I “raced” in Thompsonville, MI for the 17th annual Peak 2 Peak mountain bike race for the first time this year. I wasn’t sure what to expect, it was set for the third Saturday in October, but I had a lot of fun. I signed up for the sport race which is two laps up and down Crystal Mountain.

Friday before the race, I packed the truck up and headed my way up north. The weather was looking iffy, so I ended up going by myself. I hit a few showers on the way and made a slight detour onto some dirt roads for a quick bathroom break. My bike ended up covered in dirt/mud, but by the time I got to the campground, the rain had washed all that away. I stayed at the Betsie River campground in a small cabin. I didn’t realize it had power, but was glad there was an electric space heater.

Saturday morning was very chilly, but I was up and out of bed before the sun came up. I noticed an all-day breakfast place that was nearby the race start on my through and decided that would be a great place to stop. I was not the only racer to stop in at Rosie’s Country Café and I was right, the food was pretty amazing.

Filled up with eggs, hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy I made my way over to the packet pick-up. Even though I was in the third wave, I still had plenty of time before the race started. I took my number plate (and pint glass) back to the truck to keep warm and think about what I was going to wear for the race.

I had brought my shoe covers, but decided against them, that was a mistake. I did a quick little warm-up and my fingers were freezing (even though I wore my long-fingered gloves) and my feet seemed to be okay. After my warm-up (and wishing I had grabbed a different set of gloves… I was worried about braking/shifting, especially on the downhills) I headed to the start line and we were off a few minutes later.

I wasn’t there to compete, but just enjoy the day… the sun was out, there was blue skies and the fall colors were fantastic. Everyone sprinted out of the gate, I wasn’t really interested in pushing super hard, but found a couple folks to ride with. One of those riders was on a Surly Karate Monkey and was a single-speed. Also riding a steel frame, he gave me props when I passed by.

My hands eventually warmed up, but my feet were very cold… I think the temperature hovered just under 40 degrees for the race. Going up the mountain was hard work, but the downhill made it worth it. I was hoping for a negative split, but my second lap was a few minutes slower than the first.
The ending chute was exciting, by the time I got there on my second lap the ground had been torn up and was very soft, I almost ate it on the final turn, but was happy not have an unplanned dismount (especially in front of the crowd).

In my mind, comparing this to the Soft Rock for Ore 2 Shore, they are about the same distance, but the singletrack in Peak 2 Peak make this race a lot more fun. I have a feeling if the weather cooperates, I’ll be doing this one again in the future!

Back in March, I signed up for a campsite in Young State Park just outside Boyne City for this last weekend. The Michigan Mountain Mayhem gravel race was on Saturday and we were hoping to take the boys on their first real camping trip. The weather turned out not so nice, so I ended up camping solo.

Originally, I had reserved a two night stay and was planning to take the big tent, but with sub 40 degree temps and chance of rain, Susan didn’t want to drive the boys up to stay Saturday night. I ended up taking the backpacking tent and tried to pack enough cycling gear to give me options for the race.

I left just before the kids’ bedtime and got into the campground around 10:00 pm. The drive was rain free until I turned off I-75 just north of Gaylord. When I pulled up to the ranger station near the park entrance, there were no park rangers around to get me checked in. There was a yellow phone I had to use to confirm my stay and site number.

The rain had let up a little, but it was still coming down at a steady rate as I was driving around trying to find site number 108. There were no posts with numbers at the front of each site, instead the numbers were painted on the ground. I had to make two loops and pull the map up on my phone before I was able to figure out which site was mine.

After watching the triple doppler radar, I waited for the rain to let up a little before setting up camp. I somehow managed to get the footprint, tent, and rainfly all orientated the correct way and the tent went up quickly without getting much water inside. As I was unloading the truck and putting stuff in the tent, somehow the pillow I brought had gotten wet. It was in the back next to the hatch and I think when I opened the hatch, a pool of water trickled in and got it wet.

I changed into my long underwear, used my sweatshirt as a pillow, cinched the sleeping bag around my face and managed to get a decent nights rest. Around 6:00 am, I really had to pee, but the desire to stay in the nice, warm, comfy sleeping bag outweighed that need. Eventually, I got out of bed 30 minutes later and was running to the bathroom.

I slipped back into my sleeping bag and fell asleep for another hour. It was another fight to start getting ready, but I put on the bike gear I thought I would need – socks, tights, bibs, jersey, wind-shell jacket, skull cap, buff, and my full finger gloves. I really should have brought my shoe covers and would have appreciated my winter gloves… my feet were numb for quite awhile after the race.

I drove to packet pick-up, got my number and headed back to the campsite. It was only a few miles away and there was a nice bike path for part of the trip I could use. I filled my water bottles (2) up with Tailwind Nutrition, ate the rest of my granola bars and headed back to the start line.

As soon as I started going, my hands were a little cold and I knew my feet were going to be miserable. I got to the start with plenty of time and had a nice little warm-up. Soon my wave was called up and we were off… I think I was the only one riding a road-type bike with road caliper brakes. I didn’t have any problems with the narrow tires (Hutchinson Sector 32s) except the sketchy/sloppy grass at the start/finish line.

The first few miles were pavement and I was pushing a good pace. Jumping behind and drafting where possible and trying to catch the next few riders. At one point, I passed another rider wearing a bright pink Flintstones jersey. He eventually caught up to me during one of the climbs, we chatted and saw each other a few times before the finish line. I was pretty happy to finish a few minutes ahead of him! 🙂

I’m not sure which race has more overall elevation gain, this one or Barry Roubaix, but there were some pretty long climbs during this race. The first big climb was almost a mile up a gravel road, then we hit Diablo’s mountain. I didn’t realize this was a paved climb, but it was still close to a 2 mile climb at a decent incline. After some fun descents down the “mountain”, we looped around and climbed the backside of the first climb (it was a lot more fun going down than up).

Overall the race went pretty smoothly, I was able to clear all the climbs, my nutrition held up, and I finished within 5 minutes of my goal time of 3 hours.

We were given a meal ticket for lunch, but there was a line, I was cold and figured I could find somewhere else to eat. I biked back to the campsite, grabbed my shower gear and took the best hot shower ever. I found a brewery I wanted to try, outside smelt amazing, but there was a Harvest Festival going on downtown and the place was packed. I took a quick cruise through the vendors to see if there were any food truck type places, nothing jumped out at met. I did see a stand selling hot chocolate and figured I would grab a cup after lunch.

I settled on subway, got a big sub, and watched the ongoings of the festival while I ate. Kids probably would have had fun, there were quite a few activities going on. After lunch, I went to get a hot chocolate, but they had run out… 🙁

Back at the campsite, I was undecided if I was going to stay the night. After a nice long nap (rudely awoken by a guy and his metal detector), I decided to head home and sleep in a nice warm bed. I had a great time and would love to do this race again (not sure I would tent camp it though 😉 ).

Well… I’m 2 for 2 on waking up race day with a splitting headache. After I got the kids dressed and ate some breakfast, I took some Tylenol and laid down with a cool cloth on my forehead… neither seemed to help.

After a hot shower, the Tylenol might have knocked the pain down a little and I set off a little before 10 am. I knew it was going to be a hot one, so I stopped to pick up a big PowerAde and a couple of energy bars. I’m glad I left as early as I did, Island Lake Rec Area was having a no-entry fee day and the place was packed.

After getting a parking spot a couple miles from the race start, I unpacked my gear, aired my tires up and set off to get my number plate. Riding to the starting line was a little rough, it was hot and my headache was not letting up.

I picked up my number and figured I had enough time to head back to the truck to drop off my extra bottle and swag. I made it back to the truck, found a nice tree to sit under and watch the folks enjoying the hot weather on the beach. Once I finished my water bottle (and a couple more Tylenol), I took a spin around the trails by the parking lot and headed to the start line.

I was able to pee twice before the gun went off, so I figured I was pretty well hydrated to begin with. As they were calling up the waves, I made sure not to get stuck behind the wave after mine and had a pretty decent start.

Not feeling 100% and the weather being a factor, I decided to take it easy this race. I don’t have my official time, but I’m pretty sure I was slower than last year. I was a little bummed about this, but thinking about it, I’m happy I was able to finish. The race went as well as it could, I stayed on my hydration (one bottle of Tailwind nutrition per hour) and I didn’t crash, even after a sketchy corner sent me into the rough (as I was getting back on the trail, I saw a bunch of other folks nearly lose it on the same corner).

As I was finishing up my third and final lap, I got stuck behind the strider/kids race. It was neat to see the little tikes on the course and I wish our kids were more interested in riding their bikes. After I crossed the finish line, I found a nice cool spot in the shade and tried to ready myself for the ride back to the truck. It was only a couple miles, but it was a very humbling ride.

I made my way past the traffic waiting for a parking spot to open up, blasted the A/C and headed back home, looking forward to the next race in a couple weeks (hopefully without a headache).

Well this year’s Barry Roubaix was a lot different than the last time I did it. The sun was out, temps reached to the upper 70s, and the course was dry… really dry and dusty! It was a beautiful day for the race and great day to ride a bike. I road my SSCX with a smaller gear than last time and still got a good workout in.

I started off out of town latching onto any wheel I could. We hit the gravel and were going downhill at a good speed. Instead of tapping the brakes, I decided to try to pass someone on the right only to get sucked down into a track on the right side of the road. It took a couple of attempts, but I was able to get back on the road and someone even commented on my maneuver, “Nice save!”.

Then we hit the first of the three sisters. I was able to make it up the first two, but could only ride half-way up the third one. From there it was down and up, up and down and finally hit the lengthy pavement section. Going up with one gear took some work, but I was able to recover on the downhill section, even managed to get aero enough to pass people without pedaling!

The two-track section was open this year and man that was interesting. There was sand, rocks, and some serious ruts you couldn’t ride through! A little while after this section came “The Wall”, there was a group performing and kept me entertained as I pushed my bike to the top.

After a few more hills, I saw a pace group from the 62-mile race flying by. I jumped on after the last rider of about ten and held on for as long as I could. That was fun, we were easily doing mid-20’s on the gravel and I wanted to stick with them until we hit pavement, but I wasn’t able to keep up when we hit a hill a few minutes later.

Even though I improved my time by 30 minutes, the race still took me quite a long time to finish. If I do this race next year, I’m going to enter the single speed division for the 22-mile race. If I work my butt off, I might be able to get a podium spot! 🙂

The weather has been all over the place, but it looks like spring might actual be on its way. If the forecast holds, my first race of the year, Barry Roubaix, will be an excellent weekend. I’ve been trying to log as many hours as I can on the trainer and hope that time pays off. I’ll once again be riding my single speed cross bike, with a 40×18 gearing this time around.

In other news, the Tour de Frankenmuth road race was canceled… 🙁 I was really looking forward to doing this race. I had wanted to ride with the “A” group out of Lennon to prepare myself for this race, but after hearing it was canceled I switched my focus to mountain bike race prep. Speaking of which, I managed to win a free entry to the Yankee TT mountain bike race on April 24! 😀

Our camping gear has slowly started to trickle in over past few weeks. My pack didn’t fit as well as it could and I returned it for a size smaller, the folks at backcountry.com took care of me and it was a pretty painless process. The tent was a little tricky to get setup (in the living room), but now that I’ve done it, shouldn’t be too bad.

Last week our stove, bowl set, and fuel canisters came. Supposedly the bowls and a 230 gm canister can fit inside the stove cup, but it’s not as easy as you would think. The canisters come in slightly different shapes/sizes and even watching a YouTube video didn’t help get everything together. After 30 or 40 minutes of different configurations I was finally able to figure out a way to get it all in the one container (might have to color code it for future reference 😉 ).

…the Killer Gravel Road race, killer it was. Somehow I convinced myself I could handle single speed at this race. Half-way through the first set of hills I was beginning to regret that decision.

Pre-race:

We got up early, fed Henry and headed down to breakfast. I had a couple pieces of French toast and a small muffin, washed down with a glass of orange juice. I’ve learned my lesson about eating too much for breakfast before a race…

A quick stop at Wal-mart for some race nutrition (pop-tarts), baby food, a snack for Susan and some Gatorade. We found a parking spot a couple blocks from the start line, but several blocks from packet pick-up. I thought about riding my bike down there, but changed my mind and walked instead. Packet pick-up was in the basement of an Ace Hardware store and although there were tons of people, it was very well organized. After making the trek back to the car, I chatted with Susan for a little bit until I figured it was about time to get ready for the race.

I was nervous about what to wear and was happy with what I chose, shoe covers (one or two sizes too small), tights, Ore-to-Shore socks, REI bib shorts, race-cut bike jersey, Nike running jacket, winter bike gloves, and my skull cap. I had debated going long sleeve over my bibs for an insulating layer, but ended up not needing it. I wasn’t cold until we were right outside town and the wind started to pick up a bit.

After getting my gear together and tires inflated, I road my bike around a couple blocks for a warm-up. Then it was a quick stop at the porta-johns and off to the starting area. Single-speeders were in Wave 2, so at least I didn’t have to stand around for long. I did strike up a conversation with a fellow cyclist who like pretty nervous, hope he did well. I ate one pop-tart before our wave moved up, chugged some Gatorade and off I went.

Race:

I was cruising along on the city streets without much problem. I was passing by folks and was having a pretty good time. We hit the gravel and it didn’t seem so bad. I was okay up the first couple of hills, but probably pushed myself too hard. When we got to the series of hills known as The Three Sisters, I had to push up the last one. It was a lot of uphill and downhill from there on out.

Around mile ten I started to cramp in my right calf muscle (really, 10 miles?) I was trying to ride as many hills as I could, that probably hurt me more than anything… I really need to do some sort of hill training this year.

The first few sections of gravel weren’t too bad, but then we got to some spongy stuff that I imagined would be similar to riding through peanut butter. Having only one gear, I didn’t have a lot of choices; I was either pushing through or walking through. I decided to push, but it didn’t feel like I was going very fast (which I wasn’t…)

There were quite a few mud holes, some of which had serious ruts going through them. Somehow I stayed rubber side down and was able to get through the worst of it. When we reached the climb known as The Killer, both legs were cramping and I was pushing.

I figured this would be a good opportunity to have my second pop-tart. I’m sure it was a site to see, this guy pushing his bike up a monster hill chomping on a pop-tart. It was pretty funny when I was pushing up another hill and there was a tandem team also pushing. I managed to get past them and one of them commented saying, “People are even walking faster than us!” I think they were having a rough ride, although I wasn’t much better off.

We got to some pavement and I caught up with a guy riding fixed gear. We chatted a little bit before I dropped him on a hill climb and he said this was the worst race conditions he had ridden in four years. We ended up seeing quite a bit of each other until I pulled away from him a couple miles from the end (although he did have a faster time than me).

Well, I took longer than expected to finish and Susan and Henry were cold waiting for me to cross the finish line. I mustered up what little strength I had and sprinted towards the finish line. I was hoping to have a picture of me crossing, because I’m sure I had quite a face after that race.

Post Race:

I texted Susan to let her know I crossed the finish line. My race time was just under 3:15 (about an hour longer then I had anticipated). After my legs finally stopped screaming, I pushed my bike over to the street we parked on, hopped on and headed to the car. Susan had the car running and the heat blasting, which was pretty much awesome. Unfortunately they looked cold and were ready to head back to the hotel. We stopped to get some lunch at KFC and made are way to the hotel for naptime.

I’m not sure if I’ll be doing this race again, although today I’m looking back and it was actually pretty fun trying to finish something challenging (especially on one gear). My race nutrition held up pretty well, two pop-tarts and two 21 ounce bottles of Gatorade. If I do try this race again I’ll probably swap to a 42-20 gear instead of 42-18.

I did get a bunch of comments on my bike and riding single speed, which was pretty neat!