Mike Connolly: Iceman Cometh

Saturday November 8th was the 19th annual Iceman Cometh mountian bike race in northern Michigan. The Iceman is the last race of the year and has approximately 2,500 participants which is by far the largest race around. Its a roughly 27 mile point to point race starting in Kalkaska MI and ending at Timber Ridge resort in Traverse City. The weather is always unpredictable but normally hovers around freezing, so it may be sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowing, sleeting, or any combination of those, but that's just typical for northern Michigan in November.

This year was no exepction. Although sunny, the weather was cold at the start... which on top of not being able to decide on what to wear (I brought all the cold weather gear I own with me to the race) was the major factor in why I really didnt care for the first 10 miles of the race. Becuase my hands were cold during my warm up I had chemical hand warmers inside my gloves at the starting corral which I had planned on removing right before the start, which I did, but unfortunately I couldnt grab the warmer out of my right glove so I ended up having to take that glove off to get it... which would have been ok except those gloves have liners sewn into them and when I pulled my fingers out I couldnt get them back into the finger holes. Basically I was left with a club on my right hand for about the first 10 minutes of the race, and had very limited mobility with that hand until I was finally able to work the fingers back into the finger holes to grip my handlebar and then it was another half hour before I had full dexterity of that hand. Oh well, that allowed me to take my mind off the cold and the competition and focus my entire attention on my own stupidity (I always have the same problem with those gloves so I knew it was going to happen even as it was happening). Lesson learned. Other than that major malfunction, I was pretty happy with my clothing choice since I wasnt cold and didnt overheat at all.

The other interesting part of this race is that my buddy Mike (Soupy) was positioned right next to me in the starting chute (each of us had a goal to beat the other) and I dont know how it happened but but I saw him ahead of me as we rolled out and I really wanted to beat him so I raced like I was chasing him for the next 2 hours, but never saw him so I was ready to congratulate him at the finish.... only to have him roll up behind me in the finish chute. Apparently I passed him within the first 1/4 mile of the race (I mustve been too preoccupied with the club on my handlebar) and he was in fact, chasing me the entire race instead.

Anyay, this was my 6th Iceman (second on the singlespeed) and it was my fastest time. I finished in 2:01:18, good for 17th in my class (singlespeed 39 and under). Results My goal was 2 hours, but becuase the promoters tweak the route a little each year its tough to compare times from year to year.

This year I ran a 34x15 gear which is 66 gear inches on my 29er and i was pretty happy with that choice overall because a lot of it is relatively flat two-track, but I definately felt it on the hills... especially when I was pushing my bike up them.

I was also pretty happy with the results since I ended up being out of town for work for 11 days before the race so I really didnt ride at all leading up to the race. I got a short spin around town on Thursday night and then pre-rode a few miles of the course late friday afternoon, but that was it for 2 weeks leading up to the race.

After our race Soupy and I headed to the start area to pick up my car (its a point-to-point race, my car was at the start so we had to go get it) and watched the start of the Pro race, then went to the Williamsburg Road crossing which is about 17 miles into the race, then went back to Timber Ridge to catch the finish. Unfortunately i got stuck in traffic (car traffic) on the way to the resort so I missed the Pro men's finish, but I caught the women's finish and the podium ceremony.

After the race and the awards ceremony many head to the post-race party at the Loading Dock, sponsored by Bells Brewery and hosted by the Bells MTB Team with the Orbitsuns providing the entertainment. We ended up there for most of the night, and I am happy to say that the party was a great way to cap off the weekend and the mountain biking season.

Here are some pics and some video I shot througout the day. Sorry the audio and video quality is pretty poor, but I guess that's what happens when you shoot video with a camera, then put it through windows movie maker.

Cris, Justin and Soupy after their races