Fourth season of Crushing stuff in the UP – EX style and
mass start. The EX ITT choices are a
special animal – my fav, if I’m being honest, – but I thought I let's try the mass start again. I think Todd and company offered up the perfect mix for the Mass Start
Crusher event this year (three race distances that are longer than advertised
40,100,175). Based on the small portion
of DNFs - the Jeckyll and Hyde character
of the course provided enough speed early to balance the distinct drop in mph
for the back half (at least for the 175 route – I think the 100 route was more
Hyde all day). Just about the time I got
bored with the regular gravel – the EX stuff showed up to brighten my day.
But the event starts long before the bikes roll out. 906 Adventure
Team partnered with Otter Lake
Campground to create a basecamp for those who wanted to make it more than a
show up and race kind of weekend. 906 hauled all their tents, tables, coolers,
stoves, and boatload of volunteers for the marathon that is a 906 event – meaning
– it’s gonna be a very long day into night kinda deal. They are prepared to offer the same
hospitality and cheers to the first folks over the strip as those finishing
into the wee hours including community donated local beverages and a menu of
hot food all night. I think it was some
time after 5 am for the last finisher of the 175 this year. They also set up a timing strip out on course
at Lakenland Sculpture Park where your
family and pals could show up and heckle/help.
Water, snacks and other evil things like 100 proof were on display. The course for the 175 was laid out well for
someone like me who likes to ride self-supported. Checkpoints had some strategic water and
potties at appropriate locations. A
couple stores were on offer mid-course.
And the policy of bumming stuff from other racers’ support crews is
always an option.
I rolled my FS mtb – always my bike of choice up here. I am seriously not a good enough rider to
rail a drop bar rigid gravel bike over these courses which offer up just about
any variety of surface you may never want to tackle – hats off to the many who
do it. It’s gotta be brutal despite your smiles. But it keeps me coming back. I
got the pleasure of observing those fine bike handling skills rolling some
miles with T&A Cycles
Belize on Saturday as they shehandled their Bearclaw Thunderhawks over the
demanding course.
I haven’t ridden a 200+ mile event since 2021 but I was
pretty sure in this format I could do it under 24 hours (my current time cutoff
when thinking about whether an event will work for me solo or not). For extra
accountability this year I extended my 4-month winter group structured training
program, BaseCamp, by adding another
four-month stint of one-on-one coaching with BaseCamp Coach Kate who helped
me get through that indoor to outdoor transition and challenged me with some
structure that was harder than I’d perform on my own. I did Lumberjack 100 in June (a race I
hadn’t done since 2018) which forced me to really get my head into a race
mindset which I’ve pretty much left behind since Covid 19 hit in 2020. Coach
Kate is super supportive and basically just knows her stuff – just do the work
and good things will come. I’ve never had
direct coaching in my many years of athletic endeavors, and it has been spot
on. Highly recommend BaseCamp winter season training and
one-on-one. That process supported a better experience up here this weekend. Though I always show up with plenty of miles
in system and the belief I can finish – it was definitely a more targeted and sharper
engine for this Old Bitch of 66 to show up with.
I haven’t written an Old Bitches blog in a while and I’m not
gonna offer much on the inspiration side other than I stand by my belief that
you never really know what you can do until you try. We hear this from other great inspiring
people – and I’m 100 percent on board for trying. I’d consider myself a 906 Adventure Team
event veteran now and the thing that I love about it is the community
of people that has been built around events like Marji
Gesick and The Crusher. People seem to be attracted to the events
because they don’t really look like “bike races”. Maybe
they have a friend who tried one and came out of it “changed” and that inspires
the try. Sometimes people try one to get
through a loss. Sometimes it is just to
best a buddy – whatever it is, there is always a story – many stories – and this
inspires me. This time, a gal camping
near me had never ridden a gravel event longer than 100 miles. There’s a lot of 200 mile gravel events on
offer these days that could have been excellent “entry
level” 200s. Dip your toes in stuff, "safe" ones, with sags and aid stations - nope - not here, you gotta dive into the deep end and make sure you can get yourself out of it on your own. That's what she did. It was a bold choice, and the gal totally
crushed it. She told me before the race
that her therapist told her it was totally “okay” to not finish. I didn’t know this gal from Adam, so I didn’t
immediately say that was bullshit. I
mean – sure, we can “forgive ourselves” for all kinds of not real failures that
we perform but damn! – let’s not do that BEFORE we even try. If your bike is still working and you are “okay” - just pedal.
It might change your life.
Here’s my ride from Strava
Next on tap – Crusher EX 100!! You can ride Crusher EX events all summer through
September 30.
Support good things while you ride - learn more about 906 Adventure Team and
all their youth programs.
