24 Hours of Boyne

A few myss.com team members and site members (including L.C., Napper, JBone, Chris Werth and Mark Harding) made the trip to Boyne this weekend for the 24 Hours of Boyne. This was the second race in the Michigan Cup Endurance Series.

Mike and I arrived Friday afternoon. I got the Ez-Up put up and went out for a pre-ride. The Boyne course is a tough one. Of the nine mile cousre, approx. two miles are flat to rolling. The rest is either up hill or down hill. You begin with a gentle rollout along the bottom of the ski hill. Once you skirt around to the north side of the hill you begin to climb. Single track ascents with two track descents deliver you, eventually, to the shoulder of Boyne (an intermediary step to the top) where you get some respite in the form of flowing single track. From there you ascend more rooty single track heading towards the top of the hill. More single and two-track deliver you to a golf cart path which, after a 1/4 mile of 12-15% climbing, you gain the top of the ski hill. From there it's a technical descent that winds it's way back to the start/finish. There is very little rest on the course. You are either going up, going down or getting ready for the next ascent.

I would say that Addison and Boyne are as different as two trails can be. I covered less miles in 16 hours at Boyne than I did in 12 at Addison.

The weather was perfect for the race with sunny skies and temps in the mid-60's. After the LeMans start we were off. I ran a 32x 20 for the race and so I "sped" off at a jaunty 13-14 mph. I rode alone for the first few hours swapping the lead with Stephen Cain. We must have switched the lead 6 or 7 times on the first ten hours. Then I hooked up with Mike and L.C. The three of us rode together for a couple of laps until L.C. took a break. Seaman and I rode two more, taking us to the 11:30 mark. I came completely unglued (incoherent) and decided to lay down. At this point I had done 10 laps. As I crawled into my car, I saw Seaman heading out for another lap. All I could think was, "dude's a stud." At this point I should mention that Mike is the person that got me into cycling, so basically, all of this is his fault.

I slept for three hours in my car. I awoke, checked out Cain's pit and saw his bike was gone. Fresh shorts and a clean jersey and off I went. I had no idea of where he was, or who I was, or anything for that matter. I thought that he was ahead of me, so I kept rolling. I finally spoke with one of the Fun Promotions folks and found out I was a lap up. This gave me some motivation. I carried on. At 8:30 or so, Napper and JBone showed up with coffee, it was a life saver. Cain must have stopped, because when I came in at 10:30, Napper said the standings showed me up by three and that Cain's bike was in his pit. What a relief! L.C. was flying in the morning, cleaning all of the technical climbs on his last lap! Seaman was engaged in a battle royal. He and the dude that eventually won were on the same lap for 22 hours! It takes courage to gut it out like that.

The best part of the race was riding with L.C. and Mike, hanging out with Napper, JBone, Calvin and Ashley and pushing myself to the limit. In the end these races are as much about discovering your limits as they are about winning and losing.

Next up is the lUmberjack 100.