As spring descends upon the Midwest slowly and un-surely,
attentions are shifting from fat biking to gravel road riding. With events like
Almanzo, Trans Iowa, Dirty Kanza and many others looming on the horizon it’s no
wonder why folks have gravel on the mind. Even with the season finale of the
Great Lakes Fat bike Series on the docket this weekend I find myself looking
down the road and preparing for the two big gravel events on my calendar; Trans
Iowa V13 and Dirty Kanza 200. This spring I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at
two awesome events about gravel riding and inevitably have fielded questions
surrounding Dirty Kanza, what my training plan looks like, what I plan to fuel
with, what bike I’m riding, and the list goes on. As I was sitting at my desk
doing most things except work on this sunny but cool Michigan day I found my
mind wandering over details surrounding Trans Iowa and figured while I was
thinking it over I might as well document my musings for others to ponder as
well.
I like riding my bike, talking about bikes and thinking about bikes
Every day I find that I spend a small chunk of time looking
at weather apps on my cell phone and laptop as I plan my training for the
evening and subsequent days. This time of year the weather here on the west
side of Michigan can be said to be turbulent at best ranging from 65 degrees
and sunny to 32.1 degrees and sideways freezing rain. As I write these thoughts
down it’s currently sunny, mid 40’s Fahrenheit and sustained winds of 20+ mph
with gusts of 50+ mph. Some folks might look at the conditions and opt to ride
the trainer or chose a route as sheltered as possible on the many bike paths we’re
fortunate to have. Although I’m not super excited to go out and ride race pace
into a headwind just to go 10 mph I know that it must be done. This brings me
to my first point about conditions and riding; regardless of weather (barring
tornadoes and the like) it’s important to ride outside as much as possible if
nothing else than to build mental toughness. There’s no guarantees on race day
that the sun will shine and the wind will sit idle whilst you pedal gracefully
over hill and dale. With the spring gravel season comes challenges of all
sorts, and the better prepared you are to deal with whatever mother nature has
to dish out the better off you’ll be.
As Danny Hill would say 'There's never a bad day to take your bike for a walk"
Photo credit: TBL photography
Now that I’ve set myself up with this stellar segue I’ll move
onto my next point; mental toughness is something that can be trained and is
every bit important, if not paramount, in endurance racing that it deserves the
proper attention. Personally I feel that you can acclimate yourself to poor
conditions and adversity over time, and that you don’t need to be born with a
steel trap of a mind to succeed at pushing your bike through miles of mud with
a smile on your face. As I mentioned previously, I don’t necessarily enjoy
riding into 20 mph headwinds, but sometimes that’s the card you're dealt and you
just have to deal with it. Neither cursing nor pleading not weeping will cause
the wind to abate should it decide to lash you into tatters. One thing you can
do is head out on your bike on a windy day and pedal many miles into the gale
at a steady and consistent effort, keep your calm and acclimate to riding in
said wind. You’ll never become proficient at dealing with 40 degrees and rain
if you don’t get out into it and find out what gear works best and how to keep
comfortable. Don’t let the weather get you down, bundle up and get outside to
work on your mental toughness intervals, I can assure you that those rides you
never wanted to begin in the first place will pay dividends later down the
road.
There are many tools available these days to the masses for
measuring, tracking and quantifying your training. With Strava, heart rate
monitors, power meters, GPS units and other modern conveniences it’s never been
easier to take a scientific approach to training. I happen to believe in these
tools and embrace them on a regular basis to help reach my goals, but there
comes a time when your GPS may die, your body may be out of sorts and your cell
phone is in a tizzy. As great as it is to keep tabs on the numerous metrics of
cycling it’s also great to spend some time with just you and your bike. This
past weekend I set out for the inaugural trip on my new Salsa Cutthroat which
is not yet equipped with a power meter. At first I caught myself looking down
frequently at my Garmin pondering where that magical metric of watts had gone
and what I was to do without. Then I remembered a time not long ago where
perceived effort was relied upon and we mysteriously listened to our bodies to
tell us how hard to go, ah yes, those were the days. I spent the better part of
8 hours listening to what my body was telling me as I battled the cold and
wind, and remembered a few things that maybe I had been neglecting. It’s good
to get out and push yourself on the bike without staring at a screen every 13
seconds, and I would argue critical to keeping in tune with your body. This
doesn’t mean you still can’t wrack up those miles on Strava and track your data
if you so choose, but I’d recommend at least once every few weeks to lock the
screen on your Garmin, throw it in your back pocket and just push the pedals.
Sometimes the "roads" on Google aren't all they're cracked up to be, who cares, ride it!
One aspect of Trans Iowa that I am both looking forward to
and concerned about all the same is the sole use of cue sheets for navigation.
The trappings of modern times have caught me once again relying upon my fancy
Garmin think box to effortlessly guide me through the most complex of routes. I’m
no stranger to cue sheets and navigation by janky maps by any means, but it’s
not something that I practice on a weekly basis. If a race/ride/tour relies
solely on cue sheets for directing the route, then I highly recommend using
then on some rides to get used to what works and what does not. Some of the
fanciest cue sheet holders on the market are useless if they’re not intuitive
for you to use and can’t keep your sheets dry. In the past I have relied on
homemade solutions such as plastic baggies, cut up milk jug plastic and zip
ties to handle these critical pieces of knowledge. If you’re looking for ideas,
check out Joe Meiser’s blog post on a
DIY cue sheet holder here: http://salsacycles.com/culture/diy_joes_cue_sheet_holder.
Whatever method you use, go out and
practice with it to see how well it works for you.
Note the beer can for size reference
While we’re on the topic of practice, I would extend that to
not only cue sheets and the actual act of training, but all aspects of your
setup. If you’re planning to run a frame bag with a hydropak, top tube bag with
snacks, clip-board style cue-sheet holder, Velcro strap tool pouch and dynamo
powered lights on race/ride day then you should also be riding that setup on
your long training rides. It might be less of a pain for me to head out with
just a few bottles and repair kit in my jersey for my longer rides, but I’d be
in for some surprises if I didn’t load my bike down with the actual weight and
gear I’ll be using for 300 some odd miles of gravel in the middle of Iowa. This
isn’t to say you need to have every gel pouch accounted for (it wouldn’t hurt…)
but get out on your bike as you intend to have it outfitted for your big event
and see how it feels. You might find that you don’t like the swaying of your
seat bag, or that the zippers on your frame pack aren’t easy to handle with
gloves, or that that water bottle on the underside of the downtube is useless
once covered in “animal dirt” (credit goes to Joe Perry’s kids for coining this
term for poop which I’ve become fond of).
I don't mind animal dirt on my tool kit Keg
What do you do for nutrition? This question sounds easy at
first glance, but don’t be fooled, there are many facets to nutrition on the
bike. For 2 and 3 hour events nutrition is a more straightforward discussion.
When it comes to 24+ hour epic rides then it becomes a bit more complicated,
and more factors come into play such as how you plan to procure nutrition
en-route when there’s no support. Just like most people I have drink mixes,
gels, bars and chews that I rely on frequently during both training and racing,
but it can be cumbersome and not ideal to carry 24+ hours’ worth of fuel on the
bike, and that you might not be able to stomach one more sour apple gel… On many
of my long rides I happen upon gas stations and convenience stores, and have
come to look forward to the surprises that lay awaiting me inside. On many
self-supported endeavors one must “live off the land” and it’s good to know
what cured, salted, canned and pickled items suit your fancy. There’s nothing
quite like stuffing a greasy piece of pizza, slugging a can of Mountain Dew and
polishing off a king size Snickers when you’ve over-stayed your welcome at bonk
town (unless you are vegan I suppose). If you’re planning to undertake any such
events then test the waters on what items outside of your favorite drink mix,
gel and chew you prefer. For the record I’m partial to Combos, beef jerky,
Mountain Dew, Snickers, those pickles in giant questionable jars and whatever
style of donut, be it fresh or stale, is on hand.
Embrace the country store oasis
Have you ever had to repair 6 flat tires in the middle of
Kansas on a 90 degree day with no shade? Well I have and let me tell you that I’m
glad I’ve gotten quick at it over the years. Another facet to these endurance
events is the sparse or complete lack of outside assistance. If you’re out on a
long ride and you’ve got the time to spare it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pull
over, pretend you’ve got a flat and replace or put a tube in your wheel. This
might sound a bit ludicrous, but just because you’ve swapped out a tube at a
clinic 3 years ago doesn’t mean it will go as smoothly out on the road with
tools that you may or may not have ever had to use. Test out whatever method of
inflation you plan to carry on you. I’ve had a pump that would pull out valve
cores if they weren’t tight enough, and I’ve had a CO2 inflator that did a
fantastic job of freezing itself to the valve core. You don’t want to find out
that the bargain bin hand pump you got on Alibaba is only good on Schrader
valves out in the middle of a cattle pen in Kansas. This same theory applies to
your multi and chain tools. Find an old chain and press a link out of it to be
sure you know what you’re up to. Make sure that multi-tool covers every
fastener on your bike and that you can actually reach them all with it. I’ve
had a few of those weight weenie super-stubby edition tools that were worthless
when it came to tightening down a loose seat clamp. One more nifty hint that I should
have heeded myself; if you use a strap to lash a tube to your bike do yourself
a favor and put that tube in a Ziploc bag first. Putting a gritty tube in you
tire will assuredly lead to future issues down the road….
Note the un-wrapped tube meticulously exposed to all things dirty and sharp
These days one could write a dissertation on what gravel
tires to run at what event and with what pressure, but we won’t delve that far
into it. Whether you prefer 650b wheels with a nice 47c tire for cushion or
700c wheels with 32c tires at 97 psi, go out and ride them as much as possible
setup that way you plan to race them. If you’re going tubeless then try out the
sealant of your choice and play with the pressure, same goes to using tubes or
tubulars if you’re a gambling person. Don’t just ride them on paved bike paths,
take them out and give them a proper thrashing, try and simulate whatever
hellish terrain you think they may face at Dirty Kanza or Barry Roubaix. You
might even want to try out more than one pair to see the difference they make
for your riding style and comfort preference. If you’re going to spend $$$ on
an entry, hotel, gas and food to knock DK200 off your bucket list it won’t kill
you to spend an extra $$ on tires you really like. For what it’s worth I’ve put
many miles on Teravail Cannonballs and WTB Nano 40c tires with good results.
Ride good tires
Last but not least, don’t forget to have fun while you’re
loading up on base miles for the event of your choice. Don’t get me wrong, some
rides may and should feel like a bit of a chore, but take time to enjoy the
scenery around you in the places your bike takes you. I often find that I’m
most at peace and relaxed when I’m cruising down country roads in the middle of
nowhere Michigan. Use the time to explore some new territory instead of just
clocking laps on the same old route. Take the time to link up with like-minded
and paced riders to share the hours with. Remember that you’re doing something
that makes you healthier and happier (most of the time haha!). You’d be
surprised what you can achieve if you keep a positive attitude and push
yourself a bit further every ride.
Some not-so-serious riding...
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