Dirty Kanza 200 – Schlitter First Ever Bent Finisher / 50+ Open Class Champ

By John Foote on Jun 09, 2011 with Comments 4

2011 Dirty Kanza Start - Emporia Main Street Inc.

Race report by John Schlitter, This adventure started back over ten years ago. There was a ride in the Flint Hills of southeast Kansas called the Death Ride. The ride covered 60 to 75 miles of the Flint Hills gravel/dirt roads and was held in August. Thus the name Death Ride because the heat would be around 100 degrees. I rode the Death ride twice on recumbent bicycles. The second time was a bike that I designated as the DRS (Death Ride Special), a dual 26” wheel Bacchetta proto-type bike we had not even released yet. In fact, we hadn’t even launched the Bacchetta Bicycle Company yet. The ride went great except for the front tire sliced like paper during the finishing miles. The Dirty Kanza 200 (DK200), which is run in June has been around for at least five years. I know this because while talking with a friend, he indicated that he had DNF’d at the race the last five years in a row. So, last summer while in KS the idea of riding DK 200 on a Bacchetta recumbent started floating around in my mind. The deciding factor came when Irode a local mountain bike race on my CA 2.0 recumbent with 28mm tires and the last 20 miles of the race were down dirt and chalk roads. Former 24 hour mountain bike national champion Cameron Chambers past me in his car while I was flying down a chalk road cruising around 33 mph with a great tailwind. After the race I talked to Cameron to congratulate him on his win of the day. He said, “You know John, you need to do the DK200 on your Bacchetta and shake things up.” I replied, “Funny we have been kicking around that idea.” I talked with him about tire choices and then decided that if I remember, I would sign up for the DK200 when the entry opened up next year. Well somehow I remembered to sign up on the date entries opened and got in at number 141 of the 375 entries. Lucky I remembered because the entries were filled up a couple of hours later. Next plan was to be in Kansas for the race.

John Schlitter © UltraRacePics

before we hit gravel I had passed a few of the tail end groups and came up to the corner for the turn onto the gravel. A quarter-mile of gravel then the road turned south again and as we hit the gravel. You could look to the southwest and see a line of riders strung out on the road till it they disappeared over the horizon. You could say that I had a lot of targets to shoot at. After about three miles of gravel I was getting into a grove and was making my way passed the different pace lines. Depending upon the surface I was cruising anywhere between 16 to 25 mph into the constantly building headwind. Ten miles rolled by and I felt I had passed at least 370 riders, but the pack kept appearing on the horizon ahead of me. Some views showed them out ahead for miles working their way up over the hills like ants in an ant farm. Almost everyone or pack I passed I got “Wows” and encouragement, not one time did I hear a bad remark about a recumbent doing the DK200. Rolled into the first check point with an average speed of 16 mph and I had no issues so far tackling what the DK200 was throwing at me. Race rules allow support only at the checkpoints, so John and Fred my support team were alway right there telling me where the truck was located and helping me get reloaded. Once again, having a good crew can always mean the difference between a DNF or finishing. This race would have been a DNF if John and Fred had decided not to help out and crew. A big thank you goes out to them plus Pat and Charlie Rolled out of checkpoint one and started picking up more of the leaders. Came across Chris Tilford and he said hi John don’t miss the left turn and I asked how he was doing and he said not too good. He seemed pretty dazed but was talking complete sentences so I rolled on. A few miles later I rolled up on a group who where confused by the map and the lack of road markings. About 15 riders bunched up here and a rider coming up the road shouted and pointed the way to go so like good lemmings we took off down that road. Thankfully it was correct, but at the same time it was the toughest section of the race with something like 4 water crossings. I tried not to screw up too many riders behind me as I did my first water crossing on my Bacchetta, but they all went well. Then there were a few drop offs down the back side of the hills that I was dam glad we were not climbing. They were rock face with loose rock everywhere, so I just slowed way down and rode the brakes down all the time thinking “Don’t pinch flat, don’t flat.” At almost every one of the descents there was somebody pulled off working on repairing a flat. By this time all who I had passed earlier had gotten passed me again. We hit some more forgiving terrain and I caught the back of the pack just in time for a couple of climbs just like what we had come down. I made it up the first climb, but the second climb was looking pretty bad. When two of the single speed riders bailed to walk, I took their cue and followed suit. It just so happened that the video jeep was behind us at that point and I thought that this would certainly make the “Highlight film.” ”Recumbent rider has to walk the hills of DK200.” I watched the video after the race and sure enough there was that hill and the single speeders bailing, but they cut away before I bailed.

John Schlitter DK200 - Dave Foster Photo

I made checkpoint three and had passed all who got by me in the rougher sections and pick off a few more riders as well. My average speed was down around 15mph and my crew said I was in the top twenty. So far the first legs of the race had been 58 and 50 miles and with the heat beginning peak the next leg was 60 miles. I knew this was going to be a rough pull, mostly because of the heat and I knew my feet were going to fire up. As I rolled out into the next section I passed a couple of riders and then got passed by some other hard pounding riders. One single speeder came by who I had passed earlier and I noticed that he was checking out the farm houses and creeks as we rolled by them. He slowly rolled away from me and then sure enough up the road he jumped off his bike, I though he had a flat. I asked if he was okay and he said yes so I kept rolling. About ten minutes later he rolled back passed me at speed. I said that was quick and he said that was great. This kind of confused me and I started to think the heat was starting to fry all of our brains. Then a few miles later I passed him again as he jumps off the bike and heads down to the creek bottom. I got it, he’s soaking his feet! A few more miles down the road he tells me that his name is Andy from Colorado and he had lost his feet to frostbite while mountain climbing. I thought, this guy is tougher then nails. I noticed that he is wearing CTS shorts and I ask him if he was being coached by CTS and he says he coaches for them. I ask if he knew Cameron Chambers a CTS coach and he say yes. He had heard Cameron did good on a single speed here and visited with him to talk about the gearing he had use for his DK200, small world. This chatting back and forth might have been Andy and my downfall. Some how we missed a turn, and in short we got ten bonus miles. Instead of being well ahead of the storm that was now brewing behind us, it was now bearing down on us as we headed into Council Grove, the last checkpoint until the finish. Hit Council Grove with the storm beating down behind me. My crew was just heading out to rescue Pat and Charlie and some other riders. They came back refueled me and I made the decision to try to out run the storm. Race officials allowed those that were sagged off the course to Council Grove due to the storm to finish the race from there after the storm had passed. I heard some real horror stories about how they got torrential rains and the roads turned to deep mud. My plan of out running the storm almost worked out, but I did finally get hammered by rain and high winds a couple of times. The cooling rain was welcomed as my hot feet were cooled down and I was feeling refreshed. A female solo and male single speed rider blew by me like I was standing still, but every once in a while I would get a glimpse of them ahead. The final leg to the finish was 42.8 miles, had a couple really big climbs, and of course there had to be a couple of water crossings. My Bacchetta was picking up some pretty heavy mud on a couple of the sections and at certain speeds I would have mud slinging everywhere. In a small town about six miles from the finish I come upon the female rider (Betsy Shogren) and single speeder (Peter Chrapkowksi) who had passed me earlier. They were stopped double checking their map and as I approached I told them “You’re on course, so let’s go!” We rode in together and I let Betsy and Peter finish ahead of me because I was pretty sure neither of them was over fifty and thus not in my race category. I crossed the finish line with around 14:49 total time, good for tenth place overall and first in the fifty plus age open class. The young lady, Betsy, from West Virginia won the women’s overall and the young man, Peter, from Chicago, won the single speed class. Betsy also won the sportsmanship award for waiting for her husband who was one of the front-runners but got cooked. She was stopped for at least ten minutes out on the road to try and help him before he told her to go ahead and roll on in. She then waited at the check point for another 30 minutes till he came in. She received this really cool print of the Kanza horizon. Andy Lapkass, my bonus mile buddy hung in for third place in the single speed class.

JS's DK200 Belt Buckle - Schlitter Photo

For my effort I received one of those cool DK200 limited edition belt buckles and a gift certificate for some cool Salsa bicycle upgrade parts. In the end I was glad that I dragged my butt to the race and finally experienced the race! I wonder if anyone else will try DK200 on a recumbent in the future.

Corsa 700 - Schlitter Photo

John’s Bike Specs:One note my biggest worry about this race was flats. Having to change flats out in a baking heat can really make for a bad day. I was lucky, zero flats. The only mechanical issue was a seat support tube bolt had rattle out. Good thing Bacchetta has that fender bolt in the belly, worked perfect for a spare.

Frame – 2011 Bacchetta Corsa – 700c

Fork - Salsa Casserole Fork

Drive - FSA Gossamer Compact Crank 50/34 170mm