Lutsen 99er

(Very late post. I was waiting for pictures, but they were very protected. Not even worth a screen grab.)

I've known for some time that LifeTime puts on great events but had not participated in one since Leadville 2011. I heard about the 99er it's first year but since it fell on the same day as the Chequemegon 100 I never considered it. This year I saw an ad for it and realized that they were on different weekends. I was in.

The event has gotten huge. I think there were 1500 people there between the 3 distances (19,39,99). The vibe was great as well. You often hear about how the gravel races are so relaxed, and the 99er had the same feel. I didn't see anyone sprinting down the hill at the beginning. Everyone was keeping it under 15mph just as asked and not a lot of sprinting once we got to 61 either. Once we turned up Caribou people hit the gas. Myself included.

The first climb was not that bad. I like to climb though, so that probably has something to do with it. About 6 miles in I could still see the leaders about 300 yards in front of me, soon after we went around a corner and they were completely out of sight. They must have finally felt warmed up enough.

We then made a right on to a loose gravel road and the pace picked up. I was hanging in and feeling good. I even bunny hopped a couple puddles which drew a few smiles. However, those would be the only ones I hopped. I rode through the other 87 or so others.

We then turned on to a snowmobile trail and the unpredictable fun began. There was sharp ups and downs, misc. rocks, puddles, and mud. It was fun at first, but did get a little old. Once I unlocked my fork it made for an easier ride. Side note: At about the 10 mile mark there was a young guy on the side of the trail asking for a CO2. I'm usually pretty generous, but fuck that. You don't bring ANYTHING to inflate a flat on a 99 mile  ride you deserve to hang out with the mosquitoes.

At about mile 22 we passed the first aid station and did our first of 2 laps. There were some pretty cool sections of trail in this loop. There was a small creek crossing and a section that seemed as if we were riding through a tunnel in the forest. Coming out of the 2nd lap I stopped at the aid station and got a banana, half a PB&J, a honey stinger waffle, and refilled both my bottles. I headed down the road eating it all and enjoying the hard packed dirt road. I caught up to someone and asked them if they knew how the remainder of the course was. they told me that it was all roads to the finish. Should be much faster than the first half. They were right, but not a lot faster, nor easy. The heavy overnight rains had created massive puddles that seemed to come up about every 100 feet. They were relentless. Some you could barrel through, some you had to pedal through and they all had mud on the other side. It was just a mess.

At some point (Mile 75?) we got out of that and it was all roads till the end. Very enjoyable, very scenic. I just rode my own pace and took it all in. I was shooting for under 7h30m and knew that was in sight if I kept up a 15mph pace. The last mile or so was old MTB trails which were very fun. There was a couple big rocky climbs and a nice downhill as well. When I popped out of the woods I could hear music and knew the end was near. It ended up being a couple miles short of 99, but I was happy to be done.

Great race. I'll be back next year.