Almanzo was awesome
Wow! I really mean-WOW! What a beautiful day. What a great race. Some really nice sceanery at times, a little freaky (what the heck do those masons do at that little park with the big wall and stone building, in that little valley in the middle of nowhere?), and challenging too.
As we started riding out of town, somehow, I thought a goal time of less than 6:30 would be a good time to shoot for. How I came up with it, I don't know, all I know is that I knew that 20mph (5:00 time) would be way to fast. I don't think I could do a pavement century with multiple gears at that speed. So somehow I thought adding an hour and a half would make sense to account for gravel, wind and riding fixed.
As we approached the gravel going out of Quarry Hill park I manuvered near the front 20 or so riders. I knew that the first climb was steep and even though it was really early in a 100 mile race, I wanted to be with the lead group.
This first section of the course to St. Charles was fast. According to SportTracks we averaged a little under 21.5 mph. At some point before St. Charles a couple of us fell OTB of the lead group. I'm not sure if they surged or not, but I just couldn't keep the pace. However I didn't want to slow down to find the next group behind yet. This was good as I met up with Mario, and while we didn't really need to work together (the wind was at our backs) it was nice to kinda keep pace off of someone.
It ended up working out as we cought the group in St. Charles, navigating the town together. Once out of town and back on gravel the pace was still moving along pretty fast. I was super happy to find shelter in the group, and owe these guys a huge thanks for letting me ride with them. Maybe it was just in my mind (I doubt it), but it really seemed like I was not taking any pulls. Really, to be honest I was barely hanging on most of the time and was dropped again at around the 35 mile mark.
Still, I attempted to keep a good pace by myself hoping to keep the group in my sights as long as I could. Once again it ended up working out as I was able to regroup in Chatfield.
There was a little bit of confusion as we navigated through Chatfield, but we were able to make it through ok. 15-20 minutes later the whole group decided to stop for a pee. After that we stayed as a group with a nice, but not too easy pace.
At this point I started to really not keep pace on the climbs. Once again I was OTB. But again I wanted to keep them in my sights as long as I could. I realized that if I can keep them in sight, then navigating the towns was a little easier. The last real town that I was unfamilier with, Spring Valley was approaching.
However, the last I saw of the lead group was after we rode by the Masonic park and approached the pavement. I decided to not worry too much about riding solo at this point. I knew there wasn't any fixed riders in the lead group, so if I could keep from being passed for this last half of the race I would be good to go.
I took some pictures of the water treetment plant entering Spring Valley. I think this is where I lost my cue sheet that would have directed me through Spring Valley. Eerrrr. Hmm. ... I knew that it was something like left then right and Kwik Trip. I had been through Spring Valley once or twice, and knew the highway cuts through it at an angle. Well coming into town I make a left, cross the highway and begin looking for Kwik Trip. There was a BP on the corner but no Kwik Trip. Err. I continued on thinking maybe it's further down the road. I went maybe 3 or 4 blocks and thought it didn't look right.
I turned around, crossed the highway and came upon Tracy Rd. Ah-Hah! Tracy Rd was on the cue sheet. The logical choice was to make a left towards the highway and sure enough. There was Kwik Trip. And I see bikes outside. Sweet!
I ride up to the store, decide I didn't need anything (In hindsight I could've bought a coke to go with my sandwich that I was about to eat) and look for the checkpoint. I didn't see it so I ask one of the riders at the store if the checkpoint was here. He knew and four of us got there together. I got my new cue sheets, said hello to Chris. I the chance to streatch my back a bit before rolling off. Mario, Josh and another rider ended up wondering if they were headed the right way and slowed for me to catch up and make a group decision. I thought we were good to go.
The three of them were going just a little too hard for me, so I let them go and expected to either ride solo or with a couple of chasers for this last 1/3 or so of the ride. That point to the pavement by High Forest was kind-of a blur to me.
At the corner to High Forest I stopped to streatch a little more. I knew it was the last leg. A little less than 20 miles to go. I had gotten a rock in my shoe and it was bouncing around by my toes for a while now. This was another reason for the stop. But somehow I forgot to pull my shoe off to get it out. Riding down the road it started to bounce around again, so before the next turn I stopped again to take my shoe off and shake the rock out.
While doing this I was expecting (almost hopeing) that another rider would come along so we could work together for a while. No such luck.
Onward I trudged. I could occasionaly catch a glimpse of the riders ahead as they crested a climb, but there was no way I was going to catch them. I began just counting down the miles, giving myself little goals like: at 85 mile take another slug of energy gel and stand up and pedal for a minute.
Once I hit Salem Rd I knew I was going to finish, and more than likely win the fixed catagory. However even though it was pavement from here on, these last 3 climbs were killer. The first of them was the worst, my speed slowed to 8 mph. I lost my cadence magnet a couple weeks ago so I don't know what that was, but it sure felt like it was really low.
After descending Country Club Manor, crossing onto 2nd street, looking back and not seeing anyone, I knew all I had to do now was finish and I'd take home the win. It was just a matter of spinning in. No more climbs, no more gravel and no riders behind me that I could see.
I made it accross the line at 6:11 (official and bike computer time). Milage for me was 101.29 because of my little wrong turn in Spring Valley. I swear, the cold beer at the finish was the best! It really hit the spot.
All in all, I'm super happy with my performance and fitness at this point. Although I haven't ridden since, it's not because I hadn't recovered.
I'd like to shoot a huge thank you to Chris and the Sponsors for this event. It was THE MOST fun race I've done in a LONG time.
Other Almanzo race reports:
Charlie Farrow
Snakebite
Squirrel
Buckshot77
Bradley Wilson
Mpls Bike Love recap posts start here.
bike devil
Wheel Guru
Official Results (and some pics):
1 - Terry Brannick - 5hrs. 44min. (First Open Mens)
2 - Joseph Meiser - 5hrs. 44min. (Second Open Mens - Tie)
2 - David Pramann - 5hrs. 44min. (Second Open Mens -Tie)
4 - Charlie Farrow - 5hrs. 44min.
5 - Jesse Rients - 6hrs. 2min.
6 - Death Rider - 6hrs. 2min.
7 - Mario - 6hrs. 2min.
8 - Gunnar - 6hrs. 11min. (First Fixedgear)
9 - Hurl - 6hrs. 28min.
10 - Nick Oswald - 6hrs. 33min. (First Single Speed)
11 - Sascha Boecker - 6hrs. 33min.
12 - Andy Tetmeyer - 6hrs. 33min.
13 - Tim Norrie - 6hrs. 33min.
14 - Kevin Jargo - 6hrs. 40min. (Second Fixed Gear)
15 - Andy Lambert - 6hrs. 46min.
16 - Ruby-2-Shoes - 7hrs. 4min.
17 - Eric Leugers - 7hrs. 8min.
18 - Dog - 7hrs. 13min.
19 - Coholic - 7hrs. 13min.
20 - Dan Hansen - 7hrs. 17min.
21 - Roy Vosberg - 7hrs. 21min.
22 - Tim Bekke - 7hrs. 25min.
23 - Jim Reed - 7hrs. 26min.
24 - Snakebite - 7hrs. 31min.
25 - Brent Wood - 7hrs. 31min.
26 - Brian Dukek - 7hrs. 43min.
27 - John Krolak - 7hrs. 43min. (Second Single Speed)
28 - Chris Prescher - 7hrs. 43min.
29 - JJ Robb - 7hrs. 50min.
30 - Joshua Lavelle - 7hrs. 53min.
31 - Rick Blackford 7hrs. 54min.
32 - Squirrel - 7hrs. 58min.
33 - Ian Nancekivell - 8hrs.
34 - Isaac Giesen - 8hrs. 4min.
35 - Jacob Huot - 8hrs. 4min.
36 - Bjorn Christianson - 8hrs. 6min.
37 - Landon - 8hrs. 11min.
38 - Kid Riemer - 8hrs. 12min.
39 - James McGuire - 8hrs. 17min.
40 - Brad Wilson - 8hrs. 21min.
41 - Dale Dahl - 8hrs. 21min.
42 - Susannah King - 8hrs. 23min. (First Open Womens)
43 - T-Baggins - 8hrs. 27min.
44 - Bryan Cochran - 8hrs. 53min.
45 - Molly Cochran - 8hrs. 53min. (Second Open Womens)
46 - Dennis Mairet - 8hrs. 58min.
47 - Edward Younk - 8hrs. 58min.
48 - Jason Hicks - 9hrs. 3min.
49 - Randy Anderson - 9hrs. 3min.
50 - Kevin Clay - 9hrs. 10min.
51 - David Hanks - 9hrs. 11min.
52 - Brent Bruessel - 9hrs. 13min.
53 - Jose Pascual - 9hrs. 25min.
54 - Garrick Yoong - 10hrs. 28min.
55 - Erik Sudheimer - 10hrs. 28min.
56 - Rooster - DNF
57 - Robert Green - DNF
58 - Michael Fox - DNF
59 - Alex Anderson - DNF
That's all for now, maybe more later.
Monday 05/19/2008 | 03:19 pm
Brian on Monday 05/19/2008 | 03:53 pm
Nice freaking job on Saturday!! Woot!
*this post was moved from the previous post*
Gunnar on Monday 05/19/2008 | 04:01 pm
Thanks Brian. This was truely an epic ride. I'm really hopeing that I can do it again next year. It was a blast. Who knows maybe one year I'll do Trans Iowa, Ragnarok and Almanzo for a triple crown attempt.
Gunnar on Tuesday 05/20/2008 | 08:35 am
Thanks GB and John. The great thing is that I really think that everyone who even started the event, is pretty hardcore. I mean, I was thinking the friday before, that maybe I just wasn't up to it. 100 mile is hard enough. But 100 on gravel? Jeepers-Creepers!
Squirrel on Wednesday 05/21/2008 | 10:20 am
Great Job....no way in hell was I going to keep a pace like that even without the mechanicals. I'd like to break the 7hr mark for next year though.
Peace
Gunnar on Thursday 05/22/2008 | 03:14 pm
Squirrel - Thanks. I think it's amazing that you finished, let alone made some decent time with all the equipment problems you had. Any lesser man (like myself) would have bailed once the cog spun off. And talk about hardcore! Not only did you do it fixed, had your cog spin off and fixed it using crude tools. But you went into the race brakeless. That's hard-core! With a capital hard! There would have been no way I could have kept control on some of those descents without a brake. Plus it was nice to be able to unclip and "coast" down alot of them. Rock on man!
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