Words by Jack Potter // Photos by various (thank you!)

How do you sum up something in words when the emotions associated are so much bigger?   

I have been dreaming and talking about doing Dirty Kanza for about three years.  I was fascinated with the idea of doing a ride that was so huge, so monumental, so crazy that it would completely scare me and keep me wondering if I could finish the task I had undertaken.  This all stemmed from an article written by Chris Carmichael that said something like “..don’t be afraid to fail, do something that scares you”.  I thought about the events I had been doing and it struck me that in each case I was confident I would finish the race.  My goals were either beating my previous time or finishing under a certain time.  There was no unknown about if I would actually finish because I had enough experience with mechanicals, flats, weather or mistakes with nutrition or preparation to know that if I stayed calm, fixed the problem, I could get to the end.  I wanted to challenge myself to try something that was out of my experience, something that I might fail at.  Enter my obsession with Dirty Kanza.  

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