Ride Report Xterra West Championships (Temecula)

For the first time in my triathlon history I showed up to a race about 20 minutes before the start...cuz I wasn't racing.

So I parked quickly, grabbed the camera, and shot down to the start. It wasn't too long before I started running into people I knew...most of them were curious why I wasn't suited and ready for action. I tracked down Eric (Zippy) and chatted with him for a while. I also talked with former age group competitor Trevor Glavin for a bit. I ran into another buddy, James Walsh...his nose covered in signature sun block....he was ready to shoot for the number one amateur title.

Both James and Eric have come out to the local Racers and Chasers series to get some extra experience at Vail lake.

The race started and it was already getting warm. I stood next to the launch ramp and watched the athletes as they exited the swim and took some cool pics.

After James and Eric got out on the bike, I hopped in my car and drove back over to the campground area. I filled up a bottle and jumped on the bike to head up to the top of Marine Corp climb. Once I got there I was stunned to see I was the only one there. I have raced this race the last 3 years and there is always a group at the top of that climb. I managed to get there as 3rd and 4th pro came by. Conrad was already way out front destroying the field.

After 10 minutes the Xterra photo crew descended on the spot and I started chatting with the guys.
We watched as about 50% of the pros cleaned the climb. My buddy James and Eric came through and I decided to wait for Conrad to come through on his second lap. It was great being up top of that thing cheering people on....you get a great view of the race and what the athletes are enduring (I know, usually I am on the other side of things). I saw a Path jersey, it turned out to be STR member BVader.

Conrad blasted up the right side, one of few to clean that climb at speed. He was followed closely by another South African, but the rest of the field was way off. My buddy James wasn't more the 15 minutes back and after he came through I descended down to the car to head back to the start.

Once back at the start I ran in Keith from Warriors Society and chatted with him for a while. As I walked back up to find out from my friends where James and Eric where...Conrad had already finished!! WHA!!

He was already giving an interview and looked as if he just finished a Sunday cruiser. James came in around 2:50 to take the second amateur title and was stoked to get a worlds spot and make the podium. Eric also had a great race and was in good spirits at the finish.

I talked briefly to Conrad and congratulated him with his finish. I told him next time he was in town to be sure to stop by the winery again. It was pretty weird being a spectator at one of these things for a change...but honestly, I still had a blast. It is really cool to see the pros go at on the local turf. :clap:

PICS:

Swim Start...


Zippy and girlfriend having a pre-race laugh...


Conrad exiting the swim...


Female Xterra destroyer Melanie McQuaid's swim exit...


Buddy James Walsh getting ready to lay it down on the bike...


Wha?? Pros pushing Marine Corp?? , notice the nice bike in the background...


Another Pro working hard...


25-29 Age grouper Trevor Glavin making it look easy...boy I'm glad I don't race against this guy anymore, faassst!!...


James gettin at it on the bike....nice sunblock and shades dude!!


Former Ironman World Champion Michellie Jones...


Zippy on her heels...


Conrad crushing it on the bike...he came over the top of that thing at 15 mph...too fast for a frontal shot. :?:


James pushin it in to the finish...


Zippy zipping by...


Conrad took the Mens title, Melanie McQuaid the Womens. Trevor Glavin took 1st amateur and James Walsh 2nd amateur. Great job to all of the other athletes...it was HOT out there!!

 

Kind of makes me want to start doing Xterra again....NOT,

People don't understand what truly great atheletes these people are. All around strongest people on the earth. Conrad is from some other planet, in fact I think South Africa has a landing strip or something for these aliens. Scary fast folks from there.

How do you make up a 15 minute gap?

The amount of training that goes into this sport is beyond belief, the dedication of these people to this sport is like nothing else. I really respect their dedication and perserverence.

 

i agree...conrad is on a totally different level then the rest of the field. it is amazing to witness that for once....instead of hearing that he finished when i am getting off the bike.

 

You're a stud to stand in the heat all day and snap photos. I wound up 10th in my age group at 3:18. A very solid race for me. :bang:

S: 31 (no wetsuit = slow split )
B: 1:50
R: 56

and now...what time is it?
:beer:
Hell yeah....

 

I did the duathlon and I swear, it was the toughest race I've ever done. I'm good with high heat and riding and running in it have never been a problem but Sunday's race was brutal. When the tri's started passing me on their 2nd lap while I was struggling to get to through my first, most of the girls yelled "good job, keep going!" it got me motivated to do just that. For about 5 minutes and then it was back to pushing the bike.

Those athletes are amazing - I'd love to hang with them during some training sessions just to see what they do to get their bodies to adhere to that level of fitness. I have a newfound respect for them, that's for sure. It took me 3:45 to finish, near-close to last, but nevertheless proud that I was able to get over the finish line.

 

Thought I would post my experience as well....thanks to Zippy & Luke for all the post's and insight leading up to the race. (although it didnt help me much)
copy/pasted from an email to my Dad...
Here's what I did on an extremely HOT Sunday in Temecula (yesterday May 18th, 2008
XTERRA-West Championship (long course)= 1 mile Swim, 22 mile MtBike, 10k Trail RunAll I can say is it was friken brutally hot, near 100.The climbing on the bike was horrendously steep, continuous and forever. To top it off you had to do it twice! As I was struggling to reach the summit on my first lap, Conrad Stoltz, the ultimate winner of the race, passed me. It was his 2nd lap. I could not believe how fast he was moving...so amazingly fast up a very steep, excruciating, grueling climb.I laughed when he went by. Literally, laughed to myself. These climbs were as steep as you could imagine, almost un-rideable. The run, some of it ridiculously steep was even difficult to walk.(I walked most of it anyways). There was no pushing myself physically because it was too, too hot.. I stayed very well hydrated on the ride with a camelbak. On the run, I carried a bottle to continuously shower myself in effort to keep my body cool. I ran the downhills as best I could. Weirdly enough, because of the extreme heat, it wasn't really an aerobically challenging race for me. Anytime I wanted to push it, instantaneously my body heat would elevate holding me back. Therefore, today my legs feel pretty good. The heat exhaustion is what took the toll on my body. My goal was 4 hours. Unfortunately due to the heat, I could not play the clock. Overall, I was relatively pleased with the swim. Considering the fact that I have only spent 5 days in the pool, I swam continuously. I was concentrating on my technique of which I picked up from the "YouTube" lessons. I have only run about 10x this year. But with heaps of mt biking, I thought I could make up some time....NOT! I do hope/think there were large amounts of DNF's (Did Not Finish)...people who bailed out. At least that will make me feel better about my finish. The limited info on the results sheet didn't show how many overall entries. I came in 227th, 4hrs 39 minutes, nearly last. My guess's on splits: 45m Swim/2:31 bike/ 1.23 run. I was ONLY 1hr26 minutes behind Micheille Jones (Hawaiian Ironman Winner), and only 2hrs& 16minutes behind the Men's winner. That guy is literally super-human. An overall great learning, respecting, humbling, will-testing experience.

 

Full race report on my 'blog; same pics Luke took. I might upload the pics my g/f took later. Enjoy.
http://zippyathlete.blogspot.com/

 

Congrats Zippy :bang:

 

Thanks, man. I was hoping for something closer to 3 hrs flat, but it wasn't going to happen in the heat. Maybe next year. :-k

Meanwhile, recovery week is in full swing. :drunk:

 

Luke thanks for the photos I wanted to come down but family things were on the list for the two days. You ran in to Keith, he has lungs that never give , I have rode with him at Vail and he is quick..... Thanks again and se you out at vail when it cools down.

John

 

Got there in plenty of time...bright an sunny already and just waiting for the heat after worrying about all the Traverse folks the day before.

Swim: went well for me ~31 Min for ~1 Mile w/o a wetsuit. For those that don’t know in Triathlons wetsuit are significant advantage for medium swimmers, but no wetsuit today, just letting the belly hang Water was nice. Another thing if you don’t do these things is navigating in open water, and on the long stretch I was about 25-50 yards inside the main pack, I looked at the kayaker dude pacing next to me, and he indicated I was the only one swimming straight and true, the whole pack was taking the long way! Well that’s one for me for a change.

The Bike (2:38, ~22 Miles, +2700ft) was long, hard and hot! ~130 oz H20, 32 oz heavy Perpetuem. I rode all the steeps with the exception of the Marine Corp Hill and a dab here or there. Highlight/Lowlights. Conrad flew...and I mean flew past me. I was a good rider and picked places to let the pros pass. I tried to let one guy pass but he didn’t time it right. Then there was a big rut which I wasn't going to go into, so we were shoulder jousting at speed, that was kinda cool, and he was like seriously "Puhhhllleeeezzzz let me pass puhleeezzzz" begging, I barked "Dude, I'm trying to let you pass" as I nodded toward the rut. "Oh!".The trail widen up and then we disconnected and he went on. But that wasn't my last, pro/elite adventure. So I hear another dude flying up behind me, so on of the about 10ft high steep "woop-de-doos" I stop at the top and pulled to the right, let the guy fly by, quick check and go, but unfortunately my handle bar was caught on a tough branch, so a pedal with my left left foot, unfortunately the right bar did not move and flipped me off the left side of my bike down and I slammed down the steep downhill. That hurt Body and Pride! Bloody Knee, Elbow, Dirt Rash Calf, Hip, Shoulder doh!... as I was riding in, someone yelled at me "Way to take the hit" like I was a football player, not sure that help I did see Lukweinz on the ride I only recognized him from the post the other day. But that was cool.

Also on my second Lap (which was very long and tiring), I was passing some of the slower Sport people and now I am the passer. I am thinking Be nice, So I am calling it out etc, and I realize there is a dude following my line so we get down the decent, fast, safe and not running over the slower folks. He says "I figured a dude with a Path jersey would know how to descend". Well at least I lived up to the name. That put a smile on my face, then he says, "What the hell are you doing here? You could have been Bike and Beers" that got a laugh out of me! I told him somebody needed top represent He said he didn't go to B&B "cause he just a San Diego Lurker" I told him that’s no excuse. path

Run: (1:29, 5.2Miles, +1,100ft) Took awhile to transition. I was no hurry. I saw another Path Jersey as I ran out. (I don't think I was hallucinating) he called out my name, but I am not sure who it was (Keith?) I Hiked the hills and ran the flats and downhill. I was definitely suffering from the heat I had no power. I took a near disastrous stumble on a steep downhill but had enough balance to recover without going down, but then 100 yards from the finish I lifted my head to see the finish line and promptly twisted my ankle, I heard it pop and I yelped and a few people looked but I just kept going. Its not too bad.

Recovery: I Med tented it a bit, ice and mist etc. I didn’t stick around too long, got a quick byte of food, saw a friend that did the sport, but took me a moment to recognize him, I think I was a bit dazed. I also did see Permagin and T, they did the duathlon, I put on a good face, it was nice to see them, I was feeling so bad just a couple friendly faces helped out a lot. Little did I know the hardest part of the day was to come. That dazed, really crappy bonky, feeling stayed with me the rest of the day. I pumped water, Electrolytes, food etc, but as my wife said "You look broke". I was. I really felt awful, I felt worse after than during the race. It was the roughest recovery I can remember in years. Maybe I did something wrong in recovery or maybe I just held it together enough to get home.

Summary:I figure 200+ oz fluids and electrolytes, during and soon after the race. Even though I was pretty darned slow, Total of 4:40 I was steady, I finished, never thought of quitting and I kept my manners and sense of humor and finished fairly strong. That’s a measure for me. It was truly grueling on a grueling weekend. I will have a mixed feeling if/when I see the DNF list, I saw plenty of suffering out there. It was much harder for me than the CC for instance; maybe it was just the heat. However, this AM I felt good and today as I write I feel great! My short term memory is working, because I am thinking about my next event.

Congrats Zippy, Permagrin, T, Chucky on a great efforts.

I meant to take lots of pictures...but I didn't. And for some reason I can't figure out how to put captions on each photo

There are some really great pro photos here : http://xterraphotos.com/08west

Sunrise at XTerra
Before: Looking calm, cool and rocking The Path Jersey
The Bustle in Transition before the Race
The trusted steed and neat transition setup
The nice annoncer/race director. Does she have blue bunny ears or am I still suffering from heat exhaustion.
And Me after...Just call me "Hans!", That goofy smile is completely forced and notice the completely destroy transition area.
Last is the routes, I have gps courses if anyone wants them.

 

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

 

Bvader. that was me...

"Also on my second Lap (which was very long and tiring), I was passing some of the slower Sport people and now I am the passer. I am thinking Be nice, So I am calling it out etc, and I realize there is a dude following my line so we get down the decent, fast, safe and not running over the slower folks. He says "I figured a dude with a Path jersey would know how to descend". Well at least I lived up to the name. That put a smile on my face, then he says, "What the hell are you doing here? You could have been Bike and Beers" that got a laugh out of me! I told him somebody needed top represent He said he didn't go to B&B "cause he just a San Diego Lurker" I told him that’s no excuse. path "

great to meet you and short chat after the race walking/stumbling back to our bikes.
Good job. good finish That was a tough day!

 

Cool, I was reading your and thinking that might have been you but my brain was/is a bit fuzzy. Now just to figure out who the other guy in the path Jersey (Tall Thin dark hair). Also those descents and Single Track would be fun to ride on some reasonable day. Lets us know when you are coming up this way to ride.

 

Uploaded a crapload more pics on my 'blog. Enjoy.

 

Nice pics! Congrats on a great race Eric, it was a HOT one! James Freakin Killed it! Way to go guys I give you tons of street cred on that one. Heck I can only ride a bike!

Oh and Thanks for the pic and report Luke:beer:

 

Congrats grasshoppers...

Obviously the heat made a lot of difference... but then, that is what is to be expected... the unexpected. It's simply amazing what the human body can endure ...

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

Holy Sh!t!

So the points are up from the West Championships and I'm THIRD IN THE REGION!!

 

zippy,
you better train your a$$ off. I am gonna catch you.
I only have 2 hours to knock-off and then you are dust!
Great job brother, you earned the name Zippy!

 

Zippy is, as Zippy does!

but Chucky you better worry about me I was 45 sec behind you and gaining!