Recap: Dirty Kitten Gralley Cat Race, Rapidan VA
How often do you get the chance to do a gravel race on 99% private roads that is 100% gravel? Never, right? This weekend I had just that opportunity. I drove down to Rapidan Virginia for the Dirty Kitten Gralley Cat race. A traditional alley cat event has you run all over the city collecting tokens at checkpoints and returning as fast as possible. First one back with all the tokens wins. Now translate that to a gravel race. Short course riders hit 6 checkpoints and finished on top of the Kitten Crusher (20% grade to the top!!) for a final check in before going to the finish. Long course riders hit the same 6 short course checkpoints, headed up Kitten Crusher, and then went back out for six more checkpoints before returning BACK to Kitten Crusher for another check in before making their way to the finish.
The race organizers did a fantastic job providing clear directions and following Covid 19 protocols - everything felt well organized and safe. Ahead of the event, you were provided with a pdf map of the property with the short and long course checkpoints marked. The organizers made sure to let us know that all intersections would be clearly marked with names of the organizer’s pets like Pascha’s Run, Kori’s Way, and Snowy. You could choose your own adventure at this point. Do you make it a point to ride ALL the roads on the property and have a fun day exploring? Or do you map it out to find the most efficient way from checkpoint to checkpoint and try to finish first? I, of course, went for the most efficient and fastest way around the property - catch was, I had no idea of the elevation profile. And since it’s private property? No ability to map it using Ride with GPS. So I did lots of measuring and navigating. I printed two maps, one for each loop of the property and drew my route out and I also made cue cards that I taped to my top tube for reference while riding. I was prepared for about a 40 mile adventure.
Race morning dawned clear and sunny. Perfect temps for a race. The organizers made sure that people went off in waves spaced well apart and asked riders not to be on site more than an hour prior to your start time. We rolled out of the start, taking a right turn off the line which took us to the furthest checkpoint on the course first. Most riders chose to go left. Results aren’t posted yet so I’m still unsure if this was a good strategy! My cue cards were perfect. Despite being a little hard to read while on the bumpy gravel, they definitely made it easy to follow when a gpx file isn’t available. We had no problems finding our way around the property. All roads were clearly marked. Checkpoints were easy to find. At each checkpoint, we collected a playing card that had to be shown to the volunteers on top of Kitten Crusher. We only took one wrong turn (my cue cards were right, I decided to follow a faster group of dudes instead of my cue cards - they were wrong!) and we made it to the top of Kitten Crusher with 17 miles in under an hour and a half. At the top, we were handed a unicorn card and told to go hit the Long Course checkpoints where we would collect one sticker from each checkpoint. We would then return to Kitten Crusher for a final hole punch of our card and could then proceed to the finish. The second loop hit just a few of the roads from the first loop, but we got to check out more of the property this time. The other riders out on course were super friendly. Everyone waved and said hello. We ended up checking back in at Kitten Crusher for a second time and heading back to the finish in just under 3 hours including moving time, some small navigational re-routes, time spent at the checkpoints, and a stop for a photo with the La-Z-boy abandoned on one of the roads. We hung around and cheered until the last folks rolled in. To keep everyone safe, results will be emailed out along with prizes and there were no podiums.
The whole area is surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills and picturesque horse farms. This property, a working farm and preserve, has been in the land owner’s family since 1770. The roads were created by the landowner to access different parts of the property and the gravel is dug from a quarry that is adjacent to the property and the land owner is a part owner in the quarry. These roads are not open to the public outside of the events that Dirty Kitten Productions organizes on the property. It was really special to get to ride them and enjoy the gorgeous property!
