It all started on Friday. DLC and I took the day off so we could drive up, get a ride in up in Traverse City, and enjoy Traverse some before we headed over to Arcadia. DLC promptly pulled up my driveway at 7am on the dot. We loaded up, and without a stop, landed in Traverse City before 11am. Interesting to drive through a blizzard on 72 in between Kalkaska and Acme. Couldn’t believe the snow flying sideways, but whatever, we were excited (not pitch a tent happy, but happy) to be in Traverse. From past experiences of eating on the road before a bike ride, we chose to stop and dine at the Omlette Shoppe instead of the usual Wendy’s or McDonald’s. That was a good call. Our HRs did not blow up on our ride, just our legs and lungs did. Next stop was the VASA for our pre-race warm up ride. Oooof! HD here made a gaff, and instead of riding the singletrack, took DLC on the pathway. I don’t know why I didn’t realize the difference, but there is one. It was cold, around 39 degrees. Once we shoved off, we averaged about 100 ft of climbing per mile for the first 8 miles or so, before it leveled off a little. So much for warming up! David wanted to kill me, and we pondered turning around. Realizing it really didn’t matter at this point, and for fear of being heckled by our teammates for being pansies, we muscled our way along. 13 Iceman like miles, and over 1,000 ft of climbing later, we had our warm up ride in, and were ready for a nap!
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| One pissed off DLC looking like he's in the Iceman |
No naps here. Being in Traverse, and finishing a bike ride meant one thing… a stop on the peninsula for a post ride meal at Jolly Pumpkin. Man, that place never disappoints. We indulged in many a delicious beer, had crazy good burgers, and discussed our race strategies for the next day. LOL, like we need to strategize. Before walking out of the joint, we made sure to grab some beers for the next evening, once the race was finished. A little over an hour of scenic driving later, we arrived in beautiful Arcadia and our home for the weekend, the Watervale Inn. What a place! It’s a campus of cottages and an Inn upon a real pretty inland lake, as well as just steps from Lake Michigan and the ridiculously awesome Arcadia Bluffs. 60 bucks a night got you a real pretty pink room (including a sink), as well as a surprisingly delicious breakfast and dinner. The food was that good. Right on par with Mulberry Gap. The place exceeded our expectations. We didn’t know what to expect based on price, and the fact that they were hosting a yoga retreat the same weekend we were there. The Watervale Inn had a ton of character though, very classy. Even required collared shirts for dinner. Also just a 5-7 minute drive to the start of the race. I would definitely come back here to enjoy the place without a bike race going on. Dave and I scarfed down our dinners, and pretty much called it a night. We had a big race the next day!
Race
morning. Got my coffee and walked the lake a little, then went in for
breakfast and ate with another biker we met named Mark. Last time I
raced, was Iceman… so it had
been a while. It’s cool having that feeling of really not knowing what
to expect with a race you had never done before. Once we got to the
community center or school or whatever, we parked in some field. I was
surprised there wasn’t as many people here
as I was thinking there would be. I hope this thing gets bigger, my
gosh was it fun! Dave and I got dressed and rode around a little,
making sure we were ready to go. I had mentally prepared myself for
what DLC said… a decent climb near the beginning, a
bitch of a long, steep climb called Taylor Rd, 10 miles in, and then
the singletrack. I figured once I got to the singletrack, it would get
easier and I could relax some. NOT! The race gets underway, and it’s
very Ore to Shore like but smaller. A roll
out on pavement for a little while, everyone going balls out at 20mph
or higher. The pavement turns to dirt roads. Very Barry-Roubaix like. I
fell into a grove, and actually felt pretty damn good. Every time I
would look down at my Garmin, my speed was
much higher than I thought I was going, so I thought, hell…. I’m doing
awesome! I didn’t even realize the first “big” climb everyone kept
talking about, I just rode up it and kept going. Settled in with a pack
of riders and just had a blast riding the country
side waiting for this climb and then the singletrack. I felt great,
still kept looking down at my Garmin, with results better than I had
thought. At one point I was calculating to finish at 2:15
or so, and that made me pretty happy for being so out of shape!
We get to Taylor Rd hill, and this guy is kind of leading myself and a
few other people up the climb. It wasn’t that bad, pretty similar to
that long paved climb at Ore to Shore. At any rate, his speed keeps
going down, so I say F it and break apart the
group. As I ride past the guy leading us, he calls me a sandbagger!
LMAO! I tell him I’ve never ever been called that, and he’s free to
attach himself to my tire and let me pull him. He couldn’t keep up.
Well, shortly after kind of riding past everyone
on the climb, you settle back into some dirt roads before the
singletrack hits. My pace had lowered a bit and a few from the pack I
was riding with passed me. As coach would say, “my egg timer went
off”. I kind of blew up right when the singletrack started.
I knew I had a good 10 miles of singletrack before a few miles of dirt
roads to the finish. The Arcadia singletrack was cool! I wish I was in
better shape cause you can really hammer it. It’s kind of a
combination of everything we are used to riding down
here at home. Reminded me a little of P3 in Georgia without all the
super steep inclines. If we wouldn’t have had such a harsh winter, the
trail would have been more hard packed. It was still leaf covered and
not as tacky fast as it could have been. I
grinded it out. Got passed by I think the rest of the group I rode
with, hit some pretty sandy downhill near a highway before you get
dumped out on roads that take you to the finish. I was spent. My time
was 2:26
and change. Crossed the finish line on
fumes, waited for DLC, and then we got our beer on. The race was
sponsored by StormCloud Brewing. Never heard of them, but after a few
IPAs I sure was happy. Good beers. Cool logo. I won a StormCloud
hoodie but almost didn’t hear my name being called
because the beer was so good.
We
were looking for something to eat, but the food tent ran out of hot
dogs and food I guess. So that was that, we took off and went to
StormCloud Brewing in Frankfort for
food. They didn’t have a big menu, but we got a couple pizzas and I
talked to an older gentleman who I rode much of the course with. We
drank a few more beers and reveled in what a beautiful day it was (50ish
and sunny), how fun the race was, and what a great
time in general we were having up north and in Arcadia. Headed back to
the Watervale Inn… and DLC petered out on me. He was one tired cat. I
could tell by the look on his face. We ate our dinners, and skipped
desert we were so tired. I went out to the car
and got the cooler, went down to the lake, and cracked open the first a
few Jolly Pumpkin beers to end the night. I think it was around 7pm. David staggered down to the lake for about 5 minutes. He tried. Didn’t even attempt to open a beer. He was done,
and went to bed.
So
that was the trip in a nutshell. Pretty awesome. I will definitely do
this race again. It was well organized, challenging, in a beautiful
area of the state I had never
seen before, and just all out FUN! Events like this are why I bike.
I’d put it up there in Iceman category as one of my favorite races. The
roads surrounding the area are sweet, perfect for getting pretty hilly
road bike rides in. I was amazed at how pretty
Arcadia was. I will definitely stay at Watervale again too. That
place, the character of it, how nice the people were there, the scenery,
how good the food was… yup. I knew this was going to be a good bike
trip from what I had learned, and what David had
told me. But it exceeded everything. I really encourage anyone who
hasn’t done this race, try it next year!
In closing, I'd like to share some additional photos from the weekend... Enjoy!
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