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17th Iceman Cometh |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Chris Smith
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Friday, 03 November 2006 |
17th Annual Iceman Cometh Challenge
Sport Men 45-49
Conditions: 35 degrees and overcast
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November certainly arrived sooner than expected, life seems to be that way though. Looking back you realize how quickly time passed, looking ahead you wonder why the hell it's taking so long. From this season's first event on April 17th, the Iceman was my target race. The Iceman is a large part of our mountain bike heritage in Traverse City. Our area has a rich tradition in mountain bike racing, the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team was announced after the final NORBA qualifier was held nearby at Schuss Mountain.
The Iceman has grown in popularity each of it's 17 years. This year's limit of 1700 racer's was reached in January. Like the other crown jewels of Midwest racing, Chequamegon and Ore-To-Shore, the Iceman is a point to point race. 28 miles from Kalkaska, Michigan to Traverse City. And another mile to my front door. How cool is that? Really cool when you're cold, wet, muddy and hungry... REALLY COOL!
Conditions this year were nearly perfect... 35 degrees at the Start with overcast skies. And yes, there were snow flurries throughout the race. The October monsoon season left our usually sandy terrain hard packed and wicked fast. Race day tire selection was a no-brainer. I went right for the set of Panaracer Fire XC Pro 1.8 tires that Big Al shipped earlier this season. PERFECT! I ran 'em at 40 pounds and they stayed hooked up on the steep and loose power climbs and allowed me to slice right through the short sections of sand we encountered. They are fast. The other easy decision on race morning was an application of Greyhound Juice on my calves. I've been training in conditions down to 40 degrees, but when I left for the race it was only 32. I wanted to stay with knickers rather than long tights so out came the Greyhound Juice. My Bontrager has survived it's 10th season of mountain biking none the worse for wear. After it's makeover last winter with new SRAM and TruVativ components, along with a freshly rebuilt Rock Shox front end, it's better than ever. SRAM XO is the way to go for consisitent, positive shifts.
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Fall has been fairly wet here in northern Michigan and it's been tough to maintain a healthy dose of road miles to stay fit. Factor in the early sunsets and the loss of daylight savings and you're looking at some serious roller time. I felt great going into the race though and after a couple of 30 mile off road rides that included portions of the Iceman course I was convinced that a goal of 2 hours was within my ability. I had a very good race... I felt great and was able to ride at a great pace. Starting in the 12th wave of rider's posed a problem though. There were alot of racer's to move through. I didn't take advantage of the wider road and ski trail sections of the course to drop rider's. The end result was a time of 2:16, a ninth place finish in Sport 45-49. Although I didn't reach my goal, I'm happy to have a top ten finish in my last race of 2006. It meant that I have continued to improve throughout the year and I'll take that and try to build on it for 2007.
The attached photos show the food stop at mile 16. That's my daughter handing off a fresh bottle and some Clif Shot Bloks (Cran Raspberry!). There's another picture at the finish line. My daughter was so excited to be a part of this that she asked me to take her out for a ride the next day. It's not often you get an offer like that from your 16 year old daughter... Trust me. The next day we went out and rode the local singletrack and enjoyed a gorgeous sunny, 50 degree day. Better than ninth place any day...
This is a link to the VeloNews article about the Iceman.
Peace and Good Health
Christopher Smith
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