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.
