First event of the year and first flat I’ve had on tubeless (road, gravel, mountain, fat). Got about a 1 inch gash in the tread and had to throw in a tube + candy wrapper as a boot. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary–must’ve just hit a rock wrong.
No, I went south to pre-ride stage 1 for La Grind. Severe storms in the forecast by mid day and wind from the south made a south ride more appealing in case weather turned bad. Mud wasn’t really an issue, I was just a dumb ass and took a bad line into a rut at the wrong time. About 20 miles into a 100m ride and I’m scraping 5 pounds of mud off my bike. Crazy how fast it happens (probably less than 2 seconds today) and it’s game over if you keep pedaling. I was riding with a buddy who lives in Emporia and he was quite impressed with my line choice.
Planning to hit the north course over a couple days, hoping I get weather windows to make it doable without too much mud walking.
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Not so much… I got all of the north course (2021 version) in over the last couple days. Monday was the northern section (chunkier and most of the climbing). Left from Eskridge and made it all of 1 mile before having to start clearing mud. Rough start with multiple stops clearing mud and then sidewall cut all in the first 10 miles. That first stretch coming out of eskridge was brutal, chunkiest and most washed out gravel all day (or maybe I just wasn’t ready for the kick in the nuts). I put a freshly waxed chain on for this…
It was so early in the ride, I could only laugh and figured there is no way the entire course could be like that or it would be a 20+ hour day. The rest of the day was good, mix of chunk, some mud, and some chill gravel. Even the “smooth” gravel in that area has a lot of flint in it, much more prone to random punctures I assume (and I got 2 additional punctures on my front tire). I was by myself and really careful with line choice, but some of those sections are just fine flint gravel that can’t be avoided. A bunch of roads were recently graded, which might have made things worse (no ruts, but not compacted) and hopefully will get compacted by race day. Either way, I’m going 3x normal sealant volume and bringing extra c02 and my mini pump. I’ll also run 42’s rather than 47’s if it’s muddy. Much easier to clear mud quickly with my fingers with the smaller tires.
Today was the “easy” southern portion of the north course, but my legs were cooked and wind was blowing steady near 30mph in the afternoon and felt like it was gusting at 50+ on some parts of the course. The return is a lot of cross and head and it was scary at times. I stopped once and struggle to get back on my bike it was blowing so hard. I’ve gotten my wind prep this week for sure.
About 350 miles of chunky gravel in the last 4 days and my body hurts everywhere. That’s really why I’m here. Seeing the course and dealing with the mud and wind will make those mentally easier if they happen on race day, but I needed to get my body used to riding chunk since I’ve basically done nothing off road this year. It’s supposed to rain the next couple days, so I’ll probably be taking it easy prior to the Stage race this weekend (rain in forecast for that also, so should be fun).
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Sounds like a solid ride
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Sounds horrible! The things we consider “fun”. It’s amazing people pay for this. 
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Just saw on the schedule that the 200 doesn’t start until 6:30 now, presumably to make room for the pros. Not making beating the sun any easier…
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Better get on that horse.
Wonder how the start will be, will it be stimulus fast with out pros ?
I bet it will still be pretty fast. I get why they (probably) made this change, but it’s a net negative for the (paying) amateurs who will have to wait around even longer at the start line if they want to be there when the pros start (or don’t notice the change). Also 30 minutes more out in the heat and 30 minutes less for folks needing the full 21 hours…
I agree. 30min is too long
At 6am I will want to just get it done
I’m guessing the push to 6:30 is to create more separation between the pro women and the fast amateurs. Last year, it was a small gap and there was mixing of the fields pretty quick. With 25 minutes gap, it won’t make sense for a pro women to roll easy-ish out of town and wait for a nice train to jump on. Certainly doesn’t make beating the sun or making time cutoff any easier.
Amateurs didn’t start with the pros last year, so I don’t expect the amateur start dynamic to be any different this year. It was pretty fast last year (until the mud), but not as fast as what I’m used to when pros are pushing the start. I was able to stay with lead group with a decent effort until the mud and normally I’m dropped early in gravel races if there are pros at the front pushing. If they use the north course start from 2021 and we have a typical south wind, the start will still be a drag race for the first ~27miles. All smooth gravel on wide roads. At 27 miles, there is a decent chunky/sketchy section with some downhills that will destroy a bunch of tires.
Thanks, I was wondering how this was going to play out in 2021 I got popped out of the lead group at mile 45 when my chain came off. Sounds like I should be able to hang in the lead group this year a tad longer without the pros. I hope we have a northern wind to stay hidden the first 60 miles.
It was like this last year. For some reason, I was thinking it was 6:10 but looked at last years schedule and it was 6:30
Yeah, when I did it (or attempted it 
) in 2019, it was about then when I sat up…up until then, it ws relatively easy to sit in the group. I was ~100-150th place in the group and could see the pink EF jerseys at the front easily, but when we hit that section I knew that was the time for me sit up and let the group go.
Came down a little descent and it got REAL chunky and I hit the rip cord.
Presumably the “beat the sun cutoff” was just 30 minutes shorter last year, around 14h20m instead?
Last year started at 6:10 for amateurs. Or maybe 6:13 if you got caught by the train crossing.
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so who is going to carry lights?
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Carry? hell no.
Have available with my support crew at the second stop? Yes.
Praying hard they will be unnecessary? Absolutely. 
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What tires did you run? 3 flats doesn’t sound great.
I thought I remembered 6:10. Maybe they can just start at 8am so I can sleep later and maybe add a 30 mile road section.
Pathfinder 47’s at a little under 30psi. The sidewall cut happened on a really chunky/rutted/steep uphill that I probably would have been better served to walk (I walked several others after that rather than risking another flat). I was being super careful with line choice, but it’s just tough on the really steep rutted climbs where you are basically grinding through a loose pile of rock.
I kind of group the surface into 3 buckets out there -
Super chunk - some steep uphills and downhills with ruts and wash out. If there weren’t huge chunks of flint in the mix, it wouldn’t be a big deal and you could just roll a lot of this. These are where you can end you day if trying to make time through these sections (particularly on the downhills). There isn’t a ton of this, but much more than south course and much more flint (it’s not the white rounded gravel).
Maintained gravel - these are roads where gravel has been brought in and is usually compacted. It’s usually white, but I did see a bit of flint mixed in the further north I got. Low risk of puncture if you are watching you line.
Native roads/gravel - these are often just unmaintained dirt roads with rocks. Sometimes gravel added, but native stuff with lots of flint. Even when it’s fine, it’s still like riding through a road filled with glass fragments. Line choice can help (sometimes grassy/smooth in the middle), but many times it’s the only place to ride and you are just going to get a flat periodically. Both of my front flats happened on these roads and they were near center tread. One sealed after losing air (never saw sealant coming out), the other was bigger and might have sealed, but I stuck a strip in and continued fine after adding air. A lot of these roads were recently graded, so probably looser and more exposed flint than usual, so that might have contributed.
My thoughts coming away - It will take a good bit of luck to go without tire issues on race day. I won’t be bombing descents, but I know I’ll need to go faster on those sections than I did on the pre-ride if I want to stay with fast groups. Probably faster to roll the dice on a few plug and fills during the race vs. babying every chunky section on race day. Just need to avoid big cuts, putting in tubes, etc.
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