Race Report 2011 Vision Quest/Counting Coup reports

Yesterday was my first VQ; I finished in 9 hours and 46 minutes. As much as I love SSing, VQ makes a great case for a geared bike. I definitely bit off a bit more than I could chew with a 27lb FS/SS bike, but was simply glad that I finished.

I had to talk myself out of throwing in the towel at every aid station and check point, but am glad I kept going. My 6th period students made me a Good Luck card, and I couldn't imagine going to work Monday and telling them I registered my first DNF.

Krunner, you are an animal, my dear. It's a damn shame that a rogue branch got in your way. You were sitting & spinning on your SS in sections that I was either up and hammering or simply walking. Next year!

The support was amazing, as always. The WS has this down. Great job--thanks for giving all of us a chance to push ourselves. I would not have finished without that WHT burger. Yesterday was my slowest trip ever down Trabuco; I was struggling mentally. My brain would find the right line, then I'd point my front tire 3" to the side. How I didn't eat dirt on the way down is beyond me; I don't think I've ever been more out of it while riding.

I loved the creek finish. That little bit of cold water splashing up on me when I knew that my wife, Waldo, and El Pollo Loco were waiting for me was the perfect end.

Congrats to everyone that came out.

 

My third Pow Wow, 2nd as a bystander. I had a choice, sell my VQ spot or cut back on studying and possibly fail classes this semester. Even in the light of knowing how crappy WHT is I had to really think about what to do. The Pow Wow is just so damn cool, even if your not racing.

So cool to see the leaders come through the first check point, what a dedicated bunch. Got to drool over all the rad bikes and see a few STR folk out there (nice to finally meet you Bob!). The first leg saw a lot of blood and broken bikes this year. Seemed like way more than years past.

Big thanks to all the warriors and everyone else involved who make this happen. Supper huge thanks to Mike, Laura, and Rob for helping out Kimmi. And Dan for delivering the news to me at the bottom of HJ.

See you out there next year!

 

Details are coming back after a night's sleep, some coffee this morning, and pretty much endless snacking every 15 minutes.

I completed my first VQ and on a SS. This is something I've wanted to do a for a long time. Starting last year, I began getting in shape and losing weight. Lots of dieting and long rides on the SS. I stuck with it in hopes of being able to do VQ. I lost over 50lb.

I met krunner (glad you're okay!) and xcshane at the starting line. Also saw Mike. We had some nice pre-race chats while waiting for the inevitable count down. The start came and off we went through the gate up Blackstar. I was feeling pretty relaxed and didn't let the nerves get to me. I tried to find a pace to settle into but it was a little hard with the amount of riders. It was a little interesting at times passing riders due to the singletrack type sections. I was getting a little worried that I was passing anyone because I didn't want to over do it so early on. I made it to the gate and was still feeling pretty good. There was a pack of us going down Motorway, but thankfully it was pretty uneventful. Got to aid station #1 with a personal best time which gave me confidence. Thanks to Warriors for throwing some lube on my chain.

Heading up the paved portion of Maple Springs was a little painful. The paved portion felt so long and all I could do was look forward to the dirt. Thanks to the guys with the blow horn and bells on the dirt section. You guys had a lot of energy. Thanks for all the cheers! The flies were pretty annoying on MS but they could have been worse. Made it to Four Corners in good time. Then I got swarmed by the flies while trying to refuel. Those buggers are ruthless! Thankfully there was a nice breeze up to Modjeska Peak which I found helps with the flies.

I must have started slowing down or got comfortable with my times while heading up to the peak. I was going to pay for it later. I reached UHJ and was hoping to recover with some downhill. It was my first time on UHJ and was surprised how technical it was. It could have also caught me off guard because I was tired and didn't know what to expect. I reached LHJ where Keith was. He said the time was 11:25am. It took a few seconds to sink in. Then I was like, holy crap!. I need to get to aid station #2 quick! I started bombing down HJ faster than I ever have. Thankfully I only had to pass a few hikers. I reached the stream crossings and charged through them not caring that I was getting drenched from head to toe. The cool water actually felt nice. Thanks to the CC riders for giving way to my frantic pace coming through. I made it to aid station #2 before the cut off time! Thanks to the volunteer for filling up my water bottle so quickly.

I now needed to get WHT in roughly 45 minutes. This is where the misery set in. I was so drained trying to get down HJ that my body didn't have much left. Also, my rear tire started spewing air via a hole right before the gate! I thought I was done. My heart sank. I pinched the tread with my fingers hoping the Stans would seal it. It eventually did but not before quite a bit of air escaped. I had to keep moving. Thanks to the VQers coming down Trabuco that gave cheers to keep going and to remind me I was almost there and could make it! It really helped to keep pushing forward when all my body wanted to do was stop. I made it to WHT before the cut off time!

WHT was murder. The worst part was the bees. They swarmed the whole time and did not stop until the sandy section at the top. The bees did keep us moving though. The crew at the top was such a beautiful site. Thanks to Warriors for filling up my water bottles and giving words of encouragement. Also, thanks to the sweep on WHT for being so cool and encouraging! You eliminated so much stress with your words of encouragement.

I left the top of WHT to work my way to Trabuco. That's when my legs started going into spasms. My leg muscles were going crazy. I had to peddle with one leg for a bit. Thankfully I didn't cramp, but those spasms hurt. I reached Trabuco and started to realize I was going to finish this thing. Emotions started going through me. I jammed down Trabuco and waved to aid station #2 while going by. I reached the final creek crossing by the bridge and was wondering if this was some sort of right of passage test. It was still fun. Gene's face at the street crossing was a welcoming site and the congratulations were appreciated.

My wife was waiting for me at the finish line. I rolled in and got my VQ feather!

Thanks to Warriors and all the volunteers. Thanks to Tani at The Path for hooking me up with an amazing bike that I love to ride. Thanks to Chivo, Teague, and the Techs at The Path for dialing in my bike before VQ. Thanks to my wife for being there when I crossed the finish line and being proud of my accomplishment.

 

What an amazing event! I was part of the "support" for my husband's first CC and I'm exhausted! The Trail Angels had a support station at the bottom of Motorway where we refilled bottles, put air in tires, exchanged empty wrappers for fresh food and of course morale support.
Looks like Motorway took it's toll on quite a few tires; I think we saw at least 4 people come through the gate with flats.
At the finish line, the enthusiasm from the crowd was superb. Lots of cheering, cow bells ("more cow bell please"), and good organization from the WS. Sherry is good with the microphone and kept everyone posted on who was coming across the finish line next.
Not sure if doing this ride is my cup of tea but I'll happily lend my support for future events.

 

I completely forgot about that. That was the highlight of the day.

There I was, chipping away at Maple Springs, glad to finally be on the dirt. At the first dirt turn, there was a group of *EXCEEDINGLY* energetic guys with vuvuzelas, cow bells, and impressive lung capacities.

One of the guys starts trotting along beside me screaming, "YEAH, YEAH, SINGLE SPEEDER!"

Awesome. Not sure who they were or if they are STRers, but I--and everyone--appreciated the cheers.

 

Rookie CC Ride Report

The Good:
My better half, H2oChick to train with and for support.
Oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies. Should have brought more.
Perfect weather.
The sunrise on Main Divide.
The guy in the green shirt on Maple Springs with the cow bell and crew blowing horns.:bang:
Being happy about my finish time.
Warriors and volunteers.

The Bad:
Stressing over the thought of failure.
Washing out and crashing right in front of Eric. Yes he got it.#-o
Swarms of bugs that sometimes bite. Might look into a net.
Not having my nutrition nailed down.

Overall:
Definitely the most difficult but also most rewarding physical event I've ever participated in. I remained in a state of altered consciousness during and after the ride and I don't think I've ever been more thrilled.
The Warriors and volunteers are awesome. I mean really, they spend ALL DAY there and some in a swarm of bugs. Huge thanks to them and my friends who gave me sage advice.
Now it's time for more food and another look at my feather.

 

Well after the last 3yrs of doing either the traverse (2008 heat fest) or the counting coup I decided that this year would be about the VQ. From the moment the CC ended last year I started a regime to get me ready for this years event. I lost 30lbs along the way, got stronger in my core, and the rides I did where actually longer and consisted of more climbing. Also I made sure that the day before the race I wouldn't be running around still finishing up everything at 11PM. I was done by 9:30, and actually got a good night sleep (5hrs)

My only real issue was when I got in line for the wrist band I realized that I had dropped my gloves somewhere on the road before the start, and I ended up doing the entire ride without gloves(palms are little sore today). I ended up near the back of the pack at the start, but was able to make my way through a lot of the congestion and hit my time goal at Beeks and to the bottom of the MW(2:20). With the help of the support team (thanks Matt) I was off and running towards the peak and then like clockwork the pavement hit me like a sledgehammer. Took me 35 minutes to get to the dirt, and I soon realized that the dirt wasn't going to make me any faster.

Thanks for the pit crew at 4C's the oranges, & water definitely paid off. This was my first WS event without a camelback and at times I felt like I was rationing my fluids and I'm not 100% sure that was a good thing. Off to the peak I went and crested at 10:15. I thought the cutoff at lhj was 11:30, so for the first time I was worried about not making it. I hauled butt at that point and rolled into our support team at 11:00 on the dot. A little more fluids, chain lube, and once again off I went.

At that point I thought I could still break my goal of sub 8 hours, and I felt that way until I reached the trabuco singletrack heading towards wht. Just like the pavement, this trail hit me with another sledge hammer and it took me close to 1 hour to reach wht. At that point I knew I was cooked in terms of my goal, but I also knew I would finish. 51 minutes later I had a hamburger in one hand and a cup of cytomax in the other and was feeling significantly better now knowing it was all down hill from here.

By the time I got to the trabuco singletrack my hands(still no gloves) had finally started to revolt against me, and the ride down the singletrack was a definite adventure. No crashes, but my grip was so loose that I was all over the trail. Reached the bottom, and realized that I could still get to the finish in under 9 hours, so I rode like I just started, and was muddy mess at the end, but crossing over the line and seeing 8:42 across the ticker was a tremendous feeling. The WS as always puts on a great event, and all of the support and encouragement is emotionally overwhelming at times.

I was asked yesterday which is more difficult the Traverse or the VQ, and before yesterday I would have said the Traverse all day long, but having to make the left hand turn at the bottom of HJ might have been the toughest thing I have ever done in sports. Great job to all those that participated in yesterday's rides.

 

This event gets better every year. Big thanks to the Warrior's Society and all the volunteers for making it possible. :clap: I couldn't have asked for a better day to ride: spectacular sunrise, great weather and a surprise ending.\\/
Congrats to all the finishers, great ride reports.:bang:

 

Exactly I was really struggling there and wanted to stop but couldn't because it was waaaaayyyy too loud in a good way and I too got the Personal Single Speeder escort ...very cool.

 

My account of this year's Pow Wow. Being a WS member, I got to start at 4:30am to recon Black Star with another WS member Vickie for any serious issues that may cause riders problems. The only thing I saw was that markers and warning flags Warrior Member Matt aka ocrider(Soaring Falcon) put out on Friday was removed and thrown about. Gee, wonder who did that??

With no serious problems, I went on to try and stave off the elite riders like Tinker, Manny and others. I made it to Beek's in about 58 mins. Too fast for my liking. I'm usually conservative to Beek's, more like 1:05, then turn it on the MD to make Maple Springs in 2hrs or so.

I knew the sun wouldn't be up for a while so I used a better light than just the commuter light I've used in previous VQ's. Riding pretty much the whole MD in total darkness has it's moments. I kept looking at the time to see if I could see the stream of lights coming, but never did. When I reached Pleasants, I looked back to see faint lights coming through the layer of fog below. It was about 5:45 at that time and the front runners were already in coming up from Hidden Ranch!

The sun started to come up. I took a few pics, but they didn't come out to well. I waited and rode on till I got to this moment:


Since I missed out on the start with everyone which is always fun to meet and greet friends and other riders and is always a good rush as others will tell you, I played a game and I wanted to see how far I can get before getting reeled in by the pros.

I knew I could probably reach Maple Springs before they would catch me, but it wasn't my day. After Pleasant's Peak, my right IT band started to tighten. The same one I had issues with a couple years back. I couldn't put any pressure on it while hammering so I ended up backing off my pace. It was painful to pedal or to even walk at times. I knew then my Vision Quest was over.

Right after the start of the climb following Eagle Rd, Tinker caught me.


Manny only seconds behind Tinker, too fast for my camera


The 3rd rider was Ben Bostrom


I continued on till the last up just before the MW. I kept looking back and saw other riders coming so I put my bike off the side of the trail and took some pics.

Dana Weber in 4th



Doug Andrews was in 5th at this point.


...., then Gerry Cody


Once I got to the MW, I hung out with Warriors Matt & Josh and the Radio operator Sean for a bit and took more pics.

Mario aka MP3 1st Counting Coup rider to reach MW.


Several more riders coming up:
Oliver Hutchinson


Daniel Munoz


Tim Zandbegen




Jason Rusnak aka Rushak!


Eric Brostrom


After about 12 or so riders, I saw a small gap so I headed down the MW myself. As I made my way down, I saw 5 riders pulled off to the side with flats. I asked if they were ok, they all said ya. I came up on #66, Ben Bostrom, who was 3rd on the MD. He yelled that he needed a tire lever. I stopped and gave him mine and helped him put his tire back on before continuing down. His knee was bloodied from crashing and I found out later he got another flat on the MW. Not sure if he finished, but props for continuing on.

 

I got to the bottom to be greeted by many. Seems they moved the aid station up the road a bit. The Trail Angel had there station set up and many riders were stopping there. I went up to tell the actual aid station that all the water was down there and Debbie Brown had her truck so we loaded it to bring it up the road.

Thanks to Jacke, Kay and the other ladies there helping us load the truck.


I hung out there a bit longer to point riders towards the aid station before hitching a rider back to my truck parked at Black Star.

Once I got to O'Neill and since I was no longer riding, I was available to help out. Sherry asked me to help with picking up the food from El Pollo Loco. Then after, I was asked to relieve WS members Preston and Angelika who have been the crossing guards all morning.

Being there was pretty interesting. I had a few people give me their thoughts about the creek crossing. Most were just happy to be almost done, but there were a few who simply hated it. Oh well, guess they won't be doing the VQ or CC next year huh?

Overall I think most were so stoked to finish whether it was their 1st or 4th time. I snapped few and then saw JSD coming up. He didn't say much, but I'm sure he'll add to this thread soon about his 1st experience. Congrats on your 1st CC finish. See you next year now that you have the bug.


Some other shots I took.


Jay aka jbh65


Trail Angel Terri on her CC on single speed. :bang:


Warrior Erik B.


Another Trail Angel, Chris T on her VQ finish.


David P aka Kish Me finishes the VQ


steviebfromtheoc


JoJon on his 1st VQ Finish! :bang:


richie_rich


Dan aka KonaDupee riding the creek crossing. Nice job on your 1st VQ. :clap:



I don't feel too bad about dropping out. I knew if I continued, I could finish, but at what cost? Today, my knee is bit sore, but I could walk. There's always next year if I desire to do it again. Next time I'll train and hopefully get a better result.

I hope many of you who are 1st timers got a great experience out of this. It's not about if you finished or when you finished, but more about the experience in sharing the pain, the suffering, the joy and your personal quest whatever that may be.

Thanks to all the riders, volunteers and cheering family and friends who came out. Without any of you, this event would not be the same. See you next year!

 

One of them was Matt (aka Solorider). He is a gnarly SSer!!! It was a huge highlight for me too.

 

that was so awesome....when I rode by I threw up the 'metal horns' and they went crazy!! I was laughing my ass off!!

 

One of these days we need to get a camera on one of the motos to record the race.

Tinker was first past Gene on MD, but Manny was first down MW with a pretty good lead and at that point Tinker was in 5th, I would have loved to see the battle to the peak.

Anyone have a report on the leaders and how the race went down from their point of view?

 

We had a report at one point that Manny had about 11 minutes on Tinker between 4 Corners and the Peak......apparently, Manny flatted at some point and Tinker passed him.

That is what we were hearing at the finish line via the radio chatter.

 

Yup, Chris aka chason verified it. He was at the UHJ check point when Tim got there on his moto and told him that Manny should be along any time. Then Tinker showed up 1st. Manny came in with flat, Chris helped him with a tube and canned air since Manny didn't have anything.

 

Vision Quest - the movie

Amazing event yesterday. Threw together some highlights from my day…….. (click on Vimeo to see a larger version)

[vimeo]21894699[/vimeo]

Huge thanks to the Warrior’s Society, all the volunteers, the vuvuzela crew on Maples and the crazy dude on WHT….I was hurting on the hike-a-bike, and this guy who looks to be about 5 beers deep at 10:30am comes skidding around a corner above me with a megaphone and starts screaming and honking his horn for about 3 minutes, just for me…I was cracking up for the rest of the hike. Wish I had had my camera on for that! I love this event because of the people – everyone is so friendly and happy and helpful – racers and spectators alike. Felt good the entire day – despite not being in as good of shape as last time I raced VQ in 2009, I rode much smarter, had no bonking/crashing/mechanical issues whatsoever, and was on pace to beat my previous time until I got a slow leak 10 minutes from the finish that the Stan’s wouldn’t seal so I had to throw in a tube….oh well. Finished in 6:40. And I actually liked the finish…nice little surprise wet/sandy/techie fun!


To those of you who asked me if they could get my footage….send me a PM and I’ll send it to you.

 

Awesome movie !!!!!!!

 

Thanks Aaron, your video brought back some VERY painful memories!!!
Loved it!

 

Rad!