At 10,000 Feet, Even The Cows Can Hear You Wheeze

A couple of weeks back we hitched up the wagon and headed west to Fraser for the Kowtown Gravel in Kremmling Colorado. We knew it was going to be a challenge since us flat landers aren't used to the rarified air that they have in the mountains. The elevation at the start was around 7300 ft and would climb up to around 9300 feet, most of that coming in a 6.5 mile climb that gained a pretty substantial 1930 feet of elevation. That's not even something you can train for here is Nebraska so we headed out a little early to get the lungs and the legs as ready as we could for Kowtown.




Since going to the condo in Fraser now for the last couple of years, I've noticed that elevation is a weird thing. Riding at elevation doesn't seem to be all that challenging, the climbing yes but the elevation itself not as much, but stairs are to be avoided at all costs. Especially if you have to do multiple flights, by the time you get to the top the wheezing and racing heart make you feel like you're 90 years old.




If you can get up and over the mountain, the views on this race are worth the price of admission alone. Just when I thought it couldn't get any more beautiful something popped up on the horizon to prove me wrong.







Pretty good group of us from Nebraska headed out and we were joined by Jackie's sister who lives in the Denver metro area. Not having the legs or lungs to be of any serious contention in the overall standings we all decided to ride it as a group and just enjoy the views and the day together and I think that was the right choice.


The event is only in it's second year and I'd recommend it for sure if you haven't done it yet but there were some growing pains. Probably the biggest of which was that they ran out of things that they shouldn't have run out of. Breakfast burritos were available in the morning but you were supposed to RSVP for them so they could get a count, those were gone before the long course even took off so the math on that was way. They still had two more distances following that group that got nada on the burrito front which didn't sit well with several people. They also ran out of the free beer at the end which I also thought was a poor showing since they had to know how many people there were in the event and that started. Some of the group was also underwhelmed by what they had to offer at the SAG stops, I'm not much of a SAG stop connoisseur so I didn't really notice but the main complaint was lack of variety and lack of much that was on the salty side rather than the sweet side. The finish was a bit of a let down also. Maybe that's because we are used to mid-west gravel where the finish line is like a party and dozens of people line the chute cheering you on... and the cowbell... not a single one could be heard. Also unlike mid-west gravel there were no patches, stickers, medals or anything of the sort for finishing. Those items are more what we are used to here in the mid-west than an actual requirement but it didn't go unnoticed by several in our group. Like I said, second year so always room to improve even with events that have been around a lot longer than that. The views can't be beat, I really enjoyed it, put it on your list and get those climbing legs in shape. You'll need them.

*Note* 

I published the blog last night and thought about the critique of the event... are we becoming our own worst enemy? Number one complaint I hear lately about gravel events is the cost but isn't that because we've come to expect SAG stops and well stocked SAG stops, finisher patches, inflatable arches and all the fanfare? Sure gravel was free "back in the day" but in that day you were actually and factually self supported so there wasn't a cost to race directors. Have we, the 98% of the gravel field, let the roadie in us all get too whiny about the amenities we have come to expect at a gravel event? Maybe when asking why gravel is so expensive, the best person to ask is ourself. 

 

Mid South - Expo

This has been one of those races always on the "bucket list" but never on the schedule, until this year. I am not a fan of mud, not necessarily because it's usually associated with wet, cold weather either... the toll it takes on bike and equipment is often disastrous and costly. However Jackie, "lets not sign up for every race next year", decided that this was the year where she would sign up for all the races and then let me know she'd signed up so that I could also sign up. So pretty much just like every previous year except this year she decided that we'd make the journey down to Stillwater and both have our first taste of Oklahoma's red dirt and hope it wasn't red mud as it's infamous for being. Since you need to get on registering the day the event opens you just never know what the weather is going to be like 6 months down the road when the event actually takes place. So we tossed our names in the hat and hoped for the best.



On Friday morning a few of us formed a caravan and made the drive down to Stillwater to catch the expo and get settled in before the race on Saturday.






The atmosphere is something else down there, the live music, the vendors, the food trucks, the number of people milling about he expo and the number of closed off blocks of city streets is just something you have to see to fully grasp. Your can tell that the city of Stillwater has fully embraced and supported the Mid South and that's something not every city does as well as it should. I'm sure that there are other events that rival the Mid South in such things but how many of those have the vibe, the ethos, the grassroots feel and, well, the Bobby?

It was great seeing some familiar faces and checking out some of the vendor booths and District Bicycles. If the expo was this much fun, what would the race bring tomorrow... I guess we'd find out.

 

2023 Global Fat Bike Day

It's nutty to think that Global Fat Bike Day for 2023 was almost two weeks ago now! My how the time flies when you're... well, living life really, fun or not. It is alarming at times when you stop and think about just how quickly the days, week, month and years seem to go by at an ever increasing pace. Some days it seems like the days are like a tether ball arching around a pole, the shorter the rope gets the faster that ball travels around the pole until... WHACK! No more spinning.


Well that was a bit of a dark turn, let's get this thing back on a positive axis. This was our 9th event, dating all the way back to 2015 when Fat Bikes ruled the biking industry there for a bit it seemed. We got more swag to give away in those first 2-3 years than some gravel events get now, it was crazy. Things have calmed substantially on the Fat Bike and the event has morphed to less swag and just more of a group ride with a chili cook off at the end, and you know what? That's okay, I kind of like the less hectic pace of the event now vs. it's heyday.






Who needs swag when you can get all the smiles and comradery you could ever ask for.




Camera took a shite so I'm down a camera right now and while the phone does an okay job it's no "real camera" for sure... then again it takes way better pictures than the camera makes phone calls, so there is that. Any way, bought the insurance due to other issues in the past with cameras so it'll get replaced after the holidays. Until then you get some subpar pictures. It's always a bit of an adventure getting 30+ fat bikes from the shop to Wilderness but it's great seeing people's faces as we roll by.




The spin through Wilderness Park was pretty spirited at the beginning but then settled down to a more managable pace, as is always the case it seems people branch off of the main ride... and take unsuspecting people with them that follow thinking that they are following the main route. Herding cats man, just like herding cats.






After the ride was the chili cook off, one of my favorite parts of the ride... so many great chilis to try and they are all good.



This year in addition to gift cards for the top 3 chilis we also had gold, silver and broze medals. Joe took the top spot, Jackie and I took second and Gary rounded out the podium. I guess now we can say we make an award winning chili! Can't wait for next year, I hope this is a ride we can keep going for several years to come.

Video from the day.

 

The Rides Are Back In Town

As much fun as summer is with all the things, the things to do, the things to see and the things to travel to; it is also nice at the end of the summer when things slow down a bit and not every weekend if filled with a gravel event of one kind or another. We are now in that time period which means that more regular occurrences of the Saturday ride from Cycle Works will commence once again. I've kind of missed the rides.



The plan last Saturday was to head out to Denton and the Denton Wall but because of an error on my part we turned up too soon and never made the well. We still made it to Denton because while I'm not Ferdinand Magellan I can still find towns, so I got that going for me. It was an honest mistake, pulled up an old route labeled as the wall and didn't double check it... stuff happens.



While we missed the wall we still found plenty of hills to go up and down, mostly up it seemed. And that headwind, don't even get me started on that... seems like if it's not blazing hot or Siberian cold around here the wind it do like to blow. Not a fan... ha, get it... not a fan, of the wind but whatcha gonna do except put your head down and pedal. It did make it feel like we were climbing most of the way to Denton even though we weren't actually. Mid-West Hills.


Thanks to Doug we even managed a ditch beer stop, I'm a bit rusty on these rides and am slacking in the planning and the beerin.


We did make a stop at Saro and Canyon Joe's on the way back into town, both were tasty. Not much in the way of pictures, camera is in for repair/replacement if they can't fix it so it's just the eye-phone right now. It takes decent enough pictures but it's a lot more difficult to get those quick snaps while riding so hopefully the Canon will be back in action soon. Sure would like it if someone out there would make a rugged camera that would shoot RAW and have the ability to customize camera settings like the advanced point and shoot cameras do. While they are good for pictures, they sometimes have troubles with the gravel dust and general jostling of the bike after a few years of abuse... someone help me here, please.


Enjoy the video version of the ride, going to try to keep those going through winter also but how many times can you record the same ride starting from the same spot and still make it interesting. I guess we will see on that one.