This race was held on Labor day weekend up on the famous Copper Harbor Trails. This would be my first race since Nationals in mid July. Like I have mentioned in the previous post, I had a flair with Epstein Barr starting in early June. After Nationals I took some time off to rest up like I should have been all through June and July. Long story short, I was cleared to start training again about 3 weeks after nats. Going into this race weekend I had only a few weeks of easy training. I was running more than biking early on then slowly started biking again on and off for a few weeks. The week going into this race weekend I focused on the bike and started to incorporate intervals again.
I went over and stayed in Houghton, Mi a few days before the race to chill after a 5 hour drive across the U.P. I spent the Saturday before the race checking things out in the town and on the MTU campus. Since I'm part of helping start an outdoor recreation center on campus of LSSU, I wanted to see how a school like Tech ran their center. So I spent some time talking to students who work at the their outdoor center. Later on that day I came across a pair of 1983 Trek road bikes sitting on the side of the road for free. Of course I couldn't pass this opportunity up. I've been looking for bikes like these for a few months now. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and working on these old bikes that I picked up. Later on in the afternoon I went out for a ride with a few friends who go to school in that area. He showed me the awesome flow trails on the MTU campus and then we rode over to Hancock and rode the flow trail there. Normally I don't ride much the day before a race but this was different. We rode just under 2 hours. Nothing to hard but still a longer ride for me at this point in my training.
The next morning we went up to Copper Harbor for the race. I had to sign up and get everything ready. Since I haven't been training that long going into this race I decided to race the short (17mile) race. Normally I do the longer race but racing the short one was a smart choice.
As the race started everyone took off at a good pace. Most people knew what challenge was up ahead. This would be of course Brockway Mountain. This climb is a few miles long and has some very steep sections. Going into the climb I got up to second then once the climbing started I got passed by a big group. I wanted to attack this climb smart and play it safe. I attacked the climb while holding back some. Once the course went into the single track the group was very spread out. I attacked the single track sections. I was feeling good with my technical riding abilities and had more confidence about riding on rocks and through fast twisty sections. I made up a lot of time in the first section of single track. I passed one rider and caught up with another at the end. For some reason during this race I struggled to push on the open areas. It was probably due to being a little out of shape and still weak. The rest of the race was rode at a solid pace and going back and forth with another rider. I would catch him in the single track and he would catch me on the climbs and through some open areas of the course. The last section of single track was pretty technical. I don't normally ride this kind of trails and I had no prior experience with theses specific trails before. I felt like I was able to get through the sections smooth. I was happy to not crash and not have any major slip ups. I came across the line in 8th overall, 6th in the division (2 single speed riders ahead of me) and 2nd in the Male 19-24 age group.
Overall I am pretty happy with this result. It was a good speed check to see where I stand with my training. I now know I have A LOT of work to do in the next coming months before Iceman. It was a fun weekend riding some of my favorite trails in the state and to spend some time in a different area of the U.P.. It was also a great way to get one last vacation in before school get really busy. I am looking forward to pushing for the next few months to see if I can gain back some strength I had back in May. With the help of my family, friends and sponsors I know I can make some smart choices leading up to Iceman and then put it all out there to end the season in November.
Thanks to all my sponsors and the people who help me out the most
Mom and Dad
Breakaway Bicycles of Muskegon
Crank Brothers
Schwalbe Tires
Hammer Nutrition
Spy Optics
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