Le Grand Du Nord Gravel Cycling Classic

At left, participants in the 2016 race are seen as they come off Highway 61 and onto Lindskog Road.

Come May 27, the gravel will be flying as participants compete in the second annual Le Grand Du Nord Gravel Cycling Classic which will start in downtown Grand Marais at 8 a.m. Cyclists will choose between the 100-mile or 50-mile race to compete in. Here is a look at two women who raced last year and are returning this year.

Leah Gruhn is a geologist at Barr Engineering in Duluth. In her spare time the 37-year-old likes to ride and race in a variety of mountain biking races, including the Le Grand Du Nord Cycling Classic.

Last year Gruhn finished her age in the 100- mile, placing 37th overall and second in the women’s field to Shanie Hahn, who is married to Jim Joynes of Grand Marais and Duluth.

Avesa Rockwell is a mother of two children and teaches college full-time. Her husband is the race director and founder of the “Heck of the North” events, including the Le Grand Du Nord Gravel Grinding classic, but she wiggles some time into her busy schedule to find time to train and compete.

Leah Gruhn, above, placed 37th overall in last year’s 100-mile Le Grand Du Nord, and second in the women’s field.

The two women took time to answer some questions from the newspaper.

“My first bike race was in 2010 – Heck of the North, which started and ended in Duluth at the time,” said Gruhn. “Up until that point, I spent my time outside on canoe trips and competing in cross-country ski races and triathlons. Now my focus is all about biking – fat biking on snow in the winter, gravel roads the rest of the year with some road riding in the heat of the summer.”

Despite being married to the race director, Rockwell’s journey into the racing scene has been much shorter.

“I rode in one of our own events for the first time last October,” said Rockwell. “Thanks to encouragement from Jeremy (event director and husband) and a few loyal volunteers who managed the mid-point resupply for the 100 miler, I realized that I could take a few hours off to ride the 50 miler. It was so good to see the event through the eyes of a rider. And it was fun!”

When asked how many hours per week (or miles/ kilometers) she trains, Gruhn responded, “It totally depends on the season and timing relative to a race. The range is very little to 20 hours per week.”

“I am recreational and utilitarian rider”, Rockwell answered. “I commute year-round to my job at UMD, which is only a mile uphill. In the winter I put studded tires on an inherited gravel frame [bike] and ride to school over snow and ice. I get my best ideas for the day while I’m chugging up the hills. In the summer I ride gravel and trails to feel that same exhilaration I felt when I was 19 on my first mountain bike. I don’t have the racing bug like Jeremy does, but I do appreciate the way that a fitness goal makes me train harder, and how riding with a group carries me much further than I could ever ride alone.”

When it comes to racing, Gruhn travels to competitions, “About monthly. I completed the Land Run 100 (a muddy gravel century) in Oklahoma on March 11 and the Ragnarok 105 (another gravel century) on April 1 in Red Wing, Minnesota.”

As for Rockwell, her next race is the Le Grand Du Nord.

Neither lady played sports when she was younger, but has picked up the bug to compete.

“I do not have a background in athletics,” said Gruhn. “I was a theater / band kid and organized sports were the last thing I would have had an interest in. I really got into this through the Heck of the North back in 2010. I gave it a shot and afterwards I got such a rush because I had accomplished something I didn’t think was possible for me to do. At that point I realized that I could expand my goals to include other events that I didn’t think were possible to accomplish. I did just that and have gone on to complete many long, challenging events, such as the Alexander 380 in Spring Valley, Minnesota and the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350 in Alaska. My schedule for 2018 continues to be full of very aggressive and challenging new goals, including Trans Iowa (340-ish miles) in late April and then Tour Divide (2,750 miles from Banff to the U.S./ Mexican border) starting in June.

“In 1990,” said Rockwell, “my step-dad bought me a rigid Bridgestone MB4 for a high school graduation present. I spent the summer riding it through the Rio Grande Bosque in my hometown in New Mexico, and I realized that I hadn’t felt that kind of joy since elementary school. Then I went to college in Fort Collins, Colorado and with that bike I met my tribe and explored the Front Range. Then I became an urban bike commuter in Olympia and San Francisco. When I moved to Duluth in 2004 I kept my road habit; that is, until Jeremy bought me a Salsa Fargo for my birthday a few years ago. The trails in Duluth are world-class.”

With over 6,000 feet of climbing, Le Grand Du Nord promises to be formidable for the gravel grinders who take up the challenge. These two women will be ready to ride, will you?