{"id":1133,"date":"2025-05-01T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/?p=1133"},"modified":"2025-04-23T01:00:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T19:00:28","slug":"why-we-ride-a-trailblazers-love-letter-to-iceman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/01\/why-we-ride-a-trailblazers-love-letter-to-iceman\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Ride: A Trailblazer\u2019s Love Letter to Iceman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello to all my fellow racers. I\u2019m incredibly honored to be chosen as a Trailblazer for Iceman 2025. November 8th will mark my fourth Iceman, and honestly, it can\u2019t come soon enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I sat down to write this first post, my mind bounced between so many topics: tires, hardtail or full suspension, nutrition, when to push, when to recover, when to burn a match. But as I kept thinking about all those details, it all came back to one simple word:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s love that gets us up at 4 a.m. on a freezing fall morning when most people are staying warm inside. It\u2019s love that fuels the drive to get in the calories, pack the gear, and head to the airport. Love for the sport, for the challenge, for Iceman, and everything you earn the moment you cross that finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

From the adrenaline of the rollout and fighting for position before the singletrack, to picking lines that dodge the worst sand before Dockery. To the drums at Make It Stick, the cheers at Williamsburg Road, the grind up Woodchip, and the final push over Icebreaker Hill. We look forward to it all, not because it\u2019s easy, but because we love this race. (And let\u2019s be honest, having Bell\u2019s Beer as a sponsor doesn\u2019t hurt.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the year rolls on, we train. We learn. We get more in tune with our bikes, our bodies, and our minds. We notice what needs work and what\u2019s improved. It\u2019s a year-round process of tinkering, healing, growing all for one cold, glorious day in November, when we race as hard as we can to finish as fast as we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Family and friends often say we must be a little crazy to ride our bikes through the woods from Kalkaska to Traverse City…in November. My response? You might be right, but I love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Everything we put in the early mornings, the long rides, and the sore legs comes with support. Family and friends, spouses, pick up the slack so we can chase this passion. Without them, Iceman wouldn\u2019t be what it is. So, thank you to everyone who helps us get out the door for a ride, a race, or the national holiday known as Iceman Day. Your support means everything, and it never goes unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

For most of us, Iceman is the end of the season A final chapter in a long book of training and racing. It\u2019s a celebration of the effort, the struggle, the grit\u2014and the reward is 5,000 friends, a finish line, and maybe a Bell\u2019s or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

May you get the wave you want. May the PRs come. Keep the rubber side down and I\u2019ll see you in the woods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to Chris Mutnansky @the_racing_ref for being our 2025 Iceman Trailblazer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello to all my fellow racers. I\u2019m incredibly honored to be chosen as a Trailblazer for Iceman 2025. November 8th will mark my fourth Iceman, and honestly, it can\u2019t come soon enough. When I sat down to write this first post, my mind bounced between so many topics: tires, hardtail or full suspension, nutrition, when … Continue reading “Why We Ride: A Trailblazer\u2019s Love Letter to Iceman”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[205,18],"tags":[69,165,72,139,179,141],"class_list":["post-1133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trailblazer","category-training","tag-iceman","tag-iceman-cometh-challenge","tag-kalkaska","tag-training","tag-training-tips","tag-traverse-city"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1133"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1142,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions\/1142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}