The Heywood

Shady Lane and Sogn Valley did not disappoint yesterday. Stunning as ever, the roads are in great shape. I love playing in our backyard!

Friends, it was a real nice night to ride bikes together. Hope you all are still riding and having a good time together on two wheels whenever you can.

At this time last week, the 55’s were all getting ready, and we were just flying high from the excitement of getting y’all on the roads around here! We’re still excited over how the weekend went, and can’t really believe the positivity and joy y’all brought with you! It was a hoot to host you, and we hope you’re still flying from your activities as well.

We can’t wait to see you next year(May 17)!

Humbled. Honored. Validated.

We’re humbled by the out pouring of attendees that came to our (not so little anymore!) little party. We love each and every one of you!

We’re honored that you close US to spend your hard earned time off with us this past weekend. It means the world to us.

We feel validated that what started as a small idea -an idea of a socially welcoming ride has certainly turned into more than idea. YOU make it a real THING. Riding bikes without pressure just works.

Save May 17, 2025 in your calendar!

Our final rider on course, a super determined, “I WILL finish this”, Carolyn Franzone rolled in this afternoon at ~4:30. After well over 3 days on the road, she was looking awesome in Central Park!

And this concludes an amazing, inspiring, eventful weekend. We can’t even begin to find a way to thank everyone for showing up. The love of the ride, of the atmosphere, and of eachothers company truly is palpable. It’s exciting for us to see each and every rider roll into the circle at the end and hear takes tales of how your day went. It never gets old!

We’ve already got plans formulating for next year - be sure to block out May 17, 2025 on your calendar!

Finish circle pictures will be coming soon!

tag off!

Dudes.

It is SO beautiful this morning!

Come to Northfield. Ride your bikes with a Tim of your newest friends. We can’t wait to see you! You can register TODAY!

The 395 riders are flat out KILLING it right now! Bryan odds at mile 205 -half way- as i type this

The 395 pre ride jitters.

Start times for your chosen ride distance!

We suggest getting here early(we’re throwing a party Friday night!) so you can get parked, unloaded, registered, changed and ready to ride!

As a reminder: you can change what distance you want to do -at any time- with no need to tell us. You do what you’re comfortable with!! We are providing a venue for you to be comfortable challenging yourself!

Here we go! A reminder of the Heywood Hootenanny Friday evening if you’re in town early! Come down and get your registration packet, dig on some tunes and have a drink or two!

If you ARE in town and need a place to camp, we are once again lucky to have a spot in Sechler Park for you to put up a tent, sleep in your rooftop camper or your van, for free! It’s all rideable to downtown and the start line, and has a biffy on site.

See you Friday night!!

Sending out a reminder to riders :

If you want to attend on Saturday, but don’t have the extra cash for entry, we have extra sponsored spots available for you that were generously purchased by other participants! Just find your way down here and we’ll get you all sorted at registration!

Saturday is looking flat out awesome. Bring water, bring sleeves, bring sunscreen!

One week!!! One week until you get to ride roads like these!

Let’s go over some logistics. Got those holding out on weather, you may as well stop. Forecast looks °perfect° for next weekend! A repeat of today with less wind? Ok!

IF you do wait until the day of to register, it will be $50 for day of. $25 until is what it’ll cost you up until Saturday morning.

We welcome teams/groups to set up support tents in the south section of the park, checked in blue. We love the support that the finishers get as they roll into the circle at the end! Speaking of circle, don’t forget to roll in and get your finishing picture! Then roll over to and grab some food after finishing! Yeah. We have food this year!!

Parking next. The streets in red are verboten. No parking there. That’s support and start stuff. Everything in green is good to go for parking. Be nice. Don’t change in the streets. Our neighbors have been wonderfully supportive, let’s not upset them!

Don’t forget to twist your friends arm into coming. It’ll be a great time. If you’ve done it already, you know this. For those that can’t make it (you know who you are), we’ll miss you terribly.

On to the 110 route. It ups the ante from the 55 and travels deeper into the Driftless on the rest side of Cannon Falls. The climbs are more frequent and downhills blazing. You get the chance for TWO stops at Urland Church at miles 33/80. You get to go through Nerstrand for a possible visit to the meat market (fuel for the last miles), and get to take in what we all think is the best road around, Farmer Trail. If you’re doing the 110, departure time is 8am!

We’re just got over 800 registrants last night! Are you on the list yet?

I (Marty) took advantage of a supper satiated morning and scouted the 390 course. It served as reminder of how beautiful the route is. There are SO MANY gorgeous roads out there! And it’s a good thing we did the scouting too. I found a few construction zones i had to go around and find new roads. It’s generally worked out for the better! If you’re doing the 390, week email the new gpx files out real soon!

For rest of you regular riders, we’re two weeks out! We’ll have a post up about weekend timelines very soon!!

Sechler Park - CLOSED (WET, MUDDY): soooo much rain! stay off please!

We’d like to welcome the riders to town today for the Earth Day Gravel Grinder! If you’re doing The Heywood 55, and the 50 mile today, you’re getting a real nice preview of what the 55 will be like! The climbs are longer and steeper than on the 30, and of course go out a little further. One of the biggest benefits of the 55 is that you get the rest stop at Urland Church at about mile 33. Be sure to bring a little cash along on the ride and get some amazing church lady treats! Kathy and Dawn and the crew out there are the best! After your break, it’s a nice roll back into town. Don’t forget: registration is open! Bring your pals!

Let’s talk a little bit about the rides y’all are choosing to do. Those who have done this in the past will be familiar, but it wouldn’t hurt to go over it again!

When you register for The Heywood, you register for the -event- of The Heywood. Not distances. The way we’ve structured this as a non- competitive ride means that you, rider gets to choose what distance YOU want to do, day of. Feeling awesome with a great base of training? Do the 162, It leaves at 7 am(the 110 leaves at 8 am!) Be here and ride aaaalll day long! Life got complicated for you this spring and you didn’t get to train much? No problem! The 55 starts at 9, and the 30 starts at 10!

There’s no real reason to let us know what distance you’re doing, or if you need to change distances. It’s all good by us!

162 miles : 7 am start
110 miles : 8 am start
55 miles : 9 am start
30 miles : 10 am start

We suggest arriving an hour before so you can park, register, change, p**p, get dressed again, and start the ride!

We can’t wait to see y’all! Three weeks!!

Less than one month to ride day, and we couldn’t be more excited to see you! Music Friday night is lined up, number plates are ready, the church folks rest stop menu has been set, Central Park is leafing out, as the roads are superb!

Are you signed up yet? Had you convinced your friends to join you? Is your bike ready? What are you going to eat during the ride?

Let’s go! We’ll see you in Northfield May 17-18!

Four weeks from right now we’ll be packing up the tents and cleaning up the park after the sun sets on another Heywood Ride. The roads are in mighty fine riding condition, and we can’t wait to have you all back in Northfield. Sign up now if you haven’t already. Bring your friends, and don’t forget to join us at The Grand for a Friday night early check-in party!

Here we are! One month out from go day! We hope you’re excited to get your tires dirty on our !

We’re going to highlight s couple tires over the next few days. All of these can be found on .

Today is the 30 mile. We introduced this last year as an introduction ride to the gravel scene. There are so many rides out there that cater to the seasoned rider, that subverting it can seem like the beginning Gravelleurs are ignored. Worry not! This ride is a common one for our locals to ride. It’s called the Boy Scout Loop for the ride past Camp Philippo on the east side of the ride. Like all of our Heywood loops, it starts by going out past Carlton College and running up Canada Ave. you’ll encounter some gradual climbs that will challenge newer legs, with some rolly bits in the middle with a fun downhill. One of the key features of this loop (and only this loop), is that every corner will be signed(keep in mind though, that beyond the first few, none of the intersections are controlled!). If you don’t have navigation, or are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the tech, no worries! It is another way that we try to keep this loop specifically aimed at the new rider. Taking that navigation component out lowers that barrier a little further. We truly do want to get you out riding and not worrying about anything but pedaling!

Registration is open! Bring your friends!

You like us! You really really like us! Thanks for all the votes in TheNxrth’s recent poll. And the company we get to keep with Heck of the North, The Filthy and Freedhem is just awesome too! Cheers to all promoters, keep doing what you’re doing.

Click the link to see the results(and thank to Josh for putting it all together!)::

https://www.thenxrth.com/post/winners-best-of-gravel-2024?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMQABHTPAh9NQU31WzxGxQFhc1YEYD2MLRdZPQsEdMs6kokCgKlM6-WTtnnQWxg_aem_ASmi-CLG-UBzDierShJAnyd8XHM0eoydCJN_3_vQPSgnEMYtMDGYTq5oHOrruuT9Ww4

WINNERS: Best of Gravel 2024 The 2024 "Best of Gravel" Nxrth reader poll recently concluded as our readers voted on their favorite gravel things from the last year. What are the best events? Where are the best destinations? Find the community's favorites as well as the runners up in our Winner's roundup here.Results are in! Ear...

Tonight, the gravel was down right pleasant. Such a pleasure to get out on evenings like this in Minnesota.

Registration is open. A good time will be had by all! Festivities start Friday evening at The Grand where we do number pickups and host some music! Bring your own dinner(we’ve got lots of good food in town! ), grab a drink or two and your number plate! Don’t forget to bring your friends!

Tuesday nights are back on! We’re all feeling s little…fluffy at the moment, so we’re solidly in B group mode! We hope you’re getting excited for The Heywood! Registration is open, so don’t forget to do the sign up thing! $25 gets you a real good time for the day!

We recommend taking some time to stop and soak in the grass during your ride. 🌾 6 weeks to go until The Heywood Ride! Get yourself registered — we can’t wait to see you in Northfield!!!

Second half of Midsouth! It went as great as the first. Weather today was perfect no wind, upper 60’s temps, and lots of hills. We can’t stress enough how important this event is to is. How utterly amazing it is to see in person. There is s comraderie here that far surpasses any thing else in the world. There really is nothing like it. So a sincere and loving thank you to the whole crew. Y’all are amazing individuals.

expo spot! We’re here to talk Minnesota and it’s down right pleasant gravel! Come in, say hi and grab some stickers!

We’re rolling on down to this weekend! We’ll have a booth at the expo ( #35) - swing by and chat with us, we’ll happily talk your ear off about our event and gravel in general

On our way to spring gravel riding. In case you forgot when registration for The Heywood opens, no worries - it’s open now! (link in bio, of course) We’ve also got some fun times coming between now and May 18, so stay tuned to see what we’re up to.