Arcadian Grit & Gravel

Thanks to a buddy named Rob and another buddy named Vince I got wind of the Arcadian Grit & Gravel. Well, now that I'm back, I'll share my tale of high adventure.

I got on the road a little later than I hoped, but made it to Crystal Mountain resort mid Friday afternoon.  The weather was gorgeous and the resort was very nice.  I've never been to a resort before.  Unless the Holiday Inn counts.  Well, I have gone on a couple golf trips, but Lakewood Shores wasn't really a resort.  Well, maybe it was, but I was pretty hammered that whole trip.  Anyway, here's Crystal Mountain:

I checked in with the nice lady at the front desk.  She wouldn't let me take her picture.  However, my bungalow was the bomb.  It had a Jacuzzi.  Yes I got naked with a beer and enjoyed all its glory.

However, the brown trout overhead made me a little nervous.  So did his friends.  Didn't want them ending up in the tub with me.

Anyway, after I checked in, got my room, and lunch in my belly, I hit the local trails.  There were a few choices but I decided to try the Betsie River Trail.  It wasn't that challenging, but made for a fun, relaxing ride, which is all I really wanted with the race the next day....Greetings from the Betsie River Pathway:

After the ride I cleaned up, put on some snazzy digs and went to the Thistle Pub & Grill right across from my bungalow.  I hopped up to the bar, ordered a trusted friend, aka Two Hearted and began my beer intake for the evening.  It got bad when I opted for a 25oz Shorts Humalupalicious.

I had 3 more....   Then there was a frog.

Me naked in the Jacuzzi. 

Then I woke up.  It was race day!  I ate a good breakfast.  Evacuated my bowels.  Then packed up my truck and drove the 15 miles to the Pleasant Valley Community Center to use their bathroom.  Actually, that's were the race took place too, so it worked out.

I registered.  I was number 116.  How awesome is that?  Not very.  Numbers 115 and 117 both got prizes.  So 116 sucks!

The race was challenging.  17 miles of some good gravel roads, some good two track, some sandy gravel roads and some sandy two track.  The sand was a bitch, but I went with the right bike.  The mighty snatch rolled right through it for the most part.   What made the race really fun was the 10 miles of single track towards the end.  It was like one giant pump track.  If you maintained your momentum it was one heck of a roller coaster.  However, I was pretty gassed and lost it a couple of times.  But, it was still a blast.

After about 2hr 45min I crossed the finish line.  I had to stop in the woods to pee once and walked a few of the sandy two tracks.  I could have done better, but that's for next year.  I'll be going back.  I may save the humalupalicious for after the race though.

Oh and one more thing.  Team Hot Dog is kind of a big deal.  I met a fan named Emily.  She remembered the ride bikes, drink beer from Barry Roubaix.  She saw my shirt and just had to get my autograph.  However, I didn't have a pen so we had a post race meal together.