The 100K Encierro Velo wound predominantly through cattle & horse ranches, with occasional rock outcroppings on the edges of a wash or the crest of a hill and mountains in the western distance. A great start to my 2018 racing season.

Going into this race I just wanted a buckle - period. I figured I wouldn't have much of a chance at 9 hours, but I wanted to be darn sure I came home with a buckle.

Instead we got rain. And the Maah Daah Hey is just flat out not ridable when wet. The dirt turns to extra-clingy peanut butter and gums up every moving part of your bike. Tires become 15 pound immovable mud-donuts and derailleurs get ripped from their hangers.

Flat, no wind, totally blue-bird sky and 101 miles. The last event in our inaugural quest for a dirty millennium.

Truth be told, I had a bit of a lull after the Maah Daah Hey 100 - that race took some time to recover from. Not just physically, but mentally. I just didn't feel like getting back on my bike again for awhile.

The trail is absolutely amazing, totally exceeding all of my expectations. 100 miles of relentless single-track winding through the badlands of North Dakota. Riding the entire trail in one day was nuts, so much harder than I anticipated. We covered about 105 miles with nearly 11K feet of ascending and 11K feet of descending trail.

The Dirty Lemming is a one of a kind event and the race that really got me into this genre of racing. Probably because it feels more like a ride with friends than it does a race.

We're thinking of replacing Gravel Worlds with the Inspiration 100.

The best riders cover the distance in about 10 hours & 40 minutes; we managed to finish in 15 1/2. I'm not sure how many started in 2014, but 469 finished. 

The 99er was a mudfest. Maybe not as bad as years past, but still muddy. Brent and I both went into the 99er a little overconfident. Having survived the Kanza and being only 6 days removed from an 8 day mountain bike trip out West the general feeling was that the extra red-blood cells would easily lift us through a mere 99 miles. We were wrong. 

Dirty Kanza 200 is behind us. It is a bit of a relief to be done. I was pretty intimidated going in, and for good reason. Our remaining 100 milers seem pretty tame. 

The track was fast and the weather was perfect. No doubt the talk after the race was about the three horses who decided to run along with us.

The wind was a challenge all day. I was fortunate to find a group of about 12 -15 riders for the 1st half of the race which was huge - I didn't want to be out there fighting the wind alone. The second half was predominantly downwind, which was lucky for me, because I rode most of it alone.