On The Dirt Side......: Ore2Shore 2012...........

On Thursday, August 9, 2012 at about 10:30 pm, Jay and I were rolling out the driveway for what would be a 9 hour drive to Marquette, MI (in the U.P.). Waiting to test my legs, was the well known Ore2Shore, 48 mile point to point race, on Saturday. Once we crossed the border, I resumed my laying position on the bench seat and got in about an hour and a half nap before making our Meijer grocery stop. Oddly enough, even at that time in the morning, it was relatively busy! With the coolers full we got back on the road and I, back to sleep. It rained from the time we left home until just before the Mackinac Bridge. In the U.P. the sky was blue and the temps were perfect! How Jay pulls off driving through the night is crazy to me. As we drove through Munising we made sure to stop at Muldoon's to pick up a couple of their delicious pasties!

(Views along the way)

Waiting for us at camp (Tourist Park) was Team Quiring - Scott, Christina and Erin. Our tent town was soon set up and our weekend "home" was cozy. After lunch, Erin and I headed out to do a bit of race course recon. The last few miles of the course runs right next to Tourist Park, so the convenience of staying there is second to none! My overall take on the course was that it was sandier than the past couple years. My choice for tire was the Kenda Kozmic Lite's. Their tread pattern has a bit of a paddle making it a great tire to cut through the deep sand. Quiring tent city lights were out early that night in anticipation of our early morning alarm.

(Erin taking the meaning of off road to a new level, Christina and Lori in matching biking dresses, pasties lunch, Quiring camp, Scott and the two machines, Jay doing some wrenching!)

The temps dropped a bit overnight and the morning was chilly. I had packed all my cold weather riding gear just in case! ( I always over pack but some of my warmer layers came in handy during the warm up!) My nerves were under control and I was pretty calm. I rolled up to the starting line just as the National Anthem began to play. My position was back row of the preferred start coral. Not the best spot but not the worst. It is a mass start, so when the announcer said "go", the pack of over 700 racers were off, stampeding our way through the streets of Negaunee. There was a crash/pile up that happened before we turned off road. I was able to avoid it and slowly get around. We hit the first section of grass double track and there was another crash just in front of me. I took the high line through the tall grass and was able to get around it. At times we were 4 riders wide up the first real climb of the race. There was no where to pass or to really get around. I knew I was in about 4th position and I also knew that the space between those top 3 and I was going to be an issue. They would get to the top ahead of me and then hop on the wheels of the top fast men groups and be gone! That's the way O2S is and you have to race smart! If you miss the fast draft pace at the beginning you will have a real hard time catching them or seeing them again before the finish.

However, I did manage to get myself mixed in with a good group of guys. Things were going well and I was holding my position and then I had my first crash on some loose gravel. I lost the group that I was with but soon was on the wheels of a smaller group. The group was not quite organized. Having done this race a couple of times I knew the importance of group efforts! So I talked to the guys around me (which later I was told I was like a soccer mom out there, in a good way!), and we all got working together.

(Racers lined up as far as the eye could see!)

Our group was able to close the gap and catch many riders ahead. Just before the well known "Misery Hill" I had another crash. This time in soft sand but I managed to smack my head off of the high edge side of the trail. I got back up, gave my head a shake and watched the group slowly pulling away. I worked my butt off to catch back up and by the time we were walking/jogging/pushing our bikes up the rocky steep Misery Hill, I was on the tail end of the group's heels! We rode through all the ups and downs, rocks and bumpy ~~hydro~~ power line trail. I felt like a yo-yo, at times I fell off the pace of the group and then pushed myself back on. By the time we got to the long open road climb I made sure that I was in a solid spot with the group so I would not have to fight the climb or wind on my own!! Mid-way through the climb we passed the 3rd place lady. My goal now was to continue to push and be crash free!! Our group seemed to split up with about 10 miles to go and pairs were left to work together.

(Me with about 3 miles to go and the Hard Rock Women results)

The crowd was cheering as I came around the final bend and crossed the finish line in 3rd place!! Overall I was pleased with my ride! Erin came through in a sprint finish, narrowly getting beat at the line by 0.01 seconds putting her in 6th. Scott and Christina came in 3rd on their tandem and James and Lori Gomez came in 2nd on their Quiring tandem!!

(Let the race stories begin! Those were white grips until the red Marquette dirt got to them!)

We had a late night around the bonfire, awesome ride at Marquette Mountain Sunday, more eating and drinking Sunday night, and 1 final Marquette Mountain ride on Monday before heading home!!