XTERRA Vashon Island

Last weekend, I did my second XTERRA event on Vashon Island. Unlike the Las Vegas XTERRA, this was not part of the Cup Series so there is no automatic qualifying for Maui by winning this race, only points. I have two more XTERRA races scheduled this summer and I should get enough points to get to Maui should I be able to go. I have pictures and will try and post them later.

I had never been to Vashon Island but I do want to go back, not only for the race, but its a great place to bike around, sight see, and get eaten alive by mosquitoes....okay, that last one is not on the list of good things about the island but nonetheless, its a nice place.

I drove up in about 2.5 hours, drove right on the ferry minutes before it left the dock, and spent 15 minutes on the boat before it reached the island. I drove to the race site but the people from BuDu Racing had already packed up. After talking to a couple of people, I was a little nervous about the first part of the bike course so I parked and walked up the first 500m or so. I quickly realized that, although their description was fairly accurate about the conditions of the trail, they weren't very MTB savvy. It was steep in sections and it had some sandy sections but it was definitely ride able (except the first part with the switch back to the 26% hill).

Satisfied with my reconnaissance mission, I drove to my accommodations for the night at the AYH Ranch. I chose, poorly I might add, to sleep in one of the dorm rooms of the hostel. I was going to be sharing with 5 other guys. I dropped my overnight bag off in the room and found out only top bunks were still available, this was not good for me but I could do it.

I went back into the town, ate dinner then drove back to AYH for a late packet pick up. The people of BuDu were great. I was going to be their first PC athlete ever in one of their events so they were not sure if they needed to do much else for me but I assured them that unless something drastic happened on course, they wouldn't have to worry about me.

A hostel is a very friendly place. I was chatting with a few other racers and got cornered by one guy from Portland that was either drunk, stoned, or both but either way, he was a bit of an ass. I was rescued by another guy from Arizona that was a former Pro in Motocross. Turned out he was also in my dorm room. During that time, the rain began to fall and I was wondering about the sandy part of the race course and if it was a good or a bad thing that it was raining.

Everyone seemed to be disappearing and going to bed so I went to my room, grabbed my book and came back out to the common area to read. Another mistake as when I went back to bed, there were 4 other guys snoring very loudly. I should have gone to sleep sooner then I would have been one of those guys snoring loudly. Around 11pm I went to bed and shortly after that, our 6th room mate, the guy right under me, came in. He smelled like campfire and cigarettes. Within minutes, he was snoring even louder than anyone else in the room. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Its amazing how much heat 6 guys can throw off. It was probably 80-85F in that room.

I didn't need my alarm, the one I had set for 6am, as I was wide awake due to the person showering at 5am right next to our room. The walls were basically just plywood so there was no insulation from the sound. I drank my breakfast, packed my gear, and just went out to the race site. The mosquitoes seemed to be less prevalent there.

My plan was to organize my TZ, then go back and rest in the truck. My start time wasn't until 9:07am and it was 7am when I got there. I got there, set up, then chatted with my new friend from AZ. I was on the first rack, closest to the bike exit, with two others. When I got there, they were just leaving for a lap of the course. I know its only a 5 mile loop but doing a pre-ride 1.5 hr before the start of the race seemed to be a little crazy. I decided to go on a short road ride at about 8am. I rode to where the bike course comes out to a paved road and back. I was looking forward to this part of the bike course as it was all downhill and it would be a good stretch of road to spin out the legs before the run.

The race course had changed since the day before due to some pissy neighbours. Instead of two 7 mile loops, we were doing 3 laps of 5 miles. The run course had also changed but since I didn't usually get concerned about a run course, I didn't know what the first course had looked like let alone the new one.

I had my short sleeve wetsuit on and in looking around, so did a lot of others. The water was around 62F, maybe a hair warmer but not much. The course was supposed to be 800m but when the turn around point was pointed out, there was no way it was going to be 800m. I swam it in 13 minutes and change which correlates to 1:40/100m if it truly was 800m and I know I'm not that fast. I only swam twice in the month prior to this race so I was looking at 1:50/100m or slower.....anyway, the water wasn't that cold and other than the few jelly fish that I saw, it was uneventful.

The exit point for the swim was onto barnacle covered rocks but luckily only for a few meters before the stairs then the grass. My typical slow T1 ensued and I was off to the bike part, my favourite.

The first lap didn't not go as I expected. I had to walk the entire first 3/4 mile or so. It seemed that each time I tried to mount my bike, my shorts got caught up on the saddle and I was not able to get clipped in and with the lack of momentum, I couldn't get going. Once I finally got on the bike, my legs were DEAD! It took about 20 minutes of riding to get them moving at a decent pace. One section of the course was not well marked and I went off course. Three of the lead women followed me, silly girls, but the race director was already aware of the problem and he was steaming towards us on his MTB yelling to turn around. There was some cussing from the ladies (bad girls), and it was back on course. I have to say, the bike course was so much fun that I wouldn't have minded doing another couple of laps. It was almost entirely single track and just technical enough to be challenging. I'm sure the pure road tri geeks were not as happy as me but I could look at this as an area I excelled in compared to them.

I pulled over for the fast people that were lapping me and the not so fast swimmers that were faster bikers and only had one fall during that. On the last of the three laps I felt that I was going much faster. I guess my legs were finally warmed up. I hammered that lap and caught a gal that had passed me earlier. About 2/3 of the way through the lap, it began to thunder and rain. The thunder was very loud and I think the race organizers were concerned about the lightening because as I went by the rent a cops that were directing traffic, they were shouting to us that we needed to get back to the TZ, no more laps on the bike.

T2 was shorter (according to my official times) than usual for me. I used a different ankle brace than any other race I had done and apparently, it was faster to get on than my lace up.

Leaving the TZ, the course went uphill for the first 3/4 mile. I actually ran some of it before dashing into the bushes to pee, then I decided to walk the rest of the hill. After emerging from that first uphill section, you went on a paved road for 20m or so, past the aid station, then back into the bush for a rolling trail run. I surprised myself and ran most of it. When the second lap was finished, all we had to do was run back down the hill..... not so easy for me but it was a fun little trail. Would have been more fun on my MTB but I survived. I had to carefully walk down some steep stuff but otherwise, I sort of jogged down. Didn't trip once I am happy to say. Well, now that I said that, I had to sit down rapidly on the last part of the trail, just before we got back to the paved road. It was extremely steep and pretty much sand. I got ankle deep, started to fall, so I just let my knees give and sat down til I slid to the bottom. After that it was a quick run down a dirt road, then across the finish line.

All in all, it was a great race for me. I had fun and I only fell down once. Since I was the only AWAD/PC/paratriathlete, obviously I got 1st in my division but as in all my races, my goal was to finish with a secondary goal of not being last....I'm not sure that's a good goal to have but they are my goals not yours.