Rev3 - Green Ridge Adventure Challenge - Race Report

Green Ridge Adventure Challenge – Race Report
July 21^st, 2012
Team: Britt, Greg and Michael
Written by Michael Spiller

The Green Ridge Adventure Challenge took place in Green Ridge State Forest near Cumberland Maryland.  Kevin Howser  and Hutch from the Cumberland Trail Connection Adventure Racing team were the race director.

The Green Ridge Adventure Challenge was my first team race in two years after coming back from shoulder surgery last season.  I was also racing with Greg Voelkel one of our teams fastest racers and Britt who is 21 years younger than me.  I knew this race was going to be a challenge because of the terrain in this area of Maryland has a lot of elevation.  After seeing the course I decided the mountain were twice the size of what we used in the Epic Race this past year.  It seemed that the only flat section was going to be the paddle section the Potomac River.

The team met up on Friday night for the team check-in.  Britt drove 10 hours from Illinois and Greg flew up in a plane from Florida for training mission for the air force and I had a short 2 hour drive from Northern Virginia.  Greg was delayed because after landing there was another plane that was landing that had a higher priority than Greg so he was delayed getting to Cumberland.

We arrived at the Race course at the South End Rod and Gun Club near Oldtown, Maryland at 5:30AM on Saturday morning and prepped our gear for drop locations provided by Cumberland Trail Connections.  They were going to drop our paddling gear and bike at two different locations to be picked up during the race.  At 7:00Am they handed out the preplotted maps and Greg and Britt laid out our strategy for the race.  The race course was going to be about 65 miles with paddling, running, and mountain biking.  Seem like it was going to be a fast course with lots of ups and downs during the day.  We were extremely lucky because it was raining and the temperature dropped from the high 90’s to the mid 70’s and it raised the river level for the paddle section. 

At 8:00AM the race was started and we needed to hit two trekking points on our way to the river to pick up the canoes.  Scott Pleaban’s two person co-ed team was in front and we soon fell into second place and hitting both points and running the whole time.  It was a few miles to the river and we arrived to see Scott getting into the water.  However our paddling gear had not arrived yet and we were searching for our paddles.  Kevin sent some of his crew back and they found our gear and gave us a 16 minute time credit while we waited for our gear.  About 10 teams came in and they were hitting the first Checkpoint on the water.  Kind of killed our mojo but we knew we would be slow in the water because we had rented a canoe and the teams in front of us had their lightweight canoes so we didn’t want to fall too far behind.  We received our paddling gear and started paddling to the first CP upstream.  We opted to run and swim instead to the checkpoint and passed several teams and moved into 5th place.  As we paddle downstream we passed one more team and moved into 4^th place behind Scott Pleaban, ARMD and GOAL’s.  Once got off the 5 mile paddle we picked up our bikes and now my bike helmet was missing.  We spent 5 minutes looking for a helmet and Kevin once again stepped in and gave me his helmet so I could continue racing.  We took off on the C&O canal to go through the Paw Paw tunnel.  It was pitch black in the tunnel so we needed to pull out our lights to even walk our bikes through the tunnel.  We arrived at the first Orienteering course and we were 34 minutes behind the lead teams.  We opted to scramble straight up a hill instead of taking the trail to the first checkpoint.  I knew it was going to be a long day and the legs were going to be hurting.  We ran to every checkpoint and Gregs navigation was on point.  The coolest checkpoint was an old train tunnel in the middle of nowhere in the mountains.  Of course we came out on the top of the mountain and had a very challenging climb down to get the checkpoint.  We cleared the course and moved into second place only 5 minutes from the lead.  Now we were on our bike and this was going to be our strong section of the race.  However we missed the first biking checkpoint and rode four miles out of our way and now dropped back to 4^th place.  We rode up mountain to great overlooks and down mountains to different landmarks and felt pretty good until a logging truck started coming up the road.  Greg stopped, I slid to a stop and Britt slid into a stop but hit me in the process and fell off her bike.  She cut her leg, cut her chin, and cut up both hands and we originally thought she broke her finger.  She also bent her front derailer.  We spent some time checking her out and she felt like continuing and was bleeding from three different spots.  This girl is tough.  I would have been crying and quit the race.  We continued on to the next trekking section.

With all our mishaps we still only 3o minute behind the lead team and we had a 21 minute time credit at the end of the race.  However what this really means is that we need to run the orienteering course to catch the lead teams.  Once again we hit the first two points and we were making up time on the lead teams.  My legs were screaming and it was still raining, so we were soaking wet.  We moved into 3^rd place and knew the lead team was only 10 minutes ahead of us then we were talking and overshot our attack point by a ½ mile.  Greg somehow found the right reentrant for the next point and we picked up the last point and headed back into the bike transition.  We passed the GOAL’s team on the way back to our bike and moved into 3^rd place again and hit our bikes to try to catch the lead teams on our way to the finish line.  It might sound easy but we were on an ATV trail and it had tons of trees down, lots of mud, slipper rocks, and of course lots of climbing.  It took over an hour to go 3 miles.  Then we needed to climb to the highest point in the race for a 2 point bonus checkpoint.  Did I want to get it?  NO!!!  But we did and as we climbed we saw ARMD coming down the mountain.  We had made up over 20 minutes on the bike section and now they only had a 10 minutes lead.  With our time credit we were in front by 11 minutes.  We rode hard for the next section of the race to the finish line and were only a few minutes behind the lead and with our time credit we were in first place.  We had three bonus points to hit by the 8:00PM cut off and victory was ours.  However it didn’t play out like that.  We hit the first point with only a minor mistake and then went for a low point because we thought it would be the easiest.  We spent 25 minutes trying to find the point with no success and had to go to the finish line with only one bonus point.  Kathy’s ARMD team hit the high point and the river point so they were able to pick up one more bonus point and won the co-ed elite division.  We found out that the UTM’s for the point we were looking for was off and Greg almost found it but turned back because the area he was looking was too far off the description.  However, that Adventure Racing, mistakes happen and as a race director I know Kevin and his team put on a great race.  The best food ever was server at the end of the race with Sloppy Joes, homemade Mac and cheese, BBQ beef, salad, fresh corn on the cob and a keg of beer.  Our journey took us over 70 miles and to me it was an excellent day with great teammates and I would not change a thing.

Run Row Rock and Roll Adventure Race

By Michelle Thompson   

This weekends race started with Dave and me meeting at the Fairbury wellness center Friday. We received our maps and race instructions and begin preparing our maps for the Run Row Rock and Roll adventure race in rural Fairbury, Nebraska. This race was designed by and directed by our teammate Craig. Everything seemed pretty straight forward. We had a brief race meeting at 8pm and then we were off to meet Micah. Craig once again arranged for us to stay at his friends Jack and Jackie's beautiful home. It's like having our own apartment when we are there. A great way to start the race experience!
We reviewed our route and did a few more race preparations then called it a night.

We woke at 5 to very loud thunder and big bolts of lightening. We loaded things up. And we're off to the bike drop. The rain, that was forcasted to fall all day, stopped but clouds remained. We were shuttled to race start on the "redneck subway" which was a cattle trailer. I can only imagine what the passersby must have thought.

The race started at 7:30 with a running section followed by a canoe on a lake, trek/run and then, the most enjoyable part, a 1/2 mile canoe portage through a muddy ravine and woods. Then we were off on a short river paddle ending at the bike drop. This section was titled "Swamp Thing."
At this point there were 3 teams in the lead including us.

We took off on our bikes riding on mostly gravel roads, up and down, but mostly up,up, and up. Don't believe it when you hear Nebraska is flat. Craig was able to design the course so we had the pleasure of doing a 1 mile long climb. Thanks Craig , that was fun! The next section titled "Cabin By the Lake" started with a team challenge. This challenge was log sawing done by 2 teammates while the other steadied the log. No problem. I'm sure it was because of my superior steadying skills. Then it was off on an orienteering section. This section was not given to us until we arrived. This included 5 points. Once completed we were off on the bike again. This included gravel and pastures. At this point we were neck and neck with a solo racer.

This next section, "The Hills Have Eyes," started and ended on bike but was primarily a trekking section up and down some steep creek banks and through lots of poison ivy. Yikes! Near the end of this section Craig had a surprise for us. It was a time trial on a very, very steep hill. The male and female winners would get $80 in prizes. The guys decided they would help me win. I hooked the tow up to Dave and Micah pushed. Up we went. Dave was an animal. I felt like I was working hard but Micah said he had never seen the tow pulled so tight. We were glad that quickly came to an end and we were off on our bikes to the next section. What a nice surprise Craig. Thanks for thinking of us.

The next section, "The Bucket List," began with an orienteering section then a paddling section on a small lake. We decided we had better do the land section first. After all that hard climbing we werent sure if we would get up if we started in the canoe. We got 4 points on land, 1 which could have been really tricky but Dave was spot on.We decided to do the team challenge next. This was an attempt to " walk on water." Two large buckets were given to each of us. We were then supposed to stand in them, one on each foot, beside a rope that crossed a small cove of the lake. We were then supposed to pull ourselves across the water without falling. Dave and Micah both satisfied Craig's wish and proceeded to quickly plunge into the water. I, however, decided to straddle the hip high rope and pull myself across. Success. Then it was off to 3 more points in the canoe.

We were all anxious to reach the finish line. We were now in 1st place but knew the racer behind us was fully capable of catching us on bike if we did not push hard. We had 1 more rural section titled "Live Free or Die Hard." One point had been taken out due to all the rain. One point remained. Then it was back to the city of Fairbury. Once we reached the city we had 2 Cps to find. We had familiarized ourselves with the city layout the night before so felt pretty confident there would be little hesitation. From a distance we could see the railroad crossing light begin to flash and the crossbars descend. NO WAY! As we got closer we realized it was only 1 car. What a relief. We grabbed our last 2 points and headed to the finish. Finish time 7 hours 12 minutes.

Nice job guys! Almost flawless navigation from Dave, a strong push on the run and bike from both Micah and Dave, and great teamwork in transitions pulled us into and kept us in the lead. Believe it or not Craig, you did such a great job with this course we don't even have any suggestions. Only, could you throw in a few more climbs next time!?
Next up Big Mountain Adventures 24 hour in Colorado Springs next weekend. Bring your O2.

GOALS Cradle of Liberty - 24 Hour

GOALS: Cradle of Liberty 24 hour race

This year the race was held in southeastern PA.  Now if you look at a map of southeastern PA, there’s not a whole lot of “green” park area, but the race directors did a fantastic job of finding every nook and cranny for the racers to explore so that we really did feel like we were out there..and not 5 minutes away from a gas station.  This race our team got shortened last minute from 3 coed to 2 male.  John and I were disappointed to not be able to race in the premier division and get points for the team, but we were still committed to giving the race everything we had and having a good time.

looking over maps last minute before the start

Our cars were parked at Evansburg state park, which is where the finish would be.  After registration, packing food and loading paddle bags and bikes onto a truck, the racers had a short meeting and we all got on a bus to head to the Hopewell Furnace national Historic site, where we would start the race at 9:30.  The morning was chilly, but the sun came out to warm us up shortly and we were thankfully granted great weather for the rest of the race! 

Plotting checkpoints after the prologue

The prologue consisted of 3 relay legs on foot. Each leg had to be done by only one racer of the team.  The first leg had the racers run to pick up some coordinates of mandatory checkpoints that would need to be plotted for later in the race.  The second leg had us running to pick up our passport, and the third leg got us the map with pre-plotted checkpoints for French Creek state park, which would be the first foot orienteering leg of the race. 

After plotting the rest of the mandatory checkpoints we were off racing.  The overall course consisted of over 100 optional checkpoints, and would not be clearable, our strategy would be to start off clearing as much as we could, but not wasting time searching for a CP if we were having trouble with it, because each one was worth only 1 pt.  We attacked the first leg in a CCW format, aiming to clear every point.  John was navigating, and his sense of direction was dead on.  We were checking off CP’s one by one with ease and never had to spend more than 5 minutes searching for the flagging when we were in the area of the CP.  We spent 3 to 4 hours on the first leg.  Having cleared our last checkpoint, we were running back to the TA to pick up our bikes and head out.  On our way there we saw SOG and GOALS leaving on their bikes, so we knew we were doing pretty well and could not be too far behind the leaders.



Starting the first trekking leg



A quick bite to eat while we put on our bike shoes and we were off to Birdsboro park.  The ride there was on roads, and practically all downhill.  John and I remarked that all bike legs should feel as good as that!  When we arrived at Birdsboro, we dropped our bikes, changed back into running shoes and headed into the park.  The entrance to the park is a wire bridge that spans a creek.  It’s always fun to try something a little out of the ordinary, so when John and I both got on to the bridge, it was apparent that we were both a little too tall for the spacing of the wires, and having two of us on at the same time did not give us any benefit in keeping it stable.  Thankfully we were able to cross without taking a dip, and we headed into the park.  On our way in, down an abandoned road, we blew past the entrance trail to the first CP, but we would be coming back that way, so instead of backtracking we decided to just get it on the way out. 



Crossing one of the cable bridges into Birdsboro



The park was essentially divided into two halves by an abandoned road.  The northern half had a bit more elevation change, and a closer grouping of CPs, and the southern half was far more spread out.  We decided to go after the northern half first, because the high density of CPs would let us get more points more quickly, and if we needed to cut out of the park to hit a time cutoff, we wouldn’t be losing much.  We made quick work of the first few checkpoints in the climbing crag area and surrounding hills.  As we were headed to the last cp in the grouping, we went a little too far down the trail, and had to adjust our attackpoint accordingly.  I think this was a mistake, we should have backtracked to our original attackpoint.  We were searching for the last CP in where we thought it had to be.  The clue was “boulder” and we were in an area of the woods that was suddenly populated by large boulders, but after 20 minutes of looking, we still hadn’t found it.  We decided that it wasn’t worth any more time for 1 point and we should move on to the southern end of the park.

This area of the park went fairly smoothly.  We decided to forego 2 CPs that were much further out than the others, because we wanted to move on to the next section and didn’t want to spend the time.  After getting back to the access road, we knocked off our last CP (the one that we passed earlier) and crossed back over the wire bridge to get back on the bikes.

We biked north on a mix of roads and rail trails to Neversink Park, which is on the southern outskirts of Reading, PA.  The map for this section had a large number of CPs, both mandatory and optional, and we wanted to get as many as we could, while still making an 11 pm cutoff to get in/out of the next TA at the top of Mt Penn in reading. 

 After a quick analysis of the map, we decided to attack the park in a CCW fashion.  One of the exits of the park had a McDonalds marked on it by the race directors, and we decide that we would give ourselves a little reward after getting out of this section.  The trails here were all bikeable, some were a bit too steep and had to be hikeabiked, but it provided for faster moving over trails then the previous two legs, which was a nice change of pace.  At the entrance there were two CPs on opposite sides of the trail, which ran through a ravine-like topography.  Most teams were dropping their bikes and going after one, then the other.  We decided to drop bikes for only one of the CPs, and then hike-a-bike up to the other, because it would prevent us from spending time backtracking.  I think this move helped us to save a lot of time and was a good choice because a little bit of bikewhacking got us onto a great open trail that was fast and took us everywhere we wanted to be. 
From here we made the decision to go for the most difficult CP in the park.  Thankfully it was still light out and that made it far easier to navigate.  We dropped our bikes and slogged a couple hundred vertical feet up some overgrown powerlines, crossed a road, and headed into some woods where the CP was located on a small ridge.  We were able to locate the tiny ridge (maybe 10-15 feet high?) and find the CP, which only took a small amount of searching.  After getting it, we booked it back to our bikes and continued on the fast trail that circumnavigated the park to check off more CPs. 

It was becoming apparent that we were not going to have time to clear this portion of the course and still make the cutoff.  So we started to make our way out of the park, getting the CPs that were along our course of travel.

when we made it out of the park, we did make a quick detour to McDonalds.  I knew we were pressed for time.  But I feel like this was the right choice.  We had been going for 12 hours now, and were craving something besides race food.  We shoved down 3 burgers each, and 2 large cokes, refilled our water bladders  in the bathroom, and headed out.  I have to say that it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had, and I felt so energized.  Definitely the right choice.

The TA at Mt Penn had an 11 PM cutoff, and we had a large, formidable road climb ahead of us to get there.  I think it turned out to look a lot worse on the map, because we had allotted ourselves close to 2 hours to get there, and it ended up only taking 1.  That was good news, because it meant we wouldn’t have to immediately turn around, but would be able to go out for at least one optional CP at the Mt Penn area.  When we got to the TA at the top of the climb, we were informed that the 20 mile paddle leg for that night was cancelled because of flood conditions on the river.  We had seen the river at a couple points throughout the race and it was HIGH and moving FAST.  I have to say I was a bit relieved, because I wasn’t exactly looking forward to a night time paddle where it would be difficult to control/stop/unboard and board a canoe in such a fast moving river.  Instead we would be biking the same distance, and a few of the mandatory and optional CPs on the paddle would be removed.

Coming into the Mt Penn TA at 10 PM

With that news, we threw our running shoes on and went out to snag one CP before we had to leave Mt Penn for the 11 PM cutoff.  We did just that, and headed out.  Back down the hill (which surprisingly took far less time to go down, than up =]) and then back into Neversink park, to go up over that hill, and to check in at the Paddle TA, where we would receive further instructions on the night time bike course.

On this road portion of the bike, we caught up with NYARA and Carpe Vitam.  Our three teams stayed together, forming a paceline, and we were all able to blast through the section.  I cant remember ever going this fast on a bike this far into a race.  It was awesome being able to work together and have each racer take their turn setting the pace and pulling.

We got to the TA and got our instructions for biking to where we would have been pulling the canoes out of the water.  It was roughly 20+ miles of road.  John and I went through our food stash in our paddle bag to refuel and restock our backpacks, and then got on the road.  Both NYARA and Carpe Vitam had slightly quicker transitions than us, but we were able to catch them and get back into the same paceline. 

During the ride, I was setting the pace, and then John took his turn right behind me.  I guess I didn’t notice until it was too late, but we had lost Carpe Vitam, and then shortly after NYARA had to pull off and go their own pace as well.  So then it was back to 2.

While riding, John and I got a craving for a 3am cup of coffee as we passed a gas station.  So we decided to take a quick detour and get some.  I know this is not typical for adventure racing, but having resources like this was really enjoyable.  Back on the road, we pushed on to the next TA and were able to give our bike seats a rest.

The Park at Lock 60 is surprisingly small, but somehow GOALS managed to cram an impressive foot orienteering course into it.  John and I went through and cleared the section one by one.  By the time we were done and back to the TA, the sky was starting to go from black to blue, and I knew that I would be getting a second wind shortly as we headed into the second to last leg of the race.

We had a choice to bike directly back to Evansburg state park, and go for some optional there, or go after more optional on the bike.  We opted to stay on the bike, because we felt like we have kept a consistently good pace and were happy with it.  The optional checkpoints led us through some interesting abandoned roads, and into a small mountain bike park.  At the one optional checkpoint here, we got a map of the surrounding trails which had 5 or 6 more optionals shown on it.  Since the trail area was small, and included a lot of elevation, we decided we could do it faster on foot.  So we quickly dropped the bikes and put on shoes to head off onto the trails.  We cleared every optional but one, which we chose not to go for because of its distance and out-and-back format.  We decided to head back to evansburg and try for some of the optional there, which could be closer.

The quick ride back to Evansburg brought us to the finish line, but we weren’t done yet.  We had an hour and a half to go, and had our choice of 2 different courses.  One was a “memory orienteering course” where we got to look at a map, and then had to go find the checkpoint by memory.  At that point there would be another map, and so on. 6 cps for a total of 3 points, and you had to clear it to score the points.  The other course was another relay orienteering course. 3 separate stages, easy/medium/hard with each stage being worth a few points each (again, had to clear the stage to get the points)  after a short debate with john, we decide to do the relay, because my brain was not working as well as it could be after racing for almost 24 hours.  John took the first leg and got back in 30 mins.  So I went out for the second leg.  I had an hour to clear it.  Which wouldn’t be a problem.  It took me a few minutes to get used to the scale and orientation of the map, but once I had a feel for it, I was on my way.  I managed to clear that course in 45 minutes.  So with 15 minutes to spare, we officially finished.   



John waiting for me to finish the last orienteering leg



We washed our legs down with some tecnu, ate some pancakes and sausage, and stuck around for awards to find we placed 1^st in class and 3^rd overall behind Team SOG and Cumberland Trail Connection.  This was a great race for John and I.  Overall I think it went well, but looking back at it I can pinpoint areas where I know we lost time and we could have made better choices.  Each race I learn something, so hopefully next one I will be faster.



Success!



Wild Wonderful 2012

The team

I had missed last years Wild Wonderful by Odyssey Adventures and was psyched to be heading back to West Virginia to take on the 2012 race.  A favorite of mine because the water section is Class 5 rapids.  Extremely exciting and also means no water section that requires hours of paddling in a canoe, which I hate.

 I arrived at ACE Resort, the host location and met up with Greg, Dave and Sandra.  I had not met Sandra before and her bubbly and fun attitude was gonna help her get through her first 24 hour race.  Dave and Greg are old hands to the 24 hour scene I was glad to be racing with such strong and experience guys.

 After check-in we headed back to our hotel to plot and dissect the course.  I had done the WW twice, Greg once and Dave was on his 4^th or 5^th go around so between us we knew the terrain and proposed course fairly well.  There were some new areas to be explored and the focus was heavily on Kaymore Top, an area we had only passed though on previous races.  Ronnie, the Race Director had set up a challenge trek section following the White Water with a 20-25 mile hike up and down the gorge, followed by a mountain bike course, then a foot O, then a long bike with optional points to the finish.  Mandatory points were required to remain official and we knew that it would be almost impossible to clear the course. With everything plotted, checked and double check, we packed gear for the day ahead, attended the pre-race brief and then managed to a get a descent night sleep.

Pre-race nerves

With a 6am start and we back at ACE with bikes,  staged our gear and loaded onto the buses for a short ride to the put-in.  It was great to see so many familiar faces that would be racing along side us.

With a three wave start we were drawn to be in the first wave.  We loaded into the 8 person rafts and paddled out into the very high and raging New River. Ronnie gave the signal and we were off.  We were in the boat with a 4-man team and tried to preserve energy as we headed down through the rapids.  Its tempting to go balls to the walls to get down the river first but no matter what the separation between boats, it is only a few minutes and over 24 hours that ain’t nothin.

Warming up for the rapids

 At take out we transitioned quickly and headed out onto the trek. After CP3 we know that we would be behind the lead teams as Sandra’s trekking was not as strong as her biking.  Sandra is a world class endurance mountain biker and is a lot more confortable in the saddle than in a running shoes.  We knew this going into the race and planned accordingly although the long initial trek was defiantly not in our favor.

 Dave’s navigation was spot on and we worked our way around the trekking points.  Ronny and somehow managed to find a flight of 800+ stairs for us to go down and backup living up to his motto “Our pleasure is your pain”. Thanks Ronny. We did see the lead teams on some out and back sections.  They were going hard and were probably a good 30-40 minutes a head of us by the time we go to the bike transition.

 The first trekking leg took around 4 hours and it was early afternoon. We made a quick transition to bikes.  We guessed at that point we were in the middle of the pack.  Sandra’s biking skills started to pay off as we took on the most excellent single track that had been recently cut. Biking is always my favorite part of the race and I fully enjoyed the trails.

By the time we finished with the single track and arrived at the O-Course transition we still had daylight, which is a huge advantage.  We had also made up a massive amount of time and were the third team into transition. Sweet.

We decided to take on the hardest points first.  These were the ones that were a long way off the trail and would require good compass work and pace counts to nail. We had no plans to clear the O-Course but had a strategy to work the course leaving the easiest points, but some of the furthest away for the end.  We knew we had to make a 6am cut off point that required a long bike to get to and wanted to make sure we had time to do this.  We set a goal to be off the O-Course by midnight.  Dave once again did a great job navigating (once we had the correct declination set) and we spent some time working through 3-4 of the points with Mark Lattanzi for Odyssey who was crushing the course as a soloist.

As the night drew in and the day’s heat subsided we managed to pick up our pace and realized we would be able to complete the O-Course if we didn’t head out on the last bike section until 1am.  We took the gamble that we would make the cut off, pressed on and cleared the O-Course. With a two points back toward the bottom of the gorge and another requiring a 4-mile out and back, we struggled on, kept fueled and hydrated and kept the pace steady.

Stairs of death

Back at the transition after about 12 miles of trekking we geared up and moved back to bikes.  We moved the transition quickly spending less than 10 minutes getting ready. We made once last water stop at a stream that we had been using for water supply and headed out.

The ride back along Kaymore Top was refreshing.  Mostly down hill or flat we worked our way around the gorge and back towards ACE adventure resort. We didn’t see any other teams until we came off the trail and we started the hike a bike up to CP 21 with a few other teams.

The trails through ACE can only be described as a spaghetti mess of mud and puddles.  We took a wrong turn but managed to do some heavy bush whacking down an over grown trail to get back on course and get to the cut 6am cutoff with 40 minutes to spare.  Unfortunately Sandra’s bike sustained a broken chain on the way slowing progress.  Note to self, quick links don’t work on XTR chains and XTR chains are a pain in the ass to repair.

We ran into the Odyssey team at the cut off and headed out before them but got waylaid with some lights dying.  After distributing some lights between the team we were off again and heading out for CP29, a long haul with some serious hill climbs. We were neck a neck with Odyssey who we assumed had also cleared the O-Course and probably picked a couple of optional points on the mountain bike section. With only two optional points to get we know we would have to get at least one, if not two too be able to take the lead. We traded placed with Odyssey down the trail and eventually arrived at CP29 slightly ahead.  With time running out they opted to not get the final optional points.  We decided to go for it and headed out along a very overgrown trail to get the optional points. Disaster struck once again with the XTR chain breaking in the same spot.  With time against us at this point we got the chain repaired and decided that we were not going to get the optional points we needed and started heading back to be able to finish before the cut off of 9am. With a weakened chain that we ere concerned would continue to blow out, Greg did some impressive towing to get Sandra back up in the ACE resort and to the final check point.  With a final down hill to the finish we completed the 2012 Wild Wonderful with about 30 minutes to spare.

Odyssey managed to get an extra optional checkpoint and took first place the Coed division and we took second.

It was a challenging course.  No one cleared every checkpoint and out of 40 teams who started only 14 officially finished.  For this race, Odyssey Adventures truly lived up to their motto “Our pleasure is your pain”.

Finish line

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.