Category: Mountain Biking

THE biggest mountain bike race in the state of Michigan. THE one raace no one ever knows how to dress for. THE greatest after party with Bell’s beer, and food trucks-a-plenty. THE Ice Man Cometh Challenge of 2017……

Dave Goff Sr. 

Iceman bike race from Kalkaska to the Timber Ridge Resort in Traverse City, as always was an awesome race this year! Started out with a little snow making the trail a little slick , but fun to ride. Unfortunately I had a flat tire about half way. I got it fixed and finished the race. The after p
arty was great! But extremely crowed. Looking forward to next year!

Kelli K

This weekend was supposed to be a double-header with the Fear The Forest Cyclocross race on Saturday at the Ziegler Action Sport complex and the RunUp Milwood Park Cyclocross race at Milham Park. On Friday afternoon, saw a post on the Fear The Forest Facebook page that they were cancelling due to predicted severe weather and low pre-registrations. I gave them a little heat posting a pic of what a real cyclocross looks like in Europe. As Saturday came around, I could see why they would have cancelled, but I would have been there without a moment’s hesitation. Fortunately, The RunUp guys and Pedal Bikes stood strong and ran the race.

I raced both the C and B races. I finished C’s 3 lap race 5th out of 22. I did not pre ride the course and was learning the turns and obstacles as I went. With that said, I was pretty wasted after the race. I finished B’s 7 laps 22 out of 24! What the hell happened there?!?! I started at the back because I missed the line up call. Through the first lap, I thought I worked my way up to around close to halfway through the pack. I conserved energy since I had a couple dudes in sight and hoped many behind me. I finished less wasted than the C race. I only found out my results later in the evening on Facebook. The only thing I could think of is that there were a few DNF’s, but who knows.

It was windy and rainy for both races. Every lap that went by, the course got less and less ride-able. Fast lines that I found in the C and beginning of B were quickly transformed into mud bogs. Traction was good throughout but there were sections with standing water under grass that zapped speed and energy and then some wonderful mud pits to run and ride through. I am glad I finally got a CX experience that I only read about and have seen pictures of. I’ll also chalk this up to another preparations for a potentially messy Iceman in 3 weeks.

~Jeff C

Dwight’s Report…

I was joined by fellow WSI Cycling racer, Laura Stuchell, for the first Lord Of The Springs with me yesterday. It’s a great new race, but they do have a couple bugs to work out for next year (including a big ‘ole bottleneck at the start). But other than that, it was a great mix of Barry Roubaix gravel road racing and Yankee Springs singletrack. I raced fast but not aggressive, as they really promoted this race for new racers as well.

I got in line a little late…

The race started at 10:00 am, so I was surprised to see the folks that wanted to do well lined up before 9 o’clock! Of course, I didn’t get in line until 9:45. That being said, I got stuck in a bottleneck unlike any other I’ve been in before. Likely caused me several minutes off my time as the congestion cleared out, but overall I thought this was a great race that has a future.

I finished 7th in the single speed class with a time of 1 hour 53 minutes for 26 miles.

At the starting line

More cowbells!

Julie icing her wounds.

See you at the Lowell 50 in October!
~Dwight

Laura’s Report…

The Lord of the Springs Trail/Gravel bike race was a nice race for its first year. As with most first-year races, there are some areas for improvement such as a wave start rather than mass start and/or a longer thin out loop stand out as two changes that I hope they make for next year. The bottleneck going into the trail was a real bummer…. A lot of hurry up and wait.

What I really liked about this race was the challenge of going from trail to gravel and back to trail. I’m very new to trail riding (actually new to gravel racing too!) but like the change of focus this race required in going from trail to gravel and back to trail.

The conditions were great; a little warm but plenty dry. I wasn’t at all sure what to expect on this ride but ended up 5th out of 10 in my age group; which I’m happy with for my first Yankee Trail ride/race.  My favorite part of the race was the Barry gravel and hills (the support/traffic control was good)… I’d say my least favorite was the Bassett Lake Rd sand pit hill, but it was a challenge that brought a new dimension to the race for me.

I’ll definitely keep this one on my to-do list for 2018! Next up Lowell and Iceman!!!

~Laura