2010 Season Finale - Iceman

Well the 2010 race season is in the books. As usual, it was topped off with the biggest MTB race on the Michigan MTB racing scene, Iceman.

This hasn't been the year I was hoping it'd be as far as my cycling is concerned. I have put in barely any riding since Lumberjack. I had a short stint of running to prepare not to die for the GLR in mid July and then whole move to the new house essentially shut my cycling down. So, this year I was relying on natural talent and superior equipment.

My preparation for Iceman consisted of a 45 minute run, an hour spin on the trainer and about 100 push ups the week of the race. Never the less, I was geeked when Friday hit and Jason and I were loaded and rolling to my parent's place in TC. Iceman was looking to once again earn it's name as snow flakes started to fall as we neared Cadillac.

Later that night, the expo was hopping as usual. Jason and I picked up our race packets and made our rounds through the booths and filled out every raffle in sight. We headed off to Chili's and met up with a small contingent of the team for a pre-race meal and a few carbohydrate replenishing beverages. Then hit the sack.

It was COLD in the am before the race. I am not sure of the official temp but, it was, without a doubt in the 20's. I had literally brought all of my warm weather riding gear and made my gear decisions in the parking lot about 20 minutes before the race. Even debating rocking the Bar Mitts I picked up at the expo. Then headed to the start with little time to spare.

I ended up reaching the start about 5 minutes before my wave was going off, ducked under the rope and jumped in the back of the wave. My mood was incredibly light in comparison to last year. I didn't have much for expectations and no lofty goals like last year. The siren sounded and my wave was off.

This year's start was only slightly less chaotic than last year. I suspect primarily because I was only able to maintain 20-21mph and wasn't able to do much but, chase the back of the pack. Luckily, the group thinned out and there was no big crash when we first left the pavement. I am betting it helped to have volunteers waving and motion to the group to move over. Unfortunately, I got tangled up in a big pile up when a large group of riders grinded to a hault in the first sandy up hill. I was fortunate to have gotten knocked out of it versus going down in the middle, ran the hill, hopped on my bike and was on the way.

The rest of the race is can really be summed up in a few short sentences

• Frozen hands and privates
• Wrong gearing choice
• Upset stomach
• Frozen water bottles
• Wrong rear tire choice
• Lack of conditioning

To elaborate a little more, my hands started aching and going numb in after the first mile. My fingers felt like they were 3 inches in diameter for about 10 miles until they eventually warmed up. My private "member" on the other hand wasn't as luckly and is still sensitive at the moment. I went with 36/17 as my gearing choice. It was simply not enough gearing to hang with the pack and my race was filled with relentless, waves of geared bikes passing my on the flats while I struggled to maintain 18mph. Standing up and mashing was not possible due to the cadence I had to maintain to hit 18mph. For some reason, I decided to try some electrolyte tablets before the race and my output was not only regulated by my gearing but, the fact I felt sick to my stomach for the first 1/3 of the race or so. Which also could have been caused by my frozen "member." At about mile 5, I reached down to my water bottle hoping a drink would help with my stomach. Only to discover both of my water bottles were already 1/2 or more slush filled so, I end up getting two small drinks of fluid the entire race. The course was quite slick and even icy in spots. I was ok with a little two wheel drift here and there but, I ended up running, well walking, many of the hills due to lack of rear wheel traction. Next time, I'll throw on a studded rear tire if there is any snow on the ground. Last year Anita's Hill was where I went from racing to survival mode. Not suprisingly, it had the same effect on me this year. I tried running it but, ran out of steam about 1/2 way up and ended up shuffling to the top. Lack of training was certainly a factor but, I attribute much of my exhaustion and near locking up of my legs to the single track and places where passing was limited in the first 1/2 of the race. The idea of setting people off in waves based on their ability was certainly a good idea. In general, things did seem a little less congested and thinned out well in the start. However, starting in wave 3, I can tell there were certainly some people who beat the system and were seeded far above their ability. At least as far as single track riding is concerned. I felt like a pretty decent technical rider last year in the single track. Feeling like I was being held back some by many of the other riders but, this year was out of control. At times I literally felt like I was attempting track stands in the turns and having no momentum going into the short climbs really took a ton out of my legs early in the race.

So, all of the whining aside, I really enjoyed the fact that there was snow on the ground for the race. It may for some great scenery. There was certainly plenty of, white knuckle, icy sections of the course. Not mention the single track at the end of the race seemed to hold on to your tires as the weather warmed up and melted the snow.  However, it was great to have a real Iceman. I feel like a did a decent job of putting in a solid effort and leaving everything I had on the course. By the end of the race my legs were toast. I anticpate seeing a couple of picture of my running, well shuffling up hills towards the end. At the finish I was a pretty disappointed that I didn't break the 2 hour mark. However, looking at the pro's times and a sampling of other racers, the course was clearly longer and/or slower than last year. My goal last year was to put in a better time than entire women's field. Not because I don't like women but, those pro ladies are fast! So, putting up a time that's ahead of theirs is definitely part of the criteria for being a legit rider. Last year, I beileve 5 women were ahead of me. This year, it was only 2. One of which I managed to pass and hold off in the race, I am pretty sure beat me at mud sweat and beers earlier in the year. To top it off, I ended up taking 5th in the 32-33 age class. Not too shabby. So, this one is going in the books as a success.

So, in the end my only regret was that I didn't get to hang around much after the finish of the race.

Results

Garmin Data

I am still pretty hyped about the whole weekend and could probably blab on for awhile longer but, I'll try and wrap this up so, I can wrangle the kids into bed. Hoping I can start 2011 season with a bang like this year but, avoid the fizzle like 2010.