Iceman report

I wrote this in a e-mail to a buddy who had asked "How did it go at the Iceman?", I think it should live here...


 Warning: Long read (this is a "seeded" race, your start is determined by your finish the previous year, the faster finishers go first) Almost 4,000 racers taking off in waves 3 minutes apart. Bryce was gone at 9:06am, me off at 9.18 in waves of maybe 100. This is a 29.5 mile point to point sprint on mostly double track, or one single ribbon of single track, not technical at all (actually there was less than 3k of "real" single track) The temperature was +1c. Snow covered at the finish line, no snow at the start. This is an adrenalin fest, from the get go (as usual, I was the last man out, starting in the back of my wave) bang! Flying at 40km/h down a back street of the town of Kalkaska, thousands cheering you on, bumping elbows and trying not to crash, getting boxed in you work your way to the outside left of the pack, and sprint ahead, gaining maybe 20 spots before you have to pull back in to avoid some barrier or fence, you see a left turn approaching, cut the corner and sprint again, grabbing maybe 10 more spots, then I second guess myself, am I going to blow up? Glance at the Garmin shows HR is over 170, and you are less than 2 minutes in - but I'm feeling good, do these guys know something I don't? Should I save myself for later? Fuck it, the single track is coming up and I want a good position - sprint again and I have 5th spot, we open a gap on the rest of the riders. Now I think, hold them off, if we gaped them this early, we must be stronger. I'm now in 2nd/3/4th - and the lead rider is just staying maybe 100 feet in front of us - but the group I am with isn't really working, we are maybe 6 or 7km into it now, and they have settled in, I have recovered somewhat (HR is sitting somewhere around 162, legs are feeling good, fingers are frozen though) so I pull out and drop the hammer, chasing down the lead guy, one rider comes with me, and at this point we are already pulling in straggling riders from the earlier wave. I think great, there is really no one with us now - the main pack is not even in view, just the 3 of us. Adrenalin doesn't stop though, as you see slower riders ahead, and you reel them in, maybe draft behind them for a bit, recover, pull out and pass (this is mostly that double track, with one side of the track worked in very well and the other side rougher). We drop rider number three and continue, I take the lead and now we are practically gobbling other riders up, this is maybe at the 24k mark (nice thing is a big sign on trees counting down the KM's), everything is covered with snow, just a brown path of sand and leaves infront. Me an the other rider from my wave work together (we realize that we are in different age categories, so, we are not directly competing with each other), he has too back off around the 30k mark as he is begining to cramp, I head off alone, continuing to pick off other riders - at many many places along the route, there are people -thousands in total cheering you on, what a rush. My drivetrain sounds like crap - sand in it, I get some chain suck and back off on the gear changes. Maybe 10km to go now, and they throw in a few climbs -- nothing like at Durham, just short punchy climbs, but after 90 minutes of racing they hurt, hop off the bike on the biggest climb (traffic jam) and I'm back on the bike at the top, legs are screaming, just about through the one waterbottle I have brought (plus 2 cups of water from the volunteers along the way), manage the cramp - can feel them coming on, back off to 95%, and the rider from my wave that had dropped off, climbs back on, passes me - and I can't catch him - 100, 200 300 feet out until I don't see him any more. Now we are down to the final 3 or 4 km - single track , damn slow riders in front of me, one goes off the trail, see that he's alright and pick up the pace through some greasy single track, then mud, back wheel spinning out, sprint for the line and come in at 2:05:27, good for 372 of 3880 finishers (I am really happy with this finish). Soaking wet from sweat, splash and snow, in about 5 minutes I am freezing. I run into Bryce, we head for the food tent, get some chicken chili (mmh) and park ourselves in front of a propane blasting heater. Dry out, get feeling back into the toes and go drink beer with thousands of other happy happy people, Alexa joins us, Ross as well, hang out at a fire try to stay warm, share stories of how your race went, feeling good, Go back to the hotel for a nap, get up, go out to eat and see a band, yeah love it. (Outside the race itself, Traverse city is great, very cool town, lots of restaurants, bars, shops, and the whole town becomes a party with all the racers, good people, good times, a fun bike expo - so much) peace.

Finishers coming through

Iceman!

Well biking season is "winding down".  I don't like to admit it but it's true.  Leaves on the ground making it difficult to see the trail means the intensity has backed off, as of yesterday we were into daylight savings time - yep , getting dark by 5.15 :(
That being said, it has been a great fall for biking, warm temps, some dry days.  This past weekend I headed down to Traverse city, MI for my final race of the year "the Iceman Cometh Challenge"  Really really great race.  4700 entered makes it by far the largest mountain bike race in North America.  This might be the most fun I have had at an event all year. What a party!  I loved it.  If you are reading this, and have never taken part in this race, you should.  Not technical at all, mostly double track, I finished it in just over 2 hours, but the vibe - so go, the beer at the end, tailgate parties, music and jagerbombs!

Stowe!

It says so much.  It is a town, it is a way of life, it congers up images of butternut squash soup and skiing.
We are staying smack in the center of town at the oh so Vermont, Green Mountain Inn Nice.  I don't know if it gets any more "Vermont" than this place.
I really like this town, and the whole state of Vermont.  I have wanted to get back here for a long time, since first driving up Smugglers Notch and thinking what a great ride this would be.  So  here we are.  Heather went off to do some of the things that interest her (photography and shopping) while I headed out to do a 90k countryside loop, not climbing the notch from Stowe, but doing a counterclockwise loop, and descending from the notch into Stowe.

Beautiful ride - rollers, beautiful countryside, rivers, mountains...

The ride seemed really really easy for the first part - I guessed I was mostly descending.  I now realize that I also had a tailwind.  The only downside to doing the ride in this direction is, after completing 60 easy k, you have a 1700 foot climb into the wind.

Ha! I was feeling tired.  But this is the reason that I came here...beautiful roads.

Finish it all off with a long trail ale and dinner at Harrisons and a stroll in the rain.

Tomorrow?  Do it all again in the other direction with my k-town buds...Fil & John - who just got into town! Yee Haw!

Garmin details here.

Shenandoah recap (Long)

On Sunday I took part in the Shenandoah 100 - the third NUE series race I have done this year. Tho others being the Mohican and the Lumberjack.

Brief stats:
100 miles
12,400 feet of climbing
11,380 calories burned
12 hours of riding
Garmin Link

I headed down Friday morning - an 11 hour beautiful drive through NY, Pennsylvania and Virginia.   Arriving on Friday night for a Sunday race was the right thing to do.  This is a camping event and 600 riders with families were there. Wish I had pictures - amazing a whole community appears for a few days.

Saturday fellow Canadian Chris arrived, along with his girlfriend Tara. They showed really nice Westphalia.

Cool. No not cool, very very warm and humidity much higher than we get in Ontario.
First thing, Sat afternoon Chris is tweaking his bike when he notices a crack in the top tube - yep, his Fisher is not going to be ridden in this race.  Amazing thing is, the fellow in the next campsite has two tallboys and offers Chris one to ride!  Hat's off to Jody!  Thank you.

So the plan now is Chris is going to not so much race, as ride the course.

Sunday 6.20am race start - just getting light and we are off.
After a bit of flat asphalt, we start climbing, and it quickly turns to dirt road, and we start a 7k climb, gaining about 250m of elevation.  I am feeling strong - passing quite a few riders - and perhaps working just a little too hard, no problem though, I will back off once we hit the first bit of singletrack.  Well we hit this single track - rock gardens.  It takes me no time to realize I don't have enough air in my rear tire, and I have a good chance of pinch flatting. Ssssssssssssssssssssssssss.  And there it is, a flat 14k into the ride.
 Quickly pull over - and this is where it gets funny (well frustrating at first, funny after a while)...this really happened...
I start remove the tube, Chris stops and joins me, I add my spare - it won't hold air, the valve is busted. Chris passes me his spare, and patches my original tube, Chris's tube won't hold air, I remove that tube, and pass it back to Chris (he finds a hole in it :( ) I take the tube he has patched, and put it in the tire - pump it, and it won't hold air ARRRGH. I remove it, pass it to Chris he finds a second hole in it.  I take his spare that he has patched and put it in the tire - pump it up,and it holds air.  All this takes almost 40 minutes. Chris has stayed with me the entire time (thank you Chris!)
We are now in 595 & 596th place of 600 - yep only 3 people behind us. No way to make up 40 minutes, so I think, well I am going to "ride" this rather than kill myself racing it.  Simple change, and I am feeling great - we have the whole mountain to our selves - we don't catch the first rider for 20 minutes - sweet downhill and we are into aid station 1 - (no spare tubes until aid station 2)

Chris & I are pretty compatible - I'm faster on the downhills, but he is just faster on the flats and inclines - so I draft him for a while, as we start catching and passing riders, and just having a good time riding - until we get to a climb not long after aid station 2 - it is steep, a rocky rough bench cut that goes for miles.  It is in the trees, but it is hot and very humid.  People are calling it stupid. People are walking their bikes. People are sitting by the side of the trail trying to cool down.  It's a 10km climb that gains 500 meters of elevation.  Chris takes a sit down, I decide to continue walking, climbing and decide I will take a break at the top - but once I get to the top, I see many people recovering before the downhill - did you say downhill?  Yes no break for me - what an amazing downhill, 10km long!  For those that know the area this is Hankey mountain.
What a change - 10 minutes earlier I was pushing out of my mind the idea of quitting, now I am loving it.

Chris and I meet up at the aid station again and head out on to some flat paved road - a nice change, being in the open air, and with the downhill, I am feeling better, my core temperature has cooled off somewhat.

The flat's don't last for long - they never do, and we are into another 10k climb - this one is all a blur...climb hot hot hot, we are still passing riders, so many riders we pass.  Then another super sweet downhill - the best of the day. Speaking of day, at this point we have now been riding for more that 7 hours, and we are at aid station 4. We are at the beginning of the biggest climb of the day, they call it soul crusher. From the bottom of the climb to the peak it is 30 km. Not the steepest climb, just relentless.  There will be an aid station 22km into the climb, and following that a nice little decent, before you resume climbing.
We continue to climb passing riders, some riding, some walking, some stopped dealing with cramps.  Chris and I continue to ride, a nice easy pace (well not so easy for me, I am running a 1x8 ..with a 12-30 cassette, wish I had a 34).
An hour and 40 min later we make it to the aid station 5, and refuel - oh yeah the aid stations are packed with coca cola, PB&J, smarties, bananas, potato chips, nuts etc. Chris has brilliantly arranged for a drop bag at this station, and it has a ham and cheese sandwich that he devours, and gets some energy back, then we are off again....wow,....this little descent is so much fun 5 foot water bars that you launch off off...this goes for say 2k, then we are into the final 5km of climbing, or as someone called it..the 13 meadows of mind f*ck!  It never seems to end.

It does end and we have a few smaller descents followed by climbs as we ride the ridge - then we are into the big downhill - possibly the best downhill I have been lucky enough to ride. 700 meter drop over 10km! Balls to the wall hold on for life, trust your bike and trust your complex to keep you on the trail right side up! YeeHaw!!!! Most fun of the day.

I want to mention, any of these long climbs followed by a downhill would be a great one day ride.

Final aid station, a bitch, yes a bitch of a climb - the same climb we started the day on, and one final fast downhill and the finish line 11 hours and 55 minutes after we started.  What a great day on the bike. The beer after was amazing ---mmmmh.  Cheesebuger for dinner.  Sleep. Rain comes. Coffee in the morning and the long drive back home.

Loved it.  Great company with Tara & Chris.


End of the day I was 307th of 519 men that started - not that it matters.  I know that not "racing" it, not having the pressure of beating the next guy allowed me to really have fun on this.

Edit:
I usually ride a SS 29 Rigid, however I did this on a 29r hardtail 1x8 - glad for it.
I got bit and stung.  I don't know what they are called - gnats - blackflies?  Either way I must have 30 itching bites from these things, and I also managed to get a wasp stuck in my jersey on the final descent, and was stung multiple times. F*($@*# I am still itching!!

Mohican recap

What a difference from last year's Mohican.  This year dry, hot and humid, with absolutely no rain.
I was somewhat concerned about the heat, and it did become a factor. (more later)

I cruised up to the start line with Lyndsay (yes, Lyndsay from Stouffville) and Ian (DMBA), just as they were calling out the 100 mile wave - great way to start, warmed up and already rolling. We hit the hill out of town...how to describe this, just think a long, long paved road climb, with 200 other riders all jockeying for position.  Nice.  A left and we are onto the dirt roads, past the pig farms, then another left and decending rough single track - *&^($@ have I mentioned that I LOVE this race!  Settled into a good pace with 6 or 7 other riders - after a while, maybe an hour I started to admit to myself that perhaps the pace was not sustainable over 10 hours, and man is it getting hot and humid in the forest.
The single track...ahhh, so nice - we got glimpses of it last year, but it was too wet.  This year conditions were perfect. 20 miles of single track, switchbacks winding around a mountain - so cool.  Cruised through the first aid station, felt good.  Coming into the second aid station at mile 34, I felt strong.  I was struck by how different I felt at this spot last year - at that time I was cold, exhausted, and those first 34 miles had taken 5 hours. Today it was about 3hr45min for the same.
Around noon it started to get warm, I mean hot, real hot.  The tempurature topped out at 34c, but I am sure on those dusty roads and rail trails it was much hotter.  The 15 miles of rail trail wasn't bad - I really was able to keep up a good clip of 18 -21kph on my 32x19 SS.  The dirt roads with the rolling hills were a killer in the heat though - I know at one point I started thinking, half seriously, I could just lay down in the shade until say 4pm when it cools off.
I kept going
at some point - must have been around 75 miles, I started over heating, I had hosed myself down at the aid stations, was taking electrolyte tablets (and advil) drinking lots - but I was shivering, alot.  Just could not cool down.  Even in the forest, it was so hot and humid, I tried walking for a bit, but just kept sweating and shivering.  The descents were a relief - air cooling.  Well at some point - hmmm, maybe 85 miles in I vomited, yes I was bloated no liquids seemed to be making there way into my system.  So a lot of liquids came up (I had been drinking heed all day, and no I don't think heed was the problem, just the heat, and my system had started to shut down).  After that I felt much much better, took in some water and felt stronger.
One of the advantages of having done this race before, is that you have an idea of where the end is, and what is coming next.  With about 7 miles left, I decided to kick it up, to give it everything I had.  I did not want to get passed by anyone before the end of the race.  Funny things go through your head during these races -- let me finish, I want a beer, and at the same time, the competitiveness.  I mentioned at the beginning of this note that I had settled into a good pace with  6 or 7 other guys, well all in all I would say there were about that many, maybe 10 guys that I kept seeing during the race, they would pass me, I would pass them, one might be coming into an aid station as I was leaving etc.  Well I didn't want to get passed by any of these guys - and one was coming up behind me fast, so, in my "own little race"  (but it feels so important at the point), I hammered and dropped him. Feeling good, I exited out of the final single track, motivated and giving it all into the final few climbs, where I caught two more riders (walking up a hill).  On to the finish line, ice cold water wating for me - have a sip, poor the rest down my back, and fill that beautiful glass with cold beer!
Nice. Loved it

The Prize.

More beer later, good times with good friends (new and old).  Sleep.

Going back to the states this weekend to do another 100 mile race.

 

After a lengthy break, we now return to regular programing

After a lengthy hiatus, I am going to start writing again.  My motivations for this blog were to record myself, maybe motivate myself, share some of the riding experiences with friends,  those reasons still hold true. 
Almost 3 months, what have I been doing? Riding and more riding. No running.  I spent a week in South Carolina with some friends. The usual wet, rainy days - not complaining though, I could climb Caesars head twice a week for a year and not get tired of it.
As for races - I have done the Paris Ancaster - so much fun. I think that is just about it (ok - one more..the next post will be about the Mohican).


Overall fitness assessment - pretty good, not quite where I was last year at this time, but close.  
More later

back in the saddle

Until yesterday it had been two full weeks since I had rode outside - no running in that time, and no trainer...just Joyride - and many days of that.
Why? A combination of work, lousy weather and just plain fed up of the weather.
Either way I can say that my jump skills have been improving, as well as my technical skills - can't wait to get on the trails.
However my cardio was hurting.  I got out for almost 40k yesterday, and an additional 55k today.  Both rides were really not enjoyable. +1c, windy and overcast - it still amazes me how much a difference the sun makes - I would rather ride in -10c with the sun than the current weather.
South Carolina is coming up fast - I will be there in 12 days.  The plan for this week is to ride or run every day, with a good long 5+hr ride on Tuesday, then taper next week.  In addition - I am now on injury watch - yes, that means taking it easy on the jumps at JoyRide.  I took a good tumble on the resin ramp Thursday - now when you crash, it really takes 99% of the impact away - you land on 1" of "resin" - like a rubber mat, and under that mat is about 1 foot of foam.  Still, when you do land(crash) you are coming from 8 - 10feet up.
So, I have a bruised foot, and just generally hurt all over.  Not bad but enough to make me remember I want to be injury free when I go away.
Ride stats from today and yesterday