Training Log Archive: JustMeIn the 1 days ending Jul 12, 2014:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | ||||
| |||||||
| Sa |
Saturday Jul 12, 2014 #
Event: Wilderness Traverse
Note
slept:0.0
Absolutely no sleep the night before WT...... again :( Not sure why this is happening other than pre-race stress.
8 AM
Paddling race (Canoe) 7:45:00 [4] 40.0 km (11:38 / km)
WT - First section, Georgian Bay and river/lake paddling. Absolutely gorgeous up there. Would love to be able to paddle it again....... at a bit more leisurely pace though :)
We started off with the pack but seemed to quickly fall behind as OM and I struggled with keeping the canoe going straight. It kept on wanting to go to the left. We ended up having to literally paddled 2 or 3 strokes on the left to every 1 stroke on the right the entire time on the bay. After about 2/3 of the way there we lost sight of the last of the pack. We had our route marked so there wasn't a concern there. It just sucked that we were falling so far behind, as we are better paddlers than that. Coach LD and Becky kept on having to slow down to wait for us. Really, really frustrating. We accidentally took a channel a bit too early and ended up having to paddle around one extra large island in order to get to CP1. Once punched we make our way through the islands to the river. We caught up with 2 other teams as they were struggling to find the small channel through the lilly pads and tall grasses that led to the main river. Us and the coed team went off to search for it while the 3 female team decided to portage their canoe all the way through about a third of a km of land (hardcore!). The coed team quickly got ahead of us and we didn't see them again until the dam (they took a 20 minute rest). Ironically, as we were were paddling up the river we came upon the female team punching through and putting in at the edge of the river. We traded positions with them on and off through most of the paddle. They eventually stayed ahead of us about a quarter of a km until the end.
The portage from the lake shore to TA1 wasn't pleasant. OM and Coach ld hauled the canoes uphill for about 1 km, and Becky and I carried the gear. Lesson here is that we should have put all straggling gear in the dry bags and hang them from our paddles across our shoulders from the start. I didn't figure that one out until 2/3 of the way up the hill. It was a bit of a frustrating struggle for awhile. Once we did that the trek up the hill was much easier (with the exception of swatting mosquitos!) Can't imagine how it was last year with multiple longer distance portages.
We spent about 20 minutes in TA1, then off to our ill-fated trek.
We started off with the pack but seemed to quickly fall behind as OM and I struggled with keeping the canoe going straight. It kept on wanting to go to the left. We ended up having to literally paddled 2 or 3 strokes on the left to every 1 stroke on the right the entire time on the bay. After about 2/3 of the way there we lost sight of the last of the pack. We had our route marked so there wasn't a concern there. It just sucked that we were falling so far behind, as we are better paddlers than that. Coach LD and Becky kept on having to slow down to wait for us. Really, really frustrating. We accidentally took a channel a bit too early and ended up having to paddle around one extra large island in order to get to CP1. Once punched we make our way through the islands to the river. We caught up with 2 other teams as they were struggling to find the small channel through the lilly pads and tall grasses that led to the main river. Us and the coed team went off to search for it while the 3 female team decided to portage their canoe all the way through about a third of a km of land (hardcore!). The coed team quickly got ahead of us and we didn't see them again until the dam (they took a 20 minute rest). Ironically, as we were were paddling up the river we came upon the female team punching through and putting in at the edge of the river. We traded positions with them on and off through most of the paddle. They eventually stayed ahead of us about a quarter of a km until the end.
The portage from the lake shore to TA1 wasn't pleasant. OM and Coach ld hauled the canoes uphill for about 1 km, and Becky and I carried the gear. Lesson here is that we should have put all straggling gear in the dry bags and hang them from our paddles across our shoulders from the start. I didn't figure that one out until 2/3 of the way up the hill. It was a bit of a frustrating struggle for awhile. Once we did that the trek up the hill was much easier (with the exception of swatting mosquitos!) Can't imagine how it was last year with multiple longer distance portages.
We spent about 20 minutes in TA1, then off to our ill-fated trek.
4 PM
Trekking race 6:15:00 [4]
shoes: Brooks Cascadia 8 grey-green
WT - Trekking (approximate time, unsure of distance). Had to drop from race due to safety and location issues :( :( :(
The all female team left the TA about 5 minutes ahead of us. We were the last team out of the TA. Took an alternate route to CP4. For some reason none of us noticed the marked trail on the Backroads map (wasn't on the 1:50,000) that led part of the way from the north to CP4. For the life of me I don't know how we missed it :(
All I recall from Friday night's map marking on the 1:50,000 map was that we didn't want to bushwhack all the way from TA1 to CP4, so decided to go quite a bit out of our way to use a southern access road to get us half way there, then bushwhack the rest of the way. Unfortunately, one of the access roads didn't seem to exist anymore, so we tried a different one that was marked on both maps as ending just south of Owl Lake. We decided to make our way east by swimming about a 20 yard water channel and we should have been able to make our way up to CP4 with maybe some swamp stomping with a possible swim towards the end. To our surprise we hit more water about 10 minutes later. Um, this was not supposed to be there and realized we were not where we thought we were. The fact that these maps really were horrible started to sink in and that we could not trust some of what was on it. I'm now thinking the maps were just a general "guide" of the terrain :( We knew for a fact that we were surrounded on 3 sides with water and a possibility that there was a lake south of us, and would need to trek south to see if there was a way around. The sun was going down, unsure of exactly where we were, and thunder in the distance, with multiple possible swims ahead of us, we needed to make a decision on whether or not to take our chances with additional water crossings at night with rain. We briefly thought about making our way back to TA1 and attack from the north, but decided that it wasn't a good idea for the same reasons we did not continue on with the attack from the south. Sadly, we decided that it was best to make our way back to the roads and call it a day.
Come to find out later (after DNF) it appeared that both maps were mis-marked as that access trail was actually north of Owl Lake. I know not to always trust the map, but both maps being wrong? Hmmm.... Lot's of lessons learned with this trek. I'll be trying to sort this one out for quite some time.
Added note: Huge props go out to my teammates OM, Becky, and Coach ld. They had such amazing attitudes throughout the entire race no matter the situation, and ultimately that's what it's all about. Great times with wonderful people. I am grateful for having them as my "teamies". I'll have some great memories of this race forever :)
The all female team left the TA about 5 minutes ahead of us. We were the last team out of the TA. Took an alternate route to CP4. For some reason none of us noticed the marked trail on the Backroads map (wasn't on the 1:50,000) that led part of the way from the north to CP4. For the life of me I don't know how we missed it :(
All I recall from Friday night's map marking on the 1:50,000 map was that we didn't want to bushwhack all the way from TA1 to CP4, so decided to go quite a bit out of our way to use a southern access road to get us half way there, then bushwhack the rest of the way. Unfortunately, one of the access roads didn't seem to exist anymore, so we tried a different one that was marked on both maps as ending just south of Owl Lake. We decided to make our way east by swimming about a 20 yard water channel and we should have been able to make our way up to CP4 with maybe some swamp stomping with a possible swim towards the end. To our surprise we hit more water about 10 minutes later. Um, this was not supposed to be there and realized we were not where we thought we were. The fact that these maps really were horrible started to sink in and that we could not trust some of what was on it. I'm now thinking the maps were just a general "guide" of the terrain :( We knew for a fact that we were surrounded on 3 sides with water and a possibility that there was a lake south of us, and would need to trek south to see if there was a way around. The sun was going down, unsure of exactly where we were, and thunder in the distance, with multiple possible swims ahead of us, we needed to make a decision on whether or not to take our chances with additional water crossings at night with rain. We briefly thought about making our way back to TA1 and attack from the north, but decided that it wasn't a good idea for the same reasons we did not continue on with the attack from the south. Sadly, we decided that it was best to make our way back to the roads and call it a day.
Come to find out later (after DNF) it appeared that both maps were mis-marked as that access trail was actually north of Owl Lake. I know not to always trust the map, but both maps being wrong? Hmmm.... Lot's of lessons learned with this trek. I'll be trying to sort this one out for quite some time.
Added note: Huge props go out to my teammates OM, Becky, and Coach ld. They had such amazing attitudes throughout the entire race no matter the situation, and ultimately that's what it's all about. Great times with wonderful people. I am grateful for having them as my "teamies". I'll have some great memories of this race forever :)
C • Maps 10