It's that time again. Tomorrow morning at 8:00, registration opens for the Dirty Kanza 200 and 100. Everyone from the lone first-time cyclist to entire teams of road-hardened gravel pelotons are setting their alarms for Saturday morning to be among the first in line to register on bikereg.com.
For the last three years, the buzz has been that it would sell out in the first hour. It hasn't happened yet. It takes a day or two before selling out, but 2016 may change all of this. If the wide variety of gravel rigs out there being offered by every bike shop in the universe is any indication, the popularity of gravel "grinding" is doing nothing but continue to grow.
And one of the top gravel events going is the Dirty Kanza. People are even starting to come from other countries for a chance to do this Flint Hills monster. Lucky for me, the heart of all this gravel goodness is only 108 miles directly southwest of Kansas City on I-35.
As always, the town of Emporia will celebrate all things cycling for a few days on the first weekend of June, rolling out the red carpet. The town's folk will show up in force. They are open and friendly in a way that you just don't see these days... anywhere. They will tell you they are glad you are there and mean it. It is kind of amazing and is the final part of the alchemy that keeps me coming back.
I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the winter gravel season this year, but that familiar rush of joy of having goals (looser... as in not crushing) and contact with people who I have come to call my friends over these last three years, started to sweep over me. Messages began to filter in as I got in gear with hotel arrangements, sticker shock stopping me momentarily after finding the Best Western "Hospitality" House had almost tripled it's rates for the event. After a few more unsuccessful calls, I remembered to start breathing again after a friend reached out, offering his family's Emporia home to three of my Boulevard teammates and myself.
So... no more floating around in the strange early January doldrums... wondering about the direction of winter training. I'm committed. I start building the 2016 season tomorrow. All that is left to do is to make sure my fingers are on the keyboard at 8:00 AM.
http://www.dirtykanza200.com/registration/
