Big plate 2nite...w/all of my favourites. Nice chop, brown rice, sweet potato, grilled asparagus & Tx sweet onion
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Dirty Kanza 200
The DK200 is rumored to be the ultimate gravel grinder. After completing this race, I can attest that the rumor is true!
The course covers 205 miles of gravel road through open range cattle country, wheat fields, and tall grass prairies within the Flint Hills of central Kansas.
It's a small, grass roots race which has grown slowly over the past few years. For 2010, they opened the field to 150 riders and the online registration filled in less than four hours. They ended up letting an extra 50 people in that were on the waiting list. About 170 ended up showing up on the starting line.
The event organizers put together a pasta feed dinner and then a pre-race meeting on Friday night. The meeting ended around 8:45 or so. Everyone was tired from the drive, so we all headed back to our hotels. I was already thinking about food to eat after the race, so I drove downtown and ordered a medium Mediterranean pizza from Pyramid Pizza. I knew that having some food in my room would be smart when I got back from the race.
The race started at 6am on Saturday, which meant that I was up at 4. I like to get up an hour before my planned departure so that I have time to wake up, get cleaned up, and of course - eat! I also rode to the start from my hotel. It was only about 3.5 miles....and it added to the adventure. I scouted out the bike route the night before when I drove downtown in my car.
The start and finish were in front of the Granada Theater on Commercial Street in downtown Emporia. We had a controlled start with a lead out from a police escort. Once we were a couple of miles out of town, the fun started when we took the turn on our first gravel road.
Getting ready to race... My LSR (Lone Star Randonneur) friends from Dallas/Fort Worth: Dan Driscoll, Clay Wilson, and Pat Nolan.
Finally underway...
The forecast was for some really hot weather, and unfortunately this forecast was very accurate. The high for the day was 95 - but it felt like 100 due to the humidity. The heat took it's toll on a lot of people. One of my friends dropped out due to heat stroke at the third checkpoint 140 miles in... We did have some cloud cover for a while, which was welcomed...but it didn't last long.
Picture of my bike - a Salsa Vaya, which is designed to be a road/gravel focused adventure bike...
Taking a break at the second check point - 100 miles into the race...
Our friend, Pam Wright, volunteered to give us support during this race. I didn't think about it much at first, but I quickly realized that without her efforts, the race would have been a lot more difficult!
Picture of Pam just before the race started...
At each check point, Pam would have chairs setup for us and she was ready to get us whatever we wanted/needed.
The truck loaded with the 'tools of the trade.'
The course got progressively more difficult as the day went on - particularly after the check point at mile 140.. The hills got steeper and longer, and some of the terrain got pretty rough.
Picture of the route around mile 150. It was like riding on a gravel roller coaster...
And one of me taken at the same time. Still trying to muster a smile - despite all of the suffering!
There was one unofficial check point in the town of Eskridge at mile 165. It was the last place to top off any bottles before committing to the last leg of the race. 40 miles left to go @ 7:30pm.
Picture of me and Dan in Eskridge...
As it got dark, and incredible tail wind started to build. It was almost as if it was blowing us back to Emporia!
Picture of the sunset...
It felt amazing to be churning through gravel in the dark with a tailwind!
As we got closer to the finish, we could start to see the lights of Emporia. It really motivated me to pick up the pace and finish strong! The course finally hit the pavement at the end, and we routed though the campus of Emporia State University and then funneled out to Commerial Street to the finish line in front of the Granada Theater again.
I crossed the finish line with my friend Dan @ 11:07pm... All finishers got a pint glass.
More pictures after the race...
A cold beer never tasted so good...!
My friend Clay gave me a ride back to my hotel. I was glad not to be riding back after such a long day. I got cleaned up, ate my pizza and had a great sleep. I drove back to Austin the next day...and I've been thinking about the DK ever since.
The Dirty Kanza 200 was an incredible experience! I will definitely be heading up there again next year!!
The course covers 205 miles of gravel road through open range cattle country, wheat fields, and tall grass prairies within the Flint Hills of central Kansas.
It's a small, grass roots race which has grown slowly over the past few years. For 2010, they opened the field to 150 riders and the online registration filled in less than four hours. They ended up letting an extra 50 people in that were on the waiting list. About 170 ended up showing up on the starting line.
The event organizers put together a pasta feed dinner and then a pre-race meeting on Friday night. The meeting ended around 8:45 or so. Everyone was tired from the drive, so we all headed back to our hotels. I was already thinking about food to eat after the race, so I drove downtown and ordered a medium Mediterranean pizza from Pyramid Pizza. I knew that having some food in my room would be smart when I got back from the race.
The race started at 6am on Saturday, which meant that I was up at 4. I like to get up an hour before my planned departure so that I have time to wake up, get cleaned up, and of course - eat! I also rode to the start from my hotel. It was only about 3.5 miles....and it added to the adventure. I scouted out the bike route the night before when I drove downtown in my car.
The start and finish were in front of the Granada Theater on Commercial Street in downtown Emporia. We had a controlled start with a lead out from a police escort. Once we were a couple of miles out of town, the fun started when we took the turn on our first gravel road.
Getting ready to race... My LSR (Lone Star Randonneur) friends from Dallas/Fort Worth: Dan Driscoll, Clay Wilson, and Pat Nolan.
Finally underway...
The forecast was for some really hot weather, and unfortunately this forecast was very accurate. The high for the day was 95 - but it felt like 100 due to the humidity. The heat took it's toll on a lot of people. One of my friends dropped out due to heat stroke at the third checkpoint 140 miles in... We did have some cloud cover for a while, which was welcomed...but it didn't last long.
Picture of my bike - a Salsa Vaya, which is designed to be a road/gravel focused adventure bike...
Taking a break at the second check point - 100 miles into the race...
Our friend, Pam Wright, volunteered to give us support during this race. I didn't think about it much at first, but I quickly realized that without her efforts, the race would have been a lot more difficult!
Picture of Pam just before the race started...
At each check point, Pam would have chairs setup for us and she was ready to get us whatever we wanted/needed.
The truck loaded with the 'tools of the trade.'
The course got progressively more difficult as the day went on - particularly after the check point at mile 140.. The hills got steeper and longer, and some of the terrain got pretty rough.
Picture of the route around mile 150. It was like riding on a gravel roller coaster...
And one of me taken at the same time. Still trying to muster a smile - despite all of the suffering!
There was one unofficial check point in the town of Eskridge at mile 165. It was the last place to top off any bottles before committing to the last leg of the race. 40 miles left to go @ 7:30pm.
Picture of me and Dan in Eskridge...
As it got dark, and incredible tail wind started to build. It was almost as if it was blowing us back to Emporia!
Picture of the sunset...
It felt amazing to be churning through gravel in the dark with a tailwind!
As we got closer to the finish, we could start to see the lights of Emporia. It really motivated me to pick up the pace and finish strong! The course finally hit the pavement at the end, and we routed though the campus of Emporia State University and then funneled out to Commerial Street to the finish line in front of the Granada Theater again.
I crossed the finish line with my friend Dan @ 11:07pm... All finishers got a pint glass.
More pictures after the race...
A cold beer never tasted so good...!
My friend Clay gave me a ride back to my hotel. I was glad not to be riding back after such a long day. I got cleaned up, ate my pizza and had a great sleep. I drove back to Austin the next day...and I've been thinking about the DK ever since.
The Dirty Kanza 200 was an incredible experience! I will definitely be heading up there again next year!!
Monday, June 7, 2010
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