I like to schedule in at least one long event in the summer each year. I like endurance racing in its own right, and summer is the perfect time to spend long hours on a bike. But endurance events also provide a benefit to late-season races like Iceman-it’s easier to stomach the 2ish hours of pain at Iceman when I have memories of 6-12 hour efforts that are fresh enough to conjure up! Here are 3 of my favorites from over the years:
Triple Trail Challenge: This is a fundraising event for the Poto MBA that covers 50-ish miles of the Potowatomi, DTE Energy Foundation, and Waterloo-Pinckney Trails. This includes a huge variety of trail styles, so it’s a ton of fun and it lives up to the “Challenge” moniker. I also grew up right in the middle of the area so there are lots of fun memories baked in along the way. If you’re looking for something totally unique to test your mountain bike skills in a low-stress environment, you can’t go wrong with the TTC.
Lumberjack 100: A legendary Michigan event. If you’re into endurance and mountain biking, LJ100should absolutely be on your radar. This race takes on its 100 miles of singletrack in 3 laps, so you passthrough the start/finish area twice in the middle of the race. This makes it really fun if you have friends, family, or teammates to share the experience with as you can see them intermittently for laughs and support as you slowly transition from nervous and full of energy to exhausted and (hopefully) full of stoke!
Coast to Coast: As I shared earlier in the summer, the 204-mile gravel race from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan was my new endurance endeavor this year. Many aspects of this race really go without saying. It’s long. It’s hard. It feels really good to finish. But more so than probably any other rave I’ve done, Coast to Coast really is about the journey it takes to reach the finish line. The course is masterfully designed, and it traverses a huge variety of terrain. Thus, it’s not only a big test of both physical and mental endurance, but also a test of adaptability across all flavors of “gravel” from smooth hardpack all the way to rooty ATV trails and long stretches of deep, dry sand. Time will tell whether I notice any impact on my Iceman experience in 2023 after racing Coast to Coast, but for now I’m feeling as confident riding through sand as I ever have in my life, so maybe that’ll pay off if we have a dry fall!
As much as I love each of these races, one thing I strive for is to try at least one new event each year. There are so many out there-what event do you think I should try in 2024?
Thank you to our 2023 Iceman Ambassador Martin Harris @uncle.martin