Race Report: 2025 Grasshopper Huffmaster - Men’s Pro
Race: 2025 Grasshopper Huffmaster - Men’s Pro
Date: February 22, 2025
AVRT racers: Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, 38th
Course: 90 mile loop with 4800 feet of climbing and about 50% dirt. The front half is relatively flat and mostly road (with a couple dirt pinch points) until mile 40, when there is a ~12 min climb that kicks off the mostly dirt and much hillier back half of the course. The final tough climb comes 68 miles in and is ~5 minutes thru Huffmaster Ranch before gently going downhill back to the finish
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13699541766
Nutrition: 400g of malto/gatorade/salt mix in 2 bottles plus camelback
Race Recap:
Race started out on fairly flat road sections and got off to a fairly chill start as no one wanted to spend energy on the easy part of the course knowing what was to come. There were a few pinch points on the gravel sections which had large mud pits that caused chaos in the pack. Into and out of each of these sections the pace would increase, just to go back to social pace again before the next one. I was caught behind some crashes and had to dismount to run around one but had no issues catching back on.
Eventually we got to the crux of the course with the first real climb at mile 40 which comes as the course narrows to double track. I was able to start the climb near the front but the entire group blew up on this climb, leaving everyone in small groups for the rest of the race. The descent off this climb was on a winding dirt road that made for pretty high speeds.
The first aid station was at the bottom of the descent and I caught a group of 3 coming out of the aid as I was able to continue without stopping due to my camel back. Perhaps it had slowed me down on the climb but it definitely helped me get back into a group over the top.
I held onto this group thru the second big climb, which topped out at mile 52, and into the slight downhill after. We caught a couple lone riders who tagged along, until after 61 miles, right at the 3 hour mark, my legs had had enough and I was popped.
I rode alone for a little while and was caught by another group of 5 coming into the Huffmaster climb who I stuck with until the grade pitched up towards the end. Eventually I was alone for the entire descent back into town. The technical, steeper part at the top was quite a bit of fun but the long slight downhill drag after was torture by myself.
A lone rider caught me with maybe 10 miles to go who I exchanged pulls with for a while until I started cramping quite badly with a few miles to go. I was ecstatic to see the 1 mile to go sign (see big smiling photo below)!
Was definitely a bit outside my comfort zone on such a long race but was fun to get out there and try a gravel race! The grasshopper events seem to be very well put together and I would recommend trying to get out to one!
