Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Some photos

Larry and Andrew took a few photos of the event... some are pretty solid!

Here is a link: Ragnarok 2016 photos

Monday, April 11, 2016

The Annual "Thanks" Post

I know I have posted on the facebook some quick thanks... I like to be a little more verbose as it is very true that the race would not happen without a bunch of people doing things essentially out of the kindness of their heart (because we probably are pretty close to the bottom of "sponsor" bang for the buck... actually promoting etc. is NOT my/our strongsuit.

So... here goes (in no particular order):

1) Rider/racers - Thanks for being fun to be around for a day! Also, it is appreciated that no one has resorted to physical violence as we hand out leg 3 notes when you know that "Heath's Hill" is coming up. Even if you haven't ridden the "Rok" before you have heard of it (generally). Note - thanks to those who donated to the race we didn't lose any money and should be able to guarantee 2 or 3 port-a-potties.

2) My family - Carly is awesome! Both in helping on the day of the race at the checkpoints and finish, and in letting be get away for hours at a time to do course recon, riding, etc. I couldn't do it if there was even a bit of hesitation. Thanks to the grandparents too for watching the kids all day!

3) Mississippi National Golf Links - The convenience and safety of the golf course (as opposed to bombing through town like olden days) is so awesome! I saw a handful of folks leaving from the clubhouse so hopefully the golf club was cool with our using the lot again. It helped that it was very cool and probably not really that big of a golf day... Finishing on with Lehrbach is part of the race... so moving the start/finish is not something that I would want to do.

4) Red Wing Brewery - It's a small place and can get packed pretty quick... but for my money it's the best pizza in town (I recommend the spicy italian but sub pepperoni for the roast beef), and there is a pretty good variety of beer too. (I'm no beer drinker so I'll leave that for others to determine). Norm and the whole crew are great folks and allowing us to set-up shop the night before makes things that much easier for us (and those that can get into Red Wing Friday) on the morning of the race.

5) Twin Six - Thanks again for bringing a bag of swag that we can lay out for racers to grab as they finish. NOTE - we suck at actually giving these out in a good manner that actually gets value for them... and they still bring stuff after years and years of doing so.

6) Trek Bikes - They brought down some sweet lights and hats and stuff... the same can be said as for Twin Six. Bringing stuff without the allure of a lot of publicity says a lot.

Last and very much not least ...

Thanks to Jake and Larry for helping out on the race day. Larry is always ready to help wherever it's needed, and to pore over lists at checkpoints until everything makes sense. Jake is the "social" one of the bunch, so having him available for the finish area is awesome. We couldn't do it without them. The fact that Jake made the flight back from Denver says a lot.

Next year would make for 10... I think we're a go at least right now. Pencil in April 1 or April 8 (depending on work schedules... I think it'll be April 1), 2017... I REAAAAALLY want to change the course, even a little to make old GPS files useless. But we'll see what happens.

Note - I went through all of the results that I could find. There are 3 riders who have done every Ragnarok... Brandt Elson, Heath Weisbrod and Eddie Karow.

Thanks again!

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Ragnarok 2016 - 9th Edition - Results

I'll try and type up some thoughts and reaction to a fun day of gravel riding sometime this week. Thanks again for coming down to Red Wing!

Big congratulations to Drew for finally taking home the Rok after coming close in multiple previous editions (I hope I'm not spacing out)! Also big congrats to the Wilson family with their new little one that I saw at the checkpoints!

Megan Barr was the 1st Female finisher and totes home the big Rok! Great Job!

Note... starting time was 7:33 am

  Number Name Finish Time
1 502 Drew Wilson 1:34
2 561 Jesse LaLonde 1:36
3 503 Bryan Fosler 1:37
4 514 Samuel Elson 1:38
5 536 Ian Hoogendam 1:52
6 520 Charlie Schad 1:56
7 546 Ted Loosen 1:56
8 583 Sean Mailen 1:56
9 613 Philip Carlton 2:12
10 585 Joe Hamlin 2:18
11 604 Kyle Sobota 2:18
12 532 Dustin Gaffke 2:23
13 519 Ben Doom 2:24
14 535 Scott Hippen 2:26
15 574 Paul Carroll 2:28
16 570 Larry Sauber 2:32
17 518 Jon Kern 2:38
18 612 Jeff Shupe 2:39
19 602 David Pramann 2:40
20 525 David Bell 2:40
21 569 Mark Hartney 2:42
22 513 Brandt Elson 2:42
23 547 Sam St. Pierre 2:42
24 589 Darryl Shoemaker 2:50
25 608 Jason Stukel 2:56
26 572 Bruce Anderson 2:56
27 548 Ben Oney 2:57
28 533 Chris Schotz 3:02
29 591 Brent Kvittem 3:03
30 554 Jeff O'Neill 3:04
31 528 Parker Roenfranz 3:08
32 557 Hurl Everstone 3:10
33 576 Ryan Sportel 3:10
34 540 Todd Watchmaker 3:10
35 616 Charles Denis 3:12
36 615 Megan Barr (1st) 3:12
37 527 Carl Bakker 3:13
38 592 Ben Cox 3:14
39 565 Bill Callas 3:25
40 555 Steven Yore 3:25
41 573 Jonah Hudson-Erdman 3:25
42 610 Trenton Raygor 3:26
43 544 Joshua Schneider 3:28
44 531 Steve Soltis 3:31
45 566 Jeff Frane 3:31
46 567 Carl Newberg 3:33
47 530 Ted Clausen 3:33
48 609 Bryce Rasmussen 3:35
49 607 Charles Parsons 3:35
50 553 Alan Eastlund 3:39
51 595 Mick Carlson 3:40
52 552 Grant Braasch 3:43
53 582 Ken Zylstra 3:43
54 558 Chelsea Strate 3:45
55 580 Chris Stuckman 3:46
56 577 Lee Venteicher 3:46
57 507 Eddie Karow 3:48
58 534 Nick Evanoff 3:50
59 551 Chad Millner 3:57
60 509 Shawn Cotter 3:57
61 504 Jon Vick 3:57
62 559 Lukas Eklund 3:59
63 603 Justin Kelly 4:00
64 593 Chad Kelly 4:00
65 517 Ryan Haug 4:03
66 617 Jonas Nygard 4:04
67 501 Paul Urbanski 4:08
68 515 Jon Anderson 4:08
69 614 Dan Funke 4:15
70 512 Barry Meitler 4:15
71 510 Charles Showalter 4:19
72 549 Mark Seaburg 4:21
73 599 Joel Benton 4:25
74 545 Jay Schneider 4:25
75 590 Meredith Rambow 4:25
76 556 Rob Williams 4:32
77 524 Adam Messer 4:32
78 508 Ray Nickles 4:32
79 571 Matthew Abel 4:37
80 581 Mike Criego 4:39
81 538 Jeff Henkemeyer 4:41
82 543 Michael Landreville 4:47
83 541 Thomas Erickson 4:47
84 521 Leah Gruhn 4:48
85 611 Neil Cary 4:48
86 560 Patrick Sheedy 4:53
87 522 Jere Mohr 5:00
88 523 Jon Loye 5:00
89 506 Andy Weinzierl 5:12
90 578 Heath Weisbrod 5:12
91 564 Matt Johnson 5:12
92 529 Justin Schuetz 5:14
93 550 Bob Sheperd 5:16
94 511 Craig Irving 5:16
95 587 Ryan Birkemeier 5:18
96 586 Joseph DeMars 5:18
97 598 Daniel Backman 5:23
98 584 Mike Lee 5:27
99 596 Mara Larson 5:43
100 542 Angie Hop 5:49
101 606 Alex Koppi-Kohn 6:21
102 594 Max Dingemans 7:10
103 588 Melissa Hunter Out LC
104 605 Brett Swenson Out LC
105 537 Sean Bujold Out LC
106 568 Jack Schwinghamer Out LC
107 600 Eric Johnson Out ZF
108 563 Wade Johnson Out ZF
109 575 Amy Sportel Out ZF
110 526 Linsey Olesiak Out ZF
111 516 Jeremy Fry Out
112 579 Tryg Nederloe Out
113 505 Gary Lindberg Out
114 562 Rob Dosse Out
115 601 Don Bahls Out
116 539 Jeff Haye Out

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Some Details

Here are some details...

Check in:

You have two options if your name is on the final roster.

1) Day before, Friday the 8th, around 7:30-9:30ish at the Red Wing Brewery on Old West Main.
2) Day of, we'll be set-up roughly 6:15 or so at Mississippi National Golf Links. Please don't show up at 7:20... we'll try and get you checked in and ready to go before the 7:30 start, but there are lots more folks probably than previous years. We'll try and keep things going smoothly, but it's not like we're pros.

We will have a couple of port-a-potties at the start/finish someplace.

Some rules/general guidelines:

1) YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU!
2) Have back up plans, pickup plans in an emergency, etc. We will not and can not provide chauffeur services to everyone.
3) When going downhill -- ride within yourself. These hills can allow some crazy speeds and see #1...
4) When going uphill and around corners try and ride to the right. Drivers will not be expecting you so ... see #1.
5) The weather is a huge variable. Be ready for it... see #1.

Checkpoint notes (this is mainly for Zumbro Falls):

When you come into the checkpoint, PLEASE calmly make sure that we catch your number so we can keep track of everything. We may try and build some sort of corral that you have to ride through to keep things organized. Just assume that once you get on the gravel in the ZF checkpoint that things are neutralized.

Also --> DO NOT CUT THE COURSE! If I know the number of anyone who cuts through the ball fields in Zumbro Falls you will be DQ'd.

FINAL ROSTER

I think I have everything up-to-date... because of last minute drops I am just letting in all of the official waitlist. We didn't really get below the 150 limit, so I'm not going to open it up to others who whether by bad luck (if the post office didn't postmark it in time) or not knowing about the ride, didn't get their name on the list by postcard. I am sorry, but there is always next year.

If you see your name on this list - you will be able to get a number and cue sheet. If you are not on the list, sorry but you will not get those from us, and while the roads are public and I can't stop you, I would appreciate not riding along and confusing things at checkpoints.

Thanks!

Name Number ZF LC Finish
Abel, Matthew
Anderson, Bruce
Anderson, Jon
Backman, Daniel
Bahls, Don
Bakker, Carl
Barr, Megan
Bell, David
Bell, Pete
Benton, Joel
Birkemeier, Ryan
Braasch, Grant
Breckon, Royce
Brown, Robert
Bujold, Sean
Callas, Bill
Carlson, Mick
Carlton, Philip
Carroll, Paul
Cary, Neil "O"
Clausen, Ted
Cotter, Shawn
Cox, Ben
Criego, Mike
DeMars, Joseph
Denis, Charles
Dingemans, Max
Doom, Ben
Dosse, Rob
Early, Ken
Eastlund, Alan
Eckert, Seth
Eklund, Lukas
Elson, Brandt
Elson, Samuel
Endres, Chris
Erickson, Thomas
Evanoff, Nick
Everstone, Hurl
Floden, Amy
Flynn, Shaun
Fosler, Bryan
Frane, Jeff
Fry, Jeremy
Funke, Dan
Gaffke, Dustin
Gaz, Dan
Grant, Jennifer
Gruhn, Leah
Hamlin, Joe
Hansen, Boyd
Hartney, Mark
Hau, Tim
Haug, Ryan
Haye, Jeff
Henkemeyer, Jeff
Hippen, Scott
Hoogendam, Ian
Hop, Angie
Hudson-Erdman, Jonah
Hunter, Melissa
Hurd, Wendy
Irving, Craig
Johnson, Eric
Johnson, Joe
Johnson, Matt
Johnson, Wade
Karow, Eddie
Kauth, James
Kelly, Chad
Kelly, Justin
Kern, Jon
Kies, Scott
King, Susannah
Koppi-Kohn, Alex
Kvittem, Brent
LaLonde, Jesse
Landreville, Michael
Langum, Leigh
Larson, Mara
Larson, Patrick
Lee, Mike
Lindberg, Gary
Loosen, Ted
Loye, Jon
Mach, Elizabeth
Mailen, Sean
Meiser, Joe
Meitler, Barry
Messer, Adam
Millner, Chad
Moeding, Andrew
Mohr, Jere
Nederloe, Tryg
Newberg, Carl
Nickles, Ray Ray
Nikodym, Matt
Nygård, Jonas
Olesiak, Linsey
O'Neill, Jeff
Oney, Ben
Parsons, Charles
Pettes, Jeff
Piech, Dawn
Pramann, David
Rambow, Meredith
Rasmussen, Bryce
Raygor, Trenton
Roenfanz, Parker
Sauber, Larry
Schad, Charlie
Schauss, Scott
Schmitt, Barry
Schneider, Jay
Schneider, Joshua
Schotz, Chris
Schuetz, Justin
Schwinghamer, Jack
Seaburg, Mark
Sheedy, Patrick
Shelley, Dirk
Shepherd, Bob
Shoemaker, Darryl
Showalter, Charles
Shupe, Jeff
Smith, Harlan
Sobota, Kyle
Soltis, Steve
Sportel, Amy
Sportel, Ryan
St. Pierre, Sam
Strate, Chelsea
Stuckman, Chris
Stukel, Jason
Swenson, Brett
Tiede, Travis
Urbanski, Paul
Venteicher, Lee
Vick, Jon
Vold, Svetlana
Ward, Denise
Watchmaker, Todd
Webb, Matthew
WeinzierL, Andy
Weisbrod, Heath "Red Squirrel"
Williams, Rob
Wilson, Drew
Yore, Steven
Zylstra, Ken