Thursday night saw some of the worst storms on record for the Manistee area. In fact, as I watched the weather channel on the Friday before the race, they were saying 11 inches of rain had fallen over the course of the storm and Manistee declaring its town a disaster area! Luckily, the little town of Wellston had power so our accommodations for the weekend were still available.
Race day saw quite a crowd with many people nervously preparing their pit areas for the day’s racing. Looking around, it was apparent that the competition would be stiff. I prepared Cytomax, Perpetum and HammerGel to sustain me for the day, in addition to various other foods which I thought I might want as I coasted into the pits. At about 6:30 am all of us meet for the prerace, and headed up the Udell Rollways Rd. to start the race. An ominous foreshadowing of the trail conditions awaited us at the start; someone’s house along the road looked to be an island in a small lake of water!
The start was anticlimactic for me. I was at the back of the pack, as I had no intention of competing for hole shot on a race which could last as long as 12 hours. Months of training came down to this. Anyone reading this probably is familiar with the Big M race course, but the first climb is no joke. I enjoy passing people on the hills, but for this race I resisted the urge and trudged up the loose sandy hill with the rest of the racers. Unfortunately, I lost my restraint for the rest of my first lap. The trail conditions were excellent, and I was thoroughly enjoying having a full suspension bike with gears for the first time in 3 years. So I found myself blasting by large groups of racers who were smartly taking it easy and going slowly up the first lap’s hills, and elbowing my way on the down hills having a blast! There was one downhill at the end I past many flying down on the sides of the trail pedaling like a maniac pushing as much gear as my bike had! Felt like a million bucks flying through the shoot and stopping only to replace the bottles.
My subsequent laps were not as fun as the 1st lap. I had used too much of my energy goofing around for the first lap. In fact I was so tired I forgot one of my water bottles on the 3rd lap and had to nurse my supply till I reached the neutral aid station. Funny how anything edible and drinkable tastes as though it is the best food ever produced! For some reason, the 2nd lap was the hardest. It was frustrating to be riding so slow for me. I knew I was able to ride faster, but just couldn’t anymore.
While the trail was in awesome shape, there remained one exception, “THE SWAMP”. We’ve all done it, been so excited to ride after rain and had to pick our way around the foul smelling low areas of the trail where the collected refuse of the wild collects to ferment into a black goo. But imagine this area extended around on all sides! I rode through it all the first lap (cuz I was soooo excited to be passing people), but after emerging from this sump of goo, my bike with warned that in the future laps, it would not cooperate after being dunked in the muddy water. I abided my bikes wishes and carried it through this section for the remaining laps.
Race day saw quite a crowd with many people nervously preparing their pit areas for the day’s racing. Looking around, it was apparent that the competition would be stiff. I prepared Cytomax, Perpetum and HammerGel to sustain me for the day, in addition to various other foods which I thought I might want as I coasted into the pits. At about 6:30 am all of us meet for the prerace, and headed up the Udell Rollways Rd. to start the race. An ominous foreshadowing of the trail conditions awaited us at the start; someone’s house along the road looked to be an island in a small lake of water!
The start was anticlimactic for me. I was at the back of the pack, as I had no intention of competing for hole shot on a race which could last as long as 12 hours. Months of training came down to this. Anyone reading this probably is familiar with the Big M race course, but the first climb is no joke. I enjoy passing people on the hills, but for this race I resisted the urge and trudged up the loose sandy hill with the rest of the racers. Unfortunately, I lost my restraint for the rest of my first lap. The trail conditions were excellent, and I was thoroughly enjoying having a full suspension bike with gears for the first time in 3 years. So I found myself blasting by large groups of racers who were smartly taking it easy and going slowly up the first lap’s hills, and elbowing my way on the down hills having a blast! There was one downhill at the end I past many flying down on the sides of the trail pedaling like a maniac pushing as much gear as my bike had! Felt like a million bucks flying through the shoot and stopping only to replace the bottles.
My subsequent laps were not as fun as the 1st lap. I had used too much of my energy goofing around for the first lap. In fact I was so tired I forgot one of my water bottles on the 3rd lap and had to nurse my supply till I reached the neutral aid station. Funny how anything edible and drinkable tastes as though it is the best food ever produced! For some reason, the 2nd lap was the hardest. It was frustrating to be riding so slow for me. I knew I was able to ride faster, but just couldn’t anymore.
While the trail was in awesome shape, there remained one exception, “THE SWAMP”. We’ve all done it, been so excited to ride after rain and had to pick our way around the foul smelling low areas of the trail where the collected refuse of the wild collects to ferment into a black goo. But imagine this area extended around on all sides! I rode through it all the first lap (cuz I was soooo excited to be passing people), but after emerging from this sump of goo, my bike with warned that in the future laps, it would not cooperate after being dunked in the muddy water. I abided my bikes wishes and carried it through this section for the remaining laps.
Other than “THE SWAMP” we could not have asked for better weather to race in! The weather was warm but not hot and a nice breeze was blowing throughout the day. Perhaps I will do this race again, but will change much in my training plan and race strategy. I was thrilled to have finished, which is all I really set out to do for the first 100 miler. As a racer though, I can’t help but wonder what I’m really capable of at an event like this. Not likely I’ll beat the course record of 6 and half hours! Perhaps a new goal to finish in fewer than 10 would be a more appropriate future goal for this race. In the meantime, I can take advantage of the extra endurance I’ve gained and use it in the local XC circuit!!! -T
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