Quail Run Gravel Grinder

Saturday was a great day to be on a bicycle. Knowing that the gravel around Owensville is always a blast, i threw my bike on top of my car and went to meet Corey for a good day of riding. We jumped on our bikes at his house and took off for the not so bland town, Bland. On our way, we couldn't seem to get out of the wind. We took turns pulling until we found oursevles at Praire Star Restoration Farm. We met up with everybody that was going on the ride, and listened to Randazzle talk about the course and warn us of a section that was completely submerged in water (thank you Adam Hempleman for finding that out the hard way). We then gathered for a group picture before heading out to conquer some gravel.

There were a couple different options as far as route distance (short, medium, and long at a respective 20, 27, and 40 miles). Adam and his friend Keith still hadn't made it back to the Farm by time the group was leaving. Corey and i found ourselves being the lone soldiers on the long route. We passed some fields that were unbelievably green, and found ourselves grinding up some pretty massive hills. We eventually found oursevles in Mt. Sterling. Randy had mentioned the sandwitches there, as well as Corey, and i decided i had to try one of these things. Corey and i bought a powerade, monster, sprite, and two sandwitches for less than $10, and the sandwitches were stackked with meat. After more than filling ourselves with those delicious sandwitches, we headed back toward the farm. The country out there was beautiful. Near the end of the ride, Corey and I came up on a couple of the riders that were doing the shorter route after we connected back in and nearly scared them to death. We got back to the barn and realized that we were the first ones in. The two women we had just passed soon came walking up the hill to the farm. Corey offered them a couple awesome beers (or so i've heard) from our new sponsor, Tall Grass Brewing Company.
(sorry i couldn't flip the pic. apparantly since i didn't take it, i can't edit it)

Adam and Keith returned after taking a tour of the farm, and grabbed a couple cold ones. They deserved it. Four flats on the day for those two.

People started getting back, and the food hit the tables. The owner of Praire Star Restoration Farm, Bruce Sassmann, cooked up some brauts and burgers for the group of riders. The food was great.

(here is Randazzle from a side view in case you haven't seen that before)

The place was really cool. He restored his barn, and the property surrounding it. In the upstairs of the barn is a dance hall that has been done up extremely well and looks amazing. Bruce was even kind enough to grab a couple shot guns and let us shoot some skeet. We need to get Nick and his band out there sometime to play some bluegrass.

A big thanks to Tallgrass Brewing Company for the sponsorship and to Bruce for the use of his farm.

Comments

[Stoney]

I'm curious as to why you say that since you didn't take the pic, you can't flip it. Are you concerned about getting sued if you save the file to your computer, open it in Photoshop or MS Paint, and rotate it without permission?

Other than that, nice write-up. I saw photos on STL Biking that showed a few TRW racers at Lost Valley. How did that go?

[turbo]

I did save it and tried to rotate it, but it wouldn't let me. I just didn't take the time to try to figure it out.
Lost Valley went pretty well. The singletrack is awesome there, it's just that there was a lot of double track too. I had a great time. As far as the race went, i know that Nathan won his junior class race. I'm not sure how Joe did, and i heard that peat was there, but didn't get a chance to talk to him. i was having trouble keeping up with everybody cause my singlespeed just wasn't cutting it on all that double track. i also flatted on lap 2.

[Peat]

I was at Lost Valley. Got destroyed in the marathon race. Can't believe I missed you, Turbo. Awesome race. The trails were dry and fast for the most part. I saw Nathan and Joe. Had to leave right after the race so I skipped the food and beer.

[turbo]

i'm plannin on getting a pretty big ride in on friday if anybody else is off and wants to ride.