Samara Sheppard and Cole Davis (SpeedStudio-Basso) won the final event of the 2026 Grasshopper Adventure Series, Ukiah Mendo Gravel Epic on May 24. Both won on debut rides in the off-road northern California series, and fine-tuned techniques the weekend prior to Unbound Gravel 200 in Kansas.
With third place finishes at Ukiah Mendo, Jen Tavé (SpeedBlock-Terún Pro Cycling) and Cassius Anderson (Marin Service Course) secured the overall titles for elite divisions in the five-race Grasshopper Series.
Davis, a native of Roseville, California, will ride his first Unbound Gravel 200, while New Zealander Sheppard is in the hunt at the Life Time Grand Prix, sitting seventh in the standings after Sea Otter Classic Gravel. Tavé will also compete next at Unbound 200, positioned third in the wild card leaderboard.
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Sheppard covered the 76-mile course across Mendocino County in 4:25:54. The new course included two major climbs that totaled 8,420 feet of climbing, and a 13-mile descent into strong headwinds before the finish.
It was on the final climb and technical sandy descent that Sheppard used her mountain bike skills to dispatch her two closest competitors. Flavia Oliveira Parks came second, just over three and a half minutes back, and Tavé third, another six minutes behind the New-Zealand born rider.
“This was just a solid hit out as part of my preparation for the Unbound. I just enjoyed the course. It was some soft, sandy sections, a lot of fun corners, good gravel, bit of tarmac, everything,” Sheppard said of her first Hopper adventure.
She was still connected with Parks and Tavé with 25 miles to go. Tavé was the first of the trio to fall off the pace on the final climb, and then Sheppard attacked on the descent into a stiff headwind to distance Parks.
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“It was a good battle. We worked together, Flavia and Samara. Then I got popped on the second big climb, and was a bit of a solo adventure after that,”Tavé told organisers, with the rider happy to walk away with the Grasshopper overall title for a second time.
Top five elite women at 2026 Ukiah Mendo Gravel Epic (Image credit: Brian Tucker @b.tuckerpics )
Davis won with more than five minutes to Kyle Ward and nearly another six minutes on Anderson. It was also the first time he had competed in any Hopper race, having focused for the past five years on road racing.
A group of five riders escaped in the first 11 miles on the opening climb. Miles 31 to 50 offered a stretch of paved roads, where the three podium finishers rode together before the final ascent. Davis had to stop several times for tyre issues, but was able to catch Ward and Anderson at the crest of the Low Gap Road for a final attack.
“Today was super tactical. By the time we got to the road stretch, there’s three of us just taking equal pulls. I thought it was my opportunity to go and then I had some issues with some flats,” Davis said. “I stopped to fix it a couple times, attacked over the top, and descended into the finish.
“I was looking at the profile, I thought the top of the climb would be the finish and you could coast it in but that was not the case. Even though it was downhill the headwind made it brutal.”
(Image credit: Brian Tucker @b.tuckerpics )
Ukiah Mendo Gravel Epic top 5s
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite Women
Pos.
Rider
Time
1
Samara Sheppard
4:25:54
2
Flavia Oliveira Parks
+3:49
3
Jen Tave
+10:01
4
Rachel Cohen
+28:22
5
Caroline Dezendorf
+1:31:34
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite Men
Pos
Rider
Time
1
Cole Davis
3:50:34
2
Kyle Ward
+4:40
3
Cassius Anderson
+10:38
4
Aaron Leopold
+10:38
5
Matthew Saldana
+11:10
Grasshopper Adventure Series final standings – top 3
