Sore to the Core.....errrr....Ore to Shore
Wow! What a race!! I can see the draw to this event, which brings racers from all over the Midwest to our beautiful Upper Peninsula!
The weekend began with rushing up to Marquette to pick up our race packets Friday night, before the 9:30 PM cutoff. We got ther at 9:40, right as the promoter was packing up shop for the night. However, in the typical U.P. fashion, we were greeted with smiles, and were handed our race packets and timing chips. Man I love those Yoopers!
Then the real treat came: carbo loading on a load of pasta and 2-inch-thick garlic bread at the Casa Calabria Italian Restaurant. This sent me well on my way into a food coma, which made me sleep like a baby.
Waking up to a cold, steady drizzle the morning of the race was not a very welcomed sight! It made it hard to get motivated to get out of bed and get my race face on. However, by the time we were headed across the road to the Pancake House, the sun was beginning to peak out, and the air instantly got warmer. However, for a place that wasn't that packed, it took forever for my oatmeal and two scrambled eggs to arrive on the table, and we ran out of there still chewing, in hopes of getting to Negaunee early enough to get a good line-up spot. This did not happen!
So, I managed to squeeze into the line-up about 2/3 of the way back, behind what appeared to be several hundred racers. I could faintly see what appeared to be Kona Midwest apparel, up near the front of the staging area. I then made it my mission to catch them within the first couple of miles of the race, so we could work together and take turns pulling each other. Well, the gun went off, and I watched them ride away as I still sat parked in place, while waves of racers ahead of me hit the open trail. I did not give up; I went off hard, holding 38 mph at one point, screaming past the waves of racers that were once in front of me by drafting and then slingshotting off of the back. However, I was unable to catch Jim and Dan before we hit dirt trail. But I wasn't giving up! I huffed up the first couple of long, gruelling climbs, overtaking other racers one-by-one, despite having to run up a couple of rideable hills due to other people stopping in front of me.
Well, my mad pace lasted for about 10 miles, and I started to fade, realizing that the brief glimpse of my teammates at the start could be the last until the race finish........unless I could get in a paceline. Just then, a line of five guys went screaming past me, and I hopped on their wheels, thinking I'd recovered enough from my crazy-hard start to hang on. I held on for a few miles, then started to fade again as we blazed through the sleepy town of Ishpeming. I started to get passed, and then the misery hit: the powerline trail!! This section had some of the toughest climbs ever, reminiscent of some of the hike-a-bikes in Pisgah. Misery hill, as it was called, was named appropriately so, as it was pure misery! My legs were screaming and my lungs burning by this point, as I was barely able to put one foot infront of the other to trudge up this wall of a climb. Finally, I'd made it up, only to discover more hills! I pressed on, convincing myself that this was fun, and finally cleared the powerline section!!
I spun for a minute in the flats to try to get my legs back, took another GU, and suddenly felt stronger than ever! Just then, a group of about eight of us converged just before the dirt road, and I saw a blatent opportunity: I wasted no time, hollered "PACELINE - 60 SECOND PULLS, THEN PEEL OFF TO THE BACK!!", and got the ball rolling! Suddenly, we're holding 23mph and screaming past flocks of other racers. They couldn't even catch up to grab our wheels as we steamed past them! We tackled the gruelling road climbs with what seemed like the greatest of ease, and kept on cruising full speed ahead. I felt amazing; I took another GU, drank, and took some hard pulls. This was a well-organized paceline, and it stayed together almost all the way to the finish line......well, it may have stayed together all the way to the finish, but I wouldn't know, as I started to bonk with 5 miles to go. I slowly fell off the back of the pack, my lower back screaming at me at this point, but I kept pushing. I contemplated taking my last GU, but foolishly thought "why bother - I'm almost finished". That was the longest five miles of the entire race!!
As I dropped onto the road with about 1.5 mils to go, I managed to get some strength back from cheers from the waves of spectators all around, and mustered up enough strength to sprint past a handful of guys going into the finish area.
I was finally finished: 48 miles, four GU's, a bottle of Gatorade, and an empty 70-ounce Camelbak later!! What a greulling race!! But, I have to say, it was fun, even when it was miserable!! I mean, come on.......I was riding my bike!! And I was wearing the colors of the Kona Midwest Racing team, not to mention loads of red mud from the iron-rich Marquette soil!! It looked as if someone loaded rust-colored paint into a super-soaker squirt gun and blasted me!
Kona Midwest had a great day overall, with all of us beating the 3-hour mark. Jamie and Dan earned honorable mention at the awards ceremony, and we went off to finish the evening with live music, beer, and laughs at the Up Front Pub. This helped take the edge off of my soreness, which seemed to penetrate to my core!
I can't wait for next year!!!!!!!!
The weekend began with rushing up to Marquette to pick up our race packets Friday night, before the 9:30 PM cutoff. We got ther at 9:40, right as the promoter was packing up shop for the night. However, in the typical U.P. fashion, we were greeted with smiles, and were handed our race packets and timing chips. Man I love those Yoopers!
Then the real treat came: carbo loading on a load of pasta and 2-inch-thick garlic bread at the Casa Calabria Italian Restaurant. This sent me well on my way into a food coma, which made me sleep like a baby.
Waking up to a cold, steady drizzle the morning of the race was not a very welcomed sight! It made it hard to get motivated to get out of bed and get my race face on. However, by the time we were headed across the road to the Pancake House, the sun was beginning to peak out, and the air instantly got warmer. However, for a place that wasn't that packed, it took forever for my oatmeal and two scrambled eggs to arrive on the table, and we ran out of there still chewing, in hopes of getting to Negaunee early enough to get a good line-up spot. This did not happen!
So, I managed to squeeze into the line-up about 2/3 of the way back, behind what appeared to be several hundred racers. I could faintly see what appeared to be Kona Midwest apparel, up near the front of the staging area. I then made it my mission to catch them within the first couple of miles of the race, so we could work together and take turns pulling each other. Well, the gun went off, and I watched them ride away as I still sat parked in place, while waves of racers ahead of me hit the open trail. I did not give up; I went off hard, holding 38 mph at one point, screaming past the waves of racers that were once in front of me by drafting and then slingshotting off of the back. However, I was unable to catch Jim and Dan before we hit dirt trail. But I wasn't giving up! I huffed up the first couple of long, gruelling climbs, overtaking other racers one-by-one, despite having to run up a couple of rideable hills due to other people stopping in front of me.
Well, my mad pace lasted for about 10 miles, and I started to fade, realizing that the brief glimpse of my teammates at the start could be the last until the race finish........unless I could get in a paceline. Just then, a line of five guys went screaming past me, and I hopped on their wheels, thinking I'd recovered enough from my crazy-hard start to hang on. I held on for a few miles, then started to fade again as we blazed through the sleepy town of Ishpeming. I started to get passed, and then the misery hit: the powerline trail!! This section had some of the toughest climbs ever, reminiscent of some of the hike-a-bikes in Pisgah. Misery hill, as it was called, was named appropriately so, as it was pure misery! My legs were screaming and my lungs burning by this point, as I was barely able to put one foot infront of the other to trudge up this wall of a climb. Finally, I'd made it up, only to discover more hills! I pressed on, convincing myself that this was fun, and finally cleared the powerline section!!
I spun for a minute in the flats to try to get my legs back, took another GU, and suddenly felt stronger than ever! Just then, a group of about eight of us converged just before the dirt road, and I saw a blatent opportunity: I wasted no time, hollered "PACELINE - 60 SECOND PULLS, THEN PEEL OFF TO THE BACK!!", and got the ball rolling! Suddenly, we're holding 23mph and screaming past flocks of other racers. They couldn't even catch up to grab our wheels as we steamed past them! We tackled the gruelling road climbs with what seemed like the greatest of ease, and kept on cruising full speed ahead. I felt amazing; I took another GU, drank, and took some hard pulls. This was a well-organized paceline, and it stayed together almost all the way to the finish line......well, it may have stayed together all the way to the finish, but I wouldn't know, as I started to bonk with 5 miles to go. I slowly fell off the back of the pack, my lower back screaming at me at this point, but I kept pushing. I contemplated taking my last GU, but foolishly thought "why bother - I'm almost finished". That was the longest five miles of the entire race!!
As I dropped onto the road with about 1.5 mils to go, I managed to get some strength back from cheers from the waves of spectators all around, and mustered up enough strength to sprint past a handful of guys going into the finish area.
I was finally finished: 48 miles, four GU's, a bottle of Gatorade, and an empty 70-ounce Camelbak later!! What a greulling race!! But, I have to say, it was fun, even when it was miserable!! I mean, come on.......I was riding my bike!! And I was wearing the colors of the Kona Midwest Racing team, not to mention loads of red mud from the iron-rich Marquette soil!! It looked as if someone loaded rust-colored paint into a super-soaker squirt gun and blasted me!
Kona Midwest had a great day overall, with all of us beating the 3-hour mark. Jamie and Dan earned honorable mention at the awards ceremony, and we went off to finish the evening with live music, beer, and laughs at the Up Front Pub. This helped take the edge off of my soreness, which seemed to penetrate to my core!
I can't wait for next year!!!!!!!!
posted by Anonymous at 10:10 AM
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