Trying not to get injured the night before the actual start.. we took it easy!
Getting up the next morning I found I was getting a little nervous, having never done a race of this length before. Slamming down a little breakfast was a chore, and soon enough we were off to the start where we found that instead of just running a couple of blocks to the start, we would have to run around the town of Bridgeport, down a muddy stream and then to the bikes for the 12 mile blast to the lake swim. Once out of the ditch and onto the bikes we kept a good pace out to the lake where we had decided to use kick boards and fins for our swim across the lake. Other teams used a variety of methods including "swimming" to teams using fully inflatable rafts..
Out of the water we started the first of 2 long treks. With Sara in full charge of navigation duties, we headed towards our first checkpoint. Knowing that Sara and I hadn't spent a ton of time on our feet before this race we opted for a more conservative pace rather than trying to run the whole time. We managed to keep pace with most of teams with Sara's nav skills and a steady pace. We finished up the first trek just as it was getting dark, and were looking forward to getting on the bike and off sore feet! Setting off into the dark for a very long night of hike-a-bike and lost checkpoints. After we had no luck finding a checkpoint we opted to "sleep" for 45 minutes until the sun came up, which made it possible to find the checkpoint. I wish I would have taken photos of our "bivy site and the 8 shivering bodies occupying flimsy bivy sacks and cold ground!
We finished up the first bike leg by flying down Sonora pass and into the next transition. We fueled up, added our climbing gear and food and started out on what ended up being a 24+hr trek, with the rope section thrown in during the wee morning hours. Getting to the rope section Sara found us a short cut that saved us more time and allowed us to slowly gain time on the "running" teams. The rope section was one section of the race I was looking forward to. Jumaring or ascending and rappelling are like second nature, but, having to do these in the dark but not knowing anything about the anchors was a little nerve racking! Sara and Scott did great, after a little unnerving descent in the dark to the first jumar, "just follow the light" this would not be the first time during the night we would be told this... as the ropes course was a little light on help and not having anyone around to check harnesses and belay devices, after being up for 2 days straight, was a little less than professional.. Walking down the scree slope I managed to trip, almost catch myself, cartwheeled a couple of times and landed in a manzanita bush. Splat. I was lucky to end up with just a sore thumb.
Once off the ropes course, with a bit of free soloing up the first rappel (another story).. we walked on into the early morning light and eventually to the next transition.. At the transition we opted for about 1.5 hrs of sleep before jumping on for the last, and longest, bike leg.. At this point we knew we weren't going to be a top placing team and wanted to limit our losses. We chose to go for checkpoints we know we could get and not spend huge amounts of time trying to get ones that were way out of the way.. always a strategy in adventure racing.. Riding along the flume trail was pretty sweet and as long as we were careful, it was raining, it was a fun ride... If you ever ride with Scott Cary, do not believe him if he says something is totally rideable!! He almost ended his race trying to ride a rocky, 8 foot drop to the left, part of the trail.. He lucked out with just a couple of bruises and a sore ankle and was able to continue. At the pre race meeting we were told of an area that we would encounter during the last bike called Jupiter.. Jupiter is a quaint little area in the oak trees outside of Columbia that is occupied by a side of society that tries to avoid the rest of society..We were warned not to stop and not to try and talk to the people there.. so, around midnight we managed to be right in the middle of Jupiter..yeah. As we stopped at the bottom of a hill to check our maps, the team of Racing with Giants rode up from another direction and told us in no uncertain terms "do not go down there, these people are crazy". After a run in with a local that was about to send out his deer dogs, and just about getting shot, they were a little unnerved.. So, we opted for the other direction.. With my brakes about as squeeky as they ever are, "dualing banjoes" played through my head about a million times..gonna make you squeal boy..yeah.. fun night! Once we made it to the next checkpoint, Racing with Giants was there and we enjoyed pizza, pringles and pepsi with them before the last climbs, and one long ass descent, to the paddle. As the sun came up after the third night we rode into the paddle transition..
There were a bunch of checkpoints out on the paddle, but with only a couple of hrs to get to the finish before huge time penalties took affect, we opted to just grab the one at the final transition and we jumped on our bikes for the ride up to the town of Columbia and the finish.. As we dropped the bikes and started on the last half mile walk to the finish we still had one more checkpoint to grab.. Having not questioned Sara's navigation the entire race I chose now to ask if she was sure about the checkpoint.. no sleep makes Ken a little goofy! Can't express enough thanks to Dad, Carolyn and Erik for the amazing support!! I owe you guys like half a million cheeseburgers, or something!!All in all we had a great race and will definately put this one on the schedule for next year! As with most races, new friendships were made and unforgettable experiences were, well, experienced! I won't be eating any turkey jerkey or race food in general any time soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment