2012 Checkpoint Tracker National Championship

Rev3/MK race fans, I noticed we didn't have a copy of the blog from the CPT-Tracker Nationals race.  Here it is, thanks to Jeff Dickey.  Apologies it was delayed from last October!  ~Dash

2012 Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Race National Championships

By Jeff Dickey

Date: September 28/29
Location: Oak Hill, WVa.
Conditions: 50s-70s - rain for 20+ hours - mud, puddles, brambles, jumping fish
Disciplines: Orienteering, river rafting (Class III-V rapids), riverboarding (Class I-II/III rapids), trekking/trail running, mountain biking
Distance: Approx 100 miles - up to 28 hours to complete
Place: 4th, Co-Ed Elite
Food: 22 GU packets; 12 nuun tablets

Last Thursday, I made the 6 hour drive from DC to the New River Gorge area of West Virginia for the 2012 Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Race National Championships.  I chugged Nuun throughout the drive to get myself well hydrated and topped up on electrolytes for the upcoming 28 hour race.

I was moonlighting with the Rev3/Mountain Khakis, a team I used to race with more consistently, but now I sometimes race with in either the winter/early spring or fall. 

I've been adventure racing for about 10 years now, so it's not too bad to just jump into a long distance event without much prep work.  I've done some races with limited training, and still survived, but those kind of events hurt.  Here's a writeup from one of those type events:  http://www.zdap.com/racereports/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5014

Luckily for me, I was going into the Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Race National Championships with more preparation and a heck of a lot better fitness!

The long range weather for the Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Race National Championships looked great, with mild temperatures and only a few showers forecast -- we were sadly let down as it rained for more than 75% of the race.

Collecting gear (and teammates) seemed to be a the biggest challenge for this event.  One of the discplines was riverboarding.  Riverboards are hard to come by, and the place the team had ordered them from, still hadn't delivered on the order, despite ordering them 3-weeks before the race.  We ended up with 3 good riverboards for a team of 4...

I decided to race this event on my good race bike, my Scott Scale RC.  I usually raced adventure races on my nearly 17 year old 26 inch hardtail (transport of bikes between checkpoints by race management in a big box van can sometimes be rough on bikes), but after switching to 29er wheels this year, I couldn't stand going back.

Just before the pre-race meeting Thursday night, I met up with my teammates, Dave Ashley (an Air Force Lt. Colonel stationed in Florida), with whom I'd raced a bunch of times before and new teammates Julie Lee (from Tennessee; new to adventure racing, but a good athlete) and Bev Richardson (from Charlottesville, VA; also new to adventure racing (through she'd done one 4 day event earlier in 2012), but with a strong endurance racing background).

L-R - Jeff, Julie, Dave, Bev

We had a short gear check to test our ability to use a safety throw rope in the water:

Dave, aiming for the fences...

At the pre-race meeting after our gear check, the race director, Ronnie Angell, ENTHUSIASTICALLY (yes, he has a very loud voice and he's totally amped up all the time!) filled us in generally about the course and said he didn't believe that any team could clear all of the mandatory checkpoints on the course as well as getting all the optional checkpoints (one team proved him wrong).

At 5:30 Friday morning, we woke to torrential rain and headed to the start area to get our maps. Dave (our team captain and navigator) began plotting out routes between the checkpoints and I helped out when I  arrived.

Route plotting

 The race would go generally like this:

• 12 mile raft down the Class III-IV/V world class whitewater of the lower Gauley River (the fall is when there are dam releases on the Gauley and it earns its reputation as one of the top 10 whitewater rivers in the world)

• A long trek (maybe 13 miles) out of the Gauley River valley to collect up checkpoints and end up at our mountain bikes

• Ride 15 or so miles out of the New River valley to a 5k time trial (to be done on foot) 

• Ride through a trail network and end up at the orienteering point (another 20-22 miles)

• At the orienteering section, we could each split up and find any of the 8 checkpoints (a change from any other race I've been to where the rules are normally that all teammates need to stay within 100m of each other the entire time). We were required to get at least one of the 8 points to stay ranked.

• After orienteering, we could either bike or run to get more checkpoints on our way to the riverboarding segment about 8 miles away (we chose to ride half way, then trek) 

• Start the riverboarding (9 miles down flatwater and Class I-II/III whitewater on the New River) between 7-9am.  If we missed the 9am cutoff, we would no longer be an officially ranked team.

• After the riverboard, trek or bike back to the finish, getting more orienteering checkpoints along the way.  As we'd decided to ride and drop our bikes in the deep woods, we'd trek from the riverboarding section to get our bikes, then ride to the finish.

• 28 hours to complete the course, collecting all of the mandatory checkpoints and as many optional checkpoints as possible.  The team with the most optional checkpoints would be the winner (and a tie broken by which team completed the course the fastest)

Our race strategy was steady and strong; let other teams burn themselves out in the first 10-15 hours of the race while we were careful about navigation and conserved energy for the final 10-15 hours of the race.

Getting our mandatory paddling gear - helmets are not as nice or as light as those from Limar!

At the start - L-R - Dave, Julie, Bev, Jeff

The first leg, whitewater rafting, did not go well.  We were in a 9 man raft (with fellow racers from Team Halfway There) and drew a guide who didn't seem very with it.  Prior to the 10:30am start, other guides were provided their racers with advice on how to paddle, swim out of the rapids if they fell out of the boat, etc. and our guide was no where to be found.  He finally showed up 5 minutes before the start and asked if there was a race or something going on....

The Gauley - we rafted the Lower Gauley

Ours seemed to be one of the fastest boats on the flatwater sections, but lost tons of time after getting hung up on rocks, repeatedly.  Our intrepid guide (I think he was stoned), had to get out of the boat multiple times to try and lift the raft over the rocks.  This, after being warned repeatedly not to stand up in the river because of the risk of foot entrapment.

So, by the finish of the raft section, we were already a couple of minutes late.  

We quickly transitioned out of our wetsuits (lots of naked adventure racers on that beach doing the same thing!), grabbed out packs and set off in the pouring rain for a long slog to our mountain bikes.  

Copyright Chris Radcliffe http://www.chrisradcliffephotography.com/

After a seemingly endless climb out of the Gauley river valley, we finally got to the first checkpoint and drew first blood on the tons of brambles separating us from the point.

From the first point, we cruised down a long ridgeline descent to get another point and then out of the woods at the Hawksnest Overlook where we'd take trails all the way to out mountain bikes.  

Checking in at CP4

Heading out for more trekking

We trekked under some cool climbing walls (dripping with rain) down to the river, then back up a railroad grade path to our mountain bikes.  I was so glad to get on my bike!

On the first descent, we had our first mechanical issue when Dave's Lupine light battery came un-velcroed from his bike and jumped into the river next to the road.  Darn.  Those batteries are expensive.  We spent 5 minutes looking for it and had to keep going.  Shortly, thereafter Julie's seat bolts came loose.  That was a quick fix, with my Prestaratchet.  I got to carry all of the team's cycling gear (spare tubes, tools, repair kit, etc.), so having such a small multi-tool was something I was glad to have!

The next segment was on a wet, muddy and rocky trail that followed the contours of a bluff near the New River.  We made good time through the mud, puddles and brambles, crossed the New River and made a great route choice to cut off a long distance by climbing to the top of the bluff via some stairs Dave knew about, rather than riding a long distance around and to the top.

On the ride to the the base of the stairs, Julie had started to get a bad calf cramp.  We pumped her full of nuun and salty foods and hoped that would do the trick.

Worse luck struck at the bottom of the stairs as Julie realized one of her running shoes had fallen out during the mountain bike section.  She'd have to continue with her mountain bike shoes over the next 15-20 miles of trekking...

I had a rough time at the start of the time trial.  While enduring strong verbal pressure from Dave to get to the start (I was having trouble ditching all the team's bike stuff that I was carrying for everyone, and get my running shoes on), I left the passport at the bike drop.  I ran back to get it, then back to the team, where I realized I'd checked in at the start of the time trial, but not gotten our passport signed.  We all had to run back to the start.  Not good...

We took it easy through the TT and got back to our bikes to head out for another long mountain bike leg.

Good luck followed us, and another team (Howler Monkeys) found Julie's shoe and carried it all the way to the TT start.  Awesome!  Plus, all of thenuun and salty foods seemed to have worked and the cramp was gone.

The next mountain bike section started out on a network of well constructed trails and we all had some fun riding the swooping berms and fast, well drained terrain.  We then headed into the deepening fog, down a mountain road with a significant cliff drop to one side to get to the next transition area.

Just before reaching the next transition area, Dave's rear tire suffered a large cut from a rock.  I tried to boot the tire with a GU wrapper and install my spare tube, but found my spare also had a hole.  

I pulled out my secret cycling repair weapon, rubber toughened super glue, and patched both the sliced tire and tube within 5 minutes and we were off and rolling again, getting to the orienteering transition area around 1:00am.

Happily, my Stan's Crest wheels and Conti X-King and Race King tires rolled fast and were flat free during the full event.  Another flat would have been tough to fix, but after a full season of no flats (thank you Stan's!), I felt pretty confident in my setup.

At the orienteering transition area, we had a full gear check.  I haven't seen one of these in a race before.  I've always tried to carry all the mandatory gear in AR races, but never been checked on all of the gear before.  It made me happy that everyone was going to be held to the rules of the event and everyone needed to carry the same stuff (and not shade the rules...).

As we were able to split up, Dave and Bev headed out to get some of the harder points (Dave is a good nighttime navigator, but I'm not and Julie and Bev have limited navigation experience), while me and Julie headed out to find 2 easier points.  We would all try and meet back at the transition area by 3am.  

The map was tough to follow.  Julie and I dutifully pace counted what should be the right distance to the checkpoints, but still ended up hunting around in the dark and heavy fog for nearly two hours.  We got one of the two points.  Dave and Bev got 3 of the 6 they set out to find.

From the transition area, we had about 3 hours to get to the riverboard section, so we headed out on our bikes and immediately found ourselves hiking up a 1 mile long climb strewn with rocks.  At the summit, we entered a maze of dirt roads, 2-3 foot deep puddles and mud, picking up one checkpoint and hunting through heavy brambles for 40 minutes, unsuccessfully, for another.

Finally, we ditched our bikes in the woods around 6:00am and trekked to the start of the 9 mile riverboard/swim down the New River.

Gearing up for the swim

The section of river that we'd swim was mostly flat water, interspersed with some small rapids.  The water level was very low and the water was not moving very fast.  So, we'd have to kick a lot with our swim fins to keep moving.

Dave, getting ready to jump in the water

Paddling away downriver

I drew the short straw and got the makeshift riverboard - two duct-taped together boogie-boards.  The boards rode low in the water and I hit nearly every rock on the way down the river.

While on the river, we saw some birds (a bunch of kingfishers, and one massive hawk) and very large fish that kept jumping out of the water.  Other than that, it was a monotonous swim for nearly 3 hours.  While kicking downriver, several teammates fell asleep.  Dave drifted off while still kicking, and Bev interspersed kicking with naps (she would have killed all of us had she continued at her normal pace - long distance swim training really paid off on this section of the race).  

Photo Copyright Chris Radcliffe Photography - http://radcliffe.photoshelter.com/

Finally, we crawled out of the water and faced another 5-8 mile trek back to our bikes.  We collected a few points along the way, slogged through some heavy brambles, slipped through large muddy puddles, out ran some vicious dogs and stumbled our way onto our bikes.  We were all getting tired and snappish...

Dave's prior race knowledge helped us to navigate the trails leading back to the finish.  We collected three points and decided to go for a fourth one with only 30 minutes left before the finish of the race.  If we didn't make the finish by 2:30pm, we would be unranked and all of our effort would be for naught.

Luckily (and more as a result of Dave's good planning), we easily collected the last point and rolled down a fast downhill to cross the finish line with 25 minutes to spare.  Whew!

Finished!

I hadn't been running much before this race, so it took a big toll on my legs.  And as I'd done no upper body work for most of the summer, the rafting segment was pure torture.  I also ended up with the start of some trenchfoot and got a bunch of blisters - my feet were white and pruned from spending 27.5 hours either rafting, swimming, running or cycling in wet shoes and socks.

We worked well as a team, and Dave guided us through some very difficult navigation to our 4th place finish.

I guess that's the end of my adventure racing for 2012.  Time for the off season of cyclocross and orienteering racing.

Here's the track from Strava for the part where my Garmin had batteries (I put it in a plastic bag and left it in my pack for the race):

-Jeff Dickey, Team Rev3/MK and Scott Pro Mountain Bikes

Sea 2 Sea

Pangea Sea 2 Sea 3 Day Adventure Race

February 14-17, 2013

Rev3/MK Racers: Greg Voelkel, Dusty Reppuhn, & Britt Mason

FLX/USAF Racers: Dave Ashley & Chuck White

Race Report by Britt Mason
 

Last week, a handful of Rev3 racers traveled down to Florida to compete in the Sea 2 Sea 3 Day AR. For everyone but Dave, this would be our first multiday race. On Wednesday afternoon, we all met in Crystal River at the Best Western, which would serve as race headquarters. We made last minute adjustments to our gear bins, bags, and bikes, and then handed them over at check-in to be loaded into the U-Hauls that would follow us across the state the next few days. After the pre-race dinner (which may have included tequila shots), we had the race briefing, led by Greg, Pangea's race director, where we were given an overview map showing TA locations and a general breakdown of the disciplines. The course was broken up really well, transitioning several times each to bike, trek, and paddle. The distance across the state would be covered in the bike and paddle legs, while the foot O-courses would be out-and-back loops. With no more gear to check or maps to study, we got a full night's sleep!

 

Race Day

At 6:30am, we received maps for the first paddle and bike sections and loaded the bus for a 3 hour drive to the Atlantic near New Smyrna Beach. There was not a lot of route planning to be done, but we pored over the maps anyway and ate as much as we could. At the drop-off point at the Turner Flats, we assembled paddle gear then headed over to the beach for team pictures. We would have a short beach run to CP1 and then head back over to the boats. After final announcements, we were off for what would be our biggest adventure yet!

 

Prologue-Paddle 1 (6mi)

CP1 was being held by the RD's son about 400m down the beach. As soon as the front runners got close to him, he took off at a dead sprint down the beach! Once caught, he surrendered, and we headed back to the boats. On the water, we took the safe route around to the Intercoastal, which was longer but did not cost us much time. We had problems with our 3rd seat, which would be a theme for the paddle sections. Note to self: get a different seat.

Bike 1 (48mi)

We transitioned to a road bike section and immediately fell into a strong 5 person paceline. Unfortunately, as we picked off teams, our paceline continued to grow until it was more than 15 bikes long. No one else could hold the same pace at the front, so we pulled teams along for about an hour. Finally, we made a breakaway and were free! 

Trek 1 (8mi)

Straightforward section in the Wekiva area. Ran this entire course. Took just under 2 hours. Still had about an hour of daylight left as we took a short bike ride over to the Wekiva River.

Paddle 2 (21mi)

Darkness fell and the rain came in as we started this 9 hour paddle. It was all against the current except when we were returning back up a creek and later a spring. Greg and Dave navved the majority of the foot and bike portions, and I did most of the paddle. We had trouble with a couple of the early paddle points but got into a groove after a few hours. For this paddle leg, each CP on the map represented a take-out point. From there you used a bearing to find the actual CP, which was on the back side of a tree. If you didn't come out of the water at just the right location, your bearing was off. Quite a challenge in the dark and fog! The final point was an out-and-back down a spring, about 9k round trip with a stiff current on the way there. We saw Checkpoint Zero coming out as we were heading in, so we knew they had a couple hours on us at this point. Back at the TA, the U-Hauls were heavenly, offering us a dry, warm place to change.

Trek 2 (11.5mi)

Nailed this section. Walked almost all of it. Saw a lot of traffic here as teams evened out by skipping some of the paddle CPs.

Bike 2 (44mi)

All road again. Day came cool and cloudy. This ride was mostly an urban bike trail through northern Orlando to the O course at Lake Louisa. At the first CP, we met up with CPZ. They had been there for an hour searching for the point. We agreed to move on. Turns out we were supposed to get instructions for the bike section, and this point was just a question with no punch. CPZ and the other teams around us were eventually awarded our bike leg time. After this leg, we knew we were an hour behind CPZ, who was in the lead and had emerged as our only competition for the rest of the race.

 

Trek 3 (12mi)

Lake Louisa. The sun came out and made for a beautiful day. Again, easy points here. There was a lot of sugar sand, which made for some tough hiking. We sampled some of the wild tangerines growing along the course. Delish. My knee started going out here and would be the trend for the next 36 hours. When we got back to the TA, we found we were 2 hours behind CPZ and thought we were out of the running. We took a much needed longer TA and agreed to ease up and have fun. Up until this point, we wasted no time getting in and out of TAs. Refreshed, we were ready for the next bike leg.

 

Bike 3 (47mi)

This turned out to be the most challenging bike section of the race. Took almost 7 hours. It started out on roads and then entered the Richloam Wildlife Management Area, a maze of deep sugar sand trails with abundant craters. As difficult as this section was for nav, Greg and Dave moved us through it with no problems. It was just slow going due to the terrain. When we reached the Withlacoochee TA, we were informed CPZ had not been in yet. Game on! Lesson learned: in an expedition race, a couple of hours means nothing and can be made up very quickly. Here, we were given maps for the rest of the race, including this trek, a paddle, and a bike. The amazing volunteers here had made piping hot Ramen noodles, which we all eagerly consumed before getting the heck out of Dodge.
 

Trek 4 (31mi!)

We headed back in to Richloam for a marathon trek that would last 15 hours. The course consisted of a long loop on the western portion of the map, which covered half the points and about 2/3 of the distance. The eastern portion was a smaller loop with points closer together. We opted to go clockwise, getting the furthest western and northern points out of the way first. Most of this O course was based off of an orange trail that we followed for hours. At some point late in the previous bike leg, we made the (bad) decision to not sleep tonight. We all ended up sleeping at some point. I was asleep on my feet most of the night (thank goodness for trekking poles!), and most of us had hallucinations. Dave was talking to plants, and for me, the trail was like a moving walkway in an airport. We would never go anywhere because we were stuck on this walkway. It's really hard to get off an imaginary walkway without falling down! The night was pretty entertaining, and we laughed a lot. When we started having nav problems, we finally succumbed to a nap. Lessons learned: try to sleep before your nav falls apart, and when one person sleeps everyone does. As the sun came up, Dusty, Greg, and I caught back up to Dave and Chuck, who had continued on looking for a point while we took a break. They were stuck, but somehow Greg marched right into the woods to the CP. By this time we were starting on the smaller loop, some of which was on a blue trail. Nothing was too difficult, but people were a little loopy at this point. We saw a baby diamondback rattlesnake on the trail, which was a first for me. Later, Dusty and I were strolling along, and I saw a weird shaped pinecone on the trail. "Hey, that looks like a duck..." and I poked it with my pole. NOT a pinecone. Someone took a dump in the middle of the trail. Who does that?! This would be the source of much laughter for the remainder of the race. The sun was getting hot, and we were running low on water as we hit the last CP and took the road back to the TA. Along the way, Chuck decided to take a nap and wandered all over the road dragging his trekking poles behind him until Dusty woke him up.

Paddle 3 (24mi)

After a gear check and a lightning fast TA, we said goodbye to Dave and Chuck for the final push to the finish. At this point, Chuck's feet were in bad shape, and they took some time to tend to them. The wind picked up on this leg, and as it got closer to dusk, we added a couple of layers to stay warm. The points were pretty straightforward. We just paid attention to bearings and nailed each one. For the 3 of us, this leg was the most enjoyable. We felt great and laughed all the way across Silver Lake. The Air Force guys paddled longer in the dark and felt the effects of the cold a lot more.  As we entered the portion of the paddle lined with cypress trees, I think everyone was having rockin' hallucinations. The best part was no one mentioned anything about them until after the race! The list included wooden sculptures, cars, dinosaurs, modern art, faces, and animals. Very trippy. At one point, I steered us around an imaginary car. As we rounded a bend, Greg said, "Is that the CP?" Me: "No, that's a gator." Gator eyes are orange if you've never seen them at night, and there were plenty of them out on the water. After finding the final CP, the TA was right past a bridge. With each turn of the river, someone yelled out "There's the bridge!" Finally, the real bridge appeared, and we were off the water. 

 

Employees of the restaurant where Chuck and Dave warmed up after the paddle

Bike 4 (44.5mi)

After changing into the rest of our dry clothes, we set off for the bike to the finish. Spirits were still high, but we were ready to reach the finish line. With 2 CPs to grab along the way, we found the 1st with no problem. The 2nd was in a cave. We searched for over an hour with no luck. In hindsight, we were going off a 1:24000 scale, when the map was 1:48000, so we were not going into the woods far enough. We had lost our focus and could not puzzle out the problem. We had a choice to make: either stay here indefinitely and keep looking or hope that CPZ also couldn't find it and head back now. CPZ had an hour time credit, so we had to beat them by that much. We decided to head to the finish. Team motivation hit an all-time low, and our pace dropped considerably. It was all we could do to get to the finish. For the last 5-10 miles, I could barely pedal. The knee was finished. We kept moving forward, and at last the Best Western came into view. We made it to the finish! CPZ finished 51 minutes later, officially clearing the course. Air Force finished shortly after that. We were awarded 2nd place, with Air Force coming in 3rd. It was a great back-and-forth battle between us and CPZ, and while it hurt to not find the final CP, we sure had a blast competing. All told, we traveled over 300 miles in 63 hours, 33 minutes, spending less than 5% of that time in transition.

 

 Entrance to the road to the cave

In the aftermath of the race, we tried looking for a hotel. Dave's wife Diane, with the help of our SPOT, found us and led us to a hotel room, where I promptly fell asleep in my race clothes. The next morning, after sorting through gear and attending the awards ceremony, we all went our separate ways. This race made us all fall in love with expedition racing, and I look forward to doing Rev3's Cowboy Tough this summer. The experience itself is hard to truly put into words. Suffice it to say, we'll be back! We'd like to thank Pangea for putting on such a fantastic race, and we'd also like to thank the volunteers, who are second to none. Your help and support throughout the race kept us going, and it was nice to see a familiar face in the TAs. Also, to all our family, friends, and superfans out there, thanks for tuning in and following our progress with the SPOT. This seemed to be a huge success, and it was great hearing that everyone enjoyed watching us.

 

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.