Race Report

What a day! I want to start off and thank Kings Wine Bar for the delicious sliders, soda pop, bananas and snickers. Thems be some good vittles so get there and feed, drink and you will be merry.

From WDB 2012

A huge thanks goes out to HED for that awesome wheelset. They are in all the tours and their support outweighs even the largest Bikers Anonymous meeting. A real class act!!
A big shout out to Planet Bike for their continued support. They have the goods when it comes to fenders, lights, computers and bacon! You need that, check them out. They from Madison so we have much respect!
We can't say enough good about Banjo Brothers. They have the best Q card holder in the business. While that may be AGRS-centric, it is just the beginning. There are bags for all nooks, crannies, and corners of a bike so pick your place and there is a bag that they make for that.
The team at Twin Six really got it going on! They make us look and feel good. Plus, Brandon Krawczyk, winner of the first Dirty Benjamin is on their team. Thems some ties that go back to day 1.
When in Northeast Mpls, stop on over at Behind Bars and check the wares. You got a dog with you? Bring it on in. Dogs be welcome...otherwise they'd make me stand outside bdum-ching.
You ride around and your back be aching...How about the knees? What you may need is a quality bike fitting. Hollywood Cycles is the place to go. It's right off the greenway (heh heh) so stop on in and rock on!
How about those nifty cell phone cases. I hope you grabbed one of those treats from Donkey Label. They are a smart case for your smart phone. If you have an Angry Birds obsession, you can play out in the rain now since the touch screen works when the phone is inside the case!! That is some straight alien technology!!
As always, hugs, fist bumps, Milli Vanilli chest bumps and whiskey shots to Hurl at Cars-R-Coffins. I was hoping to snag a pair of those sox but they were gone with the quickness!!

From WDB 2012

Those fine people/businesses provide great support so that nobody goes home empty handed after rolling a gravel century. Also, big thanks to Karyn, Kuan and David for the volunteer help. The day would have not run near as smooth without you!!!
A bright and early arrival to Schimelpfenig park started the day and we were not the first ones there. Registration was set up and folks came by steady.

From WDB 2012

It was good to see a mix of folks from the commuter, bike love, cx, xc, gravel, and road scenes from all over the upper midwest state areas.

From WDB 2012

Come 8:00 am is was time for staging and a mist/drizzle began to blanket us all.

From WDB 2012

The racing started with a light rain as we rolled out of Chaska and onto Carver. The light rain may have made a few wonder what they got into but the trail out of Carver was a thriling surprise! I don't know if it was the firepit in the middle of the trail or the tree downed that forced some single file CX action early on, but once cleared, there were hoots and hollers. Excitement was on and so were the 159 gravel junkies. Throughout the day there were sporadic rain showers so it was a crapshoot as to whether you would get caught in one. They kept the dust down and with the lack of wind, the speeds were up! The checkpoint at the 61 mile mark was reached in a litle over 3 hours!! The initial pack was about 25 large and

From WDB 2012

rolled in and out with the quickness. The last 45 miles were in front and it was competitive. They had some serious spoils of the battle

From WDB 2012

By the time the leaders reached the Brraapp!! section, the pack was down to about a dozen with many not far behind. About 7 miles before the finish, 4 broke free and decided to hit each other with all they got...Attack! Close the gap! Attack!....Brian Koeneman, Hollywood Henderson, Ted Loosen, and Keith Bianchi ended in a group sprint in that order. With Brian taking the Open Men class in 5:30 with an average speed of over 19.5 mph!! WTF? On gravel? Ben Doom came in two minutes later on a single speed! That's right, 5:32 for 107 miles on a single...over 19.5 mph...Give him some glasses and puffy pants cause it was Hammer Time!

From WDB 2012

Only 3 minutes later, coming in at 5:35 was Linda Sone taking it for the women. Not only is she the National Womens 40-44 CX Champ, she is also one of my heros! Tough as nails! Rounding out the awards was John Thompson coming in at 5:50 and leading a competitive 50+ field. True studs!
Folks continued to come in until the sweeper, Garrick Yoong came in at 10:41. You think he may have suffered out there for that time but I saw him at the checkpoint and he was prepared. I think his stash of 4 White Castle sliders got him through the last 45 miles.

From WDB 2012

Thanks to all who came out! You really made it a great day!! Also congrats to number 86, Dan Jansen for winning the raffle for the HED Ardennes!! And finally, email us if one of the bags below is yours. We can arrange a drop.

From WDB 2012