Monday, May 14, 2012

Dirty Kanza 200 Prep

No posts lately due to spending almost all of my spare time the last month and a half preparing the body and the bike for the Dirty Kanza 200. 12 - 18 hour weeks on the bike have been the norm. It has been tiring, and it has been tough balancing work, home and riding, but I think I have things in a reasonable state, and the date is almost here. Have had a lot of 200 and nearly 300 mile weeks in my legs, with a good mix of short and long rides, plus intervals, gravel rides, and some mountain biking.

I've had some friends along on various training rides, but there's been a lot of riding alone, which is good as it gives me time to focus on my goal, which is to finish this beast of a race in 15 hours - an average speed of 13.6 MPH for 205 miles. This means minimal time off the bike, a flawlessly executed plan at the checkpoints, no hydration or nutrition mistakes, and some luck.

With 2 weeks of training left before a bit of taper before the race, time is running out. My weight is close to where I want it, and I have almost everything dialed in on the bike, other than some lighting decisions. JJ Bailey at Zoom Performance has been instrumental in getting me to where I'm at now. With a few tweaks these final three weeks, I'm going to be in the best shape I've ever been in for this event.

For now, I leave you with this. This beautiful, but isolated scenery is what keeps drawing me back to this race time and time again. You can lose and find yourself out here all at once. Click for a better view.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve, good luck on your race!!

Pete

Courtney Hilton said...

You are in better shape than me...I hope to finish in 18 hours....

Steve Fuller said...

Pete - Thanks, it's going to be a fun adventure no matter what. :)

Courtney - You're in better shape than you think. Minimize the time off your bike as much as possible and keep pedaling and you will be fine. There's a lot of luck involved in finishing this race.

Ari said...

Good luck Steve. Maybe next year I will join you since I am coming back to the midwest. I finished DK last year and it was 98 degrees at its hottest. I had a bladder in my tangle and two bottles. Eat sandwiches, pickles and chips at the rest stop and keep an eye out for the course since some locals like to play tricks on the riders. Be prepared for a surprise storm out of nowhere. I rode 35c extremes but I think I would recommend wider tires since there is more rocks than T.I.
best to you buddy,
Ari Andonopoulos
Slender Fungus Cycling Association

Adventure Monkey said...

Good luck Steve! See you in E-town soon.