Adventure Race 25:52:23 [3] 94.29 mi (16:28 / mi) +1918m 15:29 / mi
I love this race! We got a team together a little later than ideal, but pressed on an got our registration in just before the prices went up and added a fourth later.
The course was spectacular, loved the paddling, biking and the 1:15 O map. I could see it was set up for some tricky navigation. We had better plans for the portaging, which helped a lot--guys with the boats, Brenda had paddles and I had the pack of mandatory gear. We doubled up often for the boats and I took a boat every now and again. The yoke pad was definitely a plus one in this race. Jens let me navigate the last little chunk of the trek (with Brenda on bearing) which was awesome-we were with another Michigan team at the time too. Then I picked up the bike nav. I made a mistake on a turn, which cost some time...I was using Brenda's bike compass, which was fine because I have the same one....but what happened was that it stuck on S...which I am guessing was from some strange interference? So, we planned to go south, it was pointing south...but nothing was matching up. We had to back track and lost time there.
When we were planning, the cutoffs were a little tight for the capacity of our team, and the little things added up. I had loads of fun, felt strong, and was so happy to experience the paddle, portages and the biking AND navigated for the first time at WT.
Mr. W will write a better report I'm sure! Jens is a strong navigator, Shane really stuck with it even though I'm not sure he knew what he was getting into and Brenda is always strong.
Data from Brenda...my I set and locked my garmin, then buried it. But somehow it bumped in just the way that it turned off...gah! I like to have my garmin so I can monitor calories burned! O well.