almanzo gentlemans ride

on Saturday September 24th i left Minneapolis at 6:10am with one goal in mind. crushing gravel. with David and Mikey on board, but on different teams we trekked down to spring valley Minnesota. once there, i oddly felt calm. im usually running around like a chicken with my head cut off. but given the format of the race. things felt different. i got my kit on. got the bike prepped chatted a bit with drew wilson and sam st. pierre, met andrew folpe our 4th team mate and set out.

the first 20miles or so were at a decent clip. about 20-22mph average not fast but not easy. drew lead most of the way trying to keep a large group together, so that straggles could hold on. roughly at mile 20 drew decided it was time to let things go. we fell off the back of the pack and settled into about a 17mph pace.  not a race winning pace but fuck its the gentleman's ride, we were there for the fun. and fun it was. at that pace, we were not only able to chat, but we were also slowly able to reel in teams that couldnt keep up with the fast racers. we over took a few and had one or two overtake us.

andrew was the man at setting the pace and keeping us going when drew wasnt leading. sam was the man for helping me to ride smarter by constantly reminding me to suck a wheel and not work alone. and drew, well drew was my biggest help. by every hour or so reaching for a gel pack, looking back at me and wiggling his. time to eat up boy. and eat i did. with out that i would have surely suffered.

well to be honest i did suffer a bit. i bonked hard at mile 40. ive not had the summer i dreamed of and well my conditioning going into the event was not were it should have been. but with everyone's help i was able to hold on, recoup and catch my second wind and power through. at the end of it all i had a blast. we were out for a total time of 6hrs and 28min, 6hrs and 6min was our total elapsed ride time with a completed mielage of 99.8miles of minimum maintenance and gravel roads .now that i have a gravel grinder of my own, well as soon as i pay dan for the frame, ill for sure be doing more of these events.

so what about dave and mikey. well they were on their own team, finishing a full 4hrs behind us. i left them a not and the key to my car. call me when your done. off to drink beers.