Dirty Kanza 200

So I have made the decision, thanks to RD,  to bite the bullet and sign up for the Dirty Kanza 200.  For those of you who don't know it is a 200+ mile, one day, gravel road race in Emporia Kansas.  This should be a good time.  A co-worker, Nate, has said that he will partake in the punishment so now we need Douglas to man up [;-)] and commit to it and we can have an Omahaians showing.

More to come.

Tranquility....not so much.

The girl friend and I decide no to sit around the house all day and go for a ride.  Yes we know it is snowing and contrary to the loud old lady in our parking lot, no, we are not crazy or stupid.

I decide to throw the studded tires on my Redline and I dug out my Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires to put on her Kona Dew Plus.  And I was really proud of her.  She gave it a good try and was a good sport about it.  The snow was DEEP.  We only got from the trail head to the first road crossing and decided to go back.  It was a blast but it took for EVER.  Anyways here are some pics.

There she goes....sort of.  [:-)]

 

 It was some deep snow.

We both took some good spills.

Snow? What Snow?

So along with everyone else that is dedicated to spinning some cranks instead of turning a key, I too have a post about my adventures in the first bought of "real" snow in the Omaha area.  And here we go.....

I was on a quest this summer to build my own ultimate snow rig.  I had ridden my cross bike last winter with some studded tires and wasn't completely happy with the results.  I tried riding my single speed 29er and enjoyed the ride more than with the cross bike but my knee joints didn't like me when it came to trudging through the deep stuff.  So I opted for the best of both worlds:

Redline Monocog Flight 29er 19inch frame
Red Chris King headset
RaceFace Evolve Cranks (22-32-44)
SRAM PG-990 11-34 cassette
SRAM X.O rear derailleur and grip shifters
Shimano XT front derailleur
Custom wheel set, SLX center lock hubs, DT Swiss Comp Spokes and X470 rims  (a little heavy but super bommer!)
Avid Juicy Ultimate Brakes
Maxxis Ingnitor 29 x 2.1 tires for the fresh powder
Nokian Extreme 294  29 x 2.1 studded tires for the deep and icy stuff

Upright riding position, super low gearing, grip shift for easy use with gloved hand, and a straight bar for more control.  So far the results are very, very positive.  Here is some pics from the ride in on Monday:

A little bit of frost on the beard.

 

 Even with fenders had some nice build up on the frame.

 

X.O rear derailleur took it all like a champ and never missed a shift.

And I will have more from my commute on Wednesday.  Tuesday I have off.

Ride safe!