07/28/2017
Galena Grinder is tomorrow. In case you need a reminder of how good this race has become, here is last year's race report!
Galena Lodge Hosts World Class Mountain Bike Race
I’ve done a huge amount of mountain bike races over the last 15 years. There are good races and OK races, but every once in a while there’s a race that astounds you. The 2016 Galena Grinder provided the kind of mtb ecstasy where you realize it can’t get better – it can get different – but it can’t get better. That’s how I can say this is a World Class Mountain Bike Race.
Many locals of the Wood River Valley have some experience with the Galena Grinder – an annual race with options for a 13, 25 or 40 mile course. Historically it’s been a combination of wrist shattering, brake locking downhills combined with lung busting double track climbs. But something remarkable has happened over the last few years – Galena Lodge in conjunction with IMBA, the BCRD, and the Forest Service (forgive me if I got that wrong) has revamped their trails into a bike-specific Valhalla and this year’s Grinder served up a greatest hits.
I raced the single lap today with the motto “1 is fun.” Having raced the “double” three times in the past I know how hard it is. But this is no longer the Galena Grinder of yesterday. Today we rode double-track for the first mile to thin the field before spending the majority of the day on perfect single-track, with banked turns, good climbing gradients, optional jumps, swoops, turns.
Think gnar. Stoke. Powder day. It doesn’t get better, it only gets different.
OK – we still raced that climb, “horsefly hill.” A veritable Hors Categorie (HC) struggle where granny gears feel like big rings, and legs cramp and most people walk. But if that hill was eliminated we’d have to change the name to the Galena Roller-Coaster. Plus it builds character or something like that.
Team Elephant’s Perch had strong showings by Roger Mankus in the 40 mile, and John Reuter, Gus T. F. Gibbs, Liv Jenson, and Karoline Droege in the 25 mile. Many of our friends with Sturtevants - Limelight Hotel Cycling Team came out too.
This race deserves a place on the map. It’s worth a long drive or a plane ride because there’s not many opportunities to race several hours of perfect bike-specific single-track in the beautiful Idaho Rockies, with a small town atmosphere, get a great meal and a craft beer. I urge you to file away your old memories of this race, and we’ll see you in 2017!
John Reuter
