Bicycle Voyageur

Last year I went up to cheer for Jeff and Rob at the Voyageur 50 mile race near Duluth. I had a great time running around on the gorgeous trails cheering and watching the race unfold. The aid stations at ultramarathons are their own fun little community with friends, spouses, and children ferrying around watching a race and waiting for their runner to come through before quickly packing up shop and hustling off to the next point. It is many of the same faces throughout the day, although who is at a particular station changes depending on how the runner they are there to support is doing. Since Rob was headed back up to run this race again I though it would be a fun way to get away for the weekend and get a good workout in. It was also a great way to see a 50 mile race in action to give me some ideas of what to expect at my 50 mile debut in a few weeks. (Just a quick note, this race was in late July, I'm not exactly up to date on my blog posting).

Nate decided to accompany Rob and I and do some spectating as well, so on Friday afternoon we loaded up our bikes and headed North. We stopped at Tobie's for supper, the same place I stopped with Jeff and Rob last year, and the hostess seated us at the exact same table as we were at. Rob and I got a good chuckle out of this. Then we finished the trip up to Duluth where we camped at the Indian Point campground. The campground was basically a big open field, and we were a bit worried about all the noisy kids running around, but like magic right around 11:00 everyone quieted down and we had no trouble getting to sleep.

The next morning was cool, but the day promised to get hot, and the humidity was already high. The race is an out and back that starts in the town of Carlton, runs through Jay Cooke state park, works it's way up and over Spirit Mountain, and turns around at the Duluth Zoo. Last year I had no idea where I was going and was lucky enough to run into my friend T-1000 (o.k. her actual name is Kara) who was there crewing for her friend Emily and she had maps and directions for navigating. I hadn't done much spectating for long races before, and while the course is obviously marked for the runners, there are no course markings for spectators or crew. This year I started doing some research a couple weeks before the race so I would know where to go. Then Rob mentioned that the course often runs parallel to the Willard Munger bike trail, and the plan quickly switched from driving to biking. This plan worked amazingly well! It was a great way to get around quickly and to really get to experience the area in a way that driving in a car just doesn't allow. Also since it at times took a bit longer to get from aid station to aid station there was a bit less waiting around.

Rob has a good formula for his races and he follows it well. He races nice and steady and doesn't often seem ruffled by anything. Nate and I cheered him along and gave him updates on how the rest of the race was playing out. We ran a couple short sections with him so we could get a few running miles in ourselves. Sure enough, as the day went on the weather got hot, into the upper 80's and quite muggy for a while. Luckily in the afternoon the humidity started to drop and conditions got a bit more bearable.

Rob hit the turn around in about 4 1/2 hours, looking good for hitting his goal of 10 hours. The way back was much hotter than the way out though, and the heat and mileage took it's toll. He ended up finishing in 10:18, still a pretty respectable time. Rob is running the 100 mile race at Superior, where I am running my 50, so this was a good tuneup day for him. I pushed Nate pretty hard on some of the biking sections of the day, so he was almost as tired as Rob by the end of the day I think.