Heck of the North 2014

Last Saturday was the 2014 Heck of the North.  Kyleen and I left work a bit early to get loaded up and on the road.  We pulled the camper up to Two Harbors and stayed at the Burlington Bay campground.  I was really happy to have the camper, the wind was blowing and the lows were in the 30's.  Once we got setup we headed over to the Castle Danger Brewery tap room to pick up or racer packets.  It's a great place with some good beer.

 

The course was kept under wraps until Friday night and all we really knew was that the race would be 110 miles and the check point was at mile 67 in Lester Park.  So that meant extra food and water for the first half.

Saturday we woke up to a cold windy day, I was really not excited about the ride, it was going to be a tough day.  Troy and I loaded our stuff on the bikes and headed to the starting line.  It was about a mile from the campers so we just rode there, that was a good warm up.

At 8am we rolled out at a "controlled" speed, it was at about 17 mph, at bit fast for a roll out.  Larry and I were going to ride together since his computer failed on the way up to Two Harbors.  We were towards the back riding our pace.  The climb out of Two Harbors felt really long, but soon enough we were on the gravel.  The first 12 miles were pretty calm, but then we had a water crossing.  I was not ready to have wet feet yet so I pulled off my socks and shoes and crossed the stream.  No one was really excited about this crossing!

 

We rode another 23 miles and then headed on to the North Shore State Trail, which was a bog.  There was no avoiding the water this time, my feet were soaked.  It was slow going, but soon enough we were back on the gravel.  My wet feet were getting really cold and by mile 45 I lost feeling in them.  It seemed like a lot more work to keep a good pace.  I was not sure if it was the 15-25 mph wind or the fact that I could not feel my feet.

Larry looking really excited for the snowmobile trail.

The ride was going well except for my feet, I was hoping to get to the check point and put my dry sock on.  At about mile 50 I looked at my watch and noticed it was 1:30, we had until 3 to get to Lester Park.  So I texted Kyleen and told her that we would more than likely not make by 3.  Larry and I were planning to pull the plug once we got to Lester.  I rolled in at 2:53 and I had thoughts of trying to continue, but then I saw Brett, Curt and Jose standing there.  They called it as well, Troy was the only one to make it to the end.  Nice Job Troy!  Nice job everyone, just getting to Lester was a challenge.

So in all the day was about 7 hours and 67 miles.  I rode my cross bike and the bike was good for the most part, my rear hub was not doing well in the mud and cold.  I picked up some new Kenda Kwicks off of eBay.  Saturday was my first ride on them, they did great, mud or gravel the hooked up very well.  I went with 700x35, anything smaller would not have been good in my opinion.  If I ever do this ride again, it will be on a HT MTB.

The aftermath.  I was so glad that I put my rear fender on, I was not a muddy mess!