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Ride to the Stadium

I have been riding with WSI/Team Active for about 7 years and racing for about 5 of those. Before I was adopted by the Team Active family, I did a couple group rides with my fraternity brothers. These group rides happened once a year (for 24 years!) from Birmingham Michigan to the Big House in Ann Arbor. This last weekend, was the annual event and after I describe this gathering, you will know why I was an easy convert to a cycling enthusiast.

The Friday night before our annual ride, we all get together along with our spouses at one of the rider’s homes to catch up. I have known many of these guys since 1980 and some of them knew each other when they were in diapers. (We joked about the fact that long before ‘keg stands’ some of these guys may have been done ‘sippy cup stands’). We carb load (excellent pasta and cheeses) and have some of the best wine in the country and then we try to retire to our respective homes before it gets too late. Some Saturday mornings are easier than others, but the older I get, the more intent I am in enjoying the morning ride instead of having a pounding headache until we reach the Ann Arbor Township line. This year, I was at home double-checking my gear, well in advance of 11pm.

Our ride starts early in the morning because we want to stay ahead of the traffic and ensure we have ample time to get to the Big House and ‘tailgate’ before the game. I leave my house in West Bloomfield and ride the 15 miles to Birmingham by myself with my lights on. It is a very cathartic ride, rarely do I see more than 5 or 6 cars on some of the most travelled roads in Oakland County. 5am is just a little early on Saturday for most people to be out, let alone on a bike so I am sure people are wondering what I might be doing until they see that I am dressed from head to toe in the University of Michigan cycling team gear, and on game day! (Then they might at least suspect that I am headed toward Ann Arbor.

There are about 25 to 30 of us who ride and everyone is at all levels of experience and fitness. To say there is a no-drop rule would be a complete lie, but we do try to stay together in small groups. There are so many people and we are so spread out, often times, we have no idea if anyone has had a mechanical until they roll in after we have been standing around for 30 minutes. (So much for being our brother’s keeper!) I doubt we have ever taken the same route twice, and this year we went more south than previous years because some of the roads were under construction. I am not that familiar with the route but I was out front with Steve Frank pulling into the 11 mph headwind from the south. We missed a turn and by the time Steve and I turned around, the main group had already made good progress toward our final check point (a party store at Plymouth Road and North Territorial).

This is a false flat and there was a crossing wind and the two of us were well separated from the group. This group ride suddenly felt like a road race. Steve is a spinning class instructor and very solid, so I tucked in behind him and he started to pick off the back of the group one by one. They would try to hold on to my wheel, and I was doing everything I could to hold on the Steve’s. After about 5 minutes, Steve said that was all he had and we were still 1/10th of a mile behind the lead group. I pulled for a couple minutes and gave Steve a chance to catch his breath, then he got in front again and started to narrow the gap again. We narrowed the gap, but did not catch them before our final stop. When we rolled into the party store, the lead group said they were going so fast because they thought that Steve and I were on a parallel road trying to beat them to the check point!

At this final stop, many of the group grab a quart of beer (which conveniently fits nicely into a standard water bottle cage) and we have our own victory lap complete with the champagne of beers for the last 6 miles to the stadium.

When we arrive at the stadium, we do a bit of a tour of the tailgating area and then find where we stowed our change of clothes and commence to celebrate our 50 + mile ride to the stadium (and that we all made it one more year). It is great to see these guys every year and do something that is so enjoyable. It is a nice long ride for me and it underscores the miles that still need to be completed before the upcoming IceMan Cometh Mountain Bike race. Go Blue and Go WSI/Team Active Racing.

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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

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Kisscross Cannonsburg Ski Area – Cyclocross is back

So the day finally came that I have been anticipating since, a monster of a sandy hill and a tight 180 turn in a sandpit. I was competing in both the C and B categories tonight. My aim was to do well in C’s and use the B race to fine tune my ‘cross legs for the rest of the season. The hole shot is critical in ‘cross and I only managed to place fifth of sixth rounding hill at the first turn. I was on the inside and the rider in front of my went straight over his bars blocking the whole inside line bringing me to a complete stop. By the time I recovered I was down in about twelfth place. Thoughts of victory were gone in that first turn. When we hit the creek crossing for the first time the field bottlenecked and I ended up, no exaggeration, waiting my turn as riders crossed three abreast. After that, much of the race was a blur. It took a few laps before I found my rhythm. The creek crossing was a focal point for the crowd and a herd of screaming cowbell toting ‘cross fans made for a gladiatorial atmosphere. After thirty lung scorching minutes it was over, all too soon.

Results weren’t available on the night as the new electronic scoring system was bedding in but I found out later that I had managed a respectable 2nd place in the 35+ category. Can’t be disappointed with that at the first race of the season.

After a quick bike clean up and check over I was back at the start line less than thirty minutes later for the 45 minute B race. I took a steadier approach and felt fully in control as I picked off riders lap by lap. I purposefully started at the back and worked my way up about fifteen places during the race as I gained in confidence and commitment. By the end of the B race the creek crossing was a total leap of faith as the lights failed to illuminate the entry bank. Both legs were submerged half way to your knees in mud as you jumped in. Perfect. The hurdles area was also in complete darkness by the later laps with lights shining in your eyes as you tried to line up for them. Again this just added to the challenge.

Post race a crowd of wet, sweaty, muddy racers dissected the race over a beer while the A racers showed us how it was done. Did I mention that I love the fall for a reason?

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DNF versus DFL Demons

West Branch Road Race is hard enough (1500 feet of climbing per lap) without the wind being mixed in.  Add low temperatures (High 40s at start time) and rain and you have a combination that makes the primary pre-race discussion in the pits about; leg warmers or no, hat, no hat?  Warming up means sitting in your car as long as you can and hope that your muscles will not penalize you for putting them into the wind and rain before the first attack.  I pre-rode this course with some friends from Wolverine Sports Club and we did 3 laps.  My back was still tender from all the climbing from the ride 3 weeks prior.  If not for a ‘pact’ to do the race between me Danny and Derrick after our Wednesday night team ride, I would not have even set the alarm to drive all the way to West Branch in the rain.  But, loyalty is loyalty…so we death marched our way north.

It is always great to have team mates at a race, on a cold rainy windy nasty day, it is even better  to have some moral support.  We ignored the weather, donned our team kits and proceeded to the start.  In the first turn, we all communicated very well, there were 56 pre-registered, but who knows how many idiots like me actually showed up.  The wind was off to our left and I kept tucked in behind some very strong cyclists for the first 12 miles of the first lap.  Danny was possessed as he was on Wednesday night and was out front for a great deal of the rollers.  I made a mistake and stayed on the windward side of the echelon and when they turned up the tempo, I had no legs.  I knew that the race was over for me with about 5 miles left in the first lap!  Three other riders worked with me in the wind, but by the time we made the turn to the first time up the climb, the pack was gone.

I rolled up the monster hill after the first lap and had the opportunity to call it a day.  After all, I was done, I could not even see the lead pack any more.  But, I committed to have Danny’s “6.”  If he had a mechanical or something, I would give him whatever he needed to get back in the race.  I also remember a team mate telling me (commanding me) that you never ever ever leave a race unless you are hurt, have a mechanical or are pulled.  I fought these demons because I was all alone in the wind and had no one to work with.

I was closing in on a couple Cat 4s who were shelled out the back like me, but when the Cat 5s went by, two of them jumped on the group (an illegal move and when I protested to the follow car, the officials pulled them off, but they were too far ahead and were connected together now and I was, alas, all alone.)

Unfortunately, when you are riding by yourself in a race (it has happened to me way too often) you have time to think.  I committed myself to burning calories in my final lap and ‘being there for Danny’ in case he needed me.  Well, Danny was there for me at the last few yards of the climb to the finish and I know I did not have as good a day as Danny did (we still have not seen results), but I know this, I did not DNF.

Jack Miner.

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Sunday Race in the Industrial Park (2)

The 3rd race of the AAVC Spring Training Series was today and my son joined the C race again. He did a great job, it was 25 minutes plus 2 laps and in the final 5 minutes, once again, carnage occurred. According to my son, it looked like a cyclist touched the wheel of a racer and went down, taking at least 6 others with her. It was ugly and a couple cyclists remained on the deck for several minutes….all are okay.
My race was was the B race and you may remember that I held on for dear life in this race working with another cyclist just to finish. My goal this week was to ride with the front of the pack for at least the first 20 minutes and then see what I could do. At the end of 20 minutes and having stayed at the front of the group, I felt surprisingly strong. For the next 15 minutes, I just paced the group and watched-out for any wacky line changes.  My boss was in the race too (bonus for getting excused to go for long rides during the work day!) and came up next to me in the last 2 laps and said, “it’s go time”. I followed him and continued to follow along with the increased pace until the end, finishing in about the top 15. I may actually feel comfortable hanging in the front during the Milford Criterium if this keeps up!  Go TAR Cycling and WSI!

Jack Miner