Heck of the North 2013

As the day of the race approached I became more and more preoccupied with the forecast. What would all the rain and possible mud do to my newish drivetrain kept running through my mind. I didn't want to have to shell out a lot of money to replace things for a race that is 100% about pride in finishing (Note, even if the race was for money I would not see any of it anyways) On Tuesday I brought the Pugsley out of it's summer slumber and put a new chain on it and made a few adjustments. Wednesday at work I thought there is no way I want to ride that thing for 104 miles. Thursday I prepped the single speed. My thought being that it would be very cheap to fix anything that was ruined. Friday at work I decided "fuck it, I want the best time I can possible get." That meant back to the original plan of 4 months ago and riding the Ti 29.

Diana and I woke up at 4:10am on Saturday morning and were on the road by 4:35. It was a three hour trip to the start point in Two Harbors and I wanted to make sure that I gave myself enough time to get there, settle in, double check everything and roll out. The traffic was good (nonexistent)  and we got to the lot a little before 7:30.

The forecast had changed some and the weather was looking good for at least the first few hours. I was very happy to have a nice start to what I knew would eventually be a very tough day.

The race started off at and we were going down the snowmobile trail at about 18mph from where I started. I noticed there was more people than usual pulled off to the side early in the race with flats, and a lot of them happened to be wearing Ski Hut jerseys. I wonder if they had a bad batch of tubes? Things got a little congested at parts so I just sat back and enjoyed the scenery until we hit the open road. Shortly after a big paceline zoomed by me and I caught up with them and sat in/traded pulls for the next 11 or so miles. There was a good 2 mile stretch where I think we probably averaged 25mph.

From there it was a hard left back on to some really grass snowmobile trail. While the people with CX bike really struggled, The 29er got through just about everything. I was passing a lot of people and feeling good.
From there it was a bunch of small climbs with long flats intermixed.

At the 3 hour mark it started to sprinkle and the closer we got to Duluth the harder it started coming down. Once we hit Lester Road pavement it was a downpour. My shoes started feeling soggy and I had to zip up my rain jacket. At the bottom of 7 Bridges Road the rain let up a bit and I knew that the 60 mile checkpoint would be coming up soon. It was a bit of a climb, but it was manageable. I kept hoping that there would be some place to get out of the rain at the checkpoint. I needed a mental break from it.

The checkpoint had all of our bags in the garage and a few pop up tents to stand under. Diana was there and offered up a little moral support. I swapped out my water bottles, put a Red Bull in my pocket along with some beef jerky and drank a bottle of water. Foolishly I didn't grab at least one more powerbar. It was about a 10 minute break and I was back on the road head for Two Harbors.

I started out feeling ok, but after about 20 minutes I was feeling pretty tired and shitty. I slowed my pace, ate an entire bar and downed some powerade and just kept the legs spinning. There is almost certainly going to be dark points in a 100 mile race, you just have to tell yourself that it will end and you will start feeling good again. The ability to do that is what separates the finishers from the DNFers.

With about 30 some miles to go there was little downhill and I put it in a big gear and pedaled hard. It felt good. I didn't feel tired anymore and my legs felt strong. I was moving at a good pace and was mentally feeling 100 times better. It was still raining, but I had just become accustomed to it. At the 80 mile point there were some great volunteers with water and coca-cola. I drank half a coke and was on my way.

I just kept going hard. At about the 90 mile mark we were back on the snowmobile trail. I once again passed about 6 people. It was a little muddy but nothing bad. When I got out of the trail there was maybe 8 miles left? I knew that the people I had passed were clearly faster on the roads than me so I would have to push pretty hard to keep in front of them. The final service road to the finish had a lot of puddles and rocks so I thought that would give me a bit of an advantage. I kept looking over my shoulder about every half mile to see if anyone was closing in. With 2 miles to go I saw someone about 300 yards back. I just started mashing the pedals as hard as I could and I never saw anyone again.

I finished in 7 hours 7 minutes. Good enough for 37th out of 200. I am pretty happy with that time. It was not an easy course. After the race I just tried to change and get warm as fast as possible.

Not my best look

I wanted to stick around for a bit to watch other people come in, but with the cold and rain it wasn't going to happen. I am very pleased to report that everyone from our group finished.

It was a great time again this year and I am very happy to be a part of the race. Thanks to Jeremy and all of the volunteers for putting together a great event that is nothing like the other 100 mile gravel races. It is truly a unique course and a great way to cap off the end of the gravel racing season (for me).

Not great either...