After our dismal failure at last year's DK200, we had "unfinished business" to attend to this past weekend in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Several weeks ago, we evaluated our tandem riding and realized that as a "casual" tandem team, we were woefully underprepared for our second shot at Kanza. Since last year's attempt, we had put in maybe 4-5 tandem rides, mostly longer gravel grinders. While we really enjoy our Co-Motion and its ultra-reliable Rholoff hub, I longed for wider tires and a bit more steering leverage in the loose gravel to accommodate my novice captaining. I am a firm believer in the concept that there is no level of inexperience or skill-lessness that technology cannot overcome. We did some talking and decided to try with the softer ride and stickier grip of a full suspension MTB tandem.
The excellent folks at Ventana hooked us up with an el Conquistador de Montanas 29er. Sherwood at Ventana was very personable and helped us sort out some fit issues over the phone. Lorinda put together a build kit with help from her shop, Plano Cycling & Fitness. She consulted with Alex from MTBtandems.com, who was quite knowledgable. Due to time constraints from work and other events, assembly on the new tandem didn't start until a few days before the ride, but Lorinda pulled some late nights and somehow managed to get everything assembled and on the start line in Emporia by Saturday morning 6 AM.
This year we were blessed with fantastic weather, excellent road conditions, and a very lucky day. It had been raining in Kansas the week prior to the ride, and we weren't sure how the roads would fare. However, the recent rains kept the dust to a minimum and the moderate winds dried the dirt roads just enough so there was no mud. Temperatures ranged from the upper 50s to the mid 80s. We had some minor shifting issues but no flats; the wheels stayed round, true, attached to the tandem -- and in contact with the road.
And there was no mud.
We finished in just under 18 hours, and came in last out of the 5 tandem teams. But we finished. Check this one off the bucket list.
