Ore 2 Shore Race Reports

I think the pictures says it all, but heres a few details.

After some good times riding around St. Ignace and a few beers. headed to Marquette where the weather couldnt have been better for the race. At the start I did the best I could to push as far forward as I could, hit the trail, was setting a good pace for me of over 14mph thru the first 17 miles after the hilly sections still feeling great, then it happened, right after aid station 2 there was a water puddle from the rain before the race, some people were going thru it, I chose a line on the right side not to be right behind the guy in front of me and get sprayed in the face, caught a rut and went flying into the woods. I was fine, little scraped up but fine, hopped on the bike and the front wheel wouldnt even turned, bent into the fork. As I was walking back I seen a couple others crash in that same spot, even JRAD was a victim. Oh well, bad luck, part of racing, and Ill be back next year, most likely pushing a bigger gear. Trail was fast, some steep rocky hills but ya might as well run those anyways. Still a great weekend!

gearswhatgears

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yes that is me, I've been going up north for the past 4 years to do this race. Being my first year SS'n I've been killing myself with big gears, so doing the 28miler was the way to go this year, and of course I could have pushed a larger gear so much to the point, at the 4mile to go marker I realized that hey I'm not even tired yet a good problem to have just a little to late to respond (very flat course). The race started of with a down pore which in turn controlled the dust and sand the temp was next to perfect and my XCT which is know completely cobbled together (busted head tube on shock at fort custer more later) ran perfectly, I've got that 28mile dialed in with no problems at all hammering even the hills except Kirby its just to easy to run up didn't want to break anything at that point. The race is a good race for anyone at any level It's just a long weekend of travel and spending? Took 8th place which was pretty good in my book except the two guys in front of me I know I can beat, I'll just say I'm enjoying this year so far learning all of these lessons with only one thing to worry about A GEAR!!!! next year I think I'll get my $$$ worth hard rock SS'n

Steve

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After doing just about everything wrong last year including not eatting before the race, having some beers and bad dinner the night before, getting no sleep in the roach motel we stayed at and riding gears, I knew I was destined for success at the race this year but I couldn't help getting a little nervous about what would lie ahead for us. The hotel we stayed at was spectacular, the dinner was ok (giving it an OK cuz I fully expected to get food poisoning but didn't), slept like a baby, woke up ready to do my best to make up for a 4 hour and 20 minute time I had last year. Whe arrived to the starting line and were greeted with some pretty heavy rain showers, which sucked at the time but made the trail faster.

The gun blasts and we're off on the 2 mile road ride at the beginning and I quickly slip towards the back quarter of the pack with my 34/18 and my legs spinning like crazy. Slowly but surely I started to pick off some of those people who passed me one by one. Got through Ishpeming and noticed my bottle cage was about to fall off, had to stop and repair that! Hopped back on the trail and tried to make up for lost time again....about 17 miles in, I run into GearsWhatGears loafing at the aide station with his taco'd wheel, he wished me luck and I was off again. After rolling through the sludge where he wiped, I pressed on.

About 25 miles in, I had some problems with my chainring bolts (a whole nother story), had to dismount, tighten them back up and press on again. Legs felt fresh, body felt good, weather was nice and cool. Choking down endurolytes, Berry HEED, Hammer Gels and some water from my camelback, I didn't have any problems at all. Misery Hill killed my spirits slightly as it always does. At the top, I noticed my specialized bag had torn in half and I had to transfer all of the contents into my camelback. Later, I found out that there was a cooler with free water and beer in there. Had I looked in it, I may have ended my race right there and enjoyed a few cold ones....But moving along...

On a big road climb down the road, I looked up and saw an orange jersey and thought it might be JRAD. SO I closed in on the jersey and noticed all sorts of mud and leaves on poor JRAD. He looked rough, told me that he was cut off on a downhill section and put on some extra miles on his bike rolling off the trail into the woods. So we rode together for a while until I decided that I was gonna press on. Made sure he was ok and said my goodbyes and dropped the hammer......And then I realized I had no hammer left to drop. Met back up with JRAD quickly and We put together an impressive last 15 mile run towards the finish line in good spirits. With about 3 or 4 miles to go, JRAD disapeared and I didn't notice he was gone until I had about 2 miles left and realized I was talking to myself. Aparently he cramped up on the last climb and had to deal with that. So I dug in for the final couple miles trying to beat the 4 hour mark. Ended up crossing the finish line at 3:57 and change (eat your heart out, Sanborn!), beating my time last year by 20 minutes. I even surprised my parents as I rolled up behind them while they were waiting for me to finish....My folks and GearsWhatGears father provided excellent support along the trail and they were a big help so I have to give them props for making the trip!

PROOF THAT SINGLESPEEDING MAKES YOU FASTER:
Last Year On Gears - Bassett, Steve Waterford, MI Hard Rock - Male 30 04:19:18.1 11.1
This Year on a SS - Bassett, Steven Waterford, MI Hard Rock - Single 31 03:57:06.2 12.1

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6491800

The post party celebration happened at Timber Charlies in Newberry but I imagine you'll read more about that in another thread soon enough. Headed back to my parents place in St. Ignace for some beers, a nice big campfire and a shower. Our recovery ride the next day was about 27 miles of pure singlespeeding bliss on the Mackinac Island. I think I have to go clean all the horse doo-do and red sand off my bike from all the riding we did this weekend. A great weekend with great friends and family and awesome weather. Hope to see more of you all up next year!!!

abbeytrails