DK 200 recap

To start things of I want to say congrats to Cornbread for his amazing overall first place finish.  With the combination of sunny skies and 95 degree temps it was a day for the record books in multiple ways.  I learned several things during this event, like most people did that day.

#1 Remember your map:  Yes, I will admit that I forgot my map at the starting line.  Luckily, I realized it in enough time that my Mom, who was my support crew (thanks Mom), was able to get to the hotel and back with it just as we set off on the course.

#2 Ride at your own pace:  Due to the whole map incident, I was DFL at the back of the field and felt like I had to make up ground.  Even though I kept my heart rate well away from threshold and kept my cadence even (thanks garmin) I regained on much of the field and found my self in the middle of the second or third pack and had past most of the field about 10 miles in.

#3 The best laid plans are usually the worst ones: With that being said, let me preface this whole section with, I knew that I was going into this event very under prepared for what was coming my way.  Seriously, the longest ride I had done all year was 85 miles and I was expecting to get in 200? C'mon man!  I believed that I had a solution for my hydration and fueling needs so that I could keep going.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to throw a curve ball at me and with the elevated temps, I sucked down almost all my liquids by mile 50 (three bottles of water and one of perpetuem), with the first check point another 10 miles away.  I went into this event feeling very confident and came out of it feeling like a two year old that just got scolded for doing something wrong.  I deviated from my normal mentality of "I would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it", trying to go as lite as possible, I took a gamble and I lost.  Water is one thing that you want to follow this motto.

#4 Seriously, Kansas is R-E-M-O-T-E: When the promoters say that the course is remote and rugged, they mean it.  Some of the cattle we came across seemed puzzled as to what we were doing out there.  Most of the buildings that we did come across appeared to be abandoned.

As for the Minimum Maintenance Roads (MMR), they put Nebraska's MMR to shame.  The MMR that we traveled over were more akin to beginner Jeep trails.  Unless you had something similar to a Subaru with a bit more than normal ground clearance you were gonna be scrapin' and dingin' the underbelly of your car.  I have to say that this section that I rode was the most fun that I have had on a bike in really long time.  Pick a line and try to keep the rubber down.

So in summary:  Forgot map, pushed probably a bit too hard in the beginning, had a thought of "What am I doing out here" around mile 15, had a blast on the MMR, inside of my quad cramped at mile 40 while shifting to an easier gear going up hill (go figure), hit 35 mph on a downhill around mile 41 :-P, ran out of water at mile 50, got to check point one, re fueled and headed out, mile 65 called it quits due to dehydration headache and was starting to get disorientated.  On the bright side I had no mechanical issues of any kind.  The Specialized Crossroad Armadillo Elite 700x38 Tires at 65 psi worked like a champ, fast on the straights and grippy in the corners and my SRAM Rival/Force combo groupo didn't let me down.

Overall, I had a great time and it was a good experience.  I was only disappointed in my self and lack of preparation.  Thanks to the Promoters, Jim and Joel,  and all the volunteers for putting on a top notch event and the KC Jeep club for marking the course.  Congrats to RD and Eric for their performance.  It's on my calender for next year.

Next event:  Rapture in Misery.  Any takers?

Enjoy some pics I took along the way.

fuel for the ride.

The ride

Oh yeah, that's right.  In the AM baby!

The whole town was behind the event.

Riders gathering for the start, before I realized I didn't have my map.

The last bit of pavement before the gravel goodness started

People trying to find good lines and someone to draft off.

R-E-M-O-T-E

Looking back at the hill I just climbed.

After mile 40 the course flattened out and we had a tail wind.  Averaged 22mph.

How I looked when I called it quits.

The bike held together perfectly.

I felt how the flatbed truck looked..... worn out, broke down and shelled.

Mud and Butter

So headed out to do my first solo gravel ride to train for Dirty Kanza.  I like riding with other people but I figure that I will be riding most of the 200 miles on my own so I figured I should train from time to time riding alone.

With the recent bought of snow, the gravel wasn't as dry as I was hoping but it was very ridable.  HERE is the map.  Saw a few other cyclists and one other fellow Gravel Grinder riding down Pawnee Road.  I think it was "The D."  Tried to catch up with them, I was looking for some company, but I couldn't catch up and decided to turn back to my original route plans.  Found out the hard way that Google can't be entirely trusted as well.  Originally planned on turning off of Dutch Hall Road at 216th.  Found out that the road has been commandeered and blocked by the county landfill so had to go a bit further than had planned to 225th street and then come down.  Wasn't horrible, but not as planned.

Product notes:  Recently picked up a Garmin Edge 500 with the cadence and heart rate.  This is the first Garmin or even heart rate monitor that I have used.  Been playing with it for about two weeks and it is very easy to set up and customize.  Also Garmin has a really cool online program that you can download the data and share with other folks around the world, for free.  Even better they have a program that you can download, for FREE, and analysis your data directly on your computer.  The best thing of all... it is all Mac compatible.  :-)

Another new product that I tried for the first time today was Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem.  I have had lots of issues in the past with "bonking" and feeling like crap after long or high intensity rides.  So far I feel good for doing 52 miles and 4 hours in the saddle.  A definite recommendation.

Last new product used today, I know taking some risks using three new products in one ride, was chamois butter.  First time for this product as well.  I purchased some Paceline Products Euro-style Chamois Butter.  I was very hesitant to try this product out hence the whole rubbing cream on myself in the nether regions.  It would be all good and fun if someone of the female gender was doing it for me.  :-P  But in all seriousness, the product works.  Usually have all kinds of saddle issues when I get up around the 40 mile mark.  But none to speak of this time.  I'm sold.  The Euro-style has a interesting cooling sensation similar to Icy Hot compared to the standard stuff.

Bike held up pretty good for it's first ride for more than 20 miles and on gravel.  And of course the mud!

Oh yeah that's some build up.  First time I felt mud slow me down.  The only time I had to stop and clean off some of the pancake batter like mud.

Made a pit-stop at The Bike Way.

And I caved on the way home and stopped at McDonalds for a post ride meal.

Overall a very good day.  Got some miles in, tested out some new products, and had no mechanical issues to speak of.   Planning on making this a regular occurrence to train for DK200.  Anyone is welcome to join.

First round of training

Ok, so in my attempts to get into shape for the Dirty Kanza I have designed a riding schedule that I will hopefully be able to maintain along with my normal everyday riding.

So this Saturday, January 16th lets say around 11 am roll out I am going to be heading up north to dutch hall road, out around Elkhorn on skyline drive and return via my neighborhood commute route with some papio and keystone trail mixed in to give it some length.

Here's a link to  a map:  http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/59-mile-dirty-Kanza-training.

Leave a response if you want to go, anyone is welcome.

From MTB Omaha

CX Tuesdays

Who's up for CX practice on Tuesday nights? I've got a good practice course at Seymor Smith park by the soap box derby track. The course includes a paved climb, gravel climb, gravel/sand trap, and we can get a high speed barrier section too. I'm thinking 5:30ish. Two lap, five lap and three lap mini races.

All levels are welcome, don't be shy.

Bacon ride.

I'm stoked for the bacon ride. Not so much about being up a 5:30 in the morning to do so.

Who wants to ride tonight?

Ride, MTB, Lewis and Clark, 6pm, 4/15/09.


Hopefully I wont get hurt this time. Every time I've gone out there I been significantly hurt. Hey EB, remember the first time you took me out there and I busted up my knee.... yah, good times.


Hey now, did everyone get their taxes done?