The Filthy 50 | Tandem Style

Trenton started The Filthy 50 as a 50-mile gravel race in Stewartville back in 2013, I started riding The Filthy 50 in 2016 and haven't missed it since. I fell in love with the course and the community this race attracted. In 2019, the race moved from Stewartville to Lanesboro and the course became even more amazing than the origianal course. I've wanted to introduce Lisa to this ride for many years, and 2021 was the year!  

(Photo by Antony Robinson)

2021 is our 30th anniversary and we decided to give each other a bycycle built for two. We worked with Steve at Twin Cities Tandems to place an order for our Co Motion Java in February, and made plans to ride it on The Filthy 50 ... thinking we would have months to train and get used the bike. But the pandemic-supply issues delayed the bike's delivery until the end of August, then we lost a couple weeks waiting on stoker bars that would work for Lisa and wanted a bike fitting with Paulie at GO Physio. 

Paulie measuring up the Java

We only had 90 miles on this bike when we toed the start line in Lanesboro ... and we had never taken the bike on gravel roads. All that and Lisa was starting her first gravel race. I was feeling nervous and excited as we waited for the start. 

The massive roll-out  (Markman Outdoor Photography) 

We all heard the starting gun, the mayor firing his riffle, but it seem to take forever to get rolling with the big crowd of riders in front of us. We rolled out near the back of the starting group, I think this was the largest group of riders I've started with. The Almanzo 100 is the only other race I can think of with a starting crowd this large. With our limited time on this bike, I didn't have a ton of confidence in my bike handling and I was very cautions in the huge crowd. 

I know the Lanesboro Filthy 50 course, but only from riding it once in 2019. The course is nearly all un-paved, including gravel roads, MMRs, and Amish buggy roads.

From the Lanesboro start, you're working your way up a 5-mile long climb. We paced our effort going up this climb, plus, there was really no room for a tandem to pass, so we slowly rolled up that first big climb. 

From 2019, I remember the first descent was fast including a narrow buggy road with a couple concrete spillways for creeks. These spillways are basically two concrete slabs forming a V to allow the creek to flow over the road without washing away the road. In 2019, riders came to a near stop to cross the spillways and I was warning Lisa on the descent that we need to be prepared. However, 100 yards before the second spillway, there was a large crown of riders warning of a bad wreck up the road. We walked over the spillway and past the wreck with shock at the terrible injuries to the rider. For the thousands of miles I've logged on gravel rides/races, this was the worst injury I've ever seen. There was a large number of people helping the injured rider and we didn't have any skills to offer that would have helped. After we walked by we took some time up the road to gather ourselves, talking with other riders all feeling very shaken. Taking a deep breath, we remounted and got back to riding, but our hearts stayed with the injured rider and all the folks assisting them. 

We were both challenged to be comfortable on the saddle. I went in knowing that tandems are uniquely challenging to get the saddle set just right. Our limited training ride left us finding out that we still need to make more tweaks to the saddle placement. We ended up stopping once or twice every hour to get off the bike and get some relief. 

One of the Amish buggies we shared the roads with

The hills continue to roll throughout the course and some very steep ramps that had us using every gear on the drivetrain. This course was more hilly than I remembered, it's never really flat. Some of these climbs really kick, ramping up to 15% or more. And tandems are far from the easiest bike for climbs, keeping us working hard getting over all of the hills. 

The route and profile with 4,000 ft of climbing

I was looking forward to the mid-ride oasis, I rode past it in 2019 and heard the best things about it from other riders. At mile 26 we pulled in to the Grub Hill Oasis with ice cold Coke and Amish raspberry pastries (SO GOOD). 

Rolling out from the Grub Hill Oasis (Photo by Laura Wiles) 

It felt good to have half the ride behind us plus the winds would now be at our back. Our on-ride learning helped us ride faster with more confidence on the second half of the course. But we continued to need breaks off our saddles. 

A few miles from the finish, we found David Markman with his camera and a toilet in the middle of an intersection. It was "Catch the Crapper" ... an alterative take on "Chase the Chaise". I knew this photo opp would be on the course and planned with Lisa on our pose, here's the Christmas card picture: 

Lisa: "HURRY UP!! It's a RACE!"
Chris: "I know ... I KNOW! I'm going as fast as I can!!"

Here's the 2021 Catch the Crapper gallery, scroll through the gallery for some good toilet humor ... also check out the 2018 Catch the Crapper gallery for a truly filthy crapper! Footnote: it took me a minute to figure out the puddle on a sunny day ... it was melt water from the toilet tank full of ice and beer and there's a bag with Baby Ruth candy bars in the bowl. They thought of everything!

We had our one-and-only mechanical on the last climb, I shifted to the small chainring and the chain got sucked into the frame. It didn't take long to straighten it all out and we made our way back into Lanesboro for the finish. We were greeted by Trenton with our finishers' pint glasses and tokens for a Filthy Pale Ale at Sylvan Brewing's tap room just a block from the finish line. 

Finish line smiles (Photo by Laura Wiles) 

At the after party, there was a lot of the normal chat with friends old and new, but everybody was also talking about the injured rider and their status. We learned that this person had been airlifted to Mayo, and later found out that they were stable and alert. We send our very best for a speedy recovery. 

After the finish, I was thrilled that we got interviewed by Nick, he's working on a new documentary film focusing on The DAMn and The Filthy 50. Nick created "Delta of Spirt", a film that that has been screened at six film festivals, most recently Tous en Selle in Paris! 

The Filthy 50 was a big day and a wonderful adventure! We had great autumn weather, wonderful encouragement from the crowds of riders on the road, outstanding race organizer and volunteers, as well as the welcoming community of Lanesboro. We ended the day 3rd place of four tandem teams (fastest co-ed tandem team), with a time of 4:53. That put us at 448th place of the 554 riders that finished the 50 mile route. For the three routes (25, 50 & 100 miles), there were 1,000 riders registered, 853 riders that checked, and there were 112 riders that DNF'd. 

I'm so fortunate to have somebody in my life that's willing to step up for an adventure in the unknown! I'm grateful to Lisa for trusting me to captain the tandem and navigating the route ... even when my idea of "rolling roads" might be "vicious hills" to most people. I look forward to many more adventures with this bike!

Our custom painted Co Motion Java