Still grinning after the Lumberjack 100!

I've heard a lot of mountain bikers talk about how great and amazing the Lumberjack 100 was, and I knew it was just a matter of time before I signed up for it myself. I was thinking maybe I'd shoot for doing it next year. By time it made my radar, online registration had come and gone and the race was at capacity. I also hadn't done many endurance races and thought I'd start with some shorter ones before tackling 100 miles of single track.

Oh, but Danielle Musto has a really great way of pushing me out of my comfort zone and in to doing bike races! I also had a friend who was looking to sell his Lumberjack registration...before I knew it Danielle had talked me in to signing up for my first 100 mile mountain bike race!

Then this happened after the Ted Bentley release party :

Proof of the bet!

It's a little fuzzy how it all started, but it ended by Danielle and I yelling that Steve Bartzen was going down. After a few drinks at Harmony, we had gotten all riled up and started talking smack with Bartzen. He's been racing for quite a while and is pretty stupid fast. He seemed confident that he would have no problem racing 100 miles faster than me, and all those Ted Bentley's persuaded Danielle and I that I could train in a month and that I could beat Bartzen in the Lumberjack. Some mornings you wake up after drinking and remember cocky things that you've said and you feel like an idiot. This was one of those cases for me. I've only been mountain biking for a few years, racing for one, and although I had done centuries on gravel or on pavement, I knew single track would treat my body entirely differently-- especially riding that much single track at a race pace! The thought of beating Bartzen was pretty crazy, and the whole month leading up to the race was filled with more trash talking between myself, Danielle, and Bartzen.

Leading up to the race I tried to spend my days off from the bike shop doing longer rides. There's a really big hill out near Cannonsburg that I became very intimate with. Hill repeats are something entirely new to me and incredibly brutal! I really think one of the best training tools I had (aside from having Danielle Musto as my coach!) was my Salsa Beargrease. The larger tires gave me just a little more rolling resistance and have helped me to get some power to my legs. Plus the bike is just a lot of stinkin' fun!

Before I knew it the week of the Lumberjack was upon us! One of the coolest things that I noticed about this particular race was that people's faces lit up when you told them you had signed up. Everyone was super encouraging and offered up little tid bits of advice: just get out there and have fun being the #1 thing that everyone said. We're really lucky to live in such a cool mountain biking community in which everyone looks out for each other and wants to see each other succeed!

Friday morning rolled around and once again Grand Rapids Bicycle Company graciously let us take the shop van up for race day! We packed in some lawn chairs, the GRBC tent, some tools, a cooler, our bikes, our gear, and so, so many snacks. The plan was to get our tent and everything set up the night before so that we could snag a really great spot for all of our things for easy and quick pit stops between laps. We were able to find a spot near the bathrooms and right at the start of the loop. Perfect!

The Lumberjack 100 has the best swag!

It had rained the entire drive up to Manistee and we had gotten our tent set up a little later than expected, so instead of pre-riding and spinning our legs on the trail, we hopped on our bikes in the hotel parking lot and did a few laps to stretch out our legs. Snacked on some Marie Catrib's for dinner, and we were in bed by 10pm. Normally I have a hard time falling asleep so early before such an exciting day, but I think my eyes were closed as soon as my head hit the pillow. 

As soon as the alarm went off in the morning, I was up! The adrenaline was already pumping and I was super excited for the race to start! The sooner I was on my bike meant the sooner it would all be over! ;)

All of the race volunteers were super awesome! Danielle Shaver rules!

We got to the Lumberjack 100 race start at a little after 5am. I couldn't believe how many other people had already gotten there - good thing we had our tent spot! I had prepared three hydrapak's with Carborocket's 333 Half Evil endurance mix the night before and had them stacked in a bag for easy grabbing between laps. I also had three water bottles filled with CR's hydration mix that I would put on my bike each lap. I still don't feel very acclimated to the humidity and heat yet, so I also had Hammer Endurolytes and the margarita Shot Bloks in my gas tank bag. People who had finished the race before had told me to make sure I had solid food, but I felt pretty confident with this plan since I had been training on the Carborocket and had used it all winter fat biking.

The start of the race was a ways out of the parking lot and down a flat section of paved road. We all lined up together, and it was crazy to see 400-some cyclists all lumped together! I got a spot near the front next to Danielle and our GRBC teammate Jurrien Davison and felt really good on that stretch of road. I knew there would be some congestion once we hit the single track and I was really hoping for a good position right off the start. I was happy with where I was once we hit the trail, and then I accidentally mis-judged the speed of the guy ahead of me and when he slowed in a sandy spot I snagged his rear wheel with mine and veered off the trail. Doh! I looked back to see if there would be a gap for me and saw a long line of mountain bikers.. double doh! A rider was nice enough to let me back in and I hopped on my bike and started laughing to myself: only 99.9 miles left to go!

I. Love. Endurance. Racing! I absolutely love everyone out there that I'm racing with! People were talkative and were super friendly. All 100 miles of the race, other people were smiling and encouraging one another.

When I came to the aid station the first time, I couldn't wipe the grin off of my face. A lot of friends were wearing party hats and started jumping up and down when I rolled through. Part of me wished that I could stop to hang out with everyone, but I had my Carborocket and didn't need to. My legs were feeling super fresh and I just kept trudging on. Before I knew it I could hear music and was already coming through the tent area. I rolled in about half a minute after Jurrien and chatted with him briefly while swapping for a fresh hydrapak. We wished each other good luck and I was back on the bike.

The trail was a lot of fun to ride on. It wasn't super technical and there was only one hill that I couldn't pedal up. There were a lot of downhills that made me really, really glad that the course was being run backwards this year! My favorite part of the trail was the last segment, the Lumberjack. I don't know if it's because I knew it was the last part of the trail... or if it's because it made me feel like a Lumberjack. ;)

Before we hit the last aid station I started riding on the wheel of a guy named Kelly. He was super nice and had come up from Indiana for the race. I was surprised when he told me that he had estimated that he would finish in about 8 hours and 40 minutes, because if that's how fast he was riding, that's how fast I was riding! I had estimated that I would finish the race in about 10 hours and hadn't thought about time once we started pedaling! (Maybe I should invest in a Garmin?) I had paced myself at pedaling about 75% of what I knew I could do in order to save some energy for the last hills, and I was really glad that my legs still felt good.

I saw a Farm Team jersey ahead of us and started getting really excited. It was Bartzen! I started yelling to Kelly about how we had a bet and I'm sure he probably thought I was bonking because he asked if I was going to stop at the last aid station. "No way! I'm good! I have to beat that guy!" I was a little nervous that maybe Bartzen would just roll through the aid station, but I saw him start to slow and put a foot down. WHAP! I gave him a good slap on the caboose and laughed maniacally as I pedaled past! Yes!

Coming up to the last 10 miles of the trail I started slowing a lot on the climbs. It wasn't that my legs were getting tired... my bladder was just full! I started getting nervous that I would slow too much and that Bartzen would catch up to me. I also knew that I had passed the third place female at the aid station and I didn't know how far behind me she might have been. I told Kelly I'd catch him again and decided that I could ride faster if I relieved myself, so I jumped off my bike and dropped my drawers right next to the trail - no time to find a tree to hide behind! Just as I started going, I saw a rider in red coming towards me. "I'm sorry! I had to go!" I yelled, feeling a little embarrassed. "It's okay, it's only me!" I heard a female voice shout back. Oh crap! She rode past me and I watched her disappear into the woods. I pulled my shorts back up and hopped on the bike, speeding away from Bartzen and trying to catch the lady in red! I caught back up to Kelly and he told me she was just ahead of him, so I wished him luck and kept trying to catch her.

When I saw the finish line I couldn't believe I was already there! It felt so good to cross that finish line! Scott Tencate gave me a high five and told me I was the fourth place female and it really felt like a dream. I hadn't even thought I'd make it in the top 10, let alone the top 5! I heard someone screaming and saw Danielle running towards me, flailing her arms and jumping up and down. So I started screaming and jumping up and down! She picked me up and gave me a giant bear hug and I couldn't stop laughing. Jack Kunnen documented the whole spectacle and I am so, so glad he did. Every time I look at the pictures I can't stop laughing!

Check out Danielle in the background

I should have put my bike down...

I had finished about two minutes behind the lady in red, Shannon Ancel, but there isn't any part of me that's disappointed in how I did in my first Lumberjack 100. I had a blast, I absolutely loved it, and I absolutely loved everyone that was out there riding. I am so lucky that I work in a shop that's so supportive of my new favorite past time, and that I have some really awesome friends that I work with to be my mechanics. The Foundry Tomahawk rolled perfectly and I never had to worry about something not working on it. The Lumberjack was a couple weeks ago now, but thinking back to how much fun I had still puts a big silly grin on my face! I finished with a time of 8:40 and had a pretty consistent lap time, only slowing by 2 minutes each 33-mile lap. Looking at the results, I still feel like it was a dream. Plus, Danielle came in first place in her 10th Lumberjack 100! She's the only woman to have raced all 10 years of the race! I'm so proud of her!

Lumberjack 100 Women's top 10 podium

Oh, and Bartzen kept up on his end of the deal! We went to Little Africa, my favorite restaurant in town, which just so happens to be BYOB! I invited some gal pals along to bask in the glory with me and I ate so much Ethiopian food that I felt like my stomach was going to explode. So good! I can't wait for next year!