April 14/15
As the time approached for the prerace meeting the weather that we had all been eyeing all week started to settle in. A steady drizzle had started, and according to all the weather reports we had seen, it wouldn’t improve a whole lot over the next 36 hours. The meeting was fairly quick and we received all of our maps and checkpoints at that time. It was nice to have the evening to plot the map, analyze our route, and most importantly fold the 3’ x 4’ monster of a map.
Race morning was just what the weather people said it would be, cold, windy and rainy. We quickly setup our TA in the parking lot to stay out of the mud and wet grass. After watching one of the ARFE team’s canopy do a somersault in the wind, we decided to lash ours to our crew vehicle to keep it in place.
The first section of the course was a “Score O” loop where teams choose a combination of controls of different point values to reach a minimum of 15 total points. This type of start generally does a very good job of spreading the field, and it’s always interesting to analyze team route choice after the fact. The maps were handed out at 7:30 AM and the race was to start at 8:00 AM. This gave us half an hour to strategize. We chose to travel clockwise around Tipsaw Lake to about 10 controls for our 15 points. The other top teams almost exclusively decided to head far out to the east to more distant but higher valued controls. The results show that they had the better strategy for this section.
After a few last minute comments from Race Director Jerry Lyons the race was underway at 8:05 local time. We made our way towards our first control (#11) with a small group of other teams. Within a few minutes we experienced our first taste of the wet conditions as we got to a stream crossing that gave us no options other than to wade directly across. It was about thigh deep ice cold water, unless you stumble and almost fall, in which case the water was about waist deep…
Using our invigorating “dip” for energy, we quickly spread ourselves out from the other teams and got to the area of #11. Our first two attempts to attack the control from the road failed and it became apparent that it may have been misplaced. Knowing the importance of keeping moving, we decided to try one last nearby spur before skipping it and moving on. Luckily the control was there and we punched and took off.
Our next control (#10) was on a hilltop so we were confident we could knock it out quickly. After a quick climb to the top of the hill, we found no control. Feelings of desperation and frustration were quickly creeping in but after a quick scan of the area we decided to bail and be on our way. One of our rare moments of good fortune for this race led us directly by #10 on the way down the hill on a small false hilltop. We punched and quickly took off.
The rest of the O section was relatively uneventful and we moved through it fairly quickly. As we neared the end we started to realize the error in our route choice as we saw other teams moving in from the east. We just had a feeling that we had given up some serious time. Back at the TA we found that we were in 11th and the lead team was well over an hour ahead of us. It was disappointing for sure, but there was nothing to do but keep moving.
We transitioned quickly to the bikes and departed the TA the same way we had for the O course. The initial part of the ride was incredibly muddy and difficult to handle involving plenty of bike pushing. It would be just a taste of what was in store for us on the bikes. CP1 was along the road between the start and the first section of trail riding. The ride to the trailhead was uneventful and we even managed to pass three teams as they were refueling and refolding their monstrous main maps.
The trail ride quickly proved to be challenging, but passing those few teams was providing great motivation to keep moving through the mud and muck. That all came to a screeching halt as a short but effective string of expletives was heard from Ryan who was riding at the front. Something had gone wrong with his bike. Kevin was the first on the scene and his initial response was less than promising. By the time I got there he had quickly determined what was wrong. It wasn’t too hard, as Ryan had sheared his rear derailleur hanger clean in half. We had no choice but to break down his chain and gear his bike as a single speed. We tried to leave it in a middle gear so he could ride as much as possible, but it kept slipping so we were forced to move to the smallest gear in the rear cassette. Ryan would not be able to ride anything but the downhills and flat paved sections the rest of the way to CP4…
We rolled into CP2, a manned checkpoint, bummed but determined. We told one of the volunteers there (Monty Wilson) to try and get word back to our crew that we needed a replacement bike if at all possible for the last bike leg of the race. They would have lots of time until then, so we were hopeful.
The rest of the trail ride was a brutal, slow, mud fest. There were a healthy number of spills and one flat that required not only a new tube, but repair of a ½ inch gash in Kevin’s front tire. Kevin also learned not to mock Angelia for falling so much after taking an acrobatic and impressive face plant mere seconds after suggesting she race in a padded suit to avoid injury. Maybe Kevin should consider a helmet with a faceguard…
We finally got back out onto gravel roads after CP3 and began to limp our way to CP4 with Ryan’s crippled bike. Kevin helped to push the bike up hills a number of times and I did my best to tow Ryan on foot with the tow cable from my pack a time or two. Ryan did a great job of hammering the downhills to carry as much momentum as possible into the next hill. We all had to exert a lot more energy than we would have normally, but we developed a pretty good system. We weren’t quick, but all things considered we did pretty well. We lost time to the top teams, but held off those behind us.
As we neared CP4 on our bikes we saw Bagelworks and Alpine shop coming out of the woods from the trek to CP’s 6 and 7. They were on their way to the boats at CP8, and we were hoping that they were 1 and 2. Our crew informed us at CP4 that they were in fact in first and second and were also a solid 3-3 ½ hours ahead of us at this point. We had managed to hold onto our 9th place position through all our difficulties on the bike.
After dropping our bikes and getting into our climbing gear we headed off to the traverse and rappel. Both were set up well and were very cool. Thankfully the traverse did not require and insane amount of effort despite the drooping that had occurred in one of the lines due to the moisture. (Thanks again to the volunteers that helped with this fun section of the race.)
Back from the ropes we dumped all the climbing related gear that we no longer needed and took off for 6 and 7. We moved just in front of Team #2, Blue Bayou as we left the CP. For the entire trek we leapfrogged with them as they repeatedly made better choices on cutting corners and moving efficiently. We actually moved together for a large portion and joked about the heated battle between teams 1 and 2. Of course it was for 8th place but it sure sounded good as a “battle between #1 and #2”
We all got to the boats at CP8 at pretty much the same time, but Blue Bayou transitioned a little faster and took off as the sun set completely. We followed about 10 minutes later and the going was slow. There was little to no visibility from any ambient light due to the cloud cover. The headlamps could only throw so much light and it was obscured by a misty fog. We came to a number of spots where it was not readily apparent which way to go. The law of averages should have been enough for us to guess right at least once, but I swear we guessed wrong EVERY time. Despite the struggle to find the right direction, we kept moving towards the Ohio and never got too turned around. After a little shy of an hour we were paddling on the half mile wide Ohio and heading North to the TA.
At this point things started to get a little ugly. A steady headwind and continual damp spray kept everyone cold to varying degrees. It was an incredibly difficult couple of hours. We didn’t rest once for even a sip of water. I felt OK from the waist up, but my legs and feet were very cold and very stiff. Finally we reached the beach of the TA and got out of the boats. Within less than a minute of getting out we were all reduced to convulsive shivering and not much else. Thankfully a crew member from Dino helped us get our boats up to the drop point, and our crew transported all of our gear back to our TA.
We were done. Angelia was by far the worst off having been cold in the boat already, and got worse like the rest of us as soon as she got out. Her first words out of the boat were “I’m done guys”. At that point in time none of us were in much of a position to argue with her. Our crew did a phenomenal job of getting us warm with dry clothes, warm soup, and a vehicle with the thermostat set somewhere between 100 and 112 degrees F. After a necessarily lengthy transition of around an hour and a half, we managed to collect ourselves and head out on the next leg.
A short hike on the roads brought us to the CP at the start of the quarry trek. We were given a small topo map that had 4 controls marked on it. We had to get all four in order and return to the CP. Each control was also to have glowsticks on it. We got our bearings and took off towards CP1. Almost immediately things started to look more than a little odd. The contours weren’t matching what we were seeing in the terrain. It didn’t click until two days later that considering it was a quarry, all of the contour lines were basically useless as they had been stripped out. This section was basically meant to be a “take a bearing and go” section.
We stopped to do a map check in what we were pretty sure was the neighborhood of Q1, the first quarry checkpoint. Not surprisingly, we ended up running into Blue Bayou. Again. After a quick discussion (mostly centering around the confusion over the contour lines) we decided to check out what appeared to be something glowing green about 75 meters away. Although we had actually been told they were red glow sticks, not many things in nature glow that “glowstick green” so it seemed like where we wanted to go. Sure enough, it was our control.
From there on the quarry trek was pretty straightforward. We had to navigate around a band of cliffs that we had been warned of at the prerace meeting and a couple of lakes to the next three. From what we could see of the terrain, it was very cool looking. Roger, a member of Blue Bayou, had a powerful bike light with him that illuminated just enough of the terrain for us to get a feel for it.
Back at CP9/10 we checked out and headed for CP11, about 500 meters up a stream bed. After punching CP11 we were planning on heading back out to the roads for the trip to CP12 rather than taking the shorter cross country approach. Blue Bayou discussed it briefly and decided they too would prefer the low effort, albeit longer approach. An hour and a half or so of hiking and we had punched CP12 and returned to the TA.
During the trek we had discussed finishing the race along with Blue Bayou. It seemed like we had traveled together for the vast majority of the last 8-10 hours and we had both helped each other out a handful of times. Everyone was in agreement, and it’s always nice to have an extra navigator in the group at the end of the race when things start getting a little goofy.
We all transitioned and got on our bikes for the final push home. Our crew had managed to secure a bike for Ryan to replace his. It was more than a little on the small side, and he kind of looked like he was one of those circus clowns riding a miniature bike, but it had all its parts, it shifted gears, and it rolled forwards, so we couldn’t ask much more.
The final bike was all paved and gravel as they had eliminated the final section of trail riding. That being said, there were still a few butt kicking hills to be dealt with as we biked to CP’s 15, 16 & 17. Earlier in the race Ryan had stated that “we better darn well summit this county during the race”. Well, we did, and I’m pretty sure it was during this leg of the race.
About 2/3 of the way through the bike it became apparent that we had a little more bike legs in us that Blue Bayou. Never mind the fact that one of there members was quickly losing her brakes. (She would end up finishing the race walking the downhills due to a complete inability to brake at all.) Cooper, their navigator, gave us their blessing to go ahead and push on if we felt like it, no hard feelings. We discussed it and decided to go ahead and knock out the rest of the bike as quickly as we could. The decision was motivated more by a desire to finish the damned race than to finish a place higher. As far as we were concerned our finish was a tie with Blue Bayou. They are definitely a class act.
After 24 hours and 48 minutes of racing we crossed the finish line. The conditions were definitely brutal at times and just finishing this race was an accomplishment that we were all proud of. In the end only 8 teams completed the entire course, a testament to how challenging the weather conditions made the course. Thanks again to all the races staff and volunteers who made the race possible even in the adverse weather conditions. These races are challenging enough to manage as it is without Mother Nature taking it to a whole new level!
Mike Garrison
Indy Rootstock.com