Julian Death March - First Loop

From Julian Death March

On Saturday I attempted and finished my first Julian Death March. I wanted to focus more on endurance events this year and the Death March seemed exciting because it would be on new trails and it is still a fairly small event. About 60 people started the ride as opposed to something like Vision Quest/Counting Coup where you have around 300 people starting together.

Pre-Ride

The week leading up to the race was not very good. Stress at work and bike repairs made life difficult. I was pretty drained going into Saturday and I had not done much planning as far as how I was going to get to Julian and what I was going to take on the ride. Before I left work on Friday I was looking for motels to stay in near Julian. That is how last minute some of the decisions were. Haha. I ended up deciding to just drive from my house the morning of the event.

I woke up at 4:25AM so I could be on time for the 7AM check in. It felt kind of cruel to make us check in at 7AM when the race didn't start until 8AM. Despite feeling overwhelmed by the stress in my life leading up to the event I felt pretty good when I woke up on Saturday morning. The drive down wasn't bad at all. I got a little lost in Ramona, but managed to get to the start at about 6:45AM. Plenty of time to play some Street Fighter 2 on my Gameboy and relax.

(As a note I had some minor diarrhea before the start. Felt really bad for anyone using that port-a-poty after me.)

Slater and Todd (guy from Geoladders) were supposed to be at the start with me, but I couldn't find either one of them. Slater ended up not racing and I guess I just didn't see Todd. I did manage to find Calvin Mulder though and chatted with him a bit before the race started.

The organizer of the event gave us a quick briefing of the course and made a point to mention a climb called Oriflame. He said that the winner of the race last year pulled out this year in part due to this climb. Like the cocky moron I am I thought I would have no problem with Oriflame. How bad could it be? They were just trying to be funny and scare us right? I'd find out later that I was sorely (pun intended) mistaken.

Start

From Julian Death March

I had studied the course and knew that the start had a long downhill. The word 'long' did not do it justice. It took me about 30 minutes to go 10 miles (averaged 20mph) on fire roads and pavement. The front runners formed a peloton pretty fast and I was left behind with a ragged group of chasers. On the fire road my only complaint was that I had to pass a couple of trucks and there was not much room to get around them on the downhill sections.

After about 10 miles I noticed a few guys ahead of me pulling off the road at a gate. If I had been alone at this part of the course I probably would have kept going and missed the turn. Most of the course was marked with little arrows at intersections, but I don't remember any arrows near the gate.

I climbed over the gate and passed a few guys who stopped to do who knows what. I find it really hard to bury the race mentality when I'm bike riding. Even though my goal was to finish - and not finish last - I still felt the need to pass people. We were just getting over a stupid gate and yet I wanted to get over faster than the guys around me so I could pass them. Haha.

A Climb

After a short, sandy and loose descent, the first climb started. I could see quite a few people ahead of me and caught most of them quickly. The terrain was soft and rugged but I was feeling really good. Middle ringed past a few people and reeled in rider after rider. Again I just couldn't help but be competitive. If I see a guy ahead of me it is pure instinct to want to catch up and then pass him. Also it is totally natural to want to stay ahead of anyone behind me.

I don't remember details about the climb, but it wasn't too bad. Went on for a few miles until we hit a flat area in the middle of a few farms. I remember there was a very strong headwind and it reminded me of riding through the meadow at Hurkey Creek. Visually it looked flat and like something you could big ring, but you end up riding in lower gears. My mind was saying "EASY!", but my legs did not agree.

At this point in the ride I was trying to drink and eat on a schedule (every 20 minutes drink, every 45 minutes gel) and I was trying to stay ahead of Calvin for as long as I could. Calvin was on a rigid singlespeed (32x16) and I knew he was behind me. I would look back on some of the gradual climbs and see him maybe a few hundred yards behind me and that motivated me to keep a good pace going.

Aid Station One

The first climbing section is blurry in my mind because it was just a mix of fire roads that all looked the same. Since I did not know the course my plan was to stop at every aid station, fill up on water and eat. I had taken about 10 endurolyte pills (to prevent cramping) in the front pocket of my shorts and it was a lot easier to swallow those at the aid stations than it was on the bike.

At about 21 miles into the ride it had taken me a little under 2 hours to reach the first aid station. No other riders were using the facilities and when I stopped I noticed about 3-4 riders passing me. It seemed that stopping wasn't a good idea because the more experienced guys seemed to think it wasn't necessary. This is where Calvin finally passed me. I was pretty stoked to stay in front for two hours though.

Pavement

The next 8 miles or so was paved. Completely paved. No dirt. I caught a few guys that had passed me at the aid station quickly and watched as Calvin slowly pulled away. I was surprised all day at how much faster I seemed to be on the climbs compared to the guys around me. I felt faster on the climbs and the descents and yet some riders would just not go away.

The pavement took us up a gradual climb and again the wind was in my face. Cars were passing me constantly which was a little scary since we were on a two lane road with no bike lane.

Eventually the climb ended and we had a fast paved descent back down to the freeway. Thank God there was a small arrow at the intersection. Otherwise I would have had to pull out the directions I had printed and figure out where to go.

When I was on the paved climb I had a few guys hanging with me and I was keeping a close eye on them. There were a few flat sections and I kept checking to make sure no one was drafting off me. The wind was very strong and I wanted to make sure I wasn't giving anyone a free ride. I even swerved a few times to let everyone know that I wasn't going to let anyone draft off me. They'd have to work to catch up to me and even then I was going to be tough to stay behind. No one tried to draft and that made me happy.

After turning onto the freeway I continued checking behind me. There was one guy that was pretty close but he never tried to bridge the gap between us for some reason. I looked back all the time while I chugged away in my big ring just to make completely sure he was working for it on his own.

Cuyamaca Park

The paved road took us to Cuyamaca Park. We were warned to keep our speed under 15mph, but all that meant to me was "Don't get caught going faster than 15mph." I mean I didn't travel two hours and get up at 4:20AM to go 14.9mph on a descent.

Almost immediately after getting into the park there was some confusion. As I was riding down a fast fire road I noticed a small sign on the right side of the road that was upside down. It was orange and I stopped to see if it was indeed a marker for the event. It was. It had blown over and as I put it back up I looked up and saw a rider coming from the opposite direction because he had missed the sign.

So the lost rider and the guy that was chasing me on the pavement joined me as we entered into the heart of the park. The road was choppy and unmaintained. It was fast, but it was bumpy. I led our little group of three for a while until one guy decided to make a move. No big deal. I let him go and he rode maybe 200 yards before coming to an intersection and stopping. There were no signs anywhere and it was far from obvious which way we should go. I had turned on the map function on my GPS (I loaded the courses on my Garmin Friday at work) and I could see that we needed to turn left. Our group reformed and we were off again.

This time we all stayed together in part because I think the other two guys needed me in case we came to anymore blind intersections.

Eventually we hit a loose and rocky descent and I'm not sure if it was because they were trying to obey the speed limit or what, but the guys with me were not fast descenders. Both of them got in front of me right before the downhill and I remember wishing I had been in front. I wanted to be going so much faster than they were going.

Then it happened. It was a miracle. I couldn't believe my eyes. My heart started pounding and I was smiling. SINGLETRACK! SINGLETRACK! THERE WAS SINGLETRACK!

Too bad it was a climb. Haha. I ended up catching one of the guys that was ahead of me on the singletrack because he was just painfully slow. I had geared down because I didn't know how gnarly the climb was going to be, but it ended up being pretty easy. I kept gearing up and up and up as the singletrack section went on. I started in my small ring and by the time it was done I was in my big ring and standing for every small incline. The other guy that was with me earlier was on a singlespeed and he managed to build a good gap on me during this section.

Aid Station Two

The first aid station was small. It had only three jugs of water and a few snacks. The second aid station was awesome. Tons of water, food and encouragement. I filled up on water and remembered to slam some endurolytes. I also ate a few cookies, a banana and a handful of Frito's. The Frito's tasted so incredible. My body just flipped out over the salt content. It definitely gave me a boost.

As I was stopped and taking my time refueling I noticed two or three guys skip the aid station completely. This really surprised me because we were now three hours and 30 or so miles into the course. Did that mean that I was wrong again? Was this stop not needed? I had no idea what was ahead and I wanted to play it safe.

In retrospect the guys that skipped the aid station were morons. The 3 Canyon Loop that we were about to do was by far the hardest riding of the day and I can't imagine how they did it without running out of water. Knowing what I know now I would have stopped a little longer at the aid station to make sure I had enough of everything and to make sure I had drank my fill before heading out.

3 Canyons Loop

By this point I had turned off the normal stats on my GPS. I no longer looked at my time or distance. I only had the course map on my screen so I could see what general direction I was going. The other added benefit was that I didn't obsessively look at my stats. It let me relax and enjoy the ride instead of doing math and figuring out how fast - or slow - I was going.

After a brief singletrack through a meadow I hit a long fire road downhill. Again it was loose and rocky. Similar to descending Eagle in the Santa Ana's. I caught a guy on the descent that was riding cautiously. Man I'm just amazed how much faster I am on the descents compared to some of these guys. I don't consider myself to be a fast descender. I think I started to bug him a little because I rode pretty close behind him for a while before he slowed down to let me pass.

Eventually I reached an intersection and took a left to start the loop. I remembered the organizer mentioning the Oriflame climb and I was guessing I would see it on the loop. As I rode I would look up ahead of me to see if I could see it. I would see a long steep climb in the distance and think "That's it. That's the climb." But whenever I got close to the base the course would take me away from what I thought was the worst climb of the day. The anticipation was starting to grow.

Other than looking for the Oriflame climb I remember thinking, "Man we are descending a LOT!" The fire road just kept going down and down and down. Since it was a loop I knew that every foot descended would be a foot climbed later. At one point I even said out loud, "STOP! NO MORE DESCENDING!" At every turn the trail just kept going and going and going. I would hit these turns and see the fire road climb up to a corner and think, "Ok this is it. Climbing starts now." When I reached the turn there would be a flat section followed by more downhill. Haha.

A few guys were chasing me and one guy was ahead of me on the descent. We'd trade a little here and there and I was trying hard to shut off the competitive chatter going on in my brain.

This was the only part of the course where I got in a little bit of trouble. I was going _very_ fast and came up on a rut. Oops. I rode through the rut and immediately needed to make another decision. I picked another rut. Uh oh. After getting through that rut I realized it was time for ANOTHER quick decision. Why not? ANOTHER RUT! After going through several sketchy ruts I managed to pull out and breath a sigh of relief. Close call. Haha. I think I even scared the guy behind me because I was slightly out of control.

The Pride of Ryan

Eventually the descent ended and we started to climb again. Good. I wanted the loop to be over with and I wanted to get back to the second aid station. So far the course had been fast for me and I knew it. I was looking forward to climbing out and maintaining a good pace.

I'm not sure what it was but I felt great on the climb. I mean fantastic. I was so happy because it was now about four hours into the ride and my legs felt great. I was climbing well and started to get arrogant. I started wondering if I was on the dreaded Oriflame climb. I imagined that I was and that I had suddenly turned into a pro rider. "Here I am dominating Oriflame! This is NOTHING! WOO!"

But then it happened. The climb ended and I knew it was way too soon for it to end. Quickly after that I got more bad news. MORE DESCENDING! How is this possible?!

The descent was sandy yet again. Lots of sand. Then it got rocky. Lots of rocks. In fact one section was the most complete rock garden I have ever seen. One rider was on the side of it fixing a flat and I remember saying "Wow" out loud under my breath. After a long day of fire roads and boring terrain we finally had reached something semi-technical.

There were a few technical sections involving rocks, but I managed to get through them without any trouble. I also passed a guy on a cyclocross bike who was having a really hard time. We had reached the bottom of a valley and were basically riding through a dried up creek.

Oriflame

My pride continued at the base of Oriflame. It was now around noon and the sun was in full force. I could see the climb ahead of me and it looked tough. It reminded me of something like Skyline. The terrain also changed radically. It went from sandy fire road to rocky fire road. It is hard to describe the Oriflame terrain. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. There were no lines anywhere at the base of it. It was all rocks. The rocks were mostly the size of a fist and about half of them were packed into the ground and the other half were loose on top of that.

It was a lot of work to ride over them, but the grade wasn't too terrible. This was just the approach to the climb after all.

I figured that the climb itself would be smooth and hard packed and so I gave the base a lot of effort. Plus there was a guy in front of me and I wanted to catch him. I ended up passing him, but I was working very hard to stay on the bike and not come off from the loose rocks. With every pedal stroke my pride was swelling. I kept thinking that I had just passed a guy and even though I didn't want to look back I was pretty sure he had started walking.

I kept waiting for the terrain to get smooth as the climbing started, but it never happened. It became a pride issue because I wanted to make the entire climb without putting a foot down. Every foot that I cleared made me more and more confident. I was positive that the guys behind me would not be able to climb as well as I was climbing. This is where the internal monologue in my head kicked into full gear.

(At the top of Oriflame climb)
Volunteer: So how was that climb? (grin on his face)
Me: Yeah! That was tough!
Volunteer: Yeah! We wanted it to be tough. Everyone has been suffering on it.
Me: Well it was tough, but I rode it all.
Volunteer: What?
Me: I rode it all. Never put a foot down.
Volunteer: WOW! WOW! No one does that! Not on ORI-FLAME!
Me: Well I just did it. (rides away)

About 20 minutes later I had to dab. I got into that fish-out-of-water mode where I went left and then right and then left and then right and couldn't get control on a technical section which caused me to put a foot down. Shoot. I'd have to revise my internal victory speech at the aid station.

I was still happy to be ahead of a big group of guys. I thought for sure this would be the climb that separated me from the other riders. I could see a guy ahead of me who was walking and I knew I could get him.

I am so naive sometimes. The climb never got easier and it just kept going and going. I did catch the guy ahead of me (he was on a singlespeed), but I ended up walking a few parts and by the time I hit the top I was miserable. It was hot and I was exhausted. Beyond that I was in a really bad mood. I was not prepared at all for the length and the difficulty of the climb.

Near the top another rider actually caught me and we ended up riding together for a bit after cresting Oriflame. I thought we were close to the aid station again and he reminded me that we were not. We still had another climb (Mason) before we could even think about the aid station.

Mason

Oh. Crap. I totally forgot about Mason. I had not planned for this. My camelback was empty (I took the small one) and I had only one third of my water bottle left. It was hot and when I looked up at Mason I became very discouraged. It looked longer than I remembered (I had descended it earlier) and I did not want to climb anymore. My arms hurt, my legs hurt and my butt hurt.

There really isn't much to say about the climb up Mason. I had spent all my energy on Oriflame. I ran out of water on the way up and got passed by quite a few riders. I was riding in my small ring even though it was clearly a grade that I should have been able to do in my middle ring. My stomach started growling halfway up and all I could do was dream about the second aid station and the glorious food and water that was waiting for me.

All my pride came crashing down and I was humbled.

Aid Station Two (Again)

From Julian Death March

I finished the climb up Mason, zoomed back through the meadow and arrived at the second aid station for the second time. I was thrilled.

My guess (since I wasn't looking at the mileage stats etc. on my Garmin) was that it was a short trip back to Julian from the aid station. I couldn't imagine having to climb anymore after Oriflame and Mason. I ate, drank, stretched and talked with a few other riders that were lingering and enjoying the rest.

As I was leaving one of the volunteers told me that it was all pavement back to Julian. Seven miles of "just coasting" is what he told me.

Paved Hell

It was not just coasting. Reality was that it was seven miles of gradual climbing on pavement. On top of that it was on the 78, which is the main freeway into the heart of Julian.

I was not a happy guy at this point. I was getting buzzed constantly by cars going 50mph and there was no bike lane. It really started to freak me out because I'm not used to riding on the road. There were a few flat sections and one or two short descents, but it was mostly climbing.

I finally got into downtown Julian and I was shocked. When we left at 8AM downtown was empty. Now at about 3PM the entire place was buzzing. Tourists were _everywhere_ and the main streets were packed with cars. It took me a while to navigate through the maze of traffic to get back to the start of the first loop.

First Loop is Over

After reaching the start I clicked my Garmin over to the main screen to see how long it had taken me. I think it was something around 6:37 of ride time and 6:50 of total time. I was a little disappointed, but there was little time to dwell on it.

I checked in and the support team asked me if I was going to do the second loop. I said I would and as I was filling up on water I saw what turned out to be Guy Sutton cruise in to take first place. Sweet. He was at least two hours ahead of me. Haha.

As I started out to do the second loop I was feeling very tired and not nearly as enthusiastic as I was earlier in the day. I just wanted it to be over.