KowTown Gravel: Small-Town Winners
Kremmling’s Shawn Scholl describes himself as a rancher who likes cardiovascular exercise. If you don’t think those are ideal attributes for running a gravel event, which Scholl and his family have done since founding KowTown Gravel in 2023, think again. (Owning the town’s favorite coffee shop only further endears the family to cyclists. More on that later.)
Obviously, being a long-time cyclist himself (as well as a collegiate decathlete and Olympic-caliber rower) gives Scholl a deep understanding of what makes a great bike race.
Less obviously, being a multi-generational Kremmling resident means he has the community relationships necessary to put on an event that punches way above its weight class — especially with fellow ranchers, who allow Scholl to use their private land for KowTown Gravel.
That’s no small thing. Tensions between ranchers and event planners have threatened the future of SBT GRVL in nearby Steamboat Springs. Kremmling, in contrast, continues to welcome cyclists with open arms. During my visit, I never once got the sense that the locals couldn’t wait for us Lycra people to get out of town.
Which is all the more gracious when you consider how many of us have long thought of Kremmling as little more than a place to stop for gas and a bathroom break on the way to the aforementioned Steamboat Springs. Well, no more for me. I’m a Kremmling convert.
Sitting at 7,400 feet, halfway between Summit County and Steamboat in north-central Colorado, Kremmling is no posh ski resort. The area’s first European settlers arrived during Colorado’s 1880s silver boom, but Kremmling’s early miners never struck it rich. The area instead proved well-suited to ranching, which continues as its primary industry to this day.
With a population of just 1,500, today’s Kremmling retains a rustic, small-town feel that carries over to KowTown Gravel. The mid-June weekend kicks off on Friday with a spaghetti dinner and concludes on Sunday morning with a parking-lot church service, if you’re so inclined. In between, Saturday’s race day features a mechanical bull to go along with bands, burgers, and ice cream at the expo area. (The beef is locally sourced, of course.)
KowTown’s base of operations is West Grand High School, where you’ll pick up registration packets and stage before the race. The school’s showers and lockers are available to riders, and you can purchase breakfast burritos and coffee on Saturday morning. The start-and-finish line is around the corner.
Of course, even an event with all the best amenities won’t draw riders without memorable gravel. Here again, KowTown succeeds with four cattle-themed courses that make the most of Grand County’s sweeping vistas.
The 16-mile Cow Dog course is ideal for families and evenly split between gravel and pavement. Slightly more ambitious is the Calf which packs 2,100 feet of climbing into 28 miles. Harder-core racers will choose between the 54-mile Cow and the 85-mile Bull routes.1 Both feature a lot more climbing and rougher terrain — with the Bull topping out at an elevation of 10,037 feet on Grouse Mountain.
My Ride
I drove to Kremmling for the 2026 edition of KowTown Gravel with my niece, Haley, who is about half my age and an accomplished multi-sport athlete. She’d only ridden gravel a few times before, so when she suggested we opt for the shorter 28-mile Calf course, I didn’t argue. I was going into the day heavier and a lot less fit than I should have been at this point in the summer, but even so I figured I’d be fine nursing a newcomer through her first gravel race.
Hardly.
Though riding a borrowed bike on flat pedals, Haley — no stranger to mountain-biking — quickly made it clear that she wouldn’t need me to play the protective uncle when she easily forded the day’s first water crossing.
I had briefed her on the drive to Kremmling that most of the steepest climbing would be in the first five miles. After that, there’d be another brief pitch at the 8-mile mark that would take us to our peak elevation of 8,100 feet. Don’t worry, I said, the second one isn’t as bad as the first.
Not exactly.
As soon as we hit the first hill, I began to struggle. Maybe it was the elevation? Maybe the extra weight? I was able to keep Haley in sight, but I began to suspect she was holding back for ol’ Uncle Dan.
I didn’t close the gap when we got to the first summit because I didn’t want her to hear me gasping. And while, yes, the second climb wasn’t as steep as the first, I still wasn’t fully recovered when we hit it. As my heart rate spiked, the distance between us stretched until I could no longer tell which tiny dot on the horizon was Haley.
Riding solo gave me a chance to document the course conditions and even take a few pictures for you, dear reader (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). I found the roads to be well-maintained throughout, though some repeat riders would later report that they felt a bit sandier than in previous years.
As you’d expect, the sections on private land were a bit more primitive, though nothing extreme, and they only added to the fun. I rode 45mm tires and had no problems, though riders tackling the longer, gnarlier routes might benefit from something wider. Throughout the day, traffic was almost nonexistent, unless you count the cows. There were lots of cows.
Before long, I reached the Calf’s lone aid station. There was no sign of Haley, but a volunteer immediately walked toward me. “Are you Dan?” she asked. “Haley told me to tell you she’s fine and she went on ahead.” My instinct was to chase, but when the volunteer began to happily point out her family’s land in the distance, I took the chance to catch my breath. It would have been rude to not hear her out, right?
It’s at that aid station that KowTown’s two longer courses head back into the hills. Eventually, both the Cow and Bull routes rejoin the Calf for the day’s final 10 miles. Eight of those miles are paved, giving you a chance to put your head down and hammer home.
Haley was waiting at the finish line with a big grin on her face. She had won her age group and placed sixth overall among all women!
She wasn’t the only first-timer to win her age group. In the 54-mile Cow event, Veronica Sparks took first in the women’s 30-39 category and was fourth among all women.
Just as impressive were the Calf’s overall winners. The men’s top-finisher was 15-year-old Charlie Mohr (that’s not a typo — 15 years old — keep an eye on this kid). The women’s champ was 61-year-old Debra Preller. Again, not a typo. Preller is 30 years older than her event’s runner-up.
Me? I did fine. Having been dropped by my newbie niece, my ego pushed me to try to catch her in the second half of the race. It was a fool’s errand, but I paced well enough on those final miles to take fourth in my age group. (Don’t be too impressed. I was still nearly 20 minutes behind third place.)
On the way out of town, we celebrated Haley’s big result at Big Shooter Coffee, which “Big Shooter” Shawn and his family opened in 1998. The shop offers first-rate coffee, ice cream, smoothies, burritos, and more in a warm, funky setting. There’s also an informal trophy case marking the very significant athletic accomplishments of Shawn and Stephanie’s daughter Tabor. In short, it’s not unlike KowTown Gravel itself: welcoming with lots of small-town charm. Pair that with some world-class terrain and you’ve got a winner of an event that deserves a spot on your calendar.
- Distances on the KowTown Gravel website for the Bull don’t match the linked course on RideWithGPS.com. I went with the RideWithGPS distance. ↩︎
