{"id":727,"date":"2023-12-12T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/?p=727"},"modified":"2023-12-07T08:17:40","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T02:17:40","slug":"ninas-iceman-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/12\/ninas-iceman-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"Nina&#8217;s Iceman Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The last race of dirt season turns also into the biggest party in the woods . I haven\u2018t been at any other bike race yet that has this very special &#8220;Iceman atmosphere&#8221;. There aren\u2019t many opportunities out there to ride your bike with 5000 passionate cycling friends and have a party together after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year marked my third Iceman Cometh Challenge and for the first time in my &#8220;racing career&#8221;, I had the privilege to start with the CAT1 women. To be honest, I had mixed feelings about this. I don\u2018t see myself belong in a pro wave at any bike race but I appreciate these opportunities and I took it as a great learning experience. I also hope to be an inspiration for other women out there, to sign up for a bike race, enjoy this amazing cycling community and maybe find your own limits. I didn\u2019t have any expectations or goals for the race, other than not coming in last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My bike of choice for this year\u2019s race was a Specialized Epic Hardtail. In retrospect, it was probably not the best choice for me personally. It\u2019s the first Hardtail I\u2019ve owned and I was not used to the bike. With the fresh cut Single-track, I\u2018d probably would\u2018ve been better off on my Full Suspension Mountainbike. I have definitely seen more people on Full Suspension bikes this year, than in the past two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While all wave starts leave Kalkaska airport in the morning, the Pro waves didn\u2018t start until 3pm on Saturday. Honestly, I was very happy about this, as it was a cold morning and it took some time to warm up. When the sun came out, I think it was clear for everyone at that time: We\u2018ll have another &#8220;Niceman&#8221; ahead of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was ready to race! Lining up at the start-line with 25 incredible strong and super fast women was a one of a kind experience. Very different from a wave start with probably about 100 people. The last few seconds before a start are the worst for me. I was very nervous and had all kinds of different thoughts running through my head. Will I be able to keep up at the start? Will I race on my own the whole time? Am I going to finish last? And so on\u2026 But as soon as the countdown is done and the gun goes off, it\u2019s just the focus on pedaling a bicycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"840\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.iceman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Iceman2023-1-scaled.jpg?resize=840%2C560&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-729\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.iceman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Iceman2023-1-scaled.jpg?w=2560&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.iceman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Iceman2023-1-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.iceman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Iceman2023-1-scaled.jpg?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The start was, as expected, fast from the line, but I have to say, less chaotic, due to less people around you. I was able to hold position in the mid-pack and to my own surprise, was also able to maintain this position all the way out of the airport into the two track. After following the lead-group through the two-track for about a mile it was clear to me, I couldn\u2019t keep this pace for the entire race. I had to let go and rode by myself for a few, before I caught up to another rider in front of me and we traded pulls for a while. A few miles into the single-track, we caught up to Trainer Road\u2019s Ivy Audrain, who let us pass instantly. I thought, she must have had a mechanical or some kind of problem, as she is a professional cyclocross racer and there is no way I would be able to keep up with her. Turns out, she just really enjoyed the secretly famous Iceman handups\u00a0\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Riding up the famous Anita\u2019s Hill is always a challenge. Being on my own this year didn\u2019t make it any easier. I remember my first time seeing the hill and pushing up my bike in 2020. I thought to myself, how in the world are people able to ride up a hill like this. Turns out, with a little bit of training, it is possible, but I still wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s fun. But the fun starts after you made it up and over\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iceman is also the race, that gets you more excited the closer you get to the finish. Not because of the finish line, not (only) because of what position you\u2019ll finish the race but mostly because of the insanely loud crowds waiting for you on both sides of Woodchip hill, Icebreaker and all the way to the finish. I\u2019ve never experienced any other race, where the only noise you can hear is the crowd cheering you on while your heart rate is maxed out going up the last two hills of the race. You even start to wonder if you\u2019re still breathing. This year, my friend Samantha and I went into this section together and it was a great feeling having all our friends waiting for us and cheering us on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video height=\"1440\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1080 \/ 1440;\" width=\"1080\" controls src=\"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Iceman2023-1.mov\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:45px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I finished the Iceman Cometh Challenge 2023 in 2:09:28, which got me 23rd out of 26th female racers. I\u2019m more than happy with this result and I\u2019m already excited to improve this time next year in my 4th (N-)Iceman 2024\u00a0\ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you to our 2023 Iceman Cometh Ambassador Nina Waschenfelder @ninasmtblife<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last race of dirt season turns also into the biggest party in the woods . I haven\u2018t been at any other bike race yet that has this very special &#8220;Iceman atmosphere&#8221;. There aren\u2019t many opportunities out there to ride your bike with 5000 passionate cycling friends and have a party together after. This year &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/12\/ninas-iceman-recap\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Nina&#8217;s Iceman Recap&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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":[1],"tags":[69,165,72,188,139,141],"class_list":["post-727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-iceman","tag-iceman-cometh-challenge","tag-kalkaska","tag-recap","tag-training","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\/727","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":733,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iceman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}