30th Annual Bell’s Iceman Cometh Challenge Takes Off!

30th Annual Bell's Iceman Cometh Challenge Takes Off!

July. The very height of summer in Northern Michigan. Hot days, warm nights, searing sun and plenty of time between now and November 2…or so you’d think! Today, we had our first full staff meeting to bring you the 30th Annual Bell’s Iceman Cometh Challenge. From logistics, security, course marketing, shoot, even where we’ll put the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast, the first thing I’ve learned over the past six months is that there isn’t a detail, idea, or improvement that we leave to chance! 

One of the biggest things that makes Iceman so exciting are those little changes to the schedule or course. Starting in August, racers are putting in Out’n’Backs to scout out that new turn, climb, or descent that might give them the edge, or at least buy them a handful of seconds. Those recon rides are a part of the buzz, the excitement of the race, and a fixture for locals and a real treat for folks who make the drive to Traverse City to see the course for themselves.

Well, for the 30th ‘gala’, as Steve “Iceman” Brown has taken to calling it, we’ve cooked up something big. I was going to start this announcement with a pun, the best (worst) of which follow below:

  • I hope this new idea has wings!
  • The new start venue has taken off! 
  • 2019 will see all new heights! 

Due to the number of eye-rolls, however, I’ll just let this parachute down and land on you: we’re moving the start venue to the Kalkaska Airport! The Village of Kalkaska has been such an incredible host for years, and when we sat down about the move, they were way ahead of us. Not only was it on their radar, but it was also on their to-do list! They’ll be making some changes to allow for all of our parking, bus drop off, rider drop off, start chute and over a mile of the course to all easily fit on the airstrip! 

The move to the airport, from a racer’s perspective, achieves a lot of good. Logistically, every aspect of race morning will be easier; you’ll be able to park close to the start, warm-up on dirt roads, watch your friends take off (another pun, you’re welcome) for over a mile, and have access to vendors for your support crew. We’ve got packet pick-up and the Pancake Breakfast within site of the start banner, plus Porta Johns right where they’re handy as you line up. 

Additionally, the start has plenty of time to shake out. Since the move to the Fairgrounds, the Iceman start in every wave has felt a bit like riding in a mob of Black Friday shoppers; there’s not much of a lead-in before you slam into a narrow opening. It’s made the opening two minutes of the race more important than ever, but that can be frustrating when you’ve spent months training, just to get buried on the first bit of singletrack. 

Instead, you’ll have nearly a mile and a half of wide, fast riding on grass, gravel, and a bit of paved runway to sort yourselves out before slashing across Island Lake Road and onto a wooded two-track. You’ll have another three-quarters of a mile until you see singletrack, giving each wave roughly two miles to shake things out. The first ten minutes still matter a lot, but you’re going to slot in where you deserve to be. 

We’ve got a lot more to come about the race over the next few months, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated about some exciting stuff from Bell’s Brewery, Trek Bikes, and everything Iceman Cometh Challenge. Are you getting ready for November 2? You better be!

Thanks, Dad: A father’s Day Shout Out

Thanks, Dad: A Father's Day Shout Out

Some of my earliest memories aren’t just of my dad, they’re of my dad and bikes. Growing up, my brother, Wes, and I lived to go pedal around the block with our dad. I remember those early pedal strokes vividly; I even remember the exact day our dad, Joe, took the training wheels off my 12″ wheeled Murray BMX bike and pushed me through the front yard. 

And directly into the neighbor’s shrubbery. We got the hang of it eventually, however, and graduated from rides down Ninth Street to Deering’s for 5 cent Tootsie Rolls to joining him on his ‘training rides’ behind the State Hospital. You have to give him plenty of credit for patience. We couldn’t make it up the hills, nor could we be trusted to safely get down the rough and steep descents. Joe picked out a very short loop and told us to stick to the lap. At the time, I guessed it was maybe a mile long; today, I can assure you that it wasn’t more than 100 yards, maximum. Still, after one lap together, he’d take off, doing dozens of laps in thirty minutes, with Wes and I plodding along and wondering if we’d ever, ever be able to keep up with the man who, we assumed, was the fastest bicycle rider in the world. 

When we had a babysitter, we’d get to go the to the races and watch him. He raced at Shanty Creek, Sugar Loaf, all those early 90s events in Northern Michigan. Wes and I would be so proud to see our dad out on the course at the same time as riders like Tinker Juarez; we didn’t really get all the categories yet. I know it meant a lot for him to have us there, too. I remember after one race, he joined the queue of riders at the results board (they used to print them out on paper way back in the day, kids!) and turn around with the biggest smile on his face I’d ever seen and shout, with both hands flashing three fingers, “Third place! Third place!”. Sport class hero, but hey, he was my hero. 

As we got older, we got faster. I will never forget the first time we dropped Joe. We used to ride the Leelanau Trail to Suttons Bay on the weekend. The way out was Stage One, the return leg was Stage Two, and we’d grab Clif Bars or Pop-Tarts at the gas station as a break in between. In those days, the trail wasn’t paved all the way north, and we imagined that dirt and gravel stretch as a secteur of cobblestones, like we’d seen on TV watching Paris-Roubaix. It was a hot, dry day and when I countered Wes attack, Joe couldn’t go with me; I rode up to Wes’ wheel and we stayed clear all the way to Suttons Bay. I can distinctly remember looking back and seeing my dad’s teal Giro helmet and dusty, dirty face just barely visible in front of huge cloud of twisting, thick dust being kicked up behind him. He was giving it all he had to catch us, and I don’t doubt the immensity of the moment was lost on any of us. 

In high school, Wes and I got away from cycling. Baseball, football, track all flew by, but cycling, and our dad, was waiting for us on the other side. It was my dad that let me borrow his bike to race the first-ever Barry-Roubaix, the first spring I was riding bikes again. He made it to almost all of our races, combining the roles of coach, soigneur, mechanic, and cheerleader. He’d hand us water bottles during races, clean our bikes when we got home, and no matter what the result was, he’d ask us if we had fun. To this day, that’s the question he asks first; win or lose, it was about enjoying it. 

Joe hasn’t been able to ride much the past few years, and it’s maybe a little fitting that one of his last big hit-outs was his first-ever Iceman Cometh Challenge. November is really late in the year to stay fit, so he’d never tried it before. I finally just signed him up and told him he was racing. It was 2014; every racer who was there knows how that day went. Through the cold, the rain, the frozen fingers, he finished, though I never doubted he’d do anything other than try his best…and have fun. 

Today, take a second to thank your dad and maybe get the old man out for a pedal. Even if it’s just around the block or down the street for some ice cream, we are incredibly lucky to have a sport that we can share with the people we love for our entire lives. 

From everyone at the Iceman Cometh Challenge, have a very Happy Father’s Day, and we’ll see you in the woods soon. 

Favorite Segments: Rally Round The Rock

Favorite Segments: Rally Round The Rock

It’s not the hardest, most selective, or most brutal part of the Bell’s Iceman Cometh Challenge. In fact, it’s one most riders look forward to. 

There are many, many tough segments on the Iceman Cometh Challenge course that feature every single year. They might be steep hills like Anita’s, challenging descents like the Water Bottle Hill By-Pass, or just really, really fast like Sand Lakes Road. But the one I’ve always focused on and looked forward to is RallyRoundTheRock. 

Since GPS head units starting offering Live Segments, we’ve all probably starred a few segments to chase. In a race, the Live Segment feature is almost more useful in simply reminding yourself when the next climb or choke point might be. For me, Rally Round The Rock was always a bright, loud ‘ding’ that not only was I past Williamsburg Road, but I was also nearing home turf and the Vasa Pathway proper. 

The segment is fast, and that’s definitely reflected in some of the top times posted over the years. Alexey Vermeulen set the KOM time by in 2016 at 2:51, a single second ahead of Alex Vanias on the very same day. Last year, Christy Keely took the QOM at 3:02, with a lot of riders coming in around that three-minute mark for the early waves and pro races. 

That means hitting the 1.1 mile section at twenty miles per hour! The segment includes a long straight section of quasi-singletrack that parallels Sand Lakes Road. It’s a slight descent that’s punctuated near halfway with a sharp, sandy right that shoots you across the road to the north. It’s another straight stretch before another right turn onto the gravel two-track. For locals, that two-track is the final few hundred meters of the Power Section, and the return home to the Pathway. 

For a lot of racers, hitting RallyRoundTheRock, whether they know they’re on it or not, mean you’re almost done with another edition of Iceman and another season of mountain bike racing. It’s often fueled by loud cheering at Williamsburg Road, and you’re often spurred on again at the Rock, where Sand Lakes hits the Vasa. 

If you need a little something to look forward to on race day, make sure you’ve got this queued up and remember, when you hit this segment, there’s no point saving anything; you’re almost done! 

Victory! We saved the trail!! Thank you everyone!!!

Victory!  We saved the trail!!  Thank you everyone!!!

Thank you everyone who took the time to e-mail the county commissioners or come to the meeting.  It was standing room only at the meeting.  After debate and public comment,  the Grand Traverse County Commission decided to sell the land to the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.  

Read the breaking story

Thank you Ice People,  GTRLC and GT County Commissioners!

May Ice Society Leaderboard: How Do You Stack Up?

May Ice Society Leaderboard: How Do You Stack Up?

May is prime time to rack up some miles, and the Ice Society sure got out and rode!

Our integrated Ice Society training leaderboard is a cool way to see how your training measures up to other Iceman racers around the state and around the world. All you need to do is link up your Strava account with your Iceman account and you’ll start showing up on the list. It’s always interesting to watch as training ramps up with the improving weather, and May saw a big jump in activities!

Paul Dodd was the lone rider to break the 4,000 point mark, with Markus Stumpp and our own race director Cody Sovis making up the top three. Those points are calculated based on miles, ride time, elevation gain, and effort level, offering up a pretty neat way to quantify riding of all kinds.

Two Iceman winners made the top ten, with Brian Matter at 3,028 points. Chloe Woodruff slid in the top ten, but did it was one very important distinction; some of her points came from a UCI Mountain Bike Short Track World Cup victory at Nove Mesto! She paired with Kate Courtney to give the US women three World Cup wins to kick off the season, the first victories in twenty years for American women. That’s a milestone for sure; we’re trying to figure out how to double the points from that ride!

To see the whole leaderboard, and see how you stack up in your age group or race category, just head to the Training Activity leaderboard and dive into the data!

Get Full: Trek Top Fuel Offers Squishy Option for Race Day

As we roll into June, the days counting down to November seem to quicken pace. With better weather in the forecast and a full slate of fun rides and races filling up the calendar, there’s plenty to be excited about as we hit peak summer.

Here in northern Michigan, we’ve had a wet and chilly May. Those cold days are finally giving way to more seasonable and comfortable temperatures, and that’s gotten us all into the woods to explore the trails. We’re really to have miles and miles of trails, only a fraction of which feature on race day. Many of those trails are twisting, turning, hand-built trails, and that’s gotten a lot of us off our Iceman Cometh hardtail and onto something with a bit more squish.

Last week, Trek Bikes unveiled the 2020 Trek Top Fuel, and we really like what we see. The long-time consensus at Iceman has been that a hardtrail 29er is the proven way to go, and that’s probably still true. The line is a bit more blurred, however, with how light and efficient full suspension bikes have gotten in the past two or three years. We consistently see bikes coming out of the stand at 23, 21, even 20 pounds with 120mm front and 115 rear suspension.

The latest offering from Trek fits that bill. What’s got us even more excited is the number of builds. Whatever your budget, there’s a bomb-proof build ready to rock. With the right set-up, you’re definitely going to have way more fun, and not just on the first Saturday in November. As huge as Iceman is, getting a new bike that’s suited to the other 364 days of the year is the smart way to go, and for where and how we’re riding these days, full suspension is turning into a very viable option.

What are you looking for in your next bike? What tips would you give a rider looking to break two-hours at Iceman with a new rig?

NMMBA’s Traverse City Trails Festival: Summer Fun for a Good Cause

NMMBA's Traverse City Trails Festival: Summer Fun For A Good Cause

Last year, the Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association joined our team as our go-to resource for course design and preparation. For twelve years, NMMBA has served our local mountain biking community as a dedicated, passionate steward of the trails, and for the third time, they’re bringing that experience and know-how to their very own event, the Traverse City Trails Festival.

Now in enjoying its third edition, the TCTF offers up one of the most unique trail experiences of the season. That’s because each of the forty, twenty-five, and fifteen-mile course take place almost entirely on trail that isn’t marked 364 other days of the year. Absent on a map and on any trailhead kiosk these trails exist as the notorious ‘unmarked’, with even the total mileage of these trails a somewhat vague and oscillating number in the sixty to seventy-mile range.

That’s why locals are just as eager as visitors to hop in this race or to simply tour it. Both options are available, and both use the only lightly-traveled trails marked so briefly to offer an incredibly fun day in the woods. The unique race also helps create more trail; new shortcuts, bypasses, and re-routes are often later incorporated into trail proposals submitted to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The changes and additions allow NMMBA to retire old, unsustainable bandit trails and replace them with improved routes keep vital sections connected and rideable.

The Traverse City Trails Festival takes place at Ranch Rudolf, a rustic resort and campground that serves as start, finish, and party zone throughout race day. With the Boardman River passing just yards away from the finish banner, it’s become a tradition in this neck of the woods to finish off your race or ride with a chilly dip in the river before enjoying some barbecue food, beer, and the pleasure of friendly company.

For those really looking for a race, this one is as about as challenging as it gets. After some fast miles to spread things out, the forty-mile course offers relentless mile after mile of singletrack, punctuated only at length by a few dirt roads to gulp down some water, choke down a bar, and then dive back into the high ferns of late July. The forty-mile race is certainly a test of endurance, while the twenty-five mile serves as a more traditional cross country distance on par with Mud, Sweat and Beers, another local landmark.

Newer riders often elect to round up their pals and ride the twenty-five or fifteen-mile routes as a group, stopping for snacks, snapping photos, and hurrying only to make sure they get back to Ranch Rudolf in time to grab a beer for the bar shuts down.

All proceeds from the race go to support Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association and their efforts to build and maintain world class trails like Glacial Hills, the Cadillac Pathway, and the new Palmer Woods Trail in Leelanau County. For more on the race, and to get yourself signed up, head over to the race site.

November will be here before you know it, and with a few race days circled between now and then, you’ll not only build fitness but build an appreciation for the people and trails that make northern Michigan such an incredible place to be a mountain biker.

Moving Fast into March: No Hibernation for Iceman Cometh Nation

Moving Fast Into March: No Hibernation for Iceman Cometh Nation

Here at Iceman HQ, all this talk of March 1’s festivities has us itching for some riding. If getting signed up for the 30th edition of the Iceman Cometh Challenge doesn’t get you fired up to ride, then you’ve been cooped up inside for way too long!

Iceman athletes haven’t been hibernating. From Nordic skiing, fat biking, and even hopping on the trainer, our racers have been working hard to maintain and build fitness for a full season that seems to add more killer events every year. Remember the off-season? Well, that’s not really a thing anymore!

Around here, there is a fat bike race nearly every other week, and that’s a sport that’s grown to include races across the state. Some of the best Strava scores of the past two months have come from events like Fat Chance! at Crystal Mountain and the Big M Fat Bike Race near Manistee.

Activities on Zwift, TrainerRoad, and Rouvy count toward your Ice Society Strava score, and there are dozens of riders who have been raking in the points since November. New virtual events and races have made indoor racing a lot more fun and make it possible to ride with bike nerds from around the world.

Of course, some folks need to swap their pedals for skis to enjoy winter, and we’ve had a blast following the Michigan Nordic ski scene from Noque to Cote Dame Marie. This weekend, the 43rd Annual North American Vasa will start and finish in the same spot as the Iceman ends at beautiful Timber Ridge Resort. For Iceman racers, it’s got to be just a bit of a relief that they get to go down Icebreaker to start their 12, 27, or 50 km ski events, rather than finish up that short but cruel little slope.

There are also two fat bike races as a part of the Vasa’s Festival of Races, and it’s a testament to Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association that racing on their expertly groomed and simply gorgeous Winter Sports Singletrack draws so many rabid fat bikers. NMMBA also played a huge role in designing and laying out our 2018 Iceman course, and they do a great job incorporating their years of racing and riding in putting together a fun, fast, and exciting route that suits a wide range of abilities.

If you’ve had a hard time peeling yourself off the couch, we really hope that get yourself signed up for the 30th edition of the Iceman Cometh Challenge gives you the motivation to get moving, and maybe even try something new before winter fades into spring. The countdown to our 30th year starts in earnest in just a few weeks with events at 7 Monks in Traverse City and Bell’s Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo. More details to come, but make sure you’ve got a plan in place to make this year’s race your best yet!

2019 Iceman registration is open for everyone

2019 Iceman registration is open for everyone

The 30th Annual Bell’s Iceman Cometh Challenge will be held on Saturday, November 2, 2019.

Online registration for ALL Bell’s Iceman and Meijer Slush Cup riders opens Monday March 4th at 9 am.

A total field limit of 4,500 Iceman riders and 400 Slush Cup riders will be accepted. The March 4th online registration opening for all riders will operate on a “first come – first served” method.

The Bell’s Iceman entry fee for 2019 is $100.00 and includes the USA Cycling One-Day License and the online registration fee. USA Cycling members with an annual license will receive a $10 rebate upon showing their license at packet pick-up in November. The $10 USA Cycling annual license rebate is not available for riders in the Pro/Category 1 races.

2019 Meijer Slush Cup entry fees are $70.00 and include a USA Cycling one-day license and the online registration fee.

The 2019 online registration system utilizes your Ice Society account on the www.iceman.com website. Thus, all registrants need to have an active account within the Ice Society. A new capability of the Ice Society is to allow parents to manage their children’s accounts with the same email address.

To eliminate confusion, tandem entries follow the one bike – one entry system. Tandem captains can enter their stoker’s name on their account page.

A free USA Cycling account number (not an annual license) is required for each rider. For riders without an account number, you can create an account with USA Cycling by looking for the “sign-up” button in the upper right-hand corner of the www.usacycling.org website.

Questions or concerns?

Email: icemaninfo@iceman.com

Call: 231-803-4259

USA Cycling Deal

Dear racers, 

Last year at the Bell’s Iceman Cometh you raced with us using a USA Cycling, one day event license. For many of you the Bell’s Iceman may be your only event planned in 2019 but if you are like many of returning racers, you enjoy racing all year long!

As a special thank you for your support of the Bell’s Iceman Cometh,  our partners at USA Cycling would like to offer to you a DISCOUNTED 2019 Annual Race license. (a savings of $30). There are many benefits to holding an annual race license:

  • You have access to all USA Cycling’s member benefits including a membership with Expert Voice (up to 70% savings on high end outdoor gear)
  • A complimentary one hour consult with a USA Cycling Certified Coach; and
  • Unlimited racing at any USA Cycling sanctioned event in the country including the Mountain Bike National Championships – Winter Park, Colorado. PLEASE note this license does not waiver your entry fees ONLY your license fees. )

This offer will expire on February 28, 2019 so take advantage of it now and race all year long!

Use Coupon code (case sensitive) ICEMANRACE2019 at check out and receive your $30 off your annual license.  It’s really like a $40 dollar deal too, if you already have a USA Cycling license you get $10 back on your 2019 Bell’s Iceman Cometh entry.

Click here to snag the deal.