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Traction Squad: Yannick Eckmann's Dirty Kanza Preparation

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1) What has your training entailed for the lead up to the Dirty Kanza 200? My training leading up to the DK200 has been all over the map. After Belgian Waffle Ride I took a couple days off of work to go to Moab with my coworker and we put in some long days on the mountain and gravel bike. While at home working I would try to go on some rides at lunch time to add some extra mileage into my legs. However, the weather has been so bad that training has mostly been my daily commutes to and from work. On the weekend I tried to get in one big day, usually around 100km, with some sort intense efforts to make it harder on myself. Last weekend I entered the Chocolove Chase put on by my good friend Allen Krughoff. The event was amazing. Riders had three hours to get to as many checkpoints around Boulder as possible. The farther away or harder the checkpoint was to get to the more points it was worth. Best part was you had to do it with your partner (mine was Ryan Petry) so there was some teamwork involved. When we finished we got as many raffle tickets as we earned at the checkpoints. Then we were able to choose what we wanted our raffle tickets to go towards. There was a Mavic wheel set, helmets and tires, and a win your weight in chocolate from Chocolove. Of course Ryan and I went all in on the Chocolove. We won the raffle and by using the weight of our heaviest rider were awarded 800 bars of Chocolove chocolate! We didn't get all 800 bars at the event, but we shared our initial haul with our fellow competitors!

Yannick Eckmann Dirty Kanza Gravel Bike

2) Are you making any changes to your bike set up? No changes except putting on a fresh set of Strada USH 700x40 tires for now. If the weather stays the ways it is I think it will be great. If the weather gets wet and the course is muddy then there could be a tire change. I'll make the call the day before the race.

3) What tires and pressure do you think you will use? Somewhere between 30-35 psi,  but I will make the call once I get out there.

Yannick Eckmann Dirty Kanza Gravel Bike

4) What are you goals for the race? My goal for the race is 1) finish under 12 hours. 2) stay in the front group as long as possible. There are some big names  from the professional road and mountain bike circuit entered in the race so that should be tons of fun...hopefully!

5) What is your nutrition plan for a 200 mile ride? My plan is to eat every 30 minutes and stay well hydrated. It will be something like a Skratch Labs bars or one of the sandwiches I will make. I will have gels with me which I plan to start taking at the end of the race. After the last feed zone I was thinking of putting a Coke in my hydration pack in case I really bonk...which I hope I don’t!