VQ/CC Finishers(2013 Pow Wow Writeup & Pics)

Oh yeah I was the one handing out blue candy.........not everyone liked them. Guess all the marketing from all these "sport nutrition" company worked.....sugar is sugar.

BUT hey it is blue.........that alone should help with getting up to the peak.:lol:

 

haha Friday morning so thursday night I seriously had a dream that it was sunday. I woke up and didn't remember doing VQ or my time. My only explanation was that I must have gotten super drunk and forgot my time or how I did. Wups...

 

The VQ was incredible as always. I finished 1.5 hours faster than last year - so while I am still super slow - it was a big improvement. I have huge respect for anyone who finishes the ride. It is a significant achievement.

The finish at the Parkers was so much better - it was a very cool place to hang out after the event.

My girlfriend pitted for me at each aid station - and to entertain herself she shot a ton of photos. If you want to send me your bib number I will look through them and see if we have any of you and send them over to you.

 

(short RR for this post but longer version here)

Funny to read that people had dreams of missing this event as I had some dreams that my teammates and I were going the wrong way and completely messing it up. The conscious side of my brain quickly kicked in and said "relax - the real race is in a couple hours." I did wake up exactly 1 minute before my 3:30 AM alarm so suffice it to say I was excited and ready for my first ever VQ! (Note - I did the CC in 2011)

I love how these types of epic events always leaves me with some type of metaphysical "feel" or "experience" after some reflection which is why it's great to read everyone's RR's! The individual moments of the race kinda blur and dull with time but to list out a couple vivid memories:

• The 5:30 AM XC-like start… a crazy (evil perhaps?) fast pace which created a dust cloud that when combined with the fog-like vapor in the air produced a fine sheen of mud on your bike, legs, and glasses!
• The sinuous stream of lights from riders above and below me on the Blackstar Canyon climb.
• The first sun rays shooting through the dense clouds up on Main Divide road.
• Pillow-like clouds above Orange County which are generally reserved for window-seat views out of John Wayne airport.
• Known and unknown racers encouraging one another and the camaraderie of riding with teammates during different sections.
• CRAMPS!!!! I’ve never comprehensively nor frequently cramped as I did on this ride.
• Supporters everywhere. It means a lot in this kind of setting.
• Poison oak on either side of the lower Trabuco trail and trying to avoid it. Unsuccessfully.
• The never-ending morphing into the everlasting hike-a-bike climb that is WHT.
• Feeling a 13th wind comer over me knowing it’s all downhill once I reached the Trabuco trail.
• Upon crossing the finish, first hearing and then seeing a cheering wife.
• Post ride relief and FOOD!

I was stoked to just squeeze under my goal of 6:30 which I thought had escaped me during several rough stretches....aka the entire WHT trail! Thanks to all those who help plan and execute this event (namely the Warrior's Society members) and also all the other volunteers and supporters who help make this a unique experience!

 

This year was my 3rd Pow Wow, first VQ. On registration day planned on entering CC once again, but about 90 seconds before registration opened opted for VQ on the SS, with grand visions of copious amounts of training.... Then reality...

Spent all of Nov/Dec off the bike due to travel and weather, and mixing in crossfiit and business travel rode maybe 2-3 times a month up until the event. To top it all off I spent the 2 weeks before the event traveling for business, working a week of 14 hour days straight, then flying home to walk in the door 6 hours before event start. Then after the event hopping back on a plane back to my jobsite. I was doomed.

Lining up minutes before 5:30 I couldnt wake my legs (or myself up) and got a little nervous. I just kept reminding myself to simply "go for a bike ride". The previous 2-CCs I got sucked into the race up Blackstar and on over to Motorway and paid for it on the rest of the ride. I was intentionally slow out of the gate as I expect to get passed on the flats, riding the SS. Was able to finally settle in to a good pace the first climb after the ball, and dropped into aid station #1 @ 2:15. Heading out of aid station #1 I felt great, and about a 1/4 mile up the pavement, massive cramps. Popped some endurolyte tabs and was good to go. Cleaned the climb between that point and the peak, and set PRs down the UHJ and LHJ... I felt like a million bucks.

Hit aid station #2 around 5:15 (30 minutes quicker than my last years CC time) all smiles and ready to take on WHT. Had a little trouble with momentum up the trabuco trail single track keeping momentum with some of the faster guys coming down... found it difficult to get started again on the climbs. Hit WHT, HAB about 5 minutes .... AAAANNNNDDDD the wheels fall off (figurativly). WHT is a game changer. My left knee was screaming by that point, but I had to keep trucking on. I tackled WHT 50 steps at a time, with 5 second stretches in between. I'd only done WHT once before, and thought I knew where the end was... at least 3 times I thought it was over, just to come around the corner and see more... a lot more. Finally got there, and I couldnt pass up a cheeseburger. Rode the first downhill on main divide with burger in hand, and that recharged my batteries. Had a good run down Trabuco, and spun as best I could out to Parkers to a cheering Fiance.

I didnt make my 8 hour goal... missed it by 4 minutes (8:04).

Great event, and I cant wait for next year.

 

You finished right in front of me. :lol:

 

Negative! Do not poach VQ/CC. I repeat do not poach VQ/CC. LoL.

Good Times! It's really great to read about everyone's experience with the VQ and CC. I'm going to add one of them to my to do list for next year. Nice job everyone!

 

All this talk of cramps cramps and more cramps. Don't ya'll drink more than water on these rides? I put three scoops of HEED in my camelback and fill it up. My rule of thumb is, if I'm riding more than 30 minutes I need more than just water. Absolutely no question if you're doing CC or VQ you're gonna need more than water. Why wait until you're cramping and in horrible pain to address a problem you KNOW you're gonna have? That and if you're not having to pee along the way you ARE getting dehydrated.

 

All week long I drank approx 200oz of water a day.
Before the race I drank my daily coffee and a bottle of Infinit. On the first leg of the VQ I had a bottle of Infinit and a bottle of water. On the second leg I had a bottle of Infinit and a bottle of water. On the third leg I had two bottles of water and a bottle of Infinit. I also had seven Hammer Gels, two Cliff Bars, two cuties and a banana. Cramps worked me hard.

I could be wrong but I think if your body isn't ready for the 6-8 hours on the bike, you will cramp.
Just part of the ride sometimes....

 

A few of my friends used to suffer with debilitating cramps on longer rides. Now that they use HEED/perpetum they no longer have issues. I agree that fatigued muscles are more prone to cramping. Seems to me that something else has to be going on also. These people also improved after popping sodium pills or whatever it is. I was super sore after VQ, and got some tendonitis in my arm but no problems with cramps. I didn't drink even one sip of plain water at all for CC/VQ. It's worth trying at least IMO.

 

Different things work for different people. There is no pill that fixes all.

 

I have a pill that will work for most, it's called the "Stayathome" pill. Works wonders for me, I never have a problem with cramps. Just thought I'd share...






























BAZINGA!

 

A snail's pace works as well....no bazinga, it worked for me!!

 

There's a ton of research to read on cramps. And I've read all of it. Between the studies and my own experience, Cramps are caused by a multiple of factors and there's no 1 solution. Muscle fatigue caused by lack of conditioning and electrolyte deficiency seem to be the most common suspects in muscle cramping. But I digress.......

ANYMORE PICTURES?

 

I just remembered something funny about cramps. My kids asked at 430am what the Endurolight pills were. My wife told them it was to help my stomach so it wouldn't cramp during the ride. I guess she believes I follow her PMS schedule. She did not realize they were for legs. Gotta love her!

 

And all that Wise Guy's pizza you ate!









creeeeeepin.....................lol

 

Let her know it's our uterus that cramps not our stomach although it may feel that way.

Seriously creepy!!...lol...how'd you know that??

 

I don't think mine were dehydration related. I drank as much or slightly more than I usually do and had a bottle with electrolytes that I drank and refilled at the aid station. I have ridden several 5 to 6 hour rides and have NEVER had an issue with cramps before, but this week I cramped really bad at 4.5 hours (arms, legs and shoulders). Thankfully I recovered once I got to the end of Holy Jim.

The difference at VQ is this was the first time I have ever got that long and that hard without any rest at all. On longer rides we always end up taking a break, or waiting for people to regroup etc. Even road rides have stop lights, which I think help a lot. I think I need to re-tool my intake for that duration of an effort, but cramps were the least of my worries going into this weekend.

For next year (am I really saying that?) I am going to do some longer training rides without breaks to see how my body reacts.

 

I had not cramped in my last 5 training rides for this event which included 3-B* to Motorway loops, 1- MS-Santiago Peak, and a Harding TT-Holy Jim. This time i started getting the cramps at mile 10. I will admit that i got a PR going up B*... by 2 minutes. lol. So, i wasn't really pushing harder than normal. General research these days says to drink when you're thirsty should be enough. I was cramping after 1hr 15min even with sipping the entire way up. I also don't pee often on my rides, so, thats not really a sign of being dehydrated. As long as i'm moving, i'm usually preoccupied to get the urge enough to stop. Even after the event, i still only pee'd with a very slight yellow. I don't think hydration during the event was my issue.

I had a bottle full of Heed (2packets), perpetuem gel (concentrated mix), and a camelbak filled with a good concentration of Elete. I still locked up my quads just after Beeks and my calves started on Motorway. I can only attribute these to not maintaining a healthy regimen of calcium, magnesium, and potassium along with extra hydration days prior to the event. I was hydrated, but, should have drank even more and spent my rest time stretching.

Honestly, if there was a way to prevent cramping then it would be universal known. There are just too many factors to analyze. Granted, i'm not in the best shape. I still would've thought my cramps would have held off until MS climb if my training rides were any sign of conditioning. Live and learn. I at least learned that i can complete another 30mi after i have cramped up.

 

I am no expert and may be stating the obvious or what others already know, but I have a suspicion that pace is much of the problem with cramps...

I haven't read a lot into the topic but it seems to me that the racers and fastest riders complain the most about cramps even though they did a lot of training. These are people going for a new best time or winning the race. These aren't people who aren't conditioned, haven't trained for the event or don't know what they should be drinking.

But I never get cramps. That's the good news. The bad news, is that I was one of the last people to finish CC and there were a lot of VQers who finished before me...

I did feel like I might start to get cramps in my thighs starting on Maple, but I never did.

I did, however dehydrate myself. I think I learned a lot from this first CC.

The first half, I set PR's and/or at least matched my 2nd or 3rd best on every segment and got to Aid Station 1 30 minutes before I expected. And I had only drank probably 20 ounces, maybe less, because when I went to fill up at the Aid Station I had most of the 33 ounces or so left in my camelbak bladder.

Going up Maple, the sun had come out and it started getting warmer and I drank more of my camelbak and remembered i had a bottle of perpeteum so I started drinking that. At 4 corners, I didn't even check my water as the volunteers filled my camelbak to like 60 ounces or something--I remembered as I worried about the extra weight, but that wasn't a factor. It didn't even occur to me that I could have drunk that much climbing Maple.

I made the cutoff by 25 minutes at 4C and stood/walked around for a bit and ate thinking it would be good to rest there, but I didn't check my water. I drank my whole bottle of perpeteum quickly after not having drunk much the first half. I stopped on the final climb to the Peak to try to make another bottle as I was craving juice or something sweet to drink, and that's when I realized my Camelbak was empty... I had drank 60 ounces of water climbing maple springs and from 4C to Modjeska Peak...crazy.

I was reading online the other night about Perpeteum and it said something to the effect that if you don't use it properly, drinking it can dehydrate you--if you don't drink it with plain water as well? So, perhaps the fact that I didn't time my intake of Perpeteum and I ran out of water, and didn't drink enough on the first half, all wound up causing me to become dehydrated on the way to the Peak.

I also don't think I ate enough. My stomach was a bit off, probably because of the issues above. I felt good about my time the first half and up to 4C, but I bonked pretty bad and it took me almost as long to get to the Peak and to the finish line as it did for me to do Blackstar-Motorway and climb to 4C...

If I had it to do over again (next year???), I would eat and drink more consistently throughout and I wouldn't stop and rest at 4C as long--20 minutes or so.