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Evening Run

This was an awesome event. I highly recommend challenging yourself with this awesome race/ride. The course was stunningly beautiful and felt remote (in a great way). White caliche, red dirt, sandy handling sections for the cross racers... Put this on your calendar for 2020!

This race turned into another awesome battle with Matt Stephens, winner of Dirty Kanza 2017.  We have had so many great contests in the finale of gravel events in the past few years.
Matt went up the road solo in the first sandy section around mi 19. I was caught behind a few riders cheesing up the sand, so I came out of it with roughly 9 other strong riders. I made the decision to play chess with matt and organize the group to keep Matt at a distance of approximately 1 minute. He played along and ended up riding the next 60 mi solo! That alone was an impressive feat.
our group rode a strong steady tempo until the feed zone at mile 65. Matt must have cruised by without stopping, because when our group of 5 got back on the road, Matt was gone. at least 1:30 to 2 minutes ahead at that point. 
I was feeling the effort was descending into a dark place, but the guys I had been riding with all day were starting to fade. Matt's gap was getting dangerous, so with 30 miles left to race, and a decisive 2 mile fluffy sand sector at mile 90, it was now or never.  I took over the chase upping the pace at the front to serious chase mode. This hurt, a lot, but the hydration stop revived me as time went on. My fellow chasers fell off the pace one by one, till it was once again, just Matt and I testing each other's resolve.
After what felt like an eternity, Matt finally came into view waaay up the road, but he was flying. At that point, I was envious of his aero bars.

It took a good 3 miles to close the final 30 seconds, but I made the catch at mile 87, at last. Keep in mind that Matt had been SOLO, averaging roughly 23mph moving speed on gravel and sand for 60 miles.

I caught Matt halfway up the steepest paved climb of the entire course and attacked right past him on the final pitch. I pulled out a 3 second gap, but the high speed chase had zapped my legs and he pulled me back in short order. I was feeling cramp tinges lurking, so this race coulda gone either way at that point. Knowing the infamous 2 mile sand sector upcoming shortly would be the decider, we both put the weapons down and rolled the next 4 miles to the start of the A-Rod's Sandy Pit of Misery (see photo, imagine 2 miles of this). 

It was hard to tell at first who had more in the tank, as Matt attacked early in the loose sand to test my resolve. As usual, I reacted slowly, but kept rolling. Eventually the sand got so deep and fluffy that we both were forced to dismount and run the final mile of the sand. Here and there, and rideable line appeared, but it would soon disappear into fluffy, tire-eating mush. So run we did. 
I felt like  I was opening up a gap, but I just kept navigating the sand. No reason to look back until I got to the end. Sure enough, I had at least 40 seconds on Matt by the end of the sand. Grabbed 2 water bottles at the aid station, back on the move. Another loooong 10 miles to the finish and I was clear, just feathering the edge of cramps. 

Thanks A-Rod, his amazing crew of volunteers, and the CIty of Palestine, TX for putting together this Awesome event! 

Backstory: I have had great long distance form all summer, but my season "officially' concluded with Rebecca's Private Idaho roughly 1 month ago. since then my cycling has consisted of 2 driveways, 2 mellow training rides, and a 60 mi gravel race on my townie bike. Lets say I have felt relatively "off the couch", and I suffered MUCHO to pull out this W .

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Colin Strickland

El Camino 105- Inaugural 2019 Edition- 1st

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