Quadruple Bypass 2

This ride absolutely destroyed me last year. it was, at the time, the hardest ride i had ever done. Other rides were comparable, but none had ever made me implode so utterly. Last year, i finished in 8.5 hrs, with about 6.5 moving time. the stats did not tell the story of how badly i got my ass handed to me. It was my first big MTBR ride, about 40 people, some real studly riders…going out fast with the lead group, then huge lactic-acid-buildup-inspiring breaks…no idea of the route so every hidden uphill (of which there are about 3) was a sucker-punch…no appreciation for how rocky the entire route would be as it sapped my momentum. i cracked going up Sunrise so completely, almost every subsequent uphill stretch became a total effort of will, which i abandoned on Sunrise’s false summit along with whatever pop my legs had. i flatted my tubeless tire before the last climb , of which i pushed 90%.

it wasn’t pretty.

so it was an understatement to say i approached this year with some trepidation. i would also wear the same shirt.

by all accounts this year should go better. I’d done 3 Double Bypasses, a couple times up Sunrise and once up Windgate. Not to mention more endurance rides, better skills, better brakes and seriously upgraded bike. More than anything though i figured the mental comfort of knowing the trails and what i was getting into and knowing i had completed it once with none of these advantages made me surprisingly relaxed going into the ride.

we started with 13, almost half that i knew and was pretty friendly with from other rides. Sam (U2metoo), Bob (Chongoman), Walt, AZ Mikey, and others i would get to be buds with before long . up Windgate was good, tough but good, and a few minutes faster than last year. good chatter, some introductions, down the other side and up Bell, more the same. So far so good. but i knew we had realistically only completed 2 of the 7 climbs. We chased AZ Mikey down Bell — it was rocky and loose and sketchier than before, but the balls-in-your-stomach rush was worth it. down Paradise, and then we got ready for the first hidden climb through Scottsdale up to Sunrise.

I’ve done this about 4 times since last year, and the knowledge made me calm, and i cleared the whole crappy climb up to the Taliesen Overlook. A sample conversation with one of the Tucson riders John (he was on a single speed, I wanted to help him):

Me: You ever do this climb?

John: No

Me: its utterly unredeeming. not pretty, not epic…

John: just shit?

Me: just shit.

But it was all still rolling well and i felt good. several of us donned headphones for the start of Sunrise. as for me, this would be the real test. and as the talk revealed, the same monkey for most of the others. I can get everything but one lift on one switchback going up Sunrise when I am fresh, and was chasing Jim whom i had been yo-yo’ing with for about 2 hrs…my mind was right. and apparently, so were my legs. got the first half on everything but the one lift, and the 2nd summit everything but one or 2 steeps. one section a couple senior women were walking and it was a down into an up so I wanted to bomb it — i waved them on, then explained, “i need to build speed here, trying to do that with y’all there wouldn’t go well for any of us.” they laughed. it was pretty good actually all day the hikers in Scottsdale were quite polite and made the trail sharing easy. the funniest — as we were chilling at the top of Sunrise, she goes “did you guys ride up here?” um…duh? but it was so amusing because i really couldn’t believe that my legs still felt so good. but i didn’t want to ruin it, so i talked no shit, and just rested and hydrated and had a Cliff bar. Off on the horizon i could feel the bonk, but i felt like i could keep it at bay if i just didn’t panic and focused on hydrating.

i jumped off down Sunrise in front of the pack. not that i was the fastest, but i wanted to be in my own space and not run up on or get run up on. it would make the descent better. and it was awesome as usual – that has to be the best pure descent in the Valley, even better than Mine Trail cause its longer and steeper and more genuinely dangerous. there is one nasty switchback with a big saguaro growing right on the inside and lots of rocks built up on the trail edge all at a pretty major pitch – nailed it! did i say what what? yeah i said nailed it. nailed everything! had a wonderful ride down.

we all synched, refilled, then pushed off up the dirt road. it was…the word that shall not be used [slog – which i expressly forbade Walt from using at the top of Windgate, and i think by removing that crutch made us all stronger]. but i hung in there. its tough, enough to burn you down, but not enough to put me over the edge. for that I was waiting for Dixie Mine.

i rolled up Dixie Mine ahead of the pack. we had gathered, and it was a bit antisocial for me to push ahead. one thing that made this ride so fun was that our group was all in the same neighborhood of each other for speed, so we mostly hung together all day. its pretty hard to make that happen with a group as large as 13, but we were really lucky. the best climbers were not the best descenders, so the median was pretty near everyone. it was a big enough group to be a ton of fun, but small enough to be awesome. fun, social, positive. by the end i knew everyone, and it felt like a team.

still, i was totally into my own zone by now. i needed to be, to handle my own struggle. i figured the other guys would be the same in their own ways. irregardless, they would all understand if i wanted to do my thing and not be social, they were bikers, and if they didn’t, they weren’t gonna catch me to whine. i just needed to see the Finish getting nearer and get into my own quiet place. I got all of Dixie Mine, then a brief rest at Coachwhip. Shawn caught me, and we nodded each other into committing to the final 30 minutes of climbing. the legs were still there, which by now far exceeded my expectations of making it to Dixie Mine before cracking. whatever happened next, today was a victory. Yesnod so i was pumped, and my next goal was the 2 miles up Coachwhip. I felt good, and the solituded allowed me to not be distracted, so i just kept going. 17 minutes to the sign saying .9 miles to the top of Windgate.

i have never rode up Windgate; i have in the PEE and Quad 1 been crushed. i knew i would hit a lot of it, i had no excuse since i got all of Coachwhip. with barely a mental groan i knew i had to be good for like 1/3, since i was not yet dead. this was comforting and abhorrent all at once, since i realized anything less than 1/3 of the climb would make me a wussy. so off i went, and Shawn passed me, then i passd him, then Jonathan passed us both, and i took my cue from him and if he could ride it then thus it could be ridden and he will never know how much he helped me that climb. 2/3 to 3/4 of Windgate ridden: a new PR Out

Jonathan, Shawn and I had a good moment of silence together. then i started to think about how strung out we could be, and Walt’s nearly Byron-esque ability to calf-cramp, and how it would be much nicer to sit in the parking lot with a clean shirt and a cold beer than here getting belted by the wind and starting to tighten. Bob arrived, we hit fists, then i bid adieu and it was cool cause everyone knew about the “in our own place thing”. and were excited by the prospect of me having beer waiting.

Windgate down is nasty, not gnarly, but nasty and sneaky and some DIY-trail maintainers have been digging 2-foot wide troughs at all the micro-saddles to try to help drainage. and while they will only create spillways and wider ruts, they have done a phenomenal job of making momentum-holes on the way up and endo-pits on the way down. i handled em no problem but the combination of pumping them, jumping them, and ploughing threw them got tiring. the back wheel felt sluggish and loosey in the corners, but i re-focused and dug my music and soon was out. the last 5 miles in 30 minutes sure felt good.

Todd, who had dropped on the jeep road through Fountain Hills, was waiting at the cars. I filled him in, then bolted for the Bashas (we were parked in their lot at 104th St.). the post-ride beer at the cars does not happen enough in biking. in Ultimate, it was de rigeur to have a beer and transition between the battle you just fought and your return to civilization. and it was the way teams bonded. So it became important to me to get beer, not just cause i was thirsty, but because i have always been a guy who brought a lot of beer. i was, if i may so humbly say, proficient in the art of winning the fields. And bashas had Deschutes Porter and New Belgian Tripel for $6 each. Perfect. i’m good like that.

We had some beers and such and it was good. another fantastic day on the bike. 34 miles, 5:15 spinning, 2 resting, 7500 feet. weather – more or less perfect. terrain – more or less perfect.

a really great write up and photos from David (Rockcrusher): http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=377480

and another sweet vid from Sam: http://u2metoo.blogspot.com/2008/01/quadruple-bypass-mcdowell-mountain.html

5 Comments

  1. Man, that is a great write up. I pointed to your site for the ride stats. I see the you’ve got the total climb at 7,500vf. Doh, I put 6,300 on the vid.

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