Midsouth Gravel 100 2024

[charliedid]

Have a great ride.

[BRad704]

We’re HEEEeeerree.

Shake out ride

[spoonrobot]

Hope everybody kept the rubber side down. Every Strava activity I looked at earlier today mentioned crashing or narrowly missing a crash. Woof.

Drew Dillman looks like he's going to have a great race video put up on Youtube in the next couple days. The reel he posted on Instagram is exciting.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4l8_TouQ4p/

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

Hope everybody kept the rubber side down. Every Strava activity I looked at earlier today mentioned crashing or narrowly missing a crash. Woof.

Drew Dillman looks like he's going to have a great race video put up on Youtube in the next couple days. The reel he posted on Instagram is exciting.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4l8_TouQ4p/

The roads were definitely in worse condition and quite a bit gnarly earlier than last year because they got some rain early in the year and the trucks run it up the roads and it never got repaired. It’s been dry here for quite a while and so they’re basically hard concrete ruts at this point. All part of the adventure. I didn’t see any crashes firsthand, but I did pass a group that was tending to a rider down after a nasty downhill. A few minutes later in an ambulance passed us headed that way.

My buddy that I’m here with had some tire pressure issues throughout the day, but still managed to finish just under 7 1/2 hours. And he’s not stopped talking about how great this whole event was.

I had probably the most perfect circumstances in every situation all day. I thought we were lining up late, but we ended up in the front half of the actual corral to start. Being on the single speed I was probably one tooth under geared, but very thankful for that later in the day, so my legs weren’t blown up. I rode the creek which was a complete non-issue. Fun to have people watching you do that and cheering specifically for you in that moment. Then I linked up with two other single speeds inside a group of about 10 people, and we all rolled together from about mile 15 all the way to Perry at mile 50. One other young guy named Conor on a single speed and I stayed together almost the entire day and didn’t get separated until he started cramping about mile 80. I solo into the single track and only had to pass three people in the entire single track, Ware last year , there was tons of traffic and constant stopping on the single track. I started doing the math to calculate my potential time after leaving the lake and knew I could keep pushing for a good time. Cross the line and got my hug from Bobby at 5:59:50. HELL. YESSS.

[BRad704]

[LadyDog]

Sounds like fun(in a painful sort of way). Looks you had a blast though, so kudos.

Looks like white helmets are optional.

[shoota]

Good job! Way to ride the creek, even the pros didn't do that hehe

[kppolich]

Nice Brad! Sitting on my buddy Alex's wheel there on the All-City.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by LadyDog

Sounds like fun(in a painful sort of way). Looks you had a blast though, so kudos.

Looks like white helmets are optional.

lol we joked about that before the race, seeing the seal of white helmets.

Originally Posted by shoota

Good job! Way to ride the creek, even the pros didn't do that hehe

i figured they would be clear enough to ride the walking path on the far left. I hit it mid-left and it was totally fine. I’ll never wait to walk that again.

Originally Posted by kppolich

Nice Brad! Sitting on my buddy Alex's wheel there on the All-City.

So that was a kid named Connor from Minneapolis, also SS and we stayed together almost all day.

[kppolich]

40x18?

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by kppolich

40x18?

Yah 40x18 for me.
Connor was 40x17
Becca 38x17. She got away from us at the 50 mile aid station. But went on to win Women's SS in 5:52.

I can't think of a single "moment" that cost me time. So my plan for next year is to just be stronger. It's going to take a heavier gear and better legs to shave any time off.

[charliedid]

Like

[NHAero]

Brad you are my new hero
You rode 101 miles with 5,600 ft of elevation on gravel, fording rivers, etc. in under 6 hours? Holy moly. On a SS. Double moly.
I looked at the route. You must have had to slow way down at the turns, they're all 90 degree corners
Nice riding!

[StressStrain]

Well done! Fantastic ride. Must have been a real thrilling push at the end to finish under 6 hours.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Brad you are my new hero
You rode 101 miles with 5,600 ft of elevation on gravel, fording rivers, etc. in under 6 hours? Holy moly. On a SS. Double moly.
I looked at the route. You must have had to slow way down at the turns, they're all 90 degree corners
Nice riding!

The flat corners weren’t really an issue, it was the downhill 90° corners that got sketchy. At least twice I remember bombing through a corner and pushing wide all the way into the grass on the exit.

Originally Posted by StressStrain

Well done! Fantastic ride. Must have been a real thrilling push at the end to finish under 6 hours.

Cloud 9. For real. I’m still stoked on it.