It’s Only 200 Miles

It’s ONLY 200 miles… said no one ever!  200 miles on a bike in 20 hours is a lot for most people to comprehend.  Regardless of terrain, road surface or weather, 200 miles requires many things for a day to go right.  I’ve learned this the hard way.  I’ve had times where training was on point and other aspects weren’t.  I’ve had times where my nutrition was perfect, but physically I was untrained.  Riding 200 miles requires that you are prepared, trained, have your bike dialed in, have your nutrition dialed in… and have a bit of good luck on your side.  Then you have the 2024 Michigan Coast to Coast.  Coast to Coast is a 204 mile bike ride from Au Gres, Michigan on the shores of The Great Lake Huron to Ludington, Michigan on the shores of The Great Lake Michigan.  

The 2024 Coast to Coast was special, but before we get to the race day, let's talk about those other aspects of hopefully having a good day on the bike for 200 miles.

PREPARATION & TRAINING

In 2023 I was training for the Unbound XL, a 350 mile self-supported race through the Flint Hills of Emporia, Kansas.  I was ready for that race.  I had put in the miles, the training, the preparation and the knowledge of how to fuel my body by gas station food for these 350 miles.  Then 24.6 miles into that day a bolt holding my saddle onto my bike broke and my race was done.  If this was a supported race where my crew could meet me at a checkpoint, perhaps my race wouldn’t have been over.  Maybe I could have attempted to fight for miles with a saddle electrical taped on hoping the tape would hold over the rough terrain of the Flint Hills, but having ridden most of the miles in training I knew that was not likely, but also dangerous and I had already been lucky to not have a catastrophic crash when my saddle gave out on me all the sudden.

However, it was that moment that was the start of training for Coast 2 Coast.  I knew I wasn’t doing the XL in 2024.  I had made a promise to ride the 2024 Unbound 25 with my son instead so I needed another bike race of distance to keep my training focused and on target.  

Coast 2 Coast had always been on my list as an event I wanted to do.  From June 2023 - June 2024 my training stayed on target.  I focused, rode hard and pushed for each mile I could get.  An illness in mid-February and early May set me back a bit, but pushing through a 100 miler while recovering in May and another 100 the weekend after set me up both mentally and physically for what would lie ahead with 200 miles just 5 weeks away.

DIALING EVERYTHING IN

Getting my bike and my nutrition dialed are important.  My previous bike frame had broken in September 2023 and had been replaced with an updated version a few months later.  I had ridden some good miles on the new frame in training but I had yet to set the bike up with the bags I wanted set up for Coast 2 Coast.  I played with those a bit and figured it out the weekend I pre-rode the Unbound 100 course.  

Next I needed to dial in my tires.  Traditionally on my gravel bikes I had ridden 40’s or at most 42’s.  I had spoke to a few friends who had ridden Coast 2 Coast in the past who each told me to go with 45’s or wider.  I ended up choosing the Specialized Pathfinder Pro’s 700x47.  

As far as dialing my nutrition… ZERO concern there.  In fact I’ve had zero concern with nutrition for races since 2016 when I first started using Tailwind Nutrition.  Before using Tailwind I had taken a DNF in all but 2 of my races in 2015.  Most of those were 100 mile races.  I honestly wasn’t sure what the issue was.  Each race my gut was going sideways around mile 60 and after suffering for a bit, I’d quit.  The same thing happened at the Unbound (DK200) in 2016.  At mile 80 after feeling sick, I was ready to quit when I broke the rule of “no new things on race day”  A buddy gave me a bottle of Tailwind at mile 80.  Another two at the 100 mile checkpoint and my body was able to recover to finish my first 200 mile race.  Since then I’ve had ZERO DNF’s from nutrition and only two… one from that broken bike I talked about from above and the other from a broken body.

So my nutrition has been dialed.  It is the one thing I DON’T worry about heading into a race, because I’ve learned what works for me, and I know it works extremely well.

RACE DAY

I knew how the race was going to start… FAST.  Everyone said take advantage of the first 54 miles into checkpoint 1.  It’s flat. It’s fast.  I still planned for a worst case scenario and planned roughly 4 hours of fuel. I filled my top tank bag with sour skittles and nerd gummy clusters and filled 2 - 32oz bottles with water and 4 scoops of Grape Tailwind.  400 calories per bottle… 100g of carbs.  Everything I need.  The first 54 were indeed fast.  I found myself in a group with a friend from Emporia, Kansas who also traveled up to Michigan for the race along with about another 20 people.  We rolled into the 54 mile checkpoint around 3 hours.  I did not drink through both bottles entirely, but I also didn’t need to.  3 hours means 600 calories of tailwind for me… and whatever extra calories I happen to consume from snacks. 

My amazing wife was running support for me.  It's been a while since she has been able to do that and it was so smooth.  I’m not racing for podiums at most races, I’m just looking to compete against the course and myself.  However, coming into the first checkpoint at 17mph and feeling good I wanted to stick with the plan of getting in and out of the checkpoint FAST.  I rolled in, saw her immediately.  Dropped my empty bottle and half full bottle on the ground.  She swapped in two 32 oz bottles with 4 scoops of Dauwaltermelon in each.  Same plan as the first sections for section 2.  She also stuffed some pretzels in my mouth, because I love munching pretzels.

The next checkpoint was 49 miles.  It was supposed to be a hillier section than the first.  A few quick punchy hills confirmed that.  I had left the aid station solo after rolling in with 20+ riders and that was a bummer, but I quickly met up with a rider from Michigan, Stephanie who was super cool.  We helped each other through the coming miles as we linked up with more and more riders.  It was nice getting a decent little group together again, and then it happened.  The rain began.  80 miles in and what we had feared all week heading into the race was now happening.  Rain on its own, no big deal.  Rain on sandy roads in Michigan… yeah that’s a big deal.  

Within 10 miles my brakes were letting me know loudly that they weren’t going to be lasting much longer.  Through this onset of rain I lost a bit of my focus on fueling…  I realized that I made an effort from mile 90 - 104 (checkpoint 2) to drink as much as I possibly could.  I also texted my wife and told her I wanted her to make sure I drank anything left in my bottle before leaving checkpoint 2 along with a baggie of extra tailwind for the third leg of the race. 

100 miles in I was at 6 hours 30 minutes and was just over 6:45 by the time I hit the checkpoint (mile 103).  Physically I was feeling fantastic, my nutrition had been on point, but as I rolled into the checkpoint the bike was not fantastic, I had no brakes.  So it was time to put my foot down and Fred Flintstone it to a stop. I finished drinking bottle two while my wife swapped the bottles, taking the same approach as before.  2 - 32 oz bottles 4 scoops of Tailwind in each bottle (one mandarin, one berry).  She shoved some pretzels in my mouth again and gave me a 16 oz bottle of water for my jersey pocket.  The reason being everyone I spoke to said the 3rd leg was the hardest.  66 miles, hillier than any other part, and some very likely hike a bike.  There was a neutral sag station in the section so she also gave me 4 scoops of Tailwind (Dauwaltermelon) in a baggie for any refuel at the aid station.

I was pretty optimistic leaving the 2nd checkpoint.  The rain had died down as I rolled into the aid station and it seemed like it was going to stop.  However, about two miles into the third leg I pulled onto the gravel, and almost immediately it started pouring rain.  That's when it got bad.  Within a few miles I started a new trend for the day, dropping my chain from my chainring.  The first time, it almost ended my race as it took what seemed like 5 minutes to get the chain back on.  So much wet sand had packed into the chain and it was so tough to clean. I ended up using some of my fluid to try and help, along with the river that was flowing down the side of the road from the rain.  Unfortunately this kept happening.  Then a few miles later my shifting started failing.  The bike shifted when it wanted to, not when I was asking it to.  

Everything that seemed like it could go wrong was going wrong.   The bike was so inefficient, the roads were very soft.  Riding in wet sand isn't ideal, I just had one goal, forward movement.  The rain got intense, often making it hard to see the road ahead.  Braking was non-existent so instead of being able to bomb downhills and then slow at the bottom of them if needed (ones with stop signs or turns) I was having to put a foot down and roll them slowly.  Maybe not everyone would approach them this way… but I assure you everyone around me was having to.  You don’t want to blow through a stop sign that comes at a hwy crossing or slide out into a ditch because you’re attempting a turn at too high of a speed.  So things slowed down unfortunately for almost all riders.  Even the fastest of riders found the 3rd leg to be their slowest part of the day.

Thankfully in this leg I linked up with John.  I rode with John on the first leg, but never saw him on the second one.  He and I rode together as we approached Manistee National Forest.  This is when the race got crazy.  The first part of the forest  was the hardest rain we had experienced to this point.  I heard after the event that this portion of the course had around 4 inches of rain that day!!!

As we entered the forest this is when the full impacts of the rain were felt.  We had these puddles that covered the road.  Sometimes only an inch or two deep.  Sometimes feet deep.  Yes, FEET!  My bike was submerged more than once.  It was wild.  You would be riding along and all was good, then you would drop down a few feet.  Some weren’t ready… I mean how could you be.  

Forward movement.  This was key.  I approached the neutral aid station on this leg, filled up my bottles and tossed the baggie of tailwind my wife gave me in the one bottle.  Just 23 more mile of these forest swimming pools left until checkpoint 3.  It was slow, but IT WAS FUN.  I was having a blast.  The bike was already trashed, my body was good, so whatever, let's have fun.  And it was fun, and soon the clouds were separating and the sky was turning blue.  

There were a few scary spots through these miles without brakes, but gladly I made it through intact.  Not everyone did.  As I approached the third checkpoint I could see my whole family, wife, kids, parents had shown up to cheer me on.  The aid station was still a quick in and out.  I needed to keep moving.  I had a few miles of single track and 35 miles ahead to the finish..  Then my wife told me the good news… kidding.  She told me to get going, that the storms were an hour out.

So I rolled out.  I had two full 32 oz bottles of tailwind to go and more pretzels jammed in my mouth.  The single track was slow.  After the single track we were warned about the descents afterwards in the pre-race meeting.  I didn’t have brakes so I was very cautious downhill until a few people caught me and I kinda followed their pace and line.  That helped a bunch.  

As I’m rolling it's getting dark fast!!!  But sunset isn’t for an hour… then it's dark.  BOOM.  Lightning, rain, thunder!!! Over and over and over.  24 miles left and now I’m in a thunderstorm.  There had been very little lightning up to this point.  Nothing I saw, only thunder I heard rumbling in the distance.  But in 10 minutes I went from daylight to PITCH BLACK.  

I was just moving forward.  1 goal in mind.  Didn’t care how long it took.  I’m not the fastest, but I don’t like giving up.  So let's ride the lightning.  To be honest, it was scary at times, but then my buddy John pulled up alongside me and suggested we roll together the rest of the way.  Safety in numbers.  The rain was crazy.  The water was rising from the ditches as it was already saturated from the earlier rain.  Most of the gravel roads were covered from edge to edge in water.  At times it flowed down the road like a river.  The rain was so heavy as we navigated parts I wasn’t able to see John who was only 15-20 feet ahead of me.  I decided then to not follow, but ride next to him.  We kept going forward.  My bike shifting was non-existent.  I was single speeding at this point.  My chain went back to falling off.  It seemed like everything kept working against me, but we kept ticking off miles slowly.  Finally 4 miles from the finish we hit pavement.  YES!!!  So much easier to ride on, we weren’t being absorbed by wet sand roads anymore.  I took the lead as I had the only functioning headlight left.  We were there.  Pulling into Stearns Park in Ludington at Lake Michigan 204 miles of adventure after our start at Lake Huron that morning.  We rolled our bikes out to Lake Michigan, dipped the bikes in the water and then just went for a swim in the lake.  Why not?  We were soaked, and honestly the lake water was warmer than we were.  

It was done and it felt so good.  Just over 17 hours, but who cares how long it took.  It was an adventure, the best of kinds.  It wasn’t a vanilla 204 miles, it was packed with excitement the whole way.  Fast speeds for the first 100, keeping me on my toes, with endless varying conditions for the second 100.  It was great.

Nutrition wise I drank 7 ½ - 32 oz bottles of Tailwind over the 204 miles.  Each bottle with 4 scoops of tailwind.  So 3000 calories of tailwind.  750 grams of carbs.  I also ate approximately 8 handfuls of pretzels that were shoved in my mouth by my amazing wife at the checkpoints.  Lastly endless handfuls of sour skittles and nerd gummy clusters.  At the end of the wet race they were kind of blended as one in the top tube bag, but still provided a wonderful zing.  At the finish line I enjoyed a BBQ sandwich, perfect.  

Truthfully the whole experience probably ranks in my top 2-3 days on a bike.  It was a successful race of 204 miles, which should never be taken for granted,  filled with friends old and new, wild conditions and fun.  It will be a day I truly won’t forget anytime soon.  I’m thankful to have experienced it and as always I’m glad to have Tailwind help fuel me along the way.