Skip to main content

Rust Shaker 2015 Race Day

Today was the Rust Shaker XC race at Mid Michigan Community College in Harrison. They always put on a great event and they had a good turnout for an early season race. It felt more like Iceman weather!
 
I did not get much sleep Friday night.  Brendan was sick and it kept us up some.  I had got most all my race stuff together on Friday night so there was not much to do.  I got on the road and headed out for the hour and a half drive.  I arrived with plenty of time to get ready and attend the race meeting.
 
I did a brief warm up ride with Raymond and got up to the start line.
 
Farley was ready.

Raymond was ready.



The starting line.
 
I had signed up for Sport Clydesdale so I would be doing two laps.  Our starting wave was Sport Men 50+, Sport Clydesdale and Fat Bike Open.  I could have raced in any of those classes.  At the start line I was not sure if I was racing against anyone in Clydesdale?
 
The race started and I felt good.  I was near the back of the group and my goal was to finish in 2 hours or less.  The race was going well and I passed a few riders that had passed me earlier in the race.  The course was not as rough as it was in years past.  They did a good job of setting up the course for the race.  Good combination of climbing and technical riding.  I was moving along really well until the last couple of miles.  My legs just went away.  I thought I was going to cramp.  I managed to get through to the end and was happy with the race.
 
17 miles and under 2 hours!
 
I put the bike away and changed clothes and headed in to the school cafeteria.  They had pizza, chips, water, fruit and other goodies.  I filled up and good and checked the final results.

Hard to read here? First Place!
 
So there was one rider and myself.  The other ride DNF'd.  I won my first race in several years!  I also received $15 for the win.  Very cool.
 
So I learned a few things today.  I need to put in a lot more miles if JJ and I are going to do the Soft Rock at Ore to Shore.  I need to make sure I have gels during a race and drink more during the race.
 
This was the first trail ride on the Farley.  It rode very well and handled great.  I do believe that a suspension fork will make it a much better handling and faster ride off road.  The Bontrager Hodag tires work great off road.  There were no scary moments because the tires kept traction at all times. There was a few close calls from going to fast into corners.  The fat tires really inspire confidence on the downhills.  Again, need a suspension fork to get the full benefits of the Farley as a trail bike.
 
The Pro/Expert class had an up and coming Michigan racer and a Michigan MTB legend.
 
Jordan Wakeley
 
Jordan won the race with a time of 1 hour and 53 minutes for 3 laps.  Jordan won the Arrowhead 125 this past winter.  He passed me with about 3 miles to go like I was standing still.

Scott Quiring
 
Scott has won Iceman a few times and is the owner of Quiring Cycles.  He makes some of the best handcrafted frames out there.  He finished second today and Jordan now represents Quiring.  Both Jordan and Scott were riding 29+ Ti Quiring bikes.  These guys are fast!
 
So what is next?  You will have to wait and see.
 
 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Easter

Easter has come and gone.  It was a very busy couple of days.  We started out with Brendan getting very sick Wednesday night.  Luckily he was feeling better on Friday and we were able to enjoy the holiday.. Mom and Dad came out on Saturday.  We met them at Backwood's and had a late lunch.  We then came back to our house to color eggs and visit.     Mom's Work   Mom also brought this with her. This was my grandmother's Lutheran Hymnal.  It was given to her on her confirmation.  It is over 100 years old and in German.  Mom also has her bible.  She is giving this to Amelith Lutheran Church.   We all had a really good time and it was a full day.    On Sunday we went to church and then to Michelle's mom and dad's for a late lunch and the annual easter egg hunt.     The kids had fun as always.   We had a really good meal then Michelle and I took a 2+ mile walk...
Post a Comment
Read more

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