I have never raced this event or even been in the state of Minnesota. It’s on my calendar - Aug 1st. What tires do people run? anyone done it and have tips? thnx
@Dbecker27 I’ve never done the event but grew up in southern Minnesota and have done many gravel rides in southern/rural MN. Expect very little (if any) technical terrain. My understanding is it’s relatively flat until the end where it nears the Mississippi and you should expect normal, compacted gravel roads. Occasional washboard sections and if you’re unlucky, recently graded roads (soft). IMHO, choose the fastest rolling tires you can fit on your bike (something like a Specialized Pathfinder or Hutchinson Caracal).
Good luck!
Headed to MN this Thursday. Setting up to be as aero as possible.
The tires I ran at Unbound last year are the best I’ve got on hand, so GravelKing X1+. I’m on the fence about upgrading my Osprey to a USWE, but don’t want to give up the extra litre of electrolyte.
I will be reaching for my trusty Pactimo onesie. Don’t know what else I have that I’ll use. I have the aero gloves, but wear full finger all the time now. I just can’t stand having my fingers be sticky, and between gels and carb mix in bottles on an 18 hour ride, I’m sure that’s not something I’ll be able to avoid.
I’ve done the damn once (2024) and was running rene herse snoqualmie pass tires at the time in the middle casing. They are slicks that a lot of people would consider “fragile”. They were great. The vast majority of your day will be on light gravel and pavement. Make it easier on yourself and run a fast tire. A hutchinson caracal race in 40 or 45 would be great. A conti terra speed, schwalbe g-one rs, tires like those are good.
As far as tips for the ride, I would have changed a couple things I did for sure. Despite it being more crowded if you stop where everyone else does, like the gas station about 80 or so miles in, the perk to stopping with the group is that when you leave you will still have people to ride with. I was with a huge group for the first 60ish miles and then stopped for my sag in a random spot. But no one else was stopping there so I then rode the vast majority of the rest solo or in random 1-3 person groups here and there. Stay with the group as long as possible. Everyone ends up in small groups or solo, but delay that. Second, I like getting my calories more from gels/food than from my bottles on a ride like this. You start at midnight, it can be cool or cold, you won’t need to drink a ton until the sun comes up so forcing yourself to drink to get fuel is not ideal. All that does is force you to do more pee stops.
It is a really fun event, assuming the weather is good of course. Pray for a westerly wind and it will go by quickly.
Well that was exceptionally hard. Nothing like 4-6" of rain to turn the first 180 miles into the highest rolling resistance surface known to human kind outside of Mid-South/Unbound Mud. I mean you could roll on it, but there was zero free wheeling using momentum on anything below a 4% grade.
My tires were rolling wet for the first 150 of the 155 miles I completed before the finishing math no longer mathed. Apparently this year’s edition had the highest DNF rate or close to it.
Groups pretty much fell apart by mile 40, at least the one I was in did, leaving me to ride solo for the next 95. Lots of lessons learned, that’s for sure. Midnight starts are rough. Hanging in the metropolis of Gary, SD for 10 hours was less than ideal too.
Props to Chase and the team for putting together a seamless event. Aid stations were perfect and the atmosphere on the route was top notch. Based on the lessons learned, another attempt could be on the books. We’ll see how my medical (heart) issues get sorted before making that call again.
Yeah, I’m not sure how I’d go about this. Too early for much of any sleep before hand. I think I’d rather get a decent sleep the night before and just push into the next day with something like a 5 am start time
I had enough adaptation in the Military that opportunistic napping is not a problem for me. The only thing that’s changed is I appreciate more comfortable spaces as I’ve gotten older. A picnic table in Gary, SD isn’t quite ideal for it, nor being outside when the temp hovers just at the dewpoint and you just feel damp for hours on end waiting for the start.