Traverse Retrospective

Couldn't think of a creative title, so there you go.

For those that don't know, I rode in an event this past Saturday called "The Traverse". The name refers to a trek across the Santa Ana mountain range hitting various peaks along the way. The course was about 44 miles with a little over 8,000 feet in climbing.

The difference with this event was that it was being billed as a race - with cash payouts to the Expert class riders. The cash didn't apply to me since I'm far from an "Expert", but it did mean the ride would have a different flavor to it.

So with the small background info out of the way ... to the ride! ...


I woke up at 4:30AM which sucked. Ate the typical big ride breakfast of peanut butter toast and Gatorade. I forgot to get banana's so I ended up eating some graham cracker snacks I had laying around.

Drove to Blackstar to meet up with everyone and drank a lot of Gatorade on the way and forced down half of a Powerbar. I swear I hate eating when I don't feel like it. I had been eating a ton in the days leading up to the ride so I felt full, but ate anyways.

Met up with all the guys (Troy, Matt, Andrew, Steve, Mark, John, Doug, etc.) at the start and waited to get going. They let the Expert class go ahead of all the intermediate riders so they could get a good start and not get stuck behind the slow guys. Haha.

I have to admit I was really surprised with the start. I remember Doug Andrews giving me advice for Counting Coup ... he said not to get caught up in the frantic pace at the start and to ride at your own pace.

Well I threw that out of the window Saturday. It was a fast pace up to Blackstar and I decided to hang with the pack. It felt pretty cool because I wasn't pushing that hard and yet I was right with a huge group of riders. It ended up breaking up pretty fast once the real climbing started, but it felt good to be around fast riders for maybe 5-10 minutes.

The trip up to Blackstar wasn't all that memorable. I chased Doug House most of the way up and I remember seeing Steve on his SS in Hidden Valley. If that section wasn't so flat I'm sure he would have crushed me to Beek's. My total time to Beek's was about 58 minutes, which was a new personal best. I knew it was a personal best, which set off some alerts in my head like "You're going out too hard", but I ignored them because I felt fairly strong still.

The section from Beek's to the Motorway was kind of a blur. I remember seeing Troy ahead of me by a few minutes and I would have liked to catch him, but I didn't want to spend a ton of energy only to blow up later in the ride. I do remember battling Doug House some more and trying to keep two other guys off.

I ended up rolling into the top of the Motorway at about 2:05, which is _15 minutes_ faster than my Counting Coup split. I was pretty excited to hit that time, which was again - a personal best. My plan at this point in the ride was to get off the bike and spend maybe a minute or two eating so I could sustain my energy for the rest of the ride. However when I got to the checkpoint I saw no one else had stopped so I rode up a little ways before deciding it was best to err on the side of caution.

I stopped to eat a Powerbar when Doug House caught up to me and passed me. Ugh. Doug is a strong rider, but when I pass someone I want them to stay behind me! Haha. I figured after he passed me he would be gone because I stayed and waited maybe 1-2 minutes while eating before taking off after him.

The ride from Motorway to Four Corners was by far the worst section of the ride. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. It was the low point for sure. I battled a few guys on the way and passed quite a few, but man it was just horrible. I remember feeling light headed and dizzy and the thought of riding more after Four Corners was just impossible.

Even worse was that my legs started to cramp after the hike-a-bike section. I had hiked maybe 20-25 yards of the really rocky section, but rode the rest. It let me catch a lot of other riders, but it also taxed my muscles considerably. I remember riding in my lowest gear massaging my quads on the flats trying to keep them from locking. I also prayed that God would keep the cramps away and tried to drink all my water to prevent cramping. I was just hoping that I caught it early enough to keep it from blossoming into a full on pain flower.

When I got to Four Corners I was thrilled. I knew from two previous rides that the section I had just finished was by far the worst and that the majority of the hard climbing was over. I also knew that after a few minutes of rest I would recover well and blast to the Peak.

I saw Chris (Cranx) at Four Corners and received some aid from him and a random Warrior's Society guy. It makes a huge difference having someone help with your bike and supplies when you make a stop. That and the morale boost of having people say things like "Keep going! You're doing awesome!" Even one person saying that can really energize you.

The trip from Four Corners to the Peak was awesome. I caught quite a few guys and felt great during the entire trip up. I was thrilled to be riding in a fairly aggressive gear (for me at least - remember I'm not an "Expert") and I felt like I had a lot of energy in the tank to keep going. The grade and terrain going to Santiago Peak is simply cake after the "Hell" section to Four Corners.

I forgot to mention that during this climb to the Peak I had fallen behind Doug House again (he left Four Corners before I did), but I caught him right before the descent from the Peak. I had decided to stop again at the Peak to pee and eat a tiny bit. Once again I watched Doug pass me as I ate. Haha.

The trip down from the Peak to Holy Jim was not the best. I suck at downhill and I found that section pretty unenjoyable. My arms were tired and my legs felt more stressed than they should have been for a _downhill_ section. Oh well though.

I ended up getting passed by a Warrior's Society guy that I had beaten on the climb to the Peak on the downhill. He rang the little bell on his bike and flew past me. Not cool. Oh well though ... I just need to get faster somehow.

The trip from Holy Jim to Trabuco was great. I was getting tired and fatigued, but looking back I am very pleased with the energy level I was able to sustain. Usually long rides are like approaching the speed of light for me. The closer I get to the finish the harder it is. However on Saturday I felt pretty strong all the way to Trabuco.

I ended up passing a few more guys on the way, which felt great. I did end up catching Doug House right before hitting the trailhead for Trabuco. Man he was not easy to keep up with. I guess everyone has their arch-nemesis, and on Saturday mine was Doug. Hahaha.

I did feel bad for passing Andrew right before "The Wall" though. Andrew was way ahead of me (at least that's what Chris told me at Four Corners) but I ended up riding up behind him while he was walking his bike. I thought he had a mechanical since he has some pretty gnarly bike luck - but it turned out to be cramps. I offered food and water, but he didn't need either. It felt like a jerk thing to do - to keep riding while he sat to wait for the cramping to subside, but I figured he'd understand.

An interesting thing happened after I passed though. I think at the same time in both of our heads a new motivation kicked in. For me it was "Stay ahead of Andrew!", and for Andrew it was "Catch up to Ryan!". Hahaha. The rest of the ride I was constantly looking behind me to see how close Andrew was. I took a few downhill sections really fast because I know Andrew is _a lot_ faster than I am on downhill fire road. It felt kind of reckless, but I knew he was coming for me.

Once at Trabuco, I let an Expert SS guy go ahead of me and then followed him down. I passed only one guy on the entire trail out to Trabuco Creek Road. Some guys just don't do technical singletrack well. I mean if I'm passing someone - they most definitely don't like technical stuff. Hahaha.

The trip out on Trabuco Creek sucked. I was thrilled with my ride time and wanted to get in under 5:30, but I missed it by a few minutes. I felt pretty good hammering on the way out and even caught the SS guy (sucks for him), but it wasn't the smoothest exit. I had pumped my rear shock up to about 90 PSI which means that even with the full suspension mode set to "ON", I was still rocking and rolling like I was on a hard tail.

My total race time was about 5:33 and my ride time was 5:23. Ride time wise that is about 40 minutes faster than my pre-ride! Really exciting for me.

Another first for me was getting on the podium after the race. I realize there were two reasons I got third in my class (Intermediate 19-30) ...

1. Andrew cramped - He came in fourth and without the cramping he would have crushed my time.

2. We probably had a really small class. Most riders were over 30.

Either way I don't care. I'll take it. Haha.



Now it's time to rest a little and get ready for 12 Hours of Temecula. The goal is 10 laps for a two man team (me and Matt). I think we can do it.