Bike races are hard. Fun, but hard.
So hard it took me almost a whole month to write this post – but hey, we’re here now so better late than never.
If you’re just joining us, I biked the Black Fly Challenge in June. It’s a 40-mile gravel race that traverses the Adironacks in upstate New York. It was my first bike race and I was eager (and a bit unsure) about how things would play out.
If you’re curious, too, let’s dive in. If you’re not, please kindly click five more links on this page to boost my engagement rates, thx!
About The Black Fly Challenge
This year, the Black Fly Challenge began in Inlet, NY and and finished in (don’t cancel me) Indian Lake. I learned that the race actually reverses each year. So, in 2025, it will go from Indian Lake to Inlet. Keep note of that folks, it’ll be important later.
Inlet is a beautiful little mountain town. It reminded me of Big Fork, Montana, home of the Flathead Monster. The town is situated deep in the woods, but has some great mountain views and scenic lakes.
The race began around 11am and I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride via the Pedaling4Pups caravan (AKA my girlfriend’s dad’s truck – thanks, Andy). My ride partner was the one and only Rich Wagner, a seasoned Black Fly racer who gave me low-down on the course. We had about 3 miles of road to start, then 30 miles of rolling gravel, and about 7 miles of road to finish. I was thrilled to hear there was any pavement at all, since I know how difficult some trails are to ride on when they’re not maintained.
The rain had also come down hard the night before so Rich and I were concerned that some of the gravel road may have been washed out. With dozens of riders to compete with, that could lead to a few collisions if we weren’t careful. Good thing I never crash, right?
Off to the Races
When we got to the starting line we went all the to back of the crowd. I told Rich I wanted to pick off the entire race one by one. What I really meant was that I didn’t want to slow down anyone or cause a major crash right out of the gate.
There were over a thousand riders in this race, so being in the middle of this crowd tested your ability to keep the bike straight and at a slow speed. Even when the race started, it took me a good 4-5 minutes to make it out of the starting blocks.
Look, you can see me if you look really close in the back:
If this is like a cruel game of “Where’s Waldo” here’s what it looked like from the back:
And, here’s a dog I saw right before we pushed off:
The Black Challenge is really fun.
The first 15 miles of this race was really fun. While I lost my riding buddy, I got to swerve my way through a sea of bikes and riders. Since my bike was a little lighter (and turns out not illegal!) I had a much easier time cruising up the hills especially on the firm pavement.
When I hit gravel, I was surprised at how packed down the road was. It was better than most of the roads on the Great Divide. And, there were no massive hills like in Montana or New Mexico. It was like a roller coaster of trail that went up and down for miles. There were no views or puppies to greet me along the way, but I wasn’t complaining about the quality of the road.
This was the fun part of the race. When I had energy, music, and plenty of snacks to keep me company. And then, well, the black flies start to bite – literally.
The Black Challenge is not so fun.
About 20 miles into the race, I ate a bug. It was a small bug, but I definitely ate a bug. Then another caught me in the eye.
Not worries, I put on my sunglasses – and that’s when the rain came. Now I can’t see, I’m on a bike, and I’m eating bugs. I’d say things are looking up.
Luckily, the bugs were the least of my issue. They actually wen’t back to their hiding spots once the rain picked up. And, the rain kept me cool. The road was holding up and the trees protected me from the wind. Overall, this definitely could be worse.
How could it get any worse?
No, not giant paint bubble. But, giant pain in my legs.
Slowly but surely my legs gave way. And, around mile 25, nature called. I got off the bike, and I could barely move. My legs felt like they weighed 100lbs each – and I still had 15 miles to go.
When I got back on the bike, that’s when the race really began. I wasn’t out of breath but every pedal got harder on my legs. My knees ached and I could parts of my quad that I had never felt before. It wasn’t like running where you huff and puff and run out of gas. It was more like my battery had been completely drained so much that the flatgrounds felt like uphills.
We made it… and it wasn’t that bad?
Once I hit the pavement again, I felt a surge of energy. It was a sputtering surge, but it was enough to carry me to the finish line. It felt similar to that day entering Pinedale when I felt completely gassed and could’t wait to find a place to sleep.
Except, this time there wasn’t pizza and a bed waiting for me after a long. This time, it was a modest crowd of strangers cheering me on as I completed the race with a time of 2:46. After checking the final results, I found out I finished in the top 10 for age group – not too shabby for a first-timer.
Rich arrived shortly after and we celebrated our victories with the Pedaling4Pups team. We talked about racing again next year and that’s when I learned that the race goes in reverse every year.
So, next year, instead of having a nice easy downhill to finish, we get 10 miles of uphill to start. I gave Rich a solid “maybe” and put it off for Future Clint to worry about. For now, let’s just enjoy the win and get back to our go-with-the-flow riding.
