I know I’m late in posting my weekly post (I’m shooting for Thursday/Friday) – but I have good reason. I was up near Manistee from Thursday to Sunday for vacation/Lumberjack 100 . No, I did not race the Lumberjack 100. I did, however, ride a lap of the “outer loop” – which is the 17 mile stretch of singletrack of the 25 mile Lumberjack lap. I came away from the outer loop with an ugly bruise on my chin, a sore and bloody knee and several other bruises that I kept finding throughout the weekend.
I’d had a spectacular endo and kind of took my bike with me – I’m pretty sure all of my bruises are from the bike. I landed on my back with the bike on top of me. But, I think I was due. Its been a long time since I’ve had my bell rung like that and in a very sick and twisted sort of way, it was kind of fun.
But what I REALLY want to say is – congratulations to all my Lumberjack peeps!
Mr. Jon Heft finished 1 hour and 18 minutes faster than last year and rode strong all day. He finished hard at 9 hours and 30 seconds.
This was Erik’s second attempt at Lumberjack after a rough time last year. He trained hard for this race and it paid off with a 12 hour and 30 minute finish time.
Steve Dale’s wife & son turned up in the tent before he came in from lap 3. I think it was exactly the motivation he needed to finish the race. He and our new teammate by proxy, Denis rode lap 4 together and pulled each other through. They finished in 10 hours, 44 minutes.
Denis, by the way, had a nasty crash 2 weeks ago rode this race with broke 3 ribs.
Denis is a friend of our California Trails-Edge contingent, Pat. Pat moved from Brighton to Santa Cruz a couple of years ago and forgot what humidity is like ;) He had some pretty bad leg cramps that pulled him out of the race after 83 miles. He dug deep for that last 8 mile loop to try and give it one last shot.
Steve Steinberg finished his first Lumberjack crossing the finish line with his son Brent at 10 hours, 15 minutes.
Rick Bowling is fantastic. At 56, he’s only been racing a couple of years and he finished this thing like a champ in 12 hours, 21 minutes.
Rob Ritzenhein gets mad props for attempting this beast in the first fucking place. You da man who’s gonna beat this thing next year.
Mike Campbell finished his first attempt in all his baby-shower glory and a finish time of 9 hours and 42 minutes. Soupy rides a beautiful pink Bianchi PUSS like I used to have (sadly, his team kit is baby blue – hence, baby shower). Rocking the trail on a 26″ SS.
Steve Kinley tearing it up again. Steve had a rough run last year and had to pull out after 2 laps. I think this year, he might have even smiled while finishing in 9 hours and 28 minutes.
Robert Herriman pulled off a spectacular 9th place finish after starting in last place. His seatpost clamp busted just as he hit the dirt and he had to turn back to his car to replace the post. He passed ~230 people on his first lap and worked his way up to the top 10. Fucking Awesome. He finished in 7 hours and 48 minutes. And, I don’t doubt for a second that he thanked every one of those people he passed. Robert is stand-up.
I shoved Hammer Gel and Endurolytes at Chris Goddard until he finished his first Single Speed Lumberjack in 4th place. Before the race I asked what he was shooting for as a lap time. He said if all went well, he was shooting for 2 hours. Let me tell you, Chris is consistent. All of his laps were within minutes of 2 hours. He finished in 8 hours, 6 minutes.
Danielle Musto is bad ass. Our tent was next to theirs and I really enjoied watching her come through the pits. I really admire Danielle because she seems to be a such great advoate for women mountain bike racers. She’s tough, but friendly and is always encouraging to newer or slower riders. So, I totally apologize for staring in a fan-girl sort of way *blush*.
She came into the pits after lap 2, jossled, shaken and bloody. There were no bandaids, there was no hesitation – she swapped camelbacks, ate some gels while Scott refilled her pockets with fresh ones, and she was on her way. Danielle finished 3rd at 8 hours, 46 minutes.
Sometimes I toy with the idea of trying to do this race. Sometimes I think I’m just crazy to ever even consider it. One lap of the 17 mile loop was all I could manage at one time this weekend. I can’t really comprehend the enormity of doing 4 full laps when I can barely comprehend doing 1 full lap. I think I might work toward doing 2 full laps this time next year and go from there.
