Lumberjack 100 Weekend

This past weekend was Lumberjack 100, the race that I signed up for back in March. For the past three months I’d been riding a lot to try and be ready for it, but I didn’t do enough. After two laps I felt rather beat, and despite Erik and I heading out together on a third lap I gave up about 4-5 miles in, just after all of the hard initial climbing. A light rain had also started at this point and it didn’t help my lack of interest in continuing.

I suspect that the dust, heat, and sandy trail played a part in making it hard, but I think that I just wasn’t properly prepared for what the race entailed. In the end I logged 73 miles, about 27 short of finishing. My quitting was almost entirely due to general fatigue, not any particular soreness. Even the day after the race my legs weren’t sore and just felt a bit tired, and three days later I had no problem riding hard on a single speed. The data from that day can be seen here.

Looking back on it I’m frustrated with myself for not carrying on, but at the time I felt amazingly tired and at the end of the previous lap I’d stopped having fun. Part of me thinks that I could have finished, while the other part of me really isn’t sure. I really wanted to finish, but I didn’t. Maybe I’ll give it another go next year… I’m just not sure I want to do the months of riding again to get ready. At least next time (if there is one) I’ll have a good idea of what I did wrong.

The weekend overall was a really nice time up north with Danielle, Nick, Marty, Erik, and Kristi. Without them I wouldn’t have even made it up there. From the super-fun long rides to keeping me excited about it, from cool weather dirt road rides to fat biking in the snow they, along with many other friends, played a huge part in keeping me going to even try the race. They are great.

The day after the race, after we’d all had breakfast at Dagmar’s Kozy Kitchen (yes, it looks weird, but they have good food) and parted ways, I took a few detours on the way home. My first stop was at the Mortimer E. Cooley Bridge over the Pine River along M-55 just east of Wellston. This somewhat historic bridge (seen above and also here) was quite nifty to see. I’d driven over it a number of times previously and realized just how high it was, but had neve stopped to look.

There are some rather nice wood and metal stairways leading down to platforms along and beneath the bridge, specifically to allow for easy viewing. While nicely maintained, the foliage along the stairways could use a bit of a trim as much of it was poison ivy growing up through the slats (photo). I had to tread carefully to avoid stepping on any, as squishing it against the metal grating would surely leave uruishol on my shoes, leading to it ending up all over the car, house, etc. That’d be bad.

Finally, after visiting the bridge I headed over to Cops & Doughnuts in Clare, a surprisingly good bakery from which I purchased a doughnut (apple fritter) and coffee for myself, and a cinnamon roll which I dropped off with my dad on the way home. Being Father’s Day I wanted to be sure to stop by there. It was surprisingly easy to get to their house on the way home, so that worked out well.