Freedhem 76

 The Freedhem 76 - The Fastest Fatbike

I've gotta start at the end ... my first podium photo, top step and all! 

Photo Credit Markman Outdoor Photography

OK, a little correction to the first sentence, I was the top step of the 2019 Filthy 50 podium as the fastest fatbike ... but it was so cold, there were no other riders available for the picture. 

The Freedhem 76 starts/ends in the tiny town of Freedhem with one general store and a handful of houses located in central Minnesota. Freedhem was named by the Swedish settlers, Freedhem translates to "peaceful home".

The Freedhem 76 is the brain-child of Donald Griggs - this is his "one-man-show" with wonderful community support and volunteers. We've shared many miles together on other gravel riders and he had invited me to the Freedhem 76 over the last few years and 2021 was the year when the stars finally aligned.

The race is an 80-mile course that's mostly gravel with some MMR (minimal maintenance road) and a couple ATV trails. I brought my drop-bar Pugsley to race, I'm training to ride the Pug on The DAMn in August and need to get all the training miles I can get to be successful on that DAMn ride! I'm riding a 2015 Pugsley that's mostly stock, with Salsa Woodchipper handlebars, Gevenalle GX shifters, and Fat

B Nimble tires. 

As we gathered at the start line in front of the Freedhem general store, I saw so many good friends, it was good to be back to 'normal' gravel rides as this pandemic eases. 

Start line selfie

The first 2 miles are a neutral rollout with race Donald leading us out on the paved road. That first couple miles was interesting for me, my Garmin flaked out and said that I'd finished the route while we rolled out. So I was heads-down for a while getting the route reloaded. When I finally got the Garmin sorted out, I realized there as a gap forming and I wanted to be closer to the lead group. I picked up my pace and rode the gravel shoulder to get around some riders and up to the back of the lead group, I think the Fat B Nimble tires on the gravel shoulder freaked out some of the riders as I passed. As soon as the route turned right on to gravel roads, Donald pulled off and the race was on! 

It didn't take long for another gap to form separating the lead group from a small chase group. I put in another big effort to bridge to the lead group of 30-40 riders. I was slowing closing the gap, pushing my Pugsley at 20+ mph. But after 3-4 miles of this effort, I was no longer closing the gap on the lead group, and a look over my shoulder to find nobody behind me. At mile 9, I started wondering if I was going to ride the next 70 miles solo. 

A few miles after I eased off the pace, a small chase group caught me. It was 4 riders with fatbikes, and 2 riders on gravel bikes. Funny enough, I recognized 3 of the bikes in this group, I'd followed their car on the drive up. This group worked together for many miles, everybody take pulls on the front. I wasn't paying attention when we lost 3 of the riders on fatbikes. One of the gravel bike riders pulled ahead of us. The three of us remaining became my main group for the day; it was Bryan (with a fatbike), Scott (with a gravel bike), and me. I got to know Scott earlier this spring when he hosted a fun gravel ride around his area near Annandale; and Bryan is Scott's friend too.

Getting close to the first ATV trail
Photo Credit Markman Outdoor Photography

Around mile 25 I was dropped by Scott and Bryan, spending a few more miles solo. At mile 30, I entered the first ATV trail that was peppered of large gravel & rocks and many massive puddles. Thanks to my fat tires, I was able to ride this 4 mile ATV trail with ease, passing many riders along the way ... including one rider walking his bike out after a wreck that likely broke some bones - he was OK walking himself out and had a ride coming to get him at the ATV trail exit. 

Great rest area hosted by local volunteers ... with BACON!! 

I caught up with Scott and Bryan coming out of the first ATV section (mile 34), we continued to work together for many miles including a break to enjoying the bacon at the aid station around mile 40 and we cooled off with some spotty heavy rain over the miles after the rest stop. 

Around mile 65, we all agreed to drop the pace, we were all feeling the fatigue. A couple miles later, we took a right turn into the sandy ATV trail. I ended up leaving Bryan with Scott in this sand trap; Scott was struggling to ride the soft sand with standard gravel tires. My Fat B Nimble tires ate up the sand sections without any stress ... I had somebody call me a cheater in the sand trap as I rolled through while they walked, but they admitted I did have to mash those massive tires for 80 miles just to be able to ride 1 mile of sand ... LOL!

In the sand traps, I passed my friend Dana, but didn't recognize him at the moment. He caught up with me when we got back on the gravel roads and we worked together for about 5 miles. Dana asked me if I was the lead fatbike, I said that I thought there must be one or two in the lead group. Dana let me know that he'd been in the lead group and hadn't seen a fatbike up there. I was excited to hear this, it helped me continue to push hard to the finish. Dana started cramping up and he let me ride ahead, so I rode the last 5 miles to the finish solo. 

Finish line smile
Photo Credit Markman Outdoor Photography

I was greeted by Donald at the finish line and instructed to get my prize: Panaracer GravelKing SK tires (they won't fit the Pugsley - LOL! - but I have a bike that will be great with these tires) and a mason jar of gravel as a trophy! 

A really nice touch at the finish line was volunteers walking around with platters of fresh watermelon - that was a great treat after a long ride! Plus there was a wonderful after party for everyone to enjoy some shady, music, tasty food options, and cold beers. 

The results for the men's fatbikers: 

1. Chris “Fat B Nimble” Nelson - 4:56:56
2. Bryan “ Big Ring” Truckenmiller - 5:05:15
3. Michael Sullivan - 5:12:06
4. Nicholas “G-Money” Garbis - 5:36:17
5. Danny Kopren - 6:18:43
6. Steve Meyer 7:00:33 (tie 6th)
7. Greg Atkinson - 7:00:33 (tie 6th)

Overall, I was 38th of 114 riders on the long course.

Swag, prizes & trophy! 

YouTube link captured with my GoPro Hero 8.

2021 Spring Valley 100 (Almanzo 100 course): The Blast Furnace!

Greg and me feeling overly confident at the start line

The forecast for the Spring Valley 100 was for temps in upper 90s F and it was stressful planning to drive 2 hours to race in these conditions. I know the course, having ridden the Almanzo 100 three times, and I'd made a plan if I need to bail. My escape plan was to ride CR 16 back to Spring Valley - the course crosses CR 16 many times, and it allows a direct path back to the finish line.

The field of racers was the smallest I've seen in Spring Valley. The Almanzo 100 could attract a crowd of 1,000 riders to the start line, this year was roughly 100 riders - the heat likely caused many wiser riders to skip the 2021 race.

The race organizers were great getting volunteers to host four aid stations on the course. Rider's could get water, other drinks, and food at the stops.

The roll out felt good, we all knew the forecast, but hoped against hope that it won't be that bad.   

I was with two other riders at the first aid station (not sure what mile this was). We took bottles and bananas as we biked through.

I was a little mad that I rode through the second aid station at Preston (mile 39), I left the riders I'd been working with and then I needed to stop just a few miles up the road. Around mile 50, my CamelBak was nearly empty and my two bottles were empty. I stopped to get the frozen bottles of of the cooler in my saddle bag, they were still frozen nearly solid, it was difficult to get the water out ... But the heat thawed them out quickly.

The third aid station was at Forestville (mile 67). I'd planned to stop here, there's a water hydrant, bathrooms, shade, and the best volunteers with food and drink. I spent a lot of time at the water hydrant, filling bottles, CamelBak, drinking, and dousing myself in cold well water. After a long break (30 minutes), I felt ready to get back on the bike. But the first thing you get out of Forestville is a paved climb in the sun ... And within a mile or two, I was feeling just as wrecked as when I rode into Forestville.

The 10 miles from Forestville to Cherry Grove were brutal. I was struggle to keep my place at 10 mph, my stomach wouldn't take food, I was just drinking all all my hydration options.

At Cherry Grove, there were wonderful volunteers with ice cold water in a shady patch ... next to the local cemetery. I laid in the shade with two riders, drinking the cold water, feeling as bad (or worse than) as when I arrived at Forestville. I told the riders about my escape plan, I was going to follow the course until I got to CR 16 and following it back to Spring Valley. They agreed that this was a good plan.

We still got to ride MMR (Minimal Maintenance Road) to the water crossings at mile 81 ... sadly, the creek was dry. And for a bonus, there's another climb after the "water crossing". After the climb out of the creek bed, I started falling behind the other two and I couldn't share that I found a shortcut to get to CR 16. So, I ended up riding the last 6-8 miles solo, fighting the winds and heat to get back to Spring Valley. I still needed to stop in shade to try to recover from the heat. I cut off about 10 miles of the course including the infamous Oriole hill.

I needed extended time at the finish area to cool off and get fluids before I was ready to make the drive home. I stripped off everything except my bibs and base layer. The finishing area was a mess of riders laying in the shade, slowly cooling off and hydrating. Riders were coming in form every direction, all looking totally spent. The wonderful thing about the gravel community, as riders would come in totally wrecked, somebody that had more time to recover would bring them an ice cold bottle of water and make sure they had what they needed to recover. The gravel community is the best!
 

The dusty drop-bar Pugsley at the end of the day with most of my gear

GoPro edit on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/1mAlt33ERQU

I was feeling good by Monday, but the day after the Spring Valley 100 was a tougher than the average recovery day. I can't think a good reason to do a ride like this in these conditions ever again ... It's just too hard on me. I'll keep it to the cold, rainy, snowy ... bike events

The hydration story: I spent Friday focused on electrolytes and hydration, avoiding coffee and alcohol. During the ride, I emptied my 3l CamelBak Lobo twice - it keep icy cold until roughly mile 50, that's when I'd drank all the water and it still had ice in. I drank 6 large bottles of water with Nuun, I had two frozen in a small cooler in my saddle bag, they were still mostly ice at mile 50 when I got them out. I don't know how much I drank at the hydrant in Forestville, plus a couple bottles of Gatorade. There were two more bottle of icy water at Cherry Grove. I didn't really count the amount I drank at the finish line. Driving home, I had Coke and more water. At home, I had tons of water and coconut water ... and didn't have any beer (that says a lot!).