Blog

For some reason, everyone wanted to race Iceman Cometh this year. Perhaps it was FoMo for the cancelled event last year, perhaps the news was finally out there that this is a special event or for some a more open racing calendar this year left the weekend free to race. Close to 5,000 people lined up in Kalkaska, Michigan for their pilgrimage to Traverse City some 30 miles away through the forests of Northern Michigan.

This is my 22nd Iceman. Every year it’s the same process in the weeks and days before: keeping healthy and watching the weather forecast, for the first weekend of November in Northern Michigan can have a 40 degree variance from one year to another, can have blue skies, have freezing rain or be on a foot of snow - I’ve done them all and fortunately this year was a Niceman, sunny skies and mid-fifties, perfect.

For the first time in the 21 years prior, I raced in the Pro division lining up with legends of MTB like Geoff Kabush and Brian Matter; cyclocross’ers Kerry Werner and Troy Wells; past-World Tour cyclists like Alexey Vermeulen; YouTubers Cody Kaiser and Mackey Franklin; up and comers like Cole Paton and finally, me, the oldest guy in the field, having no idea what he’d gotten myself into.

The course changes every year and the start has varied significantly over the years. This year we started on a local airstrip and having seen plenty of pro MTB and World Cup CX’ers, I expected an absolute hammer of a start. I slotted myself mid-pack after the gun and frankly, I was really happy - I felt comfortable, was able to hold my own sprinting out of the corners and following wheels. The mile or so on grass turned onto some sandy two-track and I recall feeling good about things.

I’d pre-ridden the course a few weeks prior and had categorized the track into three sections: the sandy and loose first 10 miles; a flowey middle 10 with singletrack through the woods; and the last, fast final 10. It was the sand that was the absolute shock to my system for when I’d ridden it on my own I’d chosen MY lines and rode MY speed - this time I got caught up in the event and followed wheel that perhaps I shouldn’t have, I rode their pace and the line I followed was whatever came. This was where the pace absolutely blew the doors off. It wasn’t good.

I truly blew up. I knew it was going to be fast and I’d been working on this expectation on group rides but nothing prepped the old guy for the pace. I sat up and gathered myself letting my heart rate drop and allowed the stars I was seeing to drift away. It sucked allowing others to pass me and watch their wheel roll off into the distance. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one, while I never found the very back of the race, it still wasn’t a good feeling. For 5 or 10 minutes - it might have been longer, for I lost track of time - I just settled myself before finding a new tempo and racing the remaining miles.

Racing is a bit of a stretch! I pulled the rest of the way to Traverse City - literally. I was at the front of a train, every now and then someone would go round me and pull but it didn’t take long before they dropped back again. My pace was decent as others dropped off of my pace I picked up others who’d lasted a little longer than me at the front. I was happy to ride my own pace and those behind were certainly happy to let me do it.

With 1 kilometer to go we came to Icebreaker Hill - not a behemoth of a climb, but a significant elevation change and a two step jaunt to the finishing shoot at Timber Ridge marking the end for the days ride. In post race interviews, vlogs and write-ups by the Pro’s they describe Icebreaker Hills as something special and something that surpasses World Cup events. It was incredible! The crowds were 3 or 4 deep, fueled by Bells Beer, one of the events sponsors, playing musical instruments, blowing on vuvuzela’s and banging the fencing - I’d never experienced anything like it outside of an English Premier League football match. I really didn’t have any matches left and a couple I’d dragged along pimped me here, but I gave it all I had. I started to cramp climbing out of my seat but the crowds buoyed me along. It was like this for that final kilometer and the finish was remarkable. I’m glad I’d made the decision to race.

It was a mixed day in the end. I’d set myself a lot of goals for the day and met some, and missed some others. My time on the course beat others in my age group who’d raced earlier in the day by 5 minutes, which, of course, I was happy about. A guy I’ve raced with for 20 years is a legend during his younger years in Michigan MTB beat me by 56 seconds which means I almost had him. I beat some folks I’d wanted to but blowing up as I did was a disappointment, and perhaps meant I had much more in the tank. Nevertheless it was a fun day, a great experience and has me thinking about future years and racing again to apply some of these lessons learned.