Friends & Family:
Just gotta let you know about our tremendous fun and great results in the Hi-Tec Adventure Race last weekend (July 15, 2001)
http://www.mesp.com/2001/ars20014s.htm
Hopefully I'll have some photos to post on the web soon.
We took the Bronze Medal, placing third out of 18 masters teams (average age over 40), and 59th of 244 teams that finished (I think 300 were registered to start).
The team was me, Tracey, and her friend Rick. I was a rookie this year, Tracey teamed with Rick each of the past three years, and Rick has participated all four years of this race.
It took us 3.5 hours to finish the course, starting just past 5 am with our head lights running together through the woods in the dark, and finishing around 9 am before the temperature got too terribly warm. We had to wake up at the hotel at 2 am to get ready, drive to the park, and transport all of our gear about a mile from the parking lot to the starting area.
The segments of the race, all of which we had to complete together, were as follows. Of course, we did not know what they would be until each event actually started. We were handed instruction sheets at the start of the race, and at the completion of each event, telling us what to do next.
We started in the third of three waves, at 8-minute intervals. First wave was the pro and elite teams. Second were the co-ed and male teams. And third was the master, corporate, and female teams.
With headlamps, carrying a six-foot length of rope between us, which we finished in just over an hour. The course was a lot of single track through the woods, which was moderately rough and hilly. It was tough to see all of the obstacles (rocks, tree roots, branches, low limbs, etc) in the dark, especially running so close together, usually single file with Tracey (short) leading, me in the middle, and Rick (very tall) trailing. We were all trying to call out obstacles, but Rick and I stumbled repeatedly, and Tracey fell once. Often we were bottlenecked in the woods by slower teams (from the earlier wave start), so we walked some on hills, and struggled to pass whenever we could. We passed quite a few teams, and were never passed ourselves.
Crawl under a heavy rope net on the ground while continuing to carry the length of rope together. It was about 10-15 yards. We started on our bellies, but quickly rolled onto our backs. Of course, the headlamps, water bottles, and other gear we were carrying had to be moved out of the way. Then we could "climb" the net to drag ourselves along the ground.
Get one person through an elastic hoop without using any hands. Rick and I lifted hoop with our feet and stretched so that Tracey could crawl through.
Mostly on the same trails as the earlier run. But, there was a last minute catch. We could only take two bikes for the three of us, and could not put two on a bike. So, someone had to run. We figured out quickly enough how to "leap frog" efficiently. Rick took our excess gear (camel back, helmets, etc) on his bike, and Tracey and I alternated running. One would ride ahead a ways with Rick, drop the bike, and start running. The other would catch up to the empty bike, ride to catch up and pass, get ahead a ways, leave the bike, and start running. On the single-track trails, often the runner was faster than the bikers, since it was easier to pass the crowds at the bottlenecks. But on the open areas, the bikers could hammer ahead for the next switch. I'm not sure a lot of teams figured out the leapfrog, I was pumped and ran quite strong, and Tracey also held her ground well. So I think we did well on this segment.
We had to walk across an elevated wooden platform in the shape of a diamond. The trick was that all three of us had to be in contact at all times, and we could not all be on the same side of the diamond. No problem, we figured this out quickly. Since Rick is so very tall, he went on one side, and Tracey and I on the other. Rick and I were able to lean into the middle and hold hands to support each other while Tracey held onto me. We started on one corner, and then worked toward the wide spot, leaning more and more as we went. We fell in the middle the first try, but made it the second time.
We were to kayak in two inflatable kayaks, but they were all deflated. So we had to find a pump and valve cover, and inflate both of our kayaks. We found the pump quick enough, but took a little bit to find the missing valve covers. With our recent boating experience (Tracey and I were just rafting in Colorado a few weeks back), we knew exactly how to work the pump and valves and get the boats into the water.
After inflating our boats, we jumped into the water, and got going pretty quickly. We passed a number of teams that were floundering, and stayed about even with two other co-ed teams that were nearby. Nobody passed us. We had two boats for the three of us. We connected the two with a bungee cord and carabineers that we had prepared and tested the night before. The paddles were cheep aluminum with slight scoops on the blades, and we made sure to adjust the connection to "feather" in the correct position. Tracey was solo in the rear boat. Rick paddled bow in the lead boat, and I paddled stern. We had a decent rhythm, but some room for improvement. It was pretty tight with two guys in the boat, and we weren't quite comfortable in our position. A third of the way through, I got my seat adjusted back and up, which made significant different. Rick had his long legs hanging out the front, which caused us to take in a bit of water. Tracey seemed to do a good job of keeping near us, so her boat didn't pull on us too hard.
We did a great job of pulling into the take-out, dismounting the boats, getting the gear out of the water and up to the storage area. We talked about how to coordinate as we neared the end. The two other co-ed teams that were slightly ahead of us all along the paddle, we passed coming out of the water, and never saw again.
Another ride on the 5.6-mile course. But this time we had all three bikes. Also, wet clothes and shoes with stones from the lake bottom. The traffic wasn't as heavy this time on the single-track course, so we rode pretty smoothly. Again, we passed a few teams, and didn't seem to get passed at all. Tracey did a great job keeping pace with Rick and I, who are more aggressive trail riders. A few times we had a little trouble getting past some slower teams on the trail, but mostly a smooth segment.
This was sort of a jungle gym contraption. There were a series of seven wooden crossbars, about five feet above the ground, separated by about two feet. We had to climb onto the first bar, then go under the second, back over the third, and repeat the over/under to the end, without touching the ground. It took a bit of strength to hang between the first two bars, then swing legs over to the third while hanging from the second, and then pull the body up and over the third. The first one was tough to figure out, and then repeating twice more was tiring. I got to the end first, and was able to help support the hanging butts of my teammates on the third over/under. But maybe we could have helped each other more on the entire segment. Tracey has a few bruises on her arms and legs from struggling with this one. But, it only took us a few minutes, and we didn't seem to gain or lose position to any other teams.
This is was the last segment. We had to get all three of us up and over a wall that was about twelve feet high. This wasn't really a mystery, since we knew in advance this event would be included. And there was a demo clinic during check-in the day before where the pros showed how they do it. We practiced a little after dinner that evening. Rick, being the tallest, was our lifter. He leaned against the wall, and I climbed up on him while Tracey spotted: first to his thigh, then back, and onto his shoulders. Then when he stood up straight, I could reach the top of the wall and pull myself up to the top. Then they threw me a thick rope (provided as part of the event), which I could wrap around my waist and hang down for the others. Using the rope for support, Tracey was able to climb onto Rick's shoulders, and then I was able to reach down and help pull her up to the top. Finally, Rick had to use the rope to scale up the wall far enough for us to reach him and help pull him over the top.
After the wall, it was a short spring to the finish line with a great feeling of joy and relief.
Now for the "what ifs". I think we could have taken first in our division!!! We had pretty effective teamwork, but there were a few miscues along the way. The worst one was probably mine, and it seems it could have cost us 5-10 minutes. We were only three minutes out of second, and six out of first. It was on the bike/run event. Just after the transition, Tracey had to use the bathroom - she was a bit of nauseated from hammering so well on the run. So, I correctly assessed that the run was the critical component of this segment, and took off running ahead while Rick stayed with the bikes and waited for Tracey. After hammering real good for a while (can you say pumped!!!), I was in the woods on the single track. And instead of bikes catching me, I was actually passing some of them. So it occurred to me that maybe the run was not the critical portion of this segment, and started to worry that my teammates might be having trouble. We had talked about how important it was to stay together, and I was reflecting upon that, and thought maybe it would be better with me on the bike, where I could more aggressively pass. So, I stopped to wait for them, and even went back a little bit. Lots of bikers passed me during this time, and it seemed like 5-10 minutes before Rick and Tracey finally showed up. So, had I been more confident in my original assessment, I would have just kept plowing ahead on the run. Eventually they would have caught me, and we would have been that much further ahead. Maybe it wasn't really that long, but it sure seemed like it. So for now, I'll let my teammates blame me for not taking the Gold.