Race Report 2011 Vision Quest/Counting Coup reports

I love this RR. Making that left hand turn up Trabuco, for us mortals, is not easy. Congratulations on meeting your goals!

 

GREAT JOB Tinker!!!!

 

It hurt a lot :beer: But sure was fun!

 

VQ Pics from WHT POV

I was working support and got the unfortunate job of being the guy to man the last cutoff at West Horse Thief. Luckily I only had to DNF three people. That was a tough thing to do. Being a VQ finisher, I really felt for these guys. They all took it like men though and gathered their wits and pride and headed down the hill. The sweeps and I convinced them their was no shame in not finishing and having come this far. After all, they have already done more than the CC! Personally I think these people that don't make the last VQ cutoff should get the CC feather instead of nothing.

I know how truly tough this spot is on the course. Sure it was cool to finally see the top 10 and how they handled lower WHT. Surprisingly even those boys looked a little dogged at this point. Trust me. Just climbing Trabuco Trail to the WHT junction these days is a vigorous, rocky, technical climb. But, everyone dreads WHT or else they are ignorant. And to see other riders coming down off the lollipop loop when you are heading up is severely demoralizing and takes real mental toughness to continue on. I admire the many hardy souls that persevered that day and finished.

One gentleman, #77, made the cutoff by about 20 minutes. I welcomed him to relax and fuel up and then head out, just don't let the sweeps catch you!. He rested for about 10 minutes then came over to me and said he was cramping and was going to give up. I said "So what? So is everyone else!" I physically blocked the downhill route and said. "You are going to be pissed at yourself tomorrow and maybe forever if you quit now. C'mon it's just a little two mile hike up a hill to the hamburger joint up top. Then it's basically all downhill!" It took a little more convincing but then he was off. I'm sure he was thankful that I gave him no choice but to continue. He finished.

 

Congrats to jbh65 on the VQ Finish!

 

I considered selling my VQ spot a couple times this year. My motivation to put in the long fire road miles I need to get ready was slow to materialize and I have been in the Crash Maxwell mindset of "every good ride has some hike-a-bike" for the last few months (I finally broke out the XC bike a couple weeks ago). However, I would have totally regretted selling my spot because this is always an epic day.

BS - Motorway (does anyone call it Silverado?)
The day started with a good pace, although I would find out overly optimistic, to the first aid station. On my way down Motorway my injured thumb (broke a few weeks ago) started to hurt but I was able to keep a good pace down as a rider behind me was yelling out for everyone to get out of his way. You gotta love some good ol' heckling and he had some for everybody. I was laughing at a couple of his lines although I think he must have rubbed some the wrong way. He got everyone in front of us to get out of HIS way so I was kinda glad I had the obnoxious guy behind me. :lol:

Maple Springs to Aid Station #2
I forgot one of my bottles at the aid station and had to turn around and get it. Then on one of the water crossings my tires slipped out on some moss and I landed flat on my back soaking myself head to toe. I sprinted out with my bike only then to hear riders behind me yelling "YOUR BOTTLE! YOUR BOTTLE!" So I sprinted back into the water to retrieve my bottle before it floated away. I could only laugh at myself as I looked down and saw that I had one dry spot on me, the size of half a slice of bread, on my right thigh.

The legs felt crappy going up to the peak as my "every good ride has some hike-a-bike" riding regimen had me fighting back cramps being on fire road overload. However, it seemed the flies weren't interested in me after my quick dip on Maple Springs so things were still going well.

The trip down from the peak, UHJ and LHJ was uneventful. I ran across a few people on UHJ but didn't see any racers/riders on LHJ.

Aid Station 2 - Finish
I felt good going up Trabuco towards West Horsethief since my slower than expected pace heading to the peak wasn't too taxing and gave me plenty of time to refuel and hydrate. Once on West Horsethief I felt like I was in familiar territory and this was the least painful this part of the VQ has ever been, all that hike-a-bike was finally paying off :clap:.

The trip down Trabuco was brutal as the constant jarring became too uncomfortable on my thumb. I stopped a few times to give it a short rest. I had to stop a few more times as riders passed me like I was standing still. I nursed my sorry self to the finish.

Quote of the day: "You don't rise to the level of your expectations, you fall to the level of your training"

Thanks to all the volunteers for another fun day.

 

Wow - Ultra Quest and VQ with a busted thumb - kudos!

 

i want to say congrats to my buddy nate whitman who got 5th! and this was after a crash, 2 flats, and for one section he road on a bare rear rim until he got another wheel and tire!!!

 

Troy was riding UQ with that busted thumb too! Personally I couldnt believe he didnt take the liquid medicine they were dispensing at the UQ Aid Station 2 !! ;-)

 

kwh thanks for the potatoes and words of encouragement at WHT. Also thanks the Union Jack at the finish which was even more satisfying

 

I did my first Counting Coup and I have to admit, I didn't know what to expect. I set a modest goal of 6:15, but I secretly hoped to beat six hours.

The day started off good. My goal at the start was not to get caught up in the frenzy up blackstar, but to pick my pace and keep my HR avg below 160. Not a mile into the race, I pull out my water bottle with perpeteum in it, drop it, and run over it. It takes quite a few seconds to pick it up as I had to pull out of traffic and come to find out it is leaking. No problem, I just need to nurse it until I get to Aid Station #1 and I can pick up a replacement bottle full of cold water waiting for me there. I threw the bottle back on my bike, but started obsessing with it leaking all over (like I didn't have enough to think about), and then I forgot that I had forgotten to drink my first gel 15 minutes before the race started. I ate my gel and kept spinning. The ride up blackstar was just as it has been the last ten times I have gone up it right up until the part after the valley where the rut USED to have rocks that let you ride across it. Once I got there and noticed the lack of rocks and a rider beside me, I chose a different, bad line and popped out of my pedals when my back tire hit the lip of the rut. On I rode, figuring that two bad luck occurrences were behind me. I felt good up to beeks and hit beeks a few seconds after one hour and under my target heart rate. My goal had been 1:05 to Beeks.

At Beeks I stopped for a second to get my bottle of endurolites that was wedged into my bag. I opened it, popped two out and as I reach for my bottle, the rest spill all over the trail. Duh. Close the endolites bottle before you get your water bottle. So I scramble around for the next 60-90 seconds picking up the endurolites I knew I would need to get me through the day without cramping. Once I got that settled (and watched about 30 people pass me), I was peddling again up the Pleasant Peak wall. About now the day was light and the sun was obscured behind clouds, but painting the sky in brilliant palette of color, offset by dark hills sitting in grey cloud banks like little islands. I made it up pleasants peak (my least favorite part of the course), and got into a nice rhythm (finally) and started to pass slower people with a good group I was with. I had brought three bottles, one leaky one with perpeteum and two small bottles with water. I had finished one, so I pulled my spare water out of my back pocket when Dan let me know a bag that I had put into my pocket while I was equipping in the morning was falling out. And then if fell out (on a downhill of course). I stopped, ran back up and grabbed the bag, remounted, and got going again.

A few minutes later, it was time to re-gel, so I pulled out my flask, squeezed a bunch of gel into my maw, and closed the bottle. I didn't time it very well. Right about the time I finished I had just started on a down hill, with my gel flask in my right hand and lo and behold, I dropped it while trying my best to brake with my pinky. I again got off my bikes and hiked back up the hill to get my flask. The people I was with must have thought I was a complete disaster at that point. Catch and pass, then drop something and fall behind again. A few minutes later, I was at motorway.

Motorway is maybe my least favorite singletrack in orange county. It isn't that technical, but it just begs you to hit a sharp rock, take too much speed into a turn, or pick a bad line. I had predetermined I was going to take Motorway at a moderate pace. I got going down only to have the rider in front of me go OTB, forcing me to lock up. The delay let the riders behind me catch up. They were faster than me, so I pulled over and let them pass and continued down. I got down the Motorway a 2:25, which was fifteen minutes faster than my 2:40 goal.

At the bottom of Motorway, I looked for my bottle drop. I didn't see the appointed contact at the bottom of Motorway. I sort of wandered around the gathering at the bottom of the trail looking for anybody familiar. After 30 seconds or so not seeing anybody, I went up to the check point. A worker asked if I wanted to fill my bottles, and I replied I had some waiting for me. He opened a cooler, but not my bottles. So I jumped off my bike and refilled what I had. I forgot to mix a new batch of perpeteum in at the time, which forced me to stop later on to do it. (Next time I will have a better plan for mixing). Not the end of the world to miss my bottles, but it did cost me a couple of minutes trying to figure out what happened.

Thankfully, the mishaps were now behind me and I settled in up the pavement. I was glad the stream crossings were not as high as they were the week before and managed to get through them all without soaking my feet (another modest goal I had). The Maple Springs ride was tough as I started to have pain in my stomach that was pretty intense. I managed to pick our a couple of guys ahead and ride them down, which took the better part of the climb to do (Kudos to the guy who I put five or so minutes on who caught me again after the switchback on the peak -- nice ride). The cheering section on maple was a nice effect. Could have done without the bugs, but can't complain when the day was as pretty as it was for riding. Cruised into the checkpoint at 1:20, ten minutes faster than my goal. Up the peak I went, with another uneventful ride up. I felt good all the way up and had a nice pace. I caught a few people and got caught by a few people... As I went over the peak, I had a pretty big smile knowing the climbing was over. I was 46 minutes to the peak from the checkpoint, which was 15 minutes faster than my goal. At this point, I was pretty sure I could beat my six hour goal, assuming I made good time down holy jims.

I was all alone coming down the peak, and realized for the first time I didn't know where the trailhead for upper holy jim was. Moreover, I had no intention whatsoever of climbing any part of main divide by being so careless as to miss the turn off. I took main divide down pretty slow (what the heck was a work doing out there on Saturday?!?) until a dude I had passed up to the peak passed me going down. After he went by, I let loose and followed him only to find I would have had to have been blind to miss the Warrior's Society volunteers at the trailhead. Thanks guys.

What a hoot upper holy jim is! Having never done it, I had to be a little cautious, but I cleaned everything with the exception of with one little dab and one big dab. I also swallowed a bunch of flies (you're welcome to those behind me), which wasn't a highlight. But overall, this was the funnest section of the ride for me. Got on main divide and started down lower holy jim. Forgot about the little climb to start it, and was not mentally ready for any climbing at all, except for the banks of the creek. I remember thinking at that point that I bet I could find somebody to buy my Traverse ticket... It is amazing that although the climb isn't long, if you are not mentally ready for even a short climb at that point it is all the more painful. Holy Jim was fun as usual. I was a pansy and jumped off my bike at the two wash out sections where the trail gets really narrow on a left hand turn down then up. The rest of the ride down was great (I washed out and went down on one switchback). The creek crossings felt great on the feet and the wash was in great shape. I pushed all the way down the wash, did the hike a bike, jumped back on and promptly got passed by four riders who had more left in the tank than I did. The sand at the end did me in. But I finished in 5:50 (5:40 moving), and was really satisfied with my time.

Thanks to everybody for a fun event. Now that the pain is a distant memory, I am ready to ride again...

 

This year, I was really looking forward to the Pow Wow. It was the first time I was able to ride as a Warrior, and after all the hard work the club put in to get the course ready, I hoped I was ready to ride VQ #2 and improve on last year's effort.

Last year, I rode my Stumpy FSR 29er, and decided it was a little too much bike for VQ. During the holidays I bought a 2010 Stumpy HT 29er, and I had spent the past couple of weeks making some component upgrades to it, and trying to get in a few training rides on it. As my Ultra Quest training partner and regular riding buddy Thinkfast mentioned above, our mindset for the past several months had more to do with technical riding that involved lots of HAB, and not a lot of fireroad grinding. As the Pow Wow drew closer, I found myself aware of the fact that between lost training days to rain, and other days devoted to trailwork, I didn't have the fireroad base I wanted. I was also coming off a shoulder/rib injury that took me out of my normal running & workout routine, & I knew my overall fitness level wasn't where I needed it to be.

Oh well I decided, part of doing these events year in and year out is also dealing with whatever life is throwing at you at the time. There will always be challenges leading up the real challenge...riding 56 +/- miles and climbing 11,200' on a course that Mother Nature had really wreaked havoc on this season.

As Troy and I lined up and said hi to many friends in the pre-dawn darkness, I tried to take in the scene that we only get to experience once a year. The drumbeat, the pungent burning sage, the nervous excitement...it all adds to the surreal experience of the day. Sherry gave the countdown and before I knew it, we were off. My mindset heading up Blackstar was to just stay out of trouble, don't crash, and don't get tangled up with any riders on the way up.

Reached Beek's 5 minutes ahead of my projected split and was starting to feel good as I warmed up (for some reason, it's taking my legs a LONG time to warm up these days). On the high-speed, loose Main Divide downs, I started feeling like my front tire was a little overinflated. It was sliding around and I very nearly paid the price when almost laid the bike down at speed. Fortunately a knob or two caught, and I saved it, but just barely. Whew.

I started decending Motorway just behind Troy, along with a bunch of other riders. I was now 11 minutes ahead of my split projection and was pretty stoked. After passing 5 or 6 riders, I bottlenecked behind about 5 other guys who didn't want to let anybody by. I decided not to ask to pass, and just cruised down, knowing I was giving some time back. At Aid Station 1, our support guru Matt aka Hermit, was fueling Troy up as I pulled in. A quick bottle change and I was off to catch Troy on the pavement. I was surprised to look up and see Troy returning to the Aid Station, as he had forgotten a bottle. I figured no worries, I'll keep pedaling and he'll catch me within minutes. Little did I know at the time, I wouldn't see Troy again until the top of WHT, as he would slip and fall on one of the Maple Springs creek crossings...ouch!


Matt aka Hermit, VQ veteran and support guru extraordinaire - photo by Tom Robe

Troy had given me some good advice and said that he uses the pavement section for recovery...just spinning along, not worried about who's passing, and focusing on nutrition and hydration. Then, when you hit the dirt, you'll have some legs for the climbing ahead. Last year, feeling good, I hammered big gears up the pavement and promptly died when I hit the dirt. This year, Troy's strategy worked like a charm, and once on the dirt, I started quickly reeling in riders who had just passed me. I stopped counting the riders I passed at 18, and before I knew it, I was rolling thru 4 Corners. A quick bottle refill and I made an uneventful summit over Modjeska and Santiago peaks at the 4:05 mark.

At UHJ, I said hi to Warrior Chris Hanson who was manning the trailhead, dropped my seat, and set off down one of my favorite singletracks anywhere. A week before, Warrior and VQ machine Mike Caffrey had ridden up with a pick and worked on the major ruts and problem sections. Today, the trail was in superb condition, with a very defined line all the way down. I was then at the LHJ drop-in, said a quick hello while still rolling to all-everything stud Keith Eckstein, and rode the drop-in for the first time on my hardtail with no issues. I guess I managed to pick a good line because that section felt smooth and I quickly got up the short climb section before beginning the miles and miles of LHJ downhill that I had been looking forward to. At this point, I was pretty stoked with my effort, my strategy, and how I was feeling. I knew by hitting my splits, I could turn a time in the 7-7:15 range, and naturally I started thinking about maybe threatening the 7 hour mark. I knew ahead of time I would need to have a perfect day to break 7, but I was starting to think it might just happen.

Little did I know, the good times were about to end abruptly. That hard front tire that I had still neglected to air down, drifted slightly on an outside shaley corner, and down I went at speed, sliding over the scree and landing in some manzanita a few feet below the trail. The crash hurt a lot, and totally killed my mojo. I got down to the lower section below the waterfall, and then the creek crossings started kicking my ass. Trying to rock hop, I slipped and barely avoided going down in the water. The rest of the crossings I abandoned the idea of trying to keep my feet dry, and just charged thru on foot trying to get down to Aid Station 2. At the rocky area at the LHJ gate, I crossed the creek and then rolled my left ankle on a rock that was hiding under some leaves. Ouch. I could not believe how LHJ was just serving me up. Finally reached Matt at about the 4:50 mark for another quick bottle change and said hi to good friend Terry Best, who told me that Tinker and Dana had already come thru, and Manny was still up on Trabuco somewhere dealing with a flat.

I figured Manny would come charging by any second, and sure enough, here he came, with a big head of steam, charging for the finish. Not long after came Doug Andrews, who besides being a super nice and humble guy, is an absolutely amazing rider. Doug is 50 years young and almost no one can keep up with him. Then Nate Whitman and some other fast guys came thru. Just like last year, I was getting to see most of the Top 10 riders come thru, which is awesome and makes me marvel at how strong and fast these guys really are. Unfortunately, my mishaps were not over, as I tried to move right off the trail to let a couple of dudes wearing multi-colored matching kits by. I put my right foot down, but the trail drops off in that spot, and I tumbled over and down about 5 feet into a big patch of poison oak. Those guys didn't really even say thanks, and I later found out those clowns weren't even in the event, which kind of pissed me off that I'd tried so hard to give them the trail. As I was trying to separate myself from my bike and untangle from the PO, fellow Team Hermit member Jason Rusnak aka Rushak came blazing by on his way to another Top 10 finish. Jason is an amazing racer and I had been thinking that it would be cool if I could get to WHT this year before he came thru, but it didn't happen. Later, at the finish, we had a good laugh when I asked him if he saw the guy tangled up in the poison oak, and he said "Was that you?!". Pretty funny stuff.


Rushak blazing to another Top 10 finish - photo by John Early

At this point, I knew I was giving up more time and my energy was starting to fade too. I thought about the fact that Troy hadn't caught me despite all my mishaps, and hoped he wasn't dealing with mechanicals or worse. At the base of WHT, it was nice to see a familiar face in good friend and fellow Warrior John Early, aka KeepsWhatHappens, who was manning the final cut-off as opposed to having his usual post at the finish, taking photos. As I started the HAB, I knew I was fading fast. During most of my "training" rides, I was getting up WHT in 35-40 minutes, today it would take much longer. I forgot to check my split at the top, as Mark Cluttey handed me a burger and I made a beeline for the tropical flavored Cytomax. Love that stuff! Brian Ephraim told me I was at the 6:30 mark, putting me on pace for a 7:20 - 7:30 finish. Then it became a mission to try to break 7:30, and as I was preparing to head out, Troy arrived. I was glad to see him and we took off for Trabuco together. I dropped Trabuco and expected to have Troy on my tail any second, but it turns out that the broken thumb he had ridden Ultra Quest and now VQ on was really giving him problems while braking. Let me just say that this guy has the heart of a lion and I know for a fact I would not be able to push thru that kind of pain like he has, for weeks now. Amazing. After an uneventful run down and out Trabuco, I was curious to see what the layout of the new finish would be. I thought the creek crossing was cool, an added kick in the shorts was a fitting end to an always challenging course. Gene and Treve were manning the traffic control and then I was rolling into the finish at 7:37. A little off my goal, but still a decent improvement over last year's 8:02. Tom Robe was right there waiting for me in his shoulder sling (next year Tom!), snapping pictures and offering congratulations. Troy came in a couple of minutes later, and while neither of us were overly thrilled with our times, it was good to be finished.

All photos by Tom Robe...


Rolling into the finish...


Where's the beer?


Troy comes in - note the poor guy loosing his lunch in the bushes


Great job Troy!


Happy guys

I enjoyed the next several hours watching other buddies come in, and chatting with a few of the top 10 guys like Doug, Jason, and Tim Z. The new finish area really had a good, festival-type atmosphere, and it was great to relax and take it all in. Another year of incredible Pow Wow experiences and memories, and already I'm looking forward to applying the lessons learned to 2012!


John Early aka KeepsWhatHappens and Jay aka jbh65 like the kit

Congrats to all who participated, finished, and most of all, the volunteers...without you guys, it wouldn't be possible for those of us who ride!

Finally, I want to thank my incredibly supportive and wife and daughter, who were out of town and couldn't be at the finish this year, and all of my good riding buddies and friends who shared in an amazing day!

 

I justified stopping to take this picture by remembering it was a "ride and not a race." And that's also how I justified the rest of my day... Anyway, it's proven useful in explaining to anyone that can't understand why we do what we do...

 

I rode with JSD the next morning @ the Fully Loop. His recovery was an A+....he rode like it was a Sunday stroll thru the park.

All of these stories brought such inspiration, tears to my eyes and butterflies in my tummy. I will definitely be there next year whether riding it or volunteering. What a great event!!

 

Hello fellow mtber's.. this is my first post after lurking for awhile. What a great event!!! This was my 3rd time completing the CC on a single-speed. Out of curiosity, what are other ss'ers running for gearing?

 

I ran a 32-18 gear ratio when I did it on an SS 4 years ago, but I think a lot of people go with a 32-20 or something like that ...

 

32-22 on 29er, 180mm Cranks = 3.0 Gain Ratio (Sheldon Brown) (which is about equal to 32-20 on a 26 with 175 mm cranks)

http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

 

32x20, 175mm cranks, Niner SIR9.

 

(29er / VQ)Ran 34x20 fixed but would have used the same gear for SS

 

Thanks for the quick replys. I'm on a 29er and ran a 32x18 the first CC and a 32x20 in the last two CC's. (175 cranks)