Looking back at D2R2

As Clay wrote about in his Farmer’s Daughter recap, gravel events can be a great reminder that there is so much more to bikes than categorized races and chasing upgrade points in pursuit of a number on your USAC license:

Categorized races are the outliers. We who strive to make Cat 2 are the weird ones. Isn’t it enough that you can go ride in a new environment, see some amazing scenery, and challenge yourself physically, mentally, and if we’re honest, emotionally?

D2R2 certainly fits this bill. From its pre-and-post ride festivities to its wide array of different distances for different riders and the fact that the entire event is held to benefit a great cause - it all adds up to something really special that doesn’t exist in any USAC race that I have participated in over the past decade. And for those that want to tackle it at pace, it can be one of the most challenging days on the bike that you’ll have all year (I certainly struggled at various points on the ride).

Perhaps D2R2, with its long history, is too difficult to replicate to ever be the future for the sport that we write about so often in the State of the Sport. Or perhaps the race focused orientation of Rasputitsa or Kanza will win the day in the next evolution of cycling events. But either way D2R2 is something special and I encourage all riders, particularly those that are more used to 5:30AM races in Central Park or Tuesday night crits at Floyd Bennett Field, to venture out to future editions.