Pedal Power: COE TT - HUGE Success!

Wow, Bri and I were fortunate enough to attend the South Valley Bike and Run Club's (soon to be SVEndurance...wooo, that will be easier!) Henry Coe Time Trial event from Morgan Hill up into Henry Coe, down to Gilroy and back home through Harvey Bear - only a 40mile jaunt through some of the most rugged terrain that California has to offer, I was looking forward to good times! Bri was passing on the event due to a nasty break out of poison oak. But she still ended up riding with her friend Jenn from the CCCX series until the itching got to bad...or maybe the hills too steep? No she wouldn't let that stop her!

Having not attended one of these events before we showed up early just in case there was a SNAFU...not even close! There was coffee, food, water, ALL THE COMFORTS of home just waiting! Plus, they had all my sign up stuff done from the on line entry and I think I maybe just signed my name one time! Sweet! As we began getting ready people started rolling in and Shelly (who raced the San Ardo road race...road parade??? the day before) came up with Nathan. I was definitely worried about these two as they had pre ridden the course and I had NO IDEA where a few of the twists and turns went. Oh well, how confusing could it be right?

As we lined up for the on time 9am start Travis was already throwin' down the INTIMDATOR - BIG TIME...or should I say BIG WHEELS? He had a spanky Specialized 29er that seemed to be custom made for the course. Hmmm, hope I brought my A game...

Not even 5 minutes into the event and I made a wrong turn that cost me enough time that Travis and Nathan (whom both started a minute or two behind me) were riding right up my rear tire. Great. At least I won to the first checkpoint! Only 4 to go! From their the 3 of us took off up the hour long climb that is East Dunne. If you have ridden in Morgan Hill you may have had the "pleasure" of suffering like a dog up this beast. It's tough. There are false summits, exposure to the sun and a pitch or two that is so steep that most roadies weave and on the MTB, well let's just say taking Gramma for a walk might be necessary...

Nathan launched a brutal attack at the bottom and Travis and I tried to keep him in sight as we rolled past a full on cheering section of cute girls who all knew our names! This is what I am talking about!!! Thanks Alyssa and Julia!!! As we settled into our "tempo" we were already breathing hard, dripping sweat and catching the brave riders who started in front of us. At some point in the delirium I managed to pedal hard enough to open a gap so I just tried to go with it. I topped out, ate a Hammer Gel and took off down the fire road desperately hoping I could navigate through the remote Henry Coe Park without a map or the benefit of a pre ride...

The only thing I knew was we were hitting a trail to "China Hole". That became my mantra. "Chiiiiiiiiinnnaaaaaa Hooooooolllleeeeeeeee, ooooohhhh, whhheeerrreeee art though?" I was calling to her and it must have worked because I nailed the corner and was rocketing down the singletrack hoping to pick up time on a nasty, loose, cliff side single track that I had never ridden before. Hmmm, is this a good idea? Evidently the first, second or maybe even third high speed skid off the steep edges should have warned me that riding over my head on a treacherous trail in a desolate area was not a good idea. But who are we talking about here? Yeah, you already knew that logical thoughts were NOT on the forefront of my brain...especially when I am trying to stretch an unknown amount of lead!!!

At the bottom I got lost. Great. Wander around. Yell for help. Campers!!!! YES!!! They were able to point me in the right direction and I got rolling just as Travis got to the bottom, too! OH MAN, IT WAS ON! Pure fear and adrenaline fueled my climb out of the Hole from China and as I crested to the canyon and pointed my bike towards Gilroy I remembered Nathan giving up one of his course tid bits "it will take about an hour to get through Coe". Not knowing where I was, I had about 20m to hit that mark and it turned out to be spot on! Waiting at the next check point was Gary and he was kind enough to refill my bottle before I headed off for the last hour or so to the finish.

One more bout with the map had me thoroughly frustrated and I could see Travis hunting me down - AGAIN! This time I thought it better to ride with him than try in vain to read the sweat skewed lines on my map! We rolled through Harvey Bear and dodged a few crazy horses (those things are BIG!!!) and made it out the other side where I only had one choice. Pedal Hard.

Travis started 90 seconds behind me, so I had about 5 miles of road to try one last ditch effort. Another gel and it was time to suffer. Badly. In the end I think Travis and I just barely made the finish before puking our guts out and we both set new "fast" times for the course with me just getting the edge by a few precious seconds. Whew!

Nathan came roaring in for a hard earned 3rd place overall finish and Shelly started practically last and had to pass a ton of people to finish just inside the top 8, first girl! She will point out that she was the ONLY girl, but that's because all the others were SCARED!

With SVEndurance's electric scoring we new everyones' result right away and as you can see from the pictures, even though everyone was plumb tuckered out, we all enjoyed more soda's, sandwiches, and fruit courtesy of this great new club! I was impressed!

Congratulations to all who finished this brutal ride. There was nothing easy about the relentless climbing, warm temps, rugged trails and sheer distance! Great job! Next year, I will try to keep a little extra in the tank so I can enjoy the bounce house!