Nutrition is not only interesting to me, but it is also very important to living the fulfilled, adventurous life. Our bodies are always rebuilding and fighting intruders. We have to put good, quality building blocks in our bellies to build and maintain quality bodies.

Is there specific nutrition for endurance athletes? Everyone is different but what you eat can have a very beneficial effect on your ability to finish the Dirty Kanza 200 or endurance event. There are foods that have an effect on your stamina, counteract the inflammatory response of your tired muscles and keep cramps away just to name a few things. This is something that interests me greatly and I will be writing more in the future on the diet your Adventure Monkey craves. There is a strong mind-body-spirit connection that you need to pay attention to. Healthy foods not only make you feel better physically but you will also feel the benefits emotionally.

For the week before the DK200, I thought I would highlight a few foods you may want to put in your cooler for race day or eat more of the week before. This list is by no means all inclusive, but just highlights a few good ones. Keep in mind, healthy foods have a long-term effect on the body more than a short-term energy boost, but on a race like the DK200, your body will be absorbing nutrients and calories at a superhuman pace. Giving your body the right things will make it work better and you will also feel better. But please don’t try something you are unsure about on race day and give yourself diarrhea or something. Be smart.

Eat Plants

Bananas

This wouldn’t be the Adventure Monkey blog without mentioning bananas right? They are one of my favorite on the bike foods. I feel they keep cramps away better than any sports drink.  Here’s why:

All essential minerals are in one medium banana, including 537 mg potassium. Sodium, however, only appears in a trivial amount.

One medium banana 7 to 8 inches long has:
2% RDI of vitamin A
1% RDI of vitamins C and E.
(Vitamins A, C and E are antioxidants that protect your cells from disease-causing molecules called free radicals.)

22% RDI of B-6
2% RDI of thiamine
5% RDI of riboflavin
4% RDI of niacin and pantothenic acid
6% RDI of folate.
These are all B vitamins. As a group, the B vitamins assist during metabolism, turning foods into energy, important for a two hundred mile race.

Dehydrating bananas to save weight may be a great idea. Here’s why:

One cup of dehydrated bananas gives you more actual banana by removing the water from a fresh banana. This about doubles the nutrients in dried verses fresh bananas making a potent, lightweight on-the-bike snack with a high amount of potassium which some sources suggest keep cramps at bay.

One cup of bananas:

Fresh: 134 total calories, 537 mg potassium, 34.26 g carbohydrates, 18.34 g sugar*

Dried: 346 total calories, 1,491 mg potassium, 88.28 g carbohydrates, 47.30 g sugars*

*mainly of sucrose, glucose and fructose. Keep in mind that some manufacturers of dehydrated bananas add sugar and other sweeteners to their bananas. Check the product labels before you make your purchase or dry your own.

Beetroot Juice

I agree, the sound of drinking beetroot juice had me gagging until I read the benefits one can get from it. Now I am planning on throwing some in the juicer, but haven’t tried it yet.

In two studies conducted at Exeter University on 15 men, Stephen Bailey and colleagues found cyclists who drank a half-liter (about a half-quart) of beetroot juice several hours before setting off were able to ride up to 20 percent longer than those who drank a placebo blackcurrant juice.

By examining the cyclists under a scanner that analyzes how much energy is needed for a muscle to contract, Bailey and colleagues discovered beetroot juice allows cyclists to exercise using less oxygen than normal. (source)

Cherries

Scientists speculate that antioxidant-rich plant chemicals in cherries known as anthocyanins may help suppress the enzymes that cause inflammation in the body. Scientists have also found cherry juice, which helps reduce exercise-induced swelling, could be strong enough to reduce some athletes’ use of anti-inflammatory pain medication.

To get the beneficial compounds found in one cup of juice, you’d have to eat plenty of sour cherries. I am planning on adding cherries to my juicer too!

Pickle Juice

I swear by pickle juice for cramping. During the 2010 DK200, I had the worst cramps I have ever had in my life. It got over 100 degrees that day and as I was pedaling into the midway checkpoint I was craving pickles more and more. Just to clarify, I don’t usually eat pickles or put them on my favorite foods list, but my body knew what it needed. After drinking about half a jar of the juice and eating about five spears, cramps stayed away the rest of the day.

The use of pickle juice as a defense against muscle cramps first attracted headlines when the Philadelphia Eagles credited pickle juice with their cramp-free win over the Dallas Cowboys in the over-one-hundred-degrees Texas heat. Rick Burkholder, the Eagles’ head trainer, called it his “secret weapon.”  Pickle companies (such as Mt. Olive Pickle, Vlasic Foods and Golden Pickle) claim that pickle juice is similar to an isotonic beverage and can prevent muscle cramps caused from strenuous exercise.

Pickle juice was found to have considerably more salt than the carbohydrate beverage. Dale et. al. concluded that pickle juice can be used as a remedy for muscle cramps. However, the study warns of the danger of ingesting large amounts of salt and suggests that athletes should dilute the pickle juice with a sufficient quantity of a hypotonic or isotonic solution. Two ounces is the suggested serving size of pickle juice.

I usually drink it straight from the glass jar and then eat a couple of spears to top it off at each stop.

Pickle juice is slightly acidic. Some scientists believe the acidic substance found in pickle juice — vinegar — sends signals to your nerves. This disrupts the cramping caused during workout sessions. Drinking pure vinegar might have a similar affect, reports The New York Times. However, straight vinegar doesn’t taste as pleasant as pickle juice

Compared to sports drinks, the beverage is loaded with sodium and also offers potassium and magnesium.

Read more at Livestrong.

Watermelon

Watermelon is an excellent source of Vitamin C, which a major antioxidant. It has a high beta carotene concentration, thus offering a fair amount of vitamin A as well. Both beta carotene with vitamin A help support good eyesight and prevent glaucoma.

High intakes of combined beta-carotene and vitamin C have demonstrated, through clinical and scientific studies, a propensity for warding off various cancers and heart disease, reducing arthritis symptoms, and minimizing asthmatic breathing problems.

A surprise nutrient is vitamin B, especially B1(thiamine)and B6(pyridoxine). Thiamine is important for maintaining electrolytes and nervous system signal transmissions throughout the body. Pyridoxine is essential for enzymatic functions that convert food into cellular energy, an important function during strenuous exercise.

The meat or pulp of watermelons is usually pink or red. Those colors indicate the highest content oflycopene, an antioxidant lauded for its ability to greatly minimize cancer risks. From the Worlds’ Healthiest Foods website “… lycopene has been repeatedly studied in humans and found to be protective against a growing list of cancers. These cancers now include prostate cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancers.”

Then there are the minerals of potassium and magnesium, which watermelons also offer abundantly. Potassium is important for cardiovascular health and brain health and helps the kidneys eliminate kidney stone forming calcium as well as assists with the body’s fluid retention.

Magnesium is considered the master mineral. It is involved with over 300 cellular metabolic functions. It happens to be lacking in our diets because of our depleted topsoils. Magnesium deficiencies are directly or indirectly related to most of our population’s poor health issues. Obvious symptoms are irritability, tension, sleep disorders, and muscular cramping. After that, it’s heart attacks and other serious illnesses.

With all these benefits you may want to cut up some watermelon and keep it in your cooler. It will provide you with all the above nutrients and minerals plus water to help your hydration.

Kale

I don’t like kale so I include it in my potent juice I make with the juicer.

A one cup serving of chopped kale offers:
34 calories
206% RDA of vitamin A
134% of vitamin C
10% of copper
9% of vitamin B-6 and potassium and smaller amounts of several other key nutrients.
684% of vitamin K

Strawberries

I like to make a mix of berries to eat at the stops. Dark colored berries are rich in phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are powerful antioxidants. I usually include strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and pineapples.

One cup of sliced strawberries offers:
97.6 mg vitamin C, or more than 100% of the daily value based on a 2000-calorie diet.
40 mcg of folate (helps protect the health of your red blood cells)
254 mg of potassium
Strawberries also help you reach your daily needs for manganese, iron, magnesium, copper and vitamins K and B-6.

Oranges

Oranges are known to contain a high amount of vitamin C but they also contain an array of healthy nutrients, including fiber, thiamine, folate and potassium. One orange supplies more than 100 percent of the daily recommended intake of vitamin C. The phytochemical component in oranges may be just as important, however. Oranges contain over 170 different identified phytochemicals and more may yet be undiscovered. Citrus flavanones are a group of phytonutrients found only in citrus fruits. In particular, the flavanone herperidin in oranges lowers inflammation and may reduce blood pressure and blood cholesterol.

Many of the powerful phytonutrients found in oranges and other plants are lost in the process of cooking, pasteurizing or other processing methods commonly used. That is why it is best to eat the fresh fruit or juice and drink the juice within 48 hours. Although there are nutrients in store-bought orange juice it isn’t even close to freshly squeezed orange juice.

If this interests you, you may want to jump HERE to read about some not so common super-foods that will maximize your endurance.

I do eat other things on the bike like nuts which also have health benefits and have lots of  slow burning calories in them too. Plus your body will need proteins for a long race too. I add jerky on the bike and also have a turkey sandwich waiting for me too at the stops. But don’t forget to listen to your body and the cravings you are having. Sometimes your body knows better than you do what it needs.

Now what to write about to finish the week before the DK200?

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

Most people don’t decide to take on the Dirty Kanza 200 as their first race ever. 200 miles of Flint Hills gravel in one day is a little crazy. But there is something about this race, as brutal and extreme as it is, that has newbies wanting to give it a go. And I have no room to talk, it was my first race too.

I did finish on my first try, but took a beating to get it done. My second year I was going to finish better than my first year, but the infamous storm did me in as I decided I was not going to carry my bike through the six or eight miles of mud that had replaced the dirt road that was there just a few hours before. I decided to reroute to get to Council Grove which disqualifies a rider. I wanted to finish with a better time than the year before so walking for hours didn’t sound like a good plan to me. I still got in 172 miles for the day and felt great so it was a win for me.

I have learned quite a bit about gravel grinding these past few years and love the sport. The only thing that kept me out of this year’s race was open heart surgery. I have the scar to prove it too. But I will see you all out on the course next year. Hopefully with my heart fixed up I will finally make it to the finish line before the beer garden is closed down. That’s the goal anyway. But I will be at this year’s race so be sure to say hi!

Adventure Monkey DK200 Advice

1. Recover on the bike. This is a simple yet very effective piece of advice I got from Jim Cummings, the DK200 race director himself. It worked well for me last year and is a great game plan. What is means is this:
   Instead of taking time at the checkpoint to rest and recover, recover on the bike. Ride slow and don’t push it. It keeps the muscles warm and keeps you moving instead of letting your muscles get cold and stiff and losing time by resting at the stops. This got me in front of a lot of people. I took about 10-15 minutes at my first checkpoint to refuel and get going again. That is one of the great things about cycling. You can ride at a pace that doesn’t stress the muscles and you can eat and drink while riding until you feel good enough to kick some butt again. KEEP MOVING
2. Have a plan for each stop. Write it down for your support crew.
   Next year I will have a laminated game plan for my crew at each of the three checkpoints. I want to get in and out quickly making the midway checkpoint my longest stop to eat some real food, but keep it to only 30 minutes max. The other checkpoints I would like to make 10 minute stops so a plan must be made. Everyone is different but here’s the gist of my checkpoint plan:
   -change out the bladder in my Tangle bag with a fresh one with ice (these are made pre-race and kept in a cooler).
   -change out my water bottles
   -wipe off and lube my chain (I hate a squeaky chain that doesn’t want to shift smoothly)
   -change out my food bag with pre-made baggies of food
   -eat pickle and drink some pickle juice
   -drink juice made especially for endurance events from a juicer (new to me this year)
   -clean off sweaty sunglasses
   -stretch with some Yoga poses while my crew takes care of the bike (maybe only at midway checkpoint)
   -change into a fresh new kit (midway checkpoint)
   -If hot pour cold water on head but try not to soak chamois (wet chamois is not comfortable to wear for 10 hours)
   -make ice sock to put in my jersey on my back as I ride off
   -have someone video me and see how things are going (good for blog posts)
   -have someone record my time just so I will know after the race how I did
   Both years I had my man Adam and his boys as my support. It can be done with one person especially if you have the list made for them.
   
3. Figure out your nutrition plan. This may be the most important item for the day. Since you are the motor you have to make sure you fuel yourself correctly. My body is pretty touchy as to what I feed it to keep it going. The only way I figured this out was to do my long Sunday gravel centuries and experiment with different foods, drinks and all the scientifically formulated endurance products. Don’t bring something to race day that you haven’t tried out.
   Some products are great but after a long, hot day on the bike I can no longer drink them. If I don’t eat I won’t pedal. I also sweat a lot leaving salt on my jersey and body. I need to replenish with water and sufficient electrolytes. Everyone is different but here is my plan:
   -Eat a good breakfast! I like oatmeal with fruit and eggs. Next year I may add a fresh juice too.
   -On the Tangle bag I have 3L of Cytomax and nuun mixed in my bladder. It’s pretty strong but keeps me going.
   -2 21 oz water bottles with one nuun in each (tastes like pure water compared to the mix in the bladder)
   - In my Mountain Feed Bag I have a mix of dried fruit, gluten free, high calorie granola, and nuts. I also have some beef jerky, Gu chomps, and a couple of gels for quick energy
   -In my jersey pockets you will find the perfect cyclist’s energy food – a banana or two.
   -I will eat a pickle spear or two and drink pickle juice at each stop. It works.
   -I will make juice with my juicer the night before to drink at the stops, but especially at the midway checkpoint. Juicing puts the vitamins, minerals and macronutrients of a shopping bag full of fruits and veggies into a glass of juice. Nothing beats it.
   -I eat a full meal at the midway checkpoint usually consisting of a sandwich, fruit (especially dark berries) and/or whatever sounds good. Listen to your body’s cravings – even junk food.
4. Stay cool on a hot day. The heat knocks out many riders and can be very dangerous. There’s only so much you can do in the middle of nowhere with no shade but there’s a few things I do.
   -make ice socks at each stop (read more here)
   -add ice to all your fluids when refilling to cool your core
   -if overheated find water and pour over your head – this has brought farmers and cyclists together during these races
   -know the signs of heat stoke and pay attention to your body – this can be deadly – know when to pull the plug
   
5. Tire choice - this could be the most important thing you do to assure a good day on the bike. There are a thousand different opinions on tires out there but be certain that the Flint Hills gravel will shred a tire. I am always looking for a tire that has good durability along with low rolling resistance and weight. There are no perfect tires but one thing is for sure – use new ones on race day. I like to put mine on a few weeks before the race to ride them a bit to make sure everything is good to go. I don’t like to put new tires on the day before just in case.
   I used a Bontrager XR-1 on the front and a Kenda Kwest on the rear for two years in a row with one flat. Not bad. I liked the comfort of the bigger tire on the front and the XR-1 is a fast rolling, fairly durable tire. The Kwest has Kenda’s protective layer for commuters in it and handled the sharp gravel well. I have also used:
   - a Kenda Karma on the front in training and loved the comfort and float it provided and never flatted with it
   -Kenda Kommandos for 100′s of miles with no flats and was going to run those in this year’s race. I was going to try 35c’s on the front and back for more speed (but less comfort).
   The Schwable Marathons are proven reliable but a little expensive. I was turned off when more than one reliable person told me their rolling resistance wasn’t that great. But many a great rider relies on these tires.
   Use good tires, bring tubes and patch kits. I am always surprised at the number of flats I see at the DK200. KNOW HOW TO CHANGE A FLAT AND PATCH A TUBE! practice in the field when training.
6. Learn how to handle bike repairs with your multi-tool. It would suck to be out of the race because of a mechanical that can be fixed.
7. Train your body and MIND for this race. I think the first hundred can be done with good training but the second hundred takes a will of steel. You won’t want to continue. You may break down and cry on the side of the road. Cramps may attack your muscles. You may decide this is stupid. You may throw up. Your body won’t want to keep going. That’s when people like us tell our body to shut the eff up and keep going. This takes a will of steel to pedal through the pain and doubt. I think training in the wind and on the trainer with only a boring wall to look at helps build discipline. But there is something about the people that do finish. They have a mind that can make it through things mere mortals cannot. Don’t give up.
   As to the physical training, I recommend making sure you can ride a gravel century, but people have finished strong doing 60-80 mile training rides. Train hard. Ride in the wind. Ride gravel. Focus on interval training. Ride with people faster than you. Have fun but train hard. 200 miles of Flint Hills gravel will bring you to your limits.
8. Find your pace and stick to it – If you are a slower rider people will be passing you right and left. Let them. If you stick to your pace you will pass them when they give up. There’s like a 20% finishing average (something like that). You won’t finish if you start too fast. Personally, I try to keep my average speed around 13.5 mph. I don’t sweat it too much. If it feels easy to go faster I do, keeping in mind I will be pedaling all day. I go slower up the hills and faster down them but all in all I think my average for both years was 13.3 mph. Not too bad. Next year I am hoping ot average 14 mph, but I will make the final decision after I train with a fully functioning heart . . who knows how fast I’ll be next year?
9. Stick on a wheel - my first year I didn’t do this. I felt like it was cheating. It’s not. Take turns pulling for each other. When you are small like me they usually don’t want you to pull for them so . . .Anyway my good friend Scott told me to ride someone’s wheel as much as possible and that’s what I did last year. I went from pack to pack riding my way towards the front of the middle, saving as much energy as possible by drafting. Make sure to return the favor though. If you are riding with a team, this is a great strategy especially in the Kansas wind. Although this is a self supported race . . . rule #23 in the DK200 Rider’s bible allows drafting on another race participant.
10. Help other riders - See a rider changing a flat or in any kind of pickle? Make sure they are OK and don’t need help before riding past. I gave away my tube to a guy in dire straits somewhere near Little Egypt in 2010. Karma is a bitch – respect it.
    
11. Have a support crew you can trust – They need to be there and have all your stuff. Also choose a person or people that will keep you motivated and not baby you. My wife is not allowed on my support team. She’s too nice. When I made it to the midway checkpoint in 2010 I later learned that Brooke, Adam’s wife was quiet because I looked so bad she didn’t know what to say. Adam is a badass and just kept saying “You can do this” type of things even though I looked like a pile of dogsh*t. That year I cramped so bad from mile 32 to 103 that I was sore and beat in Council Grove with the hardest part of the course ahead of me. I was saved by pickle juice – no joke. Also they should have your supplies and food spread out and ready for you. They need to act like a Nascar pit stop crew and take care of everything for you. Make that list. You will be tired and maybe delirious.
12. The week before the event eat and drink as healthy as possible. I would add nuun or sports drink to my daily regimen of water drinking. Maybe on Wednesday do an all out but short workout (20-30 mile ride as fast as possible) to use up your glycogen stores and then eat good healthy carbs to replenish your glycogen stores. Here’s other advice I have heard the week before the race:
    -carbo load by eating lots of good healthy carbs
    -eat lots of protein the week before
    -take the week off from hard training
    -do lots of stretching every night (yoga)
    -sleep well
    -don’t do anything different from the usual
    This sort of thing is different for everyone. Work out the kinks during training. The more of these races you do the better you will get.
13. Bring a camera if you are into pictures (who isn’t?) I have two mountain feed bags on my bars with one dedicated to a point and shoot camera. Trust me you will want to remember this experience.
14. Invite everyone to the finish line. The love of your family and friends at the finish line is the best thing you will ever hear in your life after 200 miles of grueling gravel. I will never forget my 2010 finish at 1:50 in the morning

Well, I’m out of coffee and can’t think of any more good advice. All I can say is the DK200 is a special race in a beautiful expanse of untouched grassland. Enjoy it. Take in the experience. Be ready to hurt, to doubt, to fall apart and see what you are really made of as you put yourself back together. I’ve been asked what you win if you are the winner of the DK200. Respect, that’s what. If you finish this race, there’s not much you can’t do.

Anything you can think of that I forgot? Leave a comment for all to see.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

It’s Friday and since you can no longer focus at work I am releasing a second installment of the Dream DK200 setups for you to waste a little more time on.

This one comes from Aaron Apel of Big Poppi’s Bike shop in Manhattan, Kansas. If you are in the area, it is a great shop with great people – go visit.

Aaron’s setup is different in that he may be a can short of a full six-pack. What I mean by that is that he has made the decision to ride 200 miles of sweet rolling gravel on a singlespeed. I don’t understand you singlespeeders but I also have never ridden a full ride on a singlespeed. Maybe I should try it before I knock it. Here is his build.

Frame: Giant TCX Advanced SL (size M/L)

The Giant TCX Advanced SL (Aaron’s would be setup as a singlespeed)

“I own the AL version and have found it to be a great gravel grinder the higher bottom bracket gives me all the clearance I need for Coyne Creek and the like and makes for a very stable ride from long days in the saddle on the amber waves of gravel.”

Brakes: Paul Neo Retro Canti 

Cranks: SRAM Force w/ 46t

“I would custom build my own wheels.”

Hubs: White Industries H2 (front) & White Industries Eccentric ENO

 Freewheel:  White Industries Freewheel 20t

Rims: Stan’s No Tubes Alpha 340′s

Spokes: DT Swiss Comps

Tires: Kenda Happy Mediums (40c) or Continental Cyclocross Speed (42c) “These would be setup tubeless, between 40 and 50 psi, (knock on wood) I have never had a flat riding gravel in almost 3 years, it may seem high to some people but it gives enough ride comfort while still good at deflecting cuts.”

Stem: Thompson Elite 90mm

Handlebars: Ritchey WCS Logic2 42cm 31.8 Handlebar /No Groove/ Wet Black

Bar Tape: Lizard Skin

Seat: Fizik Tundra 2 

Pedals: XTR Trail

Brake Levers: SRAM S500 Road Brake Lever Set Black Alloy

Cables: Gore RideOn Black Sealed Brake Cable and Housing System

It may seem odd the places I use carbon and the places I chose Al but it’s for one simple reason. I never shoot for the absolute lightest bike, I shoot for a mix of pure durability, stiffness and give in the right places for comfort. 200 miles is a long way.

Extra’s: Hydration/ Storage is a Revelate Bag with 3L of water Cliff Mojo Bars, Honey Stinger Chew & Waffles, and my personal favorite Nerds Rope. I also carry a Park Tool Tool Roll with my own custom assortment of tools/ tire boots/CO2 and a mini pump/3 extra tubes. I also carry in my bottle cages on bottle with regular water to put over my head over the course of a leg as well as one with electrolyte mix.

Aaron’s singlespeed DK200 rig

Single speed for 200 miles of rolling gravel? That’s how Apel rolls.

Feed Your Monkey!

]]> http://adventuremonkey.com/blog/dream-dirty-kanza-setup-aaron-apel/feed 0 http://adventuremonkey.com/blog/dream-dirty-kanza-setup-aaron-apel http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/adventuremonkey/HFhq/~3/xmz3rnTZHQc/dream-dirty-kanza-setup-cornbread-godfrey http://adventuremonkey.com/blog/dream-dirty-kanza-setup-cornbread-godfrey#comments Fri, 25 May 2012 05:30:04 +0000 amadmin http://adventuremonkey.com/?p=7415

Today’s Dirty Kanza setup comes from someone that knows what he’s talking about. In my first year racing the DK200 I never saw him. That’s because he won the race while I crossed the finish line well after he was tucked under the covers dreaming about his next monkey feeding. The next year I saw him because he had a flat early in the race and I passed him. As I passed I wondered how long it would take him to change his flat and pass me. Trust me, it didn’t take long. This writeup is by the one and only, the long legged legend,  Cory Godfrey better known as Cornbread.

I am glad we included Corey in this series of ultimate gravel grinders. His choice is different in that he sticks with “old-fashioned” steel for his bike of choice. “Steel is Real”  some will say and today’s steel frames are strong and lightweight. It is a great material to make bikes out of for a few reasons that come to the top of my head.

• It’s a common material and thus cheaper than the likes of Ti or carbon fiber.
• It absorbs the bumps and gives a nice, comfortable ride
• It sounds cool when you flick the top tube with your finger

I don’t know if I would choose steel for my dream gravel rig but Godfreys’s rig is tried and true and has seen many miles of gravel. Let’s see what Cornbread’s dream build looks like.

If I had unlimited funds to spend on my dream DK bike setup:

Frame and fork

From my experience, the most comfortable material available for long gravel grinders is steel. So I would choose my current steel Independent Fabrication Planet Cross cyclocross bike over any other bike I own, have owned in the past or could hypothetically own (this includes aluminum, scandium, and titanium). The ride a high quality steel bicycle provides offsets the additional weight. Since I am Sasquatch size, I can load my frame with plenty of bottles. I would go with two bottles on the top of the downtube, one on the bottom of the downtube, and one on the seattube for a total of four bottles. The fork would be steel too.

Cornbread’s setup minus the Moots trunk bag

Wheelset

I know a lot folks like the lower spoke count wheels, but I guess I’m old school because I prefer handbuilt three cross 32 hole brass nippled wheels. Chris King or XTR hubs with either a Salsa or Mavic rim is perfect. More spokes means a truer wheel if I end up breaking a spoke. Durability over light weight for me!

 Drivetrain

Shimano STI levers (105 or better) with either SRAM or Shimano rings, cassette and chain. Again, nothing fancy.

Tires

Right now I’m a big fan of the recently discontinued Schwalbe Marathon Extremes in a 35 c flavor. The new Mondial would be a good tire as well. Both tires aren’t the lightest available, but you get where I’m going with this…durability over weight savings!

Other bits

Salsa and Thomson components would complete the build. Preferably aluminium over carbon. From my experience, carbon failures are a lot more traumatic than aluminum ones.

Nutrition

The bike carries four bottles of fluid. So hydration is good to go. Food is carried in a Mountain Feed Bag which mounts on the handlebar and stem.

I think the key to Cornbread’s rig is reliability. There’s some great component choices in there.

Feed Your Monkey!

Jason Mahokey is a cyclist and the mind behind  XXC Magazine. He hasn’t attempted the DK200, yet, but he did dedicate a special edition of his sweet magazine to the race. You can see it HERE. I thought with his experience in the cycling world he would have some insight to a sweet DK200 rig. I was right.

Jason’s DK 200 Build

Wow, build a dream gravel road race bike for the DK200? Sounds like fun.

While I am not signed up for the DK200, I will attempt to use the knowledge of my own gravel road riding here in Michigan and what I have read over the years about the Dirty Kanza. I aim for the build to be both reliable and hoochie. Who doesn’t like that?? Jerks!!

While I won’t go through EVERY single part, here is the gist.

Frame: I think I would try to get my hands on a Ti version of the Salsa Chili Con Crosso or have my buddy Ben’s company, Twenty2 Cycles, build me up a custom Ti cross frame. I’d like to get 3 bottle mounts on it if possible. If not a hydration frame bag might be in order.

Fork: Whiskey Parts carbon cross fork.

Wheels: Stan’s NoTubes Alpha Disc Cross Wheels, rim strips and Stan’s sealant. 
I would VERY much like tubeless for the Dirty Kanza.

Tires: Schwable Marathon Mondial 700 x 40. If not them something that plays well with Stan’s and still around 40c wide.

The Schwable Marathon Mondials – perfect tires for the DK200?

Drivetrain: Shimano Ultegra drivetrain, compact crank, long cage XTR mountain derailleur and an XTR 11-34 cassette. There might have to be some monkeying around to get this to work, but I think it could.

Brakes: TRP CX0 brakes. SOOooo much more stopping power than canto’s and lighter than discs.

Seat post: Moots Ti or Ritchey carbon. 

 Saddle: Fizik Nisene HP (my butt just likes it).

Bars: Ritchey Carbon cross bars.

Pedals: Shimano XTR

While not covering EVERY item on the bike, this gives a good idea of what I would want for 200 miles of gravel. Hell, I think I would like this for 20 miles of gravel.

– Jason Mahokey

Feed Your Monkey!

What bike would I build for the DK200 if money were no object and my wife gave me the OK? My thoughts immediately went to Salsa‘s Vaya Ti, Foundry’s Auger and Trek’s Cronus CX. Yeah, there’s other amazing companies out there but these came to my mind first. Probably because the great people at my LBS, High Gear, carry Trek and Salsa and can get me a Foundry from QBP. I am familiar with these companies and I would most likely go with one of them for a lightweight, go-fast, gravel grinder that would keep me comfortable over 200 miles of brutal Flint Hills gravel.

But then I started to think about the people I knew in the cycling world. I began to wonder what they would go with for a perfect DK200 rig. So I did what any self respecting cycling blogger would do. I asked them to help me write this post.

Some would give me quick descriptions while others, like the one I am featuring today, had some fun with it and gave me a full write up good enough for its very own blog post. The DK200 is only less than two weeks away. You should be tapering off on your training and putting the final tweaks on your rig. This will give you time to read about these “perfect” DK200 rigs this week and most likely get you rethinking your tire choice one last time. But seriously, use new tires whatever your choice is. Both years I did the Dirty Kanza I was very surprised at the amount of people I passed as they were changing flats. The gravel out here is no joke.

Today we are featuring the dream DK200 setup from Bobby Wintle. He’s so cool he used to be in a band. I met him and we became friends when he worked at High Gear in Emporia. Bobby and his wife Crystal took their dreams of starting their own bike shop down to Stillwater, Oklahoma and opened District Bicycles (see their Facebook page). Bobby’s first attempt at the DK200 will be this year. I wish him all the best and can’t wait to see him when he gets back to Emporia, the heart of gravel grinding country. Let’s see what Bobby’s dream setup would be and also see what he will be riding when he attempts the DK200 on June 2.

Dream Dirty Kanza Set Up Number 1

The Dirty Kanza 200. It is 2 weeks away, and never in my life have I been this excited for an event. I’ve ridden more than I ever have in my life the past 6 months, and I hope to finish strong.

This frame would be somewhere in the neighborhood of a 54cm. Built to accept disc brakes only and, instead of having the traditional 2 water bottle cages I would have a 3rd mounted to the underside of the downtube. Three bottles, I believe, will be perfect for the hot, 50 mile legs of the DK. Throw some Salsa Steel Cages on there and let’s drink some luke warm water after mile 145 together. Mated to the front end would be a full carbon Whisky Parts 7 Disc Fork, soakin’ up all the gravel.

No need to go custom here, these boys got it down. The headset would go to the boys at Cane Creek. They are flawless in their design and in my opinion beautiful. As far as wheels go we need to look no further than Crank Bros Cobalt 11 29er. These wheels look incredible and I’ve wanted to try out a pair for a while. They’re carbon, disc only and 1550 grams. Yes sir.

Now…Tires. I know for a fact that there are about 20 different forums out there, that are about 100 pages long a piece, of conversations only, about “what tires should I run for the DK?!?!” I’ll tell you what I would do if I had money following me everywhere I went. I’d fly my jetpack from MN over to Waterloo, WI and Trek Bicycle Co. and I would custom construct a Bontrager XR1 700x40c tubeless ready, gravel eating machine of a tire. Why this isn’t a reality in my hands right now I cannot tell you, but yes my friends, if I could, I would make this tire with my own hands. It would be as durable as Clint Eastwood and as fast as Speedy Gonzalez.

Bontrager XR1′s in action

Obviously I’d be running Stan’s No Tube’s sealant in my beautiful, one of a kind, unbelievably perfect Bontrager XR1′s. And all in the world would seem right.

Handlebars I would have to go with the Whisky 7 Carbon Road Handlebar, 42cm, 31.8. Not sure just how comfy these would be, but cmon, have you seen em? They are down right the sexiest bars ever. We’d have to wrap that bar in some Salsa Black Gel Cork Bar Tape.

Stem will just have to be a Moots Open Road Stem: 90mm, 84degree, Ti, 31.8. Then following right behind

it will be the seatpost, a Moots Cinch Ti 27.2 x 389mm.

Moving on with the theme of what’s under my butt would be the saddle. Brooks Swift Ti, yes I said it, I would go with Brooks. It’s classy, it’s beautiful, it’ll out live your children’s children, it’s Brooks. The swift is their most low profile saddle and after about 1500 miles that baby would be MINE! I think I need one now.

Components are key. You want to know that your machine is going to be able to take a beating, but also be able to get your butt up Texaco hill without walking. This is where I turn to SRAM Red. Their new gruppo setup with the Exogram crank is beautiful, seriously people, beautiful. I’d have a 50-34 on the front and a a 11-28 on the rear with all Red, all around. The chainrings on the front are spaced farther apart than the previous design, and this allows for all 10 gears to be used on the cassette with NO chain rub. NONE. Need I say more. The crank arms would be 172.5 mm in length. Pure love.

What shall stop thee? Avid BB7′s thats what.

As far as a frame bag, saddle bag, or feed bag, I would be opting for the minimalist that lives in me somewhere and I’d be choosing the saddle bag. A 75 cu in Bontrager seatbag will do the job perfectly. Hold 2 tubes just in case, a patch kit, my Crank Bros Pica multitool w/ chain breaker, Genuine Innovations C02 pump, and 3 C02 cartridges. Let’s roll.

Any other nutrition and a Bontrager Air Pocket Pump would be in my jersey pockets.

I’m sure I have left out a few small details, like “would the headtube be tapered” and “would you do pressfit bearings in the BB Bobby?!?!” The answers to these questions are yes, yes of course. Remember, this is my dream and if I want to build it I will.

Can’t wait to hit the starting line with you all this year. I love this race and all the people participating and responsible for making it happen. This is my first time, definitely not my last, and I want to finish well. See you June 2nd gravel grinders, keep dreaming of that perfect bike.

Bobby Wintle
District Bicycles
Stillwater, OK

Bobby’s actual DK 200 Rig

Since District Bicycles hasn’t gone worldwide yet Bobby will be riding something a little closer to reality in this year’s DK200. Here’s his setup:

2012 Cronus Ultimate 54cm. SRAM force, Ultegra tubeless wheels, Bontrager CX0 34c 40-45 psi. XXX lite seatpost, Affinty RXL carbon rail saddle. Bontrager triathlon saddle bottle cage mount. Taking 4 bottles, nothing on my back.

Still sounds like a dream setup to me.

I’m sitting in my recliner drinking freshly made juice out of my coveted DK200 finisher’s glass pondering the meaning of life and where I should go from here but what really gets my goat (did I just say that?) is a distracting thought fluttering through my mind as light as a bouncing butterfly flittering through the air. What bike and setup would I use for the Dirty Kanza 200 if I had an unlimited supply of money? And instead of figuring out life that little thought becomes today’s distraction.

Wow, for those of you that are still going back and forth over tires I am thinking of the whole bike along with nutrition, how to carry supplies, pedals, wheels and everything else. To make this thing interesting I contacted a few “experts” that I happen to be friends with to see what their setup would be.

Last year I went with this:

My 2011 DK200 Rig

This setup was great. I was on my way to a good finish until Mother Nature threw a good old-fashioned Kansas storm into the race. I made it 172 miles and had one flat. The year before I used the same tires and had no flats. But if I could spend all the money I needed I would definitely upgrade and make my friends at High Gear Cyclery very happy.

But Ti or Carbon Fiber? Salsa, Foundry or Trek? Shimano or SRAM? Tubeless? Wheelset? Oh my.

The main thing a cyclist needs for 200 miles of Flint Hills gravel is a bike with fast, lightweight, yet comfortable geometry, components that are bomb-proof (at the minimum they will be covered in gravel dust, at maximum peanut buttery mud), enough water and nutrition and of course all this is for nothing without those perfect lightweight, fast rolling, super-durable tires. I take for granted that your motor is in great shape and your will is made of steel.

Good luck suckers. The only thing that got me out of this race this year was open heart surgery. I’ll be back next year with a fully functioning heart! I have contacted some others to help with this soon to be amazing post,so you’re going to have to wait until next week to read it. It will be worth the wait!

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

I recently watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead as well as reading the book Crazy, Sexy Diet. I was already a healthy eater but I have been doing some reading and research on food and nutrition and I know I could eat a lot healthier.

I didn’t have coronary disease, in that my arteries were not blocked, but I did have heart surgery to repair a valve that was falling apart. My health has become even more important to me than it already was. But the first thing that got me to pay more attention to what I was eating was my cycling addiction. I was riding so much that I whipped myself into pretty good shape. What I put into my body is just as important as exercising. The human body is an amazing machine that repairs and rebuilds itself constantly. You have to provide it with good building materials. I didn’t want to sabotage all the hard work I was doing on the bike by eating crappy food. Getting in shape was the motivation I needed to start eating healthy as well.

I know. I have heard your excuses already and frankly I think they are not only weak but stupid too. It this one that I hear from people all the time:

“I only have so long to live so I am going to enjoy myself.” or
“My days are numbered and I don’t need to give myself two more years to live by eating that crap.”

I really don’t care to add any days to my life by eating healthy and exercising. That is not why I do this. I do what I do because I want to enjoy the days that I do have. Being tired, bloated, out of breath or just plain unmotivated is not my idea of enjoying life. There is a mind, body, spirit connection and each one of these areas needs to be fed for you and I to live fulfilled, happy lives. Juicing is feeding the body (which in turn helps the mind which in turn also helps the spirit. They are all connected!)

Today I am just going to talk about my new experience with juicing and why it is so darn good for you. First of all we all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us because they are choc full of nutrients, minerals and other goodies that your body needs to operate efficiently and repair itself. How about sitting down and eating all of this:

5 Kale leaves, 2 apples, 1 orange, handful of broccoli, 3 carrots, 1/2 cuccumber, 1 kiwi and 1 large celery stick

Yeah, so there’s no way I am going to eat all of that let alone one leaf of kale. So instead I put all this into my new juicing machine and got this delicious drink:

My lunch

OK, so delicious may be stretching it, but it was actually pretty good. So this is why juicing is so good for you. All of those fruits and vegetables made two glasses of juice which I drank for lunch. That is a sh*tload of macronutrients, vitamins and minerals I just gave my body. And these are all usable to your body unlike the stuff crammed into vitamin pills or sugar cereals (although some supplements are good for you, nutrients from live plants are what your body craves and can use). I use more fruit than some recommend but I want the drink to taste good, so there.

Eating the usual SAD (standard American diet) foods just does not give us all the good stuff we need to be all we can be. That’s all I am saying and what this site is about. I want for you, and for myself, to be all we can be. To live an adventurous life. That takes energy and it takes motivation. Energy and motivation don’t come free. You need to fuel your body the good stuff if you expect it to operate like the high performance machine it was made to be.

I want to do more than just go to work and come home. Changing my diet will give me more energy, motivation and maybe even some speed on the bike when I heal up. And if you are doing something like say the Dirty Kanza 200 you can make juices for stamina, cramping, and that have anti-inflammatory properties not to mention replenishing your body with the fuel it needs at each checkpoint. Just Google juicing if you want to learn more.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric