Next Event, Traverse City Trails fest

 It has been many many years since I have ridden north of Big M. The last time I did Iceman was well over 10 years ago. Before that was the Boyne Marathon......and I don't even know what year that was.

TRAVERSE CITY TRAILS FESTIVAL

Click here to check out the event and see what the Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association (NMMBA) is up to! 

This will be my first time for this event. From what I see on the site listed above it appears that this started back in 2017. You might think that isn't very long ago....but it is already 8 years.....ugh....time flies.

There are two distances to choose from with a Full Pint (30ish miles) and the Half Pint (15 miles). For the Michigan Off road championship the Sport riders must ride the Half Pint. So it looks like a mix of the Vasa singletrack and some connecting fire roads. I looked around for videos, but the latest versions were the original course layout. So, basically going to be flying blind.

The climbing doesn't seem terrible. There is only 696 feet of gain over 15 miles. This is about 46.4 feet/mile. In comparison, my last ride at Custer was 51.6 feet/mile. The course profile makes it seem like there is some climbing in the middle and then some at the end. This doesn't give me too much concern. 

The concern comes from other places. First off, riding a trail blind. I have a big of an idea, by watching videos of the Vasa trail system. The first few miles should be flat and crazy fast. From what I can see the trail isn't technical. It is flowy and open singletrack that just lets you ride. Nothing really sneaks up on you. This is a bonus, because at high speed with an elevated heart rate the vision isn't always the best ;). It makes it a bit easier when riding in a paceline too. Tight and twisty doesn't work well with groups. See Island lake recap for my reasoning there. 

Another concern is the amount of Clydes signed up. At the time of this post there are 12. I know for sure I can beat 1 of them. I know one is a beast and another is pretty even with me, as we are pretty close every race. The unknown locals will have the course advantage here for sure. I don't really know how the start will be. It could be wide and then narrow down to singletrack, or it could be narrow and cause a major issue right away. 

So what is my strategy? 

Seek out Chris......line up behind him.....and hold onto his wheel until I no longer can. This dude is a beast. He had beat me by 13 minutes at the Stampede (my 2nd lap was in the rain....he was almost done) and at the Luton TT by 6 minutes. I know he is stronger, and I have watched him ride away from me in nearly every race we have done together. I never saw him at Yankee, because he started way before I did. I just know he will be fast no matter what, and I know if I can hold onto his wheel that the group could be decimated in the first 5 miles. The longer I hold on, the better my chances are. As a historically slow starter this might not work.....but I have to try.

After my last ride at Custer I am feeling pretty good overall. My speed was good and my endurance was where it needs to be. I was able to push hard for 20 miles and carry a strong pace to the finish. I did an easy ride at the Allegan State game area on Monday. I did a zwift ride last night. Both of those rides were good to keep the legs moving. Now I will rest until Saturday.

So I will chase Chris. I will work with anyone else I can to get to the finish as fast as possible. Sounds perfect right....

Also....on Saturday morning I will scope out the start and finish so I have an idea of what is coming. I will figure out where to line up at the start (other than behind Chris) so I can take the right approach in the group. I want to see the last mile of the course too, so if there is a sprint situation that I will know when to go.

Goals

I have a few goals for this event. Mainly I want to win. I know with Chris there that it just got considerably more difficult, but that won't stop me from trying. Realistically I am hoping for another podium. With the unknowns......I will settle for a top 5. Again, I am going to try to win.....but my hard floor is 5th. 

Well.....there is one caveat to that 5th place finish. I need to be ahead of CP. He has beat me once, and I have beat him once. We are fairly even riders. He is a good dude, but I want to beat him. He is currently in 1st place in the MORC series. CP, Chris, and myself make up the top 3 for Sport Clyde. So we have a solid group of guys heading to this race as we get near the end of the series. I need to finish ahead of CP in the next two races to move up. We shall see!

I am heading up to Fife Lake tomorrow to stay at my friends cabin. This will pull well over 2 hours out of my drive in the morning. That means I can be up at a decent time, eat some food, and head over to do my recon. 

Check back next week to see how it goes!