I was racing with Team Florida XTreme 2 - it had been a really hectic and busy week an I was eager to spend some time in the woods. We started off on bike towards the Boat TA (with 4 controls along the way). When we hit CP1 - the map showed the trail extending south about 50 meters and turning west towards another N-S trail. All the elite teams (I think) headed this way disregarding the ribbons heading west from the control. This put us on a south and west bushwack and did a great job of breaking up the pack as we were all pushing carrying our bikes through some thick terrain. It also used up a lot of energy. The other 3 controls were straightforward and we quickly got them - one strategy is we hit CP4 on bike, while other teams paddled to it - this turned out to be about the same amount of time.
Our team used to be weak in paddling - but Jim and Wands had been working on it - and we moved fast on the water, overtaking a few teams. We skipped by CP15 and CP16 as the tide was low and we could hit those on the way back at a higher tide. One massive yacht decided that we weren't worth slowing down for - and the subsequent waves were enough to make us go to shore and empty the water from our boat. After CP15 we paddled south around to the entrance of the creek leading to the Guana TA - some teams did decide to portage straight across (see video).
Once on foot we headed straight for CP6, then ran into FL Xtreme 1 as they headed to CP10. We split here - and I made one nav error as we came out on the trail north of CP10 and I had the team turn left (we should have turned right). After a few minutes I realized the mistake - bummer. CP 10 and CP11 were pretty easy and from CP11 we headed straight across to the berm north of CP12. This was also pretty easy going, but my now I was realizing my body was extremely fatigued (more than usual for this point in the race). I chalked it up to a hard week and the heat. We plugged on slowly and easily picking up CP13 and CP14. The trek took us 1:33, mostly slowed by my slow progress - FL Xtreme 1 raced through the same section in 1:06.
Green Paw hit the water just in front of us, we headed back out to the Intercoastal, this time short-cutting a bit with the help of the higher tide. We went north to the big island north of CP15 and saw the sport control that was just north of our CP15. We saw either FL Xtreme 1 or Primal Instinct heading towards CP16 on this section. We had to pull the boat and head to CP15 on foot, during one creek crossing Wanda lost her footing, she grabbed me for stability, but I was shin deep in mud and we both went down in the mud (me face first). She may be little, but she can tackle.
CP16 was an easy find, and we headed to the boat TA. On the way back to the main TA we had a lot of sport teams heading towards us. Knowing Jeff (course setter) would not have put all the sport teams through the bikewhack we did - I knew their had to be a trail across that we had missed when we headed for the boats. Sure enough we found the cross trail that we had missed earlier marked with ribbons - it was even rideable.
Back at the TA is was straight out on foot. It was now hot - this was an easy navigation section and we flew through it at a fast run-walk. Even though I had all good intentions of running, my body had other ideas, but I knew if we kept moving strong we still had a chance.
We changed our strategy on the bike. We knew we did not have enough time to get all the CP's se we decided to go the opposite direction getting CP30 first. Fl Xtreme 1 went the clockwise direction, Primal Instinct in front of us, and Green Paw (behind us at this point) also went counter clockwise. The idea was to get CP30 and the location of CP31 (which was at CP30) and go 2 for 1 on controls. This would have worked - we got CP30, and CP29 moving slowly but well. Then it all fell apart. All three teams going this direction took the direct route to CP28 - this turned out to be a horrible bikewhack - and by the time we realized how bad it was we were committed. Chest high fallen trees had to be crossed about every 5-10 yards. It was hot - and there is no cheating on picking up a bike, putting it across the tree, and then crossing. This was chewing up energy and time very fast.
I could tell Primal had gone this way seeing their tracks and the broken branches they had left. About halfway though this 1 KM bikewhack Green Paw passed us. By this time I was nauseous and fighting heat exhaustion. Wanda was in bad shape too. About 10 more minutes of this I puked out the contents of my stomach - and was amzed by the quantity of fluids I threw up (so was my team), I had drunk a lot, but my stomach was not absorbing it quickly enough. Even though I felt a little stronger with the nausea gone and some clouds cooled the temperature off helping also. Jim was a rock though this entire section, towing Wanda and also keeping an eye on me.
We decided to bail at this point, Wanda was having to stop and I was running on fumes and was at real risk with no fluids in my stomach and no ability to keep anything down. We headed west and then north on the long haul out. Once we hit pavement we felt better and went ahead and snagged CP31, which was CP19 from the foot section. Since we had a good 40 minutes and it was all pavement we also snagged CP21.
This was enough to put us in 4th place (which should keep us at the top of the point series - though we will be close with Green Paw). FL Xtreme 1 took first having an awesome race with everything falling into place nicely. Green Paw overcame a few setbacks and used an amazingly physical race to take second. Primal Instinct raced both smart and fast - never letting us get close enough to strike, and were rewarded with 3rd place.
Here is a map of the course, if anyone wants to see strategies for a particular leg simply comment or mail me - I'll be happy to explain.
View Nocatee Challenge Adventure Race in a larger map
