Skip to main content

Boreal Community Media

Heck Epic next up in gravel road bike series

Jul 15, 2018 03:02PM ● By Editor
Cyclists climb Lindskog Road during the 2018 Le Grand du Nord Gravel Cycling Classic in rural Cook County on Memorial Day weekend. file / News Tribune

By John Myers of the Duluth News Tribune - July 15, 2016

The Heck series of gravel road bicycle races continues next weekend with the 225-mile Heck Epic: a two-day endurance race taking cyclists up the North Shore from Two Harbors to Grand Marais and back on some of the most scenic — and less traveled — gravel roads of Cook and Lake counties.

The Epic is the second of three Heck series races this summer. The Le Grand du Nord race was in May and the third race — the 10th annual Heck of the North — is coming in September.

The popularity of gravel road bicycle racing seems to be growing quickly in Minnesota and the Midwest, said Heck series event director Jeremy Kershaw.

"We had 360 (racers) for the Le Grand du Nord race over Memorial Day. We'll be somewhere between 350 and 400 for the Heck of the North in September. We're filled out with 70 people for this coming weekend — that's all we can handle for this race,'' he said. "We're not as big as some of the big gravel events that get 2,000 or 3,000. But it's growing."

Gravel road racing is a little less technical than single-track mountain biking, Kershaw said, but is a definite change of pace from paved road biking. There's more resistance with gravel racing, but most participants enjoy the additional effort. There is also less vehicle traffic to handle and the pace makes it easier to admire Minnesota's scenery.

For more on this story, follow this link to the Duluth News Tribune website.  http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/outdoors/4472845-heck-epic-next-gravel-road-bike-series

To register for future Heck bike racing events, visit their website  by following this link.

https://www.heckofthenorth.com

Boreal Ship Spotter - larger view here