Taming the Black Bear

Last year was my virgin experience at The Black Bear.

Things the Black Bear does NOT provide:
-A Large Prize Purse
-Glory and Fame
-A sizeable field containing many seasoned racers
-Chicks

Things the Black Bear DOES provide:
- A day of “no pressure” all out fun racing
- Obligatory Beer Drinking Preparation
- A chance to race with many friends and acquitences who are of different race categories
- A chance to race against canoes and HPV’s (human powered vehicles)

As soon as I finished this race last year, I could not wait until the next year I could race it, so we ventured up to Grayling again. This year, Luke Cavender had dreams and aspirations to win this race. I knew if the race came down to a filed sprint Luke could win it blind folded so I did my best to contain every break that went out the day to ensure we stayed together. The plan went exactly according to plan. Luke ended up with a “the big W” and I in fourth.

Last year we rolled the 100 mile race in a time of just over 3hr and 52min. My main goal this year was to beat this time. However, due to a head wind and some uncooperative riders in the field, we rolled in at 3 hr and 58 min.