Bill Vickers

Venture Quest 2007

I have a bunch of partial draft reports waiting to come out.  Sorry, I am busy.  This is one of them posts.   

    
Jim Harman's ex2adventures puts on about 20 races a year including trail runs, mtb races, xterra triathlon, and 3 sprint level adventure races.    Amazingly,  they all sell out.  He's a stud and probably making more money than I am as a physician.     Traditionally, the AR races are beginner oriented with the emphasis very similar to a triathlon,  but that's ok in my department.     I usually just don't show up.    They have things like a Central TA, little nav, speed, speed, and more speed, and some great singletrack MTB courses.  However, of recently, he started the Greenhorn AR and since then the other two sprint races have gotten a bit more challenging.   And then there is VQ.     Since it's 5-9 hrs, it's tough.    Well, the word on the street was that they would have more paddling and more orienteering.  Hmm..     So, I signed up this year thinking it would be a chip shot with a sand wedge, and I don't have time to practice my swing these days. 

        Actually, I did VQ 2 yrs as a nice training day 1 week before Fall SMAR 40 hr adventure race.   So I was just looking for some training.   I had been doing a ton of racing, so I went with the assumption I would cool my heels.   We all know that's hard in a race, but I did behave some that day.   I took the running easy, paddled hard as possible  (not long enough for my taste), and went moderate on the bike (well, over the handlebars only once).    Since running is the hardest to recover from, that plan worked well.

The only problem came when we entered the last long orienteering section.  I was in close contention for 1st place with Jon Torrance after passing him on the paddling leg.   I started the last leg knowing that it was unlikely I could hold off Jon unless I ran like my life depended on it.  You see, Jon is arguably one of the best multisporters in the midatlantic area, especially when it comes to offroad and trail running when nav is thrown in.   Jon has been at the top of the US orienteering pts series, previous Canadian orienteering champ, and recently went to Worlds Orienteering Champs in Asia.  I believe only one or two US people have ever been able to qualify.   He is a stud.  So, I was shaking in my boots, but also happy that I was in his company.      So, knowing he was behind me, I temporarily forgot my training plan and was running hard.   At round 3 miles into a 10 mile orienteering leg, I was already noticing I was feeling worked.    Still didn't see Jon running like a deer thru the woods, but I knew he was back there, hunting me down, which of course made me run harder thru the woods. .   Luckily, I came across the leading 3-person male team and stopped dead in my tracks. They had a down and puking teammate, who happens to be a friend.   Using my medical voodoo, I helped him along (well, just sat there) but also got to bag my race.   Sort of a bummer, but I was also relieved, since my legs were already smoked enough on Monday.    Anyhow, I forgot what I was talking about, but I think it was that I needed to go back and do VQ again.     By the way, Jon won VQ that year, and again last year.

Someone has go to stop that supremacy.  Maybe 08, but I figure I could try this year.    Little did poor Jon know, a roster full of racers from the midatlantic area were out scoping out the course, trying to unseat Jon.    Bill Marciniak and Petr Minar certainly had this year in site, since they had been onsite training.   One of the days, Bill invited me along.    We spent 6 hrs training in the park that day.  Now, I don't prefer to call that adventure racing, but I guess it is what it is.   Not truly an adventure, but still a good race.    VQ is much like an xterra.  If ya don't preride the course or scope out the area, you don't have a fighting chance. 

      So, I signed up for VQ this year,   I supposed as a training day, a chance to race solo, and maybe a shot at racing against Jon.    I also had my sites on getting a map so I could practice nav in the park for orienteering training.    I guess you would call it a B or C category race, if ya know what tht is.    Since it was a training race,  I had to work the night before, alnight.    Nevertheless,  I was gonna go hard at the race.  The question would be if I would leave my brain and body back at work.  At least  I didn't have a race the following week holding me back.

       As usual, I got someone to cover me so I could go to the packet pick up.  That was frustrating, since the loss of hourly work to drive 60 minutes one way for a tshirt and a number probably cost me a few race fees.   I actually begged Jim an email, explaining my situation.   I don't know, maybe he didn't believe me I was working all night before the race.    He did say that I could miss the packet pickup, but I would miss some crucial course informtion.     Hmm...     I never got any course info the day before. 

      The early morning of the race I got an emergency case and wasn't done till 6am.  When my relief came, I jumped in my packed car in the hospital parking lot, and drove #@*#mph on the DC beltway.   Made it with 30 minutes before race time, probably a personal best.

      So, I had 30 minutes to pick up map, route, read instructions, and set up the central TA. No easy task, but I was ready at race time. A little hectic for sure and I skipped inflating my tires and putting away food, saving that for later.   Now, you know where this is headed, so i will show you the picture now. 

          Well, I didn't come with Aloksak saks this race.   There wasn't much nav, but I did have spray laminate.  During those remaining minutes, I sprayed two coats of laminate on, even allowing them to dry.   I usually do a third coat, but I also back that up with Aloksak's in the usual longer races I do.   Just extra protection.   Been to too many AR races unprotected, sometimes with ruined races.    But this was VQ, so I didn't expect needing bonafide bullet proof protection.   Still, spray laminate normally works very well.  Have used it on race passports with an aloksak in multiday races, without a problem.   

        At cp1, I was in 2nd place, holding my map above a the water during a short water section with an inner tube.   Mostly as a place so i could see it. 

    Back at the TA, I simply placed the map in my jersey since it was now a mtb loop course.     I had to take time to pack my food and inflate my tires and adjust my seat, but was only 1-2 minutes off the leaders.    After the first MTB section,   I was in great position.     I guess I was learning how to MTB and had on my new Specialized SLK tires that rolled pretty darn fast.     I had passed Jon Torrance on the way, but the real MTB studs, Petr and Bill Marciniak were off to a nice lead.    Then I tried to pull out the map and found the middle section stuck to my abdomen.   Hmm...    Now honestly, my comparatively strongest section of orienteering and paddling were coming, so it was looking to be a good race, but I was in dire straits with that map......

      Well, let's just say the only nav section of the course wasn't easy.   I had 4 of the 6 cp's on my map, but was missing the entire section in the middle.    Well, I certainly didn't have time to memorize prerace today, and not sure anyone has the skills to do a prerace memory o thing for a 6 hr race.       I grabbed the first cp on the O-course and was on my way to the 2nd when i came across a team that had a nice map so we hooked up for the other cp's.   At that point, I figured I was unofficial.   The volunteers weren't handing out more maps.   Eventually that team was nice enough to let me tag along and after the two cp's I didn't have, I thanked them and went ahead.    Back at the TA, I was now 30+ minutes behind the leaders.    Ugh!!!    I mentally figured it was over for a top 3 spot, knowing the rest of the course, but I was intent on closing that gap. 

    MTB loop #2 was eventful, except possibly for the two teams who mysteriously got into the top 5.     It was a marked course, but it had lots of loops, some crossing next to each other, and honestly, if ya hadn't been there, or perhaps knew the area well, you could of cut off a mile or two.   Not sure what happened, just banter we heard from the volunteers and Jim had a long discussion postrace with one of the teams teammates.   He ended up allowing them their position.

         Back at the next TA, I learned that Jon Torrance had missed a cp on the MTB trail, and he was headed home.  So, I guess some people's goals were already accomplished.  Never got to speak with Jon.    It was one of the local orienteering volunteers, Valeria, who told me Jon was just smoked on the MTB and forgot cp7.

       After learning that two teams had jumped ahead of me, I made my way to the water, now amped up, since it was business time, meaning paddling time.    I carried the 65#  bath tub of a kayak to the water, attempting to run with the thing to make up time, no easy task.    I hit the water, only seeing one solo person ahead.   He was about .25 miles ahead, and I had caught him after that one mile paddle.   Unfortunately, we had a nice portage option that proved fast on inspection, and my badly needed paddling distance got shortened by 2+ miles by a tough portage over a peninsula.

      The other solo and I suffered our way up that 1km, bushwacking thru briars up to the top.   Definitely the toughest portage I can ever remember.   At the top, I stopped for a breather, setting my kayak down.   Took a swig of my bladder and gulped down a gu.   Decided to off handedly push the kayak with my foot while I swigged my bladder, and sat there watching the thing start down the hill, surprisingly not stopping.   Now, there was nothing in Jim's rules about carrying boats.  The boat picked up speed and I was on the chase.   Eventually, the thing took flight over a few bumps and sailed right over the singletrack course.   Certainly giving some teams on the MTB course a pause.    Now, if ya had seen Robin William's movie RV, you would of thought it was funny, but from then on I decided to carry the kayak the rest of the way for everyone's safety.

        I eventually realized the other solo was Mark Lewis.    We both proceeded to the final short crossing of the reservoir and again portaged our boats up to the last cp.     I call it "store the boats on the trailer cp, so the racers can help the volunteers."   Anyhow, Mark got the smarts here and dropped his boat while I listened to the volunteers.    So, now the chase ensued.   By the time I was back to the water, he was nearly across, using the race provided inner tubes to cross back over the reservoir.   

     At the other side, I was frustrated to learn he was now out of sight, and I was again in a section with a hole in the map.   Now, I suppose if I was really good, I could of bent over and read the map still stuck to my belly.    I ended up feeling my way back to the finish.    At this point, we were back on trails that I had actually raced on before, so not too much of a problem.

     Back at the finish, they had downloading of splits on the spot with the orienteering e-punches.  Really a nice touch.    They also had food and massage set up.   I grabbed a 10 minutes massage after some food and was in a near coma by the end of that 10 minutes.   I guess my lack of sleep had now caught up with me.   After chatting with Petr and Bill who ended up leading the race and realizing that coca-cola didn't have enough caffeine in my current sleepy state, I jumped in my car and searched for a Starbucks on the GPS.   I learned that one from my wife, and found one 3 miles away, probably saving my life for the trip home.   At the Starbucks, my race officially ended.

      Jim had 77 teams sign up, and 45 or so solo male racers.   Once again, a sell out race, and a great race, I might add.   I ended up in 5th place solo.    It was certainly an effort doing the race postcall, but well worth every once of time I spent.   The one bummer was that I went home without an intact map to use for orienteering training. 

     Now, the question is, with Aloksak map cases and a new Specialized epic MTB for 08,  should I take on VQ again.    Maybe if it fits the schedule?     I plan on doing some MTB racing in 08 and concentrating on a few shorter races, so who knows. 

Bill

      

Just another day on the water

    Got out of work a little early so ran down to the kayak shop 

www.annapoliscanoeandkayak.com

    

      It was very calm out so I grabbed the closest boat and went paddling.  This was the first week I have paddled since AR Nationals, allowing a little recovery of the wrists.

    This time of year is my favorite time to paddle.  Although there is more risk with the cold water temps, typically a shell jacket or NRS hydroskin top do wonders if paddling fast.   Tonight it was about 35 deg, too cold for bare hands, so I grabbed my cycling gloves, the only thing I had in the car.   I did have a wetsuit with me and my epic wing paddle, since they always stay in the shop.

      Here is a pic about 1 mile out, just starting to get dark, and I suppose colder. 

 

   About 45 minutes later and 3 miles out, I realized it was time to be heading home.

As usual, this time of year no one is on the water that time of day, except for a few migrating waterfowl.    Probably why I like to paddle this time of year.   Although there is a small risk being a few miles out in cold water, the isolation and aerobic stress help me categorize and unwind from my day at the hospital.

      Next week, I will probably start interval workouts so I can cover more water.

Play, train, and work

Last week, I did my first ever cyclocross race. Now I am hooked. I blame that on a few good friends who should of known better. I really don't need another hobby:-). Last week, I used a hard tail mtb, and since the course had a high percentage of hardpack and pavement, I was 2 minutes behind the leaders.   Of course I have to blame that on the equipment.  I was so far back in the pack that the exhaust fumes were killing me. The good thing about being back there was getting to meet a bunch of crossers who would actually talk to me and help me learn the ropes. First thing I found out was that there was another cross race next weekend. Hmm...
As soon as I had a chance, I googled the race.and realized it was only 10 miles away from an orienteering meet that same day, which I wanted to do. The only problem was I was oncall/working that day, but I couldn't miss out on playing, training, and work in one day. so I arranged coverage.
So, come monday, I purchased a new Jamis supernova cross bike at Capital Bicycle. www.capitalbicycle.com.    Ok,  a little obsessive, but I realized cross is fun, I would do it again and again, and I get great bike deals thru Capital.   The bike came in wed and was ready to roll by thursday thanks to Cliff, Parker, and the new mechanic.    I was on call friday, so didn't get a chance to do a fitting until sat, and we found I needed a longer stem and handlebars that I could actually shift gears with because my hands couldn't reach the stock SRAM shifters.  I apparently have puny hands. 
The bike has a very appealing look, making me a happy owner. That says a lot since I also ride a Ct-1 Colnago and will soon be riding a Specialized SL2. It's mostly aluminum, but the geometry and paint job accent the stock Easton wheels just perfectly. At least I would look good if I end riding like a fool on the course.
I was appripriately leery about taking a new bike for the first time on a race, but I was harboring no elusions of bringing home the dough and figured I would stretch the cables and learn the shifting during the warm up and race.
This time, I pregistered as Tamela had taught me, hoping I wouldn't have to start in the back again. She gave me enough tips that I was running out of excuses. I showed up 90 min early and did 2 1/2 practice laps, as suggested. .  It was about 34 deg, just warm enough that the snow had mostly melted overnight. After my first warm up lap, I was downright skeered of the course.  It was fast, but at the same time very slick. I was going pretty slow in the warm up, but managed to end up in the trees twice and slipped a rear wheel on a pavement turn. I am not sure if it was lingering snow and ice or just the mud on the tires or my stupidity.  I decided I would keep a leg out threw the corners when at race pace.
It had started to rain and my feet were frozen after the warm up, so I headed back to the car and changed and got in my race gear.
I showed up 15 min before start time, but I was the last one, again.   Ugh!!!    So back at the end of the lane lines I went.   I just don't get why everyone lines up so early when it's so cold out. Maybe I will learn to arrive earlier next time.
My start position was gonna be a problem since there was a lot of tight singletrackish trail 200 yards after the pavement start. I really didn't want to get caught by the the first pile up of riders only seconds into the race, which happened last weekend. Right before the start, one of the front row riders stepped off his bike and pleaded for the riders to cool their heels on the slick course. I guess for some of them, Nationals was next week and they didn't want any carnage only a week away.
However, I really didn't want to be in the back again, so, as soon as the gun sounded I turned to the side and sprinted as hard as I could for 100 yds, passing about 50 riders.    Wasn't sure if that was allowed, but figure I could use the deer in the headlights excuse since I was a newbie.   I hit the singletrack now in about 10th position and quickly moved up to 5th or 6th when a few riders went down on the first tight and muddy turn.    Unless the leaders were so far ahead I couldn't see them.   So, I like to think I was in 5th or 6th.   Having my leg out worked fairly well in keep my upright in the slippery turns, but as time went on, clipping back in was getting difficult, so I decided to stay clipped in when at all possible.  The melting snow and light rain truly made for a slick day. Maybe these people were used to this, but I sure wasn't. Somehow, I was fairing pretty well on the slippier stuff. I stayed in my 5th position for the next 2 laps, unable to make any sustainable headway on the riders ahead. A lot of the riders were team roadies and I figured that's why I tended to gain on the turns and technical stuff, but I had trouble staying with them in the power sections.
I was racing in the a cat 3/4 class, since time wise I wouldn't be able to wait around for the Masters start, since I only had so much time for orienteering before heading back to work.   Plus, someone told me "don't get fooled by them masters, they are freaking fast and all have tubeless tufo's."   (by the way, of course I went home and googled tufo and plan on buying some, but I need tubeless wheels that will allow them also----so I am on ebay at night now because I really don't want to go to the shop and ask for a pair of tubular wheels just for cross since they will really think I'm a lunatic.)
After a few laps of down right fun, my new bike was coughing and spurting out a few problems and my older shimano pedals that I put on were not allowing me to clip in easily. I ended up riding in a single speed fashion once the deraileurs got funky, which with all the mud, I seemed as fast that way as having gear choices. I was seeing a lot of dnf'd riders on the side of course.
After one flying remount while I was a tad too jazzed up in front of the 3 spectators and announcer, I landed on the back of the saddle after a few barriers, but it wasn't too pretty. The saddle pointed nose up since I had landed on the rear lip. I dismounted from that uncomfortable position since my family jewels were particularly not enjoying that position. However, my seat was stuck and I didn't have bike tools, since cross riders don't seem to carry them. So for part of the 3rd lap I rode out of the saddle but quickly realized that my bike was attempting to perform a colonoscopy on my rear end, so I pulled off the course. I now know what "pit bikes" are all about, but I guess I need a little more work on those remounts. The play was over, but now I needed nav training, although that's still more fun than anything.
I then transitioned to my orienteering spikes and threw the bike on my car, which was one day newer than my bike. That's another story, but it was an expensive week.
I arrived to the orienteering meet about 10 minutes later with mud now running down the windows of my new car.
As usual, there was a choice of seven courses, but today I had to choose an intermediate/shorter course because of my time constraint. I chose brown which nicely matched my muddy car, bike, and clothes. Also, brown was conveniently preplotted, saving me a few more minutes of transposing cp's.
I headed over to registration, still in the same clothes and race number, which naturally got a few looks.
I paid the fee, collected my map, positioned my thumb compass, and ran to the starting area since I was basically still warmed up. Maybe it was the new thumb compass or the great warmup, since I managed a 26 min lead on the next person.
After 52+ minutes, I was done with the course and running thru the woods for 11 cp's, but now I was even more covered in mud. And even more happy.
The o-course went spot on, so I had a few minutes of free time to spare and went for a 5 minute spin on my bike.
I quickly showered at work and was good to go. I am now on call all night, but couldn't be more focused and happier.
Next weekend is a 26 mile orienteering meet.

Bill

Sycamore 8 Trail Race

Saturday morning, it's 12 degrees outside with a nice breeze, perfect for an 8 mile trail race in Des Moines!    Had a bit of oatmeal and coffee and popped a couple Energ-Ease (http://www.recover-ease.com/), put on the ghetto spikes (sheet metal screws in my old road Nikes) and hit the road.  The Sycamore 8 used to be held on the Sycamore Trail single-track right by my house, until the ATV folks tore it up too bad for running.  Now it's held out at Maffit Lake on a grass access road that runs along the lake, with plenty of hills.  The race is an out and back, with a chance to turn around at the 2 mile marker and do the 4 mile race or continue to the end and do the 8 miler, you can decide during the race which would turn out to be the case for a lot of runners today.  I arrived about 10 minutes before race time, did a quick jog to check out the starting line and trail conditions, then headed back to the truck to stay warm.  The start was on asphalt for a few hundred yards before heading into the woods on the trail, both were completely covered with an inch of ice with four inches of fresh snow on top.  Most serious runners had actual cross country spikes, and the ghetto spikes were not getting much grip on my test run since the snow was packing under the shoes preventing the screws from making contact with the ice.  Should have brought my ice skates....
Got back out of the truck with about 2 minutes until race time, looked like fewer than 100 people showed for the race this morning.  Decided to lose one thermal layer on top and also ditched the neck warmer since it was probably up to 13 degrees by now and I didn't want to overheat.  Lined up at the start, then they announced that everyone who's done all 5 Sycamore 8 races gets a headstart about 50 feet in front of everyone else.  That moved about 10 racers up, but not me since this was only my third year. 
The gun fired and everyone took off at an easy pace on the iced over road, saw at least one person go down on the first corner before heading onto the trail.  I ran up next to Dave Mable, race director and fellow 40+ age grouper who has beat me here the last two years.  I said "this is going to take a bit more energy than usual" since our feet were slipping on each and every step and the snow cover made you lift your feet up higher so it felt like running in sand.  He's been nursing a sore hamstring and didn't think he'd be pushing it this year so I ran on ahead of him.  At the 2 mile marker a few of the people in front of me turned around to head back for the 4 mile finish, leaving me in 3rd place overall and running a fairly easy pace.  Hit the turnaround about 30 seconds behind the first two males (much younger than me, I'm thinking), and saw the 4th place person coming up right behind me, who was also the first female.  She ran behind me for awhile, but didn't seem to be working very hard and came around me at the 5 mile marker.  That was also the exact moment I hit a patch of ice and did a nice face plant into the snow.  She asked if I was OK, I was, so I got back up and ran behind her for awhile.  Nobody in sight behind us, but she had spikes on and a good pace going so she pulled away in the last 2 miles to finish third.  I was fourth overall, and first Masters (over 40), earning a nice trophy that was hand made by a local artist.   At the finish I found out the woman who passed me is Christine Price, who took second female at this year's Des Moines Marathon with a 3:08, so I'm feeling pretty good about my finish behind such talent.  Don't have official times yet, and I didn't wear a watch or GPS to the race so I wouldn't be tempted to push it but I think my time was around 64 minutes for an 8 minute pace (compared with about a 6:40 pace last year on frozen ground without the ice and snow).  Always a nice race to end the running season and start training for 2008, next up Swamp Stomp 30 hour in February!!