Almanzo 100 Training

I've been thinking a lot about my "race" (survival) strategy for the Almanzo 100. As such I've also been googling up as much info on the course as I can. Route. Climbing. Refueling. Road conditions.

I'd been thinking I might need to haul all my food and water for 100 miles. That looks incorrect. There is a town (Preston, MN) just off course at mile 40. There is at least one gas station, and it seems several restaurants. That is good news. With food and fluids available there, I shouldn't have to overload the bike with stuff, nor will I need a larger hydration pack. Heck, I might not need to run a bladder in the frame pack, just the two bottles and the 2L hydropack I currently own should be fine. I will take the second bladder along, in case the weekend shows unusually warm weather.

I'm going to be testing out some nutritionals. Specifically Hammer's Endurolytes and Perpetuem. I'll be sticking with my GU assortment (Mint Chocolate, Mandarin Orange, and Espresso Love) as well as Powerbar Blasts (Raspberry) and Bars (several types to keep from getting bored).

I've ordered a new, lower geared, lighter crankset for the 700CX. I'd been testing and riding lots of hills and a decent amount of gravel and found that I'm not geared low enough. With the additional effort of pushing the too high gears, I take too long to recover from the climb to hammer on the flats. Basically I was never getting out of the small ring. The new Shimano SLX M665 with its 36/22 ratios will be better in that regard than the Origin8 40/28. I could have switched to the 12-36 cassette instead of the 11-28, but find the jumps between gears too wide for my tastes, and it leaves me always looking for a gear in-between what's available. Anyone looking for a slightly used 12-36 9sp? I'll make you a killer deal.

Tyres. I'm currently rolling some Maxxis Beavers. They're for sloppy conditions. Pretty knobby, slightly less so than Nobby Nics, but much more than Racing Ralphs. They hook up really well in the muck, but really don't leave enough clearance in those conditions. I fully believe they're 2-3mph slower on pavement than any other tyre I have for that bike, but I'm training on them with the goal of wearing them out for the extra resistance they offer. from what I'm reading about the roads, I'm pretty sure I could roll any of the three other choices I have, Kenda Kozmik Lite II 700x50, Kenda Happy Medium 700x40 or Conti Contact XL 700x42. I need to test the Happy Mediums a bit more, but they could get the nod.

Goals for the event:
There's a 12hr time limit. That's Goal #1
It's been over 2 years since it's taken me longer than 10hrs for a century (though none of those has been gravel.) So 10hrs is Goal #2
Goal #3 is Sub 8hrs. If I stay on top of my fueling plan and the roads are as I suspect, I should be able to make that. Barely.

Death March 2012

After having so much fun last year at the Gravel Grovel, I couldn't wait to give the Death March a go. Put on by the same people, Sub9 (<9) in the same area of Hoosier National Forest, it promised to be a lot of fun. After trying to get some of the guys who did the Grovel with me to sign up as my teammate, I finally got a team together with Asher.

The Death March requires visiting ancient cemeteries as checkpoints, spread throughout the area, and no published route is provided. You can take MTB trail, roads, etc. Whatever you think will be fastest for you. No order is given for visiting them, and most are option, resulting in time deductions.

Since my route had us passing back by the van at about half way, I planned to eat there and keep extra tubes gels and such there, traveling a bit lighter than I did on the Grovel. But after my rather disappointing ride on Combs "Road" last year decided to beef up the tread a bit. Maxxis Beavers. Barely heavier than the Kozmik Lite II's from last year, but in a fuller, rounder, knobbier mud tread. These roll pretty well, have a very supple casing, and are the fattest tyres I can fit. They were very secure on Combs "Road", never slipping and offering great control. They were slower everywhere else.

Okay, we start! After waiting for a large portion of the fast guys to roll out, we start out from the camp, rolling up the hill and turning right. Our first goal was Fleetwood, a plan that was quickly crashed by it being one of the chosen mandatory stops. Overran with people trying to get photos, we opted to get it on the way back on the first loop and head straight for Combs "Road", as that was the shortest way to Elkinsville Cemetery for another of the required checkpoints.We get there in about 54minutes. One hour in, one checkpoint down...hold on how many are there again? We get our photos, eat drink and head to the next required checkpoint, Lutes.

Lutes is new to the Death March this year and is quite far to the East compared to the rest of the cemeteries. Our route had us going from Elkinsville, through Story and around following Mt Nabb Rd. Notice the Mt. in Mt. Nabb...one of the longer (planned) climbs for the day. We're now another 1:38 in with only 2 checkpoints...this isn't going as planned...and unbeknownst to us, it's about to be going less well.

Leaving Lutes, we get in with a pack of mountain bikes and follow, thinking they're going to Hanner, the next required checkpoint...well, they weren't and before we realized it were about six uphill miles off course, nearly completely doubling back to the top of Mt Nebo Rd!!! Turns out the guys on the squishy bikes were heading to the trailhead for the mtb trail to head towards Elkinsville! Not good. After consulting our maps, and pulling out our phones to confirm we weren't where we wanted to be, our only choice was to back track to where we wanted to be.

 

With another 1H24M wasted, we're still only 2 checkpoints complete and have been at this for about 4 hours! Last years winning team took 4.5H to do the whole thing. We decide that we should complete our loop and enjoy some tacos. This means we'll still get in 3 more checkpoints, but be short one of the required spots. Getting there requires going over Buffalo Pike, a climb that averages over 10%, peaks around 27% and is just short of a mile. Walking ensues. Even with that, a rather short 36 minutes later, we're finally bagging our 3rd checkpoint. We talk with other riders for a few and head to the next, Cornett.

 

Hanner to Cornett takes a short 19 minutes, and we're then heading back to finally get Fleetwood and tacos. 30 minutes later, we're back at the van.  5 checkpoints. 42 miles. 3426' of climbing. DNF.