2007 Iceman
November 11th, 2007
I have now completed my first Iceman Cometh Challenge although I don’t know anyone who calls it that, it’s just “The Iceman”. John and I rode up Friday evening which was nice since it meant I could sleep in Saturday morning and get a full night’s rest for once before the race. John forgot to bring any water bottles, and I had none since I was using my Camelbak, so we had to hurry down to the expo to see if they had any for sale. Luckily some Cherry City organization or something was selling bottles for only $5 which was less than we expected to find. Carbo loading night before race meal: Subway.
Saturday morning the weather was perfect, frosty and 32 when we woke up, with the sun out all day we ended the race around 45 degrees with little wind - Iceman veterans claimed these were the nicest conditions ever. Pre-race meal: granola, banana, bagel & cream cheese. John sprang for the $12 buffet which he later regretted.
Short ride over to the middle school for the start. Plenty of routes around to warm up, so just rode loops until I felt ready. Surprisingly my age group was one of the smaller starts with only 43 people. Sport men 35-39 was the largest wave at a whopping 155 riders! The start went well, based on the chatter there were a lot of first timers and it seems like they were pretty tentative at the gun, so getting past most of them and staying with the lead group was pretty easy.
Around mile 2 some guy called to pass, I let him by but he cut back in way to soon and took us both out. Basically locked handlebars and his bike went under mine, I fell right on him and his bike pretty hard - I was surprised both he and his bike seemed to be undamaged. Got back on and kept going. Post race I thought I had a weird soreness in my left calf, later realized that was the spot that came down hardest on the guys bike so it was probably just a deep bruise or something. The lead group was gone but I was able to stay with the second group.
The stomach cramps set in quickly, not sure why, they just did - rode through and they were pretty much gone by around mile 10. Felt good until about mile 20, the bigger hills started to take their toll, at the top of one particularly steep climb I lost it and had to step down - instantly my leg seized up in the worst cramp I’ve ever felt. As soon as I straightened out the other leg it did the same. So there I am standing in the middle of the hill unable to move! Fortunately the path was so wide at this point that I wasn’t holding anyone up (they were all walking anyway) so I just started furiously rubbing my thighs trying to loosen them up, with little luck. I eventually just dragged myself to the side and tried to stretch them until they finally started moving again. Once on the bike and turning they didn’t really give me any trouble. But this scenario played out on several more hills before the end anytime I had to step off the bike.
After this any real hope of a competitive finish was gone, I saw a lot of people in my group pass me and I just didn’t have any juice left. Just ground out the last two miles and was more than happy to finish. Total distance according to my computer was 28 miles - total claimed distance by race organizers was 27.5 miles, still not sure which was right.
Overall pretty happy with the ride, I personally thought the infamous sand pits were a piece of cake and really one of the most enjoyable parts of the course. There were a number of blazing fast downhills that followed the climbs that ended in the sand. From a handling standpoint I was on all day, sliced through the sand and cornered nicely. There were some rough downhills near the end with the crowds and I just took my fingers completely off the brake levers and let it rip with no problem. So bottom line is I rode well, but just didn’t have the conditioning to finish strong.
Times are getting posted now: CLASS: BEGINNER MEN 30-34
Place Name Town Sta Sponsor Ice
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1 Scott Kierzek Hamilton MI 2:09:41
2 Christopher Manick Oscoda MI N/a 2:12:19
3 Adam Naish Rochester MI Team England 2:13:10
4 Scott Hietpas Appleton WI Wors 2:14:55
5 Glen Ruczynski Farmington Hil MI Team Greyhounds 2:20:11
6 Brandon Inglehart Petoskey MI 2:20:53
7 Paul Barr Clarkston MI 2:23:27
8 George Bracken Livonia MI 2:24:13
9 Fadi Tahan Plymouth MI 2:27:53
10 Edward Erickson Ann Arbor MI Yukari 2:30:08
11 Doug Charnock Peninsula OH The Black 13/ Centur 2:30:48
12 Lars McCain Nashville IN McCain Home Improvem 2:31:00
13 Newton Leitelt Kentwood MI 2:31:02
14 Jeff Wilson Warren MI 2:31:31
15 Stefan Ioannou Toronto Team Speedy 2:34:07
16 Chris Frey Detroit MI 2:36:17
17 Chris Brower Rockford MI 2:41:58
18 Brian Forster Chicago IL 2:45:30
19 Wade Lowery Rockford MI 2:47:36
20 Chris Russo Romulus MI 2:48:02
21 Keith Berry Chelsea MI 2:48:39
22 Justin Ziemba Chicago IL 2:48:43
23 Donald Delagrange Toledo OH 2:49:16
24 Joel Montague Flint MI 2:51:18
25 Josh Stevens Midland MI 2:53:07
26 Jamie Condevaux Livonia MI 2:53:37
27 Hector Wilson Ludington MI 2:53:47
28 Douglas Santos Okemos MI 2:57:09
29 Eric Schlorff Midland MI 2:58:10
30 Brandon Cooley West Chester OH Mojo Running 2:59:17
31 Kevin Kryszak Kalamazoo MI 3:03:03
32 Ross Fischer Zeeland MI 3:03:46
33 Bob Taylor Iii Linwood MI Robert Taylor Iii, D 3:04:01
34 Mark Southworth Grand Ledge MI 3:07:31
35 Dale Benton Davison MI 3:10:28
36 Jeff Thuma Flushing MI 3:11:14
37 Kris Kokko Novi MI 3:11:44
38 Christopher Vandeven Wyoming MI 3:20:47
39 Brian Beeman Saginaw MI Myself 3:33:35
40 Mark Mulcahy Allen Park MI 3:50:09
41 Eric Anderson Hartford MI 3:50:11
42 Juraj Cuperka Northville MI Michigan Youth Cycli 3:55:12
43 Ryan Cooper Ferndale MI 4:19:54
Elevation Profile:
Someone already posted some pictures, this one is of my start wave although you can’t see me, I am directly behind the guy in the red white and blue #2104:
So mountain bike legend Ned Overend was racing this year which was pretty cool. Unfortunately I never saw him - the pros start well after us, could have seen the finish but kinda lost track of time. Had my camera and copy of Mountain Bike Like A Champion handy for an autograph, but no luck. He ended up finishing 6th overall, so he wasn’t on the podium at the awards ceremony either.
5-time Icewoman Kelli Emmett with a winning time of 1:43:03:
