Beth's story: La Grind

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

Checking in from La Grind 65…I rode fast on the downhill, slow on the uphill and had a blast all day long trading places with Nancy Mizak, usually while she was merrily passing me on the climbs yelling, "I love the Kansas hills!" She was a great rabbit to chase until she smelled the barn after crossing the Rocky Ford bridge, never to be caught, even though the two fellows I pictured here and I tried as hard as we could! I was riding with them the last eight miles, urging them to catch her as I hid behind them, hoping to pop out at the last minute to catch her at the finish. Not this day, though. Even they gave up and hollered back that she was gone!

We had a great weekend getting to know each other better and talking all things BaseCamp. If anyone else wants to ride the Kansas gravel next year, this is a nice, laidback race that gives you a nice little taste of what Unbound is like minus the hard stuff. 😎

Great ride Nancy!!! Thanks for coming all the way from PA so I could get some free GravelKing tires! 😜 (They thought I was from PA, too, so gave them to me as a consolation prize…yeah sure I’ll take ‘em.) 🤣🤣🤣