2012 Iceman Cometh Race Report

The final race of the year is done.  Granted I may pick up a CX race, Iceman was the last true race for me.  I didn’t hit my goal time of under 2 hours, so that was disappointing, especially since I felt like I was going fast the entire race. 

The Start

The start of my wave (#7) went perfectly.  As you can see from the photo on the left, I was on the line (far right in white/black).  I entered the two track area with the lead group of 5-6 riders.  This was one of my goals.  I thought it would cost a lot energy, but it really didn’t.  Maybe because I tucked in behind another rider and let him pull. Either way, I felt great entering the dirt.  Being in the front is important for one key reason: you have 100+ riders all trying to squeeze into a small area.  The bottle neck is not so bad in the early waves like mine, but it still slows you down enough that the leaders in the wave can get away from you.  Granted this isn’t too important since those riders may not be in your class, however, the trail crowd is still a lot thinner.  I had zero congestion issues for 99% of the ride.

The First Half

The first 15 miles were pretty smooth sailing.  No real congestion.  I remained with the front group and we really created a gap between us and the riders behind us.  A few times I couldn’t even see another rider behind me.  I did have a couple riders slow me down, but not enough to cause me time or waste my energy.  I am thankful I pre-rode the course a couple weeks earlier because that gave me the knowledge to get in front of riders prior to the single track start.  Especially around mile 14, right after ‘lovers lane’.  I sprinted to the front and just barely beat the lead guy into the single track.  I may have even cut him off slightly.  That turned out good because I blew through that single track with zero congestion.  When I looked behind me, the riders were gone. 

The Second Half

The second half also includes all the hills.  Anita’s hill being the most famous because it’s straight up and all sand.  Trying to ride up the hill takes more energy than running up the hill.  I knew the hill was coming and used as much momentum as I could to shoot me up the hill.  The goal was to make it half-way, but made it three-quarters.  I ran the rest and hopped on my bike and attacked. I knew riders have a tendency to be slow after running.  I attacked. It cost me a lot of pain, but I caught up to some other riders that dropped me earlier. 

The second half of the trail is the area that received about 2 inches of snow, which resulted in sloppy trail conditions.  I felt like I was dragging bricks behind me.  The pudding on the trail caused enough friction to really feel like I was dogging it. I dropped some riders during the second half and caught up to a few others that dropped me earlier.  Had some good team work going for a while, but on the final attack, I couldn’t catch the two Joshua Tree guys. 

Williamsburg Road cross was a non-factor for me.  I remember my first two years that being the climb that killed me.  Now it’s not really much of a climb.  Especially with the momentum you can get right before it.  Shooting up the hill is a confidence boost because that is also a very large cheering section.  The climb after Williamsburg road is a little tougher though. 

The Finish

The final 5k is the longest 5k I’ve every ridden.  The trail was sloppy and riders were getting slow.  As I said earlier, I couldn’t match the attack of the Joshua Tree team riders.  I almost got them on ‘woodchip hill’ but didn’t.  I also got caught behind a tandem during the last 1k.  I ended up cutting a corner pretty bad to get around them.  That turned out good because it was a sharp turn so the tandem had to dismount causing a bottle neck.   The riders that got caught I never saw again so it did really hurt their time. 

When we entered Timber Ridge I was expecting to head back out for another mile like we always do.  Iceman calls that a teaser.  You get close to the finish line, but no, you go back out.  I was confused because I knew we had less than 1k to go, yet we didn’t head back out.  The I turned one corner and there was the finish line.  I had no riders behind me so no need to sprint.  I actually don’t even remember cross the finish line, I was still surprised it was right there. 

My final time was 2:07:56, which put me 21st in my class (out of 120).  Again, I wanted under 2 hours and I’m still not sure where I lost my time.  I’ll get nerdy with the data and find my weakness.