Florida Coast to Coast Part II

Coast to Coast 2008 Part II

When we reached Blue Springs we knew that we were about half-way through the race. We were now unranked and we knew that if Nature Calls could keep the team healthy they would pull off the win. Julie and I are both pretty intense competitors, not in the mean sense, we simply like to go fast and see who comes out in front. The plan from this point on was to race hard as we could and see how we did. We also knew that in 3 more weeks we would be in Montana doing what is reputed to be the hardest race in the world – not just the hardest in Florida. Anyway it was strangely motivating. Of course the reality was that it was also stiflingly hot. We had received the control points for the next leg of the race, so I proceeded to mark the next section. I would let my crew mark the rest of the race after we left – I was only worried at this time about the next bike leg. After marking the next leg I knew we would be in for some serious biking. My time estimate was 12-20 hours of biking based on conditions. At least the leg started with some easy road riding from Blue Springs to Paisley Florida, where we would enter the Ocala Forest and start the difficult section.

As we rode I knew that we would need to fuel heavily, so we bypassed the turn in to Ocala and hit a convenience store in Paisley (there are two). I looked for the most caloric food I could find (Zingers and Twinkies won out) and downed a large Mountain Dew – I also got some Pop-Tarts for later. It was then into the woods. The first point was quite easy and we even passed by a forest ranger who told us the numbers of some of the trails, and also gave us road conditions of the roads we would need to take. Of course the news was not good – pretty much sandy and soft the entire way. The first flag was at the intersection of a road and the bike trail, so we decided to take the bike trail. I kept a constant eye on my compass – and odometer and calculated when we would be close to the next point which was manned. When we got within what I thought was 300 meters we started to yell, hoping the folks would answer. They didn’t – so we reverted to plan B. Plan B was to continue on the Ocala Bike trail to the power lines (mapped) and then use the contours along the line to determine the correct trail back (about 1 km) to the manned point. This worked perfectly, even though the trail back was too soft to ride. And then Julie got a flat – and realized she had given up her tube earlier in the race. She was using Presta and I had Schrader. And of course she had a Presta rim on her bike. In other words we were in the middle of nowhere and without a bike tube. So we devised a plan. Plan A – walk the bikes (we could not ride anyway) to the manned TA and hope they had and would give us a tube. Plan B – use my bike tool to score out Julies bike rim so my Schrader tube would fit. We walked to the Manned CP – and sure enough Dennis Godber (super-biker) was there and had multiple tubes. He had switched to tubeless – but still had all the tubes. The first tube had dry rotted and had split seams (lesson – they don’t last forever). We did however get her bike fixed – avoiding plan B and being able to continue on with the race. We even got one spare tube for me to carry in case Julie got another flat. My lesson – use Schrader rims, they will fit either tire. I’ve also learned from many adventure races that you need to be able to fix nearly anything that can happen to your bike in the field.

Notice the nice loops we made before the flat tire. We did finally find this Manned CP.


Well – regardless, one of the reasons we moved fast to that point was to make the orienteering course before it got dark, and it looked like we would make it. However, the O course had been cancelled and so had all the checkpoints between there and the next TA. In my calculation over 6 hours of trekking and biking were just shaved off that leg. I was disappointed about the O course as it looked pretty cool – though not terribly. The TA gave us directions and said basically follow the yellow bike trail to Alexander Springs, and then it was road from there. As we headed out (it was now dark) we missed the turn onto the bike trail and came out at Forest Road 538. I knew that this road would take us directly to 445 which is where we wanted to go anyway – and as a bonus it was packed solid. Now I had no idea of how to get to Moss Bluff from 445 – the folks at the CP just told us to “cut across the forest somehow”. I knew that we could take the road that led past Big Scrub, but that was probably the worst biking road in the world – so I was going to find an alternative. Plan A – head to Altoona (there were signs), find a convenience store, and get directions. Plan B – take whatever road we could find going west and hope for the best.

Once again Plan A prevailed. We got to Altoona, stopped in the Kangaroo Store, and were rewarded with more Mountain Dew, and fruit pies (500 calories in three easy bites!). Also a local was happy to give me directions when they saw me looking through the maps, and the directions were perfect. It was funny when they said – that’s a awful long way to bike. I joked with them a bit, they were really nice and it was interesting to see what folks did in Altoona on a Saturday night – these were good old country boys.

The rest of the ride was a blur with hills. It was dark and cool and we had a light tailwind. We flew – the downhills were great, the uphills were pounding, and the on the flats we tried to keep a solid 18-20 mph. I knew we had been traveling fast when we got to the next TA and they asked whether we had caught a ride. The SPOT tracker had showed our progress quite well.

It was now time to sleep! The next leg was a paddle downstream on the Ocklawaha River, followed by a turn upstream on the Silver River. I knew that paddling in this state would have both of us sleeping within an hour. Julie ate while I slept, then we switched. We had agreed to 30 minutes and then we were ready. Our crew was also doing a wonderful job. Oscar had the boats loaded and ready to go with everything we would need, Abhijit had the maps prepared and went over them with me including distances, and Heather had every food I could imagine ready to go. To make it even better; both Josh and Clay were now back to full strength and helping out.

As we hit the water it was perfect still and flat. I knew we were going downstream – but there was no perceptible current, but also no wind. We turned our headlamps off and used the moon and the horizon to navigate. I told Julie I could handle the paddle for a while and let her take a short nap while I soaked up the surroundings. She woke up on her own after about 15 minutes, and we paddled to the “iron bridge”. After the iron bridge there were lots of snags in the water so we had to switch to headlamps. With the headlamps on we got to see all the frogs (yellow eyes) and gators (red eyes). We also got to start some mild hallucinations. I kept hearing banjo music – which could have only been made by the frogs, Banjo Picking Frogs. I never actually saw the frogs picking the banjo’s – but it was obvious they were doing it. Meanwhile Julie was having a conversation about Amber Jack that went like this;

“Amber Jack”
“Do you want Amber Jack”
“Yes”
“The beer or the fish”
“The fish”
“You want fish?”
“No – just Amber Jack”

And then repeat again. Meanwhile the banjo-picking frogs were mocking me as we turned upstream into the Silver River. The current was now coming at us and hard. It took us over an hour to paddle to the take-out which was an abandoned dock. I bargained with Julie that if we did not find it I would paddle us both to the correct location. When we got to the dock there was no-one there and signs saying area closed. So we sat in the boat and hollered – and sure enough people came.

This is a map of the paddle. It is an incredible place to paddle at night. Long straight river lines with lots of wildlife and scenery.

We were now at Silver River State Park, it was about 6:30 AM, and we soon found out that the last paddle was cancelled so we only had a trek and a bike to go. We were psyched. Some oatmeal and Ramen noodles and a warm shower at the campsite later – I was feeling good and ready to trek. Also Clay and Josh were going to join us for the trek. Getting back to a 4 person dynamic was fun and with Clay and Josh both fresh – this leg was a lot of fun. My legs were fatigued (Julie and I had run much of the first trek, and the second one was just leg punishment) as were Julie’s – so we did not want to go too fast. We were able to chat and really just enjoy the trek – and it was hot. Good news was the CP that was later stolen, was still there – so we had no navigation problems (or even slow-downs). The entire trek was on the Florida trail – so it was simply following the orange blazes. In fact if it had not been for the oppressive heat and swarming horseflies – this would have been really fun.

We had no idea where the other teams were, I figured Nature Call’s was back there somewhere – and I knew Colin (solo guy) was still in the race somewhere as we had heard about some of the teams at the last TA. We did not know where the other teams were – we saw Colin at Blue Springs, but had not seen any other teams for a few hours.

Here is the trek from Sliver River State Park to Santos. It is only about 11-12 miles and all along the marked Florida Trail. The area has incredible trails and hiking, and Santos is truly the mountain bike capital of Florida.

Well – we had made it to Santos and the last leg of the race. The last long leg. I had no idea of the conditions of the off-road sections – though it was a long way from Santos to Crystal River. The first two checkpoints were pretty easy in the Santo’s main biking area. As we headed for the second one I ran into a group of bikers that I knew, and then a second group from Orlando who had done one of the CFAR races – so we ended up with an entourage of bikers helping us through the free-ride section of Santo’s heading to CP22. At this point, instead of biking through Spider Kingdom (there aren’t really spiders) we decided to take the road to the trail just east of the Land Bridge.

After crossing the land bridge we headed north on the bike trail, or at least I did. After going back I found Julie having a conversation with Tommy, so I interrupted her and told her she needed to come with me. She continued to talk to Tommy as we found CP23 (I overshot it at first) so I found a spot with nice pine trees and none of the swarming horseflies and let her sleep for about 10 minutes. The next section was really cool. I had never ridden the blue bike trail west of the land bridge – it was awesome. Dips, vortexes, drops, climbs – they were all there.

There was one two more checkpoints – one manned. CP 25 was a challenge (re-entrant on back side of ridge) There were about 100 re-entrants along the ridge and I really had no idea which was the front or back side. I joked with Julie we could never find it because whichever side we were on would always be the front side and the other side would be the back side. She asked Tommy what I meant. I figured she would be OK as long as she had someone to talk to.

We hit the manned CP, said hi – and then it was to the finish line. It was 20-30 miles to the finish. We flew, even passing a convenience store without stopping. In the end we finished strong in 60 hours 57 minutes. I was quite happy with out performance and hopefully we can be ready for Montana. My biggest thanks go out to all the volunteers, the other teams – and to Elias, Dave, Dennis, and all the others that make this incredible experience called the Florida Coast to Coast a reality.

Florida C2C part I

Florida Coast to Coast 2008

It was a small crowd of racers that would be facing what is now by far the most challenging race in Florida – the coast to coast. I would be racing with my Primal Quest partner – Julie Ardoin, and two of her friends – Clay Abney and Joshua Trivet. The pre-race and preparation were the usual – though we did not get our maps until 8 and did not get a chance to start plotting (40 UTM points) the first half of the course (all we had maps for) until 9 PM which as always makes it a long night. We finally got to sleep around midnight which would give us a good 5 hours of sleep before we headed out the next morning at 6 AM.

The race started with a prayer and then a 4 ½ mile beach run followed by a roughly 18 mile paddle across the Banana River, north up Sykes Creek, west down the 528 barge canal and then south to Hubert Humphrey Park on SR 520. The weather was cool and slightly overcast making for very pleasant paddling. The last 4 mile section was quite exciting for Julie and I as we were paddling in a Pamlico 160 with an open cockpit. Their was a strong headwind and the waves were cresting the boat. Our paddling experience helped keep us upright, but we did have to essentially paddle sprint the 4 mile section to keep the boat in solid control. Josh and Clay, paddling an Amaruk had a difficult time keeping up.

A pretty easy 20 mile paddle with beautiful scenery and waters.

The transition was to bikes at this point and our crew, made up of Heather, Oscar, and Abhijit showed us how a good crew can help keep you moving. Their were a few teams in front of us – but I was not concerned, this was way too early in a long race to worry about field placement. Our objective was to keep a strong pace for this bike leg which started with an easy, but long bike ride straight west on SR 520 to the southern entrance to Tossohatchee near SR 528 – about 34 km. The cooler weather we had on the paddle gave way to sun and heat and it was starting to get to Joshua. We stopped once to eat and cool him down. We were staying close with Troy Couture – one of the brave solo racers to attempt this challenging race.

The next leg of the race through Tosohatchee would be a much tougher experience for most teams than it looked. The navigation held some challenges, but the heat held more. This is where we started with problems. The heat was putting Joshua into heat exhaustion and Clay was suffering from a knee injury. We were finding it very difficult to keep the group moving. At one point Clay was curled up in fetal position, looking really pale. He told Julie that he might pass out. Julie deadpanned – “If you pass out we’ll stop – now get your bike and let’s go”. Josh meanwhile was showing early signs of heat exhaustion with serious muscle cramps and alien looking spasms in his leg muscles. We used combinations of walking, resting, coaxing, double biking, and pack carries to make it through this section and finally emerged at the other end of Tosohatchee a pretty bruised up team. The good news is that the remaining bike leg was a 26 km road ride. I had brought my tow rope so was able to tow Joshua to the TA and Clay had recovered enough that he was able to maintain pace. It was not necessarily a fast road ride, but it was good enough to get us there. At the TA it was pretty obvious that our 4 person team was about to become a 2 person team. Josh had full-blown heat exhaustion and Clay was pretty much in and out of pain. The only team ahead of us at the time was Nature Calls and there were a few other teams in the TA that looked like they had been sent straight to the TA. My family was here which gave me a great mental and psychological boost. We decided that Julie and I would continue on, we also started calling ourselves Team Blue (our Primal Quest team name).

This leg was deceptively hard. The tails were sandy and it was brutally hot. Clay and Josh took a real beating in this section. The road bike in (about 20 miles) and the road bike out (another 16 miles) did not make it any easier on them.

The next leg of the race would be a long trek across the Econlockhatchee State Forest. We would be picking up 5 checkpoints along the route. Julie and I decided that we would try to catch up with Nature Calls in this segment, who had a 30 minute lead out of the TA. It was starting to get cooler and we figured we could make it to the next TA (at Adventure Cycles) between 9 and 10 PM meaning we would be able to use the night to run better. Though many of the teams would hit this section in the dark, we hit all the points within the forest in the daylight and found them relatively easily. It did not hurt that I had a high level of familiarity with the area. Both checkpoint LBE2 and LBE3 had multiple flags hanging – it appeared that other groups were using the same locations (which made sense as the flags were hung in distinct or scenic locations and others would have noticed this). It was starting to get dark as we exited the forest at LBE5 and headed for the first numbered race checkpoint CP1. The final portion of the trek was through downtown Oviedo and on the paved Cross Seminole trail. CP2 gave us some difficulty in the dark, but some pace counting got us to it. We caught up with Nature Call’s who we could see resting and eating at an intersection up the road, but they continued on before we found CP2. As we left the CP we could see lightning and hear thunder in the distance. As we continued it got closer and we started back into our slow run. The rain started and then we had a large crack-boom of lightning. We were about a mile from the TA when it really started raining hard and lightning was all around us. There was nowhere to shelter so we simple ran harder to the TA where the teams were hanging out under the eaves of our local bike shop – Adventure Cycles.

Though many teams found this section difficult - we made it during daylight and were able to run most of the way. The storms kept the heat down and Julie is a great person to run with.


Our crew had cooked spaghetti and we decided we would take our time in the TA and eat and rest. It was still too dangerous to head out into the storm. My family was once again here providing mental support. The next leg of the race would be essentially a night bike ride across the city on back roads with a could of checkpoints and a stop at Travel Country Outdoors. One of the checkpoints turned out to be more challenging than it should. I decided to take the eastern-most entrance into the Bear Creek nature trails because the clue for the control there said to. This entrance was not from the parking area where there were two trail entrances. The clue had intended for us to take the easternmost trail from the parking lot, not another trail further from the side of the road. After about 15-20 minutes we figured it out and were ready to bike on. Julie had gotten a kick out of the entire thing. I figured I would try to make up some of this time by biking hard. It was cool (and wet) out – but the conditions would be good for biking as there was no risk of overheating.

We arrived at TA5 wet, happy, and a little exhilarated by the night ride. We were about 15 minutes behind Nature Call’s. The crew had good food at this TA also and we knew that we would need some serious food for this next leg of the race. It looked like a relatively short (30 km/18 mile) trek that would take about 4 hours. This did not, however take into account the terrain and difficulty of the controls. The first control point was due north of the “Bridge to Nowhere” in the Wekiva swamp. The bridge was an old massive concrete bridge that was probably built when people though wetland were only for filling and destroying. Now the bridge led into the swamp. We kept a due north bearing and simply go lucky coming right onto SP1 – the first checkpoint in this section. From this point we simply needed to bushwhack 2 km north through the swamp to a tram road to find SP2. This is where the going got tough.

For anyone who has never bushwhacked their way through a thick swamp in the dark, you have no frame of reference and cannot possibly understand what thing is like. Issue #1 – spiders and bugs. Swamps are full of them and they want nothing more than to sting or bite you. Every step entailed knocking down a few webs. Issue #2 – the terrain. This involved endless climbing over fallen trees, bashing through palmettos, crawling over and under trees, and fighting sticker bushes. Issue #3 – Direction. Without constantly checking the compass it is easy to simply do circles. It really does all look alike and it is very easy to get confused. It took us nearly 3 hours to cross the swamp. When we exited we came out on what used to be a logging trail marked on the map. The trail had been replanted with pine trees and was not really a trail – but it was obvious that it had one time been a logging road. Of course planted pine always comes with thorny vines – usually raspberries, and this was no different.

After 3 hours of swamp bashing we were just happy to be on a road. So happy in fact that we spent a couple of hours going up and down it looking for SP2, which was placed on the wrong intersection (east of the mapped one). Of course we did not go too far east looking – we checked too far west. We did go to the location where the control was mapped and I even took our GPS tracker and pointed it to the sky so I could prove we were in the right spot. Nature Call’s had found it which was impressive. After we gave up and headed north again we had no problems with the other controls – though they were definitely more challenging than the controls on the first trek. The SP7 was especially challenging – on an earth bank that was hard to get to – being surrounded by thick vines. Julie and I circled around it – and I finally found a spot to get to it. As I came out I heard Jim from team NC. I gave him directions to SP7 and then Julie and I headed out to the Horse Barn that had restrooms with running water. After a little sink shower to get the worst of the swamp mud off and also scrub with soap the bites that were all over my wrists and legs I felt much better and we headed to TA6 – Katie’s Landing.

This section was truly brutal. We walked well over 20 miles, though the first 2 miles through the swamp were the real killers. It took us 3 hours to make 2 miles. I headed NW after SP1 hoping to hit the river or the trail along the river. We did - but it was not much help... I made some notes of where things mentioned in the article happened.

At this point we learned that all the other teams (other than NC and ourselves) had been bypassed around this section. Some of the teams were really suffering – but the good news was our two downed members were feeling much better. There were plenty of teams that had already headed out on the paddle. Jamie (one of my regular team partners – who had done this race with me multiple times) and her family were here for support. It was a great chance for them to meet Julie – as they would be supporting us in a few weeks at Primal Quest.

Julie and I had been looking forward to a nice paddle down the Wekiva and St. Johns River heading to Blue Springs State Park. This turned out to be a pretty paddle, with lots of wildlife. Julie was even able to get a short nap in the Necky Amaruk. The only down side of this leg was the large number of big boats zooming up and down the St. Johns River. At Blue Springs we would get the maps and instructions for the second half of the course. We did not know where we were going – but we were feeling very strong after a solid 30 hours of racing and were ready to take on Coast to Coast Part II.

ACC Video

Pangea has posted a really cool video showing some of the ACC - mostly scenes from the adventure class course (not the elite) - but still really cool - it is at

http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/race_archive.php?r=6

Seminole State Forest Hammerfest 5-10-2008

Pangea Adventure Racing http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/ had a bike race today that was an absolute incredible amount of fun. I (and all the other adventure racer types) that went weree not really sure what to expect - the only information we really had was it would involve some navigation, was all on bike, and would last between 2-3 hours for the long course. Starts would be between 8:30 AM and 10:30 AM and you could show up any time, get a start and head off on the bike.

I had a soccer game that morning where I ended up refereeing the game, so was running late, but was still able to make it to Seminole State Forest and head off on the course around 10:55 AM (Greg held a spot for me).

SO here is what it was. A course of 12 checkpoints with 2 loops was done on bike. The navigation was simple enough that the course was essentially a marked course and the checkpoints simply proved that you actually did the entire course. I was able to get started about the same time Team Primal Instinct left the last manned checkpoint and was heading in. It was a bit hot out (I think the temp today was upper 80's) - but a nice breeze made the first part of the bike ride and packed sand double track quite easy.

The area was absoulutely beautiful (I'll have the map posted soon). The course headed north and crossed Blackwater Creek where it went along the sloped edge of the one of the basins and had some real live hills as I headed north towards the manned CP/TA and the start of the first loop. I had some knowledge of the area so I really did not need to navigate too much on this section and simply slowed down a few times to read the map and make sure I was heading the right direction. I passed a few teams that had started earlier, heading back towards the start/finish as I was heading out on the course.

The wildlife was incredible. I had to dodge a Gopher Tortoise who had decided he wanted to block my path. The at one point I came across a Doe and a Fawn that literally ran along side me for almost a full minute before deciding that it was smarter to go into the forest. This was a unique experience as I literally matched speed with the 2 deer and was able to watch them up close as they ran alongside and just in front of me. A little later I startled a flock of Turkeys and one Turkey also decided that the road I was on was the best way to run and also simply ran in front of me. Just so you know they can run really really fast!

All the terrain on the race was either low grass double track through pine and deep forest or hard gravel and sand - in other words great fast and non-technical mountain biking. Thus the term "hammer-fest" you could literally hammer as hard as you could for most of the ride - and I did my best to hammer this one hard.

After the second loop I could feel my energy level going a bit lower from fatigue and a bit of dehydration, though I was doing my best to keep a solid pace. In the end I ended up doing the 32 miles in 2 hrs 21 minutes, 2 minutes behind Team Primal Instinct who finished in 2 hrs 19 minutes. The CFAR group had a grill and food set up at the end of the race (and yes we plan to do this every race).

The format is a really cool format and I think a lot of folks who are not super-comfortable with difficult navigation would really enjoy it. I'd love to see Pangea make this - the Seminole Forest Hammer-fest, a name we coined after the race, a regular event. To do this we need mountain bikers to support the race format. The terrain was quite easy, so non-technical bikers could easily do it. The navigation was no more difficult then reading a road map, so that should make it easy enough for folks who are not nav-savvy. It was off-road, so unlike road races you don't have to deal with cars. In fact it was the best of what most roadies like about road riding without the cars.

If you would like to see Greg and Pangea do more of these types of events - and these should really appeal to roadies who want to try some mountain biking please e-mail him at greg@pangeaadventureracing.com and let him know. All you mountain bikers out there - let's hear from you!

Atlantic Coast Conquest 2008

Atlantic Coast Conquest 2008 – 30 hour race
Team SWIM Photos Courtesy of Team Race Photos

Well –Team SWIM is really made up of Rob and Sheri, however when they ended up with a conflict for the St. Anthony’s triathlon – I decided to take over and put together a team. The weekend before (yes one week) I called up race partners Chris Xiste (partner for LEACH 2007) and Jim Levine (USARA Nationals 2007) and Jamie Sheriff (toughest woman alive) and we had a team.

Preparing the maps, notice the help of my team-mates!

We got our maps and passports at 7:30 AM and were told to be ready for the 9 AM start. We would be starting with the Short race (4 hour race) but splitting up after a short run. The 1 ½ hours proved to be ample time to prepare maps as most of the CP’s were marked. After a 20 odd mile (2 ½ hours) off-road bike loop most of the teams hit the water together for the epic paddle. Though the paddle distance was less than 20 miles, the challenging navigation and one really tricky checkpoint made my list of epic paddles, of course we would get a chance to do it twice. The wildlife was spectacular with multiple Bald Eagles and even a flock of Roseate Spoonbill’s that flew right over the tops of our boats. And of course alligators! We took a little extra time to get lost, we made strategic portages, we worked with the other team near us (Eco-Choice) and finally arrived at the Destination at Jim Creek around 6 PM. We arrived at TA just behind Eco-Choice and left out on bikes just before the arrival of Florida Xtreme. We knew we had waning light that we wanted to most of since the bike ride was all single track which becomes exponentially more difficult in the dark.

Chris and Jamie Paddling Hard

We did lots of portaging


View Larger Map
These are the lakes that we crossed at the start and finish, try zooming in on the channel connecting the top lake to the others, tht was one tough part.

The bike ride went essentially smooth and we were making excellent time. This is also a team strength and we expected to make some progress on the field in this section. However tough terrain and aggressive night biking sometimes do not mix. Jamie sheared her derailleur of her bike. It was then I realized I had removed my chain tool for repairs a few races ago and had not returned it to my bike pouch. Of course nobody else on the team had one either – so we ended up duct taping the derailleur so the chain would still thread and moving to a bike push. We had one section where we passed within 3 miles of the TA – so we headed in to do some bike repairs. We headed back out and decided to pick up the CP’s we missed in reverse order. Under the 528 underpass we ran into FL XTreme, they looked strong – we continued on and completed the loop. My best guess was we lost an hour to the broken bike parts. Chris must have fallen 10 times, I broke a spoke (and had to release my back brake for the rest of the ride), but the most spectacular wreck was Jimmy who endoed and shattered his helmet.

Link to cracked helmet

At the next TA we fueled up and headed out on a 6 mile trek just behind Eco-Choice. FL Xtreme had not arrived yet, but did come in right as we were leaving on the short 6 mile trek. The first CP appeared to be misplaced near the edge of a pond with a ton of beady red eyes. We located the CP and I could see the lights of Eco-Choice across the pond so I shouted to them the correct location. The trek had some great bushwhacking and we were overtaken by a fast-running Team FL Xtreme with about 2 miles to go. After they were safely ahead we moved into a jog. I wanted to start the next section without the other teams too close. FL Xtreme was heading out just as we arrived at the TA. Even though the race director said the route was easy – for some reason I felt it might be challenging.

It was now around midnight and the bike ride was pretty cool. We were in an open area along the river following cow tracks (much like single track). I zoned out and forgot to measure the distance from one CP to the next (24 to 25) and ended up overshooting and having to head back after locating CP 26. Chris fell a few more times in the sand – we lost count of the falls in this section. As we arrived in the next TA for the final trek (12 miles) we learned that none of the other teams had arrived. We started out with a solid jog but went to a walk as we entered the woods. We attempted one bonus point here – that proved to be extremely difficult in the dark, so we bailed. We bushwhacked essentially all the way to CP27 where we ran into Team FL XTreme again. We decided to work together for CP 28, 29, and 30 – which turned out to be a good choice. The 2 mile jog to CP28 was refreshing, but then the real bushwhack started. We first crossed a cypress swamp in the dark which was relatively easy to the terrain we crossed as we merged into wiregrass and tall fennel. The weeds were so thick that Chris simply dived into them to push them down so we could cross. It seemed like forever until we reached CP29, and the sun did come up while we pushed across the swamp. It would be CP30 that would bring all the teams together. The map showed this being roughly ¼ mile south of CP29 ( a later look at an aerial shot showed we were way off).

Eco-choice showed up while we were looking, and so did Team Big Daddy’s on bike. It turns out they had some issues with the paddle and had been “short-coursed”. We never did find CP30 even though I tried for about another 20 minutes after FL XTreme bailed out and headed to the boats. I had calculated that we would need to leave in boats by 9 AM to make the cutoff (3:15 PM) for the finish. We left at 9:15 AM behind FL Xtreme and just before Eco-Choice.


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Just south of the lettering for Tossahatchee where the small creek meets the power lines (distinct Northeast to Southwest cut (try scrolling the map to see) is where the paddle take-out was. If you want a real challenge try scrolling the map and following our course north back to Loughman Lake. Good Luck !
The first part of the paddle was beautiful, both Jimmy and Jamie were having a hard time staying awake. We caught up with FL Xtreme just before SR50 and saw them take the west river route, we chose to take the east route. After a few more miles Team Eco-Choice overtook us and we paddled together. Our team, though good paddlers was not able to keep pace with John and Rod who are an extremely strong paddling team. I was focusing very hard on tracking our route through this tricky section of river – but I let my attention go for about 5 minutes and the next thing I knew, I had no idea where we were. Luckily I was able to use a treeline in the distance to re-orient and achieve what I though was the main channel, but we had lost time and we were in a false channel. After 15 more minutes of going in circles I finally called on the team and convinced them we simply needed to pick a straight line and portage. This time it worked and we emerged east of the treeline and in the correct lake.

The next mistake here was believing the map that showed a northern passage to Lake Loughman. This passage did not exist (I confirmed later by looking at online aerials) and we debated more portaging or doubling back. We selected to double back and confirmed the correct channel by seeing an airboat passing through it. Now completely back on track we were moving fast. We could see the next CP (the tower at the south end of Loughman Lake) and we pushed towards it. Two challenges remained one was traversing the channel between the two lakes with a strong current and shallow water. This was so bad we simply jumped out and pulled the boats along. The next one was crossing Loughman Lake into a strong wind with only 20 minutes remaining. As we emerged into Loughman Lake I could see FL Xtreme about halfway through the lake. Our goal at this point was beating the time cutoff. We hammered this paddle, into the wind, leaped out of the boats on the other side and ran into the finish line with 1 minute to spare.

Jimmy and Ron hammering to make the cutoff

Food for Racing

One of the most common question I get about racing (besides sleep strategy) is what do I eat. This is pretty easily answered - but first you must understand that you will

- Burn 500-800 calories per hour
- Eat 200-300 calories per hour

in at typical 24-40 hour race. So to gage your eating you simply need to figure out how many calories you'll need for a leg; say 10 hours * 300 calories = 3000 calories.

Next you need to pack these calories. The easiest way is to simply put 1000 calories of food in a plastic bag and grab one bag for every 3-4 hours.

OK - so now what do you put in the bags. First, I like a flask of hammer gel with me on every leg, so that goes separate from the bags and is refilled every TA. In the bags, I first want something crunchy - granola bars are my favorite. I like some fruit, mostly apples and bananas. I like some meat - usually beef jerky, hot dogs, and vienna sausages. Then your typical candy bars, energy bars, and other assorted bars. Finally sandwiches; PBJ, Ham, Turkey - anything on bread - though I prefer mine on bagels. These are all mixed in the bags.

Next mix it up - the idea is simple - nothing looks good to eat when you are exhausted - but hopefully you'll find something palatable if you give yourself a good selection.

As for fluids - I always carry some mixed drink in my hydration bladder (usually Gatorade), and on the bike at least one of my bottles will be pure water. The idea is to get as many calories as I can from fluids.

For those who want to lose weight (which is not usually adventure racers), I have lost more than 10 pounds in a single race and this was not hydration loss. Even with eating as much as you can bear - you will still run a calorie deficit of possibly 400 calories per hour. In 10 hours this is 4000 calories, which is nearly 2 pounds ! Now extend this over a multi-day race (like the 3 day Florida Coast to Coast and it is an easy calculation to see how you can lose 10 pounds.

Circle F - Family Weekend

I'll add some pics to this post later, but this weekend we had a family weekend with a few of my kids girls scouts (Troop 3056) at the Circle F Dude Ranch http://www.campchannel.com/camps/1851.html

The weekend was aa blast filled with kayaking, volleyball, paintball, horseback riding, climbing, swimming, and other activities as planned by the Circle F folks. If you are an active family (this is not for the couch potato crowd) - and you want a fun family weekend for a good price (2 nights lodging, all meals - excellent food, activities - for about $500 for 4 people). Some of the activities cost extra - but $20 for 2 hours of horseback riding is the best price you will find in Florida. Anyway - I'll post some family pics on this soon.

XStream Adventure Camp - Gravity Play Sports

Having made the commitment to do Primal Quest our team (Team Blue) knew we needed to get together and there was no better chance for this than Gravity Play’s adventure camp, that not only would allows us a chance to meet and get to know each other – but also to complete the certifications required for PQ. The camp was a 3 day camp starting on a Friday – but the team decided to travel on Wednesday so that we could get together for some training before the camp. I flew into Salt Lake City where I met up with team-mates Julie and Dom, rented a car and then drove to Moab where we would meet up with Kent. We met up, had dinner, but made an early night of it as we would have a long day on Thursday.

The drive from Salt Lake City to Moab is increble scenery and wildlife - we must have seen thousands of deer (and some Llama's too)

Kent had planned a nice training day for us on Thursday, and I had rented a bike from a local bike shop (rentals are from about $30-$75 per day in Moab and there are plenty of places to rent) for our ride. Our plan was to ride from town up to the entrance of the Porcupine Rim trail and then take the rim loop back to Moab. We expected a 5-6 hour ride at a moderate pace with plenty of time to catch the scenery. Of course from Moab – it is pretty much up to get to Porcupine Rim. Julie and I both being flatlanders and used to sea level oxygen had a tough going keeping up with Kent and Dom who hammered out the uphill road miles to Porcupine Rim trail, though that is where the real fun starts. The first part of this trail is essentially uphill with some short downhills. It was not terribly treacherous, though we did have to contend with snow covering the trails on the northern non-exposed trail sections, but when we reached the top we were rewarded with incredible views from Porcupine Rim. It overlooks an incredible valley where the Priest and Nuns (famous from PQ Utah were clearly visible). This is also were we started some incredible downhill riding. The double track trail was rocky with lots of 1-2 foot drops that you would take at very high speed (as you were going downhill). This was an absolute blast; accurately described as better than sex by the local tour guide. After hoofing it up nearly 3000 feet it was a long adrenaline filled downhill rush. To make it more fun I had one endo (though it was benign as I luckily landed in sand). We reached an infamous single track section that I decided to walk, not because of how technical it was, but because the penalty for a mistake was a 100-200 foot drop off the right side of the cliff. As we moved further from the edge, I was bolder and truly enjoyed the ride.

Entrance to the Porcupine Rim Trail and some incredible Class 4 Moutain Biking. To really see this take a look at http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/porcup.htm

Porcupine Rim offers some of the most incredible views as long as you don't mind incredible drop-offs that give you that queasy feeling.

I turned in my bike (after 6 hours of riding), we hit a quick dinner and after a short debate we decided to explore Negro Bill Canyon (on a well established trail) and some of the side canyons. The plan was to stay in the canyons until well after dark. The far end of Negro Bill Canyon is well worth it as you are rewarded by a small beautiful aquifer filled pool with a stunning arch overhead. As it got dark we decided to give the other side canyons a look. Most of them had well established trails, that we had a hard time following in the dark, though we only canyoned out once. It was a great adventure climbing over some challenging rocks in the canyons until we reached the end – viewing from below some spots we would get to see from above the next day when we biked Slick Rock.

The camp officially started on Friday, so we registered and got ready for the mountain biking day – which would entail a trip to Slick Rock with some expert mountain bikers. For those people who like tough single track I have only one thing here to say – don’t die before riding Slick Rock Trail. Slick rock is really a misnomer – the rock has more the consistency of sand paper, it grips the tires of your bikes making it possible to do incredibly steep up and downhill rides on your bike. I walked most of the steeper uphills, usually passing folks who decided to chug it up on the bike, though Dom and Kent rode nearly every uphill. You simply had to lean forward and push as hard as you could to make it up. Each time I would do this I would end up looking like a fish that was gasping for air at the top as my lung burned from the new elevation. The downhills though were a different story. At first I tentatively explored the limits of my rental bike (A Santa Cruz Superlite – I WANT ONE). As I gained confidence in the traction and abilities of my bike and suspension I took the downhills more and more aggressively. These downhill sections on rocks at typically 30-40% slope were absolutely incredible. The bike hugged the rock tightly and the suspension on my bike made what could have been a major jolting into fun, screaming downhill wild-ass rides. I was having a great time. Our small group stopped for lunch about half-way on slick rock, there were some awesome riders in the group, they were all heading to PQ as this was the certification for them too.


Julie took one nasty spill on a section of heavily sloped rock, and Dom went down hard on an uphill and actually broke his bike frame. Another group member broke their ankle, though I missed that one. Dome decided he would run his bike back the 6 miles to the trailhead (which you could see). The rest of the team walked the uphills with him, but as soon as he got far enough ahead we would go after the downhill sections. Elbows low to the ground and butts hanging far over the back of the seat – we were having a great time and all too soon it was over. I got a newfound respect for downhill as I saw riders taking lines that would have been well beyond my abilities, with plenty of jumps, air, and speed – but I was happy with the ride and had a fantastic time. Do Slick Rock!

Words cannot do justice to the ride at slick rock, even the pictures are simply not enough, for more on this trail check out http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/slickrck.htm

The rest of the day was filled with a classroom session on first aid and our swimming certification (what was supposed to be a mile swim). It was pretty uneventful, though the cold (50ish degrees) air made a lot of folks apprehensive about hitting the swimming pool. The water was warm and I enjoyed the swim enough I stayed in a little extra before joining the team in the hot tub to warm up. We were starting to get a nice team dynamic. Dom and Kent are both incredible bikers – especially on single track and uphill terrain and also would make great team-mates. We were nice and tired by the time we finished dinner and the classroom sessions and we had a nice full day of whitewater kayaking for Saturday.

A frontal system had moved through Maob cooling things down considerably – so our biggest worry on the whitewater would be cold. The kayaking would be in rubber tandems on the Colorado River just past the site of PQ 2006. With Kent and I in one boat and Julie and Dom in the other we hit the water with about 6 other (4 person) teams. WE did have the obligatory what to do in whitewater and safety speech where we stood around and shivered, but once we hit the water we warmed up quickly (we were wearing wetsuits). Julie took an unintentional swim as they crossed into an eddy through a particularly strong eddy line, but even then she said she was not that cold. The 43 degree water was actually refreshing. Kent and I had a great time in the whitewater looking for the most aggressive lines through each rapid and being disappointed when we would eddy out and see a tougher line we missed. None of the rapids were too challenging, topping out at an easy class 3 and you could see all the boats were having a good time. The sun was out and strong by the time we finished and we enjoyed a nice lunch in the sun as we dried out and got ready for the bus trip back. We would finish up the day with classroom sessions in navigation and general adventure racing topics from the Team Solomon/Crested Butte. As it turns out the instructors from Boulder Performance Network and Team SCB were excellent – though I had different techniques of doing some of the navigation. They had excellent racing tips and gear recommendations – and I am also sure all the PQ teams there appreciated the insight they were able to give into the dynamics of such a long race. Tired once again we slept well and got our gear ready for Sunday and our final certification – climbing.

All of our team-mates had plenty of climbing, ascending, and rapelling experience – but we also don’t get that much easy access to experienced climbing instructors and we were all eager to get as many tips to perfect our technique. The PQ requires a specific type of single rope prussic on the rappel’s – so I learned a new technique (that was a pretty good one). This turned out to be important as both Dom and I have Figure 8 devices that simply do not provide enough stopping power without aggressive braking. My figure 8 will actually let me slip through at full speed without a strong braking hand, which is why I use an ATC – which at the time was not allowed by the PQ staff, though I believe it has been added.

Dom demonstrates his awesome ascending. The entire team did great on the ropes and enjoyed both ascents and rappels.

Ascending is a completely different animal. I had never done froggy style ascent, typically preferring a Croll and single hand ascender technique. I was determined to learn all the techniques and had ample opportunity to try multiple techniques on multiple types of rock faces – from free hanging to sloped hard rock. We also got to do a really cool zip line on a double pulley system, one of my favorites for sheer fun. The day was quite cold and as we were doing our last lesson; self rescues on a knotted rope, it started to snow. It was almost surreal ascending back up the rock after the lesson in the snow. We climbed into the van and headed back. It was hard to believe it was all over. A few racers were hanging out talking with team SCB and the folks from Gravity Play. They had coordinated a wonderful and enjoyable camp experience. Our team had completed the obligatory certifications for Primal Quest, but more important had gelled as a team. I don’t know what will face us at PQ – but I do know we will have an awesome team facing it together!

Team Blue (Left to Right, Kent, Dom, Julie, and Ron)

For more on Team Blue check out our Primal Quest Blog at http://pqteamblue.blogspot.com/

Best Orlando Area Race (BOAR 2008)

I got the call from Rob (Team SWIM) the week before the race. Hey – you up for another race, we need a 4th for the BOAR. Well of course – I’m always up for a good race and also with a good team. The BOAR has been a race that for 5 years running has highlighted some really cool areas and this would be the first time we would be racing at the Orlando Wetland Park, so the team (Rob, Sheri, Stefan, and I) lined our bikes up for the mass start early morning on Saturday, March 1.

The race started with what looked like a 6 mile loop around the wetlands park on hard packed berm roads.

Note the tight bike line!

Two team (Village Bike and SWIM) pushed the early pace and established a pretty strong lead on the remainder of the pack as we cam around past the TA and received our first set of race instructions.Village Bike lost some time as they had left their trekking shoes in the TA and had to go back and get them as we would be trekking later in the race without a chance to return to the TA before that. It was off to the boat pickup, another few miles where we would do a challenging navigation paddle to Hatbill Park. The day was gorgeous and there were lots of folks on the river (or should I say rivers) – this section of the St. John’s River is really a complex maze of streams cutting through grassland flats with lots of gators. We made all the right navigation choices here and made it to the CP at Hatbill Park where we hopped out of our boats early and ended up giving ourselves a little swim (hey it is in our name).

The paddle had some shallow portages and clear water

We passed Village Bike who also hopped out of their boats early on the little island as we did and I chuckled as I knew they would also need to do a little swim.
As we returned we saw teams everywhere on the river. The tricky navigation had teams moving in all directions through the maze of canals. We missed one turn heading back, but quickly caught our mistake and recovered. The camera crews at the boat drop got some great shots as we decided it was easier and faster to run our boats through the shallow swift current near the boat drop rather than paddle that section. We were able to leave our boats at the boat launch, and quickly transition back to bike to head to the orienteering. We decided to do the O in the order 1, 3, 4, 2 (we could choose our order). This required a tricky bushwhack from 1 to 3. We found both the first and second streams but my “aiming off” on the nav was off and we headed east on the stream when we should have gone west. This was compounded a bit by the flag location being (slightly) off on the map, still mostly our fault. After nabbing 3, we had no trouble with 4 (near a fence on the treeline) or 2 (easy attack point from the forest corner SW of the control). We took Florida Trail back to the bikes and began the most grueling leg of the race – the cow pasture bike.

The next leg had us doing a roughly 5-6 mile loop to find 5 checkpoints (easy navigation) in the cow pasture. Most teams were unable to ride through the thick grass and mud – we simply geared down and chunked along. Except for a few cows running in front of us and the occasional section where we would have to carry our bikes (in other words very wet) we moved well through this section. WE did have one interesting section where we biked across a small canal feeding a pond and startled an amazingly large alligator (for a small pond).

A team with a nice tight running formation - this does not work on narrow trails though.

When we arrived at the TA we received our next set of instructions and passport, a 5-6 mile run with a short paddle in the middle. The first part of the run was to our bikes (we had done this route before) – so we put our heads down and dropped into a nice pace. My pace was a little less than the team pace, though we were running well – I knew I was holding them back a little. We had not seen Village Bike for a while, so we knew we had a decent lead (I get much more motivated when there is a team right on top of us). The paddle was a short paddle to a control on Bear Island and then back. We ended up punching our instruction sheet as our punch card was safely back in the TA where we had left it, I think we could convince the RD we visited every control. The paddle and punch took 18 minutes and we arrived back at the boat drop just as Village Bike was heading out.

I think this was leaving the boat drop - good spirits here

We had a 3 to 3 1/2 mile run back to the finish with one CP along the route. We were supposed to take the North Woods trail which despite being wet in a few places was a really nice run. I was still feeling good and was not slowing the team too much through this section. We came out of the woods at the berm road at Lake Searcy. The road weaves around the lake and we could see across the lake. We kept a light pace and the muscles in my back that had never healed from the swamp stomp started giving me some real pain. We decided to take the South Woods trail instead of running the berm the entire route. We were trying to beat 5 hours which we just barely missed as we came into the finish line.

As I dropped my pack, Rob hollered to put it back on as we had another section of the race to go. Mercifully it was a short out and back run on the trail we had just left, but Rob carried my pack for me as just putting it on caused me some nasty back pain. We finished the race in 5 hrs and 23 minutes, followed shortly by Village Bike (Jason and Marghi) at 5:43. It would be a while till the remaining team, which were really spread out at this point, made it in.

Another great race for Pangea http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/race_archive.php?r=3 and a fun race with Team SWIM.

Swamp Stomp in Pictures

Robert's photography and video did a great job of video documenting the Swamp Stomp race. A great way to get a feel for the race and the area is to read through the 2 page photo story of the race at

Page 1 - http://www.englewoodbay.com/swamp-stomp-2008.html
Page 2 - http://www.englewoodbay.com/swamp-stomp-2008-2.html

supposedly we will soon have a DVD of the race, I look forward to that, it is always fun to go back and look at the race went.

Swamp Stomp 2008 - Part III

The mile posts shown on the map were actually physically marked posts out there on the trails. This really did help a lot with the navigation – whenever you would find a post, you would no where you were. The problem with that is many of them had been renumbered. We quickly figured this out as we ran into posts that were not on the map or were obviously wrong. But this was not the real cause of our problems and the problems of many other teams. That would be the trail to marker 60. Since nearly all the teams were coming from CP21 – we had all plotted the shortest trail distance to get to BP16 which would take us down that road. When our team arrived, there were a few teams that were obviously bailing out on that route. That is never a good sign. We were pretty sure we knew where we were and there was a road heading that direction. The trail was at first rideable, then pushable, then it was a bikewhack, and then it became a carry. We got within site of our destination across the swamp – but knew as it grew deeper that we would probably have to turn back. So like many teams after wasting 1 1 ½ hours we bailed out.



After we exited we still wanted to get BP16 (and the other two BP’s near it, 17 and 18). Rob who lives in Sarasota pointed out that the power lines just north were fast riding. So we headed for them and sure enough, they were fast (and a little wet) as well as the other trails leading around from the back side. After having wasted almost 2 hours – it felt good to snag these bonus points. It was a quick ride to CP23 – except we realized that we had not gotten CP 22. At this point Sheri was hurting and did not relish the going 5 miles out of the way on horse trails to grab this CP. But Rob and I were having fun, and the riding was pretty fast. We picked up both CP22 and BP 19 and then headed to CP23 and the start of bike leg 2.

It was getting pretty late (10:15) as we arrived at CP23. I had calculated we would have just enough time to get the mandatory CP’s and make it in on time. We were told that the two difficult CP’s had been removed, so now we had a choice. We could do the run (which I figured at 30 – 40 minutes) and then pedal back. This would have been an easy 4 points boosting us to 23 points. At the same time we knew we were out of the running with a lost team-mate and a lost passport. Sheri was also hurting a bit and she would have had to run at least one of the miles, though Rob and I would have been happy to run 2 each – I don’t think the rules allowed that.

We also had a fun discussion with a park ranger about the missing road back at BP17. He confirmed that the road had flooded and that they had ceased mowing it – allowing it to quickly get overgrown. He thought it was pretty humorous we had tried to get through it, at night, with bikes….

So we decided to head straight back. Local knowledge came into play here. We knew we had enough time to even pick up some BP’s on the way back, but again we were being prudent and Sheri kind of looked like she was ready to puke. I was getting pretty hungry – having not eaten very much the entire race. Even Rob was starting to show some signs of fatigue. The fun here was passing other teams, we were catching teams about every 5-10 minutes. It gave us a chance to say high and see how others were doing. Our pain and misery (I was now nauseous as it started to get hot) was being shared by plenty of others. Rob and I teased Sheri by telling her that people were behind her – and since she was too tired to turn around and look, she simply kept peddling.

We even saw Team Relentless again. Lisa had kept Paul moving after an incredible recovery – they were biking strong. We crossed the finish line about 11:30 (a full 1 ½ hours to spare). After we crossed the line Sheri even asked if we could go back out and get the closest BP (the answer was no – and that was from Rob and I). I wanted to get my stomach settled – it was hot coming in, and that made it tough. I also enjoyed seeing some folks from other teams I had raced with in the past. Following the race that EMS and Snickers had with each other showed that it was an epic 2 team showdown, and Snickers won it with Michael Moule leading the navigation.

The next big race (for me) will probably be the ACC. I’ll be coaching soccer on Saturday’s and being a good dad since my family is letting me race in the PQ. My team was great – I really felt Greg’s pain, and Rob and Sheri just took every setback in stride. So if you wanted to get a feel for our finish – we had 19 points and finished at about 11:30.

Swamp Stomp 2008 - Part II

The next leg of the race was a shorter paddle that headed south on the Myakka towards deep hole. We looked to see if anyone at the TA wanted to join us – but in the end it was going to be 3 of us in the boat. The race was not really going well for us; lost passport, bonked team-mate; at this point it was all about pride. We were still in racing mode, we had not entered that nether mode that occurs in long adventure races; survival mode. In addition we had learned that the course director had removed to CP’s from this leg (quite a blessing). We grabbed a few pads and put Sheri in the middle of the boat and started paddling hard. With three of us paddling we were making awesome time through the twists and turns heading for South Myakka Lake. We also got to pass and say hi to many of the teams heading back towards the TA who I am sure were curious about our three person team. After hitting the end of the long winding river section a due south bearing took us right to the next CP (17). Of course we had to walk by it a few times before seeing it – but that can be completely normal for this point in a race. We paddled back to pick up the bonus CP (BP14) on the north side of the lake, which was off the lake a bit. Sheri at this point was shivering really bad so we stopped to put on some clothes (she donned a heavy rain jacket she had in her pack). It was probably 55 degrees, but we were soaking wet from the paddling and the fog.

We got to the spot to and Rob found the control though Sheri and I liked a different tree that fit the control description better (Tree in Wetland). Still we had found it quickly – and it had appeared that there were a few teams roaming the swamp looking for it when we got there who quickly moved in on it after we found it.



The paddle back was fun as I went ahead and put my headlight on (I had not used it for the paddle to this point because the near full moon gave lots of light). With the light on I was able to spot the hundred of orange looking eyes peering back at us from the water on the shore. Gators – and they were thick. It became fun counting the number of gators in each little cluster of them. And then we passed the bridge and were back to the TA.

Back at the TA there were teams in every condition. Paul from Team Relentless who had completely bonked and was puking back on the trek where we had last seen them was resting (amazingly he would finish the race – we would next see him on the bike leg). Some teams had obviously bailed as the TA was missing a lot of team spots that had been there earlier. I was feeling completely recovered from the trek, my stomach was fine – and a couple of Red Bull’s from the TA folks had my energy back up as we headed off on the bike.

There is something so right about getting onto a bike and riding. As tired as I was the feeling of turning those wheels was good – I was truly enjoying the ride at this point, though that would not be the case 10 hours later. We snagged CP 19 (and easy one), headed south to the mandatory crossing point. We passed Eco-choice (Rod and Fish) going the wrong way and that confused us a bit – though we did get to the correct crossing. I was feeling good and it looked like Rob and Sheri were solid at this point also.

We made a strategic navigation error here, we should have collected CP22 before CP21, but missed it as it was on another map and headed straight to CP21. This (CP22) would cost us some effort later as we would have to bike an extra 5 miles to pick it up where it would have cost us less than 1 ½ miles if we had done it before CP21.


Note the line down the center of the image is the two different maps, we passed right by marker 25 on our way to CP21 - oh so close to not see it. Lesson learned is to be sure to point these little things out to yourself before the race as they are easy to miss in the dark when you are tired.

We found CP21 and the haunted shack and headed for the cluster of 3 bonus points on the far east side of the map. This is where things would get hairy and scary. We had stayed out of the water for most of the bike ride, but this was not going to last and this was also going to be the proving point for many teams that wanted these bonus points.

To be continued in Part III – the finish.

Swamp Stomp 2008 Part I

As always the swamp stomp did not disappoint, there was plenty of stomping and plenty of swamping. I would be racing for the first time with Team SWIM (Sarasota Wellness and Internal Medicine) My team-mates Sheri and Rob were both doctors, so now worries about needing medical help. Greg filled in at the last minute for a hurt Jamie, who was filling in for a hurt Melissa – but we had our four racers.

The race started with a prolog, that was simply a short run along the river to a point and back to get in the boats. We made it to the boats with the lead pack and started up the Myakka River. The control points heading north looked pretty easy, the first one CP1 requiring us to hop out of the boats and go to the top of this really cool double tower with a spring suspension bridge between the towers. We made some serious time there and it was us and EMS in the boats and heading up river. As we got through a winding section of the river I noticed we had missed a small river shortcut and made a mental note to use that on the way back. The lead teams all regrouped as we hit BP1 and BP2 as we group searched for these. The course was made up of mandatory (CP) and bonus (BP) controls – though we had decided early on we were going for them all.

BP3 looked like it would be a pretty challenging control as it was located a good distance off the top of Upper Myakka Lake. As we beached the boat, Rob flushed a 6 foot gator right into me, so I had to do a little dance around to avoid an unpleasant encounter in the shallow water – it did get the heart racing. We lost a little time here as we hit the “described” vague trail near BP3 and went the wrong way. We could see that the lead pack had made about 5-10 minutes on us.



The paddle to the BP4 and BP5 was really neat, though the river was narrow with a incredibly strong current (we were going upriver). We had a little bit of bumper boats jostling with the returning lead teams - . The weather was now warming up and we were paddling hard to catch up with the lead team, we had gotten all the CP’s and BP’s on the way upriver so now it was simply head back and push. CP6 was a take-out and a short orienteering. We nailed each point easily – bushwhacking across the cow pastures. Rob and I each had a set of maps and the double orienteering was working well – we passed a lot of teams in this section. As we hit the boats – the first disaster struck. Sheri looked for the passport only to realize that she must have dropped it. We were not sure what penalty we would get – but we were sure that it would be painful. We had done all the BP’s and would probably not be able to get credit (except for the manned ones). Ouch.


Here is a picture of Sheri just before we lost the passport - yep that is it in her hands. Too bad she did not hold it up to Mark taking the photos. We had gotten all the CPS's and BPS's on the passport.



Here is an even closer look - hmmm looks like it is all punched...

We paddled back in and transitioned for what would be a long trek (25-30 miles) and told Jessica about the passport. We would await the decision on the penalty for the loss of the passport.



The trek started out strong - it was 2:16 PM and we were right where I like to be in the race (EMS was leading having left at 1:48). We caught up with the lead pack (the first teams had about a 20 minute lead at the TA) that was having trouble with the first CP on the trek. This was our section – we had 2 solid navigators and we used that to our advantage. We made a clockwise loop easily nailing every CP. As it started to get dark – Greg started to really hurt. I knew that we were in trouble. We finally made our first mistake at BP12 – over-running the turn into the swamp (it was dark). We doubled back and found it pretty easily after that thanks to thesolid trail left by the teams in front of us. We had had dry shoes up to that point, but BP12 was a slog in knee deep water. It also had a BP12+ that was shown on a map at BP12. The direct route to BP12+ looked too thick so we went around – but gave up after a short search. Greg was now really hurting and was having a hard time keeping up. We decided to get back and skipped BP13 – we knew that would take us out of the hunt, but we also knew that Greg might have to drop, and we had lost the passport. Rob put Greg on a tow rope (we had about 10 miles to go) and we made it back to the TA around midnight. Greg dropped at this point and we sat him in a chair and headed out for Paddle #2. Any normal human we would have put on an IV – but Greg is strong and he would recover with rest.



And then there were 3 – to be continued….

Race Director - Resolution and UCF Race

I was recently the race director for 2 races and in both cases I've got some great pictures and video. The first race was the Resolution put on by Pangea Adventure Racing. The results of this race along with some great video are available at the Pangea Site - click on the video link to see the video I created. Also - Mark the photographer for Team Race Photos was out and shooting photos of this incredibly scenic area. They are at the Team Race Photos site. These photos are worth a look even if you don't race - they are incredible photos of a scenic area.



The other race that I directed was the UCF adventure race. Once again I took some video footage which is available at Trail Maps. In addition Mark was out at this race and again took some great photos that are at Team Race Photos. So even though my blog may not be too busy - I've still been pretty active. While you are checking out these sites - take a look at the trail maps wiki, if you are from Central Florida we are starting to get some nice pages created.

Jamie Sheriff making the leap

Swamp Stomp 08

Watch here for a race write-up on the swamp stomp - but until then follow the team I am racing with - SWIM/TCO on the checkpoint tracker - hopefully there will be more here soon from me. Right now I am putting together my gear, food, clothes and getting everything ready for the trip Friday to Sarasota to race. The race will be in the Myakka State Preserve - a huge area for racing.

More on Primal Quest

So now the PQ is partly a challenge for the mental aspect. One thing that is pretty cool is that it is named one of the 7 most difficult. The coolest thing on this is that the endurance folks can look at it and see what the other 6 are.... So now I am contemplating how I can compete in the others. The Hawaii Ironman looks like a pretty easy second. The Badwater - though incredibly challenging might also be one to shoot for. I'm not sure about events like Dakar (I'm not a driver) or the Idarod (not a dog sledder) - but who knows, maybe there is time to learn.

Anyway - this one is worth checking out. And stay posted for info on the Swamp Stomp and be sure to check out my mapping at http://trailmaps.pbwiki.com/

7 hardest events

Eco-Primal Quest

One of the interesting things about talking to folks not in the adventure racing community about doing the Primal Quest is explaining the race to them. These two video's pretty much sum it up...

Black Hammock Wilderness Area Trail Mapping

This is a detailed trail map of the Black Hammock Wilderness Area (click on the map for the original printable file). The BHWA is a Seminole County WA - info at http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/leisure/natland/bhammock.asp

I created this trail map of the Black Hammock Wilderness Area trails during the 2007-08 Christmas break. To create it I used my Garmin GPS 72 set on track mode (this is automatic) and simply carried it in my pack as I ran and biked the trail network. The best GPS units now for doing this are the Garmin 60 CSx or Garmin 76 CSx - they both track and have very good antenna strengh - critical for not losing coverage under tree cover. I am sure there are a few trails I missed (this was done in three successive workouts) - and if so I will be going back and filling in the blanks later. After each workout I downloaded the trail network to my Topo! software ( http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/category/Outdoor%20Recreation%20Mapping%20Software/?cid=3&tid=0 ) - at one point it looked like they were going to have a nice online capability of sharing the TPO files, but this seems to be a lower prioirty for them now. No worries - if they don't do it someone else will eventually. Anyway - I download the track (as a freehand route without waypoints) to the software and overlay it on top of the USGS topo maps from the software. The printout should print at a 1:15000 scale (not the original1:24000). I did some editing - deleting duplication of some tracks and defining the trail style before printing.

This is pretty much the type of maps we are producing for adventure racing in Florida, most all the race directors (Elias Jiminez, WeCeFAR folks, Greg Owens, etc... ) are familiar with doing this mapping now - so we are getting some pretty nice maps. Anyone with other good mapping tips (also ones that can be done easily) or software, please feel free to comment on this post. I am probably going to set up a wiki of the local trail maps and hiking as soon as I find someone to host it for free (or convince CFAR folks to pay fo the hosting).