego aside and let the relay folks take off without you, but I had some quality me-time and rolled a nice steady pace.”

The dry, dusty hills and distance eventually caught up with Taren as she neared the 300K mark.

“It was super-dry out there, and I went through fluids much faster than anticipated,” said Taren. “Most of the solo guys out there with me also ran dry. I sat and drank a lot in between laps two and three, but I felt kind of nauseated going back out. It became really nauseated with some roadside dry-heaving. I couldn’t get anything in me from 1 to 4 a.m. and rode the last 20 miles of lap three very slowly.”

Adrienne Taren was the sole female to try the 400K race. She nearly finished the grueling ride. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

As Cannon suggested, the bad people would come to try and pry you off your bike, but Taren fought them off, at least for a bit.

“I was pretty convinced I wasn’t going to be able to go back out for the last lap,” she said. “I laid in the grass [in transition] for almost two hours. I eventually drank a quart of chicken broth and ate a bag of potato chips, said $%^& it and rolled back out to see how far I would make it.”

A couple of hours of riding and Taren would call it, having done as much as she could do.

“I went another 30 miles total and was glad I did,” said Taren. “Some of the prettiest scenery was in those miles. I felt done and at peace with it at that point so I rolled back in on the bike trail.”

A Tough Last 100K

Meanwhile, the men’s solo leader was struggling up and down the steep inclines of the final 100K loop. After clocking three loops in approximately four hours each, the last 100K took Lucas Barloon of Decorah, Iowa, nearly double that.

“Lap four had quite a few steep inclines and a strong south wind,” sad Barloon. “After tackling the afternoon heat in lap two, I was feeling pretty exhausted physically and mentally. I knew it was going to be tough to maintain my current pace, especially during lap four.”

Fortunately, Barloon caught a second wind as the sun set as he left for his third loop. Even with the constant hills he was able to maintain his 14-15 mph pace through 184 miles but slowed during the final loop as he worked to keep his cadence steady and reserve some gas for the final stretch to the finish.

“My focus on lap four was to maintain a steady cadence so I wouldn’t blow up on the climbs,” he said. “I wanted to finish the race strong, once the soul-sucking climbs were no more. I wanted to enjoy a sunrise finish, but got to enjoy a view of a large storm front rolling in with strong northwest winds that followed as I rolled into the finish.”

Once the hills were behind him, Barloon fought the gusty headwinds to roll across the line as the first solo finisher shortly after 6 a.m. for a 19:17:47 400K ride.

400K winner Lucas Barloon at 6 a.m. after his win. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Kevin Ehrlich of Dubuque, Iowa, finished second about an hour and a half behind (20:42:32) and Joseph Frost of Rockford, Illinois finished third some eight seconds later (20:42:40).

Marc Bigsby of Rochester, Minnesota and Shawn Omara of Emporia, Kansas were only other solo riders to finish within the 24-hour limit (22:41:12 and 23:48:25 respectively). Jim Koziol of Omaha, Nebraska, was the only competitor to challenge the punchy Iowa hills on a single speed and completed three of the four laps before calling it done.

“Like many others I know, when it comes to cycling, gravel riding has become a huge addiction, and I enjoy pushing my limits,” Barloon said about why he wanted to take the 400K challenge.

Race results are below.

Notes:

Only 5 of the 12 registered were able to finish the 400K. Sixty-seven of the 69 starters finished the 100K race (Lisa Vetterlein and Luke Wilson winning the women’s and men’s respectively). Sixteen of 34 finished the 200K race, which was won by Cory Smith and Heather Poskevich.

The 400k winner’s bike was a 2018 Trek Boone Disc with a 1×11 SRAM Force 1 drivetrain. Forty-tooth front with an 11-36t cassette. Paradigm Elite wheels and Schwalbe G-One Allround 35mm tires.

Luke Wilson, winner of the 100K, is the first winner of all three distances, the 400K, 200K and now 100K. Wilson began with hopes of maintaining a 20+ mph average speed to break the three-hour mark but fell short when gusty south winds pushed back on him for the first half of the race. Wilson finished with an 18+ mph average in 3 hours and 18 minutes.

Luke Wilson is the only person to win all three 24 Hours of Cumming distances. 24 Hours of Cumming Gravel Race. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

400K Results: 24 Hours of Cumming

200K Results: 24 Hours of Cumming

100K Results: 24 Hours of Cumming