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| photo credit TMB Images |
My Day Across Minnesota
I have to start this post with my story of getting to know Trenton - the mastermind of The DAMn (Day Across Minnesota). My first introduction to Trenton was the Filthy 50, he created/orginized this 50-mile gravel race just south of Rochester in October every year. This is a wonderful, fun, and well organized race... and Trenton somehow always gets the best weather every year! [/knocking on wood].
I recall seeing Trenton's first announcement for The DAMn, knowing the quality events he creates, I was excited to ride it. As I read more about DAMn, my feet got colder and colder. The format of DAMn was riding gravel roads, start in South Dakota at midnight and get to Wisconsin before the end of the day. Riders navigating by cue sheets only (no GPS route). Riders receive the cue sheets to reach checkpoint 1 at the start line, at checkpoint 1 you get cue sheets to find checkpoint 2, and so on. When I saw that it was cue sheets only... I decided I wasn't ready for that on top of riding through night and day on my longest ride.
As I saw all the posts and pictures from the 2017 DAMn, I realized I really want to train and gear up to ride DAMn in 2018! I was so excited to see Trenton decide to host the 2018 DAMn and signed up right away.
In the months since registering and getting selected for the 2018 DAMn, life was full of every life event and very little time to train. We decided to downsize, sell our house, and move; our only child got married; we lost a loving mother; and a number of other minor events that did their best to keep me off my bike. I stepped up to the start line with concerns that I had the endurance for the massive ride, but I was determined to give it everything I have.
Just two weeks prior to DAMn, I was talking with Birchwood teammate John during a ride and found out we were both racing DAMn. John and his friend Shawn needed a ride to the start line, Lisa offered to give them a ride as well as race support. Another friend of a friend (Scott) needs support during DAMn, so Lisa went from supporting one rider to four riders in the days prior to the race!
The Drive to Gary, SD
I spent a couple hours Friday afternoon packing our car and saving space for four people and three bikes.
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| The car is getting DAMn full |
Friday's drive to Gary started rough, John and Shawn were running late because of traffic. I had packed my bike in the car, planning to load the other bikes on our roof rack... but Shawn's bike had thru-axles and our rack wasn't compatible. So we unpack the car (reference above pic!), put Shawn's bike in the car, my bike on the roof rack, repack the car... and we're off.
We hauled ass and got to Gary at 10:30 - rushed to register and the make the rider's meeting. We scrambled to get our bikes assembled, changed clothes next to the car in the dark (sorry to anyone that might have seen that full moon), and got the start line minutes before the fireworks (literally) at midnight.
Before I get into the ride details, I have to say THANK YOU to Lisa! This was the first time Lisa has been a part of a gravel race ... What an introduction?!? There's no way I could have finished this ride with out her loving support! She worked as hard as any racer, using cue sheets for the first time to navigating dark minimal maintenance roads and find the checkpoints, having all the food and drink we could want, greeted us with excitement and encouragement at every check point. She did all this without sleeping and at the end of a demanding week at work, that wrapped up two hours before we hit the road. She supported four riders on this crazy ride across Minnesota. That's only one short of the biggest number of riders supported - missed out on winning a bottle of gin by one rider! Lisa is my hero and no words can express my gratitude for all she did before, during & after DAMn.
Rolling out from Gary was a little stressful with nearly 200 riders in the dark. I was cautious, it's a long ride and there's no need to crash in the first few miles... I wasn't planning to win this thing, just get to Hager City.
The early minimal maintenance roads has some sections with sugary sand. There was a lot of chaos as riders fought for control over the sand sections.
Overnight misty fog made vision a nightmare - glasses getting misted and covered with a layer of dust. I found that my helmet mounted light was making it hard to see in the fog, like driving with high beams in the fog - I'd turn off the helmet light when I didn't need to look at cue sheets. Additionally, it took a while to figure out our lights were getting dimmer by the mile because of the dust coating them. To demonstrate the effect of the gravel dust, here's a short video cleaning off my GoPro lens as we arrived at checkpoint 1:
Thankfully, the route was very simple getting to checkpoint 1, 60 miles fit on 2 cue sheets. We rolled into a very dark checkpoint 1 a little after 4:00 am. Lisa was thoughtful to text me that she parked by the car with Christmas lights, so we found the car right away.
I was feeling good rolling out of checkpoint 1 and happy to get rolling again. The misty fog was becoming a bigger challenge, we kept telling ourselves sunrise would be soon and the sun would burn off the fog. But the sun didn't burn off the fog very quickly at all. We continued to struggle with our glasses getting coated with mist and dust. I was happy to have some lens cleaner single-packs in my bag, but I couldn't get more than 5 miles from a cleaning before I was back seeing through pin holes.
After sunrise, we were happily roll over the miles and flipping through cue sheets. It was nice to have some uneventful miles in the cool morning air.
I was feeling really energized rolling out of checkpoint 2 at 10:00 am! We were making good progress towards my goal of getting to the finish before sunset.
As we rode toward checkpoint 3, as the sun brought the heat. We were starting to worry about water, there was no towns or places to stop and refill water bottles on the route.
We rolled into Henderson around 1:00 pm and created the unofficial checkpoint 2.5. We enjoyed an ice cream cone, and racers were emptying the local gas station's cooler of bottled waters. We really needed the additional water! We were all running low, and we were all empty again by checkpoint 3.
As we ate ice cream and rested in the shade we had tons of people asking about our dirty bikes and bodies. They clearly thought we were nuts as we explained our ride - honestly, it was hard to argue with them!
Right after we left Henderson, we had a section of single-track trails. This lead to my one and only fall of the ride, I washed out in sand. It was slow motion and soft landing, so I bounced up and got back at it. Exiting this trail, I realized I rode this same trail in June on the Westside Dirty Benjamin - but from the other direction, in the pouring rain with the trail under a foot or more water.
We were all down to our last few ounces of water, we were looking for water taps on town halls or churches, but no luck.
My CamelBak got me within 5 miles of checkpoint 3, so I was OK. John had been riding for a lot longer without water. He came into checkpoint 3 and went straight for the icy unicorns!
We got about a mile out of checkpoint 3 and John swears as he realizes he didn't grab his water bottles, so he got a couple bonus miles while Shawn and I got some additional rest.
As we continued towards Wisconsin, the roads started rolling. This was an additional challenge to legs tired beyond reason.
As we got closer to Red Wing, I was struggling with mental and physical fatigue, and coming up on a couple of my personal gremlins - riding paved highways with fast cars, and descents. I was really struggling to keep myself from falling prey to my fears as I was expecting a fast paved highway descent to Red Wing. I was so happy that the descent into Red Wing was quiet gravel road and not terribly fast. As we rode this last descent, I was dragging my breaks and overly tense the whole descent, but I was happy to stayed within sight of the other riders.
Crossing the bridge from Red Wing to the finish line island was the most stressful part of the ride. The bridge is narrow and under construction with a 30 MPH limit... but a person driving a school bus had no patience for a group of people riding bikes across the bridge. They honked, shouted, revved the engine. They ended up cutting me off, so I was stuck behind the bus, while the other three were in front. I wish my GoPro had a shred of battery left so that I could report that aggressive school bus driver.
My head lights were both dead and my back up battery was done too. I was so happy we rolled in to the finish with the last light of dusk with 3 riders that still had battery in their front lights.
I made it to Hager City, WI - but after 240 miles I don't think my body had one more mile left in it. After a few hugs and pics, while I was talking with Trenton, I started getting light-headed and weak-kneed. I found a place to sit down and collect some wood ticks.
240 racers signed up, 172 were bold enough to toe the line, and 116 became DAMn Champions by crossing the Hager City, Wisconsin finish line.
I finished in 83rd place with a time of 20:45:03.
If your interested, here's a link to an animation of the route we rode.
I will celebrate this major achievement with my first ink. I plan to use this T-shirt graphics as the basis for my first tattoo - I love the imagery of the bird flying from the dark into the light and back into the dark:
My Breezer Radar Pro was a great bike for me all day. I had no mechanical issue and I was comfortable on the bike while riding all the varied road conditions.
I was happy with my packing, I honestly had nearly everything I wanted on the ride. I wish I had some wet wipe singles on-bike, there are times you need to take care of your "business" road-side and you'd like to "clean up" before grabbing the next Clif Bar.
Electronics reports:
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| Lisa with her trusty XC90 at checkpoint 3 |
Start Line to Checkpoint 1
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| Lights on and ready to ride! |
The race started with fireworks - that was such a fun touch!
Rolling out from Gary was a little stressful with nearly 200 riders in the dark. I was cautious, it's a long ride and there's no need to crash in the first few miles... I wasn't planning to win this thing, just get to Hager City.
The early minimal maintenance roads has some sections with sugary sand. There was a lot of chaos as riders fought for control over the sand sections.
Overnight misty fog made vision a nightmare - glasses getting misted and covered with a layer of dust. I found that my helmet mounted light was making it hard to see in the fog, like driving with high beams in the fog - I'd turn off the helmet light when I didn't need to look at cue sheets. Additionally, it took a while to figure out our lights were getting dimmer by the mile because of the dust coating them. To demonstrate the effect of the gravel dust, here's a short video cleaning off my GoPro lens as we arrived at checkpoint 1:
Thankfully, the route was very simple getting to checkpoint 1, 60 miles fit on 2 cue sheets. We rolled into a very dark checkpoint 1 a little after 4:00 am. Lisa was thoughtful to text me that she parked by the car with Christmas lights, so we found the car right away.
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| Checkpoint 1 |
Checkpoint 1 to Checkpoint 2
I was feeling good rolling out of checkpoint 1 and happy to get rolling again. The misty fog was becoming a bigger challenge, we kept telling ourselves sunrise would be soon and the sun would burn off the fog. But the sun didn't burn off the fog very quickly at all. We continued to struggle with our glasses getting coated with mist and dust. I was happy to have some lens cleaner single-packs in my bag, but I couldn't get more than 5 miles from a cleaning before I was back seeing through pin holes.
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| The sun was a welcome sight! |
Thanks to some smart connected tech (Garmin, earbud, and cell phone), I was able to let Lisa know we were about to arrive in checkpoint 2. It was roughly 9:30 am and we were half way to Wisconsin! We took about 30 minute break, eating, drinking, lubing chains, "nature breaks".
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| Rolling into checkpoint 2 |
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| Every checkpoint required signing off the roster and grabbing the next set of cue sheets |
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| Our leg hair looked like it'd been frosted with gravel dust. |
Checkpoint 2 to Checkpoint 3
I was feeling really energized rolling out of checkpoint 2 at 10:00 am! We were making good progress towards my goal of getting to the finish before sunset.
As we rode toward checkpoint 3, as the sun brought the heat. We were starting to worry about water, there was no towns or places to stop and refill water bottles on the route.
We rolled into Henderson around 1:00 pm and created the unofficial checkpoint 2.5. We enjoyed an ice cream cone, and racers were emptying the local gas station's cooler of bottled waters. We really needed the additional water! We were all running low, and we were all empty again by checkpoint 3.
As we ate ice cream and rested in the shade we had tons of people asking about our dirty bikes and bodies. They clearly thought we were nuts as we explained our ride - honestly, it was hard to argue with them!
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| John with 'Team Yellow' enjoying Henderson's best ice cream |
We were all down to our last few ounces of water, we were looking for water taps on town halls or churches, but no luck.
My CamelBak got me within 5 miles of checkpoint 3, so I was OK. John had been riding for a lot longer without water. He came into checkpoint 3 and went straight for the icy unicorns!
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| (photo credits to Kit, thanks!) |
I think the three of us cleaned out half the food and drink in the back of our support car at checkpoint 3!
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| Our buffet at the checkpoints! |
As we were refueling at checkpoint 3, we found out Scott had abandoned and Brad came over to say he was done too. Brad rode with us most of the day, we did our best to support him, but he was having issues staying awake. He wasn't alone, many riders abandoned the race at checkpoint 3.
Checkpoint 3 to Finish
We got about a mile out of checkpoint 3 and John swears as he realizes he didn't grab his water bottles, so he got a couple bonus miles while Shawn and I got some additional rest.
As we continued towards Wisconsin, the roads started rolling. This was an additional challenge to legs tired beyond reason.
As we got closer to Red Wing, I was struggling with mental and physical fatigue, and coming up on a couple of my personal gremlins - riding paved highways with fast cars, and descents. I was really struggling to keep myself from falling prey to my fears as I was expecting a fast paved highway descent to Red Wing. I was so happy that the descent into Red Wing was quiet gravel road and not terribly fast. As we rode this last descent, I was dragging my breaks and overly tense the whole descent, but I was happy to stayed within sight of the other riders.
Crossing the bridge from Red Wing to the finish line island was the most stressful part of the ride. The bridge is narrow and under construction with a 30 MPH limit... but a person driving a school bus had no patience for a group of people riding bikes across the bridge. They honked, shouted, revved the engine. They ended up cutting me off, so I was stuck behind the bus, while the other three were in front. I wish my GoPro had a shred of battery left so that I could report that aggressive school bus driver.
My head lights were both dead and my back up battery was done too. I was so happy we rolled in to the finish with the last light of dusk with 3 riders that still had battery in their front lights.
I made it to Hager City, WI - but after 240 miles I don't think my body had one more mile left in it. After a few hugs and pics, while I was talking with Trenton, I started getting light-headed and weak-kneed. I found a place to sit down and collect some wood ticks.
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| The whole DAMn crew: Shawn, Lisa, John, and Chris |
Summary, Afterthoughts & Other Details
240 racers signed up, 172 were bold enough to toe the line, and 116 became DAMn Champions by crossing the Hager City, Wisconsin finish line.
I finished in 83rd place with a time of 20:45:03.
If your interested, here's a link to an animation of the route we rode.
I will celebrate this major achievement with my first ink. I plan to use this T-shirt graphics as the basis for my first tattoo - I love the imagery of the bird flying from the dark into the light and back into the dark:
My Breezer Radar Pro was a great bike for me all day. I had no mechanical issue and I was comfortable on the bike while riding all the varied road conditions.
Here's another example of the gravel dust and how it layered up - this same thing was happening to our lights and glasses:
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| nearly an inch of gravel dust layered up on my fork |
Electronics reports:
- Garmin 1030 in 'battery save' mode was able run for nearly 21 hours and still have 38% battery left! One thing I didn't think about enough was use the map screen to ID roads when the cue sheets weren't totally clear. I've only had this Garmin with maps for a month, so I'm still getting used to it.
- Moto Z with TUM battery mod - the battery mod was dead, but the phone had 80% battery life left!
- Thunderbolt 2.0 tail light was on strobe setting the whole ride
- NiteRider 700 & 750 did great, but I needed to focus my back up battery on them, or left one with Lisa at checkpoint 2 to charge in the car and returned to me at checkpoint 3.
- Skullcandy Method wireless earbuds - they were in stand-by mode most of the day and the battery held up without issue. They spent most of the day hanging around my neck doing nothing; but when Lisa called or texted with checkpoint info, it was a great way to talk without digging my phone out of my pocket.
- Walker at The Alt helped with a number of last minute repairs on the Breezer, helping me get across the state without mechanical issues.
- Adam at The Fix Studio worked with me on bike fit, my body position, and talking me through some last minute strategies.
- Camelbak Lobo (100 oz) - this was critical to my successful hydration on all day.
- Ortlieb Ultimate 6 S Plus Handlebar Bag - this was the first time I used this bag on a race and it was a great way to organize cue sheets as well as store food and back up battery.
- Clif Bars
- Gatorade
- Starbucks Frappuccino
- Coke
- beef jerks from the Driskill's meat counter
- baked sweet potatoes
- PB&J sandwiches
- Nuun mix and tablets
- Jelly Belly Sports Beans
- Salted Nut Rolls
- Honey Stingers waffles (love these!)
- ProBar Bolt
