Updates

Almanzo 100 Registration Closed: Well, if you missed getting into the Almanzo 100, you probably are in the minority! Just over 400 people have signed on to be in this event, making it the biggest field in gravel grinder history by far.

The event will take off in a cloud of dust on May 15th. You might just want to show up to see this unprecedented spectacle.

Dirty Benjamin Date Change: The Dirty Benjamin, a planned 100 mile event set for June in the Twin Cities area, has changed its date. Apparently a very popular race is being held on the original date and was going to be using part of the Dirty benjamin's course. Event organizers have moved the original date back a week to compensate. Look for a June 19th start for this first time event.

GravelBrai: After consulting another map, I tweaked the course for Day 1 to reflect a known road outage in western Iowa. This made the first leg slightly longer which has punched the total mileage very close to 500 miles for the entire course.

I also noted that my assumptions about Dubuque County were correct in that there are very few actual gravel miles on the last leg of GravelBrai. This is not good! Here is what I propose.......

Since the idea behind GravelBrai is to provide a permanent gravel road course across the state for the forseeable future for anyone to use, I am going to change Day Seven after RAGBRAI is over. Dubuque County will be eliminated in favor of an all gravel finishing day on the famously tough steeps of Clayton County to the north. I will also eliminate thev opening days route out of Sioux City, at least the urban part, but it remains to be seen how much of the original first day I will retain.

Look for an at least 90% plus gravel road content GravelBrai to be produced for 2011 and beyond. That said, this current route will remain for the purposes of tagging along with RAGBRAI this year.