For the past (2) years, P2P has always been a day trip, however this year we were invited to stay @ Camp Douglas Smith (a.k.a Camp Quiring) in Freesoil, MI. Jay Erin and myself left early Fri. morning under cloudy/rainy skies. We went to the race venue, Crystal Mountain to pick up our packages and to pre-ride the course. The temps were cool but no rain. With all the leaves on the ground, the promoter had volunteers out raking the course! The sandy ground had absorbed all the rain that had dropped throughout the week and the trail was in great shape. The course is not technical or tight at all. It is flowing single track, open double track, and has (1) punchy climb toward the end, followed by a long ski hill gradual climb. With the pre-ride done, we made our way to the "new" Quiring shop in Manistee. Scott and Christina gave us a tour. Soon after we were heading to camp. The camp is on Hamelin Lake and is owned by John Quiring (Scott's dad). They had assigned us "Chipmunk" cabin for the night. Under dark skies we learned about the history of the property and got to see a few of the buildings, followed by a few friendly rounds of ping pong! We retired for the night around 11:00 pm.
Alarm went off @ 8:00 am. The morning went by quickly. We left camp and arrived @ Crystal Mtn around 11:45. Lucky for us the race had been delayed by 15 min., making our new start time 12:45. This gave me a little more time to warm up in the frigid temps. It was very windy out and I told myself that I didn't want to get stuck pulling people around and working too hard. We started with the elite men. I had a good start, hung with the guys until we got to open road, lost the draft, my legs were not ready to go hard, I was out front in the wind, Mackenzie Woodring (Priority Health) made an attack on the left and I had to let her go. She was out of sight @ times, then I started to kick in a bit and by about the 1/2 way point of the 1st lap I caught her. I got out in front of her and........ well pulled the entire race! (Exactly what I did not want to do!!!) It was not a fast pace, but non-the-less I worked way too hard. It is so much easier to draft! The trail was like riding in peanut butter, sticky and energy sucking! I wasn't feeling super strong but just kept things steady. On my last lap I totally BONKED! I had nothing in me, no power, no energy and no zip! With 4 miles left in the race, Mackenzie pulled out from behind me and made a bit of an attack. I had no response to it and watched her pedal away. Just before the pitchy climb Johanna Schmidt (Einstein Racing) caught me from behind. I was tired, dizzy and wanted to lay down! On the final ski climb she made a pass and just as I had watched 1st place slip away 3 miles earlier, I now saw 2nd place go too. I could not counter her move! So in the end I came in 3rd. Erin finished 5th and Scott Quiring even put down a good race in the Elite men's race! Congrats to all!!
Thanks to Endoman Promotions (Tad Peacock) and the many volunteers for putting on an amazing event. The race brought out a record number of participants and great fans.
Even though my race did not go as I had hoped, I have to put it all in perspective. The race is part of the picture, it is not the entire picture. I had a great time with my friends! Now it's all about recovery for me. With (1) more race left this year, I have to find my legs again!
Cheers,
Sue
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