Marji Gesick: Second Time Around, Still Pushing my Bike Up Hills

 

Intro:

I completed the 2021 Marji Gesick. It was hard. Immediately, I knew I had to do it again. On a Friday in October, I left work early, sat by the computer and snagged a registration. Clicked refresh, again, then a third time, and the bike event was sold out. Damn, that was quick. Either the event sold out in like 1 minute, or I have a really slow internet connection.

2022 Training:

In 2021, I directly trained for Marji, and it paid off with being a finisher. For 2022, I raced way too much and rode that fitness through Marji. 😁 Dem races:

• Melting Mann
• Barry Roubaix Psycho Killer
• XDirty 130
• Rogue 100
• Hart Hills
• Cone-Azalia
• Waterloo G&G
• Kranza Gravel Adventure
• Mohican 100 MTB
• Unbound Gravel XL
• CrusherMS 175
• Mohican Trippple 7: Go Big or Go Gnome (blog)
• Mclain Farm Gravel

The Starting Crew:

Substitute significant other 😂

The Race Start:

Run half mile, jump on bike, GO!

I started this race smarter. Paid attention to the signs, rode all the correct directions throughout Forestville and did not build up any extra mileage in the first 30 miles. The first half of the event is considered the easy half, but it isn't easy at all. The two track is all sand, littered with rocks and roots. The rainfall from the night before made the trails ridiculously slick. The tire slippage and hooking destroyed my legs in 20~25 miles. I had to get off the bike and push a few sections to give my legs relief, but by mile 25 I was already wrestling with cramping.

At mile 30, the suffer crew was lined up and I was able to quickly swap out a bottle and grab a couple more snacks. Damn I look old.

South Trails:

The south trails went a little better, except:

• Red trail - tagged a tree rolling 15-ish, kept it rubber side down
• Yellow trail - lost traction in a nasty rocky uphill and hit the rocks on my way down, at least it was slow

The eagle cassette kept the cramping at bay while climbing up Mt. Marquette and Zueg's.

First token/checkpoint:

Mt. Marquette:

Zueg's Climb:

Due West to Negaunee:

This section of the ride was actually easier than last year, the overnight rain really packed down the sand. 

Jackson Park Loop #1:

The suffer crew was there again. I got an ice cold monster energy, which was awesome. Refilled water, switched bottles, grabbed snacks and headed out.

Not very far from this point was the next checkpoint.

This loop had a fantastic downpour. Unfortunately, the cool down did not nearly make up for the sloppiness of the trail.

The loop is pretty simple, except for the 17,000 turns.

Jackson Park Loop #2:

Entering the last aid station, I was feeling way better. It was just before 7:30 pm, food was settling, fatigue wasn't as bad as earlier, and I was thinking with a little pressing, I could beat last year's time. The suffer crew was there again to give me a hand with the lights, water, an apple fritter and another ice cold monster.

Pic of dat suffer crew:

Dat ice cold monster:

Headed back out:

Before departing this stop, I reconciled that I was filthy and decided not to change kits. This was dumb, really dumb. A fresh kit and a 💩-my-pants amount of chamois butt'r would have done wonders for the last section. Last year I switched kits and felt great on the bike for the last few hours.

If you've done Marji once, you never forget that damn climb around 1 mile out from the park stop. I'm pretty sure there are as many turns on this one hill as there are in the first Jackson park loop.

I have no idea what the mileage was, but checkpoint #3:

Some where in the darkness, I came across the #blametodd checkpoint:

There was a #blamedanny checkpoint previous to this one, but I was laughing so hard I forgot to take a pic.

There are no free miles at Marji Gesick, and the last section after Jackson park damn well makes sure you don't forget it. I spent a ton of time walking the bike. IDK why, but I have a terrible time navigating the trail at night after riding for 13, 14, 15 hours. The resolution to this issue is pretty obvious; more caffeine. 😂

Last year, I felt like I became a pro at pushing my bike up hills. This year, I came to grips I'm just OK at pushing my bike up hills. 😞

Anyways, after a ton of hike-a-bike, I got to that final checkpoint on Jasper knob.

Surprisingly, it's all downhill from here:

Finish Line:

I was faster than last year by about 10 minutes. thousands of miles of training. 10 minutes. Though, the conditions last year were way better, so to match the time, I'm pretty stoked.

Those tokens:

How'd I do? 69. The thirteen year old in me is 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Rod Palmer. BAMF. I completed the 2020 polar roll, the 2020 CrusherEX fist, and the 2022 CrusherMS 175 with him. A broken collar bone kept him out of the 2021 Marji. On this day, Rod completed the 906 triple crown.

Outro:

There was a lot of times during that ride I said to myself, "I'm never doing this again." The Tuesday after Marji, I booked a site at Rippling River for next year. On 10/14, I'll be by the computer ready for the chaos of attempting to be a #registrationfinisher. With a little luck, I'll get a spot that night. I'm not nearly as worried about it this time around though, as plenty of transfers pop-up prior to the event.

Until next year, ✌