2012 Iceman

The 2012 Iceman Cometh Mountain Bike Race in Traverse City Michigan was just a blast.  I had been watching the weather for a couple of weeks and as the event drew closer the weather forecast got worse and worse.  What started out as a race that was going to be in the 50's ended up being a race in the 30's with snow.  That's why they call it the Iceman.

I started in the 7th wave this year due to my time from last year.  My goal was a sub 2 hour Iceman and of coarse to beat my friend Mark Boese.  Mark was coming off his broken elbow injury from earlier this year, and he was coming on strong and getting stronger every day as he trained like a madman with a cause.

Unlike last year, when I couldn't find the keys to my car to drive to Kalkaska to the start, this year went pretty off pretty much without a hitch.

I love this event because my whole family comes with me and we make a long weekend out of it.  We stay at Great Wold Lodge in Traverse City, which the kids love and they actually look forward to the Iceman every year.  I enjoy it because they actually come and cheer Dad on.

My wife drove to Kalkaska (where the race starts) so I could make some last minute preparations and just relax in the car.

The ride from Traverse City to Kalkaska, yes it was snowing.

When we got to Kalkaska it was like in a different climate zone, the sun was out and the skies were blue.  I got ready, aired up the tires on my bike and took a quick spin around the parking lot.  The brakes where squeaking really bad, so I cleaned the rotors with some alcohol and headed to the start line.

The race is very well organized and the start is well planned out in waves.  I had a teammate with me in my wave, Aaron Barto and we had talked about working together as much as we could to help each other with our sub 2 hour goals.  I wasn't able to get as close to the front as I would have liked to but I was dealing with it.

As the race started, we where off through a few roads in downtown Kalkaska until we got to the trail head.  I tried to make my way up through the pack on the roads as best I could to be near the front when we hit the trail.  I actually had a guy yell at me to hold my line on the roads as I tried to jockey to the front.  Really, hold my line in a mountain bike race?  I actually think guys like hearing themselves say that because they believe they are in the movie "American Flyers".

End of the roads just before you hit the trails (That's me with the red vest and white sleeves).

As we proceeded through the roads I looked at Aaron and said lets go, I wanted to be closer to the front as we hit the trail.  I wasn't quite where I wanted to be, but I was ok with it.  Things seem to be moving very well.  Every once in awhile I would glance down at my bike computer and it would say we were going 17 to 20 mph as we hit the first 2 track section.  In my mind I thought this is great if we can keep up this pace a sub 2 hour time is possible.

Somewhere along the line I lost Aaron,  speaking to him later at the finish he said he was starting to feel a little sick at about 20 minutes in.

We hit the first hill on the 2 track and it seem to break up the pack a little bit.  Then came the first section of single track and everyone seem to handle that pretty good, I wasn't really slowed down here.

The real problem came at the new section of single track to by-pass the logging roads that were in terrible shape.  The train actually came to a stand still, my estimate is that I lost about 3 minutes due to this.  I would have thought that with starting in wave 7 I shouldn't have encountered a single track stand still, but I guess there are some fast roadies that have very limited single track skills.  This section of single track is not that tough and it wouldn't have held up any mountain biker that I raced against all season long.

Good thing I pre-rode the coarse the week before with Mark Boese and his son Evan, because a really sandy section of logging road was coming up and I knew if I stayed to the left side, there was this little single track section you could ride and not get caught up in the sand.  I must have passed 15 people here... wahooo!

The rest of the race proceeded well.  I was able to set my own pace, I climbed through Williamsburg Road Hill with out any problems.  Typically my family is here to cheer me on, but not this year.  Over the years I have become to fast for them to catch me at the finish.  So, this year they went right to the finish line at Timber Ridge Resort.

My split time at Williamsburg Road was 1:17:32, not what I had hoped for.  I was hoping for a time closer to 1:05.  Boy, the time flies by quick, and Williamsburg Road is 17 miles in.  I knew that it was going to be tough to go sub 2 hours at this point.  I would have to cover the next 12 miles in less than 43 minutes.  The next 12 miles is also where all the hills are.

Williamsburg Road - 1:17:32

I got to Annita's Hill and couldn't climb it all the way, it was just to soft and congested.  I tried to make up some time after the hill by really jamming on the 2 tracks, but I was running out of real estate.

The last climb before the the finish I ran into another snag, the guy I was right behind was having a hard time with the hill and his chain was skipping, I just knew he was going to stop in front of me and he did.  I didn't have time to change my line so I ended up off the bike too.  I ran to the top of the hill the best I could and jumped back on the bike, time was ticking.

The last bit of single new single track was coming up before the finish and a tandem was just ahead of me.  The though in my head was I needed to be ahead of them before the single track.  I tried to get

New Single Track just before the finish.

there before them but I couldn't pull it off.  To my surprise they handled the tight twisty single track perfectly and didn't hold me up at all.  I passed them in the next little climb and it was clear sailing to the finish.

That's me, just under the Finish Banner.

In the end, I did not meat my sub 2 hour goal, I ended up 2:09:59, not bad considering the coarse was about 2 to 3 miles longer and a lot softer than last year.  I came in 6th place in my division (Men 49), just missing the podium by one place.  The good news is that in the end, I did beat my friend Mark, but not by much, he came in at 2:10:26.

Already thinking about what I could do different in 2013.

I can't say enough about how well this race is run.  If you've never done this race you need too (http://www.iceman.com/), it's the largest single day mountain bike race in the country.  Add it to your bucket list, you won't regret it.