Tony, you were not the only Riv in the Dirty Kanza this year. I was riding my new Sage Green 650B Sam in the Half Pint and saw you pass me when we first hit gravel. I also saw your Atlantis outside the theatre Friday night and had to take a pic since I figured the Rivs would be few and far between in the DK. Unfortunately, I had to drop out at the water stop 28 miles in because my bottom bracket went out. I was really disappointed since I probably had less than 200 miles on the Sam and was just getting in to the fun part of the race. I will say the 28 miles I rode were tough and I'm not sure I could of made the full 111. This was my first endurance event, but definitely not my first time on gravel. My goal was to at least make it to the 59 mile checkpoint. The guys I rode with that finished were pretty beat up. I can't imagine doing 200. FWIW, most of the guys I rode with were running Clements MSO 40mm or Surly Knards and did not have any flats. I was running the Force Field Fatty Rumpkins and also had no problems. I can't believe how many people were flatting!
Chad in KC On Monday, June 2, 2014 9:21:13 PM UTC-5, Tony McG wrote: > My Atlantis was not the only Rivendell in the Almonzo 100, but I am pretty > sure that there was not another Riv in the Dirty Kanza 200 or Half Pint. > The bike performed flawlessly except for my sloppy friction shifting. > About a year ago, I drove up to Spring Valley, MN and rode with Jim Thill > and a bunch of country bike cyclist on the Almonzo 100 course. After that > experience, I decided that gravel was a lot safer and more scenic than > riding on pavement. I built a Surly LHT into a gravel grinder and started > riding with Guitar Ted on Saturday mornings for a 3-hour gravel ride. I > found the Atlantis on this forum and realized that it was a much nicer ride > than the Trucker; the Surly has been hanging in the garage since. > > I wasn't out to win, just finish. I haven't heard where I placed in the > Almonzo, but I finished the DK Half Pint in the top 1/4 of the starters and > the top 1/3 of the finishers. I carried too much stuff, and should have > run lower air pressure in the tires. I was afraid of pinch flats on the > cattle grates, but I was able to wheelie or hop the bike over most of them. > After the race, one of the more experienced riders suggested 35# in the > front and 40# in the back; I was running 45# in both of the Schwalbe Dureme > 700cX40. I am looking forward to trying the Half Pint (111 miles) again > next year, but I doubt if I will ever do the 200. After 8 hours of gravel, > wind, hills, heat, and sun, I am ready to get off of the bike. > > > <https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JlyB_Hn0W2E/U40w_8fY_OI/AAAAAAAAACk/U43mvfA3SuQ/s1600/DK_1225-%28ZF-0500-46390-1-001%29.jpg> > I love this bike and really love passing guys half my age on carbon fiber > 'cross bikes... > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
