The 2013 Dirty Kanza 200 – Answering the Call…

 by Matt Gersib
Images by Cornbread, Kyle Thompson, Dave Mable, and MG

Gravel grinding is getting pretty big in the Midwest, as evidenced by the nearly 1,000 combined entrants in the 2013 Dirty Kanza 200, “Half-Pint” 100-miler, and 20- or 50-mile “DK-Lite” fun rides. Held at the doorstep of the Kansas Flint Hills in the college town of Emporia, Kansas, the Dirty Kanza was first run in 2006. Since then, the event has grown from just a few dozen participants that first year to become one of, if not the, largest gravel grinder in North America.

Since 2010, the Dirty Kanza 200 has started and finished in-front of the historic Granada Theatre in downtown Emporia. Photo: Cornbread

In many ways, the 2013 Dirty Kanza 200 was a test – a test to see how much was too much. I can’t count how many times I was asked “is it going to be too much to have 750 people on-course at the same time?” prior to the event. Some folks had serious doubts as to how it’d be possible to avoid pile-ups, traffic jams and other calamities caused by too many riders on the same gravel roads.

I wasn’t one of the doubters, however, and whenever asked, I told them that I thought 200 miles was a lot of space, and that there would be plenty of room for everyone to ride. I even suggested there’d be times when we’d feel really alone out there, even with all the people we knew were on-course with us.

 Riders assemble prior to the 6:00a.m. start. Photo: Cornbread

Fast forward to race day and while the start line was an awesome spectacle, it was really the only time (on the bike) that I felt like it was any different than the Dirty Kanza 200s that had come before. Perhaps the overall level of the field was a bit higher overall due to the increased numbers, but the quality riders only enhanced the quality of the event. I mean, who doesn’t want to go to a race and meet Tour Divide champion, Jay Petervary, the “Queen of Pain”, Rebecca Rusch, and a number of other cycling legends?

I knew that bettering, or even matching my personal best DK200 placing (fifth overall in 2008) would be extremely tough as I surveyed the riders on the start line. And with my recent failure at Trans Iowa fresh in the back of my mind, I wasn’t willing to risk going too hard in the front 100-miles of the race in a vain attempt to stay near the front.

Racers roll-out onto the course just after the start of the 2013 Dirty Kanza 200. Photo: Kyle Thompson

At one point during the first leg, I even thought I might have been going too easy, but I stopped thinking that after stopping to help Specialized rider, Garth Prosser (that after stopping to help Specialized rider, Garth Prosser (eventual 7th place overall finisher) with a flat rear tire. Garth offered to pull me into checkpoint one in return for stopping to help, but was clearly riding much stronger than I. It was a struggle simply to hold his wheel, so I let him go.

His strength gave me a glimpse into my own mortality if I chose to play with fire, so it was a good exercise, but it reminded me that I needed to pay attention to my game plan. I backed off and resumed a comfortable, but reasonably fast pace.

Checkpoint one came at about mile 50, and my wife Laura was amazing at taking care of everything I needed, often before I knew I needed it.

“You aren’t drinking enough,” she said to me as she topped my bottles off.

“It’s OK sweetheart,” I replied. “It’s not hot and I’ll be drinking a lot more on this leg, so you won’t be telling me that when I see you in 50-miles.”

We both laughed as I finished the smoothie I was drinking. It was just a couple more minutes and I was back out on the course, on the second 50-mile segment. As I rode away from the checkpoint, I thought to myself, “this is where the fun starts!”

I was thinking sarcastically, of course, as I knew that there would be a lot of head wind in the next 100-miles. Unfortunately for all of us on this day, the head wind was significant. Combine that with the fact that I was once again experiencing pain in my right knee (similar to what I experienced at Trans Iowa), and it made for some times of fairly slow going.

And then I missed a turn and rode a total of six miles off-course…

I realized the error in my ways when I saw corner markers set into a corner, only they were 180-degrees opposite from their standard orientation… “What is this?” I thought to myself.

It was an earlier section of the course (ahead of checkpoint 1) that, after missing the corner I was supposed to take, I’d ridden up to. As I perused my course map in an attempt to locate myself, two riders approached from the opposite direction and asked if I needed help. I politely declined and wished them good luck on their ride.

Surveying the map, I deduced that while I wasn’t exactly sure of my location (the location wasn’t marked on the map I was reading – for segment two), turning around was my best option and hope for getting back on-course as quickly as possible. As it turns out, I rode for three miles before I came upon the turn I’d missed, which was right before a water crossing in the road (located after the corner). I’d gotten so focused on the water crossing that I didn’t even see the turn markers (or the road itself, for that matter). I was super focused-in on figuring out if the water could be ridden, and if so, which line I needed to take.

Since the water crossing was about 50 yards long (my guess, no ruler in-hand), it required considerable concentration. Oh, and yes, I was riding alone. So much for the theory that it’d be “too crowded” out on the road! HA!

The head wind turned oppressive around mile 75, and I went into energy conservation mode. That said, the gnarly Flint Hills terrain combined with the wind to take it out of me from mile 75 to 100. I came into the second checkpoint eager to tear into the Valentino’s pizza we’d brought from Lincoln in the cooler. It actually made me go faster coming into the checkpoint, but coming into the Salsa tent to receive my new map and check-in, the ladies excitedly exclaimed as I rode up:

“Number 59… There he is. Are you Matthew?”

“Ummm. I think so,” I think I uttered.

“Laura’s car broke down on the highway…”

(Thinking to myself “Holy Shiiiii”)

“…but she did send this Monster and water for you, and we have some food we’d be happy to give you.”

“Ummmmmmm…..”

Cue the appearance of Joe Reed, the checkpoint coordinator and my host for the weekend. “Matt, why don’t you sit down here and we’ll just take care of you,” he said. “No problem.”

Joe and I sat down and chatted while one of the checkpoint angels, Ingrid, offered up some of the summer sausage and Colby Jack cheese she had in her cooler. Meat and cheese during a bike race? I’m from Nebraska – bring it on! Thank you Ingrid – you single handedly saved my 2013 Dirty Kanza. For while that might not have been the pizza I was expecting, it was exactly what I needed.

Thank you to everyone at checkpoint two – Amanda, Amanda, Jen, Ingrid, Joe and everyone else involved with the stop. Without your generous support, I wouldn’t have been able to continue, but after leaving the checkpoint, I had no choice but to finish. You all were key to my finish. Thank you doesn’t seem like enough.

 Still smiling in the first 100 miles of the event. Photo: Eric Benjamin, AdventureMonkey.com 

 As I left checkpoint two with a belly fully of meat and cheese and questions swirling in my head about the status of my wife, our dog and our car, I pedaled out onto the course. We had 13 miles of a crossing tailwind before turning into a constant headwind for the remaining 37 miles of the leg into checkpoint three at Cottonwood Falls. Though the crossing tailwind was pushing me along, I was careful to meter my effort, as I knew what we were about to face.

About four miles into the leg, three riders pulled up on me – Salsa’s Tim Ek, and the Cycle Works/Moose’s Tooth duo of Scott Bigelow and James Blake. All were looking strong and for a minute I upped my tempo to ride with them. It was at about this time that the Salsa-sponsored film crew pulled up in a Jeep and, almost as if on cue, Eki raised the pace about five miles per hour. All of the sudden we were doing 23 mph…

Homie wasn’t playin’ that, so I dialed it back to a more reasonable pace for my legs and watched Eki quickly gain a hill on me as he picked off rider-after-rider for the camera. Meanwhile, I tore into a package of Honey Stinger drops with the abandon of a raging hyena. That cherry cola flavor is to die for and I hadn’t gotten many carbs during my stop at checkpoint two, so I had a bit of a hankerin’.

 So, here’s where the DK200 gets a little bleak, as the turn northward into the wind was a doozy. As we rode among the nodding donkeys in the oil fields of the Flint Hills, the sparse terrain provided little respite from the sustained 20+ mph northwest winds. The same winds we’d flown on in the earlier stages of the event were the same ones that now forced my speed below ten miles per hour regularly.

Each ten miles of the leg seemed magnified by the wind-fueled slowness. It didn’t help that my knee was giving me consistent shooting pains, which concerned me, but I decided were something I just had to live with. “Grin and bear it,” I thought to myself as I pedaled through the veil of pain.

Image: Cornbread

 I rode into the third checkpoint with a gentleman from Washington – near Olympia. Since my parents and sister’s family live in Oly, we quickly struck up some good conversation that at some point turned to the calamity with our car. He quickly offered to let me sag out of his support car, driven by his wife. But as we rode into the checkpoint and received our new maps, who was the first person I saw? It was my beautiful wife, Laura. She’d gotten the Subaru towed to Emporia, rented a car and was back out to support me. What an awesome wife and an incredible person!

 I was so overjoyed to see Laura that I immediately and completely forgot my earlier plans, and immediately left for the rental car (and our cooler with the pizza) with Laura. Ironically, after the stop, I saw the same rider back out on-course and he said “I never saw you after we got our maps,” so I apologetically told him about finding Laura at the checkpoint and how overcome I was with joy in seeing her. About then, my knee started locking up and I had to stop to stretch it for a bit.

As I rejoined the race, two riders approached – singlespeed rider, PA single speeder, Mark Elsasser and Kansas cycling icon, Keith Walberg. It was great to ride with these two guys, if for too short a time, as after ten or so more miles I again had to stop and stretch my tightening IT band. In retrospect, when I stopped, I should have tried raising my saddle 3-4 millimeters, as that may have helped the situation, but I didn’t have the presence of mind at that point in the event to think of it. Hindsight is 20-20 however, so I’ll save that one for future reference.

The final 20 miles of the race were largely with the wind, as we rode familiar roads through the small town of Americus and into Emporia. The sun set as I rolled through Americus, dashing my hopes of scoring one of the limited edition prints that were being given to those who finished before sunset, but I decided it didn’t matter and pushed to the finish with a steeled resolve to catch as many racers in-front of me as possible before the line.

Thumbs-up at the finish. Photo: Eric Benjamin, AdventureMonkey.com

 I ended up finishing 86th overall (32nd veteran), with a course time of 15 hours and 25 minutes (complete results posted here). It wasn’t my fastest Dirty Kanza 200, but given the challenges we had during the race, I was happy with the result and feel like it’s due to the work of a lot of folks, some of whom I’ll never be able to thank. But I’ll try, and the first person I’d like to thank is my incredible wife, Laura. I don’t know who had it harder on race day, but she came through it and was the rock I needed when I needed her. Thank You! And to everyone involved with the Dirty Kanza 200 – Jim, Kristi, Tim, and everyone at the checkpoints – Thank You all! And thanks to our host for the weekend, Joe Reed – an awesome person and good friend. And finally, thanks to Marty Larson and Sam Alison at Singular Cycles, and Rob Versteegh at Oakley for their support in 2013!

See you down the road!


____________________________________________________

Image: D. Mable

The Author: Matt Gersib – “MG”

A gravel rider well before gravel riding was cool, Matt Gersib has sought the adventures gravel roads could bring for more than 20 years. He is a multi-time Dirty Kanza 200 finisher, finishing as high as fifth-place overall in 2008. MG has also finished Trans Iowa (8th place at TIv5) and has earned top finishes at a number of other gravel grinders in recent years. He is a member of the Singular Cycles International team.

What It Takes

What it takes to race and place at a 325mi bike race…on gravel! by Monika Sattler
What do you think about racing a non-stop, unsupported 325 mi bike race? Did I mention it is all on gravel? Oh yea, and you have a time limit of 34 hours!

Sounds crazy? I can promise you get your full fill for your thirst for adventure. It creates friendships
with total strangers. You have the opportunity to push to your physical and mental limits! And it is an incredible rewarding experience when you cross the finish line. I am sure some of you might think:

“What!?! 325mi! Impossible!”

Then there is this awkward silence, some calculations followed with an ever-so slight nod.

“Well, you only have to go 9.5mph to finish.”

“YES”, I would say, “only 9.5mph. You can do it!”

Should I mention that usually less than 15% finish this race with the exception of 2013 because of
exceptional weather? It was 30%. I probably should also tell you that you might want to include the
stops for nature and food break in your average mileage. Plus, this is not exactly a flat course. If you
know the countryside of Iowa, you know about those never-ending rollers and the loose gravel which
will have a toll on your leg speed earlier or later on. Oh yeah, and your pace most likely will slow down during the night having ridden for the past 20 hours. But hey! No discouragement on my part. Only the facts. You should do it!

I hope I haven’t lost you yet, because everyone can do it! But let me give you some tips for such an intense but adventurous and rewarding race! It helped me to win the Women’s category and place third overall among 91 racers:

  Train! Know Yourself Physically!

- It is crucial to be in shape for such a race, especially without any prior race experience at that magnitude. You got to prepare your body for taking a huge toll on it. My biggest fear was that I had to pull out because of my body’s refusal. Yes, I did have knee problems and I anticipated them, my own fault. I learned too late that road shoes were not the smartest decision for such a race and had to take the consequences. However, although I feared the upcoming knee pain, I had my stash of ibuprofen with me. Not the most ideal situation, but I made my mind up; I will not pull out of this race because of physical complications.

- Another reason for the importance of good training for such a race is to get the nutrition dialed in. You need to know what your body wants. During Trans Iowa, I made a frequent “check-in” with myself. “Monika, how do you feel? What do you need?” Sometimes, I was a little thirsty but not to an extent that I would have realized it if I had not consciously asked myself. So I drank and might have prevented the bad consequences from dehydration.

- At 180 mi I went into the grocery and saw my favorite race food – cinnamon rolls. I checked the nutrition info. With 50% saturated fat and my usual health-conscious eating pattern, I was putting it back and told myself that a banana would do the trick. While I am walking to the fruit section I envisioned myself how I would feel in about 5 minutes when the banana is burned off. 180 degree turn. It would be silly from me to potentially threaten finishing this race because I am playing health-consciousness with myself and not allowing myself to get the food which I know will fuel me for hours. I am not trying to convince anyone to eat unhealthy. My message is that you have to choose your battles. You have to know what you need and set priorities at the right time.

 Train Even More! Know Yourself Mentally!
- Training does not just mean preparing myself physically for the challenge but doing things that is not in the usual routine. For me, that meant riding extra miles that I usually would leave out. That meant riding by myself for 180mi although I am not too big of a fan riding by myself.That meant riding back-to-back group rides even then when I am already exhausted from the previous group ride. It meant challenging myself mentally in a way that would be a step closer to be mentally “tough enough” for Trans Iowa.

- I think mental preparation is a huge component to complete such a race. My motto is to expect the worst and be happy if it does not happen. With that attitude, there is little that can throw you off. When I train, I imagined the worst things that could happen and how I would deal with them. Long solo rides are great to play worst-case scenario movies in your head.

- I had the fortune (I never thought I would say that) that the Minnesotan winter was pretty harsh. We had a never-ending winter with snow storms hitting us in May. If it wasn’t snowing it was raining. There were numerous group rides held in the upper 20s with rain. I usually ride to and back from the group rides. At one group ride, we had multiple flats, it was snowing on us and had a 20mph head wind. Everyone was freezing. When we neared the end of the group ride I had two options, I could ride the 15mi back home in the rain, dark ornamented with a solid headwind or I could take a comfy, warm, fast car ride back to my place. When I caught myself even weighing the options, I asked myself: Monika, when you are at 250mi in the freezing rain, cold and tired and a car driver pulls up and offers you a lift, would you take it? Would you bail? After putting into perspective of my future endeavor and this 15mi ride home, it seemed ridiculous to me that I even considered taking a car ride back.

Train With The Right People:

I had the fortune to train with Charles who had raced and completed this race multiple times. I knew that he is a gold bag full of advice. I asked so many questions, I was surprised he didn’t start charging. Any opportunity to ride with him meant I learn one more little detail and advice about this race. Also, it is crucial to train with people who believe in your success. You want people around you who know that you finish because their confidence will be your confidence in your darkest moments during the race.

 Train Equipped  As  You Would Race:

- One big recommendation which I unfortunately only pulled half way through is, train as you would race. And I do not mean the pace but the equipment. Put all your gear on the bike well ahead of the race, and not just the day before. I learned it the hard way. I forgot that I changed my helmet throughout the offseason and I realized the night before that my bike light did not fit on my helmet, a crucial tool for reading the directions during the night. One of the most detrimental moments of the race was when I had to anticipate riding by myself and navigate sleep-deprived and exhausted without a helmet light.

  Be Prepared For Surprises:

- There is always something not working. A race of this length is rarely perfect. It could be THE day when you are cursed with a multitude with flats, a malfunctioning bike computer or a dog bite. It’s up to you what you make out of it. There are some tough guys out there that deal with those kinds of issues as a minor detail.

Prepare Yourself Mentally:

- Another way how I prepare myself mentally is reading books about outstanding athletes. I especially love reading about ultra-endurance runners who run 120mi in 120 degree Fahrenheit. Books like "Eat and Run" by Scott Jurek, "Running on Empty" by Marshall Ulrich or "Ultramarathon Confession of an All-Night Runner" by Deran Karnazes. I also started reading about mountaineering books. I would recommend "No Shortcuts to the Top" by Ed Viesturs. Since ultraendurance athletes are a rare breed it is sometimes tough to find people who can comprehend your passion. By reading these books, it makes me feel I am part of a group. Moreover, these books give me proof that my endeavor is not as crazy as people tell me. They are way more extreme athletes out there than me. So athletes can run 325mi, what holds me back from riding it?

  Know Why You Race:

- There will be times during the race when you are tired, exhausted, in pain, hungry and thirsty. A
couch, with a salami-ham pizza slice in one hand and an ice cold beer in the other all of a sudden
sounds like a great idea and your mind is playing this unfair game with you why are doing this to yourself. I believe this is the best time to get to know yourself and answer the question why you race. Is it because you enjoy riding on remote gravel roads? Is it for the adventure? Is it to test your limits? Or is it because you like meeting new passionate endurance cyclists with the same obsession for riding their bikes? I think, if you get your reasons straight, you always can go back to them in your darkest moments. Personally, I love challenging myself physically and mentally to my limits. I love doing this with other like-minded people. I raced Trans Iowa more as an adventure race with a team than a race against 90 other people. The night was fun for me because I was surrounded by positive thinking riders that created an adventure racing-like climate. I was very sad when we had to leave two of them behind.

You've Got To Know Yourself Very Well:

- The main message in this post is that you have to prepare yourself mentally and physically and that you have to know yourself pretty damn well. You need to know your strengths and your weaknesses, your flaws, your ticks, everything. Ask yourself frequently how you are doing.

And not just how you feel now but how you will feel in 5 minutes and in 20 minutes. If you are prone for cramping at mile 60, then take your electrolytes at mile 55 and don’t wait for it. There are a few racers who I believe could have finished the race if they would have checked-in with themselves. They felt super strong in one moment, burned all their matches and blew up two  hours later because they ignored thirst, hunger and the pain in their legs. The personal checkin should also include the question if your pace might be too high when riding with other racers. Weigh the pros and cons if it makes sense to ride harder than your body could handle.


  

 
The Rollercoaster Ride:

- A race like Trans Iowa is like a long rollercoaster ride, it gives you the feeling to be above the ground with a rush of adrenaline owning the world, but soon enough it flips you like a piece of paper upside down, only to enter a multitude of spirals that want to make you throw up but then you recover with an easy wind breeze at the finish and just want to do it all over again!

The Author:

  Monika Sattler has accomplished much in her short time on the gravel racing circuit, winning a first place in the Open Women category riding in the 325 mile Trans Iowa V9, and also finished first in the Women's field at the Royal 162, a 162 mile part of the Almanzo events, in 2013. Monika also finished 2nd in the Open Women Class at the 2013 Dirty Kanza 200, just shy of winner Rebecca Rusch, who is a noted endurance athlete.

Continental Cyclocross Speed Tires: Rider Review

Editor's Note: From time to time Gravel Grinder News will be featuring some Rider Reviews which have been submitted to the site. In this post, GGN welcomes Monika Sattler, a German native who recently moved from the East Coast to Minnesota and has been "bitten by the bug". She says," I learned about gravel racing last year when I moved to the Midwest. I absolute love gravel racing, it embodies the best aspects of cycling: adventure, nature, mental, and physical challenge and great people!"

She has accomplished much in her short time on U.S. soil winning a first place in the Open Women category riding in the 325 mile Trans Iowa V9, and also finished the Royal 162, a 162 mile part of the Almanzo events, just recently. Here she shares with us a brief review of the Continental Cyclocross Speed tires which she used while riding Trans Iowa this year.

Monika Sattler- Image courtesy of W. Kilburg

 Continental Cyclocross Speed Tires 35mm- by Monika Sattler

 

The Continental Cyclocross Speed Tire is marketed as a pure cross tire and comes in two widths. 35mm and 42mm. The website advertises the tire for frozen and hard soil with a recommended tire pressure between 56 and 85 PSI. 

I put this tire on my Stevens cross bike with HED Ardennes wheels a week before Trans Iowa. I immediately felt the cushion of the tire. That contributed to a very comfortable 325mi without any back issues which otherwise could be caused by the beating of the gravel. Plus, no flats! 

I initially put 70PSI into the tire which made me bounce uncontrollably on the loose gravel. After readjusting the pressure to around 45PSI, the tire ensured a comfortable ride. The tire performs well not only on hard soil but also in sandier conditions. The tire might not be the perfect match for very loose and rocky surface.

 With its big contact surface I would recommend this tire especially for long rides on smooth gravel. 

Look for more from Monika in future posts soon. 

News On The Website Update

Dear Readers Of Gravel Grinder News,

Behind the scenes we've been working on an upgrade to this site and I am finally happy to announce that very soon it will be time to throw the switch on the new Gravel Grinder News. Just to recap, here are a few of the things we hope you will notice and enjoy....

• New Calendar Experience:  There is a "Calendar Of Events " tab on the header of the site which you will be able to click on  and this  will take you to the "linear listing" of events which will be in order of most recent to occur to events in the future. Some basic info will be shown with a link to the event site. If you prefer a "calendar page" look, you can choose this on the page and see events listed on the days they occur for a month you can select. Each events name will be hyper-linked to its respective event site. Either way, you can quickly see only the upcoming events, or events for a specific month. By the way, an "Event Calendar" showing only the most imminent upcoming events will always be on the left column. Hopefully in this way events will be more easily seen and accessed by you- the readers of GGN. 
• Links Tab: Next to the "Calendar Of Events" tab on the header, you will see a "Links" tab, which will take you to a page which will list the associations, groups, and promoters of gravel and backroad racing and riding in the U.S. This should help you get connected with like minded gravelists anywhere they are riding, racing, or just cruising the gravel and backroads of the nation.
• Contact: Next to the "Links" tab, there is a tab named "Contact" which you can click on to contact Guitar Ted with submissions for rides, races, or gravel events. Or just to ask a question. Either way, GT will respond as soon as possible to let you know the ride has been added or to answer that question. 
• Featured Articles: On the new GGN there will be more reviews of products, ride news, and possibly guest race reports and articles as well. The latest postings will have a slide show under the header with a brief excerpt of the post and an image. Or you can simply scroll down the page and see what is the latest news and reviews that have been posted. 
• Search Function: On the right column at the top you will find the search area which can be utilized in several different ways to help you quickly find older posts and news. 

What Won't Change: The site will still be focused on the Calendar Of Events and used as a vehicle to spread the word about those events on the site, Facebook, and on Twitter, just like always. Hopefully the added depth of features and reviews will make GGN even better as a experience for the gravelist.

The More Things Change, The More Folks Get Peeved: While some of you will no doubt be pleased with the way things progress on GGN, we also understand that there may be those who liked it the way it was and won't like the change at all. We get that. We also know we can not please everyone, but we hope to help most in a better, easier to use, and clearer way than we have before. We know we won't hear too much from those that like the new site. We know we will hear from almost all of you that will not like it loudly and often. Hey- we've been around the block and have seen how things like this go. 

It's all good, and we'll take reasoned criticism seriously and maybe even change something if it makes a lot of sense. We appreciate passionate people. Really. But we're stoked on the new site and we've really thought hard about it. Hopefully you like it and get a lot of use out of it.

Either way, we all hope you have a lot of miles of smiles wherever you ride this year. Thanks for reading Gravel Grinder News!

Cheers!

The Gravelist at Gravel Grinder News

Ride News

The Oregon Stampede has updated some information on their site and you can check out the fine details on this self supported ride here.

Also, the Canadian "Ride Of The Damned" has announced a date change to June 23rd due to sanctioning issues.

Catch up with all the latest on the date change on their site here.

Challenge Tires Strada Bianca Tire: Review Intro & First Impressions

Challenge Tires grew from a heritage of hand made tubular road racing and cyclo-cross tires which have gained many fans over the years. Now the company is reaching out to gravel road and back road riders and racers with the Almanzo Open 30, and now the Strada Bianca Open 30 tire, which we have been testing already. The Almanzo Open 30 review can be seen here.

Tech Intro: Challenge previously called the Strada Bianca the “Eroica”, but took the opportunity to rename the tire when it updated the design with its puncture protection system dubbed “PPS”, and with a deeper tread section for durability and longevity. The tread remains the same, with its file tread roots based in Challenge’s Parix Roubaix tire.

Challenge Tires Strada Bianca

The Strada Bianca, like all of Challenge Tires models, is hand made and the construction is either tubular, or in this case, an “Open Tubular” type. This really shines through when you mount them, which I will get to in a bit, but otherwise indicates the tires are compatible with clincher type rims. Challenge does not have any recommendations for tubeless usage, so these are meant to be used with tubes.

The PPS puncture protection belt

The casing is Challenge’s “SuperPoly” casing with 260 threads per inch. The “PPS” belts are placed on the inner casing and underneath the tread itself. You can actually see the inner belt and it appears as a red band. The casing has a very thick, flexible Aramid bead. Our samples have the “skin wall” look, but the Strada Bianca is also available with black walls as well. The “layers” of this tire are easily discernible as you hold it and the hand made nature of the construction is evident. This is most true when you examine the PPS belt on the inside of the casing.

The Strada Bianca is listed as a 30mm wide tire and our two samples weighed in at 340 grams and 360 grams respectively. These tires were mounted with standard butyl tubes on the set of HED Ardennes + wheels reviewed here. Those rims have an internal width of 21mm for reference.

Mounting the Strada Bianca tires is a bit more difficult due to the way the tire is constructed and its tight fit. Fortunately, the carcass is stretching as you force it on, or there would be no mounting it at all! Also, the tire carcass is entirely flat, and the tire wants to retain that shape as you try to mount it. This makes mounting it something of a “challenge” as well. In fact, when you get it mounted it sits flat on the rim. It looks all the world like a tubular tire that has no air in it mounted on a tuby rim. The tire does air up nicely and seats the bead securely with no unusual issues.

The Stradas lend a retro-tastic look

The recommended air pressures for the Strada Bianca are 55psi-110psi. These samples were mounted and aired up to the minimum recommended pressure and they measured out to a shade more than 32mm wide. (Stated width is 30mm) This may have been because we are using a wider rim, but it is obvious looking at the Almanzo Open 30 right next to the Strada Bianca that the latter has a bigger, more voluminous casing than the Almanzo. MSRP on these tires is $76.00 for the Open Tubular versions tested here.

First Impressions:

The Strada Bianca looked fantastic on the HED Wheels and mounted on the Black Mountain Cycles “Monster Cross” frame, they lent a classic, retro vibe to the bike. (Again, for those that are not into that look, black walls are available.) I really liked the look myself. However, looks are one thing, riding the tires is quite another.

The tires have a traditional “file” tread, (read: essentially slick tires), and with the rounded profile, I was quite curious to see how this might play out on loose rock, dirt, and sandy gravel over hard pack. Aired up to the minimum out back and just under at 50psi up front, I tried these on pavement, dirt, mud, gravel, and chip seal. Most riding has been on a variety of gravel ranging from clear, packed in roads to roads with rubble all the way across and everything in between.

  The ride of these tires is smooth, just like we found with the Almanzo Open 30′s. The casing is supple and mutes almost all high frequency vibrations and isolates the rider from the sharpness of expansion cracks and rough chip seal. Out on the gravel, the file tread did not seem to be an issue, but on dirt, and especially steeper climbs on dirt, the traction was tenuous. Add in some moisture and the result was a loss of traction unless you were deliberate and careful with your moves and pedaling.

 But these tires were not meant to be used on mud and dirt. On their preferred surface, these tires were pretty good at negotiating many conditions I encountered on gravel. Only the loose, fresh gravel and any gravel patches that were deep would cause issues with control. Swapping lines at speed was doable, but dicey. That said, it was more comfortable doing so on the Strada Biancas than it was on the less voluminous Almanzos. Ride feel was mostly very nice, but the occasional “ping” from a stray rock would remind you that these are skinnier tires despite the smooth, supple casing.

 On smooth gravel, hard packed and clear roads, the Strada was every bit as fast as the Almanzo, and in the looser stuff it had a bit better feel of stability than the Almanzo does. It didn’t want to ping the bike around as much. That extra volume and width is where you gain the stability from here. The Almanzo does have a much better bite on dirt and is more stable in mud than the Strada is though, so if that sort of condition is common place on your rides, I might pull out those tires instead of the Stradas.

The Strada Biancas will be put through more rides and then there will be a Final Review coming in a month or so. For now, these seem to be a little better tire than the Almanzo for comfort and stability, at a similar weight,  with performance that feels as fast as the Almanzo Open 30. Only poor weather conditions or rough, fresh gravel seem to be the downside for these tires at this point. Stay tuned.....

 Note: Challenge Tires sent over the Strada Bianca tires at no charge to Gravel Grinder News for testing/review. We are not being bribed, nor paid for this review, and we will strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

Challenge Tires Announces "Strada Bianca" Tire

Challenge Tires has done some tweaking on what was formerly known as the "Eroica" tire and switched the name to "Strada Bianca", which is also the name of a famous European road race that features several  gravel road sectors in it. Following is the press release:

For immediate release
May 7, 2013

The gentle crunch of white gravel provides the soundtrack of your ride as billows of dust blow through Tuscan vineyards in your wake.

Strada Bianca, Italian for “white road,” refers to the classic white gravel that cover hundreds of miles in Tuscany. As our line of gravel tires expands and adjusts to meet the needs of gravel enthusiasts, Challenge's 30mm herringbone tubular and open tubular tire takes on a new identity to embody the spirit of gravel racing as the Strada Bianca.

The popularity of the legendary 27mm herringbone Paris-Roubaix led Challenge to develop a tire with more volume and comfort but the same fast-rolling tread. In partnership with its namesake, the Eroica vintage race, the lightweight tire gained an avid following from the rapidly-growing group of gravel enthusiasts and it continued to evolve from a high-volume Paris-Roubaix to a true gravel slick.

As it transformed to meet gravel-specific needs of durability and longevity, the tire gained a double layer of puncture protection (Double PPS), deeper rubber and tougher 260TPI SuperPoly casing. As its popularity grew, the expectations of its namesake race shifted, which inspired an appropriate reinvention as the Strada Bianca.

The Strada Bianca is available in classic black with tan sidewall or all black. It joins the 30mm Almanzo file tread in Challenge's line of supple, fast-rolling handmade gravel tires. Ask to see Challenge’s gravel tubulars and open tubulars at your local Challenge retailer.

Specs:
Size: 700x30c
Casing: 260TPI SuperPoly
Bead: Aramid, folding
Puncture protection: Double PPS
Suggested pressure: 55-115 psi (4-8 bar)

MSRP: Tubulars $109.00USD and Open Tubulars $76.00USD Available now.

Gravel Grinder News has received a pair of these and will be doing a review. Stay tuned for more on these tires soon.

Note: Information used in this report and images shown are provided by Challenge Tires.