Fig Adventure Race 2012

Rev3 Mountain Khaki’s Fig Adventure Race Report by Chris Spiller

Not all adventure races go as planned and sometimes you hit the perfect storm of mishaps that test your patience to the ultimate extreme. In my 10+ years of adventure racing I have never had the stroke of bad luck and mishaps as the Rev-3 Mountain Khaki team had over the past weekend. The 2012 Fig Race was a lesson in perseverance and we were tested in every capacity to drop out or earn the dreaded Did Not Finish, DNF, for the race. 

I was already worried about being able to compete in the race because both David and Julie were sick however, both said they were fine to participate and we agreed to meet in Knoxville on Friday at 3:00. Ideally this would put us at the Natural Bridge, Kentucky Lodge by 6:30 just before the pre-race brief from 7:00-8:00 P.M. Unfortunately we didn’t leave Knoxville until 3:30 and less than 5 miles down the road our fully loaded vehicle had a flat tire. We pulled the instructions manual out of the glove compartment, unpacked the car along the side of the road, and proceeded to change the flat tire. (Where are those yellow flashing roadside assistance vehicles when you need them?) An hour later we were back on the road to Kentucky. I noticed David was unusually quiet. For those of you who know David, this is not his normal Mode of Operand us, if he has something to say, he will say it……”I’m just saying”. He told Julie and I that his throat hurt and he was just going to listen for now. (Uh Oh, the warning bells were going off in my head) 

We arrived at the Hemlock Lodge at 7:50 and missed the entire pre-race brief and still had to check in and pick up our race packet. Another racer informed us that we would receive the maps and coordinates to plot at 6:00 A.M. the next morning with a prompt race start of 7:00 A.M. According to the other participant the race was broken up into 5 biking checkpoints, 5 trekking checkpoints, 5 canoe checkpoints, 4 optional checkpoints and the finish point for a total of 20 CP’s. We also found out the canoe needed to be dropped off that evening at a location approximately 20 miles from the lodge. After getting lost and stopping the vehicle for David to get sick, we dropped the canoe and paddling gear off. We finally got back to Slade, KY at 10:12 P.M., starving and hoping to find a local pizza shop, Miguel’s, open. The door to the restaurant was open, people had pizza on their tables however, we were instructed they had closed at 10:00 and there was no food available. (The food on the table looked so good) Our stomachs were really grumbling at this point and David’s face was green so we went back to check into the cabin. David graciously offered up two sandwiches he had prepared for the race and Julie and I quickly accepted his offer and devoured them in 3.2 minutes. (Those sandwiches were awesome!) David promptly went to bed at 11:00 and Julie and I packed our camelbacks and set two alarms for 5:00 A.M. giving David the most time possible to sleep. 

The next morning we made it to the bike drop off point at the base of the recreation hall at 6:00 A.M. The recreation hall is where the maps, coordinates and clue sheet were to be picked up and was at the top of a hill with several flights of stairs and a hiking trail leading up to the top. We started unloading and putting air in our bike tires when I noticed the front tire on my bike was flat. Julie and I told David to climb the hill and multiple flights of stairs to the top and start plotting the map while we changed the tire. We quickly changed the tire with my spare however realized it also had a hole in it requiring a second change. I used Julie’s spare and was able to pump the tire up however neither of us at this point had a spare for the race. Julie went to help David and I drove back to the cabin to pick up a spare from my extra gear box. By the time I got back, parked the car and climbed the hill it was time for the race to begin. David was able to plot the 20 points however did not have enough time to plan a route strategy or review the 3 additional supplemental maps received. The race prolog was set to start promptly in 5 minutes back at the parked vehicles and we quickly ran down the hill to join the other teams. The prolog was great! We had approximately a 1 mile hike to the top of the Natural Bridge to pick up our passports and then return to the parking lot where our bikes were staged. David did not look like he was doing well and we took it easy during this section to give him time to acclimate. The prolog felt good because it was 36 degrees and trekking up a steep hill warmed us up and got the blood pumping. 

We started the bike section with David reviewing the map as we pedaled, identifying the first checkpoint to hit. Within this first two miles David’s bike chain started rubbing in his spokes whenever he stopped pedaling. We stopped, tried to fix it, watched most of the teams ride by us, and then started up again at a much slower pace. Unfortunately, we were not able to fix the problem and the only way we could continue is if David, (You know, the sick guy), continuously pedaled the entire time including down hills with minimal shifting capabilities. We were only able to go about ½ our normal speed and there was no way to get any type of rhythm going with pedaling. My odometer said we did over 40 miles of biking after the race. We were able to get the first of the five biking checkpoints and head from there through the Nada tunnel to the next CP’s. The next 4 points required selecting an optimal route choice. We didn’t have time to review it and picked a bad route resulting in an out and back vs. a loop path. We knew this after hitting the second checkpoint and that caused us to over compensate by taking two hike-a-bike routes up and then down a gorge to get the next two checkpoints. During these strenuous sections we lost the clue sheet, a bike light and the map. We were able to backtrack and find the map, however, that took 30 minutes and the clue sheet and light were permanently lost. We were not able to read the clue sheet prior to losing it and that cost us dearly later in the trekking section. We finally made it to the last biking checkpoint and then started the long bike back to the transition area. The route was longer than necessary as a result of our poor route selection and David’s mechanical issue. We finally made it to the trekking transition area and dropped our bikes.

The five trekking checkpoints were not difficult however they were spread out with several climbs causing us to use quite a bit of time. After getting the 4th checkpoint it was 4:00 and without the clue sheet we thought we had to trek back to the transition area, TA, pick up our bikes and get to the canoe TA. We estimated it would take 10 minutes to get the next checkpoint, CP10 and then with backtracking 5 1/2 miles all the way back to the TA we would miss the race cut off time of 7:00 P.M.. We decided to skip CP10 and tracked 5 miles back to the TA. By the time we got back to the TA it was 5:30 and completing what we thought was the canoe section was out of the question. We decided to skip the canoe section in order to finish the race on time. One of the volunteers pointed out the canoe put in was actually just past CP10, which we skipped to get back on time. If we had the clue sheet we would have known that it would have taken the same amount of time to get to the TA by canoe as it took us to trek back on foot to the TA. (Boy it would have been nice to have that lost clue sheet so we would have known this).
We could still get three more checkpoints and finish the race before the 7:00 cut off with just an hour bike back to the finish line. We painfully got on our bikes and slowly with David pedaling the whole time made our way back to the Finish line. It took us more than the hour based upon David’s bike and we also did not take into account that we had to drop our bikes and hike back up the hill and stairs to get to the clubhouse. We were able to finish the race prior to cut off with 30 seconds to spare.

The race did not go as planned but there were several highlights that I came away very pleased. There were several positives that came as a result of our mishaps:

It would have been easy for the team to become negative and post blame on each other but there was never a point that we let the challenges of the race bring us down. This will only make the team stronger for future races.

I was amazed about of the mental and physical toughness David had throughout the race. He was sick, had mechanical issues, was pressed for time with navigation and he just continued to press on. There was never a time during the race that we didn’t know where we were, and we all knew we were going to get through this together.

I remember one point in the race (when we were pushing, pulling and trudging our bikes through trees, shrubs, briar patches, stream beds, and cliff faces) thinking “this is hard work”. I looked back to see Julie with an incredible look of determination on her face and thought she is a strong woman and I’m glad to be her teammate.

The Natural Bridge Park was absolutely spectacular with some of the best hiking, arches, climbing, and remote camping sites I’ve seen.

The hot apple cider at the final transition area provided by the INCREDIBLE volunteer team warmed us up and gave us enough energy to get back to the finish line.

Stephanie AKA, Flying Squirrel Adventures (FSA), knows how to put on a challenging event and pushes you to the limit. FSA has some of the best volunteer staff. They really care about the racers and know how to make the event unique.

The post-race food at the Hemlock Lodge was great and the wait staff provided exceptional friendly service. (Don’t tell anyone but I started My dinner by eating the homemade banana pudding with vanilla wafers first (YUM)

Finally, I enjoyed the camaraderie of completing a challenging set of circumstances as a team. By Julie David and me pulling together, we helped each other get through some tough challenges. Over-all this year we completed 4 races together and I only see us getting stronger as a team and look forward to next season. 

Chris Spiller 11/2012

USARA Championship

USARA National Championship

Catskill Mountains, NY

October 11-13, 2012

Racers: Greg Voelkel, Ernie Lawas, & Britt Mason

Race Report by: Britt Mason

Rev3/Mountain Khakis traveled to the Catskills of New York this weekend to compete in the USARA National Championship. We sent 2 teams, and our team consisted of Greg, Ernie, and me. Headquarters were located at the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonskon. The field was highly competitive, and it looked to be an exciting race. We all arrived by Thursday afternoon and checked in. In the evening, we attended the pre-race meeting, where we learned the breakdown of each leg and approximate distances for each. The course would be point-to-point, and our bikes would be transported 3 times. There would be 18 mandatory CPs, 47 optionals, and 7 TAs. A cold front was moving through, and the forecast was cold and wet, with temps dipping below 30 degrees. Bring it on!

At 5:30AM on race morning, maps were distributed. All were pre-plotted, and we would be receiving additional maps and passports on the course. We briefly began planning our route but had to board buses to the start at 6AM. We finished route planning on the long drive to the Pepacton Reservoir, where we would start a 12 1/2 mile paddle with 7 OPs along the way. At the captain's meeting just before the start, it was revealed that you could split up your team during this leg in order to collect OPs faster. Let the frantic strategizing begin!

Once all canoes were in the water for a floating start, the cannon sounded, signaling the beginning of an epic race! We decided we would drop Greg off to grab points that were further in the woods on the north side of the reservoir while Ernie and I paddled to points along the shore on the south side. Greg hopped out to get the first 2 points, and we headed south for 1. We timed it perfectly, and he came down the beach as we paddled up. We did the same thing on the next set of points, picking Greg up almost immediately. On the final point, Greg went in while we paddled around the point to meet him on the other side. This point was a challenge, and we lost some time. Then it was off the water and onto bikes for a long, rocky leg.

We did a quick wardrobe change to try to warm up before leaving the TA as the drizzle from the paddle turned into a steady rain. Toes and fingers were numb, but that was the norm for this race. We warmed up quickly because this was the King of the Mountain section, and we were climbing early in this leg. We even got to ride through sleet on the climb. After the KOM portion, we turned off the roads and onto trails for a bike-o section. We were around plenty of teams at this point, and Bushwacker, GOALS, and Alpine Shop were nearby often throughout the race. After biking around Mongaup Pond, we rode the final 4K into TA2 via a snowmobile trail. You know you're in for a treat when you see snowmobile or ATV trail on a sign or map!

The next leg was a foot-o, and we received its map at the TA. The course consisted of 6 pairs of OPs, and to receive max credit, you had to obtain 4 pairs. More than that did not matter. The great thing about this race was it required a lot of strategic planning and route choice on the fly, and NYARA planned a beautifully challenging course. As darkness fell, we struggled with the last couple points but made it back to the TA in good time. 

The skies had cleared, so we knew we were in for a cold night. This ride consisted of gravel and paved roads, with lots of descending. We picked up a few CPs on our way to the next foot-o. Along the route we stopped at the Blue Hill Lodge & Cafe for some snacks and hot drinks. We pulled up to the cafe, and there were more than 20 bikes out front! It was like a party inside...plenty of teams were taking a break and sitting down for a hot meal. GOALS came in behind us, and Abi and I shared a cappuccino as we did a quick refuel and went back out into the night. We added another layer and were good to go.  Shortly before the TA was a CP near a swimming hole. There were probably 7 or 8 teams looking for this point when we arrived. It wasn't at the main pool below the waterfall, but instead several pools away. Somehow Greg spied it, and we managed to sneak in and out quickly before anyone else discovered it.

The 2nd foot-o was essentially a 10 mile point-to-point course. Little did we know we were about to become VERY friendly with dense mountain laurel. For the first OP, we reached our attack point and headed off the road into the woods. From there it was about 1400m to a stream on which we would find the point. We swam through laurel (I've never been so angry at a plant before!) the entire way there and came to the stream literally on top of the point. Through pace counting and bearings, we were able to walk right up to every point but 1. These woods were the most dense but still passable any of us had every encountered, and it made for a long trekking leg. With very few trails on the map to speak of for any foot-o, bushwacking made up the majority of treks. We arrived at the next TA just before sunrise. The volunteers there had prepared a spread for us, including burgers, hot dogs, chicken, soup, and coffee. We took advantage of it while thawing out our bike shoes by the fire.

Then we were off on the final bike-o through some singletrack trails. After forgetting our new passport, we returned to the TA to grab it and restarted. This course was Norwegian style, so teams were only given the 1st point. At each point was a map showing the next one after it for a total of 6 OPs. We made quick work of the course as the sun came up and gave us new life.

A short ride to Minnewaska State Park took us to our final trekking leg. The park had 13 OPs in it, culminating in a beautiful rappel at Stony Kill Falls. The rappel was mandatory; however, teams could choose to take a time penalty once there if they didn't want to wait. We set out to clear the course, having more than 4 hours until the end of the race when we started. Things went smoothly the first few points. The 1st took us to a beautiful overlook point of the valley and the changing leaves. Somewhere between the 1st and 3rd OP we went for, the mountain laurel ate my helmet. It was gone. We continued on, but a trail we were looking for never materialized, and we lost a lot of time. Eventually, we hit a connector that took us to the road leading to the falls. Worried that we would run short on time, we decided to forego the final 8 points in order to make it to the rappel. We blasted down the trail and entered the queue for the rappel. Only 1 team in front of us. Worth the wait. While there, we tried to figure out what to do about my lost helmet. To my surprise, we heard that a team had found it. Odyssey/I'mOnPoint had picked it up in the laurel and was carrying it. And they were the team in front of us in line! Big thanks to Odyssey for that act of sportsmanship. Crisis averted. We enjoyed the rappel and hightailed it back to our bikes for a 4 mile ride to the finish at the resort.

We crossed the finish line in 28:46 with 18 CPs and 39 OPs, good enough for 8th place and 1st in the overall points series. 6 teams cleared the course, and WEDALI was crowned national champion. Special thanks go out to NYARA for the work of art that was the race course, all the volunteers who braved the rain and cold to make everything run smoothly, and our family and friends for supporting us throughout the year. This race capped off an exciting season full of adventure for Rev3/MK, and we are looking to continue to improve and compete at the highest level. Now get outside and play!

ECARS championship race 18 hrs – 7 springs PA

Photo Credit: Extreme Prestige Worldwide

This weekend Rev3 Mountain Khakis raced in the championship race for the East Coast Adventure Racing Series.  The team roster for this race was myself, John Courain, Britt Mason, and Greg Voelkel.  This would be the first time that John and I raced with Britt and Greg, who are two of the fastest people on our team.  I have to say I was a bit anxious leading up to the race, hoping that I wouldn’t be the one to slow anyone down.  I really didn’t want to disappoint my teammates.  We all met up at the resort where the race was to start at 12 Midnight, Friday night.  Together we went through our mandatory gear checklist, started organizing food for the race, getting our bikes and lights setup, and organizing our transition area.  The maps weren’t being given out until 8, and then the race instructions until even later.  So we had a bit of downtime Friday evening to try and rest up for what would be a tough race course.

Prologue:

The race started with a short running prologue circumventing the pond on top of 7 springs.  All the teams had to do one lap and then jump onto their bikes for the first leg.  We were all ready to go and psyched so we took off around the pond at a pace that would hopefully give us a little space when getting into the T/A to pick up our bikes. 

Mountain Biking

Once around the short lake loop, we all hopped onto  our bikes, turned on our lights and started the long descent down the mountain, and towards the first CP.  The Temperatures were in the 50s and the combination of not being warmed up, with the high downhill speeds on the bike made for a chilly start.  This whole leg was about 35 miles in total distance.  So one by one we picked off our CPs in order, Greg navigating smoothly, and the rest of us trying to keep our eyes alert to spot the CPs as quickly as possible.  

The first couple hours of fast moving gravel roads changed into neglected trails as we tried to link between checkpoints 5 and 6.  This section I think was the low point of morale for the team.  The trails we were on were not what was marked on the map, and soon we found ourselves hike-a-biking in the wrong directions through lots of thorns.  We tried 2 to 3 different trails, and John got a flat on his bike, before we decided to take the road back out and go around the long way to CP 6.  The lead that we had made on many of the other teams we found was gone, but it also seemed like other teams were having trouble navigating that same area, so we just had  to regroup and push on and try to not think of the 40 or so minutes we lost.  Our team got back into a groove, formed a paceline, and were moving along swiftly.  We passed another few teams on the way to CP7, and continued to put distance on the rest of the pack.

After getting all of the biking CPs it was about 5:30 am and time to head back to the T/A to start the trekking leg.  This involved a nice long climb back up to the top of the mountain.  We were climbing a trail that contoured the mountain, when we decided it would just be better to push the bikes straight up the ski slopes.  It was definitely faster, but not any easier.  Either way, we got to the T/A at around 6:30 am and proceeded to refuel, strip off some layers and change shoes. 

Trekking

Our transition was fairly quick and smooth, maybe ten mins.  But while changing shoes I heard a hissing noise coming from Greg’s tire and knew that we would have another flat to deal with.  When we were about to start changing the tube, we saw GOALS show up on their bikes to the T/A, and instead decided to leave the tire for later, and get a head start on the trek.   We ran every bit that we could, walking most uphills, but keeping our speed on the flats and downhills.  Greg did a great job navigating us through some shortcut bushwhacks to get us to the CPs that we needed to get to. 

After about 12 miles of trails, roads, thorns and hills,   we made it to the first of two orienteering legs of the race.  We were arriving as Team SOG was just leaving, having cleared the course, so we estimated ourselves to be about 1.5 hrs behind them. 

Orienteering

The orienteering leg was fairly straight forward.  5 points in a park that surrounded a lake.  We attacked the course counter clockwise and got the large thorny bushwhack out of the way early on.  Things went smoothly here and we worked well as a team.  Keeping the pace as high as we could and only having trouble with one point because we misread the clue.  We were able to clear the course, a bit slower than we had hoped but at least we had 5 optional points on our passport. 

Trekking

At this point it was getting into the afternoon, and we still had a 6 mile run back up to the T/A to get back onto a bike leg.  Again, with a lot of encouragement from eachother we pushed ourselves to run as much as we could uphill and get to the T/A as fast as we could.  The last climb back up the ski slopes was a leg burner, but we at least had some more food to refuel us.  We also had 2 flat tires waiting for us on Greg’s bike.  The first flat we changed ended up blowing out on us, so we had to change a total of 3 tires during this transition.  That messed up the flow of things for us and got us out of the nice rhythm that we had going as a team, so the transition took longer than we were hoping for.

Mountain Biking

During transition we were informed by the race director that the rest of the course from here on out had been changed to 100% optional checkpoints.  We knew there was an orienteering leg, and we doubted we had time to do it, but we still packed our shoes just in case there was a close by point. We hopped on our bikes after getting everything in order, and screamed back down the roads leaving the mountain.  All of us were feeling the constant effort that we had been putting out for the last 15 hours straight, and every hill hurt more than the last.  We were able to get one bike point on the way to the orienteering section.  We checked in and out there, getting us 2 more CPs at the orienteering T/A, but decided not to go out on foot for any points, because they were all a bit too far.  Instead we had about an hour and a half left, so we decided to go for another bike point on the way back to the finish line. 

A fun, long downhill on some doubletrack, led us to the spot where we found one more CP, then it was time to grind through the climb back up the trail.  When we got to the top of the trail, we watched GOALS ride past us towards the finish.  There was about 2 miles left in the course, with a good amount of climbing…we all grouped up and decided to attack.  Greg had Britt on tow up every hill as john and I drained the last bit of energy in our legs.  We were able to pass GOALS and put some distance on them, all the way to the last brutal climb back up to the finish line.

We finished the race in 17:22, completing roughly 80 miles.  Leaving just about everything we had out on the course.

It was good enough to finish second place for the race, which secured Rev3/Mountain Khakis a 3^rd place finish in the East Coast Adventure Racing Series.

Wyoming - Day #5

Greg and I once agin split up from Mike and Vanessa to divide and conquer.  Mike and Vanessa stayed in Casper to meet with more potential sponsors and present the plans for the Cowboy Tough AR to the city council.

I’d noticed a potential area for the race back toward the south in the Medicine Bow Federal Forest, so we went there to check it out.  As we headed back out of town toward the south we scouted out potential race routes along and on the Platte River.

Once again the state of Wyoming provided stunning terrain as we headed into Medicine Bow National Forest.  As we climbed out of high desert and into thick evergreen forests the scenery was stunning. We climbed more than 10,000' into the mountain range, taking in beautiful and serene landscape.  Without a doubt this area will be incorporated into the race route.

We dropped down and out of the mountain, driving back toward Laramie and then onto Cheyenne. With nearly 400 miles traveled today, Greg and I were tired and hungry.  We grabbed a bite to eat in a great restaurant called Sanford's Pub & Grub and then headed south out of Wyoming to a campground just outside Fort Collins next to Horsetooth Reservoir. We marveled at the distance we had covered and the amazing and varied landscapes we had experienced in just one day.

Tomorrow we would have an early start and head back home, taking back some great ideas and memories to develop the course for the Cowboy Tough AR next July.

Wyoming - Day #4



It was nice to have a bed to sleep in for the night at the Nobel Hotel in Lander, although camping in the fresh air of Wyoming had been fantastic.  Greg headed out to get some coffee and found a great shop on the corner that brewed individual cups.  Delicious.

En route to an 11 am meeting with NOLS, we took the opportunity to check out Sinks Canyon in hopes of getting ideas for future races.  The goal of the Cowboy Tough AR is to highlight different parts of the state of Wyoming over the next 5 years in a series of 3.5-day races each July.  Wyoming has so much to offer with regard to outdoor recreation we are going to be spoiled with future route choices. We had been considering starting the race in Lander or Pinedale, so while in the area we wanted to see what was available.
Sinks Canyon and the areas to the west of Lander are very different from the rest of the state we had currently explored. As we climbed the steep mountain canyon, passing alpine vegetation and thick aspen groves, we noticed a stark contrast to the high desert plains we had traveled in the previous two days.


Sinks Canyon



After exploring the canyon we headed back to Lander and grabbed some breakfast and some more delicious coffee from The Coffee Shop.  We then met up with Aaron and Darren at NOLS to go over any support that they could help provide for the Cowboy Tough AR. You probably know that NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) is an excellent organization that helps develop leadership skills through wilderness training. They have some of the most experienced outdoorsmen in the world taking 10- to 14-day trips into the wilderness, so the philosophy and mission blend well with helping support a multi-day race.



Hell Half Acre



After the NOLS meeting we headed out of Lander and back toward Casper to meet back up with Mike that following evening at a mountain bike race on Casper Mountain.  Mike had been meeting with the governor and had taken part in a press conference in the morning to officially announce the Cowboy Tough AR. Media had picked up the story, and it was exciting to see news of the race on the Internet.

On the way back we stopped at Hell’s Half Acre, an odd geological feature that was used in the movie Starship Troopers.  The "sci-fi" moon-scape was surreal. This scarp could be a nice location for a future Cowboy Tough AR. Or a future REV3 Adventure sci-fi flick.

 As we got closer to Casper we contacted Bruce Lamberson from Mountain Sports.  Bruce was hosting the mountain bike race that evening and was kind enough to hook us up with some bikes to race with. Susan, one of our contacts on the ground in Casper, was also wrangling a bike for the race. When we arrived in Casper we swung by Bruce's outdoor shop, Mountain Sports, to get directions to the race.  It is a great store with everything from bikes to ski gear. When we found out the race was at a local ski resort, Greg and I had thoughts of steep climbs and tight technical single track.  We wouldn't be disappointed.

We fueled up by grabbing a burger at the Wonder Bar, then headed to Hogadon's ski area to meet with Bruce and Susan to get our bikes.  Unfortunately, Mike was still heading up to Casper from Cheyenne and would not be able to make the race start.  He also had Greg's and my SPD peddles so we ended up having to race with flats, which made the three laps on the 3-mile course even more challenging.

The growing mountain bike scene in Casper warmly welcomed us, and it was fun racing alongside the local team Fat Fish who really tore up the course. Bruce put on an excellent event and it was nice to get with the folks who feel as passionately about the outdoors as the rest of the REV3Adventure crew.

Mike and Vanessa made it for the end of the race, and it was nice to have a small cheering section as I crossed the finish line. Post race we headed back to the Wonder Bar for some well-earned refreshment and then to our hotel to catch up on some sleep after another long and enjoyable day in Wyoming.











Wyoming - Day #3

After another early start, we met up with Bob from All Terrain Sports, who we had arranged to escort us to a mountain bike area called Happy Jack and to the climbing area Vedauwoo Rocks.  We loaded up the bikes and headed out. The trails at Happy Jack are great--very different from the technical riding at Curt Gowdy—with lots of flowing single track and only a few technical climbs (that kicked my butt). It was great hanging out with Bob.  He had great insight in to the local outdoor scene and knowledge of the local area.

Ryan, Bob's son, met us after the ride, and we headed over to Vedauwoo to set up a top rope and check out possible options for a ropes section. Vedauwoo is a granite formation that offers tons of climbing options.  We set up a top rope on a 50' face and Greg and I rappeled off while Mike snapped pictures.  After, Bob and Ryan showed their climbing skills as Bob led a 5.10 corner.  I struggled up the first one third on top rope before calling it quits. It brought back some great memories of avid climbing in my (apparently distant) youth--when I was a lot stronger and climbing conditioned.

We bid Bob and Ryan farewell, and we all scattered. Mike met back up with Dominic and headed back to Cheyenne to meet with sponsors and some other state officials.  Greg and I headed back north to tie in some sections of the course around Medicine Bow and work our way toward Lander for a meeting with NOLS the following day.

The possible route to a put-in on Seminoe Reservoir was beautiful, rugged, and desolate. Challenging terrain, for sure.

After stopping by Arcola Reservoir and taking a jaunt up Independence Rock we headed west to Lander.  With limited food choices along the way, we ended up eating pizza in a very local bar in Jeffrey City.

We arrived in Lander and checked into the Nobel Hotel, which is the lodging provided by NOLS for their students before they head out on wilderness courses.  The setup reminded up my childhood where I grew up in an Outdoor Education Center in Wales, hosting students for weekly stints in the Welsh countryside to do outdoor pursuits.  This may sound gross, but it was the smell that brought back those fond memories. After cleaning up we hit the sack to get some rest, ready for another new and exciting day in Wyoming.

Wyoming - Day #2

With an early start for another day of race development in the Wyoming sunshine, we broke camp and met up with Dominic and his family. They were going to be our guides for the day. We then met up with two ranchers, the Landers, who were kind enough to take us out and show us how real cowboys rustle cattle. This is something I definitely never witnessed while growing up in the mountains of Wales. It was worth the wait.

We then headed to Laramie and met with Bob at All Terrain Sports. We checked out his cool outdoor store and made arrangements to mountain bike and climb on Sunday. We then headed north to Medicine Bow, developing a route for racers and looking for a good TA for day 1 of the race as we drove. We found the perfect spot next to a small lake just outside of Medicine Bow.

With that settled, we followed Route 487 to Route 220, heading west to Martin’s Cove historic site, dedicated to the plight of the Mormons and other migrants who had headed West in search of a better life. The migrants used handcarts to pull their wares hundreds of miles across the vast plains.  Wouldn’t it be fun to have a handcart pulling challenge? We tried it out, and after only pulling the cart a short distance it really hits home how hard they had it.  Compared to surviving the Wyoming winters in the 1800s, a three-and-a-half day Adventure Race seems almost tame. We send a big thanks to Elder Smith and Sister Smith for their great hospitality and for showing us around the museum.

For our next stop, we headed back east and down Fremont Canyon.  The canyon is an impressive feature that connects the Pathfinder Reservoir with the Arcola Reservoir. It is a deep canyon with fast-flowing whitewater and steep walls that provide a great spot for some technical climbing. Sweet.

We turned south and worked back toward the Miracle Mile—a stretch of river famous for the abundant amount of fish and a favorite spot for fly fishing.  Dominic had gone ahead to throw some lines into the water with his kids to see if they could hook a few trout, but when we caught up with them they only had had a few nibbles and no real bites. No fish fry for us. We coordinated events for the following day, which took in climbing and more mountain biking, and then went our separate ways once again.

After another full day of exploring the wonders of the state, Greg, Mike, and I headed over the dam at Seminoe Reservoir, down toward Interstate 80, and back to our home sweet Wyoming home—the campsite at Curt Gowdy.  We had spent most of the day traveling on gravel roads and some very rugged terrain, covering more than 300 miles. Plans for the route and features that we could include in the race are beginning to take shape. One thing’s for sure--it is going to be a challenging race. Those cowboys are tough.

Wyoming - Day #1

REV3Adventure has been fortunate to partner with the state of Wyoming to put on an adventure weekend in July 2013 consisting of a 3.5-day Adventure Race that takes in some of the best and most interesting parts of the state, a family adventure race, a 5K glow stick run, and other festivities based out of the town of Casper.

With 11 months left for planning and preparation to make our REV3AR’s event, Cowboy Tough, happen, we headed west to Wyoming to scout out the courses and meet with sponsors and the team that was going to help make the event a reality.

Mike, Greg, and I had an early start from Dulles Airport, catching a 6 am flight to Denver.  After some fun and games (on the part of the car rental place), we finally got our vehicle and headed north to Cheyenne, the state capital of Wyoming. As the Rocky Mountains faded away to the left of us, we drove through the scrubland of northern Colorado and then into southern Wyoming. After a few stops for photos we arrived in Cheyenne and met up with Dominic at the state parks headquarters. Dominic is our contact with Wyoming and is critical to making the event happen. He is our eyes on the ground and the main go-to guy for local area knowledge.  Without Dominic, this thing would not be happening.  He is a great guy and we appreciate all his help.

 

After meeting up with a few potential sponsors, we headed to the state capitol building to meet Renee, the governor’s marketing director.  We discuss the upcoming press conference set for Monday, talk about the event and how it is going to highlight the state, and reiterate how happy we are to be able to work with the governor’s office to make the Cowboy Tough AR a reality.

After bidding Renee farewell, we grabbed lunch at Taco John's, where we sampled the famous "Tata Tots" and then headed over to Bicycle Station, where Wendy hooked us up with some great Specialized 29er demo bikes.

We were ready to ride, so Dominic ran us up to Curt Gowdy State Park, a super nice state park just west of Cheyenne.  After setting up camp we headed out to sample some of the trails the park had to offer.  The trails were very similar to trails on the West Coast--loose with a mix of rocks and switchbacks—and enjoyably technical.  The one thing none of us had taken into consideration was altitude.  At 7500' and coming straight from sea level on the East Coast, we all felt the burn in our lungs as we tackled the hills. After about 10 miles of trail riding, we headed back to the campground, cleaned up, and headed into the town of Laramie for some food and supplies.

We finally hit the sack at around 11 pm (1 pm EST), making for a long—but exciting—day of exploration. We are pulling together what looks to be a fantastic, unique, and fun race. Tomorrow brings cattle rustling and a tour of the reas north of Cheyenne

Rev3 - Green Ridge Adventure Challenge - Race Report

Green Ridge Adventure Challenge – Race Report
July 21^st, 2012
Team: Britt, Greg and Michael
Written by Michael Spiller

The Green Ridge Adventure Challenge took place in Green Ridge State Forest near Cumberland Maryland.  Kevin Howser  and Hutch from the Cumberland Trail Connection Adventure Racing team were the race director.

The Green Ridge Adventure Challenge was my first team race in two years after coming back from shoulder surgery last season.  I was also racing with Greg Voelkel one of our teams fastest racers and Britt who is 21 years younger than me.  I knew this race was going to be a challenge because of the terrain in this area of Maryland has a lot of elevation.  After seeing the course I decided the mountain were twice the size of what we used in the Epic Race this past year.  It seemed that the only flat section was going to be the paddle section the Potomac River.

The team met up on Friday night for the team check-in.  Britt drove 10 hours from Illinois and Greg flew up in a plane from Florida for training mission for the air force and I had a short 2 hour drive from Northern Virginia.  Greg was delayed because after landing there was another plane that was landing that had a higher priority than Greg so he was delayed getting to Cumberland.

We arrived at the Race course at the South End Rod and Gun Club near Oldtown, Maryland at 5:30AM on Saturday morning and prepped our gear for drop locations provided by Cumberland Trail Connections.  They were going to drop our paddling gear and bike at two different locations to be picked up during the race.  At 7:00Am they handed out the preplotted maps and Greg and Britt laid out our strategy for the race.  The race course was going to be about 65 miles with paddling, running, and mountain biking.  Seem like it was going to be a fast course with lots of ups and downs during the day.  We were extremely lucky because it was raining and the temperature dropped from the high 90’s to the mid 70’s and it raised the river level for the paddle section. 

At 8:00AM the race was started and we needed to hit two trekking points on our way to the river to pick up the canoes.  Scott Pleaban’s two person co-ed team was in front and we soon fell into second place and hitting both points and running the whole time.  It was a few miles to the river and we arrived to see Scott getting into the water.  However our paddling gear had not arrived yet and we were searching for our paddles.  Kevin sent some of his crew back and they found our gear and gave us a 16 minute time credit while we waited for our gear.  About 10 teams came in and they were hitting the first Checkpoint on the water.  Kind of killed our mojo but we knew we would be slow in the water because we had rented a canoe and the teams in front of us had their lightweight canoes so we didn’t want to fall too far behind.  We received our paddling gear and started paddling to the first CP upstream.  We opted to run and swim instead to the checkpoint and passed several teams and moved into 5th place.  As we paddle downstream we passed one more team and moved into 4^th place behind Scott Pleaban, ARMD and GOAL’s.  Once got off the 5 mile paddle we picked up our bikes and now my bike helmet was missing.  We spent 5 minutes looking for a helmet and Kevin once again stepped in and gave me his helmet so I could continue racing.  We took off on the C&O canal to go through the Paw Paw tunnel.  It was pitch black in the tunnel so we needed to pull out our lights to even walk our bikes through the tunnel.  We arrived at the first Orienteering course and we were 34 minutes behind the lead teams.  We opted to scramble straight up a hill instead of taking the trail to the first checkpoint.  I knew it was going to be a long day and the legs were going to be hurting.  We ran to every checkpoint and Gregs navigation was on point.  The coolest checkpoint was an old train tunnel in the middle of nowhere in the mountains.  Of course we came out on the top of the mountain and had a very challenging climb down to get the checkpoint.  We cleared the course and moved into second place only 5 minutes from the lead.  Now we were on our bike and this was going to be our strong section of the race.  However we missed the first biking checkpoint and rode four miles out of our way and now dropped back to 4^th place.  We rode up mountain to great overlooks and down mountains to different landmarks and felt pretty good until a logging truck started coming up the road.  Greg stopped, I slid to a stop and Britt slid into a stop but hit me in the process and fell off her bike.  She cut her leg, cut her chin, and cut up both hands and we originally thought she broke her finger.  She also bent her front derailer.  We spent some time checking her out and she felt like continuing and was bleeding from three different spots.  This girl is tough.  I would have been crying and quit the race.  We continued on to the next trekking section.

With all our mishaps we still only 3o minute behind the lead team and we had a 21 minute time credit at the end of the race.  However what this really means is that we need to run the orienteering course to catch the lead teams.  Once again we hit the first two points and we were making up time on the lead teams.  My legs were screaming and it was still raining, so we were soaking wet.  We moved into 3^rd place and knew the lead team was only 10 minutes ahead of us then we were talking and overshot our attack point by a ½ mile.  Greg somehow found the right reentrant for the next point and we picked up the last point and headed back into the bike transition.  We passed the GOAL’s team on the way back to our bike and moved into 3^rd place again and hit our bikes to try to catch the lead teams on our way to the finish line.  It might sound easy but we were on an ATV trail and it had tons of trees down, lots of mud, slipper rocks, and of course lots of climbing.  It took over an hour to go 3 miles.  Then we needed to climb to the highest point in the race for a 2 point bonus checkpoint.  Did I want to get it?  NO!!!  But we did and as we climbed we saw ARMD coming down the mountain.  We had made up over 20 minutes on the bike section and now they only had a 10 minutes lead.  With our time credit we were in front by 11 minutes.  We rode hard for the next section of the race to the finish line and were only a few minutes behind the lead and with our time credit we were in first place.  We had three bonus points to hit by the 8:00PM cut off and victory was ours.  However it didn’t play out like that.  We hit the first point with only a minor mistake and then went for a low point because we thought it would be the easiest.  We spent 25 minutes trying to find the point with no success and had to go to the finish line with only one bonus point.  Kathy’s ARMD team hit the high point and the river point so they were able to pick up one more bonus point and won the co-ed elite division.  We found out that the UTM’s for the point we were looking for was off and Greg almost found it but turned back because the area he was looking was too far off the description.  However, that Adventure Racing, mistakes happen and as a race director I know Kevin and his team put on a great race.  The best food ever was server at the end of the race with Sloppy Joes, homemade Mac and cheese, BBQ beef, salad, fresh corn on the cob and a keg of beer.  Our journey took us over 70 miles and to me it was an excellent day with great teammates and I would not change a thing.

Run Row Rock and Roll Adventure Race

By Michelle Thompson   

This weekends race started with Dave and me meeting at the Fairbury wellness center Friday. We received our maps and race instructions and begin preparing our maps for the Run Row Rock and Roll adventure race in rural Fairbury, Nebraska. This race was designed by and directed by our teammate Craig. Everything seemed pretty straight forward. We had a brief race meeting at 8pm and then we were off to meet Micah. Craig once again arranged for us to stay at his friends Jack and Jackie's beautiful home. It's like having our own apartment when we are there. A great way to start the race experience!
We reviewed our route and did a few more race preparations then called it a night.

We woke at 5 to very loud thunder and big bolts of lightening. We loaded things up. And we're off to the bike drop. The rain, that was forcasted to fall all day, stopped but clouds remained. We were shuttled to race start on the "redneck subway" which was a cattle trailer. I can only imagine what the passersby must have thought.

The race started at 7:30 with a running section followed by a canoe on a lake, trek/run and then, the most enjoyable part, a 1/2 mile canoe portage through a muddy ravine and woods. Then we were off on a short river paddle ending at the bike drop. This section was titled "Swamp Thing."
At this point there were 3 teams in the lead including us.

We took off on our bikes riding on mostly gravel roads, up and down, but mostly up,up, and up. Don't believe it when you hear Nebraska is flat. Craig was able to design the course so we had the pleasure of doing a 1 mile long climb. Thanks Craig , that was fun! The next section titled "Cabin By the Lake" started with a team challenge. This challenge was log sawing done by 2 teammates while the other steadied the log. No problem. I'm sure it was because of my superior steadying skills. Then it was off on an orienteering section. This section was not given to us until we arrived. This included 5 points. Once completed we were off on the bike again. This included gravel and pastures. At this point we were neck and neck with a solo racer.

This next section, "The Hills Have Eyes," started and ended on bike but was primarily a trekking section up and down some steep creek banks and through lots of poison ivy. Yikes! Near the end of this section Craig had a surprise for us. It was a time trial on a very, very steep hill. The male and female winners would get $80 in prizes. The guys decided they would help me win. I hooked the tow up to Dave and Micah pushed. Up we went. Dave was an animal. I felt like I was working hard but Micah said he had never seen the tow pulled so tight. We were glad that quickly came to an end and we were off on our bikes to the next section. What a nice surprise Craig. Thanks for thinking of us.

The next section, "The Bucket List," began with an orienteering section then a paddling section on a small lake. We decided we had better do the land section first. After all that hard climbing we werent sure if we would get up if we started in the canoe. We got 4 points on land, 1 which could have been really tricky but Dave was spot on.We decided to do the team challenge next. This was an attempt to " walk on water." Two large buckets were given to each of us. We were then supposed to stand in them, one on each foot, beside a rope that crossed a small cove of the lake. We were then supposed to pull ourselves across the water without falling. Dave and Micah both satisfied Craig's wish and proceeded to quickly plunge into the water. I, however, decided to straddle the hip high rope and pull myself across. Success. Then it was off to 3 more points in the canoe.

We were all anxious to reach the finish line. We were now in 1st place but knew the racer behind us was fully capable of catching us on bike if we did not push hard. We had 1 more rural section titled "Live Free or Die Hard." One point had been taken out due to all the rain. One point remained. Then it was back to the city of Fairbury. Once we reached the city we had 2 Cps to find. We had familiarized ourselves with the city layout the night before so felt pretty confident there would be little hesitation. From a distance we could see the railroad crossing light begin to flash and the crossbars descend. NO WAY! As we got closer we realized it was only 1 car. What a relief. We grabbed our last 2 points and headed to the finish. Finish time 7 hours 12 minutes.

Nice job guys! Almost flawless navigation from Dave, a strong push on the run and bike from both Micah and Dave, and great teamwork in transitions pulled us into and kept us in the lead. Believe it or not Craig, you did such a great job with this course we don't even have any suggestions. Only, could you throw in a few more climbs next time!?
Next up Big Mountain Adventures 24 hour in Colorado Springs next weekend. Bring your O2.

GOALS Cradle of Liberty - 24 Hour

GOALS: Cradle of Liberty 24 hour race

This year the race was held in southeastern PA.  Now if you look at a map of southeastern PA, there’s not a whole lot of “green” park area, but the race directors did a fantastic job of finding every nook and cranny for the racers to explore so that we really did feel like we were out there..and not 5 minutes away from a gas station.  This race our team got shortened last minute from 3 coed to 2 male.  John and I were disappointed to not be able to race in the premier division and get points for the team, but we were still committed to giving the race everything we had and having a good time.

looking over maps last minute before the start

Our cars were parked at Evansburg state park, which is where the finish would be.  After registration, packing food and loading paddle bags and bikes onto a truck, the racers had a short meeting and we all got on a bus to head to the Hopewell Furnace national Historic site, where we would start the race at 9:30.  The morning was chilly, but the sun came out to warm us up shortly and we were thankfully granted great weather for the rest of the race! 

Plotting checkpoints after the prologue

The prologue consisted of 3 relay legs on foot. Each leg had to be done by only one racer of the team.  The first leg had the racers run to pick up some coordinates of mandatory checkpoints that would need to be plotted for later in the race.  The second leg had us running to pick up our passport, and the third leg got us the map with pre-plotted checkpoints for French Creek state park, which would be the first foot orienteering leg of the race. 

After plotting the rest of the mandatory checkpoints we were off racing.  The overall course consisted of over 100 optional checkpoints, and would not be clearable, our strategy would be to start off clearing as much as we could, but not wasting time searching for a CP if we were having trouble with it, because each one was worth only 1 pt.  We attacked the first leg in a CCW format, aiming to clear every point.  John was navigating, and his sense of direction was dead on.  We were checking off CP’s one by one with ease and never had to spend more than 5 minutes searching for the flagging when we were in the area of the CP.  We spent 3 to 4 hours on the first leg.  Having cleared our last checkpoint, we were running back to the TA to pick up our bikes and head out.  On our way there we saw SOG and GOALS leaving on their bikes, so we knew we were doing pretty well and could not be too far behind the leaders.



Starting the first trekking leg



A quick bite to eat while we put on our bike shoes and we were off to Birdsboro park.  The ride there was on roads, and practically all downhill.  John and I remarked that all bike legs should feel as good as that!  When we arrived at Birdsboro, we dropped our bikes, changed back into running shoes and headed into the park.  The entrance to the park is a wire bridge that spans a creek.  It’s always fun to try something a little out of the ordinary, so when John and I both got on to the bridge, it was apparent that we were both a little too tall for the spacing of the wires, and having two of us on at the same time did not give us any benefit in keeping it stable.  Thankfully we were able to cross without taking a dip, and we headed into the park.  On our way in, down an abandoned road, we blew past the entrance trail to the first CP, but we would be coming back that way, so instead of backtracking we decided to just get it on the way out. 



Crossing one of the cable bridges into Birdsboro



The park was essentially divided into two halves by an abandoned road.  The northern half had a bit more elevation change, and a closer grouping of CPs, and the southern half was far more spread out.  We decided to go after the northern half first, because the high density of CPs would let us get more points more quickly, and if we needed to cut out of the park to hit a time cutoff, we wouldn’t be losing much.  We made quick work of the first few checkpoints in the climbing crag area and surrounding hills.  As we were headed to the last cp in the grouping, we went a little too far down the trail, and had to adjust our attackpoint accordingly.  I think this was a mistake, we should have backtracked to our original attackpoint.  We were searching for the last CP in where we thought it had to be.  The clue was “boulder” and we were in an area of the woods that was suddenly populated by large boulders, but after 20 minutes of looking, we still hadn’t found it.  We decided that it wasn’t worth any more time for 1 point and we should move on to the southern end of the park.

This area of the park went fairly smoothly.  We decided to forego 2 CPs that were much further out than the others, because we wanted to move on to the next section and didn’t want to spend the time.  After getting back to the access road, we knocked off our last CP (the one that we passed earlier) and crossed back over the wire bridge to get back on the bikes.

We biked north on a mix of roads and rail trails to Neversink Park, which is on the southern outskirts of Reading, PA.  The map for this section had a large number of CPs, both mandatory and optional, and we wanted to get as many as we could, while still making an 11 pm cutoff to get in/out of the next TA at the top of Mt Penn in reading. 

 After a quick analysis of the map, we decided to attack the park in a CCW fashion.  One of the exits of the park had a McDonalds marked on it by the race directors, and we decide that we would give ourselves a little reward after getting out of this section.  The trails here were all bikeable, some were a bit too steep and had to be hikeabiked, but it provided for faster moving over trails then the previous two legs, which was a nice change of pace.  At the entrance there were two CPs on opposite sides of the trail, which ran through a ravine-like topography.  Most teams were dropping their bikes and going after one, then the other.  We decided to drop bikes for only one of the CPs, and then hike-a-bike up to the other, because it would prevent us from spending time backtracking.  I think this move helped us to save a lot of time and was a good choice because a little bit of bikewhacking got us onto a great open trail that was fast and took us everywhere we wanted to be. 
From here we made the decision to go for the most difficult CP in the park.  Thankfully it was still light out and that made it far easier to navigate.  We dropped our bikes and slogged a couple hundred vertical feet up some overgrown powerlines, crossed a road, and headed into some woods where the CP was located on a small ridge.  We were able to locate the tiny ridge (maybe 10-15 feet high?) and find the CP, which only took a small amount of searching.  After getting it, we booked it back to our bikes and continued on the fast trail that circumnavigated the park to check off more CPs. 

It was becoming apparent that we were not going to have time to clear this portion of the course and still make the cutoff.  So we started to make our way out of the park, getting the CPs that were along our course of travel.

when we made it out of the park, we did make a quick detour to McDonalds.  I knew we were pressed for time.  But I feel like this was the right choice.  We had been going for 12 hours now, and were craving something besides race food.  We shoved down 3 burgers each, and 2 large cokes, refilled our water bladders  in the bathroom, and headed out.  I have to say that it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had, and I felt so energized.  Definitely the right choice.

The TA at Mt Penn had an 11 PM cutoff, and we had a large, formidable road climb ahead of us to get there.  I think it turned out to look a lot worse on the map, because we had allotted ourselves close to 2 hours to get there, and it ended up only taking 1.  That was good news, because it meant we wouldn’t have to immediately turn around, but would be able to go out for at least one optional CP at the Mt Penn area.  When we got to the TA at the top of the climb, we were informed that the 20 mile paddle leg for that night was cancelled because of flood conditions on the river.  We had seen the river at a couple points throughout the race and it was HIGH and moving FAST.  I have to say I was a bit relieved, because I wasn’t exactly looking forward to a night time paddle where it would be difficult to control/stop/unboard and board a canoe in such a fast moving river.  Instead we would be biking the same distance, and a few of the mandatory and optional CPs on the paddle would be removed.

Coming into the Mt Penn TA at 10 PM

With that news, we threw our running shoes on and went out to snag one CP before we had to leave Mt Penn for the 11 PM cutoff.  We did just that, and headed out.  Back down the hill (which surprisingly took far less time to go down, than up =]) and then back into Neversink park, to go up over that hill, and to check in at the Paddle TA, where we would receive further instructions on the night time bike course.

On this road portion of the bike, we caught up with NYARA and Carpe Vitam.  Our three teams stayed together, forming a paceline, and we were all able to blast through the section.  I cant remember ever going this fast on a bike this far into a race.  It was awesome being able to work together and have each racer take their turn setting the pace and pulling.

We got to the TA and got our instructions for biking to where we would have been pulling the canoes out of the water.  It was roughly 20+ miles of road.  John and I went through our food stash in our paddle bag to refuel and restock our backpacks, and then got on the road.  Both NYARA and Carpe Vitam had slightly quicker transitions than us, but we were able to catch them and get back into the same paceline. 

During the ride, I was setting the pace, and then John took his turn right behind me.  I guess I didn’t notice until it was too late, but we had lost Carpe Vitam, and then shortly after NYARA had to pull off and go their own pace as well.  So then it was back to 2.

While riding, John and I got a craving for a 3am cup of coffee as we passed a gas station.  So we decided to take a quick detour and get some.  I know this is not typical for adventure racing, but having resources like this was really enjoyable.  Back on the road, we pushed on to the next TA and were able to give our bike seats a rest.

The Park at Lock 60 is surprisingly small, but somehow GOALS managed to cram an impressive foot orienteering course into it.  John and I went through and cleared the section one by one.  By the time we were done and back to the TA, the sky was starting to go from black to blue, and I knew that I would be getting a second wind shortly as we headed into the second to last leg of the race.

We had a choice to bike directly back to Evansburg state park, and go for some optional there, or go after more optional on the bike.  We opted to stay on the bike, because we felt like we have kept a consistently good pace and were happy with it.  The optional checkpoints led us through some interesting abandoned roads, and into a small mountain bike park.  At the one optional checkpoint here, we got a map of the surrounding trails which had 5 or 6 more optionals shown on it.  Since the trail area was small, and included a lot of elevation, we decided we could do it faster on foot.  So we quickly dropped the bikes and put on shoes to head off onto the trails.  We cleared every optional but one, which we chose not to go for because of its distance and out-and-back format.  We decided to head back to evansburg and try for some of the optional there, which could be closer.

The quick ride back to Evansburg brought us to the finish line, but we weren’t done yet.  We had an hour and a half to go, and had our choice of 2 different courses.  One was a “memory orienteering course” where we got to look at a map, and then had to go find the checkpoint by memory.  At that point there would be another map, and so on. 6 cps for a total of 3 points, and you had to clear it to score the points.  The other course was another relay orienteering course. 3 separate stages, easy/medium/hard with each stage being worth a few points each (again, had to clear the stage to get the points)  after a short debate with john, we decide to do the relay, because my brain was not working as well as it could be after racing for almost 24 hours.  John took the first leg and got back in 30 mins.  So I went out for the second leg.  I had an hour to clear it.  Which wouldn’t be a problem.  It took me a few minutes to get used to the scale and orientation of the map, but once I had a feel for it, I was on my way.  I managed to clear that course in 45 minutes.  So with 15 minutes to spare, we officially finished.   



John waiting for me to finish the last orienteering leg



We washed our legs down with some tecnu, ate some pancakes and sausage, and stuck around for awards to find we placed 1^st in class and 3^rd overall behind Team SOG and Cumberland Trail Connection.  This was a great race for John and I.  Overall I think it went well, but looking back at it I can pinpoint areas where I know we lost time and we could have made better choices.  Each race I learn something, so hopefully next one I will be faster.



Success!