Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder - What is it and who’s racing?
Five day stage race begins Wednesday in Bend, Oregon
Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder (June 25-29) serves a few roles on the professional racing calendar.
In one respect, it’s become one of the foremost gravel stage races in the North American scene. All of the biggest gravel races are one day races, but Oregon Trail offers a five day test for racers who want to test themselves in the stage race format. It’s also part of the Gravel Earth Series, attracting top talent looking for a competitive June race to target or to get points in the GES overall.
This year, the race is also a springboard for riders looking to kick start the rest of their seasons. Both Payson McElveen and Michaela Thompson are racing in bids to come back from injuries. Neither racer raced at Unbound Gravel, instead opting to contest Oregon Trail on their way to the Leadville Trail 100 later this summer.
Before looking at the rest of the contenders, here’s a peek at the course. Click the links to see the GPS tracks.
Course details
Stage 1 - Bend to Gilchrist - 80 miles and 4,457’ climbing
Stage 2 - Gilchrist to Oakridge - 95 miles and 4,818’ climbing
Stage 3 - Oakridge to Oakridge - 25 miles and 3,090’ climbing (enduro format with individual timed segments)
Stage 4 - Oakridge to McKenzie - 87 miles and 8,848’ climbing
Stage 5 - McKenzie to Bend - 76 miles and 8,626’ climbing
Who’s racing?
While the pro/elite fields are relatively small, they are stacked with talent.
In the women’s field, former winners Cecile Lejeune, Sofia Gomez Villafane, and Sarah Sturm will be in attendance. In addition to winning, Sturm has also placed on the podium here. Another multi-time podium finisher is Bend, Oregon’s own Serena Gordon who has placed second three times on her home turf. Rebecca Fahringer is also an Oregon local who won the very first edition of the race in 2019. In addition to Thompson, Danni Shrosbree is also in attendance after sitting out Unbound.
The men’s field will be headlined by none other than Unbound Gravel winner Cam Jones. He’ll be joined by former winner Michael van den Ham, as well as former podium finishers Griffin Easter, Cory Wallace, and Unbound XL winner Rob Britton. The fields are packed with Americans and Canadians, but Mattia de Marchi is holding it down for the Euros. Substackers Joe Laverick and Chris Mehlman are also lining up.
Follow along on the Oregon Trail and Gravel Earth social media accounts, and I’m sure all the racers will be posting content as well. Tune back in to Ryan MTB for relevant race updates.
See u on Wednesday m8