Dust Bowl 100 bicycle race completes another year

A pair of racers speed through the Putnam County landscape during the annual Dust Bowl 100 bicycle race.

Courtesy photo/JOHN LOBBAN CREATIVE

The 2022 Dust Bowl 100, presented by Lithko Contracting, is done and dusted.

The 100-mile men’s race came down to a three-up sprint to the line, with Mark Myles (Mark Myles Racing/Be Real Sports) edging out Drew Dillman (Texas Roadhouse) and Trey Shepard (First Internet Bank) for the overall win. And the 100-mile women’s race was nearly as close, with Samantha Clark (Be Real Sports) besting Julia Priest (Greens) by just 10 seconds.

There were some fast finishing times across all distances and categories (see the results info below).

But the day wasn’t just about the front-end racers. Chelsea Monholand successfully completed the 0 to 100 Challenge, coming across the line in 8:56:33 — side by side with her husband who went back on course after finishing his race to ride the final miles with her. Lydia Trott left her house at 9 p.m. Friday, rode 90 miles to the Dust Bowl 100 start, and then proceeded to complete the entire 100-mile race.

Many riders set course PRs, while others set distance PRs, including quite a few riders accomplishing their first centuries.

There was also an enthusiastic crowd on hand to cheer the final finishers of the day on as they crossed the line more than 20 minutes ahead of the 6 p.m. finishing time cutoff.

“What an inspiring day,” race organizer Marc O’Leary of Elevate Endurance said. “My already massive love for the gravel community grew even more last weekend.”

Results

Final results can be found at dustbowl100.com/results.

100 Miles

Overall Male (and Open Male): Mark Myles (Utica, Ky.)
Overall Female (and Junior Female): Samantha Clark (Louisville, Ky.)
Open Female: Julia Priest (Versailles)
Masters Male: Matt Hamilton (Carmel)
Masters Female: Gwen Talaski (Bloomington, Ill.)
Junior Male: John Kubiak (Lakeland, Minn.)

80 Miles

Open Male: Rob Cline (Indianapolis)
Open Female: Sarah Larson (Bloomington)
Masters Male: Curtis Tolson (Louisville)
Masters Female: Lindsey Halter (Vine Grove, Ky.)
Junior Male: Nico Haydar (Zionsville)

44 Miles

Open Male: Justin Ratliff (Westfield)
Open Female: Judy Porter (Westfield)
Junior Male: Judah Meek (Mishawaka)
Tandem: John and Sarah Leitzel (Crown Point)