Header image courtesy of Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Adam Lapierre

The Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder first arrived on the gravel race scene in 2019. It offered riders multi-day gravel racing through stunning scenery, but also a ‘full service’ experience where the organisers take the strain and all the participants need to “is ride.” Jorge Padrones headed out to Oregon earlier this year and sent in this fantastic ride report of his experience.

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Wil Mathews

When I first heard about this race it sounded to me like a fantastic adventure – participants follow some of the trails the pioneers took originally in Oregon. We would be racing in one of the best gravel stage races in the world in a unique environment. 

Also, this year the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder race is part of the Gravel Earth series gravel races, which meant the race had many of the best worldwide gravel riders on the start line. Still, this event is not just about racing - there are different courses and modes to suit everybody.

The trip to Bend, a beautiful midsize city where the race starts, is easy, with some major airports not far away and a small one very close for connections. In my case, I chose to fly to San Francisco and then make a beautiful eight-hour road trip and combine it with some days in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

While we were travelling to Bend, we could tell we were going to have a scenic journey as we traversed endless forests, pristine rivers and beautiful lakes.

Registration day is the day in which, after going for a spin to stretch the legs, we met a lot of friends from other races. There is starting to be a good-sized community attending the Gravel Earth series events. You can often find the same faces regardless of the country or the continent. 

Registration went smoothly and we got some nice surprises on our welcome kit. Everyone received a thermal mug so that our coffee did not get cold in the morning and our drinks did not get warm in the evenings, while also reducing the quantity of cups discarded at the event. Also, we were provided with a big plastic box in which we had to put everything that we were going to take from camp to camp. This giant box was going to be our luggage for the next five days.

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Wil Mathews

Wednesday morning arrived with nice weather, not too hot nor too cold. We had mild temperatures always around the 20 degrees as we got ready for our first stage. A total of 120 kms with only 900m of climbing but what in the end was a tough stage as it was so fast. We also faced some sandy terrain that made it harder, having to put extra watts through our pedals to keep our momentum up.

In this event there are two start batches. The first batch depart one hour earlier for those who would like some more time to complete the course or who signed up for the “settlers” option, which has shorter courses. For the rest of us, there was a nice 10.30am start on the first day - something not usual in races and that gave us some extra sleeping time. 

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Adam Lapierre

We finished the first stage in the first camp in the middle of a forest. It was a beautiful setup in a secluded area making us feel in full contact with the nature. 

There are several accommodation options - you can bring your own tent to camp, the organisation can provide you with a tent, there is a mobile home area also if you wish and I guess you could also find accommodation in the villages close to the camps. In any case do not forget some type of mattress as I did! Luckily, a nearby dollar shop helped me to fix my problem.

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Wil Mathews

Day Two was another big day - 160 kms with almost 3000 meters accumulated elevation, but this time also lots of descent! While the climbing was only 1500 meters. the terrain was faster and we started to get to know the Oregon gravel - fast, smooth and sometimes too loose for the really fast descents where you could pass easily the 60 km/h mark.

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Wil Mathews

We were getting deeper into the forest and the mountains, the landscape getting more and more beautiful. We started to see even some snow patches on the sides of the track and passed close to snow topped peaks. It was difficult to race and not lift your head up to enjoy the views and enjoy the feeling of freedom that you can experience with your gravel bike in such environments. 

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Wil Mathews

Our next camp was a gem, just beside a clear and cold mountain river. When I say cold, I mean really cold but it at least provided good relief to our sore legs. 

The evenings, after a well-sorted dinner where we could refill our tanks with nice and abundant food cooked on the spot, also had a social side. There was a bar where we could have a drink while relaxing and sharing the race stories with other fellow riders and a ceremony for the stage and KOM/QOM winners. A very informal and funny ceremony that congregated the participants around to have a laugh and share the moment. In fact, the KOM/QOM for the day were dressed up as real kings or queens on the podium making it very funny. 

Something I really love about gravel events is the atmosphere - relaxed and nice, where everybody is looking forward to sharing experiences and enjoying the moment. You can chill out with the pros around and the Oregon Trail was a perfect example of this.

The evening of Day Two was a bit longer as the next day was a short day with a late start. It was time trial day with only 60 km in total, but with three timed segments included. There was a flat segment comprising a technical single track, a climb segment and a descent segment. Riders’ times were created from an amalgamation of their times for the three segments. The single track and the descent were especially fun. For the descent, the Oregon trail team had re-conditioned an old, abandoned dirt road and made it cyclable. You could find everything from fast gravel to single track sections on the same descent through a beautiful forest. 

Oregon Trail Gravel GrinderWil Mathews

These types of details and some others on the route made you realise that this was not a readymade race, but a “boutique” hand crafted one.

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Wil Mathews

The Queen stage was set for Day Four. It is always an interesting proposition when races leave the hardest stages for the last days, making rider endurance a critical requirement for riders looking for podium placings. Most of us tend to start harder than we should in races and are struggling during the last stages. If the hardest stages are scheduled for the end of the race, this feeling of struggling is even more palpable. In my case, I had planned to save some energy during the first few days, so that I could arrive fresh to the last two stages, a plan that, as usual, did not work! I always try to plan like this, but the stamina of the competition makes me forget and go hard from the start, but in the end, that’s why we are here - to enjoy the experience.

The Queen stage was really hard - two big climbs of more than 20 km were on the menu with almost the totality of the 3000 elevation meters completed in the first 70 km. These climbs left us with beautiful pictures imbedded on our retinas, while we needed all the attention on the fast descents. If you wanted to go fast on these loose gravel trails, you needed to concentrate as though the road was covered in ice and you were skating down them.

Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder/Wil Mathews

The last stage started, after the powerful breakfast that we had every morning, which included multiple options and nice fresh coffee. This time we started a bit later as we had to take a shuttle to the start of the stage. When I said this is a crafted stage race you can see it in the details like this. The organisation took all the hassle of moving hundreds of people in buses because they wanted us to follow a particular route, so they made sure we enjoyed the ride. 

The race finished with a prize ceremony at the Bend University, where we were spoiled with a nice restaurant buffet to recover after five long and challenging days of racing, long but beautiful.

Oregon Trail Gravel GrinderAdam Lapierre

I would encourage anyone thinking of attending this race to try and save some holiday days after the race to get to know more the area in which it is held. The states of Oregon and California, with their unique national parks, are some of the most beautiful parts of the world 

The Oregon Trail Gravel grinder, a race in which we shared part of the course with the original route that the pioneers used to first explore this area. We faced some of the challenges they faced – tough climbs, sand and heat, but also, we were able to see all the beauty of the new land in which they decided to settle. Without any doubt, it was a big adventure.