2008 Odyssey Wild Wonderful 24 Hr Adventure Race

May 24-25, 2008, Camp Washington Carver West Virginia

Team Indy Rootstock: Ryan Burke, Cristal Garrison, Mike Garrison, Michael Sapper

The "Endless Wall", the "Endless Haul", and the "Endless Crawl"...

Prerace

May 23rd, 2008 and Indy Rootstock was on it's way to West Virginia for OAR's third running of the Wild and Wonderful. This would be my third trip back to Camp Washington Carver for the Wild Wonderful, Michael and Ryan's second trip, and Cristal's first to the region. Thanks to the collective experience in the area prerace nerves seemed to be at a minimum, and the race prep/logistics went smoothly. Knowing that the competition would be even stiffer this year, we felt like we had reasonable expectations in looking for a top 5 finish. CP0 and EMS would be there neck and neck for CPT Series Points, and we knew from last year that Berlin Bike is a strong team.

We had a little bit of foul luck with exit choice on the drive (leading to ample cursing and disbelief at the lack of appropriate "you can't get back on to the highway here" signage), but once we got there check-in went smoothly and we had plenty of time to plot our maps and discuss strategy. There's actually minimal packing strategy for this race as race directors Ronny Angell and Joy Marr have always had it "expedition style", meaning you're pretty much carrying everything you need for the whole race. You're wise to spend some time deciding what you actually really REALLY need for 24 hours of racing.

The Start

By 7:30 Saturday morning we were on the buses on the way to the put-in at the Cunard boat ramp. Like last year we were going to be assigned our boat-mates at random via lottery. Unlike last year where only one person per boat had to swim, one representative from every TEAM would be required to do the swim this year. During discussions the night before it had come down to either myself or Michael. I had a sneaking suspicion it would end up being me... (Last year the team that we shared the boat with, Berlin Bike, had a teammate that offered up the fact that he was an iron triathlete which unfortunately for him ended being as good as actively volunteering to swim. Thanks again Raphael!)

The boats would be starting in 4 waves, separated by 5 minutes, for safety reasons. The time differentials would be credited back at the end of the race.

Beating all reasonable mathematical probability we were yet again paired with Berlin Bike for the raft. Once again Raphael would be doing the swim, although this time I would be joining him. (I asked how he got shafted into doing it again and he said his teammates said something about "optimal physiology"...) The swim went pretty quickly and Raphael and I were the first in the boats in our wave. The paddle was a blast, although it takes a lot of effort to make up a few minutes in a whitewater raft. We were content with being the second boat of the water in our wave.

"The Endless Wall"

A few miles of hiking on pavement up and mostly out of the gorge brought us to the trail head for the climbers path along the Endless Wall. We would follow this path for 4 miles. That may not seem that long, but thanks to the rock and rough terrain this section took much longer than we estimated. Nav was a little tricky in that the actual trail wasn't on any of the maps. Then again, it's pretty simple to stay at the bottom of a wall! The clipboards hung with each control showed that we were somewhere around the top ten at this point in the race. Just about where we needed to be, as we tend to be stronger towards the end of the long races.

"The Endless Haul"

After taking more of a beating that we expected on the opening trek it was nice to get on the bikes. We had all chosen to run semi-slicks for the race and the opening of the bike sure made it worth it! We had multiple blazing downhill runs on pavement where we were topping out at 40 mph. Unfortunately we had to pay for all of those with 3 mph climbs up some serious hills, but that's the way it goes in WV! Being from Indiana, these types of hills are a bit of an eye opener. Ryan was a monster in this section and offered a tow to Cristal up most of the big hills conserving her energy for later in the race.

As we approached the northernmost point on the bike where we would be getting on a "rails to trails" trail I effectively highlighted the downside to semi-slicks by demonstrating why one should not brake hard on gravel with skinny tires. The wreck was awkward and a little painful, but thankfully no serious damage. It should be noted that the last words out of my mouth were, "careful guys, there's some loose rock up here!". Apparently I thought a simple verbal warning wasn't adequate and wanted to show everyone just how bad it was. Teammates first and all...

After quickly punching at CP7 we hopped on the gravel trail. Our pace started out strong, but the monotony of the ride and the gravel started to wear on us a little at the end. We started to wonder how long this ride was going to take and that's when Michael coined the phrase "Endless Haul" to describe this section of the course. Our relief at reaching the Glade Creek Trail, which would take us to CP8, was short lived when we realized that we would be biking a couple of miles of "#3" gravel. Other than my face plant earlier in the race, this is probably the only other area that the skinnier tires were a bit of a detriment.

"The Endless Crawl"

As is usually the case in a well designed AR course, you've just about had enough of a discipline when you move on to the next and that was true for us at the bike drop. Being the first long race for all of us this year, every one was a bit sore in the rear and ready for some travel by foot.

We transitioned quickly and made our way onto the trail. Our legs were energized with the different discipline and our pace was pretty solid. At least that's what we thought until we saw EMS hauling butt running up Manns Creek Gorge Trail at around 21:15 or so. There was a moment of silence after they passed, followed by a near unanimous "damn". They were really moving!

The trek was long but uneventful. Navigation between 13 and 14 was a little tricky as there are a lot of roads and trails out there not on your maps, but after a few "explorations" down the incorrect trails, we managed to get to the ridge where the "Wilderness Trail" that we were looking for was located. I have to confess to a little bit of luck at practically tripping over CP14 as we got to the trail. I would have tried to play it off as navigational skill, but more than one teammate caught a glimpse of the look of surprise on my face at having found the control that quickly.

Throughout the trek we had spent a lot of time leapfrogging with Towanda/Interstellar Overdrive. By the end of the trek the two teams that had been ahead of us had disappeared from the clipboards putting our two teams in 6th and 7th at that point. We were feeling good knowing that the orienteering at the end would allow us to maybe make up a spot or two.

Day Nav, Night Nav... NOT the same!!!

As we started the O-Course we saw EMS packing up their gear at the TA. Ronny had informed us that they were the only team in so far and had obtained all but two controls. From experience last year we knew how brutal this area was to nav at night, but considering that we had seen them 9 hours earlier near the end of the trek, we were a little worried about the difficulty of this O course.

Now, everyone with experience in longer races knows that the difference in orienteering during the day vs. night is, well, just that, day vs. night. The inability to see terrain and topographical features makes it much more difficult to stay "in" the map. Experienced navigators will usually rely on pacing and bearings to get around this.

The terrain for this O-course made this approach virtually IMPOSSIBLE. Walls of rhododendrons, (or wall-odendrons as we started to refer to them), ridiculously thick and persistent thorns, land torn up by logging and strip mined areas throughout the course made following a straight bearing an impossibility. The fast teams that got out there in the dark were definitely handicapped by having a course like this to tackle. Our hats are definitely off to CP0, Berlin Bike and EMS for the work they did out there in the dark.

To give you an idea how much harder this course was in the dark, the first (and only) two controls we got last year took us somewhere around two and a half hours at night. This year we got controls in those same location in 25 minutes... With our confidence up and the comfort of daylight we started rolling through the rest of the course with little problem. Route choice through the ridiculously tough terrain was the biggest issue. Things were going so well that after the fourth or fifth control we actually started to entertain the idea of possibly of actually sweeping this course!

Unfortunately reality came crashing home when we realized that our pace was starting to slow as our bodies wore down. A quick team discussion and we realized that no one had the reserves for a major "push" at the end. Pushing this one to the wire was not going to be an option. So, we decided to take a conservative approach and we cashed it in after 24 hours and 48 minutes of racing with a respectable 9 orienteering points. Good enough for a 4th place finish!

Overall we were all very happy with our performance at the Wild & Wonderful. We finished in the top 5 overall, which was our definition of a best possible finish. (It should be noted that the top 6 teams were ALL 4 person coed!) Team dynamics were solid and we stuck to the race plan, slow and steady. We might not have ever been in contention for that "podium finish", but a pretty good race for Indy Rootstock!

Mike Garrison