By: Christina Vipond The Divide began in 2015 by Jeff Harding and Don Passenger as a fundraiser for Manton Public School’s Cross Country and track teams. It is held the last Sunday of July and is part of the Michigan Gravel Road Series. The Divide offers something for all gravel enthusiasts with 3 route options: 19 miles with 1330 feet of elevation change 34 miles with 1987 feet of elevation change 50 miles with 2292 feet of elevation change. There is an outer loop that the 34 mile course completes one time and the 50 mile racers get to experience it twice. The outer lap is ridden in opposite directions every year to vary the terrain profile. All routes begin and
By: JoAnn Cranson Do you have that challenge in your life that no matter how hard you try – you just can’t get better or fix it? Do you feel like giving up? I experienced that feeling last Sunday! I qualified for the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championship 2021 for the Sprint Distance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This race is once a year and you are racing against the top women in your age group from all over the US. The race entails about a ½ mile swim in open water, a 12.5 mile bike and a 5K (3.1 miles) run. I really struggle with the swim portion. I didn’t learn to swim until about 4 years ago and it is
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Check Out What Athletic Mentor’s Youth Development Cycling Team Has Been Up To
By: Terry Ritter Athletic Mentors has a great Youth Development Cycling Team! This year’s Junior squad returned Kellen Caldwell for his 3rd season and Hunter Post for his second. Joining this pair for the 2021 campaign are 16 year old Jonathan Meyer, 14 year old Joel Bretzlaff, 14 year old Cate Wittman, and 13 year old Elijah Garris. Both old and new have contributed to the Team’s success seen this year. Kellen has developed into a threat to win any gravel race, demonstrating such by taking the top spot in 2021 in the Pro field at Lowell 50, and then a 6th place at Waterloo Grit and Gravel and a top 6 at Cowpie Classic. Kellen had 2 wins to his credit and multiple top fives
By: Bob Schultz The Grand Rapids Tri was my first triathlon nine years ago. I average five tri’s a year including Xterra off road triathlons. The Grand Rapids Tri in the Olympic distance was my third of 2021 season. The first on the year was in Oak Mountain, Alabama with the Xterra SE Championships where the temperatures and humidity were in the 80’s then I did the Greenville Tri two weeks ago. I approached this year’s race knowing I had trained better than any other year and felt good about aging up to the 65-69 age group, which yes, made me the youngster. I enjoyed the rolling start for the swim and averaged within 4 seconds of my training swim pace and
By: Hunter Post I am a Multi-Sport athlete and High School student. I compete in alpine ski racing, and cycling. Alpine ski racing consists of Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super G. I have raced gravel and mountain bike, and plan to add road racing this season. People find it hard to believe that a fall and winter sport can take up an entire year. My ski season starts in November, and continues until April. I start cycling in April and ride until November with about 2 weeks off in between the seasons. These two very different sports take up most of my time and energy, I am so grateful for where they’ve brought me. The social aspect of each sport is
By: Jared Dunham The KRanza 170, is the “best kept secret” ultra-gravel ride in mid-Michigan. Notorious for it’s sand, last year’s ride was given the nickname of “The Sandza”, on account of the course primarily being built from sandy two-track. To give some context, the fastest time from last year’s course was a spicy 12:57:55, laid out by Paul Low. Rob Richardson went as far as to name his Strava ride, “I’d rather cut off my legs and eat them before riding that course again!”. Roy Kranz, the event organizer, promised less sand this year and he delivered with the new and improved 2021 course. The original course was two 85 mile laps which were done on the eastern portion of
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