With about 30 minutes to the start three more riders rolled up as we were loitering in front of our camping lots at Ionia State Recreation Area - Mark, Craig and Gary. Mark, a multi-Night Shift veteran, had said he might make it for the beginning part only, the other two guys were a surprise. Gary runs Dan’s Bike Shop in Ionia, Craig his friend. Then with 15 minutes before go-time, (another new guy) Matthew, a co-worker of a friend of mine, Brent, rolled up in his Prius with his bike in the trunk. All of a sudden we had seven riders!
George came to cheer us on at the start also. It was great to see him up and around. He recently had surgery on both his hips in the last 5 months and was disappointed to be missing the ride this year. I had very little time this entire spring to do much planning for the route, so being as this was in George’s back yard and he wouldn’t be able to join us, I just had him create the whole thing. It was a good one with just over 5000’ of climbing, so I’d say he did well planning it. Most all dirt roads were in great shape and provided pavement type surface. SAG stop #2 would also be at his house near the midnight mark so whether or not George felt it, he was still very much a big part of this year’s ride.
Rolling out. My first century ride on "Orange Crush".
With introductions out of the way, we were off
at 8:01pm. Gary and Craig were really good riders. After we were off the rail
trail into Muir, they left us behind rather quickly and stayed with us past SAG
stop 1 but peeled away before SAG 2. Gary used to race a lot, Craig commutes
regularly to work and rides to Pennsylvania for “fun”. Mark also bailed just
before SAG 2 as it was near his house and had an important morning meeting
Saturday to attend. Quickly it went from seven to five to just four riders. Let
me go back a minute - before we reached SAG 1, we had an exciting ride through some
“rustic” downhill and very rocky two-track that was obviously part of someone’s
corn field. That was a hoot. I couldn’t remember if that was actually part of
the route or if John and Judy ad-libbed this section for us.
Not much happened between SAG 1 and SAG 2. Once we reached SAG 2 at George’s house, he fed us pizza and his son had what looked like a RAGING twelve foot tall bonfire going when we arrived. I really wasn’t sure about the pizza - I really don’t hold stuff down like that very well while riding - but it turned out to be just perfect. What could go wrong with a meat covered slice of pie? It was very humid at both the first two stops, I was dripping sweat and there wasn’t much of any breeze. I discarded extra things like gloves from my list of outerwear.
New guy, Matthew, seemed to be doing okay, but was visibly tired at the 43 mile mark. His speedometer had somehow missed recording 17 (or something) miles of the ride so far, so he was really worried that he felt so terrible after what looked like to him only 26 miles. On our way out, I had told Matthew “It’s a ride of attrition Matt. There was 7, then 5 and now just 4.” That may have worried him a little, he was trying to stay positive but I think he was feeling the reality of what would soon be his last segment of the ride. He had never done a century ride before so this would be his first attempt at that, and his first night ride to boot. Quite the challenge he set himself up with.
Not much happened between SAG 1 and SAG 2. Once we reached SAG 2 at George’s house, he fed us pizza and his son had what looked like a RAGING twelve foot tall bonfire going when we arrived. I really wasn’t sure about the pizza - I really don’t hold stuff down like that very well while riding - but it turned out to be just perfect. What could go wrong with a meat covered slice of pie? It was very humid at both the first two stops, I was dripping sweat and there wasn’t much of any breeze. I discarded extra things like gloves from my list of outerwear.
New guy, Matthew, seemed to be doing okay, but was visibly tired at the 43 mile mark. His speedometer had somehow missed recording 17 (or something) miles of the ride so far, so he was really worried that he felt so terrible after what looked like to him only 26 miles. On our way out, I had told Matthew “It’s a ride of attrition Matt. There was 7, then 5 and now just 4.” That may have worried him a little, he was trying to stay positive but I think he was feeling the reality of what would soon be his last segment of the ride. He had never done a century ride before so this would be his first attempt at that, and his first night ride to boot. Quite the challenge he set himself up with.
At some point I remember telling one of the new
guys that things tend to get “nutty” around 2am, and this year was not unlike
other Night Shifts in that regards. The “nutty” got real on our way to Belding.
Matthew was struggling quite a bit. We were within 8 or so miles from SAG 3 and
he was barely hanging on. Matt, Rick and I could ride two miles and look back
for Matthew. He was gone. Nothing. No lights. We would all take turns waiting
or riding back to check on him. And even when we did, he was getting quiet. At
one point he was struggling to do 7mph on flat pavement. I spotted a church. I
said “hey Matt, do you want to stop and pray for awhile?” He replied “there is
not enough time to ask for forgiveness for all my wrongs.” Put “proper”
preparation for a 100 mile mountain bike ride on that list. Ha ha. Just before
this, I had sent SAG homebase (aka the “Crankwagen”) a warning about Matt
fading quickly and perhaps to expect a new passenger.
Not long later, Rick was back riding with Matthew. Matt Longest and I were ahead riding together about 3 miles from SAG 3 when three dogs came TEARING out at us. They were upon us quickly, I did my usual loud yelling to get them to briefly hesitate giving us a gap, but that seemed to enrage them more and they kept persuing. Without having a helmet light, I couldn’t see what kind of dogs they were to know if I should be worried or not, so we both took off. As we seemed to begin to outrun them, one circled around and was all of a sudden in front of me. I panicked, turned my bars (I thought I was going to hit it) and like that, I was DOWN! All I could think about was having one (or several) begin grabbing and tearing at my limbs while I was trying to get up. Of course one foot was still clipped in and I couldn’t get out. Matt had stopped and circled back around to shine lights on me and them. Once I realized the dogs were standing down and just looking at me laying in the (very hard) dirt road and weren’t going to eat me alive, I did a body check and discovered I was bleeding badly from the knee and had various other scrapes and punctures on my hands and left forearm. By the time I got up to dust myself off the owner (or someone at the house) was getting in their pickup and leaving the scene. Not one word from them, nor did they approach us. In fact, they backed out and drove off in the other direction. I couldn’t tell, but I remember seeing a white Dodge pickup later, cruising past the Wesco - of which I stared down intently. They kept driving. Damn hicks. There were a lot of dogs out this year. What is the deal!? Got something to hide? Put your dogs away. Idiots.
Knowing the next stop was just a few miles away,
we proceeded on. My knee was burning. It was ground down raw and gushing with
every flex of my leg.
Let’s go back to when I said things get “nutty”
around 2am. Yep, it didn’t end there. This was life at the Belding Wesco, 2 am.
Knowing that each year seems to have it’s “highlight” moment, I cruised into
the stop saying “we have our story for 2018”. I spent some time telling the
story to the Crankshaw’s and my wife and rinsing the wounds with water. John
even went inside to get some peroxide for me. T’was merely a flesh wound, it
was going to take more than this to keep me from finishing the ride. In fact,
now I had some anger to work out. Longest already had a nice, relaxing seat in
Judy’s camp chair. He offered me the spot, I resisted at first then decided I
probably should rest a little. After only sitting there for 30 seconds, POP! A
chair rivet gave way and I was all of a sudden sitting crooked. Then BOOM,
something else gave way, then SNAP, I was on the ground. HA HA...great, let’s
add insult to injury here (literally). Sorry Judy, I crushed your chair. Everyone
thought it was great comedic relief - leave it to me - but man, I was tired and
now sitting on the ground.
Man down! Chair destroyed. (sorry Judy) :-(
With that, I decided it was probably time for a
full kit change inside the Wesco. I destroyed that bathroom too, rinsing my
head and face in the sink. Also did a check on the wounds. Water and crap
everywhere. I needed that badly though.
While I was away there was apparently discussion
with Matthew about throwing in the towel. It sounded as if there was only one
word answers coming from him at the time and maybe grunts and groans. He was
bonked, bad. Ride of attrition, Matt. Nice work, you made it 58 miles. Not bad
for your first attempt at a century ride. I hope you come back again to redeem
yourself.
So now there was three.
But yet, before we left (I also missed seeing
this) some greatly stoned dude filled his car up with gas, then proceeded to
drive away. Luckily the nozzle jerked out from the side of his car and landing
on the ground near the pump instead of getting torn away from the pump. What
the hell!? Ha ha. We gotta get out of here quick.
Belding Wesco. You’ll forever hold a special
place in our heart.
The rest of the ride was rather uneventful
thankfully. Just lots of hills. We killed that next section arriving at the
Lowell covered bridge for the final SAG (#4) quicker than the Crankwagen
anticipated. That was a good stop. Cool, clear skies, nice pee break at river’s
edge...and...Gravel Jacks!! (Judy’s customized twist on Sloppy Joes, the name
coined in 2017). Matthew was passed out in the truck, apparently trying to
become no-longer-bonked. Whatever he was doing he was sure steaming the place
up.
There was a surprise in store yet for the riders
after this stop. The first ever KOM (King of the Mountain) challenge. Prizes at
the top for the winner. The Crankwagen picked out the perfect big hill for the
race on Montcalm road - the first giant climb of the Lowell 50 race. A hill
affectionately named “Rude Awakening” on Strava. With Patti and Judy at the top and John
and Matthew at the bottom, us last three riders took off, headed for higher
elevation. I hung with Matt Longest for about 50 feet then faded quickly. Then
Matt was GONE, Rick following but not too close and then me, way back. I was
gassed. Matt won a nice homemade KOM pennant flag (which John applied to his
camelback backwards - which we said was M-O-K - as in “I’m OK”) and a full size
KOM flag for display at camp/home.
Lightning speed finish at the KOM Challenge.
One of Matt's grand prizes for winning the KOM.
From there it was just more gravel and paved
roads through Lowell. We didn’t get lost on the route until around mile 87 -
probably a new record for us. We took a left instead of staying right/straight on the south side of the river past Lowell. (Montcalm again) It was a beautiful loooong downhill run - FAST on the fatbike. We got to the
bottom reliving the sweetness of that decent and BAM, smacked in the face
with the realization we were off course. That’s not our road. We all looked
back. There was no way we were climbing up THAT hill. So we paralleled where we
were supposed to be and took the next right that would get us back on course.
Bad news. We still had a giant climb back to the
route as we were still down in a river valley. There was no escaping the fact
we had to do this. So we did. We put our heads down and began what seemed like
a mile long climb. 8.5% grade. 9.2% grade. 9.6% grade. Oh god, when will this
end!? We eventually made it - it was tiring, but we all decided it wasn’t that bad. I
personally, lost the feeling in my legs at about mile 25 anyways, so what the
hell?
Not far after that, the skies began to lighten.
We were approaching dawn and within 8 miles of the finish. We only had a rail
trail and few sloping climbs left to camp, one of them paved. We stayed the
course and made it back to camp at what we felt like was early. (It was before
7am). Just before this time, I realized my bloody knee was now scabbing over
(and weaving itself through) my spandex. That was fun to peel off once I hit
the showers, and it was a sad, runny mess all day after. That's it. Night Shift #6 complete. 103 beautiful miles, almost 5100' of elevation gain. Not too shabby for one night's work.
Overall though, my nutrition and hydration was
on point. Pre-event hydration is a big deal for me (I can’t operate low on
fluid and often takes me days to ramp up to what I need before a race or long ride like this). I was stressing about my hydration status all week as it was really hot and humid - there was lots of sweating
at camp and at the beach leading up to the ride - I drank nearly a gallon of
water each of the two days before the ride and still didn’t feel like I had enough
on reserves. I ended up feeling pretty good all evening/morning and didn’t
cramp up even once. I had plenty of varied sources of fuel to keep me going,
Heed, Endurolytes, Infint Tripwire, Redbull (for the caffeine), a few Hammer
Gels and best of all, PayDay’s. Lots of water, sugars, proteins, caffeine.
That’s all I need. And...apparently, a slice of greasy pizza. (Thanks again George.)
After a nice shower at camp, there was a 2 hour
(much needed) nap, then a wonderful big breakfast for all riders and their
families. It's always a good time to share stories and chuckle a little about our pain and
agony. It was another great weekend for some crazy dudes (and ladies) of Night Shift.
Thanks to all for coming to ride, or supporting us, or thinking about our safety and holding down camp while we were gone. I have a sneaking suspicion, we’ll do the
same route next year. It was a good one. Come out and join us in 2019!! You have plenty of time to prepare!
This year's riders and crew: (L to R) - Gary, Craig, Rick, Judy,
John,
George, me, Matt L, Mark and Matthew.
Rolling back into camp. Three hardy souls with aching butts. (I look really happy.)
The "display" version of Matt's winning effort on the
KOM Challenge.
A Tour de France style KOM flag!
A Tour de France style KOM flag!
The beautiful Crankwagen post-event.
