You may only be 200 miles away from Fargo, no matter where you live.

Salsa Cycles has generously donated a shiny new Fargo frameset as a door prize prize to a lucky participant in the Dirty Kanza 200. Just think, all those bottle cages and more could be yours if you can whoop just enough rear.

So just keep this thought in mind as you’re riding and smiling: only 200 miles to Fargo.

rule # 8 sentence #2 . ” these checkpoints will be the only locations along the entire course where participants may receive assistance from their support crew.” this is the addendum , “assistance will be limited to minor mechanical support to help riders complete the race. you must finish the race on the bike you started with.you will not be allowed road race style handups of food & water.”

the original rule was meant as a way for family’s to enjoy the race together. people have turned it into much more than we intended. so we decided to turn things back towards the original intent of this rule. this race is a adventure in the beautiful flint hills of kansas not a road race.we plan for plenty of spots to get food & water .so the idea food & water handups goes against the spirit of this style of race.

we are working on a poker run with prizes for the support crews. that should be good times. we want to make this race as friendly as possible . but in the end there is 200 hard miles you have to ride!

big grin…joel dyke

Kristi Mohn has been hard at work negotiating some special lodging rates for our DK participants. Your options are listed below. Be sure to mention Dirty Kanza in order to receive these special rates.

Best Western
3021 US 50
Emporia, KS 66801
620-342-7587
35 rooms blocked until 05/13/10
$75.00 / night

Fairfield Inn
2940 Eaglecrest Drive
Emporia, KS 66801
620-342-4445
25 rooms blocked until 05/05/10
$79.00 / night

Candlewood Suites
2602 Candlewood Drive
Emporia, KS 66801
620-343-7756
10 rooms blocked until 05/05/10
$69.99 / night

Holiday Inn
2921 W. 18th Ave.
Emporia, KS 66801
620-341-9393
17 rooms blocked until 05/22/10
$89.00 / night… includes breakfast

Additional news…

Dirty Kanza Sign-In / Riders’ Meeting will occur on Friday, June 4th, at the Best Western in Emporia, Kansas. In the past we’ve started this at 7:00 pm. When we get a little closer to event weekend, we will firm that up and let you all know in plenty of time.

Kristi is also organizing a pre-race pasta feed, which will also take place at the Best Western in conjunction with the Sign-In / Riders’ Meeting. Again… more details will be available soon, but expect a full spread of spaghetti, vegetable, salad, bread, coffee/tea/water. We are hoping to keep the cost around $11.00 per person. We’ll let you know more about that as soon as we can.

First of all, everyone here at Heartland Sports Promotions wants to thank you for your overwhelming response to our recent registration process. Registration opened last Sunday morning at 12:01 am ET. Based on past years, we expected it would take approximately four weeks to fill all 150 slots. As it turned out, we sold out in less than 14 hours. Boy, were we surprised!!!

No sooner than the registration process closed, we began to receive requests from dissappointed individuals, asking to be put on a Wait List. As it stands currently, just three days after the close of registration, we have already received about 30 such requests. It is interesting to note this group includes three past DK champions who failed to make it in.

So now we begin the “Wait List Process”. Here is how this will work…

First of all, if you are registered and you determine you can not attend Dirty Kanza, PLEASE contact us as soon as possible. Send an email to Joel Dyke at joeldyke@yahoo.com. Joel will then put you in contact with the first person on our Wait List. It will be up to the two of you to work out whether or not the “replacement rider” will reimburse the “original rider” for the cost of registration. We will not issue any refunds. Once that has been worked out, the “original rider” needs to confirm to us that he/she is relinquishing his/her spot to the “replacement rider”. We’ll then update our records and send confirmation to the “replacement rider” that he/she is in.

If you want to be placed on the Wait List, send an email to joeldyke@yahoo.com. Despite what you may have seen previously, it will be Co-Promoter Joel Dyke who will manage the official Wait List. Any of you who have already sent emails to either myself (Jim Cummins) or to the HSP website, your names have been forwarded to Joel. As Joel receives cancellation notices, he will work down through the Wait List to get as many of you registered as possible. We always have cancellations, so chances are good we will be able to accommodate many of you.

A special note… As mentioned earlier, we have three past DK Champions on the Wait List. They will be the first to receive spots as they become available. Sorry if that offends anyone. We feel they have earned first shot. It’s our race, and that’s our decision. In actuality, there was only one person ahead of them anyway. And we fully expect enough cancellations that in the end it won’t make a bit of difference to anyone’s chances of getting in.

One additional note… The astute observer will notice our list of registered riders will increase from the current total of 160 to about 175. That’s because we have numerous slots for sponsor employees and other individuals who have significantly contributed to the success and growth of Dirty Kanza. It is NOT because we are “sneaking” in friends through the back door. We just wanted to be totally up-front about that.

So there you have it. Thanks again to all of you for your overwhelming support of the Dirty Kanza 200. As we’ve said previously, 2010 is shaping up to be a banner year for DK. We are extremely excited about our upcoming event, and look forward to welcoming you all to Emporia next June.

Win a free entry into the 2011 running of the Dirty Kanza 200.

Create a video (or digital slideshow) documenting your preparation for, your participation in, and your recovery from the 2010 running of the Dirty Kanza 200. Post your video online. (On your personal blog, YouTube, etc.) Then send us a link to your creation at jcummins@everestkc.net.

We will post that link on the Dirty Kanza 200 website. We’ll then select our favorite video based on creativity, originality and any other subjective and totally arbitrary criteria we can come up with. The winner will receive a FREE ENTRY into the 2011 running of the Dirty Kanza 200.

Begin shooting anytime. However, entries should not be submitted prior to 06-06-10, as your video should include your post-event condition (physical, mental & emotional) and comments. Deadline for entry is 08-15-10. Our Winner will be announced on or around 09-15-10.

Get creative. Get crazy. Have fun recording your Dirty Kanza 200 experience. Then share it with us.

Disclaimer: Have fun, but keep it clean. Submissions with questionable or obscene content will not be accepted nor considered.

Registration is now less than one week away.  Mark your calendars and set your alarms.  Registration will open promptly at 12:01 am EST, on Sunday, January 10th, and will be conducted online at www.bikereg.com.  Don’t wait too long.  Last year we filled up in four days.  Even though we have increased our field limit to 150 participants (up from 100 in 2009), we still expect to fill up quickly. 

It’s time to get your gravel on!!!

Jim C.

At least as regards Dirty Kanza 200!

Here it is, the goods you’ve all been waiting for: the 2010 Dirty Kanza 200 Riders Bible (PDF)

*and for all you nitpickers and smartalecks, I mean both 2009 and 2010…this is important stuff, y’all!

Follow Gnat as he builds his version of the ultimate gravel ginder bicycle in his new weekly series titled “DK Wednesday.” His first installment to this once-a-week adventure, and all subsequent entries, can be found here…

www.gnatlikes.com

Looks like things will be centered around the new Salsa Woodchipper handlebar. An excellent choice, I would say. What will he come up with next week? This should be fun.

This is just a quick reminder that registration is now less than one month away. Mark your calendars and set your alarms… registration will begin sharply at 12:01 am EST on Sunday, January 10, 2010, and will once again be conducted online at www.bikereg.com. Registration will close once we have sold out at 150 riders, or on May 16th, 2010, which ever comes first. Don’t wait too long. Last year we completely filled up in four days.

This just in… Epic Ride Research has agreed to not only return again this year as a sponsor of The Dirty Kanza 200, but they will increase their level of support in 2010. The 3rd Place Finisher in each of our four race classifications will receive a “Mountain Feedbag” from Epic Ride Research. Furthermore, we will have two additional Mountain Feedbags for our general prize pool give-aways.

Christa Olsson, Design and Marketing Director for Epic Ride Research stated “From the correspondence I receive from customers, the folks that do the DK are super stoked on the event. I’m thrilled to contribute a product that they find helpful in completing (this) tough race.”

I can say personally, that I have a Mountain Feedbag, and absolutely love it. I simply won’t do a ride of over 2 hours in length without it. You shouldn’t either.

Christa, on behalf of all of us here at Heartland Sports Promotions, thank you for the support you have given The Dirty Kanza 200 over the years. It is indeed a pleasure and an honor to be associated with Epic Ride Research.

For more information on Epic Ride Research and their Mountain Feedbag, go here…   www.epicrideresearch.com