Training Log Archive: JayXC

Worlds report finally done.

Untamed New England ARWC Report

I apparently channeled my inner BRoots.

Special thanks to Work4Justice for traveling to WY with us as our Team Media representative. It was awesome having her everywhere on course to greet us and document our travels. Lots of pics for this report to chose from.

C • Great job! 3

This HR monitor doesn't appear to be compatible with my watch.

Cold from Worlds apparently has some legs.

Celebrating the ability to sit on a saddle again.

C • hability to sit on a saddle 3

Course setting

Finally put an end to this no activity BS.

yep. more rest day.

Travel home.

Travel to Inlet, NY

Travel home.

C • Congratulations!! 3

Gear sorting/drying and re-packing.



Boom!

Last portion of the N. Platte River sing-along.

All we needed to do to finish was to get over Casper Mountain and then coast into Casper. We set off down the road towards our turn off trying to keep up a conversation so everyone would stay awake but we were not very successful and at least twice I found myself stopping and unclipping my foot from my pedal for no good reason. Crazy.



Setting out for a short ride to the finish, or not.


We found our turn easy enough and the paved road turned to gravel. As we started to climb up the lower slopes of the mountain Mindy started to have an issue with the clay from the road building up on her tires which then would seize in the frame. We stopped and cleared up the issue and continued on but it wasn’t getting much better for her and she was getting frustrated. Soon after we all starting to experience the same build-up making travel very slow as you would have to stop and clear your tires/frame of clay and gravel every 100m. It was clear the weather had put down another surprise for us that would delay our arrival at the finish by hours.

We weighed our options-

A) Hike 15k in this state with the possibility that the sun would dry it out when it came up and we could ride it (or another storm could hit and make it worse).

B) Turn around, get down to the solid gravel road and then ride around the mountain to the north side where we could climb up 3000’ on pavement.

We chose B. Our timing of the decision was somewhat fortunate. Just as we got onto the gravel road at the bottom the skies opened up with a nasty storm. If we had delayed out decision 5 minutes more we wouldn’t have been able to get down either. We were now on solid paved roads to the CP but it was going to be a 65k ride not a 30k ride to the finish.




We slogged through the rain as the sun came up and eventually shed some clothing as the skies cleared. We made it to Casper and with the finish practically in sight, made the turn of shame south and up the mountain. We punched CP35 and then ripped back down into town, punched CP36 easy enough and with no additional trap doors to uncover, rode the river trail to the finish line ending up in 19th place.

C • Great report!! 3

Nice 6 hr nap in afternoon. Woke up, went to dinner, DQ then bed.

C • DQ? 2

Last bits of the monster bike leg.

And then the wheels started to fall off.

Everyone seemed pretty eager to keep moving and there was no discussion of sleeping in the TA. I think personally I was underestimating the potential for problems on the next two legs of the race. I had paddled on the Pathfinder Reservoir and trekked around the Alcova Reservoir in 2013 so that perhaps gave me a false sense of confidence.

We set out with the packrafts for what I thought was a straightforward trek down to the reservoir. Within 2k of leaving the TA I could feel sleepiness coming on. The next two hours seemed like a blur. Alex was struggling to identify the correct trail to the CP. While he and Jesse were trying to figure it out I fell asleep 3x just standing, once while Alex was trying to describe the problems he was having to me. After wandering around for 2 hours we finally decided to lay down and sleep for an hour which was what we should have done 2 hrs previously.

Mindy woke us up stating that another team was approaching. We quickly gathered our things and set out behind Journey Racing just as the sun was coming up. In daylight it was much easier to find the trails and we ended up walking right to CP29 on the edge of the reservoir. We had also blown a 2.5 hr lead over 16th place.

Fortunately we had a great tailwind as we paddled NE across the reservoir. Despite our 1 hr sleep earlier we were still traveling pretty slowly and gave up a few spots just before hitting the takeout.

Trek from the take-out across the dam to the river on the other side. W4J met us here too and tried to cheer us up. We had an option to trek along the shallow parts of the river or paddle down it. It looked pretty boney but decided to give it a shot.

The shallow section of the river eventually let up and we could see Fremont Canyon approaching. Alex and I were looking forward to paddling through the canyon. Jesse and Mindy were not. We had the option to portage around the canyon on the road but to me it seemed like an easy decision to paddle it given my feet and the fact that Mark had told us he didn't think there was an advantage either way.




With some apprehension Mindy agreed to give it a shot. When we approached the first drop we decided to let her portage around while I paddled through it solo. Alex and Jesse did the same. Not much further into the canyon I realized that the 75 cfs flow and the width of the slots were not compatible and this was going to be a struggle to get through. Compounding this was the fact that the portage route for Mindy was essentially canyoneering on steroids. After 2 hours of struggle we finally made it to CP31A and the takeout. We should have walked around.

This was a miserable road walk spent discussing the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as the mid-day sun beat down.




As we turned off the pavement into the campground we finally got hit with a rainstorm after dodging them successfully throughout the race thus far. We were due.

By the time we made it to the shore of the Alcova Reservoir the storm had passed and there was blue skies again. We re-inflated the rafts and set off for a short 4k paddle across.

We punched the one control on shore and headed straight towards the take-out east of the dam. Around half way across I noticed that it was clouding up again. 5 minutes later it was raining and we had a bit of a tail wind.

The conditions continued to grow over the next 10 minutes and before I knew it we were in the middle of a very nasty storm. Cracks of lightning were right on top of us and the tailwind was blowing at what I thought was a sustained 50 mph. This created a strange condition on the water under us. It was similar to paddling across a river current where it enters the ocean with 2-3 foot standing waves breaking in the direction we were traveling. It seemed as if one wrong/weak paddle stroke would be enough to send us sideways resulting in the wind flipping us over.

We made it to within 100m of the shoreline and then started to ferry east looking for somewhere to come ashore without being destroyed by the break. Alex and Jesse had found a small cove that was somewhat sheltered from the wind, which made approaching much easier, and we shot in and quickly exited the rafts.

We started to deflate and pack up with the intention of getting down to CP33 and some shelter. At that moment however the lightning was right on top of us with no delay between the flashes and bangs so instead we piled under a small ledge and put a deflated packraft over our heads as some type of shelter from the rain/wind and sat there for the next 45 minutes waiting for the storm to pass. We were certainly wet but I think I fell asleep a few times while waiting it out.

With that craziness past, we gathered up our gear and hiked down towards CP33, running into the race referee on our way. We asked if we were in trouble and he laughed. He informed us that the store marked on the map in town was already closed but that there was a team held up in the gym at the school next to the CP. We knocked on the door and the custodian named Stormy let us in, very appropriate.

Northbound Adventure was also there drying out. We took the opportunity to dry out a few items and change into our remaining dry gear (fleece) for the river paddle to the last TA of the race. We had been lucky with the weather up until this point but it was exacting its revenge on us now.

When leaving the previous TA in the early morning I thought we would be finished by now.

We put on the river just as it was getting dark. There was a little current but that dropped off quickly and we found ourselves paddling though some nasty vegetation just under the surface which also had and a strange floating, white foam above it.

After about 3k we heard some rushing water from a dam spillover and discovered that we were actually in a small reservoir that required us to portage down to the river below.

Once below the dam the river was flowing well but some were struggling with drowsiness again and we started singing and asking trivia questions to keep everyone engaged. Interesting fact: Jesse knows all the words to Ice Ice Baby.

This whole paddle was a strange déjà vu episode for me and I could swear I had done this exact paddle previously. I went back and forth in my head wondering if we had paddled it in any Cowboy Tough's previously.

Eventually we saw the highway bridge and knew the madness was coming to an end. W4J greeted us as we arrived and we set about building bikes, changing clothes and eating warm food. We were very cold but W4J and the TA staff were in shorts and t-shirts. I at least recognized that and avoided overdressing for the last bike ride to the finish.



One benefit to having a quicker TA than your teammates.

C • deja vu 2

Ripping down the mtn continued.

W4J greeted us as we rode in. We grabbed something to eat and then headed up to the rappel first given there was currently no line.




With that complete we set off for the cave. Jesse and Mindy had been to it previously and we tried to rely on their memory for its location. We ended up wasting quite a bit of time but ultimately found it and dropped in. There was some similarities with the caves from Australia but for the most part they were not nearly as cramped, certainly not as tight as the Flattener. For the record, Mindy is not claustrophobic. She just doesn’t very much care for tight spaces. ;-)

It’s clear to me now why we had such a difficult time finding the cave. We never read this at the TA.



Inability to recognize the obvious, perhaps the first sign of things to come.

Next up was the monster biking leg. We loaded up our packs with a ton of food and warm clothes for a long ride. With no immediate need we decided to take the shortcut past the Town of Lander. Not long after that however we started to fall asleep so it made sense to stop for a nap. We searched for a suitable spot ultimately deciding upon the west side of a barn near the road.

We slept for an hour then decided that was so good another half hour made more sense. Just as our alarm went off the second time the homeowner drove by and asked if we needed to use his restroom. I can only imagine what was going through his mind with these crazy people sleeping on his lawn. We thanked him for his offer and the use of his comfortable grass and then set off just as the sun was coming up.

The early part of this ride was on pavement and still chilly but not long after we turned off onto gravel at CP20. We were soon shedding the warm clothes as we continued east. Around noon everyone seemed to start struggling with sleepiness but fortunately we picked up a tailwind from on oncoming storm and it woke everyone up. We enjoyed the tailwind for the next few hours into the afternoon, making a quick stop at the Sweetwater Station rest stop CP23 for water along the way where W4J met up with us briefly.



The next portion of this ride seemed to go by very slowly. The awesome scenery was gone and everywhere you looked was just endless desert. Around 5pm we made it to the manned/bottled H2O CP where W4J met us again and I had my blisters adjusted again.




As was becoming a trend a storm came up behind us for the rest of the evening with a monster tailwind for the last pavement portion of this ride and we coasting along at 45 kph. We pulled into CP26 at the abandoned store manned by the Jolles's and I thought the storm threat was finally going to catch us. We again put on rain gear and took off after Outnorth Adventure who had just woke up from a sleep just out of the CP but again we missed the storm, shedding our rain gear about an hour later.

We arrived at the ghost town CP27 just as the sun was setting. There was a route choice to make here and we ended up taking the northern route up through the sand dunes. I was convinced the southern route was a trap but in the end I think it was about an hour shorter.

By now everyone was uncomfortable sitting on our saddles and anxious to get to the end of the ride. Around midnight the moon rose with a bright orange glow due to the partial shadow across it from earth which was pretty cool to watch. Just prior to the TA W4J and a photographer met up with us and took a few pics while following us. We arrived in 15th place.

Finishing up the second trek.

Somehow in the gear bin weigh-in bustle Jesse and I managed to put our biking shorts for this leg in a different bin so we would be riding this next leg in running shorts. Not ideal but at least it was on this leg and not the next one.

The race guide indicated that this leg was 58k long and had 6600’ of climbing. As expected, there was 4 major climbs and most were a mix of granny-gear riding and hike-a-bike that each took 30-45 minutes to get up followed by a screaming switchback descent to a river valley which we would need to wade across.





RADY’s caught us at the first river crossing while we were deciding if there was some magical bridge around the bend. Cyanosis passed us on the 3rd climb just as the sun was setting.

Eventually we made it to the top of the last climb. The trail then traversed across the steep face of it allowing us to look across the valley at a number of headlights from teams not far behind. The route down the mountain was all singletrack and a complete blast. We ripped down it to the next valley, across another river and into the rappel/caving TA.

Leg 4 Trek continued.

W4J was at the TA when we arrived and was eager to hear how the first night went. She conducted a few FB live interviews while we were transitioning and took the pic below. I didn't realize what a beautiful view there was behind us until I saw this after the race.



I was happy to be off my feet and looking forward to the bike ride ahead.

We left the TA first in our group but Canada AR was just a few minutes behind and passed us when we stopped for water 12k in. We quickly caught back up to them and worked together for the next hour in a paceline on the paved road.

As we approached the first store we saw Outnorth Adventure just setting out. Canada AR peeled off and we were on our own for a few km's until Outnorth Adv. caught up to us. We then worked with them for the next hour until Journey came by as we stopped for H2O. We made numerous attempts to bridge up to them, dropping Outnorth Adv. in the process. We finally made the catch just before the turn off the paved road onto the gravel/sand tracks we would be taking the rest of the way to the TA. The skinny tires/cross bikes they were riding might have been great on the roads but the next section was very sandy and I expect they struggled with them here.

Eventually the sandy tracks gave way to rocky tracks and our progress over the last 20k was pretty slow, highlighted by a 2k hike-a-bike just prior to the last 10k stretch which was mostly downhill and the best part of the ride.

We arrived at the TA and found a somewhat shady spot to change. RADY'S was still there transitioning. Denise Mast was there representing NYARA with burgers and cold Cokes which were great. I re-loaded up my pack and then went over to the medic to have my blisters adjusted. I figured a few minutes invested here would help considerably over the next 68 km trek.

The next section would be following the Continental Divide Trail. To get to the trailhead we needed to backtrack on the route we came in on. On our way in we saw Cyanosis and a few others just setting out so we knew we weren't too far behind. On our way out we caught a glimpse of Columbia, the Yogaslackers and Main Nerve so we needed to stay on the gas.




The trail was pretty easy to follow early on in the daylight. Sweco caught us pretty early into this leg and we spent the next few hours traveling with them. We both just missed a nasty storm which blew in right behind us just before dark. It was close enough that we both put on our full rain gear but it never hit us.

On the next stretch the trail become very difficult to follow. We ran into a few ponds with no obvious way across, a creek with a washed out bridge which we had to cross and then some private property which the marked trail seemed to run right through. Just before midnight we stopped for our first hour of sleep which was awesome.

Rested up, we managed to make decent forward progress but it was slow going at times. Just west of CP9 we lost the trail as we ventured too far south, confirmed by a few trail intersections with no CDT markers. We backtracked to the last trail marker but still could not find the way forward. It wasn't until we saw a team struggling in the valley below us that we realized we were too far south and they were working their way around the private property marked on the map south of CP9.

Once our location was confirmed we made our way north to CP9 and punched it minutes behind Godzone and right with Sweco.

We continued to follow the CDT making decent progress until morning. Once daylight hit the reflective CDT markers were much harder to find but at least we could see much further into the distance. Around this time Teton Adventure caught up to us and we spent the next few hours swapping positions back and forth as we both had bouts of travel on and off the trail.

My feet were starting to feel the effects as the temps warmed up. We also ran out of water just as the vegetation opened up and we started to feel the heat of the day coming on. Just prior to CP11 a storm rolled in creating an awesome tailwind to help us to the TA. We again put on rain gear as it looked like we were going to get drenched but it never materialized in to anything other than a brief shower. By the time we made it into the TA we were baking in our rain gear. The good news was that we arrived in 13th place.




We downed our shots of Wyoming Whiskey and then set out to switch into biking gear for the next leg. After my pack was set I went over the medics located in the ghost town jail and had my feet fixed again. The back-to-back 65k+ treks were brutal on them. I can only think of two previous races where they were worse, the 2014 WRC and the 2015 ARWC.

Event: ARWC2017/Cameco Cowboy Tough
 

Early departure from Casper to Jackson Hole for the start. Did everyone get a vanilla latte delivered to your hotel room door in the am? Thx W4J!

We were given the maps just prior to boarding the buses and Alex and I spent nearly the entire ride coming up with our route choices. There was a ton of info to consume, 1:50k maps, 1:100k maps, 1:24k maps, Supplemental maps, Fremont Canyon rapids descriptions, revised CP locations, etc.

Cool fact: Besides being an awesome racer, Jesse plays trumpet in 'Pershing's Own', the US Army band. Mark Harris naturally asked him to play the Star-Spangled Banner to kick off the race which was quite the honor I'm sure.

Not long after the National Anthem we made our way to the starting line, crept up the right hand side to the front, the cannon went off and we sprinted off the line and up the mountain like madmen and women.



The first few minutes were the steepest but then the route eased up as the trails traversed across the fall line. Teams were lined up end to end but moving fast. We punched all the controls and headed back to the start to pick up our packs and head out on the pathway to the Snake River.

We punched in off the Prologue in 12th place and had a few minutes on 13th which helped us settle in to a comfortable pace on the asphalt trail run south.




Eventually we were caught by Sneaky Weasels, USWE and Eastwind but stayed on our own plan and by the end of the run had passed the Weasels and USWE back before the TA.



Mindy was first to notice that none of the ladies we had seen were wearing packs. I kept the smart-ass comment 'but how many of them are sub-3:00 marathoners?' to myself. Its probably safe to share that now. By the end of the run I was wishing I had brought road shoes for this section.

We made our way to the TA and punched in in 12th place again with quite a few teams still in the TA and multiple teams arriving as we inflated the boats. We have had plenty of opportunities to transition with these things and have it dialed in pretty well with everyone knowing their roles/responsibilities.



We put on the Snake River with a 3-4 teams including Sweco and Cyanosis. The river was moving well and navigating the braidy flow was fun. Wiithin the first 2 minutes I saw one team capsize crossing an eddyline where two different channels came together.



Eventually the river sorted out its route and collected into a single channel but it was still moving well and we made relatively quick work of it. The Yogaslackers caught us right near the take-out in their new Gnus with skirts.

We had to deflate the boats on the river and then carry everything up to the TA.



To make room in our Bin A we put our dry shoes for Leg 4 in our paddle bag. Unfortunately the large Ziploc we used wasn't entirely waterproof and our fresh shoes/socks ended getting a little wet in the bottom of our Gnu. Fortunately they would dry out quickly in the heat of the afternoon and the arid conditions.

We packed up our packs for the 62k, 10,000' climb leg with 16 hrs of food, a tent, bear spray and bivy sacks then set out up the trail in a group with Godzone, the Yogis and Columbia Vidaraid.

The initial route was pretty much straight up to the ridgeline for the first hour. Once on the ridgeline the trail alternated between flat open vistas and steep climbs up knolls. The views were awesome in every direction.







Just before dusk Naturex passed us moving very well with a sick teammate on tow. He apparently recovers quickly. Throughout the night we caught 3 other teams just as one teammate was getting sick. I wasn't sure if it was the altitude or the fact that most teams were also running out of water. There was no water on the ridgeline and just like the others we ran out about 10k prior to the next source in a river around 30k into the leg.

At the one decision point on the route we opted for the climb up and over the mtn to the river rather than the descent down to a pond which was quicker to a water source but 2k longer in total. It appears most teams had the same idea.

Conditions on the other side of the river couldn't have been different. There was water everywhere it seemed as we followed the valley towards the TA. Journey, Canada AR and Finalin caught up to us just as dawn arrived and we all entered the TA together.

Skills check, turn in bikes and bins, pre-race mtg., Opening ceremonies. We quickly discovered that the scale we were using to measure everything beforehand was weighing everything light forcing us to remove more items at the official weigh-in.




Once that mess was cleared up there was a brief pre-race mtg. and then we went to dinner and an early bedtime.

ARWC Cowboy Tough AR in Casper, WY-

Untamed New England squad- Racers Mindy Fernando, Jesse Tubb, Alex Provost and Jason Urckfitz joined by our 5th teammate, Team Media representative- Barbara Niess-May.

Opening Ceremonies-





A great opportunity to show the world a little glimpse of what WY is like- Ice Cream stands, Cowboy-era portraits, mechanical bull-riding. Okay, so maybe the bull riding was a bad idea. Yep, definitely bad.



Never good to see this face on JR.

After Jesse's fall from the bull Mindy made a quick nursing assessment 'Yep, definitely broken!' we consulted with the race doc. He suggested an x-ray to confirm and off to the ER they went. The rest of the team headed back to the hotel kind of shell-shocked, wondering what our options were. Barbara may have thought we were joking but she was going to be toeing the line if Jesse was out. Hopefully his clothes would fit.

Fortunately Jesse arrived back to the hotel soon after with some good news. His finger was definitely broken but he was still racing and the doc had custom fit a splint which would allow biking and paddling. From this point on I must admit the only time I could tell he had a broken finger was when I had to hold his glove open for him to put it on in the TAs. Impressive performance.


After the excitement we resumed race preparations.

Shopping for food, packing bins. What did the teams spending 25+ hrs on the two trekking legs do for food? We planned 16 hrs for each and still were over weight.

Our bin A debate-



We made it work somehow.

C • Weight limits 11

Up and down Laramie Peak

Travel to Casper, WY.

C2 with SW

C2 with SW