Snowcat 2010 Wrap-up: Better Late Than Never

The race went really well. The weather was good: not too cold, very little wind, and just a little snow. We had 22 people show up, but only 14 finished the race. Those who did finish came back to the shop with big smiles and stories about near misses, slippery roads, and navigational errors.

The course was a lot tougher than last year’s race. One of the checkpoints was a 5/8 mile hike, up a hill, through a foot of snow, at the back of a graveyard.

Once you got to the checkpoint, the only (sane) option was to go back the way you came. Another checkpoint was a mile down a paved, but unplowed, rail trail. Two of the checkpoints pointed you to another point which was not marked on the map. All totaled, the route was just under twenty-two miles. Add navigational errors and backtracking, and several racers probably road thirty plus miles.

Everyone said that they had a lot of fun. We had a group come in from out of town, and they were really excited about trying to do something like this in the spring. It's fun to see people get as excited about this stuff as I do.

After everyone finished, (2 hours and 15 minutes up to 3 hours 30 minutes) we put everyone's name in a basket and gave away all of the donated prizes. We had prizes from Bagaboo, Clemente Cycles, La Supreme, MER, One Fixed, Spoke Punchers, Urban Hunter, Urban Velo, and Velocity Wheels. We also had a buffet with lots of hot food. Last year we had way to much food, and this year was no different.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the sponsors again. I’d also like to thank Gary and the rest of his family at Dan’s Bike Shop for hosting this event and for putting on the Wednesday Night Rides that inspire these events in Ionia.