2017 Westside Dirty Benjamin - DNF

This was my forth year riding the Westside Dirty Benjamin; third year riding to/from the start/finish for the "Royal" Benjamin; and first DNF at any gravel grinder.

I must start with a huge THANK YOU to the organizers and volunteers that make this ride happen. I know that you put in a ton of work so we can go out and have a ton of fun on our bikes.

I left my house at 5:30 am to meet Kyle, Andy, Ken, and Robert in Hopkins. The ride from Hopkins to Chaska was good. I recalling saying something to Kyle about our fast pace to Chaska, it shouldn't have bothered me, but looking back, that was a first sign that my body was not full-strength.

We made the traditional stop at the Chaska McDonald's, I've been getting an Egg McMuffin with sausage before every gravel grinder for years (thanks Justin for getting me into that habit!)

When we got to the start line I was feeling good, 20-mile warm up and ready to grind some new gravel. I was really excited for the new route down to Le Sueur and back to Chaska.

I knew from the first 10 miles, I was not having a good day. I believe the flu that had taken me down over the Memorial Day weekend was still weaken me. My first flu-recovery ride was May 31; and my first (& only) aggressive-long training ride was June 6. That ride felt good, so I was optimistic... overly optimistic.

I typically ride out fast with one of the front groups, I like to use the strength of numbers to get some drafting over the first 20-30 miles. I know I'll fade off that pace as the miles go by, but it feels good to get the first miles covered fast. This year, I remember hitting the first big gravel climb and watching every other rider go past me like I was standing still.... no good. I also watched friends ride away from me that I typically ride with. Kyle and I rode LML together in March, we were evenly match most of the day and finished together. But at Benjamin, I just watched him ride away from me. BTW - Kyle is the only Royal Benjamin rider to complete the Royal this year, that was bad-ass in these conditions!

My only advantage on the day was my bike choice, I was on my drop-bar Pugsley (AKA The War Rig). The gravel was some of the softest I've ever seen on a gravel grinder. I heard reports that they added new gravel to these roads a day or two prior to the race. Most riders were sinking into fresh and sandy gravel. I watched many riders lose it in these conditions, trying to maintain control between the soft gravel and heavy winds. My 4" wide tires floated over the soft stuff, but even I sank in a couple times.

The winds were crushing and unrelenting - weather stations reported constant sustained winds of 20-25 mph with gusts up to 35+ mph (I feel like it was stronger out in the open fields). The wind was either a block headwind (see the video below) or a brutal crosswind. The wind was so strong that my typical pace of 13-16 mph on the front-end of a race was reduced to 11 mph.

The slow pace really added to another challenge: hydration. I started the ride with three full 22 oz water bottles (1 water; 1 Skratch Labs; & 1 Nuun). I was empty on all three by mile 30. The first water stop on the route was mile 47 - Rush River Park; and I'd planned to be there in about 3 to 3.5 hours. But those effing winds slowed me down so much that it took 4.5 hours to get to that water stop. Ray was a true friend and lifesaver, his company and water got me through to the Rush River Park. Ray was sharing his frame mounted CamelBak, taking off the nozzle so I could drink from the hose. I'm sure it looked funny/awkward, but I was bad shape so who cares. 2017 is the year I finally get over my issues with hydration packs, I'll be getting a 3 liter CamelBak in the near future.

The temps were quickly climbing up to 90F and past. I know my body and I need time to acclimate and train in hot temps before an endurance race, but this was our first 90+ day. The rising temps added a lot to my choice to DNF. I was feeling the early symptoms of heat stroke. I was reading this post the following day about avoiding heat stroke on endurance runs, based on these 5 points, it was clear I was going to struggle on this ride.

I've never been in such a deep and dark hole as I was on this ride. At this point, getting to Rush River Park was my one goal, it has a water pump. It was my hope that the water would helped me get some life back, to ride a little further. I tentatively planned to call my personal sag-wagon (Lisa) to pick me up in Le Sueur.... but that's 10 more miles! Ray and I rode into Rush River Park with Ray's friend Todd. When we got there we saw one other rider in the park, laying in the shade, it was Matt with Fulton. Ray checked on him and he was hurting. Ray, Todd and I drank lots of water, poured water on our heads and backs. It brought some life back, but I couldn't think of riding any further. I honestly expected to stay in that park for an hour before slow rolling the 10 miles to Le Sueur.

My eyes got big when I saw a red van pull into the park. Matt's fellow Fulton Racing teammate (sorry forgot your name) had driven down to give Matt a ride back to Chaska, They were generous enough offering me a ride back with them. All they asked in return is that I offer the next random rider help/support when they are in need.

After getting back to Chaska, I spent a while at the finish line drinking a warm BPR talking with some riders that had completed one of the shorter routes. We cheered on other riders as they came in.

Lisa and Lizz drove down to Chaska to give me a ride back home. Between the two car rides, I finished all three of my water bottle... again.

Sitting in the shade on our deck, having a beer, I pulled down my socks to see this 'grim-line'. The sunscreen and sweat made a great magnet for all the blowing sand.

A little about the bike, I picked my drop-bar Pugsley for a couple reasons, but mostly because it was ready to ride. This bike has treated me well over a number of rides, including 2016 & 2017 Almanzo 100, 2017 LML, and the 2016 Filthy 50. It's a mostly stock Pugsley with Salsa Woodchipper bars and Gevenalle shifters. I'm rolling Panaracer Fat B Nibble tires... great tires for gravel.

I'll be back for the 2018 Benjamin!

Fat Bike Tire Pressure

With all the fatbike hitting the road, I thought I'd share some information about tire pressure. I've been planning on this 'test' for a while and last nights dusting of snow was the last element I needed. 

I ran my Pugsley three times down the fresh snow, plus once with the Marin Nail Trail and once with my Kona Dew Drop - this was just for a little comparison with tires and pressures most people are familiar with. 

Here is the total results:

Here's the details of my 'experiment':

Run 1 at 15psi - Nates on Pugsley: 

Run 2 at 8psi - Nates on Pugsley:

Run 3 at 4psi - Nates on Pugsley:

Run 4 at 35 psi - Bontrager on Marin:

Run 5 at 50 psi - Clement on Kona:

Bikes:
Runs 1, 2 & 3 were with a Surly Pugsley with Nate 3.8 inch tires
Run 4 was a Marin Nail Trail on Bontrager Connection Trail 26 x2.0
Run 5 was a Kona Dew Drop on Clement X’PLOR USH 700x35

Rider is 170 lbs and the air temp was 32F. 

GoPro Hero 4 Sessions & The Strap Mount

Brief post on the new GoPro I got last month - Hero 4 Session.  I wanted to get the GoPro off my helmet for a couple reasons (weight, safety...).  With the smaller Session you can easily mount the Strap on your wrist.

Here's the wrist mount:

And here are some samples from riding a drop bar bike with this mounting:

I'm liking this mounting for road bikes, and as somebody that has 6 bikes and rides them all, a bike mount is not practical.  

Summit Unchained Series - Make It So

I've been a fan of the Summit Unchained series for a long time.  However, I was not sure how I'd like this beer with Earl Grey tea....  Make It So is VERY enjoyable!  (with a nice hint of Star Trek geekiness).

I love the copper color for one thing, but after that the taste is a great balance.  This is a strong bitter (ESB) with just a hint of tea.  The tea flavor is there, but it's very subtle at the finish.  There is also the nice balance of honey, which is how I like tea - with honey.

I would recommend you find some of this limited edition beer!

http://www.summitbrewing.com/blog/summit-unchained-19-make-it-so 

Biking Near the Gunflint Lodge

I just spent 4 days (3 nights) at the Gunflint Lodge and we brought our Pugsley bikes.  Good fun all around!  Fun things, like the car the passed us on I35, then slowed way down, and passed again looking at us with big smiles (they must of done a double-take on the bikes)



We stopped at the Sheridan in Duluth on the way up, brought the bikes in the room for the night.  You get some good looks rolling these beasts around in a hotel.  Sunday morning I decided to take a short ride up Lake Ave - 1/2 mile that climbs 358 feet, average grade is 13% with sections near 20%  ...  all this on a fatbike!  Bonus, the doorman met me on the way back in to open the door.

Sunday night we got to the Gunflint Lodge and got on the water right away.  Here's a shot of the High Cliffs from the lake:


We did a lot of on-water fun, but I'll focus on the biking fun.  We did some biking, but never got too far from the Gunflint Lodge.  I did two rides with Lisa and two rides solo for a total of 14 miles - there are a lot more trails to ride and explore if I had more time up there.

If you are interested in riding up here, this is all fatbike trail conditions.  For biking, we rode mostly the cross-country ski trails, some gravel roads, and a little bit of snowmobile trail. The lodge has a winter trail map with the ski trail names.  They warned me that the brush would be tall, they will brush cut the ski trails in the fall, but this time of year it is really tall/thick.

Monday morning, we road out to the county road to the snowmobile trail (BAD trail for biking).  After walking up a step, rough snowmobile trail, we took some easy trails back to the lodge.  Including Big Pine, this is a good bike trail, well maintained, but it's the horse trail for the on-site trail rides (4x daily).  We wanted to avoid the horse trail to avoid spooking the horses.

After lunch, I went alone to recon a trail (Amperage).  It was good for about a mile, but got really wet and thick with brush, this is where I turned back:



Tuesday morning, we rode out to Rabbit Run trail on the other side of the Gunflint Trail, this was mostly good trails, one step climb to the Gunflint Trail - Here's Lisa at the Gunflint Trail sign:



 and more deep brush on the Rabbit Run trail:



Tuesday afternoon, I wanted to get to High Cliffs. That was a challenging ride, including walking a bog sections and some climbs over rough terrain at better than 25% grade. Here's a picture of the Pugsley at the High Cliffs over Gunflint Lake.



I will definitely bring the fatbikes up to Gunflint again!

Why does a person biking ride that far out in the road?

I will never ride my bike in a way that jeopardize my welfare for your perceived decency.

It is very common to hear people driver cars complain about people on bikes taking "the whole lane."  I will use two recent videos posted to YouTube from the UK to make the point about why a person riding a bike will avoid riding next to the parked cars.

Listen to this man in the car when confronted about his dangerously close pass (driver is very liberal with the F-bomb):

He states "if you'd had the [effing] decency to ride to one side instead of taking the whole [effing] road ... "  and on the rant/argument goes.

However, the man on the bike was completely correct in his position on the road.  Here's Another video from the UK of a biker being "decent" and riding close to the edge of the road:

This person on the bike damn near lost his life trying to be "decent".

Footnote, to the hateful driver in the first video, the anger of a person in a steel and glass cage is so unbelievable/unjustifiable.  At no point is this man threatened with anything other than having to slow down for a couple seconds.  This driver never changed pace.  However, this driver has massive amounts of rage to a biker for asking for the right to safely use the road.  

So if you are going to demand "decency" on the roads, be decent and respect the lives of other road users - use just a little patience and humanity.

The B.O.B. trailer idea worked great!  Ride went fine, the trailer was top-heavy, making the bike tippy, but not bad.  One minor casualty, while getting the bikes out of the garage, I leaned the trailer too far and the Kona's brake lever hit the ground.  This broke off the hood-mounted bell and damage a small part on the brake lever.  The only issue is I need a new bell and the hood will be a little floppy, the tab that holds the hood to the lever is broken off.  No big deal.

I ended up using the car to pick up the bike, mostly because I was too lazy to reverse the operation and wanted the bike back for a ride tonight to Steel Toe Brewery with some friends.