Lumberjack 100

Reenie and Mtb Tom head out from road start towards the trails for a long day of singletrack riding.
Read Toms recap of race and pictures here.

Headed up the sandy hike a bike section with the crowds of lap one while gasping for air.

Harlan made some great attacks during the race and placed third.

Reenie got this nifty prize for womens ss.

It comes in handy as a weapon or if she needs to chop a tree down.

What's been going on ??

well, I went on a "blogging hiatus" to attend to some other things (exciting news to come soon..), but since then I went to Leesburg Virginia for Bakers Dozen 13 Hour relay race (super fun with Adrianne and Kristin), then out to Ohio to the Mohican for the 100k May 31st. Mohican was quite muddy with lots of singletrack. My bike totally rocked and I took advantage of the muddy conditions with great tire selection, good bike handling skills and a bottle of chainlube !

Last Thursday, Karen (a friend of Zank's) and I took off on I-90 towards Michigan through Ontario in my car. We arrived in Michigan in the afternoon and checked into our great lodgings (found by Reenie). I got a chance to see Churtle and meet Danielle and her husband, who had been were staying together with Namrita and Eddie. I also saw Debi, Harlan's mom, what a nice surprise. Enough folks to make it not feel so far away.

After pre-riding part of the 8 mile "inner loop", we went back and got ready for dinner at the Lumberjack Lodge for some local fare before some sleep. Wake at 5 for the 7 am start. I got to meet Doez and two other Hup United brothers before the start. They sent us 1-2 miles down the paved road to start so there would be some sorting out before the singletrack.

Singletrack. The whole 25 mile course was almost 100% smooth singletrack. Imagine Lodi Farms VA with more trees, Big Bear WV with no rocks, Lewistown Contingent PA with no rocks, Otis with no rocks and less sand. Green ferns everywhere, pine and leafy trees with perfect sunny breezy weather. A couple sections were flooded out from the 7-9 inches of rain that fell Thursday night and some trees were down, that even walking through one part with water up to my knees just made the race more epic.

Lap one usually feels the worse with the crowds of people. I ended my first lap in just under 3 hrs, so I was looking at 11:30-12 hr finishing time. Lap two to the last third of lap three I felt great. Then I started to get more tired and had a slight cramp on my left inner thigh during a short granny gear steep climb. I managed to work it out quickly, but had to make haste to get to finish before the 4:3o cutoff.

The last lap was not my favorite, but I made it to the middle aid station and took some ibuprofen for my lower back (which was a little achy from all the constant pedalling). I loved the course, but after 4 laps, I felt ready to end the love fest with the 100 miles of singletrack. Getting in by 12:47. They gave me a patch for finishing and I could hardly contain myself.

Reenie ended up 7th woman and only ss despite not feeling great the entire race. Tom had a much better outing than Mohican and Karen got 2nd woman.

Harlan looked great when he and Jeff S zoomed by me on the second lap to finish in third. I also got passed by IF teammate Alex, who looked like he was finishing strong. Churtle had an awesome day out there and she seemed in a good zone when she cam eby. It almost reminded me of her coming in after Elizabeths lap at Big Bear making up almost all our teams lost time, the kind of stuff that inspires.

Sorry I missed the awards party, but my later finish, eating and cleaning up required some chilling out on the couch. Congrats to everyone out there racing and thanks to all the volunteers !!

2,000 miles later I'm home and feeling ok. Mohican and Lumberjack road trips and racing in two weeks and I'm still functioning !!