Counting Coup - Finally Done
I'll start with a picture. Me coming down the Motorway:
Every year around March the Southern California mountain bike scene gets a shot in the arm with Vision Quest and Counting Coup. They are both long rides (55 miles and 43 miles respectively) in the Santa Ana Mountains. Some people race for time and some people are just content to finish.
I remember trying to climb the ladder (GeoLadders) last year and seeing a ton of people out training for VQ/CC. I also remember feeling left out the day after the event as it seemed that everyone in Orange County with a bike had done the race.
I decided to sign up maybe 6 months ago with Matt with the goal of just finishing Counting Coup. I would have signed up for Vision Quest but didn't think I was capable of finishing it.
Every week for the last 5-6 months I've been thinking about the race and what I need to do to train for it. My first goal - as I mentioned earlier - was just to finish. Then as I got faster on the bike I turned it into finishing in under 7 hours. Then 6 and a half, and then finally under 6 hours. It felt like an ambitious goal, but what fun would it be if I didn't push myself? I wanted to have _nothing_ left when I finished the ride. I wanted to ride myself into the ground and make every second count.
The ride report below is going to be insanely long because there is a lot to write for a 6 hour ride. I'm going to break it into sections though to try and make it easier to read. Almost like a book with chapters. Haha. I need to get it all down while the event is still fresh in my mind.
Chapter 1: The Start
I got up at 3:30am to get over to the carpool spot my friends and I had arranged. I had all my stuff ready to go and just sat and watched ESPN while trying to eat. Met up with Mark, Troy, Matt, Andrew and John at a shopping center near the finish line and got my stuff ready. It was so exciting to see everyone ready to go. All our training would soon pay off.
Usually I'm a walking zombie in the morning, but with all the excitement I felt great on the drive over to the start of the race. Good times.
The parking was insane as I had imagined it would be. It was a fantastic surprise to see that the weather was actually warm. I had been out at 5am the week before and it was _freezing_. Everyone was very excited to be able to take off an extra layer of clothing for the ride.
I ended up waiting in line with my friends to use the port-a-potty at the start, but everyone was taking way too long. We all ended up going in the bushes on the side of the road. Haha. Who waits to take a dump at the start of the race?!
It was also crazy to see the serious racers warming up on trainers. I had no idea they did that before races. It was just nuts to see them cranking away super hard _before_ starting the race.
I really thought that the start of the race would be a disaster. I was expecting 300-400 people cramped together very tight so that you could barely ride without hitting someone. The group at the front of the gate however wasn't that bad. I had plenty of room and never felt like I would be held back by people in front of me.
Chapter 2: The Climb to Beek's
The race officially started as the staff opened the gate to the fire road leading to Beek's. I said "good luck" to Matt and Andrew as I knew it would be the last I'd see of them until the end of the race.
It was pretty dark out even with a full moon shining down. I found it hard to see some sections of the road and that worried me slightly. A lot of people had lights on their bikes and I tried my best to bum illumination off of them. It worked sometimes and sometimes it didn't. Lots of people with lights would pass me and I didn't feel like pacing anyone with a light just for the sake of having light.
Halfway to the first switchback (where the climbing really starts) I saw a huge pile up in a rutted part of the road. It was nuts. There must have been 10-15 people off their bikes trying to get around and recover. I kind of laughed to myself because I'm competitive and I thought it would give me a chance to pass some of them. Haha.
Going up in the dark was pretty cool. I remember looking down and seeing a trail of riders with lights which looked kind of like a snake winding through the woods below. I looked ahead on the trail and saw the same thing - people climbing up the switchbacks in droves.
I had expected a lot of people around me on the climb to Beek's, but not as many as I actually had. I was constantly surrounded by other riders on the ascent to Beek's. It was tough trying to pace myself as I want to pass any rider that is anywhere near me.
I saw quite a few people on the climb with various bike issues. I felt bad for them because it was very early in the ride to have those kinds of problems.
It was pretty frustrating in a few spots to have a rider that was in front of me hog a good line and force me into a bad line. Either that or just slowing down in general in a spot where I wanted to gear up.
Final notes for Chapter 2: On the way out of Hidden Valley a motorcycle rode past me and sprayed mud all over me. Thanks guy. Some older Warrior's Society lady passed me on the climb and made me feel weak and inferior. I passed her later which made me feel my usual dominant self. Haha.
Chapter 3: Beek's to Motorway
When I got to the ball (a big communications tower) I noticed a handful of riders stopping to take a break. I chuckled to myself again thinking they were stupid because it was cutting into their overall time. It gave me a little more motivation to keep going knowing that they might have beat me to the top, but that I would beat them in the end because I wasn't stopping if I could help it.
I was still amazed to be surrounded by so many riders during this section. I just couldn't believe how many people were around me. What made it worse was that several of them were older guys in their 50's or 60's. Also a lot of girls were out, which surprised me. I mean I should be faster than 60 year old men and 40 year old women, right?!
The area where I dropped most of the aforementioned people was the first really tough climb after Beek's. I looked up and saw tons of people on this section, some of them walking their bikes. I knew I could do the entire section without having to get off and I must have passed 10+ people on the way up. It felt great because I knew a lot of them would have to take it easy after the climb/walk, but I was able to recover on the bike without any trouble.
There wasn't anything else especially noteworthy on this section except for maybe the wind. I've heard various people say it was anywhere between 20 and 40mph. Whatever it was, it definitely affected my riding in some key sections. The flat parts where I wanted to really fly turned into struggles because of the strong wind.
I reached the top of the Motorway at about 2:20, which was right on schedule. I hadn't stopped once and that helped my time considerably.
I got around the barrier to the Motorway and started down. I was worried about having to pass people on the way down, but figured I could just go around anyone that was too slow.
I ended up riding directly behind some girl from Sho-Air for the first section of the Motorway. She was going pretty slow on the loose parts and I was trying to give her room, but it was frustrating since I wanted to go much faster. She ended up stopping near the "big rut" and tipped over into the bushes. Haha.
I walked down the top of the rut and then go on the bike pretty fast to finish the Motorway. I passed two guys on the way down and felt pretty fast in general. I've been riding this trail so much lately that my confidence level is pretty high.
I noticed two guys taking pictures on the way down and it's always cool to know you have some evidence that you really did the race. I'll try and get all the pictures later.
Apparently I was #126 out of #400 to come down the Motorway. Yikes. Next year I'll be faster.
Chapter 4: Maple Springs
As I came over the last hump at the bottom of the Motorway I saw an insane scene. The first aid station was just chaos. People everywhere, bikes on the ground, cars, cameras and who knows what else. It was a bit much to take in.
I put my bike down and went over to the back of a truck to re-fill my water bottle and camelback. It was nice to have people help me fill both up. It made the transition very quick.
I grabbed maybe 1/3 a glass of orange juice which caused me to burp later on the way up Maple Springs. Right before I was ready to leave I saw Troy come down. I was really surprised because usually Troy is way out in front of me. I found out later that he ended up starting farther back in the pack at the start and I'm sure that cost him some time. Maybe even 10-15 minutes.
I ended up spending only about 4 minutes at the aid station before starting up the pavement. Man I really hate that section so much. It's just boring and after 20 miles it feels cumbersome. I noticed my legs starting to twitch a tiny bit - an early sign of cramping. I decided to drink a lot more at that point in an effort to catch it before it was too late.
About halfway up Maple Springs someone rides up behind me and pushes me forward. Haha. Turns out it was Troy. Thanks for the push dude! Haha. He then rode with me for a bit before turning on the jets. Thinking fast must really pay off.
I ended up in a loose knit group for the rest of the climb on the dirt up Maple Springs. I would get close to someone, pass them, then be passed by them. I did however manage to pull away from a few people near the end of the climb. There is one section I really love that I can always find energy to hammer on. I passed some Sho-Air dude and that made me feel REALLY good.
Right before getting to Four Corners I looked over and thought I recognized a guy I had been tracking with for a bit. Finally he talked to me and I realized it was Jeff from GeoLadders (jcampbell). We talked for a while before we ultimately separated just before Four Corners.
I remember seeing an orange jersey ahead of me just before Four Corners and thought it might be a GeoLadders guy. Sure enough it was. I don't know who it was, but I ended up passing him after Four Corners and never saw him again. Just like passing the Sho-Air guy, passing the GeoLadders guy felt REALLY good. I consider everyone on the GeoLadders and Sho-Air teams to be head and shoulders better than I am, so leaving one of them behind feels just awesome.
Chapter 5: To The Peak!
My strategy for the ride was to keep a fairly mellow pace until after Four Corners. I knew that would be the place where training and determination would pay off and I could improve my riding time. My hope was to be at Four Corners at about 4 hours and I rolled in at about 4:10. I knew I had to kick it way up if I was going to get in under 6 hours.
The climb to Modjeska was pretty miserable. My legs were starting to cramp at this point. I even felt cramps in places I had never felt them before, most notably my inner knees.
Again I was surrounded by a group of riders up to Modjeska. I remember telling one guy that I was doing Counting Coup and needed to step up my pace. He said something like "Yeah! You need to get going!" Haha. I stepped it up and passed 3-4 guys before reaching Modjeska. I was hoping to coast down to the saddle, but the wind made that impossible.
I've never been so affected by the wind on a ride before. I almost came to a dead stop on the ride to the saddle. Usually I would put the bike into a huge gear and hammer down, but with the wind and with fatigue I had to settle for the middle ring and push through the wind.
Another interesting note is that my hands were pretty numb at this point. My left hand was numb in all fingers and the palm. I need to change my bike setup to help me with this because it makes shifting impossible. My right hand was tired and numb as well and it made shifting very difficult.
When I got to the saddle I started to feel better and the climb at first wasn't so bad. There was this cute girl that I had been chasing since the start of the dirt on Maple Springs and I just could not get ahead of her. It was really frustrating, but then again, if I had to have company I guess a cute girl is better than some old sweaty dude.
I remember playing songs in my head and praying to God for the strength to finish the race strong. I knew if I could just push hard to Santiago Peak that I would have all downhill left and could fly.
I kept gearing up when I felt tired and somehow managed to push harder and harder. I passed quite a few people on the last climb and almost caught the guy that would ultimately finish 10 seconds ahead of me.
Right before reaching the peak some guy caught me and then amazingly stopped at the peak to rest or something. Once again I remember laughing to myself because he had worked so hard to catch me, only to stop and let me go. Never saw him again.
Chapter 6: The Down
The downhill section on the backside of the peak had snow as expected. I really didn't care because it wasn't deep, but the guy in front of me did. He went slower than I wanted to go and I didn't have the guts to pass him in the snow.
He ended up getting to Upper Holy Jim maybe 20 seconds ahead of me. I saw ch4os as a support guy at the top of UHJ which was cool. I thought I recognized him but wasn't sure. I was in such a rush to get down to the finish line I wasn't really paying close attention to anything.
Upper Holy Jim was forgettable for me. I ended up catching the guy in front of me, but it didn't pay off. I was too tired to make a lot of sections I would normally ride over. I was rushing to get on and off the bike and ended up almost eating it a few times. It was really frustrating not being able to ride most of the trail. I would guess I only rode 60-70% of it, whereas in the past I've done 90%. I need to work on my downhill ability for sure.
When I got to the top of Holy Jim the girl I had passed had caught up with me. Bummer. We both hiked down the drop in and I let her go ahead of me since I was going to have to walk up the climb out. After walking/running up the last climb out I ended up flying down the rest of the trail.
I caught the guy I had been tracking and the girl I had let go ahead of me. I descended Holy Jim faster than ever. I was on a mission to get to the finish line and nothing was going to stop me. It felt really great to let it all out and go really fast.
At the bottom of the trail I thought I had ditched the dude behind me, but he was right there. I ended up cramping as I negotiated the lower switchbacks in my right hamstring. The guy behind me ended up passing me because I was getting tired on the switchbacks and it was better for him to go ahead of me. I told myself I wasn't racing him as much as I was racing my goal of 6 hours.
My hamstring ended up cramping again before reaching the stream crossings, but the second time I didn't stop to wait for it to relax. I just kept my right leg unclipped and rode stiff legged until it was ok. Every second counts!
Chapter 7: The Finish
I must admit that I'm getting tired writing this novelette. But then again, this is for my own use and not really for other people to read. I can't imagine how boring it would be for someone else to read.
Once I reached the stream crossings at the bottom of Holy Jim everything kind of came apart. I started making really stupid mistakes and started to stumble and fall all over trying to get on and off the bike. I was trying to rush to save time and ended up probably making things worse by trying to hurry.
When I finally got to the gate to start Trabuco Creek Road I was just crazy with the thought of finishing. I had a super serious look on my face as I ran with the bike to get started for the final push out.
I looked at the clock and saw it was about 11:15ish. I knew I had to fly for the last 5 miles if I wanted to get in under 11:30.
I got into my big ring as quick as I could and just flew to the finish line. Some lady at the second aid station told me to slow down which made me pretty mad. I mean come on! Every second counts, I'm doing a race and you want me to slow down?! I don't think so!
When I got to the finish line I was in my highest gear and at the last second my legs both cramped up pretty good all over. It didn't matter though because I knew I had gotten in under 6 hours. Even the fact that I missed the finish line entirely didn't upset me. Haha.
Chapter 8: It's Over
I saw Matt at the finish and the first thing he said to me was "You got top 20!" I couldn't believe it. I thought I was way behind and that everyone else had finished way before me. I was thrilled to learn I had ended up top 20. I didn't find out till later that I had actually finished 13th.
Matt got 8th and Andrew got 6th, which is really impressive. I'm proud to be able to ride with such strong and fast riders. Troy did well in Vision Quest and Mark and John did well also. It was great to be out and see so many riding buddies and to celebrate finishing an event we had all trained so hard for.
I think next year I'm going to try to do Vision Quest with an initial goal of just finishing.
I'll post more pictures in other posts as they come in. I'm expecting at least 2-3 more. My final time was 5:57:39 and I placed 13th out of 106 riders that did Counting Coup. I thought it was about 150 riders, but I was wrong.
Training for next year starts soon! Haha.
Every year around March the Southern California mountain bike scene gets a shot in the arm with Vision Quest and Counting Coup. They are both long rides (55 miles and 43 miles respectively) in the Santa Ana Mountains. Some people race for time and some people are just content to finish.
I remember trying to climb the ladder (GeoLadders) last year and seeing a ton of people out training for VQ/CC. I also remember feeling left out the day after the event as it seemed that everyone in Orange County with a bike had done the race.
I decided to sign up maybe 6 months ago with Matt with the goal of just finishing Counting Coup. I would have signed up for Vision Quest but didn't think I was capable of finishing it.
Every week for the last 5-6 months I've been thinking about the race and what I need to do to train for it. My first goal - as I mentioned earlier - was just to finish. Then as I got faster on the bike I turned it into finishing in under 7 hours. Then 6 and a half, and then finally under 6 hours. It felt like an ambitious goal, but what fun would it be if I didn't push myself? I wanted to have _nothing_ left when I finished the ride. I wanted to ride myself into the ground and make every second count.
The ride report below is going to be insanely long because there is a lot to write for a 6 hour ride. I'm going to break it into sections though to try and make it easier to read. Almost like a book with chapters. Haha. I need to get it all down while the event is still fresh in my mind.
Chapter 1: The Start
I got up at 3:30am to get over to the carpool spot my friends and I had arranged. I had all my stuff ready to go and just sat and watched ESPN while trying to eat. Met up with Mark, Troy, Matt, Andrew and John at a shopping center near the finish line and got my stuff ready. It was so exciting to see everyone ready to go. All our training would soon pay off.
Usually I'm a walking zombie in the morning, but with all the excitement I felt great on the drive over to the start of the race. Good times.
The parking was insane as I had imagined it would be. It was a fantastic surprise to see that the weather was actually warm. I had been out at 5am the week before and it was _freezing_. Everyone was very excited to be able to take off an extra layer of clothing for the ride.
I ended up waiting in line with my friends to use the port-a-potty at the start, but everyone was taking way too long. We all ended up going in the bushes on the side of the road. Haha. Who waits to take a dump at the start of the race?!
It was also crazy to see the serious racers warming up on trainers. I had no idea they did that before races. It was just nuts to see them cranking away super hard _before_ starting the race.
I really thought that the start of the race would be a disaster. I was expecting 300-400 people cramped together very tight so that you could barely ride without hitting someone. The group at the front of the gate however wasn't that bad. I had plenty of room and never felt like I would be held back by people in front of me.
Chapter 2: The Climb to Beek's
The race officially started as the staff opened the gate to the fire road leading to Beek's. I said "good luck" to Matt and Andrew as I knew it would be the last I'd see of them until the end of the race.
It was pretty dark out even with a full moon shining down. I found it hard to see some sections of the road and that worried me slightly. A lot of people had lights on their bikes and I tried my best to bum illumination off of them. It worked sometimes and sometimes it didn't. Lots of people with lights would pass me and I didn't feel like pacing anyone with a light just for the sake of having light.
Halfway to the first switchback (where the climbing really starts) I saw a huge pile up in a rutted part of the road. It was nuts. There must have been 10-15 people off their bikes trying to get around and recover. I kind of laughed to myself because I'm competitive and I thought it would give me a chance to pass some of them. Haha.
Going up in the dark was pretty cool. I remember looking down and seeing a trail of riders with lights which looked kind of like a snake winding through the woods below. I looked ahead on the trail and saw the same thing - people climbing up the switchbacks in droves.
I had expected a lot of people around me on the climb to Beek's, but not as many as I actually had. I was constantly surrounded by other riders on the ascent to Beek's. It was tough trying to pace myself as I want to pass any rider that is anywhere near me.
I saw quite a few people on the climb with various bike issues. I felt bad for them because it was very early in the ride to have those kinds of problems.
It was pretty frustrating in a few spots to have a rider that was in front of me hog a good line and force me into a bad line. Either that or just slowing down in general in a spot where I wanted to gear up.
Final notes for Chapter 2: On the way out of Hidden Valley a motorcycle rode past me and sprayed mud all over me. Thanks guy. Some older Warrior's Society lady passed me on the climb and made me feel weak and inferior. I passed her later which made me feel my usual dominant self. Haha.
Chapter 3: Beek's to Motorway
When I got to the ball (a big communications tower) I noticed a handful of riders stopping to take a break. I chuckled to myself again thinking they were stupid because it was cutting into their overall time. It gave me a little more motivation to keep going knowing that they might have beat me to the top, but that I would beat them in the end because I wasn't stopping if I could help it.
I was still amazed to be surrounded by so many riders during this section. I just couldn't believe how many people were around me. What made it worse was that several of them were older guys in their 50's or 60's. Also a lot of girls were out, which surprised me. I mean I should be faster than 60 year old men and 40 year old women, right?!
The area where I dropped most of the aforementioned people was the first really tough climb after Beek's. I looked up and saw tons of people on this section, some of them walking their bikes. I knew I could do the entire section without having to get off and I must have passed 10+ people on the way up. It felt great because I knew a lot of them would have to take it easy after the climb/walk, but I was able to recover on the bike without any trouble.
There wasn't anything else especially noteworthy on this section except for maybe the wind. I've heard various people say it was anywhere between 20 and 40mph. Whatever it was, it definitely affected my riding in some key sections. The flat parts where I wanted to really fly turned into struggles because of the strong wind.
I reached the top of the Motorway at about 2:20, which was right on schedule. I hadn't stopped once and that helped my time considerably.
I got around the barrier to the Motorway and started down. I was worried about having to pass people on the way down, but figured I could just go around anyone that was too slow.
I ended up riding directly behind some girl from Sho-Air for the first section of the Motorway. She was going pretty slow on the loose parts and I was trying to give her room, but it was frustrating since I wanted to go much faster. She ended up stopping near the "big rut" and tipped over into the bushes. Haha.
I walked down the top of the rut and then go on the bike pretty fast to finish the Motorway. I passed two guys on the way down and felt pretty fast in general. I've been riding this trail so much lately that my confidence level is pretty high.
I noticed two guys taking pictures on the way down and it's always cool to know you have some evidence that you really did the race. I'll try and get all the pictures later.
Apparently I was #126 out of #400 to come down the Motorway. Yikes. Next year I'll be faster.
Chapter 4: Maple Springs
As I came over the last hump at the bottom of the Motorway I saw an insane scene. The first aid station was just chaos. People everywhere, bikes on the ground, cars, cameras and who knows what else. It was a bit much to take in.
I put my bike down and went over to the back of a truck to re-fill my water bottle and camelback. It was nice to have people help me fill both up. It made the transition very quick.
I grabbed maybe 1/3 a glass of orange juice which caused me to burp later on the way up Maple Springs. Right before I was ready to leave I saw Troy come down. I was really surprised because usually Troy is way out in front of me. I found out later that he ended up starting farther back in the pack at the start and I'm sure that cost him some time. Maybe even 10-15 minutes.
I ended up spending only about 4 minutes at the aid station before starting up the pavement. Man I really hate that section so much. It's just boring and after 20 miles it feels cumbersome. I noticed my legs starting to twitch a tiny bit - an early sign of cramping. I decided to drink a lot more at that point in an effort to catch it before it was too late.
About halfway up Maple Springs someone rides up behind me and pushes me forward. Haha. Turns out it was Troy. Thanks for the push dude! Haha. He then rode with me for a bit before turning on the jets. Thinking fast must really pay off.
I ended up in a loose knit group for the rest of the climb on the dirt up Maple Springs. I would get close to someone, pass them, then be passed by them. I did however manage to pull away from a few people near the end of the climb. There is one section I really love that I can always find energy to hammer on. I passed some Sho-Air dude and that made me feel REALLY good.
Right before getting to Four Corners I looked over and thought I recognized a guy I had been tracking with for a bit. Finally he talked to me and I realized it was Jeff from GeoLadders (jcampbell). We talked for a while before we ultimately separated just before Four Corners.
I remember seeing an orange jersey ahead of me just before Four Corners and thought it might be a GeoLadders guy. Sure enough it was. I don't know who it was, but I ended up passing him after Four Corners and never saw him again. Just like passing the Sho-Air guy, passing the GeoLadders guy felt REALLY good. I consider everyone on the GeoLadders and Sho-Air teams to be head and shoulders better than I am, so leaving one of them behind feels just awesome.
Chapter 5: To The Peak!
My strategy for the ride was to keep a fairly mellow pace until after Four Corners. I knew that would be the place where training and determination would pay off and I could improve my riding time. My hope was to be at Four Corners at about 4 hours and I rolled in at about 4:10. I knew I had to kick it way up if I was going to get in under 6 hours.
The climb to Modjeska was pretty miserable. My legs were starting to cramp at this point. I even felt cramps in places I had never felt them before, most notably my inner knees.
Again I was surrounded by a group of riders up to Modjeska. I remember telling one guy that I was doing Counting Coup and needed to step up my pace. He said something like "Yeah! You need to get going!" Haha. I stepped it up and passed 3-4 guys before reaching Modjeska. I was hoping to coast down to the saddle, but the wind made that impossible.
I've never been so affected by the wind on a ride before. I almost came to a dead stop on the ride to the saddle. Usually I would put the bike into a huge gear and hammer down, but with the wind and with fatigue I had to settle for the middle ring and push through the wind.
Another interesting note is that my hands were pretty numb at this point. My left hand was numb in all fingers and the palm. I need to change my bike setup to help me with this because it makes shifting impossible. My right hand was tired and numb as well and it made shifting very difficult.
When I got to the saddle I started to feel better and the climb at first wasn't so bad. There was this cute girl that I had been chasing since the start of the dirt on Maple Springs and I just could not get ahead of her. It was really frustrating, but then again, if I had to have company I guess a cute girl is better than some old sweaty dude.
I remember playing songs in my head and praying to God for the strength to finish the race strong. I knew if I could just push hard to Santiago Peak that I would have all downhill left and could fly.
I kept gearing up when I felt tired and somehow managed to push harder and harder. I passed quite a few people on the last climb and almost caught the guy that would ultimately finish 10 seconds ahead of me.
Right before reaching the peak some guy caught me and then amazingly stopped at the peak to rest or something. Once again I remember laughing to myself because he had worked so hard to catch me, only to stop and let me go. Never saw him again.
Chapter 6: The Down
The downhill section on the backside of the peak had snow as expected. I really didn't care because it wasn't deep, but the guy in front of me did. He went slower than I wanted to go and I didn't have the guts to pass him in the snow.
He ended up getting to Upper Holy Jim maybe 20 seconds ahead of me. I saw ch4os as a support guy at the top of UHJ which was cool. I thought I recognized him but wasn't sure. I was in such a rush to get down to the finish line I wasn't really paying close attention to anything.
Upper Holy Jim was forgettable for me. I ended up catching the guy in front of me, but it didn't pay off. I was too tired to make a lot of sections I would normally ride over. I was rushing to get on and off the bike and ended up almost eating it a few times. It was really frustrating not being able to ride most of the trail. I would guess I only rode 60-70% of it, whereas in the past I've done 90%. I need to work on my downhill ability for sure.
When I got to the top of Holy Jim the girl I had passed had caught up with me. Bummer. We both hiked down the drop in and I let her go ahead of me since I was going to have to walk up the climb out. After walking/running up the last climb out I ended up flying down the rest of the trail.
I caught the guy I had been tracking and the girl I had let go ahead of me. I descended Holy Jim faster than ever. I was on a mission to get to the finish line and nothing was going to stop me. It felt really great to let it all out and go really fast.
At the bottom of the trail I thought I had ditched the dude behind me, but he was right there. I ended up cramping as I negotiated the lower switchbacks in my right hamstring. The guy behind me ended up passing me because I was getting tired on the switchbacks and it was better for him to go ahead of me. I told myself I wasn't racing him as much as I was racing my goal of 6 hours.
My hamstring ended up cramping again before reaching the stream crossings, but the second time I didn't stop to wait for it to relax. I just kept my right leg unclipped and rode stiff legged until it was ok. Every second counts!
Chapter 7: The Finish
I must admit that I'm getting tired writing this novelette. But then again, this is for my own use and not really for other people to read. I can't imagine how boring it would be for someone else to read.
Once I reached the stream crossings at the bottom of Holy Jim everything kind of came apart. I started making really stupid mistakes and started to stumble and fall all over trying to get on and off the bike. I was trying to rush to save time and ended up probably making things worse by trying to hurry.
When I finally got to the gate to start Trabuco Creek Road I was just crazy with the thought of finishing. I had a super serious look on my face as I ran with the bike to get started for the final push out.
I looked at the clock and saw it was about 11:15ish. I knew I had to fly for the last 5 miles if I wanted to get in under 11:30.
I got into my big ring as quick as I could and just flew to the finish line. Some lady at the second aid station told me to slow down which made me pretty mad. I mean come on! Every second counts, I'm doing a race and you want me to slow down?! I don't think so!
When I got to the finish line I was in my highest gear and at the last second my legs both cramped up pretty good all over. It didn't matter though because I knew I had gotten in under 6 hours. Even the fact that I missed the finish line entirely didn't upset me. Haha.
Chapter 8: It's Over
I saw Matt at the finish and the first thing he said to me was "You got top 20!" I couldn't believe it. I thought I was way behind and that everyone else had finished way before me. I was thrilled to learn I had ended up top 20. I didn't find out till later that I had actually finished 13th.
Matt got 8th and Andrew got 6th, which is really impressive. I'm proud to be able to ride with such strong and fast riders. Troy did well in Vision Quest and Mark and John did well also. It was great to be out and see so many riding buddies and to celebrate finishing an event we had all trained so hard for.
I think next year I'm going to try to do Vision Quest with an initial goal of just finishing.
I'll post more pictures in other posts as they come in. I'm expecting at least 2-3 more. My final time was 5:57:39 and I placed 13th out of 106 riders that did Counting Coup. I thought it was about 150 riders, but I was wrong.
Training for next year starts soon! Haha.
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11:18 AM
2 Comments:
I am so proud of you for finishing!!! Way to go! 13th is really impressive. Did you get the cute girl's number?
That is amazing. When I am done with school i want to buy a bike and ride on the weekends. great job ryan!
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