Dirty Donut Race Recap

 Lets have some donuts!

Actually...none for me thanks. While the appeal of taking 5 minutes off of my time with every donut is there....doing so while riding hard just doesn't work for me. As awful as I felt without donuts....I would have been miserable with the donuts. 

The 61 milers lined up for the 8am start. I was chatting with a few friends and was pretty relaxed. The air was already feeling heavy even with temps in the mid 60's. It was time to go. We rolled out of Martin High School and onto the main road. My plan was to hold onto the group as long as I could. Turns out it was about half a mile. I found myself riding alone almost right away. 

I settled into my pace knowing I had 60 hot miles ahead of me. First few miles were pretty quiet. I did almost wash out on a corner, but thankfully was able to save it. I tried to find people to ride with but the group was spread out already. The first donut station was coming and the people that were around me all peeled off to shorten their times. The hilly section started here. They are not terrible climbs and I was holding a decent average speed still.

I was coming to an intersection and saw a rider turn off. I hesitated for a minute because my Elemnt told me to go straight and there were no signs showing otherwise. I went straight thinking a rider was up ahead. When I crested the hill there was no rider and I panicked a bit. But then I saw a sign calling out a turn and was still on course. A rider caught me and pulled me towards Hopkins. The gravel gave way to pavement and the 2nd donut stop. I heard some "whoo whoos" as I passed. lol. I waved and pressed on. This pavement section was much appreciated. Especially when the next gravel section hit. It was loose and dry. Was rough to pedal in. And this is where my race started to change.

I hit the 30 mile mark and was well above my planned average. I started to have delusions of grandeur that I was going to break 4 hours. That was short lived. It didn't take long for that to change. My average speed started to decline very rapidly. I went from 4 hours, to clipping my goal time, to worrying if I would break 5 hours. Mentally I was ok. The heat was catching up to me. The gravel sucked. My feet started to hurt. The wheels started coming off and I couldn't do anything about it. 

I pressed on and watched my average speed continue to drop. 20 miles to go. Then 10. I would see some riders now and then. Even caught a few people. Saw one guy stopped and sitting on his top tube with his head on his handlebars. He was gassed. Still have 15 to go. Another guy stopped and was working out his cramps. I was grateful to just be riding at this point.

I made the final turn towards the high school and was truly just ready to be done. I had just passed a handful of people at the last donut stop...still hard to believe they were eating. I finally crossed the finish line in a time of 4:41. Terrible.....DFL. But I finished. I averaged 15 the first 30...and 11 the last 30. Combo of everything added up to a very long day on the bike for me. 

I will take the finish. I will take the training. I am glad I passed on donuts. 

Thank you to the Dirty Donut promoters and all of the volunteers for all of your hard work. Not disappointed I competed, just not happy with my results. Wanted an improvement and was actually slower than I was in 2021. It happens. 

Next up is Cow Pie. More on that later. Then the big one...Lumberjack 100. I am getting more nervous because I just don't know how I will do. Confidence is wavering. More to come on this too. Keep moving forward friends!