Idyllwild Spring Challenge Race Recap w/ pics (Long)

[mtnbikerdude87]

I just raced the Idyllwild Spring Challenge and it was a great race. This would be my first time doing this race and also riding in Idyllwild so I didn't now what to expect. I headed up to Hurkey Creek late Saturday night so that I wouldn't have to rush up on Sunday. Sunday was race day and my class, sport, wouldn't start still 10:30 so we had plenty of time in the morning to warm up and prepare. As usual I did a couple warm up laps around the campsite to get my legs up to speed.

Camping at Hurkey Creek (btw we did feel the earthquake up there)


Lubing up the chain


Warming up


10:30 was coming up fast so we heading down to the start area which was in the group campsites. There were probably 30 racers there when we headed got there. 15 of them had already left early for the Open Sport race which ran on the same course as the experts, 27 mi. We got registered and rode around until the race. The announcer kept on saying that this would be a difficult race and that we needed to be prepared for it. The day before I had planned to run just two water bottles and some GU. I was hoping for the feed stations to help me out, was I wrong come the race. I had noticed that most of the riders were running camelbaks so I decided to go with the flow. I filled up my camelbak halfway with water and ran 4 packs of GU and a water bottle with some Gatorade. Now I have a feeling that this will be a long race. Being new to the sport class, this would be my second sport race and my second 19mi race, Sea Otter being the first. The announcer had also said that there would be several hike-a-bike sections, which I thought shouldn't be that bad. He also said the 3900 ft of climbing would be double of what to expect. With all of these warnings I knew that the course will take me some time, but I still didn't know what to expect.

Getting ready to start


Roll around to the Jr. Sport Mn 15-18 start and I discovered that I would be the only one racing in my class. "Good" I thought because now I don't have to focus on pushing myself hard but now my goal would be to complete the race with a reasonable time. They combined me with the Sport mn 19-30 for the start. 3..2..1 and we we're off. The first part of the race started off with a short gravel road that dumped us onto a paved road for about 1/2 mile. This would be a good warm up for the legs. After that we were on the trail that started off on another fire road and soon narrowed to a single track. There were very sandy spots and there would be sand throughout the course. Once on the single track it would be a short wile until we reached the first grueling hill climb, the Tunnel of Love. It was a rideable hill until the very last 500ft of it. It was too steep and people were already hiking up. After the Tunnel of Love, we dropped to a downhill dubbed Rage thru the Sage. A fast fire road that so rocky that it was a single track going down. After the fast downhill we went up another hill that reached the Keen Camp Summit. After that was a fast single track that would twist and turn for about 2 miles. We would soon reach a hill that would be our first feed zone, which is the cut off for the beg riders. By then I was low on water on my camelbak so I stopped to fill it up 3/4 of the way.

And we're off


I was soon on my way to do the toughest part of the sport loop, coldwater creek and southridge trail. Although it did drop us into a downhill into coldwater creek we would have to climb to the top which is where most of the elevation gained it at. The downhill into coldwater creek was nice and cool, but the water crossing was a challenge. It would dip into the stream and shoot you back up a steep part of the trail. Some areas I managed but others I lost my momentum and had to walk up. Now came the most grueling part of the sport race. The rest of the trail here until you reach the top was hike-a-bike and it wasn't going to be easy as I expected. There would be some spots where it would be too steep and sandy to climb up. Others would have huge boulders all around and the only way through was the narrow crack between rocks. There would be some sections where I would start riding and then I would be off again hiking. We did this for about 2 miles. Off and on was the pace most of the time. As soon as I reached the top of southridge trail I was gone. My legs were cramping up and I felt I could not go any further. I could see the feed zone ahead of me and I pushed up the last fire road for some energy. This felt like the longest uphill I have ever done. I got some food this really good pink fluid which I didnt know what it was but it helped.

The last leg of the race was mostly downhill but there were some easy hills but it felt like a steep climb on many of them since I was tired. The trail took us through some more of the alpine forest and it would end up into a fast downhill fire road. This would connect with another fire road until we would be back to the Rage thru the Sage downhill area. Instead of going down, we would now be climbing it. Going down was fun but going up was a challenge. By now I had ran out of gu and had very little fluids. Halfway up the hill I was trying to catch myself on a fall and stretched out my legs. My quads were cramping up badly. I had to stop for about 30 sec to stretch out before I could continue the climb. As soon I approached the top I could feel a sense of accomplishment that I had finished this far. All I had left was the downhill on the Tunnel of Love and a fast sprint back home. The downhill on the tunnel of love was very rideable and fun. I was back out onto the road and began my sprint back home. Every part in my body was saying to give up but I knew I had just a little more to go. I could see the end in sight and I just gave it all I got and I finished! An accomplishment that I would be happy of. I finished the 19 mi course in about 3.09.14. A pretty decent time for what I had to endure. Also my friend Brad did this race also. This was his first race and he did the beg course. He placed 2nd out of six guys in the beg mn 19-30 class. This was his first race.

Coming up to finish


Almost there!


Finished and tired with my buddy Brad who finished earlier


Podium shot


I thought this was a great race. It was fun to ride in the idyllwild area and have fun with everyone out there. This is one race ill probably do again and I'm probably going to head up to hurkey creek for some fun ride, maybe do the sport course again.

[imapodaddy]

Trung,

For this race to make you want to give up...then I know it was really tough! Great job! You're on you're way to become a pro in a few years!

RL

[mtnbikerdude87]

Originally Posted by imapodaddy

Trung,

For this race to make you want to give up...then I know it was really tough! Great job! You're on you're way to become a pro in a few years!

RL

haha yeah it was a tough yet fun course. thanks