PEOPLE
Regroup is proud to announce we’re joining Shannon Lindner and Shendo Cat Racing as a sponsor of the 2026 Chino Grinder — Arizona’s longest-running gravel grinder. A few wor
Shannon Lindner comes at race directing the way the best race directors tend to: as a former racer, with strong opinions about porta-potties. The Chino Grinder, the gravel event she has produced for the last three years through her Arizona-based outfit Shendo Cat Racing, wears those opinions on its sleeve.
A Phoenix native, a mountain biker first and an XTERRA triathlete second, and someone who came to event direction through the side door — by racing enough events of her own – Shannon developed a singular vision of how a race ought to be put on. She has been producing events of one kind or another since around 2010, starting with trail runs and a charity mountain-bike fixture before the Grinder landed in her lap.
When the previous race director stepped away from the event a few years ago, Shannon took it on. She had raced Chino on a mountain bike — gravel, she points out, hadn’t quite exploded yet — and had a clear sense of what the race was, and what it could become. Three editions later, that vision has settled into something distinctive: a remote, demanding, deeply supported gravel event that takes itself seriously without losing the sense of fun that is at the heart of the best gravel events.
How Regroup Got Involved
Some of the credit, predictably, belongs to Tammy and Barry. Both of them have been part of the Chino Grinder story for years, well before they came across to Regroup, and Shannon has been seeing Barry for fits for longer than any of them probably want to admit. When she made the move to keep working with them at Regroup, the conversation about a race partnership was a short one.
“They’ve been huge supporters of this race for years,” Shannon tells us — a line that, in her quiet matter-of-fact way, says a lot about how the partnership came together. Tammy and Barry have been steady regulars at the race, and when Shannon followed them across to Regroup, the conversation about a race partnership wrote itself.
That, frankly, is the version of sponsorship we like. Regroup’s involvement with the Chino Grinder grew out of a relationship Tammy and Barry have been building with Shannon for the better part of a decade — the logo, when it lands on the banner, is the easy part.
The Race Itself
For anyone who hasn’t pinned a number at the Chino Grinder before, here’s the briefing.
The Chino Grinder runs north of Prescott Valley, in the high country between Chino Valley and Williams. It follows portions of the Overland Historic Road Trail — one of the oldest continuously used roads in the country — and rolls out across some of the most generous, big-sky terrain Arizona has to offer. Four distances are offered on the day: 23, 45, 63 and 107 miles. The full course racks up around 8,000 feet of climbing, and as Shannon will gently remind you, that can be a lot for a state most people associate with flat valley floors and saguaros.
It’s an out-and-back format, around 90% gravel, with one of the harder sections of the day being — paradoxically — the beat-up pavement at the start. After that, the surface opens up onto county dirt roads. There are good honest climbs, some genuinely fun technical descents, and enough variety underfoot to keep the day interesting whichever distance you’ve chosen.
What sets the event apart is the texture of the whole production. Aid stations every few miles, fully stocked. Mechanics on course. Sag wagons. Radio communication along the route because cell service won’t save you out there. Medical personnel are actually on the road. Porta-potties at every aid station — a small detail Shannon mentions almost in passing, but one that, as she rightly notes, is the difference between a welcoming event and one that quietly sends a message about whose comfort matters. (“I’m a woman,” she says of a different gravel race that hadn’t bothered with them. “I don’t mind going in the woods, but I don’t want to hike for five minutes during a race in order to not flash everyone while doing it.”)
Shannon’s philosophy on support is, by her own admission, slightly maximalist. “I overdo it for my athletes,” she says, almost apologetically. We would file that under things you want to hear from a race director.
A Race That Wants More Women on the Start Line
One of the things that drew Regroup to Chino in particular — beyond Tammy and Barry’s long-standing involvement — is the deliberate, ongoing work Shannon and her team are doing to grow the women’s field. Gravel, like much of cycling, is still figuring out how to be properly welcoming, and the Chino Grinder is one of the events visibly trying to move the needle.
Shannon is part of an Arizona gravel series alongside another event run by a female race director, with a shared focus on female participation across the calendar. Regroup’s women’s cycling team is part of the same conversation, and one of the team’s riders runs gravel camps for women in the lead-up to events like this one. Between the four distance options, the female-led race direction, and a small but increasingly active community of women pulling each other onto start lines, there’s real momentum here.
The Logistics, Briefly
The race is capped at 600 riders. Day-of registration is generally available, but you’ll pay less by signing up early — and given the cap, “generally available” should be read as “don’t bank on it.” Tent and dry RV camping is on site. Bathrooms and showers are available. A small expo with a beer garden runs out of the start/finish.
Bring a helmet, a bike, and the mindset of a self-sufficient rider — pack basic spares, plan to fix your own punctures, and remember that 10 miles to the next aid station can be a long limp if you’re not carrying what you need. Once you get there, Shannon’s team will refill your bottles, feed you, fix you, and (if it really comes to it) drive you back.
And the photographers — Shannon’s — are included in the registration fee, with their images delivered free of watermarks afterward. It’s the kind of small, generous detail that tells you exactly the sort of event this is.
Train With Us — The Chino Build-Up Rides
