Lauf Gravel Worlds

By: Camille Wirkus

Lauf Gravel Worlds 2025 (not to be confused with UCI Gravel Worlds) was quite the experience

for me. This was technically my second gravel race. My first being Unbound 2024, 50 mile

distance. Gravel Worlds was a day filled with 150+ miles of rolling hills, mud, wind and solitude.

Although the day did not go as I had hoped, it left me feeling hungry for more gravel.

I had signed up for Gravel Worlds back in October. At that point, I was still a Cat 3 road racer,

and did not feel qualified for the Elite Field. So, I signed up for the general field. As the weeks

counted down towards race day, I was the only one registered in my age group. I’m a big

believer that growth comes from being pushed outside of your comfort zone. So, with no one in

my age group to push me, I decided to take a shot at moving into the Elite Field. I had my third

overall female finish at Unbound 2024 (50 mile distance) and a few mid-pack P1/2 crit finishes

to my name, but Lauf Gravel Worlds took a chance and moved me into the Elite Field. I looked

at the start list and couldn’t believe my name was among some of the top gravel racers in the

world.

The morning of the race was an early wake up call. I woke up around 3:45am to have time to

digest my food for the 6:05am start time. I got a Carbs Fuel gel down before the race started,

and the day quickly began. My goal was to stay with somewhat of a group for as long as I could.

I was feeling good as we powered through the first 15 miles of the race, feeling confident that I

could hang on to the back of the pack. That was until we hit the first minimum maintenance road

(MMR) between mile 15 and 16. Friday night a storm rolled through Lincoln. This left some of

the MMRs very wet and muddy. It was still somewhat dark when we came upon the first MMR. A

few girls at the front of the race went down in the thick peanut butter mud. I was able to slow

down in time and avoid the crash, however, my bike instantly clogged up with mud and I had to

retreat to the grass. My lack of gravel experience really showed in this moment, which ended up

changing the course of the whole day for me. I spent way too much time trying to get mud off of

my wheels. Other women got back on their bikes as soon as the wheels could clear the frame. I

wasted a ton of time in that moment, and lost any semblance of a group. I was able to find two

other riders, and we worked together for the next 15 miles, stopping at the first water station to

try and clear some mud from our bikes. We hit another MMR around mile 30. One of the two

women I was with had an unfortunate mechanical that ended her race. The other woman was

able to get through the MMR faster than I was, which left me all alone. Elite riders are not

allowed to draft off of any rider in the general field. So, as the fastest riders from the general

field caught me, I had to keep my head down and pedal on my own. Over the next 120 miles, 9

of the 31 elite women DNFd. As I would pass one on the side of the road waiting for a ride, I felt

more and more compelled to call it quits. My goal of staying with a group had already come to a

close only 30 miles into the day. I felt like I had already failed. I contemplated pulling off and

calling for a ride for the next several miles until I decided to make a new goal: Finish. The goal

just to finish the race honestly felt underwhelming at the time. I had gone from feeling confident

that I could stay with a group of these stellar gravel racers, to wondering if I could even finish

the race.

The course was unrelenting. The rolling hills, lack of tree coverage, blustery wind, and humidity

was death by a thousand paper cuts. As the miles slogged on, I was feeling less and less

confident that I could finish. I decided to mentally break the race up into pieces. I had already

completed the first ~50 miles. That meant only 25 miles until I was halfway and halfway

basically means I’m almost done...right? This is what I had to convince myself. Each mile felt

like a win at that point. People will ask me “what do you think about for that long?”, and honestly,

usually I’m repeating some type of mantra to myself. On this day, it was simply “I can do this”.

Once I turned onto Havelock Ave, the road that is the start/finish road, I knew I could do it.

Crossing the finish line was the strangest mix of emotions. I felt proud of myself for finishing, but

also very disappointed. The day took me over an hour longer than I wanted and I finished

almost last of the elite women. My tendency to feel disappointed from my result/performance is

a character trait that I’ve had to accept about myself, but that doesn’t make it easy. I do think

this character trait is part of the reason I’ve gotten to this level of racing in just three years, but

again, it doesn't make it easy. I spent the days after the race asking, “I should be proud of

myself, right?”. All in all, I can say that part of me is proud of myself. This race was a mental

slog, harder than anything I’ve ever done. The disappointed part of me makes me excited to

prepare and tackle my next gravel adventure, which will be Big Sugar in October.

See you soon, Bentonville.