Old News Report: Dirty Kanza 2009

At this point, the Dirty Kanza seems like it was eons ago, but I almost feel like races are unfinished if I don't type out a "report" and so away we go.

Kanza basically started for me in a rush.  I landed in Lincoln from Michigan, spent a couple of short hours at home, then loaded up with Corey, Troy, Jim and Aaron.  I then proceeded to nearly fall asleep for four hours, never quite getting there, while forcing everyone else in the car to listen to exceedingly mellow music.  Not much of a car mate.

Dorks

The pre-race festivities went as usual.  I floated around and 'chatted' with familiar faces, but was anxious to get back to the room and sleep.  I finally got to bed, got about five hours in and awoke feeling pretty good.

Single Speed Champ Michael Beck Rocks the Socks

One of my favorite parts of Kanza is the start.  The rollout through town gives everyone a chance to cruise around together for a bit before hitting the gravel and "getting all racer like."  

Just After the Start

Of course, Corey and I were the dorks that kept taking photos after we hit the gravel.  The pace started to ramp up and we were still riding one-handed, snapping photos and generally openly admitting dorkdom through our actions.

Geeks at Work Times Two

The race strung out fairly quickly with the average speed floating somewhere around 18mph.  I was pretty comfortably tucked up near the front and just watched everyone for several miles, just used Troy, Corey and Dan Hughes as barometers for the race.  I didn't know how I'd feel as the race went but my thought was, if I hang around those guys without breaking, I couldn't go too drastically wrong.

Euro Trash (Me, not Steve)

We hit the first initial climb, which I like to think of as 'MW Photo Op Hill,' crested at the front of the group and felt pretty confident.  Not that I would stay in the front, but that I was 'on a good day.'  Shortly after that, we hit some rollers that left me spun out on the downhill and a gap opened up between me and the lead group and just like that I was basically solo.  I could see a few riders here and there, but riding in a group was over.  Once in a while, I saw the leaders and could tell I was catching back up, but then we crossed the interstate, climbed up and onto a gorgeous view and, just like last year, hit the long downhill that spelled the end of any chance of staying with the leaders on a single speed.  In fact, this year there was as tailwind so it was even more hopeless.  I sat up, let the wind hit my back and just enjoyed the county side for a while.  A few people caught me at this point, but the rollers renewed later and I was again just riding at my own pace.

Urban Struggle

Somewhere around 45 miles, I felt some small twinges in the legs and started downing Clif Bloks to avoid cramping.  It's nothing unusual for me to get crampy in a race so I didn't really feel panicked.  I simply tried to take care of it.

Cottonwood Falls

Leaving Cottonwood Falls, I still felt good.  I ended up taking a few short detours by calling Mrs. Snob and missing turns in the process but the benefit of one miscue was linking up with Joe Fox.  He'd flatted early and was reeling people back in as he got going again.  I couldn't quite match his pace, but he would pause for me once in a while and we essentially road together for pretty long time.  

Joe Fox

Despite the good company and early confidence, I started melting down near the last checkpoint.  I stopped sweating, started getting the chills and everything felt 'heavy' in quick succession.  Joe helped me get to a farmhouse and I sat in the shade pouring cold water on myself to cool down.  After what seemed like forever, Joe had found a ride in for me and was able to head back out.  I owe that guy a big thank you.

Exposure

Done

I waited at the last checkpoint for a while.  Joe came through in fourth shortly after I arrived and, aside for trying to recover and aid other racers, that was really it.  I'm still a bit disappointed in how things turned out, but that's racing.  

I guess we'll just have to do it again next year.