A Tale of Two Races (prelude)

Mother's Day fun (that's a flower hat)

It's hard to try to put down in words the Almanzo experience. I could just tell you the facts, try to describe the route and wind, try to explain the places we went - both physically and mentally, or some variation of the above. I've tried to package the race in my own mind these last few days without much luck.

The trusty steed

103 gravel miles is a lot in some respects and a nice accomplishment that I'm very proud of, but it is just a step in the greater picture of my riding goals. I don't want to make too much of it, but I do want to try to describe the race, the feelings, the facts, the bike set-up, and the nutrition used. Not all of it will be entertaining, but I hope it will be helpful, at least to me when I go forward with some of my cycling goals.

View from behind

The week prior is a bit of a blur. It was one of the busier weeks with a trip to the Cities for Mother's day on Sunday, a trip back to the Cities for a Bruce Springsteen concert with my brother (it was awesome, by the way), bike club responsibilities, work, Wife out of town, etc, etc. I only got on the bike once which was less than ideal. I spent most of the week in between the above responsibilities obsessing over the details with Big D. I guess just like any big goal that is upcoming the planning and anticipation is part of the fun.

Finally got the bike and myself packed Friday afternoon just before leaving for Rochester. I had decided to try to keep everything off of my back as I had done previous rides with an overloaded pack and it didn't turn out well. I had my water in a Camelbak bladder in my frame pack, my Endurolytes and camera in the top tube pack, Perpetuem in the water bottles, and Hammer Gel flasks in my jersey pockets. It worked really well and a system that I will repeat on future adventures.

The view I would get used to (except with gravel under-tire)

We arrived in Rochester around 9:30 or so, just enough time to grab a couple of beers at Newt's bar downtown Rochester. They were tasty, but looking back, we should of been packing and preparing bikes for the morning instead. Oh well, it all worked out in the end.

Coming up: the start and the easy leg of the race.

JRA

Scott S.