Vision Quest 2008

Somewhere in the universe there must be a library of morons. Inside are volumes upon volumes of stories, quotes and biographies about moronic people. I would be found under "Moronic Quotes - Volume XVI" with this gem:

"I'm not worried about finishing Vision Quest, I'm just worried how fast I can finish."

So Vision Quest 2008 is over and I have a lot to say about it. This first post is going to be a blow by blow recollection of the ride. It's going to be pretty verbose, but I'll try to break it up.


PREPARATION

I felt like crap when I woke up at 4:10AM. I suppose I should feel blessed that I live so close to the course and could afford to sleep a little longer than most people. My legs felt tired and weak when I woke up and I had a cramp that took maybe 30 minutes to ditch. I ate some toast and cereal to get going but it was not the best start.


RACE START

It was nice to line up with Doug, Matt and Jason at the start of the race. The best part was that I was going to get to leech off of Doug and Jason because they both brought small lights. The ride started at 5:30AM and it was dark until maybe 5:45AM. All the night rides on Blackstar really paid off because I felt perfectly fine riding in the dark without a light.


TO BEEK'S!

I have to get this off my chest. I was a little pissed that I got stuck in the back of the pack at the start. I had to fight to keep up with Doug and company because they kept passing people and leaving me in the dark. That didn't bother me as much as the other rides did. Haha.

On the way up to Beek's I ran into a lot of traffic. On one of the sections at the bottom with "speed bumps" a singlespeed rider tried to clear them and failed causing everyone behind him to get off and walk.

That turned out to be a theme. Lots of riders riding slow and not being aware of their surroundings. It was eerily similar to driving on the freeway. Ever been driving where two cars are going super slow side by side and won't let anyone pass? There was lots of that on the way to Beek's for me.

By the time I got to Hidden Valley things had spread out enough to where I could ride at my own pace and not worry about people in front of me.

I will say I was amazed at how hard some people were working to get up to Beek's. So many riders around me were panting and breathing as if they had already been riding for 6 hours.

Estimated time to Beek's: 1:01


TO THE MOTORWAY!

My time up Beek's was not very good. I was hoping for something a bit better, but oh well. I passed quite a few people on the way to the Motorway and I don't remember anyone passing me. That was to be a theme for the day. If I was on the bike and climbing, I was doing well.

The problem with the run to the Motorway for me came in the form of Sport Beans. At least I think this was the problem. I started to feel jittery and restless in my chest. It was uncomfortable and not a familiar feeling. My guess at this point was that the caffeine from the beans was giving me trouble.

I will say that I was pleased with my performance to the top of the Motorway. Despite being slow to Beek's I felt like I picked up the pace a bit to get to the top of the Motorway.

Estimated time to Motorway: 2:08


DOWN THE MOTORWAY!

When I got to the Motorway I saw a few dirt mounds that I figured I would hike over. No big deal. It was at this time that I got a massive dose of frustration and disappointment. I got off my bike, put my right foot on the ground and my right quad instantly locked up. I had no idea it was tender before putting my foot down.

All I could think was "This isn't happening. How can this be happening?!?" I hadn't struggled with cramps on a ride for months. I could see getting them at the 5 or 6 hour mark, but 2 hours into the ride?

As if this wasn't bad enough, I had to watch rider after rider that I had passed go by me as I tried to rub out the cramps. I ended up developing a new technique to get quad cramps out. It's a combination of squatting and kicking my legs behind myself. I would pull my foot slowly to my butt but if I do that my hamstrings cramp as well.

I must have lost at least 5-10 minutes at the top of the Motorway due to cramps.

About halfway down the Motorway I decided to let some guys behind me pass and when I stopped to let them by I cramped again. Another few minutes spent waiting for the muscles to relax so I could keep going. I have this habit also of gripping my brakes super hard when the muscles go to help squeeze out the pain. Haha.

The rest of the trip down wasn't bad at all. I felt fine and in control. I was able to reel in a few guys that had passed me and that made me feel marginally better.

At the very bottom of the Motorway was probably my worst moment of the entire race. A new rail had been installed to prevent vehicles from going up the Motorway and it was maybe knee high. I went to carry my bike over the rail but couldn't do it. I was cramping too much and had to have two Warrior's Society guys carry the bike over for me. I could barely get over myself WITHOUT the bike.

Estimated time to Aid Station #1: 2:30


TO FOUR CORNERS!

"Manny just reached Four Corners." What a discouraging transmission. That's what I heard as I prepared to leave the first aid station. I ended up spending a few minutes at the aid station filling my camelback and my water bottle. I had prepared my own mix of drink stuff prior so I just poured out the powder from the baggies and tried to get going.

Even though I had been cramping I figured I still had time to recover from them. I thought I could drink my way out of them. It sort of worked. As long as I was on the bike and pedaling I was ok. I ended up passing a ton of people on the way to Four Corners. I felt great on the pavement and pretty good on the dirt section as well.

Thinking back I can't remember one single person riding past me on the entire way up to Four Corners which makes me proud. I ended up eating a bit on the trip up but it was very tough. I started feeling sick to my stomach on the way up and felt like I wanted to puke. I even puked a tiny bit in my mouth at one point.

I'm not sure what it was but I had a difficult time with my guts and my stomach for almost the entire ride. I need to check my food better for the next big ride.

The trip to Four Corners ended by riding in behind Gene from STR by about 20 seconds. That made me feel good because Gene is a pretty solid rider. I figured maybe I wasn't doing as bad as I thought even though I knew my split to Four Corners sucked.

I would guess my total time was about 1:15 up Maple Springs which is pretty good for me. Much like my trip from Beek's to the Motorway I am pretty proud of that time.

Estimated time to Four Corners: 3:50


TO THE PEAK!

I kept reeling in riders from Four Corners to the saddle between Modjeska and Saddleback. The trip up to Modjeska has always been a strong point for me. I always find extra energy and am able to power through the rocky and loose sections. My hands had been going numb on me and it was bothering me, but I kept trying to squeeze them to get blood flowing. It becomes hard to shift when you can't feel your thumbs. Haha.

I ended up stopping at the saddle to pee and take a quick break. This was probably a mistake because it cost me another 5 minutes and I didn't really have to pee at all. The only thing I could barely squeeze out though was dark orange, which was a very bad sign. I was not nearly hydrated enough so I stepped up my fluid consumption the rest of the ride.

It was not the best feeling to get back on the bike after trying to pee and eating a little. I had several rides pass me and I've always hated the last push to the peak. I managed to zone out though and geared up a bit and cranked it out. It felt great to catch Zippy from GeoLadders right before the peak. I let him get ahead of me for the downhill though because I thought he might be faster going down Upper Holy Jim.

The trip down to UHJ was easy and I took it quite a bit faster than I normally would. That section has never bothered me and I always feel confident on it. Always amazes me how some riders are just better suited to certain parts of a trail.

Estimated time to Peak: 4:30?


UPPER HOLY HELL!

What a disaster. I tried to let a guy behind me go in front on Upper Holy Jim, but he said he was also going to be going slow and let me go first. The first quarter of UHJ is pure bliss. It's rolling and easy and just plain fun. I have no problem with it at all. It's when the left handed technical switchbacks start appearing that I have trouble.

Even when I am fresh these left handed nightmares give me trouble. I've rolled maybe half of them only once out of all the times I've been down UHJ. When you're several hours into a ride that you don't want to crash on and you're tired, even the smallest obstacles become very big. I ended up hiking down quite a bit of UHJ and in the process got passed by everyone I had put away on the climbs.

This is an area I need to improve on. I probably lost a good 10 minutes in my time on this section alone.

Estimated time down UHJ: 4:50


TO AID STATION 2!

After hiking down the mouth of Holy Jim from Main Divide I let a few guys go ahead of me before descending. I'm sitting here thinking ... if I was better on the downhill I could have stayed in front of maybe 20 guys. So frustrating.

Anyways the trip down Holy Jim was uneventful. I saw some hikers, some riders and some racers. I rolled one technical section that I've never tried which made me feel good. I hit quite a few switchbacks succesfully on the way down and felt not so bad in general.

I did end up going into the bushes on one of the lower switchbacks trying to execute a right turn. Haha. Unfortunately three hikers witnessed it. Oh well!

The bottom of Holy Jim consisted of me stomping through creeks and flying down every rideable section. I always love going down the very bottom of Holy Jim. The best part is having casual hikers watch in awe as you storm down rocky sections and ride through creeks like it's nothing. Ego stroke 101.

I got my picture taken right before exiting the official Holy Jim trail and the guy that took the picture of me laughed and said "That pretty much says it all." Haha.

Estimated time down Holy Jim: 5:30




TO WEST HORSETHIEF!

So I was pretty disappointed with my time to the last aid station. I had roughly the same time last year when I did Counting Coup. It's a very discouraging feeling to think I've worked so hard all year to get faster and stronger and on race day I'm only 5 minutes faster. I refuse to believe that I have only grown by 5-10 minutes in a year over the same course. My analysis of what went wrong will come in a later post though.

The second aid station was quick. I popped some more Sport Beans and filled my water bottle with water and took off. This race has made me a firm believer in the "just ride and never stop" philosophy. I realized I can function on a lot less food and water than I normally take in. It makes it more painful and a bit tougher, but it still works.

The trip to Trabuco was rough. My legs went into self destruct mode on the fire road. I never stopped pedaling but I had quite a few full locks in the legs. When I say "full locks", I mean the muscles seize and will not relax. I've learned to pedal through these though as long as they aren't in the major muscle groups. The feeling of a knife stabbing my inner thighs only lasted 5-10 minutes before I got to Trabuco.

Even when I'm fresh I find riding up Trabuco to be tough. I can usually ride 90-95% of it, but on Saturday I was having trouble in several spots. Add to that the fact that other racers were coming _DOWN_ Trabuco and I had to spend a lot of time walking the bike. I will say that most of the guys coming down were cool, but some of them were kind of lame. Oh well. It's a tight trail in spots and I know they're racing and I'm not.

I would write more about this section but to be honest instinct took over and I just zoned out and kept walking and riding - anything to just constantly move forward.

Estimated time to WHT: 6:15


UP WEST HORSETHIEF!

I was actually looking forward to WHT by the time I got to it. I was 45 minutes under the cut off and in retrospect I did really well on this section. I didn't ride any of it (minus the very top), but I was very consistent with the hiking. I'm pretty sure I did the entire trip up in about 45 minutes. I passed a couple of guys and managed to constantly put one foot in front of the other over and over and over despite the fatigue and cramping.

One of the craziest things of the entire ride happened on one of the switchbacks going up ... I was taking a short break on a switchback with another racer when this goddess of a trail runner came down and passed us. She was running downhill by herself and she was just ... really, really, really attractive. I looked at the guy resting with me and we both said, "WOW!"

The burger stand at the top of Horsetheif was cool but at this point I just did not feel like eating a burger. I was still sick to my stomach and the thought of eating was not attractive at all. The volunteers were super nice though and helped me drink a little water before I took off.

Estimated time up WHT: 7:00


TO TRABUCO!

The trip to Trabuco was not bad at all. I geared up for it and managed to bang it out in decent time. On the way I hit a rock the size of my fist and it slammed into my right shin causing a small gash and a lot of swelling. Blood dripped down my shin and all I could do was grin. It didn't hurt that bad and it made me look like a rock star. Haha.

Estimated time to Trabuco: 7:15


DOWN TRABUCO!

Trip down Trabuco was pretty uneventful. I offered to let a singlespeed guy go down ahead of me but he was riding rigid and said I should go first. During The Traverse I had the same situation happen and the guy on the rigid bike torched me down Trabuco. On Saturday I was the one that was able to stay ahead and bomb down Trabuco. I didn't see anyone on the way down and no one passed me. Pretty uneventful.

The only noteworthy thing that happened was that I got a flat at the very bottom right before the creek where Horsetheif starts. I hit the bottom and heard "PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH" from my rear tire.

It was frustrating to have to stop and change the flat but there was nothing I could do. I knew it would kill my already mediocre total time, but there was no point in getting upset about it. It could have been worse. Right about the time I was repairing the flat a lady rode up to Horsetheif and had to be turned around because she had missed the cutoff. She seemed pretty upset.

A funny moment happened as I was finally riding out after fixing the flat ... the lady that had been turned around had stopped on the side of the trail to pee and I rode up on her right after she had finished. She was pulling her shorts up as I came around the corner and she let out an "OH MY!" as I went by. Haha.

Estimated time down Trabuco: 7:40 (plus a flat, add 10?)


TO THE FINISH!

The ride to the end was pretty fun. It felt great to be finishing a tough course and I felt pretty strong and my mind was starting to get clear as I rode the remaining part of Trabuco and the fire road out.

I love finishing rides on Trabuco Creek Road to be honest. It feels good to hammer out the last few miles in your big ring while you're passing cars. It's also fun to pass the casual hikers and people on the side of the road while you splash through creek crossings with mud all over your face and body.



My total time ended up being 8:08 with a ride time of 7:29. I'll write a bit more about how I feel overall with my performance in a different post.