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