Nancy's story: La Grind

BaseCamp athlete Nancy Mizak shared her experience at the 2025 La Grind gravel bike race in Kansas.

This was my first event for the season, a B race to evaluate my endurance and learn what I need to work on for my A race at Gravel Worlds in August. What I got from the experience was priceless!

Day before race: Being honest - I was apprehensive the day before the race as we did a recon drive of the course, questions popping in my head were…do I have enough endurance fitness to do what would be my longest ride ever? Could I ride the “chunky” gravel sections without crashing, would my Garmin computer that has been quirky as of late keep me on track?

Race Day: Nervous and anxious, my ever calm BaseCamp teammate Beth Huffaker said, "Hey, it's a Sunday funday ride, we would be riding together enjoying the views." We could not have had a better day in terms of weather, it was dry, clear blue skies, and greenest fields of wheat along with pastures of cattle roaming the vast rolling landscape…..and NO wind! My coach, Liz Inglese, had prepared me well, taking the time to review the course and how to approach it in sections with me…this was incredibly helpful. I would hear her voice in my head telling me to be patient/steady on the hills, and it worked incredibly well.

By mile 20 all the apprehension I had about my endurance was gone, I felt great…a feeling that didn’t disappear the whole race. Had Garmin set up to remind me to eat every 30 mins, boy did that help, I never felt tired. I took my last gel with 17 miles left to go and increased my effort to the finish.

I finished 3rd in the female adult category (never imagined that would happen), but so much better than how I placed was 1) How much fun I had, 2) Riding with BaseCamp Explore teammate Beth Huffaker, and 3) The group of guys we were riding with that approached me at the finish to share a high five and one surprising the heck out of me saying, "You kicked our asses out there, we just couldn’t catch you on that last climb and then you just took off." Who would have thunk it, ha!

I would be remiss not to express my heartfelt thank you to BaseCamp for the incredible training, my awesome coach Liz Inglese, and my most outstanding host, teammate, and friend Beth Huffaker! I had the most fun I’ve had to date this weekend!

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