Mississippi Rattlesnake Rumble: First gravel event, overcoming RED-S, Primos Superdame mid-term review.

TW: some weird body/food content. Hopefully someone finds this valuable, but you could just click back now if it makes you uncomfortable.

Long story short (ish). Started "doing a weight loss" (low 400s, freedom units) at the tail end of covid / rise of ozempic. Bought a indoor smart bike and zwift as part of it, but never got into it really "big time".

At some point into my weight loss, I started running and got really fixated on setting PRs. Used the zwift for once-in-a-while cross-training.

2025 I ran the Pikes Peak ascent and crushed it. Trained like a beast, but kept going. This is where it started to go south, but I didn't realize it yet. The problem is, mentally my running success came from reducing my bodyweight, which worked great for a while, but stopped working, and stopped working fast. Started having vision issues, couldn't concentrate, feinting. Training hard but got no gains from it.

Saw a dietician and she talked some sense out of me even though I was kicking and screaming. Took some time, but we got there.

But I had a real hard time finding joy in running because the success express was over. My body type just not suited to be a "good" runner, for my ever-changing definition of good, dietician suggested might be a good idea to try out something else and chill out a bit more.

Dad was into gravel cycling so I thought I'd try it out. Started really mid/late february. Borrowed his Kona Libre and was instantly hooked.

I bought a Primos Superdame. Seemed like a good starter bike, workhorse, owners seemed cool and I liked the alternative branding.

Geometry of this bike is pretty aggressive compared to "adventure" oriented gravel bikes like the Libre. But it worked for me. I do have to use it with all the spacers and the stem on rise, but it's not a show-pony.

I had a couple of issues out-of-the-box. One of the electronic shifting cables was mangled in shipping, and reached out to support and they got me a new cable shipped out the next day.

I don't like how the cable routes from the BB area to the rear derailleur. I ended up improvising with zip ties to get it less likely to get into contact with the drivetrain.

Other than that it's been an awesome bike and I think it's a great pick for the average rider who wants to finish midpack. It's a budget bike, so corners have to be cut, but I don't mind where they cut them. I put a new saddle on it, I'll get new handlebars and a seatpost. Wheels are actually pretty okay.

The LTWOO electronic groupset shifts great and the hydraulics are good.

The tires it shipped with, conti terra trail 40mm, have been great for me. I did have them set up tubeless on day 1 and haven't even had the chance to use my bacon/darts yet (was kind of hoping for it in this race). I run them at 40psi at my 200lbs.

I didn't really train for the race, other than "just ride your bike". I've been doing about 12 hours per week, about half on zwift, the rest on casual club rides or solo country roads. Some singletrack. But not a lot of gravel near me sadly.

I didn't ride more than 50 miles before the race. Tough with the dad life. Easier to just do 2-3 hours per ride and let the weekly volume do it, if it can.

Onto the race.

The Rattlesnake Rumble is a new event in south Mississippi, on a modified course of one of the previous Mississippi Gravel Cup events. Its 95% gravel through a national guard camp. Ridewithgps gives about 3500ft of climb for the 100mi, but I ended up with 6500 on my Garmin (I know the smoothing algorithms are different but I'm not sure what's more "real").

Dad and I got down there the day before and did about 30 miles of shakeout on the course with about a dozen others. Was great.

I brought a flask of maple syrup, six little debbie fig cakes, and water bottles with dilute LMNT (1 pack per 30oz). Figured I would refill with flow formula at the aid stations even though I've never tried it before, yolo.

Started off with a grupetto of about 10, averaging about 18mph. Good group, chill. This is my scene, these are my people. But I was having trouble eating and drinking while pack riding on gravel. Effort wasn't too hot, but I could tell this was going to go south if I couldn't eat/drink right. So I dropped to solo at mile 40.

At the first aid station at 56 (there was one at mile 12 before, but no one stops there in the 100 mile) I was feeling pretty good, but slowed down a bit. Aid stations were great, but pretty sparse. I started making my own "rest stop" every hour or so, getting off the bike and stretching, drinking/eating, and then getting back on.

I think I overcarbed, if that's even possible. Gut was just not having a good time, it never got "critical" though. But with my bottles full of flow formula, I was pining for some plain water. I stopped having the little debbies and syrup around mile 60.

The back half of the course there were a lot of humvees passing kicking up dust, which kinda sucked (really the only negative thing that I have).

At mile 80 aid station I was feeling pretty cooked. Sat there for about 10 mins with a cool guy from NOLA who I think was in a similar situation.

After that I was doing my self "rest stops" every 5 miles and just trying to grind it out. Slowed down pretty big. At one point I convinced myself that I was lantern rouge.

Finished about 2/3 down the pack and at the end, which is fine. No mechanical issues. There were six "wet spots" on my rear tire where the sealant did it's job, I guess. I really did want to use my darts or bacon, but I guess that day will come.

It was a good first event, I think.

Event was very well organized and the race team was super nice. A good scene. I hope Mississippi gravel kicks back up and I'll sign up for this event next year on day 1 of registration opening.

I think my main area for improvement is just getting more comfort and resilience on the bike. At no point did I think the aerobic effort was too much (I did pop threshold on one or two climbs), but it was just painful being on the bike at the end. I did have a bike fit done, but I think it's just asking a lot because I've only been riding for a couple of months. I think most of it will come with time but I may try to do some stretching or strength for once in my life.

There's an almost 40 minute gap between elapsed time and garmin time that we can work on. And I do think I'll get one of those cool USWE packs to make drinking while pack riding easier.

I do think this whole exercise has been a success from a mindset and body acceptance perspective, massively.

Already signed up for Jonesboro Skirmish in 7 weeks and then Big Sugar in the fall.