Returning triumphantly after a brief hiatus, DAMN brings 24-hour gravel racing to the North Star State. Renee Hoffmann reports alongside Abigail Wark’s photos from the grassroots event that sees riders rally across the entire state of Minnesota.
Despite the obvious nervous energy that permeated the increasingly large group of cyclists gathering in a tiny town in South Dakota, the start of Day Across Minnesota (DAMN) felt a bit more like a family reunion than a bike race. Endurance cyclists tend to go through high highs and low lows while racing together, creating a bond that transcends long periods of absence from each other’s lives. This year’s event was made even more special given that every single participant had, until just months prior, been under the impression that DAMN would never happen again.
The name gives you a good idea of what the race is all about. Riders have 24 hours to traverse 240 miles across the southern portion of Minnesota. The event starts at midnight in Gary, South Dakota, and ends in Hager City, Wisconsin. What started off as a birthday challenge for Trenton Raygor and his friends evolved into a popular and beloved race among gravel racers in Minnesota and beyond.
In 2021, after five years of running the event, race directors Trenton and Erik Englund announced that they were pulling back from the event to focus their energy on their families and growing kids. This left plenty of riders – some who had completed the event, some who hadn’t – with unresolved questions like, “Could I have beaten the sun?”, “Could I have finished this event?”, and “Will I ever get a chance to ride across the state with a bunch of other people again?”
“I was so heartbroken. [DAMN] really got me at a whole new level with biking. Without DAMN I wouldn’t have done Arrowhead 135, Unbound XL, or Heywood. I wouldn’t have the confidence I have now to ride for a ridiculous number of hours. It gave me the assurance that I can do hard things. It’s been my proving ground,” said returning DAMN rider Sean Mattner.
Then, in early 2024, race directors announced that the event was back via social media posts. While the return of DAMN seemed shrouded in mystery due to a lack of explanation, we actually have Trenton and Erik’s kids to thank for the decision to bring it back in 2024.
“Erik and I both coach high school mountain biking. I started hearing middle school kids talk about DAMN. It turns out there was a kid from the Rochester team in 2021 who finished in daylight and he kind of became a legend in the youth mountain bike scene. His lore trickled down to other kids and eventually our kids asked us why we stopped and if we’d bring it back. Everyone was on board, so we did,” explained Trenton.
Fireworks and Shooting Stars
At midnight, the small town of Gary was lit with fireworks as riders began the neutral rollout led by a fire truck carrying Trenton and the mayor of Gary. It’s yet another aspect of the event that is special – in a climate where it’s not entirely uncommon for communities to be frustrated or even openly hostile towards gravel events, locals along the DAMN route are, by and large, extremely supportive. Every year there are a handful of folks who set up grilling stations or sit at the end of their (very long) driveways with a cooler of cold beverages for riders. Trenton works hard to engage with the communities where he throws races, and the work has paid off.
“Trenton is amazing and has always been welcoming to literally everyone. He’s the one who is the voice and face reaching out to communities and being genuinely himself. He has the support of Gary, South Dakota, and Hager City, Wisconsin. He told destinations like the BP [gas station] in Morton, that race was happening so they could be prepared. You can’t solve for everything, but I think he makes it accessible,” said experienced gravel racer and first-time DAMN rider Kristin Greeley.
“I thought it was really cool how many people from the community came out. One guy even had a portapotty – he had a table up and a tent over it. Near the end there were people grilling and handing out beer,” said Leah Gruhn, an experienced ultra cyclist and returning DAMN racer.
Following the neutral rollout, the field always splinters fast, but with prime weather conditions and near-hero gravel, the front group pulled away even faster this year and held a blistering pace. Course records for both the men’s and women’s fields were shattered this year.
“I went out with the front pack and it was definitely way too fast. I just had all of this adrenaline from the midnight start and all the bike lights. It was like 25+ mph for the first couple hours. At one point, I was on Josh Bauer’s wheel and felt like the ‘I’m in danger’ meme, so I backed off,” said first-time DAMN racer Connor Gunsbury.
As riders whisked through their individual “aid stations” (every rider is allowed a support crew that meets them three times anywhere on the course), their breath was visible in the unseasonably cool air and many added more layers and warmed frozen fingers with cups of hot coffee. It was not a good time to dilly dally or sit on the side of the road with a mechanical. Everyone wanted to keep moving.
As the sun rose, bringing with it warmer temperatures and an orange-pink mist, a thread of lights from bikes intermingled with shooting stars from the Perseid meteor shower.
“Around mile 50–55, I witnessed the beauty of first light. It was an experience that I hadn’t had on a bike. There was this really singular, soft rainbow pulling the sun above the horizon line and a transition point vertically where you could see constellations transition. I was like, ‘What is this moment? Does this happen every day?!’ I almost rode straight into the ditch because I was staring at the pretty colors,” said Kristin.
Riding the Emotions of the Day
Just as they traveled the hills of the river valley, riders faced emotional highs and lows over the duration of the race. Common among lows were the cold overnight temperatures, mechanical issues, physical pain, solitude, and “the sleepies.” Highs included seeing crews at checkpoints, meeting up with friends on the course, making new friends, one very overweight corgi that sat in the middle of the road overnight, calmly watching bikes zip by and making riders question their grip on reality.
“Seeing something on the road in the dark was one of my fears. I really ran through the gamut of emotions before realizing it was just a really fat corgi with insomnia that I was looking at,” said Kristin.
“The sleep deprivation ended up being tough, especially around mile 100,” said first-time DAMN rider Pallav Kumar. “I was struggling to stay awake and nearly falling asleep on the side of the road. In terms of natural body rhythms there were lots of ups and downs. When I was exhausted, I told myself that in an hour I’d feel a lot better.”
Leah added, “It’s so hard to stay awake. I was so sleepy at like 3-4 am, when it was still pitch black and I was by myself. I had some caffeinated energy stuff in my Camelbak, and stopped to put music on, which helped me wake up. I thought I was still alone so I started singing out loud and it turns out I wasn’t.”
Sean, who attempted the double DAMN (which is exactly the same as the regular DAMN except you have 48 hours and turn around and head right back to South Dakota upon reaching Wisconsin) explains his race experience, “The whole race was kind of a low point. I was tired going into it and put so much pressure on myself. Around mile 170 I knew I wasn’t going to turn around. Trenton was so encouraging – he gave me a hug and said it was okay. On one hand I felt like I was letting him and the race down, but on the other I needed to show myself some compassion. It’s all about how you carry yourself after failure.”
Author’s note: Sean went on to complete the 300-mile “Long Voyage” route at Gravel Worlds just two weeks after DAMN.
And for Connor, the final leg of the race brought on a cascade of emotions. “Going through Red Wing, only a couple miles from the finish, I was so drained and exhausted that my emotional inhibitions were lowered. I was thinking about all of the people who were supporting me – my teammates, my fiancee, my parents who came to the finish. I didn’t have the fluid in me to cry, but I was in that state of mind. Those last couple miles were very emotionally raw. I feel very lucky and privileged that I can do something like this,” he said.
“By the end it felt like the physicality of it wasn’t the biggest challenge, it was the perseverance of wanting to push through. I couldn’t have done it without the crew of support people,” added Pallav.
DAMN 2025
I asked all five riders that I interviewed if they planned on racing next year and, while all of them said they did want to ride it again either immediately or later on, several told me that they planned on returning next year in a crew capacity, which speaks to the kind of environment that the race directors have fostered and the kind of people it attracts. Not only do the riders themselves want to finish – everyone including race directors, locals, and support crews want it too.
“There are some notorious race directors who create hard events and might like to see their finisher rate stay low. I actually love seeing people finish the DAMN. It brings me more joy than you can imagine,” said Trenton.
“The support I received was amazing. I didn’t fully realize how hard running support was until the next day. You don’t get any sleep for 36 hours, you’re driving around the whole bottom half of the state, you’re finding food, and you’re responsible for hyping someone else up. I was super grateful for everyone who was there,” said Pallav.
I think at the end of this year, the one question that was on everyone’s mind was if the event will be back, or if this was the “LAST Last DAMN.” Some riders may have picked up on the fact that there were three race directors this year instead of two, with Chase Wark being a new addition. In speaking with the trio, the plan is to transition ownership of the event to Chase, who has experience directing many other races (and even proposed to his girlfriend, now wife, at the finish line in 2021 after setting a course record), so that Trenton and Erik can take a step back. I asked them what the future of DAMN looks like and here’s what they had to say:
“People who ride it have a story to tell and it’s a hell of a story. Unless some crazy curveball happens, it will be back next year.” – Erik
“I would love for DAMN to be around long enough for me to ride it with my kids.” – Trenton
“I can’t be the only person who proposes at the finish line.” – Chase
Sounds like it’s on. See you next year at DAMN.