One of the things we've concentrated on is challenging our club and elite racers to identify some of the monuments of cycling to achieve together. So often cycling can be a solitary endeavor, but we believe in using this team to build community. We are proud to have represented our cycling community at big national, adventure races like Wilmington Whiteface (2022) and Leadville (2021, 2023). This year our club decided to take on America's most famed gravel race, the 2024 SBT GRVL in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. These epic-scale races involve a year of planning and preparation.

We were proud to have Rob Beighley (Solebury Club), Chris Meacham (BMC Ride Crew), Gui Nelessen (BMC Ride Crew), Pete Smith (Doylestown), Zack Repp (PSU/Instigators), and Steve Schwarz (Doylestown) race the SBT GRVL Black Course (125.4 miles, 10.5k vertical feet, 80% gravel road). We were fortunate to have UCI/USA Cycling Pro Team Mechanic Dan Turner on hand for support. Reigning gravel racing national champions Keegan Swenson and Lauren Hunter went on to win the race and you can read about that here.

A great result in that all the guys finished the grueling course. Gui was the fastest finishing in 7:34.54 (14/110 in Men's 40-49) with teammate Steve Schwarz just four minutes and four spots behind him in the age standings. Zack Repp overcame some mechanicals to finish in 8:11.25 (35/119 in Men's 30-39). Chris Meacham was 8:24.41 and 19/46 in the competitive Men's 19-29 age group. Pete Smith was 9:09.18 (41/99 Men's 50-59) and Rob Beighley was 10:06.22 (19/27 in Men's 60-69). Full Results here.

One week before SBT GRVL, Steve Schwarz turned in a sub-9-hour result at the Leadville 100 MTB in Leadville, Colorado. Traditionally, Leadville and Steamboat happened on the same weekend. Those who completed both were "Leadboat" completers and got fancy denim shorts for the accomplishment. While the races are a week apart today, we count Steve as our first "Leadboater." Chapeau Steve!