DK200 Reflections: The SAG Wagon by Brandon Amos

The 2011 Dirty Kanza 200. A grueling 200 miles of gravel, hills, heat, unrelenting sun, storms, hail, lightning, & mud. All this in the scenic flint hills of Kansas. A rider, her bike, her mental fortitude, and her will go on is the difference between success and failure to cross the finish line. My job is simply to make sure she is safe and that these things are at their best as she leaves each checkpoint.

These are my reflections of the DK200 from the perspective of the support crew.

Support crew... what makes a good support crew? How can I be the best support crew for Stephanie I can be? How can I make her day easier, keep her spirits up, keep her safe and increase her chances of success. These things I thought long and hard about in the weeks coming up to the race. Ran every possible scenario I could think of through my head and came up with a plan of action for each. I needed to be prepared for anything. Gathered supplies, made checklists, and came up with an organizational strategy. In whatever circumstance would arise I would need to have a plan, give a sense of calmness, stability, but remain efficient and complete my tasks with a sense of urgency. By the time Stephanie made it to Kansas City I was pretty well mentally prepared for what lied ahead. And hopefully we didn’t forget any important gear. But, I had a plan for that scenario too. ;-)

Note: I was very excited for this opportunity. I had a lot of confidence that I was the right man for the job and I knew I could add value to her experience. I was also very excited because I'd have the opportunity to show off many of my greatest strengths in a single setting. My ability to lead, even from a support role, my mechanical inclination, organizational abilities, ability to plan for contingencies, to see the big picture as well as the details, to support and look after, concise communication, efficiency, to remain calm and unshaken in when things get crazy or don't go as planned, to be a rock when she needs one, and our ability to work well as a team. I think these things are all important in our everyday lives, too. i believe it is important to live life with intention and purpose, to live life proactively instead of reactively, to add value our relationships and to be able to work together as a team as equal partners and to be able to give emotional and physical support when it is needed.

Thursday/Friday:

Thursday evening I met Steph at the Amtrak Station. I was really glad to see her, but no time for a proper greeting.. gotta get everything off the train before it hauls half of it back to St. Louis. Holy cow moly did she have a lot of stuff with her. It’s good that they don’t really enforce their 2 bag maximum. ;-) I’m really glad I was able to take a few things that she wasn’t gonna need with me last time I was out to visit. Thursday evening was basically spent packing and organizing so we could head out to Emporia early Friday with time to relax, socialize and enjoy ourselves. Checked into our rooms, wandered town and picked up some collector cards at various shops around town (but apparently you got a full set at registration). That was kinda fun. :-) Ate at a great little deli for lunch. Checked in at registration. Watched a movie, got to meet some new folks, and had a pasta dinner at the local church.. portions were way too small for someone who’s gonna ride 200 miles of gravel the next day.. maybe 350 calories on the plate? They definitely need bigger portions for the racers. At least more pasta.. a lot more.Finished up the evening back at the hotel doing some last minute prep for the race in the morning. Headed to our separate rooms and tried to get some very important shut-eye before the race in the morning.

Saturday morning:

Woke up.. no alarm! Oh crap! We over slept?!?! What time is it? 3:15am.. seriously?! Whew.. thank goodness.. Woke up 45min before the alarm was supposed to go off.. no way I was going back to sleep after getting all that adrenaline in my system.. lol. So spent the 45min enjoying a long shower while going over my mental checklists, contingency plans, etc. I wanted today to go off without a hitch for Stephanie. She was my priority. Loaded up the Jeep. Steph asked if I had to be so anal about the packing job right now.. lol. I think she was getting a little impatient. ;-) haha. Yea, I can get a little anal when it come to packing up the gear, but this time I was actually just trying to make sure we had everything available that we might need a the start line. Pump, tools, bag w/ helmet gloves, etc.. Headed to the starting area.. almost time for the big day to begin! The moment we’ve been waiting for.. I’m so excited for her.. and really hope that she has a great day ahead.. pray that she doesn’t have any major mechanicals, doesn’t get heat exhaustion, or have any accidents.. so much going through my head right then. Before I knew it.. they were off! No turning back now! 204 miles of gravel, mind numbing torture, heat, and pain lie ahead... what an amazing adventure.

Checkpoint 1 (mile 60):

Checkpoint 1 was pretty uneventful. Got the SAG wagon unloaded and setup, and, waited anxiously for Steph to arrive. 10am on the dot.. right on time.. and she looked strong! Tried to take a pic of her coming in, then run over to guide her to the pit area. That didn’t work too smoothly.. taking photos is going to have to be dropped, i can already tell. Don’t want to add any confusion to the stop for her. Steph drank all her liquids! 112oz! Good job Steph! Was worried she wouldn’t drink enough and get dehydrated. She said she was already getting hot.. that scared me a little.. it was 10am and it was just getting warmed up.... the heat is going to get a LOT worse. I really hope she’ll be ok. Steph was in really good spirits, but she was in a huge hurry...too much of a hurry... think she was in and back out in under 3 minutes. I felt too rushed..this is a 200 mile race not a 6hr mtb race. I really needed that extra 15seconds to go back over my list to make sure we didn’t miss anything. I should have delayed her just a bit.. luckily nothing important was missed.. but she did leave without a freshly charged ipod speaker. :-/ Made a mental note to make sure to get that swapped out for her right away at the next checkpoint. She needs her tunes. I duct taped my checklist and schedule on the inside of my jeep tailgate, so it would be easier to glance over the checklist next time.

Checkpoint 2 (mile 100):

Driving to checkpoint 2 I got a voicemail from “Blocked”.. Steph must have called while I didn’t have any signal. Wonder what’s up.. hopefully just giving me an update. So I listen to the voicemail.. I hear Steph voice.. a little broken up.. but I heard “I quit, garble, garble, static...” ummmm......she didn’t sound serious or upset.. pretty sure she was being silly but I better call her back to be sure. Drove for several miles before I could get decent signal. Couldn’t get a hold of her right away, but relistened to the voicemail a few times.. finally could hear the “just kidding” and something about being at mile 76 or so. Thank goodness. Don’t do that to you poor SAG support, Steph.. LOL. :P

Arrived at checkpoint 2 and setup the pitstop. It’s about 11:30am now.. it is getting hot, really hot. I hope Steph is doing OK. At her 15mph pace she’s due in at about 1:00pm. 12:45 rolls around and I haven’t really seen anybody come in to the checkpoint.. maybe a half dozen or so. This isn’t good! And they all look very hot, and very thirsty.. 1:00 rolls by, then 1:30, 2:00... ok this isn’t good.. and everyone’s coming in from different directions.. they are all very hot, very thirsty, and many are already throwing in the towel.. I really hope she’s ok. Did she have a mechanical, did she get lost? Either way, there’s no way she still has water.. she’s been in the 95deg+ heat on gravel w/ no shade for 4+ hours, and she would have paced herself for 3 at the most. My First priority is going to be to get her hydrated and cooled down. She’s going to be upset. Either angry, or defeated. That’s pretty much a given. So, I need to take care of her first and foremost.. the bike can be taken care of later. Don’t push her, don’t ask questions, just focus on meeting her needs.

2:15 she rolls in. Thank God, she’s safe. She’s not looking good. Angry and defeated.. I could see it in her eyes, she had already resigned her fate. Laid her bike down, flopped in the chair with head in her hands. I got her an ice cold jug of water, and some icepacks to help cool her off. You could tell just looking at her that she was thirsty and overheated. She said the course was marked wrong, and she couldn’t find the right route.. ended up several miles off course before ending up back here. She assumed she was disqualified because of the mixup. Ok.. I can help here.. did my best to reassure her that she’s not disqualified.. more people than not were coming in from the wrong direction.. a ton of people were getting lost. People were moving the route markers. No one was getting disqualified for missing a route marker. People were even coming in the wrong way at checkpoint 1. While all this is going on I’m just grabbing different snacks out of the cooler and putting on the table next to her to see if anything sounds appetizing. Nothing sounded good until we go to the grapes.. ah.. good I could see her perk up just a little bit. Then we ran some ice water over her hair to cool her down some more.. and I decided to wash off her legs and arms with a wet washcloth.. I knew that would help cheer her up a little bit.. everyone feels better when they feel clean. Then out came the watermelon. You could see her eyes light up at just the thought of it.. thanks Lisa! You probably saved the DK with that one suggestion. ;-) Ok now that she’s cooled off and cheered up, I better get the bike and gear ready. Refilled the water and CR333. Don’t forget the fresh ipod speaker. ;-) That will be a nice surprise for her. Clean off and relube the chain, gears, and cables, check the tires for cuts, check shifting.. etc.. etc.. ok bikes good to go. Steph is good to go.. at the last minute I remembered she talked about possibly filling up the camelbak with ice to help cool her off. I knew she didn’t want the extra weight on the upcoming 60 mile leg..so instead I had the idea of filling up her jersey pocket with ice. ;-) That should keep her butt cool... literally.. lol. She was happy to have her beats back.. went tearing out of the pits, with the music jamming. ;-)

Note: First and foremost I was so glad Stephanie was safe, wasn’t hurt, and didn’t have heat exhaustion. I was also so thankful that Stephanie allowed me to help her as best as I could. I know it’s human nature when you’re frustrated and ticked off, to push everyone away and fix it yourself. Often it’s when we need others most, that we seek solitude. We shun the very thing that we need. This moment was a great test of our ability to work with each other, and accept and give each other moral and physical support. It highlighted that the foundation of respect, trust, and understanding we have built was more than just an ideal, it had real value.

Checkpoint 3 (mile 160):

Ok, this 60 had to go better right? Wrong! I no more got to the checkpoint and got the pit area setup and out of nowhere this storm cell appeared to the SW. And this thing was growing fast... it wasn’t big, but it looked nasty. And it was headed right through the leg 3 of the course. Right where Stephanie is at. A guy from the grocery store came out and said that the weather alert popped up with warnings of lightning, golf ball size hail, 60mph winds, and even the possibility of a tornado. Ok this isn’t good! I couldn’t help but feel partially responsible.. I think one too many of the support crews were praying for some relief from the heat for our riders. Be careful what you pray for, it will probably come true. ;-) I tried and tried to call Stephanie to warn her.. but she had no signal. Crap! All I could do is pray and hope for the best! The storm system was moving right at us.. so I had to pack the gear all back into the Jeep and wait it out. Tried to find a map just in case I had to go get Steph.. I knew Stephanie had a really good head on her shoulders, and I knew she could take care of herself.. but I couldn’t help it I was still worried about her. Kept trying to reach her.. nothing but voicemail. Storm passed over us.. it was pretty quick but it was strong. I’m sure she’s ok.. but... until I could reach her I wouldn’t know. They told us we could go out and check on our riders.. give them shelter and first aid.. they could even catch a ride to the checkpoint, but no mechanical help was allowed and if they wanted to continue they had to start where they left off. I needed a map! I needed one bad! The organizers had no maps of the last leg.. what? No emergency plan? Come-on! Managed to snag a map from one of the guys coming in to the checkpoint.. pooled a couple bucks with a few guys and made 20 copies of it in the grocery store. Took one for myself and gave the rest to a guy to distribute.

Off to backtrack the route to make sure Stephanie was ok. Knew it was gonna be muddy, so lowered the pressure in my jeep tires to 15psi, and put it in 4WD. This could be interesting... and it was! Not 5 miles in and I was on this “road”.. no gravel, just mud and grass.. I didn’t know if I was gonna make it though.. this is some slick stuff! Lord please don’t let me get stuck! I can’t setup a SAG station here.. lol. Some of the roads were ok, but others were virtually undriveable, let alone rideable. The clay would just cake on the tires, making the jeep slide around like an elephant in a skating rink. Doing everything I could to just keep it from wandering into a ditch. Drove and drove.. The rain has past, she’s probably ok.. but I still can’t get a hold of her. What if she gives up when she sees the Jeep. I don’t want to be an excuse to quit if she’s doing ok. But, I gotta know that she’s ok. 10miles.. 15...20..cyclist after cyclist dragging their bikes through the mud. It seemed like the only cyclists I saw were in the muddy sections. Still cant get a hold of her. This isn’t good.. did I miss her? I hope she didn’t take another road and is at the checkpoint wondering where the heck I am. A couple more miles.. and I come to an intersection with a bunch of cyclists, there she is! What a sight for sore eyes.. thank God she’s alright. She looks relieved, and right away she assumes I’m there to pick her up and her day is over.. that’s the rules right? Had to disappoint.. told her that the organizers allowed us to check on our riders, give shelter, first aid, etc.. and that she could continue on. She didn’t like that idea, they had just got done dragging their now 50+ lb. bikes through the mud for 6 miles and she had no desire to do it for another 20. I tried to reassure her that what was left of the road was mostly rideable with only about 3 miles of the nasty mud. She still was hesitant.. and everyone else was loading their bikes up on the truck to go home. A guy that Steph had been riding with came over and said that they were told there was a reroute around the bad section. Ok, whats there to lose.. they were gonna quit anyway.. so why not.. go for it. And off they went.. but not before this nice lady came around and gave everyone some really delicious brownie energy bars.. lol. Tasty!

Squeal..... scrape... like fingers on a chalkboard... Mechanical!!! No not steph.. thank goodness. My Jeep had a rock stuck in the disk brakes.. ok.. problem.. how the heck am i gonna get a jack to work in this mud? Luckily I didn’t throw away that cardboard trash from the eazy-up canopy. Some rocks, cardboard, and jack.. worked like a charm. Jeep fixed and headed back to town. I took a rider and a couple bikes with me. Good guy, quite the talker. I think he was ready to be done. He knew Steph.. the girl with the music! haha... that’s my Steph. ;-) Got back to town and set up the pit area as quickly as I could.. needed to get her ready for that last leg!

She arrived.. looking exhausted.. I think she was hoping she’d have to quit.. lol. No such luck! haha. She found a guy to ride to the finish with.. it’s well past dark by now, around 9:30pm. Got the bike over to the hose to clean off and took it back to the pits.. Lisa called back after I left her an update on her voicemail.. perfect! I knew it would lift her spirits to talk to Lisa, so i put her on speakerphone while we got everything ready for the final leg of the race. ;-)

I am sooooo proud of Stephanie at this point. The willpower, the tenacity, the drive, and the ability to persevere.. but at the same time she’s smart about it. I respected and admired her so much before, but after this day that respect and admiration became monumental in proportion. I am so glad she’s finishing.. only 40-50 people have left checkpoint 3 to finish, so far. She’d be one of the few to finish.. it will be a monumental achievement that she will be able to take with her throughout life. Something to truly be proud of. Not winning, or even finishing the race, but overcoming it. She’ll come out the other side an even stronger woman.

The Finish Line (mile 204+):

Arrived back in Emporia.. they were on the last song of the party.. tearing down and cleaning up.. It’s past midnight now.. and there’s about 2 dozen of us at the finish line anxiously awaiting our riders. Every time we’d see a light or a bike, everyone would stand up in anticipation. A couple would get their wish.. the rest of us would have to wait a bit longer. At 1:12am.. comes this rider charging down the road.. who is that?? They’re coming in fast! I couldn’t see who it was until they were almost on top of me.. its Steph! Tried to get a pic.. camera wouldn’t autofocus.. (too dark).. oh well, I’ll get a shot later.. I need to hustle and meet her at the finish line.. (you’ll notice her photo riding in the the finish line, you can see me sprinting in the background.. like a streak of lightning.. lol) I am so excited for her! She did it!.. she conquered it all! 19 hours and 12 minutes after it all started she crossed that finish line a stronger woman, and a champion in my book. Today she is my hero. I wanted to rush in and give her a great big hug, but she was surrounded by everyone, and she was in a bit of a daze, and really really beat. She gave everything she had to give.. there was nothing left in the tank, mentally drained. Finally got to sit by her, congratulate her and share the moment with her. What a day! What a day! She was going to be on top of the world after this. She wanted to go talk to her riding partner and apologize for sprinting to the end the last few miles without him.. she almost forgot in her daze.. but I reminded her. Wish I hadn’t.. he was apparently a little upset about it..I’m sure he was just tired and cranky, but I could just see her heart sink.. The sweetness of the finish was taken away in a moment. My heart sank with hers.. why did I have to remind her? Why couldn’t I just let her walk past?

With our bittersweet finish we headed to the Jeep to load up the bike, get a change of clothes, and head back to KC. But, not before posting on FB that “She came, she saw, she adapted, and she conquered the DK200!” ;-)

Reflections: This event was monumental.. Steph wanted to challenge herself, and wow did she ever challenge herself. You can’t truly appreciate how difficult this race is until you’ve been there and seen the riders coming into the checkpoints. There’s nothing else like it. Today was a great test of our ability to work together as a team, and a great opportunity to see Stephanie’s resolve and character. That resolve and that character translate to the world outside of racing, whether it be in the workplace or her relationships with friends and those she considers family. I consider myself blessed, and I treasure the opportunity I was given to share such a monumental undertaking with such an amazing woman. You rock Steph!