Iceman In Her Veins: Budding cycling star Lyllie Sonnemann, 15, has grown up competing in the Iceman Cometh Challenge

Nov. 5—TRAVERSE CITY — A pasta party is customary for Lyllie Sonnemann and her family on Iceman Eve.

Loading up on delicious carbohydrates the night before the Iceman Cometh Challenge — a 30-mile, point-to-point bicycle race from Kalkaska to Traverse City — has become a tradition for the 15-year-old from Madison, Wisconsin, as well as her parents, her aunt and uncle, and her cousin.

A variety of pasta options is often available and can be topped with either a tomato sauce or her uncle's famous alfredo sauce. The crew likes to mix it up by sometimes adding squash or salmon or even a bit of mint to give the dish a fresh bite.

"It's really fun, and we all get really excited," Sonnemann said. "The next morning, everyone says 'good luck' to each other and goes their different ways. Then we meet each other at the finish line."

Sonnemann is quite familiar with northern Michigan as well as the Iceman finish line at the Timber Ridge Resort.

The budding cyclist star and Union Cycliste Internationale World Cup-hopeful has spent two weeks of each of her summers in Traverse City and then returned in the autumn for the Iceman and to take in the beautiful fall colors the scenery has to offer.

Sonneman's father grew up in Traverse City, and her grandparents as well as her aunt, uncle and cousin still live in the area.

"We always gather for a little family reunion in the summer," Sonnemann said.

And in the fall, they gather to race.

Sonneman started in 2014 in the Iceman's Sno-Cone race for riders 10 years old and younger. The Iceman icebreaker is anywhere from a quarter-mile to a mile-and-a-half course that weaves around Timber Ridge.

"They give everybody a medal. It's just like a participation medal, but it was still the coolest thing," Sonnemann said. "They're wood, and they have chain wrapped around them. They're so cool. I still have mine."

Sonnemann then progressed to the Slush Cup, which is described as a "shorter and more relaxed" race than the full 30-mile Iceman. The Slush Cup runs approximately 8 miles long, and is said to be "perfect for riders who have the desire to race and aren't quite ready to tackle the Iceman."

Sonnemann definitely had the desire to race at a young age.

In the 2016 Slush Cup, she finished in 15th place of the 10U division in 1 hour, 3 minutes and 29 seconds. In 2017, she improved her time by more than three-and-a-half minutes to finish ninth in the 10U division at 59:58.

Sonneman made her mark in 2018 when she won the Slush Cup 10U division and improved her time by a whopping 23 minutes and 45 seconds, taking the top spot on the podium at 36:13.7.

"It was just so cool because I got a bigger medal," Sonnemann said.

She jumped up to 11-12 division of the Slush Cup in 2019 and took fifth place at 40:45, but it was clear she was ready to take on the full course with every fiber of her being.

Unfortunately, she would have to wait two years before competing in the Iceman after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the event in 2020.

But it turned out to be well worth the wait as Sonneman won the Junior Women's Division with a time of 1 hour and 58 minutes flat, earning her a spot in the pro category and on the starting line in 2022.

That gave Sonnemann the opportunity to ride behind one of her idols, Savilia Blunk, who finished second in last year's Iceman by just one second to Alexis Skarda. Blunk is a two-time 2023 USA Cycling Cross Country Mountain Bike National champion and one of the best female cyclists in the nation.

"She was there in all her stars and stripes," Sonnemann said of seeing Blunk in 2022.

Sonnemann went up to Blunk before the race and asked her to sign her number plate, which Blunk happily did. And then the two went to the starting line.

"I lined up with the person who signed my plate," Sonnemann said. "That was pretty cool."

Sonnemann — at just 14 years old — went on to finish 13th in the Pro & Cat 1 Women's division with a time of 1:57:03.

Now, after Saturday's event, Sonneman has completed the full 30-mile Iceman course three times before her Sweet 16th birthday. She finished in ninth place on Saturday in the women's pro race, clocking in with a time of 1 hour and 55 minutes flat.

"I really love the Iceman because of the environment," she said. "There's so many cool people who are excited to be there and excited to race."

Those "cool people" often include a lot of her family members who take the opportunity Iceman provides to watch Sonnemann race.

"It's usually the one race a year they get to come and watch me," Sonnemann said. "When you're going up Icebreaker Hill, there's people lined up on the sidelines, and it's just a wall of noise. That's amazing."

Sonnemann looks forward to the Iceman every year, but she's added another version of cycling to her repertoire.

"I've been doing a lot of cyclocross this fall, and I have some more big things happening later in November and December," she said. "So I'm just coming to the Iceman to do my best, and I'll be happy with whatever that turns out to be."

Sonnemann is keeping those "big things" hush-hush for now, but it likely has to do with her primary focus — cyclocross.

Sonneman was 10 years old when she began doing cyclocross, which is a wild blend of road cycling, mountain biking and steeplechase in which cyclists dismount their bikes at certain points in the race to run up stairs and steep embankments on a closed-circuit course.

According to CrossResults.com, Sonnemann competed in 16 races in 2018 and won half of those races. In 2019, Sonnemann raced in 13 events and won five times. She raced in seven competitions and won six of them in 2020, coming in second in the other.

Sonnemann ramped it up in 2021, racing 30 times and winning an astonishing 17 times. She battled it out 29 times in 2022, racking up 17 wins and finishing in at least the top five every time.

This year marks the first time that Sonnemann is competing in the UCI, a global cyclocross competition. She has upped the competition she is facing to accumulate points during the 2023 season.

Sonnemann has raced 14 times so far and won twice along with 13 finishes in the top eight to tally points that could earn her a trip to a UCI World Cup race.

Cyclocross competitors from around the world come together for the UCI World Cup races. One just took place United States three weeks ago, but most others are in Europe.

Sonnemann has been focusing on getting enough points to earn that opportunity to go race in Europe before the end of the year. There are several UCI World Cups coming up, including in Antwerp, Belgium as well as Troyes, France and Dublin, Ireland before the end of 2023.

But Sonnemann is well aware of the physical and mental toll these endurance competitions take on a fully grown adult, let alone a 15-year-old.

That's why Sonnemann said it is important to "find that balance between cycling and your life outside of cycling."

"I was at a camp in Montana this summer, and one of the things we talked about was who are you outside of cycling," she said. "Because if you get injured or have to take time off the bike, you need to know what makes you you besides biking. That's an important thing for me when I'm not biking to still have things that I love to do."

So who is Sonnemann outside of cycling?

She's a passionate student who loves to play the piano. Oh, and she uses her downtime on another cycling passion — unicycling.

"I actually started unicycling competitively before I started biking competitively," Sonnemann said. "There's a local club in Madison called the Madison Unicyclists, and they're super awesome people. They're just super inclusive and want everyone to come try it out. It's a fun group to be with and try fun things, and it's been a cool part of my life."

Maybe Sonnemann could combine some of her passions one day.

"They should make a unicycle category for the Iceman," Sonnemann jokingly said. "I'd definitely compete in that."

Well, there's always next year.