Sunday, November 25, 2007

Turkey Burn Rogaine Adventure Race

Turkey Burn Rogaine Adventure Race
Race Director: Dave Brault/ Team Sun-tek Skylights.

BB = Bonus Bike, MB = Mandatory Bike
BP = Bonus Paddle, MP = Mandatory Paddle
BT = Bonus Trek, MT = Mandatory Trek

To understand what it is like to race in a Rogaine adventure race, you must understand Rogaine. Unlike most races where you complete a course and the fastest time wins – in a Rogaine, you already know your time, the objective is to complete as much of the course as possible. In the TB Rogaine control points are a mixture of mandatory and bonus. All teams must complete the mandatory CP’s, and as many of the bonus CP’s as possible. The Turkey Burn is a Rogaine style race of this type, which is a great format as all teams can compete at their levels and they all finish at roughly the same time. This was also the inaugural race for Pangea Adventure Racing (www.pangeaadventureracing.com) which was the company formed by Greg Owens to handle the challenge of setting adventure races in Central Florida.

Team TCO (Travel Country Outdoors, www.travelcountry.com) was made up of Jamie Sheriff, Ken Kandefar, and Greg Corbitt and we were ready to race, kind of. Greg was coming off a stomach virus that had kept him down all week so he was not starting at 100%. I was feeling pretty good, but had raced literally the last 2 months on races ranging from 4 hour to 30 hours, though I was looking forward to a break after this race for at least a few weeks. Adventure racers are tough stuff so it was that we got about 4 hours of sleep and headed out to set up at the race TA at 2 AM. We were given maps at 3 AM and for me the race was on. Planning and plotting of the course took us the full hour (and about 3 extra minutes) as we missed the start gun and spent the first little run section catching up with the pack.

The race started at 4 AM with a wonderful moonlight paddle on the Wekiva River. There was no navigation on this paddle, we simply paddled to Katie’s landing and back. We arrived back and immediate headed off on bikes for the real racing. It was about 5:30 AM when we headed out, and our plan was to collect BB5 first. A route choice of taking the northern jeep trail was bad as the trail turned sandy quite early, though the southern road might have been just as bad (though I suspect it was better). We slogged about 2 km through the sand and punched BB5. From here it was pretty easy riding East Northeast to Sandy Road and then north to MB1. This was good road and after the bridge the ride up Pine Rd. was fun. BB4 was next and it was pretty easy (though it was off the road a ways). We headed south to BB1 which was pretty easy. We headed back north and picked up MB3 on the way to BB2, which was pretty easy. The trail north from BB2 to the intersection at the end of the railroad grade was packed with head high dog fennel (a tall grass). At this point I reset my odometer, of course I should have paid attention to it as we missed the turn for MB2 and had to double back about 200 meters to it, and then it was to TA1.

The transition to trek here was slower than I would have liked, but we were heading out on foot and it was a beautiful day. BT3 and BT4 were our first two control and were found pretty easy (though the clue to BT4 was in pretty bad shape). From there it was south on the old forest road – now completely overgrown – to MT1. From there it was West Southwest to the southern trail to BT2. We walked right past the flag twice before finally nailing it and heading to BT1. With the clue of a vegetation boundary east of the trail we also found BT1 pretty fast. Since the woods were pretty open we decided to bushwhack back over to the N-S trail. This ended us up near the creek intersection on the N-S trail. A left turn and a little more bushwhack and we were heading north where we had biked earlier that morning. We had kept a pretty good pace throughout the trek, but now we were wearing down and ended up walking the last bit into the TA. So far we had collected 50 points and hit all the mandatory CP’s for that section of the race.

At this point I knew that time would be critical. We still wanted to get BB3 on the way back to the Main TA and that looked to be quite a bit of extra biking and we had been warned that the last half mile of the trial to BB3 was very sandy. After getting back to Pine Rd. we took the right onto the railroad grade (Grade Rd). At this point I switched the Seminole State Forest map. We took a convoluted route towards BB3 staying on the best of the rideable roads (see course map with overlay). We reached the sand road, dropped our bikes and headed down the sand road on foot (from the earlier bike tracks we knew that others had made this choice). Hoof-hearted and SWIM where the other 2 teams to go after this 15 point control, though I was beginning to suspect this was a bad choice. We wasted about 10-15 minutes with some extra looking here – but found the control and headed back to the TA at the fastest clip we could carry.

At arriving at the Main TA we had to scale the wall, paddle 8 miles, bike to the horse barn, do an orienteering course, and get back – all in 3 hours. We scaled the wall quickly and headed out on the paddle. We hammered the paddle as fast as our arms could take us. Greg was in the boat with me, and I could tell he was having some serious back spasms. We saw other teams heading back as we approached the mandatory paddle CP, found it and headed back which was much easier (downstream). I knew I needed an hour to complete the orienteering course under ideal condition (fresh) – and we were not fresh and we only had 40 minutes to bike, run, and then bike back.

Still we had a job to do, we skipped the transition and simply hopped on our bikes – BUT Greg’s front bike tire was flat. The bike was only 1 ½ miles so we pumped it up, prayed it would hold and took the big bike pump with us. The tire held to the barn and we were off and running. We only had time to hit the 2 mandatory and there was no time to have trouble finding them. We nailed both of them – but we were not running well. I was hurting so Ken and then Jamie took my pack so I could concentrate on the navigation. Greg was hurting from simple lack of fuel (remember he had not eaten much of anything since Wednesday and being sick). The 4 PM deadline passed as we were limping back to the bikes about halfway between MT12 and the bikes. We were now losing points, one for every minute. We had been going at 100% for the last 6 hours. We hit the bikes and re-pumped Greg’s bike tire and took the last 1 ½ miles at what could only be called a reckless all-out pace.

In the end we finished at 4:20 (losing 20 points of our 65 we had painstakingly gathered) – and in second place. We had pushed as hard as we possibly could – how we wished we could have gotten back some of those easy minutes from the first half of the course. Congratulations to Manny and Jason of Hoof-hearted, who had done a wonderful job of pushing hard and making all the right choices, even picking up an extra 5 points on the orienteering section. They took the overall win – and I think we were in second behind them.

Of all the races in the past few months – this was the one that hurt the most, we pushed with everything we had for a solid 6 hours and that was following 6 hours of pretty hard pushing. Everyone on the team came through when they had to and once gain we raced wonderfully.

LEACH Maps




Thursday, November 22, 2007

LEACH Pictures
























The full set of pictures from the LEACH are available at http://www.clubscrub.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=600












Here are pics from the teams in this LEACH race report.












Sunday, November 18, 2007

LEACH - Loxahatchee Eco Adventure Challenge

LEACH 2007 – A tale of 3 teams

While sitting at the banquet table at Nationals over Bourbon shots and Beer, Melissa and I made a commitment to race the LEACH, one of the premiere races in South Florida. And so it was this Friday I was packing up the family to head to a cabin we were lucky enough to get in Jonathan Dickinson State Park (awesome cabins in a beautiful park – definitely worth trip for those looking for a fun family getaway). I would be racing with Chris in what would pretty much be his first sprint race and his second ever adventure race (having raced a multi-day race in New Caledonia - http://www.sleepmonsters.com/racereport.php?race_id=4311) as Team TCO. Melissa would be racing as a 3 person coed team with Jim Levine and a new racer, Dave – who was a colleague of theirs from work (and also covered for Jim on his trip to Nationals) and Team Trail and Error. Melissa had injured herself the week prior doing a competition and was limping on a bad hip before the race even started. She would be racing on painkillers and her own natural determination. Anyone who knows Melissa, also knows that there is a lot of that…

We got the maps and passports about 15 minutes before the race start and some quick instructions. Pretty much I gathered info that one course route was evil (bad trail) and the area was a lot wetter than the previous year. We quickly laminated the maps and passports with contact paper (they were plain paper) and made it to the start with about 30 seconds to spare before the “Go”.

The race started with a short (3/4 mile) run to CP1 where we were greeted with a swim, at least for one member of the team. I shed my backpack and tossed it to Chris and leaped into the water which was pretty chilly (it was a chilly morning at JD). The flag was suspended on a line over a creek and the water was deep enough that this was a real swim. To save time in the pack I swam around the back side of the control to punch it – and with a little teamwork from other teams (one hand on the rope, one hand on the punch, one hand holding the passport – see the problem here?) was able to punch and swim to a spot where it was less crowded and exit the water flopping my body up the wet, slippery, and muddy bank. Jim had essentially jumped right into the water with the Trail and Error passport and we headed back to the TA in mid-pack.

After reaching the TA we scaled the “Wall of Death” which as walls go was moderately challenging, though teamwork made it a lot easier. We grabbed our boats and were on the water for checkpoints 2, 3, and 4. Because the wall and the CP1 had been pretty tight bottlenecks we hit the water about 10 minutes behind the lead teams – but knowing both teams were strong paddlers, I was pretty sure we would put some distance on the field. Sure enough before hitting CP2 on the south riverbank and the short run to CP3 and back, the teams in front of us had been reduced to 5 teams. By the time we reached CP4 at Trapper Nelson’s we were down to a lead pack 4 teams. As we headed back Team “Are We There Yet” led by Will Murphy and our team had put some distance on the field.

As we exited the water the next special test was to fill a water bucket, throw the water to our team-mate and then they would use the water to fill a 3rd bucket and lift a gallon jug of water (with a pulley attached to the bucket) off the ground. After a little trial and error I figured that throwing the water up in a nice arc, caused it to land cleanly in the bucket Chris had – and we finished the special test in a few quick minutes.

It was then on to bikes where we would head out, not to return to the TA until the end of the race. We got everything together quickly and then waited a couple of minutes for Melissa and her team to enter the TA before heading out on bikes. We biked an easy road 3 miles to CP5 where Melissa caught up with us and we had to dismount and do a short (3 mile) run course. According to JJ who was at the CP, RWTY had left 6 minutes prior. Melissa was limping pretty bad – but we decided to run as strong as we could and caught up with RWTY at an unmapped intersection just west of CP7. We worked together to get CP8 (which also required another navigation decision on an unmapped road and it was back to the CP5, which was also CP9.

From CP9 we instead headed north along the railroad tracks and cut across on a trail directly to CP10, shortcutting RWTY who had taken a longer road ride to CP10 and the lookout tower. After climbing the tower and getting our picture taken at the top (yes this was part of the race), we went down for the next special test. A 2 mile cyclocross trail had been set up and the person (not team) with the best time would get a special prize at the end. Chris and I took this pretty easy (Chris at 8:10 and me at 8:24). After finishing I forgot to go back on the short cut we had taken from CP9 to CP10 and ended up following RWTY along the road route past CP9 and to CP11. We arrived just seconds ahead of RWTY at CP11 and the next special test – the “Spiderweb of Death”.

This was a team test where we clipped onto a rope that we had to follow through an obstacle course (and with the team-mates clipped to each other). Our team-work was going strong and we completed the course just and Melissa’s team arrived. RWTY left second before us heading west on the road. I decided to take a route north on the power lines – pretty much the opposite direction. We arrived at CP12 at pretty much the same time and made a silent agreement to work together on the next few controls.

From CP12 we had to bikewhack west across into the swamp, across the creek, up through thick palmettos to get to the trail we needed. It was a pretty tough bikewhack especially since the creek was not only deep – it also had a muck bottom. I got snagged on a tree and any effort to lift myself over by pushing down with one foot just sunk that foot down into the muck. What I really need was a free hand to push off the submerged tree I was caught on – but the hands were busy holding up my bike. A strategy of holding my bike with one hand and using both feet and my free hand to “3-leg” through the downed tree eventually got me out. Of course the other 4 racers coming through with me were smart enough to stay off the tree. Coming out the other side of the creek was also tough with a solid wall of green followed by palmettos. Willem (I’ve raced with both Will and Willem of Team RWTY) found a good spot to bash through and we were finally out and racing again.

The ride to CP13 was pretty easy and we all rode together. We worked together to find the CP which was just off the Florida Trail in a pretty interesting (ready swampy with many water crossings) section of the trail. Rding from CP13 to CP14 we saw Melissa’s group, which had gained another rider somehow, heading towards CP13. We leapfrogged with RWTY a few times heading to CP14 and were the first bikes to arrive. (from what I understand all the other teams skipped CP13, which was a bonus CP to make the 3 PM cutoff at CP14). At CP14 we had another special test, the orienteering course.

The course was not a true orienteering, as an orienteering is a sport which has a special map and rules. The was a bearing course and it would take both of our teams into some pretty thick and interesting terrain. On one of the OP points we did have to form a search line – which quickly got us to the OP (I think it was OP4 which was 30 meters east of the creek we kept crossing). Luckily we had kept close track of all the clues (15 degrees, 25 meters) to lead us to the last control. One other team had arrived in the mean time and we worked together to get the final OP (CP15) before memorizing the map hung there to return us to the bikes.

At the bikes I tried to note whether Melissa and the other team were there – but by this time a LOT of bikes had arrived. Chris and I mounted up and I called to Will to see if they were ready. Their team was looking at the maps, I had memorized the route back to the TA while we were running from CP15 to the bikes so we headed out. (This was not really that hard as we simply stayed on the westernmost trail all the way back). On arrival we had one more task to complete. We were given the location of the final CP (16) which looked to be an easy out and back mile long run. Jason warned us that long pants might be a good idea – so we knew it would not be that easy. I tried to take us on a shortcut route (I could see a yellow blazed trail that looked like it diagonalled across to the CP – but it was quickly apparent it did not). We simply hit the power line and headed east on the Township/Range fenceline to CP16. As we got there we learned that it would not be that easy – the control gave us a bearing and distance that would put us in the middle of a wire and trip grass swamp. We fought our way into the swamp to the clearing which was on the map and was right where the bearing and distance were taking us. Instead of keeping a straight bearing I tried to weave us around the thickest of the stuff, relying on hitting the large clearing and seeing the flag. Sure enough we could see daylight and the flag was right there on the north side of a huge open wiregrass clearing. We got to it, punched the flag, painted our pinkies and headed back following our path in, back out.

After exiting the swamp we had an easy mile run back, passing RWTY on the way into the swamp. We kept an easy light jog back into the TA and ended up finishing at about 3:30 (beating the 4 PM cutoff). RWTY arrived about 20 minutes later, followed by Trail and Error another 10 minutes after that. It looked like we were the only three teams to get all the controls and beat the cutoff. It was an incredibly exciting race and the cutoffs and the competition were tight enough to keep us moving hard. Team RWTY raced a solid race, running fully on all the (many) foot legs, paddling hard and keeping us moving on the bikes. It was a great race. I should have the maps up by Tuesday (Melissa is scanning them and sending them to me). I have one more race for the season - The Turkey Burn, a solid 12 hour Rogaine style race in one of the most incredible areas of Florida – Wekiva Springs and Blackwater Creek. Watch here for the latest.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Bubba Goat 2007 - Florida Orienteering




The Bubba Goat is an orienteering that is different from a standard orienteering as it is a mass start and it is also very LONG. The 2007 Bubba Goat starting at Kelly Park advertised a race distance of 17.5 km which means that we would be running at least 20-25 km for the entire race. As we lined up at the start my team-mate Jamie, and another adventure racer Nick decided we would work together on the course. This outlines some of the methods (with the map attached) how we handled many of the controls (24 total) in this long race.

S-1, 1-2: These were both quite easy with obvious attack points.
2-3: As this was a relatively large feature we paralleled the E-w road to the south. The sparse features were relatively easy.
3-4: Pretty much due south using the small depression just south of the road to verify direction.
4-5: Decided to head south and use the trail which allowed for some pretty fast running.
5-6: Back to the trail, since the marked vegetation boundary was visible from the trail, an obvious cut across.
6-7: Again hit the trail, used the depression as an attack point to diagonal across. Once hitting the Florida trail we used the open (orange) areas to simply guide us to the control.
7-8: Basically bushwhack to the trail to the south. Use the depression on the trail to attack to the south.
8-9: Trail and attack from the saddle. Since it was so subtle (the saddle) this was a bit challenging.
9-10: South to the trail, then use the depression on the edge of the trail as an attack. The first attack was unsuccessful so we decided to double back. On the way back I headed south to attempt to find the open area south of 10, found it and then used it to attack 10 from the due south. This time successfully.
10-11: This was a long trail run with a long attack point (rough open on trail, with one cross trail), however was on a large feature that made the approach quite easy.
12-15: These were all pretty easy with obvious attack points, we nailed each one. 13 would have been the most challenging because the terrain was thick, but it was due north of the visible hilltop making it easy to find by a reverse bearing.
15-16: The attack off the trail after the shallow depression worked well. The objective was to find the hole in the green thickets and attack from there. We nailed it.
16-17: The original plan was to attack from the west (going around) , the bend in the trail was obvious enough that we diagonaled across to the re-entrant (which was very shallow).
17-18: After hitting the trail (too far north) we used the depression again, however we missed the flag too far to the north. The backstop (N-S trail) gave us a nice attack, the distinct tree west of the trail south of the berms.
18-19: This was pretty subtle terrain after leaving the trail. We got a bit lucky with our attack off the hilltop, but we did hit the flag almost dead-on.
19-20: This was pretty easy from the road intersection attack point.
20-21: Jamie and Nick cutoff and headed back here, Jamie needed to get back (after 3 hours of continuous running) for a tennis match. Because the rules allowed us to skip 2 controls, Nick started for CP23, CP24 and the finish to meet his wife and kids. CP21 was essentially a handrail along the open (orange) area.
21-22: I was getting pretty tired at this point. The thickets from pretty obvious and the trail bend south of CP4 was a pretty good attack.
22-23: After leaving CP22 I hit the trail heading east and ran back into Nick who had overshot CP23 and was coming back around for a second attack. Unfortunately I was paying more attention to this and missed the north trail cutoff and had to double back. After that we used the subtle green “blob” as our attack (and it was very subtle), but we did nail the control.
23-24: This was really easy, but it did require that we run back to the gate and then back to 24 adding a lot of distance to both Nick and my tired legs.

In the end we both finished in about 4 hours (nearly exactly). As it turned out, Nick and I were the only two to finish the entire course and I was the only one to get all the controls. It was a great preparation for adventure racing and the upcoming races the next two weeks (the LEACH and the Turkey Burn) – watch this space for details on both these races to come.

Also for the Bubba Results - they are at http://www.floridaorienteering.org/results/2007-bubba.htm

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

USARA Nationals Checkpoint 4-5



No major adventure race is complete without the fake CP. In this race CP4 was it - we got there and got to plot another location further up the trail. Instead of staying on the trail we took the road and then bushwhacked back to the trail from above. As the drawn Berryman trail is an approximation of the actual trail - this was pretty challenging. From CP4 we chose to bikewhack to the road and then again to the trail leading to CP5. This was a great section of the race for us. We had not been pushing the pace so had plenty of energy, the weather was nice and it was afternoon and relatively warm.

USARA Nationals Checkpoints 10-12



CP10 was easy but CP11 was tricky with no obvious attack point. For those teams hitting it with daylight it was a simple matter of counting re-entrants to the south of the trail. For teams hitting it at night - the trail was located in a small valley and the re-entrants were not visible from the trail. We did end up hitting the re-entrant east of the correct one. We realized our mistake and headed over the ridge to the correct re-entrant eventually dropping down teh re-entrant to the control. The other challenge here was after paddling was portaging down the spillway to the water in the dark. It is amazing how things that are so simple in the sunlight can be so challenging at night.

USARA Nationals Checkpoints 15-21



This was one of the more challenging sections of the race for many teams. For one, nearly all teams worked through this section in the dark (as did we). CP15, 16, and 17 were deceptively easy. Even though CP18 was in an obvious location - the trek from 17 to 18 on an unmarked trail was tricky. CP18 to CP19 and then CP20 required some tight attention to detail and a good choice of attack points. CP19 had us start into it one spur early until I gave Melissa the map, rested my brain. She chose an attack from the 3rd stream trail crossing, took a bearing and led us straight to it. I took over at CP20. I attacked from the trail where it started west and aimed off a little to the east to hit the re-entrant above the control. This worked quite well and we nailed the control easily. CP21 was a TA and also quite easy with obvious backstops.

USARA Nationals Initial O Course



This is the first initial map for the USARA Nationals (actually it is just a scan of part of the map). The O-Course was not that terribly difficult. We did have issues with CPE. The drawn road north of the CP ended on the hilltop NE of the control and another unmarked road followed the ridgeline towards G. Both F and G were on unmarked roads that followed the ridges. Still we had a good time even though we wasted about 40 minutes using wrong roads.



Monday, November 05, 2007

USARA National Championships, Potosi Missouri





USARA National Championships, Potosi, Missouri

Of the experiences that everyone should have in their life, competing in a national championship should be one of them. Whether it is in football chess, scrabble, or, in our case, adventure racing, being there is simply on of those great experiences. So there we were; Melissa, Jim, and I listening to Robyn Benincasa (one of the all star professionals of our sport) telling us about how hard it is to relate to these things until you have experienced the same. Just a day and a half earlier we hard started on a race/journey that would be one of the great experiences of any life.

I had only raced with Jim twice, having hooked up for the Croom Crusher and then after that the “Howl at the Moon” where we qualified (with Melissa Watson) for the Nationals. I had not planned on going, but a little arm twisting from Melissa – you wanna race ? – had me changing my plans and heading to Potosi, Missouri. So there we were; Melissa, Jim, and I; sitting in the pre-race briefing Thursday night at the Trout Lodge of the Ozarks.

It was great to see all the teams in the pre-race. Some teams looking for top 10 finishes were intent on gleaning every bit of info to have a solid race. My goals were a bit more pragmatic – a solid race and finishing. As with most adventure races we would not really know what the course would be until the next morning when we got our map and passport. Maps would be handed out at 5 AM, then a 6 AM second pre-race, and then a 7 AM start. After the map handout we did the usual course plotting (2 hours, 13 orienteering CP’s, and 25 course CP’s all to be plotted). We finished with a few minutes to spare and headed to the start just as the race began. Then the real fun began.

Jim had to run to the top of a hill (with all the other teams) and then meet Melissa and I at the south end of the lake near the start where we would be paddling. Jim took off and Melissa and I worked through the bottleneck of boats heading to the meeting point with Jim. The temperature was cold enough that water splashing on to us and the boats froze within a minute creating a nice sheen of ice on the gunnels. Fog rose from the lake in huge columns that swirled through the air as the armada of boats paddled south. As we picked up Jim and headed towards the first paddle checkpoints – the sun crested the eastern mountain top illuminating the hilltops to the west in a brilliant blaze of fire and golden fall hues. The first 2 checkpoints were along the paddle, and we stayed in the back of the pack – pacing ourselves and enjoying the scenery.

After exiting the boats after maybe 3 miles of paddling, we started the orienteering course. We were allowed to do the points in any order and we selected a route that took essentially clockwise around the lake. The only one that gave us any trouble was the second one (E - Boulder) as I was relying on the mapped roads on the map to actually be as shown. This was of course after a strong warning the day before in the pre-race not to rely too heavily on the locations of those roads. After switching to reading contours we picked it up quickly and finished a beautiful (and fun) orienteering course without too much trouble. The course had offered some incredible views and scenery. Another cool thing was Melissa found a pretty cool piece of trash, we thought it might be part of a still. The trash won us the ARFE best trash award!

When we arrived at the transition area, there were only a handful of bikes left, as most teams had long ago come and gone from the O course and headed out on bikes. We were in great spirits, we had not pushed very hard on the orienteering and were relatively fresh. The sun had warmed things up nicely so we pulled off a few layers of clothing and headed out on the first bike leg. The first couple of checkpoints (CP 1 and CP2) basically had us climbing the mountain and gaining some elevation. Of course with all of us being flatlanders – this was a bit brutal on our Florida legs, but we found ourselves passing teams on some of the climbs. The real fun of the bike leg started when we entered the single track of the Berryman trail. The bike terrain was pretty awesome, I’m a decent mountain biker and found myself easing cautiously through many of the switchbacks and rocky areas of the course. Our first surprise came at CP4, which had us plot another point a few miles up the trail for the “real” CP4. We decided to take a riskier route than the straight trail ride that would lead us to CP4, which had us navigate to above the CP by road and trail ride back down. We found the control, but it became obvious that the mapped trail was simply an “approximation” of the actual trail. Still the risk paid off as the teams we were with when we found the first CP4 location had not arrived at the new CP4. We had an easy time biking to CP5 and then following the mandatory route along the Berryman trail to CP6 (which was an awesome, mostly downhill, trail ride). We saw team BAMF (also a Florida team) heading out from CP5, which as it turned out was their second time, having taken an illegal route and having to redo a portion of the ride. We passed BAMF just before CP6 changing a flat about 100 meters from CP6. Also CP6 was a great location as an artesian spring with good water allowed us to refresh all our water.
The rest of the bike ride was uneventful buy nice trail to road ride. We chose another risky route, but again it paid off as we passed a few more teams arrived at CP8 and the start of the next trek section in good spirits.

The trek would have 2 checkpoints that would give us a bit of trouble. The first one (CP9) plotted about 100 meters from the drawn trail we were using, however it was actually located on the trail. We spent about 20 minutes looking around the woods for the flag, before returning to the trail and running right into it, just meters from where we had gone in (so much for relying on the mapped trail). CP10 was in an easy spot and a quick find. CP11 gave us (and a lot of other teams) trouble. In the dark and it had us finding a re-entrant at night looking south across a large stream bed. In the daylight the re-entrants would have been quite obvious, but at night it was much trickier. We found what we though was the correct re-entrant, but realized that we had to be “one over” so we crested the ridge and dropped into the second re-entrant and quickly found the checkpoint. We had trekked/walked the entire section and were feeling really good when we arrived at CP12 and the paddle.

By now it was about 9:30 PM and temperatures had dropped quite a bit. We had heard the water conditions were pretty low, so we had donned rain jackets, waterproof pants, seal skins socks and layered up for what would be a cold wet paddle. We first paddled across a small lake and down a steep spillway heading for the creek we would be paddling. The paddle looked to be a little over 10 miles, so we estimated worst case scenario at 4 hours.

We quickly realized that the worst case scenario was a lot worse than we had reckoned. Though the creek was pretty with swift moving water, it was also shallow. We would paddle hard where we had water, scanning the river with our lights for the deep water. We would hit the rock bars and shallows with scrunching noise that we quickly learned to dread. Bottoming out meant either poling our boat (with the paddles) off the shallow, or jumping out of the boat (I should mention into the cold water) and pulling it off the shallows. When we arrived at the CP13 location we pulled out on the wrong side of the river, so I walked across (remember shallow) and climbed the telephone pole where it was hung. This had given a few team (again, only in the dark) at night some trouble not looking up to see it in the air. I also had some trouble punching it – hanging from the pole with one hand I got the electronic dipper stuck and it beeped 4 times instead of one. This was supposedly bad – but I still did not worry too much.

We did have one amazing encounter on the river. At one point we saw what looked like a tree branch swimming across the stream. Our first thought (all Florida team) was gator, and then Jim said Tarpon!, but it was a beaver dragging a tree branch. He swam alongside of us for a while as we stared, dazed at him dragging the tree branch as he swam along completely ignoring us. After 5 hours of paddling and portaging, and scooching, and dragging – we made it to the takeout. At this point we were cold, wet, tired, and the fire at CP14 was quite a luxury. We spent some time drying out our gear before heading out on the last trek, a relatively long 16 mile trek.

We had heard that some teams had trouble with the checkpoints along this trek. By the time we got to the challenging ones (CP19 and CP20) we had daylight. That was a kind of sweet revenge – the fast teams had hit many of the early challenges in daylight which we hit later at night. These later controls they had darkness, while we hit them in the daylight. I did have a brain freeze on CP19, but simply handed the map to Melissa whose “fresh eyes” took us right to it with no problems at all. Our bikes were at CP21/CP8 – at this point we could “smell” the finish (last leg syndrome). It was probably obvious that we were having a good time as we strolled into the TA and started getting our bikes ready for the last big ride. We were joking and were feeling pretty good coming off the trek.

After a long transition we took the road up to CP22. As we arrived at the CP22 location a team came from the other direction and hinted for me to look at the passport. As it turned out the road was an illegal route to CP22, so we had a choice (1) go back and take the mandatory trail route, a 2 hour ride, or (2) take a 4 hour penalty. As it was getting late the team made a decision to take the penalty which would hopefully get us in around noon. I was glad as my Florida bike legs were now approaching a state of rubber and a 2 hour single track mountain bike ride was not something I was looking forward to at the time.

We headed on to CP23 and 24. The ride from CP23 to CP24 had the steepest climb of the race and I am quite proud to say I did not drop on it, though I did pay for it later. We saw other teams as we headed for CP25 (an out and back). At this point (around 29 hours of racing) we were pretty tired and were looking forward to the finish line. In the end we would finish after 29 and ½ hours of racing and take a four hour penalty and a solid 48th place finish. Jim had completed his first 24+ hour race, Melissa and I proved that we were a solid navigation team, and we had done what we came to do – had a great time.

(I’ll have maps up as soon as Melissa sends them to me)