Short's Brewing ControversiALE Fat Bike Race
Last year, the Penn Cycle Loppet Fat Bike race was one of my favorite races out of the whole Great Lakes Fat Bike Series. I was really looking forward to spending more time at the City of Lakes Loppet enjoying all of the festivities. There's a Luminary Loppet walk, a FREE snow sculpting contest (we'll dominate that contest for sure next year, 45NRTH teammates!!) and a beer garden where the Surly Brewing beer flows freely... all of it sounds amazing, and last year when I missed all the winter fun at the Loppet it made me really want to experience all of it this year.
Buuuuuut we had some unpredictable weather and instead of hopping into a car and driving to Minneapolis for the Loppet, I found myself cramming my fat bike into the back seat of my little sedan (RIP Montana Minivan) and heading towards Traverse City at 6:00am Sunday morning for the third race of the Short's Brewing Fat Bike Series: the ControversiALE fat bike race! As bummed as I was to be missing the Loppet, I was pretty damn excited to be heading up to Timber Ridge resort to ride the 50k course that would be a mix between groomed fat bike trails and groomed single track! Groomed single track on a fat bike is my preferred way to ride. :)
I got to Timber Ridge resort just in time to register, play around with my tire pressure, and to say hi to a few folks before making it out to the start line. I had chugged coffee pretty much non-stop from Grand Rapids on up to TC and I was feeling pretty wired at the start of the race. There were a ton of familiar faces inside of the lodge and I was already really happy that I had braved through the storm to make it up for the race.
As I was rolling up to the starting line, I noticed a Farm Team jersey lined up in the front row: Dan Jansen! Then as I found a spot to wait for the count down, I noticed William Shaver and a few other friends from Grand Rapids. Doh! Why didn't I try to carpool with anyone? Poor planning on my part.
The course for the ControversiALE race was ah-maze-ing! The first portion of the course was some twisty and fun single track, which reminded me a lot of a roller coaster. It was difficult to pass people at this part, but it was also really fun to weave around corners and to see a line of fat bikers in the woods rolling around, looking somewhat choreographed. There was some wider groomed trail after that, with a few good hills, and then more twisty, roller coastery single track. So fun! After the first 10-ish mile lap, the conditions of the course started deteriorating just a little bit. Luckily I had let a lot of air out of my tires at the race start, so I didn't have to stop to adjust anything. The biggest problem I had all race was having the insulated bottle on my bike freeze, so I had to dig around in my back jersey pocket for my back-up bottle. Trying to ride single track and reach for a bottle blindly on your back is hard. I tried to wait for wider, flat segments to grab my bottle, but managed to drink maybe 1/4 of it over the 3 hours it took to do the race... whoops. Not good, Jill, not good.
I was so happy to have been the first woman across the finish line! My legs felt incredible, my bike handled amazingly, and everyone up at Timber Ridge resort was awesome. Those folks at Einstein really know how to throw a party. I'm hoping I can make it up north a few more times before the snow melts, because that was probably one of the funnest courses I've ridden yet this winter.
And now I'm driving to Minnesota for a race that I hadn't planned on doing... the Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout. I know it's crazy to drive 22 hours round trip for a fat bike race... but I woke up this morning feeling like I needed to go. What a crazy person. As awesome as it is to race in Michigan, I miss my Minnesota friends... Cuyuna here I come!
Buuuuuut we had some unpredictable weather and instead of hopping into a car and driving to Minneapolis for the Loppet, I found myself cramming my fat bike into the back seat of my little sedan (RIP Montana Minivan) and heading towards Traverse City at 6:00am Sunday morning for the third race of the Short's Brewing Fat Bike Series: the ControversiALE fat bike race! As bummed as I was to be missing the Loppet, I was pretty damn excited to be heading up to Timber Ridge resort to ride the 50k course that would be a mix between groomed fat bike trails and groomed single track! Groomed single track on a fat bike is my preferred way to ride. :)
I got to Timber Ridge resort just in time to register, play around with my tire pressure, and to say hi to a few folks before making it out to the start line. I had chugged coffee pretty much non-stop from Grand Rapids on up to TC and I was feeling pretty wired at the start of the race. There were a ton of familiar faces inside of the lodge and I was already really happy that I had braved through the storm to make it up for the race.
As I was rolling up to the starting line, I noticed a Farm Team jersey lined up in the front row: Dan Jansen! Then as I found a spot to wait for the count down, I noticed William Shaver and a few other friends from Grand Rapids. Doh! Why didn't I try to carpool with anyone? Poor planning on my part.
The course for the ControversiALE race was ah-maze-ing! The first portion of the course was some twisty and fun single track, which reminded me a lot of a roller coaster. It was difficult to pass people at this part, but it was also really fun to weave around corners and to see a line of fat bikers in the woods rolling around, looking somewhat choreographed. There was some wider groomed trail after that, with a few good hills, and then more twisty, roller coastery single track. So fun! After the first 10-ish mile lap, the conditions of the course started deteriorating just a little bit. Luckily I had let a lot of air out of my tires at the race start, so I didn't have to stop to adjust anything. The biggest problem I had all race was having the insulated bottle on my bike freeze, so I had to dig around in my back jersey pocket for my back-up bottle. Trying to ride single track and reach for a bottle blindly on your back is hard. I tried to wait for wider, flat segments to grab my bottle, but managed to drink maybe 1/4 of it over the 3 hours it took to do the race... whoops. Not good, Jill, not good.
I was so happy to have been the first woman across the finish line! My legs felt incredible, my bike handled amazingly, and everyone up at Timber Ridge resort was awesome. Those folks at Einstein really know how to throw a party. I'm hoping I can make it up north a few more times before the snow melts, because that was probably one of the funnest courses I've ridden yet this winter.
And now I'm driving to Minnesota for a race that I hadn't planned on doing... the Cuyuna Lakes Whiteout. I know it's crazy to drive 22 hours round trip for a fat bike race... but I woke up this morning feeling like I needed to go. What a crazy person. As awesome as it is to race in Michigan, I miss my Minnesota friends... Cuyuna here I come!
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