WTF hundee...

Made our way to Manhattan, KS yesterday morning. Craigio, myself, & FOB in one car w/ Cornbread & MW following in the Disco.  Gravel Conspiracy was on the agenda, 110 miles of flint hills gravel & B roads.  I considered this a recon trip, a chance to check out the area & test my equipment setup for Dirty Kanza in 2 weeks.  Below:  start was in Cico park, our first stop was the provided facilities... 

Just about to get under way.  FOB, MW, & Cornbread breaking it down...
Fast forward to the post event festivities.  I guess I could have taken pictures along the way but my camera phone could not have captured the beauty of this region.  I'll have to send you over to Cornbread's site for pictures out on the course, when he gets a chance to post them.  Below: finish line barbeque, the guy with the chops...event winner Mark Smelser.
Cornbread & Mr. Sunflower Dan Hughes rolled in together for a mutual 2nd place slot...to Dan's right is event promoter Joshua Stamper.  This guy put on a great show!  Beautiful route, supported aid stations out in the middle of nowhere, & a super-positive attitude.  Great energy. A big thanks to Joshua & his wife & everyone who made this happen.  Dude even went in to his kitchen & made me a pasta/mushroom dish when he found out I was vegetarian.  Then he did it again when MW rolled in!  Above and beyond... 
MW & FOB roll in...
So that's the positive...here's the other side of my story.  I rolled in 4th, 17.0 avg elapsed time which includes a couple brief stops at the checkpoints.  Actually not too bad.  Here's my problem...Dan, Cornbread, & myself were in chase mode after Mark got away when a loose steer got in the middle of our group.  At mile 33 I felt the first of what would be numerous muscular alarm bells go off through out my day.  Are you f'n kidding me!  I rolled into the 40ish mile checkpoint 30 seconds behind Cornbread & Dan with Mark just heading back on course.  The three of us rolled out together with a tailwind.  Within the first mile I knew there was going to be trouble, cramp maintenance was to be my companion for the day.  I had to just let Dan & Cornbread roll away.  Truth be told, those two guys are tough as nails & riding great.  Unsure if I would have survived a full day of Cornbread killing the hills & Dan crushing the flats.  Unsure of alot of things right now.  Frustration, disappointment, disbelief are a few of my emotions at the moment.  Those who know me are aware that I'm a cramper but its almost always at the end of an event.  Hell, my triceps even cramped up. A first.  I only had one full blown lock, my left hamstring went rolling into Wamego.  I probably had 20 near misses where I had to stop pedaling, coast & hope for the best.  

I need to rethink my approach to Kanza...

Blah, blah, blah...the scenery was awesome, a beautiful day.  

Later,

TK