As the title indicates, this year's Dirty Kanza is nearly here! As I have mentioned before, I'm not riding SS again this year to defend my title. Probably not a great decision, but I wanted to take the opportunity to really push myself (as if 200 miles of gravel on a SS isn't pushing myself...) to see how fast I can go when I can actually shift and pedal harder on descents! My expectations for the event have varied drastically throughout recent months. At one point I thought an overall podium might be possible, but that's probably a VERY long shot considering the heavy hitters that will be there. People like Ted King, Tim Johnson, Brian Jensen, Jonathan Schottler, etc are inhumanly fast, so if they attack I doubt I even react. I think a still challenging yet more realistic goal will be to podium in my age group. There are certainly no guarantees since my age group alone contains some pretty fast dudes (including 2 of the pros mentioned above), but I think a good day on my part would give me a decent enough shot. A non-placement goal I have is to finish in 12 hours, but I guess that would have a direct impact on my placement. Thus, I suppose all goals relate to where I finish! The course conditions will have a big say in the time goal (i.e. walking in mud really kills your pace!), but so will my focus on being smart and fueling. Eating and drinking, or a lack thereof, has really hurt me at times in the past, so that is an area I'm going to have to really focus on.
Speaking of course conditions, there was a lot of worry and speculation last week at Cycle City about muddy conditions. Basically the entire eastern half of Kansas was in the midst of some serious rain. It was crazy how line after line of heavy thunderstorms just kept hitting us! Some were already assuming that last year's muddy race was going to happen again, but I did my best to stay positive and remind people that it might actually dry out. Rain over the past few days has been minimal down there based upon my radar stalking, and the coming days are forecasted to be dry and sunny. Reports from the area indicate the course is in prime condition, so other than water crossings I am expecting dry conditions. This gives me a good amount of confidence that it will be a very fast day, and I wonder if the DK200 record might be broken this year.
Since I won SS last year I've been told that I'll be on one of the DK trading cards this year. I haven't heard anything about it since I sent in the requested information a few months ago, but I'm excited to see it if it exists. Of course, I'll post photos of the card, the race, etc in the very near future, and a race recap will also get posted in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here is a shot of my race day setup just waiting to be loaded onto the rack for the trip to Emporia!
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