Slender Blender Gravel Bender: Bonkfest 100

Mile 60, Lowden State Park over looking the river



Secret machine



Incredible mountain bike



Ari's tights were a little....worn?



Mike's custom Titus



The group shortly before departure



Mile 30-40 rest



B.B. and Ari as the nuclear plant looms in the background



The route

Enjoyed a good weekend of riding. Got out for the "pre-bonk" ride saturday morning with the NCC crew and HAC guys and single speed Eric for the strongest winds I've ever ridden in....the tangel bag acted as a fairing for the bike and I was riding at a 30 degree angle for the whole ride. The weather was bad...but I usually expect that when I ride up there. Accomplished 33 miles of riding. Went to my buddy Matt's wedding reception that evening and woke up with a mild hangover to start bonkfest out right. Rode over to Ari's house and met the group. Ari, B.B., Mike from huntley, and Mark from Princeton. We got cue sheets, talked about the ride, filled our bottles and departed. Less than a mile from Ari's we had our first mechanical incident with a corroded cable on Mikey's Titus. Then started the 60 mile trek into the headwind towards Oregon. We stopped for a moment of silence and a shot of whiskey at 9:11 to remember those in the twin towers and for the poor souls in Japan. Mark broke his chain shortly after and fixed it like a champ...he came very well prepared. It was good riding with Mark and realized he will be riding the Trans Iowa with us and also riding the Dirty Kanza 200 with me, so we had a lot to talk about with bike setup, training, nutrition....the usual preparation stuff. We took short breaks here and there and laughed our heads silly. The sun came out and warmed our bodies and the route turned out to be flawless. The gravel went from being frozen early in the day to thawing out a bit and becoming peanut buttery and very tacky which helped put a little sting on the legs. B.B. was riding very solidly and I am very proud that he has transformed into the rider he is today. Ari figured out that Adi (Eric's aka B.B. girlfriend) feeds him leche de Chupacabra before every ride to give him strength...we almost fell off of our bikes we laughed so hard at this. The random things that just spew out of your mouth while riding bikes is just priceless. We saw interesting looking shaped bushes towards oregon...and learned the 5 "stages" that accompany bonking. We ended up in Oregon around 1 pm and headed to Lowden state park to check out the huge statue there overlooking the river. Beautiful and hilly in that area. Head to 'Merica's favorite restaurant: Dairy Queen and bought two cheeseburgers for $2.22...added fuel for the way home. The tailwind was great on the way home, saw a bald eagle over by the river and took a whiskey shot with the sense of pride we felt for our country. Mike was not feeling great and may have even bonked...or got into a jam... He was picked up by a friend and we were relieved to find that he got home safely. The term "bonk" was used in about every context possible, and well over 500 times im guessing throughout the day. The Gunnar felt dialed in perfectly with my new Thomson stem on the bike, raised the front end up a little bit and now is totally perfect, ended the day with 106 miles and the legs felt great. Had a wonderful dinner and drinks prepared by the ladies of the slender fungus. Jamie had sandwiches and soup, Jill made oatmeal raisin bars, and Adi made brownies....what a treat. Thanks to Jamie for working her butt off to help feed our hungry souls and Jill and Adi for being so great! Had a wonderful day with my Slender Fungus brothers, meeting and riding with Mark and Mike, and actually feeling somewhat warm on the bike for once... Thought of our dear friend Hellmut down in the low country and wondered if he was bonking to thoughts of us riding together... More riding this week to come with rumors of a Hannibal, MO hill torture test on thursday. Will be posting more on this later...cheers, have a great week. Thanks to everyone again who was apart of this weekend.

Eric's photos

- JB