Superhero Adventure Race

I was a bit worried coming into this race. The week before I had bonked bad about an hour into an orienteering and was not sure how my body would hold up a week later going into a 6 hour adventure race. We knew we would have high temps - so that was one concern. I was pretty sure I was recovered enough to perform well, but you never know. Wanda, Jim, and I met up - I have some video that covers some of the different parts of this adventure race and some parts that are common to all adventure races in the video - I have annotated it, too.

The elite race started with a bike prolog that had 2 checkpoints. My strategy on these is simply to keep the navigation clean and position ourselves well going into the next leg (which would be the boats). Since I navigate I usually call out directions to the rest of the team as we ride so that if they are in front we don't get delayed or have to stop. Our plan was to go left inside the fenceline and hit CP2 first and then CP1. This turned out to be a good strategy as most teams headed to CP1 first - this left us pretty open riding on the trails. We made it back to the TA within a minute of the leaders as planned and made a really fast transition to boats (our entire transition is in the video). This is pretty typical of all our transitions - we like to move in and out of the TA as fast as possible.

Once in the water we had 3 CP's downstream in open water, 1 CP up a clogged narrow, channel, and 3 CP's that were in an open fast flowing channel. We headed upstream on the narrow channel first. We were pretty sure that we would be pushing the boats through this section and we knew that pushing them upstream or downstream would be pretty close in speed. Only a few teams chose this route so we had the river almost to ourselves. There is some fun footage of this section in the video. Once we hit the main channel again we had some tough upstream paddling, but after the most upstream CP it was high current paddling downstream. Since we were paddling fast I jumped out of the boat (literally) as we got to CP4 and my team leaned with me, swamping the boat. CP4 was in very shallow water so we dumped the boat and cruised downstream flying over shallow logs. Unfortunately CP3 was just behind a log across the river and while we ducked under it we totally missed the control and flew past it. We realized this when we got to the river split and the main channel - but I decided we would return for CP3 after got the downstream CP's. These were easy and when we got back it took us 7 minutes to get to CP3 and back, we also passed Florida Xtreme I just before CP3 so we knew we were about 2 minutes behind them. Of course had we not missed CP3 we would have been a few minutes in front of them.

After hitting the main TA we hopped on the bikes. We had trekking shoes on for the paddle and kept these on for the short bike to the bike drop. We would start the trek there. I had previously decided to do this counterclockwise (CP19 first) which turned out to be a good strategy. None of the CP's gave us any trouble until CP28. Because there were not many features and the 2 controls were only about 500-600 meters apart we took a direct bearing from CP27 to CP28. At the distance we did not see the control, so we bailed north to the trail and then west to the trail intersection. I got a little confused here and took us a bit too far, but realized my mistake. We attacked CP28 the second time from the trail intersection NW of the control - again we were not having much success and were joined by Nature Calls as we were searching. Their was a mapped depression North northeast of the CP and we were using that to keep us on the attack. I finally decided to simply follow the subtle ridgeline that was east of the mapped location. This worked and even though I was not positive I think the mapped location of the shallow depression was too far west, but I'll bring that up with the mappers. The extra time at the control was pretty much a moot point because we were about to have bigger problems.

Two controls back Jim had handed the passport to Wanda. He will sometimes take a little break from being the passport mule, but I noticed he was moving a bit slower and was hunched as we were moving. Shortly after CP28 he was totally hunched over and we were stopped. Most experienced elite AR teams have had plenty of experience with heat issues in summer races. Wanda and I had both slowed our team in many races due to heat related problems, but this was the first time Jim had been hurting. It soon became obvious he was really hurting, but after about 15 minutes of dry heaving and emptying the contents of his stomach - we were moving again. At this point sometimes there is partial recovery, sometimes full recovery, and sometimes no recovery. We were in partial recovery - Jim could move, but not fast and we were at the furthest point in the trek. I eventually put Jim on a tow - and I knew he was hurting as I was putting on a solid pull (which Jim would never let me do unless he was in bad shape). We made it to the bikes, and I wondered if we would be able to move faster on bikes (Jim is an extremely strong biker and the strongest on the team). He was having a hard time keeping even a mild pace and at this point I was really worried. Once we got back to the TA - which even for the short bike was pretty arduous (you do feel the pain of your team-mates when they hurt) Jim was pale and not sweating. This is really not a good sign.

We decided that we would check-in as finished at this point. That would at least give us an official finish, and then Wanda and I would head out and do the bike leg. I gave Jim some ice rags and Wanda, we got the bike passport - I threw on my faithful Cannondale bike shoes and we were off. I'm not sure if we caught up with them or vice versa - but at the first bike CP we were biking along with Nature Calls. Oddly - they chose entirely different routes to nearly every CP, but we usually arrived within minutes of each other at each CP. We did this leg counter clockwise too. I had chosen to bike second for 3 reasons (1) to avoid switching shoes twice, (2) avoid running when it got hotter, and (3) be able to see how ride-able the trails were while running to help optimze the bike route.  Wanda was awesome on the bike on this leg - I pushed the pace hard (looking to break 1 hour on this leg) and she never fell back. I was feeling pretty good, I've been trying to be better hydrated at the start and it seemed to be paying off (though I did have to pee twice on the course).

Nature Calls dropped back at CP16 (2 CP's to go) and Wanda and I finished at 2:24 (5 hrs 24 minutes). Nature Calls was very close behind us, I did not stay at the start after that - I headed to the water to cool off and wash off chiggers and ticks. Jim was feeling a lot better having cooled off too.

The race was great- I'll post the video as a link here once it gets done uploading. I am now using a GoPro HD t ofilm races. It is a great camera, but HD video takes a while to upload to Youtube (10 hours)


By request here are the maps from the race

Rock Springs Run Orienteering

Well - if there was question of whether I was recovered from Idaho, I answered that today. I met Johan Mukhalis to do the blue course orienteering at Rock Springs. I'm doing training runs at most orienteering events (except for State Championships) - and Johan came out to take me up on the offer. The plan is simple - I coach the other runners through the first parts of the course and then let them navigate the final controls.

It was actually pretty pleasant temperatures for the start of this course which was good - since we were in the open fields for the first few miles (which can be brutallly hot). Of course the fields were very overgrown - so the travel was pretty rough. Johan is a good runner and we kept a solid pace through controls 1-4, and then the truck hit me (as we headed for CP5). Ironically the only thing that did not hurt in my body were my legs. As we moved through the next few controls I let Johan do more of the navigation (which was a nice break as I was combating heat, nausea, and fatigue. We slowed a bit and I starting feeling batter. After we cleared the thick Palmetto bushes north of CP9 I let Johan navigate. He brought us nicely into CP10. I told him to try and rely on features and less on the compass (exact words - "Try not to use your compass" ) heading to CP11. This was key to the lesson as it is a demonstration of how much you can lose a bearing. Even though the control was north of our location we ended up heading for a pond that was south of us.

Here is where some of the most important techniques of adventure racing (and orienteering) come into play. When you are not in the correct location you need to figure it out quickly and correct. This is extremely important because even the best navigators are going to make mistakes.  So, after looking for the control for a few minutes I pointed out that there was a visible pond north of the pond we were searching. Johan took the clue and realized that there were no ponds on the map north of the correct pond and we ran to the next pond. Of course this still does not mean we were in the correct location (this was still the wrong pond). Hoever, from this pond you could see the bathrooms (and the finish) to the northeast of our location. Since CP11 was pretty much due west of the finish we knew we needed to head further north to yet another pond. From this point Johan read the features and brought us right into the control. This also provided me a little opportunity to rest a little bit (I was really hurting). From there we headed towards CP12 and the finish.

I am going to try and do training runs for any adventure racers that want to do this at the orienteering events - I'll post to Facebook on the Pangea site when I plan to do these runs. A lot of thanks to Johan - I really enjoyed the run and after heading home and getting a nice nap I feel much better. Now here's hoping I recover a bit more before next week and the Superhero Adventure Race.

Start - CP1 - Flag visible from start was not correct CP, used as an example of the more subtle points of reading the map and also using the bearing.
CP1 - CP2 - Easy road run, then moving to the mapped opening in the trees leading to CP2
CP2 - CP3 - Used the trail along the fenceline and then headed into the high grass. Bearing was easy to keep as the mounds south of the control were visible. Alternate route would have been to punch due east to trail and use trail to attack the control

CP3 - CP4 - This was a long slog through tall grass. We used the tip of the vegetation boundary to keep our bearing. Towards the end as we approached the CP - it was easier to go into the trees which were very open.
CP4-CP5 - Route choice was really to either take the sandy trail south or follow longer road route. I was interested in finding a shortcut through woods southwest, but never saw a good cut.

CP5 - CP6 - Trail run except for last 100 meters. We waled right past control in the stream bed even though location was obvious - turned around and there it was.
CP6- CP7 - Only trick here is making sure you don't overshoot the attack point off the trail - location was easy once you found the wetland near the trail.

CP7 - CP8 - We overshot the control as we were chatting. Johan asked me if we were close and I said we had passed it. We doubled back and found it quickly. I was skeptical about the placement on this one.
CP8 - CP9 - Trail run to attack point. Once we hit the pond going was easy, though the control was in a thicket between the 2 ponds. (GPS did not pick this up).
CP9 - CP10 - Even though backing out to trail would have been easier I led us through thick palmettos north to large wetland. This was partly to get Johan used to thick bushwacks - he did great (I suffered, but did not let on). After emerging into wetland I let Johan take over and he led us straight to the control.

CP10 - CP11 - This was a great example of how easy it is to get disoriented. This was all Johan navigating, after taking the bearing north, I told him no more compass and we quickly veered east and then south. When we came out on the large field to the east I took a look at my compass to see what we had done - without the compass the entrance into the big field to the east looked a lot like the one to the north. Knowing we were looking for a shallow pond - we headed straight for the first one we saw. Here is the technique that helped the most - relocating, Johan did great at it and we headed correctly for the correct control. (Warning - anyone who comes out on a training run with me, I am going to make sure we need to do a relocate for practice).

Final Notes from Idaho

Here are some final notes from Idaho (useful notes for racers);

1. Because you (supposedly) cannot ship Lithium Ion batteries by air I had the company I buy them from (http://www.cr123batteries.com/) ship directly to Idaho. Unfortunately the hotel misplaced them and did not find them until after the race. The other team-mates had no trouble shipping their batteries by air. I did buy batteries and an extra light at Walmart and mark had enough extra CR123 batteries that I was covered. ( http://www.cr123batteries.com/ )


2. On the shipping gear to Idaho I made the mistake of trying to fly my gear bin on Delta - was charged both oversize and overweight ($440!!). In the future I will ship in multiple suitcases ($25 first and $50 for second) and buy a bin on location (a lot cheaper - Mark did this). On the return I simply shipped UPS (which was also a hassle, but a lot less). Anyone who finds ways of decreasing shipping costs - let me know!

3. I had a flat tire on day 1 of the race. On the steep downhills I had my brakes clamped pretty hard - this caused the tire to rotate on the wheel frame and shear off the nipple of the tube (really!). I'm not sure how to prevent this, but I did see how it happened. Luckily it was no big deal to change tubes even though you would have thought the 15 minutes to change the tire was forever! (note: I was riding a 26" hard tail)

4. As mentioned in the blog I changed from solid foods to Perpetuum after the first day. This worked amazingly well, and I still ate solid foods in the transitions (about 24 hours between though). I filled a water bottle with dry Perpetuum powder and poured the entire bottle into my 100 oz bladder and filled the bladder with water. It turned out to be about the perfect strength. I used Strawberry-Vanilla flavor. ( http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/perpetuem.pp.html?utm_source=lgsiteads-perpstraw&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=lgsiteads-perpstraw  )

5. Sleep - I always get asked now much sleep. I ended getting a bit less than the rest of the team (hazard of being a navigator) but was very well rested the entire race. Night 1 - 0 hrs, Night 2 - 40 minutes (not quality near CP 16 on ground), Night 3 - 4 hours (decent sleep in truck at TA 1/2), Night 4 - 4 hours (decent sleep under stars at TA4), Night 5 - 3 hours (3 hours decent sleep at TA5, up early to prepare maps for next leg), Night 6 - (5 hours, first one up in camp morning of restart - great nights sleep under stars).

6. Injuries and Pain management - In day 1 I hurt my knee in an endo on the bike. It did not bother me much during race, but it is still hurting 3 weeks later (especially on stairs). Loss of toenail (both big toes) made for some real pain, but only trekking and only downhill. After I lost the toenail completely swimming during Survival Quest there was no more pain. I took a total of 4 Tylenol the entire race for pain management the entire race.

7. Cold - I don't get cold easily so am not one to ask about cold gear. I wore a tight base layer with a fleece on top when it was cold and was fine. I was only cold when not active, but was easily warmed. The other team members did suffer some from cold.

Feel free to ask me about any Gear. The best Gear was the Out There Pack I bought from Mike Kloser - it was awesome http://besthike.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/out-there-as-1-backpack/ 

Gear Junkies have some great gear recommendations at http://gearjunkie.com/gear-test-expedition-idaho - I know how AR folks LOVE GEAR, and they have some great gear recommendations.

Part IV - To the Finish Line

Continued from Part III - Water at Last

As we left TA 5 we knew there was not much racing left. Of course that is a pretty relative term, it was Friday morning and we knew that we would be racing until at least Saturday afternoon - but in our minds we were approaching the end of the expedition with less than 48 hours to go. Our plan was to ride up and over the mountains to TA6 at Lake Couer d'Alene. We knew that there were 2 legs that could be completed there, a paddle and a long trek - our plans were to get a few paddle points and then bike the 4-5 hours to the Dark Zone for a good night of sleep before the restart Saturday morning.

There was a little bit of downhill before we started the climb up and over the mountains. This climb - though one of the easiest we had done, seemed very long and it was taking a bit of a mental toll on us. we crested the top and started the long downhill. This felt great - it was a long straight and beautiful leg. we spent a good bit of it riding along the shores of a nice stream. There was a second climb in the leg - which was tough on the team, eventually we had a fast downhill and arrived at the Lake. I worked on the paddling map while the team prepared the kayaks.



Heading out on the water felt great. Though most folks consider long paddle legs the greatest challenge of a long race - if you are from Florida, you are used to long flat water paddles. This one was not going to be long as we had been told we could only keep the boats out until 5 PM (about 2 hours). We had enough time for 3 more checkpoints. This should have been easy - however the person who set out the paddle points was not an orienteer and the points were well over 200-300 meters off. Luckily they were quite visible from the boat, so except for the first one we tried (Paddle Point 14) we were expecting them to be off. We saw Team Bones trekking in while we were out on the paddle. When we arrived back at the TA - Bones was there. Our gear bins were not, so we were pretty low on food - luckily Team Bones had plenty of food and tossed us a few bags which was a real treat. In fact, it might be a good idea to have teams trade food bags along the way - as we got a new complete variety of food. I really thought the squeeze applesauce was awesome - (THANKS Team Bones). The TA was also out of fresh water - but this was not a real issue as we would be heading up the mountain and could purify water along the way.

It was here at this TA that we had the only real team breakdown. I was tired of being pressured to hurry out of the transitions - and I explained to the team that instead of rushing me, it would be better to see what I needed to move faster. Watching Team Bones and how they supported their navigator I knew we needed to provide better support too. (They got food and boats ready while their navigator was marking the maps and preparing the course). I try never to complain during a race - but I also wanted to make sure the team knew that the time they had to do all that other TA stuff - I needed to prepare maps. Anyway, having spoke my peace - we were back in action and heading back on bikes uphill. It would be a 4-5 hour ride to the Dark Zone which would have us there shortly after nightfall.

When we were coming down to the Lake, we had passed Team Seagate going up to the Dark Zone. They were taking a longer route, but with more conservative navigation. I decided to take the direct route - which appeared to have some challenging navigation. As we approached the top of the pass to the dark zone we ran into a couple of ATV riders. At first they were astonished we were riding without guns as there had been a lot of fresh wolf kills. There have been no documented cases of wolves attacking humans - so that was not really a worry of mine. More of a concern was navigating the maze of trails leading down the mountain to Honeysuckle Campground. They gave us some navigation advice (left at the Y intersection and then stay right along the edge of the mountain) and told us it was a pretty long way to the campground. It was all downhill and fast, and we even came upon another team as we headed down. Upon arriving at the Dark Zone, we found a spot to camp, cooked some food on the fire, and bedded down for what we hoped would be a good nights sleep.

I was the first one up (in the entire camp) the next morning. The fire had burned down so I went and got some firewood and tossed it on. As the fire started to blaze folks from various teams roused and we got it going quite well. I also heated some water and made coffee which was very effective at getting my team out of bed. Around 6:30 AM - Dave gave out instructions and let the navigators see the maps for the final leg to the finish. We would be starting in reverse order - with the slowest teams starting first and the faster teams following in 15 minute increments. As usual the ride was going to be a climb, followed by a downhill and then a flat ride to the Silver Mountain Resort where we would transition to foot and climb to the top of the Gondola.



My goal was to not be passed by any of the pro or elite teams until we had completed the climb. We were in the second group which means we would have a 15 minute lead on Bones, Light & Motion, Yoga Slackers, and SOG. The next wave 30 minutes behind us would be Seagate and Thule. We pushed hard on the climb, leaving the other teams in our group behind and passing three of the teams of the previous group before cresting the pass. Just as we got to the pass Team Seagate passed us and we also got to observe their downhill technique. Where we brake or coast down the steep downhills - they actually pedal to go faster ! At the top of the hill a sign stating "Road Closed Ahead" had me apprehensive about our chosen route. Was it a washout or other major issue. As we looked at the sign - that was when Seagate went by (not even pausing to read the sign) - and I figured if the top navigator in the world could ignore the sign - so could I. As it turned out a forest gate at the bottom of the hill was closed and we did not even need to stop, we simply rode around the gate.



Once we hit flat ground we formed a bike line - after some team griping about how we would run the bike line. A quick 10 miles we were in Silver Mountain Resort and then trekking up the incredibly steep trail up the Gondola Line. The finish was amazing, about 3000 people were watching the finish line as Dave Adlard announced our arrival. There were high fives, hugs, beers, and congrats as we walked through the crowd. I was pretty fatigued and really in need of some quiet, so after a beer and a little food I headed back to our room at the resort, did some laundry and rested until the awards ceremony.



After all the excitement and adventure - I was happy to be done, and very tired. This was a great team - we worked well as a team and even though we had our moments, we always bounced back together and did great.

Expedition Idaho Part III - Water at Last

Continued from Part II - Heart of Darkness

After the long trek and 30 minutes of sleep in 2 1/2 days we needed a little bit of rest. We dragged into the Transition just after dark - we saw Team NYARA heading out on the big bike. Our plan was to eat, prepare bikes, and then get 2 hours of sleep before heading out. It felt good to sit and eat, but it also grew cold very quickly and we were not prepared for the sleeping conditions. Luckily we were able to sleep in one of the back of the trucks that were used to haul bins - and an enclosed, flat and warm area was very good for sleeping. Just shortly after midnight we got word that no more teams were to be allowed on the "Big" bike leg. The story was simple - Mike Kloser (2 times world mountain bike champion had completed this course in roughly 10 hours in the day with a GPS and riding on fresh legs. The top teams were over 20 hours out and had not arrived at the next TA. It was estimated (and a good estimate) that slower teams would easily take 40-50 hours to complete the bike, thus putting them at jeopardy of not making mandatory cutoffs later in the race. We wanted to head out - but were convinced that it was a better idea to accept a ride to the next TA over 135 miles away. We weren't able to arrange for this until the next morning when Rick drove us to race central in Kelllogg (an apartment in Kellogg) and then went back for Team Topo Adventures. We made ourselves at home, Jeff prompty hit a couch and proceeded to snore loudly. I laid all the maps out on the nice warm asphalt and raided the fridge (with permission). I noticed Marghi curled up in the grass outside the apartment, but did not wake her as she was sleeping so nicely. A couple hours later Rick came back and said that Topo Adventures had found another ride - he would drive us to the next TA on the Northeast side of Lake Pend Oreille. This turned out to be a 3 hour drive - and was a lot of fun chatting with Rick about the race and what was going on with all the teams.

When we arrived at the next TA - the lead teams had finished the big bike ride and had already headed out on the lake. We geared up, picked out a boat and headed out on the water. The lake was pretty awesome and as we headed west - we had great water conditions. I had been warned that the wind would get bad in the afternoon and that we would be hitting whitecaps as we passed Windy Point and headed south on the lake. Sure enough - it got very windy and very rough. Since Mark and I both had experience in canoes in open ocean water - this was not really a big deal. We wanted to be very careful not to capsize the canoe though since the water was quite cold and would make for a very unpleasant swim to shore. We reached TA5 near 5 PM where we would face an orienteering course and then the rappel and drop into the water. Before we could do the O course - we had a free climb scramble from the boats to the top of the cliff - I took the rope on the right up the cliff that had one spot that was quite challenging.


View Expedition Idaho in a larger map

We posted the second fastest time (just at 2 hours) on the orienteering course and beat the cutoff to do the rappel. The rappel was amazing - we went over a rocky cliff and then dropped about 10 feet into the water where we swam to our boats. It was just getting dusk as we did the rappel - unfortunately this is where I lost my GoPro in the water where it promptly sank into the depths of Pende Oreille. Bummer - we spent some time looking for it, but no luck so we moved on.

This first hour of the paddle was essentially battling wind and waves, which was even more exciting after dark. As it got darker - the wind eventually died down and the moon came up. The last part of the paddle heading into TA4 was quite pleasant, though I did make the team divert a little bit towards a light that turned out to be a houseboat. Around 11 PM we paddled into TA4 where at least 6-7 other teams had set up camp and were roasting hot dogs and heading out on the orienteering leg that left and returned from this TA. We also nicknamed this the Stoner TA - pretty much from the humorous philosophizing of Corey the volunteer manning the TA. The entire TA atmosphere was quite laid back and had a feel like it was planned out by "The Dude" (watch The Big Lebowski if you don't understand).


View Expedition Idaho in a larger map

Having had nearly a full night sleep the previous night I was well rested and also highly motivated. I estimated this O course would take about 5 hours and was determined to do it faster. Mostly because if I returned to the TA while it was still dark there was a chance of getting more sleep, and partly by seeing the times posted by the lead teams which I knew I could beat. We nailed every control and finished easily in under 5 hours. Jeff even used pace counting to nail one particularly challenging control ensuring that the entire team knew that he was "dead-on". We returned to the TA while it was still dark, I pulled out my space blanket/sleeping back combo and plopped on the ground for a couple hours of sleep. The ground here was nice and soft (unlike the rocky hard ground we had slept on up to this point). I slept soundly until the sun crested the horizon (less than 2 hours) and then got up and mapped out the next leg of the course that would take us to Farragut State Park and the Survival Quest leg of the race.

The rest of the team was up shortly after me and it was not long until Jeff was bugging us to get out of the TA and onto our bikes. I still had to prepare my bike and gear. I had switched to 100% Perpetuum after the previous trek so food was pretty easy for me. The team was waiting for me as we left TA4 and headed uphill starting the long bike to TA5. This started with an uphill and pretty much kept going uphill. We were on logging roads (with active logging) slowly making our way to the top of Baldwin Peak. A couple of CP's along the way gave us some remarkable views of the lake. We reached the highest point on this leg at Baldwin Peak and then had a little issue (my navigation and some literal map reading with an incorrectly mapped trail) finding the trail down. Once we did find it we had an amazing treat.Trail 37 downhill from the top of Baldwin Peak was the most incredible downhill I have ever done - and I've done some great downhills.

This trail hugged the side of the mountain at a nice (but not overwhelming) slope. After about a mile we had a switchback and got to do the entire thing in the other direction. I lost count of the switchbacks after about 12. It was fast, with a nice drop on one side and a steep slop on the other. Skill level was mostly "blue" with a couple of tricky spots. By the time we reached the bottom after almost a full hour of downhill my legs were literally vibrating and shaking. Mark and I slid down the final sandy section towards the CP at the bottom and then we pedaled to Farragut State Park and TA6. Along the way we passed a few teams out on the Survival Quest who gave us the advice to bring extra food and water.


View Expedition Idaho in a larger map




When we reached Farragut we knew we needed to head out on Survival Quest as quickly as possible to make the most of the light. After a couple of easy Survival Quest tasks we headed out on another orienteering course - this one on a real O course map. As soon as the orienteering map was in my hand I wanted to run, this was not really feasible as a team - but I did have a great time doing a real Orienteering course. When we returned we were given the next task (go to a location, make a Travois, and carry a wounded team-mate through a short course). The next task was really nice - go to a local restaurant and eat an ice cream cone (I had Huckeberry). We arrived at the next task (called Michael Phelps) right at dusk and since I am the most cold tolerant person on the team I got to swim out and around a buoy - it was starting to get cold and dark. I really did not want to go into the water... After retrieving the clue we trekked to the next task where we had to make a raft and use it. It was quite dark as we arrived at the next challenging and Team Idaho has just dragged out of the water. As it turns out the raft really only had enough lift to float one person and the other 3 had to swim. This did not look too appealing to the team - and Team Idaho had lost their map so we instead decided to head back to the TA. It was still over a one hour walk back to the TA and it was a lot of fun chatting with Team Idaho. We passed a few campers on the way and they gave us some soda's (a little treat). Jeff navigated the tail end of the trek and we dragged in a little after midnight.  After some food and warming up I created a little cubby and wind shield to help me sleep using the bike boxes.I felt great after a few hours of sleep and joined the navigator from Team Topo Adventures to map out the rest of the course to the dark zone around 4 AM. A few hours later the rest of the team was up and we headed out on the next to last leg of the race.


Here are some great pictures - Marks wife (Meg) joined us at TA5 and got some awesome shots. http://www.megrobertsgalleries.com/Adventure-Racing/Expedition-Idaho

Here are some images from TA5

 Marghi's little sleep cubby

 Navigators marking maps around fire

 Plotting the next section as the team sleeps

 No the map is not on fire

 The team is up - time for breakfast

Marghi is all smiles on the bike

Next - Part IV - To the Finish Line

Expedition Idaho Part II - Heart of Darkness Trek

Continued from Day 1 Expedition Idaho

Our transition from biking (for about 24 hours) to trekking was pretty quick, we took about an hour to rest and refuel and get our gear and we were off on the "Heart of Darkness" trek leg. This trek had been modified when the race director could not get a permit for us to trek through the 2 mile long tunnel that was originally planned. For those visiting Idaho in the Kellogg area - this is a very popular bike ride through the tunnel and yes it is dark and unlit. We instead had a few checkpoints that left us after a few hours on the west end of the tunnel. From there we would go through the other shorter tunnels and over the bridges. This was an old railroad track, and we had lots of bikes go by as we trekked the entire length of the bike trail.

We arrived at CP15 about 9 PM and decided to take a quick nap/rest. It was very cold so 3 of us tried sleeping in the restroom at the parking area at CP15 - this did not work out so well and we really did not get any sleep. We decided to continue on. As we trekked I started working out the time and the distance left to cover. I had determined that it would be very challenging to meet the cutoffs necessary for us to complete the next leg (130 mile mountain bike ride) and get to TA4 before the time cutoff. We considered skipping the next CP (CP16) which was going to add about 8 hours to the trek. In the end we decided to go for it since the rules said we had to get the first 35 CP's to be officially ranked. As we reached the trailhead for the trail leading to CP16 we had a wide water crossing - the water was ice cold and we wanted to stay dry so we all crossed barefoot - challenging as the rocks were quite slick.

We had been carrying our heavy climbing gear the entire trek. Since this was an out and back to CP16 - we decided to "stash" this gear to lighten our load and pick it up on the return trip. We headed up the trail around 1 PM. The trek to CP16 was essentially an UP for about 4 hours. On the way up we passed Team NYARA on the way down - this was a very welcome sight since they were the only team we had seen for about 14 hours.

When we got to the top around 2 AM Tuesday morning, having not slept since the start of the race (Sunday) - we were starting to get tired. About an hour into the return trek Marghi started babbling incoherently and walking aimlessly - we decided to stop and sleep. Sleep was instantaneous - and 30 minutes later we were back on our way again. We also saw Team Topo Adventures heading up at this point. By now we had pre-dawn light and this made the downhill trip a lot easier. It was down back to the water - a very cold crossing, refill water bladders, shiver for a while and then head to CP17 and CP 18 which were just preludes to the real climb to the top of Stephens Peak (6600 feet). This was where the real action of the trek would occur - a rappel into a double bowl where teams would split up and get different CP's. Marghi and Mark rappelled about 600 feet into one bowl while Jeff and I climbed a knife ridge (and yes Jeff was very nervous) and dropped into the other bowl. The climb into the bowl was challenging as we kept getting cliffed out - but we finally made it down to the lake. As it turns out the entire east side of the lake (where we were) was a cliff into the lake. We found a way to cross to the west side where we easily traversed to the north tip of the lake and the CP. From there is was a 3 km path down to CP22 where Mark and Marghi had been waiting for us for about 15 minutes. They had their own sets of challenges getting their CP.

From CP22 it was a simple 9K flat trek back to the CP where we would prepare for the next leg of the race, the longest I have ever seen in any expedition race ever. It would be a 135 mile mountain bike ride with nearly 50,000 feet of climbing - the "Big" ride. As we came into the TA we passed NYARA heading out on the bike. It would be the last time we saw them until the dark zone on Friday night. As we reached the TA we knew we would need some real sleep and be fully fueled before we tackled the ride - so we got out the tents and bags and took a rest.



Enjoy this video of the trek. Here is a map (CP's in red of the trek.


View Expedition Idaho in a larger map



Next Part III - Water at Last

Before the race Expedition Idaho

Here we are before the Expedition Idaho Race at a pre-race interview.

Preparing for an expedition race is not like getting ready for a sprint or even a one day race. There is all this GEAR that must be shipped or taken with you to the location and usually coordination among 4 different team-mates usually from different locations. I was happy to have a strong team with 2 Expedition Newbies (Jeff and Mark) and one PQ veteran (Marghi).



As you can see we were having a great time as we planned, packed, prepped, went through interview, and simply got everything ready to go.

The Start of the Race

We started the race at 10 AM with a very short prolog which was a scavenger hunt. The purpose was to spread the teams out a little bit before we hit the Silver Mountain Gondola with our mountain bikes and rode the Gondola up the mountain. That was the easiest elevation gain we had in the entire race - it would only get harder from here.

Once we got to the top we had 3 CP's in the ski area. CP3 was located at the base of Lift 3, CP4 was located at the top Kellogg Peak (6300 feet) and CP5 was at the top of Wardner Peak (6200 feet). This involved basically pushing our bikes up a 25% slope (up the ski slope) and riding down incredibly steep and rocky downhill ski runs.  Here is a nice ski map of the area

http://www.silvermt.com/pdf/silvertrailmapweb.pdf 

Now here is where it starts to get hard. The next few CP's were located back of the ski areas in the backwoods areas. CP 6 was the most challenging as there were no mapped road sections leading to it. My idea was to try to contour to a saddle heading to the southeast - with no marked or mapped roads. Most of the teams in front of us had taken a route the went to the base of the hill at 3700 feet and then climb back to 5700 ft. We ended up taking the latter route - with only two teams going to the saddle route. The downhill from 6200 feet to 3700 feet was one of the most challenging technical rides I have ever done. Every racer has crash stories for this section. It was rutted, rocky, and steep. It was also grades ranging from 6-15% with no chances to stop easily. Jeff hit a bush, flew about 10 feet through the air and landed on a small mannequin doll that was the mad hatter. I went down sideways and bloodied my knee quite well (it is still very swollen).

We were going so hard and fast my right clip pedal sheared off and went flying into the woods - so I ended up riding most of this leg with a stub of a pedal. Oh well - we chugged away. This was an all night bike ride with the most incredible spot being CP10 - which did involve pushing/carrying/coaxing our bikes about 1/2 mile up a 30+% slope. We also had to bomb them down the other side - which was walking them downhill.

After hitting CP11, we rode into the small town of Mullan and stopped at a convenience store and got some supplies before riding to CP12, and then finally TA1.


View Expedition Idaho in a larger map

Here is a little chatter of us as at TA1



Here are some video's of Day 1 and 2 in chronological order.

Saturday Evening - Pre-race briefing - http://youtu.be/5nCE1GCzTCY
Sunday Morning - Preparing gear - http://youtu.be/tp9ziSrfT2Q
Sunday Morning - Prolog to Race - http://youtu.be/R_lDDVn_U4A
Sunday Morning - Up the Gondola -  http://youtu.be/eFKIR3z0-mQ
Sunday Evening - At TA1 in the evening - http://youtu.be/-di0iH-5BTw

Up Next - Day 2 Trek - Heart of Darkness

 

Expedition Idaho Update

This is copied direct from the email from Dave Adler about Expedition Idaho - 10 days and counting, the email really gives an idea of the excitement of the course

Only 10 days to go, and things are in high gear here getting ready for the team's arrival.Only two checkpoints remain to be placed, and several truck loads of details, but we will be ready to help these amazing athletes in what could be the most amazing race ever.

Please enjoy the update! We are still in need af a few volunteers, so if you want to be a part of something pretty special, please contact us! We'd love to have you!

We are also trying to help folks without teams find some one to race with, and are still accepting new teams who want one more great challenge!

I have attached a couple of pictures from the course for you to enjoy!

Expedition Idaho Update

August 4 – 10 Days till the shotgun goes off!

We can tell teams are getting excited – we’re getting lots of calls and emails about shipping gear, final equipment details etc…

Best bet for shipping at this time is to ship it to:

Expedition Idaho

Attn: Dave Adlard

Silver Mountain Resort

610 Bunker Ave

Kellogg, Idaho, 83837

Bios – Please send us your bios and do the CPT form, so we can get the race site ready!! Thanks!

Okay, here’s what you’ve been waiting for…

“Tales from the Trails,” V 2.0

Over the last two days, we have now completed over 94% of the course, with just a couple of semi-out-of-the-way CP’s to put in on “SQ,”and Mike is going to be “forced” to ride one of the most world class, beautiful stretches of single track on the planet. Poor guy. By this Sunday, the course will have been 100% scouted/marked/manicured for the racer’s arrival, which is no mean feat on a 420 mile “one loop” (more or less) course.

Yesterday, Mike and I, and Rick McCharles – editor of http://besthike.com completed the entire “Heart of Darkness” trek from start to finish, and today we spent several hours on the lake paddling and in the hills finalizing our magnificent ropes elements with our expert riggers. These are some of the coolest ropes stuff you will ever see.

Here’re Mike’s thoughts and impressions from the last two days of adventure…

Mike here again...

Trekking: This is the real deal. From the terrain, views, trails (or lack thereof!) cliffs and sheer vertical gain and loss, the ExpId treks have it all. There are many route options, and the accompanying risk/reward, which, in all honesty, can go both ways pretty easily. Some of these risk options require substantial ‘whacking, which is not to be taken lightly here. Don’t leave home without your long pants (and possibly shin guards!). There are nettles, poison oak and other assorted joys, such as the seemingly endless alder that you will be walking on in spots, if you choose to take the “road less travelled!”

Your shoes will take a real beating – my new Solomans are trashed – holes punched through, busted Kevlar laces etc. Bring shoes that are built for battle, not solely light and fast.

Other things to remember – Shoe gaiters are highly recommended. Thin gloves for ‘whacking. LOTS of insect repellant with TNT or Cyanide or something in it. Also, your sunblock and sunblock lip balm.

Fluids and electrolyte replacement could determine survival for teams, as the weather is hot, and at the high altitudes, water is scare at best. Don’t shirk from taking extra water when you leave the TAs, and fill up when you have a chance at streams, springs, etc, as it may be hours between refills. Make sure to bring your (mandatory!) purifying method. I use Klearwater, and have had nothing but success.

I HIGHLY recommend trekking poles. I found mine extremely useful, especially on the big climbs and descents. Even Rick McCharles, a non-pole user was a convert by mid-day, and is ordering his new BD ultralight “Z”pole – I know Dave had a link posted.

As in most expedition races, sleep strategy is going to play a crucial part in a team’s success – maybe the most crucial. There are for sure places you don’t want to be in the dark, and if that means a few more hours rest and tackling them at daylight, so be it – you may very well end up further ahead – and safe – by being rested and being in daylight. Don’t just always push ahead – sometimes racing smarter ultimately is faster.

The ropes – I am truly a fan. I think Dave has set out some exciting and fun ropes elements. There will be some heart flutter more than once. I had a blast rapping off the rope today. The elements range from fast and fun to majestically huge – upwards of 400 feet.

Plan on (count on) getting wet. The water was very refreshing, and with the expected warm temps, it will be a welcome respite. The water is very warm compared to when I have been here before, so no wetsuits needed.

Paddling – The paddling is all flat water, but it’s pretty darn spectacular flat water. Some of the most scenic I have ever seen. The paddles, while long, are nicely broken up with other surprises, so you won’t just be in the boat for 10 hours at a stretch.

While the paddling can be downright pleasant, speaking from experience here two years ago, if Mother Nature get’s uppity, this can be some of the roughest lake water anywhere, and the storms come up quick – we went from calm and 82 to a lightning storm, 3 foot waves, whipping winds and 68 in less than 30 minutes. Be prepared for the best and worst of both.

I started as a technical consultant, but I am fully caught up in the excitement now. I have really fallen in love with this course and the race concept. This will be a true test of your expedition racing skills, and is among the toughest and most exciting I have ever seen or raced on. No one is going to leave here feeling slighted by the course or the total race experience– this will be one of the most memorable races ever, in my humble opinion. Addenda: I went out and rode a trail we had raced on here a couple of years ago at Adventure Sports Week, and back then, I had commented on how I thought it was perhaps the best single track ride in all of AR – well, I wasn’t wrong! It was almost perfect – right up until I almost ended up in the hospital after hitting a root and “endoing” 15 feet down the trail… that said, the trail was still awesome, me, not so much.

Someone asked how would I compare it to PQ or Eco, and I have to say it could be as demanding as any. Kind of scary, in a way, but the “sport course” options and the finish format will make it a wonderful experience for every team. For a total race experience, this could be the best I have seen. Honestly, you can all complete the requirements to be official finishers – you have more than enough time, if you take care of each other and just keep moving forward. If I was able to race, I would be super-excited about this course, though, to be honest, it’s tough enough for Mike… after 6+ days of racing on this course, no matter your pace, I think everyone will be pushed to your limits, physically and mentally, and will come through the better for it.

Four more checkpoints tomorrow, and we will be ready for you to come and challenge our baby. I will be out on the course with you throughout the week, so we’ll have plenty of time to chat and compare notes, and I can’t wait to hear your impressions of Expedition Idaho.

FYI, I’ll be making the drawing for the winners of my new “OutThere USA” AS1 packs at the pre-race briefing for all the teams who were paid up in full in advance! See you next week!

Dave’s notes…

Like he said.

“Be prepared to suffer. Be prepared to succeed. Be prepared to LIVE!”

~A soon-to-be famous quote from DA

I feel like I’ve just done a 400 mile adventure race… oh, wait… I did! Let me tell you that vetting a course with Mike is really RACING a course with Mike. We did about 22 hours of trekking with TWO 5 minute breaks and a stream dunking. Halfway up one of the wee little climbs we have for you, we were pushing so hard and were so focused I actually looked back down the trail to see if another team was catching us! (There’s no way they could have caught us!)

Anywho, we are almost done. We have just a handful of CPs to put out for “Survival Quest” (You’re going to LOVE this!) and we’ll be ready for you. Here’s some of the news you’ll need to know:

No snow gear (crampons etc) are needed! You’ll be on snow a bit, but nothing you can’t handle in your trekking shoes, IF you have at least one, and better yet, two trekking poles. We couldn’t have completed some of the trek without them anywhere near as fast or as safely yesterday.

I am so excited about our “extra” activities, besides just the usual three disciplines. Our ropes are awesome fun, “SQ” is going to be a blast, the “O” portions are challenging… hopefully you will leave this race as wiped out and as excited as you have ever been about AR.

I think the trek will be, um, fulfilling… sometimes the downs aren’t easier than the ups – no one ever falls UP the mountain!

Thirst is going to be a factor. We started “light”yesterday, but by ½ way through the trek were low on water, soaking hats and shirts and dunking heads in one of the very rare water sources out there. We actually flagged a natural spring along the trail so you can fill up there. Take every chance to drink and fill your bottles, as you could literally be hours without. Mike and Rick were laughing when I took an extra liter of Gatorade and a 2 liter bladder, but they were both drinking it a few hours later!

As with any project like this, we are fully expecting – and are preparing like mad – for the surprises, challenges, disasters etc that can happen, and I think our race crew will do a magnificent job in helping everyone through– similar to when you’re racing, when you’re running an AR expedition of this magnitude, it’s not “if” you’re going to get lost, it’s just when and how bad, and most importantly, how quickly can you get back on track. Our main goal, besides the course itself, is to make sure some of the things that matter most to racers – getting your gear on time, communication, support etc – are done as well as we can physically manage. You are all our top priority.

My team is racing without me next week, and though I am immensely jealous, and a bit sad, I am excited for them, as I am for all of you. Reading Mike’s comments, and having now completed the entire course at near race pace, I look at scope of the challenge and I’m daunted by the sheer scale, but when I started to break it down into the smaller segments, and from there the even smaller challenges right in front of us, I was able to focus on what I needed to do next, and, as long as I kept moving forward, was able to get through.

Please trust me when I tell you that we fully expect to see ALL of you cross the finish line on Saturday. We WANT you to finish! You have more than enough time to get there, as long as you are safe, smart and above all, take care of each other! Rest when you need to (of course “need” and “want”are different!), eat when you need to (need/want very similar – just eat while walking!), but just keep moving steadily forward. Don’t be daunted by the course– even “Big” and H.O.D (Heart of Darkness) are manageable by all if you take them one step at a time. Don’t get wrapped up in how far there is left to go –it will be over when it’s over, and you will get there when you get there. Focus instead on the next climb, the next CP, and the secret treats you have stashed at the TA! Left, right, left…

Not everyone will travel quite as far over the 6+ days, but the effort and commitment will be the same from every one of you, and to us, you are all winners just for taking on such an immense challenge. We know that, and we want to make sure you are rewarded for the huge sacrifices you are making, financially, time-wise, emotionally, physically, spiritually… we race too, and we understand. We want you to feel fulfilled. We want you to leave here saying this was the most beautiful, friendliest, toughest suffering you have ever loved!

Get some sleep… you’re going to need it!

Dum du dum dum…

Luminescent Adventure Race - 8 hour

This was going to be a night race with Team Florida Xtreme 2 (Bruce, Jim, and Wanda). Team FLX 1 (Mark, Jeff, Marghi, and Erik) are 3 of the 4 I will be racing with in Idaho. I was a bit tired starting the race, I had been packing all day (we are moving to Deland) and also had my wife in the hospital because she had been bitten by one of our cats breaking up a fight (Cat bites require IV administered antibiotics to prevent infection). I was even running late and the team called me to make sure I was still on my way (and had not gotten lost).

The race started with a 6 mile out and back bike ride to a CP with one water crossing. We blew through it in 37 minutes (5 minutes behind the leader) and headed out into the water for the paddle. Even though we never had any issues on the water - we still never got into our paddle rhythm and the choppy water was tough on Bruce and Jim steering the boats. The choppy water meant no luminescence (no big deal to me I paddle in these waters at night a lot) - but I did see the biggest mullet run I've ever seen - thousands of fish jumping out of the water at the same time. The paddle took us 2 hrs 22 minutes a bit slower than what I had wanted.

Once we got off the water it was back to the TA for and then to the Parrish TA where we chose to trek first. This was uneventful except for one strategic error. At CP12 - located on a fenceline along I-95 I decided to bushwhack short of the control point as we approached. I had figured there would be at least a trail along the fence - there wasn't. This was a pretty nasty bushwhack and forced us back out to the main trail. The second attack we used the faint trail and went right to it. We new we had lost 20+ minutes on the bad attempt (oh well). We ran the rest of the course at an easy pace and had no navigation issues with the other controls - though we did take an "odd" route to CP16.

On the bike we decided to go reverse order which was working well for us. We had no issues with CP25 and CP24. We had a little trouble finding the trail to CP23 and worked with Zombie Cranks to find it. We got to the attack point north of the CP where the trails intersected and spent a large amount of time searching. I decided to ride the north trail from there to ensure we were in the correct location. We were and rode back passing Zombie Cranks who had found it and told us our attack point was good. We went back to the open field attack point where 5-6 teams were searching. This time Bruce found the parallel trail (he had found it the first time we attacked too - but I had not told him the importance of the trail for the navigation). This second time after seeing the trail we took 5 minutes and narrowed in on the control quickly. I also shouted for the other teams searching as they had been out there long enough.

For the third time of the evening we rode the north trail from CP23 to CP22 (the most challenging of the trails we rode all night). CP21, CP20, CP19 all proved quite easy - but we ended up blowing by CP18 as we were rushing because we were running out of time. We checked in at Parrish TA and flew back to the Main TA where we got our bearings for CP26 and CP27. These were two bearing controls, which were south of the road in the woods.

Working with Nature Calls we quickly found CP26. This would have been a lot easier if I had not left the control descriptions with my bike (they were on the passport sheet). We did not have enough time to find CP27. We had gotten a bit separated in our search and it took us a few minutes to regroup and get out of the woods - unfortunately we did not have a few minutes and went 1 minute over time costing us the one point we had gained in doing the bearing course in the first place.

The bike and trek course we took is below.





View Luminescent Bike/Run in a larger map

Jim even made a spreadsheet to compare split times of the top teams


               FLX2        FLX1      Primal      JAX    Zombie     Nature               
BIKE1    0:37:00    0:32:00    0:34:00    0:37:00    0:41:00    0:33:00
BOAT    2:22:00    2:05:00    2:04:00    2:22:00    1:39:00    2:19:00
BIKE2    0:10:00    0:11:00    0:10:00    0:15:00    0:18:00    0:13:00
FOOT    1:50:00    1:41:00    1:38:00    1:44:00    2:16:00    1:38:00
BIKE3    2:38:00    1:38:00    2:08:00    2:24:00    2:06:00    2:47:00
BIKE4    0:07:00    0:08:00    0:10:00    0:09:00    0:08:00    0:08:00
BRNG    0:17:20    0:16:58    0:28:22    0:11:19    0:27:27    0:20:58
               8:01:20    6:31:58    7:12:22    7:42:19    7:35:27    7:58:58

Night Biking

Here are some tips about biking at night.

Unlike the paddle section where you want to keep the lights off - biking at night is all about lights. I use a mounting system I devised that uses my hand lights (this is in a previous blog - search bike lights). The reason is simply staying safe on bumpy and tricky terrain as you ride in the dark. I use 2 handlebar mounted lights and one helmet mounted. This works pretty well. I also have a small 4th light I use for map reading.

Some help on lights - my favorite is the Inova Bolt. Lightweight, uses CR123 (I buy bulk), and mounts easily http://www.inovalight.com/bolt/

To attach them to helmet and bike I use a Rwofish light holder http://www.amazon.com/TWOFISH-Cycloblocks-Bicycle-Flashlight-Channel/dp/B0035H9CJU/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1330983909&sr=8-9

I usually mount 3 lights on the handle bars and one on my helmet.

Navigation

Night navigation at night is all about keeping a very close idea of where you are. Trails that would look obvious in the daylight are sometimes nearly invisible at night. You need to keep a very good idea of your bearing and also make sure you know the distance you have traversed on EVERY trail you ride. My navigation is all about - take this trail for 1.2 km to an intersection, take trail at 140 degrees - staying on trail for 2.3 km to intersection, etc... I take measurements and write them on the map for the entire course before the start of the race. If I need to make changes on the fly - I use km since the map grid on a USGS map is in km, and it is easier to judge distances. Odds are most trails you will use will be ride-able (or at least obvious).

  Teamwork

 I make sure at least one of my team-mates is double checking my distance. I also want a second bearing from team-mates. This keeps them occupied. The most dangerous thing is to have a strong biker on your team pushing you to go faster and then you end up way off track. Slower is most often better at night, since a mistake can cost you miles and lots of time. Make sure of where you are - and be careful of following other teams make the mistake (going to lights) that I mentioned in my trek nav blog.

Safety

I've taken some pretty good falls biking in races at night. Many more than during daylight racing. For some reason following narrow single track or riding vehicle ruts is much more difficult in the dark. I find that trying to stay relaxed (which is natural in the day) is much more challenging at night. The same techniques that are good practice in daylight are the same at night. Of course good lights are still important. If one team-mate has good lights let them lead and work as a team. Lastly - keep  much closer track of your team-mates. I've had them disappear during day races (especially long ones where it is challenging to keep track of them as you get tired). At night - it is very easy to get ahead or behind, especially if they have to drop off. If you have a team-mate that is hurting or weak - keep them in the middle of your line.

Twelve Points - Lake Norris

Here is a little recap of the race with some pics (movies). Mark Roberts and met up for a "practice" race. We were really looking for a bit of training in getting ready for Expedition Idaho. The video at the end gives a recap of the races. Bottom line is the Mark found some awesome locations and continues every year to find great locations and incredible spot for the Twelve Points race.


The paddle on Lake Norris is incredible - I highly recommend this as one of the best lake paddles in Florida.

Some of the trek locations were magnificent. The big grassy fields were really nice.


Full overview of the course.

Fresh Bear tracks

Mark in big pasture

Looking out on Lake Norris - Osprey Nest on Cypress just past entrance

Night Navigation - Trekking

There are 2 Pangea night races coming up; Luminescent and Nocturnal - so to help new folks out in preparing here are tips for night navigation. This is part of a 3 part series on trekking, biking, and paddling at night.

Trekking

First - you need some really good lights, everyone on the team should have a decent headlamp and also one good hand light. Invest in decent lights - if you buy cheap lights you will end up spending more money as you replace them. The Inova Bolt is my favorite. It does take CR123 batteries which are expensive if you buy them in a store. I order these bulk online from http://www.cr123batteries.com/ for less than $1 per battery. You also need a decent headlamp, I use primarily the Princeton Tec Apex - it is a marvel in brightness and runs on CR123 batteries also. I can run all night on low power and the beam mode lights up the night.

OK - so now you have all the lights are are ready to head out on your trek. First - everything looks different at night. What is an obvious trail during the daylight hours will likely be nearly invisible at night. Also you will have natural tendency to "circle" at night. Without a compass or a trail to follow nearly everyone ends up making circles. This means you need to be more conservative in your navigation. The best thing to do is find and follow handrails if at all possible - even if it takes you a little out of your way. (Handrails are linear features like roads, trails, streams, etc...). The navigator also needs to communicate more with the team at night - I find that a team member who might be nervous about the nav in the daytime is more so at night. Talking through the navigation plan does 2 thing - makes the team more comfortable and it may even help you avoid mistakes.

Some of the things that are important in the daylight are even more-so at night. I always preach "time and pace". If you are following a linear feature (or not) you should always have a good idea of how far you have gone. I use kilometers and will give an example here. A team walking quickly through the woods can travel about 1 km in 10 minutes. The maps are almost always gridded off in UTM coordinates - which are 1 km square blocks. I have talked to lots of teams that tell me how they walked for 45 minutes before realizing they went too far (and have made mistakes like this too). If you are looking for something 1 km away it will not take you 45 minutes (unless the terrain is horrible) to get there. So at each feature where you know where you are announce to the team something like - "It is 1:37 AM, we are looking for a small trail in this direction less than 1 km away, we should see it before 1:47 AM". This involves the team, reinforces your navigation plan, and gives you a goal. 

Here are some common mistakes in night trekking;

1. Diverging off the trail - because trails become very indistinct at night, it is very easy to lose the trail. Our team travels with a little distance (about 20 feet) on the these trails. If it is a marked or blazed trail - if you feel nervous about losing the trail, call out "last mark". Everyone looks for the last mark.

2. Heading for the light - I've seen many teams do this, they see lights from another team and immediately start walking towards them. Most of the time the team they are going towards is on another control or simply lost - and now you are lost too. Stick with your plan and race your race. (It is very hard to avoid the temptation on this one).

3. Single set of eyes - At night the team needs to help the navigator look for features (and the navigator need to let them know what they are looking for). The reason is very simple. The navigator will be looking up and down at the map. Every time they shine the bright light on the map, they destroy their night vision and ability to see terrain features. Odds are they will miss it simply because of this fact. Involve all sets of eyes in looking for features.

4. Fading in and out - In long races most teams make huge errors at night while racing because they simply "fade out" and go into zombie mode. When a team-mate starts mumbling "brains, brains..." they may have become a zombie and you may need help get the team awake.

Next up ... Biking at Night

Adventure Racing in twitter

Here is the current Twitter Chatter about Adventure Racing

Maps Library

I've had a lot of requests for maps from different races - many of which I have scanned. Well, here are the scanned maps I currently have. I'll try to scan as many more of the maps I have from races and post them here - I have nearly 1 GB of maps now, but will add more.

Maps

Also - some of these maps are from races where I don't have the documentation, if you know what race or year goes with a map feel free to leave it as a comment with the the scanned image.

Seminole County AR

This was going to be a nice race for me, for one it was only a 6 hour race and also the fact that it was pretty close drive - meaning I did not have to be up at 3 AM to drive to the race. I know most of the racers can sympathize with that long morning drive to the race. It was going to be hot. Team Florida Xtreme was racing as a 4 person team with Jeff, Bruce, Marghi, and me. And it was going to be hot.

Usually I give a recap of the race, but instead I'll go over some tips and some things that will hopefully help out other teams.

Paddling - The boat Marghi and I were paddling had a real tendency to go right, of course that made turning left sometimes difficult. That does happens some times - you get a boat with "issues". Since Marghi and I had lots of paddling experience we were still able to make the boat move pretty well. I was paddling in the back and normally that person handles all the steering. You always want to use positive strokes - typically the draw stroke to steer the boat. Only as a last resort should you use the paddle as a rudder as that slows the boat and you will need to make up all the speed that you lost. It is worthwhile to get out there and practice steering if you are going to be sitting in the back of the boat. In the case of the boat Marghi and I were paddling I needed her to help me steer on almost every left turn - meaning we both spent a lot of time paddling on the right side of the boat.



Teamwork - For the most part we work great as a team. In this race we had one lapse - CP4. We bypassed it on the downstream paddle and hit it on the return trip. As we arrived there were quite a few teams both there and following us. CP4 had 2 choices, one was to do it as an out and back, the other was to punch through back to the main channel. My plan was to do it as an out and back as I was pretty sure the channel was clogged past the CP. As we approached I could also see the terrain to the south of the river was open flood plain - so I called for the other boat to pull ashore about 100 yards from the CP so we could run to the CP. Jeff and Bruce did not hear me and continued to paddle into the channel - while Marghi and I pulled to the shore and I ran to the edge of the river where I needed to cross a small muddy channel to get to the island and the CP. Bruce was behind me with the punch card and as I looked out into the water there was Jeff in the boat right next to the water.


View Seminole County AR 2011 in a larger map

We got the CP quickly -  Marghi was in the weeds just past the small entrance to the channel. Jeff wanted to call her in and go straight through the channel, while I wanted him to get Bruce who had by now punched the CP and head back out. I knew the main river was open and I was worried about possible lost time trying to push straight through. A quick debate and we were headed back out and around.

Even though getting  CP4 took under 10 minutes, we did have a breakdown of team communication - and we did recover quickly. In this case it neither of us really knew which choice was better. For a short while we looked very "un-coordinated". Having raced for many years I often see team that debate route choices, food, what ot do with a hurting team-mate, etc... The point in AR - because you are on the clock is to make a choice as a team quickly and move on. Some times those choices are tough - like when the navigator is not sure of where they are and you may have to go back to the last point where you knew your location. Some times you have to decide to stop and rest a suffering team-mate. In all of these situations - you need to be able to function as a team to make the decision and do what you decide and this gets harder as you have more team-mates. Also every member of the team needs to feel comfortable asking questions. I do sometimes feel irritated when a team-mate questions my navigation - but I also have had them catch mistakes enough times to trust them and listen. The more you race together the better you get to know your team-mates strengths and weaknesses.

I also noticed on the bike and trek legs a lot of teams biking and running with the team all spread out - one person pushing and the other lagging yards behind. Remember the team is no faster in any leg than their slowest team-mate. When biking this is especially important, it is good to learn how to work in a bike line and also how to tow a team-mate. While on foot you can tow also, and a real help is to carry the pack of a struggling team-mate. When a team-mate starts falling behind it is always a good idea to drop back and check on them and offer to help. You should also check hydration (especially when hot) and general physical condition.

Biking today was pretty sandy. In these conditions it is sometimes smart to have the strongest biker in the lead to determine the best line. All the other bikers should follow that line.

Today - because it was hot I brought along dishtowels for the team. I keep them on ice until the trek and then we wrap them around our necks above the pack to help keep cool. In this race because there was a ice cooler on the trail - we were able to fill them up with ice and they kept us cool for almost the entire second half of the trek leg. That worked out pretty well.

Navigation - The navigation today was relatively easy for an elite course. The challenging CP's all had obvious attack points. If you have a question on how to attack any CP please ask - I'll post a response.

For a great mapped break-down of the course from Nature Calls - see http://windermereroadies.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9526 

Florida Sunshine AR

Tim from Green Paw did a great write-up of the Florida Sunshine, it is at

http://www.teamgreenpaw.com/AR/News/Entries/2011/6/5_Florida_Sunshine_Race_Review.html


When we finished the long trek back to the bikes at morning 2 we were within 20 minutes of them, however we had mis-punched one control on the trek leading there, so even though we did not know it we were down one control.

The heat by that time had started to become a factor with all of us. The last orienteering leg was a slog-fest for us. Nobody could move faster than a medium walk and I decided to bail on the last orienteering control (we had 3rd place pretty much wrapped up at that point) so we did not risk going over time at the finish.

We all appreciate all the folks who appreciate these write-ups. I'd love to see more folks come out for the 30 hour race format - yes it is tough, but it is also doable. I hope the write-ups help everyone get prepared.

Also - the next race is the SCAR on Sunday. One team will be running a live feed of the race at http://www.runsinthewoods.com/?page_id=20 you'll be able to track them real time and view a twitter feed.