Chadron AR

By Michelle Thompson

Friday started with a drive to Chadron, from southeast to northwest Nebraska. We

elected to take the back roads. The beginning of the tour is a trip through time

starting in the early 1900's in small town Nebraska. This includes your

occasional sod house and  Ford model A.  Lets not forget the historical , Car

Henge. As the trip progresses you start to notice a change in the landscape that

is intriguing. The land becomes something most would not expect to see in

Nebraska (unless they grew up in the sandhills). It becomes more desert like

with the topography being a cross between the valleys and meadows of the

flatlands And the mesas of western Colorado. Gorgeous!

Once we arrived,we checked in at Wreckers bar and plotted points. This had some

interesting moments but we were able to contain our enthusiasm for pure

adventure racing and complete the job.

Our race began Saturday morning at 8. Friday had started with very warm temps

near 90. Saturday it was 50, very windy, cloudy and a 60% chance of rain. We

started on foot with about a 3 mile run. Dave had made a choice to go a

different route than everyone else and it paid off. We were able to leave

transition before any of the other teams.

Next up were 2 long bike sections. Probably 30 miles total. It started with team
challenges. The first was a paddle around buoys in the state park pond.

(Unfortunately there are no large bodies of water in this area).This was done by

Craig and Dave with Michelle happily cheering them on. The next was a boot camp

obstacle course including fabrication of a wood bridge with  pegged boards,

missile carry, water container carry, 15 pushups, 10 situps,stepping over waist

high series of boards, and 5 pull ups. Dave and I swear there was a mysterious

underground magnetic force just under our feet at this station. We completed it

with a solo guy from Colorado. Then the cycling began. It took us through the

state park and the national forest. Beautiful scenery when you weren't watching

for giant cow pies or those mysterious mounds of dirt made by an unknown
reptile. Both of these sections were primarily off road on single track or

marked "trails" following trail markers through the forest. Dave was spot on

with all points. At the beginning of the bike section we saw a team in pursuit,
not too far away. After a couple more points we never saw them again but knew
they were there just waiting to take over the lead. This kept us pushing
forward. Lots and lots of climbing and technical riding and lots of "daggumits".
 At the end of this section we were free again to feel the wind in our faces as

we descended from the forest. I could sense Craig's private celebration being

rid of the single track and back on roads again.

The final leg was on foot and very short, maybe 1/2 mile up hill of course. We

were able to complete it in spite of the strange neuromuscular disorder that

Michelle had acquired while on bike. We were all pleased to complete the race in

1st place with a time of 6 hours and 1 min. the next competitor to finish was

the solo racer from Colorado 45-50 minutes later.

Things we learned 1) it pays to have a navigator that is racing in his backyard
(i equated this to Alpine Shop racing in Missouri ), 2) Craig discovered a
miracle juice called Perpetuem that gives you magical powers, 3)positive
attitudes are invaluable

Race Report Atomic 30 Hour Adventure Race

Atomic 30-Hour Adventure Race

Blue Ridge, Ga.   12-13 May 2012
Racers: Chris “Big Sexy” Spiller, Julie “Not too Butch” Lee, and David “Pain” O’Rear

By David O'Rear

The Rev3/MK Southeastern AR Team (AKA: Team Dysfunctional-Synergy) came together again for a second time in a little over a month to take on the turbulent Toccoa River and the Steep North Georgia Mountains.  This time our mission was Pangea Racing’s, 30 hours Atomic Adventure Race. The race course would take place in the high mountains of the Chattahoochee National Forest and centered on Blue Ridge Lake. The different race segments would take us 360 degrees around the lake, and through the towns of Blue Ridge and Morganton as well as slicing through the center along the Toccoa River.  The weather report called for rain and thunderstorms with wind, and temperatures that started in the 70s however would plunge into the 50s. The weather would end up being a huge factor for many in the race.

Packet pick-up and pre-race briefing was held the morning of the race. I personally wish more race directors would follow suit with this practice as it almost all but eliminated the pre-race evening marathon strategy sessions that usually lasts past midnight. I also like the idea of teams having to develop a race strategy in a compressed time setting rather than having hours and hours to pour over maps. I was also surprised to see that all CPs were pre-plotted on the maps. Map reading is an integral part of land navigation and accurate plotting of points is an important facet that can mean the difference between success and failure. Although convenient I would prefer that teams have to plot their own points. I think Julie and Chris were both surprised of my politeness as I offered to allow teams to jump the line in front of us at packet pick up…...heh….. (Inside joke, sorry). To the unfortunate sole that did……yep, I’m that guy that doesn’t like that….I just said what everyone else was thinking… I also got a chuckle out of Julie’s disclaimer for me…..”Sorry, he’s an Army guy”…. Priceless…

Deep thoughts at the pre-race briefing

Once we received our maps we spent a few minutes studying race layout and developing our strategy. The race seemed pretty straight forward. There was to be a short trekking prologue, followed by three Mountain Bike Segments that would be separated by two trekking/orienteering segments, with a paddling segment in the middle.  Parts of the biking and paddling segment followed the same areas used during the Blue Ridge AR a month or so earlier. Although the points were in different locations it definitely was a confident booster as a few of our first CPs were on familiar terrain.  Even though this was only our second race together as a team we all felt very confident we would finish on the podium. Our strategy was simple, Use every minute of the 30 hours and collect all 40 points.

As we were called to the race start, teams stopped lakeside for race photos before moving to the starting line. We were decked out in the new Rev3/MK race kits which look incredible, and drew favorable comments. After a quick study of the prologue map we were issued at the line, the gun sounded, and we were off! Although we were one of the slower teams during the prologue at 39 minutes, we would quickly make up the lost time with a fast transition to the bike.

The first bike segment was mixture of paved and gravel roads, as well as about 10 or so miles of single/double track on the steep and rocky Flat Creek and Long Branch Loops and the Green Mountain Trail. It was on this segment where I miraculously avoided injury as my front wheel of my bike dropped into a well camouflaged hole sending me over the handle bars on to my head. I carried a pounding headache for several hours and managed to pick up some pretty hideous bruises on my inner thighs and shoulder to boot. This segment also included a river crossing requiring us to swim across a deep section the Toccoa River with our bikes. It was at this point where we realized we had passed all of the other teams save one in route to sweeping all 11 CPs in 5:23:00. Hats off to Julie for supplying the team with floaties to help float our bikes. How did she know I was a SpongeBob fan!

Julie Crossing the Toccoa

Although the navigation for the second trekking section was pretty easy, I made a tactical error which caused us to lose about 40 minutes. This error was the order in which we attacked the points. The route I selected was fast however it did require us to backtrack to avoid crossing the Toccoa a second time. Looking back with hindsight, I would eliminate the back tracking as we ended up crossing the river anyway as we realized on the ground it was much faster. We swept all five points in 3:13:00 and were still in the top two or three teams. We were right on schedule as planned with our goal of beginning the paddling segment before 6 pm to avoid going through the rapid sections of the river in the dark. Even though we had planned to portage around the biggest set of rapids there were still several sections of turbulent water we had to go through.

Unfortunately the rain had begun to fall and a constant wind was blowing. After an hour or so we were all soaked and cold. We were also very hungry as we had packed food only for eight hours and it was pretty obvious at this point we screwed the pooch on that one. The first CP we went quickly and as we were approaching the second CP which was manned, we were invited up to have a bowl of fresh chili and French bread. I’m generally a pretty focused competitor and try to take every time advantage I can. This however was too good to be true as Chris, Julie and I were all pre-hypothermic, and starving. The 10 extra minutes was well worth it. The water proved challenging however we continued to improve as we moved from rapid to rapid. Once we hit the big rapids we immediately portaged. This was a decision we had made prior since in our last race the decision to ride the rapids ended up in the famed Rev3 floating yard sale.  Once we were back in the river we were all surprised how well this segment was going. Then Chris made the statement that doomed us all. ” You know guys; this is the first time in a race I haven’t dumped in the canoe”.  That was all it took. At the next segment of rapids a hidden submerged rock pitched the canoe sideways and dumped all three of us in the drink! Damn…..  Soon after we hit the flat water and our next CP.  We threw on jackets and settled in for a long night of paddling.  Our next CP was ashore requiring us to locate an old cemetery and gravestone and record the date of death of the graves resident. After what seemed an eternity of searching we recorded our date, boarded the boat, and finished up the paddling only after finding our final CP and taking an extended tour looking for our transition area. I’m sure the residents of Blue Ridge thought the occupants of our little boat were slightly touched as Julie and I performed a little concert on the water. Highlights were our rendition of “Ole Black Water” “Thunder Road” and a very special performance by Julie of “Move like Jagger” which Chris and I both agree was better than the original. My advice is if you can’t sing well, sing loud! Funny what 6:53:00 of paddling in the rain will do to a person…..

Chris grabbing a CP

 After a change of clothing, food, and restocking of race nutrition and water we were off on the next bike section. This section would take 6:12:00 to complete and we would travel from one side of Blue Ridge Lake to the other before we would sweep all the points and make it climb up to the Brawley Mountain T/A. I think this was a very respectably time considering the time of night, fatigue, and two flat tires. Chris and I both agree that watching Julie fall asleep standing up was priceless.

The final Trekking segment would be where we finally would drop our first points. We simply ran out of time. We determined we would need three hours to get back to the finish on the final bike leg so we made the decision to go for only four of seven CPs.  We would unfortunately have to climb Brawley Mountain three times. Once we collected our CPs we moved back to Brawley Mountain one last time to our bikes (only after a second offering of Chili by the staff at the top). Trekking segment two: 4:22:00.

The final bike segment would take us back to the TA. Teams would have the option of collecting five points along the route back. It appears after nearly 24-27 hours at this point, many decided to hightail it to the finish. Unfortunately we determined we would only have time to gather four of the five CPs. A necessary decision but unfortunately hard to swallow at the time (Great call Chris).  Looking back it would have been a moot point since we would more than likely been over the time limit. Final Bike Time: 2:46:00

Overall it was a great race. The Pangea Race Staff did an outstanding job designing a course that was hard yet flowed very well. All transition locations were logical and points were for most part located as marked. I would recommend however a bit more effort should have been put in the post race activities. The food was great however it would have been nice to have some cover to eat under. Having volunteers, food, and competitors all under one pop-up shelter in the rain didn’t work well. The prospect of juggling a small, overloaded plate with a drink in the rain, standing in the mud after a 30 hour race made me not want to eat. Next was the award ceremony. Pangea needs some work on that one. Lots of teams out there racing, lots of first timers, lots of great finishes. The race staff seemed intent on promoting the Pangea Club as well as their races however only recognizing the top two teams at the finish seemed rather cheap. Just sayin…. Rev3 Epic does it right for sure!

Final Roll-up:

We finished in fourth place overall and 2^nd Place in the Coed Elite Division. We raced for 29 hours, 28 minutes. We spent 8 hours, 14 minutes trekking, 6 hours, 53 minutes paddling, and 14 hours, 21 minutes on the bike! We gathered 36 of 40 points. Only one team cleared all 40 points. Chris made some great calls and was a big help to me navigating at times when I would second guessed myself. Julie…what can I say. Girl can ride the sh*t out of a mountain bike. Who needs brakes, right?

Rev3/MK #2 Rev3 Epic Report

Rev 3/MK #2 Epic Adventure Race Report

Luray Va, 21-22 April 2012

Racers: John Courain, Aaron Courain, Bev Richardson, David O’Rear

Report By: David O'Rear

The Rev3 Epic Adventure Race was held 21-22 April 2012 at Shenandoah State Park in Luray Va. The race was conducted over a 28 hour period and teams covered nearly 100 miles via Canoe, Mountain Biking, Trekking and trail running, and orienteering. The Rev3/MK AR Teams had nearly every division covered with teams that promised strong finishes during the race.

Our team manager had put together an incredibly strong four person coed elite team with veterans Dave Ashley, Greg Voelkel, Ernie Lawas, and Britt Mason whom we all predicted would win. Our Team, Rev3/MK #2 was put together a few weeks before the race in an attempt to collect a second podium slot. Our team consisted of two incredibly strong and talented racers known to all of the Rev3 Team as “The Brothers”, John and Aaron Courain from New Jersey. Also brought in was Triathlete and Mountain biker Bev Richardson who was incredibly strong the entire race, and finally me as a navigator.

After a few email exchanges with each other we decided we would link up at the race expo.  I had only briefly met John and Aaron a few weeks prior at a training weekend but I was pretty confident I would recognize them. Bev and I had never met however I was on the lookout for in her words “short with a black cap” and she was on the lookout for short and old. We were able to link up, complete registration,  draw the maps, and plot our points. The race seemed pretty straight forward. River start, a bike segment followed by trekking all inside the park, then a long hike/bike segment, followed by the night orienteering course on Massanutten Mountain, then a bike segment back to the finish. Along the course there were 18 or so mandatory CPs and Transitions, and 16 or so optional CPs worth one or two points.  After a short discussion over the hood of John’s car, we were off to dinner to get acquainted and discuss race strategy.

At dinner we discussed the race. John would serve as the team captain, and would also head navigation along the river and inside the park as he seemed the most familiar with the trails and terrain in the park. My primary focus was cross country navigation and orienteering, specifically at night. The weather at the start promised to be warm and sunny however heavy rains and dropping temperatures were expected in the evening. This forecast was to hold true.

We met the next morning at the transition areas and Bev set up her transition at my Car and John and Aaron were right across from us. After our transition was set up we loaded busses and headed to the race start which would be a long river section. The mass start of the race was incredible. Over one hundred canoes and kayaks in the water at the same time promised to be interesting, especially for those unfortunate souls who decided to position themselves in the center of the flotilla. We opted to start on the outside near the far bank. Our race strategy for the start was to try and remain in the front pack. Having only come together as a team the night before this concerned me slightly as my memory flashed back to my race the previous weekend and getting swept downriver in a floating yard sale on the Toccoa River.

Once the starting horn sounded we were off. John and I immediately began paddling hard in a steady rhythm. We managed to start in the front quarter of the pack. After a short while we settled in a steady cadence and Bev and Aaron were right on our tail. Steadily we began to pick off teams in front of us one by one. After three or so miles we beached the boat and bagged our first mandatory CP. From CP1, a short mile or so trek led us to our first optional CP. Back in the boat we headed down river to a steep rock cliff face on the right side of the river for our next optional CP. We beached the boat right behind the Rev3/MK #1 team and scrambled up the cliff behind them.  We began our search and it was obvious after the first 20 minutes or so something was wrong. This came to be a tactical error for us as we searched for this point for nearly 45 minutes before we decided to drop the point. We scrambled back down the cliff, boarded the boats and off we went with an early missed point obviously weighing heavily on us. It seemed most of the coed elite teams made the same error as us so we were all in similar circumstances.  As we paddled 100 yards or so down river, low and behold off on the right bank was the missing CP. John quickly grabbed the point and we were off to the next mandatory CP and our first challenge which was very simple. We had to fill a 5-gallon container that was located 50 yards from the bank as fast as possible without moving the bucket. Using my dry bag, we were able to fill the bucket in two trips, get our photo taken and make it back to the boats quickly as many teams were using nalgene bottles or bailers. We picked up our paddling cadence quickly and after a short time and a quick stop for our third mandatory CP we were making up lost time and steadily passing teams down river. It never occurred to me our team would be strong on the water however it was obvious to all of us, and the teams we passed, we were very strong on the water as we made reasonable quick work of the 15 miles of paddling and came through the Compton Rapids section unscathed, clearing all five CPs.

After a quick and surprisingly painful portage of the canoe, and a short run to the TA, we began to prepare for the bike section inside the park. This was to be our strongest area as all four of us were strong cyclists and three of us had ridden the park a month prior. The three mandatory points, CPs 5,6,and 7 were all located on the fast and rolling Bear Bottom Loop. After sweeping these, we were off to the three optional points which were scattered randomly on opposite ends of the park trails. After clearing the 15 mile bike section we were quickly back to the TA transitioning to the trekking portion inside the park.

We estimated the trekking portion to be approximately 9-10 miles and should take no longer than two hours to clear the four mandatory, and three optional CPs. We started at a brisk pace and it was at this point I began to feel as I was dragging slightly. Although I wasn’t overly concerned I did let John and Aaron know that I would have to ease off the pace.  With a lot of trail running and some light bushwhacking, the trekking portion took just shy of two hours to complete and we were back at TA 1 for the last time before setting off for the Hike/Bike section and the night O-course. 

Once we had restocked with food, and our bike gear, we had our next challenge before leaving the TA1. We were fastened by the wrist to a rope and had to negotiate along this rope which was running through several open ended barrels as well as under and around several picnic tables. I lead off first having no issues squeezing through the obstacles.  It appeared Bev was making easy work of it as well however I must admit it was comical watching John and Aaron twisting and maneuvering their 6 ft plus frames through those tight squeezes.  After the challenge, and a second picture we were almost 40 miles into the race, in pretty good position, and headed back for the Hike/Bike segment of the race.

Once we were off on our bikes once again, we were headed up the grueling climb to Veech Gap. All was well initially however about a mile into the climb I began to feel as I was falling off the pace quickly. I couldn’t believe that I was actually struggling. This had a huge negative psychological effect on me as I considered the bike to be my strongest event, and only a month prior I ripped up Veech Gap quite easily on my single speed. Although a novice at adventuring racing, after years of racing experience I consider myself a pretty seasoned competitor.   I tried to convince myself this was only a rough patch and to just keep turning the cranks and I would work through it. Deep down inside however I knew something was amiss.  I told myself that once we were off the road and on the trail I would get back on pace however once I hit the steep section it was even more obvious that I was really struggling and I was actually pushing my bike. I felt horrible. Not only physically, but mentally as well as I wasn’t used to being the slow guy.  Looking back on it now I understand there were many factors that led up to where I was at that point but the plain and simple fact was this, for the last 7-8 hours I had been racing at a pace that was too fast for me to maintain for 30 hours.  Of course nobody recognized this fact since this was the first time we had raced together. This is where racing experience together pays off.

Once I made it to the top of Veech Gap, Bev, John, and Aaron were waiting and I really appreciated their understanding however I know they were probably feeling somewhat frustrated. As the descent began I began to feel better but I knew it was to be a long night for me.  At the bottom of the Veech descent we stopped  at the Little Crease Shelter to park the bikes and bushwhack up a steep hill to grab our first optional CP for this section. Then we were off on the Little Crease Mountain Trail for our second optional CP. I did make a tactical navigational error thinking we had passed the CP, I turned the whole team around and backtracked at bit before realizing my error after a recommendation from John and Aaron. After a while we came upon several teams that according them had been looking for the point for while.  At this point I knew exactly where we were and after a short traipse through the woods we grabbed the point, and were back on our bikes with several teams in tow up Mudhole Gap. At the top of the Gap we grabbed two other optional CPs, and decided to head toward the crossroads turn to TA 2. At that point we would readdress our strategy as we had to be at the TA before midnight. Once at the crossroads John made the wise call to go straight to the TA. I carried that decision on my shoulders for the remainder of the race as I continued to drag on the bike. We decided to take our time at the TA and get as dry as possible as the rain had began to fall and the temperature was dropping.

Once we were changed we were off! The night O-course was 12 points spread over a vast area. After plotting the points the day prior I was confident we would have no trouble navigating through this section. We did make one strategic error that would come back to haunt us at the very end. CP 1 was located at Woodstock Lookout Tower. I wanted to bag that one first however after a team decision we decided to get that one last. Deep down inside I would have preferred not to have that one hanging over our heads at the very end since it was out of our way, and I would have preferred to knock that one out at the beginning. Nevertheless we were on our way and made the first three CPs which were close to the TA easily passing many teams that appeared to be wandering through the brush aimlessly.  Next, we were off, up the Powell Mountain Trail  to the top of Green Mountain. I tried to get us up a short cut by gouging up the side of the mountain however a short effort of trying to bully our way through Mountain Laurel, we decided to move back to the trail. 

Near the Top of Walters Gap we ran into a team of my Army buddies who had given up looking for CP6 located above Walters Gap. I have to admit snickering inside  as we made it to the top and located the point easily. This was to be the case for all of the O-course as our navigation was spot-on the entire O-course! After bagging the points on Goliday’s Gap, Opechee Peak,  and the three CPs located on the rock precipices south of Waonaze Peak we were headed back towards the TA grabbing our final CP before heading to the TA and back towards the CP located at the tower. As we began gouging our way up toward the tower my heavy legs reminded of how I had wished we had grabbed that CP first. Finally we made to the tower and back to the TA to the bikes for the trip back up and over Veech Gap. Surprisingly enough once on the bike I felt my legs back under me as we began the grind up the Gap. One thing I did not anticipate however was my behind was soooo sore I could not even sit on the saddle.

Coming into the finish I think we all were relieved the race was over. We were all wet, tired, and cold. After a failed wheelie attempt at the finishline, a couple of finish line pictures we had a couple of hours to get cleaned and changed and ready for the awards.

After 24:52 we managed to locate 40 CPs which earned us an 7^th place in the coed elite division. Although somewhat disappointing initially, once I looked at the overall standings we finished 8^th which is pretty respectable when you consider 60 teams started the race.

All of the Rev3/MK Teams did wonderful, earning podium finishes. Our Rev3/MK #1 team won the coed elite division as predicted. Rev3/MK members also earned  1^st Solo Female, 1^st Two-person Female, 1^st Four-person Male, and 2^nd Two-person male. I want to say thanks to my Teammates, John and Aaron Courain who are both super studs and have unlimited talent in this sport, and Bev Richardson who is an incredible racer in her own right and has an indomitable spirit, even at 3 am in the rain (and she also put up with my off-color sense of humor for nearly 30 hours).  Great job to Mike, Mark and the all of the Rev3 race staff, who managed to put on a truly Epic event and somehow packed an awful lot of the 100 mile race into a small park.

Rev3 Epic Adventure Race

April 21-22, 2012

Racers: Britt Mason, Ernie Lawas, Dave Ashley and Greg Voelkel

The Rev3/Mountain Khakis Adventure Racing team sent multiple teams to compete in the Rev3 Epic.  Our team consisted of four experienced racers who had never raced together, but included Britt, one of the fastest female racers out there; Ernie, fast, skilled and with tons of experience; Dave, an outstanding navigator, and Greg, a strong climber on both foot and bike.  Together we hoped to compete with the likes of Team SOG, the defending USARA National Champions, and all of the other major East Coast teams, ImOnPoint, Goals ARA, and Team Halfwaythere to name a few. 
We rallied at check in Friday night, received our maps and started plotting and planning our route.  While the first few sections were fairly straightforward, we spent much of the evening discussing strategies to clear the optional checkpoints after what we guessed would be a late evening departure from TA1.  The optional checkpoints could be done in any order, on bike or on foot and some were worth 2 points.  We also knew that some sections of trail were not made for mountain bikes and getting stuck on one of those late in the race could nullify any great work we had done up to that point. 

The race began with a mass “epic” start on the Shenandoah River.  We stayed close to the front and paddled hard to the first CP.  We stayed with the lead pack on the mile run up a hill for CP A then re-entered the canoes to head downriver toward the next optional CP B.  This CP was marked near the river and described as a cliffside campground.  We figured since it was optional, it must be tough to get.  As we approached the area where we expected the CP, there was a steep 100’ cliff. The team in front of us portaged and started scrambling up the cliff.  We soon followed on the treacherous scramble.  Rocks flew down the gully as more as more teams followed.  After 30 minutes of running around the woods and private property at the top of the cliff, teams started to give up.  We headed back down where Dave and Britt waded upriver to get the canoes as Ernie and Greg tried one more area by the water.  Teams were all spread out at this point and no one knew if anyone had found CP B.  As we rounded the next bend in our canoes, CP B was right there in plain sight on the side of the river.  30 minutes lost but oh well, clearing the course was still possible. Next came the Class 2 rapids which put some water in the canoes but didn’t slow us down.  At CP 2 we used the trash bags that had failed to keep our Camelbacks dry to fill the water buckets of the first special challenge.  A long paddle followed to the Transition Area.  We kept a fast pace, passing other teams that had bypassed the cliffs earlier.  At the TA, we learned that all of the top teams had gotten delayed at CP B and we were currently the first place Coed team!  We followed a string up and over benches and through barrels to complete the 2^nd special challenge and were soon on our way out into Shenandoah River State Park for some great mountain biking.  Other coed teams were already in transition as we headed out.

The trails in the park were a blast.  Besides a few tough climbs, they were fast and rolling.  We hit all three mandatory CPs and the three optional CPs, covering about 10 miles.  Dave’s route worked perfect with a couple of short bushwhacks to save time.  Soon we were back at TA1, swapping bike shoes for running shoes for an 8+ mile trek. Heading back out into the park, we were still in 1^st place.  We picked up a CP on a trail bridge and another on an island on our way out to the furthest point for this section.  That point was at the end of a steep trail near a parking lot where we were met with gunfire; yes, I said gunfire.  Greg hit the deck and yelled at the rednecks to stop shooting while the rest of the team wondered if Greg was yelling because he had been shot.  The rednecks held their fire long enough for Greg to punch the CP and get the heck out of there.  Again, Dave’s route through the park was flawless as we picked up the other three CPs, used the same bushwhack from the bike section and headed back to TA1.  Back at the TA, we learned that Team SOG and ImOnPoint had arrived a few minutes before us.
The sun was getting low on the horizon, the rain had just started to fall, and the top three teams were all in transition.  We were at our cars for the last time and loading our packs for the next 18 hours.  The warm up was over; it was time to adventure race.
The next section was a 1500’ climb on the bikes to the top of Massanutten Mountain and through Veach Gap.  After a brutal “hike a bike” for the last section, we hit the top of the ridge.  We flew down the wet, rocky trail to the cabin where we planned to trek up a hill for CP I.  A few other bikes were already there, but we followed a good bearing right to the CP.  Our initial plan for the next CP was to run the trail, but in the first 400 meters, we determined it was ridable and ran back to get our bikes.  The trail wasn’t as nice as the first 400 meters but we rode and pushed our bikes up the trail.  Another team followed and pushed slightly ahead, they completely bypassed the CP as we punched and headed back down to Veach Gap as night fell in the valley.
We weaved through the valley roads on our bikes and started the next big climb through Mine Gap and up towards TA2.  With over three hours until the TA2 cutoff, we bypassed transition to get more optional CPs on the bike while our legs still had some twitch left.  We figured the 18 mile trek afterwards would give us some time to “rest.” The next 1200’ decent and subsequent climb was tough, but we picked up two CPs, one worth 2pts, and headed to TA2 to check in and get our O-Course passport.  After three 1000’+ climbs on the bike we needed all the food we could get to prevent bonking, but amazingly, we were all still going strong.  Britt passed around some tasty Power Bar Energy Blast chews which kept us going throughout the night and Dave tried to get us to challenge our stomachs with some bacon.

Our first stop was to enjoy the view at the top of Woodstock Tower, unfortunately it was dark.  We then began the long slog down the main ATV trail, minus ATVs.  The pace counts were brutal and prevented us from talking, but Britt stayed occupied looking for salamanders along the trail.  Eventually, we figured out that the signs along the trail were km markers which helped considerably with the pace counts.  We finally found the “white” trail behind a bulldozed section off the trail and started to hit some CPs.  The mountain top points were exciting breaks from the long slog down the ATV trails.  At one mountain top CP, three teams stood at the bottom of some cliffs, trying to find an easy way up.  Greg scaled up the cliff and punched the CP while the other teams watched and we were quickly off to the next point.  Dave and Ernie did a great job keeping us on track and we rolled through Edinburg Gap to an optional CP and back up to the ATV trail.  The long trek was becoming a blur at this point in the night as we followed Dave’s Lupine light beam down the trail. The rest of us needed to power down our lights to save batteries.  We moved at a speed walking pace up the ATV trail with only a couple more CPs left to get on the way back but at least 8 or 9 miles to go.  After about 10 minutes of confusion at the blue trail and creek intersection, a brain cell kicked in to remind us of the pre-race brief that O-Course CP5 had been removed.  Oh well, if it had still been there, we would have gotten that one too.  We pressed on as the km markers slowly passed, picked up the last CP of the O-Course and stumbled back in to TA2. 
At this point, with the course lay out, there was no way to tell where we stood in the race.  We figured we could be third but really had no idea.  We still had 5 optional CPs to punch and in 6 hours we would have to be finished or risk losing a CP for every minute we arrived past noon.  The good news was that the sun was starting to rise, but the bad news was starting to pile up.  First, we were really low on water and dehydration was setting in.  Second, as we grabbed our bikes to roll out of the TA, Greg realized that the hiss he thought he heard eight hours earlier was not a hallucination.  His front tire was flat.  Ernie did an amazing job changing the flat in what seemed like about three minutes. Now we were off.  We took a left at the first ‘Y’ intersection, but it was the wrong road.  More time lost as well as wasted effort.  Still low on water, we were starting to get a little frustrated.  We eventually found the trail to go up the hill to CP K.  It was much longer and steeper than we would have liked, but we got it and pressed on.  Luckily CP O was at a “Mudhole” where we were able to fill our water bottles and camelbacks.  A short wait for purification, and we started to rehydrate just in time for the climb to Signal Knob. 
The ride to Signal Knob included some technical riding on the trail around a lake and on the approach up the mountain which turned into “hike a bike” and finally “drop a bike and hike.”  From the top of Signal Knob, our decision from the discussions the night before looked clear. Although it was shorter to get to the last two CPs via the Massanutten and Meneka Peak trails, it was not something you wanted to mtn bike.  With only 3 hours left until race cutoff time, we stayed on our known path back to CP O and then the purple trail towards CP M.  The first part was technical with four creek crossings and made us nervous as the minutes ticked away.  Finally, we hit gravel road and rode rolling hills until a steep descent to the CP.  The ride took longer than we expected and there were less than 2 hours until the cutoff. The last CP was another long climb up a potentially unridable trail and then a trek to a mountain top.  It was an easy, unanimous decision to skip it and head home. 
By this point, we were done with nutrition; it was time get home and let adrenaline keep us going until we got there.  A climb back to the Mudhole, down through Mine Gap, across the valley and back to Veach Gap.  The last climb took forever as we rode and then pushed our bikes up through the rocks.  The rain poured on us and the cold temperatures finally started to break down our body temps.  Not that it mattered, we were almost there.  Summiting the ridge, we all breathed easier.  Just don’t fall and your way home. The rocks were wet and the brakes squealed but we cruised down the trail towards the finish line.  It was amazing how strong all of us had been throughout the entire 26 hours.  As we rolled across low water bridge with 27 minutes to spare, we soon learned we were the last team to cross the finish line, but the team with the most checkpoints!  1^st place Co-ed and 1^st place Overall! It’s great win for Rev3/MK against some of the toughest competition in the country. 
Congrats to everyone on the team for their efforts as well as the other Rev3/MK teams for their strong finishes and a great showing for the entire Rev3/MK team.
Thanks to Mike and Mark, their families, and all the volunteers for putting on a very professional race with a great course.

 

Post-race, we all huddled up with blankets and a space heater and held off hypothermia.  It’s amazing how your body can shut down when it knows it is done.  Ernie was taking a nap in his car, but we picked up his Rev3 Epic Conqueror glass and our 1^st place winnings at the awards before taking hot showers and putting on our Mountain Khaki pants for the trip home.

High Profile Adventure Camp & Lightning Strikes 8 Hr Adventure Race

March 23-25, 2012
Racers: John Hohenberger, Britt Mason, Cory Mason

The Central Team made its first 2012 appearance at the 6th High Profile Adventure Racing Camp, a training grounds for adventure racers beginner to advanced capped with an 8 hour race testing everyone’s skills. Britt and Cory made the trip out Friday while John joined up mid-day Saturday.

On Friday, Britt and Cory arrived and got settled into their cabin. Britt was the only female in a full 16-bunk cabin (just like being at the fire station!). After getting settled in, they attended presentations covering paddling, mountain biking, and navigation. Saturday morning was spent doing paddling practice on the Mississippi River and an orienteering course in the Mississippi Palisades. Saturday afternoon focused on ropes training – a short presentation on the basics of zip lines, rappelling, ascending and tyrolean traverses. The field work was much more exciting as we set up our rigging, worked our ascenders, rappelled, zipped over the river, and watched Cory eat it on the slack line over the water.

After all the training was complete, Robyn Benincasa (Britt’s adventure racing hero) gave a great presentation on the value of team work. Everyone laughed and was amazed at her experiences in global adventure races and how her teams were able to overcome numerous challenges time and again. This was specially fitting for the Rev3/Mountain Khakis as it was the first time that Britt, Cory and John would be racing together!

About 10pm, instructions and maps were finally handed out for the Lightning Strikes AR. There were 22 CPs and all had to be done in order except for the prologue. The race was broken up pretty nicely:

CP 1-3 Orienteering prologue
CP 4 Canoe
CP 5-6 Biking
CP 7-14 Orienteering
CP 15-16 Biking
CP 17-22 Orienteering / Ropes

We received three maps for the race covering everything but the mid-race orienteering section. Britt took charge with the maps, plotting a few points and determining our routes of travel. It went quickly and we were ready for a few Zs.

Morning came quickly. We met up for our bike drop at 5:30 and temperatures were already approaching 50 degrees. Mother Nature was on our side. Highs were going to hit mid 70s for mid-March!

The race started Sunday at 7am after a few pre-race photos and last minute advice from Robyn. With the gun, Britt and John raced to pick up a canoe from the pavilion down to the river. Cory carried our paddles and life jackets for the three of us. The path down to the river was fairly narrow and there was a little bumping and grinding. We dropped our canoe at the river with the lead teams turning our attention to the prologue.

All three CPs were across the river without a bridge. No one hesitated and Britt had the team running along the river bank for the first CP. We quickly cleared the 3 CPs and were back at our canoe. A few spectators cheered us on and word came that we were the first coed team but behind a male team.


Looking to move quickly, we hopped in the canoe quickly looking to head down our 3 mile canoe in shallow waters. As soon as we jumped in the canoe – SPLASH!!! We flipped immediately. Even though the water was only a few feet deep, we were soaked and even worse, we were passed while emptying the canoe. Back in the boat, we took a little more conservative approach. While snaking back and forth, the river turned into more of a stream only a couple inches deep. At least a half dozen times, the boat hit ground and the three of us got out to walk the boat downstream. Without further event, the three of us finished the short canoe at CP 4.

Britt, Cory and John were all glad to put the canoe in the rearview mirror and quickly transitioned to bikes. At this point, we knew there was a coed team ahead of us and we needed to make up ground. We were biking mostly hard packed dirt roads to CP 5 and 6. With only 13 miles to the orienteering section, there was little time to make up ground. We got a break coming across the lead coed team as they had bike trouble. At CP 5, we passed our way into first as the male team overshot the CP. We finished the bike greeted with the news we were in first place!

Excited by the positive news, we picked up our new map, quickly assessing routes that would take us through the next several checkpoints. Britt led us straight to the first CP. From there, Britt and John managed the maps following some trails, bushwhacking to other CPs. Without any big misses, we finished CP 12 with the male team watching our moves for clues. We knew we didn’t have much of a lead and had to keep moving in a hurry. With the male team following quickly, we completed the orienteering, switched to bikes and made it out of the TA in first place.

Biking 10 miles back to the start, we made a quick stop to pick up our paddles. All along the way, we kept pushing to keep distance on the chasing teams, using a solid pace line most of the time.

We dropped our bikes at CP 16, next to the start, and put on our harnesses for the upcoming ropes section – the only thing separating us from the win. We knew each of these CPs was going to be challenging. We slid down a slick rock re-entrant to get to CP 17. Then after stomping through the river, we found CP 18 in a tight crevice – Cory had to drop his pack in order to squeeze in and out. CP 19 was in a cave back at the river. The cave entrance looked small, but as we turned our headlamps on, it had to have been 100 yards deep. Hitting the CP, we startled a bat that went flying past us. We were greeted by by 2 teams heading into the cave as we were heading out! We only had a couple minutes on them with 4 CPs to go.

Britt and John picked a route back across the river and up the rock outcropping to CP 20 and a zip line. We knew the zip line was single file to keep the teams behind us, but the ascent and rappels at CP 21 & 22 had a few lines. The race was going to come down to who could ascend the 100 foot wall the fastest. The race was on!

Britt had her slings ready for the zip line and was the first to shoot down. John was next with the desire to win outweighing his fear of heights. Cory was right behind. Hitting CP 21, Britt made quick work of the ascension. John started working his way up the line while Britt rappelled down the second face. John finished the ascent and moved over to the rappel. While Cory worked up the line, Britt and John set a course to the finish as the male team hooked up for their first ascent. The run to the finish was less than a mile, and Cory kept our lead strong. Fighting off the unusual warmth, the team crossed the finish line in 5:44. Rev3/Mountain Khakis won the Lightning Strikes, qualifying for USARA Nationals and picking up $500 toward the race.

A huge thank you goes out to the race director, Gerry Voelliger, for putting on an outstanding AR camp and race, along with his team of volunteers, presenters, and Camp Benson staff. The time and effort they put into making this camp and race exciting and successful was incredible!

2012 Counting Coup - Picto Blog

NYARA 6hr Fools Rogaine

 By Sarah Leshner

Dave at 1st CP

Yesterday I did my first official adventure race -- the 6hr Fool's Rogaine in Ringwood NJ held by NYARA. It was AWESOME!!  I highly recommend adventure racing for anyone looking for a new kind of challenge. I didn't even know what adventure racing was until I was approached by Champion System, which is a sponsor of the ACT (Athletic Celebrity Team).  I am on that team primarily to compete in triathlons, and because I was on The Amazing Race on CBS a couple of years ago. Champion System then invited me to be part of a 4-woman all ex-reality TV team to compete in the 26hr Rev3 Epic Adventure Race (same organization as Rev3 triathlons, which I love). The idea is to show the world we're tougher than people think... Good luck to us :)

Points on Map

Anyway, I did the race this weekend as prep for that race. An adventure race is a multi-disciplinary search through a park or woods for points / controls that have been hidden... typically, you have some type of paddle section (canoe / kayak), mountain biking, and running. The race I did consisted of a bike portion with 9 hidden "controls" and a portion on foot with 25 controls. Oh, but to make it more challenging, the map we were given (you always use a topographical map to navigate) had 100 points marked on it!!!!  (meaning, 75 points were fake)   Ugggghhhhh April Fools.

I raced with a friend who was also a novice. The first challenge we had was renting mountain bikes (not one shop in Manhattan would rent them)... then grocery shopping for what we thought we may want to eat during 6hrs of racing (we burned 24,000 calories, so we needed more than just gels and gu's)... figuring out appropriate wardrobe, etc. Once we arrived and checked in, I was pretty intimidated and afraid we wouldn't be able to find any of the points. My spirits quickly picked up, though :)

Happy Finisher

The whole experience really reminded me of The Amazing Race. The dynamic of having to work with your partner and not self-destruct... the sense of unknown and not having any idea what you might encounter... and most importantly, the rush of finally finding a point!  That is the best feeling in the world. You've been searching and searching and finally you come upon it... it´s just like the rush of finding a cluebox on The Amazing Race (minus the cameras in your face and chance to win a million dollars).  You feel so excited, so proud, so motivated to keep going.

We had an AMAZING experience, and both decided we want to do another adventure race soon!  I think my friend is now signing up for the Rev3 Epic Adventure Race too!