Melting Mann was the 2nd race of the Michigan Gravel Series, and was scheduled for March 23rd, 2019. The race begins and ends in Vandalia, Michigan, and travels through Newburg, Penn, and Marcellus Townships in Cass County. The ride gets its name from the challenging Mann Road, a seasonal road that is closed to automobile traffic in the winter months, and is not maintained like the other county roads. Mann Road boasts that it turns “bikers into hikers”, with its challenging, sandy hills which roll through a heavily wooded area. The road can be covered with rocks, limbs, leaves, pot holes, or snow and ice. The Melting Mann course is extremely challenging in general, as the course rolls through low, swampy areas which flood and freeze in the winter months, then thaw and become thick mud in the wet spring. Since the race is held each year at the very beginning of spring, one never knows what to expect with the road conditions. Below is a picture of a rider in one of the low lying areas. I’ve only ridden Melting Mann once before in 2017, and the conditions were similar. I admit this is my least favorite race of the gravel series. Both Waterloo and Melting Mann are held so early in the season that you never know what to expect with road or weather conditions, but Melting Mann is much more challenging with 600 more feet of climbing, and more difficult hills.
Marc had signed up for the 60 mile race, and I had signed up for the 36 mile race as I was doing the short series. Marc’s wave was to start at 9:00 am and mine was to start at 10:00 am, which meant that I would be waiting for an hour in the cold. I don’t think the race promoters thought that one through; riders often come together, and they don’t all do the same race. Most races will have start difference between waves of 10 or 15 minutes. It was predicted to be in the 20’s and 30’s on March 23rd, and the weatherman couldn’t have gotten the weather more correct! It was 22 degrees when we arrived in Vandalia. We picked up our packets and got our bikes ready, then did a quick warm up. After Marc’s wave left, I opted to stay in the car. By 9:40 it was still about 25 degrees, and I reluctantly left the car to warm up again. I rode for about 4 miles, then decided to go and line up for the wave start. My Instagram/Strava friend Jason stood next to me while his wife Molly took a photo.
Jason and I lined up near the front of the wave, in an attempt to stay with the lead group for at least a while. The announcer began counting down, and we were off. I saw two female fat bikers in front of me; a tall, thin blonde woman who looked about 40, and a young girl who looked to be in her early 20’s. I kept both of these girls in my sight until about 10 miles in. Then the tall girl slipped past me, and try as I might I couldn’t catch her. The young girl and I went back and forth for a while, until she too slipped out of sight. The roads were dry and were extremely hard packed. This was nothing like the course I remembered, and I was surprised at how fast we were riding. I decided to stand up and power up every hill, as I was pretty sure I was in third place as I hadn’t seen anyone else on a fat bike pass me. The low lying areas were a little bit soft, but they were dried out and weren’t muddy like years past. The swamps were still eerily frozen.
It was on Mann Road that I first got a cramp in my right quadricep while trying to grind up a sandy hill. Mann Road was sandy and extremely hilly, but thankfully it was clear of trees and limbs this year. It looked as if someone had been through the area with a chainsaw from the remains of the cut branches and trees at the side of the road. When the pain hit, I immediately sat down, switched to an extremely low gear, and tried to spin out of the cramp. Thankfully it worked. I then took 2 or 3 drinks of my Camelbak in the event the cramp was from lack of hydration. This would continue for the rest of the race. I couldn’t power up hills any more, and instead had to spin up them seated.
Shortly after turning off of Mann Road, I saw another very large woman pass me on a fat bike. She and a man (who I assumed was her husband) were wearing matching orange and black jerseys. She passed by me so fast I assumed she was with the group doing the 24 mile course. I reasoned that if she was that fast she would’ve passed me long before now. I still thought I was in 3rd place, but if she was with the 36 milers that meant I was in 4th.
About two or three miles from the finish line I spotted the tall woman on the fat bike in front of me. I hadn’t seen her for the past 20 or so miles, and I was surprised I had caught up to her. I decided to stand up and ride as hard as I could to possibly catch her. My cramps had been coming off an on, but they were off as I stood up to pass her on one of the last hills. She yelled “Grind it out!” as I passed. It wasn’t more than a mile or so from the final sprint, and she never caught up to me. As I sprinted across the finish line, I thought that I had possibly gotten 2nd or 3rd place. I had never ridden a course as tough as Melthing Mann harder, and my legs were toast. It turned out that I had gotten 5th place, as I had apparently never seen the women in 1st and 2nd place. I did, however, end up at 1.8 mph faster than I had ridden the race two years ago. My time was about the same as my time at Waterloo, which was a much easier course. So I was happy with the results even though I had not placed.
The funniest part of the race was when I met up with my friend Kelly at the after party. She had never raced gravel before, and she had been a reluctant participant. When I saw her I said “How did you do?” She said “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry, but gravel just isn’t my thing!” Well, it may not be her thing, but it turned out she had gotten 3rd place in the 24 mile race. On her first race! Our friend Austin got 3rd place in his age group on the 24 mile race, and he proudly stood on the podium with his 6-year-old son Levi on his shoulders. The young girl who passed me about 10 miles in had ended up getting 3rd place in the 36 miler. After the podium ceremony she came up to me and said she had been admiring the rims on my bike when we had been going back and forth, and she said she knew I was a serious rider by the looks of my bike. So Marc my mechanic gets a special shout out for that. When I told him what she said he said “I build you good stuff”. All in all, it was a great day on the bike, and I earned points for the gravel series. And even though Melting Mann is not my favorite race, they do know how to throw an after party, complete with food, drinks, warming fire pits, raffles, and a Yeti!
