dk 200 magazine 2015

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OF TRIUMPHS Joel Dyke: In Memoriam Paying tribute to rider, Dirty Kanza 200 co-founder, artist, husband and father Page 8 A Decade of Dirty A lot has changed for the Dirty Kanza 200 in the last 10 years Page 16 THE WORLD’S PREMIER GRAVEL GRINDER DK The Official Magazine of Dirty Kanza 200 2015

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The official Magazine of the Dirty Kanza 200. Celebrating a Decade of Dirty in 2015!

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Page 1: DK 200 Magazine 2015

OF TRIUMPHSJoel Dyke: In MemoriamPaying tribute to rider, Dirty Kanza 200 co-founder, artist, husband and fatherPage 8

A Decade of DirtyA lot has changed for the Dirty Kanza 200 in the last 10 yearsPage 16

T H E W O R L D ’ S P R E M I E R G R A V E L G R I N D E R

DKThe Official Magazine

of Dirty Kanza 200

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CONTENTS

Letter from the Director 4 Joel Dyke: In Memoriam 8 A Decade of Dirty 16 Items Special to the 10th Anniversary 24 Gravel City 28 Reaping Reward in the Flint Hills 32 While You Are in Town 34 Serenity Now 40 Running a Bike Race 46 The Gravel Grail 50 Girls, Get On Your Bike and Ride 54 DK: Question and Answer 56 Dirty Kanza Schedule 58 Dirty Kanza Trading Cards 60 DK200: By the Numbers 62

PublisherChris Walker

Dirty Kanza Executive DirectorJim Cummins

Dirty Kanza Event CoordinatorLeLan Dains

Sales DirectorBriana Julo

Art DirectorJustin Ogleby

Contributing WritersMorgan ChilsonMichelle DavisWendy DavisMike “Kid” RiemerThe Coaches at CTS

Contributing PhotographersEric Benjamin adventuremonkey.com

Jason Ebberts tblphotography.com

Dustin Michelson dustinmichelsonphotography.com

Shawn Honea

Advertising StaffChristine BrownSaundra Hutchison Leann Sanchez

Ad ServicesMargie McHaleyKelsey BarkerDan FerrellPhillip MillerDevin ParkmanKatie PotterBradley Rice

Copy EditorsBrandy NanceRegina Murphy

Circulation ManagerDestin Nightingale

DesignIM Design Group

For more information, please contact:517 Merchant StreetEmporia, KS 66801620.342.4800

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[Photo courtesy of Eric Benjamin]

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CVB LOGO VARIATIONS

CVB COLOR PALETTE

WHY COME FOR ONLY ONE WEEKEND A YEAR?

Call 800-279-3730 or visitemporia.com

Whether you are an endurance rider, disc golfer, or an

outdoor enthusiast, come enjoy Emporia year-round.

From handmade arts to craft beers, from live music

to inspiring cuisine, to the stunning Flint Hills, there is

always something happening. Come and enjoy it.

With hundreds of miles of roads and trails, come explore Emporia and the Flint Hills and discover something unexpected.

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From the DirectorTo all Dirty Kanza Participants, Fans, and Followers;

Welcome to the 2015 Edition of the Dirty Kanza Magazine. We are happy that you have picked up a copy of this publication by The Emporia Gazette. And we are thrilled to have you be a part of our 10th Anniversary event, as we prepare to celebrate a “Decade of Dirty.”

That’s right, folks. It’s been 10 years, and what a glorious 10 years at that!Who would have thought that a little old bike race held in the middle of the Kansas prairie would ever garner

much attention? What’s more, who would have ever guessed that that bike race would grow to become an industry leader, attracting over 1,500 cyclists from around the world, and be featured in cycling’s most prominent publications?

Through the support of the Emporia community, our event sponsors, our loyal participants, and our fans, that’s exactly what has happened! We decided that was reason enough to throw a party, and we intend to do just that with our 2015 event. All of us here at Dirty Kanza Promotions, along with Emporia community leaders and event supporters, have been hard at work to make this year’s event the best Dirty Kanza ever. And this very publication is evident of their efforts.

In the pages that follow, you will find numerous stories from a wide variety of vantage points. Each of these individual stories have something exciting to share. Collectively, they serve as evidence of the incredible impact Dirty Kanza has had on the lives of our participants, on the Emporia community, and beyond. It all is very humbling and rewarding to each of us here at Dirty Kanza Promotions, as we take seriously our commitment to provide quality, life-enriching cycling experiences to our event participants, and as we strive to be an active contributor to our local community. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Sincerely Yours,Jim Cummins

Executive Director, Dirty Kanza Promotions LLC

[Photo courtesy of Eric Benjamin]

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W h a t b e a u t i f u l t h o u g h t s h a v e y o u b e e n t h i n k i n g ?

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i n m e m o r i a mJOEL DYKE

BY MICHELLE DAVISWIFE OF DIRTY KANZA 200 CO-FOUNDER JOEL DYKE

Paying tribute to rider, Dirty Kanza 200 co-founder, artist, husband and father

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I took on a big task when I offered to write a piece about my husband, Joel Dyke. Joel carried an awfully big personality with that famously lanky 6’5” frame of his. Indefatigable

is a good starting description. Joel was the picture of boundless energy; he was a man who considered riding two hundred miles of unimproved Kansas back roads a good time. He was always up to something: some home improvements project, plans for a trip, ideas for a party, spontaneous pranks. I started to write a basic biography, dates, where he was born, where he grew up, where he lived, and it wasn’t painting the picture I wanted to show you all, so instead, I’m just going to talk about what drove Joel, what he loved, what his catchphrases meant, and what I think he’d like to be remembered for.

Joel was a man who brought a good time with him wherever he went. Brimming over with bonhomie, he’d enter a room like a grinning whirlwind, with a bear hug, a

“hey good looking,” and a good word for everyone. Joel was a man who knew no stranger. A refrain I’ve heard repeatedly since Joel’s death runs something like this: a casual acquaintance of Joel’s will approach me and say “You know, I didn’t see Joel that frequently, but whenever I did, he made me feel like a long lost friend.” He had a lot of goodwill to offer and offered it freely. He liked to see people enjoy themselves, on and off a bike, and if he could help them do so, by God, he did.

Joel was a builder, literally and figuratively. He loved building bicycle wheels; I believe it was a meditative act for him. His enthusiasm for frame building was immense. He had ideas on how to make a better everything. He was sure he had the design perfected for the ideal float-bike for small children — it was one of the projects he was preparing just before he died. He wanted our little son to have the best tool to learn with. He had big ideas about for fat bikes for short people, compact dirt-

jump bikes for very tall people, break-apart bikes for the wander-lusty, and light-but-sturdy all-arounders for dedicated cycle commuters. Aside from bikes, he did a lot of DIY home improvements, from finishing out the attic in his first house, to helping build his own workshop, adding another shed adjacent, and renovating a house down our street for his mother. He’d done some very well-planned and executed modifications to our own house, opening up the dining room so that the flow from the living room all the way back to the kitchen is unimpeded, making quite a small house feel very spacious.

In a more abstract sense, Joel loved building people up. He relished the early summertime period when the bike shop would take on a handful of young kids, high school students mostly, as extra shop-hands. He genuinely enjoyed training the new employees and watching them go from a bunch of kids who might not even know which direction to turn a wrench to a

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team of confident, competent workers. He mentored many a youngster and would tell me about the new kids’ progress. He felt a real pride in their accomplishments, and I think a lot of the kids drew self-confidence from his support and encouragement.

Similarly, he was just naturally driven to build community. He volunteered time for trail building, maintenance clinics, and event planning. Because he liked to foster a good time, he had a hand in putting on events in various realms of the cycling world, on varying levels of scale, from Very Big Deal events like Cyclocross Nationals, to very small and silly events, like the annual Kansas City Trashboat Regatta. Joel didn’t discriminate. Road, mountain, cross, alleycat, you name it, he was there with an EZ-Up, toolkit, a big jug of ice water, and a smile. He understood that if you wanted to race, if you wanted to party, if you wanted to adventure, you sometimes had to help make the occasion. I think that’s what drew Jim Cummins and Joel together to

create the Dirty Kanza 200. It was a chance to build something new, to bring some new fun to the community, and see what happened next. He had no idea the scale DK200 would grow to, nor how quickly. I think it left him a bit in awe.

He lived to encourage. He was thrilled with Brett Shofffner’s urban mountain biking trail work and pitched in on a few workdays and encouraged everyone to try out the new riding opportunities Brett had brought to the Kansas City mountain biking scene. He was also a great fan of Ben Alexander’s Freewheels For Kids program, and was always on the scavenge for appropriate bikes for the young beneficiaries. He’d pitched materials in the direction of the 816 Bike Collective, and sent people seeking used bikes toward the Revolve shops. He wanted to see other grassroots cycling endeavors succeed, as it brings so much more depth and opportunity to the cycling community as a whole. He’d have liked to contribute more

himself, but there’s only so much one man can do, even a man as energetic as Joel was!

Joel was a joyful person. He took delight where he found it, and shared it when he could. Sometimes, on his ride home from work during the summer, he’d call me from the road, encouraging me to go out and view a particularly good sunset. On our rides together, if we found some notably good vista, a great hole-in-the-wall eatery, or some other new-to-us diversion, he’d make note of it, literally, in a notebook, so that he could remember to tell other friends about the newest find. While Joel never broke out the aphorism “a pleasure shared is a pleasure doubled,” it’s fair to say that the principle was one which informed his actions.

“What beautiful thoughts have you been thinking?”

This is a question Joel regularly asked people. The first time he asked it of me, I’ll tell you, it made me think up a nice thought as soon as I could, because right at the moment he had asked me, I’d been mentally

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grumbling about a frustrating situation at work. Instead of stewing over daft office politics, I thought of something better. I thought about a simple home improvement project I’d been considering; repainting my bathroom to a pleasing lavender purple to offset its insipid powder blue tiling. So I told him my “beautiful thought” and we got to chatting about DIY and other things (shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings). It was right about the time I realized I liked the cut of this fellow’s jib and hoped we might end up dating.

I’ve seen his “beautiful thoughts” question work its magic on other folks, too. It makes you think up something good, breaks you out of the mental doldrums that can settle upon the average hard-working stiff too often. I never knew where he got the idea to use this as a conversational gambit, but the positivity that it fostered made it a hell of a great ice-breaker.

“Keep the rubber side down.”One of Joel’s most oft-used sign-off lines,

and the way he closed many an email, this was Joel’s version of “happy trails to you.” A veteran of many a two-wheeled mishap, tales of Joel’s mountain biking “yard sales” and the patchwork of road-rash scars that marked his hide bore evidence that he knew well, the hard way, the value of keeping the rubber side down. “Take care” is too bland, and “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do” is a pretty rash recommendation, but “keep the rubber side down” is sound advice and rarely leads to grief.

“It is a sign of affection from where I am from.”

This is a line most of you won’t have heard, but it was a common refrain in our household when Joel had perpetuated some exasperating prank or another on me, for the pure and simple pleasure of getting a really filthy look from me. My hard stare (TM Winnie The Pooh) had been dubbed “the scrote-withering death glare” by no lesser a visionary than Richard Harsh, but it had literally no known effect on Joel

Dyke. He thought it was cute. So, he would lick my forehead, grab my butt while I was chopping onions, or tip me way back in a tango dip when I wasn’t expecting it, just to get my goat. Then he’d tell me how charming I was when I was mad. As such, I couldn’t stay mad that long.

Whenever I’d object to his good-natured harassment, he would swear that his annoying hijinks were “a sign of affection from where I am from.” If pressed to explain what culture considers being a pest was a sign of affection, he would, in a Mork from Ork sort of voice, insist that he was “from where I am from-from.” I include this anecdote because, well, Joel had a unique approach to romance, one which wouldn’t work with most women, I suppose, but was absolutely ideal from my perspective. Joel could be sweet, thoughtful, and a true gentleman, but a thread of silliness, mischief, and mirth completed Joel’s charm for me. We got each other, Joel and I did. We regularly joked that by marrying one

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another, we’d saved the dating pool an awful lot of chlorine. We were truly partners, bolstering one another’s strong points and helping to mitigate each other’s weaknesses.

When I think about what Joel is likely to be remembered for, I have to step back. I know what I will remember him for — I will remember him as my adventuring partner, my sweetheart, father of our children, and honestly, the love of my life. But Joel was many things to ever so many people. A supremely competent wrench. A formidable time-trial opponent. A first-rate Oriental rug restorer. The purveyor of endless bad puns and mouldy dad jokes. An event planner, a lovable doofus, a teacher, a student, a ride leader, a fomenter of jolly chaos.

Joel was a burst of goodwill, a reliable source of mildly inappropriate groping, and when all is said and done, a man who loved this world and those in it. He only got 48 years to work and play here, but he sure fit a lot into those years. Please remember Joel as a joyful person who put all of himself into everything he did.

What you saw was what he was. I hope you liked it.

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Ten years ago, 34 cyclists gathered to battle for the first win at the very first Dirty Kanza 200.

Fifteen of them would ride through the grit and gravel of the Flint Hills to cross the finish line, led by top cyclist Dan Hughes, who finished in 12 hours, 58 minutes.

This year, the starting line for the premier gravel grinder won’t look anything like that small group of bikes from 2006. Crowding Emporia’s downtown will be 1,500 bikes straddled by determined, tough riders ready to take on the gritty hills — 900 riding the 200-mile race and 600 forging through the 100-mile race.

The course itself and the weather are the obvious challenges of the DK 200, and they are what bring riders from around the world to push themselves through this gravel grinder. Joe Partridge wrote in 2006 in his blog, after

finishing eighth overall in that first race, “This was a very good race. The riders were cool, the vibe was relaxed, and I had fun. It was hard, but not so hard that I wanted to shoot myself in the face for signing up. The section of hilly gravel between Cottonwood Falls and Eureka was super, and was just about worth the drive by itself.”

Those words have been echoed repeatedly through the race’s 10 years, bringing a prestige to the Dirty Kanza that keeps DK Promotions, owned by Jim Cummins, Tim Mohn and Kristi Mohn, working hard. A race founder, Cummins was able to move last year into working fulltime on the race and other events for DK Promotions.

The race changed significantly, he said, when it hit 500 riders.

“Five hundred seemed to be the threshold,” Cummins said.

From 34 cyclists in a hotel parking lot to one of the world’s premiere gravel grinding events, a lot has changed for the Dirty Kanza 200 in the last 10 years

BY MORGAN CHILSON

A DECADE

OF DIRTY

A LOOK BACK

[Photo courtesy of Shawn Honea]

[Photo courtesy of Dirty Kanza Productions]

The race packet pick-up area in 2006 was a single round table in the garden area of the Guest House Inn.

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“When you’re less than 500, you’re doing it on a part-time basis and it’s something you can do for grins and giggles, and because you’re just doing it out of the goodness of your heart. That’s why we started this event. We just wanted to give back to the cycling community.

“When we crossed that 500 rider threshold, it became a fulltime job, and it became serious business to make sure that we were doing it right,” he explained. “And again, that we were providing that opportunity for a good experience. It just required a truly concerted, serious, thoughtful effort to make sure that it was getting done right.”

The cycling community sure thinks it has been “done right” for the last 10 years. As word of Dirty Kanza experiences traveled through social media and in-person sharing during other races, the numbers just kept growing. And growing.

The BeginningCummins started the race

with Joel Dyke, a cyclist and dear friend who died in an accident in December. Although Dyke had stepped away from his role in the DK 200 in 2010, the organization will honor him as part of its 10-year celebration, Cummins said.

“We are going to be paying tribute to him throughout the weekend, and just celebrating the life and the way he gave of himself to make the cycling community such a special group of people,” he said. “He was a welder — he was more than a welder. He was an artist. His paint brush is a welding torch. He was a strong husband, and a strong father, and was a huge, huge part of the cycling community in Kansas City.”

After Dyke decided to put his focus on other things, Cummins brought Tim and Kristi Mohn on board as partners in DK Promotions. Both are avid cyclists, and Tim Mohn rode in the first race. Kristi Mohn related that she rode “the year that we had that big rainstorm” and made it to mile 192 when a flat she had repaired finally gave out for good.

But as the race grew, it became apparent that it was just too big for the organizers to be on their bikes. They needed to be organizing, although Kristi Mohn said it looks as if she’ll give it a shot again in 2016.

Like Cummins, Kristi Mohn said she has watched the growth with a careful eye. They don’t want the race to get too big and detract from the riders’ experience.

“We grow it very diligently, and we had a couple of years of big jumps, but since then, they’ve been small increments,” Kristi Mohn said. “We’ll know a lot more after this year. We’re kind of changing up the course a little bit, and changing up the checks points and how we manage that. That could give us some options.”

Cummins agreed. “We set a field limit every year, and that field limit is not set on how much demand is out there,” he said. “The demand is far greater than that, actually. At the end of every event, we become our own worst critics, and we try to very honestly assess ‘how did we do?’ Did we put on a good event? And did we create

a situation where every single participant had an opportunity to have a life-enriching cycling experience? That’s our mission. (If so), then we’ll grow for the following year.”

The race’s continuing growth made it necessary for someone to run the event on a permanent basis. Cummins was finally able to pursue his dream and leave a 30-year career to become a full-time race promoter.

“I was spending 20 to 30 hours a week all year long doing organizer stuff, so it was a part-time job,” Cummins recalled of the previous years. “There were many, many days when all of my buddies were going out on a training ride, and I couldn’t go because I had to stay home and work. Emails to answer, sponsors to call, meetings to go to, and so for a lot of years, it was truly as if I had a second job.”

Emily Brock is awarded a first place trophy by Joel Dyke for the 2010 Dirty Kanza 200.

The original DK Logo, created in 2006 and used through 2010.

[Photo courtesy of Dirty Kanza Productions]

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LARGEST SELECTION OF

CRAFT BEERSCOME ENJOY THE

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Now, with all of his hours spent in the new office of DK Promotions, Cummins said he still works a lot of hours. “I thought I was going to finally have time to ride my bike. I don’t. I get on my bike maybe twice a week. I have a lot of days that start at 3 a.m. and finish at 8 or 9 at night,” he said. “I’m not complaining. It takes a lot of work to organize this. It’s also been more rewarding than what I thought it was going to be. I continue to meet a lot of wonderful people in the cycling industry. I’ve developed relationships with our sponsors that run deeper and stronger than what I expected, which is extremely rewarding.”

Celebrating 10 YearsAs the 10-year mark approached, the Mohns

and Cummins spent a lot of time brainstorming what they would do to make the anniversary special.

Tim Mohn volunteered — and essentially volunteered his entire family, Kristi Mohn pointed out — to create handmade musette bags to give to riders.

But despite her teasing, Kristi Mohn said she appreciates that DK does things like this for the riders. “We try to do things that are very personal, very big personal touches,” she said.

Another new experience this year, but one that will probably continue after the

anniversary, is the All Things Gravel Bicycle Expo that will take place Friday from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. It will add to the festive, expo atmosphere of the event, with display booths from sponsors and others.

“People will be able to interact and engage with the riders,” Cummins said. “We’re just looking forward to seeing how that develops, and how that might grow. We think it will become a real popular component of the Dirty Kanza week.”

The race is about the riders and the experience, but it also belongs to the hundreds of support team members who come to town and also Emporia residents, who have enthusiastically backed it. And as long as the DK 200 keeps providing a challenge for participants and a benefit for sponsors, it is likely to keep going strong.

Is there a point where it can’t grow anymore? “It’s a question we ask of ourselves quite a bit,” he said, and then referred back to discussions about growth being a function of how well the race is run. “I think if there is a limiting factor on our growth potential, I think we are that greatest limiting factor. It’s a function of how good can we be. I think gravel road racing is one of the fastest growing genres in cycling today. I think there will always be more demand and response to Dirty Kanza than what we will be able to provide.”

[Photo courtesy of Shawn Honea]

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[Photo courtesy of Eric Benjamin]

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Join us upstairs for a cocktail

Best Mexican Cuisine7 0 7 C o m m e r c i a l S t • 6 2 0 - 3 4 0 - 0 6 4 0 • E m p o r i a , K S

R E A D E R ’ S C H O I C E AWA R D 2 0 1 4

The 10th anniversary of the Dirty Kanza 200 will bring in two new items to celebrate the race’s growth and commitment to providing a premiere gravel experience for riders.

A hand-sewn, one-of-a-kind musette bag, designed as a personal gift to riders who participate in the DK 200 this year, will be one of the sought-after items. Tim and Kristi Mohn, co-owners of DK Promotions, have been sewing 1,700 of the bags (along with help from their daughter and family friends).

“I think it was Kristi’s idea to do a personalized musette bag for each rider this year,” Tim Mohn said. “I sew; I make my own shirts. I thought, well, I think I can do this. I’m trying to do 20 a day for five days a week, and

I usually get up in the morning and sew for an hour or an hour and a half, and then I get home and sew or another hour or hour and a half. Kristi cuts everything out for me. My daughter Sydney has been serging the straps.”

“We have a sweat shop set up in our bedroom,” Kristi Mohn said. “It’s a family affair.”

Yes, making the same bag over and over — although each will be personalized with a screenprint of the rider’s name and the DK logo — gets a little old. But both Tim and Kristi Mohn said it’s things like this that make the race special.

“I think it puts a personalized touch on the race, and it keeps it kind of grassroots,” Tim Mohn said.

SWAGITEMS SPECIAL TO THE 10TH ANNIVERSARYBY MORGAN CHILSON

Riders and Dirty Kanza fans can expect products made

specifically for them

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Welcome Dirty Kanza!

823 Commercial St.Emporia, KS

(620) 208.6200www.eclecticbikes.com

GOOD LUCK DK RIDERS!

608 Commercial St. • Emporia, KS 66801 • 620-343-3919

Keeping Emporia Awake For 13 Years

“There are probably not a lot of big races like ours where the promoters would actually do something like this. It made me feel better than ordering some cheap, Chinese-made thing.”

“This is one of my favorite things that we’re doing. Gravel riding is a grassroots movement, basically. You’ll hear it talked about on the gravel grinding scene — DK is one of the events that has pushed gravel grinding kind of out of the grassroots level into more mainstream,” Kristi Mohn said.

The second item new to the DK 200 this year is available to everyone, not just riders. Geoff Deman, head brewer at Lawrence’s Free State Brewery, has created a new beer for the race. It’s not the first DK 200 brew, though.

“I think that we were originally approached by the organizers back in 2010 or 2011 to create a beer for the event,” Deman said. “Someone involved had mentioned that they liked hoppy rye beers, so I came up with the original DK 200 beer named Dirty Kanza RyePA. That beer was dark brown and very hoppy with a slightly roasty finish. A great beer to be sure, but not necessarily what you want to throw back at the end of a 200-mile race through the dusty backroads of the Flint Hills.”

The latest beer, being introduced during the 10-year celebration, is the Dirty Kanza Kölsch.

“The Kölsch style originated in Cologne, Germany, and is a hybrid style, part lager, part

ale,” Deman said. “It’s dry, crisp, slightly fruity and very thirst-quenching, with a nice hint of German Saphir hops in the finish.”

The challenge to create a beer that captures an event like the DK 200 is part of a process. Deman said ideas for the recipe can come quickly “if one is feeling inspired,” or take some time to be tweaked into getting the desired flavor.

“Brewing is akin to cooking and as a brewer I feel great affinity to chefs. You become familiar with your ingredients and how they interact with one another and over years of practice and experience you begin to trust your instincts,” he said.

The original beer, the RyePA, was designed to capture the essence of the Dirty Kanza, and Deman described it as “dark, earthy, complex, citrusy from hops … evoking the sunshine beaming down.” The latest beer is less conceptual, he added.

“(It) better responds to the needs and desires of the folks that come out to enjoy the race in the sunshine,” Deman said.

Free State currently plans to make four batches of the Dirty Kanza Kölsch, which is about 2,200 cases, and it will be available on draught and in six-packs.

The label for the new beer was designed by Emporia’s IM Design Group, and it incorporates the DK 200 logo, along with cyclists powering their way through the Flint Hills gravel.

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[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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The Dirty Kanza 200’s phenomenal growth in just 10 years has been a boon for Emporia’s economy to the tune of just over $1 million a year, and it’s even changed the way the Emporia Convention & Visitors Bureau markets the community.

Topping the $1 million mark is the best approximation CVB Director Susan Rathke can get on what the race is bringing in every year from a variety of economic calculators used to determine such things.

“It’s grown from such a small event to such a large one, and it’s still growing,” she said. “It’s grown from half a million dollars, to approaching a million to just over a million.”

The extra events that surround the DK 200, like this year’s new all-day expo on Eighth Avenue with tents and vendors and the training camp added last year, all help to increase the economic benefit for the area, Rathke said.

The numbers may vary based on those calculators — the state has one, various economic development groups have one

— but all work to compute how many days the riders and their support crews are here, people who come for the race and don’t spend the night, and numerous other factors that go into determining an economic impact.

Rathke said she thought the $1 million number was low considering the added events.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” she said. “It’s meaning a lot more for us here at the CVB. We’ve just completed a marketing plan, established for 2015, and we have two target markets, and one is the active leisure traveler.”

While the CVB doesn’t have to actively market the DK 200, the new plan gives them the focus of trying to bring people the outdoor, active traveler to the area year-round.

“Come and enjoy our disk golf courses, come and ride the gravel, enjoy our parks, do the hiking, motorcycles, everything,” Rathke listed off the options. “The active leisure traveler is our new target for the leisure market.”

The growth of the Dirty Kanza 200 has been an economic boon for Emporia

GRAVEL CITY

IMPACT

BY MORGAN CHILSON

[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson] [Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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L I V I N G O U T L O U D !• C Y C L I S T - B L O G G E R •

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Although that leisure market has always been a focus of the CVB, Rathke said the DK 200 and gravel riding shifted what the agency is doing. Even the photos used in advertisements that go in publications like Midwest Living, AAA magazine and others are different.

“The ads themselves are going to be a little bit different photo-wise, of people doing things, not just walking down Commercial Street with a shopping bag,” she said, adding that captions put the focus on enjoying the Emporia area on two wheels or four.

“We have our two main segments, the active leisure travelers and the other is our meetings and conventions,” she said, of the CVB focus. “Good things lead to other good things. Those are our narrowed market targets, and we’re going for it.”

Mayor Jon Geitz has seen the tremendous economic impact the DK 200 is having on Emporia, but he also sees another side to the cycling event. It builds camaraderie in the community, and even an increased focus on healthy activities getting on a bicycle.

“I had noticed that, just with my group of friends, that while 10 years ago might jog or go to the gym or whatever,

there are now some pretty hard-core cyclists,” he said. “That’s just people who’ve been exposed to the events and have gotten on board, whether it’s the 100, the 200, the 50,” he said, and added, laughing, “There’s a good chunk that are that weren’t riding 200 miles on gravel 10 years ago, just for no reason.”

The benefits of tackling a challenging race like the DK 200 are more than physical, Geitz said. “Obviously, the 200 is a test of not just your physical fitness, but your emotional fitness, your mental toughness, your ability to deal with surprises, things beyond your control,” he said. “It’s definitely an all-body experience, and definitely a way to get out of your comfort zone, and push yourself.”

The coolness factor of the DK 200 shows itself in surprising ways. “The early morning, when everybody leaves, the last couple of years, the weather’s been perfect, you watch the sunrise over downtown, and all the bikes have their lights on as they get started, it’s just a real peaceful experience,” Geitz said. “The street party as people come in is something I know a lot of people take part in, and it’s a good community-wide event.”

[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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As they say, stuff (or the four-letter version of stuff ) happens. Life is full of the unknown, even as we try to contain and control all that goes on around us.

In those moments of “stuff happens,” we are presented with challenges to overcome. At times, those challenges are truly trivial and meaningless, nothing more than the over-complications we’ve introduced into our own lives.

But then there are the other times; times when the challenges we are presented with are big, very real, sometimes frightening, and truly difficult. These challenges show up in many ways: sickness, injury, loss of work, broken relationships and even death. They are real challenges; never fun, but part of life, and things we all have or will face in time. There is no avoiding them.

But there is also a third type of challenge: the challenges we choose to bring upon ourselves. The Dirty Kanza is a perfect example of this.

For 10 years now the DK has presented an opportunity for self-challenge and growth, realized through many, many bicycle pedal strokes over 200 miles of gravel in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

Riders face far more than just those long miles of gravel. They face heat, wind and hills they didn’t believe could exist in the “flat” state of Kansas. They battle with physical issues such as muscle fatigue and dehydration, sore feet and sunburn.

But the biggest challenge riders must overcome is self-doubt. To succeed at the Dirty Kanza, a rider must defeat the mental demons that will plague them as they ride. A rider must get through the “dark times” with belief in themselves, belief that the goal can be accomplished and the understanding that the discomfort they are experiencing is only temporary and will eventually cease.

A rider must keep themselves from living too deeply in the sometimes painful moment they are experiencing just then and understand there are better moments to come. They must be able to look forward toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

As in life, the successful Dirty Kanza rider must understand that there is more good than bad to life, that the bad won’t last forever, and that more good awaits them at the end of that very long road.

There is real beauty in the fact that DK riders start and finish in Emporia. In the long hours and many miles between leaving and returning, they open themselves up to challenge and change. They finish as changed individuals, rich with new experiences, self-knowledge and confidence. A lot can happen on a 200-mile bike ride.

In 2006, Jim Cummins and Joel Dyke created a really long, really tough, really beautiful bike ride. They did it to challenge themselves and a few other folks that thought riding 200 miles through the Flint Hills in one day would be an interesting, challenging, and rewarding experience. Since that fateful day, Jim, Joel, Tim, Kristi, Lelan, Casey, Becky, Susan, Jeanine and countless others have helped thousands of others take on the same challenge. I thank them for helping so many reap such rich personal reward.

REAPING REWARD IN THE FLINT

HILLSBY MIKE ”KID” RIEMER Salsa Cycles Marketing Manager

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INSPIRATION

[Photo courtesy of Jason Ebberts]

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While you are in town

EXPLORE

Take the opportunity to explore Emporia and the Flint Hills and see everything the area has to offer.

Thursday Night RidesExplore the area and warm up with a 20-mile gravel ride with the Human Power Company. The rides will start in front of the Emporia Arts Center, 815 Commercial St., at 7 p.m.

Disc GolfVisit Emporia’s disc golf courses and play a round. Emporia’s courses are some of the best in the country and play host to the PDGA National Tour event, the Glass Blown Open.

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LEANNE BURRIS AND ERICA TABARES, Registered Dental Hygienists

RICHARD L. BENNETT, D.D.S.

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David Traylor Zoo and Soden’s GroveExperience exotic animals and lush botanicals in a beautifully landscaped setting at the David Traylor Zoo, or visit the All Veterans Memorial in the founding city of Veterans Day.

Tallgrass Prairie National PreserveHike miles of trails through one of the last remnants of tallgrass prairie left in the world or explore history with a guided tour of an 1881 ranch house.

Hit the TrailsThe four-mile Camp Alexander Pioneer Trail is a twisty single track to an open double track that will challenge even the most physically fit rider. The ESU trails, located just north of Emporia Sate University, consist of a network of winding trails that run next to the Neosho River. The ride-ability is easy to moderate, but still fun for an expert rider to rip through.

Play a PianoThey are literally all over downtown.

Enjoy a PintTry a craft beer brewed right here in Emporia at Radius Brewing Company, taste the Dirty Kanza Kölsch by Free State Brewing Co. that was inspired by the Dirty Kanza 200, or hang out at Mulready’s Pub and relax.

Eat OutFrom barbecue to wings to Mexican to fine dining, there is a restaurant for every culinary taste. Be sure to take a gastro-tour of Emporia to get a true taste of the Flint Hills.

[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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The American Family Team welcomes riders, crews, and family’s to the Dirty Kanza.

Enjoy your time in Emporia and the Flints Hills Region.

603 COMMERCIAL ST. • 620-342-5871MON-WED 8-6 • FRI 8-6 • THURS 8-7 • SAT 8-5:30

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Welcome to Emporia DK Riders & Families!

[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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Books, Magazines,

Gifts and Local Interest

716 Commercial St. • Emporia, KS620-343-9649 • towncrierbookstore.com

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[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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The Flint Hills of Kansas doesn’t offer what some would consider traditional

landscape beauty — scenic mountains, towering redwoods, or white-capped stretches of water.

But as Dirty Kanza riders and their support teams push their way through 200 miles of Kansas gravel at the end of May, it’s likely they’ll be drawn into the serenity of the Flint Hills prairie.

Even the people who see the landscape every day driving to work often fail to appreciate the treasure that swoops down through

Kansas. The tallgrass prairie once covered 170 million acres in North America, and now less than 4 percent remains, most of that in the Kansas Flint Hills.

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, located just 15 miles from Emporia to the west, takes care of the Flint Hills and educates people about the value of saving the prairie lands.

“Most of Kansas lives up to its stereotype of being flat, and that’s just the geography of the region,” said park ranger Eric Patterson.

“The Flint Hills stick out from

all that. They’re not vertical by any stretch, but it will pose a challenge to cyclists and walkers, and just anyone who comes on out here.”

Patterson, who has worked at the Tallgrass preserve for about 12 years, said 96 percent of the tallgrass prairie lands were turned to agriculture over the years.

“I love to eat, and need to, but it has two sides — some of that comes with a cost. The Flint Hills are fortunate in that the landscape itself is resistant to plowing, and that has helped to maintain its originality,” he said.

Many visiting Kansas for the first time for the DK 200 are surprised by the rolling hills and the terrain. Endurance athlete Rebecca Rusch, who won in the female division in 2014, has traveled the world participating in endurance events. She told CycloCross magazine, “I just figured Kansas wasn’t on my short list of places I need to visit. I thought the race would be really boring, and 200 miles on a ’cross bike is a lot of mileage. I thought there would be nothing to look at. But I was wrong. It’s a really beautiful place and much hillier

The beauty and peace of the Flint Hills helps create the mystique of the Dirty Kanza 200

LANDSCAPE

SERENITY NOWBY MORGAN CHILSON

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than I expected. I like it enough to go back three years in a row.”

Kristi Mohn, co-owner of DK Promotions, said part of the joy of organizing the gravel grinder is celebrating Kansas.

“There are just few other places in the United States where you can have that kind of continuity of gravel roads that are gorgeous and beautiful, and yet still have small towns that you can use for checkpoint towns,” she said.

The geology of the Flint Hills area that made it difficult to

plow the fields and turn them to agriculture is part of what creates the challenge of riding the DK 200, although much of the gravel on the roads has probably been imported from other parts of the country.

Patterson said the Flint Hills would more accurately be called the Limestone Hills. But an early traveler through the area, Zebulon Pike (for whom Pike’s Peak in Colorado is named) wrote in his journal entry that he was “passing through rough hills of flint,” Patterson explained.

[Photo courtesy of Eric Benjamin]

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The reality is the rocky terrain is primarily limestone and shale, he said.

But riders will “run into flint that inevitably boils up around the limestone that erodes away,” Patterson explained. “Some flint, and some sharp rocks, and when you’re moving at speed and all, a little rock can leave a big hole.”

Like many, Patterson said he didn’t necessarily think Kansas was beautiful or even that it had hills before he came here.

“That expectation gets turned on its head, and people are impressed by that. Especially if you come from a built up landscape or a more forested, mountainous type of area, the vast reach of land is different, or even disconcerting,” he said. “We’ve had some foreign visitors, especially from Shanghai or Tokyo, look out to the horizon and not see another person or building or anything. It’s truly a revolutionary view to some who have never seen landscape like that.

“That’s impressive; that puts us up there with the Grand Canyons and the Yellowstones of the world,” Patterson said of the peace of the prairie. “Without any exploding volcanoes and jagged mountain ranges, we kind of lack the in-your-face value. It’s really kind of cool. The wide open space — it’s a very cerebral kind of landscape. When you’re stuck with yourself out here in these wide open spaces, your mind can’t help but spin around on different things.

[Photo courtesy of Eric Benjamin]

[Photo courtesy of Jason Ebberts]

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[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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Behind the scenes of the Dirty Kanza 200, juggling multiple tasks and tracking the myriad details required to make such a large cycling event

run smoothly, are the owners of Dirty Kanza Promotions LLC.

Owned by Jim Cummins, co-founder of the DK 200, and Tim and Kristi Mohn, the professional events promotion company’s focus has been centered on the DK 200, but that is expanding every year now.

“Dirty Kanza remains our big event, but we put on other cycling events throughout the year. Another event that we do is called Lunar Kanza, a night-time ride in the Flint Hills under a full moon,” Cummins said. “It’s not a race, not a competitive event, just a fun ride. It starts and finishes in downtown Emporia, and finishes with a block party with a beer garden and a food court and a live band.”

Lunar Kanza was held for the first time in 2014 and drew about 300 participants. This year, they plan to open it to around 400, Cummins said.

“We’re going to intentionally keep it much smaller than Dirty Kanza. Where DK is a national and, now, even a world-wide event, we want Lunar Kanza to remain more local,” he explained. “It’s one way we want to give back to the local cycling community.”

DK Promotions also added an ultra-distance running event, Race the Chase, which includes 5K, 10K, 25K and 50K events through Chase County, starting in Cottonwood Falls.

“Runners run out to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, north of Strong City,” Cummins said. “It is gorgeous out there. It’s just a beautiful, beautiful place, and part of what we are hoping to accomplish is to promote the fact that we’ve got this beautiful national preserve here, right in our own backyard.”

DK Promotions also has agreed to take over organizing and promoting the gravel grinder rides that are held as part of Emporia’s Veterans Day celebrations, Freedom Fest. Cummins said the event is a fundraiser for the All Veterans Memorial in Emporia, and DK Promotions is donating their services.

The owners of the Dirty Kanza work behind the scenes to pull off such a large event

RU

NN

ING

A

BIK

E R

AC

E

THE BIZ

BY MORGAN CHILSON

From the left, event coordinator Lelan Dains, co-owners Jim Cummins, Tim Mohn and Kristi Mohn.

[Photo courtesy of Shawn Honea]

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“We may add another event or two eventually, but our plate is pretty full on those four events right now,” Cummins said. “Well, and it’s actually more than that because we have the Dirty Kanza Training Camp that we do. We’ve grown from eight campers last year to 24 this year; if we see growth like that again next year, we’ll probably have to have two training camps on two consecutive weekends.”

That pretty full plate is being handled primarily by Cummins, who last year left his profession of 30 years to run DK Promotions full-time. Tim and Kristi Mohn both are still involved, but both have careers outside of the promotions business.

“I think my main job is just kind of the grunt,” Tim Mohn joked. “They’re the brains and everything; I just kind of help. Most of my job this year, since Jim has gotten back, is going to be the day of (the DK). I did route design for the last two or three years, but since he’s come back, he has more time to do that.”

Kristi Mohn said her focus is more as a “big picture” thinker and idea person since Cummins

came in full time. She also is in charge of the books. The three went together and bought a

building in downtown Emporia at 11 W. Eighth Ave., and DK Promotions rents a space in that building. With a real office and numerous events, the last thing the three turned their attention to was their desire to give back to the community.

One way they’ve elected to do that is through a scholarship. Emporia State University has opened its dorms to help provide rooms for people attending the DK 200, and part of the dollars collected for that are set aside for a Dirty Kanza scholarship, Cummins said.

“That scholarship is available first to a student in their health and recreation management program, and if someone from that program doesn’t apply, then it’s opened up to their general student body,” he said.

The Mohns and Cummins all hope to continue to be able to show their appreciation of Emporia’s support of the Dirty Kanza. In fact, Kristi Mohn worries about maintaining momentum. She listed Emporia’s “phenomenal”

support of racers at the finish line and welcoming attitude toward everyone as part of the reason for DK’s success. She’s glad to see the economic benefit that occurs for local businesses during the week of DK, and feels the added responsibility of making sure such progress continues.

“That, to be honest with you, is probably one of the things that probably weighs the heaviest on my shoulders. We’ve made this really great event and I now have heard many businesses tell me that A, it’s better than Christmas for them, and B, they time the opening of their business to Dirty Kanza,” she said.

“I think what really strikes me with that is (what happens) if we screw this up, and all of a sudden nobody likes coming to Dirty Kanza. There are things you can’t control: the weather. DK has made it so that I don’t even look at weather forecasts anymore. I can’t control it and it just stresses me out.”

Anyone familiar with Kansas weather can certainly relate to Kristi Mohn’s apprehension.

But rain, shine or wind, it seems unlikely DK 200 will let Emporia down any time soon.

[Photo courtesy of Eric Benjamin] [Photo courtesy of Jason Ebberts]

[Photo courtesy of Jason Ebberts]

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[Photo courtesy of Eric Benjamin]

[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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The idea for the 1,000 Mile Club award came to cyclist Dan Hughes during the 10th hour of the 2014 Dirty Kanza 200 from what he calls a “cave of pain.”

The well-known owner of Sunflower Outdoor & Bike in Lawrence has powered through seven DK 200s, winning three of them.

“The inspiration was actually a little self-serving in the sense that last year, during the race, I think probably at hour 10 when my mind was beginning to wander a little bit and I wasn’t having as much fun as I was having earlier in the day, and I was tired, I thought, ‘There really ought to be some sort of award for people who have finished this race a number of times,’” Hughes said.

People like Corey Godfrey, who has finished eight races, and Joe Fox who has finished six, need an award, Hughes determined during the 2014 race. Now, those men and others will line the stage this year to receive the first 1,000-Mile Club awards ever given out at the DK 200. Nine people will slide right into the club, and another nine have the four races under their belt and may get the fifth this year, Hughes said.

Hughes — who said in an Adventure Monkey blog of how he feels before each race, “I’m sure they’ve done studies on the mental state of condemned men at some point. That’s what I think I feel like.” — said finishing even one DK 200 is the goal of most riders. This award honors those who’ve put themselves on that course numerous times.

“All these people who come back year after year after year. Here’s a group of people that has overcome flat tires, they’ve overcome crazy weather, they’ve overcome

There is a new award this year for the crazies who have ridden 1,000 miles in five Dirty Kanza 200s

THE GRAVEL GRAIL

1000 MILES

BY MORGAN CHILSON

[Photo courtesy of Sunflower Outdoor & Bike]

Page 53: DK 200 Magazine 2015

cattle running alongside them on the open range, they’ve overcome heat fatigue,” he said.

Whether they won or not doesn’t matter. It’s whether they finish.

On a lighter note, this was also a way for Hughes to get a glass with a little more heft to it than the pint glass given to everyone who finishes the DK 200. His kids keep stealing glasses from his previous wins.

On Sunflower’s blog, he wrote: “Anyone that’s crossed the finish line on Commercial Street knows the joy of having accomplished something special. And the honor of holding aloft the coveted Finisher’s pint glass is something to be savored for perpetuity in my book. Sadly my children don’t see it the same way. If you were to glance in our cupboard at the Hughes house, you would see nary a one Dirty Kanza pint glass. Despite repeated efforts to get them to use other, non-essential, pieces of glassware, my brood insists on using the DK glasses. And things happen … they get broken (all of them).”

So the award Hughes settled on was a specially inscribed goblet, which may survive his children, but also gives symbolic weight to the accomplishment of riding 1,000 miles or more. To design the new glass, he turned to his stepfather, Jim Smith, a retired Hallmark artist who put his talents to capturing the essence of the DK 200 on a glass.

And no, he didn’t draw a picture of a flat tire. “Jim is a very, very talented artist, and the

Kanza has a rich history and the Flint Hills kind of lend themselves to that kind of artistic expression,” Hughes said.

For Smith, it was fun to tackle the project because he and his wife have been DK 200 enthusiasts (possibly just Hughes enthusiasts?) for years.

“I was trying to think of a design that kind of covered all the bases, so to speak, of what the Dirty Kanza is about,” Smith said, of the design that includes a star motif and, of course, the numerals 1,000. “I don’t know why it occurred to me, but I thought a bike chain would make a great border. Then within the bike chain, it might be fun for those who have done 1,000 miles to look at the schooner and see the names of all the checkpoints, the little towns on the route of the Dirty Kanza.”

The way those town names curve in the cup design, Hughes said, is “reminiscent of the rolling Flint Hills, and there’s a sun and a moon, calling out the ‘Race the Sun’ aspect of it.”

Glassware is hard to photograph and Hughes joked that Andy White, his social media brand manager at Sunflower, did a phenomenal job taking a photo of it filled with a dark liquid to set off the design, making it look like “The DK Gravel Grail,” he joked.

The beauty of the goblet is just a small way to honor those who’ve powered through 1,000 or more miles on the DK 200. In addition to the riders listed above, awards are set to go to John Mathias, Tim Ek, Matt Gersib, Matt Wills, Peter Goode and Gerald Hart.

As Hughes said on his Sunflower blog, “A good group of folks that have repeatedly demonstrated the necessary elements to complete a Kanza AND the lack of sense to keep coming back for more!”

[Photo courtesy of Sunflower Outdoor & Bike]

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[Photo courtesy of Jason Ebberts]

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[Photo courtesy of Jason Ebberts]

WOMEN

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Ladies … What if I told you that I know how to acquire the fountain of youth? I know the secret weapon that will actually turn back time, adding years

to your life and make you happier and healthier each time you use it.

Intrigued? You will also have the potential to lower stress, lose weight, and make new friends. This purchase will not take up too much room, doesn’t require a plethora of gear and there is a wide range of costs to fit every budget. Have you figured it out yet? It’s a bike!

Remember two wheeled fun when you were a kid? I grew up in the 70’s, remembering no helmets and soaring through the air over a homemade ramp pieced together with broken two by fours and bricks. We would set them up right in the very middle of the road, crazy kids.

Things were different back then. Our parents let us pedal miles away from the house on a daily basis without a care in the world. If you had a bike there was a huge sense of freedom that came with it. We could explore anywhere and everywhere, as far and as fast as our legs could carry us. I rode my bike to school, to the candy store, and to soccer practice. You could tell where all your neighborhood friends where by the pile of bikes in the front yard. Things were different in the 1970’s.

My relationship with bikes terminated when I learned to drive at age seventeen. I did not get on a bike again until twenty years later. My learning process started out with a bang as my very first bike ride landed me in the ER, I made it about 1 and ½ miles on the trail. Accidents happen. It took roughly five months to heal my broken elbow and get me back in the saddle. It was just a rough start.

These days being an adult doesn’t have to mean all work and no play. There is no age limit for riding a bike, studies have shown one can cycle into their 80s. Yeah! And chances are good biking will make you feel like a kid again.

Since there are side-effects to everything, negative and positive, you can expect to experience a little of both if you own a bike. As I stated before I had an accident, actually I’ve had several, it comes with the territory. However, I can assure you that the positives I have experienced have outweighed the negatives.

Riding a bike regularly has many mental

and physical benefits. For instance, cycling is one of the best ways to reduce your risk for health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and some cancers. Riding a bike regularly has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety for those who are battling mental illness and depression.

Biking is a great low impact exercise that can be as intense as you want. If you are trying to lose weight turn up the intensity to burn fat, whittle your middle, and build muscle. Cycling is a fun way to increase stamina and strength. We can all use more of that right?

Cycling is the perfect exercise. Don’t believe me yet? Here is some more info. Cycling is easy on your knees, feet, joints, and legs. What’s cool about this is that pedaling gets your heart pounding without pounding your body in the process. Biking is not a weight bearing activity so it has little impact on your joints and biking is much kinder to your body than running. No matter what your clothing size is, fitness level, or list of aches and pains, you can ride a bike. Routine cycling can help you change all of those; it’s up to you.

Over the past few years you may have noticed the growth of women’s cycling and a larger female presence at area gravel grinders. After 2009 the ladies finally began to trickle in to the Dirty Kanza. By “trickle in” I mean only nine women had seen the finish line by 2011. That was my first year and I believe there were less than twenty of us signed up. I have seen the growth over these last four years and I can tell you it’s been magnificent.

The Dirty Kanza Crew has done a tremendous job growing the women’s field. The promoters have taken the “if you build it they will come” approach. In 2014, they decided to separate the women’s category to women 39 and under and women 40 and over. This move showed their commitment to grow girls on gravel, I approved highly.

This year the DK 200 has 33 women in the 39 and under and 49 signed up for the 40+! That total exceeds the amount of women who signed up the first seven years! The DK Lite, the 100 miler, has one hundred and twelve women signed up! Wow, aren’t those numbers impressive?

I think it’s safe to say that women riding

gravel is finally catching on! Now, how do we keep expanding? How do we get more women on bikes? How do we get even more women to sign up for the Dirty Kanza next year? Let me rattle off a few ideas.

Ladies, I suggest you tell your stories. Tell how the bike has positively impacted your life and throw out invites for rides. Yes, it’s just that easy. Fellas, you can help us by being encouraging and freeing us up from some household duties. I can’t tell you how many women have told me they don’t ride because of household chores; I ride in spite of them. Also, take the kids off our hands once in a while too. If you play this correctly guys, you can have a happier and healthier wife in no time at all. Not to mention more bikes and spandex.

My husband owns more bikes and bike related accessories because I ride also. A wise man named Matt told him “always make sure your wife has the best, if not an even better bike than you do.” This piece of advice served my husband well so I wanted to pass it on. My husband took this as “Make sure she has everything she needs to ride all the time. This will insure she will ride and let you ride.” No truer words have been spoken. I got bit by the biking bu, too! And if you ask him I bet he will admit it’s the best thing that could have ever happened.

I believe EVERY woman should own a bike and ride it often. The benefits you will receive will change your life. The people you meet the places you go will enrich your days. You get to make all the decisions in regards to what type of relationship you want to have with your bike. You decide when, where, and how long. Hell, you can invite friends.

No pressure or a hammerfest is totally up to you. You can go on epic journeys blazing new trails and sleeping on sand bars or you can ride flat gravel to the wineries with your girlfriends, your decision. You can pin on a number and compete with your friends or show up as a volunteer to enjoy the camaraderie of like-minded people. You can take quick rides to the store or restaurant in your area or visit a local park and take on the trails.

The bike can be whatever you want it to be. It will mold you, shape you into a better human. It’s one of the benefits. Very simply, bike = healthy, happy human.

FAT BOTTOM GIRLS, GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE BY WENDY DAVIS

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DK Q&AQUESTIONS

BY THE COACHES AT CTS

One of the best aspects of the Dirty Kanza 200 is that it not only brings together cyclists from all over the world, but it also introduces ultra-endurance cycling to a ton of people in and around Emporia, Kansas. Here’s a handy guide to some of the questions racers and spectators have about this special race:

For the Racers:If you’re planning on toeing the start line on Commercial St., we’re assuming you’ve educated and prepared yourself for the Dirty Kanza 200. Your equipment should be dialed and you should know what foods and drinks keep your stomach happy and functioning. So we’re going to skip the basics and give you some more advanced race-day advice:

Should I start hard or easy? The benefit of pushing yourself at the start is that you get to cover more ground in the draft of a larger and faster group. The downside is that you may burn some valuable energy very early in the day and you may pay for that effort later in the day. A good balance is to settle into a group with riders of similar strength so you can share the pacing work and get some shelter from the wind.

The line or the draft, which is more important?The line. Drafting is great and you should do it whenever possible, but if staying in the draft means riding a bad line in loose and sharp gravel then stay in the cleaner line. Loose gravel is slow. It takes more power to ride through it. And a flat tire will cost you a lot of time and make you lose contact with the group you’re riding with.

What do I do if I get an upset stomach?Most GI distress is caused by reduced gut motility. Your gut stopped working and you have to get it moving again. 1 ) Slow down but keep moving forward. A lighter pace lowers energy demand. 2) Cool down. When you’re hot, cooling takes top priority and digestion takes a back seat. 3) Sip water. You’re nauseous because there’s undigested food lingering in your gut. You need fluids to help get it moving and digested. As you start to feel better, start consuming small amounts of food again so you can keep going, at least to the next aid station. Overall, make sure you’re consuming a balance of foods and drinks that will provide fluids, calories and electrolytes.

[Photo courtesy of Eric Benjamin]

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DK Q&AFor the Spectators:

How do Dirty Kanza riders train for this event?Most DK200 racers ride and train year-round, for this event and others, with a mixture of moderate-duration (1-4 hour) rides, some longer endurance rides (5-12 hours), and shorter interval workouts. Intervals workouts use alternating periods (1-20 minutes) of high-intensity effort and low-intensity recovery (1-10 minutes) to develop sport-specific fitness. This adds to the general aerobic endurance from the longer, steady-pace rides.

How many calories will DK200 riders burn?It depends on how hard they push themselves, but the range is about 450 calories/hr for riders at the slower end of the field and 700+/hr for the leaders.

What will DK200 riders eat and drink while riding?Since even the skinniest cyclist has plenty of stored fat to burn for energy, they only need to replenish about 20-30% of the calories they burn each hour. So, if a rider is burning 600 calories/hr, he or she may aim to consume 120-180 calories/hr, mostly from carbohydrates. To stay hydrated and control core temperature they’ll consume 40+ ounces of fluid per hour, some from plain water and some from sports drinks containing carbohydrate and electrolytes. As the day gets longer, riders sometimes experience cravings for salty or sweet foods, but they tend to stick to foods and drinks they’ve used in training so they don’t eat something new that might disturb their stomachs.

Just the thought makes my butt sore. How do they stay comfortable?Well, it’s not always comfortable but that’s something riders prepare for. The equipment and apparel help (larger tires for more cushioning, padded handlebar tape, padded cycling shorts, gloves, anti-chafing cream) and the rider’s body position on the bike is typically more upright than an aggressive road racer’s position.

The professional coaches at CTS have coached more than 15,000 amateur, pro, and time-crunched athletes in the past 15 years. For more information on full-service personal coaching, training camps, and CTS Bucket List events (of which DK200 is one), visit www.trainright.com.

[Photo courtesy of Jason Ebberts]

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Tuesday, May 26thDK Store open (727 Commercial St.) 4:00pm - 7:00pm

Wednesday, May 27thDK Store open (727 Commercial St.) 4:00pm - 7:00pm

Thursday, May 28thDK Store open (727 Commercial St.) Noon - 8:00pm

Artist Reception - (Emporia Arts Council) 4:30pm - 6:30pm

Group Ride (Granada Theatre) - 7:00pm

Friday, May 29thGroup Ride (Granada Theatre) - 9:00am

Rider registration (11 W. 8th Ave.) - 10:00am - 9:00pm

“All Things Gravel” Expo (11 W. 8th Ave.) - 10:00am - 9:00pm

DK Store Open (727 Commercial) - 10:00am - 9:00pm

Rider Meeting (Session 1) (Granada Theatre) - 3:00pm - 3:30pm

Rider Meeting (Session 2) (Granada Theatre) - 5:00pm - 5:30pm

Rider Meeting (Session 3) (Granada Theatre) - 7:00pm - 7:30pm

Pre-Race Palooza Dinner (St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church) - 4:00pm - 7:30pm (500 tickets, sold at door)

Saturday, May 30thDK200 Start (Granada Theatre) - 6:00am

DK100 Start (Granada Theatre) - 6:20am

DKLite Start (Granada Theatre) - 6:40am

DK Store Open (727 Commercial) - 6:00am - 10:00pm

All Day (Commercial Street) - Family Fun Events

~Noon (Granada Theatre) - First DK Half Pint finishers

Kids bike race and run (Granada Theatre) - 3:00pm - ~4:00pm

First DK200 finishers (Granada Theatre) - ~4:00pm

Sunday, May 31stRock Star Breakfast (White Auditorium) - 7:00am - 9:00am

Awards Ceremony (White Auditorium) - 8:00am - 9:00am

DK Store Open (727 Commercial) - 9:00am - Noon

SCHEDULEMake sure you don’t miss any events on during the week of the Dirty Kanza.

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Page 62: DK 200 Magazine 2015

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Java Cat King LiquorLiquor LockerLyon County State BankMulready’s PubPaper Moon AntiquesPlumbing By SpellmanRadius Brewing CompanyRiddle’s JewelryThe Scoreboard Sports Bar & Grill Sutherland’s LumberSubwaySweet GranadaTown CrierWilliams Automotive

RIDER CARDS Every year, The Emporia Gazette and Dirty Kanza Productions team up to produce trading cards featuring riders of the Dirty Kanza 200. You can pick up your set by visiting these sponsor locations.

Page 63: DK 200 Magazine 2015

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Page 64: DK 200 Magazine 2015

2014 Finishers

DK

200

by

the

num

bers

Rank Name Division Time1 Brian Jensen M35-39 10:42:492 Barry Wicks M30-34 11:04:393 Jonathan Schottler M29 and Under 11:06:354 Bob Cummings M40-44 11:16:095 Jason Siegle M30-34 11:19:416 Wayne Strohman M40-44 11:34:017 Dan Hughes M45-49 11:37:168 Clemens Kyllmann M50-54 11:50:209 Matt Freeman M40-44 12:01:4310 Dave Sheek M35-39 12:01:4411 Joe Meiser M30-34 12:03:2512 Jay Petervary M40-44 12:03:2513 Eric Obergfell M40-44 12:03:2514 Peter Sullivan M50-54 12:03:2515 Greg Gleason M45-49 12:03:2616 Michael Morgan M40-44 12:03:5417 Rod Yoder M45-49 12:07:0918 Michael Radcliff M35-39 12:08:5619 Rebecca Rusch F40+ 12:11:1520 Curt Shelman M55+ 12:11:5021 Joe Fox M30-34 12:13:0922 Dale Pinkelman M35-39 12:13:4223 Bill Dietrich M45-49 12:14:0324 David Haase M45-49 12:14:5225 Jon Livengood M40-44 12:15:0326 Brian Hannon M45-49 12:15:0427 Rusty Folger M35-39 12:19:4228 Greg Brown M45-49 12:20:3129 Paul Mckay M40-44 12:20:3130 Wade Gasperson M35-39 12:20:3231 Will Shore M50-54 12:20:3232 Peter Chrapkowski Single Speed 12:25:1933 Aaron Gulley M35-39 12:26:1334 Yuri Hauswald M40-44 12:28:5835 Aaron Elwell M35-39 12:31:5336 Bill Clinesmith M45-49 12:31:5437 Joshua Johnson M35-39 12:32:4538 Mike Marchand M50-54 12:34:0839 Brian Ecker M40-44 12:34:1340 Kristopher Auer M40-44 12:38:2441 Jason Rivers M45-49 12:38:4042 Stan Prutz M55+ 12:43:4743 Garth Prosser M40-44 12:44:5444 Rick Moseley M45-49 12:48:2045 Tom Sherry M50-54 12:49:3546 Jeff Usher M55+ 12:49:3947 Brian Bradley M40-44 12:50:1048 Chris Carmichael M50-54 12:50:1249 Tom Scott M45-49 12:51:1350 Alby King M40-44 12:52:5451 Jay Downs M45-49 12:53:4452 Greg Pollard M50-54 12:53:4953 Adam Vaughan M30-34 12:57:3854 Kt Desantis F40+ 12:58:2455 Josh Cramer M35-39 12:58:2456 Marc Kriewaldt M50-54 12:58:2657 Stu Evans M30-34 12:58:2858 Joshua Eggar M35-39 12:59:15

Rank Name Division Time59 Bobby Smith M45-49 12:59:5760 Brad Tymchuk M45-49 13:04:4261 John Bradley M45-49 13:09:2862 Elliott Rodda M45-49 13:09:2863 Jeff Bannink M40-44 13:17:3964 Michael Talbert M55+ 13:17:4665 Timothy Place M35-39 13:18:1466 Steven Yore M45-49 13:18:2267 Hunter Henry Single Speed 13:18:5068 Michael P Peters M45-49 13:21:2669 Mike Pfeiffer M45-49 13:21:3270 Matthew Kutilek M30-34 13:23:4571 Erik Maybee M35-39 13:25:3772 Todd Tvrdik M40-44 13:26:2773 Angie Rake Tandem 13:26:4474 Jason Morgan M40-44 13:26:4475 Kelcey Denayer M35-39 13:27:5876 Matt Morrow M45-49 13:27:5877 Jerry Jones M50-54 13:27:5978 Roger Williams M45-49 13:31:5879 Richard Lengyel M45-49 13:33:1680 Sam Ruff M40-44 13:33:1781 Andrea Wilson F39 and Under 13:33:2982 John Mathias M55+ 13:34:1783 Tim Ek M45-49 13:34:2584 Corey Godfrey M35-39 13:35:0385 Yuri Cook M45-49 13:35:2086 Mark Mcculloch M40-44 13:35:4987 Anatolie Juncu M45-49 13:36:4088 Paul Fancher M50-54 13:36:4189 Sean Owen M30-34 13:36:4190 Chris Hereford Single Speed 13:36:4491 Taylor Nye Single Speed 13:36:4592 Chad Millner M35-39 13:37:5693 Matt Richardson M30-34 13:38:4094 Andy Applegate Tandem 13:39:1495 Stephan Boianoff M40-44 13:41:5696 David Fullagar M45-49 13:42:1997 Randy Smith M55+ 13:42:2198 Aaron Sims M29 and Under 13:42:2399 Marc Ostryniec M35-39 13:42:55100 Jeff Young M29 and Under 13:44:21101 Tom Brinker M40-44 13:44:31102 Eric Nelson M45-49 13:45:10103 Mark Ramsden M45-49 13:45:37104 Carl Fischer M55+ 13:45:37105 James Grooms M50-54 13:45:38106 Jason Kulma M35-39 13:45:41107 Don Langley M50-54 13:47:46108 Steve Wood M45-49 13:48:42109 J Patrick Ragan M55+ 13:48:43110 Kurt Mckinsey M35-39 13:49:08111 Lincoln Steward M40-44 13:49:38112 Lee Henson M40-44 13:50:37113 Matt Curry M50-54 13:52:19114 Eric Pearce M50-54 13:54:05115 Kevin Summers M30-34 13:55:21116 Joe Stiller M50-54 13:55:22

Rank Name Division Time117 Doug Shaw M55+ 13:55:30118 Karen Borgstedt F40+ 13:56:09119 Jamie Wynne M40-44 13:57:16120 Wesley Boyce Single Speed 13:57:46121 Josh Lederman M45-49 13:57:52122 Tim Mckinney M40-44 13:58:48123 Jason Irwin M29 and Under 13:59:26124 Warran Wiebe Single Speed 14:01:31125 Anatoly Zlotnik Single Speed 14:01:32126 Dan Dittmer M35-39 14:01:39127 Brian Lasswell M45-49 14:01:53128 Tim Herre M30-34 14:01:55129 Darin Schneidewind M40-44 14:02:04130 Paul Dodd M40-44 14:03:33131 Don Eldridge M40-44 14:03:37132 Derek Weider M29 and Under 14:03:55133 Tomasz Tomicki M45-49 14:05:31134 Bryan Ford M45-49 14:05:36135 Bob Billings Single Speed 14:06:43136 Grant Fay M40-44 14:07:04137 Scott Noel M50-54 14:07:04138 Ryan Jones M29 and Under 14:07:30139 John Noel M50-54 14:08:23140 Paul Du Toit M35-39 14:08:24141 Christopher Yeomans M40-44 14:08:25142 Trevor Greenwood M35-39 14:08:29143 Chris Davis M29 and Under 14:08:32144 Jim Thompson M40-44 14:08:33145 Jason Wood M40-44 14:11:09146 Colin Mahoney M45-49 14:11:29147 Michael Webber M35-39 14:11:29148 Richard Biechler Tandem 14:13:04149 Chris Knight M40-44 14:13:26150 Anthony James M40-44 14:13:37151 Shawn O’mara M35-39 14:13:59152 Scott O’mara M35-39 14:13:59153 Don Buttram M45-49 14:14:01154 Steve Christian M55+ 14:15:28155 Carl Ring M40-44 14:17:14156 Patrick Lackey M40-44 14:18:43157 Scott Rothe M55+ 14:19:08158 Eric Drummer M35-39 14:19:17159 Jeff Caldwell M40-44 14:19:20160 Randall Smith M40-44 14:19:21161 Ben Cooper M40-44 14:19:21162 Chris Beggs M40-44 14:19:23163 Ron Dempsey M50-54 14:19:26164 Dennis Blochlinger M50-54 14:19:29165 Douglas Tice M50-54 14:20:04166 Nathan Phillips M35-39 14:21:12167 James Slauson M50-54 14:21:12168 Michael Hillenbrand M45-49 14:21:31169 Derek Wilkerson M35-39 14:21:31170 Mark Orton M35-39 14:21:31171 Joe Constantino M45-49 14:21:36172 Ebby Norman Single Speed 14:21:57173 Phillip Maxwell M40-44 14:24:07174 Robert Sack M55+ 14:24:46

Rank Name Division Time175 James Williams M45-49 14:26:00176 Paul Heimbach M40-44 14:26:50177 Adam Roeser M30-34 14:27:14178 Nickel Potter M30-34 14:27:58179 Andrew Pollina M35-39 14:28:10179 Jerry Jackson M45-49 14:28:10181 Steve Biggs M45-49 14:30:04182 Ezra Colman M40-44 14:32:19183 Mark Horn M40-44 14:32:47184 Steve Riggle M55+ 14:32:56185 Mike Morin M29 and Under 14:33:16186 John Senn M30-34 14:33:17187 Jeff Sona M50-54 14:33:19188 Curtis Byler M45-49 14:33:19189 Ryan Ostenberg M29 and Under 14:33:23190 Andrea Cohen F39 and Under 14:37:17191 Dave Hudson M45-49 14:39:01192 Jamie Gunderson M40-44 14:40:55193 Tim Kremer M45-49 14:43:03194 Sean Rafferty M40-44 14:44:38195 Colin Shelman M29 and Under 14:44:42196 Mark Krause M45-49 14:47:58197 Timothy Hopkin M45-49 14:48:06198 Tyler Moore M30-34 14:48:15199 Mitch Bernskoetter Single Speed 14:50:28200 Thad Whalen M45-49 14:52:23201 Doug Hill M55+ 14:52:55202 John Boyd M45-49 14:54:00203 Michael Weiss M45-49 14:56:40204 Vince Gatto M30-34 14:56:40205 Karen Pritchard F40+ 14:56:42206 Johnny Bargeron M40-44 14:56:44207 Mark Bidstrup M50-54 14:57:21208 Karen Dee Williams F40+ 14:57:54209 Brian Hayden M50-54 14:58:44210 Robert Tracy M35-39 14:58:54211 Robin Bennett M50-54 15:03:03212 Curt Carlson M50-54 15:05:02213 Steven Cannon M45-49 15:05:33214 Jad Sutton M40-44 15:06:27215 Paul Engler M55+ 15:06:29216 Joe Scully M55+ 15:06:30217 Dennis Jones M45-49 15:06:34218 Janeen Mccrae F40+ 15:08:06219 Darren Klish M40-44 15:08:15220 Jack Christian Single Speed 15:10:54221 Steve Phillips M55+ 15:11:22222 Josh Schrock M30-34 15:12:11223 Pete Jaros M45-49 15:12:39224 Neil Shirley M35-39 15:15:44225 Steve Heal M30-34 15:16:29226 Timothy Stechert M55+ 15:21:36227 Bill Hill M35-39 15:21:57228 Michael Swords M45-49 15:22:46229 William Whitehead Single Speed 15:22:46230 Justin Juarez M30-34 15:23:15231 Paul Dennis M40-44 15:23:46232 Gary Owens M45-49 15:24:04

2007 - 13:57:222008 - 11:58:322009 - 14:23:002010 - 13:38:00

2011 - 12:53:002012 - 11:56:002013 - 12:03:392014 - 10:42:49

Past Results

450 entrants 267 finishers2012

2013

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

38 entrants 18 finishers

50 entrants 19 finishers

75 entrants 42 finishers

100 entrants 19 finishers

200 entrants 65 finishers

350 entrants 68 finishers

1000 entrants 331 finishers

2014 1200 entrants 465 finishers

Past Finishing Times

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Rank Name Division Time233 Rick Becker M45-49 15:24:05234 Bruce Boyer M50-54 15:24:37235 Robert Ostrom M40-44 15:26:16236 Tim Hejny M35-39 15:26:57237 Todd Berry M45-49 15:26:58238 Mike Penosky M50-54 15:26:59239 Adam Williams Single Speed 15:27:37240 Craig Anible M35-39 15:32:42241 Kendra Fergusson F39 and Under 15:32:43242 Ben Woodbury M30-34 15:32:53243 Dennis R Schueler Jr M50-54 15:32:59244 John Battista M50-54 15:33:23245 Chris Joice Single Speed 15:33:27246 Cooper Mittelhauser Single Speed 15:33:29247 Matt Sutter M40-44 15:33:41248 David Frei M45-49 15:36:34249 Jim Rank M50-54 15:36:38250 Josh Brown M35-39 15:36:40251 Jud Milham M45-49 15:37:14252 Darin Paoli M45-49 15:37:22253 John Brun M55+ 15:37:27254 Mark Smelser M30-34 15:37:39255 Gerald Hart M29 and Under 15:37:39256 Brent Lien M45-49 15:37:56257 Jen Barr F40+ 15:39:22258 Jonathan Groene M50-54 15:40:35259 Andrew Schoen M40-44 15:41:07260 David Peterson M40-44 15:41:13261 Doug Foxworth M50-54 15:43:09262 Grant Braasch M40-44 15:44:26263 Mike Creigo M40-44 15:44:27264 Ken Zylstra M50-54 15:44:27265 Alan Eastlund M40-44 15:44:29266 Jeff Howatt M55+ 15:44:29267 Neil Willey M45-49 15:44:29268 Randy Ballheim M55+ 15:44:50269 Ace Ward M35-39 15:44:51270 Kyle Frick M50-54 15:44:52271 Bobby Wintle Tandem 15:47:55272 Mike Johnson M35-39 15:50:04273 Marty Johnson M55+ 15:50:30274 Gus Hemingway M30-34 15:50:45275 Trenton Raygor M35-39 15:50:48276 Kevin Clark M50-54 15:50:50277 Alan Bossert M30-34 15:52:48278 Gregory Elliott M30-34 15:52:50279 Alexander Jackson M29 and Under 15:53:29280 Robert Breckner M50-54 15:53:49281 Jason Laidlaw M35-39 15:54:44282 Andrew White Tandem 15:57:11283 Lee Rusk M50-54 16:00:45284 Francis Bach Single Speed 16:01:35285 Russell Cox M55+ 16:01:36286 Craig Morton M40-44 16:01:37287 Matt Kretchmar M40-44 16:01:39288 Roger Caldwell M55+ 16:01:43289 Justin Eddings M30-34 16:04:10290 Allen Brunner M45-49 16:05:07

Rank Name Division Time291 Travis Brunner M29 and Under 16:05:08292 Bain Carpenter M50-54 16:05:11293 Tom Dudgeon M29 and Under 16:05:15294 Chris Owens M40-44 16:05:16295 Jeff Mittler M40-44 16:05:24296 Dan Gadbery M55+ 16:05:34297 Jens Dr. Freiberg M35-39 16:08:17298 Andy Sizemore M30-34 16:08:52299 Julie Santoro F40+ 16:10:07300 Jim Brull M40-44 16:13:12301 Keith Fry M55+ 16:13:13302 Jim Rutberg M35-39 16:13:20303 Chisholm Deupree M45-49 16:14:00304 Matt O’neil M30-34 16:14:02305 Jason Smith M40-44 16:15:49306 Ian Coates M40-44 16:16:03307 Matthew Dierker M30-34 16:16:42308 Kevin Gerth M30-34 16:16:45309 Eric Bossaller M40-44 16:17:22310 James Harrison M45-49 16:18:40311 Robert Elliott M29 and Under 16:23:43312 James Thornton M29 and Under 16:27:45313 Jay Tiegs M35-39 16:27:45314 Alex Roberts M35-39 16:28:06315 Andrew Holland M45-49 16:28:09316 Kent Tuxhorn M50-54 16:28:18317 Michael Favaloro M35-39 16:28:43318 David Guth M40-44 16:28:48319 Charlotte Pinick F40+ 16:29:37320 Jesse Hamman M29 and Under 16:29:38321 Corey Bacon M29 and Under 16:29:38322 Gillian Forsyth F40+ 16:29:40323 Michael Somers M55+ 16:30:22324 Joseph Fortin M45-49 16:33:49325 John Kibodeaux M40-44 16:33:59326 Joe Praeger M55+ 16:36:29327 Simon Castley M45-49 16:36:32328 Catherine Shenk F40+ 16:36:38329 David Mizelle M35-39 16:36:42330 Jim Nabakowski M55+ 16:36:50331 Sean Gibson M40-44 16:39:26332 Shelby Stokes F39 and Under 16:39:26333 Chris Mcguire Single Speed 16:39:32334 Charlie Mckeiver M30-34 16:40:46335 Heidi Dohse F40+ 16:45:40336 Robert Denny M30-34 16:45:45337 Paul Brasby M45-49 16:45:47338 Brett Katzen M50-54 16:45:49339 Steven Erlemeier M45-49 16:45:51340 Tom Gutmann Single Speed 16:45:52341 Dat Duong M35-39 16:48:26342 Nathan Smith M45-49 16:51:34343 David Fluchel M55+ 16:52:55344 Scott Kiddoo M50-54 16:53:11345 Bruce Currin M55+ 16:53:11346 Jay Horton M40-44 16:55:06347 Craig Pruitt M55+ 16:55:07348 Joseph Misplay M40-44 16:55:07

Rank Name Division Time349 John White M45-49 16:55:08350 Wendy Davis F40+ 16:57:52351 James Belford M50-54 16:57:54352 Pete Matschiner M40-44 16:58:58353 Jason Newman M50-54 17:00:15354 David Politowicz M50-54 17:00:44355 Garret Seacat M29 and Under 17:03:04356 James Allen M35-39 17:03:13357 Brian Heydn M45-49 17:04:28358 Joel Williams M35-39 17:04:32359 Lukas Eklund M35-39 17:04:59360 Shane Heiman M30-34 17:05:01361 Nicholas Deffer M29 and Under 17:10:00362 Michelle Knight F40+ 17:10:02363 Justin Akin M40-44 17:10:05364 Scott Mcdonough M45-49 17:11:25365 Chad Ament Single Speed 17:18:50366 John Welsh Single Speed 17:18:51367 Robert M45-49 17:19:02368 Matt Hayes M40-44 17:19:09369 Steve Tafelsky M40-44 17:23:26370 Kamp Wiebe M29 and Under 17:23:47371 Weston Wiebe M29 and Under 17:23:49372 Jb Barnhouse M35-39 17:31:12373 Raymond Mulnix M40-44 17:31:26374 Damon Hennen M50-54 17:31:27375 Josh Whitmore M35-39 17:33:39376 Bryce Shaver M29 and Under 17:36:38377 Chris Peters M35-39 17:36:41378 Adam Galindo M29 and Under 17:37:28379 Warren Claflin M30-34 17:39:20380 Andy Phillips Single Speed 17:39:39381 Dave Markowitz M55+ 17:40:12382 Kristen Mccune Single Speed 17:45:37383 Collin Little M35-39 17:50:00384 Shannon Bond M35-39 17:50:31385 Peter Skarzenski M35-39 17:52:54386 James Dirksen M55+ 17:53:14387 Craig Wettengel M45-49 17:53:16388 Doug Dennett M40-44 17:53:22389 Bobby Thompson M40-44 17:54:20390 Travis Madron M40-44 17:54:22391 Matt Smith M40-44 17:55:00392 Frank Dreiling M55+ 17:55:01393 Joel Watson M40-44 17:58:04394 Derrick Boos M35-39 18:00:59395 Renee Martin F40+ 18:04:19396 Jay Loder M50-54 18:04:32397 John Forstrom M50-54 18:04:33398 Robert Mutel M55+ 18:04:34399 Greg Ruselowski M55+ 18:05:11400 Benjamin Storch M35-39 18:06:27401 Christine Springer F40+ 18:07:01402 John Kovacs M45-49 18:07:04403 Albert Anderson M50-54 18:07:11404 John Strom M40-44 18:07:12405 Mike Karnes M45-49 18:07:14406 Steve Mcguire M55+ 18:07:24

Rank Name Division Time407 Robert Neuman M55+ 18:19:55408 John Powell Single Speed 18:19:57409 Brent Decker M50-54 18:20:03410 Nicole Baranoski F39 and Under 18:20:24411 Shane Hindenach M35-39 18:20:25412 Matt Kosinski M30-34 18:27:59413 Philip Farrell M45-49 18:28:45414 David Pitt M50-54 18:28:48415 Derek Wilson M30-34 18:29:46416 Shaun Arritola M45-49 18:30:01417 Bent Olufsen M45-49 18:35:03418 Patrick Logghe M35-39 18:36:36419 Steven Holt M29 and Under 18:40:46420 Michael Jones Single Speed 18:41:35421 Ian Buchanan M29 and Under 18:41:38422 Paul Outka M50-54 18:41:39423 Michael Hall M29 and Under 18:42:05424 John Gunter M35-39 18:42:08425 Pete Lira M55+ 18:45:20426 Tara Bakker F39 and Under 18:45:21427 Carrie Sona F40+ 18:45:21428 David Derfel M45-49 18:50:30429 David Rowe M55+ 18:53:13430 Bob Stechert M55+ 18:54:21431 Bob Wieck Single Speed 18:56:39432 Dale Merrill M40-44 18:56:40433 Greg Nelson M50-54 19:00:51434 Lee Burton M50-54 19:01:01435 Warren Jennings, Jr. M45-49 19:01:31436 Kate Geisen F40+ 19:03:06437 Tara Brick F40+ 19:08:16438 Alvaro Gamarra M29 and Under 19:08:19439 Doug Christie M50-54 19:08:28440 Robert Ritchey M30-34 19:15:10441 Mike Brown M55+ 19:15:10442 Jason Mclaughlin M35-39 19:15:56443 Aaron Carnes M35-39 19:15:57444 David Schaufler M50-54 19:26:45445 Spencer Klaassen M45-49 19:26:54446 Rodney Geisert M55+ 19:26:56447 Matt Schmuker M35-39 19:39:38448 Nicholas Hill M55+ 19:39:39449 Rob Simms M55+ 19:39:40450 Brett Stevens M35-39 19:47:39451 Austin Turner M29 and Under 19:47:40452 Cody Mathias M29 and Under 19:52:45453 Troy Ochs M40-44 20:04:02454 Clifford Allen M45-49 20:04:02455 Ryan Dudley M40-44 20:04:03456 Shawn Teenor M40-44 20:07:14457 Jenny Wise-Cook F40+ 20:24:23458 Dave Penegar M45-49 20:24:26459 John Decker M45-49 20:28:30460 Adam Gribben M30-34 20:46:46461 Brandon Davis M29 and Under 20:54:41462 Charles Mayden M55+ 20:54:42463 David Markley M30-34 20:54:43464 Angela Spellman F40+ 20:55:39465 Michael Armour M35-39 20:55:41

[Photo courtesy of Dustin Michelson]

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Page 68: DK 200 Magazine 2015

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