I’ve had Grinduro Canada on my race calendar all year, with a very big asterisk next to it, not knowing if I’d be allowed into Canada. A few weeks before the event, the border opened for fully vaccinated U.S. citizens traveling to Canada. I’ve been in Vermont this Summer spending time with family and enjoying the East Coast gravel scene, so making the 6-hour drive up to northern Quebec was an easy decision, I was in!

For me it was a great opportunity to visit the area close to my bike sponsor HQ- Devinci, to see some Canadian friends and check out a new Grinduro location. I packed up my van and headed north with my gravel bike, my waffle maker, coffee setup, passport, vaccine card and a negative covid test- all of the essentials these days.

So why do I love Grinduro so much? There’s a few main reasons these events are at the top of my list:

1. The race format. Racing timed segments within a longer course vs. racing for overall time makes for a really fun event. Within the same event you can have an intense race for those who want it, while still maintaining the fun, inclusive aspect of gravel. Those of us who just can’t help themselves and get caught up in the racing aspect can get that out of the way on the timed segments and truly relax and enjoy the rest of the ride! I love how you’re able to dig deep on a few key segments but still ride with friends in between. This takes the stress of “I can’t even stop for water/ snacks or I might get dropped” out of the equation. This has become one of my least favorite parts of racing grave- I wish we could just all agree to stop for a second and refuel, without worrying about getting dropped. The segment racing makes the whole ride more approachable and more fun.

2. The vibes. These events are set up with fun in mind- camping, food, beer, expo, music, the volunteers, the photo booth, the river… All of these things play into the good vibes at Grinduro and it’s clear the organizers and sponsors put a lot of effort into setting up and sourcing local vendors. The locations are also super unique (from what I can tell in California & Canada). They aren’t the easiest to get to, but they are special places that are 100% worth the drive. The topography of the region we went to for the Canada edition was created by a meteorite that struck the area 350 million years ago- not sure if it gets much more unique than that?!

The Canadian edition of Grinduro lived up to all my expectations. It felt really similar to the California Grinduro that I’ve come to love, just a much smaller version and a bit more French! The segments/course were mapped in kilometers, with climbs in meters. This had me all sorts of confused - the first segment was longer and more climbing than I thought and the 2nd segment was much shorter - my brain was having a hard time with the metric system while also trying to ride hard.

Kilometers aside, we enjoyed a day full of riding with friends in a neat new zone, a bit of gravel racing, followed by cold beers, a river dip and delicious local food - hard to top that!

For the bike nerds out there, I rode my Devinci Cycles Hatchet gravel bike with Shimano GRX- 2x drivetrain. I rode Schwalbe G-One Bite, tubeless 40mm width, mounted on my EC90 AX wheelset with about 30 PSI front/ 32 rear. It was ideal for the many miles of sand, loose gravel, grass and the singletrack mountain bike trail descent that we ended the day with!

I’ve had Grinduro Canada on my race calendar all year, with a very big asterisk next to it, not knowing if I’d be allowed into Canada. A few weeks before the event, the border opened for fully vaccinated U.S. citizens traveling to Canada. I’ve been in Vermont this Summer spending time with family and enjoying the East Coast gravel scene, so making the 6-hour drive up to northern Quebec was an easy decision, I was in!

For me it was a great opportunity to visit the area close to my bike sponsor HQ- Devinci, to see some Canadian friends and check out a new Grinduro location. I packed up my van and headed north with my gravel bike, my waffle maker, coffee setup, passport, vaccine card and a negative covid test- all of the essentials these days.

So why do I love Grinduro so much? There’s a few main reasons these events are at the top of my list:

1. The race format. Racing timed segments within a longer course vs. racing for overall time makes for a really fun event. Within the same event you can have an intense race for those who want it, while still maintaining the fun, inclusive aspect of gravel. Those of us who just can’t help themselves and get caught up in the racing aspect can get that out of the way on the timed segments and truly relax and enjoy the rest of the ride! I love how you’re able to dig deep on a few key segments but still ride with friends in between. This takes the stress of “I can’t even stop for water/ snacks or I might get dropped” out of the equation. This has become one of my least favorite parts of racing grave- I wish we could just all agree to stop for a second and refuel, without worrying about getting dropped. The segment racing makes the whole ride more approachable and more fun.

2. The vibes. These events are set up with fun in mind- camping, food, beer, expo, music, the volunteers, the photo booth, the river… All of these things play into the good vibes at Grinduro and it’s clear the organizers and sponsors put a lot of effort into setting up and sourcing local vendors. The locations are also super unique (from what I can tell in California & Canada). They aren’t the easiest to get to, but they are special places that are 100% worth the drive. The topography of the region we went to for the Canada edition was created by a meteorite that struck the area 350 million years ago- not sure if it gets much more unique than that?!

The Canadian edition of Grinduro lived up to all my expectations. It felt really similar to the California Grinduro that I’ve come to love, just a much smaller version and a bit more French! The segments/course were mapped in kilometers, with climbs in meters. This had me all sorts of confused - the first segment was longer and more climbing than I thought and the 2nd segment was much shorter - my brain was having a hard time with the metric system while also trying to ride hard.

Kilometers aside, we enjoyed a day full of riding with friends in a neat new zone, a bit of gravel racing, followed by cold beers, a river dip and delicious local food - hard to top that!

For the bike nerds out there, I rode my Devinci Cycles Hatchet gravel bike with Shimano GRX- 2x drivetrain. I rode Schwalbe G-One Bite, tubeless 40mm width, mounted on my EC90 AX wheelset with about 30 PSI front/ 32 rear. It was ideal for the many miles of sand, loose gravel, grass and the singletrack mountain bike trail descent that we ended the day with!