Dirty Kanza 200 - 2014

It's been weeks now since the Kanza. Here is what I remember.

The Kanza is the Dirty Kanza 200, a 200 mile one-day gravel race in Kansas. The best riders cover the distance in about 10 hours & 40 minutes; we managed to finish in 15 1/2. I'm not sure how many started in 2014, but 469 finished. In years past as many as 40% of starters abandoned, I suspect that a higher percentage than usual finished this year, the weather was pretty tame.

Here's a poorly crafted recap of the weekend . . .

Stopped in KC for BBQ on the way down - a place called Woodyard BBQ.  The food was good, but not memorable. Landed in Cottonwood Falls sometime Thursday evening, had a few beers at the house we rented and got some sleep.

Cottonwood Falls courthouse.

Undisclosed location - the support crew prepares for a busy day.

Test ride Friday afternoon outside Cottonwood Falls.

On Friday Brent & I went for a test ride on some of the local gravel outside Cottonwood Falls. We heard so many stories about the flint that we were eager to see it for ourselves. Had lunch in Strong City at a sweet little bar / restaurant. I don't remember the name, but if you are ever in Strong City you won't have any trouble finding it.

Friday night we headed into Emporia & dealt with packet pick up, riders meeting, few beers, pasta dinner. Emporia - how is it that everyone is so darn nice. They seemed genuinely interested in us.

Friday evening after the rider meeting.

4:30 wake up call Saturday morning and on the road by 5. We got to Emporia a little early, but all and all the timing was pretty good.

Race morning.

After some last minute adjustments and a little mingling at the start - we were off.

Race morning at the start.

We managed to beat a train at the edge of town - some may have gotten stuck behind it, but not too sure. easy ride with the pack for 15-20 miles. sun rise - fog - cloud of dust private land mud hill where people were walking for no obvious reason crash (face) crash (collar bone) easy rolling through the pastures - heart rate never really out of zone 1 river crossing -

I think between 50 and 100 - somewhere around Telegraph Hill.

Madison mile 50 & first checkpoint. big hill on way out of town - spread out a bit felt good - rode hard & put head phones on aggressive on the uphills- passed lots of people rolled with music and had a great 50 miles

Just past 100 mile checkpoint - still feeling OK.

prairie chicken capital - Cassoday, 100 mile checkpoint.

long Eastern pull - sun & lite wind - sucked the life out of me bottom line - I was prepared for 100 miles, not 200 the next 100 miles were a slog gps died heart rate monitor died

Gravel. Gravel. Gravel.

Selfie. No wind and not too hot, but plenty of sun.

Around mile 125 - still plenty of gravel.

The shadows are getting longer and legs heavier.

Pulling into 150 mile checkpoint at around 4:30.

Leaving the last checkpoint after an hour break - with new goals.

last 50 miles were long - last 20 miles seemed to last forever

Next year I beat the sun. This is at about 190+ miles

Highlight of the weekend? Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City.