Valley of Tears Gravel Race - Pro Men Full Race Footage

Valley of Tears Gravel Race
March 9, 2024
17th Pro Men/Overall
181km/112mi Gravel Race Race
My Patreon:   / justinmcquerry  
Race Info: http://valleyoftearsgravel.com/

A day of everything! After a little course recon the day before, I knew the initial sand pit about 3mi into the race would be very decisive. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I let my position slack a bit in order to take a clean line through the sand, and I was able to avoid the mass pile up that took out a lot of fast guys. Only about 5-6 riders were ahead of the first sand crash, and I was able to be the first person after the crash to get past it, but my legs were not there that early in the race and I blew out of several chase groups that would be racing for the end of the top 10.

Settled into a solid group of Texas hitters, and we ended up picking off a few guys and were racing for 17th at the end. I won this sprint, in a potentially controversial fashion - coming up on a few slow moving riders from a different distance in the final few hundred meters. I shouted "RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT" to hopefully alert everyone that there was a rider on the right that we were not actively racing, but some people in our group may have been confused about what I was intending. In my mind, I did nothing wrong, and if someone was confused about the finish, then that means they didn't know the finish well enough to really contest a sprint. I took the final turn at the absolute maximum speed possible due to some gravel in the apex, and I was able to hold off the rest of our bunch. Solid day, excited to build on the fitness from here!

Follow me at:
   / justinmcquerry  
  / j_mcquerry  
  / strava  
  / justin.mcquerry  

0:00 START
8:40 SAND PIT CARNAGE
16:50 LIMESTONE PIT
25:00 CHASING PT 1
1:09:38 CLARITY TUNNEL
1:11:20 CHASING PT 2
3:14:30 FIRST TIME THROUGH TURKEY
3:17:30 CHASING PT 3
3:53:20 THE CHASE GROUP ATTACKS BEGIN
5:24:00 SPRINT FOR 17TH