Black Bear Adventure Race 2014

Race Report for Black Bear Adventure Race Sept 6^th 2014 By Jesse Tubb

           

Fellow Rev3 teammate, Chris Meewes, and I had a solid plan for the day; hope that by combining our relatively limited experience we could pull off a successful race.   Maybe not so solid, but we figured we’d have fun trying at any rate.  That ironclad plan disintegrated when an old injury resurfaced and sidelined Chris, which left me to decide whether to team up with one of other Rev3 teams racing that day or plunge into the race solo and hope that I could manage on my own.  I love a challenge and the thought of experiencing an Adventure Race solo excited me and if nothing else I’d walk away with more knowledge and experience.

            Of the many things I learned, one of the most important is to make sure you stick around during the race brief and to keep your ears open and get clarification on anything you might have questions about.  If you’re unsure about something then, it’s not going to become any clearer during the race.  Information was trickling out weeks before about various aspects of the race and many of those were changing by the minute during the two-hour check-in and race brief.  Check points were taken off the course, new cutoff times were added and the ropes course was eliminated among others.  I also happen to hear some questions posed to the RD by individuals while plotting points that ended up saving some precious time and energy during the race.  Knowledge is king in these races and when you’re out on your own in the middle of the woods, you never know what nugget of info will save you.  One of the Rev3 teams took off shortly after checking in because it wasn’t clear if and when there would be an official race brief.  Luckily for them the other Rev3 team and I stuck around and was able to relay valuable intel.  They would later be able to more than return the favor to me. 

            I arrived into the area earlier that day and secured several maps of local parks, trails, and roads to supplement the maps given at registration for all four of the Rev3 teams racing.  Some proved to be more helpful than others.  Still, better to have too many maps than be missing the one you really need.  In previous races I had been using a teammates map holder and since he was racing as a two man with someone else I borrowed his other, much smaller, holder.  This turned out to be a much worse idea than it sounds.  We had used this on our first 26 hour race and had decided it was too small and I forgot just how small it was.  Time to get one of my own.  I had also failed to bring several key items like sunscreen and fixin’s for PB and J among others and having some teammates to “borrow” from helped tremendously. 

             Once at the house we clarified as much as we could and debated route choices; head straight for the water and paddle on calmer waters then backtrack several km to hit the land CPs, or get the points in relative order which meant hitting the single track O course then hope you can make it to the water in time then pick your path on roads from there.  Several of the experienced teams decided to hit the water first including two Rev3 teams; the 3 man and the co-ed 4 person team.  But swayed by the logic of the 2 man team, which consisted of my good friend and fellow Rev3er, Travis Siehndel and one of his friends he dragged into his first AR, I decided to go in order and go straight to the trails.  This ended up being a wise choice as a lot of the teams that went to the water first had a difficult time in the O course doing it reverse and ended up having some trouble finding some CPs.  This was also helpful because we had stashed food and water with the boats hoping to resupply a little ways into the race.  The teams that headed straight to the water ended up getting there 30 mins into the race and had no need for anything there.  Those of us who opted to hit the water later found it helpful having sucked down a good amount of water and food by then. 

            The morning of the race was cold and very dark.  I pulled into the parking lot and realized I didn’t pack my head light.  Add this to the growing list of gear to bring next time.  Especially when driving to a race, you can’t bring enough gear I’m learning.  This race was 78% bike, 20% water and 2% on foot so I lubed up my chamois, rode my bike a bit to give it one final check and headed to the start of the race ready to feel the burn in my legs and see what the day would bring.  Beautiful weather and a fun and challenging course is what awaited me and I enjoyed most of every minute.  Racing solo brings a new set of challenges including a lot of silence.  I’m used to training by myself on long runs/rides so this wasn’t too much of as issue but I was glad this was only a 12 hr race. 

There was a ½ mile prologue on foot to spread things out and I set out nice and steady knowing that the day would not be decided by the outcome of this stage.  At the same time I know that running is where I’m strongest so I made sure that I was near the front when we got to CP1 so I didn’t get too bogged down in the bottle neck there.  I jogged back up to the bikes and felt like I didn’t expend myself too much and was one of the first people out on the bike.  I ended up being the first person to the bike O course since the others teams decided to head straight for the water and made my way into the trail system to start knocking off some CPs.  Easier said then done sometimes.  I had mistakenly plotted the CPs in the actual trail system thinking that since the clue for two of them was trail intersection that they must be in the maze of trails just inside the park, not the trails paralleling the main gravel road and intersecting with unmaintained trails not marked on the maps.  Assume nothing.  I rode for about 10 mins and decided to head to CP3 which was in a rock climbing section clearly marked in the park in hopes that I would find some CPs along the way.  I followed signs for the climbing section and when I got there I couldn’t find CP 3 on top of any of the boulders there as indicated by the FB pic posted earlier in the week.  I spent another 10 mins looking and finally decided I needed to head to the park trailhead and attack the park with a different game plan.  I ended up running into the 2 man Rev3 team on the trail opposite the gravel road and they informed me CP4 was just ahead and that it was indicated not by the standard white and orange box, but by a red tube.  This was the case for a couple of other CPs, which would’ve been helpful to know before hand but in the end it didn’t make that much difference.  We teamed up for a bit and spread out to search for CP 5 which had eluded several teams and after several minutes of bushwhacking I found it and called my fellow Rev3er’s over to punch in and we went our separate ways since we had other CPs to find.  I ended up finding CP 2 on the way to CP 3, which was located just to the south in the climbing area of where I had just been.  Thanks again to my teammates for clueing me that there was another trail access to the climbing area from the gravel road. 

            From there I rode the sweet single track up to CP 6 on the bridge and ran into my buddies once again as we headed up the river to punch in at CP 7.  The three of us continued up to where CP 8 was and at a fork in the trail they headed right and I decided to try the lower trail despite my lack of success so far, I was reasonably sure that I should at least try the lower trail which would probably end at the river in less than a mile and back track if necessary.  About ½ mile down trail I ran into the CP and tried to head back to let my friends know to repay the earlier favor but there were several turn offs and now way to know which way they’d gone.  I found a small single track that lead up the where I thought CP10 was and ended up crisscrossing back and forth trying to determine which direction I was supposed to go.  After 15 mins of this I finally realized which way was correct and rode out.  On the way I ran into, you guessed it, my buddies again and we rode up to CP 10 together and headed down the roads to hit CP 11 and CP 12 where we got into our respective boats.  I was able to secure a kayak from another teammate instead of renting one supplied by the race, which the 2 man team ended up doing.  This, in the end, would cost them 20 mins on the water.  The added strength gained by having two guys paddling was greatly outweighed by having a sub standard boat.  Add that to the ever-growing list of lessons learned and applied going forward.  I got back onto the bike after 2 hours on the water and headed to the next park, which is where the only long section on foot would be.  I got a nice jog in and hopped back onto the bike to continue to get CP 15 and 16.  On the way to securing the only CP in West Virginia I ran into, no, not the 2 man Rev3 team, but the 3 man ARMD A team.  I had meet one of the team members on a previous race and we chatted it up while enjoying the beautiful views from the valley.  We rode out to the road and it looked like we would be parting ways since they had planned on back tracking into a residential road to hit the next park entrance when I reminded them that it was a gated community which was one of only two areas off limits and actually impassable for us.  So we continued on together and I had planned on riding around the mountains to enter the park from the north but they had decided to bike whack straight up the hill.  Two of the guys on the team have years more experience than me navigating and racing so I decided to try it with them and see if I could learn a few things from them.  What a lesson it was.  They were rock solid on their nav and hit the saddle right in between the two peaks that both had a CP on top.  We dropped the bikes, which I never would’ve done on my own, and were able to spread out and find all the CPs in the park.  All but one…CP 19.  This will haunt the RD and the race for years to come.  Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but we had been warned by other teams not to even bother looking for it.  Some teams with reputations for excellent nav skills had spent more than an hour looking with no success.  We had to at least try.  There was still plenty of time left in the race and nothing to lose.  When we got to the area there were four teams, ten or more people, all of whom had been there attacking the hill from numerous angles with no luck.  We spent 20 minutes looking and decided that with this much man power and hours at work that the odds were not in our favor and to hit the finish in time to drain as much of the keg waiting for us as possible.

 

            The roads were wet but the descents were fun and steep so we cautiously cruised down and enjoyed the stunning back roads and nasty climbs out of the valley we just rolled down into.  We found ourselves back at Mountain State Brewery where there was indeed plenty of beer left since we were the third and fourth team back. 

            Out of the 21 teams only 2 found CP 19, which they admittedly found by accident since it was misplotted.  CP 19 was worth 3 pts when combined with CP 18 while only having CP 18 was worth 0 and thus sealed my fate.  I ended up finishing 2^nd in the solo cat and 3^rd overall, finishing behind the only two teams to stumble upon CP 19.  All in all, I was really happy with the outcome and felt like I had learned as much as I had hoped for.  I’ll definitely race solo again but it was sure nice having friendly racers to help you out on the trails.