Florida Gravel Grinder series #6 – Green Swamp West – Dade City, Fl

The final round of the Scarbourgh Bicycle Accident Law Florida State Championship Gravel Grinder series presented by Trek Land o’ Lakes series was held near Dade City under a dry sky and drought conditions, so dust was a thing but more importantly the sand would be a factor. It had been a few years since the series had been at this location (2023 to be exact) and that proved to be a dry one as well, however since that time there have been some improvements to the dreaded two mile sandy section that now features numerous limestone patches or reliefs along the way making it much more tolerable while still maintaining it’s challenging aspects.

The temperatures played a role as well as high eighties and humidity ruled but the racers seemed to take it all in stride as some of the average speeds were as high as 24.4 mph for the full distance. The route has a five mile out and back then turns North for a 15 mile triangle loop for a total 25.4 miles per. The Sprint classes ran one loop and the Marathon classes completed two. For most of the long distance race there was a small group of five to six that stayed away from the main peloton till the end and it was Kyle Tiesler that proved to have the edge at the line by less than a third of a second meantime Meggie Scheinder massed a big time gap and claimed her fifth win of the series in the women’s open marathon.

In the Sprint classes Todd Vanselous was the overall winner while Phoebe Maisto took the third win of her series in the women’s class. Following the regular race the series awards were presented to the champions along with the top three qualifiers in each classes and the top male and female riders of the series could now claim complete ownership of the Fields Auto Group leaders jersey (and healthy checks thanks to Scarborough Bicycle Accident Law) which were Jos Chalmers and Jeanine Seeger as champions of the marathon open classes.

Many thanks to all of the riders, sponsors and volunteers for making the series a success!

Already looking forward to next year, keep spinning!