When one decides that they want to do an Adventure Race in Mid Jan in the mountains of North GA there is a certain understanding that the weather and conditions will more than likely not be favorable and that at some point during the race you will ask yourself WTF am I doing. But then 2 days later it all becomes clear and you realize there is not much else you would rather have been doing over the past weekend. 

And so we have the 2101 NGAR near Chatsworth Ga, in and around beautiful Fort Mountain State park. Too bad we never got to see the beauty of it, because for most of the race we could not see 10 feet in front of us

Todd, Victor and myself along with our awesome support crew Miguel and Kathy headed down to GA on Thursday. We stopped overnight in Knoxville and on the way out Friday morning decided to stop at Outdoor World at 9am when they opened to get a map we needed. This was the first time I had been to an Outdoor World and all I can say is WOW!! They are pretty impressive and huge. But it did not have the map we needed:( However the most exciting part of the the experience for me was the Starbucks right smack in the middle of Outdoor World! Yup you should have seem my face. The team said it was priceless. If only they had a photo. (For those of you who don’t know, I am a coffee snob and even though there is much better coffee than Starbucks, it is not off of 81 South in Knoxville TN). Off we went happy with coffee in hand:) 

We had plenty of time to relax and get our gear together by the time we checked in Friday afternoon and got our maps, etc. Back to the hotel we went to plot the course, get last minute things together and a good nights sleep. Once we had the course laid out here is what we were up against. 

Course overview:

Race started at the North Bank Recreation area with a 17 mile paddle. Racers will return to North Bank and head out on a 25 mile bike to the Windy Gap Cycle Trail Tralhead. On this leg they will stop by Fort Mountain (CP8) and see their support crews. At the Windy Gap Cycle Trail Trailhead they drop bikes and go on a 13 mile hike up to Grassy Mountain. We expect snowy/rainy/cold conditions on this mountain. After returning to the bikes, they will go through Mulberry Gap and up the Pinhoti trail, returning to Fort Mountain (Cp19). At Fort Mountain they will be given coordinates to a 10 mile, 10 point orienteering course on the Fort Mountain trails.

9 am race start at the Carter Lake Dam

The Prolouge: 

The prolouge to help spread out the paddle consisted of a run down and then up a nasty dirt road near the dam. It was over a mile with about 700 feet of climbing. Only one teammate could do it so Todd took it on. 

Leg 1 The Paddle and the only part of the race without rain, well maybe some rain but we were wet anyways… 

From the prolouge off we went on the paddle across Carter Lake. We had to hit CP’S 1-4  in order but had no limitation on how to get them (paddle or portage). As we crossed the lake to hit CP 1 it was windy but in general we had good conditions on the water. Our canoe Skinny Magic was great and very fast. Before the race started we were told there was a Bass Fishing tournament going on that day so we would see a lot of boats out on the lake. Great!!

We had several portage options on the paddle and most teams cut off quite a bit of paddling by portaging from CP 1 to 2 and then from CP 4 back to CP 5 and the TA. We decided to do both portages which included carrying the boat up and down several hills through the woods, etc. Overall I think most teams saved about an hour of paddling if they chose the portage. 

TA 1 Transition to Bike. 

By the time we got off the water about 4 hours later it had started to rain so we got some warm clothes on, bundled up, got some hot food and off we went on the first big bike leg to CP’S 6-8 and Fort Mountain State Park. This first bike leg was by far the most enjoyable of the race as it was light out and not to cold even with light rain falling. Most of the roads were paved until we hit the Pebbles Fire Rd and started the climb to CP 7. On the climb we passed about 10 teams and we were feeling really good. We found the trail connector off the fire road that we needed to take and hit CP 7. From there we really started the climb up the mountain to the main road and into the park. The navigation was not that hard and we made the right turn on the single track trail we needed to follow up to the road. From what we heard later several teams missed the turned and ended up hitting the road further down from the park entrance. That part of the road was forbidden to travel on but oh well. By this point the trails had enough mud on them to make the trail up to the road unrideable so it was a bike a hike. 

Into CP 8  and a quick stop with our support crew to refuel and get our packs ready for the real start of the race and over 12 hours out on the course overnight. From CP 8 we continued on the bike to hit CP’S 9-11. These CP’S were in the park and the MB was great except for wet and muddy trails and fire roads. We hit  CP 10 by dark put on our lights and started the down hill out of the park. This is when the rain really started to fall and by the time we got into CP11 and the bike drop we were pretty wet and cold.

Bike Drop at CP11 and start of the Trekking Leg 

We had 3 CP’s to hit on the trek 12-14 and then back to CP 15 and the bike drop. Before heading out we got dry, had some soup that the race TA volunteers had made and stood by the fire for a bit before heading out. We knew it would be a long trek with a lot of elevation gain (about 2500 feet of gain to CP 13 alone) and as we hit CP 12 at the end of a long dark fireroad we made a stategic decision to skip the next two CP’S and head back to the bikes. With the time it would take to get 13 and 14  as well as the physical toll it would take with the conditions, we decided we would rather try for all of the 10 O-points at the end of the race instead of going for 2 more trekking points, and risk not having enough time at the end of the race to do the O-course. At this point it was raining harder, we were freezing, soaking wet and just plain miserable. So we slogged back to the bikes 3 hours later not looking forward to a long, cold and wet ride. Our strategy would work in our favor at the end as we had plenty of time to do the O-course and pick up several more CP’S than many teams that did the whole trekking leg. 

Final Bike Leg CP’S 16-19 

The final bike leg out of CP 15 was a long, wet, muddy slog up and over several mountains back to Fort Mountain State Park and our support crew. We had to hit CP’S 16-18. The ride was long but our spirits were lifted when we got to CP 16 at Mulberry Gap. The CP was at a warm lodge with lot’s of hot food, chips, soda, cookies, a hot oven stove, and the best bathrooms I have every been to in a race. They really were awesome. The women’s bathroom had showers and a heater that I sat down in front of for a good 10 minutes. But back to reality and off we went up a single track trail and the mountain to CP 17. The ride to CP 18 was downhill on a fireroad/trail/ATV trail. It was so foggy and dark it was hard to see and thankfully Victor was able to take the lead with his lights and guide us safety downhill. Although I did have one small crash but thanks to a soft and muddy ground I was fine. We got through CP 18 and CP 19 and finished off the bike leg just as daylight hit around 7am. 

Final leg the O-Course 

The final section of the race was a 10 mile 10 point rogaine O-Course. We did not get the points until we started the section. We had an option of plotting the points right away and heading out or we could wait 1 hour and copy the points in 3 minutes off of a master map. We decided to take the hour to get some hot food and get dry. Once we were ready to go Victor copied the 10 points in literally 3 minutes and we were off. We had 6 hours to get all 10 points and finish by the 3pm cut-off. At this point the rain had still not let up and in fact it was raining harder than ever. The wind was also picking up and the fog was even worse on the course. They were not easy points to get even in clear weather and we had a lot of land to cover. We decided to call it a race after getting 5 points. We made our way back to CP 29 and the finish a little after 2pm. 29 hours later. 

Overall we had a great race, and I think we exceeded our expectations especially with our placement. As the first race of the year we went into it for the race experience as we get ready for the year ahead.  It was a tough race and many teams called it a day much earlier. But we pushed through and as long as we felt good and were in good spirits we never let the conditions get to us. Victor and Todd were both great teammates as usual. This was Todd’s first 30 hour and he did a fantastic job. Very impressive. He never complained once, and I am pretty sure he has the full on racing bug:) 

Once again thanks to our awesome support Miguel and Kathy without whom this race would have been very different. 

Thanks to our canoe sponsor Barry and his newly named red canoe Skinny Magic, named after a sign we saw for drugs in Chatsworth GA. Not kidding. 

Thanks to Shane and his team for their help and support as well. 

Until next time……………

The Rotten Cheeseburgers

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Next up for the team……, Uncategorized

Race Reports, Uncategorized

Weather was projected in the teens, gusts were over 30 mph and conditions were Icy. This was a great day for a Diet and a fantastic way to kick off the New Year!

Shane and I arrived at the Rapidian Wildlife Management area in Shenandoah, VA, at 8:10am for the 9-12 hour DIET slated to begin at 9:00am. Weather on 2 January was projected to be in the teens with wind chill in the single digits. Icy conditions and 5 river crossings awaited.  I was there to get a great workout and glean a few AR tidbits from Share who was shaking out his gear and plan for NGARs in mid-January

After the race brief and a few gear adjustments, we stepped off at 9:20am. We had a solid plan to return within 6 hours as we both had commitments later in the evening.

CP 1 We made it to checkpoint 1 without incident. However, what we thought was supposed to be the pink tape marker did not have the required word/message written on it. After searching for 15 minutes or so, we decided to move on to CP2. We found out later that no words were required at CP1. Careful reading of the passport would have told us that.

CP2  A series of river crossings were required from CP1 to CP2. As we approached the first major river crossing, the teams were scattered in various states of crossing. Some were crawling across logs and others were scouring the banks for a suitable crossing area.

As the clear veteran of the two person team, Shane quickly surveyed the shoreline and made the decision to slog through the water. However, I  was reluctant to get my shoes soaked in that weather with another hour plus projected on the bike. After too long a time searching for a suitable crossing, I pulled my shoes and socks off and  waded through. Subsequent water crossings were completed much faster by shoes and sock removal method. Note to Shane,  thanks for your patience. Note to self, just suck it up next time and wade through)

CP 3 and 4 – Transition to Trek.  Miguel, hot soup and hot cocoa welcomed us at CP3 where we transitioned to the trek. The trek consisted of 4 locations labeled A,B,C and D. After bagging A-C, it was after 1:00pm and we made a decision to skip D due to our commitment to our 6 hour cut off. Back to the TA area and we were off.

CP5  After CP4, we hopped on the bikes and headed down the hard ball to CP 5. We quickly made CP 5 and realized we may have a little extra time and CP 7 wasn’t that far away. What the hell, we decided, let’s go get them.

CP6  and 7  After accidently passing CP7, we made it to the base of the mountain where CP 6 was. Although a trail wound to the hilltop, we made the decision to stash our bikes and make a bee line for the top. We quickly made the ascent to CP6 and were able to see CP 7 from the hilltop. CP 7 was located without incident.

CP 8, 9 and finish  CP 8 and 9  were right off the hardball and we picked them up as we made the  12-13 mile bike back to the start. This was pretty much a straight shot, however the events of the day had begun to catch up with me. I was a lot slower than I expected on the ride back and will need to work on my nutrition plan next time.

Thanks to Michelle for putting this together, Todd for assisting her with course setting, and Miguel for hot soup, hot chocolate and a warm vehicle.

Brian

Race Reports, Uncategorized

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Here is some of my favorite gear from 2009.

• Salsa Dos Niner.  Softail ride with all the benefits of 29er wheels.  Excellent choice for AR.
• Old Town Penobscot 17′ in Royalex.  Add a seat in the middle, tracks straight and goes fast.  Legal for most races where the RD doesn’t provide a boat for you.
• WTB Silverado saddle.  Tried a lot of seats, this is my absolute favorite.
• Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals.  Strong, light, best mud shedding out there and lots of float (no knee pain!).
• Stan’s Notubes.  Arch rims and Notubes.com fluid.
• Numa Shades.  Great optics, extremely durable and a huge AR supporter.
• Dinotte Lights.  Great beam, light weight, long burn times.
• Smartwool base layers.  Perfect fall, winter and spring 1st layer.
• Defeet Wolly Polly socks.  I use them for everything.
• REI micro weight wind jacket.  Uber light and durable.
• Bag Balm.  It works, and seems to be nearly unaffected by water.
• Specialized S-Works helmet.  Lightweight, phenomenal venting, exceptional fit.  Stays put through tough terrain, even with a light mounted.
• Specialized Cycling Bibs.  My “go to” bibs for long rides.
• Sidi Dominator 5 shoes.  Most comfortable (esp. with the Specialized BG insoles) shoes I have.
• Inov-8 flyrocks.  Light, low, great traction no foot bruising.
• Salomon 20l and 30l packs.  Great fit and lightweight.

See you outside - next year!

Shane

Gear Reviews, Uncategorized

Wednesday night several of us swung by Spokes, Etc. and presented them with a signed and framed jersey.  They are one of the most critical sponsors we have, and we wanted to thank them with a gift.  The jersey is one they gave me, and was raced (a lot!) during the last two seasons.  The certificate at the bottom is for our “Top 5″ ranking from August of this year from USARA.

Thanks again to Steve and everyone else at Spokes, Etc.!!!  If you are not using them as your “go to” bike shop, check them out and you’ll be sold.

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Ok so I am out for a trail runhike and I am in the middle of nowhere
and a little lost when I come across this sign and road.

A good idea to continue?  All I could think of was the Brady bunch
locked up using thier socks like a lasso and I only had on smartwools.
Do I continue on?
How can you not, and no I won’t be making the picnic but do practice
some rolls and wet exits for me.

Bryce

Uncategorized, Workout

It all started with a few phone calls.  We qualified, the money rolled down to us, we might as well go…  But, the race is in Texas.  How much will it cost, how will we get there, how will our bikes get there?  All valid questions, and ones I am sure racers across the country struggled with.  Jeremy couldn’t make it.  Jen Moos and I were hemming, hawing and ultimately leaning toward skipping it this year.

Then I called Mark Lattanzi.  ”Hey Mark, its Shane.  How are you?”…blah, blah, blah.  ”We qualified for Nationals, and are looking for a third.  It’s in Texas this year, wanna go?”   He replied, “Actually, that is one of two races let this year I wanted to do.  Let me think about it.”  Me, “It’s in Texas.”  Mark, “I know, that’s one reason I want to do it, I haven’t ever raced in Texas.”

(Before I get any hate mail from the Texans - the race, Texas and Texans were all great.)

Obviously he decided to do it, and with a phenomenal navigator and stellar woman how could I say no?

We arrived within 30 minutes of each other the day before the race at DFW airport.  Grabbed a rental car, grabbed some Texmex (mandatory, right?), and drove up to check-in to the hotel.  Spent some time getting out bikes reassembled and we arrived at pre-race registration shortly after they opened.

Pre-race is always a great time.  High stress and speculation is coupled with the great feelings of seeing old friends and catching up.  We did all of the above, and were off to dinner.  Caught a great Italian meal across the street from the Four Horsemen motel, and drove back the the event hotel.  Pre-race meeting - we’ll get our maps at 5:00 am and start the race at 7:00 am, a few questions and back to the hotel.

Time to pack, repack and adjust plans.  The deluge of rain put a lot of the course underwater, necessitating multiple changes.  The bike drop was cancelled, and we would see a central TA during the race.  So, we set the car up to act as our TA site, did final prep on our gear, and racked out.

Friday morning came early (we set alarms for 4:00).  Some coffee in our bellies and we were out the door.  By 5 o’clock there was general mayhem as everyone was looking for some real estate to set up their plotting/planning areas.  They gave us our maps and rules of travel and we went to work.  We managed to get everything plotted and work out the vast majority of our routes with time to spare.  Back to the car, final prep to our TA locations, drop the bikes and…

Let’s race!  We jogged about 300 meters downhill to the scoots, hopped on and roared off - or more accurately we rode off with nearly 200 other racers.  Lights on, stay together, and move through the largest sustained peleton AR has ever seen.  A few teams took off and over time we moved to the front and then started closing the gaps from one group to the next.  38 kilometers later we arrived at the boat TA along with Berlin Bike in about 6th.  Into the boats, and time to paddle.  Grrrrr, one heck of a wind had the Race Director mandating that we hug the coastline.  With the wind and waves coming at the side of the boat, the stern was getting pushed pretty hard.  Lots of left side only paddling for the guy in the back (me).  But, that all changed hours later on the return part of the paddle!  We paddled well together moving quickly across the water and knocking out the points.  The terrain around CP4 wasn’t depicted quite the same on the map as on the water, so that slowed us a bit.  We figured it out, punched it and portaged to CP 5.  Paddled back around, wind to our back and then side and returned to the TA.  Although they were a bit of a time suck off the water, we were definitely happy with our decision to carry 3 four piece kayak paddles.

Back on the bikes and still in the top 6 or so.  Bike to the first trek section.  Just how many plants with spikes, thorns, barbs and prickers are there?  How can they all be in the same place?  Why would anyone put CPs in the thickest parts of them?  We got the points, tore our clothes, and moved on.

Bike here, bike there and time to orienteer.  Mark absolutely crushed it.  Period.  Mere seconds off the fastest time (there is a story there, for another time).  Back on the bikes, hop in a pace line and more riding.  Drop the bikes and trek to CP 15, a point with a clue of “…low red wall.”  Low translated to about one brick above water!  Back to the bikes and toward the TA, getting there in the top 5.

In and out quickly, except for the excessive time spent on the jammed buckles on my Sidi shoes.  Hint, go straight to the knife to clean the junk out!  Restocked on food, fluids and some dry clothes, off we go.

Off the road and on to a horse trail.  This was a cross between swampy double track and wet cement.  Miserable, especially for Jen’s driveline.  I had bad chainsuck, hers was terrible.  Mark had a Rohloff and his driveline was unfazed.   That’s going on the Christmas wish list!  Mark seamlessly guided us to the points, and we caught up with Dart Nuun.  They had a map issue, so we rolled together for about the next 5 hours.  We worked well as a 6 headed mob, and reeled in the points.  Hung up on the one near the construction area, found it, punched it and moved on.  More riding through wet cement, more points and we parted ways with Dart Nuun (great racing with you guys!!!).  Next stop was the TA for the final trek and we were still in the top 5 or 6 teams.

It was good to be on foot and work some other muscles.  We had a solid plan and knocked out the points quickly.  When we returned to the TA we learned that three teams were in front of us, and the final trek section was cancelled.  There were also a lot of very fast competent teams just behind us - time to put the hammer down.

Back to the slop.  We ground it out, constantly looking over our shoulders and pushed to the finish.  We arrived at the finish line, and went in to the final punch.  While inside, I was informed that one of the teams in front of us hadn’t cleared the course.  Unofficially, we were 3rd!!!  I told Jen and Mark, we were ecstatic!!!  We got our pictures taken at the finish line, cleaned some gear and went to clean up.

We came back later, grabbed breakfast and watched teams coming in.  It was great to be a part of the energy at the finish line of such an epic event.  The rest of the day was gear work, napping and eating.  The awards ceremony was excellent, and for an avid racer a great way to get your fix listening to everyone’s stories.  Although we all raced to the same checkpoints, the journeys we had from start to finish are the cool parts.  And every team had a different and interesting tale to tell.

Ultimately, we rode about 112 miles, paddled over 5.5 hours, and were on our feet for approximately 8 hours.

A special thanks to our sponsors, we couldn’t do this without you.  Jen and Mark, you are both such incredibly gifted athletes.  This was definitely a pinnacle race, we worked extremely well together and had a great time.  2009 USARA Nationals are in the books, and we took 3rd.  A great cap on the year, and a phenomenal way to debut the ImOnPoint.org race team.  Look for us next year…

See you outside!

Shane

Race Reports, Uncategorized

At about 2 am, seven hours into a 24 hour race, I nearly capsized our canoe.  This was not a “Oops, we misjudged that” near miss.  No, this was me laughing so hard, that the boat was unstable and nearly went over.  The 2009 Bushwack 24 hour Adventure Race was one of the most fun races I have ever done.  The course was great and the racers I shared the experience with put it over the top.

Several weeks ago, I received a phone call from Ronny of Odyssey Adventure Racing.  He planned on racing in Bushwack Adventure’s 24 hour Bushwack race and was interested me joining Hollie and himself.   Fast forward  a few weeks later and I was knocking out a multi-event training weekend in Roanoke with both of them.  The three of us meshed together as a team really well, the training was great (talk about living in a perfect place to train!) and we knew regardless of the official outcome, we were going to have a great race.

Ronnie reached out to through his vast network, and found us our support crew.  Thanks again to David and James for all your hard work.

Some map recon, scheming and planning…We were ready.

Race day arrived, and we all made our drive down to Raleigh for the 7 pm start.  We linked up, met the support crew and got checked in.  This was a Rogaine style race, different CPs had different values.  If you couldn’t clear the course, you really needed a good plan for which points you did and didn’t get.  However, we only received the points for the first third of the course.  We plotted out points, came up with our plan (and back-up plan) based on the information at hand, and were ready to go.

Here is the race:

Prologue, use ariel imagery maps to navigate to a set of nearby ponds.  CPs will be in the vicinity of the pond.

Awesome singletrack - essentially a bike-o section on an intricate trail system.

Great lake paddle with a nuclear power plant nearby.  The lighting from the facility, coupled with an overcast evening gave a surreal feel to this paddle leg.  Lots of points stashed away in various coves.  We were having a great time, when the conversation turned to race bibs.  Apparently, they want those bibs back after the race.  I was laughing as I described how I have accumulated a collection of them from his events.  The more we talked the funnier it was.  Hollie was laughing, I was howling and we nearly flipped the boat.

More biking followed by river canoeing.  This quickly became shallow water canoe racing.  For some unknown reason, there was a massive water release downstream just before the race.  What should have been several feet of nicely moving water turned into one inch less water than the draft of our Old Town canoe.  This was an exercise in getting in and out of the boat quickly and often.  We also perfected a “paddle and scoot” drill to get off of the rocks we were just barely hung up on.

Great trek/Orienteering section.  There was an O section during the later part of the paddle.  Great points, and definitely forcing teams to make decisions.  We had already missed one of the early paddle CPs and the ropes section (could be completed along the paddle or at the end).  So, Ronny came up with a solid attack plan for the section.  We moved quickly, adjusted the plan to grad a few more points and got back the our boats.

More shallow water canoe racing and back to the bikes.  Some riding and we were on another trek/O course.  Ronny crushed it once again, with Hollie and I as his wingmen working through the woods and picking off points.

The final bike leg to the finish area, a quick trip down to the ropes (crazy high points value) and we were done.  Final standings - 3rd in the coed elite and more fun than anyone has a right to have racing.

Hollie and Ronny - thank you for inviting me to join you.  We truly made some great memories.  To the Bushwack AR crew, great event, epic sections, tons of variety and lots of swag.  It was obvious that a lot of time and effort went into the course design and event execution.

To all our sponsors - wow.  We couldn’t race at the level we do without your assistance.  A special thanks to Spokes, Etc bike shop for getting my wheels essentially rebuilt in a few hours.

See you outside!

Race Reports, Uncategorized