Iceman Cometh 2015

Next up was a trip to Michigan for the Iceman Cometh mtb race in/around Traverse City.  I'd not done this one before but with it's size and how it looked like a good way to wrap up the mtb season I thought I should give it a shot.  I signed up way back in February I think, it's been a long while.

The race is point to point which is probably how I prefer to ride when possible, I like it more than loops of the same trail over and over.  The Mt. Borah Epic is similar in length to this one and I really enjoy that as well.  This one is about 30mi and a lot of double track with a bit of singletrack mixed in.  None of it is really difficult or technical compared to other stuff, the challenge is pushing hard and going as fast as you can.  For me, with rides only about 1x a week this year it was going to just be how fast I can go without cramping up and slowing down.

I decided to head over early enough to pre ride the final parts of the course, that is where there is some singletrack, and also the finish loops all over the place and back on itself so it was nice to know where the actual line was.  I ran into Ken, Mike, and Chuck when heading for my preride so I had some company.

After the preride I ended up figuring out where I was going to sleep for the night.  I'd come with a tent, a sleeping bag, and that's about it.  I figured at worst I'd just go to the national forest and get out somewhere and set up camp or even camp in the truck.  I ended up slightly better being in a State Forest campground only about 2.5mi from the Rasho Rd parking lot.  It was pretty much shut down for the season, I was one of only 3 people in camp.  I set up the tent then went to pick up my packet and check out the expo.  I grabbed firewood from a local place on the way back to camp.



 

Sleeping outside was great - I usually sleep pretty well when I camp.  The fresh air helps, and the fact that it was pitch black by about 7-8pm meant I went to bed earlier than normal.  It was cool, about 25-30 overnight but with my gear I was fine.

In the morning, I got up, went to the parking lot, geared up (in the warm truck), and then got on the shuttle to Kaskala.  It was a short wait for the shuttle then a 45min or so ride.  It worked out well to go this way as the truck now was at the finish so whenever I was done I could leave reasonably quickly (plan was to get home to GB that evening).

I was in wave 31, as you can imaine, starting with 30 waves of 150? riders ahead of you, many of which have done the race before means there were a lot of people to pass.  I am not crazy fast but I definitely don't anticipate being in wave 31 for my start next year as the people who were year 2 and beyond that were in my wave were not people I ever saw after the start.  I don't know how these people ride with all this gear on - jackets, hoodies, etc.  I was pretty hot in just an under armor and jersey over it.





The course was very fun actually, double track for most with rolling hills.  Not incredibly wide in most parts so while there were two tracks there was typically a "good" line and a "bad" one that was less traveled and usually covered in leaves.  I'd get into those when it was time for a pass but there were times where there were stuff in the "bad" line that I'd choose to wait a bit before passing.  I found that I was must faster down the hills than most people and that more often than not people were walking up all of the hills where I was able to ride them all minus one.  The hill I didn't ride was due to a wall of 4-5 people wide walking up the hill so there was no way to keep riding it.  I instantly cramped up when I got off the bike so it was excruciating to not be pedaling.  This is typical and I just know that if I want to get rid of the cramps I need to be back on the bike and running a higher cadence than typical to get ride of them.  That worked and I was back in business.

I ran my 1x10 setup with a 11-36 rear and 32t in the front.  I felt like that gearing was good for where I was at but a few of the tough climbs I wanted a shorter gear.  That's typically where I feel I am with the 11-36 in the back.  Short rides I just muscle up the tough stuff but as rides get longer pushing that taller 32-36 granny gear wears my legs down more than I'd like.  I will probably want/need to do something different before any longer stuff with big climbs.

I finished the race in a time under my goal of 3hrs, I was at 2:37.  Lots of room to get faster but I was very happy with where I was at in the end given my training.






At the finish I felt great - bike worked amazingly well and while I was pretty spent I felt OK.  I needed some cookies and I then headed back to the truck to get moving along towards home.

On my way home I stopped in Petoskey at Beards Brewery.  An old rally buddy and his friend started a brewery a few years ago and I'd never checked it out.  It was great, awesome brews, really good to catch up with Ben.  I really recommend that anybody in the area heads over there. 

Fat Bike Birkie Report

Again I'm a bit delinquent for writing any sort of recap of the race I did, this time though I'm less than a week behind.  It's been busy this week with a work trip to Chicago for some training.

The birkie was awesome.  I knew from the day I got my fatbike, or even before I'd gotten my fatbike that I was 100% for sure doing this race, no matter what it took.  I've skiied the birkie a couple times and I wanted to get back on the trail.  For the people reading this, the race is similar but not 100% the same.  The long race (47k) races out to OO on the Birkie trail then turns around and heads back to Telemark on the Birkie Classic Trail.  The first thing you figure out is how relentless the hills are, it was very fun and very tough.

I have been training pretty hard with my power class but not been able to do a ton of other riding overall, so I knew I could push hard but was not expecting anything great.  I was hoping for <3hrs but thought if I had a "good" race I could do 2:45 or less based on how other things have gone.

I lined up and started further up in the start grid than I would've in the past, I was towards the back of the "going for it" grid which was supposed to be 2:15-2:45.  Figured I'd want to be up there to avoid getting stuck behind people aiming for slower times.  I think where I lined up ended up being pretty good though I did not finish in <2:45.

The race was a blur of down one hill then up the next.  Shift up 5 gears to get momentum down then try to hammer up the next hill, all while trying to not blow up.  I so far this year have decided that while I'll use HR for training I am not going to pay attention to it while racing and just go on "feel".  I don't want to artificially slow down because of a HR number flashing at me on the gps.  I do still wear it because I like seeing what zones I was able to maintain and for how long.

I started out feeling pretty good, was doing gels and water here and there.  I was not feeling incredibly strong though.  About halfway through the race I ended up pacing fairly well with Ross from my team, that was fun to ride with him as I don't think we've ever ridden together before.

Race went fine, just pushing, eating gel, drinking water, but I ended up cramping pretty badly.  Looking back I don't think I was getting enough hydration during the race.  Going up steep prolonged hills was getting very painful and when I finally got off to walk up one about 5mi from the finish my left leg locked up.  I got back on the bike at the top but the next couple miles were really bad until the cramps went away.  From there I just tried to stay on the bike at high cadence, the cramps went away but I was not able to push any harder as the cramps returned then.

Course wise I think next year I could easily run a 4" tire for less rotating weight, it was nice and firm and even with warm conditions it was not bad.  I just got in the rut and rode out as much as I could there as the track was nicely packed down and faster than if you were out of the rut.

Finish wise, I got in at 2:55, less than my goal but not as good as I'd really hoped I could do.  I know there is some good room to improve for next year.  It was fun to see/hang with the Broken Spoke guys before/after a bit but I headed home just about immediately so I could make it in time to see the kids before bed (I did make it).