Lumberjack 100

I heard this one was going to sell out fast and some friends from here were going to do it, so I signed up on a whim. It was going to be a stretch as I was the leader for my son's week long summer camp out the week prior and I'm putting on my own race the next week.

My son and I geared up. When you are the "leader", you really gear up. Funny, me, a leader. Anyway, you have to bring all the stuff to keep your pack going all week long. We packed well and I think did just fine. They provide only open bottom canvas tents and cots. After chasing seven 10 year-olds around all week I wasn't sure I'd even be able to finish a 100 mile mountain bike race.

Todd and Karen Holtmann, Dwayne and myself headed out Thursday night for Manistee, MI. We drove until about 2 am and got a hotel room. Got up the next morning, ate at Denny's and finished the drive. We checked into our hotel in Manistee and then raced out to do a little Lumberjack recon. As soon as we got there we could see the masses had already been there. Canopies everywhere. We found a primo spot for ours, claimed it and then set out for a "12-15 mile" pre-ride. See the problem with that was Dwayne and I haven't been able to ride together much this year. We all took one bottle knowing that we wouldn't need any more than that for a "12-15 mile" pre-ride. The four of us started up a gradual but long climb at a nice pace. It wasn't long and another group caught us. I let them by. I looked up and Dwayne was up there right in the middle of their group buzzing one of the leaders' wheel. Dammit! I sped up and quickly Todd and Karen were no longer with us. We figured they would just turn around when they were ready to. Dwayne and I backed off and let the testosterone crew go ahead. I was leading now and we were just chatting. Soon we caught one of the guys they had dropped. Not long after that I rode through their group while they were waiting for their buddy. I kept a reasonable pace but the trail just started flowing and soon I was ripping it! Long story short, I stopped and waited for them on some double track and we all rode together, minus Todd and Karen. They had the sense to turn back by now.

We stopped when the course left the double track back to single track and talked for a while. The other group knew their way around and said they were going back. I wanted to see a little more so I suggested we skip the section of trail in front of us and ride a little more in another area. I didn't give Dwayne much of a chance to say no and took off. It became apparent about 1/2 hour later to me that we were out there and I had a feeling that we had passed the point of no return. Dwayne wasn't sure where we were and of course we didn't bring a map. We pressed on and soon came to the aid station which was at the 17 mile mark on the course. Good thing because I was out of water and filled up. Again, long story short. Us two smarties ended up riding the entire loop minus about 200ft! Like I said, we haven't ridden together much and it's just in our blood.

Race time now. We started the race about 2 miles up the road and then completed 3 thirty-something mile loops. It was cool at 7am and I actually felt much better after the previous day's ride. I started out about mid pack, Dwayne closer to the front. I was planning on racing my own race which is what I did. Back off at the beginning to get good and warmed up and capitalize when the terrain better suited me. Very few riders passed me and I passed tons on the first lap. Parts of the trail flowed and were awesome, others made you say,"what the hell, who would build a trail like this?" They ride snowmobiles in the winter as well as cross country ski, so bikes seem to be the bastard of the user groups. One section just flowed around a falling ridge for a long time, all bench cut and fast. It made one switchback, headed back the other way only to turn the corner and go straight up the hill side, ruts and all. Even with gears I walked one section the first lap, a few more the second and even a few more the third.

So first lap went well. I hit my lap button as I crossed the timing line at 2:40. My goal without the 2 mile lead out was 3 hours, so all was good. Grabbed two new bottles and took off in a lot less traffic. I felt like I was going much faster as I could hold more momentum and clear the steep stuff much better. At about the 10 mile mark I noticed my front tire going low. I really had to pee so I stopped, couldn't find a leak so I hit it with some CO2 and took off. The rest of lap 2 was good. I ate 1/2 of a pb&j, some pretzels and some banana at the aid station. When I pitted to get new bottles I used my floor pump to make sure I had good pressure. It was a little low but I wasn't concerned.

At almost the exact same spot as lap 2 I had to add air on lap 3. Here is where it started to bum me out. I felt I had made the right decision up until now. Adding CO2 only takes a minute. From this point on lap 3 until the end I had to stop 7 more times to inflate my tire. If the course didn't beg for me to push the corners and hit the dips hard to make it up the next climb I would have nursed it back. I remembered the course well enough that I would ride it until I came to a section where I could really fly and add air there to make it as long as I could. Would I have been better off just putting a tube in? Maybe. I'm okay with the decision I made and would do it again. I just got lucky that my seat bag was noisy on the pre-ride so I stuffed 2 more CO2's in it to keep it quiet, used them all. I figure I lost about 10 of the 17 minutes that I wasn't riding to my tire troubles. I'm not 100% sure but I think the tape sealing up my rim is leaking. I just haven't had second one to do any work on my bikes, so it's my own fault.

Doug Davis rode like a champ and finished in 8:00:31. Mike Best was about 8 minutes behind him. Dwayne came in a little over 8:15 and I finished a little over 8:20. My goal was 9 hours. I was tired but never cramped and after an hour or so I felt fine. Todd finished on a bastard bike that he had never ridden in 9:44 and Karen who normally rides a single speed finished on her 1X9 set up in 11:39, her first 100 miler. No one from this area quit. 199 started in my class, 155 finished and I placed 39th. I would recommend this race to anyone wanting to attempt a 100 miler. Just as a comparison, a racer from Chillicothe, MO-Mitch Bernskoetter did it two years ago in 12:17, last year in 11:08 and this year in 9:19, so I think Karen should be stoked. It's cool to see such improvements as people start to figure things out.

I have been finding that when doing really long stuff on tight trails that the Garmin tends to miss some points and usually you wouldn't notice it. But when riding for 8 hours you can really see the lost distance. So I don't really know how long the loop or the race was for that matter.

Here is a video that has Dwayne and Doug Davis in it a lot. It's not everyday that you run across stop signs out in the middle of the woods on single track!

MFXC, a Seagal non-race

If you weren't there, then shame on you! All you had to do was follow a few basic rules and show up for the fun. I ended up mailing my post card to register for the free non-race from Washington D.C. As much of my life has been this year, I just didn't have time before our vacation to even think about it. Soon we were getting secret updates and yes, there were custom shirts to be had.

The day finally came. The feeling was much like the days before x-mas when you were a kid, couldn't sleep, couldn't think about much else. I traveled down with Karen and Todd Holtmann on a hot and finally rain free day.

The course was a touch of Council Bluff, the Tellock connector, a short stint on the South Trace section of the Ozark Trail, most of the Middlefork section of the OT, about 10 miles of gravel and finished off with a couple miles back up Middlefork to end in a different place than you started. It started off with a short run and then directly into singletrack. I trotted and went in behind about 10 other riders of the 30+ riders there that day. Flats were not unheard of, bonking was prominent and man was it hot!

All was going well, I had worked my way up to 3rd place but the heat was taking it's toll. One rider, a more disciplined rider, took advantage of my poor heat management skillz and passed me on the one short asphalt section. That rider was Jeff Yielding. He proceeded to put almost 6 minutes into me in the last 40 minutes. If the race had been 10 minutes longer, Larry Koester would have had me too. I was done. I had a cold PBR and relaxed for a few before riding back to get the car. I still felt really bad for quite a while, that is until I had two moar PBRs. Matt James tore it up for the overall win. Dan Fuhrmann claimed second on a single speed.

Hats off to Team Seagal. Other than a bunch of fun for us they gained nothing from putting on this event. Jim Davis, Mason Storm and many others did lots of work to the trails. THANK YOU!