DirtyKanza 200 - Miles & Miles of that Gravel

Andrea M
Jul 13, 2017
6 min read

I’ve never done a race write up before, but the event and whole trip was such an epic time, I must capture it in words.

Travel Vibes

Kate, my riding partner, and I departed LAX on Thursday morning for Kansas City. Upon arrival to while in transit to our rental car, we ran into 2 fellow SoCal bikers. After some chit chat we located our rad Black Dodge Minivan and off to Emporia, KS we went. After checking into the newly opened Hampton Inn (thanks April for booking us a room!), we built up our bikes and did a quick test spin around the parking lot. All looked good!

First Day Feels

Next stop, the Radius Brewery for dinner, where we happened to run into our new friends! Over dinner and a beer, we learned that Jon and Troy had trouble securing a place to stay and were booked at a place nearly an hour away. As luck would have it, I’d never cancelled my initial dorm room reservation and was able to help them out providing them with my accommodations!

Race Prep

Friday morning arrived and race prep was in full swing. First was an hour pre-ride from our hotel to the start line and the first few miles of the course. We attended the 1 pm race meeting, did a quick stop into the Gravel City bike shop where I was able to enjoy a free PBR, bought some local bike art, and then was off to Walmart to buy food. $60 later I had enough nutrition to last me for 500 miles… never hurts to over prepare. As I was filling up water bottles and my Orange Mud hydration pack, I realized I didn’t bring the slider that closes the bladder. Panic sets in! Luckily, Orange Mud was a sponsor of the race, so I hauled my butt downtown to the race expo and bought a replacement bladder at a steep discount. Thanks Jack and Josh from Orange Mud!! After dinner, it was back to the hotel room to prep my food. Sandwiches for days. My recipe – Hawaiian Sweet rolls with butter and Ham and Hawaiian sweet rolls with PBJ (strawberry).

Race Day! Shit just got real!

Kate and I lined up at 5:45 am for the 6 am race start. The first 20-25 miles were not kind to me. My stomach was weird and I couldn’t eat anything. I tried a ham sandwich and it came right back up. No Bueno. Kate waited for me and told me to eat something sugary. I ate some shot bloks and sipped Gatorade and everything settled down. I made it to Madison shortly after Kate and we left mile 48 together. The weather and road conditions were about perfect. Very little mud and it was easy to pick a good line on the never-ending rolling gravel roads. Imagine being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by lush, green fields without a man-made structure in sight. It was amazing.

Mile 90 became a shit show. We were cruising downhill and I chose to go between 2 orange cones, which was a bad idea. The cones were marking a deep rut. I made it through mainly because I didn’t have time to brake and had a lot of speed. Kate was behind me and not as fortunate. She tried to avoid the rut after seeing me nearly crash. She ended up on the ground with a broken arm, her left humorous to be exact. She told me this within a minute or two of the crash. Such clarity! She also told me I couldn’t stay, as 1. I needed to get her help and 2. She told me to continue. We were at the bottom of a hill in the middle of nowhere, thus no cell service. I had to pedal ahead a mile or two while continuing to dial the crew for hire number. I finally got through and passed on broken information about Kate. Somewhere during this whole situation, I lost a cleat, meaning I had no way to clip my right foot in for the next 14 miles. When I arrived at add station #2 in Eureka, April told me that Kate had texted she was on her way to the hospital, thank goodness. April put a cleat in my nasty, stinky shoe, I drank some Coke, ate a bunch of food and headed out for the next 103 miles of gravel. The ride now was about finishing for not only me, but for Kate. This section became about out running the lightning and thunder. It sprinkled on me from time to time and it seemed like the downpour was about to start at any moment. At a highway crossing, a sheriff was giving out water and told me the storm moving at 10 mph so all I had to do was go faster than that. Enough said! Around mile 150, I found myself getting very lonely and mooing at the cows was losing its luster. Then I saw Jenny Acker. I had met Jenny when I watched April do DK in 2015. We rode to the third aid station together, mile 162. It was amazing as she is one of the kindest and funniest people ever. We talked a lot about Casey’s taco pizza. The best pizza in the world!!

Aid Station 3 was like a party. My mate Kate was there in a sling and April and Tom were alongside Jenny’s crew. I stuffed Dill Pickle Pringles in my mouth and even drank part of a Coors Light, the mountains were blue! I kind of wanted to stay and hang out but knew I needed to get moving. One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen was the sun setting that evening over the Kansas country side. I wanted nothing more at that moment to have Kate by my side as we were riding together as the sun was coming up. I thought about stopping and taking a picture and wish now I had, but I wanted to get home. April told me the last 45ish miles home were “kind of fun”. At about mile 180, I didn’t find them fun at all. It was dark and I was being pelted by bugs, but the lightening bugs were amazing. It took me back to growing up in Iowa. Note, next time have a headlamp as I couldn’t see my cue sheets or Garmin. I just followed the red tail lights off in the distance and hoped they were all going the right way. My Garmin gave me a low battery warning so I stopped to plug it in and realized I was less than 10 miles from home. Sweet Baby Jesus!!

The Finish.. and some final thoughts!

The last few miles were kind of a blur. I thought about how the day seemed so long yet had gone by so quickly. I thought about Kate, the thunder and lightning, the flattened turtles I saw on the course, how I never got a flat, how it was okay that I couldn’t shift into my big chain ring for the last 100 miles, and all the struggles and doubts I had overcome. My crew cheered me on as I rolled through the finishing shoot. The race director was there to welcome me back to Emporia and April handed me a Bud Light, which has never tasted so good. I shed a few tears as I’ve never been prouder of myself for finishing something. This tops all other physical accomplishments in my life. I thought I would be one and done with DK200 but I won’t be surprised if I sign up again in January.

It Takes a Village - Thank you!!!!!!!

Danielle and Ryan – I’ve done so many rides with them, they helped me pack my bike bag, let me borrow everything from Danielle’s Garmin to Ryan’s bike tools. I can’t thank them enough for the continued support and kindness.

Matt – he let me borrow his frame bag and it was freakin’ awesome. It held so much stuff and it fit perfectly on my frame. He also completely cleaned my bike and did a full tune up the weekend before the race. Amazing!!

Christian – my bike shop angel. He set me up on my new HED Ardennes wheels and has been extremely patient with me when teaching me how to change a flat to fixing a broken chain. He also has adjusted and then readjusted my Felt FX1 countless times. I trust his guidance through and through.

Tom and April – my pit crew and cheerleaders from Minneapolis. I wouldn’t even know about DK200 if it wasn’t for them. April and Tom provided so much insight on the right equipment and nutrition planning. Wouldn’t have made it through the day without them.

Jeana – my coach and friend. Sometimes I don’t understand my training plan but I’ve learned what she has me doing works. Even during the dark days of peak training, she is positive and listens to my frustrations and threats to quit. ;-)

Kate – last but not least, my training mate. Kate took on this challenge with me and we did some epic rides to prep for this. Kate saw my good days and my very very bad days and stuck beside me even when it got ugly. She finds true joy in riding and has taught me that coffee rides are the best rides.