The DK 200 is a race that Andy and I have thought about doing for a couple of years now. It's 200+ miles of gravel roads in eastern Kansas with lots of rolling hills, heat, wind and humidity. We were told there could be upwards of 12,000 feet of climbing, enough to scare me just a little. We have each raced Leadville 100 @ least 5 times, that race has over 12,000 feet of climbing so I knew I could handle the hills, it was the 200 miles, the heat, humidity and the wind that I wasn't used to riding in.
After coming off of a great cyclocross race season, consulting a few friends, reading blogs and realizing I needed a good goal for 2011, I decided to sign up and Andy said he would be my riding partner. I remember Andy telling me a few weeks later that we needed to make sure we could ride for 12 hours or so, our races in Leadville were between 8½ and 10½ hours so he thought 12 would be doable. I then asked him if he realized that the last years winner went just over 13.5 hours? He looked at me and said "holy crap, we're in trouble"! So, from January to June I pretty much trained scared! Lots of miles, hills and gravel where we could find it, the heat and humidity would have to wait until race day. I was able to get back to Nebraska once in February to ride some gravel roads, 60 miles of wide open spaces, wind and a feeling at how easy it can be to get lost on all those county roads in the middle of nowwhere...not an easy ride. All I could think of was what have I gotten myself in to!
I wish we had some nice long gravel roads in and around Evergreen, CO but that is just not the case. I am happy to say that we did have a pretty mild winter. The roads in and around Denver were drier than usual albeit chilly for the long rides we had to do. We were able to get in a few epic rides in preparation for the DK; the White Rim trail out in Moab, UT, 12 hours of Dawn to Dusk, 18 hours of Fruita, a 200k in Boulder and Colorado Springs to name a few.
On our way to Emporia, KS:
We headed out on Thursday after a full day of work for me and drove to Hayes, KS. to break up our 9 hour drive. We both got a great night sleep and then headed onward to Emporia, another 4 hours of driving. It's getting warmer and I am actually looking forward to racing in the heat. It seems that the entire time I have been training for this race it has been cold and windy, I am bundled up so much that I don't remember what it is like to not have my knickers and knee warmers on, 2 extra layers under my jersey, booties, headband and long fingered gloves.
We get in to Emporia about noon, drive down to the High Gear Bike Shop to check it out and talk to a few folks there about the race. I am a little nervous as I am not quite sure what I am getting myself into. After speaking with Adventure Monkey and a few others I am feeling a little better about the race, the conditions, the course and fueling. I know that the training is done, now it's up to Mother Nature to see what she will throw at us in the morning. We grab a quick sandwich for lunch and then head over to Candlewood Suites, the host hotel and try to get ourselves somewhat organized and the bikes race ready. We then take our support crew (my mother and her friend Cheryl) out to dinner and try to explain to them what we are about to embark on. They have come from Nebraska to watch us race and are so excited to be a part of this. My mother enjoys volunteering athletic events (having helped at 2 olympics) and she was thrilled when we asked her if she could be our support.
We were in bed by 10:00pm and up at 4:15am, pretty much like any other race day; not much sleep for either of us. I down a protein shake, an almond butter and banana wrap and some granola/soymilk. I am not hungry at this hour of the day but I force myself to eat as I don't want to start off depleted. We have our bags and all our extra crap loaded up in the support vehicle. I can't believe how much stuff we have. I wonder if this is stuff we really need or just "think" we need. I guess it is good to be prepared for anything and since we do have a support vehicle lets just fill it up! This "stuff" that we have decided that we can not live without includes but is not limited to: spare wheels, tubes, pump, tools, water, V-8, coconut water, Red Bull, 5 hour energy drinks, Nuun electrolyte tablets, food (bars, gels, chips, crackers, turkey and cheese wraps), sportlegs, endurolytes, tums, extra clothing, i-pods just in case we got tired of each other and a cooler that will hold our camelbak bladders, bottles and ice.
We had decided early on that we would both race with a camelbak as we are so used to wearing them from all of our long rides and races. We figured there was no way we could carry enough water on our bikes or in our jersey pockets without the fear of loosing one on the rough roads, something we could not afford to do. So, for the first 2 legs we would ride with a 70oz bladder and 2 water bottles. The 3rd leg, which was to be the longest and during the hottest part of the day, we would each carry a 100oz bladder, and 3 bottles on the bike for me, 2 for Andy. We also decided last minute that he would carry a 34 oz. platypus as an extra water supply. The 4th leg we would then go back to the 70oz. and 2 bottles. We were figuring at least 1 x 24oz bottle for each hour and a little more if it was really hot.
Our goal for this race was to finish strong and try to do that together. We would stay with each other the entire day unless of course one of us had a mechanical or a total meltdown. It was nice having the ability to draft off of each other when needed, to keep each other motivated and to remind each other to drink and eat (which seems silly but the time can fly by so fast the next thing you know you are bonking and realize you are low on calories). A few years ago we raced Leadville 100 together with this same stradegy. Andy paced me the entire day and it worked out great, but then again, that was only for 9½ hours, this was to be a much longer day! Could we hang for 16-18 hours and not drive each other crazy.
The Start:
The race started at 6:00am, pretty uneventful. It reminded me a lot of the earlier years of Leadville 100, back when there were only a few hundred people who would do the race. Now that race has over 1400 racers, I am over that, I am so now looking forward to racing again with a much smaller group of talented riders. With 270 starters this year, it ss a big race for the DK200 and a perfect size for me.
The first leg is 58 miles in which we will zig-zag our way south and west to Cassody, KS, checkpoint #1. We head straight in to a headwind and out of Emporia. We are somewhere in the middle of the pack, a couple of nice pacelines have formed and we are riding a comfortable pace. It seems eerily quiet as we ride along, a few folks chat briefly but for the most part we ride in silence. I have a feeling we are all a bit nervous and secretly trying to evaluate the riders around us. There are so many strong riders out there and I think to myself, I wonder what they will look like at mile 80, mile 120, or 170???
We spent the first part of the ride with the same, large group of guys. The Chamois Butter guys are in our group, fun to ride and chat with. They were setting a nice pace for us. After about 2 hours Andy and I both needed a pit stop so we left the group, knowing that we wouldn't be able to catch up with them again. We hoped that we could find another group to work with in a few minutes, but that didn't happen.
When we were back in the saddle it was just the two of us so we started our own little paceline, Andy would pull for a couple of minutes and then I would take my turn, we did this almost the enire way to our first checkpoint, or at least when we were headed into a headwind, which was most of the time.
We would pick up a rider or two every now and then and for a short while we would have a little extra company but sometimes our pace just didn't match up with others so we were on our own once again. This first section I felt like I spent most of my time looking at the gravel beneath my wheels and not taking the time to enjoy the incredible views. The terrain was hilly and extremely green. We rode thru one herd of cattle, saw wild mustangs and miles of gravel road. Some of the hills were steep and rocky but nothing too crazy. After spending a fair number of days riding my cyclocross bike on the mountain bike trails around Denver I felt really comfortable descending these rocky roads that were ahead of us...fun! Andy and I were both riding tubeless and am so glad we did. I only had one instance when my rear tire went low on one of the rough downhills. I was able to pump it up enough to get me going again and we would recheck it with the floor pump at our next checkpoint.
My mom (support crew) and me
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| Cheryl (support crew) and me |
Cassody Checkpoint #1:
We made it into the first checkpoint at about 10:15, ride time was 4:10 and happy to say we made our goal of finishing all our fluids before rolling in to the checkpoint. We grabbed our map for the next section and Cheryl was waiting for us to lead us to the support vehicle. We had a crazy first stop, we had given our crew (mom) all of our crap and told them to just have things out for us. Well, that is exactly what they did. We were so totally unorganized. Andy was rummaging thru all the bags looking for his food and the lube/rag to clean the bikes. Too many bags and too much "extra stuff" lying around. I had my things a little better arranged but we both realized we hadn't given our crew enough instructions!! I don't know what we were thinking because with all of our Leadville races we have everything so organized that we can do a stop in less than 2 minutes and be on our way. Today, however, it was like we had never even raced before. I made sure we each drank a V-8, I had a coconut water and then refilled my 2 water bottles, dropped 2 tablets of Nuun in one of them, refilled my camelbak bladder and added 5 tablets of Nuun. I then grab a few handfuls of potato chips, check the tire pressure while Andy lubes the chains and within 15 minutes we were gone. We gave our crew better instructions for the next stop: Have bottles and bladders filled, more ice and have our turkey/cheese wraps ready.
My mom told us she thought that we were in the top 150 riders, not bad I thought..middle of the pack. The last thing I heard her yell to us as we were leaving was "how long do you think it will take you to get to the next stop?" I don't think I answered her, but had I done so, our next checkpoint would have gone much smoother!!!! I am sure I had told her yesterday when I was going over our goals. I wrote it down on some random piece of paper, our expected goal time for each checkpoint and the hours it would take to get to each. I was figuring on 14 mph. if we were having a good day...so, what did she do with that piece of paper???? hmm, I need to be better organized and not ignore my mothers questions!
Leg 2 to Florence:
The 2nd leg to Florence was to be short, 44 miles, I estimated 3:15 for a ride time. We had overheard someone say as we were leaving the checkpoint to keep an eye out for the first turn onto gravel, riders were missing it. Sure enough, we came upon our first turn only to look up ahead and see a group of riders going straight, completey missing the turn. Totally out of earshot we all wondered how long they would ride before realizing they had to backtrack. We once again hooked up with 2 of the Chamois Butter boys, we also rode with some guys from St. Louis and Kansas and enjoyed the nice tailwind for a bit. Once we headed west we were getting hit with a nasty crosswind so we had a nice little eschelon going, however, it doesn't work very well on really gravely roads, someone is getting a good line while 2 or 3 get the crappy lines! Well, that lasted a few minutes, a few dropped back and then we were heading North again, a nice tailwind for the next 15 miles or so, yeah! Then came the infamous "Where are we, are we on the right road, we don't see any markers" point. A group of about 8 riders were at the intersection of Rock Creek Road contemplating whether to turn or go straight. The group chose to turn and we just followed. There were no markings so we were all a bit leary if were on the correct road. About a mile later we came upon another unmarked turn that headed North, once again, no markings and a larger group of riders convened here. I had seen a few riders go North but were they lost or did they know something we didn't? We all agreed that our maps/mileage did not match up with the actual road that we were on but we needed to ride on...but which way was the big question of the day. One rider approached us from the West and said he had just ridden down the road about a mile or so and it wasn't correct so thru the process of elimination, we all headed North.
I had this gut feeling that we were going the wrong direction and I really hate it when I get that feeling. I slowed down a little, thinking all the while I was descending that I really didn't want to have to backtrack out of this if we were going in the wrong direction. I was hesitant on my riding, stopping again to recheck the map. Well, sure enough, we hit this creek bed with a number of water crossings and flags!.. I saw the flags and I can't tell you how excited I was that we were really on the right road. Amazing how relieved we all felt. Now I could get back into my groove. The water crossings were great, as I rode thru them I made sure to get both of my feet wet, they were starting to get hot and burn so this was perfect timing. We finished up this section with a few more hills, no more wrong turns and we both had drained all of our water and electrolyte drink just before the checkpoint.
Florence Checkpoint #2:
We knew that this was going to be much longer stop as the 3rd leg was going to be the longest at 60 miles and during the hottest part of the day. We had planned to eat a wrap, chips, V-8, and a coconut water for me. We wanted to make sure we had plenty of fluids in us and on the bikes before we left town. Andy wanted to change clothes, drop his arm coolers and put on a sleeveless jersey. As for me, I was sticking with what I had on. I was quite comfortable in the jersey/shorts selection and the armcoolers. I chose to wear the white armcoolers all day as I didn't want to worry about getting sunburned or a heat rash on my arms, so far so good. When there is a breeze the arm coolers really do seem to help.
Well, our support crew was a bit surprised when we showed up when we did. They had been counting riders and had told themselves when a 100 riders came thru they would start to fill our bottles and bladders. This is with the assumption that we were going to come in about the same position of 150th. Well, after 44 miles and one checkpoint past us, we had now moved up to 50-60th so of course they weren't ready for us! I kept thinking, had I told them to expect us in 3 hours it would have worked out perfectly. Lesson learned. Oh well, this added a few extra minutes to the stop but we were still able to get everything accomplished and we were in and out in less than 20 minutes... of course it seemed like an hour to me. We left with as much water as we could carry, a v-8 each and I told Andy we would drink them half way thru this section. We left at about 2:10pm and felt pretty good, Andy downed a Redbull and I had a 5 hour energy drink and we were on our way. As we were leaving town it amazed me how many riders were coming into Florence from the wrong direction... did they not see the markers/arrows taking them the most direct route to the checkpoint?
Leg 3 to Council Grove:
This was pretty uneventful for the first 45 miles. Andy was happy and cool in his sleeveless jersey, as weird as it may sound, I was enjoying riding in the heat as I don't get to do it very often. Riding northbound was great as we had a nice tailwind, which is usually nice while riding but when it is 98* it can make it seem so much hotter than it really is. I stopped to pee about 35 miles in and I thought I was going to pass out as I stood up when I finished. The heat was stiffleling and all the blood made a mad rush to my head.... hmmm, I think this this was a perfect time to open up that V-8! I was also starting to get the chills, not a good sign but I didn't want to say anything to Andy, I had this under control. I just made a point of taking extra sport legs and electrolytes every hour. Andy and I were just riding side by side now with the tailwind, passing guys laying on the side of the road, changing flats, struggling up hills etc. It seemed so many of them were riding in slow motion as the heat and humidity was taking their toll.
Once we got to a high point in the course we could see the clouds building up behind us and the temps started to cool off when the rain came thru. What a nice relief, never expected it to rain today as the forecast didn't call for it. Oh well, it felt great.. We had picked up Eric at the high point just before the rain hit us and after he left a rider by the side of the road. The guy said he was fine but wanted to rest. Eric didn't want to be out there riding solo, and I sure don't blame him. We figured the rain would blow over quickly and if we were fast enough we could stay ahead of it. It was windy but for us it was a tailwind...something was going right for us! We got onto a grassy section just as the rain really started to come down. We all worked together and we busted butt to ride as hard and as fast as we could thru the grass. It was a really cool section and we were bummed that it was raining and we couldn't enjoy it more but we knew with the rain that was coming the trail was going to be impassable in a matter of minutes. At one point I found myself unable to pedal, I stopped to pull a piece of barbed wire out of my derauiller and then hurried to catch the boys... they were not going to stop for anything! Well, mother nature had different plans for us..a couple minutes later we were forced to stop. The mud on the bikes was just too thick, the wheels wouldn't turn and the riding came to abrupt halt, we had to start walking. I think this might have been where we picked up another ride Tim. Lucky for us, we only had about a 10 min. walk in the mud until we hit a creek... yeah!
We started to clean the bikes up, at least good enough to get us to the next checkpoint. Looking up the road I was happy to see that it turned to gravel again and that we would be able to ride out of this creek bed. However, Andy was eyeing the barn that was on top of the hill. He was starting to go hypothermic thanks to the " sleeveless jersey" he had chosen to wear and wanted to hide out someplace warm. At this time the thunder and lightening was getting a little too close for comfort. All of a sudden I hear this earth shattering thunder, I look over at Andy and his eyes are so wide and looking so scared. He asked me if I was hit, (obviously I wasn't as I was still standing and staring back at him), but he was sure that the lightening had hit me or right behind me. Eric looks at us and tells us we all have to get out of the creek NOW! So, we bolt up the hill to the barn. Andy is shaking like crazy as he runs up to the house that is on the other side of the barn only to find no one at home. We hang out under their carport for a few minutes until the rain subsides just a little. Eric and Tim are ready to go, as am I but I can't leave Andy here alone. I tell the guys we will be fine and to take off while the rain has tapered off.
Andy and I hang out for a little while longer, cleaning the bikes with the water that is coming off the roof of the carport. All Andy can think about is getting in to some warm, dry clothes and I have to remind him that we are only 6 miles from the checkpoint. He isn't sure he can make it. I have seen him with hypothermia on a bike ride before and it isn't pretty. I tell him we have to go, we need to just ride as hard and as fast as we can so he can start generating some heat. I tell him that I can give him my arm coolers but he refuses. Thank goodness as I am not sure they would even fit him not to mention the fact that I don't think I could even get them off! He didn't want me getting into the same position as he was in... how thoughtful. I wasn't too cold at this point but I knew if I stood around much longer I would be in trouble.
As we were riding the last 6 miles to the checkpoint I looked over at Andy and told him there was no way I was NOT going to finish this race. This was only a blip in our day. We will get a new change of clothes, maybe take a jacket for the last section. We have no idea what the roads are going to be like but hopefully by the time we make it the the checkpoint we can get a good update. Those final 6 miles in to town were on good gravel roads but we were still running from the thunder and lightening. I feel like we were definitely one of the lucky ones out there.
Council Grove Checkpoint # 3:
We roll into town, pick up our final map and head to our support crew. They had everything ready for us, at least they did before the rain hit them. All the stuff they had organized so well this time was immediately thrown back in the car before we even showed up. So much for being prepared. The rain had pretty much subsided as soon as we got in to town. Andy started cleaning the bikes and I stood around trying to figure out what I should do next, my head in a fog. I grabbed some water and rags and cleaned as much of the mud off of me as I could and then changed into some dry clothes. We discussed the weather and what was ahead of us. The storm had blown thru, the roads going into Emporia were good and hopefully we would stay dry for the final 44 miles. We grab our V-8's, coconut water, some chips and Andy downs a Redbull and me another 5 hour energy drink. After cleaning the bikes Andy starts looking for his clothes, he wants his knickers. It's in the 70's, the sun is peaking out, he doesn't need his knickers or knee warmers. This is a guy who commutes to work in 35* weather in knickers and a vest, not something he needs today. We do put on our vests as we are both still cold, we put on armwarmers and long fingered gloves, a last minute addition to my "extra clothes bag" than I am so thankful for. We did end up ditching the vests after about 15 min. but I was not about to get out of the armwarmers/long gloves for the rest of the race.
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| after riding in the mud |
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| Andy cleaning the bikes before getting into warm clothes |
We left Council Grove about 7:15 pm, I think we were at this stop for a good 45 min., way too long but at this point we just wanted to make sure we were well equipped to finish, no matter what time we got in or weather we ran into. As we left the parking lot we looked over and saw a guy with a hose cleaning his bike...damn, if we had known about that hose we could have shaved a few minutes off of our pit stop, oh well, next time we will know to ask for a hose.
This last section was really beautiful, not like the others weren't it just that we had the time to look around and really enjoy it. Not many riders out there. We thought about all those behind us that were hit by the storm, the grassy/muddy sections that we were lucky enough to ride and impassable for those that were still out there. I was getting a little bummed that some of the riders were having a much tougher time than we were. On this leg I think we passed one gal and a couple of guys and then we got passed by a couple of guys and a tandem near the town of Americus.
The last 44 miles were relatively flat, and quite enjoyable. We turned our headlights on about 9:15 or 9:30, I just love riding at night. I was a little worried that we would have to pull out the map every now and then and look to see where our next turns were but I must say, the course was extremely well marked. I looked at the map only once the last 20 miles...something I was happy about because at my age I need reading glasses to see the small print of the maps, especially with low light. Yes, I carried reading glasses with me but I only used them once! It was so dark and peaceful out there...until I reacted with a loud " WOW"! Andy asked me what was wrong and I told him to look to his right, along the side of the road there were all these firefly's lighting up the road.....something I hadn't seen since I was a kid, it was just amazing, almost magical.
We finished together, coming in at 10:12pm, placing 23rd/24th overall.
I was 2nd female
and Andy was 3rd Masters.
We were truly surprised at how beautiful the flint hills of Kansas were, along with how hilly, windy, hot and humid it could be, we also learned, like in Colorado, always be prepared for rain (or snow for colorado)! Happy to have finished yet another adventurous race we now wonder what is in store for us next year... I will be back!
Thanks to Everyone who made this a wonderful day for all to remember. It will go down as one of my favorite races of all time! Can't wait to talk a few of my girlfriends in to racing this one with me.
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