Pony Express '18

To say that the gravel scene in the Mid-West has increased in recent years would be an understatement, it's just exploded! Here on the wind swept plains of the flyover states, we have plenty of little towns with funny names and those funny named towns are often connected by miles of gravel roads; maybe more gravel than any other region of the country. While that is a good thing, it can also make scheduling gravel rides/races a bit of a headache. All it takes is a peek at the list of rides on a calendar and you will see how it's possible to have multiple really fun looking rides/races on every weekend from May through August and as close as your backyard... sometimes almost literally. If you're looking for such events I recommend going to RidingGravel.com and checking out their event page, GT, Ben and whoever else is involved in the up keep of that event calendar do an amazing job, it's the best one I've seen for gravel events. Any who, that means making choices and that means that some races/rides get left off of the schedule on a particular year or all together if it bumps up against another ride you really like. The Pony Express 120 Gravel Dash is in it's fifth iteration this year but I had never made it down for one even though it's just across the border in Marysville Kansas. Now some of the crew made it down last year and the pictures of the course were pretty amazing, a mixture of gravel, B roads and even some gnarly looking single track sections, I penciled that one in for this year. As it turned out it rained, it rained a lot in August, forcing the organizers to pull the single track and the B roads, leaving only 125 miles of Kansas gravel. I was a little bummed but totally understood the need to move away from the mud if it could be avoided.




Watching the forecast the week leading up to the race could give a person an ulcer fretting about rain or no rain. I decided to stop watching it mid week and give my gastric fluids a break, if it was going to rain then it was going to rain and there wasn't anything we could do about that. As you might have guessed, Marysville was one of the towns that the Pony Express went through during the days of its existence, hence the name of the gravel race. The town itself is a fairly quaint little place and it doesn't take long milling about the downtown area to see that they have fully embraced their rich history as far as the Pony Express goes so the race name was a natural choice.


The Pony Express race also embraced that history by doing their check point verification a little different, instead of your usual pipe cleaners, lottery tickets or what-have-you that most races use to make sure you make the check points; the Pony Expressed gave each rider a piece of Official Mail. The riders were responsible for making sure that they didn't lose their mail and had to get it punched at each check point to verify that you had made it there with your mail still in hand and that it arrived on time. Nobody likes when the mail is late or gets lost and it was a fun way to make you think about what it must have been like back then if  you were carrying mail on horse back, it will also make a nice conversation piece hanging on the bike cave wall. If you hate spoilers then don't look too closely at the punches on my Official Mail because it will give away the ending but not the story.



The start was 7 am but with overcast skies we were well out of town and onto the gravel before it was light enough to even have a prayer of getting a decent picture that wasn't blurry. The skies remained overcast all day with only an occasional sunshine sighting but the gravel was in great shape despite all of the rain that the area had taken leading up to race day. I've never ridden in this particular section of Kansas before but some of their roads, like those pictured here, had obvious "lanes" that were almost pavement hard, smooth and fast; not sure if the rains had something to do with that or not but it was nice to not have deep gravel to fight with for a change.


While I never did get rained on, it was clear that there was rain in the area from time to time shortly before we rode through that section of the course. The wettest I got all race was this two mile stretch of pavement! About 8 miles into the race and I was wishing that this road was anything but paved, even the gravel wouldn't have soaked us the way the pavement did. I was feeling good at this point though and it wasn't water from the sky so I was, uh... rolling with it.




Had I known that a two mile section of mud was just up ahead, I probably wouldn't have complained about the wet pavement. The Fargo did a pretty good job shedding the mud initially but without the now hated front dérailleur to catch the muck it all landed on the front chain ring, which did wonders for making the chain not want to stay on the chain ring. I ended up needing to pull off to the side and walked the worst of the mud before dispensing most of a bottle of water onto the chain to get the majority of the mud out of it so that I could ride more than 50 yards without the chain wanting to pop off the ring again. It still took several miles before it didn't sound horrible but it stayed on so we were still rolling but it probably cost me 15-20 minutes clearing that mud out of the chain enough to trust it not busting the rear dérailleur off. Time well spent though in my opinion as a buster der would certainly mean a DNF and after Gravel Worlds I was itching to get a finish and try to end the gravel season on a positive note. The Omaha Jackrabbit still looms out there on the horizon in October but I haven't registered quite yet and when I do I will probably switch it up and do the Half Rabbit this year rather than the full I've ridden for the last few years.




By the time we got to the first check point things were rolling along more normal as far as the chain goes and most of the mud had cleared off of the tires as well so other than a few spots of dried mud on the bike frame and fork we were mud free. First 25 miles was in the rear view and I was feeling pretty good still at this point,  Blessing's sister even had a SAG stop on the road leading into check point 1 so I grabbed a few of the wraps and PB&J sandwiches that she had made and downed them, they were tasty and hit the spot. Doug and I were mostly riding together at this point and according to the stats we were chucking along at a decent pace, not nearly as fast as we went out on GW but that might have been a tad too speedy anyway so I was feeling good about where we were in the race and the pace we were maintaining so far.


As luck would have it, about three or so miles out of check point 1 I ended up having a soft tire that required me to pull over and add more air. If you've never had a tire go low on you but not loose all of it's air, it's a unique feeling. The first thing you'll notice is that you start to bounce in your pedaling cadence, if  you're a spinner you start bounce significantly if  you don't notice it right away; it's a very distinct feeling and that is what I was experiencing. I rode it a bit more but it didn't seem to be holding air, not wanting to continue to mess with it every few miles for another 90+ miles I opted to just change it out with a tube and hope I didn't meet something else sharp the rest of the way. I never did see what had caused the issue but I suspect something sharp got rolled up in the mud and punctured it then as the mud stripped off the tire, the air found the path of least resistance and slowly escaped out of the opening. Well just like that another 15-20 minutes or so down the drain but also the right call to make, messing with a finicky tire is not fun and can end up costing more time in the long run than just changing it out.




Mile 30 something found us climbing up Brewski, to my dismay I discovered that there was in fact no beer at the top of the hill, the beer was to be had later at the Wagon Wheel back in Marysville; a beer would have tasted a little bit like heaven at that point in the race. Last year the hill was about mile 90 and a much more brutal climb, not really sad I missed that.


Picture of Doug and I climbing Brewski hill courtesy of the Pony Express 120 Gravel Dash photographers.






Right around mile 50 I felt like I hit that wall again, energy wise, like I did during Gravel Worlds last month. I am not sure what the deal is with that these last two races, although I suspect it has to do with not eating any real food for either of the two races. Gravel Worlds I was trying to stop less and limit my time at Oases and Check Points so I didn't eat anything but what I had with me, which has usually worked to keep me going but I also usually get something at one of the stores we stop at along the way. This year for Gravel Worlds Valparaiso was too soon in the race and Malcolm didn't have much if you didn't want to wait for Lippy's BBQ so I didn't end up getting anything to eat at either place if you don't count snack type foods. The Pony Express passed through a few towns but nothing of much size and I didn't see a single gas station to stop at, which I was banking on for food. Totally my fault for not researching the towns we would pass through and not taking advantage of the drop bag option that was offered as a food option. I will definitely need to improve on that and maybe look at carrying a few of the Clif Bar food pouches as a food option, needless to say miles 50-70 were a struggle and some dark times mentally. Having pulled out of Gravel Worlds, I didn't want to do that again for the Pony Express so I focused on moving forward, the stats show that these miles were also my slowest average mph of the race which would make sense. Familiarity or lack there of I think also helped me to keep on keeping on, the Gravel Worlds course I was very familiar with and knew how to get back which I think played into my decision to pull the plug, maybe a little prematurely. For the Pony Express I had no clue where I was, yes it wouldn't have been all that hard to find out and plot a course back but that seemed like a lot more work than just following the Garmin as it plodded along the course I'd already uploaded. I guess techno-laziness along with a smidgen of stubbornness trumps being tired in my world. At least the course offered up some interesting views during those miles to help keep my mind off of how bad I felt. It's weird because the legs weren't exactly tired in either race it was more of a whole body energy drain where I didn't feel like I had the power to keep pedaling or not enough to keep up the pace I'd been riding at so far at least.



I really got a kick out of this sign, church for the slow, or at least that's where my mind went during the race and I actually chuckled out loud just a bit when I saw that sign. Now, sitting in my living room, it doesn't seem as funny, still a little funny, but not hilarious like it was on Saturday.



Mile 75, or so, saw us to check point two and the small town of Lillis KS. With the two mechanical issues and the slower speeds from mile 50 to about 70, I was flirting with going below the minimum mph average needed to make the check points and finish on time to get an official finishing time. Thankfully I started feeling a bit more of a "normal tired" and less in a dark place tired around mile 70, so by the time I rolled into check point 2 I was riding a bit faster and feeling a bit better. I also remembered that I had another Motts squeezable apple sauce and jerky so I ate the Motts and some of the jerky here to help with the last 50 miles.



The old Lillis High School on the way out of town was pretty rad, I always think to myself that I need to come back to these places when I have more time to explore but so far I've never made it back to one when time wasn't important.


Of course to make things even more tight, I got caught by a train shortly after Lillis as well. Thankfully it wasn't stopping and was moving at a decent clip so the delay was only a few minutes, could have been much worse.


Really thought I was going to get rained on in the last 30 miles or so but thankfully all those angry little clouds didn't rain on my parade and just cooled things down a bit, which I was OK with.



There weren't too many pictures between check point 2 and check point 3, since I had to make sure to keep moving at a better pace than I had been in the middle of the race or all this riding would have been for naught the camera didn't come out much. I did come upon a kid in the middle of the road on an ATV with a case of Dr. Pepper that he was handing out to riders as they went by, really hit the spot and reminded me of that old Mean Joe Green commercial for Coca Cola... if Mean Joe Green would have been a 14 year old boy on and ATV and he was giving out Dr. Pepper instead of Coke... so exactly the same really.


I was pretty stoked when I saw the town of Beattie looming in the not to distant distance, that meant there were only 15 miles or so left to finish this thing out.


And finish it I did, with a total time of 11 hours and 55 minutes... which ended up being a bit closer to the cut off than I intended it to be and it was a good thing I had picked up the pace over the last 30 or so miles at the end. It seems that the cut off was 12 hours, even though at 126 miles a 10 mph average should have netted you a 12 hour and 30 minute window but that was not the case so I came in just under the time limit, phew! As it was I earned the coveted DFL title for this race as nobody came across the line in the next 5 minutes, I know that there were 8 or so folks behind me at check point 3 but I don't know if they ever finished or if the pulled the plug but either way they didn't get an official time since they missed the cut off time. It's been a bit since I've gotten a DFL in a finish but considering the way I felt in the middle of this race, I'll take the DFL over the DNF.


The well earned beer from Brewski Hill was cold and tasty, even if I had to ride another 90 miles to actually get to drink it.

By the numbers it was 125ish miles, moving time was 10 hours and 49 minutes with a total time of 11 hours and 55 minutes. One bright spot out of all the struggle that day was that I did manage to really lower my stopping time at SAG stops, if you take into account the 30-40 minutes for the two issues with the bike it means I cut stopping time down to around 30 minutes, a huge improvement over the couple hours of stopping time I usually have in longer races. Elevation gain was almost 9,000 feet and it sure felt like that and then some.

Fun race and one I'll consider doing again next year, hopefully they can have the single track and B roads back in the course next year. Now to figure out how to not nose dive around mile 50 and all will be good. Fargo performed awesome, the one mud issue I wouldn't put on the bike but it came through it with flying colors and an almost dry chain for 80 miles with out a single mis-shift.

As always, thanks to Cycle Works for letting me ride for them, thanks to the Saturday crew for getting my lazy ass out of the house and on the gravel and for the great friendships that have developed out of that ride and a huge thanks to the other half for continuing to put up with my bikes and all the mess that they make. Thanks to the Black Squirrel Cycling League for organizing the race and last but not least, thanks to Mean Joe Green and his Dr. Pepper packing ATV.

Gearing Up For Global Fat Bike Day 2017

Dude, it's not even Halloween yet! I know, I know, excuse my big box store like jumping of the gun on Holidays but we are already gearing up for our 3rd annual GFBD. Even though we might have gotten a little bit later of a start on it this year than I would have liked, yes you really do have to start planning these things months in advance, like September, it's still shaping up to be another great event... or at least I'm hoping so. The last two we have somehow managed to get around 100 riders and I hope we can get at least that many again this year, we are also bringing back the Chili Cook Off again this year so if  you fancy yourself a mean chili maker, get your bowl in the ring.


2015, it was a tad warmer than we'd have liked but a great time nonetheless. Link to that write up is here.


2016, as if on cue the snow started to fall as we were on our way to the single track. Link to that write up is here.


If you're in or around Lincoln on December 2nd, pop on over and ride with us and share a drink or two. Event page info can be found here, not much on it yet but things will get added as they are known.

Gravel Worlds 2017 - Slow and Steady

There is a saying in the cycling community that basically says don't make any major changes to your bike or gear leading up to a big race, seems simple enough right? Well I took that saying and completely obliterated it, changing up the tires to tubeless the night before, changing the way I loaded the bike (for some reason I put some but not all of the bags on the bike the night before, it would haunt me later) and decided to go with a last minute wardrobe change by adding a jockstrap to try to protect the family jewels from the same fate they suffered two weeks prior at the GTDRI, having of course never worn a jock in my entire life previously, let alone a 150 mile gravel race.


Hopefully the addition of a handlebar pirate could thwart some of that bad mojo I was stacking up against me.



Stayed the night in Lincoln at some good friends place on Friday as he was racing in GW as well, we decided to prepare the bikes that night and threw them on the car in the garage so all we would need to do is roll out at the crack of dawn the next morning instead of stumbling around half awake trying to remember all the last minute items. Speaking of cracks, lots of shots of early morning butt cracks... must take better group shots but maybe that's why they call it the butt crack of dawn. One change this year was that they had assigned parking lots based on the card you were handed at registration, seemed to work out really well and much better than the free for all that happens at most races. We went to our assigned lot, found a spot and unloaded the bikes and made any last minute adjustments before heading over to the start/finish area.





Even though it was just a tad past 5:30 am there was already a pretty good gathering of people and bikes at the starting line. I grabbed a spot near the back, not being the fastest rider out there I didn't want to get stuck in the middle of a pack like last year with everyone dodging left and right randomly trying to find "the best line". Thankfully this was going to be a dry start so maybe that wouldn't be an issue as most lines were good lines unlike last year with the soggy start.




There was the customary mumbling and rumbling near the front but what was said I don't know, I've been to three of these now and I couldn't tell you one word that is said up there if my life depended on it but then again I figure I'll just salmon along and follow the guys leading us out who did hear it. At the start we did our usual accordion thing where the front takes off, stretches out and then everyone else starts moving in similar fashion. It did seem to me like it was a quicker than normal launch but maybe that was just early morning jitters, I also noted that it was a bit chilly again this year. It was dry though which was an improvement over last year, even had a little bit of fog and a spectacular sunrise; today was going to be a good day.


We were about 2 miles out from the start when I noticed the first mistake I'd made or at least the first one I'd noticed so far, in previous years I'd either loaded all the bags on the bike then put it on the rack or I didn't load any bags on the bike before putting it on the rack and loaded them on the bike in the parking lot the morning of the race. This year for whatever reason I loaded MOST of the bags on the bike the night before and then put it on the rack and placed the rest of the gear in the back of the car, why I didn't just do all of them I will never know. So, at 2 miles out I noticed that my Gas Tank bag was not on the top tube where it should be.


Shown here in this picture from 2016 Gravel Worlds, that large gray bag is hard to miss but miss it I did until it was too late to do anything about it. Quickly I did a mental inventory of what I thought was in the bag... jerky, gummy bears/worms, a few packages of Clif Bloks, electrolyte pills and of course my music for the afternoon. SHIT! The though did cross my mind to go back and get it but that was almost instantly dismissed, I was just going to have to make due without it and hoped it turned out to not be a fatal mistake. I wasn't too concerned about the food as it was replaceable at the next gas station, even the Bloks I could probably do without by rationing the ones I did have a little better but the electrolyte pills would have been really nice to have to stave off possible cramps in the later stages of the race. The music would have also been nice and wasn't replaceable, looks like the demons in my head and I were going to be dancing this day without the accompaniment of music. I think out of all those items the music was the most missed, rookie mistake that hopefully wouldn't bite me in the posterior down the road.




No sense dwelling on it so I had to try to push it out of my mind and just keep plugging away and not let it get to me, wasn't anything I could do about it now and I didn't need that negativity floating around in the brain pan. Finishing this race is hard enough without giving your doubt more ammunition. By the time we were about 10 miles out I noticed that this was in fact a much quicker start than last year, last year I was smack dab in the middle of a large group of people but it seemed like this year I was almost out there by myself already and my legs felt like they were pushing harder than they should be and I  wasn't exactly speeding along like normal for the effort being put out... well speeding and fat bike are kind of an oxymoron but still, it felt like we were creeping. Then it dawned on me, I'd left the PSI in the tires at 10 from last night when the tires were setup tubeless, mistake number two had shown itself. It was uncomplicated fix but did require me to stop to add air into the tires and that cost valuable time that it seemed I already didn't have at this point in the race. Hastily I pumped them up to about 15 PSI and off I went once again, instantly the bike felt so much better and it didn't feel like I was cycling in quicksand anymore. Okay, lets hope that was the last of the issues for the day and get this thing done.


Heard a lot of grumbling about this particular section after the race was over, it was about 4" of freshly laid white rock and you could see where skinnies had swerved left or right looking for the shallow end. Pugs and I had no issue a all crossing any of it, for that one 100 foot section the Surly Pugsley was the perfect bike for Gravel Worlds; unfortunately there was still another 135 or so miles to go after this.


Rolled into Otto Pond feeling pretty good, it was only mile 27 after all, but I was also a little concerned as it just seemed like everyone else was so much quicker this year; even though I didn't feel like I was riding slower than last year. It was a bit perplexing but it gave my mind something to mull over while I pedaled away, anything to keep the mind off the constant pedaling was a good thing.


Met Chris at the pond and we rode along together for a little bit after leaving OP before she disappeared into the distance. This also wasn't too surprising as she rode away from us last year as well so this was not out of the norm.


Not long after Chris left me in her dust, I caught up to Kevin who looked to be struggling a little bit. It was good to finally be catching up to some folks because my mind was still trying to play games with me and convince me I was being super slow this year, last year by this time I had passed at least a dozen or so folks who took off out of the gate chasing rabbits only to realize that the pace was not maintainable for the entire race. Kevin and I rode along together for a bit and chatted awhile before I had to ride on and leave him to his own race. The fact that Kevin was out there at all is pretty amazing considering some of the medical problems he's had these last two years, very inspirational.



Mile 50 or so saw us into Valparaiso and gave me the opportunity to replace the jerky and gummies I had left in the car near the start and also helped to squash some of the "uh oh" feelings associated with leaving the Gas Tank bag.



Cool looking building that had District 73 over the door, an old one room school house perhaps at one time?


Rolling out of Valpo I was still feeling pretty good and it was about that time that some of the super fast 75 mile Privateers started showing up... and then it dawned on me, at least in part I bet that there were more than a few folks who ride my pace or slower who had walked the plank and swam for the Privateer boat, which was why I was thinking all this time that I must be going super duper slow even though my average MPH was about on par with last year. With at least a little mental boost in my pocket I carried on with carrying on down the road and made it to the next unofficial oasis feeling good. They had some mini cokes there so I decided to have one and a smile, I was also catching up to some other folks so things were looking up and I wasn't out in there seemingly DFL.



Made pretty good time and rode along, more or less, with a larger group of folks consisting of Corey, Russell, Rhino, Matt W. and a few others from the Oasis to Malcolm so I knew I wasn't completely sucking it up out there which was also equally as reassuring as figuring out the Privateer thing.... the mind can play some wicked games with you on these rides if you let it.




In Malcolm I decided to take some extra time and grab a quick bike at Lippy's, I did this last year and it seemed to be a really good pick me up. Caught up to Pablo in Malcolm as well, it was good to see a familiar face and have someone to lunch with since the Privateer route didn't go through Malcolm there would be no massive group.





Pablo, myself, a guy named Steve and another fellow named Aaron (although he was mostly out front for the most part but always in site) sort of seesawed our way from Malcolm to the Reinkordt farm and we were still within sight of the Cornbread group which meant we were keeping a pretty steady pace. Which isn't a bad thing at just over the half way point of the race, when you're racing a fat bike, or at least in my experience, consistency will get you much farther than sprint, rest and repeat will.


Kind of a squirrel moment but I found this railroad crossing pretty cool, somehow I had never seen it before even though I know I've ridden in that area many times before.




Pablo and I sort of kept up our seesawing to Roca, although I could tell Pablo was starting to struggle a little more as his saw was getting a little long in the tooth. He did have me worried there for a bit after he involuntarily gave up his lunch on one of the stops, riding and not being able to keep things down are a bad combination.


With a little rest and a little fluid though he seemed back in good spirits, there was a lady who offered to give anyone who needed it a ride back to the start but Pablo declined saying he was going to finish. Which I don't blame him necessarily, I bailed two years ago at mile 95 (Roca this year was mile 103) so I knew what it was like to bail when you were over half done. Not wanting to stick around too long and get super comfy just sitting in the shade, Steve and I got up and got ready to set off but Pablo stayed put, I wondered if this was the last we would see of Pablo that day as we pedaled off. If it was there would be no shame, at 103 miles I believe it was his longest gravel ride to date and for some reason the course seemed a little harder than last years even.


Roca to Bennet is a mere 13 miles as the pirate sails but it's not a calm sea, the nonstop wave of rollers was definitely starting to stack up and it was getting later in the day so it was time for heads down and cranks turning. We (Steve and I)  made it to Bennet and decided to stop and get some water and food as we weren't exactly sure if the next check point would be open, we were told that it would be up until 7 pm but depending on how things went we'd be cutting that close. We also ran into Guitar Ted in Bennet, his day was done and he was waiting for MG to come pick him up; turned out MG had pulled the plug earlier too with stomach issues, which is why Guitar Ted pulled the plug and it was what Pablo was suffering from as well. Speaking of, as GT and MG were about to take off for Lincoln I saw Pablo coming up toward Bennet and asked if they could wait to see if Pablo had had enough, as it turns out it was a good call on my part and Pablo excepted the ride back to Lincoln, ending his day as well in Bennet after 113 grueling gravel miles. Shortly after they drove off, Steve and I were back on the bikes and off toward the last CP and the final push into Lincoln.




We ended up making good time to the Schmidty family farm and beat the clock, arriving a little bit before 7 pm. We picked up our final pipe cleaner, grabbed some food and water, said our thank yous and were off again. We were thinking we might be the last ones on course but talking to the volunteers it appeared that there were a number of people who dropped out and an almost equal number of people still out there or otherwise unaccounted for, so if we were DFL then attrition played a role in that as well.


Only picture I got of Steve all day and it's not even a very good one but after Roca there were less photos and more cranking trying to pick up the pace a little bit so as to not be out here all night. Hadn't met Steve previously to that day even though he lives in the Lincoln area and rides many of the same gravel roads, it was nice to have a little company in the later stages of the race. I didn't ask but it would have been a nice touch if Steve would have sang to replace my forgotten iPod; that would have been the icing on the cake right there. Still, it was good to ride along with Steve even if he didn't sing. +


Any time you start a ride looking at the sunrise and end it looking at a sunset, it's been a good day on the bike and both were equally beautiful. There were some decent flat sections between CP 2 and Mill Road and we made up a little bit of time there but Mill Road was a whole other story. Mill Road and then N 1st were just 10 miles of nonstop up and down rollers, nothing huge mind you but there also wasn't a whole lot of flat to be had, you were either going up or going down. Not so much intentional but this is where I made a little bit of time on Steve at the end, once the lights had to go on I think the skinnier tire guys were a little more cautious and trying to pick lines on the downs. Pugs and I on the other hand just threw caution to the wind and bombed down them as fast as we could, those fat tires might suck on most of the course but they excel at eating up the gravel when the slope turns toward the negative numbers.



Last two pictures were taken by Lincoln's own Matt Pearson. I rolled into the finish just a little before 9:30 with at 15 hours and 22 minutes. I was glad to be done and glad to have finished my second consecutive Gravel Worlds putting the record at 2 finished to 3 starts.



Picked up another super rad finishers patch, which promptly made it onto the wall of gravel once I got back home.

Gravel Worlds by the numbers with a comparison of sorts to last years. Both years my moving average speed was exactly the same at a 12 mph average (11.9 if you want to be exact). My moving time this year was 12 hours 46 minutes, last years was 12 hours 9 minutes but the course was 6 miles longer this year, so also about the same. So where was the difference? Well, as I had said the course seemed a little more difficult this year and that is backed up by my overall time. This year I came in at 15 hours 22 minutes which meant 3 hours and 24 minutes of stopped time (time not moving on the bike) whereas last year I came in at 12 hours 9 minutes but with an overall time of 13 hours and 44 minutes which is only 1 hour and 35 minutes of non moving time so in the end what hurt me this year was the extra 2 plus hours of stops, something I'll have to work on for next year. I do think that not having the music and the electrolyte pills added to the overall time factor as I didn't have anything to help keep the legs fresh and nothing to take the mind off the constant hours of grind, both I feel would have helped but how much I'm not sure. I'm also not sure what happened to everyone else, there were 245 finishers but there were 444 people signed up, that's a 50% attrition rate due to one factor or another, that's crazy right there... 199 people either didn't start or didn't finish the race. Whoa! While not my fastest time, it was a finish and a good effort I felt and all things considered a finish I wondered if I was going to get at the beginning of the day.

So many people I need to thank, the whole Saturday morning crew, Gary, Sarah, Joe, Roy, Todd, David, Jamie, MK, Pablo, Frank, the "real" Rob, Stephanie and Chris (anyone else I might have forgot, the finish was a little hazy) for sticking around for a few hours to watch me roll in; it was a great reception and I am completely grateful to have so many wonderful and supportive friends in my life. This also includes Carlos, who wasn't at the finish so he could go chase some tail but I still love you buddy; you do you. Of course I wouldn't be anywhere without Michaela and her ability to put up with all my time away for riding and for just putting up with my shenanigans all the time, woman has to be a saint. Also grateful for everyone at Cycle Works, all the way from the Kris at the top of the pile to the Chris at the bottom. Couldn't ask for a better shop to ride for, one that is full of great folks who are knowledgeable and passionate about everything bikes. Last but certainly not least to the Pirate Cycling League, Schillingbridge, the Fallbrook area and each and every volunteer that helped put Gravel Worlds together; you guys and gals rock. Lets take 364 days off and do it all again next year!