Training Log Archive: Funderstormin

Easy pre-work run to get things moving around in my legs. Went to bed last night with horrific cankles and swollen calves on account of sitting in the car all day.

C • Stick your feet in a bucket... 1

Had a great four days in the wilderness with Bugs in Teeth. We accomplished our goal of crossing the finish line all together, exercised a lot of common sense on course and had way more laughs than moments of misery. Slightly fuller race report to follow - spending the day catchng up on my beer credits and drying out wet gear!

C • Congrats!!! 6

I don't think I'm much better at race reports than simpy is as, especially for multi-day races where the activities all tend to blend together, but here's what I remember!

10 minutes into the race: flying out of my packraft into a giant rapid and watching my boat and pack (in a giant dry bag, fortunately) disappear. Clinging to rock for dear life wondering what I was going to do. Simpy suffered the same fate in the same rapid and after awhile we found the boats, packs, paddles (thanks Universe!) and proceeded on our way. Found the CPs without incident and transitioned into our canoe / kayak. Many teams put four in the canoe and towed the kayak but we hadn't planned for this so after a botched attempt at putting me in the kayak, we threw simpy into it and paddled away. Whitewater rafting was super fun - we were paired up with a good-humoured team from Texas. Easy trek for the last two CPs before the first TA.

The Ellesworth biking leg involved much mud and, unfortunately carnage as we saw one team with a concussion and one of Trex's teammates with a broken wrist. Felt terrible for both of them to get injured so early in the race. We chugged along and got to the ropes site about 11:00 p.m. or so, where we were informed we'd have at least a three hour wait. Got out our bivvies and bunked down until we heard the thunder and it started pouring. Just before 3 am, we were told that the ropes were cancelled (we were still 8 teams away) so we got back on our bikes where thankfully the next section leading into CP12 / TA2 was more rideable.

Transitioned to what I hear now was going to be the epic trek / packraft leg. We naively had no idea how long we were going to be out there for but thankfully we were well stocked with food. Pancake Paradise (CP13) was a nice treat but only one hour from the last TA so we weren't super hungry. The hosts were lovely and the hot coffee was much appreciated.

Blew up our three remaining packrafts and slowly made our way to CP14. At one point I had a bit of a tantrum and threatened to jump out of mine and leave him in the lake as he (I named him Frank) simply wasn't moving fast enough. We got there eventually and took a safe but successful route to find CP14 by foot. We saw lots of teams with faster boats choose to paddle to this one instead. After 14, got the boats out again to get 14b and then over to the shore where we proceeded on foot to 15 and 16.

Found a great trail that took us to the correct elevation for CP17 and had a chat with a team who were also looking for it. We were lucky in finding it relatively easily and then began the seemingly neverending bushwhack up 2000 feet to the top of the ridge. Made it up there just as it was getting dark and in looking at the tight contours and the challenge of locating the next CP (18), we decided it was a better decision for us to bunk down until dawn. We called into HQ with our sat phone as we had been instructed at the race briefing to do so if we were out for more than 12 hours. We definitely got more rest than necessary here but when we saw the descent the next day (and heard later how many teams couldn't find 18), we felt we made the right decision for our team. I also think that this rest really helped us through the rest of the race. Long trek from 18 to 19 but a store en route where we bought some ice cream made trekking through the heat of the day much more bearable. It was also here that bugsinteeth developed a torrent love affair for orange juice that continued through the rest of the race! :)

CP19 was a nice sight to see as we knew we'd be looping back here a few times. Transitioned to the MTB-O where simpy made some excellent nav decisions. This was one of the most fun sections of the race and looking at our race splits for the different sections, one of the team's best. Did our conservation project, which felt a bit contrived compared to other years but we were happy to do nontheless. Transitioned back to trekking stuff (yay, no paddle, raft, or PFD this time!) to begin the alpine trek up Burnt and Sugarloaf. Alex P. gave us some useful details about the trail disappearing but when it did, we still had some trouble. After wandering around in the dark for a few minutes and watching another team do the same, we decided to sleep for a couple of hours until it was a bit lighter. Come dawn, we had a much easier time finding the elusive blue blazes.

CP21 was easy to spot and the trek up and over Burnt to CP22 was a race highlight for everyone. Debated whether or not we should bushwhack to 23 but didn't see a logical route, so went down from 3600ft to 1750 and then back up to 4200. We were climbing Sugarloaf in the hottest part of the day so this was a bit sucky, but at least the CP was easy to find. With really tender feet the descent was almost as bad as the ascent, but we stumbled upon a sandwich shop at the base which made (almost) everything better (mmm, iced coffee!).

Got back to CP19/20/24 too late to make the cut-off for Short Course 1, which was a bit, but not overly disappointing as everyone was in good spirits. Were told to bike back either directly to the finish or via CP33 and 34. We had heard that the road ride back was 130-160km, which wasn't super appealing. simpy chatted with a local biker who gave us a better option so we decided to get 33 and 34 en route to the finish. The bike ended up being just over 80km and although on dirt rather than paved roads for the most part, was surprisingly enjoyable. Had some fun conversations with sleep-deprived NSAR en route to the finish and crossed around 2:00 a.m. where beer and burgers awaited.

This was by far the best Untamed of the three that I've done and without a doubt the most fun as well. Although we all had our low points, we were lucky in that no one ever felt bad at the same time so the idea of not continuing for any reason was never on the table. We had way more laughs and good times than tough ones, and our experience out there was a testament (at least I like to think so!) to good team work and simply continuing to move forward - even if it was much more slowly than the front of the pack! I have to admit to not being super excited going into this race until I got down there but it was definitely my most enjoyable expedition race to date. Looking forward to reuniting with the boys for WT and looking for a 2013 adventure!

C • Awesome report 3

Event: Untamed New England 2012 Adventure Race
 

Had a terrible sleep in Trois Rivieres which I chalked up to insufficient activity the night before. Decided to go for a short, easy jaunt around Northern Outdoors to stretch my legs. Definitely helped as I had a much better sleep.

Gorgeous morning ride at Hydrocut with Greg.

Decided it was the perfect night for one short last paddle on the Grand before UNE. Only giving myself a 2 here as I felt my pace was a bit meandering. Saw some fishermen catch an enormous fish and take proud pictures of it.

Short tour at the Hydrocut post-work pre-rain.

Going with the team consensus on this one, except for intensity. Perhaps I was the only one who found the ascending to be more intense than a 1! :)

Glad we got this in before UNE. I highly recommend Dave at Escarpment Adventures to anyone looking for a tune-up. We got tons of practice in in a very short time.

Coming to terms with my packraft while getting weird looks at Kelso.

Managed to squeak in a short humid run in between rain clouds.

Early morning ride to see how new tires would fare on the road. Better than the Nevegals but I don't think I'll ever fully come to terms with riding open county roads with a headwind on my mountain bike.

Team ropes training at Rattlesnake Point got cancelled because of the weather, so we made the best of it with a hike and a night bike. Lots of fun and the weather cooperated with us.

Bruiser and I did a morning hike in Columbia Forest with all our UNE gear. Should have chose somewhere more inspiring as we went round and round for awhile, but then just as we were trying to head back to the car, I managed to get us lost. On the plus side, we added in some useful extra time.

Thanks to Andrew's shuttling and Tiny's kayak, Bruiser and I did a nice long section of the Grand River. The rain yesterday made it a bit faster and deeper than usual which was a nice treat. Despite the threatening forecast, we only had a few minutes of rain and the cooler temps were a good reason to get out our UNE paddling gear. Followed it up with a stop at Costco and Walmart for race bins and food. Fun day!

Training plans kaiboshed for the day not only by the forecast but by the fact that I had a new niece born today!

C • Congrats!!! 1