Lumberjack 100 Recap

2 for 2
That's two starts and 2 finishes.
I went into the race looking to beat my 8:32 from last year. Inside, I really wanted to see a 7 at the begining of my final time, but I didn't know if it was possible. I did a pre-ride of the inner-loop on Friday and the trail was in great shape.

Race started around 7am and was slow. I thought it was supposed to be a fast rollout, but I thought it was very mellow. I stayed in the top 20 or so riders and ended up riding by myself for most of the race with a SS'er from MN behind me. I did a 1:50 lap, which was around 8 minutes faster than last year. Lap 2 was 1:54 and I was feeling good, but riding all alone again. Lap 3 came and I was again alone pedaling along on cruise control until I hear a smart-ass comment about my bike come from behind me. It was none other than Lummis coming back from a mechanical problem. I picked up my pace a rode with him for a little bit on the inner loop while passing 3 people. It felt good to open the legs up a little more, but then I decided I was only 65 miles or so in, so I needed to keep my pace a little slower. Two of the riders passed me back a few miles later, but in the outer loop I caught them again and put a gap on them. I did a 1:59, which meant that I had 17 minutes to spare on my last lap in order to beat 8 hours. I knew that all I had to do was turn the cranks and I would achieve my goal. Yeah, that happened, but my mental game went down hill. I was at the point where I was wondering what the hell I was doing. I do not like having an inner and then outer loop go by the pits/parking lot, beacuse there were a few times I wanted to call it a day and go sleep. On the outer loop, I broke a spoke, but easily stopped and twisted it around another spoke before going again. There were a few times I was feeling sleepy tired, but I knew the bugs would kill me. Once I got over that monotonous flat and bumpy section, I was doing much better. I got to the climbs and got back in a rythm which helped. I ended up getting 17th overall in 7:56, 36 minutes faster than last year. I think if I would have had some people to ride with on the last lap, I likely would have been able to keep the pace up. I did get passed by 3 people on lap 4, which costed me places, but that is endurance racing.

Overall, it was a great weekend. A blast. Rick puts on a top notch race and great awards banquet. This is quickly becoming Michigans best race. Sure we have Iceman, but LJ100 is a class of its own.

T-5 Days

The Lumberjack 100 is on the way. I am ready for it. I am looking to post a better time than last year, but I don't know by how much. I know I am a better rider this year both handling wise and fitness wise. The course should be different. Backwards. That first sand hill w/ 200 people should be a riot. Can you say redline first 5 minutes!

During my riding last week, I decided to do a couple longer rides to make sure my legs were ready and butt was in shape for some time in the saddle. Rode 5.5 hours on Thursday from home to ILRA, dirt roads, all 4 loops of Highland, and some of Proud Lake. Then on Saturday I rode home to 2 laps of ILRA, 2 loops of everything at Proud Lake and then a loop of Milford to finish a 5 hour and 75 mile day on the MTB. Add that with a touch of intensity and I should be good to go.

After the LJ100 I am going to be in Lelenau the next weekend for a family trip, but should be able to get in some good riding while I am there. The next week is Stony marathon, then I will be up at Boyne the following weekend with the fam racing, so I will likely chamois up and get some high intensity miles in the legs. Should be a good month coming up.