Thursday, August 29, 2013

Colesburg 40 2013 (20th Annual!!!!)

So this is the 20th Annual Colesburg 40 (will be Traci and my last year being race director, new director will be TBD).

Please go here for all the updated information: https://www.facebook.com/events/193147594196420/

VERY IMPORTANT: we are experimenting with a new race start location this year, so for everyone who has showed up for the last 20 some years we have a new start/finish location. It is at 200 Water St, Elkport, IA 52044. If you've done the race before this is right before the long paved climb about 2/3rds of the way into the race. This will be the starting hill this year.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Offical Colesburg 40 / 24, 2012 Results

2013 Race will be on Monday September 2nd (Labor Day Monday).

Official Results from 2012 Colesburg Gravel Race
Facts from 2012 Race
1. Longest Race Ever (45.something miles)
2. Longest Stone Saddle Time (due to #1, #5 and loose gravel conditions)
3. First Finish by a Road Bike
4. Most Level B Roads
5. Most Broken Hips

1st Over All: Matius Perret Mtn Male Long 2:35
1st Cross: Jeff Barnes Cross Male Long 2:36
1st Tandem: Kim & Brian Eppen Tandem Long 2:50

Kevin McConnell Cross Male Long 2:51
Mario Czarnomski Mtn Male Long 2:54
Chris Eastburn Cross Male Long 2:54
A.J. Turner Cross Male Long 2:59
Mike Dalton Mtn Male Long 3:02
Jeff Dalton Mtn Male Long 3:02
1st SS: Jed Gammell Mtn SS Male Long 3:02
1st Female: Robin Williams Cross Female Long 3:04
Sam Cohen Cross Male Long 3:04
1st Road: Lance Andre Road Male Long 3:05
Tom Scholz Cross Male Long 3:06
Ryan Nenninger Mtn Male Long 3:11
Brittany McConnell Cross Female Long 3:13
Brian Walsh Mtn Male Long 3:14
Isaac Salwolke Cross Male Long 3:14
John Moore Mtn Male Long 3:26
John Adamson ? Male Long 3:32
Jim Nemmers Mtn Male Long 3:37
Jeff Spahn Mtn Male Long 3:38
Kyle Williams Cross Male Long 3:39
Andy McCann Cross Male Long 3:40
Bruce Timmerm Mtn Male Long 3:45
Andrea Cohen Cross Female Long 3:46
Thomas Sulentic Mtn Male Long 3:46
Troy McDermott Cross Male Long 3:48
Jason Lewis Mtn Male Long 3:49
1st FatBike: Rob McKillip Fat Bike Male Long 3:54
Joe Behan Mtn Male Long 3:59
Mark Steen Mtn Male Long 4:06
Jerry Full ? Male Long 4:08
Karmen Woelber Mtn Female Long 4:12
Gary Bramel Mtn Male Long 4:26
Shann Lueth Cross Male Long 4:32
John Peters Mtn Male Long 4:35
Stone Saddle: John Bandt ? Male Long 5:15
James Dockal Cross Male Long DNF (Broken Hip)
Nathan Matje Mtn Male Long DNF
Jeff Stackis Mtn Male Long  DNF
Ross Lemery Kickbike Male Long DNF
Landon Beachy Cross Male Short 1:39
Juan Ochoa Mtn Male Short 1:41
Michael McConaue Mtn Male Short 1:42
Brett Noble Mtn Male Short 1:45
Kathleen Porter Mtn Female Short 2:08
Tom Goodman Mtn Male Short 2:38
Sandy Kilburg Mtn Female Short 2:38
Bill Klauer Mtn Male Short 2:38
Dione Klauer Mtn Female Short 2:38
Marge Leigh Mtn Female Short 2:38
Traci Andre Mtn Female Short 2:38
Bill Stoffel Mtn Male Short 3:10

Sunday, January 15, 2012

2012 Bike Maps







Thursday, October 6, 2011

Triple D 2012 Race Date Announced (Jan 15th, 2012)

See the official Triple D BlogSpot for more information and Updates.

Note: this year we've added a Half Marathon Distance for the runners and skiers.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Colesburg 40 2011 - Labor Day Monday (19th annual)


All the same details as the prior years!
===============================================================
Alright, if I can come up from Florida to put on this little gravel race, the least some of you locals can do is show up! So, here are the details on the race that no one wants to talk about (do to repressed memories of pain and suffering)…

When: September 5th 2011 (Labor Day Monday), Registration From 8:30 to 9:30 am, Racing starts at 10 am.

Where: Colesburg, Iowa (NW Corner of Town at the City park)

How Much:
Preregistered Solo Racer $20 / Tandem Team $30 (by Aug 21)
Prior Year Solo Racer $20 (Prereg not required)
Prior Year Tandem Team $30 Total (Prereg not required)
Day of event, $30 Single or $45 Tandem Team.

Awards: Cash (real $$$ bills)- lots of it, lottery style payout, the better you place the more tickets you get. Everyone gets at least one ticket for starting this wrenched event.

Race Director Contact: Lance André at (563) 543-2784 or Lance.Andre@Hotmail.com

General Details:

  • Sag supported with water
  • Well marked course (racer maps at sign-in)
  • Large Tandem Field
  • It's typically hot (bring two water bottles & a camelbak)
  • Mountain bikes and cycle-cross bikes recommended
  • Controlled ~1 mile paced start
Long Course: 41.5 miles of Gravel (some pavement) - Sport/Expert/Prolevel riders - expect long gravel hills & a finishing time typically within 5 min. of your Chequamegon 40 finish.
Direct Cash Payout for Record Time ($100).
$ pream on the first main climb ($30)*

Short Course: 24 miles of Gravel - Beginner/Sport level riders (finishing times range from 1:20 to 2:15+)

*Prem was first won in 2007 by Team Ergon pro rider Jeff Kerkove, who’s teammate beat Lance at Leadville last year and he finished 27th overall, unfortunately the locals made Jeff pay for that $ as he finished 4th behind the Eppens, Andre’s and Todd Gillihan. Last years Prem and Race was won by Radio Shack rider Jason McCartney with athority...

This race has a long history in Iowa bike racing…
4th annual: “I’ve had enough, I’m stopping for a beer, me too… ditto”
8th annual: “no race director” (he was thrown in jail, he’s now married to the gal that caused the whole thing)…
10th annual “Broken collarbone, and a stolen car (the racers stole it)”…
12th annual “Dog to Vet with broken ribs, bike to the repair shop”…
13th annual “9 racers lost (to the sound of deliverance)” we have since improved the course markings…
15th annual – “is it possible to endo a tandem?” Ask the Hirsch brothers…
16th annual - “bloodiest year yet, multiple emergency room visits” Slow down on those D&# downhill corners!
18th annual - Longer route with an additional Level B was brought back from the origianl route ran in year 1-5.

Click on the flyer to view a larger version... email me Lance.Andre@Hotmail.com for a PDF. You can also visit http://www.chainreactioncycling.org/ in a day or two for all the other information like a release form (to fill out ahead of time), detailed driving directions, a course map, etc.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Dirty Kanza 200 (DK200) - 200 Mile Gravel Race in Kansas

350 Racers, 200 miles of gravel and dirt (mud if it rains) roads, 99 Degrees, zero humidity, 30 mph winds, hail, lightning, unrelenting sun, rocks the size of a small childs head, open range cattle with fresh piles of natural fertilizer, self navigation, stream crossings, unsupported, and the occasional combine to play chicken with… yup its Dirty Kanza 200 time!
http://www.dirtykanza200.com/

From lances perspective, talk to Barbie for her recap (as her view of the race will be quite a bit different)
Prerace
After Alaska my recovery was going a bit slower than I wanted, due mainly to overuse injuries in my knees not the bones and was thinking that DK200 would end up the same way TransIowa did… I thought It might be fun to just ride DK200 to try to finish it and thought how about by tandem, that might be fun? Nobody had done it before and this was the first year an official tandem category was created, The DK route would not be tandem friendly (large loose rocks, long climbs, and long hours on the bike). I had asked a couple of stokers that I knew and between the reputation of DK200 race and myself I didn’t find any takers, so the mass email went out to prior DK200 racers (that got rid of the first issue, the second was gotten rid of by most of recipients not knowing about the risks that I take during a race), within about 2 hours of sending out the email I received about 30 responses from crazy unsuspecting racers wanting to give the tandem stoker position a try, only issue was most were WAY too big to comfortably fit on the back of Traci and my custom built VISCOUS 29’er tandem or they were recovering from a broken neck. The first eligible racer was Barbie Miller (Mesa Cycles). I had never met Barbie before but she fit the height requirements and she knew what she was getting in to (well at least with DK200 course). Later after a little research discovered that she is an endurance racing queen, so hum, this may be a fast race…
Our first meeting was when I arrived in Emporia the night before the race to setup the tandem (seat, bars, pedals, etc.). We got in a 30 minute ride with a couple intervals, then went to dinner to discuss strategies for the next day. Although Barbie was just getting over food poisoning from earlier in the week both of us felt we were in top shape for the race. The tandem had some fresh upgrades by Free Flight Bikes and was rolling smooth and WAY fast on a set of my favorite gravel weapons the Stan’s Crows. They were mounted to a new set of extra wide Flow rims laced to DT Ceramic Tandem Hubs… So, we decided that we would see how things play out early but would stay focused on a top 5 overall.

First leg to CP1
http://www.emporiagazette.com/photos/2011/jun/06/12926/
With the strong headwinds for the first leg of the race we decided it would be easy to keep out of trouble with the individual riders by simply riding at the front or off the front, but at a huge cost of effort. We tested the lead pack a couple times by upping the pace on the cross wind sections to see if we could thin the pack to a more reasonable size, but to no avail. It was obvious that everyone was motivated to put out that extra effort to protect themselves from the headwind. We decided to pace ourselves, back it off and do our time with caution in the larger pack and let the hills thin it out.
When the hills hit the amount of work required to climb a tandem with a pack of strong singles took a lot out of us. Nearing mile 30 mild cramps and maxed HR’s put us at the back of a quickly thinning lead pack, also the roads at this point were the classic DK200 loose rock and rutted ranch roads that were taking their revenge on the skinny tired bikes, we passed numerous top contenders who where stopping to fix flats. After numerous large hard hits at high speeds both our front and rear tires were flatting, however by this time the lead group was decimated and strung out over about a half mile. We rode the flat tires to a good spot and stopped. Quickly threw a CO2 in both tires and were off again only losing about 4 positions. This last section of the first leg was gently rolling and fast and with none of the lead riders working together we were able to get within a minute or two of 1st. About 2 miles before we reached CP2 our rear tire had again lost pressure, but we were close enough that we rode it flat to the CP to save time.

Second leg to CP2
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXcInHKUcAVZs26yGWEDErAJ3m-d0kGkt18vbM0dA-JHHWwXILHXi9VOpjA0pZArdvcSELyx5Aws4qr3gDiNLitR0lnNp6dSCIluP64Yu2BGn4rLe9xxD4-wEDQA0QE2lHk1om0m5fno/s1600/P6040048.JPG
Although we had a number of tasks to do at CP2 we stayed in 5th place and rolling into one of the easier sections of the race (long flat sections with tail winds) I knew with our over geared drive train and with as strong as we were riding that we’d catch the remaining riders in this section. Barbie and I put the hammer down and quickly had the first three riders in sight. Just as we were about to overtake 2nd and 3rd (Gunner and _______) place we rolled up on our next turn (according to the cue sheets), but this intersection was missing the course markings, adding to everyone’s confusion the first place rider went right on by this turn. After a couple of minutes of map review and convincing on my part the four of us made the correct decision and turned (finding course markings a couple intersections later reassured us that we were in fact on the right route). The pace settled a bit and discussions turned to family, favorite races, etc…

Third leg to CP3
Rolling out of CP3 the four of us rode at more of a weekend conversational pace for the first 20 minutes or so… Barbie and I slowly started lifting the pace with concern of being overtaken by chase riders. Although this leg of the race was primarily with the wind, the rising temps (nearly 98 degrees) and extremely low humidity had all the racers dropping fluids at alarming rates. Even with the copious amounts of fluids we took on at the last CP we were completely out with over an hour to ride. We had to back off to something that would get us to the last CP with enough life force to replenish and push on to the finish. Arriving at CP3, I was overheated, dehydrated and suffering from a very sick stomach. We had been pushing ourselves at a level that really wasn’t sustainable… Packed ice in our jersey’s, downed 3 bottles of water and rested for a good 15 minutes, it was time to get rolling again.

Last leg to Finish
One benefit of riding on a tandem is that you have two people to watch for turns and course markings, Barbie made me take a U turn as I rode right past our first turn. The start of this last leg of the course I experienced some of the worst cramps and stomach distress of the race to the point that I was dry heaving on the bike, had to stop and walk for a bit, but being in first place and the encouraging words (that's what i'll call them) from Barbie, gave me that extra little boost and I was able to pull it back together... after a couple of minutes we clipped down the road at a nice rhythm again. Our pace would yo-yo a bit but overall we continued to maintain our 17+ mph average. I hate to tell everyone about our experience with the freak thunderstorm that wrecked the B roads for most racers of DK200… as we were ahead of the storm, the result was 20+ mph tailwinds for the last 15 miles in addition to a wall of motivating lighting strikes finishing off DK200 with style at 20+ mph and a couple sections at 30 mph (don’t hate us).

http://www.emporiagazette.com/photos/2011/jun/06/12919/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKfjcNkAqk4

Finishing the DK200 was reward enough, but Jim Cummings, his crew of DK200 and the entire city of Emporia rolled out the red carpet for one of the most energizing race finish lines this side of Leadville. They can truly be proud of what has been created with the DK200 race! Will love coming back to Emporia again and again.
http://www.theadventuremonkey.com/adventure-monkey/dirty-kanza-200-2011-results-the-full-story/

http://www.dirtykanza200.com/new-dirt/dirty-kanza-200-results/
http://www.kvoe.com/news.htm
http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2011/jun/06/race-extremes/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P61PLSdTEfc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tst2TgeZAB0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Q77XCnQgU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKfjcNkAqk4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7P5ECypy_E

TransIowa 2011 - Well at least it's not me...

soon... but not all that exciting (100 miles out of 350).

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

This years single goal...

Reminder to visit TripleDRace for information on the upcoming Triple D Winter Race (Bike or Ski or Run).

This years training schedule is based around just one race, while i'll be racing all the lower 48 snow races as before (see below), there will be no tapper for them, they will be "Training/Testing" events for me. The single goal for the 2010/2011 winter season is the Iditarod Trail Invitational.



This weekend’s race near Lake Superior (Tuscobia Ultra) at 150 miles will be a good test of my new equipment and bike. I finished 2nd last year in this race when it was only 75 miles.

Then Mid Jan is the Triple D Race in Dubuque, a short sprint event (65 miles) that is always a battle among some of the local speed demons.

Only two weeks after Triple D is the grand daddy of the lower 48 snow races the Arrowhead Ultra 135, a race that will routinely temps in the -20dF range and one year dropped to -40dF. This will be my 4th year for both the Arrowhead and Triple D races and can say that important lessons are still being learned.

Then we have the main event... its seems so far away yet, I'm thinking about it like it is tomorrow!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

New Triple D Race Site... link and Follow!


To help simplify coordination of the Triple D Winter Race (bike or ski or run), i've setup a blog site just for this race...

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Colesburg 40 Results

Thanks again to all the volunteers who help make this race run as smooth as it does. Big thanks to Karl and Traci who spent 6 hours marking the course the day before. Our Sag drivers Karl and Keith, race photographers PaulE and Cassandra (photos to be posted in a day or two). Jody & David for timings. Our grill masters, all those who brought beer and food.



New this year was the addition of a rugged level “B” with exposed bedrock and a rutted river bottom access road. It received rave reviews for the racers as it was “different” “fun” and just plain challenging – especially for the cross riders to negotiate successfully without flatting.

The preem (top of first major climb) was taken by Radio Shack team member and 2008 USA Olympian Jason McCarney. He would go on to win the race beating Pro Jeff Barnes by 4 minutes and the entire field of top local pro talent. While not a course “time” record, he did average the fastest speed on the course in the 19 year history. We will be discussing how the course records are handled and if we decided to switch to speed (allowing us to alter the route slightly from year to year as we did this year) Jason will receive the bonus $ for setting a new course “speed” record.

We awarded over $800 in prize money (not bad for little race with no sponsors) and raised $400 for Chain Reaction Cycling.

Thanks to all who showed up for one of the most challenging short course gravel races anywhere!



If you'd like the results in an XLS including the last 6 years just drop me an email at Lance.Andre at Hotmail dot com.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Gravel Worlds 2010 - Long Race Report

I tried to keep it short... First I’ll thank Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey for conducting a flawlessly executed event and all his sponsors who helped make it FREE! The Pirate Cycling League, Jay Thomas and the Trek Stores of Omaha, Kansas City, & St. Louis, Cycle Works, Moose's Tooth, Screen Ink, Icon Graphics, Scott Showen and TMCO, Chad Hawthorne and Budweiser/Monster, Oso Burrito, Yia Yia's, The Skateboard Mag, the Colesburg 40 Race, the Rinkordt Family, the Schmidt Family, the Stamper Family and all the many volunteers who spent their day in 97 degree heat helping make this event.
My trip up to the heartland was short and sweet spent the night at a little bed and breakfast about 2 miles from the start line (but still managed to get lost in the dark and spend 20 minutes trying to find the start line). Here’s a shout out to the fine folks at the Prairie Creek Inn B&B that put me up for the “short” night, fead me breakfast and provided me a place to wrench on my bike.

My only strategy for the race was to “no matter what” stay with the lead group until mile 40 when we turned south out of the Northwest headwind… that was it, I knew if I could stay with the lead pack until then I could manage a top 5 placement… we started at 6 am in the dark, just a couple minutes before first light. I had opted to go without a light so I went right to the front to stay out of the dust and trouble. The pace was brisk but manageable, the gravel well… was like concrete… I had showed with a knife, at a gun fight… while my bike is fast, its still a mountain bike with 2.1” tires… it was a good choose for Dirty Kansa 200 with its large brutal rock, but not for this race, maybe 10% of the racers were on mountain bikes (if that), most were on skinny tired cross bikes and about a ¼ were on road bikes.


At only 7.5 miles in that horrible sound of PIST PIST PIST PIST was heard, as I looked around to see who was flatting I spotted Stans sealant flying up behind me… I let out a string of explicates well deserved for a race put on by the “Pirate Cycling” club… I worked my way to the outside of the group and began to slow to see if it would seal up… I would have thought the main field would be down to about 10 or so at this point, but no, there were over 25 still in the group, not good if I was going to try to catch back up, that big of a group would keep the hammer down. As the tire neared flat about 10 psi (started at 40) it sealed up, I slammed on the breaks threw a CO2 in (started to leak again), then got back on in hopes of it sealing (maybe took me a total of 30 seconds… as it started to ride Dennis Grelk – who had a chain issue a mile back came up in a furry, I had about 2 seconds to make the decision – jump on his wheel or keep looking at my rear wheel to see if it seals up… too late Dennis was gone in a near superman effort (I take that back it WAS a superman effort, Dennis bridged the 1 minute gap in only a couple minutes, it took me another minute or so to decide that now was the time to start chasing to get back on… into a 10 mph headwind… it was not to be done. Mad as heck the main group kept putting time into me. I was only averaging 1 mph slower that with the group, but for a race that's 149 miles long it was enouph to cause me to loose over 30 min, by the last CP.


I had hooked up with the only other mountain biker in the lead group during the short time that I could still see the main field as we worked together for a couple of miles, I then took the lead to pick it up a bit more… pushed my effort level way high at this point thinking that that big of a group would have a hard time getting through the mandatory checkpoint (possibly letting me catch up if i could keep their lead to only 5 minutes)… the flat, wasn’t my fault, however turning West on West Ashland? (vs. Right on West Ashland was), figured this one out one mile down a rutted up B road, had to turn around and backtrack (this cost me about 10 minutes and about 6 places)… only navigation mistake of the race. It was on that bombing off course downhill B road that I broke my 5th Carbon Frame (spit the integrated seat post at the seam) – it gave the bike a nice ThudBuster suspension seat post feel.
I passed about 10 riders at the first check point by just going in getting my ticket and right back out… the rest of the race would be the same pass a couple “shelled riders” and worked with a couple of mechanicalled riders, pass about 5-10 at each checkpoint…


As the race whent on the wet fog of the morning was replaced by 97 degrees of intense cloudless skies… the heat index was most likely about 105-110. On the black B roads the sun would cook you from both sides… I was dropping electrolytes and fluids at an incredible rate, luckily stomach distress wasn’t an issue (and wouldn’t be until mile 120), so I kept downing Gatorade to somewhat offset the losses.

The story of the day for all racers would be the heat and the near Genius route design that afforded zero recovery time, the course was a series of hills placed back to back to back to back in what was feat of sadistic and masochistic intension not witnessed too often in gravel racing… as you can see by the race profile there really wasn’t a single hill of substantial effort (although there were 4 hills/walls at 10% or greater) but the totality of all of them combined made this race extreme! Over 2/3’s the field would pull the plug from dehydration, cramps, and complete and utter exhaustion – remember these are guys (and gals) that eat gravel for breakfast with bacon and beer…


At the third and final checkpoint, I pulled in to find 5 guys getting ready to head out and only 3 riders ahead, I couldn’t believe it, I was getting back up there… oh wait, they had left 30+ minutes earlier you say… oh well… in and out at this checkpoint as quick as possible (after downing a half jar of pickle juice – had been fighting bad cramps since mile 70). Got out about a minute after two other strong riders (Dale Pinkelman and Kevin Burke), was able to catch up to them just as we turned on to stagecoach road (a 7 mile stretch of small hills strung together that would take us to the third highest point on the course), it took everything I had to hang on the wheel of these two riders during the climbs, but I knew if I didn’t I would suffer a long and painful death by myself… the one thing I’ve learned in endurance racing is that misery loves company.

About 20 miles out it was just Kevin and me, as we rolled threw a freshly rocked section I heard Kevin call out that he was done, it was his third flat of the day, he would get a tube for his road tire from Dale and finish only 10 minutes back.
I rolled the last 15 miles solo for a 4th place category and 4th place overall finish at 9 hours and 40 minutes at an average speed (including off the bike of 15.3 mph). While the flat at the beginning of the race changed everything, I’m not sure it would have changed the overall, I just would have been abit more fun for me to fight it out upfront than clawing my way back up for a 130 miles. I do regret not acting in that split second to jump onto Dennis’s wheel as I could have (maybe) gotten back on, also, possibly not showing up on a road bike, the course was hard and fast.


Had a fantastic time riding with lots of top athletes, gravel racing draws such a great group of individuals, Spent miles riding with Mark? (mtbiker), Troy Krause (sic individual – one of the route designers), Dale, Kevin, and many others (who I have forgot their names due to the heat and dehydration - lost 10 lbs during the race, but no $1200 hospital visit this time)… Congrats to Mike Marchand (who I KNEW would win this race, he is one fast gravel eating fool [and now has the “Gravel Worlds Jersey" to show for it], I’m sorry I didn’t get to draft that wheel). Thanks again for Cornbreads efforts in putting this event on and brining gravel racing to the “international stage”.



http://jedionabike.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-post.html#comments
http://cornbreadblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/gravel-worlds_22.html
http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/
http://piratecyclingleague.blogspot.com/