For some reason I think you will be back. I did my first triathlon at 19 and swore never to do it again. Now It is stewing in my mind again. The body says no, but the brain says yes.congrats ti all:beer:
Ditto. They stood in the cold/wet all day and still had smiles on their faces! I just want to make it absolutely clear that I am not doing it next year I didn't say never again :lol:
Only prize is a Coup feather. These are given to everyone who is an official finisher. Feather is no different for 1st place as it is for last place. The only difference is the feather you get for VQ has handmade bead work on it....the CC does not.
You can get raffle prizes as well! I won the first one... two 26" Specialized tires #-o We all thought it was funny cause we are 29er whores. But, the R&R guy said that we could exchange them :clap: Then Justin got XTR socks in the "toss out" Congrats to Carlton for the wheelset, though! It was nice of Ryan from Niner to let them go back on the raffle block!
Damn, I wish I could have done it..... Arrrgggghhhh! I rode Eagle to Skyline this morning and I will have to say that I was surprised to see the how many discarded gel packs etc. left behind. Won't miss it next time around, C.K. P.S. I found a pair of sunglasses (Probably not cheap) as well if they are yours throw me a line at ckasey(at)cohortusa.com
1st time trying this event. Signed up for the VQ because I was pretty sure I could do the CC and wanted to challenge myself. I was a half hour late to the last cutoff, so I just did the CC mileage. No feather for me, so I guess I'll have to go back next year. I will certainly make sure to train better next year. I'm not unhappy with my performance, but in retrospect I think I could have gone a half hour faster. Damn, because then I could be done with the event. Thanks to all the people working the event, the friendly racers and to Brewmaster for some sweet beer at the end. -R
I didn't see that many overall, and I rode the whole route! Much less "debris" than last year (plenty of tubes, a baggie of advil, etc.). Hope they weren't silver Specialized glasses! :-k
I want to be more of an endurance racer type person. I was coming to conclusions that maybe I was just not meant to go far fast, but after going far today ( maybe not fast but atleast far without cramping) I now have hope and will continue to train for long distance events. I can go fast for a short period of time (fast is a relative term), but I want to go fast for a long period of time.
tuff, tuff race. blackstar was really cool climbing up in the mist/fog. hit beeks on schedule, and felt ok, but my back was stupid tight. motorway was fun. i actually like it more then the "old" motorway. felt like it has more flow... got to aid #1, topped off bottles, got some gels organized and took off. maybe 5 min there. maple was great - its a nice climb (not the paved part... that is the worst). met up with a team-mate on maple and we worked together for a bit. that helped with the pace. upper hj was in great shape and we did pretty good coming down. lower hj was AWESOME.... until i flatted in the rocky area just before the switchbacks. tuff spot - there was little room to spread out and fix it without being in the way of riders coming down. i was able to catch most of those that passed me by the time i got to aid #2, used support's pump to check my air, and took off up to w. horse thief.... which is probably the most painful climb ever. the back pain was terrible and i had to force one foot in front of the other. and i didnt realize that once at the top of that hike, there is MORE climbing to trabucco. my mind was in it but the legs/back struggled. i knew if i could hit trabucco i would make up a bit of time. i really let it fly on trabucco, big ringed it from bottom of hj on the dirt road... came in with 8:37. i was really hoping for something closer to 8, but this was ok, and i had a great time....
I was actually afraid of getting cramps today. When I stopped to lift the bike over the bars on Motorway, I felt a few twitches and though..uh oh. But luckily they never developed into a full cramp. I think I have to thank Endurolytes for that. I ended up taking about 2 every hour. Speaking of cramps, I did see a pickle that someone dropped on the trail.
You're all ANIMALS and I mean that in the best way. I was working at station #2 and I can't tell you how many people came by with the biggest smiles on their faces! Whether you did the CC or pushed yourself to VQ, you all have my sincere congratulations for a job well done. You should be proud of yourselves - I can't even imagine doing a ride like that that didn't include camping overnight in between. Also, BIG kudos to the guy who broke his wrist and rode out to the finish line despite being one handed down HJ. You all deserve a few :beer:!
Speaking of other things, I noticed that people with the white Ipod earbuds were most likely to have the volume turned up so they couldn't hear anything else. I ran into several and they didn't hear me say "hi" or telling them I was trying to pass them on the downhills on one side or the other. Frustrating. I didn't have any cramps, but they weren't far away. I did get a little one on my inner thigh after I realized I missed the timecut and was putting my leg warmers back on. It massaged out quickly. I used endurolytes and cliff blocks. -R
I couldn't believe how cold the fog felt! It felt pretty warm to me at the start, and when I popped out of the clouds it felt great. But that fog was evil!
Today was about the power of the human spirit. Yes, it was also about physical strength. Certainly, for every single person, today's CC and VQ took a lot of physical strength. But, no matter the physical power, the common thread I saw today was the will to push on when the going got tough. Many of us had set goals about today's ride, whether it was to better an old time or to just stick it out until the end. I want to congratulate everyone who rode today, whether you made the cutoffs or not. You are all heroes in my eyes. I also want to thank everyone who was out there today and wasn't riding...all the WS volunteers, all the people spectating, and all our friends....Andy & Heather, Ann & Andy, Hugh, BrewMaster, Jordan, etc. I was so happy to see you all. It meant a lot. I finished in 8:47 or so...this was my first VQ and my first endurance event. Starting in the dark this morning was pretty cool. I got an early jump in the front of the pack and made decent time to the first switchback on Blackstar (I had bought a pretty bright commuter light this week so I could see well). Dan pulled away from me right before that and I never saw him until the finish line. That was okay with me because I know he is capable of some amazing things, and I knew I couldn't hold his wheel. Allison & Justin passed me pretty close to that first switchback, too, and I tried to hold the pace but couldn't. I resolved right then and there to ride my own ride. My pace. My personal limits. I was in a really easy gear, though, and got kind of discouraged thinking I was going too slow. Made okay time up to Beeks and got to see some familiar faces along the way. By the time I got to Silverado, I found a good pace and tried to stick with it. Saw Allison pulling onto Silverado just as I was getting there. Fun descent. I passed Aid Station #1 without stopping. Allison & Justin dropped me going up Maple. Maple Springs was nearly my undoing. Had to stop and walk because of lower left back pain and no feeling in my feet. I got back on and kept going. Made a decent pace once on the dirt road up to 4 Corners. 4 Corners to the peak was definitely unknown territory for me but I had listened well when others told me about it. I knew not to get excited about the first set of antennae. I knew the road would wrap around Santiago about 85 times Did really well on UHJ and HJ...made up a lot of time here. Rode across a couple creek crossings that I shouldn't have but no problems with the bike. I got to the bottom of HJ and Aid Station #2 to see Justin pulling away. He charged on and I refilled my water (thanks to the guy who helped me ). The bottom of Trabuco was much better for me this time. I only walked about 20% of it. I got to WHT and asked the WS guy, "did I make it?!" When he said I was up by 25 minutes, I was soooo happy. I came up the trail a little bit and saw Allison & Justin taking my picture. We all celebrated...I got teary eyed. Then, the hiking began. I hiked up just behind them and ended up chatting with Ernie, a tri athlete from Temecula. We chatted the whole way...what a god-send! Finally up to Trabuco, and I railed down the trail...sweet! Made it to the finish in no time. I am proud, and you should all be, too!
I don't know about that......some had smiles on thier faces and some looked angry: Poor Otis was bummed that more people didn't want burgers......he was hoping for more scraps. Instead he had to chew on a stick all day.
Its amazing how hard standing out in the cold for 8 hours can be. I got to Holy Jim at about 7am or so and helped the Warriors out with setup and found a good spot to shoot finishers. A few hours later the first people came through and started snapping pics. Got a lot of great shots and one awesome shot of Justin at the finish line I will try and post up soon It was great meeting a ton of new people congratulating each one as they passed me and getting to see 100s of peoples faces at the end of their long day of accomplishment. I plan on having a gallery of all the images up soon that I will post here and have the Warriors post on their site to other non-STR people to see. Congrats to everyone once again!