In preparation for the Dirty Kanza 200 miler in June and because Bob Jenkins is a cool and crazy guy, I decided to race Cedar Cross on May 6th. This race was being held just North of Jefferson City, Missouri. The 112 miles was going to consist of mostly gravel roads with some single track sections. Todd and I decided to do it together so we could figure out final touches needed for DK 200.
I did a fair amount of prep work to get ready. I chose the Tangle Bag for my hydration/bladder (avoided anything on my back), side mounted cages for liquid fuel, and 2 Revelate bags. I chose Schwalbe Marathon 38s for this race and put my Marathon 40s (which you can't find anymore) away to save for Dirty Kanza (thanks Stephanie!) I prepared my drop bags with red tape to distinguish from over 100 other racers. Todd and I also spent some time on the maps. We planned on him carrying the large map in a map case and I had the mileage breakdown for the roads in a bike map case.
169 racers registered and about 120 crazy folks showed up at the start. There were lots of friendly folks we knew and St. Louis represented. There were all kinds of bikes with various set ups. My favorite bike was a bamboo tandem bike. They said it's super light weight and strong as carbon. Bob gave us his final words then, he sent us off into no-where land. I knew it was going to be a really warm day. I was sweating just standing there at the start. 
The race started a 9 AM with a lead out on paved roads and then, Bob let us loose. Folks were already picking up the pace but, I chose to stay steady. I figure we would be out there for at least 8 hours but, I prepared for up to 10hrs. I had to make the legs last and for me, that is to stay steady and consistent especially, in this heat. Todd and I started out riding with Loreen, Stephanie, and sometimes with Wendy and Mia. Todd was definitely displaying his feathers with all the chicas surrounding him
We soon hit a long large grass field which had course markers with silver helium balloons adhered to the ground. Pretty cool and clever. This skinny, bumpy, and at times, muddy double track let us to our first single track section. A lot of this was rideable but, due to the thick mud and creek crossings, there were sections we were pushing or carrying our bikes. Mountain bikes were doing much better through these sections. It felt pretty slow and like a jungle in there due to the warm temperatures and muddy conditions.
We hit more gravel and headed to the checkpoint around mile 47 where our drop bags were. We were all pretty thirsty and hot at this point. I was putting ice in my helmet and jersey to cool down. We made this a pretty quick stop and then,Todd, Loreen, Stephanie, and I took off again right into more singletrack. Again, more mud and slow moving sections. After that, we were on gravel forever. It was getting really warm now. Many folks were struggling with the heat and standing along the roads trying to cool off. I believe one fella went to the ER. 
We were warned about the mean dogs coming up on this next section of the course and to be prepared. I love dogs so, I had an air horn and Todd had mase to use as a last resort. We saw them all right and they looked worse than us. They were all laying around in the warm grass and not even moving. I guess it was too hot even for them. We did come across the property with the friendly sign Bob warned us about. We read it as we slowly rode by it, due to length of warnings listed, and then, the owner drove up to pull in his driveway. He sat there in his pick up truck waiting of us to pass. Wasn't quite sure what he thought about folks in spandex passing by. I quickly waved to him and said, "hi how are you," and quickly picked up the pace. Creepy!
The field was getting pretty spread out at this point. We kept truckin along on the gravel with less shade and more sun and heat. We were all really starting to feel the effects of this but, my legs still felt pretty strong. Our goal at this point was to make it to the gas station around mile 70 to get cold drinks. We finally reached the gas station and there were several folks eating and taking advantage of the shade. Todd and I decided we needed to be quick and push on since this was our Dirty Kanza prep race. Loreen and Stephanie decided they wanted to take a quick break so Todd and I pushed on.
This next short paved section seemed to be pretty flowy and fast. It could of been the Gatorade and banana I had just pounded too. All I could think about was only 40 more miles. Then, we quickly hit gravel again with a huge climb that seemed to be a slap in the face. We came across the nuclear reactor and noticed that storms were starting to brew. We wondered if we were going to be faced with different conditions soon. We could feel the temperatures cooling down a bit which felt great. 
I was really looking forward to the next section which was about 10 miles of the Katy Trail. I thought it would be nice to get a break and be able to ride the flats a bit. The only nice thing about it ended up being the shade. The Katy keeps you constantly peddling and sitting on the saddle which I did not enjoy at miles 82 to 92. There were several folks getting lost on this section too since you had to turn off of it to hit more gravel roads. I think because the Katy and roads looked the same it was easy to pass. The last 20 miles were mostly flat roads filled, with what seemed to be, big fresh gravel rocks which would kick your tires/bike around a bit. Guys were flatting along this section. We kept running into Matt Grothoff and his posy due to all the flats they were getting. 
Finally, the gravel seemed to thin out and here came Matt and his man train again. He told us to jump aboard and off we went. We came across Steve Friedman, on his singlespeed, so we split off the train to hang with him a bit. At this point, I could taste the finish line. I had no idea were we stood among the 120 racers. We came into the finish and checked in at 7pm which was the 10 hour point. I was informed that we did really well and I was the 1st female finisher! Bob gave me a cool t-shirt and awesome Kuat bottle lock.
What a race! 112 miles in 10 hours. Todd and I ended up top 25. I know of a few guys that were ahead of us, like Matt Grothoff, that must of checked in after us.We found out later that there were folks still out there till 11pm and quite a few DNFs. Good thing it was mandatory to have lights. There was lots of yummy food and drinks after the race. Bob did a fantastic job putting on this race and the race was FREE! So cool! The volunteers were fantastic. I'm glad I was able to help the local animal shelter there by donating. I really liked the idea of raising money for a charity. Check out the Cedar Cross site for Bob's race report and results:
