We had such a fun time. I remember driving up to Traverse City through some torrential down pours thinking maybe this wasn't such a good idea. The next day the weather was awesome. In fact it was much better in Traverse City than it was at home. This year I was hoping for much of the same. We stayed at the same place we stay at when we race iceman. It's nice and close to Mt. Holiday.
We arrived early and picked up our packets and did the usual routine prep stuff we do for races. We did a little warming up and I insisted that Jimmie check out the crazy sand pit you had to go through at the end of the course. He of course thought nothing of it but I thought that it looked like it was going to suck b@lls. I rode it once just to see if there was any sort of good line...there really wasn't.
We lined up. Jimmie was a waves ahead of me. They lumped expert women and SS's together. I talked to Ali Bridson and Nicole Baker as we waited to start our wave. I previously overheard Nicole saying that she was getting married to Rick after the MSB race. I made sure to congratulate her. Just before it was our turn to line up at the start some guy hurried back in the lineup and announced that he just dropped a bunch of weight and was ready to race...TMI dude! After I chuckled about his announcement and checked the tire pressure of the SS wearing a pigs flying jersey rear tire in front of me, our wave was up to start. I looked around at all the Hagerty racers around me. We were off and into some wide trail that lead to a few hills. I dropped my bottle not even 5 minutes into the race. A fellow racer let me know but I thought screw that it's not worth it you never know those seconds may count. I followed Rachel from Hagerty into some single track and eventually the pigs flying jersey SS guy worked his way into our group. Over time Rachel and the pigs flying jersey SS guy pulled away from me. I just continued to concentrate on my race and tried to reel Rachel back in. Before I knew it I was on the paved side streets and porting back into some trail and onto the crazy sandpit area. They made us go through a mud pit at the end. My face is pretty awesome in the pictures.
After finishing and meeting up with Jimmie we talked about the race. He was in 2nd, but missed a turn and ended up in 4th. He was pretty annoyed by that. We over heard quite a few people complaining about missing turns here or there. I fortunately didn't miss any turns. After we cleaned up we headed to the results board and I was completely surprised by my finish. I could have sworn that Rachel was ahead of me. Anyhow I picked up my award and headed to the beer tent for some chocolaty right brain brewery beer.
The weather was awesome during and after the race. The Mud, Sweat and Beers promoters did an excellent job of creating a fun laid back atmosphere that includeed excellent beer and good food. We got to talk to Scott Simpson and his wife Chrissy after the race.
Post race we headed to Subway to eat fresh and then headed to Hanson Hills. It was getting warmer by the hour, but there was still snow atop the ski hill. For some reason the forest seemed eerily quiet. I didn't see or hear any wildlife until we were beside the rode at the outer edge of the course. It was a nice slow ride. Sometimes it's nice to ride to ride and not ride to train...I occasionally miss those days.
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