The race started and finished at the Granada Theater in downtown Emporia, this would prove to be a great location for the festivities throughout the day. The race started at 6 a.m. with a police escort through town. I had a bit of a panic on the start, we started rolling and I looked down and my computer was not registering speed. I knew immediately that the magnet had been moved in transport but I was riding in the middle of a pack and didn't want to work my way to the edge and fix the problem and then have to play catch up. I was really frustrated because I wanted to know my mileage to help read the map and also so I knew how much farther to the checkpoint. As we turned onto the gravel I was quite a ways in the back but just rode a steady pace until I found a way to get around a few riders and then worked hard to get to the next group so I could draft and then worked my way through that group and bridged up to the next pack and tucked in to recover. I would ride somewhat hard for a while and then drift back to a recovery pace knowing that I had all day to sit in the saddle. Several riders were going out super hard and I kept telling myself "It's not a race".....not a race??? I kept telling myself "At that pace it's a race to see who bonks first". I was riding pretty good and feeling pretty good when Troy Krause came around me at about mile 45, he had dried blood all down his right arm but was riding strong. I rode close behind him for a short distance and he would ride with his arm just hanging straight down, it looked like it hurt pretty bad. Shortly after he and another rider went around we were riding a pretty fast section and all of a sudden my rear tire got cut and started spraying sealant on every revolution. I stopped quickly and spun the tire but it didn't totally seal, I found the hole and rubbed it and it sealed. It was a sidewall cut and I was pretty sure it wouldn't stay sealed but it was worth a shot, I hit it with CO2 and she blew open again so I pulled the rim strip and put in a tube. I decided to run higher pressure than I would have preferred because the roads have large rocks embedded in the ground and some are almost like small ledge drops and I did not want to pinch flat. The higher pressure would cause me to spin out while climbing out of the saddle but I could handle that over a pinch flat. The rest of the first leg I played catch up without blowing up, I rode strong but not at my max. I pulled into the first checkpoint and took about 10-15 minutes to refuel, put on my lovely Chamios Butt'r and rubbed some Biofreeze on my lower back.
I had fixed my computer during a pee break on the first leg and decided I would zero out at every checkpoint since the mileage from checkpoint to checkpoint was on the map. The maps were much better this year, much easier to read and you could of rode the whole course without a map....it was marked that good. The second leg had quite a bit of flat section which was nice but the temps started to climb and fatigue was starting to settle in on many riders. After one particular downhill the temp instantly jumped and it felt like a sauna, I was worried that the rest of the day was going to be like riding in this furnace but as I started climbing I looked around and realized we were climbing out of a small canyon and there was no way air could hit us. As I crested the top the air hit me and it felt awesome, it was still really warm but it was much better than what we had just experienced. The second checkpoint was at mile 103 and I had already decided that I was going to take some time there to really rest, I may have taken longer than I should have but it may have paid off later in the day as well. I was there for about 45 minutes and then headed out for the shortest leg of the race but I was told it had some interesting riding as well.
The third leg would prove to be my best riding of the day, on this 38 mile section I would pass at least 15 riders and did not get passed by anyone. Riders were really struggling and I think my prolonged break helped me push on. This section had "Lil Egypt Rd", I had heard of this but wasn't sure what to expect. Let me just say that I wouldn't drive on this without 4 wheel drive but I would ride a cross bike with 35mm tires on it????? I was wishing I had my full suspension bike on the downhill portions of this road, I was descending very slow so I didn't wipe out in the large sharp loose rock. I was able to climb every section of the road though, I passed several riders that were walking their bikes so I was able to make up some ground. As I got to the top of a short steep power climb I could see a rider just ahead lying on the ground in the road, I was a little scared he was really hurt. He looked up as I approached and I asked him if he was okay, he said he was but he was beat. Shortly after that I came across another rider that was laying over his handlebars but didn't take any help from me, I'm not sure he would make it to the next checkpoint. I rode into the checkpoint strong but the heat was intense too, I was getting gassed and was in need of some hydration and getting my core cooled. There was about 12-15 bikers in the local gas station trying to cool off in the air conditioning, I was trying to hydrate but it was difficult because my hand was shaking so badly that I could hardly get the water in my mouth. I would remain at this checkpoint for an hour before heading out on the last leg.
The last leg was 66 miles, not a distance that I liked staring in the face but I had no choice. The next little town was about 24 miles away and it was nothing but uphill and downhill the whole way. They were long climbs and the downhills were pretty loose gravel, I was stopping every other climb to rest as I was really feeling the pain now. I eventually stopped, laid my bike on the ground and just stood and ate a Hammer Bar, the doubt was starting to slip into my head then but I had to dig down and push on. I wasn't sure how far away Eskridge was and the hills were still coming on fierce, we were on an off road section that I had to walk some of the climbs. Finally after getting to the top we made a turn South and after slow pedal strokes up the hill I could see the water tower for Eskridge....finally. There was a gas station there and it closed at 8:00 p.m. I arrived at 7:50. I wasn't out of water but I stopped and got a little more and decided to rest along with a multitude of other bikers. There were several vehicles picking up riders as they were throwing in the towel for the day. I knew I wasn't going to stop now but I was going to rest a bit longer. One rider was going into the gas station and asked me if I needed anything, I told him a kick in the nuts would probably be best at the moment.
Another rider said there was a section coming up that he wanted to get through before it got dark, that got my attention so I jumped up, put on my helmet, and took off on my bike. He was right, I wouldn't want to ride it in the dark either....it was doable but not preferred. After I got to the main gravel again I decided to ride as fast as I could without blowing up so I could get as far as I could before having to turn on my headlights. I ended up being about 30 miles away before I turned on my headlights and the wind had shifted to the North to give us an awesome tailwind. I lost 2 spots to some riders that were riding very strong, I was feeling pretty good but couldn't hang with them. About mile 184 I cut the front tire and it went totally flat within seconds. I was able to change this flat pretty quickly, I think I was too tired to panic and try and rush. The worst part of this repair wasn't the fact that it was in the dark and I had to use the beam from my headlight, it was the fact that I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and I lost another couple spots to advancing racers as well. The glow of the Emporia lights was getting brighter and so was my spirits and finally I came to a sign that said "End Of Gravel". I was so excited until I realized that the sign meant it was now a dirt road and not going to paved road. I couldn't read my computer in the dark so I was not sure how much further to town but finally got to Hwy 99. It was a short ride to cross over I-35 and then the turn into the Emporia State Campus, I was getting really excited now since I knew that I was almost done. The ride through campus was longer than I had expected but soon I popped out onto Commercial St and it was only a few blocks to the finish line. I could hear music in the distance and people were cheering me the whole way down the street. I was out of the saddle from the time I entered the campus to the time I crossed the finish line. I was so excited to be done, I think I could have ridden farther but it was a relief to know that I didn't have to. Remember I would be happy to finish in 18 hrs, I finished in 16 hrs and 34 mins. After Jim wrote down my name and congratulated me on my finish I walked my bike out of the finish area and saw Coach walking toward me with a smile from ear to ear. He shook my hand and congratulated me and then Molly was running toward me because she had been up the street keeping watch for me to finish. She gave me a big hug and took my bike so I could take off my gear. After a short visit with Molly and Coach I laid down on the sidewalk and rested my back and body, it felt so good to just lay there. Coach went to see where I finished and I could not believe my ears when he came back and said that I finished 22nd out of 157 riders. I know that I finished in a higher place than I probably should have because there were several riders that were much better than I am but fell victim to crashes, heat, and exhaustion.....but that's part of racing.I also have to say that Stoney Cranmer rode like a champ on a single speed, Stoney took second place in the single speed division. He was winning that class but his crew had the wrong van at the last checkpoint and he had to wait over an hour for the right equipment. I am sure that if he didn't have to wait for supplies that he would have won the single speed division, I think he would have beaten me as well. Well done Stoney!!! I also finished one minute before one of Stoney's teammates, he would have finished well ahead of me but he was being a true team player and riding with a slower team rider early in the day.
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