Odin's Revenge

Gothenburg, NE
29 June 2013

 

The name is inspired by the Swedish and German heritage of the host town of Gothenburg. Odin was known as the "king of the Norse gods" and is known for his penchant for wisdom and suffering.
Source:  www.odinsrevenge.com

 

I thought I should know a little more about Odin and here’s the really interesting and relevant part of what I found: according to the mythology Odin the Wanderer is known to suffer to gain wisdom.  In one instance he traded 1 of his eyeballs to drink from the Fountain of Wisdom.  In another instance, he hung for 9 day, pierced by his own spear, on the world tree.  There he learned 9 powerful songs and 18 runes (basically he killed himself and while dead gained magical powers).  Without a doubt, Odin was willing to suffer to gain knowledge, for this trait I find the name Odin to be very suitable for this race.  However, the “revenge” part of the race name makes no sense to me, I did not run across any information that would lead me to believe that Odin has reason to be vengeful to cyclist’s on an adventure similar to his own.  I would suggest the following name for the race: 

 

Odin’s Quest for Knowledge

Perhaps even with this subtitle:  Through suffering wisdom is obtained

 

Whatever the name means, one thing is for sure, if you’re looking for a great gravel grinder, this one should be on your annual race calendar, or tour calendar, or bucket list, or bicycle adventure, this ride doesn't have to be a race.  It can be any sort of adventure you want it to be!

 

After Dirty Kanza only 28 days earlier, I was hooked on these gravel events.  They are definitely something different; low or no entry fee, lots of hills/climbing, and  local (or at least an easy drive).  Also, lots of time on the bike, a great combination of training  for strengths I’ll need for Leadville later this summer.

 

First thing I did after the DK200 was sell my Orbea CX bike and buy a Salsa Warbird 2.  The Warbird is inspired and designed specifically for gravel grinders.  I already posted my review on the bike so check out that blog if you haven’t seen it already.  The Warbird was everything it was supposed to be and it really exceeded my expectations.

 

This is the second year for Odin's race.  Last year, was super-hot and many people didn’t finish.  Today wasn’t supposed to be all that hot and really after the 200 miles at Kanza, 150 seemed like a walk in the park.  Well, maybe it wouldn’t be that easy, but certainly it was 50 miles shorter.  Although, it’s advertised at 180, so maybe next year…?

 

Since Kanza I was now in a lot better shape, with lots more miles behind me and a few less pounds to pedal around.  I felt I started too easy at Kanza and this time I was going to stay up front as long as I could.  After the Enduro a week earlier I was positive that even if I went out too hard, it wouldn’t be detrimental to the whole day.

 

 

At the KOA, waiting for the start.

At 6:00 am the ride was started and we were on our way.  I quickly grabbed a wheel in the front pack and settled into a nice pace.  It wasn’t long at all and we were into the hilly terrain South of Gothenburg.   One major mental strategy I had wrong was assuming that I would not be able to hang with the front group for very long.  Sadly, as the race started I already assumed I would not be strong enough to hang up front.  This really was a great insight for future races, that I’ll consider a gift from Odin himself, for today though it really wasn’t a big deal.

The pace was crisp, but really no one was in all that big of a hurry, considering there was still 120+ miles left to go the pace was fine.  Since, I assumed I could not stay up here all day, I decided I would lead the race for a while,  I jumped out front and lead the pack up a few hills. The best part of this was the scenic vista’s I was rewarded with as I crested the hill.  I actually had a descent gap on the pack and this allowed me to spend a few moment’s taking in the great scenery.  I’ll note that this is not something I usually do, I’m typically in a head down and ride/survive mode.

 

 

 

Super cool photo by Cory Cornbread Godfrey, early in the race when I was still with the lead pack.

Thanks to Cory Cornbread Godfrey for the photo.  Notice way up front is a bull!  He was a big dude, I would estimate 1000-1200 lbs, he ran in front of us for awhile and eventually got back to where he had jumped the fence.

 

A few miles later, I had held off on a bathroom break too long and after stopping this is when I lost contact with the main group.  Although, my plan was flawed I was right on track with my game plan.  Next I learned that if your riding by yourself you have to pay very close attention to the cue sheet.  Fortunately, I was only a ½ mile past the turn when I realized this.  1 mile is a small price to pay for this lesson.

 

Next up, was the first aid station,  I filled up a few bottles and was on my way.  Over the next few miles I noticed the tendons in my right leg were complaining, which was not a good sign of how the day might go.  Finally as I turned with the wind heading South, my right leg was telling me my day was over.  I couldn’t apply any power through it, all I could do was soft pedal.  I was really dumbfounded by this as the muscles felt great,  why all the sudden do I have tendon issues…?  Finally, I decided it had to be the seat position, I knew it wasn’t quite right, but could it really cause all this?  I hated to stop, but I did and made a few adjustments, actually they were pretty big adjustments…  It immediately felt better, but was my leg done, and was the seat position really the cause?  The aid station at Potter’s pasture, approximately mile 70 came round about this time, and I asked the volunteers if anyone could “Mr Miagi my leg”  you know, rub your hands together and generate a searing heat infused chi, which would instantly heal my leg…  That got a few laughs, but no one seemed to know this lost art, so I headed off again.

 

Amazingly, about 5 miles later, my leg was fine!  To celebrate, I put my headphones in and the hammer down.  I was off again, and still feeling strong with over half the race behind me.

Mile 96 of the course was back at the KOA where we started.  I refueled, grabbed a fresh bladder of Skratch Labs hydration mix and was back on the road headed North through town.  Going through town was energizing, but that feeling quickly disappeared as I left town and found myself headed straight into a North headwind and from what I could tell from the cue sheet, I would be riding into this wind for another hour at least…

 

The wind was slowly beating me down, I already had to watch the SS guy (who I now know to be Anatoly Zlotnik from St Louis area)  disappear over the horizon, and now the guy that used to be a mile back was gaining on me.  Finally, the guy behind me caught me and instead of being discouraged about this I figured it was an opportunity to get some free drafting in.  Unfortunately, there was a small series of hills right where he caught me and I suffered trying to stay with him!  I did manage to stay with him and when we got back out into the wind, we started working as a team, this was a great turn of events for both of us, as it turned out, each of us had a different set of strengths and we were able to push each other the whole way back to the finish.  It’s funny, that if you ask either of us who was the stronger one, we’ll both point our finger at the other guy.  Awesome to meet you out on the course Josh Lederman, and many thanks for getting me through the final 40 miles!

 

Probably the last interesting event in the final 50miles was a near over-the-cliff incident.  Josh and I were screaming down a huge descent,  the top of this descent was shrouded in hills and somewhat out of the wind.  Halfway down the descent I was slightly ahead of Josh and on the left side of the road.  The road was headed West and the wind was from the North, this made for one serious crosswind, and when that hurricane force wind was no longer shrouded by a hill to my right, I nearly got blown off the road, I can’t recall the last time I was that scared on the bike, but at 35+ mph and 20+ foot plummet off the side of the road, I knew it was going to be bad.  Luckly, about a foot from the side of the road I managed to get slowed down and back under control.  I probably maxed out my heart rate just from fear alone, not the adrenaline rush I am usually looking for while riding!

 

Eventually we turned with the wind, and screamed back to the finish at the KOA.  Along the way, we caught and passed Anatoly, I know we only caught him because he was out of gear for the wind…   Back at the finish line we learned that first place was shared by 3 people that worked together for the whole race, none of them chose to sprint it out at the end.  Kudos to their camaraderie!  Also, myself and Josh rolled in to the finish at the exact same time, I was glad to see that they gave us the same finish time/place also.  We ended up in 5^th place  or 7/8 overall if you want to count the actual number of individuals ahead of us.

 

This event was shining star example of the power of working together.  According to the results of the 27 individual finishers,  there were two groups of 3 and 3 groups of 2 for a total of 12 finisher’s that worked at a team (either for the whole race, as the top 3 did, or at least for some of the race).  This teamwork was part of the lesson Odin taught some of us today.

 

I personally learned several other lessons from Odin on this day.  I learned I could push myself a lot harder and lot longer than I thought I was capable of.  This is no minor statement, I have 3 Leadville 100mtb buckles and while those finishes ranged in the 10.5 to 11.5 hr range, I felt like I just survived those races, today, I felt like I rode hard from the start to the finish.   The big lesson was that I could have stayed at the front longer than I did, so no more coffee addiction during race season (this is the primary culprit of having to take a pee so early in the race), also if you’re going to ride a new bike 11 hours, make sure the seat is adjusted properly…

 

I learned a little more about nutrition and the Skratch Labs portables and drink mix.  More so, some fine tuning on recipes I already had in-progress.

 

A technical thing I learned was to navigate from a cue sheet and that it requires a lot of attention to not miss a turn, especially when you’re tired or just randomly looking around not paying attention.

I learned I should not go to Runza and eat fast food crap after the race.  I didn’t yak or anything, but I did feel like I polluted my system with toxic crap after a great day of fitness.

 

Last lesson of the day, was that there is time to enjoy the view while racing.  You just have to remember it’s there and look for it!

 

Many thanks to Chad Quigley and the many volunteers that helped make this day possible.  Kudo’s and positive Karma to you all.  See you next year, or maybe sooner!