Strada Fango

Fast Forward:  I had just bridged up to the lead group (on a SS this is something to crow about) about 5 miles into what I thought was a gravel road race.  After collecting myself, I started to pay attention and look around.  I was immediately struck by the fact that everyone in this break was on a full suspension mountain bike. a few minutes later the gravel road race ended as we hit the ATV trails.  That was about the end of my time at the front.  By the 10 mile mark I had manged to pinch flat both tubeless tires at the same time as I banged down the rocky ATV trails.
Stop.
Mutter expletives. 
Start putting in tubes.
Get mocked by the two dudes on the tandem.
Reflect on the irony of that.
Clean up my yardsale.
Chase down the tandem and shout at them.

I managed to move backup through the group, and eventually got in with a group, but the pounding on my hands was pretty demoralizing.  This course had everything. We rode through singletrack, pavement, ski trails, ATV trails, Dams, through a strip mine, and across lots of sand.  It was obvious that the organizers did a ton of work to place all the signage which made it easy to navigate.  There were even some freshly cut ST sections. 
Lots of rolling terrain.  I was a hurting unit when I finished.  It was so rolling that I could never get on top of my 42:18 gearing.  I think I only managed a avg speed of 14 mph, which is way too slow (contributing to my demoralization).
Bottom Line:
Many thanks to the Organizers. 
Don't show up without a geared 4 inch FS bike with 1.9's.  I now understand why Trek sells so many Top Fuels in WI.