At a glance
| Location | Lutsen, Minnesota (Superior National Forest) |
| Discipline | Mountain bike race |
| Distance | 99 miles (39-mile option) |
| When | June |
| Official site | lutsen99er.com |
Results and Race Recaps
2017
Results
| Best finish, but wet and cold race. | |
| Steve (99 mile) | 42nd in 6hr 49min |
Bike setup
| Steve | Bike: Felt Edict NINE 3 · Wheels: Sun Ringle Black Flag Pro SL · Tires: Conti Race Kings · Drivetrain: 2 X 10 Shimano XT |
Another Lutsen 99er race weekend and another muddy mountain bike… There is always some water or mud somewhere on the course, but this year was the wetest and muddiest Lutsen 99er that I have personally done with rain coming down almost all day. This race has been growing every year and I believe this year was the largest finishing field of the 99 mile race with over 500 racers finishing within the cutoff time of 11 hours. I had some aggressive goals, which I failed to meet, but I still beat my previous fastest time by about 10 minutes with a finish of 6 hrs and 49 minutes. Enjoy the report!
Lutsen 99er Race Course Layout & Elevation Profile
The course is laid out in a big single loop format, with the exception of a section of course that you ride twice. This lap section starts at mile 24 and you are at mile 59 by the time you finish the second lap of the loop. It’s a mix of gravel roads, atv/snowmobile trails and a little bit of singletrack at the finish. Some of the gravel can be a little loose and there are a few sections of the snowmobile trails that are a little bumpy with some scattered rocks or just uneven hard ground.
That being said, I had my front shock locked out for most of the course and I ran a lot of air in my rear shock with the damping cranked all the way over. If I had the extra cash for multiple bikes… I’d probably run a fully rigid 29er for this race.
Training Peaks is giving me an elevation of 5,482 ft and Strava shows me an elevation of 4,618 ft. A big chunk of the climbing is a few miles into the race on the long Caribou Trail road climb and the rest of the climbing is spread amongst the gravel road and atv/snowmobile trail hills that are more typical of what you’d find in your typical rolling hill gravel riding. There are a few sections throughout the course that don’t hit you immediately as going uphill, but are long false flat sections that grind on you after awhile until you realize you’ve been steadily gaining elevation for the last half mile.
Lutsen 99er Race Start to Aid 1 – Mile 24
I was close to the front as we dropped out onto the main highway at the bottom of the hill when they let us loose. I continued to sit in near the front top 20 to 30 as we worked up the highway, which is a bit of a false flat. We made our left hand turn onto Caribou Trail to start the long climb and I expected things to start blowing apart, but they didn’t…
I felt like things stayed extremely tame. We went up faster than my previous fastest time, but I felt like people were holding back. My heart rate was well under control for a climb and I felt very comfortable. When I looked back on Strava, the lead groups in the previous couple of years, when Steve Tilford won the race in 2015 and Jordan Wakely won it in 2016, were definitely faster than this year.
1 guy on a fat bike with aero bars did go off the front in a lead, but nobody seemed interested in chasing him. I assume the big hitters in the race on traditional mountain bikes, knew they would run him down at some point regardless. I sat in and moved around between the top 10 to 20 racers for the length of the climb until we made our right hand turn onto the gravel road around the 9 mile mark.
The pace picked up as me made the turn onto the gravel and I felt like it continued picking up as we worked up the loose rocky two track. I managed to keep my heart rate under control on the climb and felt like I was doing a good job of pacing myself and keeping things under control. I figured I should keep it that way for now and let myself slowly drift off the pace of the lead pack that was pulling away. I got passed by a couple lines of riders in the process, but I wasn’t giving up a bunch and was pacing well. I also assumed some of them were 69er racers.
I lost sight of the front of the group as we were now strung out working up the loose gravel two track. I looked back at some point and could see a break happening behind me as we were reaching the peak of the gravel 2 track. I eventually ended up finding myself split between the 2 groups, which was fine, as I knew there was a little bit of climbing again soon. In hindsight, I wish I would have pushed it a little harder and just stayed on with the larger group in front of me. I think I was being too conservative as I look back at my ride data.
We hit the right hand turn that sends you up the bumpier snowmobile trail. I made really good time through this section, felt strong and was able to catch and pass back a few positions. I was now interested in seeing if I could somehow bridge back up to the tail end of the group that I dropped off of, but they were out of sight and/or things were now strung out.
Out on the gravel, a couple folks caught back on my wheel and then another guy took a pull. As we crested one of the hills, I could see a group of riders up ahead and I pulled around the lead wheelman and asked if he wanted to try and bridge up to them… He said yes and I took another pull, but underestimated the headwind that we had gotten into as we headed west and I didn’t last very long. When my pull was over, the other 2 guys ended up getting away from me with 1 of them making the bridge and I think the other getting caught in the middle. I ended up catching up to the guy caught in the middle and another guy that had fallen off and the 3 of us worked together to Aid 1.
Aid 1 to Aid 2 – Mile 42
A 4th rider jumped in with us as we rolled through Aid 1 and now we had 4 of us working together up the gravel to the next section of trail. We all kind of sat up when we hit the trail and randomly dropped in with nobody fighting for position. I hit the trail in the back. 1 guy got a big tree branch caught in his derailer up the first hill in the trail and had to pull off to clear it. Then the guy on the fat bike got a flat or was losing air. The first guy had pulled away at that point and I was on my own to finish up this section of trail.
I hit the gravel solo and can’t really remember when or how I ended up joining up with other folks on the gravel road to Devil’s Track. I think somewhere in there, I must have joined up with a few other riders, whether they caught me or I caught them. I’m pretty sure I remember trailing somebody as we made the turn and then putting my hands out to signal to a couple folks behind me that we were turning.
I actually never really liked this section of trail. It always feels like its completely energy sucking, whether its wet or dry. There’s no big climbs on it, other than a few hills that a couple years ago felt like they were a lot bigger than they felt this year. Today it was wet. I think I gave up a couple spots and also picked up a couple spots in this section.
I popped out on the gravel road again and found my wife with a fresh water bottle for me at the Devil’s Track spectator location. There was a lot of people standing out there in the rain and cheering on racers.
I soft pedaled out of the spectator spot, kind of looking around to see if there would be a few other riders to work with up the gravel and ended up falling in line with a few folks. The pace was a little slower than I wanted to go and it seemed like the line of riders was growing behind us as more folks were latching on. Like I said, a little slower pace than I wanted to go, but it was a good opportunity to get some recovery in.
I sat in a few spots back for about a half mile or so until we hit the first hill where I carried a little more momentum up it and ended up taking a pull at the front. I took my turn pulling and then flipped my elbow to rotate back. There was a decent line, but it looked like it was splitting up a few spots back, so I jumped back in line at the split about 3 spots back. We hit another hill soon after where I carried good speed up it and ended up in the the lead pull again.
I looked back as we were free rolling down the long downhill about halfway back to the aid station and noticed that I had dropped the pace line. We had a few miles of gravel yet to go and I had no reason to hammer down at the moment and enjoyed some coast down the hill and a few of the riders ended up catching me again before we got back to the aid station at mile 42. In hindsight, I wish I would have stayed on the gas as I left the spectator spot and also stayed on the gas in that last section of downhill grave back to the aid station.
Looking back at the results page, it looks like I was in 27th place overall at the 30 mile mark. My wife later told me that she thought I was in the top 30 for sure and was thinking 28th when I came through the spectator point at mile 35.
Aid 2 to Aid 3 – Mile 59
I rolled through the aid station with a few of them and we took turns pulling most of the way back to the trail, where we all blew apart. I was near the front and can’t remember if 1 of them went off in front of me or not. I know 1 or 2 of them were not far behind, but I made fairly good time through the trail and was coming up on a lot of traffic from folks on their first lap and 69er racers. There was 1 guy that was close behind me as we were making our way through the traffic.
Again, I can’t remember what the situation was when I hit the gravel, but I think I was working up the gravel solo most of the time and making my way around a lot of the lap traffic. The rain had let up slightly at some point in the race and I can’t remember if it was raining at this point or not. I just remember it letting up a bit for a short period on one of the gravel sections. Outside of that it was raining most of the time.
Anyways, I started feeling like crap on this gravel section. Not like physically bad, but my stomach felt like it was turning over. It felt like I had a mix of hunger pains, but really wasn’t quite sure. I had a Honey Stinger energy bar with me for an emergency, which I ate before hitting Devil’s Track. That did not go down very well and I washed it down with the water I had left in my bottle. I think I was out of Carbo Rocket at this point as well, which was good timing, because I was going to swap hydration packs with my wife at the spectator point.
I popped back out on the gravel road, sat up and did some stretching as I rolled into the spectator spot. I had been messing with my seat angle the previous week as I was trying to fix some saddle pain and think I might have tipped it too far forward. I didn’t have any saddle pain, so I opted to keep it the way it was instead of stopping to adjust it. In hindsight, I whish I would have stopped to adjust it as the forward tip on the saddle was really pushing me forward and putting a lot more weight on my arms than I should have. I could feel that fatigue by the end of the race.
Back to the race… I swapped hydration packs and water bottles with my wife and then rolled out of the spectator point. I slow rolled for a bit as I looked around for some other folks to work with, but found nobody at the same pace, so I eventually picked up the pace and rolled out. About halfway back to the aid station, 2 guys caught me that were on the lead lap. I jumped in behind them for a very short period, but they eventually pulled away from me. They were working together well and on a strong pace and I rolled the rest of the way to the next aid station on my own again.
Aid 3 to Aid 4 – Mile 70
I didn’t really need to, but I topped off my water bottle before leaving the aid station. My stomach was still feeling like crap and I thought it was best if I had some plain water to drink. I didn’t feel like eating anything or drinking anything other than water. I really didn’t know what was going on with my stomach. I had not gone too hard at any point in the race yet and had kept things pretty conservative, relatively speaking.
I made my right turn up the jeep trail and made a quick stop for the first time to drain some excess waste fluid and then got going again. My legs were feeling pretty good and this is the section of trail that has really wore on me in the past. This year, I made really good time of it and felt strong, even though I still had this nasty stomach feeling.
I also started getting this deep cough that almost made me feel like I was going to throw up. It was all really strange. It was enough that I almost stopped and tried to throw up on purpose just to get it out, but I was afraid of that making me feel even worse, so I pressed on and tried to work through it.
Aid 4 to Aid 5 – Mile 80
I filled up my bottle again and kept moving. It seemed like the rain was coming down harder now and I was starting to get a little cold. I worked up the road fast and then made my left into the atv trails. I had to stop again to relieve some fluids and then got back on the trail. I was passing quite a few 69er racers and the trail was getting wetter and wetter with more and more people off their bike walking.
The trail eventually turned into what seemed like a river of flowing water, where I felt like I was riding in a muddy river vs a trail. This is my 4th time riding the Lutsen 99er race and I can’t remember their ever being water in this section of the course that was now completely flooded. I continued passing by 69ers in this section, with many people pushing their bikes. I avoided shifting up to my granny gears and stayed on the gas to avoid coming to a standstill that would force me off the bike.
By the time I reached mile 80, my hands were crazy cold and shaking. I left my hydration pack with my wife at the aid station and grabbed a fresh water bottle. That last section of solid water, took a toll on me and I swear the temperatures felt like they dropped. I could barely see out of my glasses anymore and had been using my water bottle to spray my glasses off.
Aid 5 to Aid 6 – Mile 93
I felt like I had a little spirt of energy when I got going again and made good time up the gravel road of Sawbill Trail. I made my left on Honeymoon Trail and started the long grind up the hill. It’s not a big climb, but it’s a little more than a false flat. It makes you work and it’s long enough to turn into a little bit of a grind. A few 99ers came by and asked if I wanted to jump on their wheel. I said I would try, but I fell off shortly after before we made it all the way up the hill.
Over the other side and now on the decent with higher speeds, the wind on my cold soaked body got to me bad and I went into some bad shakes in my upper body. As in it was a little scary and I was actually riding my brakes down the hill that in previous years I was pedalling hard and spinning out my gears. The shakes were so bad that my handle bars were shaking back and forth and I was afraid of crashing.
I couldn’t get the shakes to go away. My heart rate had dropped significantly now and the shaking was getting bad, even when working back up the hills. I took my glasses off as I couldn’t see anymore out of them and I couldn’t keep up with trying to wipe them off or spray them off with my bottle anymore. I was going slow enough at this point, because of the shakes, that I was not as worried about getting stuff in my eyes. It felt like the temperature had dropped and sure enough, when I look back at my Garmin, it shows that the temperature had dropped slightly to 46 degrees during this period.
I was well off my goal for the race, but I was still on pace to beat my previous best. Until now, I was having a good ride overall, aside from the stomach issue that seemed to be going away. However, I had pretty much stopped fueling because of it and could tell my legs were running out of gas.
It felt like the rain might have let up a little bit and I started working up the hill toward the last Lutsen 99er aid station at mile 93 and felt like the shakes were going away a little bit. I pulled into the aid station and even though it was only 6 miles to the finish, I stopped and grabbed one of the Gu waffles and then pulled up past the aid station as a few riders went by and I ate the waffle. According to my Garmin, the temperature had came back up a couple degrees around this point.
Aid 6 to The Lutsen 99er Race Finish
I got back on the trail, that quickly turns off into a muddy atv section that is always muddy, even when the rest of the trails are dry. I chose a good line and was able to ride all of it. I don’t think that was the case in past years. In the past, the trail has mostly been dry after that, except for a couple mud hole sections after crossing the river, but everything was wet.
Speaking of the bridge, the downhill to the bridge was really sloppy and I rode my brakes all the way down it. I still had some of the cold shakes and was concerned about bike control in the slippery rocks and mud. The rest of the trails around the ski hill were soaked as well.
I hit the wooden ramp that goes up into the singletrack to find the singletrack completely soaked and muddy. I took it fairly easy on the singletrack as I didn’t need to crash only a mile or 2 from the finish. The trails were not rutted, but rather a consistant top layer soup of mud that was sloppy enough to flow back into any rut that was formed.
I popped out of the trail and got passed by somebody who was hot on my tail through the singletrack. It is so weird mentally and difficult to get back in race mode, once you go through a tough point in a race and fall out of that race mode. I find that the times that has happened to me, I go into this just riding along mental state where I am no longer racing and I’m just trying to make the best out of the ride and get to the end. I didn’t have that push like I should for the finish line with it only being a mile away after racing for 98 previous miles. This is something I need to work on…
I rode my brakes down the hill, crossed the river and started the grind up the finish line climb. I got passed by a guy on a fat bike who was looking strong. He hit the new bi-pass bridge in front of me and then we both had to jump off in the mud on the other side as we spun out. He went up ahead of me and I just did a bit of a slow grind to the finish line.
I ended up finishing the Lusten 99er race in 43rd place overall with a time of 6 hours and 49 minutes.
2017 Lutsen 99er Race Final Thoughts
I still think I’ve got a low 6 hour Lusten 99er race in my legs at some point, but it certainly wasn’t going to happen for me with Saturday’s conditions and I just didn’t have the mental fortitude on Saturday to push through. My average heart rate for the entire race was 150 bpm, which is on the low side of where I should have been for the Lutsen 99er. I’ve actually been very close to that same effort in other races lasting 10 to 12 hours. At the end of the day, I didn’t race hard enough and didn’t leave everything out there that I had in me.
Another interesting piece of data… My average heart rate from my prevous best Lutsen 99er race of 6 hrs and 58 mins was 152 bpm, when my threshold heart rate was lower than it is now. Meaning, I was working much harder at the previous 152 bpm than I was at this years average of 150 bpm. Coincidently, my Training Stress Score for this race was more than 200 TSS lower than it was during my previous best Lutsen 99er. This is all a very good sign… My fitness has drastically improved and I was able to go faster with less effort in worse conditiona and a whole lot less stress on the body.
I need to continue working on my leg strength and muscular endurance, along with working on my mental toughness. I also need to go ahead and get some rain gear. It has now been twice this year that I’ve raced in the cold rain and I just haven’t been well prepared for it.
As far as great overall race weekends… This is one of my favorites. The Lutsen 99er race weekend is well run and the whole weekend is a nice festival type atmosphere from check-in on Friday afternoon till the finish of the kid’s races on Sunday morning. There is a big field of racers for a big race weekend, but not too many racers to jam up the trails. It all makes for a great overall experience.
My kids also have a blast at the kid’s fun races on Sunday. They proudly where their Lutsen 99er race t-shirts year round. Big thanks to the Lutsen 99er team for putting together the fun races for the kids on Sunday morning. They don’t have to do it, it’s free for the kids and all the kids get t-shirts and finisher medals. It makes it really easy to take the whole family up for the weekend!
Strava
2015
Results
| Made it under 7 hrs! | |
| Steve (99 mile) | 77th in 6hr 58 min |
Bike setup
| Steve | Bike: Felt Edict NINE 3 · Wheels: Stock WTB · Tires: Stock WTB · Drivetrain: 2 X 10 Shimano XT |
I’ll start off by saying that I kicked my last year’s ass and improved my Lutsen 99er race time by over 2 hours. That being said, I didn’t start the morning off great and didn’t really know how things were going to go until I was headed to the starting gate.
So let’s get to it… There I was at 3:00 am on race day hacking my lungs out from a chest cold that had been building up all week, trying to figure out how I was going to get this done. I’ll admit that thoughts came through my head a couple times of not racing, but I just couldn’t accept that. I layed in bed till about 4:30am, when I decided it was time to get up and get my head together. It’s definitely not the preferred race morning beverage, but I heated up some water to make me a cup of TheraFlu to help with the congestion and soothe the throat. I was quite miserable, but decided in my head this was happening and I was going to give it everything I had.
I had my typical 3 eggs for breakfast and added a half a bagel with some sunflower seed butter on it. My oldest son is severely allergic to peanuts, so I use this as my alternative to peanut butter. At any rate, I was starting to feel a bit better, mostly just getting my head in the game.
I arrived at Lutsen Mountain and started to prep my bike and get ready. I was still hacking a bit, but I was starting to get my head in it and ready to go. Mentally, this was a different game for me this year. Last year, I showed up to complete the race and this year, I was here to race. I knew I was a lot stronger this year and had much more confidence in my abilities. My bike was prepped and I had all my gear on. I closed the tail gate of the truck and headed toward the starting gates.
As I approached the starting gate, I was getting into race mode and had forgotten about my cold. I was ready to go. The starting gate was filling up. The options were to either go all the way to the back or squeeze in through the front since there were gate barriers along the sides. I was confident enough in my climbing ability to want to start toward the front, so I entered the front of the gate and picked my way back a few rows to find my place.
The Lutsen 99er Race
The Lutsen 99er Roll Out and Climb Up Caribou Trail
The National Anthem was sung and and I was fired up. The gun went off, the Lutsen 99er was on and we started our decent to MN-61. The roll out was much better than last year. They held us back a bit, but didn’t make us ride our brakes all the way down the hill, like last year. We hit MN-61 and the race was on. I hung close with the lead group averaging 24.6 mph up MN-61 till we hit Caribou Trail.
We made the left turn to begin our climb up Caribou Trail and the group started to slowly split apart into a few different packs. I was feeling pretty good and stuck with it. I had told myself, that I was going to hang as close to the lead as I could on the climb, without blowing up and hit the trails in a good position. I kept an eye on the heart rate and was doing ok. I definitely could not hang with the lead and believe I made the climb at the tail end of the 3rd group up, averaging 11.8 mph and 166 bpm heart rate up the climb.
Halfway Up Caribou Trail
Caribou Trail To The Lutsen 99er First Aid Station At Mile 24
Once I made my turn off of Caribou Trail, I grabbed a protein bar out of my back pocket to take in while I worked my way up the road to the two track. There is a bit of interesting terrain in this section before getting dumped out on the gravel road to the first aid station. The climbing was far from over and once in the snowmobile trails, there are a lot of ups and downs. The trail is rugged with many opportunities for pinch flats. As I passed quite a few people changing tubes, I was very happy about making the switch to tubeless tires. I reached the first aid station in exactly 1:30 race time. I had plenty of water left in my 100 oz Camelbak and was well prepared with my own food, so I blew through the aid station and kept riding.
Bally Creek and Devil’s Track Lake Loops Of The Lutsen 99er
I was feeling pretty good still at this point and entered the trail with a group of riders. A short bit into the trail, I found myself in the lead of the group and could see another 2 or 3 riders way up the trail. I decided I wanted to jump the gap before we hit the gravel road, so I kept the heat into the pedals. I was not the only one with that plan as we dumped back out onto the gravel road, a couple of guys shouted out that we should stick on the wheel of one of the guys that was getting away. I was starting to hurt at this point and needed some recovery, but I didn’t want to get left behind. I jumped in the pace line and took my turn pulling as needed. By the time we hit Devil’s Track Lake Trail, we were starting to break apart again and I decided to back off a bit and recover.
I was on my own when I left Devil’s Track Trail and hit the gravel. I could see a few people in front and behind me. I can’t remember exactly how we got back together, but within a couple miles we had a few of us working together again up the gravel road. We took turns pulling and were making good time up the road. By the time we hit the aid station to start lap 2 of Bally Creek and Devil’s Track, I was hurting. Quite a few of the riders I was with pulled into the aid station. I still had what I thought was plenty of water and decided that I would keep going. I thought I was better off staying on the bike and could dial the pace back a bit for some on bike recovery without losing too much time.
I took my time up the gravel road before entering the Bally Creek trail again. Once I hit the trail, I kept the pace going and was running into folks on their first lap. This is where I really started to notice the difference from where I was at last year in the Lutsen 99er vs this year. Last year, I was the guy on my first lap while folks were coming by me on their second lap. I was cruising by these racers pretty good and it was a bit of an adrenaline rush to realize how much I had improved over the previous year.
I encouraged each rider as I went by with a “good job” or “good work” as I always appreciate the encouragement by other riders. There is a bit of camaraderie that is built out on the trail with people that you have never met before, but know you are there suffering together with the same goals of leaving everything you have out on the trail. There is a mutual respect that takes place regardless of the level that each rider is at. I love this part of endurance racing.
I found myself a bit on my own when I dumped out on the gravel road again. In a mile or two down the road, I found myself back riding with a couple other riders. I was starting to fatigue at this point and could feel my head heating up from that head cold. I tried to block it out and just kept sipping on my water. I realized my water was pretty low and was wishing that I would have stopped and filled it before starting lap 2 of the loop. I crossed the 50 mile mark with a 15 mph average pace. I was doing really well and tearing apart my time from last year.
I took my time around the rest of Devil’s Lake Track Loop, emptying my Camelback and my water bottle of NUUN electrolyte mix. When I came back out on the gravel, I knew I had a good pull to mile 60 and I could fill my water. This is where you can really pull some good time. I had some riders come up behind me and I poured the heat on. I pulled for a couple miles when one of them came along side and thanked me for the pull and I jumped in the pace line a few spots back. We finally made it to the mile 60 aid station and I filled up my water and grabbed a Honey Stinger Waffle.
Lutsen 99er Mile 60 Aid Station to Mile 80 Aid Station
I rolled out of the aid station slowly and ate a bit of food. I still needed a bit of recovery and the pace line had gotten split up at the aid station. I knew at this point I was completely smoking my last year’s Lutsen 99er time and I was still on pace to finish under 7 hours with a bit of time to spare. I didn’t want to waste that time, as I knew there was some tough trail once we left the gravel road between mile 60 and 70. A pace line of a few guys came up about a mile past the aid station and I tried to jump on. They were moving too fast for me and I faded off the back.
I made the right turn onto the Mark Lake Road, which seems to be a bit of a jeep trail in spots and starts out with a climb. I was hurting at this point and losing places in the field. I could feel heat and pressure building up in my head from the cold I had going on, along with the effects of some dehydration from waiting till mile 60 to fill my water. I started sipping on the water pretty consistently, hoping that I could rehydrate and cool the body down.
I finally made my way to the mile 70 aid station with a quick stop at the porta john. Apparently I was finally getting hydrated a bit… I rolled out of mile 70 up the gravel road. By the time I hit the two track, I had found myself in a good pace line of riders that had come up from the back and a few that we had caught. We hammered through the two track in silence. You could tell everybody was feeling the pain at this point. Earlier in the race, people were a bit more chatty and joking a bit and now it was heads down and focus. It seemed that at each short climb, a couple riders would drop off the back. I slowly kept working myself to the front of the group as I didn’t want to be the next guy dropped off the back. We finally made it to mile 80. They were handing out Cokes, but I kept pressing on with a group that was getting smaller.
Mile 80 To The Lutsen Mountain Trails Of The Lutsen 99er
Coming Down Sawbill Trail
As we rolled out of mile 80, I was feeling like a second wind was coming on. About 8 or 9 of us stayed in a pace line up the gravel road taking turns. I was a bit excited as I saw my family there cheering me on as I was taking my turn to pull. I rounded the left hand turn on to Honeymoon Trail to realize that the pace line had dropped back a bit. I was not intending to break away at this point as I knew we had a fast pull with 10 plus miles of gravel before hitting the trails to the finish.
Making The Turn On To Honeymoon Trail
As I was making my way up the first climb of Honeymoon Trail, a pace line of 4 of the riders I was with came by. I tried to hang, but they came by like a freight train and left me in their dust. I knew I was going at it alone at this point to the finish. I was hurting now and had definitely made too hard of a pull leaving mile 80. I was thinking about that Coke that I had passed up as well. I made up a couple of spots on the gravel and was happy to see the aid station at mile 92 to know I was in the home stretch. I grabbed a glass of water, drank some of it and dumped the rest over my head and back. I was heating up and fatigue was setting in deep.
Lutsen Mountain Trails and The Final Climb To The Lutsen 99er Finish Line
I entered the muddy two track before making the decent to the bridge over the creek. Last year, I had a fair amount of energy at this point and let it rip down that hill. This year, I was hurting at this point and took it cautiously. As I hit the somewhat rocky trail climb up the other side of the river, I was feeling like I had reached the bottom of the well and about to hit a wall. I had been caught now by a few riders that I let by me and grabbed another Honey Stinger Energy Bar, hoping that a quick shot of solid food would shock my system back into working again. I knew I didn’t have much trail left to cover, but just the mental impact of taking in the food was enough to get me back on track. I made my way through the single track that was soft and energy sucking. It felt like I was riding on 2 flat tires. I passed a rider coming out of the single track and knew I was close to the finish.
I can’t remember exactly how it went from here, but I do remember hitting a fast gravel downhill section back to the bottom of the hill before hitting the big climb to the finish. I could see some of the riders in front of me that I had given up spots to over the last few miles. I remember there being a bit of a flat in the climb before it started back up again and this is where both legs cramped and completely locked up on me.
Making The Final Climb
I was able to catch myself before falling over on the bike. I just reached for the ground trying to stretch and let out a bit a scream of pain. It was that split second that the cramps relaxed and I quickly jumped back on the bike. I could hear the cheers at the finish line and hammered on the pedals. I didn’t want to stop spinning as I figured the cramps would come back. I stayed focused and spun my way up the climb to the finish. I cross the Lutsen 99er finish line in 6 hours, 58 minutes and 40 seconds. I had beat my last years time by more than 2 hours.
Lutsen 99er Summary & Final Thoughts
In summary, I really had a great race for how I was feeling and where I came from last year. My body actually feels great after the race, but I have stayed off the bike and trying to shake this cold so I can get focused for the Maah Daah Hey 100 on August 1st. I still feel like I am just getting started. It was only 5 years ago that I weighed 50 lbs more than I do today and decided enough was enough, that I needed to get back in shape. I got back into cycling seriously only 2 years ago, after loosing a bunch of weight and can’t wait to see what else I can do with my new and improved body. I love this endurance racing. Even though I know I left everything I had out on the trail, I know I have more in me. This year is and has been a huge building year for me. I am much stronger on climbs and can simply spin at faster speeds for longer. My cardio is better than it ever has been and I will continue to focus on more strength and endurance.
Special Thanks
My Wife and Kids – Thanks for chasing me around to all these races. It was a long day for them at the Lutsen and it was awesome to seem them out on the trail cheering me on. I know it is not easy running around all day with the kids and keeping them happy and fed while I am out racing.
Strava
2014
Results
| First 100 miler! | |
| Steve (99 mile) | 299th in 9 hr 12min |
Bike setup
| Steve | Bike: Felt Edict NINE 3 · Wheels: Stock WTB · Tires: Stock WTB · Drivetrain: 2 X 10 Sram X.9 |
As mentioned above, this was my first Lutsen 99er, but also my first 100 mile race. For those that do not know what the Lutsen 99er is; it is a 99 mile mountain bike race located on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. The race is held by Lifetime Fitness and takes place out of the Lutsen Mountains Sawtooth Mountain Park. The race starts out with some paved roads and transitions into a mix of gravel roads, double and single track. The description double track can be slightly deceiving as the double track roads are extremely muddy and rough, making them more difficult than most of the single track trails that I regularly ride.
Next, let me set the stage for the level of racer that I am at this point. As I mentioned, this was my first 100 mile race, with my first mountain bike race in over 13 years being the Chequamegon 40 last fall. I had finished mid pack in a couple sport class races back during my college years, but was pretty inactive after that until a year or 2 ago.
At any rate… In my recent racing experience, I’ve been a mid to back of pack age group racer. My goal in my first Lutsen 99er was to finish under 10 hours. I really didn’t know how I would hold up over the distance of the 99er. The few races that I have done, I have gone out too hard and ended up blowing myself up a couple hours into the ride. I new it was very important for me to control my heart rate at the beginning of the race and pace myself. Also, I had been sick for the month before the race and had very little training, so I was not prepared like I should have been.
All that being said, I don’t quit easy, if at all, and I know I just needed to find a pace that I could grind out for hours on end and slowly pick up as the race went on depending on how I was feeling. My plan was to ride the first 50 miles a little faster than a 10 mph pace to keep me out in front of the cut off times. At the 50 mile mark I would step things up a little and then again at the 70, then 80, etc… I had no idea how I was going to feel, but wanted to make sure that I finished, and finished within the cut off.
So there I was at in the starting gate, then suddenly we were off…
My First Lusten 99er Race
The Lutsen 99er rollout to mile 24 aid station
My first Lutsen 99er was underway… The roll out down the hill to Hwy 61 from the starting line at Lutsen Mountains was held under 15 mph by a lead out pace vehicle, so there was no jump start advantage on your average speed at the start. Oh, and could you ever smell the brake pads melting from 500 plus bicycles riding the brakes for a mile down hill. Once we hit 61, the pace car pulled off and the race was on. I knew that I had to keep my heart rate under control as I have a tendency to go out hard and blow up, which I could not afford to do on a race of this distance and my lack of training.
I did about 18 mph up Hwy 61 and took advantage of drafting opportunities as much as possible. I knew that I would be hitting the first big climb up Caribou Trail within a 2 miles. Caribou Trail would take me up about 800 vertical feet over 3 miles before leaving the pavement and hitting the trail system. I took it fairly easy on the climb and spun in a low gear. To do it over again, I would probably spin a little higher gear to make better time up the hill. I did set myself back quite a bit and as I will explain later, I finished the race with a lot left in my legs and lungs.
I knew there would be some gravel road, so I just kept things steady in the trails, knowing that I would use my roadie skills to play catch up on the open gravel. I tried to keep my heart rate under 150, but couldn’t always keep it that way. The trails were very wet with a lot of mud holes. This section of trail had a fair amount of rocks and there was quite a few people fixing flats on the side of trail. I was able to ride just about every single hole. I had been riding a 26er until this year and I attribute the ability to ride all the mud holes to my new 29er and my steady calm pace. By the way, I’m loving the 29 inch wheels and wish I would have made the switch years ago.
Mile 24 aid station to mile 42 aid station of the Lutsen 99er
I was feeling pretty good as I approached the first aid station at mile 24, so I just grabbed a little peanut butter and jelly sandwich square and rode thru. There was another couple miles of gravel road section until we hit some trails again. I took my time here to absorb the food and take in some fluids so I was ready for the trail. When I hit the trails, I kept a steady but persistent pace to keep things on track.
I didn’t realize it until I had actually gotten into this section, but we would actually do 2 laps of this middle part of the race. It was actually kind of nice, because I knew what to expect on the second lap. I made pretty good time on my first lap through, but I did get lapped by the leaders, which was fairly humbling. Those guys are animals and were just cranking it out. They came by me like a freight train and were almost 20 miles ahead of me.
Mile 42 aid station to mile 60 aid station of the Lutsen 99er
When I came back through the aid station to start my second lap around this section; I did stop to fill my water up and grabbed a few sandwich squares to eat along the gravel road. I also adjusted the angle of my seat as the pain was dictating that my saddle was not angled correctly. This was only my 5 or 6th ride on this bike and I was still getting all the adjustments dialed in. Oh, was this so the right thing to do.
I made it thru the first part of this second lap feeling pretty good. I was not as fast as my first time thru this section, but was maintaining a steady pace and did drop a few riders in this section. This was the point in the race where people were either realizing they could make it and were picking up the pace or where people were starting to wonder if they were going to make it or not. As a reminder and to keep things into perspective; I am a back of the pack age group racer at this point in my racing experience. I am looking to step this up in the future and believe I have more potential than where I currently am.
Around mile 50 the sun came out a little and I was starting to fatigue quite a bit as I headed back into a trail section. I knew I just needed to work my way thru this trail section and I would be back on the gravel road again. I dialed things back a little bit on the trail, ate a Cliff bar and sipped on some water. I just kept plugging along at a little slower pace so I could recover a bit. By the time I came out of the trail I was starting to feel a little better. I slowly dialed the pace up on the gravel road section.
With the little training that I had for this race, I knew it was important for me to manage my level of fatigue and recovery cycles during the ride. I was also watching my heart rate, to make sure I didn’t take myself into the red zone, beyond the point that I could recover during the ride. I Made decent time along the gravel road to the aid station at mile 60 without pushing it too hard.
Mile 60 aid station to mile 70 aid station of the Lutsen 99er
At mile 60 I thought I had enough water to get me to the mile 70 aid station, so I opted to just grab an energy waffle and gel from the aid station and keep on riding. I was wrong. I ran out of water just a few miles later as I was hitting a very muddy section of double track. I could see riders out in front of me, so I just focused on keeping pace and getting to the mile 70 aid station. My key was just a steady grind, never get too excited, but never back off too much. I just kept things consistent. I managed to reel in a few of the riders in front of me and made it to the mile 70 aid station around 6 hours and 55 minutes.
I was feeling pretty weak and figured I would stretch real quick and fill up my Camelbak. I ate a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwich squares and a banana. At this point, I was covered in mud with water logged socks. I had brought along a spare pair of socks in my Camelbak, so I changed my socks out to get some dry feet. I pulled out of the aid station after about 5 or 6 minutes.
Mile 70 aid station to mile 80 station of the Lutsen 99er
As I started heading down the road and looking at my time, I realized I was definitely going to come in faster than my 10 hour goal. I don’t know if it was the food and water, or just the mental part of knowing I was in the home stretch, but I felt much better and stronger than I had 10 minutes prior. I decided it was time to pick up the pace. There was a small part of me that was feeling like I could make it in 9 hours if I pushed it hard enough. I steadily picked up the pace and started hammering on the pedals. As I rode along, I was starting to reel other riders in and would just keep focusing on the next rider in front of me. The next 10 miles had a little bit of gravel, but was mostly double track trail.
Mile 80 aid station to mile 93 aid station of the Lutsen 99er
As I approached the mile 80 aid station, I had plenty of water and a few Cliff bars and Gu gels in my jersey pockets, so I opted to keep hammering on. When I left mile 80, I turned up the heat some more. I had a lot of gravel in front of me and am fairly decent on my road bike; I thought I could make up some time here. I was feeling good until the next big gravel climb. I started cramping up real bad on the first climb after the aid station. I back things off, checked my water again and decided to eat and down a bunch amount of water.
It sounds funny to say this, but I used the up hill to recover. I dropped things down to granny gear and eased my way up this climb and let my body absorb some calories and water. When I was coming over the top of the hill, I could feel my body recovering and about halfway down the decent I started to put the hammer down again. I was feeling great and knew that I was within 15 miles of the finish. At this point, I knew I was going to make it, and I continued to pour on the heat. I did run out of water again, but tried to focus on the road and trail ahead.
Mile 93 aid station to the finish of my first Lusten 99er
When I came thru the mile 93 aid station, they were holding out bottles of water. I new whatever water I took in at this point, wasn’t going to absord in time, but I needed a little mental boost. I grabbed a bottle as I rode thru and downed it before hitting the muddy trails again. I was in the home stretch. The mud was bad, but I only had a few miles to go and the adrenaline was high.
I couldn’t believe how good I was feeling. I was actually having fun in this last section. I had just ridden more than 90 miles on this bike and was having fun riding this last section of trail. The last section had some fun little down hills that were a little technical, but if you picked your line, you could let it rip. The finish came up on me fast. All of a sudden I was dumped out on the gravel, could hear cheering and see the finish.
I was excited. I knew I was a back of the pack racer, but I was feeling good and I poured the heat into the pedals right through the finish. My wife and kids were there waiting for me and cheering as I came across the finish line of my first Lutsen 99er in 9 hours, 12 minutes and 33 seconds. I finished about 48 minutes faster than what I thought I would, but I was feeling pretty good. The first thing I thought was, damn it, I could have finished a lot faster.
All that being said, I’m learning how to endurance race. In the 3 previous 30 to 40 mile races that I had done, I went out too hard and ended up hitting the wall; having to drag myself to the finish. In my first Lutsen 99er, I ended up swinging the pendulum to the other end and finished with too much energy left. I didn’t leave enough out on the trail. I plan to come back next year, with more training, more wisdom and more guts. I believe, to do it over again right now, I should have been able to do it in 8 hours in my current shape. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, right… All it does is motivate me to come back next year and push myself harder.
Advice and Lesson’s Learned From My First Lutsen 99er
Let me go back to what my strategy was for the race… I wasn’t really sure what to expect from my first Lutsen 99er and figured I would be happy to finish under 10 hours. I figured I would go out and ride a 10 mph pace and then keep pushing that pace up depending on how I was feeling as the race went on. I actually think this was a pretty good strategy for somebody that is somewhat new to racing or a back of the pack age group competitor. If you blow up at the start, then you’ll never finish the race.
So all that being said, train as much as you can. However, train for distance and endurance and not for short distance sprinting. You’ll need to find the point at which you can grind out the pedals all day without bonking. You can’t go into this race and expect to run your heart rate in the red zone all day, because you won’t make it. You’ll need to go out and find out what your heart rate zones are and how high you can push your heart rate before you reach a non-recovery zone. This is the pace that you’ll need to set for yourself.
When it comes to fuel, get yourself a high volume Camelbak. I have a Camelbak Lobo that is fairly slim and holds 3L of water. For my first fill I dropped in 5 electrolyte tablets. It takes a little bit of time at the aid stations to get your water filled and you don’t want to have to stop every time for a water fill. Also, carry some of your own food. I tried to eat something every hour. I carried Cliff Bars and Gu gels that I would switch between. This worked out fairly well and I wasn’t held to what was available at the aid stations. That being said, I wouldn’t carry as many bars and gels next time as I had some left over at the finish.