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Intro
Experience
for this race would be minimal.
For Sarah and Lanson this 24 hour would be their first.
Jim only had one 24 hour race under his belt, the fall
E-Fix. Tom had the
most experience competing in 3 previous 24 hour races.
The team tried to make up for lack of collective race
experience by training together as much as possible.
Unfortunately everyone’s busy family and work schedules
allowed for only about 4 trainings together.
The Tuesday night prior to the race everyone, including the
support crew and Adventureheads co-founder Dave met at Buffalo
Brew pub. Some enjoyed
a pre-race, carbo load, brewski, while others stuck to a more
healthy mix of water and peanuts.
Tom provided his usual, detail intensive list of mandatory
and recommended gear. Everyone
left in good spirits and with a good game plan of what gear to
bring for the upcoming weekend race.
We
estimated the drive to Haliburton to be about 5 hours.
As a result we planned to meet at 11:30.
The 11:30 start gave Tom just the right amount of time to see his 8
year old daughter’s 2nd grade play “Jack the Gentle
Giant Killer”. We
had to take 2 vehicles, Tom’s minivan and Jim’s 4x4 due to the
amount of gear for the race and the support crew.
The drive thru Toronto
and up to Haliburton was uneventful.
We stopped a few times and made in 5hrs, just as planned.
We arrived at the Race Base camp at 5:05
pm.
We were the first team to register.
We were quite surprised by the “non AR” SWAG bags.
The contents consisted of salad dressing, shampoo, lotions,
etc. Our impression
was that the organizers simply walked down the supermarket isles
and picked up all the sample freebees.
Early registration gave us lots of time to eat, setup
tents, and prepare gear. As
soon as we registered the organizers took our “official” team
photo. We simply put
on our race provided mesh pullovers without our sponsor provided
clothing and gear. We
figured we could make the sponsors happy with some good race and
post-race footage later.
Pre-Race Meeting:
The
meeting started at 9p. We did not know exactly what building the
meeting was in (rookie error).
We entered our first building as the organizer was passing
out “a beginners guide to navigation”.
We thought that was strange, when we asked, we realized we
were in the wrong building. We
quickly found the right building.
As the last team into the meeting we got a table with poor
overhead lighting. The
meeting did not begin yet so we did not miss anything.
We all wore our Red and Black, long sleeve Team LEKI
jerseys. Several
people commented on the fact that we were the “best looking
team”. Obviously it
is not always the best looking team who wins the race.
That being said we figured we now had an image to uphold.
The officials spent about ½ hour reviewing the clues and
passing out the maps. We
were surprised but pleased to receive only 2 maps.
A partial section of a 1:50,000 Canadian topo map and a
second Haliburton Forest Trail map.
The trail map had some contours but did not have a scale.
Our first task was to plot all the CPs via UTM.
Sarah read the coordinates, Tom plotted and everyone double
checked. This proved
to be very efficient. We
decided to plot all the CPs then go back and strategize on route
selections. Good idea.
We also very quickly jotted the approximate trails on the
topo and conversely the CPs on the Haliburton Forest
map. Later we realized
we should have spent more time syncing the data on both,
especially during the trek. This
lack of detail later proved to generate some errors in our
navigation (another rookie mistake).
While Sarah, Tom, and Jim were creating the plots, Lanson
and Paula began cutting the contact paper.
With everyone doing a different job we were able to finish
the plotting before 11p. The
organizers asked us to leave the room so we returned to our tents.
At the tents we double checked our routes and applied the
contact paper in order to waterproof the maps. In his normal
detail fashion Tom used color coded highlighters to show intended
routes. Each color was
a different discipline.
In past races we found the map case is not always
100% water proof. Also
if you have to rotate the maps, they will get wet without contact
paper. The last thing
a team wants is wet, runny maps.
The weather forecast was 80% rain, so we felt extra
protection against the elements might give us an advantage.
We also had a small LEKI provided waterproof bag for the
passport. Previous
race experience taught us that it is very important to keep this
very dry. Sarah
carried the LEKI passport bag, Jim had a map case for one map and
Tom had a second for the other map.
Pre-Race Sleep:
By
approximately 12:30a everyone was off to sleep.
Two tents, one for the women and one for the men.
Most had difficulty nodding off due to pre-race jitters and
an over dose of adrenaline. At
about 3am everyone was unpleasantly awoken by an eerie sound.
It resembled a poor recording of a horror movie with an out
of tune church quire. Later
we would learn it was a pack of screaming wolves screaming and
howling over a recent kill, or maybe just having fun with the
humans. Luckily this
did not last more than 15 minutes and we were able to get back to
sleep. From this time
forward the sleep was hardly continuous.
Our campsite was poorly located by race officials, just 10
feet from the camp dirt road.
Several times large 4x4s with super bright lights would
rumble down the road and rudely wake everyone up.
All in all only a few hours of continuous sleep, but as
experience would suggest, par for the course.
Sat
morning we work at 6a to do final gear prep and head to the race
start at 7a sharp. Everyone
mixed water into their powdered food bottles of Sustained Energy
and Perpetuem. We did
not make the mistake of a previous race and mix these the night
before only to find they had spoiled because of a short shelf
life. The first
discipline was trekking. The
weather was cloudy, no rain, and mild about 65 to degrees.
We all had long sleeve coolmax or LEKI provided jerseys.
Lanson had long tights and the rest had biking shorts.
Tom removed the leg portion of his zippered pants.
Later the shorts would prove to be a mistake due to the
rugged bushwhack and the ever present bugs.
Trek to CP1
The
race start began as a slow jog down a dirt road.
We stayed in 2nd or 3rd place with
the lead team about 20 yards ahead.
Our plan was to leave the dirt road pickup Dog Trail.
About ½ way down Dog trail see a contour “ridge”, take
a compass bearing and bushwhack less than a mile to find the
beaver pond and swim out to the checkpoint.
Sarah was psyched to finally get to use her collegiate
swimming experience. We
turned off on Dog trail as the lead team continued straight down
the road. Interesting,
but we kept to our game plan.
The trail was easy jogging with very little vertical and
few obstacles. After
about 15 minutes on the trail we realized finding the exact
“ridge” we saw on the topo was impossible.
The bush was too thick.
In addition, hindsight would suggest a ridge landmark with
only 1 contour line is too hard to locate.
For future a ridge could be used only if multiple steep
contours were together. Oh
well, another beginner mistake.
We had a quick team meeting, very quick because as soon as
we stopped the bugs picked up our scent and honed in on us.
Jim thought he knew where we were on the trail and thought
we should bushwhack. Sarah
thought we should head for a stream up trail.
Tom quickly convinced the team that the stream was a bad
idea because he had unsuccessfully tried it in the past.
Tom then suggested to backtrack on Dog trail to an earlier
trail junction. From
the know “Y” take a compass bearing and bushwhack to CP1.
Tom won and we backtracked about 15 minutes.
The bushwhack was extremely thick.
Maybe extreme is too gentle of an adjective because you
could not see your teammate even 10 ft in front of you.
Can anyone say “jungles of Borneo…?”
Since the energy level was high a thick bushwhack did not
bother us at first. In
addition to the thick bush there were numerous downed logs from an
ex forest harvesting experiment which proved to be significant
obstacles. This made
following our compass bearing tough.
We were looking for a beaver pond.
A few times we headed toward some dead tree tops which took
us further off course…..another beginner mistake.
After about 1 hour we hit the Dog trail which we just left.
Internally Tom was pissed but did not show it much in fear
of depressing the team. Not
ideal for the first of many CPs but we kept our spirits high and
had to regroup. At the
time we thought we had circled back.
Post race review we learned our mistake.
The trekking CP UTMs were provided on the topo map.
We inaccurately plotted the same CPs in a guessing fashion
and placed them on the trail map.
During this trekking section Tom took a compass reading
from the inaccurate CP plots on the trail map.
Margin of error increased exponentially.
In hindsight we must very accurately sync CPs on both maps
and also keep in mind that trails are often labeled wrong.
Things that don’t change are contours and large bodies of
water. Sometimes small
bodies of water can also be wrong due to the ever presence of
beavers. Now back to
the race footage. We
again regrouped, quickly due to bugs, this time we figured we
would run up Dog trail look for the stream and follow it to CP1.
This was clearly marked on the topo map.
The 3rd attempt worked perfectly.
Within ½ hour we found the stream, followed it and saw
CP1. Tom was the
leading so he quickly removed his pack and swam 20 yards in the
beaver pond to read the passcode.
Getting the first CP at this point was a good moral boost.
In hindsight the lead team made a great decision by
following the road as far as possible, going down Dog trail,
finding the stream, then onto CP1.
Correctly done probably less than 1 hour.
Trek to CP2
This
one was located on another beaver pond.
Our pre-race plan was to take a compass reading from CP1
directly to CP2. On
the topo map it looked like about ½ mile.
Good idea on paper but not good in the field because the
bush was too thick. Since
the stream worked well for CP1 we decided to follow CP1 stream
back to the visible marsh, catch a second stream and head for CP2.
Following the stream was fast going.
We found the CP2 stream and began following it.
It headed due east. Unfortunately
it vanished before CP2. This
did not pose a big problem. We
continued our compass reading and started bushwhacking.
The bush was much less thick and we found CP2 easily.
Two done and twenty about 24 to go.
Trek to CP3
Our
pre-race plan was to take a compass reading from CP2 and hit a
trail, follow the trail to a known junction and bushwhack again.
The compass reading roughly northeast was conservative
because all we had to do was hit the trail.
Tom took a compass reading from the trail map, assuming the
CPs were properly located. In
hindsight bad assumption. Off
we went. Again the
bush was decent and we traveled well.
After a short time we hit the trail.
We headed left on the trail thinking we were headed for the
junction. Tom checked
his compass and thought we were going the wrong way but it
didn’t make sense so we continued a slow jog.
In hindsight we broke a golden rule in not trusting the
compass. After about
20 minutes Lanson noticed a marsh and bridge which looked just
like the area we were at heading to CP1.
Another circle navigated….oh no.
We soon realized from CP2 to the trail we errored left and
were on the other side of the junction.
Post race review would indicate the CP was not transferred
accurately from the topo map to the trail map.
When Tom took the compass reading from the trail map there
was too much error and we were off target.
Our spirits were still high because we were on a trail and
could make good time jogging.
After 20 minutes we found the trail junction.
We took a compass reading and headed for Beaver Lake.
We stayed left of the medium hill, found the edge of the
lake. We followed the
shore line and got CP3 easily.
During the race we thought our earlier compass errors were
caused by jogging during the bushwhack and not following the
reading accurately. Post
race review would suggest the inaccurate CPs transferred produced
more error. To avoid
compass mistakes heading to CP3 we slowed our pace and
meticulously picked landmarks and followed carefully to CP3.
Finding CP3 via compass without any errors was a big moral
boost.
Trek to CP4
Our
pre-race plan still seemed good.
We took a conservative compass reading and followed the
shore line via the path of least resistance.
The goal was to hit Dutton Road, follow the road to the
labeled picnic area and take another compass reading.
This worked well. We
found the road easily. Followed
it and found the picnic area.
We took a compass reading up and over the hill in a direct
fashion. The hill did
not look too big so off we went.
In hind sight we wasted unnecessary energy.
We should have followed the contours around the hill,
always less energy than up and over.
Oh well another lesson learned.
During our bushwhack we reached the lower of 2 labeled
marshes. CP4 was on
the upper Northeast marsh. If
the bugs were bad before they were unbearable at this marsh area.
We followed the northeast shoreline.
We met a team. They
headed northeast following what looked like a stream.
Tom looked at the map, very quickly due to excessive blood
sucking insects, and did not see any logical northeast stream.
We continued along the edge and sometime in the marsh.
In the middle of the marsh Lanson looked at the map and
thought he knew where he was. He was right.
We turned back and headed for the small stream.
Tom must have had a major brain-fart.
The second time jogged some much needed memory cells and
now at the foot of the stream all came into place.
The topo showed the stream exactly as we saw it in the
field with ridges on both sides.
Post race review suggests a new tactic.
At every identifiable landmark physically take the map out
of the case, orient it to the land and make sure everything seems
right. Too often with
a map in the case you have to mentally turn the map around and at
times the upside down technique makes things confusing.
Plus, physically taking the map out forces the navigator to
spend a few extra minutes studying the map.
A couple minutes map reading is well worth 30 minutes of
going off course only to return to the exact correct spot a second
time. Again another
lesson learned. The
stream was steep and cliffy at points but we got CP4.
Trek to CP5
Again
our pre-race route suggested a direct compass bearing.
The terrain seemed doable for a bushwhack, so we did just
that. We were careful
in following the compass. Both
Tom and Lanson we taking careful readings and reminding each other
when they veered off course. This
worked well. We hit a
small pond, followed the shoreline and hit CP5 easily.
This was the first manned CP.
We were 3 hours behind the leaders.
Upset because we made several poor decisions and a couple
navigating mistakes. All
in all we kept our spirits high and were gaining confidence.
We quickly continued on.
Trek to CP6
The
trek to CP6 is much longer than the others.
Our pre-race plan still looked good.
From CP5 we took a conservative northeast compass reading
and bushwhacked to hit the Moose trail.
The terrain was ok so we hit the trail just fine.
We were careful not to make the direction mistake from CP3
and miss the junction. Our
error factor was reduced because CP5 was transferred accurately
from the topo to the trail map because it was on the edge of a
pond and not in the middle of the bush.
While bushwhacking we took the path of least resistance
because it did not matter much where we hit the trail.
During the bushwhack we discovered on over grown camp or
logging trail. This
was a pleasant surprise, it was going the correct direction and
made the bushwhack faster. We
hit the Moose trail just fine.
We headed west on the mostly flat trail, easy trekking but
would be very tough with a mt bike.
We reached the trail junction and bridge.
The lake was large, about ½ mile long.
The CP was at the northeast corner so we decided to follow
the east shoreline. The
topo showed a ridge which was steep but ok to follow.
We thought we found a camp road but it shortly ended.
Later the race director would tell us there was a road, not
on the map, parallel to the shoreline, which we never found.
The forest was fairly mature and we managed fine.
About 2/3 way the ridge abruptly ended and we found
ourselves at the top of a steep cliff.
Very similar to a previous race.
We searched for awhile to try and find a way down.
We slowly made it to a spot which forced us to help each
other and scooch on our butts.
Lanson was first so he aided is using his hands for a good
foot hold. Following
the shoreline got tougher so we started walking in the shallow
clear water. The cool
water felt wonderful on our raw, bug infested shins and lower
legs. A few times we
encountered rocky sections which made the footing tough but all in
all the going was pretty easy.
Got to CP6 without incident.
Trek to CP7
On the
map CP7 looked quite close. Leaving
CP6 we again walked in the sandy water.
The knee deep water felt great and was much easier than
bushwhacking. Even
though everyone’s feet we soaked no blisters and everyone held
up well. The clues
said CP7 was 100 meters up the stream.
We quickly found the stream.
Soon it turned very marshy and if we thought the bugs were
bad before now, in the heat of the sun they were unbearable.
By far the worst bugs of race.
We pushed on. The
brush was short and very thick.
Later the race director described a “swimming” motion
as the best technique to move through this stuff.
Simply crouch, put your hands together in front of your
face forming a torpedo like point, then move them outward to the
sides moving the brush and scooch your body through…i.e.
swimming. The brush
ripped addition gashes in everyone’s legs and the fresh scent of
bug sounded the alarm for more killer insects to approach, this
time in swarms. So far
it seemed much more than 100m.
We decided to split up, 2 people on one side of the stream
and 2 on the other. We
wanted to make sure we would not miss the CP.
We finally saw the marker.
Sarah had the ugly task of standing still, prime target for
bugs, and removing the Passport from the water proof case.
She got it out and jotted the code.
In the mean time the rest of the team starting bushwhacking
toward the CP8 in an attempt to leave the bugs behind.
Sarah cursed several times but made it back to the group
quickly. Off to CP8.
Trek to CP8/TA1
From
CP7 toward CP8 we took a rough, conservative northwest bearing and
headed for a dirt road. The
terrain was fairly easy so we made good time.
Shortly we found the dirt road.
Very pleasant, non vertical, open road compared to the bug
infested swamp/marsh we just came from.
Our spirits were high because CP8 was also TA1 and we would
begin the bike portion. Our
feet and legs seemed in good shape so we began a moderate jog.
Our lovely support crew was waiting with fantastic
inspiration. The
transition setup was out of this world.
A folding table was setup with all our food laid out.
A blue tarp was on the ground to keep our feet relatively
clean. Each racer had
a folding chair setup with their bin gear near by.
The biking shoes, socks, etc were also laid out in a very
organized fashion. To
top it off the boom-box was blaring Rocky’s “Eye of the
Tiger”. Great job
and gratitude is extended to our support crew of Nate and Paula.
This was the exact pick-me-up we all needed after a long,
decision laden trek from hell.
Tom was spent a little time changing into bike shorts, new
shirt, and fresh socks. In
the essence of time others kept the same clothes on.
The support crew also filled water bladders and replenished
our powdered Perpetuem food supplies.
All in all we left the TA in less than 30 minutes.
It was 4:30p, pleasant weather, and new muscles to abuse on
the bike. We were off.
The time cutoff was 12 hours from start to reach TA1.
We left arrived at 4p so we were 3 hrs in front of the
cutoff. Plenty of time
we thought.
Bike to CP9
The
route to CP9 started on a dirt road.
The first few vertical hills were much tougher than they
seemed. After about 30
minutes we all got into the groove and our pace picked up.
Our plan was to follow the road as much as possible.
CP9 looked easy on the map.
On the Owl trail at the point where the trail bends 180
degrees. We figured
there was no way we could miss it.
The RED Owl trail was quite difficult in spots.
In hindsight we did not read the trail descriptions very
closely. Turns out
yellow were easy, red were moderate to difficult, and purple were
ungodly difficult. Later
we would discover first hand just what a pain in the ass the
purple were. At the
180 degree bend we saw a few teams.
Everyone was searching for the CP.
Ohh no, not this again.
We double checked the map and were confident we were on the
right trail and were in the right spot but still no check point.
Later the race director shared with us the CP was correct
but the trail was wrong on the map.
Stinks when that happens.
We continued down the Owl trail, different from our
pre-race route. We
figured we might hit the CP down the trail slightly.
We never saw CP9. Sarah
quickly got discouraged with fear that we would be disqualified.
Tom reassured her that sometimes race officials make
mistakes and grant exceptions to all teams if the CP is wrong.
Sarah found it hard to believe but continued reluctantly.
No one wanted to turn back and search for the checkpoint.
We pushed on. This
portion of the Owl RED trail proved to be very difficult and time
consuming. We spent a
large part of the time pushing our bikes.
It turns out this section probably wasted so much time
which we could not make up that later we would miss the dark zone
of the ropes section. We
did not know this at the time and continued on.
Our original plan was to bushwhack from the Owl trail at
CP9 to Nugget Road. Great
plan, which we did not follow.
Later the race official even said there was a small trail
which connected the two. As
they say, hind sight is 20/20.
We tried hard to push the pace.
The single track and vertical forced us to walk our bikes
almost more than ride. We
began to realize we would not make the dark zone for the rappel.
We were hopeful we could still do the ropes in the dark.
So onward we marched. Our
route to CP10 was as direct as possible regardless of trail color.
In hindsight bad move.
We should have concentrated on yellow and roads even if the
route was out of the way. Toward
the end of the trail toward CP10 we pushed our bikes along a large
march. Tom and Sarah
thought perfect for moose, but unfortunately we never saw any of
the lovely creatures. When
we got to CP10 the CP had a note saying keep going until you reach
a vehicle. Strange but
we did just that and reached the manned CP.
We left CP10 as quickly as possible, dusk was just an hour
or so away.
Bike to CP11
CP11
was at the far southeast corner of the map.
Our pre-race route again chose what looked like the most
direct path, again regardless of the clearly indicated, feared
purple trails. Like
blind lemmings, well maybe not that bad, we headed out.
Shortly we ran into a team which said they just came from
the purple Spruce trail and it ended in a logging road maze which
was impossible to follow. Not
exactly sure why, but at the time it seemed like a good idea, we
ignored their advice and pushed on to find out for ourselves the
hard way. In hindsight
we should have asked the question, “how many races have you
done…”, if the answer was more than one we should have some
confidence in their tip and listen.
NO need to find out the hard.
As the saying goes, another valuable lesson.
The Spruce trail was purely ugly.
At one point Jim buried his front tire into a bridge and
did a serious end-over. At
the time it seemed harmless. Jim
quickly said he was OK. Later
Jim would reveal he probably gave himself a whip lash induced mild
concussion. Kudos to
Jim for sucking it up and pushing onward.
Again we tried to hustle but being tired, close to dark,
sucky trail, etc forced us to hike-a-bike more than we would like.
We were optimistic that we could reach CP11 in about an
hour. We finally
reached the same conclusion of the other team.
Logging trails go in every which direction.
Not sure which way to go we regrouped and came up with
another plan. We
decided to head back to CP10 and pick up a dirt road.
We would follow the road thru CP12 and ask the TA official
what would happen if we missed the ropes dark zone.
We even thought we might have to end there.
Since the van would be full of gear, worst case we would
finish our mt bike ride back to Base Camp.
Not sure what the outcome would be we followed the roads
back to CP12/TA2.
The road riding was a pleasant change from the ugly
hike-a-bike. We got to
TA2 and met Nate and Paula. They
and the official urged us, or should I say forced us to go to CP11
via roads and then return to the TA2.
If we hustled we still had time to make the 1am
cutoff of CP15. Nate
pleasantly told us another team just left, went to CP11 and back
in about 25 minutes. What
he did not tell us was that the team did it in the light and not
dark. Minor detail he
failed to share. All
in all a good move to motivate us.
Toward CP11 we
averaged about 10km/hr. Several
teams were around so our competitive nature kicked in and we kept
riding. The route to
CP11 was all roads with several turns.
We made the correct turn each time, thank God.
We were the first of a bunch of teams to reach CP11.
We quickly turned around and made it back to CP12.
We found new reserves of energy and picked up the pace to
about 14km/hr. Not bad
considering we have been racing for about 15 hours so far.
We actually made the round trip in 45 minutes.
Not bad considering it was dark.
At the TA2 check in we were informed the ropes were closed
because it would be too dangerous in dark.
Disappointed we wanted to rest briefly and refuel at
TA2/CP12 and then try for the 1am
cutoff at CP15.
CP12/TA2
Once
again Nate and Paula, the dynamic duo, came through in the clutch.
The TA setup was fantastic.
Chairs, tables, bins, etc were setup for fast and efficient
movements. They even
managed to write a lovely whiteboard sign describing the “Camp
Café” menu of
nutrition bars, sustained energy, gels, and a wonderful pasta
marinara. The only
thing missing was the massage booth……….It was roughly 11p
and Lanson was in rare form. He
did not see any eating utensils or instruments around so he
politely asked Paula to put a scoop of pasta in his hands and he
would eat it manually. At
first Paula resisted, but after Lanson smiled, then growled due to
hunger pains, Paula quickly filled his request.
Lanson commented on the fact that it was the best pasta he
ever tasted. In hind
sight Lanson was probably fighting the dreaded “sleep
monsters”. Then
again pushing your body to places it has never been is part of the
lure of Adventure Racing. The
temperature was quite mild so we did not need any warm liquids.
The next TA3 seemed quite short so we did not bring much
water or food. We all
moved quickly and we spent less than ½ hour at the “Camp Café”.
At this point Sarah and Lanson set personal bests, since
this was the longest race they had ever done.
Little did they know about what lie ahead.
Tom had been consuming powdered Perpetuem as his sole
calorie source up until this point.
However, the taste got the best of him.
He just could not bear to drink any more.
Tom switched to balance bars and Hammer Gel.
Post race review would suggest a 2 bottle combination of
Sustained Energy and Perpetuem to mix up the flavors, or add
hammer gel to change things up.
Since CP15 was mostly roads we felt confident we could make
it in 1.5 hours. In
the dark of night we headed onward.
Ropes CP13
We
skipped this rope CP due to darkness and headed straight to CP14.
Stinks that we missed.
It would have been fun to do the double pitch rappel, each
about 80 feet.
Bike to CP14
Nate
and Paula did a good job of telling us which way to head as we
left. All in all the
best support crew to date. Combine
that with the fact that they never supported before and never did
a long AR is quite remarkable.
At this point Jim got a second wind.
He was a new man. He
left the remains of his concussion behind and was on a mission to
hit CP15 by 1am.
Our original choice to CP14 took us against the grain on a
RED moderate trail. Lanson
noticed a better route might be the more road like King and James
trail. Slightly
longer, but more roads and not as much uphill.
Later we would pass a team and learn this was a great
decision. Now Sarah
began having bike headlight problems.
Here light was not bright enough to see 3 feet.
To save time Tom, and his stadium-like spotlight rode
behind Sarah and shared his light with both.
This seemed like a better idea than stopping and replacing
batteries. Tom and
Sarah kept up the pace but often struggled.
Tom at times would avoid obstacles and turn the light away
from Sarah. Sarah
would quickly break out her “white knuckles” and ride by feel
rather than sight. Luckily
this lasted on a few seconds and no one crashed.
Some might say nuts, but in AR we would rather use the
turn…..calculated risk. In
hindsight we saved valuable time, and Sarah discovered some night
riding techniques she never knew she had.
At another point Lanson shared with the group his
discomfort in his butt area. More
clearly stated in Lanson’s best, politically terms, “my
undercarriage is RAW”. Sometimes
too much information but all in all a much needed chuckle.
We pushed on. We
reached CP14 without incident and continued, still thinking we
could make CP15 by 1am
Bike to CP15
On the
map CP15 looked long, but the route was mostly roads and not much
vertical. Sarah kept
asking how much farther and Tom’s canned response was always
2km. It seemed like
the right answer at the time.
The map was accurate and no purple people eating trails
were encountered as we headed to CP15.
Once again Lanson began visiting the dreaded “Sleep
Monsters”. Sleep
deprivation can be very interesting.
Several times Lanson commented on bright white rock
hallucinations. All
part of the experience. Of
course no one else knew what he was talking about.
Looking back Lanson crossed the barrier and kept going,
hats off to him. We
reached the manned CP15 at 1:30a.
Not sure if we were finished or not we pleasantly found out
that we should go right to CP17/TA3 and not go to CP16.
We looked at the map and felt a sigh of relief.
CP16 had only 1 marked route and the entire several mile
trail was PURPLE. We
all we very happy we did not have to do it and were looking
forward to sitting in the canoes and enjoying some sunrise laden
canoeing.
Bike to CP17/TA3
In the
dark we felt our best route to 17 would be roads as much as
possible. We left CP15
on the Osprey trail. We
looked at the maps and changed our route from our pre-race
intentions so we would avoid excessive riding on the RED Osprey
trail. As soon as
possible we headed north on a yellow EASY trail.
Another good decision since we passed another team.
We could see some bike lights from teams in front of us but
we were never able to catch them.
At one point a team approached us from the rear.
We quickly “put the hammer down” and left them in our
dust. Well maybe at
10km/hr that is a slight over exaggeration, but it felt good at
the time. Sarah
started to struggle slightly and kept asking “how much
farther”. Tom in his
infinite wisdom constantly said roughly 2km.
At this point the team was catching on to Tom’s trick and
realized we had a short distance to go.
We finally arrived at CP17 around 4a.
Apparently Paula and Nate had some difficulty navigating
the roads from TA2 to TA3. They
arrived at 2:30a. They
were not sure how long it would take us to bike so they quickly
took a nap in the van seats. Lanson
was the first to arrive. Lanson
very politely tapped on the van window hoping not to startle Nate
and Paula. Obviously
they were exhausted and did not hear a thing.
Lanson repeated several times with no luck.
His only recourse was to open the door and force the
interior lighting to come on.
As soon as the lights came on, Paula jumped up, leaned out
the window and yelled “ITS PARTY TIME”.
Not sure where that came from, we assumed some old college
all night session, but it did not matter.
It was the motivation we were longing for.
Everyone headed for their bins to change into some warmer
clothes and eat. Tom
immediately took out his emergency blanket and tried to sleep.
The excess mental baggage of lead navigator was starting to
take its toll. After
about 10 minutes Tom realized he could not sleep.
For Tom this was a positive milestone.
In past races Tom would experience severe sleep
deprivation, aka “sleep monsters” between 12a-2a.
This race was different.
Sleep monsters were not part of the equation.
Maybe Tom’s body has finally gotten used to sleep
deprivation. Only the
next race will tell if this is true or not.
The temperature was quite mild.
Tom opted for a long sleeve coolmax shirt and cycling short
shirt. Polypro
long-johns on his legs. From
experience Tom knew paddling would generate a good amount of body
heat. The others opted
for waterproof shells and wind pants.
Later Tom would discover the clothing was perfect, not too
hot and not too cold. This
TA was not as fast as the others.
At this point it was getting close to 1 hour.
Even though it was long other teams at the TA were taking
much longer. Sarah
began chirping at Tom to hustle up and let’s get going.
A little encouragement in the early morning hours is always
a pleasant experience. The
canoes were stacked. 2
canoes were waiting for us. Tom
Lanson noticed that the canoes they selected for us did not have a
portage yoke. As
quickly as we could, actually not very fast at all, Tom and Lanson
switched the canoes. Now
Tom was trying to attach the canoe bungee toe rope.
Again Sarah began to lose patient and shouted to hurry up.
Within a few minutes the toe rope was attached and we were
off at 5a.
Canoe to CP18
Tom
and Jim were the stronger paddlers so they were in the lead canoe.
Tom and Lanson steered their respective canoes.
The combination seemed to work well.
The paddle to the first portage was short and easy.
Simply hug the southern shore and find the carry at the
east end. Tom brought
his Niterider bike spot light and rechargeable battery.
This worked fantastic to scan the shoreline.
We immediately saw the reflective carry sign and heading
straight for it. We
did not waste a single paddle stroke.
Since Jim and Sarah seemed slightly tired Tom, from his Boy
Scout canoe trip days suggested he and Lanson carry each canoe
solo and let Sarah and Jim carry 2 packs each.
The first portage was a few hundred meters.
This worked fine. The
weight of the canoe was between 40-60 pounds.
Lanson had visions of being a “strong man” competitor
on TV pulling a locomotive with his teeth.
Tough but fast we finished the 1st portage.
Once again the bug factor seemed to pickup as the sun began
to rise. As the
darkness started to dissipate a new sense of energy was discovered
amongst all of us. The
next canoe put-in was a tiny pond of only 100 meters.
However this put-in lead right into 1 of two long portages.
Our estimate was between 1 and 1.5 miles.
Lanson never carried a canoe solo so he needed help from
Jim and Tom to hoist the boat over his shoulders so he could slide
into the yoke around his neck.
Once mounted Lanson was off.
This left Tom to lift, flip and mount his canoe without the
aid of others. Under
normal conditions, not usually a problem.
However, after some 22 hours of racing this became a major
undertaking. Tom, in
his best HE-MAN impression seem to find hidden strength and
flipped the canoe overhead. Sarah
became the trail leader as Lanson and Tom following.
With canoes overhead it became very difficult to see the
trail. In addition,
few sane people have taken this particular portage and the under
brush was thick and overgrown.
I few times Sarah seemed to lose site of the trail but
quickly recovered and kept everyone on target.
After roughly ½ mile Sarah followed a small footpath down
a slope to what appeared to be the next body of water.
A closer inspection revealed the body of water was in fact
a marsh which could not be canoed.
Oops a wrong turn. It
had been awhile since the team made a wrong turn but it quickly
brought back ill memories. Not
too mention that now we had to carry the heavy canoes up the slope
and continue on the trail. The
slope was too steep so two people carried each canoe up the slope
by hand. Once back on
the main trail the canoe flipping exercise resumed and Lanson and
Tom were off again with their strong-man, solo canoe carries.
A short while into the portage Lanson saw several bugs
siphoning large quantities of blood from his forearm.
Due to his endurance daze and the overhead canoe he could
do nothing but watch in awe. At
the next break everyone broke out the bug spray and began the
portage again in relative comfort.
Tom and Lanson kept concentrating on putting one foot in
front of the other. Finally
we reached a dirt road. It
appeared to be like a trumpet call summoning all insects to hone
in on our feeble team. As
we looked at the map the bug swarms became too bad to stand still.
We quickly some footprints and followed the trail onward
across the road. Shortly
after the road crossing we reached the next lake.
We had to keep reminding ourselves that we were paying good
money for this lovely wilderness experience and to have fun.
At this point fun seemed to change to work.
We like to use the motto, “suffering is mandatory and
misery is optional”, at this point we were very close to misery.
We canoed for another mile.
We were looking on the southern shore for a small stream
with had CP19 and another long portage.
For some unknown reason we decided to disconnect the toe
rope. This caused a
large gap to form between the canoes.
Tom and Jim became the scouts and Sarah and Lanson simply
followed. Tom was
trying to read the features of the map and relate to the points of
land in order to find the stream.
Tom and Jim found a stream and saw a large rock with canoe
scratch marks which looked like the take-out, but they did not see
the CP. They decided
to continue down the lake for a bit.
As Tom and Jim looked behind them they saw 2 other teams.
1 team was as the same spot Tom and Jim just left and
within a few seconds they disappeared.
Was the spot they were just at the CP19?
Tom and Jim weren’t sure.
Tom reviewed the map once again and admitted it might be.
When we got to the rock and looked on shore there was a
trail and 10 yards down was the CP.
Sucks that 2 teams passed us, especially since we were
there about 20 minutes ago. This
time we decided to share the load of the canoe.
Everyone wore their own packs and carried the canoes on
their shoulders, using the seats of the canoe for impromptu yokes.
Tom felt relieved because the weight was instantly cut in
half. Jim also felt
relief because the added weight of the canoe was actually lighter
than carrying the water soaked pack from Tom.
Lanson and Sarah had the same pleasant experience.
This mile portage was a major pain in the neck, especially
since 2 teams just passed us.
About ½ way Lanson noticed a small meandering stream
running parallel to the trail.
Tom quickly examined and strongly suggested we put the
canoe in the water and paddle to try and make up time and lighten
the load. We paddled
for about 10 minutes and took out next to the trail.
In hindsight a fantastic strategic maneuver.
In fact we passed 1 team.
During the stream shortcut Tom was quite nervous inside
thinking it may backfire. As
Tom saw the end of the stream he also saw the steep banks which
might have to be bushwhacked with canoe to reach the same trail.
Luckily no canoe bushwhacking was required and we got back
on the trail with very little extra effort.
Now we hooked up the toe rope and were motivated to try and
catch the team in front of us and make sure the team behind us did
not catch us. Sarah
now became the canoe navigator.
This worked very well to keep the team momentum going.
Tom and Jim in the lead canoes could concentrate on
paddling without wasting time looking at maps.
Sarah and Lanson could paddle as needed but rely on the toe
rope when necessary. At
this point we were in 5th place overall and we were
trying to catch the team in front in hope of getting 4th.
Portage to CP20:
The
next portage was a few hundred meters long.
We had the system down pat, unloaded the canoes, threw them
overhead, and made the portage almost effortlessly.
We reached the manned CP20 now clearly in 5th
place. Knowing we had
moved from 10th to 5th even with all the
misguided decisions made us feel pretty good.
Canoe to CP21
CP21
was located on a small island.
At this point we needed to get CP21 then we had a small
portage back threw Base Camp.
Sarah began the discussion of the possibility of stopping
our race at Base Camp and not finishing the canoe portion.
The first conversation did not provide an answer to we kept
paddling. Now there
was a slight headwind which made the going slightly tougher.
Sarah did a good job of navigating straight to the small
island. We got CP21 no
problem and were now headed toward Base Camp.
The portage through Base Camp was part of the race course.
We remembered the race director say during the pre-race
meeting that some teams may drop here and only finish the short
course. Other teams
would continue and finish the entire long canoe course.
Again Sarah voiced her opinion that a 26 hour effort
without doing the long canoe course is a great accomplishment.
Everyone was tired, sore, and hungry and did not argue
against the idea of stopping.
It actually sounded like a good idea.
When everyone is weak it is easy to go along with the path
of least resistance. In
hindsight we should he dug down a little deeper and collectively
decided to continue the entire race.
When we finally reached the shore we took out the canoe and
the 6th place team was close behind us.
One of their teammates shouted “it’s a sprint to the
finish”. Tom and Jim
heard this and started a double-time pace.
Tom could hear Jim mumble under his breadth, “over my
dead body”. The
added pace clearly sent a message to the 6th place team
and we left them in our dust.
You might say a race within a race.
As we approached the start/finish area Nate and Paula
worked their magic one last time.
As they saw us approaching they cheered and shouted
wonderful words of encouragement.
The only thing they could have done better would be to
carry the canoe for us. Well
life is not perfect. We
quickly dropped the canoes and actually mustered the energy to jog
through the finish. We
crossed at just over 26 hours.
Quite tired we urged a bystander to take our pictures.
We all put our arms around each other and used every last
bit of energy to fake a smile.
26 hours is one long day filled with many obstacles.
We hung in and made it as a team and kept all of our
friendships. It was a
fantastic accomplishment and created a bond we will not shortly
forget. In the end we
realized, “friends multiply joy and divide sorrow”.
With the photos behind us it was time to catch up on sleep,
take a shower, and eat some real food again. |
