SUPERBLOOM GRAVEL:
A Women’s Gravel Race
9/21/2024 & 9/6/2025
Our Sponsors:
The goal: One heck of a race for you.
Had you ever gotten to the start line of some of your local races and glimpsed only a handful of women? Did you ever wonder why the heck there weren’t more of us out there? Yeah, us too. The reasons are many, maybe you can relate to a few.
It could have been that you looked at the registration page and only saw a few women signed up and thought “well, I’m probably going to be out there by myself”. Maybe you felt like you simply didn’t stack up to the rest of the field with all of the fast dudes. Or maybe you were not comfortable fixing your own bike and feared a mechanical that would leave you stranded.
Whatever the reasons, we set out to remove those barriers by providing a welcoming and supportive environment for all women, regardless of skill level or race aspirations.
If you had been to the Loess Hills region, you may have been aware that the beauty of these roads was accompanied by some of the most challenging terrain (think 20% graders in some places!). So naturally, this is where we based our little race.
Throughout the process, we had been told that this race would be too difficult for women (wish we were kidding), and that we should make it easier. That's nonsense, and frankly that galvanized us even more.
We KNEW you'd be up for the challenge! And for the two years that our race was running, you proved that to be the case.
So thank you for showing up, proving the naysayers wrong, and making the two years we ran our race absolutely brilliant!
race perks
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Prizes from Cafe du Cycliste for top five riders of each race.
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Not everyone is out for a podium, but that doesn't mean each persons achievements aren't worthy of rewards. We will have random giveaways open to ALL race participants courtesy of our sponsors.
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Race day nutrition by Neversecond.
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Less than 30 min from downton Omaha (population of 486k with a major airport), you'll find the beautiful Loess Hills of Iowa! Our course has plenty of elevation (one notable climb reaches a 20% grade).
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We provide some roving course support, and each aid station will have knowledgeable individuals who are ready to help!
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With a female race director, this race was designed to be fun and challenging for women of all skill levels! That applies to all aspects of the race, whether it’s pre-race communication or race day support.
Behind Superbloom
After running Prairie Bloom Cycling Club for four years and its associated race team for three, I built up a wealth of knowledge in event planning, leading rides, and community building.
I didn’t start my cycling journey in earnest until early 2019. The learning curve was as steep as the Raleigh Road climb you’ll find on course, and while it wasn’t easy, I learned so much! Through that experience I became aware of the barriers that came with cycling (gear, confidence, etc.), so the purpose of this race was to bring other women along for the ride. Cycling is joy, and joy should be shared. It was that simple!
I never set out to be a race director. I just wanted to create a women’s race that checked off all of the boxes of what I wanted when I first came into the world of racing. The plan had been to do it for one year as a grand finale to Prairie Bloom and that’s it.
But the first year was so successful, that I got talked into another. And that second year was somehow even greater than the first, so I got talked into a third!
Well, sort of. After careful consideration and weighing the amount of effort and time it took to run a successful race, and weighing how I could juggle that with my career, I realized it was all a little too much to take on a third year. I’m a believer in knowing your limits and recognizing when to step back, so that’s just what I did :)
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Race Director
Founder of Superbloom and Prairie Bloom Cycling Club + its associated race team. Native of Mexico, commercial photographer, cyclist, runner, and outdoor enthusiast.
What’s in a name?
If you google the definition of a superbloom, you’ll find that it’s a rare phenomenon occurring in the deserts of California and Arizona with an unusually high number of wildflowers that bloom at once!
But we aren’t in the desert, not even close. Here in the midwest, we have a superbloom in our own backyard. It’s a time when our prairies morph into a sea of native flowers that demand we take note. They are quite a sight to behold!
Glenwood Superbloom will create its own phenomenon on this first-of-its-kind race in the midwest (taking inspiration from our friends at The Dusty Bandita).
So yeah, it’s a fitting name. It’s also a nod to Prairie Bloom Cycling Club (PBCC), a women’s club and race team based in Omaha, Nebraska.
We call this event a women’s gravel race, and when we say women, that word includes ALL women!
