Iceman Cometh Challenge News

Fueling for Women: The Hormonal Nutrition Playbook for Iceman

Most of the fueling advice floating around cycling was built on studies of male athletes, then handed to everyone else as if it were universal. That’s not a conspiracy – it’s just how the research funding worked for decades. But it does mean that if you’re a woman lining up in Kalkaska in November, some of the standard advice is going to fit you fine, some of it needs adjusting, and a few pieces of your nutrition picture never get mentioned at all.

This post is about that last group. Not because women’s nutrition is exotic or complicated, but because the things that most often hold female riders back – iron status, chronic underfueling, bone health, the shifts that come with perimenopause – are rarely part of the conversation until something breaks.

It’s August. Iceman is Saturday, November 7. That’s about three months, which is exactly the right amount of runway to fix the things on this list. Most of them can’t be fixed in race week.

Start Here: Put Your Cycle on the Calendar

If you’re still cycling, the single most useful thing you can do this month is figure out roughly where race day is going to land.

Count forward from your last period in cycle lengths. If you average 28 days, November 7 is about four and a half cycles from mid-July. You won’t nail it to the day – cycles drift, and training load and stress push them around – but you’ll know whether you’re likely to be in the first half or the second half of your cycle on race morning. That’s enough to plan around.

If you’re not tracking already, start now. A note in your phone is fine. What you want by October is a few months of your own data, not an app’s average of someone else’s.

Why it matters: not because one phase is “bad” for racing – women win national championships in every phase – but because knowing where you are lets you make small, specific adjustments instead of guessing at why you feel off.

What Actually Changes Across Your Cycle

Let me be honest about the state of the science here, because I think you deserve that more than you deserve a tidy answer.

The broad hormonal picture is well established. In the first half of your cycle – the follicular phase, from the start of your period through ovulation – estrogen rises and progesterone stays low. In the second half, the luteal phase, both estrogen and progesterone are elevated. Those hormones do measurably affect substrate use, core temperature, fluid balance, and protein turnover.

What is much less settled is how much any of that changes race-day performance. When researchers pooled the available studies, the average effect on performance turned out to be small and, importantly, highly individual. Some women feel a real difference. Some feel nothing. Both are normal.

So the useful framing isn’t “your hormones will sabotage you.” It’s “there are a handful of predictable physiological shifts, and if you happen to be someone who feels them, here’s what to do.”

The shifts worth knowing about

Body temperature. Core temperature runs slightly higher in the luteal phase – roughly half a degree Fahrenheit. In a summer criterium, that’s a real thermoregulatory tax. At Iceman, in 30-degree woods, it’s a non-issue and arguably an advantage.
Fuel use. Estrogen promotes fat oxidation and tends to spare muscle glycogen. Progesterone works somewhat against that. The practical translation is not “eat fewer carbs in one phase” – at Iceman intensities you are burning carbohydrate regardless. It’s that some women find they need slightly more total carbohydrate to feel normal in the luteal phase, especially on hard days.
Protein turnover. Progesterone increases protein breakdown. If you’re going to be in your luteal phase during your heaviest training block or on race day, nudging protein up is a low-cost hedge.
Fluid balance. Fluid shifts are common in the late luteal phase. That can show up as a scale change that has nothing to do with body composition, and as a slightly higher sodium need. Don’t panic-diet in response to a number on the scale that week.
Perceived effort. The days right before your period are when most women report higher perceived exertion at the same power. Effort feels harder than the numbers say it should. If race day lands there, plan to race by feel less and by plan more – stick to your fueling schedule and your pacing targets rather than negotiating with how you feel at mile eight.

If race day lands in your luteal phase

Nothing dramatic changes. Add a bit more carbohydrate in the two or three days before the race than you otherwise would, keep sodium intake steady rather than restricting it, hit your protein, and trust the plan you practiced. The cold weather at Iceman genuinely works in your favor here.

Iron: The One Most Likely to Be Quietly Costing You

If you take one thing from this post, take this one.

Iron is central to oxygen transport, and endurance athletes lose it through more channels than the general population – sweat, gut losses, foot strike and impact, and for menstruating athletes, monthly blood loss on top of all of it. Low iron stores can drag down your aerobic capacity and leave you flat and heavy-legged long before you’d ever show up as clinically anemic on a standard blood panel.

This is the classic silent performance leak. You don’t feel a sudden drop. You just feel like your fitness stopped responding to training, and you assume you need to work harder – which makes it worse.

What to do

Ask your doctor for a full iron panel, not just hemoglobin. You want ferritin, which reflects stored iron, along with hemoglobin and transferrin saturation. Ferritin is the number that flags a problem early. Many sports medicine practitioners start paying attention in endurance athletes well before the lab’s “low” cutoff, so ask for the actual number rather than just “normal or not.”
Do it now, not in October. If your iron is low, correcting stores takes months, not weeks. August testing gives you time. Race-week testing gives you nothing but anxiety.
Don’t supplement blind. Iron overload is a real problem, and supplementing without knowing your status can mask other issues. Test first.
If you do supplement, get the details right. Absorption is better in the morning and worse in the hours right after a hard session, when your body’s iron-regulating response is elevated. Vitamin C helps absorption; coffee, tea, and calcium-rich foods taken at the same time work against it. Every-other-day dosing is often absorbed better and tolerated better than daily.
Build the food side regardless. Red meat, shellfish, liver if you’ll eat it, plus beans, lentils, tofu, and fortified grains paired with a vitamin C source. Plant iron is absorbed less efficiently, so pairing matters more if you’re eating mostly plant-based.

Are You Actually Eating Enough?

This is the uncomfortable section, and it’s the one I’d most like you to sit with.

Low energy availability means you’re not taking in enough fuel to cover both your training and the basic business of keeping your body running. It doesn’t require an eating disorder. It happens constantly to conscientious, motivated athletes who simply increased training volume and never increased food to match – or who picked up a nutrition message somewhere that leaner equals faster and quietly ran a deficit for months.

The downstream effects hit bone density, hormonal function, immune function, mood, gut health, and – eventually and inevitably – performance. The performance drop usually arrives last, which is exactly what makes it so easy to miss.

Warning signs

Your period has become irregular, lighter, or stopped altogether and you’re not pregnant or on a contraceptive that explains it
You’re getting sick more than you used to, or minor illnesses linger
You have a history of stress fractures or bone stress injuries
You’re always cold, even by Northern Michigan standards
Recovery between hard sessions is taking noticeably longer than it used to
Training is going up and performance is flat or going backwards
Sleep is poor, mood is low, or you feel unusually irritable and can’t point to a cause
You think about food, restriction, or your weight more than feels comfortable

Losing your period is not a sign that training is going well. It is a physiological alarm, and it’s the one most often dismissed as normal in endurance sport. It isn’t.

If several of these sound familiar, please talk to a sports nutrition coach or a physician who works with athletes. This is fixable, and it’s much more fixable now than after a stress fracture in September takes your season.

Bones: More Relevant to Cyclists Than We Admit

Cycling is largely non-weight-bearing, which is wonderful for your joints and unhelpful for your skeleton. Mountain biking gives you more impact and loading than road riding does, but not enough to count as bone-building on its own. Add in the fact that bone loss accelerates around menopause, and this becomes a category worth actively managing rather than assuming.

Calcium. Aim for roughly 1,000–1,300 mg per day, mostly from food. Dairy, fortified plant milks, canned fish with bones, tofu set with calcium, and leafy greens all count.
Vitamin D. At this latitude, we make essentially none from sunlight between roughly October and March. Get your level tested and supplement based on the result rather than a guess.
Load your skeleton. Two short strength sessions a week does more for your bone density than any supplement, and it will make you a more durable bike handler on rough sections of the course. This is the single best training investment most female cyclists aren’t making.

Perimenopause and Menopause

If you’re in your forties or fifties, some of what you’re experiencing on the bike may have nothing to do with your training plan.

As estrogen declines, several things shift at once: muscle becomes less responsive to the protein you eat, body composition tends to move even when your habits haven’t, recovery slows down, sleep quality often degrades, and thermoregulation gets less predictable. It’s a genuinely disorienting stretch, and a lot of women respond by cutting calories – which is precisely the wrong lever.

What actually helps

More protein, better distributed. This is the phase to stop being casual about it. Aim for 30–40 g of protein at each main meal rather than back-loading it all at dinner. The higher per-meal dose is what overcomes the reduced sensitivity.
Resistance training. Not optional anymore. It’s the primary defense of both muscle mass and bone density through this transition, and it directly protects your power on the bike.
Creatine. The evidence for 3–5 g per day in menopausal women- for muscle, and possibly for cognition and bone – has gotten meaningfully stronger. It’s inexpensive and well tolerated. Worth a conversation with your physician.
Don’t cut calories to chase the scale. Under-fueling accelerates every problem in this list. If you’re training for a 30-mile race, eat like it.

Protein: The Number to Actually Hit

Endurance athletes need considerably more protein than the general population guidelines suggest – in the range of 1.6 to 2.0 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. For a 140-pound rider, that’s roughly 100 to 130 grams daily. Emerging work suggests women may sit at the upper end of that range rather than the lower, particularly in the luteal phase and after menopause.

Distribution matters as much as the total. Three or four servings of 25 to 40 grams spread across the day beats a small breakfast and an enormous dinner, even if the totals match.

The practical test: add up what you actually ate yesterday. Most riders I work with are surprised, and the gap is almost always at breakfast.

Callouts

Masters women, 40 and up

The perimenopause section is your section, but so is the strength training line in the bone section. Two sessions a week, consistently, from now through October will change how you feel on the rough sections between Williamsburg and the finish. It is the highest-return thing on this entire page for you.

Junior girls racing the Slush Cup or Junior Iceman

You are training and still growing, which means your fuel needs per pound are higher than an adult’s, not lower. Eating enough is not a side note to your training – it is your training. Underfueling during your teenage years affects bone density you will carry for the rest of your life, and it ends more promising athletic careers than any crash ever will. Eat the second breakfast.

Men reading this

Don’t skip it. If you train with women, coach them, or are raising one, the iron and low-energy-availability sections are worth knowing well enough to recognize in someone else. Your post is next month.

Your August Action List

Start tracking your cycle so you know roughly where November 7 lands.
Book a blood draw and ask for a full iron panel including ferritin, plus vitamin D.
Add up one honest day of protein and see where you land against 1.6–2.0 g/kg.
Put two strength sessions a week on the calendar and treat them like rides.
Read the low energy availability warning signs again, honestly. If more than two apply, make the call to a professional this month.

None of this is exotic. It’s the unglamorous infrastructure underneath a good race – the stuff that determines whether the fueling plan we build in October has anything solid to sit on top of.

Coming up in September: we flip to the men’s side. Testosterone, protein timing, masters-specific carbohydrate needs, and why the “just ride hard and eat whatever” approach works right up until the year it doesn’t. Fueling for Women: The Hormonal Nutrition Playbook for Iceman doesn’t.

Gina Render is a certified Performance Nutrition Coach that works with a variety of athletes and active individuals both locally and remotely to help them meet their goals. As a wife, mom of two teens avid mountain biker, and strength athlete, she understands the demands that come with balancing life and sport. From sport-specific fueling to general nutrition, she’s your partner and advocate to empower you to Adventure More. Contact her at gina@adventure-more.com.

Zen and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance.

Ok ok, cheesy and possibly overused title referencing a book that is only tangentially about maintenance of any kind.

For the sake of this post, let’s ignore “Zen” for now (which I know basically nothing about) and talk about bicycle maintenance (which I know a whole bunch about). I certainly can’t cover everything in one blog post. There are countless books on the subject (do people still read service manuals?) and things are constantly being updated as technology marches steadily on. I can, however, share my ritual that I perform approximately one to two weeks before any major ride, event, or race. Glamorous? No. Satisfying? You betcha.

Let’s start with a clean bike. Give it a quick rinse, lather it up with some water and Dawn dish soap (is anyone from Procter & Gamble reading this? #sponsorme) to help cut grease buildup on the drivetrain, and rinse everything off with a hose when you’re done. Towel dry what you can; compressed air may be helpful for the hard to reach places.

Wheels off!

Remove both wheels and give both tires a quick visual, looking for tread wear, cracks from age, and any small cuts or punctures that you may not have noticed. Pull the valve cores and check sealant levels using a small zip tie or allen wrench as a dipstick. Make sure the valve stems are free of any dried sealant, and consider installing new cores if it’s been tough to get air in or out of your tires.

Feel the hubs. You don’t need to be a bearing whisperer to tell when they’re worn. Bearings should turn smoothly and quietly, with no lateral (side to side) or axial (up and down) play. Crunchy? Noisy? Might be time to stop by your local bike shop unless you’re comfortable digging deeper.

Check for any broken, damaged, or loose spokes. Measure spoke tension if you have the means. If you don’t have the tools, plucking the spokes like a guitar string will at least identify any that are severely loose or tight. Spokes should all have approximately the same pitch.

Now is also a good time for a quick brake inspection. Disc brake pads often feel and function fine right up until they are completely worn out! As a reference: when pads are brand new, the friction material is just a little thicker than the backing plate. Are yours gettin’ skinny?

Chain off!

Quick measure your chain with a chain wear indicator (available at any local bike shop for $10-$20), and pop it off with a masterlink pliers (also $10-$20 at your LBS). If it’s worn out, or nearly worn out; replace it. If it’s BAD worn out proceed with caution: you may need a new cassette too ($$$…this is why we measure our chains frequently often). If you have the tools and/or motivation to do so, remove the cassette and derailleur pulleys, too: although they can be cleaned on the bike it’s easier to be thorough when everything is disassembled.

Soak the chain in some mineral spirits or simple green. Scrub, rinse, repeat as needed. The cleaner the better (especially if you wax!). Old school tip: soak your chain in a plastic pop bottle partially filled with solvent. Thread the cap on and shake periodically to release any grit. Contaminated solvent can be dumped out and refilled as needed. Cut the top off the bottle to get the chain out. Let it air dry, or blow dry with compressed air.

Scrub the cassette, derailleur pulleys, and chainring. It’s hard not to make a mess if they’re still on the bike, but again: the cleaner the better.

While the chain is off, give the crank arms a spin. It’s way easier to identify noisy bottom bracket bearings when they’re isolated from the rest of the drivetrain.

Reinstall your nice clean parts.

And don’t forget to lube your nice clean chain! Cleaning and lubricating your bike is the equivalent of unplugging it and plugging it back in. Making noise? Try this first.

Give the wheels a quick spin and make sure they’re straight (heads up: a tire that is not fully seated can disguise itself as a tweaked wheel and is not at all uncommon) and that the brake pads are not contacting the rotors.

With the bike on the ground, grab the front brake and rock the bike forward and backward a little. Any play in the front end is usually a loose headset. Pick up the front of the bike and turn the handlebars back and forth. There should be no sad crunchy bearing sounds or drag. Overly tight headset bearings are very common, especially after swapping stems. That top cap doesn’t need to be that tight, people! Draw the top cap bolt down just enough to take up any play in the headset bearings, then tighten up the bolts on the stem. Done!

Feel the pedals for any play in the bearings; this is another very common issue, especially with you high mileage riders!

Double check the torque on the stem bolts, crank bolts, chainring bolts, axles/skewers, suspension hardware, and brake caliper bolts (and any other important bolts that I’ve forgotten to mention).

Anything electronic on your bike? AXS batteries (don’t forget about the coin cell batteries in electronic shifters or power meters)? Computer? Lights? Charge ‘em up.

Test Ride.

And not just up and down your driveway. Go out for a regular ride and just ride like you normally would. Any brake noise? Is the chain skipping under heavy load? Maybe you made things worse? No worries! This is why we do these things a week or two before the main event (see paragraph one). You still have time to try again, grab any replacement parts if needed, or seek professional help.

But hopefully everything is smooth and quiet and we have guaranteed that nothing could possibly go wrong, right?!

Well, no.

Crashes, flat tires, and even mechanical failures can and do happen at inopportune times. But we can now approach our race with confidence, knowing that we have addressed the variables that are in our control. We’ll just have to roll with whatever else happens along the way.

Maybe that’s our Zen.

Thank you to Aaron Schutter @aaron_two_tired for being our 2026 Iceman Trailblazer.

The People Behind the Riders: The Heart of Iceman

When people think about Iceman, they usually think about the riders. The training. The miles. The finish line. The challenge of getting from Kalkaska to Traverse City on two wheels.

But this month, I want to talk about some of the most important people on race day, the support crews, volunteers, family members, friends, and complete strangers who line the trail to cheer us on.

If you have ever raced Iceman, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

There is something special about the support you receive out on that course. Maybe it’s someone handing out water. Maybe it’s someone offering a snack. Maybe it’s someone ringing a cowbell, blasting music, or even offering a rider a beer or a shot as they pass by. Whatever form it takes, that encouragement has a way of showing up exactly when you need it most.

I still remember my first Iceman.

Like many first timers, I had heard all about Anita Hill. I was new to mountain biking and racing, and Anita got the best of me that year. I ended up walking my bike up the climb.

The following year, I came back with one goal: do not walk the hills.

As I approached Anita, I got into position and started grinding as hard as I could. Riders around me were beginning to dismount and push. I was fighting to stay on the bike when I heard someone yelling.

“Rider coming up! Rider coming up!”

A spectator standing on the hill started clearing a path. People moved aside, and suddenly I had room to keep climbing. Then he stayed right behind me, shouting encouragement the entire way.

“You’ve got this!”

“Keep going!”

“Don’t stop now!”

I made it to the top.

To this day, I credit that spectator for helping me get up Anita. He didn’t know me. He didn’t know my goal. He had no idea that I had spent an entire year wanting another chance at that hill.

But in that moment, he made a difference, and I cried tears of joy as I continued on.

I don’t think support crews always realize how much impact they have on riders.

Sometimes the difference between getting off the bike and staying on the bike is simply knowing someone believes you can do it.

I’m not the only rider with a story like this.

A friend recently shared one of her Iceman memories with me. She was struggling up a climb when a spectator noticed her pigtails and started cheering specifically for her.

“Come on, pigtails! You’ve got this! Get up that hill!”

What stood out wasn’t just the encouragement. It was that someone saw her. In a sea of riders, someone was cheering for her specifically. In that moment, she wasn’t just another racer going by. She was a person being supported by someone who wanted to see her succeed.

That’s the magic of Iceman.

The course is filled with stories like these. Riders digging deep. Spectators cheering until their voices are gone. Friends and family waiting at aid stations. Volunteers spending long hours helping make the event happen.

Many of us cross the finish line carrying memories of the people who helped us get there.

So, if you are someone who doesn’t race but loves to support, this post is for you.

You matter.

Your cheers matter.

Your encouragement matters.

The rider you helped up a climb may remember your words for years. The person you high-fived might have been struggling more than you realized. The athlete you cheered for may have been one encouraging voice away from giving up.

Iceman is known for many things, its history, its challenge, and its incredible community.

And that community exists because of people like you.

Thank you for showing up. Thank you for standing in the woods in the cold. Thank you for ringing the cowbells, shouting encouragement, and believing in us when we’re hurting.

You may not be wearing a race number, but you are a part of every finish line.

Thank you to Heather Newman @goodtimessally_mtblife for being our 2026 Iceman Cometh Challenge Trailblazer.

A Case for Racing.

Have you ever caught yourself thinking: “I could just ride my bike for free…why do I sign up for these things?”

Maybe a particularly annoying cousin has called you out at a holiday gathering: “So you spend all this money on entry fees for your bike races…how much do you win back in prize money?” But there is rarely any winning. And the prize money is out of reach for most of us. And your cousin is still annoying.

I’ll admit this thought enters my mind from time to time, too, and I’ve definitely heard it mentioned among my riding friends. In addition to the entry fee itself, events often require lodging, dining out, fuel expenses, maybe the cost of a tune up to make sure the bike is as ready as you are. There’s no way around it, race weekends are not cheap.

HOWEVER. There are a multitude of reasons, some obvious, others less so, that do indeed make it completely and undeniably worth it.

Let’s back it up six or seven months ago to when there was snow on the ground, and our bikes probably weren’t seeing as much action as they are now. The holidays are done but spring is a long way off. A looong way. I’m on my couch with a cup of coffee lazily perusing the internet for events that are new or interesting, or confirming registration dates for events that I don’t ever want to miss. There are tons of options these days for quality events in all disciplines. Before money ever leaves my account for a single registration fee, I’ve got a list of dates that I’m excited for. There’s still some waiting to be done, but in the meantime I’m geekin’ over my potential bike setup, I’m more motivated to stay fit and eat healthy, and I’m texting the squad “check this out we should TOTALLY do it!!”

Registration day comes and goes with its own excitement and challenges. The money is spent. Maybe you share it on social media. The group chat lights up; who’s in, who’s still on the fence. Things have been set in motion. It’s real now. I absolutely love the planning phase.

Fast forward up to race weekend. I don’t get as anxious before races as I used to, but there will always be some nerves and I love sifting through it all with whoever I’m going to be riding with. Goals. Weather. Coarse conditions. Bike setup. An endless string of what-ifs. Having just wrapped up another mountain bike race this past weekend a lot of this is still fresh in my mind (my legs are still sore as I’m writing this). This can definitely be stressful, too, but identifying and managing all those little variables feels really good. You’re not going to get it 100% right every time but that makes it all the sweeter when you really nail it.

I’m going to breeze past the thrills, chills, and spills of the race itself for this post, and lean right into two wonderful things that any cycling event worth its salt will undoubtedly have at the end: good FOOD and good BEER! Hopefully lots of both. And everyone knows they both taste better when you earn them.

And finally, when all the planning has paid off, my official time is in the books, and I’ve been thoroughly revived by tacos and an IPA, I love to spectate. The entire spectrum of it. A crowd going bananas as a bunch of pros rip by is a pretty tough atmosphere to recreate anywhere else. Handups, cowbells, hometown heroes, darkhorses. But ya know what? Those particular men and women do this kinda stuff all the time, and as impressive as it is, it’s pretty much what we expect from professional athletes. But stick around and you’ll see a different type of athlete. Riders who have been out there for hours and never gave up. Young riders. Old riders. Riders crossing the line Strider-style with no chain…what happened? How long has it been missing?? How did they make it to the finish?! Watch the people in the back of any race; there’s some seriously impressive stuff going on back there.

So can you go ride your bike in the woods for free? Sure. I’d highly recommend it actually. But get yourself signed up for some races, too. Make a plan, get it done, enjoy the rewards, and enjoy watching others crush it, too.

Thank you to Aaron Schutter @aaron_two_tired for being our Thank you to our 2026 Iceman Cometh Challenge Trailblazer!

Building Your Nutritional Base: The Foundation That Makes or Breaks Your November

You signed up for Iceman. Maybe you’ve been riding through the winter, maybe you’re just dusting off the bike. Either way, if you’re reading this in May, you have one job right now: build the nutritional infrastructure that your race-day performance will sit on top of.

Not carb loading. Not race-week fueling. Foundation work. And just like building your aerobic base on the bike takes months — not days — building your nutritional base is something you do now, not in October.

Let’s get into it.

Why May Matters More Than You Think

Here’s the thing about nutrition for a race like Iceman: the window between now and November is actually a gift. You have time to experiment, adapt, and train your body — both physically and metabolically — to perform on race day.

The athletes who struggle at Iceman usually aren’t under-trained. They’re under-fueled in the months leading up to it. They skimp on carbs during hard training blocks, they don’t pay attention to protein, and they wonder why their legs feel flat by mile 15.

What you do in May sets the ceiling for what’s possible in November.

Carbohydrate Periodization: Fuel the Work

Carb periodization is one of the most effective tools endurance athletes have — and one of the most misunderstood. It doesn’t mean going low-carb all the time. It means matching your carbohydrate intake to the demands of your training.

Hard training day? Load up on carbs. Easy recovery ride or rest day? Pull back. It’s that simple in concept, and it pays off in two important ways:

Performance: your muscles have the glycogen they need when they need it — so you can actually hit quality training efforts instead of slogging through them.
Body composition: easy days with lower carbs keep your insulin levels steady and encourage fat oxidation — without sacrificing performance on the days that count.

A rough guide: on days with 60+ minutes of hard effort or interval work, aim for 5–7g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight. On easy or rest days, 3–4g/kg is usually plenty.

Protein: The Non-Negotiable

Endurance athletes chronically under-eat protein. It’s the most common gap I see in athlete nutrition, and it silently erodes your adaptation over months.

The current sports nutrition research is consistent: endurance athletes need 1.6–2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day to support muscle repair, adaptation, and performance. That’s not a bodybuilder target — that’s what the research shows for people doing sustained aerobic training.

For a 150-pound (68kg) rider, that’s roughly 109–136 grams of protein daily. For most people, that’s significantly more than they’re currently eating.

Distribution matters too. Aim to spread protein across 3–4 meals and include a post-ride dose within 30–60 minutes after training — 20–40 grams is the sweet spot for stimulating muscle protein synthesis. Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, chicken, fish, or a quality protein shake all work here.

Training the Gut: Start Now

This one is underrated and often overlooked until it’s too late.

Your GI system is trainable. If you want to be able to eat and drink while riding hard in November — and you will need to — you need to start practicing now. That means fueling during training rides, not just before and after.

Start with real, familiar foods first: banana pieces, dates, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, rice cakes. Then gradually introduce whatever you plan to use on race day — gels, chews, sports drinks. Give your gut 10–16 weeks to adapt to on-bike fueling, which is exactly the window you have right now.

Athletes who skip this step often hit GI distress or appetite shutdown mid-race. Don’t be that person. Train your gut like you train your legs.

The Micronutrients That Actually Move the Needle

You don’t need to supplement everything — but there are a handful of micronutrients that consistently show up as performance limiters in endurance athletes. If you’re not paying attention to these, you may be leaving fitness on the table.

Iron / Ferritin

Low ferritin — the stored form of iron — is the most common silent performance killer I see, especially in women. You can have “normal” hemoglobin but still have depleted ferritin stores that impair oxygen delivery and leave you feeling chronically fatigued and flat on the bike. Get a full iron panel including ferritin, not just standard hemoglobin. Aim for ferritin above 50 ng/mL for optimal performance.

Magnesium

Magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions — including energy production and muscle function. Endurance athletes lose significant magnesium through sweat, and most don’t replace it adequately through diet. Signs of low magnesium include muscle cramps, poor sleep, and general fatigue. Food sources: dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate. A magnesium glycinate supplement in the evening is a low-risk, high-value addition for most athletes.

Vitamin D

If you live in Michigan, you are almost certainly vitamin D insufficient by the end of winter. Vitamin D plays a role in muscle function, immune health, and bone density. Get your levels checked — you’re aiming for 40–60 ng/mL. Most people need 2,000–4,000 IU daily to maintain adequate levels, especially heading into summer training.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3s support inflammation management, which matters a lot when you’re stacking training blocks week over week. Fatty fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel) twice a week is ideal. If that’s not realistic, a quality fish oil supplement of 2–3 grams of combined EPA/DHA daily is a reasonable approach.

Audience-Specific Notes

Women

If you haven’t had a full iron panel recently, this is priority number one. Low ferritin is pervasive in active women and rarely gets caught by standard bloodwork. You’ll also want to pay attention to how your energy and appetite shift across your cycle — many women find they need more calories and carbs in the luteal phase (the two weeks before your period), and forcing restriction during that window often backfires.

Masters Athletes

Protein timing around any strength training you’re pairing with your riding matters more than many realize, especially over 40. Muscle protein synthesis becomes less efficient with age, which means you need both more protein and better distribution throughout the day to stay ahead of it. Don’t skip the post-workout window.

Junior Riders

Growing athletes have higher protein needs relative to body weight than adults — closer to 1.8–2.2g/kg — because they’re rebuilding from training AND still developing. Parents: don’t let young athletes train on empty. A real pre-ride meal and a solid recovery snack aren’t optional for juniors.

Competitive and Pro Riders

If you’re tracking training stress scores (TSS) or using a power meter, you have the data to make carb periodization precise. Match your carbohydrate targets to your actual training load, not a generic formula. High-TSS days should be fueled aggressively — this is not the time to under-eat.

What to Focus on This Month

You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. Start here:

Get a blood panel. Ask specifically for ferritin, vitamin D (25-OH), and magnesium. This is the most impactful thing most athletes can do in May.
Start tracking protein for one week — not to obsess, but to find out where you actually are. Most athletes are surprised.
Bring food on your next training ride. Even something small — a banana, a handful of dates. Get your gut used to eating on the bike.
Pay attention to how you feel on hard days vs. easy days, and start matching your eating to your training load — not just to hunger.

Next month: the topic most riders completely underestimate in cold weather — hydration. Cold air blunts your thirst response, which means you can be significantly dehydrated and feel nothing. We’re going to talk about what that actually costs you, and exactly how to fix it before race day.

The Next Generation of Grit

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to help lead out the Calhoun County Girls on the Run 5K. Three of us from Super Duper Cycling volunteered to ride our bikes at the front of the runners, helping guide the course and cheer on the participants. This was my third year helping with the event, and every year I leave feeling inspired.

If you are not familiar with Girls on the Run, it’s a program that helps young girls build confidence, resilience, and self-belief through running and physical activity. As I watched hundreds of girls make their way toward the finish line, I couldn’t help but notice the pride on their faces. Some crossed the line smiling from ear to ear. Others looked exhausted but determined. Many were doing something they weren’t sure they could do just a few weeks earlier.

It reminded me of something I have learned through cycling and endurance racing: confidence doesn’t come before the challenge; it comes because of the challenge.

As adults, we sometimes forget that. We wait until we feel ready before we sign up for the race, join the group ride, or pursue a big goal. But confidence is built in the process of doing hard things. Those young girls were proving that lesson one finish line at a time.

With the Lumberjack 100 just around the corner, I have been thinking a lot about that idea. There are several women from our cycling community who are preparing to tackle this demanding mountain bike race. One hundred miles of singletrack isn’t something you accidentally complete. It requires months of preparation, countless training rides, problem-solving, and a willingness to be uncomfortable for a very long time.

Lately my focus has been on nutrition. Training is important, but so is fueling the work. Endurance events have a way of exposing weaknesses, and nutrition is often one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle. Learning what works, what doesn’t, and how to stay fueled over hours of effort can make the difference between surviving a race and performing your best.

That is one reason events like Lumberjack are such valuable steppingstones toward Iceman. They help us dial in the details, nutrition, pacing, equipment, and mental toughness. They teach us how to respond when things don’t go according to plan. Most importantly, they remind us that we are capable of more than we think.

As I watched those girls cross the finish line a few weeks ago, I realized they are learning the same lessons many of us are still learning as adults. Growth happens when we challenge ourselves. Confidence comes from keeping promises to ourselves. And sometimes the best way to find out what you’re capable of is simply to show up and try.

Whether you are running your first 5K, lining up for Lumberjack 100, or preparing for Iceman this November, remember that every finish line starts with the decision to take on something that feels a little intimidating.

What is one hard thing you are doing to challenge yourself this summer?

Thank you to Heather Newman @goodtimesally_mtb for being our 2026 Iceman Cometh Challenge Trailblazer!

Training is a dirty word.

Rocky Balboa. The Karate Kid. Kevin Bacon in Footloose.

“Push it to the Limit” fades in as the sweat drips.

Training is very serious business.

C’mon…that’s movie stuff! Fun movie stuff, sure; but let’s call it what it is in real life: PRACTICE. Race car drivers. Musicians. The bad boy of professional bowling Pete Weber. Do you think they’ve always been that good? No way.

There you go. Hop to it! I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s blog post. PrAcTiCe, PrAcTiCe, PrAcTiCe.

…

I guess I haven’t really said anything so far that isn’t a little obvious to most of us, so how about this if you want to get a little more specific in your trai…I mean if you want a few things to practice:

Technical Skills

Riding off road more often will definitely improve your confidence, but I would also recommend riding new trails. Expose yourself to a variety of trail conditions (loose soil, hardpacked dirt and clay, sand, rocks, roots, etc) and pay attention to how they affect your momentum, handling, and braking. Maybe hit tricky sections a few times.

Trust your tires! Modern rubber compounds, tubeless setups, and low tire pressures mean there is often more grip available to us. On a familiar trail or section of trail, try braking just a little bit less than usual, and leaning the bike over just a little bit more to increase cornering speeds. Keep in mind that any braking inputs must be replaced with energy from your legs to get back up to speed.

Is there a stubborn rock or root that keeps tripping you up? Practice unweighting the front wheel as you approach it, either by shifting your weight back, briefly pulling up on the bars, or a combination of both. Anything you can do to try and maintain that momentum!

*Fast riders: all this stuff applies to you too. We can all benefit from mastering the basics.

Hydration and Nutrition

Hydration is pretty straight forward: a good rule of thumb for longer rides is one bottle of water (20-25oz) per hour but you may want to bump that up a bit if it’s hot. For technical trails you may opt for a hydration pack to avoid reaching down and grabbing a bottle.

Nutrition comes into play on rides over an hour or two. Most sports nutrition options will be either drink mixes, gels/chews, or real food (bars, baked goods, etc). Sensitive stomachs may be best served by real food that you know will settle well, but gels and drink mixes (particularly those with a lot of carbohydrates) do offer a convenience factor. Nutrition requirements vary a lot from person to person, so you’ll just have to…practice!

Clothing Choice

This is a good one to take notes on. For an individual ride, make note of the temperature, what you wore, and if you were hot, cold, or just nailed it. Eventually you’ll build up a map/list/spreadsheet of what works well for a given temperature range. Longer rides, especially those starting early in the morning, may require layers to transition from one temperature zone into another. This is pretty straight forward in the summer, but can be really challenging to get right in early November…

Now for the fun part! Blog post over. No amount of YouTube videos, equipment upgrades, or 80’s movies montages will actually make you a better rider without a little practice. So make some room in your schedule, hit the trail, and push it to the limiiiiiit…

Thank you to Aaron Schutter @aaron_two_tired for being our 2026 Iceman Cometh Challenge Trailblazer

The Energy You Can’t Fake

I have not been able to make as many women’s group rides as I wanted to this past year. Life, classes, work, it all stacks up. I caught a couple last season and made it to one so far this year, but not nearly as many as I had hoped.

But here’s the thing…even without being at every ride, I’m still feeling it.

Something is changing out there.

Now that classes are wrapped up for the summer, I am all in. Because the energy I have been seeing, at the trailhead, at the start lines, out on the course, it is something I do not want to miss.

It starts before the race even begins.

Standing at the line, you start talking. Where are you from? What have you been racing? What brought you here? And then you hear it, the why. Everyone has one. Some are chasing goals, some are just getting started, some are out there proving something to themselves.

Those conversations stick with you.

And then the race starts.

What I have been noticing more and more this season, especially at races like Barry Roubaix, Yankee Springs Time Trial, and this past weekend at Mud Sweat and Beers…there are more women showing up.

And not just showing up…racing.

Really racing.

But it does not feel cutthroat. It feels connected.

There is encouragement mid-race. Quick words as you pass. A shared understanding that we are all out here doing something hard.

At Mud Sweat and Beers, there was this one moment I keep going back to.

Three of us women ended up together on the trail. We passed a couple men, picked up the pace, and just…flowed. No words, no hesitation, just that unspoken connection. We were moving fast, hitting lines, riding smooth.

I remember thinking in that moment, this is it.

That feeling when everything clicks on singletrack…when you are not overthinking, you are just riding. And to share that with other women, all of us pushing, all of us in it together…it hit different.

No ego.

No competition in the negative sense.

Just respect, effort, and shared momentum.

And honestly, I do not think that is something you can fake.

It’s something that’s being built, ride by ride, race by race, conversation by conversation.

I’m seeing more women at the line.

I’m hearing more stories.

I’m feeling more connection out on the trail.

And now that I have got the time to fully lean into it this summer, I’m ready to be part of it in a bigger way.

Because something is happening out there.

And if you have felt it, you know exactly what I mean.

Mud, Sweat, and Beers

Lady Parts group ride at Fort Custer (Peep our 2025 Iceman Trailblazer Haleigh Curtis)

Thank you to Heather Newman @goodtimesally_mtblife for being our 2026 Iceman Trailblazer!

Let’s have some FUN

This is an exciting time of year, folks.

The sun’s peekin’ out.

Stuff’s turnin’ green.

We get to RIDE OUR BIKES AGAIN!

Ok, ok; I know a lot of people ride throughout the winter, too. And sure, Zwift is fine and fat bikes are cool, but WOW is it nice to see everybody out and having fun on the trails again. Roadies, Dirtbags, Commuters, Single Speeders, whatever-those-insanely-fast-MiSCA-kids-are, even Gravel Riders; we all have one really big thing in common: we love riding our bikes. Maybe you nerd out on tire pressures or have a notebook of single speed gear ratios. Maybe you stop and take pictures of flowers during your ride. Maybe you just send it. I promise none of these things are all that different. You can’t do this stuff from your couch or on your phone (ok, you can watch tire reviews on YouTube but that does not technically count as cycling).

Oh gosh. Speaking of YouTube. When was the last time someone told you “you’re doing it wrong”? Maybe nobody said it out loud but you felt it anyway.

You’re wearing the wrong clothes.

You’re wearing the wrong shoes.

You’ve got the wrong tires.

You’re riding the wrong bike.

You’re doing the wrong workouts.

Are you having a good time riding your bike?? Then you’ve basically nailed it already. The internet and the bike industry love overthinking bikes. There are also a lot of unspoken rules and riding etiquette from back in the day that could stand to be refreshed or just fade away completely. I’ll drop a couple of my own general pointers below but they’re just like, one guy’s opinion.

Bike: You really can’t do any of this without one.

Fit is important. It’s cool to be comfortable. Don’t give in to pressure from your gravel friends who slam their stems just because they think it’s aero and will make them more attractive to members of the opposite sex. Mechanical condition is also important. Breaking down on the side of the trail is pretty much the opposite of fun. It’s only April now but do you remember mosquitos?? Terrible. The worst, even. As long as your bike is up for the kind of rides you need it for: you’re good. Spending more does not necessarily make it faster (might be fun though).

Helmet: You only get one brain…don’t screw it up.

Ok despite what I just said this one’s actually pretty important and you can get it wrong. Safety is one place where spending more money might be in your best interest. Get one that’s comfortable. One you actually like. Wear it.

Apparel: Being naked in public is frowned upon so you’ll have to pick something.

Yeah, don’t overthink this one either. Stay comfortable. Regular ol’ tee shirts are super sweaty so maybe avoid those but pretty much anything else is fine. Padded bike shorts are not for dorks, seriously. Wear whatever shoes you’re comfortable in. Only clip in if you want to. Aero socks are silly and are for dorks. If you like the grip or protection of gloves, great! If you don’t care about gloves; skip ‘em. Unless it’s cold.

Training: Hey, sometimes it’s fun to go fast, too.

Training: Ugh, do we have to? Turns out no, actually, but it may increase your overall capacity for fun.

Very few people are naturally gifted, the rest of us have to work for it. Sorry. But again: don’t feel like you have to spend a bunch of money. Coaches, fitness apps, nutrition plans…most of us don’t need ‘em. Ride more! Sadly there are no secret hacks. Sometimes lifting, high intensity intervals, and even running (gasp) are time well spent.

There’s going to be like a million things that will try and stress you out between now and race day in November; don’t let riding your bike be one of them. Keep it simple and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. We all want to be confident. We all want to get stronger. And from elite athletes to experienced amateurs to raw beginners, we all ultimately hit the trail for precisely the same reason: fun. Don’t ever forget it.

Let’s have a great time, everybody.

Thank you Aaron Schutter @aaron_two_tired on being our 2026 Iceman Cometh Challenge Trailblazer.

Early Season Nutrition: Waking Your Body Up for the Miles Ahead

Hello, Iceman Riders! It’s early Spring and your motivation to get back on the bike is creeping back up, and somewhere in the back of your mind, Iceman is already living rent-free.

Good. It should be.

Because here’s what I know after years of racing and working with athletes: the riders who show up in Kalkaska in November and have a great day — not just a finished day, but a genuinely strong, well-executed day — didn’t figure out their nutrition in October. They started right now. In April. When the trails are still soft and the idea of racing 30 miles through the Michigan woods in November feels equal parts exciting and insane.

So that’s what this series is. Eleven posts, all the way through race week, covering everything: fueling, hydration, recovery, and specific strategies for women, men, masters athletes, and kids. Because Iceman isn’t just a 30-mile race — it’s a Sno-Cone quarter-mile on a balance bike, it’s a 9-mile Slush Cup, it’s a junior racing the full course, it’s 5,400 people across 77 age divisions all showing up to the same start line in Kalkaska.

There’s a post in this series for every single one of you.

But today? We start here. With the question I get asked every single spring:

“I’ve basically been in hibernation for three months. How do I get my nutrition back on track for riding season?”

What Winter Actually Does to Your Body

Let’s be honest about winter. Unless you’re a skier, a cross-country skier, or someone with serious indoor training discipline, most of us come out of winter having lost some aerobic fitness, carrying a little extra body fat, and eating in a pattern that was built for low-output days — more comfort food, more irregular timing, fewer real training nutrition demands.

That’s not a moral failing. That’s just biology and seasonality. But it does mean your body needs a recalibration period before you can expect it to perform well.

Here’s what specifically changes over a winter training reduction:

Mitochondrial density decreases — your muscles become slightly less efficient at burning fuel, especially fat
Glycogen storage capacity can decrease slightly without regular high-intensity stimulus
Gut tolerance for on-bike nutrition often drops — if you haven’t been taking gels or chews for three months, your GI tract needs to relearn
Plasma volume decreases with reduced aerobic work — this affects how efficiently your blood delivers oxygen and nutrients
Insulin sensitivity can shift depending on activity levels and carbohydrate intake patterns over winter

None of this is catastrophic. All of it is fixable. But it does mean the nutrition approach that will serve you well in April is different from what you’ll be doing in September.

The Early Season Nutrition Mindset Shift

The mistake most athletes make in early spring is one of two things. Either they’re still in winter mode — not fueling their rides adequately because they don’t feel like they’ve “earned it” yet. Or they flip the switch too hard in the other direction and immediately try to train and eat like it’s race season, which is a recipe for fatigue, injury, and burnout by July.

Early season is a bridge. The goal isn’t peak performance. The goal is rebuilding the infrastructure your body needs to perform at peak later.

Think of it like this: November Iceman performance is built on the aerobic base you develop in May and June, which is built on the nutritional foundation you lay right now, in April. You can’t skip the foundation and expect the building to hold.

So what does that mean practically? It means three things:

Fuel your rides adequately — not for performance, but for adaptation
Start rebuilding healthy eating patterns and timing — consistency beats perfection
Be patient with your body — it will respond, but it takes four to six weeks of consistent stimulus to see meaningful change

What Early Season Fueling Actually Looks Like

Let me walk you through what I actually focus on in these early weeks. I’ll split this into on-bike and off-bike nutrition, because they’re different conversations.

On the Bike

Early season rides are usually shorter and lower intensity — maybe 60 to 90 minutes, maybe a couple of hours on weekends. Here’s how I approach fueling based on ride duration:

Under 60 minutes at low intensity: water is probably enough. Your liver glycogen can handle this. Don’t force feed.
60–90 minutes: start with a small carbohydrate source — 20 to 30 grams going in, water on board. A banana before you leave the house, a gel at the 45-minute mark if you’re pushing it.
90 minutes to 2 hours: now you’re in fueling territory. 40 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour, begin using whatever on-bike nutrition you plan to use at Iceman so you start training your gut now.
Over 2 hours: treat it like a race simulation. 60+ grams of carbs per hour, sodium in your bottle, practice your entire race-day fueling protocol.

Off the Bike

This is where I see the biggest gaps in spring. Riders start riding again but forget to update their eating to match the new demands. A few things I focus on coming out of winter:

Protein at every meal: 1.6 to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Early season is when you’re rebuilding — muscle protein synthesis matters.
Carbohydrates timed around your rides: eat them before and after training, not just randomly throughout the day. This is carbohydrate periodization in its simplest form.
Don’t fear calories: under-fueling in early season is one of the most common mistakes I see. You’re asking your body to adapt and rebuild. It needs fuel to do that.
Micronutrients: vitamin D is almost universally low after winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Get a blood panel if you haven’t recently. Iron, magnesium, and omega-3s are also on my early-season checklist.
Rebuild your hydration habit: you probably drank less in winter. Start drinking to a target — not just to thirst. Half your body weight in ounces is a reasonable daily baseline.

A Note on Gut Training — Start Now, Thank Yourself in November

I want to spend a minute on something that might be the most underappreciated part of endurance nutrition: your gut is trainable. And if you don’t train it, it will fail you on race day.

When you haven’t been taking in carbohydrates during exercise for months, your gut’s capacity to absorb them decreases. The transporters that move glucose and fructose across your intestinal wall — SGLT1 and GLUT5 — are less numerous and less active when you don’t use them regularly. So when you show up to Iceman having never practiced fueling at race intensity, and you take a gel at mile 10 because you’re bonking, your gut will reject it. It will bloat. It will cramp. And you will have a very long 20 miles left.

The fix is simple but it requires starting early: use your actual race nutrition on your training rides. Whatever you plan to take at Iceman — gels, chews, waffles, real food — practice it now. Introduce it gradually. Work up to the amounts you’ll need during a 2.5 to 4 hour race effort. By October, fueling at full race intensity should feel completely normal to your body.

This is one of the highest-return investments you can make between now and November. Start today.

A Quick Note for Every Type of Iceman Rider

Before I close out I want to say a quick word to the different riders reading this, because this series is for all of you.

If you’re a woman: July’s post is specifically for you — how your hormones affect fueling is one of the most important and most under-discussed topics in endurance nutrition. Don’t skip it.
If you’re a masters athlete: your recovery needs are higher, your protein needs are higher, and your margin for nutritional error is smaller. We cover this in depth for both women and men.
If you’re a pro or Cat 1 racer: I see you. The later posts go into race-day fueling at a level of specificity that matters when the difference between your target time and your actual time is 10 minutes.
If you’re a parent bringing kids to Iceman: September’s post is your bible. Fueling kids for cold-weather racing — from the Sno-Cone quarter-mile to the full Junior race — is its own science and it’s completely covered.

The Bottom Line

Iceman is seven months away. That sounds like a long time until it’s November and you’re trying to figure out carb loading the week of the race.

Do the work now. Lay the foundation now. Show up in Kalkaska in November knowing that your nutrition was dialed in from April, not from a panicked Google search in October.

Next month, we’re going deep on building your nutritional base — carbohydrate periodization, protein targets, and how to train your body to burn fuel efficiently for the long miles ahead.

Follow along, share this with your riding crew, and if you have questions, drop them in the comments. I read all of them.

I’ll see you out there.