Get signed up here: www.bikereg.com/solsticegravel

About Solstice Gravel Grinder

The 2024 Solstice Gravel Grinder will be in its eighth year as a premier grassroots Nebraska gravel grinder that starts and ends in Beatrice, NE on June 22nd. This ride will again journey through some of the most beautiful back roads and gravel south and east of Beatrice. The terrain mixes steep hills, rollers, and minimum maintenance roads. The Solstice 100 (The Hundy) is our original distance, and the field will be limited to 140 riders. We will also offer a couple of shorter routes. The 60+ mile gravel grinder, called the Solar Fiddy, which will be limited to 160 riders. And the 50K Kindler (35+ miles) will return again this year and will follow many of the same roads as the other routes and also mix in miles on the newly completed Chief Standing Bear Trail. We added a new category a few years ago, the Hundy Team Relay. This is a co-ed event in which you are required to have at least one female on your team. We also added a Juniors Category in the Kindler and Fiddy distances for youth 18 and under, at a reduced price.

THE RULES:

The Solstice is a self-supportive ride, so plan to bring enough water and supplies to get you in between checkpoints, which are roughly 25-35 miles apart. We will have water, minimal SAG support, and a tire pump at the checkpoints. If you want, you can stop in the local convenience stores or bars and do your own thing. 

This is your ride, so you do what you have to do to make it to the end. You can’t cheat though. There will be checkpoints you must go through to be a Solstice finisher and earn your finishers' patch! And if you want to quit? Well, this is your ride, so you will need to find a ride home.

We called this event the Solstice for a reason; it’s the day before the longest day of the year, so it’s gonna be HOT! Hot and you will be pedaling 35-107 miles on your own, so prepare yourself. We will release the routes the week before the event and will have an all-gravel backup route planned in case of muddy roads. Both routes will be downloadable for cue cards and GPS files. It is your responsibility to print the routes as we will not be supplying them the day of the race.

You are responsible for your safety and well-being. We cannot stress this strongly enough--YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU! No one who has anything to do with this race, including EVENT SPONSORS, ORGANIZERS, PROMOTERS, or STAFF, bears any responsibility for your safety or well-being at any time before, during, or after the race. 

Each participant is considered to be on a private excursion and remains solely responsible for any accidents in which he or she may be involved. No responsibility can be accepted for participants who get lost, stranded, injured, or worse.

Be courteous and respectful at all times. Participants must obey all city, county, and state laws, and the Nebraska Rules of the Road.  Each participant must wear a CPSC approved cycling helmet. Each participant is required to have a clear front headlamp and a red tail light for the duration of the event. At the start of the race, and when riding after dark, participants are required to have a clear front headlamp capable of in the dark (minimum 500 lumens) and a red tail light. Be careful and take care of yourself! Your safety is up to you. Bring plenty of food and hydration. Cellular service may not always be available, but we highly recommend carrying a cell phone to contact someone in case of an emergency. Carry spare inner tubes and an inflation system. 

E-Bikes are welcome to ride and participate in our event. Unfortunately, they are not eligible to podium, as we do not have a separate category for them at this time. You will still receive a finishers patch and token though.

$70 registration fee for the Hundy, $60 for the Fiddy, and $50 for The Kindler includes:

Entry into the event

• Limited supply of adult beverages and treats at packet pickup

• Custom awards to the 1st Place finishers in each category

• Prizes for the Second and Third Place finishers in each category

• Embroidered Solstice Hundy event patch for all 100+ mile finishers

• Embroidered Solar Fiddy event patch for all 55+ mile finishers

• Embroidered Kindler event patch for all 32+ mile finishers

• Free Shower Service by Pork Belly Ventures after your ride

• Event Stickers

• Shwag Bag with Event Partner’s samples and goodies

• Limited SAG stops along the routes

• Custom Solstice Gravel Grinder T-Shirt (if registered by June 10th)

• Free food and drink at finish line after finish

• Free Stone Hollow Brewing drink token for all finishers

• Super cool prizes for finishers from all of our sponsors!

• Overall male and female winners of Solstice Hundy win free entry into next year's event!

• And DFL trophy for the Last Place finisher!

Pick up your packets at our sponsor Cycle Works, 720 N 27th St, Lincoln, Nebraska, on Friday June 21st from noon to 6pm. There will be a limited supply of refreshments. We will also have a packet pick-up on Friday June 21st from 7:30pm to 9:00pm at Stone Hollow Brewing, 301 Court St, Beatrice, NE. And if you can’t make either of those, you will have an opportunity for you to check in the morning of the event at the start/finish 6:15am-6:45am.

 Get signed up! https://www.bikereg.com/solsticegravel

Solstice Gravel Grinder, June 22nd 2024… Plan to be there!

Get signed up here: www.bikereg.com/solsticegravel

History

The Solstice Gravel Grinder started in June 2017. The idea was to put on a small gravel bicycle event to showcase new areas that don’t get ridden very often. That first year, we were based out of Pleasant Dale, Nebraska and featured one distance: The Solstice 100, which was really 105 miles. Riders rode through the communities of Ruby, Goehner, Beaver Crossing, Friend, Dorchester, Denton, and Pleasant Dale. Randy Gibson and Rob Evans helped me out a bit that first year with the routes and cue cards, as this was all new to me. The event attracted 55 riders from 5 states. Randy Gibson won that first year, and just a few months later he was taken from us by a drunken driver while riding his bike.

In 2018 we decided to move the start of the ride to Malcolm, Nebraska to showcase the area lovingly nicknamed the Bohemian Alps. This was Randy’s favorite area to ride in, and we decided to honor him this way. Also, we retired his #1 bib number, so no one will again use that number. In only our second year, we sold out the Solstice 100 category and added a new distance called the Solar Fiddy. We had 38 sign up for the Fiddy, so for 2018, there were 138 riders from 8 different states riding the two Solstice routes. The riders traveled counterclockwise through the communities of Raymond, Valparaiso, Loma, Brainard, Dwight, Bee, Garland, and Malcolm. Everyone was offered food and beverages at Lippy’s BBQ at the finish. Robb Finegan was the overall winner of the Solstice 100, and Jaimie Dodge in the Solar Fiddy.

We stayed in Malcolm in 2019 and visited all the same communities as the year before, but we rode the course in the opposite direction, clockwise. We featured all the same towns, but added a lot of new roads in between. We also had a slight rain delay that morning as we waited for lightning to clear out, and the race got started about an hour later. We had 177 riders register from 9 states, and once again, it was a total sellout. Ashton Lambie was the overall winner of Solstice 100, and Ean Kiddoo won the Solar Fiddy. This would be the last year Lippy’s BBQ was open, and we said our goodbyes to Malcolm. Since this area of gravel was getting plenty of use from other events, such as Gravel Worlds, Cornhusker State Games, and the Bohemian Sto Mil, we opted to move south the following year.

For 2020 the decision was made to move the Solstice to its current location in Beatrice, Nebraska. With the outbreak of the pandemic, we postponed our event until the fall. The Solstice sponsored a few organized virtual Gravel Quarantine Rides that summer. The self-timed usually recorded on Strava were pretty popular. In September 2020, we held our Solstice Gravel Grinder, Equinox Edition. We sold out again with 269 riders from 13 states, including New York and California. The Hundy route traveled clockwise through the communities of Holmesville, Barneston, Steele City, Endicott, Diller, and Beatrice. All riders got to experience a local landmark of sorts called Iron Mountain within the first 5 miles of their journey, and the views were amazing. Jonathon Waite was the overall winner of the Hundy, and Phil Stake won the Fiddy. We started a new event that year called the Kindler. It was a shorter 50K route that traveled on gravel and the limestone-surface of the Chief Standing Bear trail. It was meant to give new riders a taste of gravel and an appetite of adventure. 16 year old Marcus Wendt prevailed and won the Kindler in its inaugural year.

2021 saw things a slightly safer summer pandemic-wise, so we were able to have our event on June 19 as planned. All spots sold out within a few weeks of registration opening, with 335 riders from 13 states. In 2021 we also added a 3-person coed relay, which featured 3 teams riding the full 100 miles. We decided to ride the course counterclockwise that year, and the Hundy riders traveled through the communities of Diller, Steele City, Lanham, Odell, Barneston, Holmesville, and Beatrice. Jonathon Waite was our first repeat winner of the Hundy, and Connor Olberding was the winner of the Fiddy. We also had a repeat winner of the Kindler, with Marcus Wendt bringing home the honors. We celebrated eight riders in 2021 for having completed every year of the 100 mile distance.

2022 will forever be remembered as the HOT year. We had 370 signed up for our June 18th event, from 14 different states plus Canada. With temps reaching 100+ degrees and the heat index much higher, it made for a challenging year to say the least. It was a whole new course for 2022, with the Hundy riders travelling through the communities of Holmesville, Virginia, Blue Springs, Odell, Diller, Harbine, and then back to Beatrice. Ean Kiddoo took home the victory in the Hundy, but was challenged by David Holst the entire day, who finished just 17 seconds behind Ean. The battle in the Fiddy was similar with Jeramie Lippman taking a 35 second win over Dan Pastwa in a hard fought battle. The Kindler saw a new winner this year with Chad McNeese pulling out the victory. The whole day proved to be challenging with the heat and humidity, and we even added a few water stops to help everyone finish. Overall we celebrated 6 riders that have completed every year of the Solstice Hundy: Josh Shear, Mel Beikmann, Roy Rivera, Todd E Frye, Jeff Schroller, and Brian "Big Kat" Catlin.

2023 brought the threat of a rainout with our Moist Year. The days leading up to the event, rain chances were around 88%, so we fined tuned our Wet Routes, and planned for the worst. 15 minutes before the scheduled start a thunderstorm swept through and caused a 45 minute delay, but it turned out to be a great day!. The rain stopped, the sun came out, and we had some major battles going on. Our route in 2023 used the same towns for our SAG stops as the previous year, but the riders traversed in a counterclockwise direction. Also with no MMRs being used, it was a totally different course. Joshua Lundgren took a 2 second victory over John Frey in the Hundy. The battle in the Fiddy was tough as well, as Roger Williams beat Brad Oldfield by 1 second in a near photo finish. We had another new winner in the Kindler with Dain Johnson taking home the victory. The rain proved to be a nice change as it kept the dust down, and temps were about 20 degrees cooler than 2022. We still have the “Select Six” that have completed every year of the Solstice Hundy: Josh Shear, Mel Beikmann, Roy Rivera, Todd E Frye, Jeff Schroller, and Brian "Big Kat" Catlin.