Three Days!

My bike awaits me in Emporia.  My flight leaves tomorrow at 0600.  My bags are (almost) packed.  My body is strong.  My mind is stubborn and ready for the challenge.

I got this.

I am prepared for high water, rain, and mud.

Fording the creek at the bottom of Wolf Ridge.
Photo courtesy of Robin Clifford

The Salsa factory racers recently answered some questions about their journey to the Flint Hills of Kansas.  Since I live by their mantra of "Adventure by Bike", I thought I might follow suit.  Check out their answers here.

Why am I riding Dirty Kanza 200?

I had raced a few real* gravel races the previous year on a rigid mountain bike and had a blast.  It took me back to my days as a kid in rural southern Virginia riding every gravel road I could find.  So I bought a gravel specific bike (Salsa Warbird!!!) in October in anticipation of doing more gravel events (but WAY shorter than 200 miles!).  

After racing my first full season of cyclocross this past fall, I was approached about this race by a local cyclocross legend and friend, and my initial response was, "are you out of your mind?!"  But the more I thought about it, the more I could see myself getting into the challenge of 200 miles of gravel.  But then I would doubt myself.  I talked to several people about it and the majority of people said it was absolutely within my ability, but I would need to work at it.  Before this, my longest ride was 104 miles.  I think the kicker was when my significant other told me I should sign up for the 100 mile, as he was worried about me doing the 200 mile race unsupported.  Never tell me that I can not do something.  That was that, I was in for the whole shebang.  

*I had raced Monster Cross for several years prior, but always on a mountain bike, since the course had quite a bit of mountain bike-like forest roads.

What am I most looking forward to at Dirty Kanza this year?

The feeling of accomplishment when all of my training and preparation pays off.  That and I hear the atmosphere in Emporia is just incredible and that the entire town comes out to support the race and the racers.  That has to be amazing. 

Rocks are my happy place, so I should be
right at home in the flint hills, right?
Photo courtesy of Robin Clifford

If there is one thing I worry about at DK, what is it? How do I combat it?

I worry about not finishing.  I have something to prove, mostly to myself.  

To combat this, I have trained my ass off since January.  Luckily, most of my training rides have been in some pretty miserable weather with some pretty hefty elevation, so I feel like I am prepared for pretty much anything.  I have an incredible support system of ladies going out with me who are also racing.  So between the lot of us, I think we can survive anything.

I also think about the massive amount of support that I have had from cycling friends and Team Bikenetic.  These people all believe in me, so the least I can do to repay them is believe in myself, too.

Share some words of encouragement to those other riders that will be taking on the event.

This is going to be a long day on the bike.  It might rain.  It might be windy.  It might be hot. It is going to be hard.  You are going to be tired.  It is going to hurt.  But no matter what, have a fun day on the bike.  Stop and take pictures.  Do not forget to smile and laugh.

And when you think you can not go any farther, go farther.  

I got this!
Photo courtesy of Robin Clifford

If not now, when?  If not you, who?

Final Countdown...

May is here, and almost gone, actually!

On May 6th, my friend, gravel mentor, and honestly one of the best people you will ever have the pleasure of knowing, Pete Beers, put on a fund raiser ride to raise money for GRASP (Gang Rescue and Support Project). This is an organisation that is near and dear to his heart, but I will let him tell you that story.  In the meantime, check out their webpage and if you have the means, please donate.  They do amazing work.

This year, was a little different than previous years' fund raiser rides. Pete made several routes ranging from 40 miles to a whopping 132 mile route.  Of course, I was in for the long day in the saddle and got several of my DK200 participant friends to do it with me.  It was the "perfect" day for an epic gravel training ride.  High of 60, raining, and a bit breezy. Honestly, the weather really made the day pretty epic. It was a great day in the saddle.

A long day in the saddle for the DK200 dream team! (Minus a few folks.)

I did learn, however, that I really NEED to eat more once I pass mile 100.  Just like the 200k in April, I started to really bonk after about mile 115.  Laura had blown past a turn around mile 125 and I was able to stop and eat while Steve chased her down and almost immediately felt better. I guess I always feel that when I am that close to the finish of a ride, I can skimp on the food and just eat when I am done.

Most everyone bailed on the epic route, but we persisted.

The bike setup, however, was well dialed.  Everything felt great and while I am sure I am packing WAY too much stuff, I felt prepared for pretty much anything.

The DK200 Dream Machine: 2017 Salsa Warbird.

You may have noticed that my shoes changed colour.  The previous week on the scouting ride, I noticed that I was still getting a lot of pressure on my right foot at the widest part starting around 60 miles into the ride.  Even though I bought a shoe stretcher and stretched it twice, the shoe was just a smidge too narrow when my feet start to swell during a long ride.  After talking with Jan (owner of Bikenetic), who then talked to the Pearl Izumi rep, I decided that I could deal with a slightly too big shoe and opted to order the men's version of the same shoe (Pearl Izumi Alp Launch II).  I have to wear thick socks with them, but they are just wide enough that there is not as much pressure on that part of my right foot.  I thought about trying a different shoe altogether, but I really love these shoes.  They are stiff, have an incredibly walkable sole, drain water well, and dry REALLY quickly.

The next week, I was supposed to do a 9-hour solo mountain bike race, but with the mud and rain, I opted to skip it since I was still traumatised from Baker's Dozen the month before. Instead, I opted to spend the weekend with my SO and do some fun rides.  We ended up checking out a new brewery plus a couple of tried and true ones on Saturday for 72 easy miles.  On Sunday, we had big plans, but got waylaid by a flat tire and finding a new brewery.  We ended up with 40 miles on the C&O.

Yes, I suck at selfies!

That leads to this past weekend.  On May 20th, Paula (DK200 and teammate), Laura (DK200), Bill (friend whose longest ride up to this point was 80 miles), and myself embarked on a 150 mile epic ride to get in one last long day in the saddle before Dirty Kanza.

Because of the elevation on our normal gravel routes (and the fact that the race was in two weeks!!!), I opted to start and end the ride on the C&O canal, which is fairly flat.  So we met at Riley's Lock on the C&O at 6:00.  After some initial chit chat and gear checks, we started westward around 6:30.  The ladies and I had planned to just ride and enjoy the day not worrying about race pace or keeping stops to a minimum.  We just wanted a long day in the saddle.  This ended up being perfect for my friend Bill, who had originally just wanted to do 100 miles and get in his first century ride.

Bill realising that we are only 25 miles into the ride and we have stopped twice to pee.

Point of Rocks was our bail point off the C&O.  When we got there, we figured we should probably pee (again) before heading out and crossing into Loudoun County.  We were a little dismayed to find this as we were heading out of the park:

Well, I guess we will take another quick break!

Luckily, the train was fairly short and we were on our way again in less than 10 minutes. We crossed over Route 15, climbed up Furnace Mountain and meandered our way down into Loudoun County. Our first resupply stop was at mile 57 at a tiny little Shell Station that surprisingly had a pretty good selection.  Everyone was feeling pretty great at that point.  I asked Bill what his plan was and he said he would stick with us until he bonked and then he would call his sister-in-law.  Hmm...  That sounds suspiciously like "I think I am going to do this whole ride"...

Cupcakes, doughnuts, and a fluffy kitty.

We continued on, got detoured around a bridge that was out (and saw some pretty cool things on that detour - strawberry farm, petting zoo, horses), and got Bill that 100 miles that he was looking for!

He was pretty stoked!

And his Garmin literally died about 10 seconds after this photo!

It was kind of entertaining that Bill's first 100 mile ride happened about a half mile before the water ford on Jeb Stuart. It had rained off and on all week, so the water was a bit high. Since it was pretty warm, we decided to just dismount and walk across the deep part.  It was nice and refreshing.  But putting our socks back on was...  hard.  The ground was wet and no one wanted to sit down!

Deep water...

Paula is coordinated enough that she was able to balance on her top tube and put her socks back on.  I almost fell over a million times before my shoes were back on!

Paula lounging while waiting for the rest of us to get ourselves back together!

Laura capturing her bike's best side.

The next resupply stop was just up the street at Philomont.  We ended up staying there for a while and chatting with a couple just finishing up their first ever Loudoun gravel ride. Eventually we made our way back via Leesburg and Old Waterford Road. I had never done that climb near the end of a ride before. At 114 miles, it was much MUCH harder than I wanted it to be, but I ended up riding the whole thing.  I was surprised, as I expected the two steep kickers to be a problem that far into the ride.  We made our way back to the C&O and made it back to Point of Rocks around 7:15.

Over 128 miles on our legs, I was surprised at how good I felt.  My right knee was aching a bit and I was starting to get a little bit of pressure on my right foot, but overall, I was in great shape. Or so I thought.  As it started to get dark (probably around mile 137), I started to get that really antsy feeling of needing the ride to be done.  We crossed over White's Ferry (mile 140) and I needed to stop and turn the back light on my Garmin down.  I told everyone to keep going and I would catch up.  We had been traveling around 12 mph on the canal for some reason (we were all pretty tired) and when I cranked up the speed to about 15 mph, I started to feel a bit better.  I caught up and we slowed down again due to a miscommunication.  Eventually I could not take it any more and asked if we could push the pace.  We were close to the end of the ride, so I did not even think about eating.  Which, obviously is a mistake that I keep making.  I need someone to yell at me to NOT STOP EATING during the race.

We finished with a moving time of 12 hours 11 minutes and a total time out of just shy of 15 hours.  For a day where we were pretty much just trying to get saddle time, I would say we definitely did just that.  Bill ended up staying with us for the whole ride.  I was crazy impressed, especially since he never complained once!  I have now talked him into doing a rational-length gravel race in July!  Woohoo!

Unfortunately, I suck at remembering to take photos, so I did not get any headlight photos of us on the C&O at night.  Nor did I remember to take a photo of us at the finish.  I even regret not taking a photo of my spiderweb encrusted bike.  Whoops.

So...  NINE DAYS.  There are nine (and a half) days between now and Dirty Kanza.  My bike has been prepped and is being packed up by the wonderful folks at Bikenetic as I type this.  It will be picked up by FedEx this afternoon and will (hopefully) arrive in Emporia next Wednesday.

I have to put in a huge plug for my bike shop.  The folks at Bikenetic (Jan, Helen, Pete, Brian, Stearman, Jacob, Ken) have been absolutely instrumental in getting me this far. Between introducing me to the people responsible for talking me into this (ladies of the DC area cyclocross scene), supporting my decision to do this insane thing, getting me the best bike for the race, and getting my bike and gear all set up, they have made sure that I am as physically and mentally prepared as possible.

Helen, Jan, et al. 

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.  

Best Bike Shop EVER.

April Recap (Part 2)

Well, the day after the century gravel ride was another Baker's Dozen pre-ride day.  The day was absolutely gorgeous, warm, sunny, and full of teammates and friends.  We were sessioning technical features on the course and just spending time working on our skills and confidence.

Hanging out and cheering on those that are working on the rock obstacle.

It was really fun to just hang out as a group and work on stuff, give advice, and cheer everyone on.  There were several teammates that are not avid mountain bikers that really made HUGE strides on some of the more technical stuff.

This rock climb looks terribly intimidating!

Well, I was NOT one of those riders on that day. While following Dane up a rooty section in the field, I decided to NOT follow his line (plus, for some reason, he was going slower than I was, so I needed to pass in order to not hit the brakes).  I hit a root that I thought was only 4 inches high, but was covered in tall grass, so I did not see that it was actually 8-10 inches tall.  My front wheel caught, and over the bars I tried to go.  Luckily, I threw my weight back, so I saved the endo.  BUT... I fell over and instinctively put my right hand out to break my fall (yes, I know...  I know...).  My hand landed on a rock and I immediately felt sharp pain.  *sigh*

After taking assessment and making sure that I was mostly okay, I took my glove off.  My hand and wrist were already starting to swell.  Yikes.  So, I immediately took of the ring and road ID on my right hand and swapped them to the left.  It took a couple of minutes, but I decided that it was not detrimentally broken (if it was broken at all) and determined that I could ride out, although extremely cautiously.  I finished the loop, but was unable to shift or grip the right bar with my thumb.  Luckily there was beer and ice in the parking area, so I hung out while some others did another loop.

Beer makes an excellent pain killer!

I decided to wait to see how things progressed before getting an x-ray.  The next morning, this is what greeted me.

Is that an eggplant or your hand?

I ended up working and then heading to urgent care to see what kind of damage I did. When the PA and x-ray tech saw my hand they immediately prepared me for the worst, it was probably broken.  *sad face*

I got a few x-rays taken and settled in to wait for the radiologist and PA to read them.  Well, it turns out I have super bones!  It was broken-not-broken (my terms, not theirs).  Actually, it was a mild sprain and a severe bone contusion.  The scaphoid bone was actually DENTED. So there were micro fractures in the bone structure, but the bone itself was intact.  This was good-ish news.  Urgent care fitted me with a weird thumb brace and sent me on my way with a prescription for extra-super-duper strength Aleve and an appointment with an ortho for the next day.

Sad face!

The next day, I got laughed at by the ortho who was also amazed that the bone was not actually broken.  I was then fitted with a fancy-schmancy new wrist/thumb brace and told to take it easy and not to fall on it again.  Apparently if you fall on it again, it shatters...  Eek!

I can ride to the drug store, though, right?

In order to keep my riding streak alive, I rode VERY slowly around my neighbourhood every day, but drove *GASP* to work and instead of mountain biking, went running *DOUBLEGASP*.

These shoes get used literally twice a year...  My knees were not happy!

The next weekend, I went back to Baker's and did a VERY slow loop with the brace on.  It was very slow going and pretty achy at the end, but I did it!

Hanging with friends after continuing to "take it easy".
Photo courtesy of Jen Wheeler

The next week, I went back to the ortho to have my hand x-rayed again.  Still not (fully) broken!  I was shown the magic of kinesiology tape.  Since Baker's Dozen was less than a week away, I figured I should start mountain biking again.  Triumphant (well, sort of) return!

Taped wrist still means taking it easy, right?!

Baker's Dozen was a miserable mess.  It was muddy, chilly, and I destroyed my bike.  That is about all I am going to say about that, as I am still traumatised.  Plus, a picture is worth a thousand words, eh?

After the first lap. Notice all of those clean people behind me...

After the second lap.  Seriously, I did not want to smile.  It was awful. And my wrist hurt.

After Baker's Dozen, I needed to ramp my mileage back up.  So the king of Loudoun Gravel himself organized a scouting ride for his annual GRASP fundraiser.  (Note: Please look into this, it is an amazing organization that does great work in helping youth get out and stay out of gangs.)  To test my wrist, we did 92 miles on a beautiful, sunny, and warm Friday.

More sunny skies for days!

It was an impossibly fun route and we got to hang out with some farm animals.  I may have even been bitten by an Emu!

And by may have, I mean definitely was...

This ride was my first time going up the gravel side of Mount Weather, and I was not disappointed by its steepness. Also, in order to REALLY up the ante, there was fresh (i.e. loose and deep) gravel.  I walked more of it than I would like to admit.  It was definitely good DK200 training.  And while near the end of the ride, my wrist was starting to ache a bit, mostly because of all the pot holes I had trouble avoiding, I felt great and was pretty enthused that I had not lost much fitness due to my injury.

April Recap! (Part 1)

Wow, it has been a while since I have had a moment of peace to sit down and put thoughts on "paper".  So much has happened in the past two months!

On April 1st, I decided to try my hand at my very first randonneuring event.  What better way to train for Dirty Kanza than to do a VERY climby 200k on April Fool's Day?!  The day started out cool and overcast, which was a good thing.  I started out riding with my friend Amy, who helped me keep my pace steady over the first 50 miles or so.  After a mechanical, Steve and Jenny (who are also racing DK200) caught up with us.  We rode together for the rest of the day.  Being as it was on pavement, it was a lot easier than I was expecting, and I generally felt great until about mile 110.  Luckily, I think I was just bonking, because once we got to the last check point at about mile 117, I shoved some chips and juice in my face and was easily able to crank out the last 20 miles.  The final tally for the day: 127 miles with approximately 11,000 feet of elevation gain.

Jenny, myself, and Steve after finishing the Old Rag 200k Brevet

On April 2nd (yes, the day after my first 200k), a pretty big contingent of Team Bikenetic folks rode up to Marysville, PA to take part in THE International Intergalactic Global Open Mountain Bike Team Relay Championship of the Multi-Frigging-Verse (IIGO Relay for short). Most of us partnered up (with one exception, that would be George) as part of a duo team for the race.

Team Empty Legs = Full Beers, post race

Since both myself and another DK200 racer, Matt, were planning on long rides the day before, we teamed up as Team Empty Legs = Full Beers.  Our race plan was to a) not die and b) have a beer between every lap.  We succeeded!

Our superheros! 

There were so many fun costumes, and dynamic duo Arden and Helen came away with the top costume prize for their awesome superhero getup!

Yeeeeeeah...  We are adorable.  Especially Jan!

Needless to say, it was an amazing day.  Exactly what I needed to recover from the 200k the day before.  Whoever said mountain bike racing (while drinking lots of beer) is a terrible recovery idea is an idiot!  

Team Bikenetic brings the party!

The next weekend, was a scheduled training ride for a gravel imperial century.  I had four others that wanted to suffer just as much as myself, including Maureen (also doing DK200). I had spent a few days pondering over the route, and honestly, I think I did a great job. Although, there might have been a wee bit more elevation than I had originally planned, but at the end of the ride, everyone seemed to be in great spirits.

Of course, Nathaniel got a flat on this gorgeous stretch of gravel.  Luckily, it was just about snack break time, so we enjoyed the five minutes of sun and no wind while he repaired the tire.

Blue sky for DAYS!

The water ford on Jeb Stuart was a bit higher than I anticipated, and even the low water section was about a foot deep.

A little deeper than normal, but quite refreshing!

We decided to be safe and crossed on foot.  The water was COLD but at mile 50 of the ride, quite refreshing on our feet.

After drying our feet and putting socks and shoes back on.

I honestly am not sure I could have asked for a more brilliant day to spend on bikes.  The sky was cloudless and the breeze was "just" right for a DK200 training ride.  Everything was budding out.  It was just gorgeous.

Seriously, look at that meadow!

We stopped for a late lunch in Middleburg at about mile 60.  We were all quite enamoured with this therapy horse in training that was hanging out.  She had a ton of personality and was really sweet.  

Lil' Sebastian!

I routed the end of the ride to go through Bluemont so I could get a whoopie pie.  I am actually really excited for training to be over so that I can route ALL of my rides for food and beer.  At mile 80, I decided to only eat half of it and save the rest for later.  It was a good choice and this last stop had us all feeling pretty good for the last 25 miles back into Leesburg.

BIG smile.  YUM!

On the way back into Leesburg, I got assaulted by a bumble bee.  He left the most adorable ass print on my sleeve.  

Bumble bee "ass" print!

After the ride, we all ended up at Crooked Run brewing and ordered Pizza Hut.  Greasy pizza never tasted so good.