Dirty Kanza - The Half Pint Edition

A year ago, if you would have asked me if I would ever gravel race, I would have told you, “there is no way in hell, I will ever gravel race”.  I guess those are some of my most famous last words. 

Here’s the thing, my teammate Chuck built a gravel bike and he was having all kinds of fun on it, and having the fun without me.  I did some adventure riding with him, but on my mountain bike, and it’s no fun trying to keep up with a gravel bike when riding a mountain bike with fat tires and weighing about two tons.

I started thinking, I would like to do some CX races this year, so maybe I could get a CX bike that could double as a gravel bike. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea, but I would not be doing any gravel racing, I would just use it as an adventure bike to ride with Chuck for training purposes.  More famous last words, I guess. 

 

Chuck and I also work together, so when it was bonus time at our company, Chuck encouraged me to take my bonus and use it to purchase a gravel bike.  I did research for months and had my choices down to two bikes, the Trek Cronus and the Cannondale SuperX.  I ended up choosing the Cannondale SuperX, more to come later on the bike, I will be posting a review, but let me just say right now, I made the right choice. 

Robin's Cannondale SuperX

Now I had a gravel bike, but unfortunately, I also had a broken tailbone and a heart problem, so I was not able to ride it yet.  As soon as I got released to ride, I got on the bike and tried it out.  Problem was I didn’t have a lot of time, so I rode it twice, then I rode the Tour of Herman gravel race with Chuck, it was only my 3^rd time on the bike.  Remember a few paragraphs back when I said, I would not be gravel racing, well that didn’t last long, but I was mainly doing TOH for a training ride, not a real race.  Well we finished the first two legs of TOH and missed the cut off to start the 3^rd lap by 30 seconds, but that was ok, the hills almost killed me on the first two legs and I wasn’t all that ready to go out for a third.  After the TOH, I was wondering why in the world I signed up for the DK half pint race.  I had heard that the hills at DK were worse than TOH.  Once again Chuck talked me into doing something I knew better than to do. He had decided to do DK200 and I said no way, I won’t be doing it, but when he said Lori was doing the Half Pint 100, which was really 110, and for me 119, more on that later, I thought well, I will do that, not really race it, just ride it for training. Of course I had already signed up for DK before I actually rode TOH, so hide sight is always 20/20. 

Next on the list was to ride Cedar Cross as a training ride, but I had decided to sell my house and to my surprise it sold in 24 hours and I had little time to find a new house and needed Cedar Cross weekend to look for a house, so I had to skip CC.  Now I had a total of 3 training rides on my gravel bike, with the longest ride being the TOH at 67 miles.  But hey, being prepared is overrated.  I mean who needs to train after having tailbone surgery and heart surgery in the last 4 months. 

As DK neared my reluctance grew, I had no training in, I didn’t even start doing anything until March and here it was the 1^st of June and I was going to ride 110 miles of gravel in the Flint Hills of Kansas.  What was I thinking, how could I be this stupid. So 4 days before the race, I got the ok from my heart doctor to go back to normal workouts, I wonder if I should have mentioned that I planned on a 110 mile gravel race on the next Saturday.  Maybe it’s better I didn’t mention it. 

My life had been crazy for the last couple months, my youngest daughter China was graduating from high school, and I was planning a big BBQ, plus my house was sold, so I had a million house things to do, and to top it off my planned support crew, which was China, had to back out because of her best friends graduation party being on the same day.  Now, I had no support crew, was feeling overwhelmed with life and had no real training under my belt, again what was I thinking, I should have backed out, but I didn’t. 

When Chuck figured out a schedule so his boys could support both him, Lori and I, I thought it must be a sign that I should go to the race.  

Now with only two weeks to go befor the race, I decided that the tires on my bike would not do well in this race, so Chuck ordered me some Schwalbe Marathons, Schwalbe is ROCK Racing’s tire of choice.  They came just 3 days before the race and I tried to put them on, which was a mistake, I ended up taking them to my favorite bike shop, the Cyclery and had the guys there put them on, since I really sucked at it. 

Friday morning came, I loaded up the adventure van and took off for Kansas, all the way there my reluctance grew more and more.  The ride seemed too lonely, I called my daughter China 4 times, just to talk to her, she was getting really sick of me.  I drove through a few storms, thinking, well maybe it will storm and the race will be cancelled then I won’t have to ride it or back out.  I was kind of praying for that.  

I checked in at the hotel, then Chuck called and said they were at the theater checking in, so I drove over and met them. As I parked the adventure van, I saw Emma, who is always smiling, it just made me feel better to see a happy person, of course Kyle and Derrick were there also and some other adventure racing friends.  I got checked in and still wasn’t feeling like I wanted to do this. Oh and somehow my entry said I needed a large shirt instead of a medium so, I was feeling like, I won’t even be able to wear this shirt because it’s too big, but I guess since I didn’t think I would finish, it didn’t really matter. 

DK Check-In

Plus, I was calling home trying to line up stuff for the new house financing, and feeling like I should be home doing that and not be spending a weekend at a race.  

The pre-race meeting went well, and I bought a DK beer glass that said crew, I figured that might be the only way I was going to get a glass, I knew for certain there was no way I would be making the cut off times. I figured it would be legal since after I got tossed from the race, I would be crewing for Chuck. 

After the meeting we headed to the Pizza Ranch, one of the volunteers recommended it.  When we got there, we ran smack into Team Virtus and their crew, we said our Hi’s and started chowing down, the pizza was extremely good, but of course I ate way too much.

Since we had to be out the door of the hotel by 5 am we headed off to bed, of course I could’nt sleep, I think I may have slept 3 hours that night. So to pass the time I went through everything in my race packet and found instructions on safety for the DK200.  It was not what I would have thought the safety tips would be.

All about Kansas Snakes

Soon, it was 5 am and we were off to the race, we found a good parking spot, moved my gear into Lori’s van, got our bikes ready and were set for the start. 

ROCK Racing

While talking with Team Virtus, I ended up in one of their group shots, I guess I kind of photo bombed them.

Photo Credit: Team Virtus

The 200 took off and Chuck was gone, Lori and I lined up with a Virtus friend, Jessica,  ready to roll out for the half pint race.  Lori checked her tires and realized that her back tire was low, but here we were with just 9 minutes to the start and we can’t figure out how to use the frame pump.  Emma, sprinted down to her car and brought back a floor pump and we put air in Lori’s tire.  Once again Emma saves the day!

Race start from the back of the pack

The Gun went off and Lori, Jessica and I rolled out only to see a train crossing the tracks ahead, but by the time we rolled up, it was gone and we just kept rolling out. I kept thinking that I may have to pull over and puke, but my stomach finally calmed down after a few miles.  The pace wasn’t bad and I was just rolling along listening to all the conversations around me.  We fell into a nice comfortable pace and the rolling hills were not too bad.  We came to a muddy section of road and had to do some bike trekking, but it really wasn’t that bad. 

Photo Credit: Chuck Vohsen

I had lost Lori somewhere just before the muddy road, so after I made it to the top of the next hill, I pulled out my camera and started taking some photos, while I waited for Lori.  Jessica was gone, I didn’t think we would see her again.  As I was goofing around with the camera, a few groups passed me, I thought I saw Lori, so I put my camera in my pocket and chased for a while to catch up, to my surprise, when I caught up, it wasn’t Lori.  Now I had no idea where she was, in front of me or in back of me, so I just kept riding. 

Many long hills ahead

I kept moving along, just taking in the beauty of Kansas, when I came across some free range cows, one was at the side of the road, and doing a little dance, like he just might bolt in front of me.  As I rode by him, he just kind of gave me the evil eye, like get out of my yard. 

He was not happy to see us

After passing the cow there was a steep incline, as I was riding up, I could see everyone walking their bikes, so I figured I would have to walk too, but surprisingly it wasn’t too bad and I rode to the top, just as I crested the hill, I saw Team Virtus take off, I thought about trying to get on back, but then I knew we were close to the 110/200 split, so there was no real reason to chase. I watched them about 100 yards in front of me until we came to the split and they went one direction while I went another.

At the bottom of a steep gravel hill, there was a crash, a girl with a bloody face was on the ground and a guy was holding her head up telling her to just stay still. There was a guy in a truck there to pick her up, so I rolled on.  Soon I came to the 200 split off from the 110 and I kept riding, right through a couple of creeks, and I made it through them without taking a swim. Some guys riding in front of me got off and walked through, I’m not sure why, it was easy ride through, the water was only about a foot deep. 

I rode a few more miles and caught up with Jessica, we talked for a while, then I stopped to get some food out.  I really had to pee, but there is no place to  hide in the middle of Kansas, so Jessica said there was no one in the distance, so we just moved to the side of the road, dropped our shorts and pee’d.   I felt so much better then, but I could already feel some chaffing in places that no girl should ever be chaffed, I would have to deal with that for the rest of the race. 

Photo Credit: Chuck Vohsen

The wind just kept howling and there was nowhere to hide from it, no trees to break it, no valleys that blocked it, so what’s a girl to do, my thought was just keep moving forward, maybe it would die down soon.  Finally I got a break the route turned and I got a tailwind and some pavement with a downhill to boot.  As I hit the pavement a rock blasted me in the face and hit my xx2i sunglasses, it hit so hard I’m surprised my glasses didn’t break, but they did a great job protecting my eyes, had those glasses not done such a good job, my race would have been over right there. After shaking off the thought of losing my eye, I just coasted for 3 miles into the checkpoint.

As I rounded the corner, I could see my crew, Sam and Jacob, they were cheering me on.  I asked if Lori had come in and they said no, so I headed to the tent to check in, got my new map and headed to the van to refuel. 

The boys were a great crew, they filled my bottles and pack, got my food out, washed the salt off my glasses, and got my bike ready to go again.  They gave me a report on how everyone was doing and who had already gone out.  I made a mad dash for the Johnny, then took a look at the map and headed out. 

 

Leaving CP 1

I was really worried about getting lost because I’m a terrible navigator.  I hoped someone would be on the road in front of me to follow, but no such luck.  I was looking at the map and knew there was a turn at 63 miles, but I totally missed it. This is where things went wrong.  I kept riding seeing no one, finally I hit W road, and knew I had gone too far.  I rode back, stopped and asked a lady mowing her grass where I was, she said I missed the turn and pointed me in the right direction.  Of course I made another wrong turn and hit W road again, I knew it was wrong so once again I rode back, saw another lady mowing, she sent me through her driveway, to another road, where I made another wrong turn and hit W road again.  I turned around and by now I was really get frustrated, plus I had already added on an hour riding in circles.  Finally after an hour and twenty minutes I found V road and got back on course.  At this point I was so frustrated and worried about missing the cutoff time, that I really considered calling my crew for a ride.  I just kept thinking, by the time they got there, I would have probably had time to ride another 10 miles, so I should probably just keep riding. I thought finishing over the time limit would probably be better than not finishing at all.

I figured by now I was the last one on the course, but to my surprise, I started seeing people and passing people.  I was talking to them as I rode by and I asked one guy what his mileage was, that is when I realize that I had added an extra 9 miles to my route.  Just what I needed, I signed up for 100 miles that turned into 110 miles and would end up riding 119 miles if I finished. All this riding on 3 training rides, the longest one being only 67 miles.  I just wondered how I got myself in these situations.

For the next 4 hours I would ride past people and when I would stop to grab food out of my pack, they would ride back past me.  I was starting to get cramps in my legs, my back hurt and I felt like I was going to puke.  I made a new plan, to stop every hour, take an enduralyte and eat while standing still instead of doing it while riding. This way I could stretch my legs and back out.  I was able to get peach cups and cans of V-8 energy drink down and keep it down, so that’s was I kept eating, good thing I had put enough in my pack.  When I ran out of those, I started eating the KIND bars in my pack and was able to keep them down also. I really needed some salt and the dark chocolate sea salt flavor worked perfectly. 

Riding into the last town before Emporia there were 5 riders somewhat together.  With just 12 miles to go we started to break up, but one guy who I had talked to earlier in the day, came upon me.  He told me there was one last hill before the finish line.  He also had a big bubble in his tire and was just praying he made it to the finish line before it blew.  As we rode though the campus of Emporia State University, another guy caught us and the 3 of us rode to the finish together.  We knew we were going to miss the cutoff time, but by just a few minutes and we were all talking about all we wanted was that stupid finisher glass and we hoped that we would still get it, even if we were a little late. 

We rode under the finish banner and into the chute where people were high fiving us, and cheering, and one guy was handing out beers.  

Photo Credit: Lori Vohsen

It almost had the same feel as the Finish at the Ironman race, except it was hundreds of people, instead of thousands.  At the end of the chute, we were handed a glass and congratulated on our finish.  

Ahhhh, the coveted glass

I was all smiles then and the guys I was riding with were the same, we held our glasses up to each other because we had finished an epic gravel race just to get that 2 dollar glass, and it was all worth it.

Lori and the boys were waiting for me at the end of the chute and they grabbed, my bike and all my gear.  We headed to the van, loaded stuff up, I got changed, then we went and got a burger before heading to the CP 3 for Chuck.  At the CP we talked to other crews and watched friends come in and go out, next thing we knew, Chuck was in and looking relatively good and in good spirits.  He sat down and ate some salty chips while the crew went to work getting him ready to go out again.  We told him that we had found out a lot of our friends had abandoned the race just past the 100 mile mark, so he was really doing great.  I told Chuck where I missed the turn at, and warned him to make sure he didn’t miss it to.  Not like he would, he is the world’s best navigator, but he was tired so I thought it was good to mention.  A group of 6 guys went out and Chuck jumped on his bike in hopes of getting on the back of that train for a while. We all yelled our goodbyes and good lucks, then we headed back to the finish.  Since we had some time we decided to go back to the hotel and take showers then go watch Chuck finish. We got to the finish line at about 1:30 am.  We cheered for every rider, hoping that every head light we saw in the distance was Chuck. 

The race organizers started taking down banners and people started leaving, it made me sad to know that Chuck would finish to no fanfare.  I mean we would be cheering as loud as we could, but it would be like finishing in a deserted city.  At about 3 am, we saw three headlights in the distance and one of them belonged to Chuck.

Chuck crossed the finish line

He rode in under the finish banner as we cheered, as soon as he got his glass the finish banner was coming down.  We quickly headed Chuck over to it and the guys taking it down pulled it back up so we could get a picture of Chuck under the banner. 

One last finish picture

The race was over, Chuck had the coveted DK200 pint glass in hand, the crew was beat and we all headed back to the hotel.  

QUESTION: Will I ever do this again, well at the end of the race, I said “never, ever, ever, ever”, but now, I’m thinking I might do the half pint again, hopefully without getting lost. I mean looking at my time with the extra mileage added on, well I would have had a pretty decent time, had I stayed on course. 

The best part of the entire race, I mean besides the glass, was that I finished on hardly any training, with a good ride time average and I really never felt like I was going to die, I really never even felt like crying.  I was frustrated over getting lost, but I was never on the verge of tears.  I hope this means that I’m making a comeback, that my heart issues are over and my tailbone is fixed and in time I will be fast again. 

This was a happy finish

Ironman Wisconsin Pre-Race

Robin Rongey a 48 year old mother of 3, has climbed up through the ranks, starting out as a runner and transitioning to a triathlete, from triathlon she moved on, to bike racing, both road and mountain, and finally finding her way to Adventure racing.  The world of triathlon has not been an easy journey for her. Although, she was a good runner and picked up the bike quickly, she was never a swimmer, she worked long and hard trying to make the swim work for her, but even after years of training and working with top notch swim coaches she still struggles with the swim. Her ability to come back on the bike and run has allowed her great achievements in racing, which has spurred her to move to the challenge of Ironman. An Ironman that starts with a mediocre swim can prove to be heartbreaking in the end, so that pushed Robin to work toward, becoming a better swimmer. 

 

Although, 2011 started out well, with Robin’s Adventure racing team, “ROCK Racing”, holding at 2^nd Place in North America in the National Adventure Racing series, it came with injury, leading to heartbreak. After suffering a broken tailbone just 5 days before the National Race, Robin had to bow out of the race and with tears in her eyes, watch her teammate and her team replacement head out for an adventure of a lifetime.  It took a big effort for her to watch her team finish in a cloud of fog hanging over the water as they canoed to the finish line of the national championship race without her. 

Now on the mend and just 22 weeks back into training, Robin prepares for the ultimate race of her 2012 season, the Ironman.  Ironman Wisconsin is on the horizon and Robin is just 3 weeks from race day.  She is training for the event by swimming, biking and running using the equipment and nutrition she plans to use on race day.  The Pinarello FT1 is the bike of choice, and she wouldn’t attempt it without her xx2i sunglasses and a jersey pocket full of honey stinger waffles. Her Metro Tri Club teammates along with her ROCK Racing teammate Chuck, have kept her grounded and on track, helping her come back from injury and attempt to succeed at the challenge that lies ahead. 

Chuck Vohsen a 45 year old father of 2, has exploded onto the Adventure racing and mountain biking circuit. A late starter into the sport, he has only been racing for 5 years, but has amazed the race world with his smoking fast times and spot on orienteering in many races across the US. Chuck started his career in the area of Martial Art, as his fitness built, he looked for something more challenging, that is what brought him to adventure racing and then onto mountain biking and trail running. Now that Chuck has risen to the top of his field in the Midwest race world, he is ready for an even bigger challenge, the Ironman.  Ironman Wisconsin is his choice for his first attempt at an Ironman race.  Chuck is banking on his heightened fitness level to propel him through the bike and run, but still struggles in the swim. He says “his biggest challenge will be to complete the swim in his goal time”.  

2011 started out well, with Chuck’s Adventure racing team, “ROCK Racing”, holding at 2^nd Place in North America in the National Adventure Racing series, but it came with injury, his teammate suffered a broken tailbone, just 5 days before the national race. Chuck quickly found a new teammate, which happened to be his wife, Lori.  Lori gave it her all, and they completed the race, but Chuck’s hopes of winning were washed away in the foggy finish of the race. The effort put forth by Chuck to race with such a advanced field of athletes with a new teammate, who was also, a first time racer was tremendous, but Chuck ever the competitor finished with determination, perseverance and honor.  

Now Chuck prepares for the ultimate race of his 2012 season, the Ironman.  He is just 22 weeks into his 25 week training plan.  He is training for the event by swimming, biking and running using the equipment and nutrition he plans to use on race day.  The Specialized Roubaix is his bike of choice, and he wouldn’t attempt it without his xx2i sunglasses and a jersey pocket full of honey stinger gels. His Metro Tri Club teammates along with his ROCK Racing teammate Robin, have kept him grounded and on track, helping him train and attempt to succeed at the challenge that lies ahead.     

 

Broemmelsiek Mountain Bike Race

So what do you do for fun when you’re training for an Ironman, well you compete in a mountain bike race. I mean, why not, you have been spending all your time on a road bike and running and swimming, training for the IM and of course you haven’t been on your mountain bike in two months, so it’s the smart thing to do… right?

Ok, it might not be the smart thing to do, but it is the fun thing to do, plus it’s what my mind needed to break up the monotony of all the long IM training.

I mean, that is what Chuck told me when he talked me into doing it. If you haven’t noticed, in all my post when I get talked into something, it’s almost always Chuck talking me into it. He is really a bad influence on me.

When I arrived at the park, Chuck and Lori had already pitched the canopy on the best corner of the course, so we had an awesome pit area, so awesome that many of our Team Cyclery teammates used it for their pit also.

I was not in a good mood, I had a headache, stupid pollen, and I think I was still tired from staying up all night at the Relay for Life on Friday/Saturday. At one point while driving to the park, I thought about turning around, but I didn’t, I committed so I would be there.

Chuck and I registered for the race and Lori got her camera ready to take some awesome race photos. I knew a few of Team Cyclery would be there, but oh my gosh, I think we had so many teammates on hand that we dominated the field. We put our numbers on our bikes strategically placed our coolers and were ready to ride.

We were standing at the starting line in a sea of red Cyclery jerseys, most of which were in the Marathon division. Once again, I felt like this was a mistake, I mean, I hadn’t been on my mountain bike in months, I kept chanting in my head, just ride, it will be a good workout.

The Race took off fast, it seemed way faster than the previous year, the course was super dry, which makes it fast, but also treacherous. Since it was so dry the gravel and dirt was very loose, which threw me into a fish tail many times.

I made it through lap 1 without incident, and when I looked at my time, it was over a minute faster than my 1st lap the previous year. I was surprised and even more surprised that my headache was starting to subside. I headed out for the second lap without a pit stop, I still had enough fluids to make another lap. I had a girl tailing me for the entire lap, so we chatted a little and of course it made me stay fast, as I didn’t want to get passed. She was riding cat 3, so after that lap she dropped off. I blew through the pit area without stopping, thinking I could make a 3rd lap before I needed to stop. I started to slow down, my third lap came in 1:50 slower than my first two laps. I dropped off at our pit area in the feed zone after the 3rd lap and Lori refilled my water bottle while I ate a HS waffle. I really didn’t have the stomach to eat, but forced myself too, I’m glad I did though, I know it helped.

I was really glad to get back into the woods quickly, it was really warming up and the sun was just beating down out in the open. I picked up the pace on my 4th lab, riding faster than my third, so I knew the Honey Stinger waffle had kicked in. Riding out of the feed zone to start the 5th lap, I was thinking to my self and I said out loud “ I paid for this too”, the spectators sitting along the feed zone started laughing. I started to slow down a bit on the 5th lap, but I was at the point where I was just thinking, have fun, it’s almost over. I really do love the course with all the winding turns.

I finished the 5th lap, but had added two minutes to my lap time, I thought it best to stop in the pit again and grab another HS waffle, it was even harder to get it down this time, I ate about half a waffle and took off. Now I was in new territory, the previous year, I only finished 5 laps and here I was on my 6th lap and I couldn’t figure it out, I was sure I was in worse shape than the previous year and I had also put on weight while nursing an injury over the winter, so I was carrying a lot more girth through the course, but was still way ahead of my course PR. I tried to ride fast, knowing it was my last lap, but it ended up being my slowest lap, but still faster than the previous year. I rolled through the finish line, thinking only of that lawn chair under the tent.

I rolled into our pit area and fell into the lawn chair.

I pulled off my shoes and socks to find that I either had a really good suntan or I drug about 2 pounds of dirt off the course with me. I have enough weight to carry right now, I didn’t need all that extra dirt dragging me down.

I sat in the chair and waited for chuck to roll through the feed zone on his way to the finish. He did 7 laps and only finished about 10 minutes behind me, so he really had a great day.

Chuck flew through the finish then came rolling into the pit, like me, he just wanted to get his shoes off too.

After resting a few minutes, we got cleaned up and headed to the awards, I was called for second place.

Mary Piper, a very cool competitor was called for 1st, she is so fast, I would love to ride as fast as she does.

Andy Gibbs was called for an award, I think he was 3rd.

It was really fun seeing all our friends out having a great time, even some of our Adventure race friends were on hand. It was a perfect day and one I can’t believe I almost didn’t make because of some stupid little headache. I should have known the best medicine is always to go outside and play.

Favorite Things - Gear Review

By: Robin Rongey with Chuck's Comments in Red

Every year Oprah has a favorite things show, so I thought I am the Trek Mountain Girl, and half of ROCK Racing, so why shouldn’t Chuck and I have a favorite things Post. We lean somewhat towards gear when we talk about our favorite things, but we do stray a bit. So let’s just say this is a Favorite Things – Gear Review. We hope you find this interesting and that you may even want to try some or our Favorite Things out.

Trek Top Fuel

One of my favorite mountain bikes is the Trek Top Fuel, I know that it is the age of 29er, but there is still a place in my heart for the old school 26er. My TF rides smooth, shifts so well that I hardly even here a chain click, it is super maneuverable and the front shock lockout on the handlebar is a feature I can hardly live without. It’s kind of like upgrading in a car, once you have the extra’s you never want to live without them again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking my Superfly, it has its place in my heart, but my true love will always be my Top Fuel.

Trek Superfly

So Robin still likes 26” bikes. Not me. I’m sold all the way on 29ers. And the top of the line 29er is my Trek Superfly. It is light, fast, and maneuverable. It climbs any hill I point it at. It’s tough too. All that talk about carbon frames not handling crash damage is wrong. I’ve crashed it several times and the only damage so far has been a bent hanger and a crushed rear derailer. I can ride this bike for hours and hours, it is hard to believe it can be this comfortable on top of the speed and toughness. I have only made a few mods over the year I’ve owned it. A wheel and tire upgrade and a carbon handlebar, just improving on perfection.

Ice Breaker Everything

I can’t even begin to tell you which of my Ice Breaker gear I like best. I might say the base layer, the bike shorts, the running shorts or the socks, but then I would be lying because I can’t live without the running shirt, bike jersey, hat or gloves. Still I can’t say they are all my favorite, because I wear my IB casual v-neck t-shirt every time it is clean. The Marino Wool is so soft and doesn’t itch at all, and if I were to see this gear on the street, I would not even know it was wool. This is not your old school wool, but your new high tech wool, that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer, while wicking away sweat and never feeling wet and slimy. There is nothing I would rather workout and race in than my Ice Breaker gear.

She is right on about IB. My favorites are the 200 base layer and the bike shorts.

Honey Stinger

Waffles, Waffles, Waffles, that is all I have to say, I could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, add a little ice cream in-between two waffles and you have dessert. I still love my Rocket Chocolate and everything else Honey Stinger, but Waffles are by far my go to food, anytime, anywhere.

The waffles are amazing. They came out with some new flavors this year. I wasn’t sure about the strawberry flavor when I first saw it, but after I tried it, I like it too. Not a fan of the vanilla though.

Ultimate Direction Water Bottle

When we decided to do a post on our favorite things, I started thinking about which gear I use the most. Socks, Shoes? Yeah I use those a lot, like everytime I run, but I switch off between road and trail shoes. My Ultimate Direction hand held water bottle goes with me everywhere. We are always told to buy new shoes every 400 miles or so. This bottle has outlasted multiple shoe trades. I can’t even begin to guess the mileage this bottle has on it. 2000m, 3000m, or more, and still going strong. The 20 oz BPA-free polyethylene molded bottle fits my hand perfect and the adjustable strap with the small pocket keeps it all secure. But the best part of the bottle is the leak proof Kicker valve. All this mileage and still no leaks.

Hardnutz Helmets

Unfortunately, a helmet is something you don’t always want to use, but you have to. I never ride without one, no matter how hot it is. Here’s the thing, I don’t mind wearing my Hardnutz Rock Hard helmet because it is so breathable and comfortable, and because of that I have to sometime reach up to make sure I have it on. Besides that, it is a really cool looking helmet, with a marbleized stone look to it, which makes it the perfect helmet for ROCK Racing.

Nike Cycling Jacket

This has to be the single most used item I have. I received this jacket as a Christmas gift about four years ago and let me tell you, I have used it to no end. It is great when it’s super cold outside, I wear a base layer and a jersey under it. When the temps fall between 30-40 degrees, I wear it with just a base layer under it. This jacket has been washed about a 1000 times and still looks as good as it did on day one out of the package. It is warm, yet breathable and although it is not advertised as wind proof, it sure does a great job blocking the wind. Unless I get too fat to fit in it, this jacket will be a staple in my winter wardrobe, at least until it falls apart.

XX2i Sunglasses

These glasses are not only cool looking and make the ROCK Racing girls look hot, (the guys are something other than hot) but they are also functional, comfortable and crystal clear. I love the styling of the USA frame, not as much for racing as for just wearing around, I wear mine everywhere. For workouts though, nothing can beat the France frame. What I like about the France frame is that it has an open bottom that lets air circulate and my glasses don’t fog. Another great feature of the XX2i is the ease of swapping lens, I can pop out the clear lens and put in the yellow lens, in just seconds and that is all the time I have while out on the trail. With adventure racing you are out day and night, you need to be able to have glasses that adapt easily to the changing light and these glasses do. As far as safety goes, let me tell you this, in my last race, I was smacked hard in the face by a thorn branch, my eyes had no injuries and my glasses didn’t even have a scratch, I feel good knowing that these glasses can hold up under all conditions and protect my eyes. Oh, and I have to say that the white pro athlete version of the glasses, not only make me look cool, but I swear when I have them on I race faster, I’m not sure if I’m faster because I think I look cool or if it’s the crystal clear lens paired with no fear of injury, but whatever it is.. Fast is always good.

Quik Trip (QT) Soda

I am a diehard Diet Coke aholic and have even had to make new years resolutions to force me into cutting back on my diet coke consumption in past years. I have a new twist to my diet coke issues now, it’s called QT build your own soda fountain. Not only can I have my diet coke, but I get it with my own twist. I have profected the mix. You need the perfect amount of ice, followed by the perfect amount of cherry and then topped off with the diet coke. Very few people know the formula, but lucky for you I am going to show you how to make the perfect cherry diet coke. I should probably patent this mix and sell it, but for ROCK Racing readers, I will give it to you for free.

Doris, ROCK Racing’s favorite lunch lady

Have you ever eaten somewhere and became attached to one of the employees, well Robin and Chuck have. Her name is Doris and she makes lunch very entertaining. First she has a personality that some people may not get, but we do. She seems a little gruff when you first meet her and if you ask her how the food is, she will say “shitty” and if you ask her how she is, she will say “shitty”. Oh, but she makes the best home cooked meal around, meatloaf to die for, and chicken fried steak, smothered in gravy. She even puts out some really good peach cobbler once in a while and if by chance you get her to take a liking to you, she will make sure you get some. So if you ever get to St Louis, head down Lindbergh, about 2 miles from the St Louis International airport and stop in at Mattingly’s for lunch, I know you will enjoy it.

Andy Gibbs, ROCK Racings favorite bike Wrench at our favorite Bike Shop

If you are ever in the Edwardsville, IL area, you have to head over to the Cyclery and check in with the #1 bike mechanic of all time. Not only is he a top rated mechanic, but he is also a certified coach and bike fit technician and to top it off, he is an expert mountain biker. Andy has setup the fit of our bikes to perfection and also fixed them every time we crash them. He always explains everything he does and shows us how to do repairs on the trails. As a bonus, he gives up great training tips. Don’t miss out, if you’re in the area, stop in and see Andy! Be sure to check out the Cyclery too, it’s our favorite bike shop and I know they will have anything you need on hand.



And if you are in need of a new bike, you won’t find a guy that knows more about the components that come spec’d out on all the models they carry. There are a ton of decisions to make on a new bike and you want the best to help make them. Plus you might score big time and get the chance to buy Andy’s ‘last year’ race bike with all the perfect upgrades like Lori did!

Castlewood 8hr 2011

By Robin Rongey, Chuck Vohsen comments in red

At the beginning of 2011, Chuck and I decided that we would skip the Castlewood race and instead be volunteers. Our thought was, we always race, time to give back to those that volunteer so we get to race. Our plans changed though. You see Gerry the race director at the Thunder Rolls Adventure race gave this really nice speech about getting more people into the sport that we all love, and how it is really hard to do your first race. That speech got us thinking, why not get a bunch of people who are always asking about adventure racing, but are afraid to try it, and just make as many teams as we can and stick together the entire race. This way, they have veteran racers guiding them and helping solve problems along the way. It was going to be an adventure race clinic held during a race. So as my friend Patrick calls it, the Castlewood Experience came to life.

I sent out emails to everyone who had ever asked us about adventure racing, and soon we had 10 racers committed and ready to go, including Chuck’s son Jacob and his wife Lori, it was kind of a family affair for him.

Before the race I tried to give out as much advice as I could, on what to bring and what to wear and what to eat. Chuck said, “they are going to be really good at this because we are giving them everything we had to learn by mistake”. You know what, they all did really well, with only a few mishaps, read on to hear about it in detail. Oh and Chuck and I decided that we all needed ROCK Racing shirts, so we had my brother Joel, make us a bunch for them for the team. Everyone on the ROCK Racing teams are also Metro Tri Club (aka Team Godzilla) members, so Green fit well with the Team Godzilla theme.



So let’s start at the beginning. Once we had commitments from everyone, we entered the teams and started planning our strategy. We had a 2 person male, Chuck and Jacob, 4 person co-ed, Robin, Keith, Gary and Patrick, and a 4 person female, Jenny, Lori, Judy, and Vanessa. Questions came and answers went out and before we knew it, it was the night before the race and we all met at the Alpine Shop to sign in. Sign in came off without a hitch and we saw a couple of our favorite teams there, Alpine Shop and Orange Lederhosen. We chatted about the race and everyone was excited for all the new racers. Have I ever told you what a great group of people adventure racers are, they sincerely want new racers in the sport and will do anything to help any team out.


All the maps we received at check-in were plotted, except for 3 points, so we all drove down to the McDonalds and plotted points, Chuck and I teaching the new racers how to plot. We finished quickly and headed home, those of us who were driving from home in the morning had a long drive so we needed to get to bed, although the best plans never work out, I don’t think I got to bed until almost 11 pm.

At 4:30 am I walked out of my garage thinking I had a few minutes, but found out that Jenny and Patrick were already waiting for me. So I quickly threw my pack in the van and we all hopped in and took off for the race. You see this is where things started to go wrong, but you have to think fast with adventure racing, so when we were about 5 miles from my house and I realized that the bag with my clothes was still at my house, I didn’t worry, I just stopped at Wal-Mart and bought some clothes. Really it wasn’t so awful, it was mostly just dry clothes to wear home, I had all the required gear on or in my pack. Plus the Wal-Mart stop gave us time to use the bathroom and Patrick bought some bananas.

Our next stop was the bike drop, it was packed with racers dropping off bikes, it only took us about 10 minutes to drop the bikes and another 15 to make it to the start. At the start we saw Laura and Jason, the original owners of Bonk Hard Racing, they were parking the cars, weird seeing them as volunteers and not running the show, but they were great volunteers and we were just happy to see them. We got a pretty good parking spot, it was still dark out, so all you really saw were head lamps bobbing all over. I walked right past Chuck and didn’t even see him. We all headed to race headquarters, picked up our passport and hit the bathroom for about the 10th time. And get this, there was such a mad rush to draw first blood, that the race had not even started and Judy was bleeding, don’t ask me how it happened, I just know there was blood.

Chuck: Jacob has a great name for this situation. You find yourself bleeding but not exactly sure how it happened: Anonymous Blood. Haha, would make a great adventure race team name.


It wasn’t long before we were singing the national anthem, and who knew, but Keith can sing, I mean I knew Gary could sing, but had no idea Keith could too. I tried to keep my voice low as to not draw any attention to how bad I sing. After that it was time to play ball. We all scooted to the starting line and the gun when off and there we were all three ROCK Racing teams, the Rebels, Renegades and Trail Rats, all racing for the 1st CP.


We made it through some tough hills and the first 4 trekking points without a problem, before we knew it we were at the bikes and ready to ride. There was a ton of riding in this race, more riding then we have ever had in a Castlewood adventure race. We were hoping this would work to our benefit with all the new racers. I was happy knowing that I had brought my Trek Top Fuel, it was perfectly suited for this type of ride where I could ride the single track and just hit the switch on my handlebar to lock out the shock when I hit any pavement.

The bike leg started on the Green Rock Trail in Greensfelder Park. These trails have some really long steep climbs and super rocky sections, but they are so fun to ride. Some of them are even marked with black diamonds. Well that is my opinion, I think Gary felt that way too, he was a little worried about the bike coming into the race, but my gosh he was flying through the trails like he knew what he was doing and feeling good, trying to think of how he could talk his son into doing a few of these adventure races with him.


Jenny was right there with Gary, I could tell she really liked the trails, I think I might be able to talk her into going back out and riding them with me sometime.


Keith was chomping at the bit to ride faster staying right on Chuck and Jacobs wheel and of course Patrick was doing all kinds of stunts, I was just waiting for him to crash, he crashes more than anyone I know because he is just crazy when he gets on a bike.


Judy was right there with them too, I’m sure she thought she might see the Patrick crash, come on we were all thinking it. I was just glad to know that when the crash happened I would be able to see it in high definition since I was wearing my super clear XX2i glasses and if by some reason I was taken down in the crash, at least I had my Hadnutz helmet on, so I would probably live to write about it. I’m not sure Vanessa felt the same way about the single track being so much fun.


Vanessa went down a couple times, but she got right back up and got back on the horse.


It reminded of me of my first mountain bike race, it was a six hour solo race and I crashed 38 times in 6 hours and finished covered in blood, but my gosh I paid for 6 hours I was racing six hours, so I know exactly how Vanessa was feeling and I knew the team would do everything possible to help her through.

Lori on the hand was not having too much trouble at all. We started to figure it out, Lori was riding Andy Gibb’s old bike, she had just bought it from him a few weeks earlier. Now, for those of you that don’t know Andy, he is somewhat of a local mountain bike hero. He is a super fast expert racer, who wins all the races. He had a great Giant Anthem mountain bike, but needed to sell it because he was going to be racing on a team that rode Treks. Lori, who just happened to ride the same size frame as Andy was in the market for a new mountain bike and was lucky enough to score Andy’s. Someone asked Lori if she got a new bike and she said, yes, this is Andy’s old bike, well the crowd went wild, the knowledge that Lori was riding Andy’s bike filtered back through the team and everyone was commenting on how Lori could just hang on and a bike like that would do all the work, and to that point it was. Lori said “like in the movie Toy Story, where Woody has Andy written on the bottom on his shoe, I’m going to write Andy on the bottom of my bike”.

Even with all the Luck of Andy’s bike, it’s kind of like the luck of the Irish, Lori managed a crash, and you know it’s not a good ride unless there is blood and mud, so she was really just keeping with tradition. I was behind her when she went down and I heard her knee hit a big rock, I was really worried about it and said stay down, but when she turned her head and looked at me, there was blood everywhere, her knee wasn’t even a thought.


The handlebars had reached out and struck her right on the chin and she had a gaping hole in her chin, it looked really bad and blood was everywhere. She had her Icebreaker base layer on and the blood was running down her shirt. Funny, the things that go through your head in a situation like this, but I thought, I guess we will see how well you can get blood out of Merino Wool. I need to ask her how it came out of the wash. So Vanessa being a good nurse pulled out the first aid kit and got it cleaned up with some iodine and put some butterfly bandages on it, she did a really good job, even the doctor that fixed Lori up after the race said that the field dressing on it was really great. So yep, Lori got up like a true ROCK Racer and finished the race, then went to urgent care, where her family members seem to be regulars and got her chin super glued back together.


As all this was happening, like all great teammates we were cracking jokes about her crash and how no one better tell Andy that she crashed his bike. And of course I let her know how she stole my thunder, I can’t even write about my broken tailbone now, it just seems trivial.


We all got back on our bikes and made it through the single track section and out to the road.


We picked up a few more CP’s after stopping at a gas station for some food. Well you see I may have forgotten my clothes, but Judy forgot her food, so we had to load up at the Quick stop. See I’m not the only goof on the team.

Soon we hit the CP right next to the train tracks and Keith with the help of Patrick, found 10 railroad spikes, then piled them up next to the CP and went back after the race to get them, so that we could all have a souvenir of the race. I still can’t figure this guy thing out, last race Chuck was picking up used mortar shells and this race Keith and Patrick were picking up old railroad spikes, I guess it really is a guy thing. Chuck and I are now trying to figure out how to paint or engrave the race name and date on them.




We made it to CP 15 where we were surprised by a Bike-O course, we plotted the points quickly and headed out for the points, they were actually pretty easy points, all on road, except for the last one, it was down a narrow trail. It didn’t take long and we were back to the TA and headed for the river. At this point Chuck stopped to check his map, Chuck is like a human Garmin, and we just follow him around blindly waiting for him to say “in 200 meters turn left”. Well as he was arranging the maps, I heard, not in a St Paul Chuck voice, but an Adventure Patrick voice, “Recalculating”, we just all busted out laughing, because it doesn’t get truer than that.


It took a while to get the canoes in the water, we had to first take the front wheels off our bikes and then load two bikes in each of the canoes and that was after carrying the canoes all the way down to the river.


We all quickly grabbed food while loading the canoes, I had a Honey Stinger Rocket Chocolate, but I saw sandwiches, nuts, HS gels and fruit cups out. Keith, who is not used to eating during a race, said, “I have never been so full during a race before”, it’s crazy how much food it takes to get through an Adventure Race.


Once we sucked down some food, we were loaded and ready to go, but no one was as ready as Jacob. You see Jacob has youth on his side, this may have been his first race, but when your 14 years old, it’s easy to be like the energizer bunny. At every CP, Jacob would be watching and as soon as the last team punched the CP, he would say “Ok, let’s go” and he was off. My gosh! he was up front next to Chuck almost the entire race. Plus he looked so cool in his XX2i glasses, I really think they made him faster.


On the water, things were going pretty well, except that at one point Judy and Vanessa were floating backwards down the river, then there was a little issue of T-boning Lori and Jenny at one of the CP’s, but hey, no one ended up in the water so all was well.


We were soon floating under a train trestle and there was a train on the tracks, I tried to get it to honk, but it just gave me a little beep, but get this when the 4 girls came under the train it blew the horn super loud. I’m kind of thinking that having Keith in my canoe was really cramping my style, how do you get the train engineer to give you a good toot with a guy in your canoe, it just doesn’t happen. In Keith’s defense, he was sort of doing all the work, paddling hard while I was busy taking pictures, so I guess having a guy in the canoe isn’t all bad.


We soon made it to the beach where we pulled our canoes out, put our wheels back on our bikes and also had a gear check. While in gear check everyone had to show their headlamp and Keith couldn’t find his, he poured his entire pack out and finally found it. You could just see him getting frustrated because he knew he had it. What is really funny is that Keith is the most organized guy you could possibly know, he is the guy that keeps it together for everyone else and to see him not find something was so crazy. I guess we all have those days, I just never thought Keith did.


So with gear check complete, we all passed, we started carrying the canoes up the hill. If I were going to whine about my tailbone this is where I would do it at, but since Lori trumped me with the whole chin incident, I guess I can’t whine. So we carried the canoes up the hill and lucky for me the boys felt sorry for my all but forgotten tailbone and grabbed my canoe and took it to the top of the hill. Thank you so much boys, that was really nice of you. The beach was really muddy, so there you go, you now know what a great day it was, because now we had mud and blood. But really, the mud was in all of our bike cleats and we had to stomp around and try to get it out so that we could clip in for the next bike section. It was kind of like a really bad rendition of River Dance.

So after all the dancing was done we were on the bike riding down the trail, we even passed the little train on the tracks with the conductor working on it.

Chuck: Stop right there! None of the men-folk were dancing, we stomped the mud out.

Patrick said he might want to throw his bike on the train and have that conductor take him to the finish. Oh, but we are not quitters so that never happened. I think Patrick was onto something though, he knew that the Alt Road hill lie ahead. I have ridden the Alt Road hill before and I knew it was bad, but I had kind of forgotten about it. You know like after having a baby, you say, I will never do that again, then, before you know it, the joy of the baby makes you forget the pain and you do it all over again. Well, it’s like that, the joy of finishing the Castlewood race of a few years back, took away the memory of how bad that hill was, but guess what, I along with my teammates got to live the glory of the Alt road hill again. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to forget how hard it was this time, well at least until the next time I do it. The good news is we all made it to the top without the use of an oxygen tank, Jacob staying right up front. Then we were afforded the glory of the ride down the other side of the hill, it was so great, I was rolling at over 30 mph. This was also the point where we found out the limits of youth, Jacob was finally wearing down, I think he said he was tired and he was riding further back in the pack. So it took 8 hours and 3 minutes, plus the Alt Road hill to put the hurt on Jacob. Next race, I think we should make Jacob ride Alt Road Hill right off the bat, maybe then we will have a little leverage.

It seemed like it took forever to ride to CP 22, but we finally made it and when we got there Jason, Laura and Carrie Sona were working the CP. We picked up a new trekking map, checked on time and joked around with Jason about not having enough reentrants on the course. If you had competed in the Berryman race, you would understand why this was a big joke, every single clue for the Berryman race was reentrant and reentrants are not always easy to find. We told Jason we knew he didn’t setup the course there wasn’t enough reentrants on it.


So we had 50 minutes to be through the finish line, so we headed out hoping to get 3 CP’s, but quickly found out that the team was dragging. As we headed into the woods, we saw Team SLU, who we happen to know as Andrew and Aimee coming out of the woods with all the CP’s, they wished us luck and headed to the finish line.


We trekked through the woods to the top of a very long steep hill and found the CP, Jacob, Jenny and I were the keepers of the passports all day, so we not so quickly punched the CP and decided to call it a day, better to get back with only one CP out of the bonus O-section then to miss the cutoff.

We all ran across the finish line with Jacob and Patrick sprinting it out to the end. What a motley crew we were.


So after some pizza and beer, it was cold diet coke courtesy of Mr Keith Timmins for me and Lori, the two Diet Coke Alcoholics on the team, we hung out and waited for awards, that is after I put on my brand new Wal-Mart clothes, yeah I was styling! Guess what, our girl’s team, ROCK Racing Rebels, won first place and picked up some great gear, including some cool Yurbuds.




I want to thank God for the great weather he gave us, the volunteers for spending their day working so we could race, Mr Timmins for the Diet Coke and Bonk Hard Racing for putting on such a great event.

One last thing, I think most of the team is hooked and will adventure race again, although one member said he would prefer to do it in the summer, because if we hadn’t been so lucky with the weather and had the cold and rain that came the next day, we may have lost him on the course.