POCAR 2010

Team Midwest Mountaineering Adventure Racing traveled to Southern Indiana for the 2nd year in a row to participate in the Purdue Outing Club's Annual Adventure Race, POCAR.  Held in the Hoosier National Forest, the same rugged terrain as the previous year, we knew we were in for a good, hard race.  We were excited for our first event of 2010 and also to have our new Icebreaker clothing to keep us warm.  Icebreaker makes the best, in my opinion, merino wool athletic wear on the market.  The best looking also.  With unpredictable weather, we were thrilled to be prepared for any condition.

For the purpose of this narrative, we have relabeled the control points, CP's, numerically in the order we visited them.  Teams were given the option of visiting the controls on their current leg in any order.  The controls were named, b-28, u4, etc.  It seems easier for you to follow if we just label them numerically.  We had some GPS data logger issue early in the event, which sorted itself out on the way to CP2.  The random path around the start and CP1 doesn't depict our course, the rest is accurate though.

The competition starts with a portion of the teams gaining entry to the race HQ to begin plotting the control locations.  Teams are assigned one of three start times and given 25 minutes to get their work done.  Then it is off to the races.  We decided to take a safe attack point to the first control CP1, getting our feet wet, and headed up the main road.  We found our attack point and dove in to the woods.  We came in to the spur a little too far west, subjecting us to a climb that wasn't necessary.  So much for taking a safe attack point.

CP2 was in a location that we had difficulty with the prior year.  An area with multiple reentrants, we jumped too soon and ended up too far east this time.  Deja' vu?  We hoped, because we got things on track after this area in 2009.

Mass starts to an adventure race always create a train of teams.  Why search for a control when you can follow a team?  Although we didn't exactly put on a stellar navigation display to the first two controls, we are an experienced team with some competence.  We don't like to follow, because the team you are following is often more likely to get you lost than to the control you are looking for.  This is especially true early on, before the lead teams distance themselves.  As we meandered towards CP3, we picked up the pace, hoping to shed a few teams in the area.

TMMAR finishes 2nd in POCAR

Friends and followers, we will have a real blog post coming in the near future that details our POCAR experience.  For now, I will leave you with some rough stats and a video, produced by the Purdue student newspaper, with TMMAR featured in two separate spots.

Stats:

• MN 1-2 Finish  (Good friends and fellow AR Junkies joined us at POCAR this year.  Congrats to the Rainbow Unicorns!!)
• Approximately 40 miles of trekking/orienteering
• 7500' of elevation gain
• 50 Teams
• TMMAR earns the unofficial "Best Dressed" category for their new Icebreaker kit.

Team Midwest Mountaineering: Now appearing in Icebreaker GT!

Those of you that know me well, know that I am obsessive about my Icebreaker apparel.  I was introduced to the clothing while in New Zealand, getting my first exposure to Adventure Racing almost three years ago.  Seagate Technology sent me there as part of a corporate team building exercise.  I left New Zealand with a new passion for life, a higher level of commitment and respect for my employer and co-workers, a new sport, and a handful of awesome wool shirts from Icebreaker, courtesy of Seagate.  My unfortunate travelling companion Darsi had to listen to me prattle on about AR and Icebreaker for two weeks as we toured the incredible landscape that is New Zealand.

Since I returned, I have continued to grow my collection of Merino Wool Icebreakers to include a coat, hats, socks, baselayers and of course more shirts.  It really is cool in the heat and warm in the cold.  I exercise, lounge, and even sleep in Icebreaker clothing.  I have friends making special stops on their New Zealand vacations to take pictures with me in mind.  Thanks Tara!

A chance meeting in the Icebreaker section at Midwest Mountaineering, while shopping for a new team jersey leads us to this announcement.  Team Midwest Mountaineering Adventure Racing will now be wearing Icebreaker GT clothing.  We are very excited for our new kit and the chance to give Icebreaker some feedback as we run, bike, kayak, rappel, bushwhack and scramble our way through the 2010 season.