Training Log Archive: abiperkIn the 1 days ending Aug 13, 2017:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | ||||
| |||||||
| Su |
Sunday Aug 13, 2017 #
12 AM
Adventure Racing race 24:00:00 [3]
By this point we were well into night three without any solid sleep, so we were hoping that the TA would offer some quality shelter. And we were in luck! Across the driveway from the jail was an old barn, where several other teams were passed out. We had our sleeping bags in this TA bin so we pulled them out, curled up in a stall, and got three glorious hours.
When we awoke, the barn was packed with racers, a mix of full-course teams coming in off the trek and short-course teams who'd skipped the last foot section and instead biked around to the TA. Adventure Enablers adopted a policy that we first saw at Itera in the UK, whereby once a team short-courses, they swap out race bibs as a visual indicator of who's doing what. We chatted with a few different groups as we readied our gear and bikes; it was clear that folks were finding the course less straight-forwarded than it seemed when we first looked at the maps.
The next section was a 36-mile ride with over 6,000 feet of elevation, which would take us to Sinks Canyon and the site of the rappel and caving sections. This ride was just fantastic -- long, steep climbs followed by blistering descents, capped off by an awesome stretch of single track on the Brewer's Trail that led us down to the canyon. I felt SO strong here -- such a nice affirmation of all the training and preparation that went into this race. I also dealt with my rear thru-axel loosening up a few times over the course of the ride. Couldn't figure out why -- Mark and Andy tightened it up, too, but it kept happening. Definitely need to get that looked at.
We passed Dart and Peak Life early in the ride and got into the canyon all alone. We transitioned quickly to take advantage of the empty rope lines, made quick work of the rappel, and then trekked up to the cave with media folks Brian Leitten and Genevieve Morton, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who was branching out into adventure sports. They provided a nice distraction, and the cave was a lot of fun.
As we returned to our bikes, we made the decision to go a couple kilometers out of our way for a pizza stop in Lander. We knew it was unnecessary and had the potential to take us out of race mode, but it was our only chance for real food for the rest of the race. I was also feeling tired by this point, a combo of general race fatigue and, I think, overheating -- I thought I'd forgotten my short-sleeve shirt in the previous TA and had been climbing mountains in a smartwool into the heat of the day. By the time we got to Lander 20 minutes later, I was pretty out of it. The guys took care of filling water and ordering food; I lay down on the grass for a few minutes and then walked across the street to a bike shop to see if I could buy something cooler to wear. $50 later, I walked out with a Lupine tech t (and of course, five hours after that, I found my own jersey wrapped up in my puffy jacket in my dry bag).
The pizza was only fair, but the stop was welcome, and when we got back on our bikes around 4pm, we found a steady pace and settled in for 160 miles of washboard dirt roads. It was a LONG ride, punctuated by bouts of sleepiness, extreme temperature swings, muddy quicksand, and so.much.sage brush. But it was also a section of beautiful landscape, incredible sunrises and sunsets, great stories, lively singalongs, and sleep-deprived political philosophizing.
We rode steadily through the first several hours, crossing paths with Sneaky Weasel Gang, who'd struggled on the second big trek, and Dart, who we left sleeping in a roadside rest stop bathroom... and wishing, for awhile, that we'd done the same.
When we awoke, the barn was packed with racers, a mix of full-course teams coming in off the trek and short-course teams who'd skipped the last foot section and instead biked around to the TA. Adventure Enablers adopted a policy that we first saw at Itera in the UK, whereby once a team short-courses, they swap out race bibs as a visual indicator of who's doing what. We chatted with a few different groups as we readied our gear and bikes; it was clear that folks were finding the course less straight-forwarded than it seemed when we first looked at the maps.
The next section was a 36-mile ride with over 6,000 feet of elevation, which would take us to Sinks Canyon and the site of the rappel and caving sections. This ride was just fantastic -- long, steep climbs followed by blistering descents, capped off by an awesome stretch of single track on the Brewer's Trail that led us down to the canyon. I felt SO strong here -- such a nice affirmation of all the training and preparation that went into this race. I also dealt with my rear thru-axel loosening up a few times over the course of the ride. Couldn't figure out why -- Mark and Andy tightened it up, too, but it kept happening. Definitely need to get that looked at.
We passed Dart and Peak Life early in the ride and got into the canyon all alone. We transitioned quickly to take advantage of the empty rope lines, made quick work of the rappel, and then trekked up to the cave with media folks Brian Leitten and Genevieve Morton, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who was branching out into adventure sports. They provided a nice distraction, and the cave was a lot of fun.
As we returned to our bikes, we made the decision to go a couple kilometers out of our way for a pizza stop in Lander. We knew it was unnecessary and had the potential to take us out of race mode, but it was our only chance for real food for the rest of the race. I was also feeling tired by this point, a combo of general race fatigue and, I think, overheating -- I thought I'd forgotten my short-sleeve shirt in the previous TA and had been climbing mountains in a smartwool into the heat of the day. By the time we got to Lander 20 minutes later, I was pretty out of it. The guys took care of filling water and ordering food; I lay down on the grass for a few minutes and then walked across the street to a bike shop to see if I could buy something cooler to wear. $50 later, I walked out with a Lupine tech t (and of course, five hours after that, I found my own jersey wrapped up in my puffy jacket in my dry bag).
The pizza was only fair, but the stop was welcome, and when we got back on our bikes around 4pm, we found a steady pace and settled in for 160 miles of washboard dirt roads. It was a LONG ride, punctuated by bouts of sleepiness, extreme temperature swings, muddy quicksand, and so.much.sage brush. But it was also a section of beautiful landscape, incredible sunrises and sunsets, great stories, lively singalongs, and sleep-deprived political philosophizing.
We rode steadily through the first several hours, crossing paths with Sneaky Weasel Gang, who'd struggled on the second big trek, and Dart, who we left sleeping in a roadside rest stop bathroom... and wishing, for awhile, that we'd done the same.