Old Man Winter Rally: a snowy start to gravel racing in the Rocky Mountains

The Old Man Winter Rally will return for its tenth edition this weekend and acts as the opening to the gravel season in the Rocky Mountains, with a course that loops around the north of Boulder, Colorado.

Boulder is seen by many as the beating heart of cycling in America, with ample terrain for cycling, moderate altitude and a large population of endurance athletes. While the Old Man Winter Rally is technically based in Lyons, the start is a mere 16 miles from downtown Boulder.

The race will take place on Sunday, February 4, with a 100km and 50km ride and a 10km and 5km run.

With Boulder holding that level of cache in the cycling world, it might come as a surprise that bike racing is rarely staged in the local area. With only a couple of local road races left and two gravel events, it is precious whenever the racing community can come together. This makes events like the Old Man Winter Rally all the more important.

Credit: Eddie Clark Media

Alexey Vermeulen on course last year on the way to a solo win in 2023

“Having these events is pretty special because Boulder is tough,” gravel racer Alex Howes told GCN. While Howes won’t be racing this year with a cold hampering his preparation for the season, the local gravel pro has done the race several times. As a rider who grew up in the area and is a proponent of hearty winter weather rides, he is well-versed in the variable conditions of Old Man Winter and the intricacies of Colorado cycling.

“Everyone in Boulder does everything and despite it being a cycling mecca, cycling in terms of the town’s radar is pretty low. Trying to get permits is terrible and dealing with Boulder County is not easy. So the fact that the promoters for events like Boulder Roubaix, Ned Gravel and Old Man Winter make it happen is worth a small applause,” he said.

“But getting that community that is here together, especially in the winter when it's not always 60 degrees and sunny, really helps a lot of folks. Having something like Old Man Winter to look forward to helps a lot of folks.”

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The intricacies of Old Man Winter

Of all the gravel races in the United States, the Old Man Winter Rally is one of the most unpredictable in terms of its conditions. Lyons sits, like Boulder, on the fringe of the Rocky Mountains and has flat plains to the east and the mountains to the west. Old Man Winter dwells in both of these areas with its 100km and 50km courses.

Credit: Eddie Clark Media

Rowena Trail is on the shaded side of the mountains so often holds snow long after the rest of the course has melted. When there is fresh snow, most racers are reduced to running with their bikes

This leads to fast and dynamic racing in the lower half of the course, paired with slow and potentially snowy racing in the higher half. Nevertheless, with winter weather in the Boulder area extremely variable, it is not a cut-and-dry calculus.

“We had one year that was pretty dang warm, COVID was a fun year ripping around with Laclan, but the most memorable year was when everything froze,” Howes said of the different editions he has raced in.

“It snowed and then everything melted making a bunch of icy ruts. Then it all froze solid before more snow fell. It was so chaotic and messy that the police cancelled the race in the middle of it because they had too many accidents in the real world that they had to attend to.”

This year the weather looks like race day could see either of those conditions: warm and relatively dry, or plenty of snow.

“This year is going to be tricky because Old Man Winter in general is difficult to prepare for. You don't know what you're getting into until the day of and this year the weather report is even more variable. Up here in Nederland, they are calling for six inches to four feet. That's a pretty extreme spread,” Howes said.

“I don't know what that will look like lower down, but I think everyone will be running Rowena so pick the bike for the lower half of the course. Sometimes people think they can grab a mountain bike and ride Rowena, but if there is a foot of snow, no one is riding Rowena. It will be a year to have some knobs on your tyres. Most of all just take it all with a grain of salt. It's a pretty silly bike race in February, not the Super Bowl.” 

While Alex Howes will not be starting, many of the best gravel riders from the Boulder area will be lining up, including defending champion Alexey Vermeulen, former Olympic triathlete Gwen Jorgensen, professional mountain biker Ryan Petry and U23 mountain bike national champion Maddie Munro.