Day Across Minnesota 240 Mile Gravel Race
http://the-damn.com/
I got talked into signing up for this over the winter. Its a week away and getting really anxious. I almost backed out but my wife wouldn't hear it and went ahead and booked all the flights and hotels. Anyone else attending or going to be in the area? |
Interesting ride. Had not seen that one yet. A couple good local sponsors.
Gary, SD to Hager City, WI correct? That was the only route info I could find in the archives. Can you ride any path you choose to get there or is there a prescribed route because it is a gravel race? Interesting that the route would appear to be close to inline with the Luce Line trail that runs out of Minneapolis about 78 miles to the West IIRC. If you can choose your own path at all and are riding gravel anyway, the Luce Line could be a nice part of the route. Good luck with the race! |
@kingpin75s
I believe we will be given cue sheets at each checkpoint. You have to arrive at each one within the time limit to be able to continue. I am mostly worried about starting at midnight and not having any sleep. Also this will be my first real gravel ride. |
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riding gravel for the first time in the dark on no sleep sounds like a recipe for problems. also, dont underestimate how much riding off pavement will slow you down. "gravel" is sure fun to ride, but you just dont generally carry as much speed as you would on blacktop. |
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Hopefully the gravel on the west side of the state where you are starting will be ok, I ride in the Granite Falls and Redwood Falls areas along the MN river valley quite a bit and I know that area (South of your route) uses really chunky cheap fill for their roads and it makes for really tough riding without pretty fat tires. You will certainly see a mix of road conditions I expect and sounds like a heck of a grind. Make sure your lights get you to morning and focus on enjoying the moment as this is your first time. If you need to bail, do so. Ride hard, do what you can finishing or not and just have fun! Always wanted to do a midnight century but this is certainly a bit beyond. |
@angryscientist
might not sound like the best idea but I love a challenge. I've been riding my cross/gravel bike as much as I can on the lowest psi possible to get a better feel. I've put in a bunch of centuries this year and feeling confident. @kingpin75s my wife and brother will be meeting me at the checkpoints for food and water. a friend of mine is friends with he organizer and she told me that the course is not as technical or difficult as dirty kanza. I believe this is to give the riders a chance to actually finish. The weather forecast is looking good and my plan is to just finish as much as I possibly can. Thanks for the kind words! |
i wish you the best of luck jensenn!
be careful and have fun! bring us some good pictures and a ride report when you get back. :beer: |
Looks like a sick race! I plan on signing up next year.
Good luck Jensenn! Remember: even if you get lost, dirty, bloodied, or generally downtrodden, don't forget to keep a grimy grin on your grill!! It will help :D |
thanks guys! here's a quick update.
due to the storms yesterday, planes couldn't get into the airports in the east coast. so American Airlines cancelled our flight to Minnesota this morning and put us on the first flight tomorrow. This means that we'll get to Minneapolis around lunch time. Crossing my fingers they don't lose my bike. Grab our rental car and drive across the state to South Dakota. Put my bike together and hopefully get a nap in. Then at midnight, start riding my bike. Guess no trip is complete without any mishaps. Will make a good story some years later |
Good luck!
Logistics, ride and all! |
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1st through 5th rocked the house, averaging 18.02 mph and finishing 5 seconds apart. That seems pretty strong for that kind of course.
Did you make it to the start OK? |
We made it to the start just fine except we were already exhausted.
The race was very well organized and everyone was so nice and welcoming.! I felt great throughout the whole ride until around mile 170 and I tweaked my knee riding through a deep sandy section. Pain kept getting worse and knee was getting swollen so I decided to call it at the 3rd checkpoint on mile 183. Didn't think it'd be very smart to ride another 4 hours on a busted knee and risk some type of serious injury. I'll definitely be back next year. We stayed an extra 3 days and we really enjoyed our time here. Hope to see/meet some of you guys as well I'll post some pictures once we get back home |
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That looks awesome! I love riding in southern MN but haven't ever gone that far west, most everything I've ridden is on the eastern side of I35.
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