The days seem shorter as Raid the North Extreme is rapidly approaching. About all the training hours have been banked, it is now time for banking sleep and final packing. The team is hoping that you take a moment each day to check our progress and give us a shout out. The long days and nights will start to run together, it will give us a needed boost as we transition from one discipline to another to know that our friends are out there, willing to give us a virtual pat on the back for what we have accomplished and kick in the butt to keep us moving down the trail.
Team Midwest Mountaineering Training in CO
You may be asking.... What is Raid the North Extreme? Here is a link to the event website. Read as much or as little as you would like. We are going up against some of the best teams in the world. Our goal.... to complete the event, have fun, maybe learn a little about ourselves and each other.
One item we are really excited about! British Columbia's West Kootenay! The are will have spectacular vistas, some of the best mountain biking in the world, epic paddling opportunities, and plenty of opportunity to suffer.
The teams will be equipped with SPOT tracking. This will enable you to follow our progress and see where we are with respect to other teams. It is unclear at this point where you will be able to do this, but I recommend visiting Checkpoint Tracker and the Raid the North Extreme sites. One of them will have a link to the tracking page.
October signaled the end of the Adventure Race Season for Midwest Mountaineering and we went out in style at the CheckPoint Tracker National Adventure Race Championships in Moab, Utah, aka The Moon. Paula Waite and Pete Wentzel made the trip to Moab with super recruits Cathy Diamond and Nick Rogne. We were really happy to have two experienced adventure racers join us as we battled wind, diesel fuel spray and icy mountain passes to reach the race start. The trip was relatively uneventful as we bonded as a team and ate some good food on the journey. We arrived in Moab a full 30+ hours in advance to stretch our legs, scout the area, and finalize race prep. What a great race location; rugged, beautiful and surreal.
TMMAR with Ian Adamson
One benefit to our early arrival was that we were fully packed and prepared and able to attend the presentation by Ian Adamson, Seven time World Adventure Race Champion and three time endurance Including current) record holder for the most distance in 24 hours in a kayak.
The race, attended by all the top teams in the nation, started at 8 AM on a cool, crisp, sunny day on 29 October. The first discipline would cover all the water activities for the race; riverboarding and kayaking. The start tunnel was a comical site with over 150 racers in bike helmets, flippers, wetsuits, all with riverboard in tow. The countdown ended and we all "flipper ran" to the dock for the plop in to the water. The team assembled and all jumped at once. Pete started kicking to catch his "large flippered" teammates and noticed an issue right away, his flipper straps had fallen off. He fumbled getting them back over his heals, turned, and the teammates were gone. A few more kicks and a strap broke. This is going to be a long two miles. The team negotiated the rapids and had a lot of fun in this section that ended way too quickly. Pete managed to keep his flippers on by curling his toes and kicking constantly, which pushed the flippers further on his feet. However, when he stood, the flipper came off and was lost in the mud. $45 worth of AR gear gone... love this sport.
The team transitioned to paddle, Paula and Nick putting down a pace that Cathy and Pete had a hard time maintaining. Both boats managed the rapids without tipping, pretty good for mid-westerners with infrequent exposure to the trickier situations brought on by the moving water. As the rapids passed, we settled in for the long 25 mile paddle. The rapids sections were behind us, the uncomfortable seating and long effort were muted by the incredible scenery. Paula and Nick got a few breaks as they waited for Pete and Cathy and the entire team took the opportunity to fuel for the long day in front of them.
Corona Arch
The team reached the end of the paddle, stripped off the water gear and prepared for the first trek section. Pete plotted the 7 controls as Paula read the coordinates and we set off for Poison Spider Mesa. The team was debating whether there was enough time to get all the controls before the mandatory stop at the tyrolean traverse when they walked through the corona Arch and to the Via Ferrata that took them to the top of the Mesa. All that changed when they saw the Queue at the via ferrata. The team ended up waiting nearly an hour at this section and quickly surmised that controls 5 and 6 were probably not within reach. The maps provided were pretty sketchy and it would take a full on team effort to make sense of them. The terrain was surreal, the maps were crap, and the footing was iffy, but all the teams had to deal with these items. Reaching the top of the mesa, we headed north west toward control #4, an easy start to get our bearings, or so we thought.
TMMAR Route on Poison Spider Mesa
The rules stated that we had to stay on the rock or trails, but the rock was at a 45 degree slope, and there weren't any trails. 15 minutes later we are at a standstill as Cathy plays spiderwoman with 2nd thoughts about her chosen profession. She wasn't going up, down, or sideways without help. Nick took it upon himself to help, but quickly realized that the only support he could give was morale. He talked Cathy down and we decide on more conservative, less direct routes. The trek was a combination of undulating smooth rock and big slabs piled up on top of each other like remnants from an earthquake. This team wouldn't be going anywhere at a running pace. A fast trek was the order for the day. In the end, the team was a bit disappointed in this section. With three good orienteers, the first two controls were located, but the team came upon them with other teams leaving, not quite a follow, but not a find. Control #8 was not to be located. The organizers placed the control within 50 meters of the map edge, frustrating as half the map was left empty (cut off in the pic). With little to go by on the maps, no control descriptions, and nothing to reorient from (off the map) the team wasted 30 minutes walking around, not realizing they had wandered off the map. We abandoned in order to get to the Tyrolean before the cut off and recognized our catching feature from across the valley, too late to go and get the control we had searched so long to locate.
Reaching the Tyrolean, we queued up for another 40 minute wait. Teams were taking a long time to cross, and even though there were three routes, this bottleneck took time. Teams were starting to abandon hope of crossing as we made our way across. This was one skill the team was familiar with and we quickly made our way to the other side of the 350' wide valley with the floor 200' below. The team quickly headed further to the southwest and checked in at the rappel, 14 minutes before the cutoff. Phew. Following the instructions, we removed our shoes and socks and got ready to cross a waist deep pool of cool water to the rappel site. We were next in line when the clock struck 6:30 and we were told the site was closed.... but we were here in time... no, the rules state you have to be on the rope... no they don't... In the end, we made sure the log showed we were there in time, that we had punched well prior to the 6:30 cut off, and we headed backwards, up the valley in search of a way out, in the dark. The alternate way out was a 20 minute detour that eventually linked up with the exit from the rappel and we enjoyed the fun scrambling route off of the Mesa. Hard to believe we spent over two hours waiting or having to backtrack on a section that lasted 5 hours.
Back at the TA, the team donned their cycling gear, stowed their totes and headed off on the bike to the top of the mesa directly east of Moab. It was good to be moving and have a sustainable pace. We quickly settled in to a pace line and started passing teams, not knowing whether they had more or less controls than our team. It was a nice night out, not too cold, not too hot, clear, so we were able to see the stars. As we got to the edge of the Mesa, we started the steep, 400' climb. Put it in low gear and spin. Another team or two were passed in this section. We didn't know if there would be a queue at the end of the climb, but better to get there first.
We pulled in to the Slickrock TA and got our map and CP information. We are given the option of biking, trekking, or both. We quickly decided to try and bike as much as possible. It is the famous Slickrock trail.... We plot the points and plan on doing them in reverse order 21 down to 15. 21 and 20 are on the beginner loop, so we will be able to get familiar with the terrain while we bike this moonscape at night. Three of us are sporting AYUP Lights, so the night is almost day anyway. We head out, looking for turns in the trail and estimating distance. We come to the first point where we feel we need to dismount, drop our bikes and take the short jaunt to the control. Lights everywhere but near the control. We found it easy and trotted back to the bikes.
TMMAR's route on SlickRock
On the way to CP21, Pete found out what the white lines are for... to follow. The tendency is to follow your teammate, but when your teammate takes a turn, you end up cutting the corner. Pete hit a ledge at the bottom of a hill and went straight over the bars on to his head. Lucky it and his helmet are hard... Ten minutes later and Nick cuts a corner, a corner around a big pit in the rock with steep sides and a large pool of water. A skid, a slide, and a few chuckles and we all focus on the white lines instead of our teammates. CP20 came as easy as 21 and we are setting out again.
The cliff at CP 17
Things got a little confusing here. We went from an area of only singletrack, to single track and jeep trails. We figured the jeep trails would be easily identifiable, so we counted turns and jogs and tried to estimate distance. All of a sudden we are at Shrimp Rock, almost all the way to 17. What to do? The decision was made to pick up CP17, then return for 18 and 19. We measured carefully, but we didn't see the intersection where the path split on the way to 17... this is confusing. Luckily, the sharp turn past 17 was recognizable. We used it to confirm that we were in the correct spot. A quick backtrack and CP17 was found. Again, there were a lot of teams milling about, some on the south side of the trail? On the way to 17, we chose to go north then follow the depressions. Going past the easterly depression, Nick and Pete topped a knoll and were met with a black wall... The lights would not penetrate the blackness. Two more steps and you get a quick trip down 450'.
We took the now familiar route back to CP18, found the intersection and had a "Eureka" moment. Single track is dashes, jeep/alternate routes are dots... They are more spread out than the dashes, but locate-able. CP 18 was an easy find and we are off to drop our bikes at the next intersection. We dropped at the prominent intersection in our route, and set off on foot for 19. A longer trek, so we changed shoes for this one. The route was either widely spaced dots, or sand, so dropping the bikes was probably a good decision. We reached the area and went south west from the trail, not realizing that the trail map on our satellite photo was offset from the actual trail. We spent 25 minutes locating this control. An quick hike back to our bikes and we set out on the alternate/jeep path towards CP14.
Well, we found out why this is an alternate path. Rock so steep you have to rest your butt on your back tire on the downhills and have to zigzag your bike (on foot) up the uphills, if you can keep track of the dots. This was slow go, our mistake on the initial route which caused us to back track from 17 was taking it's toll. After a lot of effort, we see stripes and confused teams, proof that we are at the western intersection. A small bobble (wrong trail), and the team reorients and hits CP14. By comparison, the ride to CP 15 was easy, as was finding the control. We wanted to take the alternate route back, but couldn't find it and rode the single track back in to the start point.
The cutoff for the bike/trek was 7 AM and we roll in at 5:30. It is a little cooler now, and we are all a little hungry. Hard to eat when you are holding on for dear life. But, we only have one control left!!! Hard to go up from here right? Apparently not. We set off to the east on a long climb... A 34 mile slog that involves 4000 feet of climb and a fun 4500 foot descent to the finish. Tuck the maps in and ride... right? Not true... there were two turns that were pretty crucial to making it back efficiently. The first was easy to find, the second, where you turn on to the Kokopelli trail, was a little tougher to find, miss it and you start down with nowhere to go but back up. We debated the 2nd, could we make it to the final CP on an alternate route? In the end, we chose correctly and beat some other teams back by 30 minutes. Teams that were riding by us on the hill to the peak. Along the way we saw teams sitting in the middle of the road eating, a team sleeping, and a whole lot of incoherent nonsense. The super-elite teams don't get to see the babbling gaggle at the back. I think they are missing out. The peak was awesome, and so was the ride to the finish where we ate a little too much and went down for a nap.
I think that the experience of this event, in this terrain, made the trip worthwhile. There has been a lot of debate about the format, opaque rules, etc., but if you step back and just ask if you had fun, it is pretty easy to smile about the event. Frustrating... all good events are. Hard... I would feel cheated if it wasn't. A lot of AR is about teamwork and bonding, this race provided plenty of opportunity to build that bank up. Thanks CP Tracker, see you next year. Hopefully, a little closer to the top of the finisher list. :-)
It has been too long since we created a new race report... too much time racing and not enough time blogging. We need to keep up with these items or we will forget how much fun we had with the Fat Otter 72 hour Raid, Planet Adventure 36 hour Old School AR, or Paula's first race as the Director of 180 Adventure's Stubborn Mule. Wow, that is a lot of racing. So, let's start it up again with the Thunder Rolls 24 Hour Adventure.
We raced down in Illinois at Thunder Rolls two years ago and had a great time. We put this race on the "to do" list early in the year. After all, we were all out of Boetje's Mustard. A free jar per member makes the trip down to this event worth the hours and dollars. It doesn't hurt that the race is top quality with a lot of twists. One not so fond memory of the race two years ago was the pack rafting. We had three racers in a raft built for two, meaning a small adult and a child... Rafts were on the gear list again. Surely it would be easier if we only have two people in the raft. A new entry on the gear list... walkie talkies. How are they going to be incorporated???
Paula, ready to unveil the magic bike!
Wow, this race is big. 38 teams representing some of the best the midwest has to put forward. A team is even present from Georgia. 38 teams.... wow. Our biggest race since the USARA National Champs in 2008.
Clark and Pete met Paula at the parking lot. The place was filling up fast, but the buzz was all about Paula's sweet new ride. No, she didn't get a new car. I still have to stare at the awful dent I put in it when I dropped a canoe on the front fender. Nope, Paula had a new rocket, a 2009 Trek Elite 9.9. I think the 9.9 must represent the weight of the bike. Pure sweetness. How are Clark and Pete going to keep up?
The race meeting over, we plot our control points (CP's) and formulate a plan for the race. Order of events:
Pete and Paula plot CP
Run
Portage
Canoe
Bike
Radi-O
Bike
Pack Raft
Orienteer
Ropes
Orienteer
Pizza!!!
Following a stirring National Anthem, we counted down to the midnight start and took off on a run with PFD's and paddles at the ready. Two miles later, we enter the parking lot where the boats are stored and start our assessment. Seats present and working (check), handles present and attached (check), no body damage (check), and we set off on the one mile portage. Paula with the map and paddles, Pete and Clark with the nice heavy canoe. Paula isn't the biggest fan of running. She is even more adamant that races aren't won in the first five minutes. She has been subjected too our jack rabbit starts in the past. So, out of the 38 teams in the 24 hour event, we were about 25 back coming in to the canoe selection. As other teams fumbled, we left the staging area passing about 15 teams with no plan. Paula may not run much, but she can march fast enough to make you jog. Into the woods we go with Paula shouting "on your left" and Pete and Clark straining to keep the canoe from ripping their arms off as they struggle to keep up. As we reached the 2nd control, we had picked off another five teams, but they weren't far back. We readied our gear, and headed straight through the woods to the water. Open river in front of us. A firefly family gathering of headlamps to our right.
Clark called for a team training session for July 5th. 16 miles of road riding, followed by 8 miles of single track, followed by a run, then 16 miles of road riding back to the start. Of course, he called the training session in June, when the weather was an unknown. He also modified our route, since he knew that the river bottoms were nothing but sand. So, off we went at 10 AM this morning. Cloudy muggy weather. As we crossed the Minnesota River, we looked back at the river bottoms and commented that they might even be flooded. Looking ahead, we saw an elderly gentleman enter a puddle across the paved trail. The puddle seemed to go for quite a distance.... We ended up going through close to half a mile of water, some of it over the wheels, but with a gentle flow, some of it less deep, but moving quickly. All rideable and fun. There was a section that was over knee deep and too swift to ride, so we shouldered the bikes and waded through, holding each other for stability. On the far side we resumed a steady pace and finished our "road" ride to Murphy Hanrahan. Some fun single track and a sticky humid run later, we set out on our ride home to a nice clap of thunder. Three miles in and a steady rain was falling. Thirty seconds later and the sky was falling. We were all trying to negotiate traffic, spraying water, road grit, puddles, lakes, etc., but all we were thinking of was how to get back to the river bridge. Alternate routes??? 15-20 extra miles..... I think I hit a new high on my heart rate monitor on the first section. It had the fastest flowing water. The next section was the deepest, and still moved at a swift pace. After those sections of fun, the third was a cake walk, gentle water just below the top of the wheel. All are safe and sound and water logged back at Casa Flowers.
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.
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.
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.
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