Ore to Shore - Hard Rock

Negaunee-Marquette, MI
Saturday August 14, 2010
by: Dan Ellerkamp

Raced in my first O2S this year!   Not having any pre-race goals, I hoped to finish around 3 hours or around the top 100 overall.  Camped in Marquette the night before, then race morning woke up and headed to Negaunee for the race start.  Had a good relaxed warmup then lined up a few rows back, where I self-seeded my starting position for an anticipated finish time of sub-3 hours.  The pavement rollout was fast and the race was on.  I made up as much ground as I could before we hit the dirt for the long journey towards Marquette.  Found a good group for the first 10 miles or so.  Some sections of the course were flooded, and my tires slid out on a off-camber tire rut that was filled with water and mud.  I lost some time waiting to filter back into the field since it was still pretty early on in the race.  I spent a lot of energy trying to chase back up to my original position.  On the first steep rocky climb in a powerline corridor, my chain shifted between my cassette and my spokes and I had to spend a couple minutes trying to pry it out, so I lost even more time.  In the middle of the race there were some pretty flooded and muddy sections which clogged my drivetrain, and on most of the climbs after that my chain jammed whenever I tried to shift into my small ring.  Most of the rest of the climbs on the way home were hike-a-bike sections because of the mechanical difficulties, which was frustrating but I stayed positive and enjoyed the course and tried to keep having fun, since this was my first time racing this event.

The last 16 miles were mostly downhill and I kept a steady pace and tried to keep pushing on the pedals, which was hard mentally since I was riding alone.  With 15 to go my hydration pack went dry so I finished the race on fumes, but had a fun sprint at the finish with another rider that caught up to me with about 2 to go.  Ended up finishing in 3:07:00, which I was happy with considering my mechanical difficulties.  Looking back I should have raced with less tire pressure as well, I kept mine at about 40psi which I felt was high for the rocky and sandy course.

Overall the race was a blast and I loved racing at that distance, I feel a sub-3 hour race and top 100 placing is reachable for next year!!!