Troupe Racing Co.

race report by : mykyta yurtyn

This past Saturday was a great day of mountain biking in Orange County. It was the day of the Warriors Society’s annual Mountain Bike Pow Wow – an event eagerly awaited by mountain bikers all over SoCal. Pow Wow consists of two events: the Vision Quest, a 56 mile course with close to 11,000 feet total climbing and it’s shorter brother the Counting Coup with 44 miles and 8,000 feet of elevation gain. Though technically not a race – according to Warriors Society the achievement of finishing the event is recognized, and first finisher gets the same prize as the last – a coveted feather. But it is a timed event with finish times published online and this alone is enough to make it very much race-like.

The names of the events – Counting Coup and Vision Quest – mark the Native Americans’ traditions of acts of bravery in the face of the enemy and personal and spiritual quest of finding oneself and one’s purpose in life. These names describe well what it takes to complete one of the hardest endurance mountain bike courses in the country.

Popularity of these events is underscored by how fast they get sold out. There is a limit of 175 riders per event and this year Counting Coup sold out in 18 minutes (that’s EIGHTEEN minutes!) at midnight the day registration opened; Vision Quest – in 45 minutes.

Needless to say it was highly anticipated event for Troupe. We had 10 riders and 2 support crew all gathered by the “troupe mobile” near the black start canyon gate at 5AM. The morning was chilly but not cold and with little help from embrocation cream from Soigneur. We received package Friday before the event, how cool is that!) there was no need for leg warmers to feel comfortably warm at the start line.

Energy and vibe at the start line were incredible. 350 riders, all starting together, each with their own goal – some to hit certain finish time, some just to finish, but each eager and committed to embark on a long journey through the steep and often treacherous paths of Santa Ana mountains.

Race started promptly at 5:30 and all 350 riders were off. Start was fast, but fairly flat first several miles gave great opportunity to finish the warm-up before serious climbing up the Black Star Canyon road started. I grabbed on to my team-mate Jeff’s wheel and quickly found good rhythm climbing up the dark fireroad. I should mention that Jeff was riding VQ on rigid singlespeed. He is very strong and fast rider and very fluid on that bike. And while it required a bit of extra effort to stay with him, it was a great way to pace myself.

As we were getting closer to the top of black star road – first time check for me – I looked down the canyon and the view was astonishing. Over 300 small lights were strung along the road in the dark in one uninterrupted string of light. It felt as if all 300 riders agreed to make a line of lights to mark the first of many climbs on a long road ahead.

While we didn’t talk with Jeff much it was great to ride with a friend and climbing was going very well. We hit top of motorway at approximately 1:45 mark – way ahead of what I though it would take me. At that point some hopes of hitting my goal of sub 5-hour finish started to creep back in. Here I should probably mention that at the time of registration I decided to ride shorter event – Counting Coup – but set an aggressive goal of finishing it in under 5 hours. Only later I realized how hard it would be to achieve this goal – it was very early in the year, rainy winter prevented from riding on the course much, and I was training for a later race in May, The Traverse. So just when I practically abandoned my goal, it started to look possible again.

At the bottom of motorway a flat tire separated me from Jeff. Our support crew of Tim and Kevin where right there to take care of it, formula 1 style. But time spent changing the flat was enough to loose sight of Jeff. I was climbing to the top of Santiago peak alone. It was much harder mentally, but physically felt well and I was climbing at a decent pace, passing some of the riders that went by while flat was being fixed. Hopes of hitting my goal solidified when I hit the peak before 4 hours mark. It was all downhill from there. These were the most fun parts of the course. I was riding newly build carbon Santa Cruz Blur and bike still felt a little unusual, so I was a bit extra careful descending Upper Holy Jim, allowing some riders to pass me on the descent, but that didn’t bother me too much and I was still on track. And sure enough, after rather unpleasant stretch of Trabuco Creek road the finish line was in sight where Warriors Society volunteers and spectators were cheering each finishing rider. I crossed the finish line with the time of 4:53.

All Troupe riders had an excellent ride as well, many significantly improving over their previous year time, many reaching their finish time goals, all finishing strong, which is great achievement in itself. Tom and Damon finished CC more than an hour faster that than their last year finish, Roy and Lora beat thier previous time by over half an hour, Jeff finished VQ on rigid singlespeed in just over 6:30 and was the 4th single speed finisher of the Vision Quest, Charlie hit his goal of sub-7 hour VQ finish. Most importantly everyone accepted the challenge and overcame themselves to earn a token of honor – Warriors Society’s Pow Wow finishing feather. It will be reminding us of our great achievement for years ahead.