I wrote this many years ago, but this is a summary of the Crusher in the Tushar, a 70-mile gravel bike race deemed the “toughest gravel race.” I’ve completed it twice. You can learn more about it at https://tusharcrusher.com
OK so just keep in mind: I did this race before it was cool. Twice. I have the dubious honor once of being the last finisher before the cut off. It isn’t easy.
The Crusher in the Tushar, on paper, is a straightforward ride (it is a race, for very elite pro riders). It’s 70 miles though the Tushar mountain range east of Beaver Utah. It is a mix of pavement, gravel, and even a bit of single track surface. Leave Beaver heading kind of east. Climb up the Tushars, crown the ridge, descend. Spin the lactic acid out of your legs traveling from Junction to Circleville on pavement. A quick 5 miles of single track and you’re back on gravel, climbing the Tushars again. Bounce along the top for a bit, and the race finishes uphill at Eagle Mountain ski resort. What could possibly go wrong?
Heh.
The Tushars are a 5000 foot range between Beaver and Junction. 8 miles out of Beaver the route turns onto Forest Service lands and roads, and now you are climbing. Gravel. Relentlessly. You have a cutoff you have to beat at the top of the climb, so there is no time to rest or take it easy. Once you crest the range, you descend sharply down the “Col de Crusher,” losing 5000 feet in 10 miles. That’s 10 miles of washboard. Oh and don’t think you’re putting THAT behind you. You’ll be back… Once in Junction, pick up Highway 89 and head south about 18 miles to Circleville. Did you choose knobby tires, and drop your pressure for the gravel? You’ll be pushing against all that resistance for 18 miles—and pray there’s no headwind.
Circleville is a welcome sight. Spin through town, waving at residents who think you are nuts. Don’t worry, you’ll agree soon. Take a sharp right at the edge of town and ride by some dude’s farm to pick up some singletrack. Sadly, the soils here… well, it’s a sand wash. Five miles. Little shade. And there’s a grade. You can’t see it, but you can feel it. Once you finish that slog, you will hit an aid station. And then, as promised, you are back. The “Col de Crusher” looms above you.
Each time I’ve ridden the race, I have had to walk parts of Col. For 5 miles, it’s over 8% grade and much of it is 10%. If you don’t have the ability to churn out 200+ watts after riding 50 tough miles already, the Col will crush you. It is completely exposed, so the sun beats on you and drains whatever fluids you have left, which means the later in the day you hit it and the long it takes to ride, the more it drains out of you. The first time I rode this, I was still grinning at the top. The second time? I hated myself. I sold my bike a few months later, that’s how bad the Col was. Keep in mind, when you crest the Col, you still have 15+ miles left and another 1800 vertical feet to gain.
This is a race you cannot do if you haven’t trained—you physically cannot beat your way through it. It’s not like a triathlon, a century ride, or a half marathon. This is for real and next to climbing Mt Rainier is the toughest physical feat I have ever achieved in my life. Ever.
So why do it? Well, you need your own reason but here is why I did it, and why I want to do it.
In 2012, life events took an incredible toll on me. Coming out of that, I was overweight and stressed out. I am a goal-oriented person and I knew I needed a goal to focus on if I wanted to lose some weight and get healthy. I also needed a way to distract myself and keep myself busy. I love to ride, and when the Crusher appeared in my FaceBook feed, I thought… “Huh, that looks like a challenge! I love the mountains and I love cycling – it’s perfect!”
So why did I do it? To lose weight, yes. To be more fit, yes. But mostly, I did it to prove to myself I could do hard things. And now I’m back at a point in my life where I need to lose weight, develop self-discipline, and prove again that I can do hard things.
I left unfinished business on that course. I have NOT finished that race yet. Both times, it beat me and it was sheer will that got me through it. But not again – if I ride it, I’m riding to “win” in that it’ll be on my terms. I will leave that course knowing I was better than it – I had energy left over, I rode strong the entire time, and I killed the Col.
Now from an equipment perspective, you have options. My first two years, I rode a 2010 Fuji Cross-Comp cyclocross bike. In 2016 or so, I purpose-built a bike for the Crusher. It’s a lightweight carbon hardtail MTB frame, which should absorb much of the bumps. It has disc brakes, for that descent. I put Kena Small Block 8’s on it, which would be perfect for dry conditions. I even set it up with a rigid fork, with the idea that tubeless tires could be run at lower pressure and make up for the need for suspension.
Fast foward to 2021 and the urge to ride returned. I have the benefit of some disposable income now, and so I decided to do an ultimate Crusher drop-bar build (as opposed to the flat bar MTB from 2016). I bough a Niner RLT 9 frame, and fitted it up with a Microshift Advent-X 13-48 10 speed cassette and a single speed up front. This bike is seriously something nice – after a bike fit, it’s comfortable to ride (for the first three hours), even for me. It isn’t built to be too light weight, but it is no heavy weight either. With wide DT Swiss rims and Specialized Rhombus knobby tires, it’s going to be a serious steed for the ride.
One other key component on this bike is a Power2Max chain ring power meter. Training by power has been revolutionary in my preparation. One other investment I made (and I recommend you consider it too) is a professional bike fit. That’ll cost about $250, plus parts, but will make a huge difference. I’ll actually had my gravel bike, recumbent bike, and grocery getter fitted at the same time. My back and knees have really been hurting since I started riding again, but this changed everything.
Training has focused on all-round fitness, especially for me as an older athlete. My core was a gooey mass of weakness, so I spent November to March focusing on overall strength training as well as my core. In March, I started training with a coach, which was also revolutionary. I’m quickly increasing my power and endurance. If I can just drop another 20 pounds, it’ll be an amazing experience. Like I said, if I’m not pushing out 225 watts of power after a tough 50 mile ride, I am going to suffer on the Col. So we have to first develop the power, then we need to build the endurance needed to push out that power, and then drop more weight to make the most of the power.
I’m thinking of a commitment of a long Saturday at least once a month (on the 3rd Saturday), and maybe training together 1-2x per week. As we get into 2020, we’ll need to increase that. By May, we will need to be on long, mountain rides every Saturday and one long evening each week, which we’ll carry half-way through June before we start to taper for the race. If we aren’t fit by June 15, we aren’t going to get there, so that’s what we have.
I probably didn’t do a great job of selling the race here, but I’ve been totally honest. It’s brutal if you aren’t prepared, and I intend to be prepared.
So… I challenge you to get out there and ride. It may not be a race like the Crusher, but set a lofty goal and do everything you can to reach it.
One thing I have learned over and over again: discipline today or regret tomorrow.