It was a weekend like any other... Okay, you got me. The weekend of The Crusher 2019 was pretty unique for me. I had signed up for the SledgeHAMR in 2018 but ended up skipping it because my Fiancée was extremely ill with food poisoning. That race wasn't going to be nearly as daunting, as it started and finished in the same area. Fair warning, this is fairly wordy up to the point where I actually talk about the race, but I hope it's a good read.
The Crusher is what they renamed the SledgeHAMR to as a point-to-point race between Copper Harbor and Marquette, Michigan. It was advertised as a 225 mile unsupported race through areas in the Upper Peninsula where there wasn't really any opportunity to stop at places to find aid. To an outsider this description might have seemed unnecessarily harsh, but of what I experienced, it was definitely the truth.
Two days before the race was to begin, I was literally dealing with a bike frame that was in two separate halves. I hadn't really ridden this bike since my bad crash at the Marji Gesick 100 last year where I only made it 8 miles into the 100 mile race, and messed up my left shoulder. I had taken the bike apart back in early Winter last year because the rear suspension was having some weird indexing issues with the pivot bearings. I had issues getting new bearings pressed in- one ended up feeling like it was indexing the same as the ones I had just pulled out. It ended up being the result of slightly undersized bearing holes in the frame. Who would have guessed that Diamondback, a company that used to only build budget bicycles, would have these sort of issues on a part with extremely tight tolerances on their more expensive offerings?...
I waited too long to get stuff together for this race. I had to make sure I had a tent to stay in the night before the race, and when I was getting that ready about a week before the race, I discovered that I only had tent poles and no tent. The next day I rushed down to my old house after work to pick up the remaining gear I knew I had been missing. On Friday I was to drive up to Marquette to be able to take the 4pm shuttle to Copper Harbor. Wednesday and Thursday nights I spent rushing to get my bike back together.
I got the bearings pressed back into the frame after using some sandpaper on a wooden dowel to machine the holes slightly bigger. Because of how gnarly the course was described, I decided swapping out the 29er wheelset on this bike for the carbon 27.5+ wheelset I had originally built was probably the best bet for me. The e-tap eagle I had put on my hard-tail earlier this year was cannibalized and placed on this bike. I installed the chain and setup when the derailleur was in the tallest gear. I shifted it to the shortest gear and took all the air out of the rear shock. Upon squishing the rear suspension I realized that I had taken one too many links out of the chain.
I found my spare master links I had just bought earlier in the week and installed another link. The chain was droopy and I was momentarily confused. Duh, the b-tension screw needed to be turned down to force the derailleur to take the slack up. I finished getting the frame back together and took the bike for a short ride. For the past four weeks or so, I have been dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck. The bike was very uncomfortable and there was no adjustment to be made for the stem/handlebars to create a more upright position on the bike.
I asked some friends if anyone had a stem or riser bars that would help me get more upright but no-one responded. The evening before I was to head up to the UP, I rushed down to KLM Bike and Fitness in Birmingham, who is a sponsor of one of the cycling teams I am a part of, the Morning Cranks. I picked up a pair of blue Chromag bars that had a 40mm rise on a whim. Installed them on the bike and swapped the rest of my gear over. It wasn't perfect yet but my persistent neck pain didn't seem too bothered with the change in position on the bike, so I went with it. Also ended up swapping out the SRAM rear brake with a set of XTR I had purchased over a year ago to match the front brake I replaced before Marji.
It was starting to get pretty late on the Thursday evening before leaving for the race. Took my time attempting to get all the gear on my handlebars settled since I wouldn't be using a hydration pack for this race. Since breaking my collarbone back in December, the skin of my incision area has been extremely sensitive to that sort of a thing. No way in hell it would survive a heavy pack for up to 36 hours- the time limit given for The Crusher. It was almost 11 pm, and I still had a lot of things to get ready.
I went to bed. Woke up early, found my list of stuff to gather and finished getting ready. I intended on leaving by 8am. That would give me ample time to get to Marquette before the 4pm deadline when the bus would be leaving for Copper Harbor. I rushed to get everything together and in my bag, then in my car. It was about 8:20 when I pulled out of my driveway. I had anticipated leaving before 8, so now I was behind schedule. When I was just north of Saginaw, the sky opened up and I drove into a wall of water falling from the sky.
The next ten minutes I spent contemplating if this was "a sign" that I should just go home. I decided to keep driving and the rain subsided. I figured my car and I would dry out before I made it to Marquette. Several hours later, I finally made it. I had the realization that I forgot to bring any of my cache batteries. Stopped at Best Buy quickly and grabbed two off the shelf, bought them, and plugged them in to my car to charge. Went over to Border Grill and grabbed a burrito for later, and headed to the Forestville trailhead.
Boy that was an experience. The parking for Crusher was up a sandy road that my car nearly got stuck in. I thought this was supposed to be a biking adventure, not a car one! Managed to make it up to park, grabbed all my gear and headed to check-in. The required gear list. I had forgotten to double check that I had everything I needed for the race! I was missing a rain jacket and a knife. I've always hated wearing rain jackets on the bike. I swear I end up even more wet from sweating under them than from the rain. A knife-- in the history of my biking I don't think I've ever needed one. Prior to leaving home, my wife had asked me if I needed one. I couldn't think of a reason I might. I guess this was punishment for not listening to her even though I didn't think she was familiar with the list of gear. Luckily a guy named Mike (I need to get this thing back to you if you're reading this!) let me borrow an extra poncho he had, and my good friend Steve had a utility knife I could borrow. All my gear was now in order.
I was the third to last person to get their bike to the crew and board the bus. The last guy ran up to the bus just as we were about to leave, already about 15 minutes late. He looked pretty unprepared but who was I to judge? The bus trip itself was pretty uneventful and we arrive to Copper Harbor well before night time. And then the news came, the gear trailer wouldn't arrive until sometime between 9 and 10 pm. That was in a couple hours. Lots of people were annoyed because they had intended on riding into town around two miles away to grab some last minute chow before evening.
The trailer finally arrived just as the sun was setting. I rushed to get my tent up and started to get my bike stuff together before the sun set. I didn't make it. By the time I was probably halfway setup with my bike it was around 11pm and I decided I needed sleep. I set my alarm for 4am and was up stirring around about 15 minutes before. Extremely tired still and with a stiff neck from tent camping, I got up and started to finalize my bike setup. It was a struggle to get everything ready before 5:30 am. I finally got stuff together and rode up to the starting area to grab breakfast and a coffee. The news came around that they were delaying the start because of having to get all of the beacons ready. I was particularly annoyed because I brought my own, and they were also the reason given for the gear trailer being late the night before. Well, at least that meant I had time to stuff some chow and coffee down, and to also get my digestive system ready for the race.
THE RACE:
We started off a few minutes after 6 am. The start was pretty uneventful and then I remembered I had never gotten a chance to load the route onto either of my GPS's, I had left them in my drop bag figuring I'd still have time before the evening to sit down and set them up, but there was no extra time. Mistake #1. I stopped for a couple minutes and the Wahoo program refused to recognize my file as a valid route. I decided it was probably best to just attempt to keep up with some people who had the route until we got somewhere I had cell service again. The course at that point got pretty gnarly. Lots of steep rocky climbs and long loose rocky descents. It was really starting to aggravate my neck and shoulder but I kept on. I rode for a few miles with Tim and Adam but decided to drop back because it felt like too hard of an effort so early in the race.
At some point I lost track of the closest people in front of me and I had to depend on tire tracks to keep on the route. I popped out onto Lac La Belle Rd, which was somewhat of a relief as it was now pavement for a while. Keeping my effort level constant I noticed that the neck pain I had been having was now radiating all the way down to my fingertips, and my whole arm was tingly and numb and my grip strength was weakened. I wanted to quit at that point, and was trying to keep back tears. Less than 1/10 of the course was completed and I already wanted to quit. It felt like I came all the way up here for nothing.
I reasoned with myself to just attempt to make it to Houghton, which was around 80 miles into the race. Cell service finally came back, I loaded the route up onto my Wahoo successfully and trudged on. 55 miles to Houghton and about 25 down. Being almost 1/3 done felt a lot better than 1/10 so I just kept pedaling while trying to relax my neck. I turned off the pavement and onto the next part of the course.
Decided to take a short break to stretch out a bit. Got back on and continued. The photographer was there. I was wondering if I had been the last person in the race. He ended up getting back in his car and passing me not too long after the first picture opportunity so it seemed likely. I went to pull out my last bottle and realized that I had already gone through all three that I brought with me. I had initially brought four bottles but one turned out to be disgusting and needed to be washed. I didn't have time to do that before the race. Mistake #2. Finally popped back out onto some pavement, Gratiot Lake Road. I started the super steep climb and put it in my lowest gear. My lack of proper hydration and thus nutrition became obvious as I ended up having to get off the bike and walk the hill. I rode empty for more than an hour when I was able to stop at the Eagle River to fill up my bottles.
Here's where I found out Mistake #3. My water filtration system was stale and gross, as I hadn't cleaned it out from the previous time I used it. That also meant it was filling extremely slow. I swallowed down some of the gross water that was now in my bottle and decided it wasn't worth it to try to get more. In retrospect I should have taken the extra time dumping that water out and continuing to pump till I got fresh water, and filled the rest of my bottles up. Soon after that stop I was again out of water. Followed the ORV trail until we were to cross US-41 for Cliff Drive. A Family member of one of the racers was out providing neutral support and the offered me a Red Bull. I chugged it down and asked if I could fill a bottle. That pretty much saved me from practically dying out there.
Cliff Drive was pretty nice. A bit of downhill where some speed could be carried and I could get a bit of rest while still moving. It seemed like it was over quick when there was another ORV trail to turn onto. This one was a bit downhill at first too, and I thought to myself, "Finally, some more fun terrain!" Then I turned the next corner and was met with a sandy rocky rooty steep climb. Ended up having to walk that hill. The rest of the ORV trail was kind of a blur. Sandy and busy with ORV traffic, and mostly uphill, but everyone seemed friendly and respectful.
As I approached US-41 just outside of calumet, about 62 miles into the race, my neck and shoulder pain didn't seem so apparent because I had run out of water again a while ago. The dehydration was a much more important thing to worry about as I'd probably spent three of the last six or so hours basically out of water. I rode into calumet and stopped at a gas station. Picked up a Faygo and a bottle of water. Pounded the faygo and poured the water into my clean bottle and got back onto the route where I turned off. More long, stamp sandy ORV trail. I'm beginning to get tired of riding this stuff and start to push a little harder, knowing that Houghton wasn't very far away and I had resolved to finish my race there.
Starting to become more hydrated the neck and shoulder pain came back. It was all I could think of. I kept pushing myself to get it done. Finally reached Hancock, the home stretch for me! The path was quite steep downhill towards the edge of the canal. I saw the bridge briefly and it was above me. I knew what was coming. Turned onto Tezcuco street and walked my bike up the steep hill. Once on US-41 I got into the traffic lane and rode across the bridge, then down the ramp to the chutes and ladders area. I met with Jessica who I had texted earlier in Calumet, and decided that I was for sure done with the race at that point.
When I was off the bike my neck and shoulder pain was lessened, so it made the choice obvious. Continuing on could just cause me more pain and suffering and it wasn't the kind of pain and suffering I was interested in. Everything else felt fairly okay, even after staving off dehydration. My GPS was at around 80 miles at about 2:45 pm. Slower pace than I had wanted but if I could have kept with it, I would still have had ample time to complete the race. Perhaps next year I will give it another try.
I was now in Houghton and by now my drop bag, and all of my clean clothes, was likely in Marquette. Jessica took me up to Walmart and I picked up some budget clothes. We went over to G's house and I showered. It felt really good to get out of the bike clothes and get clean. Starting a race like this without being able to shower before is not my idea of a good time. After that we went to meet with Tim and Adam for neutral support. I did some quick tune-ups on their bikes and they were very appreciative of it. At least I could still feel useful! We went to the Mosquito Inn and I grabbed some lunch, bought Adam a beer, and stayed to see them off. Bobby finally got there and he asked where there was a store to resupply. No-one knew of any. I gave him all of my extra snacks that I had packed and didn't use during my race. He wanted to pay me back for them but I told him they were supposed to be eaten anyway.
Jessica then had the idea of me driving the second car they had brought over to Marquette so they wouldn't have to come back into Houghton for it. I obliged since it meant I could go home sooner, and she was going to be busy supporting Tim and Adam for the next 20 or so hours. I drove to Forestville, loaded my stuff up into the Camaro, and went over to the starting area to tell them I had quit the race. I stuck around for another hour or so to watch the 225 mile winner come in. Then got into my car, and started to drive home.
It was around 9:15 pm. If I could make good time I could be home before 4am. Drove for a while and then my Camaro displayed the low fuel message. I drove the next 10 miles to the next gas station. The lights over the pumps were out but the pumps themselves were still on. I put my card in, selected my fuel, and the pump clicked off right away. I got four cents worth of gas. Crap. They had turned the pump off already. It was now 11:20pm and the next gas station was 20 miles away. I decided to drive to the next one. That station was also closed. Mistake #4. 30 miles on low fuel now. I totally forgot that UP gas stations tend to be closed in the middle of the night. It's something I've known for over a decade now but the thought never crossed my mind. I've never been stranded by this before. The next station was another 20 miles, and odds are they were also going to be closed.
I decided to just sleep in my car at this station. I forgot that the seats in the Camaro don't recline very well. It took me a long time to find a comfortable position that didn't make my neck/shoulder issue worse. I eventually fell asleep. Woke up a few times throughout the night, a bit too hot. Rolled down one of the windows and apparently let some mosquitoes in as I now have a couple bite areas that are bothering me. Finally awoke at around 5 am, and the station doesn't open until 7. I sat around for a while and then parked my car in front of one of the pumps. Other people attempted to refill there as well overnight and I now had some company. Another person was stranded there but they didn't arrive until about 6am.
7am rolls around and right on the dot, the station manager opens the door and turns the pumps on. I filled my car and headed the rest of the way home.The weather was beautiful, and the drive was pretty uneventful, but it was easy to say goodbye to the UP this time. These short race weekends with a lot of driving just don't seem like my cup of tea.
I got home 4 hours and 12 minutes after leaving that station, just in time to hop into the shower and head to the couples Bridal Shower that Diana was going to. It was a relief to still make it home in time, and relatively unscathed since I kept the rubber side down all weekend.
