by Kyle Platts

Spotted Horse Gravel Ultra: Short Course
150 Mile Gravel Bike Race
St. Charles, Iowa
Saturday, October 6, 2018

Sarah Cooper is certainly making a name for herself as a race director. 2018 is the third year for the Spotted Horse Gravel Ultra, and it ended up being the toughest year yet. The standard race is 200 miles, while you can opt to do the 150 mile “sprint” course.

I am relatively new to gravel cycling and ultra cycling. In 2017, I rode the 150-mile sprint course on my Specialized Fatboy. For 2018, I decided to go for the 200-mile race on my BMC CrossMachine in ultra gravel trim.

Unfortunately, a couple of mistakes and some bad luck ended my day early.

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by Katherine A. Roccasecca

Spotted Horse Gravel Ultra: Short Course
150 Mile Gravel Bike Race
St. Charles, Iowa
Saturday, October 29, 2016

The Spotted Horse Gravel Ultra is Sarah Cooper's creation. Successful as a road and gravel ultracyclist, she wanted to step into the role of race director as well. The headline race was 200 miles, and she offered a 150-mile version for those who couldn't fathom riding 200 miles of gravel and dirt roads but still wanted to push themselves to their own version of epic. For both courses she promised, "the best big hills, small towns, old barns, rickety bridges, and B roads that I can find."

I am primarily a mountain biker and had only ever done two 100-mile rides (one paved, one flat gravel, both last year) but bunches of 100K gravel rides. The 150-mile Spotted Horse Gravel Ultra felt epic yet possible, if I trained. I was the first to sign up when registration opened in May.

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