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Pro Readers’ Rides: Dirty Kanza 200 Cannondale Slate of winner Alison Tetrick

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Alison Tetrick Dirty Kanza 200 winner 2017 DK206 pro bike feature reader's rideCannondale Slate gravel road bike post race salute

Alison Tetrick is a friend of Bikerumor and an American pro cyclist riding for Cylance Pro Cycling. Competing in the top women’s road races around the world, she’s spent most of this season racing domestically. While she does a lot of stage racing and classic one day races, this summer she earned a unique victory. For her first ever attempt at gravel racing she gave the Dirty Kanza 200 a try. With her longest ride up til this summer being about 120mi/190km, Alison was a bit unsure of the 206mi/331km of the DK200. But to put it in her own words, “the Dirty Kanza 200 exceeded all my expectations. It was a weekend of firsts for me, but I felt prepared with my equipment and army of support from the cycling community. I broke the course record by 30 minutes with a time of 11:40:41. It was a tight finish, but (there’s) nothing like leaving your destiny to the last minute.”

Alison rode a mostly stock Cannondale Slate that she calls “a steed made for royalty”, which got a bit of customization for the DK200. She took some photos and sent them our way of her bike and kit setup to get an insider’s look at what it takes to finish (& win!) a race that took half a day even for a pro rider…

Alison Tetrick Dirty Kanza 200 winner 2017 DK206 pro bike feature reader's rideCannondale Slate gravel road bike
all photos courtesy Alison Tetrick. post race photos by RedBull media.

The first thing that popped into Alison’s mind when she was talking about her race setup was actually not her bike but a Lezyne computer. The Dirty Kanza 200 is essentially self-supported & self-directed on lonely roads, mostly due to the isolated location. It gets no course markings, so requires a GPS in it for the long haul. That was one of the most intimidating elements of the race for the roadie, used to “playing ‘follow-the-leader’ in road racing, and having a full caravan in front and behind (her).”

Alison Tetrick Dirty Kanza 200 winner 2017 DK206 pro bike feature reader's rideCannondale Slate gravel road bike gps

Alison raced with a Lezyne Enhanced Super GPS to give her turn-by-turn navigation. She was impressed that even after doing almost 12 hours of turn-by-turn directions for 206 miles, it still had over 50% battery life remaining. “I could have gone another 206 miles if I wanted.”

Alison Tetrick Dirty Kanza 200 winner 2017 DK206 pro bike feature reader's rideCannondale Slate gravel road bike cooler

There are three checkpoints in the Dirty Kanza 200. These are the only points that you can receive aid. Alison gave us a look inside the cooler that she stashed along the way. It was stocked with a couple of items “just in case”  her race didn’t turn out as well as planned. “For the record, the bourbon wasn’t consumed until after the race!”

Alison Tetrick Dirty Kanza 200 winner 2017 DK206 pro bike feature reader's rideCannondale Slate gravel road bike complete bike

As for the bike itself, Alison raced a Large sized Cannondale Slate Force CX1 with the standard 30mm travel Lefty Oliver Carbon fork.

It was essentially the stock build with an SRM power meter spider swapped in on the purple ano HollowGram Si crankarms. She stuck with a stock 44T SRAM X-Sync chainring on the SRM’s 5-bolt spider. The cassette was the stock 10-42 on an XD driver.

Alison rode on Speedplay Syzr pedals, and Schwalbe G-One 42mm TLE Microskin tires set up tubeless with Orange sealant inside.

Besides a toptube bag, she had a pair of Lezyne bottle cages mounted to the bike with two Camelbak Podium Chill bottles, as well as an alloy Lezyne Road Drive pump.

Total weight for the complete bike was 9.97kg/21.97lb fully ready to ride (actually post ride with mud still on it.)

During the ride, staying fueled and motivated was the highest priority. That’s what drove her setup customization, from the toptube mounted bag behind the stem to her use of a Camelbak vest pack.

For that long on the bike Alison didn’t want to resort just to engineered competition fuel, but instead food that she would stay interested in eating. “On the bike, I carried Mother’s Frosted Circus Animals, Glukos electrolyte, Kettle Chips, and donut holes.”

“I wasn’t expecting to need to carry a top tube bag, but I wanted a place to make sure I had all the emergency flat fixing necessities. I made a last minute purchase at Gravel City Adventure and Supply Co, and bought the Revelate Designs top tube bag. In there, I stored by multitool, 3 CO2s, 2 tubes, and 2 Vittoria PitStops! Yes, I was nervous about the infamous sharp flint rock!”

“I used the new CamelBak Chase Bike Vest. I switched CamelBaks at each of the 3 aid stations in order to ensure I stayed hydrated. This vest is light and intuitive. The pockets have the accessibility like a jersey, and it is easily used while riding.”

photo by Linda Guerrette

With all that setup, after almost half a day racing Alison Tetrick’s race came down to a pretty close battle for the finish with 2x DK200 winner Amanda Nauman. Alison tells a great story of her race and the sprint after 206 miles on her own blog (you really should go read it!), only to get showered with champagne by Rebecca Rusch, whose course record Alison broke.

Wrapping it up Alison is “proud to be the Queen of the Kanza, and excited for more gravel adventures.” She tells us that post race the only thing she didn’t weight was the gigantic belt buckle of the winner, because “I don’t think I have taken it off since!”

Btw, we spent some time riding gravel with Dirty Kanza organizer Jim Cummins about a week ago and he talked about how much he likes seeing pros joining & enjoying the race, and how great it is to see the race winners stick around to cheer on the other finishers who continue to trickle in for up to 21 hours after the start. Alison also was amusingly concerned that the DK200 should be renamed the DK206 due to the longer than advertised distance.

Cummins said he wanted to make sure everyone got their money’s worth. How mad would a rider on Strava be if they got back from the DK200 and their GPS only recorded 199.9 miles. So they’ll always err on the side of caution. Be forewarned.

AlisonTetrick.com & CylanceProCycling.com

DirtyKanza.com

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Sean Collins
6 years ago

Rad.

boom
boom
6 years ago

Is that weight with or without bottles and the bag? Did the bag have anything in it? What psi did she run in her tires? Did she have any flats?

Alison M. Tetrick
6 years ago
Reply to  boom

Hi! That is with bottles (but they were empty) and with the bag. The bag had 2 CO2 and 2 tubes in it. I ran 42 and 44 PSI. I had ZERO flats and ran tubeless with Orange Sealed.

Seraph
Seraph
6 years ago

The Slate is pretty cool until you realize you’re spending $4000 on an aluminum road bike.

Sean Fissel
6 years ago
Reply to  Seraph

I got banned from The Radavist for talking crap on the Slate, but even I have to admit that its a lot more than a $4000 road bike. Tire clearance is really really hard to come by, and the Slate offers a super dope platform with a really good amount of tire clearance. My issue is the lefty + slicks, a combo that I would never in my life wish to ride.

dustytires
6 years ago

Humbling to think of those stats, to say Alison and the other top riders are human is a total misnomer, they ain’t like us. Fun to geek out on their set up, but it’s largely inapplicable, although it does say ‘ready to ride’ that means with Co2, tubes, tool etc. All I can take away from this other than dammmmm I am weak and slow, is I want to get one of those Lezyne.

Exodux
6 years ago

Awesome ride Alison
Does Cannondale have a carbon Slate in the work’s? I would definitely be in if and when they do.

Seraph
Seraph
6 years ago
Reply to  Exodux

Unlikely, since the Slate remains unchanged for 2018 and they’re adding more Super-X and Synapse SE models.

Kernel Flickitov
Kernel Flickitov
6 years ago

“a steed made for royalty”…..I’m reading this as a nod to Ted (King) winning on a Slate last year….. 😉

Chris
Chris
6 years ago

And that this creaking bb30a bottom bracket piece of s***. I sold my Slate because of this.

Matt
Matt
6 years ago

You can press in a Sram adapter and make it a threaded BB…I did this and it works great.

Dirk Bergstrom
Dirk Bergstrom
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt

That’s great to hear. The noisy BB on my Slate is really irritating.

Seraph
Seraph
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt

Won’t work with BB30A, thanks to the extra width.

Fred
Fred
6 years ago
Reply to  Seraph

Several manufacturers make bb30a screw together adapters for shimano 24mm or sram gxp cranks that will get rid of the creak. Kogel comes to mind.

Dave
Dave
6 years ago

Congratulations. That is amazing.

silent P
silent P
6 years ago

Impressive! Animal crackers, potato chips and donut holes?!?! Way to crush it!

ascarlarkinyar
ascarlarkinyar
6 years ago

Rode this bike on a Hella long gravel day. Big big mistake. It beat me up. The fork was no help. Heavy and sluggish on rough stuff. This is a road or very very smooth gravel bike. These pro’s win on these bikes can win on any bike. Hill were not easier. Maybe on a crit that you have to change speed often. I got a road bike for that.

ascarlarkinyar
ascarlarkinyar
6 years ago

Wot

Jinnah Sirker (@Jsirkerp)

Yes! Super Congrats!!!!!! So happy it was on a Slate jajjaajja. I have the Ultegra!! Yeehaaaa!!

Markus
Markus
6 years ago

There is a 42mm G-One? Available to the public?

Seraph
Seraph
6 years ago
Reply to  Markus

There is not, no.

Jay
Jay
6 years ago

What are you opinions of the Schwalbe G-Ones?

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