CrusherEX 2020
CrusherEX 2020
35 hours with my Bike and a friend on an Adventure
My CrusherEx story started on 5/1/2020 when I received a call from the director of pain himself. This is when all races were cancelling, I was working from home, and the future of racing was looking bleak. Todd asked me about changing the format to a self supported adventure instead of a mass start. I thought it was a great idea but I was nervous about support and finding someone to ride with. I honestly didn't think it would workout but I wasn't sure. Soon after the call Todd came out with the CrusherEx and after thinking about it more I thought it was probably the only adventure that would be safe to do in our current state. Roseann signed up for the 100 on the original race weekend and since we could do the race on any date I planned to be her partner for the 100. You can read more about the 100 here from her perspective: https://roseannsadventures.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-2020-crusher-100-this-is-not.html
Roseann and I did the 100 on 7/17/2020 and I learned a lot about the course. I had a goal to get through the first 5 miles in 2 hours or less during the 225. I learned that I didn't have to filter the water out of the pipe and just more about the overall route. I chose a partner to conquer the 247 mile Crusher name Nate Burks. This guy is the Toledo gravel cyclist so he is over qualified for enhanced gravel! Nate did the 225 Crusher in 2019 and finished 1 hour behind me. The most important part about Nate is he is positive and goes with the flow. When you do an adventure like this with someone else you need positivity and teamwork. I was really happy Nate was interested in doing the ride with me. We settled on doing the ride on 8/1/2020. Keep in mind I did Matt Ackers More ride on 7/3-7/10 with my good friend Jim Sarks.
Summary of gear below.
- 2 Nite Rider Micro 850 lights that go on my helmet. I swap them throughout the night
- Garmin Inreach (tracks me)
- Lezyne 1100i Light for my bars with 2 batteries.
- Rain Coat, Thermal Vest, Knee Warmers, Cap, Long Finger gloves, Normal cycling clothes
- Charging bricks with cables (2 always be redundant)
- Sawyer Squeeze with bags and quick connect for bladder fill
- Emergency Blanket
- Snorkel
- Tools (multitool, dynaplug, valve stems, brake pads, chain links, about everything I could think of.)
- Bug spray, Bug net, butt butter.
- First Aid kit
- Pack with Bladder
Some lucky people for the Crusher had support crews. However Nate and I were going into the darkness alone so we had to pack everything that was required. I included around 6,800 calories at the start. This consisted of:
- 6 Honey Stinger Waffles (900 Calories)
- 2 Honey Stinger Bars (400 Calories)
- 2 Cliff Bars (570 Calories)
- 12 Servings of Infinit (3600 Calories)
- Kroger Trailmix (900 Calories)
- Kroger Beef Jerkey (480 Calories)
I drove to Gaylord on Thursday after work and stayed at a hotel. I was lucky enough to get about 10 hours of sleep and I feel that set me up for success. I had some breakfast and drove straight to Forestville Campground. I setup the tent and setup all the packs on my bike. I was looking at the time and was happy that I was ready for a test ride at 4pm.
I was just about to leave and Nate Burks showed up at camp. I let him get situated and I took off on a short ride. I rode to where the singletrack starts at Hogback and a little down the gravel road off forestville. I met two dogs that were surprised to see me and had a good warmup of enhanced terrain.
This was my third Crusher / HAMR ride so I wanted all the luck I could get. I went to Jimmy Johns for dinner because I ate that before HAMR in 2018. Back at camp Nate and I made sure all our stuff was ready to go. We decided that he would carry the water filter and I would bring the snorkel. The campsite was bumping by this time and we met another group doing the Crusher. We learned that more were leaving right at 6am. I went through exactly what I was going to do in the morning. I put my ear plugs in and we actually got some sleep.
The alarm went off and everything went to plan in the morning. Nate and I were at the parking lot before 6am and started at about 5:50am. I told Nate a detailed description of how hard Hogback was to pass. We took off and got through the singletrack pretty easy. The Hogback hike was slow going but I felt we were moving well. We were lucky to run into some ultra runners that helped us get the bikes up the first wall. Before I knew it we were on the summit taking pictures.
Going up
Going down and the technical sections
Railroad Ties
Nate and I did well getting down Hogback and through the technical section. The next part was called Top of the world and Nate grabbed a good picture of us on it.
The next checkpoint was around mile 33 where we could fill up water. We took a break, got our selfies and tasted that sweet H20.
Photo from the 100 but it was too good not to post :)
Soon after we were at the Snowplow at mile 39. By this point I had my first mechanical. I noticed my foot was angled heel side out. This was starting to cause some knee pain. I took the opportunity to fix my cleat. Nate managed to get a action shot! I ended up adjusting the cleat three times during the race. It seemed to be related to my tension on my right pedal being set too tight.
Mt. Arvon was the next checkpoint at mile 76 and I have to say it was pretty easy summit this year. We were lucky that it was dry and not a river like 2018. Since it was my third time up I took a venture to see the view. It wasn't as good as I hoped but I did see it!
Mt. Arvon View
Mouth of the Huron followed at mile 110. I was a bit frustrated at the route because the loop to get to the Huron was all extra milage. Nate and I stopped at a church to get water and if we would have turned left instead of right it would have saved about 40 miles. However the Crusher is not the fastest route, its the scenic route! The Huron mount was by far the prettiest checkpoint. Here is a picture of me approaching the crossing. The water was up to my waste and felt great. Nate and I washed off a bit and were happy to find some neutral support. I had a Coke, changed socks, and setup my lights. The next stop was L'anse our resupply. The last gas station closed at 12am so our goal was to get there before then :).
Leaving Mouth of the Huron had us pass a lot of nice tent camping. At this point we were well into the ride (16 hours) and it did sound nice to go take a nap in a tent. However we had to Crush and make it to L'anse before closing time. Nate and I took pulls and enjoyed the almost 30 miles of pavement. It was dark for the majority of the pavement portion. Rolling into L'anse was interesting because of all the house parties going on around 10:45pm. I heard people saying "HEY GET A JOB" and just screaming at Nate and I because they must know we were crushing!
We arrived at L'anse at 11:15pm. The Holiday gas station was open and it was time to feast. I picked up cool ranch Doritos, Cinnamon Crunch Bar, Rice crispy treat bar, Beef Sticks, Apple, Italian sub, gallon of water, Spicy trail mix, and a Starbucks Double-Shot with Milk. Nate and I sat down and ate at the patio they had. I believe we stayed there for about an hour. Nate was tired by this point and he took a power nap at the table. Around 12:15am we departed onto the outhouse.
Enjoying my late dinner!
Nate enjoying the pain from the day.
I checked the weather while in L'anse and learned we may be getting wet. Both our stomachs were not happy about the stupid Starbucks double shot with milk. Big mistake, I should never drink milk on a ride. Anyways it subsided after an hour of slow pedaling up damn hills and hills. Only a crazy race director would route you almost back up Mt. Arvon when you just ate a ton of food!!! By 2:30am it started raining and increased in intensity. I put my rain coat on and we pressed on to the outhouse. When we arrived at the outhouse at about 4:00am it was chilly and raining like crazy. We decided to take a break in the outhouse which looks like the Hilton in the McCormick wilderness.
At the outhouse we had no cell service. I figured since I had the Garmin Inreach I would ask for a weather report to see if the rain was going to let up. Nate fell asleep waiting for the report. He was on the toilet and almost fell off, it was kind of comical. After that he knew it was time for some instant coffee. I am being honest all I had was the caffeine equal to about 4 cups of coffee all night. I really think weaning yourself off caffeine 2 weeks before a long race helps and getting solid sleep. 3 days before the race I was having 8oz of coffee, the smallest coffee cup I had. The weather report came and thankfully it said 100% chance of heavy rain for the next hour :(. Nate and I had no choice but to saddle up and take off. I put on all the clothes I had and so did Nate. We took off on a rough pavement road but warmed up nicely.
Weather report beaming in from space.
The second to last checkpoint was Yellow Dog River. The sky became light again on the way there but the rain was off and on. It was still chilly but we were fine if we kept moving. I started to notice that my Garmin Edge was not responding to touch that well. I believe this was because everything was wet. Anyways when we arrived at the Yellowdog river there were actually some kind souls setup for us. They fed us some little hot dogs and watched me change my rear brake pads. It felt good to be able to stop the rear wheel again and we took off to Mosquito Gulch. Never forget though, the Crusher is watching you.
Mosquito gulch was pretty bad because of all the rain so I walked most of it and my stupid cleat was still pissing me off. I had a nervous breakdown soon after because my Garmin would not respond to the touchscreen. It was stuck on the upcoming climbs screen. I could not see the route anymore. Everything was wet by this point. Thankfully I ran into Nate and had tire tracks to follow. The Garmin did tell me if I was off course so all was not lost. I like seeing the route at all times though. The last checkpoint was Chunky summit. Around 10 miles to go we see Lisa Thompson pull up and offered us a special drink. I passed on the drink and Nate took one. I turn my head and see Todd P pull up in the Crusher truck wondering what was taking us so long. I told him he has outdid himself and this race is nuts. By this point Nate and I knew the end was near and we just wanted to make it in before 36 hours. It was nice to see my main man TP. That man has my utmost respect for all he does for kids and adult adventurers alike. Matt Beardsley I love you too. Nate was all smiles at this point.
The road after the pavement ends is washboard city that leads to the snowmobile trail. When I did the 100 with Roseann it was dry and washboard. This time it was washboard or mud. It was rough and slow going. Pavement starts about 1 mile before the snowmobile trail. We hit the trail and Nate took off like a bear was chasing him. I was could not believe my eyes. This was the fastest I saw him go on doubletrack the whole race. I thought well I should have drank that special drink! I tried to catch up to Nate but crashed hard twice and figured to just take it easy hoping I didn't get lost. After a while I saw Nate by the sign and we got our pictures. The next part was uneventful we just cruised down the ski trail and finished. I rode right to my car and turned it on. I put a blanket down in my car and just stripped. I warmed up quickly in the car and was relaxing when Lisa comes up asking how I was doing. I was just naked under a blanket, it was a funny moment. She was nice enough to make sure we could get warm. Nate was having some bad experiences by this point. We noticed that his rain-fly was open all day so his tent was all wet. Then he locked his keys in his car. Rough ending to a race. Nate and I split a hotel in Marquette and it worked out. Jets pizza was awesome after the Crusher!
My 2013 Cannondale Scalpel bike carnage waiting for Thai food after getting back home. It has been through 3 Crushers and survived each one. It needed new brake pads, chain rings, and front derailleur. I also gave it a thorough cleaning taking everything off.
What is old is new again!
Great write up!!
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