Gary's story: Soldier Cutoff Hillduro

BaseCamp athlete Gary Wenzl shared his experience at the 2025 Soldier Cutoff Hillduro bike race in Iowa.

This was my first race after recovering from a crash in June.

Due to rain, they went with the "very wet route," which took out all MMRs and some very scenic roads. There was still plenty of nice views. Only 2720 feet of recorded elevation, but it was some of the most challenging (afterwards eating lunch, someone said the one climb was 17% at a certain point near the top).

The race was fun and started out well, but with 30 miles left to go, I started getting leg cramps, and on the last steep climb, it was like they locked up on me, and I even had a hard time getting them to unclip. Luckily I didn't fall over and walked the bike up the rest of the climb. Last 5 miles was torture. It was cool and overcast (starting out at 47° and finishing at 57°); hydration and electrolytes was if anything a little over, so not sure why I was cramping so badly.

Overall I came in 16 out of 19 (I think a lot of folks didn't show due to weather).