Rode the last 10 miles of the Ore to Shore MTB race this afternoon with Catherine. Very, very slowly. It is Catherine’s birthday today. Not a bad way to spend it. I’m under the weather still. Not sure what that is all about yet. I’m in unfamiliar territory with a tummy ache. Really haven’t eaten today. That probably isn’t good for tomorrow, but I know I’ll be light. The course is sandy, but seems pretty fast, even though we weren’t going that. More tomorrow.

Catherine on the beach on Lake Superior. I might try a little body surfing out tomorrow if I feel better. I’m sure that would be great for my shoulder.

Lunch.

I woke up this morning feeling really cruddy. I haven’t tried to eat breakfast yet, but sometimes had okay results before in similar circumstances, so I’ll just say I’m a huge question mark today for Ore to Shore. I know I’m not heavy for sure. Whatever happens, I’ve really enjoyed hanging out in the UP of Michigan the last couple days. It is really unique. With Lake Superior as a background, it has tons of scenic areas. The course has a lot of sandy areas. I was going to race on tubular tires, but I don’t have much time on them, so I’m sticking to to tubeless with latex. I know one thing, I’m going to need to catch up on a lot sleep the next couple days. I’ll post the results later.

Here is some stuff from the last couple days.

The sun doesn’t set until way after 9 pm here.

There are lots of dedications to the mining industry in the towns up here.

This truck is a lot bigger than the picture shows. The tires are probably 12 feet across to put it into perspective.

Even the Perkins in Marquette has a backwoods look.

There is a ton of sand on the 46 mile course. This is Catherine pre-riding yesterday.

This sign tells it all. You don’t see this much in Kansas. Last year’s winner, Brian Matter averaged nearly 20 mph.