Surveying and Bikes | The Land Run

OK, it's really just about bikes, but that title really grabs you, huh?

I can't believe its been almost 3 years since I wrote anything here. I apologize to both of my followers. I kind of got in a "funk" and started a couple of new hobbies and bought a new horse.

I usually write about surveying or guns or something I might find interesting that day. Since I last wrote I started gravel biking. I have been a cyclist since the 80's (mountain bikes). Last October, me and one of my riding buddies, bought gravel bikes and started training for the Land Run 100.

FARMbike

Gravel bikes are, generally speaking, off-road-road bikes. More accurately, they are on-road-mountain bikes. Either way they are fun and fast. Gravel bikes don't have suspension, except what you might get from the tires. The tires are larger and more forgiving that road bike tires and smaller and less forgiving than mountain bike tires, My bike is a Salsa Vaya purchased from District Bicycles in Stillwater, OK.

Gravel riding/racing is usually done on back roads (B roads) that don't get much maintenance just an occasional load of gravel dumped on them or a road grader run across them. Sometime not even that much. They are the roads you don't drive your car down because you just washed it. Oklahoma is littered with premium B roads, especially Central Oklahoma, where I live.  What most of us call "country roads". They generally are rough, sometimes muddy and often very hilly.

Gravel riding involves as much mental ability as physical. It provides solitude like road biking without the fear of dying at the bumper of a texting driver. It provides solitude like mountain biking without having to maintain a laser focus on a downhill section or a fast single track with trees whizzing by at 10 miles per hour. Doing any physical activity for hours takes a level of  mental control unlike anything else I have done. Including competitive shooting 

As a land surveyor, a race called the Land Run naturally caught my attention. Plus, District Bicycles owner Bobby and Crystal Wintle are the creators of the race so when I bought my from them, I knew it was what I wanted to do. The race is an endurance test of 100 miles (or 50 mile option). As a LR100 and gravel bike newb, I chose the 50 mile version

Race Report: I only did the 50 mile race, but it was all I wanted. I am not sure if I could have gone any further. It was the hardest I have pushed my ability.

March mornings in Oklahoma, are cold. At the start it was probably 35 degrees. My fingers were numb until about mile 10. By the finish it warmed up to about 45 degrees. After I got settled in, I didn't get too cold or too hot with just a base layer shirt and a wind jacket. My feet get cold easily so I wore my shoe covers the whole race. Some pro riders were in a basic kit, shorts and a jersey. No thank you

I decided to mentally break the race down into thee segments. The initial 21 miles to the first aid station at Ripley, OK. Then at mile 35-38 we would stop and stretch then push the last 15+- miles to the finish

The first segment was a breeze physically except my riding buddy had a flat tire at mile 10. We stopped and I helped him and we got it changed in about 15 minutes and were on the way.That got me warmed up and I was fine the rest of the way. We stopped at the aid station for 20 minutes but looking back I wouldn't do that again. It was wasted time and would have put us under the 4 hour mark had we not stopped or at least not for that long. The first segment did have a huge mental hurdle at mile 4 (before the flat). We saw a crowd on the side of the road and thought someone had crashed or something. As we rode by we saw a rider laying on the ground being administered CPR. He had suffered a heart attack at mile 4. We learned later that he did not survive. This weighed heavy on all of us. We rode in silence for what seemed like forever.

LR100. Top of Brethern Hill

The second segment was a long grueling grind and we just slugged it out. It included a mammoth climb of local legend called Brethren Hill. It was at mile 25 and I decided not to try it and blow up my legs. I pushed my bike up it. For once I didn't let my ego beat me. (picture at left is me at the top). We grinded (sp?) away until mile 40 where we stopped for a couple of minutes and had a PB&J and stretched our legs and got the last segment on our mind

The last 12 miles were brutal. There was some pavement and that made it more bearable but thinking "we are almost done" backfired because 12 miles was a LONG way from being done. It messed with me mentally. I didn't have much left in the tank at that point. We pushed on at what seemed like a snails pace, but we just pedaled.

We hooked up with another rider in the last 3 miles and it made the push a little easier. When we rounded the last corner downtown Stillwater, it all went away. Nothng mattered except getting to that line. I felt like I could have gone another 5 miles on adrenaline (probably not)

The big hug from race founder Bobby Wintle was genuine and it felt good. We sat and had beer and watched the winners of the 100 come it at a little over 5 hours. FIVE HOURS! Frankly that kind of pissed me off, but I got over it

Will I do it again? Hell yes. 100 miles? Probably not.

51.22 miles an almost 2800 feet of climbing. 141 out of 356

To see the race route, click on my Strava entry: https://www.strava.com/activities/2217727833