2011 Dirty Kanza 200

Back in January, I decided that I would attempt the Dirty Kanza 200 gravel road race in Emporia, Kansas on June 04, 2011. I get registered along with about 300 to 350 others. I figure if everything goes perfect for me, it should take me from 18 to 20 hours to finish. In hindsight, that was mighty hopeful thinking for me. For perspective, several friends did the 2010 DK and one took about 16.5 hours and the other about 20 hours to finish.

I get a bit of distant racing in prior to the DK. In March, I do a 6 hour race at Northshore on my ss and clock about 66 miles. I do the OC on my ss in early April which takes me about 7 hours. At the end of April, I do a Spinistry event up near Muenster on my Waltworks with the rigid fork, the setup I plan to use at the DK. I get in about 105 miles in about 9 hours and determine that I need to put some skinny tires on my bike instead of the Crossmarks I currently have on it. I do Syllamo's Revenge in mid May on my ss and get about 6.5 hours of saddle time plus another hour of flat time. Two weeks before DK, Kevin Lee and I get about 75 miles of gravel riding in about 6 hours. I ride my WW's setup the way I plan to roll in Emporia. Everything seems to be about right.

About a week before the race, I start monitoring the weather and see that on race day they are predicting temps from the high 80's to the the low 90's in Emporia. I know temps in this range are going to kill me because I will have to scale my effort way back. The normal high in Emporia for June 04 is 81 degrees.

On June 03, 2011, Kevin and I head up, drop his Spinistry Trailer at the second checkpoint in Florence, Kansas and then drive on to Emporia. We get checked in to the hotel, go pick up our registration packets, bump into some other folks from DFW, eat dinner, attend the rider's meeting and then back to the hotel at a decent hour.

Kevin and I get all of our gear ready and then lights out. We get up a little before 5 am on race day, get loaded and make the 3 mile drive to the race start.

We make it to the start line and at 6 am, the race is on. The first check point is in Cassoday which is 58 miles away. Knowing this is going to be an extra long day, I had decided that I am going to keep my effort pretty low, heart rate in the 140's and draft off of folks for as long as practical. After about 3 or 4 miles of pavement, we are dumped onto gravel. I settled into my comfortable pace and jump into a decent pace line.

Clean and I end up riding around each other for 10 or 15 miles and for the first 20 miles or so, their are lots of riders around. I ride up on Matt Kocian during this time and ride with him a bit as well. After a few rolling hills, Kansas is not near as flat as folks say, the groups start thinning out pretty good. I find myself with 3 or 4 other riders and we each take a pull at the front of our group. During my pull, I ride harder than I intended to, but I felt obligated since I had sucked wheel while the others in the group did their turns at the front. After a few miles, I decided that this effort was too hard this early on and let the group ride away.

Around mile 25 or so, we get to a climb they call Texaco, presumably due to the gas well that are prevalent in the area. Although it is not real steep, I believe it goes on for several miles. By now, most folks are either riding by themselves or in groups of two or three.

As far as the weather, it was probably in the mid 70's when we started at 6 am with a 15 t0 20 mph wind out of the southwest with higher gusts. Just so happens that the first 58 mile leg of the race had the riders riding in a southwestern direction.

The scenery up to now is beautiful Kansas grasslands, no trees to speak of, lots of cattle, very few houses and even less vehicle traffic.

About mile 30 or so, I stop at the top of a decent climb and place a bandanna under my helmet and let it drape down to cover the back of my neck, head and sides of my face. It is probably around 8:30, temp in the low 80's, a stiff wind and barely a cloud in the sky. And since the start, I have been drinking my Poweraid Endurance drink, spiked with light salt and eating Honey Stinger Waffles, which is giving me around 300 calories an hour.

I take off after only a few minutes and start ticking the miles off. I am passing far more riders than pass me and overall, I am feeling really good with only a few issues. My left knee, which as been aching a bit over the last few months, is aching a bit. My left hamstring, which has been feeling a bit tight over the last few months as well, is feeling a bit tight. And lastly, my bib shorts, which I have not had a problem with in the past, are cutting into my seat area where the chamois meets my skin at my upper leg and lower buttocks. This is really annoying and getting a bit painful. I even stop and reapply chamois cream that I am carrying with me.

For the next 20 miles or so to check point 1, I continue knocking down the miles, mainly riding by myself but almost always have riders in sight, either in front or behind me.

I roll into checkpoint 1 at 10:30 am, 58 miles, and get my map to the next check point. I see Foster and Charity and Foster asked if I need anything. They are both supporting several riders in the event. I tell Foster I will take some water if he can spare it. I had planned to buy water at the convenience store but it looked to be overwhelmed. Foster helps me fill up my camelbak and bottles, I dump my powder in them. Charity gives me several orange wedges and I consume them. Foster tells me I am about 20 minutes behind Rev and about 5 minutes behind Clean, Chaos, Ocean and Green. I roll out, probably being stopped less than 10 minutes.

By now, i guess the temp is close to 90, nary a cloud in the sky and the stiff wind is still blowing, primarily in my face. The heat is really becoming a factor and due to the strong wind, I cannot tell if I am sweating or not. So, periodically, I put my hand inside my jersey to assure myself that I am still sweating.

On the first leg, I probably rode past 40 to 50 riders fixing flats and half that many seeking shade at the few tree's on the route.

Now, almost every tree that I ride upon on the course, and there are not many, there was almost always a rider seeking the shade it offered to cool off.

About mile 65, I follow a group of riders thru a 4 way intersection and we continue on about a mile when we observe a group of riders riding towards us. As the groups meet, we determine that some knuckle head had moved the course markings at the intersection and we should have tuned left. The group returns to the intersection, makes the appropriate turn and continues on.

Probably around mile 70, our group rides up on another group of stopped riders at a t-intersection. The riders are consulting their maps, smart phones, and making phone calls trying to determine the correct direction we are to travel. Apparently, the knuckleheads had removed the course markings here as well. While this is going on, I chat with Clean and Ocean, who are in the group. Clean appears to be finishing up fixing a flat. I talk with them a minute, others in the group determine the right direction. I bid Clean and Ocean farewell and take off.

Around mile 80 or so, my back tire goes flat. Considering I have seen probably 50 or 60 people repairing flats already, I figure I was due. I go about the business of fixing the flat. About halfway thru the fix, Clean rides by, laughs a bit and keeps pedaling. I get a tube in, was initially rolling tubeless, get it aired up and get going again.

It is probably around 1 pm now and the temp is in the low 90's with the stiff in your face wind still. It is really hot and miserable and I am tired of drinking my drink because it is tasting too sweet along with my Honey Stinger Waffles, which are really sweet too.

By now, folks are laid out under every tree I pass trying to cool off. I continue on and come upon a BMW SUV on the course that is picking up a rider around mile 88 or so. I ask if they have any water and the driver gives me an ice cold bottle of Ozarka which I down. Another rider rides up and they give him a bottle of the same. I ask if they could spare another bottle and they give me another one without hesitation. I down it as well. The driver of the SUV tells us that he was handing out water all along the course while en route to pick up his rider.

I thank him for the water, pedal about 10 feet and flatten my rear tire for the second time. I set about changing the flat, place a new tube in, get it pumped up and then off again.

About mile 95 or so, I fly down a rocky section of road and cut my front tire. My third flat in about 15 miles. I go about changing this flat. Several cars pass me heading onto the course and appear to be looking for riders. I get the flat changed and get going again.

About now, I decided that I would throw the towel in at checkpoint 2. The heat has to be in the mid 90's, the wind is still unrelenting, my ass is feeling pretty raw from my bibs and I had gotten a bad case of chills for a few seconds. And, to make things worse, I had erased all the info on my bike computer about 2 hours earlier so I am guesstimating my mileage and asking riders as I pass them or them me. For some reason, I keeping erasing the info every time I punch a button on it. Oh well.

Finally, around mile 100 or so, I hear a train. I know there is a train track near the second checkpoint. My spirits raise a bit and I keeping trucking on. I then roll into the second checkpoint around 3 pm, which is 1.5 hours before the cutoff, tell the race folks I am done and then head towards the Spinistry Trailer that is parked at the store just down the way.

Once at the trailer, I open it up, down some ice cold water. Get a few towels that we have iced down in some coolers and cool my body with them. I then lay down in the shade of the trailer and continue trying to cool down because I am about as hot as I have ever been. I then check my phone and the temp reads 98 degrees.

I chill for about 1.5 hours and then finally determine that I need to head back over to the checkpoint area and see if I can find us a ride back to Emporia, which is about 40 miles away. Specifically, I am looking for Ben Wright's dad, who is crewing for him. I ride over, locate him and he agrees to give Kevin and I a ride back to Emporia. He then tells me that Ben is being sagged in and that he was told that about 1/2 of the riders are bailing out of the race due to the conditions.

In a few, Ben makes it in with the help of a local Jeep Club that is assisting on the course. Ben tells me that Kevin is a few miles from the finish. I ride back onto the route and find Kevin about a mile from the finish. I ride in with him. He makes it to checkpoint to about 5 pm. Kevin tells me that Ocean was out on the course in bad condition and that Charity was on her way to pick him up.

We get to the trailer, get out bikes loaded, get it locked up and get picked up by Ben Wright and we are on our way to Emporia.

Back in Emporia, we get showered up, grab a pizza buffet, and then head to the finish line. We find out that a tandem finished first in about 12:58. The second place came in at about 13:10 and was a solo rider.

Ben Thorton finished in a little over 16 hours. Mike Smith finished in about 20 hours. Clean, Chaos, Green all bailed around mile 130.

Out of about 270 that started, only 68 finished.

All in all, it was a good day. Did not wreck or get hurt. Did not tear up my bike. Brutally hot. Very nice scenery. Learned that Kansas is not as flat as one thinks. Saw a lot of heart and effort.

Who knows if I will go back. I would like to finish, but 100 degree endurance events are not my thing.

Steven