The twenty-first running of the Iceman Cometh Challenge was a departure from the "Niceman" we here in the Great Lakes Region have enjoyed the last few years. Northern Michigan treated us to 19o temperatures at the start of the race. On top of the frigid temps, we had a fresh two inches of white fluffy snow to deal with. For those who are not familiar with the race; it is a 29 mile point-to-point race held every year on the first Saturday in November. It rips through the Pere Marquette State Forest between Kalkaska and Traverse City in northern Lower Michigan. The Iceman has come to be one of the largest mountain bike races in the country; it draws close to four thousand cyclists including a large group of top level professionals.
The start found me cold and nervous (but mostly COLD). My previous years’ time put me in wave eleven, thirty-seven min. till the start of the race. This was a new format for 2010 in an effort to make the race smoother and less congested--- it almost worked. With my hands frozen hard as stone and my choice of gloves weighing heavily on my mind, we were off. Three miles into the race, it was one other rider and me leaving the rest of the group well-behind. I can only refer to this other rider as Bradley from Chicago. We worked together for about the first fifteen miles to leapfrog rider after rider after rider…. well, you get the point. The course, although flat, fast and wide was reduced to a single ribbon of dirt cut through the snow. This created conditions that were sketchy at best. The passing was fast and furious and the crashes were many. Extremely slick sections of single track with ice on anything in the shade made for one of the more demanding races I’ve had.
Bradley and I began to reach the rolling hills that carry you in to the Grand Traverse Bay area. His pace up the hills on his cross bike began to put me into difficulty. I wisely let him go. I managed to keep upright and struggled my way through the next seven to eight miles. All the while I passed group after group of riders. I had recovered nicely after letting Bradley go and was feeling strong. Chasing a goal of a sub-two-hour ride, I upped my pace.
With about five miles to go I started to pass a string of ten to twelve racers. I was flying by on the left up a mild hill, picking them off one after another. As I neared the front of the group, there, setting the pace was none other than Bradley from Chicago. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I gave him a big "COME ON BRADLEY!!!" Needless to say he was unable to
muster any response and I left him and the rest of the group behind. From here on out the traffic seemed to dissipate. I suffered up the last few climbs and snaked my way through the single track into the finish at Timber Ridge campground.
This marked the fifth time I’ve finished the Iceman and a new P.R. beating last year’s time by over thirteen minutes. I ended up eleventh in my class with a time of 2:03.34. I was hoping for a time of less than two hours, but considering the conditions I’m pretty happy, any other year I would have come in way below two hours. I owe a large part of my results to the great teammates of the Great Lakes Chapter of Team TOM’S Shoes, and especially Wade and Doug. Thanks guys. For those of you that haven’t run this race it’s definitely worth checking out. Maybe next year I’ll see a few more of you there. Oh yeah, if you want in you’d better be ready to register the day it opens (usually March) it fills up in a few hours.
Happy trails,
Greg
"Well we did it, survived I mean. No crashes, no injuries. And here's how it all went down. The six of us arrived at the hotel in Shaftsbury, VT on Friday night around 11 p.m. For the most I think we were all filled with equal parts anxiousness and excitement. But we tried to get some sleep. Ellis snored.
The one thing everyone talked was the final climb before the finish, Stage Road. It's all dirt and over 2 miles long. This was what I was most worried about. We had six riders representing Team TOMS in the Cat 5 field together. We were the largest team in our field and we knew that would be one of our biggest advantages. The biggest wild card was just how steep the climbs were going to be and how would our legs hold up? For many of us it would be the longest race we had ever done.
We donned our TOMS kits, loaded our pockets with gels and water bottles and tried to prepare ourselves for the wind and cold. We proceeded to registration at the school in Cambridge, tried to continue eating but it was hard. We used the bathroom many many times and pinned our numbers on each other in the locker room of the school. We then went on a quick warm up ride together and headed to the start line.
It was cold, cloudy and steady winds of 15-20 mph. Our primary goal was to stay organized at the front of our pack because we knew riders would start falling off the back early on and the pack would likely split. The dirt roads were numerous and the pot holes just as plentiful. Luckily everything was dry. It was a cold and windy start, the sun eventually broke through and remained but the wind was persistent and all over the place. In my group we rotated in a tight pace line and echelon when crosswinds arose.
The first two climbs were absolutely brutal. I was totally caught off guard. I knew the mileage for the climbs but I was not prepared for the grade of each. Our speed was in the single digits. As we predicted the pack split early on with about 20 riders out in front and the rest scattered behind with no organization. Matt and Greg were able to work together and maintain good position in the lead pack. I found myself alone in the middle, exactly where I didn't want to be. Tim was off behind me and Ellis alone in front. Ryan was also somewhere on his own. Unfortunately Ryan and Tim had to bow out. Ellis fought through the stomach sickness he had been battling and impressively finished the race on his own.
During a relatively flat and rolling section of the course I spent about an hour bridging a gap on my own to reach a group of four riders. I recovered and for the remainder of the race we worked together very well and made up a lot of the time we had lost. At around mile 55 we hit Stage Road, our last major challenge before the finish at 62. It was a long stair stepper climb with unfortunate casualties forced to walk their bikes all a long the way. When I finally reached the peak I was filled with relief and pride because I knew I had done it. The finish was just a few rolling hills away, on pavement.
...It's been a pleasure having Ray on board and it's always great to look through his amazing photographic work. The guy is a PRO. Of course, all photography comes to us courtesey of Mr. Raymond Jones.
After 5 easy miles, the course took a left towards a covered bridge and immediately into the 1st unpaved section. My goal from the beginning was to control the pace of the race from that left turn to the end of the unpaved section. I made sure all of the TOMS riders were close to the front, and I picked up the pace. Before we even got to the covered bridge, we caught all but one of the early attackers (the NJMTB guy). I drove the pack for the next mile or so, and we started the 1st climb. It was a steep one, and I could tell right away, that it wasn't going to be my best climbing day. Since I was at the front of the field at the base, I decided to let myself slip back as we ascended the steepest sections so I could save some energy for the 5 climbs to follow. After the descent, we made a sharp left onto the 2nd dirt section. It started off OK, but there was a really tough climb in that section. I ended up dropping off the back of the pack at the top, and had to figure out how to bridge back up on the descent and flat to follow. I looked back, and saw a TOMS kit that I thought was Ray's, and I slowed down so we could both bridge. When he caught up, I realized it was Ellis, and we started the chase. I accidentally gapped Ellis once I picked up the pace, but the 2nd pull was more successful. It was a couple of miles of hard riding to bridge, but we ended up back in the pack by the time the 3rd climb started. Luckily, that one looked a lot worse on the profile than it actually was. It gave me a little time to recover from bridging, but not much. Now we were in a 7 or 8 mile flat section with brutal cross winds. 
When Ellis and I got situated in the group, we realized that they, including Greg, were pushing hard to try to catch the guy who had been out front since mile 1. I rode up to the front of the group and told Greg to keep his face out of the wind. At this point, I was thinking that if the guy on the solo break wants to do a 61 mile TT, he's more than welcome to do it. The roads were wide open through this section, and that guy was no where to be seen. I was pretty sure he was a really fast TT or MTB guy who didn't have enough group starts to be in a higher category. We probably weren't going to catch him, so our team isn't going to try. Greg and I sat back and let the rest of the group do the work so we could conserve. At some point during this section, Ellis and a few other riders dropped off the group. The chase group was down to about 15 riders when we hit the 60k mark.
Ray stayed strong, even though the 2nd climb beat him up. His finish put 3 Kindhuman riders in the top 20. SOLID showing. Ellis looked good early on, the fact that he had a pepto-mustache on the start line didn't bode well. That guy is driven though. He must have felt horrible, but he pushed on and crossed the line. Ryan and Tim had a tough day, but snagged ride back into town in time to support the rest of the team on the line.
There was no order to the line up, first come first served, which landed me starting in nearly the very back of the field. Luckily the lead-in to the single track was long and wide and, having raced this event last year I had plenty of confidence to make up 20 or so spots before we even got in to the woods.
