Dirty Lemming - 2014

The 2014 edition of the Dirty Lemming was a great success this year. Huge kudos and thanks are in order once again for Jim Smith and his devoted volunteer corps. The Dirty Lemming is a one of a kind event and the race that really got me into this genre of racing. Probably because it feels more like a ride with friends than it does a race. So anyways - thanks Jim, and see you again next year!

As for a recap - the course was pretty flat with only a few stretches of deep gravel. The first few miles on the Luce Line were calm & a good size group formed to ride with. Coming out of the Luce Line the tempo quickened and another smaller group of about 12-15 riders got together and pulled away a bit. This smaller group got split even further coming out of a 1/2 mile stretch of deep grass. The trail demanded a single file line and sure enough, the first guys out of the grass decided not to hold up for the group & they pulled away - leaving a few of us stranded. I had to stop (along with others) to pull grass out of my drive train - which really did the trick. So I was isolated out on the course with no real hope of pulling myself back up to any of the lead groups.

Luckily for me I hooked up with a guy named Tim from Excelsior coming out of the 33 mile check point and we stuck together for the duration. We were pulling each other along at a pretty good pace for about 40 or 50 more miles, but the truth is that Tim pulled me through from about mile 80 through to the finish - thanks Tim, I owe you one.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the even for me was being awarded the "Most Improved Lemming" award. Of course last year I finished dead last . . . but still, I had a pretty good day this year and am very happy with the ride. And as for the trophy, well it is one of my newly prized possessions.

Here are some pics...

Luce Line - I lost the lead group early fussing with my Garmin, but caught back up before we hit the open gravel roads.

After stopping to pull grass out of my drive train the leaders were gone for good.

Losing the lead group meant I had plenty of time for selfies.

Checkpoint one - awesome volunteers with home-made brownies & watermelon.

Jim Smith awarding me the Most Improved Lemming. Yes, the trophy has a lemming wearing a cape - it is awesome.

Jim & his backyard are what make the Dirty Lemming so awesome and the reason why I dig gravel racing. 

Inspiration 100

We're thinking of replacing Gravel Worlds with the Inspiration 100. Not for any reason other than convenience - Alexandria, MN is just closer to home.

Of course it isn't an even switch - Gravel Worlds is 150 miles. So right now, we are 1 mile short of the Millennium (thanks to the Lutsen 99er - which was really only 96 miles). Looks like we need to find another race somewhere. Was hoping for the Filthy 50, but I didn't get my registration in early enough. . . I'm sure something will come up.

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.

Red White & Boom

I found myself running the Red White & Boom 1/2 marathon this morning in Mpls. The fact is that I didn't realize I was even registered for it until I get some emails from TCM this week reminding me of the race. It was ugly, but I managed to cover the 13.1 miles without doing too much damage. Maybe a little weird to say, but the highlight of the race was seeing & meeting the venerable Tim Ek before the race, he was there supporting his wife who was running. We talked briefly about Kanza and the 99er, he seemed genuinely humbled by the Beat the Sun award that he had inspired at the Kanza. Good dude.

Lutsen 99er

I don't have any pics yet, but take my word for it, the 99er was another mudfest. Though not as bad as years past, still muddy. I think Brent and I both went into the 99er a little overconfident. Having survived the Kanza and being only 6 days removed from an 8 day mountain bike trip out West the general feeling was that the extra red-blood cells would easily lift us through a mere 99 miles. We were wrong. The 99er is a hard race and it really beat me up - again. This year's finish came quick, which was nice, but I did kind of miss that .5 mile slog straight up the mountain from years past.

To top off race day we headed to Duluth for the Bayfront festival and took in a awesome Trampled by Turtles show. If you are a fan of TbyT then you probably have already heard about the show, and if you were one of the people who decided not to wait out the lightning ... then I'm sorry, you missed something special.