Posted on

Stoney Marathon 2013

Stoney Marathon has been one of the Tail-Wind races that I have avoided in the last 3 years of racing. It used to be a double points race and, that I did not need the points. The race just does not look that enticing from the outside…and I found that it is equally hard from the inside.

Sport 50 to 59 does 4 laps of a 10 mile circuit that features just about everything you get from all the other races (sans big climb, but we even had a couple water ‘crossings’ today due to some run off). There are technical sections and board walk and stone gardens. The start temperature was a cool 53 degrees, but forecast was an accurate 70ish degrees at noon, so the weather was nice for a race. I used this longer race to continue to tune up for the LumberJack 100 in just 3 weeks. Working on race-time nutrition, hydration and the mental aspects of LumberJack are pretty key to me…I am actually not looking too forward to this race as of today. Last weekend I did an 83 mile ride on the MTB and covered a couple of the area’s mtb courses. My lower back seems to give out before my legs…I need to work on that (core every night, stretching, nutrition.)

Willy did a great job getting my bike back together on Saturday. I took it out for a spin at the Fort and after the Red loop, noticed my front tire was low on air, pumped it up and did the Blue loop. Again, when complete the tire was low, but Stands takes a while to settle in on a new tire, so not worried. Pumped up the tire, and put it away until Sunday morning.

Race day came and the tire pressure was low again, but I did not want to mess with pulling off the tire and ‘re-standsing’ it, figured-during the race the stands would firm up along one of the 4 laps, but I put my tire pump near the lap chute so I could check between laps. Somehow, I only felt that the pressure was low in the last 100 yards of the race and, when I checked, the tire was too low to register the pressure gage, so I pumped up the front tire each time…good to go. Lost some time, but I missed the podium by 3 minutes, not sure that I spent more than 20 seconds in the pit each lap…so whether I had to pump it up or not, probably did not make a difference. Another race in the books. Adam Cefai did his usual great job and finished 2nd for sport single speeds. I took 6th-just missing hardware two races in a row.

All good. Cheers. Jack Miner.

Posted on

Tail Wind Series-Island Lake 2013

Temperature was mid 50s.  Adam Cefai was in the house and it was great to see him and warm up with him prior to the race.  Experts returned and gave reports that the track was running fast.  We lined up a little before 1pm and chatted with all of the ‘usual suspects’.  I said good bye to Adam as he was going to start behind the sport class.  My good friend Gary was there, realized that I did not have my transponder on.  Starter said, no problems…they would track me based on my number.

We rolled.  Gary took a wide sprint to the right to get into a cleaner line.  Gary and I have been racing each other for years, I figured that was the last I would see him.  Nice little pitch up to start the race kept us well bunched together and I could see the front  guy run away, but the rest of us were pretty close to each other.

The new course has us going through the woods on a lopping carving path that is not hard, but is difficult to keep speed.  I stayed with the top 5 riders and pushed from the back until we had a chance to pass.  Gary was in 3rd wheel when we go to some nice straight lines.  I recovered on his wheel and chatted with him about how some fat tire guy flew through the curves like he was on skis.

We got to the first road crossing and I passed Gary and told him to take my wheel and I would pull for a while.  As we came up to a choke point in the turn, one guy squeezed by me, but I figured Gary was still on my 6.  He was actually rubbed off at the choke point and so I drove up to be next to the guy who slid past me as we hit the wash outs on the west side of the course.

No real action, one or two single speeds came by, then I heard Adam call me.  I slid over and let him pass, he was about 20 seconds behind the two guys in front of him.

I rode the wheel of a couple guys who were keeping a good pace in some tight single track and the guy behind me was calling out turns and obstacles like a rally driver’s co pilot.  We made the hard left onto the yellow course.

We looped through the Blue Lot start and were in the final stretch.  I was passed by Mr. Sharphorne.  I respect the crap out of this guy.  I pushed hard to stay with the 72 year old legend and as we came up to the finishing loop.  I hung on his wheel, could have passed, but felt it was heresy to do so.  I pulled along next to him in the last 100 yards and he saw me out of the corner of his eye.  He picked up the tempo a bit and I said I was not going to challenge him for the line and let him get in front of me.  Sometimes you don’t need a yellow jersey to get a great deal of respect.

I finished somewhere in the top 10, but had a great ride with some great people.

Jack Miner.

 

Posted on

Snowshoe Fun in Northern Michigan

The Big Foot Boogie snowshoe race at Timber Ridge in Traverse City this weekend was Jana Turpin’s first race of the year as a new WSI/Team Active racing member. She did the 5k as I did the 10k. We were hoping for a lot of fresh snow on Saturday as the weather forecast was predicting. To our disappointment, no fresh powder or even cold weather. The temp at the start was mid 30’s and rising and a snow depth of 4-5 inch’s at the deepest.

Snowshoe Racers - Timber Ridge
Not much snow, but still a good time outdoors!

As the gun went off there was a flurry of snowshoes and snow flying like a human snow blower was rolling through the park. With in the first mile the field stretched out and some overly ambitious runners had dropped back. I could still see the leaders and started counting how many were in front of me finding myself in the top 25 I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to hold my pace and position hoping for an ae group win.

After making a few passes and the first of two loops on the course I started to lose my pace and slow a bit. Getting passed by two runners around the 7k mark I regrouped and made a charge to catch them within the last 1k and fell just short by under a minute, finishing 19th over all and 2nd in my age group. Good start to the new year.

Awards For The Race
Awards for our hard work.

~Chuck Brenner

Posted on

Cyclocross Fun in Kalamazoo – No Chain, Some Pain…

Today I expanded my cycling resume to officially include “cyclocross racing” to the list. While I’ve owned a cyclocross bike for several years, up until today most of what I’ve used it for has been riding the spring roads here in Michigan (which makes me much more confident with all the potholes).  Besides, what other sport can you do where prizes include six-packs of beer and everyone (who’s of age, of course) can grab a cold one after racing?!

Style points for the multi-colored handlebar tape.

I did the Kisscross Masters “B” race at Markin Glenn Park in Kalamazoo, which means I had 45 minutes of racing ahead of me. I initially thought about doing the “C” race for 30 minutes, but for the $25 entry fee, figured I’d at leasts get another 15 minutes of exercise. We took off at noon with a good group of other racers. I had done a couple of pre-race laps to get a handle on the course and true to cyclocross races, there were two sections on the course which required a dismount. The first section involved three foot-high barriers and with some tips from Andy at Team Active the week before, was able to negotiate them without any problems. It’s amazing how much easier it is to dismount and then run with your bike when you actually un-clip from your pedals!

The second area that required a dismount (and run) was just after a section that took riders along the water’s edge (yes, that means SAND!), and while riding parallel to the water was not much of a challenge, headed back up to the course involved 10-15 feet of wet and soft sand – impossible to ride. Even the “A” racers all walked up this section. More about the sand later.

Each of the laps was about 1.25 miles, but as is the case with cyclocross you race for a set amount of time, so the number of laps you end up doing really depend on how fast the leaders are riding. At 30 minutes (which is the time of the “C” race – and the race I was planning on doing, until I got there and signed up) I was glad that I had 15 minutes left (and not the full “A” race of 60 minutes).

Kinda hard to go very fast when you don’t have a chain!

Completing my final lap, I successfully managed to run over the three barriers, climb the big hill at the back of the loop, successfully navigated “the ditch” and had one more trip to the beach before crossing the line. I made the hairpin turn to the left and headed into the sand, and while each of my previous entrances were smooth, this time I caught a deep rut left by another bike and it got me off track. The sudden stop caused my chain to come off, get wrapped up in my rear cog and then I heard the SNAP!

Crap, I broke my chain but the good news was that I had made it to the home stretch. This (of course) was also the most populated spectator section, so when everyone realized why I was carrying my bike and running the rest of the couse, the cowbells and cheers seemed to continue to increase. I got passed by several other riders, but at this point it didn’t really matter. I just wanted to finish, and that mission was accomplished.

Toasting the beach that took my chain on the last lap.

As I enjoyed my “post-race” beer and watched the “A” group race, I couldn’t help but think about my first mountain bike race, which must have been 1989 or 1990. Similar to my finish today, I suffered a mechanical at the end of the race, but unlike today, figured that if my bike was broke I was done. But, luckily I had a buddy yell “RUN, you’re almost there” and ended up finishing my first mountain bike race carrying my bike.

Since then I’ve lost count of how many mountain bike races I’ve done, but that one finish always sticks in my mind. Today’s no exception and what a great way to kick off my cyclocross efforts.

~Eric Cook

Posted on

ICEMAN 2012

the ICEMAN is as much an event as it is a race.  Preparing for it is like the excitement of a year-end race party while being anxious about more than 4, price 000 cyclists in a race.  For me, it was hard not to complain in October about being sick and not being able to train the way I knew I should, but there are so many guys who are fighting so much tougher illnesses and broken bones, I opted to just keep it to myself (and my loving wife who tolerates me).

Pre-riding the last third of the race has become a key part of this race preparation.  The race organizers seem to find pleasure in having a “pseudo” finish with a mile or two left or crazy choke points in the chute that make things interesting after having turned yourself inside out for a couple hours.  On Friday, I rode from Williamsburg road to the finish and found each of Anita’s Hill and Cassies Cliff to be manageable if I stayed off the oak leaves.  There was no traction in the oak leaves in the middle of the 20 percent grade at the top of Anita’s Hill (good lesson for Saturday).  My dad was helping me by dragging me around the county as I did the obligatory package pick up, pre-race prep and other things that make me hard to be around.  But all was good, an easy Friday Prep, the Fuel EX was running great, full suspension (which is not necessary for this race) was topped off and ocked out…I was ready for a fitful night’s sleep.

Listening to the radio on Saturday on the way to Kalkaska, the radio guy said there was 1 ½”  of snow on the ground in Acme, right in the 30 mile path of our ride between Kalkaska and Traverse City.  I recalled a previous ICEMAN where the trail conditions transitioned from an ice rink in Kalkaska to wheel grabbing mud in Timber Ridge, turned out that the finishing conditions were going to be replicated this year.

The race started well, I moved up from mid-front to front 10 after the first hard left turn which guides us out to the trail between the middle school and the Hockey Arena.  Wanting to keep my heart rate well below threshold for the first half of the race (with training well below what it should have been, I wanted to pace myself for the last half of the race) but still wanting to be in position to stay away from the guys who cannot handle the sand well in the first couple of hills, I stayed toward the front.

Guys who clearly were over-confident or under-experienced, went into the oak leaves to pass and were falling down regularly.  In the first 10 miles, I heard more than a half dozen guys go down behind me and maybe the same number fell in front of me.  I actually rode over the back tire of a guy who fell in front of me on some single track.  I was feeling good going into Williamsburg road hill, my dad with his customary goose call rooting me on and good friend Patrick and Cristen yelling at me to get my “fat ass up the hill”.  It made me laugh, and I felt good with about 17 k to go.

My goal was to average 20 minute 5 mile ‘sections’, the first was 18, the second well over 20 and the third was also over 20 minutes.  I was starting to feel the affects of not having put in big efforts in October.  After passing Williamsburg road, it was a different race.  Tactically, I had handled the race exactly how I wanted, and was taking advantage of the big descents that accompany the climbs.  I am not sure what happened during one of the descents, I suspect that I just kicked up a lot of mud into my drive train and I ended up losing access to my small ring and half of my middle ring, climbing became an impossible task.

Anyone who has ridden these hills knows that it is much easier on your legs to spin up in your granny gear than to run up off of your bike…your quads, calves and ham strings just scream when you are off the bike.  Spinning up was no longer an option for me, the chain just wrapped around the middle ring every time I tried to call for the small ring…SUCKED!

I was much more upset about the training that lead up to the race than the race itself, I feel like I handled the course well and, except for being at a full stop between 24 and 26 k (off the bike stopped!  Though I had heard of this, it had never happened to me before…miserable).  After the race, I found that my rear derailleur was bent, I have no idea how it happened, but it compounded the gritty drive train issues, for sure.  At the finish, there was nothing left of me—at all.  By the time I found my dad and my change of clothes, I was feeling sick to my stomach, something that took 45 minutes to go away.

The race was a very hard effort for me and I was very disappointed in my results, it turns out, however, that my results were on par with what they were last year.  I finished 30 out of 92 with a time just over 2:30 (10 minutes slower than last year.)

It is a great sport, I finish this ‘last race’ every year and by the time the beer is gone, I am looking forward to next year’s races and training over the winter.  Thanks as always to Team Active and WSI for sponsoring the team—it was great to see a bunch of TAR Teamies at the finish.  Have a good winter…see you at the end of winter party.

Jack Miner