Another Iceman has come and gone and the 2008 XC race season (for me at least) has ended with a bang. My training going into the weekend had been well balanced and I felt pretty good. I drove up Friday and met several families and friends at the "cabin", located high on a hill between Kalkaska and Traverse City, MI. This place is the "bomb-diggity".
After unloading our gear we went over to the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa to pick up our race packets and check out the EXPO. Like a kid in a candy store I had my eyes on the Gary Fisher Superfly single speed in addition to ton's of assorted bike bling displayed to entice bike-crazed people like me with zero self control.
After narrowly escaping the EXPO we ate in and made a huge dinner for the group. It was relaxing and enjoyable to catch up with old friends. I had a fitful night of sleep worrying about everything in the Universe and woke up early to help prepare the big breakfast (I had a few pancakes). Snow was in the forecast for Saturday but we only had a few spotty showers and conditions were windy and cold (as usual) with overcast skies. Each time I do this race I never get in a good warm-up and painfully re-think my clothing options over and over. Instead I warmed up in the car with the heater going full blast until it was time to line up for the start. I really wasn't sure about my gearing choice (32x15x29'er) which was a much taller gearing than anything I've ever run before. The 27.5 mile course from Kalkaska to Traverse City is mostly two-track through the woods with some single track sections thrown in. The field size is large and the start was fast so I settled in mid-pack trying to stay out of trouble. Things started to sort out quickly at the first sand pit about a mile in where I avoided several riders who bogged down, endoed and fragmented the group I was in. The big wheels floated through the sand instead of digging in and I was able to keep the pace going without too many riders slowing me down in the single track. As I suspected, my gearing was ideal for the first part of the course and allowed me to maintain a great pace up to the first road crossing. I knew this would mark the beginning of the hills and I was a little doubtful I would be able to clear them without having to do some run-ups. What I discovered was I could ride most of the hills but very, very slowly as I had to leverage myself to the top. It was hard but I kept reeling in other riders who I could latch on to, draft for a while and eventually go around. This continued to the end. As usual, the finish line was packed with spectators and I still had pretty good legs to make it to the line with a time of 1:59:51. I was very happy with my ride. I had no bobbles, pushed hard and made it under 2 hours, with only 1 gear. RESULTS.
We changed clothes and headed back to base camp to re-group, grabbed some beers and headed out to watch the Pros race.
Article HERE.
Afterwards, it was off to the awards banquet. Overall winner was TREK/VW rider Jeremiah Bishop seen here hoisting the carved ice trophy. Later that night , it was reported that Jeremiah was seen drinking Jaggermeister from the trophy. Mmmmmmm.
We went back to the Chateau and had pizza, beer and relaxed. Group shot.
I slept like a baby. Sunday morning we had snow and I was glad the race was held on Saturday.
I cannot wait for next year!
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