Skip to main content

Iceman: Slush Cup

So we made it to the campground with plenty of time to spare only to find that the gate was not open.  This is the second year in a row that it was not open on time.  We were told it would be open by 7am and it was not.  Fortunately we were one of the first in line and had enough time to get ready and make it to the start line with time to spare.  Oh yeah, it was snowing and would not let up till the afternoon.


Ready to go.
 
 
We took off and started making our way through the pack.  We were doing good and then we started to have some problems.  I heard a noise and the pedals on the bike started to hang up, Brendans pants got caught in the chainring.  I back pedaled a bit and they came out.  A short time later the sand and moisture started to cause problems with the gears.  We lost the chain a couple of times on climbs and the gears just did not want to work right.  But we stuck to our plan and crossed the finish line strong.  I could hear Michelle cheering for us when we got there.  Always a good thing to hear.  We caught up to her and she told me that she thought we got fourth place for the second year in a row.



 
 

 
A welcome sight to any racer.
 
I know that I am not in as food of shape as I was last year.  The conditions were also much different.  However, it still seemed like the course was more difficult.  We were 15 minutes slower than last year.  My legs are very sore this evening and I am very tired.  We did stay all day also and walked around a lot.
 
 

Waiting for the start (from left: Don Miller, Alexander Leach, Brendan and JJ)
 
Raymond Leach post race.
 
So we got something to eat and checked our results.  It was confirmed that we got 4th place.  Alexander also got 4th in his class.  So we got to take the podium.
 
 On the podium.
 
Frankie Andreau was the awards announcer and kind enough to take a photo.
 
Brendan then did the Sno Cone in the afternoon.  Alexander agreed to ride with him which was very nice.  Which resulted in Brendan's second medal of the day.
 
 Pre Sno Cone.
 
Heading to the finish and going strong.
 
Crossing the line.
 
 
We went back and packed up and then got a snack.  We just missed the pro men finish and heard that Sam Schultz (US Olympian) won in a sprint finish.  We decided to stick around for the finish of the women's race.
 
Georgia Gould Pro Women's winner.
 
So another Iceman is in the books and we are settled in for the night.  We make our trip back tomorrow.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summer Vacation Day 4: The ER

Day four started out with beautiful weather.  We had breakfast and Michelle took Brendan fishing.  I decided I would take a ride on the bike and do a little recon for a family bike ride. I set off east to ride toward Rapid River.  I rode around the the edge of the bay and took a few pictures. Dunes on the edge of Gladstone. This was around 4-5 miles out of town in a small subdivision. The photo above is of a small river I crossed, unfortunately I cannot remember the name.  I thought I found a bike trail that would be nice for all of us.  Unfortunately it was swampy and not kept up.  I headed back to Gladstone and met Michelle and Brendan out on the fishing dock. I sat with them for a while and Brendan caught this. This is a Gobi.  An invasive species of the Great Lakes. After a few minutes I started back to the house.  On the way I started to have some chest pain.  After showering it had not let up. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Vacation: Day 8, Marquette

Day out started out cool, cloudy and windy.  It would stay like that the entire day.  After Michelle got up we took a little walk in the park by the bay.  It was very cool and returned to the house.  The plan for the day was to go to Marquette to visit Raymond and his family and have dinner with them. I received a text from Raymond that informed me the weather was not good there and it had not been for the entire week.  It had been very cold and windy.  He told me to bring warm clothes and we would probably be inside. We arrived at there location just after 3:00pm and it was cold and windy.  They told us it had been worse earlier in the day.  After talking for a while Angel started to make burgers and hot dogs on the grill.  We walked down to the beach with Raymond to discover that the beach was not really there.  The water has been so high this year and the waves were coming in so hard there was no beach.  They said they h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Independence Day

Another busy weekend and celebration of our country's independence.  I got a short ride in on Friday morning.  We then were preparing for a wedding.  Barb and Steve, a couple at our church were getting married and the ceremony/reception would be at Dawn and Reuben's house.  Reuben performed the ceremony and I was asked to do the photography.  This worked out great as I had purchased a used Sony DSLR camera on eBay and got to test it out.  It was a very nice ceremony and celebration with our church family and friends.   You may kiss the bride!   We then stuck around and all of us went to the fireworks at the Clio Park to cap off the evening.  We got home late and went right to bed.   I slept in a bit on Saturday morning and got up to watch the start of the Tour de France.  It was a good stage with a sprint finish and a bad crash that took Mark Cavendish out of the race.  I then ventured out on a 23 mile ride o...
Post a Comment
Read more