Red River Riot Report P/B The Pub McKinney

Brandish's Red River Riot report brought to you by the Pub Mckinney


Red River Riot II (2011)
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I had done this event last year so I knew how hard it was going to be. Only difference is, last year I was actually doing long solo gravel rides leading up to it so I was sure I could do it. This year I haven't done any rides over 4 hours on the road or gravel. So I have to admit to being a big nervous about how things would shake out for me. It was good to know that we had a short afternoon option if we needed to use it.

Marco headed up Friday night with the bus but Mike, Bill and I had to come up morning of since we had things to take care of at work or home on Friday. It was an early start but we arrived in plenty of time for this low-key event. I figured it would be a nice easy and relaxing start until I found out Brian Fawley had created a KOM competition for the first leg of the event. So after the rider meeting we were off and running and not really taking it easy. Another problem was, some riders had no intention of doing the full distance and were not afraid to push the pace early knowing that their day would be done by noon. I tried to stay toward the front of the group anyway.

The KOM competition consisted of 3 checkpoints. The 1st at roughly 20 miles, 2nd at 40 miles and the 3rd at roughly 60 miles in. By the time we made it to the 1st checkpoint there weren't really that many folks in the lead group. It was myself, Jordan Chaney, JP Williams, Bryan Fawley (though he told us he was not participating since he would simply blow everyone away) and another guy on a 26" Moots mountain bike (props to him for hanging with a bunch of Cross bikes). Marco would have been with us had it not been for his choice of tire pressure and subsequent pinch flats that morning. The second checkpoint was a real brute. This is the climb I remembered from the previous year. We had hit it at mile 95 last year it was wet and almost impossible. This year the conditions were much better and we were only 42 miles in. It was still tough. I rode on the front of the group as we neared the climb, geared down and rode straight up. You can't just stand up and hammer up this climb. If you try to do that you will lose traction in your rear tire, you have to either stay seated and grunt it out or if you have to stand and do it you have to be careful to keep most of your weight over the rear tire. I did a combination of these, standing for a couple and then sitting back down. When it began to flatten out I turned the cadence up and rode away from Jordan. I had taken the first 10 points of the competition and by the time we made it to the 3rd checkpoint there were only 3 of us and I had clinched the KOM. We finished up the first 72 miles of the event in roughly 4 hours. Nothing too speedy but considering the wind and terrain and lack of a good pack to share the work I figure an 18mph avg. was pretty good.

I went and signed in for the 2nd half and then headed back to the truck to refuel.

A while later Mike and Bill rolled in and told me that Marco had been so unfortunate as to have 5 flat tires along the way. It was a good thing he brought his trusty pump. Also a good thing folks were nice enough to lend him spare tubes after he had run out. Marco finally rolled in on a flat tire and came back to the truck to refuel and discuss the mornings events. We had to make a decision now weather to just call it a day or go back out for either 30 or 65 more miles. Mike and Bill called it. They were done. I still wanted to continue to hurt myself. Marco was inclined to as well. We agreed that we would go tackle 30 more miles and call it. So we got packed up, said bye to Mike and Bill and went back out for more punishment.

After the first 3 or 4 miles we started feeling better and better as we went. It was decided then that since Marco had the full 65 mile route mapped in his GPS that we would go ahead and give it a shot. We caught up to the head of the race and rode with a small group till one flatted. We decided as a group to go back and wait for the guy and continue on as a group. Good thing for him that we did. He had not packed a tube, pump or tire lever and his day would have been done. But that is one of the good things about this type of event. Most folks are very friendly and willing to lend a hand. I gave a tube and Marco saved the day with his trusty pump once again! This pump would come into play one more time for me around mile 110 when my Vittoria PitStop failed me. We continued on as a group once again but eventually it came down to just Marco and myself. Hats off to him as he rode away from me in the last mile or so. I was cooked.

We were blessed with perfect weather while on the route but that changed shortly after as a great storm cell rolled in. The event coordinator had to pull a few folks off the course for their own safety. This was a great event and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an enjoyable day on the bike.

Great course and great folks participating in and running the event.