Dirty Kanza: the preparation

These are going to be a couple of long posts.  I realize that most people probably aren't going to be interested in all of the details, but it needed to be written down so we wouldn't forget.  I'm breaking it up into two parts:  1) the decision/preparation, and 2) the actual race.  

It all started last January.   The first time we ever heard of Dirty Kanza was the day of registration in early January of 2015.  One of our bike club buddies, Steve, posted something on Facebook that he had registered for a 100 mile gravel race in Kansas and that the race was filling up fast.  I was curious and looked it up later in the day.  Registration had opened that morning.  The 100 was already full, but there were still some spots available in the 200.  I started reading about it, and it looked really, really hard.  We watched with interest all spring as Steve trained (sort of) for the race. We rode with him sometimes out at Southland on the weekends, and it didn't seem like he was putting in nearly enough miles or nearly enough time on the bike to be able to do a hundred miles.  Plus, the race had a cut-off time at the halfway point.  His ride times were generally slow, so it really didn't seem like he was going to be successful.  

The ride was the first week of June, and he didn't make it.  There been a lot of rain the week before, and there was a lot of mud.  His bike ended up breaking down at around 24 miles, but he was really excited about the ride and the experience and planned to go back and do it again.

Several of us were kind of thinking about the ride through the summer and into the fall.  We knew that we had to make a decision and sign up in January.  Our longest ride on dirt was about 40 miles, and that had been very difficult.  In early November, Rickey, Vince and I decided to do a second loop at Southland to see if we could ride 50 miles.  It was really windy that day with a strong east wind.  We were toast at the end of the ride and couldn't imagine riding much farther or doing 100 miles, but it was a start.  

We were still undecided about the Dirty Kanza but continued to ride throughout the winter.   Rick and I rode multiple times in snow and mud in December and early January.  Vince made regular trips to Southland with us on Saturday mornings when the weather allowed us to ride.  

The day finally arrived.  Although we remained somewhat undecided, I set the alarm clock for 7:30am on Jan. 9.  Registration started at 8:00 on BikeReg.  I had an account on BikeReg and was already signed on.  I got Rick signed up fairly quickly, but when I attempted to add the second registration (as I always do when signing us both us for an event) it wouldn't work.  I wasted many precious minutes and finally just scrapped my registration and got Rick signed up.  I had to start again from scratch but was able to get myself signed up by about 8:15.  The 100 mile was full and closed by 8:20.  It was official and more than a little terrifying to see on the computer screen.  I noted that Vince, Bobby, and Randy H had registered but Steve and Randy M. weren't on the list.  They had run into problems on BikeReg and had missed out.  The promoters added Steve in after he called and talked to them.  Randy H later backed out, so Randy M took his spot.

We then needed a place to stay.  I started calling hotels in Emporia immediately. There was basically nothing available that wasn't $200/night.  It was even questionable whether or not these were actual reservations or just waitlists.  I signed up for one and never received the confirmation email.  Bobby found rooms in (somewhat) nearby El Dorado for $70ish/night so we opted for these.  Unfortunately this meant that we would have to be up at least an hour earlier on race day. 

While still in the mindset to do crazy things, I also signed us up for the Castell Grind gravel race in the Hill Country in early April.  The 100k route was full, so we signed up for the 75k.  We also had plans to ride in Big Bend with the bike club in early March on the 50+ mile River Road and the Old Ore Road.  I scheduled one of our Cloudcroft trips to coincide with the annual High Altitude Classic MTB race in late April.  The plan was to combine these races and trips with frequent trips to Southland and the mountains, along with gravel rides on county roads near our home during the week, to prepare for the Dirty Kanza 100 mile gravel race.

The next order of business was to start training.  We had been riding some all winter, but the "Goliath" blizzard had hit just after Christmas and had dumped large amounts of snow which had drifted into up to 8'+ drifts on our county roads.  We had ridden on it several times, but it was a terrible muddy mess.

Registration day on January 9th, and we still had lots of snow

Snow was replaced by mud, and county roads remained almost unrideable

The snow drifts eventually melted, the mud eventually dried, and we were able to start riding at Southland again a couple of weeks after registration.  There was a strong urgency to ride as much as possible and to do longer and tougher rides, but it was winter.  When we were able to ride, it was apparent that Rick and I had lost some conditioning since fall.  

We rode at Southland several times in January and February, and 2 weeks before Big Bend we did another 50+ mile (2 lap) ride.  It was very warm for February and temps got up to the mid-80s during the ride.  Perfect training for Big Bend and Dirty Kanza.  I had finally broken down and spent $25 on the DK100 12 week training guide.  It made training for the race seem more possible but was very detailed, and it was obvious that we wouldn't be able to follow it.

Rick's dad passed away the morning we were leaving for Big Bend, so that trip was cancelled.  In March, we rode once at Palo Duro Canyon, two 41 mile Southland rides, a couple of rides in the mountains, a couple of evening gravel rides, a 50 mile ride the day after my 50th birthday on Rails to Trails at Quitaque, and once at Benjamin.

Next up was the Castell Grind 75K (44 mile) gravel race on April 2 in the Hill Country.  The race went really well (for me), and I ended up on the women's podium in 4th place.  I had ridden alone for most of the ride and had really pushed hard (didn't even stop to take off a jacket) and had averaged over 13 mph.  When I got to the finish line, I was told that Vince had hit a car but was ok and that Rick had not yet finished.  Rick had missed the turn for the 75K and had done the 100K (62.5 mile) route.  We hadn't trained for this, and he didn't have enough food or water for the longer distance.  He eventually made it in and had suffered a lot.  Vince had finished the race but was on his way to the ER in Llano, and we would find out shortly that he wasn't ok.  He had broken his scapula into several pieces.  He saw an ortho in Lubbock on Monday morning.  No surgery but off the bike a minimum of 8-12 weeks.  His Dirty Kanza dreams for this year were over!

Women's 75K Podium at Castell Grind

It was now crunch time.  It was 8 weeks before DK, we hadn't even come close to riding 100 miles yet, and now our training partner and a huge source of our motivation was out.  We had already put too much time and effort into it, so we continued on.  The following weekend, Rickey, Randy M and I rode 67 miles at Southland in a ride that I named "Holy Cow That Hurt" on Strava.  It was 5:48 of riding time with 2375' of climbing.  100 miles at DK still didn't seem possible.

After our 67 mile ride in mid-April

The following weekend we rode another Southland Double Loop (54 miles) with Randy M.  The other 3 DK riders rode one loop.  We also rode a few 20-25 mile gravel rides near our house during mid-April.  

The next weekend we were in the mountains.  We did a 36 mile MTB ride on Friday in the Rio Penasco/Russia Canyon areas with almost 3000' of climbing--our longest MTB ride to date.  On Saturday we pre-rode the race course.  I endoed on a steep downhill into a tree and thought I had broken my hand for a while.  Luckily it was just really bruised and swollen.  Sunday was the High Altitude Classic MTB race.  Our goal was simply to ride hard, have a little fun, and not get hurt.  We both ended up doing well and got 1st and 2nd in our age categories in Cat 3.

High Altitude Classic MTB race in April.  (Note the right hand/fingers)

High Altitude Classic MTB race

On April 30th, we were only 5 weeks out from the DK and needed to do a really long ride.  We did the Southland Super Loop for the first time with Randy M, Steve and Robby (who had now taken Vince's spot in the DK100).  This would have been about a 61 mile route, but the weather was perfect with cool temperatures and essentially no wind.  Rickey, Randy and I decided to tack on another Southland Loop at the end since there are never any guarantees in cycling and especially on dirt.  It turned out that was a really good decision.  We left at 8:30am and finished up at 4:30pm with 7:07 of actual riding, 83 miles and 2700' of climbing.  We were extremely tired at the end, but for the first time we felt that it was possible to finish the DK (at least in good weather conditions).

Pics from the 83 mile DK training ride on April 30

The next weekend (4 weeks out now) we were in Cloudcroft, and the weather stunk in both places.  Winds were 40-50mph in the mountains with cold temps and conditions were not really much better at home.  We forced ourselves to do longer rides both days, and it was pretty miserable.  Rick wasn't feeling it on Saturday--we did a 3 hour, 23 mile, 2700' effort in some challenging winds and climbs.  On Sunday we did 3 hours, 21 miles, 2300' in even cooler temps with continued winds.  It wasn't very fun.

We rode a couple of approx 25 mile gravel rides near our house over two weeks, and on the next weekend (3 weeks out), it rained all weekend and was windy and cool.  I did a couple of 2 hour basement rides that weekend with lots of intervals, but this was not ideal training for DK.  The rain/mud/cold continued through the next week and kept us off the bikes (except for the 11 mile, wet and cold Ride of Silence).

The next weekend we were back in Cloudcroft (now 2 weeks out).  We were feeling better, and the weather was better this time.  It was still very cool, and I rode in thermal knickers again.  We did a new record long mountain ride on Friday: 44 miles, 4:25, 3600' climbing.  The Saturday ride was 26 miles, 3:12, 2700' climbing.  The rides went well, but it started becoming obvious that heat was going to be a major issue for us (and especially me) at the DK.

On Memorial Day weekend we were one week out.  I had to work both Sunday (for taking off Thursday) and Monday (the holiday), so we only had Saturday to ride.  We didn't want to do anything too strenuous or long since it was so close to the race.  It was now getting a lot warmer and my last major rides had still been in thermal knickers!  We left at 8am and rode 54 miles, 4:28, 2100' of climbing.  It was getting up into the 80s by the time we finished.  Not exactly heat training but better than nothing.

Final training ride on the Saturday before the DK100

At 2 weeks out, we started looking at the 14 day forecast for Emporia to see what kind of temperatures and weather we would be facing.  The heat in the extended forecast didn't look terrible (low to mid-80s), but the rain forecast was a major concern.  Last year, most people didn't finish either race because of terribly muddy conditions which either broke the derailleurs off bikes or slowed riders down so much that they couldn't make the time cut-offs (which are absolutely not relaxed to accommodate bad conditions).  The rain chances were high almost every day in the extended forecast, and 7-10 days prior to the race we started getting reports of 5"+ storms and significant flooding around Emporia.  A flood warning was issued for a couple of rivers just to the south (where the route would go) effective until the Wednesday before we were to leave on Thursday.  I had seen too many stories and pictures from last year's race and began to think about canceling the trip.  My stand was that if we went to Kansas, we were going to ride.  Rick's stand was that we should go on the trip, but he was not going to ride if the conditions were bad.  It looked like I could potentially be riding alone if we did go.  I was watching radar and forecasts more closely for Emporia than for Lubbock, and we were still having storms too.  The Emporia area started dodging storms.  Somehow they didn't have any big rains for about a week prior to the race, and the river flood warning was lifted on Wednesday.  The road conditions and river crossings were still a big concern for us, but it looked like we had dodged a bullet.  The forecast for our time in Kansas looked dry and increasingly warm.

So, the time arrived.  We knew it was going to be tough.  There was a lot of fear and dread which had weighed on us for months: would we even be able to ride 100 miles, would it be muddy, would we survive the heat, would we have a sag, would our bikes hold up (tires, flats, derailleurs, my brakes), how much water and nutrition to take, etc.  I can't say we were totally prepared, but we had put as much time and effort into it as we had available.  We were ready.