Jon's story: Reliance Deep Woods Gravel Grinder

BaseCamp athlete Jon Livengood shared his experience at the 2025 Reliance Deep Woods Gravel Grinder in Tennessee.

Oh my! A gravel stage race in the heart of Appalachia, what could be better? The race website sum it up perfectly: do not expect champagne gravel, flat roads or easy routes but do plan on awesome scenery, a deep backwoods feel and solid climbs….they definitely delivered!

Stage 1 - A mere 65 miles and 8900ft of climbing, 95% gravel (err…not paved), BUT that’s only part of the story…the promoter suggested a hardtail as being the best bike for todays gravel. Well since I had my fancy new Lauf with 2.2 tires on it, I figured that’s hard tail enough and I was gonna roll with it.

Race stated relatively chill, but on the early paved climb it exploded and the peloton was reduced to small groups of five. I settled into the second group as I knew going deep this early would crush my legs later in the day and drafting does not come into play today. It soon switched to gravel and the the first climb started to sort out the field. I reeled in a few riders and maybe one person caught and passed me…cool. Well then the race takes a turn. We then hit many miles of climbs and descents where a mtb would (and did) shine. Basically the gravel turned to eroded dirt roads with endless embedded rock outcrops-not bad going up, but definitely served a beating for anyone on a gravel bike (including me) going down. 45 minute climb up, then another 30 minute downhill and then I started seeing the mtb’s catch me, oh well, I was warned. Next up was another hour-ish climb and then a super tech downhill…I hung on the best I could on the uphill, but decided not to push it on the down and let the two mtb riders fade away and drop me on the downhill (lost 4 minutes there!). Last 10 miles was pristine gravel (for Tennessee) and I powered in feeling strong to the finish with a 5th overall for the day at 5:20 hrs on the bike and 338 TSS!

Stage 2 - 60 miles and another 6300 ft of climbing, 65% gravel, with a gravel bike being the proper bike for today…easy day I guess.

The stage started off with 15 minutes of paved rollers before hitting a 60 minute gravel climb. Three other riders and I hit the asphalt hard and gapped the field by 30 seconds by the gravel climb. Our group of four worked well together, but by the top of the climb we had the pecking order sorted and we were spread out with 30-60 second gaps in between us. It was a pretty incredible climb as we went through the low hanging clouds and was greeted by a nice sunny day ABOVE the clouds by the top. We had one sector of technical dirt road to get through, which further separated our group, but then it was smooth sailing from here on out on gravel bike friendly roads, with the four of us each on our own, grinding a ITT to the finish. At maybe mile 40 I almost reeled in 3rd place coming into the aid station, but unfortunately he rolled through it while I had to stop to get some for fluids…heartbreaker as his tiny <10 second lead now jumped to 40 sec. The last 20 miles, although overall downhill, had multiple “Flanders steepness” hills…so like 3-5 minute efforts on 15%+ grades. Welp, looks like I have my work cut out for me. I put my head down and for each steep hill we hit, I could see I was reeling him in a little. I got to within 10sec of him on the last steep up, but just couldn’t close the gap, he then drilled it on the paved segment to the finish and inched away from me. Finished 4th overall on the day, with 4 hours on the bike today and 278 TSS. The Lauf crush the course today!

Managed to take 1st place in Masters and 5th overall for the race! And, as a podium bonus, we got podium HUGS!

Basecamp Winter Program played a big role in ensuring I had a super solid foundation-stoked on that!

This was a super well run event and some super solid climbs and competition. Definitely put it on you list for next year. The promoter already said next year will have much less "rowdy gravel"--yay! Great event!