07/17/21
Settle on in, this may be a little lengthy
What did I get myself into?! A big adventure and challenge. That’s what. Best part, I don’t regret it at all. Except for maybe planting my face in some sand, but that’s really nothing in comparison in the grand scheme.
Last weekend my soon-to-be husband, Cole, and I took on the Crusher Enhanced Gravel Race. In fact there were 7 humans and 1 dog from Iowa that made it all the way up to the Michigan Upper Peninsula for this event (Spoiler: We had a 100% completion rate for all of us, including Alice the cute Yorkie).
I’ve ridden my fair share of gravel rides and races, my count is now 7 different states. Every ride is different and brings its own challenges. Fortunately, the conditions for this weekend couldn’t be much better. 5 degrees cooler would have been ideal, but I’ll definitely take the heat over it being wet and cold.
Most people know about Cole and the crazy adventures that he goes on. What people don’t know is that I’m often there too. Perhaps not always on “The Big Race,” the big race meaning the long distance, but that doesn’t belittle what I’ve done. For this adventure Cole set out for the 225 EX (237 Miles) and I went for the 40 EX (59 Miles). As he put it so nicely in his race report – “Yes, you get more than you pay for in this race”. That couldn’t describe it any better. This is not your average Gravel Race. Another misconception about shorter races is that they’re the easier races. This short race was definitely not easy. The Crusher is known for crushing. Many people cuss out the race director for making it crazy, intense and maddening.
I signed up for this race right away this year. It was one of the first I actually committed to for 2021. I’ve watched a good number of videos of the Crusher, most being from the 225, combine that with reading plenty of race reports, I had a pretty good idea of what I should expect, at least I thought. Many of the rides I’ve done this year have been in good preparation for this race. Sand? I’ve ridden through plenty, see Gold Camp Road. Hike a bike? Whenever I ride with my friend Bob that’s almost guaranteed. Water Cross? Not a problem. Single Track? I’ve ridden some.
Typically when I ride gravel, I ride my Specialized Diverge. I knew 100% that would have been the wrong choice for this weekend, so I started looking for a mountain bike. Fortunately for me, and Cole, we can ride the same size bike. In fact, this was the second race of the year I’ve used one of his bikes. This time I used his 2012 Trek XCaliber. I set it up with 2.2″ Maxxis Crossmark Tubeless tires, this will turn out to be a really good thing – both the width and being tubeless.
There had been the chance that I wasn’t going to be able to leave for this trip as early as we’d hoped. Fortunately I worked in overdrive at the office to be able to leave for Ishpeming on Wednesday, getting us there on Thursday and leaving plenty of time to pre-ride some of the course. The early arrival also allowed for several brewery visits. We were sitting in the lone brewery in Ishpeming – Japser Ridge Brewing Co – and had a couple come up to us asking if we were riding the Crusher, as we were sitting around in our kits enjoying a pre-ride meal and beverages. Turned out she was riding the 40 on Saturday with a number of other women and then he was riding it on Sunday with another guy. We would later run into them at a bike shop in Marquette that night. And then again on the course.
Saturday morning, morning of the race, Cole had planned to take off at 5 am. Unlike in past years, the race did not start from the Forestville campground, which meant that we had to drive to the start. Meaning I was up by 4 for my 8 am start. I was glad there was a coffee shop open by the time Cole took off. There were only a handful of things I needed to finish getting ready on Saturday morning – filling water, moving food and tools from a borrowed top tube bag to my new Oveja Negra top tube bag that wasn’t going to catch on my knees, and figuring out a way to mount my Wahoo Elemnt Bolt. It turns out that a plastic bag and some tape can last through the Crusher. There were only a couple times that the plastic was an issue with the sun, when that happened I’d ride just a little farther to the shade.
So now we finally get to the race. I had originally planned to ride with a friend who ended up not being able to make it up this weekend. Fortunately another friend, Pat, had decided that he and his wonderful dog, Alice could join in for the day. I could have ridden this alone, and there were plenty of people riding the course this weekend, but the company and reassurance that someone would be there was very nice to have.
Pat, Alice and I set off right about 8 am. The first 10 miles were a little chilly, gorgeous and on pavement. Then we arrived to the gravel or “gravel” at times. The next 10 miles were some sort of gravel-like roads, ranging from wonderful hero gravel to practically being on a beach. The front suspension of the XCaliber was nice to have in a the super rocky sections. And I was especially happy with how I handled the sand. I stayed upright through it all and rode through a good portion of it. There was one spot I nearly went down but thanks to the flat pedals and wearing my hiking boots I managed to dip a toe in the sand and keep going.
In order to verify you were actually out where you were supposed to be was to take a selfie at each of 3 checkpoints (more for the longer distances). I had brought a printed copy of the race passport with me in the car, but it was still in the car at this point. Thankfully Pat had put the checkpoints into his gps file of the route. Checkpoint #1, “Da Gulch,” was easy to find. The nice large Nature Conservancy sign in the middle of nowhere was hard to miss. In fact it snuck up on me.
From there we rode on a bit. But also walked a lot. I’m not really sure exactly how far it was from one checkpoint to the next. As we rode farther North, the terrain became a little different, disappearing farther from civilization. There wasn’t a house seen for miles. The road went from a road to a road that once was and is now a giant rock pile. Ideas were that these rocks were put there on purpose to reduce its use. A good portion of at least a mile was spent trying to not twist an ankle and push my bike.
Checkpoint #2, “Yellowdog Crossing,” involved leaving the actual route to get to. I had been told about this earlier in the week and I’m glad I was. I still managed to ride by it at first, mostly because I wasn’t thinking about the checkpoint. I don’t think I was thinking of much of anything at all. The descent down to the river was not too bad, the ascent out was not as much fun, but in the grand scheme not the worst thing. When I got down to the river, I didn’t realize I didn’t need to cross the river but only take a selfie with it. Pat and I proceeded to remove our shoes and start walking across. I did not complain when I found out that the 40 mile route didn’t cross it. The cold water felt wonderful on my feet.
One issue I was having from the start was a bit of lethargy in my legs. They just didn’t want to go up hills. The flats were fine, but every hill seemed hard. You can’t be on it every week without something not being the top of your game and that’s okay. I just kept moving as I could, incredibly determined to finish. There were more rocky and sandy roads. I don’t want to say the route was starting to get boring or monotonous, because it wasn’t. It was just more of the same. The best part was just being away. Away from cell phone reception. Away from the world. I love being on my bike in these places.
It was somewhere after this, I think, that we came across some trail angels. Lo and behold, it was the man – Fred – that I had met the previous day at the brewery. He offered water and a coke and I took them both. I drank the water right away and filled up my water bladder. The coke I stashed for later and it definitely came in handy to perk me up a bit later. After a few minutes we were on our way again.
Checkpoint #3, Wildcat Canyon Creek, “a good place to filter water.”
Again, I would’ve missed the checkpoint if it had not been for Pat waiting for me. At this point it was getting hotter out. Alice was getting tired. A few miles later Pat and I split from each other, about 15 miles out. At this point we had returned to calmer roads, still sandy in places, still rocky in places, but definitely more mild. Don’t let that fool you! I was cruising along, thinking to myself, “Wow! I should be done in no time.” Ha!
For the final hurrah, the bit that will really test your limits, is the last bluff. As I entered town, I missed the turn to go through the store parking lot that would lead you to the bluff. I heard someone shouting at me that it was the wrong way. I looked up and there was Fred in the parking lot. He once again offered water, which I turned down this time thinking “It’s only 2 more miles.” Looking back, I wish I had filled up then, I really didn’t have much water left. I ended up being out there a lot longer than I had thought. The last bluff is a rather technical mountain bike trail. You keep going up, and up and up. And then, just when you thought you were almost done, you turn and go up again. I walked a good 90% or more of this section and still managed to roll an ankle.
Once I started descending, I got a little brave. There were some places where it was no issue for me to roll on down but some it was just too much. I’ve been especially scared of going downhill after an accident in January that resulted in a broken rib, I don’t need anymore of those. There did end up being one point where I got going a little fast and my tire slipped off the narrow trail at that point, resulting in my landing in some rocks and sand. Thankfully nothing was broken, I just have some nice colorful bruises (they’ll look great in my wedding photos!).
At this point another Crusher rider came by and stopped and asked if I was alright, which I was, but it was nice that he asked. But he also told me that I wasn’t quite done with this B.S. yet and I should really keep my bike on the trail. I just wanted to be done. I wasn’t going to let this defeat me, I’d come this far. So onward I pushed my bike. And just when you think you’re done and it’s going to be easier, there’s another sandy/rocky climb out from the trail. Ugh. Did I say I wanted to be done?
The fall had burped my front tire, letting air and sealant out, leaving my tire rather squishy. Not great when I did finally return to the pavement. And I’ll go ahead and put this out there because I’m not ashamed, I walked part of the final paved hill. it’s been a long time since I’ve felt so exhausted and downright spent from a race but it felt so good to finish!
Thank you to Todd and Matt for putting on what can be such a soul sucking, trial of a race/ride. I can’t say for sure that this is high on my list to ride again in the near future but I think Cole may have other ideas.
