ready... steady...
SNOW!

day 2 of the international ice race vacation.

we wake up to 3 inches of snow on the ground and white out conditions out on the lake ice. from our bach porch of the cabin, one used to be able to see clearly across a little bay to a tree line. today we can barely see the bay.

there was talk of some nasty weather possibly coming through, but it was hoped that i would all happen post race. appearantly, not going to be the case.

for breakfast, some people are downing omelettes, eggs and or other crazy heavy ass foods, i'm prepared with a banana, some homemade bread, and my trusty oatmeal raisin cookies. the thought of loading up on eggs pre-intense-physical-exhertion makes me queasy. blargh.

the race is scheduled to start at 10am and we load up and make it out the door by 9:15. during the drive over, the weather didn't get any better and more and more snow collected on the roadways. by 9:30, we've made it to the parking area near the race start and we see other cars and vans with bikes in tow turning around and heading back to the cabins/lodge/hotel. one van stops and tells our car that the race has been moved due to these bad weather conditions. (later we find out that people early in the morning were trying to groom the trail and got lost, and that other scouting expiditions lead to falling through some ice into icy cold water).

so we all head back to the lodge and are told that a contingency plan is being planned right now and that we should come back at 11am. since half the fun of this race is typically the horrible riding conditions, the race will not be cancelled, just moved to a different location (most likely somewhere here on the island, but i have no idea where at this point... maybe the snowmobile trails?)

so back to the cabin we go. everyone else settles down at the dining room table for a couple rounds of uno. i break out my music and listen to me first and the gimme gimmes. nothing better than that to keep myself psyched up for the impending doom of winter ice biking.

10:45 and we pack back up and head out back to the lodge. we make it just at about 11am and with bikes still on the cars we head into the lodge to see whats up. barely anyone is there (isn't there supposed be somewhere around 50 riders signed up for this?) and the one person that is there asks us, "you here for the bike race?" and then proceeds to tell us that they're starting over by the hotel lobby, underneath the archway on the driveway. "don't worry, they'll wait for you."

so we hurry back to the cars and start unloading. as my friend, micah, and i are trudging our bikes through the back parking lot on the way to the hotel lobby, another group of people sees us and ask us,

"hey are you with that bike race?"

"yep"

"they took off already. you'd better hurry..."

wait. WHAT!? so we missed the start. i have no idea by how long. micah and i mount up and do out best to make it down the now nasty snow covered driveway. down at the end of the driveway we see a race worker wielding a radio and yelling into it, "we've got two more coming." there's more talk, but micah and i can't tell what it was. eventually we get closer and he says to us, "don't worry, you're not that far behind. you'll catch up. head down this road and you'll see 'em."

we head down the road and see no one. no one for many miles. and we're haulin' ass (at least in my eyes we're hauling ass considering it's snowy out and the roads are recently plowed, but not that recent).

finally, after a couple turns, we see one, maybe two other people. at this point, i'm wondering how many people are actually in this race.

it's questionable whether or not the studded tires i have on my bike are actually necessary for the current conditions, but they certainly served to boost my confidence and keep my speed up. and if the conditions stay the same, primarily being almost plowed but paved roads, i think my cyclocross bike will have a huge advantage over the fat tired mtn bike riders.

i begin to have visions of catching up to the front of the pack. these visions power me up and over hills, still continuing to pass people.

i'm feeling good. this is a great first race.

the weather is getting a bit worse now. the wind is picking up, snow is turning to sleet and i'm begining to think that i won't need laser surgery since all this sleet hitting my eyes will probably have the same micro etching effect.

and then the plowed roads end. and it 6 - 8 inches of slushy, mushy snow and my bike slows, slips, and slides to morale shatteringly slow speeds. it gets so bad that, like the people in front of me, i get off and begin to walk the bike.

fortunately, it looks like this stretch of road only continues for about 100 yards at which point there are more race workers pointing people off to another road to the right.

i try picking up the bike and running most of the yards, but my biking shoes were definitely not made for running, much less in the slushy crap so i slowly trudge my way to the corner.

as i round the corner and prepare to remount the bike, i am greeted by a long ugly stretch of still unplowed roads, some ugly hills, and many more bikers walking their bikes.

and here i thought i was in a bike race.

trying to keep my spirits up, i start sing really stupid songs and telling really dumb jokes to my friend micah. at one point, at the top of some hill, i through my bike down and sing "we are the champions" to the racers behind me still coming up the hill. i have no idea what affect it had on my fellow bikers.

after every hill and turn, there's a glimmer of hope that the road will return to plowed glory, but with each hill and turn those hopes are lost in the whiteness and silence that is a northern michigan white out.

finally, in the distance, i can see more race workers indicating another change in course. while it doesn't turn out to be a change in snow depth, when micah and i pass, the worker does mention that we have only about a half mile to go before the start finish line.

morale perks back up at the thought of being close to the end of this march of death.

until we hear the race worker talking to more racers behind us saying, "good job! only a half mile to the start finish line! have fun on lap two!"

lap? two?

see what happens when you're late for a race start. you have no idea what you're really getting yourself into.

lap two yields a much more recently plowed road and speeds reach those close to normal summer road speeds. with such recent plowing, visions of that last mile or two being plowed give me hope.

morale comes back up to near normal levels. i'm feeling good again. although i'm having much more difficulty maintaining speed on this second lap, i'm happy to at least be pedalling instead of walking.

i keep hoping to god that they've plowed that last march of death section. which of course, they haven't. i hit the first section of slush with some good speed and even more frustration. morale plummets for a couple before fatigue takes over. my non-existant calves threaten to sieze into rock hard and useless limbs (go chicken legs!). my back is all tweaked from pushing the bike with poor posture. micah, somehow, finds the energy to run every couple of yards so for a portion of the march, i'm marching alone.

i round the last couple corners finally to a section just before the start/finish were i can mount my bike and finish the race on two wheels. there's smallish crowd cheering me on as i cross and dump my bike in the snow bank to go steal more cliff bars and gatorade.

total time for 2x7mile laps: 1hr 50min 29seconds (micah finished 30 seconds before me, rat bastard)

after chatting it up with a couple people at the finish line, i find out that the people in first and second finished with times of just over an hour. somehow, they were able to power through that mile or so of slush. twice!

at the awards banquet, it turns out that out of 43 people that started the race, 3x finished and micah and i came in 21 and 22 overall. 10 and 11 in our division. not too shaby for our first race and a late start.

next year, hopefully, we'll actually be able to ride the ice bridge.