Ultra Quest 2009

From Ultra Quest 2009

Just like my Vision Quest post, this is going to be impossible to keep short. When you're out for over 11 hours on the bike, lots of stuff happens. I won't be able to remember all of it, but I'll do my best.

Ultra Quest felt like Point Break to me. Keanu Reeves is trying to get the respect of a group of surfer thugs in Point Break and I was trying to get respect from some riders I really admire. The whole event had a different vibe to it than other events I've done. There was really no advertising for it and it isn't well known yet in the mountain bike community. My goal was to finish and hopefully earn some respect.

Woke up at 5:40AM and went through my endurance ride ritual. A quick shower to warm up, cream on the butt and a little snack. I spent a lot of time on my brakes the night before and was confident they were in perfect shape.

Parked at the entrance to Trabuco Creek Road thinking the ride started from there and was surprised when I saw only one other car there. I thought I had the wrong day or something was horribly wrong. Turns out the event started about a mile down the road. I saw Bobby getting ready near where I parked and we rode down to the start together. (Funny note ... Bobby thought I was Matt. I used to get that all the time when Matt and I worked together. Ha.)

The atmosphere was cool at the start. It was a hidden location and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. I found Troy and Brian and we ended up leaving about 2 minutes after I showed up. I forgot to check in at the start which made things a little confusing at the aid stations.

Hike up Bell

From Ultra Quest 2009

(More where this came from ...)

Ugh. I did this once last year when Troy and Matt were training and I had forgotten how horrible the hike up Bell is. I was able to ride the short fire road all the way to the trailhead, but after that I wasn't riding very much. I wanted to conserve my energy and even though I could have cleared some climbs, I didn't think the effort was worth it.

The first half mile on the actual trail was just murder. I remember thinking, "If this keeps up I'm never going to be able to finish." Not even 45 minutes into the event and I was already considering quitting. Haha.

I saw a bunch of guys carrying their bikes on their backs and I decided to give it a shot since pushing/dragging my bike up the hills was proving to be difficult. I copied their style and realized quickly that I have a heavy bike! I was carrying 40 pounds on my back between the camelback and my bike. The terrain was steep, loose and rocky which made it really hard to find good places to plant my feet.

About one third of the way up I thought I had a rock in the back of my left shoe so I stopped to get it out. Turns out it wasn't a rock, it was a blister. Great. I was only two miles in and I already had a blister. I ended up with one large blister on my left foot and two large blisters on my right. Eventually the fatigue made the pain seem trivial.

I was passed several times when I would stop to adjust my shoes. Troy and Brian had disappeared and I did most of the hike by myself until right before Yeager. Troy and Brian stopped to wait for me and we regrouped at the turn to Yeager.

From Ultra Quest 2009

(Up, up and more up ...)


Descent Down Yeager

From Ultra Quest 2009

(Walking. What else would I do?)

I had been down Yeager only once prior to Saturday. It had been a year since my last trip down and all I could remember was that it was insanely steep and technical. I had already mentally prepared myself to walk all of it if I had to.

I ended up walking about 90% of it. I just didn't care to even try many sections because I knew it was the hardest trail of the day and I didn't want to take a chance and ruin the rest of the ride. Some other guy crashed in front of me going down and split his leg open and had to bail to get stitches.

From Ultra Quest 2009

(Hooray! I can ride this part!)

The very last part of Yeager found me skiing down the mountain. I had forgotten that it was too steep to even hike down. So I alternated between grabbing onto trees and branches to hoist myself down and simply standing and sliding down with my feet acting as skis. There was no way to step down gradually.

At the bottom of Yeager I regrouped again with Troy and enjoyed some Gatorade and an orange provided by the people putting the event on. Man that Gatorade was _so good_.

Up Trabuco

I started up Trabuco with Troy, but he quickly dropped me. I ended up riding the entire thing with Bobby. We just spun away in our granny gears and talked. Suffering is always decreased when you have someone to talk to.

I kept telling myself that I would eat one of the two candy bars that I had brought with me for the ride at the top of Trabuco. That was part of the motivation to getting to the top of Trabuco.

There were plenty of spots on Trabuco that I would have normally cleared, but with pacing on my mind I decided to walk. It just wasn't worth spending the energy to clear a few yards of rocky terrain for pride. I'd rather walk, relax and use that energy later when I really needed it.

As I got to the top of Trabuco, the words from a volunteer at the bottom of Yeager kept repeating in my head, "Enjoy the shade while you can! It's the last shade you'll get all day!" He was right.

Down Pinos

From Ultra Quest 2009

(Brian is the spec at the bottom, I'm the spec at the top. I think I cleared this part?)

I was pretty nervous to descend Los Pinos. It had been a year since I had been on the trail. Prior to Saturday I had only been down Pinos twice and even though I had an idea of what I was going to see, I was a little apprehensive. My biggest fear was that I would become indecisive and try to ride something I shouldn't be riding. Interestingly enough I rarely crash when I ride things that scare me. Now that I think of it, most of my bad crashes come when I get complacent and take things for granted.

Either way I was trying to pace myself on the hikes and be careful on the downhill. I managed to clear a lot of tough sections and rode more than I did the last time I was on the trail. I was pretty happy about that.

I really can't remember too much about the trip down. I saw Brian eat it halfway down a really long steep loose section and I was able to ride around him and clear it. Booya! The hiking was pretty mellow compared to going up Bell and even though it was hot there was a slight breeze here and there that made the exposure more tolerable.

I had a few guys behind me going down but they never seemed to fully catch up to me. I would increase my gap on the hikes and then they would narrow it slightly on the descents. I kept waiting for a dude to come crashing down on top of me while I hiked down some of the more technical areas, but it never happened.

The bottom of Pinos was difficult for me. I ended up hiking most of the rocky sections and almost all of the switchbacks. I think I would have done better if I had ridden it more like Brian and Troy did prior to the event.

I hit the bottom of Pinos at exactly 5 hours for ride time.

Up San Juan (Part One)

The aid station at the bottom of San Juan was heaven. It had started to heat up and it was really nice to sit in the shade and enjoy a cold drink. I kept slamming electrolyte pills (14 total for the day) and tried to eat to keep my energy up.

I felt bad because I knew Troy was going for time and overall placement and I was always the last guy to the aid stations. By the time I showed up he was already itching to get going. It was great seeing all the people at the aid station - whether they were volunteers or other riders. It made me feel like I wasn't alone and it encouraged me to keep riding.

So after a pretty long break the three of us started to climb up San Juan.

From Ultra Quest 2009

(Leaving the aid station)

The trip up to Cocktail sucked. Not fun at all. We started at about 12:50PM and the sun was right on top of us. It wasn't all that hot, certainly not as hot as some rides I've been on, but the fatigue combined with little shade made the trip tougher than I thought it was going to be.

I kept the bike in the small ring, which was the theme for the day, and just hung out behind Brian. I just wanted to keep up with Brian and not fall behind like I had been doing throughout the day. I cleared all but one of the lower switchbacks, but that is becoming pretty standard now. I walked all but one or two of the middle switchbacks which are more technical.

It became pretty hard to stay positive mentally. Part of the problem is that I knew the trails and I knew what was still ahead of me. I still had to get to Blue Jay, then up The Wall and then down Bell. I tried not to focus on the distant future and instead tried to focus on smaller, more immediate goals. "Just make it up that next climb." "Just make it to Cocktail, then you can have your last candy bar."

Brian and I lost contact with Troy about two thirds of the way up to Cocktail even though Troy was suffering. Troy would build a gap on us and then we'd reel him in. This happened over and over until he finally built a gap that ended up being pretty substantial.

When Brian and I rolled into Cocktail we didn't see Troy and I knew that meant we weren't going to get a chance to have a break. Brian and I thought about it and figured Troy was long gone so we'd take a break anyways. Then we changed our minds when we realized it was really hot and the bottom of Old San Juan would have shade.

I got a small burst of energy after leaving Cocktail and started attacking and feeling good. It didn't last very long. Haha. I came back down to earth and followed Brian down Old San Juan where we stopped and rested for a bit.

Up San Juan (Part Two)

We almost got stuck at the bottom of Old San Juan because several other guys doing Ultra Quest decided that would be a good place to stop and we all ended up just talking and hanging out. It's hard to get going again after sitting down, eating and relaxing.

Right before the intersection of Old and New San Juan we ran into a guy on a singlespeed that had cramped really bad. It was so bad that he couldn't move off the trail because his legs had locked. Brian gave him some electrolyte pills and we kept going.

I led the trip up Upper San Juan and I just spun and spun and spun. Managed to ride everything but one steep switchback (the only steep switchback, ha). We took a little shortcut towards the top and ran into a bunch of other guys resting and filling up on water at the top.

The last little climb before the campground was funny. I was following Brian and kept waiting for him to walk various sections. I didn't want to be the only one walking so I told myself I would ride whatever he rode. He'd start in on a climb and I'd think, "NO! Let's walk dude!"

At the top we both soaked our jerseys in cold water and filled our water bottles. There was no point in filling the camelbacks because we didn't need that much water before we got back to the top of Trabuco. The freezing cold jersey was a shock to the system, but it felt good after having been in the sun all day.

Falcon and ... THE WALL

The first thing Brian and I did after leaving San Juan was to promptly get lost. We were looking for Falcon, which was supposed to cut out some fire road. I just wanted to cruise on the pavement and fire road, but Brian wanted the shortcut instead. We tried following Ned (singlespeed guy that cramped on San Juan), but he ditched us and left us wandering around on random singletracks.

Eventually we found our way to Falcon and hiked up to the fire road just in time to meet Ned who had taken the pavement option after all. Haha.

The Wall wasn't actually that bad. At this point my mind was pretty far gone so it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I rode about 80% of it and I think I could have cleared it all had I tried. I had decided in advance to walk most of it because I thought most people would be walking it. I rode as far as I could without pushing physically and then started hiking. After a brief flat section I started climbing again and decided to ride as far as I could at a slow pace. If my legs started acting up or if I felt especially tired, I would just start walking.

It never happened and I was able to spin my way into the top of Trabuco a little ahead of Ned and Brian.

Bell Again?!

From Ultra Quest 2009

(From the trip _up_ Bell. But gives you an idea why it's a back country trail.)

The sun had started to go down at this point and I was trying to mentally prepare for the trip down Bell. I tried to down a muffin at the aid station and after a few bites I realized that it was a mistake and threw it away. My stomach was not happy with the muffin and it let me know.

We didn't stop for long before we started to hike again. I just wanted the whole experience to be over, so we started hiking up towards the descent down Bell.

I put the bike on my back for a while on the initial hike, but it just hurt too much to continue in that fashion. I ended up having to push it for the rest of the hike-a-bikes.

I don't know what to say about the rest of the trip down Bell. Most of it is a blur in my mind because I wasn't thinking very straight. I rode one section that has always been challenging to me and cleaned it, which made me happy. It also scared me because I wasn't sure I was in shape to tackle technical obstacles.

If I had known the trail a little better (you'd think I would be an expert after hiking up it - except trails look very different going up versus going down) I think I would have attempted to ride more. I probably rode about 60% of Bell? Maybe a little more, maybe a little less.

Brian took off on me but I eventually caught up with him because he took a nasty fall on a rutted out section. He had a decent sized gash in his forearm and was a little stunned when I came up on him.

I had my own little crash but managed to lay the bike down on a steep section. No big deal, but it could have been worse.

Even though I don't remember some of the finer points, I definitely remember the hikes. Some of them were just plain brutal. Completely insane. It is not an exaggeration to say that the worst hike-a-bike section was on the trip down Bell. Brian and I finished it and had two guys come up right after us as we all relaxed in a really small mesa area. It was a cool feeling to talk to the other dudes. We all encouraged each other by reflecting on how awesome we were. It was a Point Break moment. Respect.

BGR

I started to slow down even more the further down Bell we went. My Garmin died and I started to get antsy. I just wanted to finish.

Brian and the two guys that had stopped with us waited for me at the start of BGR and we all started down BGR towards the end. I had done BGR once prior and actually rode around 80% of it. On Saturday I must have ridden maybe 15-20%. I had nothing left and had no confidence to clear most sections. In retrospect I wish I had at least tried to ride some of the descents. I think it would have been easier physically than hiking down them.

Towards the bottom of BGR I could see and hear the finish line. Down in the creek I could see the cars and I could hear people yelling at me "RIDE IT! RIDE IT!" It was a great feeling to know I was almost done.

Brian left me at the bottom of BGR to hustle to the end and that left me lost. Haha. I had no idea how to get back to the start line and ended up wandering around trying to find an exit to the creek. Eventually Ned (singlespeed cramp guy) found me and we rode out together. Thank God he knew where we were going.

From Ultra Quest 2009

(I'm not walking in front of everyone. Have to ride to finish!)


The End

From Ultra Quest 2009

(THE END!)

The end was fantastic. Maybe the best end to any event I've ever had. I could hear people yelling my name (RYAN! RYAN! YEAH RYAN!) and I rode through the creek all the way to the end.

It was a great feeling to finish and to feel like I had earned some respect amongst a great group of riders that I really hold in high regard.

I ate a little, drank a lot and got to take away some free gifts (socks, water bottle) that were donated from The Path and I think The Bike Company. I was told I finished 20th and that really made my day. I knew around 50 guys had started (46 actually) and so I felt honored to finish in the top half.

From Ultra Quest 2009

(It's over ...)


Aftermath

So far the aftermath has not been pretty. I can barely walk and my legs are just ... they are gone. Way gone. My feet hurt from the blisters and for some strange reason my toes go numb from time to time. I have a ton of scrapes and cuts, but nothing major. My legs look like I have chicken pox from all the little knicks and cuts.

I have a slight sunburn since I forgot to put on sunscreen and I've made a major addition to all my glorious tan lines.

Obviously I'm really tired and I'm hoping to rest for a few days before I start focusing on Julian. My spirits are really high right now though because I feel like I accomplished a tough goal. Nothing motivates better than stretching yourself and succeeding.

Some stats:

40 miles, about 12,000 feet of elevation gain, averaged about 3mph for the day, 14 Hammer endurolyte pills consumed, about 4 gels, 1.5 candy bars (Brian was hungry and ate the other 0.5), one banana, two oranges, one third of a muffin, two Gatorades, one Powerade, two bottles of Cytomax, about 150 ounces of water and burned 5,660 calories before my GPS shut off. It took me 11 hours and 31 minutes to finish.