Bikes, Beers, and Stuff I like

Monday, August 12, 2019

The Royal

The Royal - Almanzo's Big Brother - May 18, 2019

A late and short report from a long ride (second longest ride I've ever done to this point)

2019 signaled a number of changes for the Almanzo races:

New leadership of this classic gravel race
New location in Northfield, MN
Change to a ride - no race results captured or report
The addition of a 50 mile course - Malanzo

The Almanzo now has four courses to choose from: 50 miles on Malanzo; 100 miles on the Almanzo; 162 miles on the Royal; and the granddaddy Alexander is 380 miles!

Despite the forecast including thunderstorms and hail, the rain was not a factor. A major storm front pushed through as I drove to the start line, but there wasn't a drop of rain during the 14 hours it took me to ride the 167-mile course.

We had 30 riders step up to the start line, out of 115+ registered.

Small group of riders ready for Royal

It never got much over 50F, never saw the sun, and the wind was very mean to us all day - headwinds for most of the first 80 miles, some tailwinds in the middle, but the last 15 miles was back into Northfield gave us a strong headwind. Winds started out of the East (odd) and by afternoon were coming from the Northeast. Weather reports for the region recorded wind speeds average 16 mph, with sustained speeds up to 24 mph and max gust at 32 mph. The course was up and down most of the river valleys in the area, so the low areas gave some breaks from the winds, but never enough!

In the first 20-30 miles, the majority of the Royal riders were together. I went to the front of this group and took my turn setting pace. As I pushed myself too hard before I dropped to the back to grab food and drink. I timed everything terribly, we crested a small hill, I'd left a little gap open up, I've got a mouth full of food, and the headwinds caught me without the protection of our small group ... I just watched as the pack rode away and I had no power to catch back on.

Climbing an early MMR

A little later, I caught up with a smaller group on a climb, one of them was riding single-speed and needed to walk the steepest hills. This crew worked together for a lot of miles.

Most of the day, I enjoyed riding with a crew of three riders for Northfield, they knew many of the roads we were riding and that was helpful. The four of us stopped for lunch in Lake City at the Whistle Stop Cafe, the enjoyed an egg and sausage sandwich and my first cup of coffee for the day (I forgot my travel mug on the kitchen counter). We refilled water bottles in the men's room and got back out on the course.

The regulars were looking us and our bikes up and down

Shortly after our lunch stop, one of the Northfield crew starting struggling with knee pain. I felt bad for leaving them, but I didn't think I could offer much help and needed to get back to Northfield to make the drive back home. So I rode solo for a long stretch.

On the finishing stretch, I caught up with Reinhold. He was stopped talking with a rider finishing the Alexander course and he was having issues with navigation. We worked together to get the Alexander rider on the right course (it was a different route to Northfield than our Royal course). As Reinhold and I fought the winds into the finish, we caught a small group of Almanzo riders. At the finishing line we had a mix of Almanzo, Royal, and Alexander riders that had all just rolled in.

No race results were recorded, but by using Strava Flyby I'd estimate only 5 riders DNF'd, roughly 4 riders finished after me. So, I finished between 15th and 20th place. I'm good with this result, since only the strong and confident riders showed up to ride in questionable conditions - the forecast cut the start list by roughly 75%.

After the 2018 DAMn (240 miles), this is my longest one-day ride. It is my biggest climbing day - my Garmin recorded over 11,000 feet of climbing.

My trusty Breezer Radar Pro at the finish line

Link to Strava with route and statistics for the ride.
Link to YouTube with GoPro footage of the ride.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

The DAMn 2019

The Day Across Minnesota - August 3, 2019

The long and lonely road ahead

Leading up to The DAMn

Looking back at the days following the 2018 DAMn, I was not interested in another Day Across Minnesota. The ride took so much out of me, and I was OK with one successful DAMn. Lisa immediately started talking about the next DAMn, I wasn't that interested. Over the next few weeks and months, I started remember all the amazing things from my Day Across Minnesota and my interest in another DAMn grew. By the time I saw the information about the 2019 DAMn, I was all in for another adventure!

As we got close to the 2019 DAMn, I had a number for friends old and new contact me with questions about The DAMn. Days before The DAMn, Lisa and I invited a group of experienced and new DAMn riders and support crews to meet us at LTD Brewing in Hopkins. We enjoyed conversations and lots of questions about the logistics of this massive ride. This meeting really got me excited for another DAMn!

The day of the DAMn

This year started smooth, we planned ahead, took Friday off work so we could get to Gary, SD early. We had all our gear and supplies laid out days in advance. Our one guest on this year's ride, Matt, was early for our noon departure. The one hitch, was the new hitch we had installed just days before ... it needed an adapter for our bike rack. A quick trip to a nearby U-Haul and few dollars and we had the bike rack loaded and we were ready. One last stop at Nachos in Downtown Hopkins for lunch and we were off for Gary.

The drive was smooth and easy. We arrived at Buffalo Ridge with time to grab a snack and settle in the for the early riders meeting. At the riders' meeting we were treated to an original song about our DAMn journey and a preview of the documentary made about the 2018 DAMn and 2018 Filthy 50. I was super excited to have my GoPro footage included in this movie and can't wait to see the finished release!

Race organizer and all-round awesome person - Trenton - hosting the riders' meeting

Matt, Lisa, and I had hours of down time. We rode around Gary, took some pictures, enjoyed build-your-own-burger bar at Buffalo Ridge's Rock Room, and spent some time trying to rest by the car. Despite our best efforts, none of us got any sleep, but we enjoyed the parade of locals in their golf carts and got to know the history of Gary, SD.

Chris & Lisa selfie in Gary, SD

Resting, but no sleeping in the afternoon before The DAMn

As the sun was setting, we started getting ready, putting on kits, getting bags packed and mounted, making sure lights and tech was ready to ride.

Loaded rigs outside the 11:00 riders' meeting

The start to check point 1

As midnight approached, riders start to buzz, the butterflies start up in my gut as everyone was making their way to the start-line. Keeth, Nick, and I were casually talking at the start line when the fireworks signaled the start of the 2019 DAMn.

Lined up and waiting for the fireworks!
Left to right: Keeth, Nick, and Chris

The first 20 miles are intense, riding at 18-20 mph on dark minimal maintenance roads shoulder-to-shoulder, wheel-to-wheel with riders you don't know. It's nearly all downhill from SD, making it easy to go fast.

At mile 20, the group in front of me missed a turn. I wasn't able to help with the route, my glasses with bifocals were too dirty to read the cue sheets. I don't know how these riders miss a turn this early with the large number of red taillights up the road. The rider next to me had called out the miss, but I was a little dismissive, trusting the dozens of riders in front of us. Thankfully, the group up the road realized the error quickly and turned back to the correct route. This added about .5 miles to my DAMn ride.

After the missed turn, I caught up with a couple friends in the dark of night. Kate and I said a friendly hello, then caught up to Kyle who let me know that he'd wrecked in a turn early on. After the race, I was excited for both of them when I heard that they finished their first DAMn. Both had their challenges, Kate's made two precious DAMn attempts and wasn't able to reach WI; and this is Kyle's first DAMn, he rode unsupported, plus taking a wreck in the first hour of a very long day.

Mile 25 was a flooded minimal maintenance road - I'm typically the kinda rider the stays on the bike and rides that shit ... however, I didn't want to get my drive-train full of sandy water with 215 miles left to ride, so I shouldered my heavily loaded bike to walk the 1/4-mile of dark water. Another rider carrying his bike said "I can't wait to talk about this" - that got us all laughing! The group I was walking with would move to the sides of the 'road' to let the brave few riders pedal through the flooded road. I could feel the sand getting into my shoes and was very happy that the sand wasn't in my drive-train!!

About 55 miles into the night, my Garmin was beeping loudly, I couldn't read the display, and had no idea what was going on. I finally cleaned my lenses enough I could read that the Garmin was losing satellite signal. As a result, it was losing miles too, so my cue sheets didn't match my Garmin. This left me playing calculator in my brain for most of the rest of the day.

I found a good group to work with, they were riding strong and keeping a good pace. Justin caught up to the group too, it was nice to see his friendly face in the dark night. As a group, we kept our heads down and moved quickly into check point 1.

Check point 1 challenge: find your support crew in this line of dark cars in a corn field!

Check Point 1 to Check Point 2

As I rolled out of check point 1, I didn't find a group to ride with. I ended up riding solo for many miles before connecting with Justin again. The two of us rode together for many miles, talking about anything and everything to pass the dark miles. somewhere around mile 95, after the minimal maintenance road climb out of the valley, I ended up riding away from Justin. I really appreciate his company through the darkness before dawn, the conversation helped me keep my focus when on every other day of the year, I'd be sound asleep in a comfy bed.

Once the sun was up, it was easier to stay alert and focused. Miles and cues sheets went by quickly.

The best DAMn sunrise!

Check point 2 to check point 3

Check point 2 included coffee drinks, Italian pasta salad, sour dough breed, and Advil for my knee.

Check point 2 (mile 120) - reload bike supplies, food, drink, chain lube, refreshing the chamois cream ... and still smiling!

Check point 2 - change water bottles. I've been drinking from these for the last 120 miles?!?

Rolling out of check point 2, I was solo again. I'd work with a group when I could find one, but most of the day was just me, riding with my thoughts and occasional music in my earbud.

Talking with my GoPro

The knee issue was really concerning, since the course gets hilly in the last 60 miles. I was doing my best to keep a high cadence and favor the left knee.

Then there was this terrible squeak coming from the front hub. I didn't notice anything 'wrong' with the bike, but that noise was irritating. Another rider suggested jetting some water from my bottle on it, this did help a little.

Rolling into the only town on course, I checked my water levels and food supplies and decided to roll straight through Henderson. I didn't want the extra time of a stop if I didn't need something.

It's kinda funny that the sun you are so excited to see at 6:00 AM, it becomes something you curse in the afternoon. There is no shade from the sun and the temps are climbing up to 90F and more. The heat of the afternoon is draining the energy your body as your mind wills your tired legs to roll forward.

Rolling the last 20 miles checkpoint 3, I caught up to Birchwood teammate Nick (& he was was part of our pre-race meeting at LTD). He was showing the miles and heat of the afternoon. We rode together for a few miles, but I ended up leaving him behind because of my need to get into check point 3. I was struggling with the heat, I needed to find some shade and cool off.

Check point 3 reality check ... Am I seeing a giant rainbow unicorn?!?!

"Cooling off" at check point 3 - hard to find a smile at this point

Lisa made an ice stuffed stocking to put down the back of my jersey - this felt so good! I drank as much as I could, my hydration on the bike was all very warm and hard to take. Drinking anything that was less then 90F was good!

Additionally, I'd been struggling with a blocked up gut, we don't need to get too detailed here, but let's just say that I need to keep eating fuel, but it just sat in my gut like a lead brick. There were a few times I wasn't sure if it was a burp or barf. No fun!

Check point 3 to the finish

The miles from check point 3 to the finish were very lonely and seemed to take forever. I was losing focus, and at mile 207 I missed a turn and went down a long steep descent. I kept looking for the next right turn on 42nd, but there was nothing but driveways. I get to the bottom of the hill to see no tire tracks in the gravel... SHIT! I need to go back up that hill! My knee was really on fire since I'd just finished a climb before missing the turn. So I walked the only hill of the day to give my knee a break and give me more time to swear at myself. The ironic bonus of these "bonus miles", the additional distance got my Garmin was back within .1 mile of the cues sheets for the first time in 187 miles!!

Getting back into a groove and working hard to keep my focus, I looked down at the cue sheets and the clock on my Garmin, I had about 45 minutes to make my 7:00 PM finish goal. I found myself on smooth paved roads and I was motivated to pick up the speed.

The final "minimal maintenance road" rolling down into Red Wing is some of the best gravel of the day, but it also offers one last climb to make you suffer just a little more. I was very dialed into my Garmin map and mileage as I navigated the roads Red Wing. The bridge across the Mississippi was stressful but nothing like last year. I rounded into the construction zone and loved seeing the DAMn signs pointing me to the finish line.

At the finish, I was greeted by Trenton with a warm hug and a cold glass of water served in my DAMn Champion pint glass. I was offered a beer, but to tell you how spent I was ... I had no interest in beer!

I was totally drained at the finish, my body and mind were totally spent. But my spirit was full with the amazing experience and challenge of a day like no other! I am so grateful to have the health and wonderful support of friends and strangers to get me through this DAMn ride!

"You made it across Minnesota
the beast of your heart can rest
while your spirit stands to show the dirt!"
#benweavermusic

The finish! Harbor Bar in Hager City, WI

The best cold water EVER!!

After catching my breath and talking with some fellow riders, I was ready to pose with the DAMn Champions banner!

Lisa with good friend and great person, Matt

DAMn wrap up

After 245 miles (including bonus miles), I finished with a time of 18:59 with 57th place of 300 racers who signed up, to the 237 who were able to toe the line, and to the 117 of them who became DAMn Champions.

For reference, here are the 2019 DAMn results. In 2018 I finished 84th place with a time of 20:45 - I'm pleased with the improvement over last year and making my goal of hitting the finish before 7:00 PM.

I have to thank my most important supporter in The DAMn and in life - Lisa. Lisa is a key person in my successful Day Across Minnesota. She was so energized from the 2018 DAMn and started planning to improve her support for 2019 DAMn riders in the days following the 2018 ride; and she definitely up'd her support game too! This year, Lisa supported two riders, me and Matt - Matt is a good friend and he recently completed the Tour Divide route. During our ride, Lisa had tracking information for both of us and knew when we'd arrive at the check points. She met me with food, water, support, and care at each check point. Thank you for all you did to support me on this epic adventure!

This ride is Trenton's brainchild and The DAMn couldn't happen without Trenton, his family & friends, and long list of supporters, sponsors, and volunteers. I can't image the hours Trenton and team puts into this day, and the amount of coffee it takes to stay awake through this epic Day Across Minnesota. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to test ourselves against this crazy DAMn ride!

DAMn swag: T-shirt, sticker, buff, and Ben Weaver's poetry and art only available to riders as they completed The DAMn

Lisa and I were happy to know that all the riders and support crews we meet with prior to The DAMn were able to complete this massive ride!

As I write this post, a week after The DAMn, the knee pain is gone. The issue seems to be related to saddle position. I'd replaced my saddle a couple weeks before the race without spending the time to dial in the height and fore-aft adjustments. Since The DAMn, I've made some adjustments to my saddle position and in a short time notices an improvement in my knee comfort.

Links to:

Electronics reports:

Garmin 1030 in 'battery save' mode was great all day long - except losing GPS signal in the middle of the night. Over the last 15-20 miles, I took it out of battery save mode to keep a closer eye on the turns and avoid any bonus miles. There were no issues with the battery life.
Moto Z with TUM battery mod was nearly dead at the finish. I didn't leave Gary with a full charge, and I was using music when I was riding alone.
Serfas Thunderbolt 2.0 tail light was on strobe setting lasted nearly the full day, I changed over to a Knog for the last 20-30 miles
Knog Mob the Face rear light was on the seat post and gave me a rear light for the last miles.
Knog Mob the Face front light was mounted to my POC helmet and was great for reading the cue sheets in the dark (photo below).
NiteRider 700 & 750 did great. I had one of these NiteRiders on all ride, trading out lights in the early morning hours. The NiteRider mount was on my fork with an Origin8 Eyelet Stub, freeing up space on the handle bars (photo below).
Skullcandy Method wireless earbuds were great to contact Lisa with updates. The batteries were dying on the last 20 miles into Red Wing. I'd been listening to a lot of music since I was riding most of the miles alone.
GoPro Sessions was good all day. I was attentive at managing run time and plugged into battery charging block halfway through the ride.

Knog front light and POC helmet set up to read cue sheets in the dark

NiteRider front light with Origin8 Eyelet Stub mount

Here are some of the products and people that helped me successfully complete The DAMn:

Tyler and the crew at Tonka Cycle helped with a number of repairs and upgrades on the Breezer Radar Pro, helping me get across the state without mechanical issues.
Camelbak Lobo (100 oz) - this was critical to my successful hydration on all day.
Ortlieb Ultimate 6 S Plus Handlebar Bag - it was a great way to organize cue sheets as well as store food and back up battery.
New to me in 2019 - Club Pilates in Minnetonka. Not cycling specific, but I must say the core strength and cross training did a ton to help me on this ride!

Here is some of the fuel that kept me going for 240 miles:

Starbucks Frappuccino & Double-Shots
Coke
Nuun mix and tablets
Jelly Belly Sports Beans
Honey Stingers waffles
ProBar Bolt
Lisa's Italian pasta salad
Lisa's sour dough bread
Salted Nut Rolls
Salty kettle chips

See you at The DAMn 2020? I hope so!

Monday, October 22, 2018

2018 Filthiest 50 - The weather was the headline!

October 14, 2018

The 2018 Filthy 50 lived up to the name and then some!

This is a quick ride report, busy work week and getting ready for the next race: Gravel West.

We rolled out with flurries and temps right around freezing. And these conditions held through out the day, it was cold, wet, windy ride.

My goal for the last few year is to get on the podium for the men's fatbike division. I've been 4th place twice... so close. I was hoping 2018 would be the year, but the conditions made me very unsure.

At the start of the race, I was shocked to see the number of riders doubling-back to the start line. I heard somebody after the race say that he turned back because his toes were number by mile 5.

I did my best to get in with a fast group and get some drafting. But drafting meant a face full of liquid limestone. It didn't take long for groups to splinter and end up riding with one or two people, more social riding than racing.

Photo Credit Markman Outdoor Photography

The #catchthecrapper thing made me laugh but I didn't expect to stop, because I wanted a podium. However, when I got to the crapper in the middle of the gravel road, I'd given up thoughts of placing. So I stopped for my glamour shot:

#CatchTheCrapper - "Dumb and Dumber" or "Austin Powers" ?

There was free beer after the race, I wasn't going to pass that up! I shivered through one beer while talking with Ray, Kyle, and couple other riders. We were all sharing stories about how hard this ride was. I was happy to finish my beer and get to my car with the seat warmer and the heater set to 11.

Tuesday morning I was in a hotel elevator in Chicago when I saw results were posted. I was floored to find out I was 2nd fastest fatbike! I thought I was so far down in the standings ... By the end of the ride I was just dragging my dumb butt in. 30 men registered for the fatbike division and three finished. I don't know how many started, but the start area was full of fatbikes. 3:45:21 felt so slow, that says a lot about the conditions on the day, that was fast enough to give me 71st place overall.

From Trenton: 533 people showed up to ride in the snow, wind and cold. 234 riders finished The Filthy 50. 47 riders finished The Pretty Filthy. 12 riders finished The Little Filthy. 240 riders who took the start, did not finish (DNF). Needless to say, it was a hard year to finish this thing.

Funny enough, that's my second podium finish, but both times there was no actual podium.

End of ride selfie - it's gonna take weeks to get that sand out of all my clothes, my bike, my car ...

2018 Gravel West - This Wind is Just Fucking with Me!!

October 21, 2018

Great day for riding a causal gravel race/ride - no timing, no ranking, just a course and 101 riders. This was the second Gravel West, and my second Gravel West. There were two courses: 71-mile and 25-mile.

I started the day by riding out of the house, nice 10-mile warm-up on the way to Long Lake. Including a stop in Wayzata for an Egg McMuffin (traditions must be honored).

The orange Breezer is a nice compliment to the Autumn leaves.

The winds were strong at the start of the race (blue on map & blue in the weather chart). We had one or two section headed North with this wind at our backs and we were moving at 25 mph on flat roads! But turned back in to that wind for an hour or two and paid the price, plus all the taxes & fees! I got to the second half of the course (red) and expected some help from that wind ... the wind was gone.

I rode out with a strong group, held with them until we found the most minimal maintenance road in the metro area (pot holes that could consume a Buick without flinching!). We regrouped in the Lake Rebecca Park when following the route became challenging for everybody. As we left the park, back on the roads, I wasn't able to hold the wheel, but stayed in sight for a few miles (hope springs eternal). I had one rider with me, but he didn't have the power to pull. I recall looking back to check on him and there was nobody behind me on that long straight stretch of gravel.

At about mile 20, I lost contact with a chase group. I was fighting into that headwind and I didn't stand a chance of getting back in the group. So I ended up riding mostly solo for the next 50 miles. I liked that, I do a lot of solo riding, but some friends to draft off of would have been nice!

I finished the 70 mile course in roughly 4:25:00. Slower than I'd like, but not bad considering the winds. I expect there were roughly 10 riders that finished before me, this is a low-key event without timing or ranking.

I really enjoyed the varied terrain, including a section of very minimally maintenance road, grass CX loop, some single-track trails.

This event is not timed or ranked, so no results to post. I know Ian destroyed it, like always. Based on Strava and the riders I saw on the road, I expect I was plus-or-minus 10th on the long course.

Missed turns and mechanicals slowed many riders that were faster than me, I was having issues with my Garmin 1030 too and it slowed me to a stop a couple times. I ended up exiting the route and reloading it to get the route to work properly.

I'll be back next year, if they plan to host it again. And next year, I'll pack a six-pack in my bag - 'cause there wan't any beer at the after party :(

Friday, August 24, 2018

My Day Across Minnesota - August 18, 2018

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.

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.

Lisa with her trusty XC90 at checkpoint 3

Start Line to Checkpoint 1

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.

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.

The sun was a welcome sight!

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.

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".

Rolling into checkpoint 2

Every checkpoint required signing off the roster and grabbing the next set of cue sheets

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!

John with 'Team Yellow' enjoying Henderson's best ice cream

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!

(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!

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.

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:

nearly an inch of gravel dust layered up on my fork

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:

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.