Iceman and Chron's Cometh

What a great race, all you Iceman haters and naysayers can take a step back, no other point to point race that I have done has been this interesting or had single-track, yeah it had some sand but it also had character. The start was somewhat relaxed and I sat fourth wheel trying to do no work and just sit in. The guy in first attacked as soon as we hit the trail and steadily built his lead. Okay so I am probably not going to win but maybe I can be top five. I sat and went with every move the now three guys in front of me made. I remember a guy at the start telling me that the last 6-7 miles have lots of climbs and to pace myself for it. I just tried to ride my race and then to my surprise single track, this is awesome 4000 racers and single track? Well it was a little clogged up so I just started yelling left, left, left, and they all moved over and let me through. By this point we must have been at about the 4-5 mile mark and I looked around an there were only five of us from my age group within sight. When we hit about the 10 mile mark the attacks from the small group started and I got left behind and now figured I could be top ten. I started passing people laying all over the trail, people shedding winter riding gear, cramped up, or just hanging out eating. This is were it kinda got weird, I was passing people who started over an hour ahead of me. People with huge backpacks with food and clothes and tools, people with baskets on their bikes full of who knows what, and the weirdest was a guy with a big bag of dog food strapped to his back. When the hills started coming in waves in the last five miles I started to get passed by a few age groupers and was struggling, with 2 to go I could see that the barn doors were open and wanted to head for home. Made a few age group passes in the last mile and stood and hammered the last two climbs to finish 10th in age group out of 150. Not bad for having my first bout with the old Chron's Disease of the year this weekend, almost made it the whole racing season but it popped up Thursday. The Shedmaster was there to high five me in the finishing chute, and Cupcake won his age group along with some cash to take home.
Chasity had a good race. No cramping or crashing. After not riding her bike since the middle of Sept she decided to do the race anyway and had a great time. Ended up 24 out of about 50 and thought it was a great event also. We will definitely be back, but will have to make it a four day weekend next time instead of three so we can enjoy the great scene at the finish and have some delicious beer and pizza.
It was great to be back home in MI and see some friendly faces from WORS and the hometown of Muskegon. Greg and Jen hope to see you at O2S next year