Thank You,

Josh

Checkpoints:

All riders or their SAG need to call or text my cell phone (605-431-2695) when you arrive at the following checkpoints:

1. Faith
2. Gettysburg
3. Redfield
4. Finish

When you call or text leave the following information:

1. Rider name
2. Checkpoint
3. Time & Date (MOUNTAIN TIME)

If you are unable to get cell service just write down the information and get it to me when you can.

If a rider decides to drop (it happens). Call and leave the following information: (No name calling or threats please)

1. Rider name
2. Reason for dropping
3. Mile marker or location where they decided they had enough fun
4. Time & Date (MOUNTAIN TIME)

Mergers:

You solo riders have trained a lot for this event but sometimes things just don’t work out and you realize that maybe you didn’t train enough (I’ve been there…twice). Instead of dropping out completely find another rider or two or three or… that has had enough of the solo gig and form a Leapfrog team. Leapfrogging is the fun and civilized way to traverse the state. If you form a
merger I ask that you call leave the following information:

1. Riders merging
2. Location of merger
3. Time & Date of merger (MOUNTAIN TIME)

Other Info:

Message from Jason and June Harms: “Jason and I will be waiting for you at the finish line with food and refreshments! Don’t be
afraid to wake us up if you finish in the middle of the night! We would love to help you celebrate!”

Ride safe.

Thank you for your efforts in raising funds
and awareness for the CCFA.

Josh

2011PledgeSheet

2011RaceFlyer

Hell & Back Start: 8-10-2011 @ NOON

Gut Check Start: 8-12-2011 @ NOON

http://www.stpeterherald.com/news.php?viewStory=3242

Good conditions aligned nicely for a 1996 St. Peter High School graduate to set a record time for bicycling a 412-mile race across South Dakota this month.

Bruce Martens, age 32, averaged 20.8 miles per hour on his Specialized bike to win the Gut Check 412 in 20 hours, 48 minutes, which was two hours and 51 minutes faster than the second-place finisher.

“Everything was pretty much perfect — ideal temperatures and I was feeling good,” said Martens, whose mother Kate of St. Peter served as crew chief during the all-night event. “My objective is to race. It’s good to have an endurance race out there that is more than just a ride.”

The previous record for the Gut Check was 22 hours, 45 minutes. Martens’ time was one hour and 57 minutes faster than that.

The temperature at the noon start on Friday, Aug. 13 was 86 degrees.

“That wasn’t bad compared to the mid-90s a couple days earlier,” Martens said. “And we weren’t dealing with humidity.”

At night, the bicyclists along the Highway 212 race course cooled off as the temperature dipped all the way down to 55 degrees.

The Gut Check 412 is a fundraiser for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, which began in 2006. Organizers raised $5,750 as about 19 serious bicyclists pedaled long distances.

Martens, who will cycle close to 11,500 miles in 2010, had his sights set on the Gut Check 412 since February, and he entered it knowing he had a shot at winning.

“I was set up pretty good with training and crew. I was confident going in.”

Martens rode the first 13 miles of the race in the lead pack with two others. He explained advantages of riding with others — mainly taking turns drafting one another — but he knew he needed a faster pace.

“I decided to go out on my own. I went down a hill, looked back twice, and that’s the last I saw of them (competitors).”

Kate supplied Bruce with water and sometimes food about every half hour, or every dozen miles or so. The first 200 miles saw challenging elevation changes, and Martens, and between hill climbs, Martens was reaching speeds of 45 mph on the descents and cruising as fast as 30 mph on the flats.

“I remember things were really clicking the first 200 miles,” he said.

Endurance cycling for Martens is “70 percent” mental. The soreness and demands on the over-taxed muscles keep nagging between mental highs and lows. Darkness also takes a toll.

“My light reached only about 20 feet ahead of me, so that gives practically zero time to react. I saw something small and black in the road. I swerved, but it went the same way I did, and I ran over it. I think it was a skunk. I didn’t come out of it smelling like a skunk, though.

Martens actually dozed off twice during the night section of the ride. He awoke swerving and felt an adrenaline boost.

An unanticipated 23-mile stretch of gravel road where construction was taking place slowed him down considerably. However, as he was coming out of it the sun happened to be rising at the same time, so that and the return to pavement lifted his spirits.

Martens stopped his bike only five times, once to fix a flat tire. All the way through the race favorable math was telling him that he was on pace for the record, and he knew he was winning.

“But you never know. You’re always questioning whether you made a mistake calculating.” The race started in the Mountain Time Zone and crossed into Central Standard Time.

Martens is sponsored by Eric the Bike Man and Specialized. He said he is fortunate to have top-of-the-line equipment. There’s probably $10,000 into his 16-pound bicycle.

Martens grew up in the St. Peter area, graduated from SPHS in 1996 and Minnesota State University in 2001, and owned the Fitness Foundation before moving St. Paul. He started his own business as a food safety and quality consultant in April. He and wife Lisa, a doctor of physical therapy, train together 10 to 12 hours per week. They own a tandem bike. They also ride with the 70-member Balance Cycling team based in South Minneapolis.

Endurance cycling “would be impossible” without support from his wife, mom, other family members and team members, he said.

Martens races twice or even three times per week, along with mixing in a couple of marathons each year. “It’s not recreational by any means. It’s a lot of hot days and dues paid.” He has elevated himself to a Category 3 cyclist.

Cycling started at a young age for Martens as a means of transportation. With two working parents, getting around meant pushing pedals. He remembers in high school interests in skateboarding and wrestling — “sports with short bursts of all your energy, the antithesis of endurance cycling.”

Martens, who said top endurance riders tend to be in their 30s because it takes that long to develop mentally, is no indecisive Brett Favre when it comes to deciding whether he will be back for Gut Check 2011.

“I’ll do it again. I keep going through it in my mind, knowing I could have cut 15 minutes off here or shaved 30 minutes there.”

Ed Lee writes news for the St. Peter Herald.