Last month some of TBD’s newest riders, Tom and Greg, took a leisurely drive up to Thompson, CT, where they took part in one of this year’s earliest gravel events: The Natchaug Epic. For Greg, this served as an initial shakeout for several big gravel events on his calendar this year including The Farmer’s Daughter, Unbound, SBT, and Big Sugar. For Tom, this was his first gravel race, and he was excited to test out his new Reserve 40|44 wheelset which had been registered for warranty less than 24 hours before the race. Below Tom and Greg recount their experiences.

Greg: This was my second year riding in the Natchaug Epic, and it was a hoot. The course is 83 miles with 5 timed segments, and your result is the sum of your time across the 5 segments. Prior editions of Natchaug had riders starting in small waves, but this year the entire field started together at promptly 9:00am. This meant that a group of 200+ riders was all vying for a good position heading into the first timed segment, which was just 2.7 miles from the start.

Dubbed “Le Cuisinart,” the first timed segment was a muddy mess and potentially the most fun of the day. It was some hairy jeep track with deep puddles and wet roots and rocks. I definitely took a few gutsy lines to claw my way up toward the front, and was grateful to be riding tire inserts as I bottomed out a tire at least once in the mayhem.

Tom: The first segment was the most memorable because it was utter pandemonium heading through jeep tracks with that many riders around you. Afterwards though the race quickly thinned out and Greg and I found ourselves in some large and fast pacelines which made knocking out the 20 miles between segment 1 and 2 a breeze. We also joined up with Greg’s friend from Boston, Asa, at this point. The second segment was the longest, around 3 miles. Greg, Asa, and I went through it together taking some pulls and then eventually just racing each other. Again after this segment we found our way into a large paceline and were able to make it to the third (45.8 miles in) without doing too much work. The third segment is a rocky and technical descent. No choice but to send it!

Greg: Between the third and fourth segments we lost Asa to some bad cramps. Tom and I put in work to find and rally a small group of riders, which came together as a productive squad. We whittled down the road miles together and realized that it was going to be harder than we’d initially thought to make the 3:00pm time cut for the day. Tom and I started stepping on the gas a bit more heading into the fourth segment, at which point the group broke apart.

That fourth segment was the hardest for me. My legs felt truly empty as I tried my best to race up the wet, technical climbs with deep puddles. I bottomed out my rear tire twice and was once again grateful for tire inserts, and did my best to refuel with my remaining gels when I crossed the timing mat at the end of the segment. At this point, with much of the day behind us, Tom and I sat up and licked our wounds a bit before returning to an all-business approach of marching toward the finish with two other riders.

The fifth and final segment was a dirt road that turned to pavement and led to a finish line at the Thompson Speedway. It was fast enough that I knew it’d be beneficial to be in a large group, so I reluctantly put in an effort to ride ahead alone in hopes of catching a large team that I knew was up the road. I caught them, and had about 1.5 miles with them to catch my breath before we hit the fifth segment. I had just enough legs left to come around them and ride away as we approached the finish, and was relieved to have a day that’d gone mostly according to plan.

Tom: After the fourth segment, I was really starting to feel it. Somewhere inside of 10 miles to go I lost Greg’s wheel, and I distinctly remember looking at my Garmin realizing I had 7.5 miles left and 30 minutes until 3p. There’s a couple of punchy, albeit short, climbs towards the end, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to maintain a 15mph avg to finish in time to be scored. At the same time, I was grateful to have made it to this point without any flats, mechanicals, crashes, etc. The weather that day was perfect, and I had spent all day riding my bike through scenic countryside and quaint New England towns. My lungs were full of fresh air. Not a single Sunday Scary could occupy my brain. Regardless of results, I was a happy camper. Before I knew it, I was rolling over the start to final segment of the day. I emptied the tank, and crossed the finish line at 2:59p.

After the race, we cleaned our bikes the best we could before loading them in the car and heading up to the Thompson Speedway Restaurant. There, we met up with Asa and a few other friends of Greg’s from Boston. We traded war stories on the day, watched the podium ceremonies, and ate some chili. All in all - it was a great first experience in gravel racing and I would easily do it again next year! If you find yourself in Connecticut’s “Quiet Corner”, here’s a link to the Epic’s route.