LUNA CHIX PRO TEAM

Iceman Cometh   Nov 7, 2009

This past weekend I raced in the 20th running of the Iceman Cometh, a monstrous mountain bike race from Kalkaska to Traverse City, Michigan.  It is one of the biggest races in the country, with over 4700 participants and $30,000 in prize money.  I’ve heard about the race for years from my husband, a Michigan native, and decided that it was time for us to experience the event.  We always take a yearly trip back to Grand Rapids to visit his family, so this year we timed our trip to coincide with the Iceman.

The Iceman gets its name from the notoriously bad weather that usually greets the racers on race day.  But this year we lucked out and had gorgeous sunny weather with unseasonably warm temperatures.  That meant racing in shorts and short sleeve jerseys.  Not what I was prepared for. 

The course is a 28 mile point to point race on mostly double track with a few short sections of single track thrown in to keep things exciting.  The course is also well known for its sand.  Michigan is one big sand pile, and the sand sections on the course can be huge momentum sucking pits of despair.  With all the rain of the past month, the sand was fast and packed down.  Lucky for us!

The women’s race started at a brisk tempo; not the lung searing drag races I’m used to in cyclocross.  With 28 miles ahead of us no one was willing to bury themselves in the first few miles.  After 15 minutes of racing there was a front group of five riders; myself, Kelli Emmett (Giant), Heather Irmiger (Gary Fisher/Subaru), Amanda Carey (Kenda), and Jenna Rinehart (Specialized).  Our group rode together until 8 miles to go, when Kelli Emmett put in a painful attack on some steep rollers.  I countered, wanting to test my legs to see how they felt, and caused a split in the group.  It was now down to Kelli, Heather, and me. 

The three of us rode a brisk tempo for the next few miles.  I was thinking of the finish and how it would play out if all three of us were still together.  With a mile to go, I attacked up the last climb in the race and decided that if I wanted to win, I had to go for it.  I got a small gap on Kelli and went with it.  She fought hard and never quit, keeping the gap between 5-10ft for the last km of the race.  I couldn’t believe how hard I had to go to stay ahead of her.  With 500m to go we were still together, so I attacked again and stayed in front.  Coming around the last right hand turn I still had a short lead.  The final 100m were downhill, and I was able to sprint to victory. 

Riding that hard for the last mile put my heart rate and respiration through the roof.  I could hardly see straight I was breathing so hard after crossing the line.  It took a good five minutes before I could finally talk.  But then I got to celebrate my biggest victory of the year!  It was oh so sweet!  After a bunch of interviews I went up on the podium.  I got a huge bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne that I sprayed on the crowd.  Plus a check for $3000!  How cool is that.

It was a great race and one I would love to do again!  Now we’re headed back to Colorado tomorrow.  My next race is this coming weekend.  It’s the third round of the USGP in New Jersey.  Hope the weather cooperates! 

Until then…