Gravel Grinder News

Dirty Kanza 200: Just got an e-mail about this. Here's the skinny!

To all Dirty Kanza 200 Friends... Greetings from Jim and Joel, your Co-Promoters for The Dirty Kanza 200. We have been hard at work on next year's event, and we are confident that 2010 will prove to be a banner year for The Dirty Kanza 200. Numerous "tweaks" and "refinements" are in the works, designed to bring you a truly life-enriching cycling experience. Our Vision... that The Dirty Kanza 200 will become North America's premier annual ultra-endurance gravel road cycling challenge. Exciting things are happening. Keep reading... we share the "Huge News" at the end of this email. Emails and phone calls have been pouring into the illustrious DK office, asking when registration will open. So we thought we would throw together a few details that should help you in your planning for the 2010 running of The Dirty Kanza 200. Here you go... Race Date: Saturday, June 5th, 2010(Sign-In and Packet Pick-Up, Friday, June 4th, 2010.) Registration: Will open Sunday, January 10, 2010, and will once again be conducted online at BikeReg.com Field Limit: We will expand our field limit this year to 150 participants.Note... Last year's limit of 100 participants was filled in just four days of registration. Mark you calendars now for January 10th. You won't want to wait too long, if you plan to race in 2010. (We will send you a reminder right after the first of the year.)

Classes: Open MenOpen WomenSingle SpeedMasters Men (50+) This class is new for 2010. "Auxilary Events":We are woking with The Emporia (KS) Convention and Visitors Bureau to create numerous activities for your support crew members and family members to enjoy throughout the weekend. So bring your spouse, significant other, kids, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and friends. More information on these activities will be coming in the next few weeks and months. Dirty Kanza Blog:Joel and his lovely wife Michelle are hard at work making significant upgrades to our blog site. It is a little "rough" right now. However, in the next week (or so) you should see huge changes. Go ahead and bookmark it now.

(www.dirtykanza200.wordpress.com) Check it regularly. And please provide your comments and suggestions on how we can continue to improve the site. Dirty Kanza 200 Video:For those of you who have not yet seen the Dirty Kanza 200 video, there is a link on our blog site. The video was produced by the folks at IM Design Group, in Emporia, Kansas. We think they did a fantastic job.

And now for the Huge News... drum roll please...Salsa Cycles has come on board and will be the "Premier Sponsor" for the 2010 running of The Dirty Kanza 200. Joel and I are both absolutely giddy with excitement over this development. When we very first began discussing plans for 2010, one of our primary objectives was to identify a company within the cycling industry with which we could create a long-term partnership. Salsa Cycles was the first company we thought of, and throughout all of our planning discussions remaind at the top of a very short list of candidates. Due to their company philosophy, their fantastic products and their great people, Salsa Cycles is the PERFECT sponsor for The Dirty Kanza 200. Salsa has stepped up to the plate in a major way. The winner of each of our four classes (Open Men, Open Women, Single-Speed and Masters Men) will receive a complete 3-piece "Salsa Upgrade Kit", which will include that rider's choice of a Salsa Stem, Salsa Handlebar and Salsa Skewer Set. In addition, one lucky participant will go home with a brand new Salsa Fargo Frameset. Salsa's support of The Dirty Kanza 200 goes even further, including water bottles, hats and T-Shirts. You can check out all of their great products here... www.salsacycles.com While you are there, drop them an email and let them know how much you appreciate their support of The Dirty Kanza 200. That's it for now. More details will follow soon. Until then, stay safe, train hard... and Get Your Gravel On. We look forward to seeing each of you in Emporia, Kansas the first weekend in June.

Gravel Grovel: Over the recent Thanksgiving weekend a new gravel grinder event in southern Indiana took place called the Gravel Grovel. From the sounds of it, it was a very challenging, fun, and well attended event. You can check out a couple good race reports here and here. It sounds like there will be a Gravel Grovel next year at about the same time, so stay tuned........

Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: Well, over the past two years we have done camp outs and then we have done the ride. Thing is, we imbibe a bit too much the night before causing much suffering the day after on the ride. This time we vow to get it right. So, on July 16th, 2010 we will gather and we will go to bed early! Then we will get up a bit earlier than usual, ride, and then come back for barbeque, beer, and a camp fire. We will plan to be there overnight again, so traveling home could be done right away, or you could stay, hang out, and go home the next day. (Sunday) These dates would be July 16th, 17th (ride day), and 18th.

The same venue and course will be ridden again. That being Echo Valley Park and the loop from there that included just six feet shy of 10,000 ft elevation gain in 118 miles. (Remember- the first 25 miles after the first five are flat and not hilly) The decision to do the same course was due to the fact that it is so challenging and so cool. The views are tremendous. Flowers should be in full force, and it probably will be hotter than Hades, making this a tortuous test of riders stamina. Plus- I already have cues for it! (See last summers ride report here)

Ragnorok 105: Well, if you didn't get in on this, it's too late. Registration opened and it has filled up already. Go here and scroll down a bit to see who will be toeing the line there. (Pretty stout roster!) Looking forward to reading the reports from the 2010 version of this lil' event.

Almanzo 100: Looks like registration will open for this dirty century on January 1st via post card. (Check out the site) The event itself will be on May 14-16th. (Ride occurs on the 15th) It is part of the "AGRS" which has become a series of these gravel events that includes the aforementioned Ragnorok 105, CIRREM, The Gentleman's Ride, and The Heck Of The North, but may include others at some point. Unique in that it offers points for finishing first through tenth on top of 30 points for anyone that finishes. So, if you finish, you get a minimum of 30 points, but top ten finishes are rewarded higher points per placing over and above the 30. Real cups are apparently going to be handed out to the top male and female riders of the series. Sounds cool.

More Nebraska Goodness?: Cruising the Almanzo site, I came across this which is an event planned to take place just north of Omaha on a planned 100 mile course. The event is called the "North O Rock Road Jackrabbit" and is slated for October 10th, 2010.

Trans Iowa V6: The registration closed and the Waiting List has been established. Remember- if you want to drop off either the Roster list or the Waiting List, please inform me via e-mail. Next big hurdle will be getting the recon done. Expect a lodging announcement soon as well.

That's it for this edition of Gravel Grinder News!

Ride, train, and be well!