Training Log Archive: GoSalamander

Final Day of Untamed New England

Day 3 of Untamed New England

Day 2 of Untamed New England

Event: Untamed New England 3-Day Adventure Race
 

The Untamed New England Adventure Race is a 3-day, non-stop, multi-disciplinary adventure race in rural New Hampshire. I participated in a coed team of 4, RWG/Wolf River Racing, comprising Keith (captain), Brian, Melissa, and me. The race, which ran through some of the most scenic and remote locations in northern New Hampshire, was one of the best adventure races I’ve encountered, was awesomely scenic, very competitive, and was one of the most challenging races I’ve experienced.

Leg 1 of the race started out with a 40-mile paddle with two conservations projects and an orienteering relay. Leg 2 consisted of a 30-mile mountain bike, leg 3 a 35-mile trek with a ropes course, leg 4 a 35-mile mountain bike loop and a 12-mile trek/swim loop, and leg 5 a 65-mile mountain bike with a waterfall climb, conservation project, and bike-and-tie. Leg 6, for those teams worthy enough to make the finish with time to spare, consisted of a bonus rogaine section.

For our team, RWG/Wolf River Racing, the race was a bit of a disappointment, yet the effort and determination was there from start to finish. We suffered, as did other teams, from poor gear preparation and race planning strategy and insufficient nutrition that was key in this race due to the nature of the course. In particular, the portage and generally wet conditions in the opening legs of the course created problems for us. The short version of our adventure is that Keith dropped out after about 24 hours following a bike leg due to general fatigue and sickness. Brian dropped out after about 48 hours following the long trek due to blistering of the feet and swelling of the ankles. Melissa and I pushed through to the final bike and dropped out when my bike failed a few hours before reaching the finish. Given the time and circumstances, we decided to end the race right there. The long version of the adventure, however, is much more interesting, and I have broken it down leg-by-leg.

40-mile paddle
The race started at 1pm Thursday. The paddle wasn't too difficult, and Brian managed to navigate from checkpoint (CP) to checkpoint with ease, but the 3 long portages were tough for the prepared, brutal for the unprepared. Initially, our team made the mistake of taking the "ugly duckling" canoe, of which there were two in the field. It was a red canoe that had a flimsy bottom that would wave and bubble when approaching boat waves would pass by. All other teams had green canoes with stiffer bottoms, making them faster. Nevertheless, Brian, Melissa, and I paddled in the canoe hard and quickly built team chemistry despite the fact that none of us in the canoe had ever paddled together. Brian and Melissa swapped middle and front in the canoe, while I paddle steered in the rear. My waist was hooked up to a rope and bungie cord that connected to the bow of Keith’s kayak to help us move uniformly as a team. We waited to use this strategy until obtaining the first CP because the field was bunched together. Upon reaching the first portage, we were near the rear of the field. We attached two sets of portage wheels to the front and back of the canoe and strapped the kayak on top. With cinch straps, we pulled the boat down a main road for about 1/2 km and started passing teams with poor setups. Some had broken wheels, others had only one set of wheels, and still others didn't have wheels and had to carry their boats. With the bungle still attached to my waist that we used to tow the kayak, an idea flashed into my head. Why not hook it up and pull it like a sled dog? I did and we were flying! Minor disaster struck when the right rear portage wheel bent and the tread unraveled, but it held up until we were near the trailhead, so we took it slower for the last 1/2 km, and took turns lifting the right rear end with a cinch strap. The trailhead was about a 1 km winding trail through exposed roots, fallen trees, stumps, mud, large rocks and trees too close to fit the width of the canoe, so you had to tilt the canoe on its side. For most of the 1 km, again I hooked myself up like the dog from the Grinch who stole Christmas, this time with a shorter cinch strap, and pulled the canoe. Brian helped by pulling, guiding, lifting, tilting and pushing the rear to keep it going. Keith and Melissa followed us carrying the kayak. It was an absolute slog, but our method was quickly copied by some of those we managed to pass along the way. When we made it to the first Conservation Project, team GUATS adventure, the eventual race winner, was getting back to their canoe and kayak, and as we ran farther down the trail, we saw that several other teams were hot on their tail.

Conservation Project #1
As part of the race, we did several service projects. The first one involved running down a trail for 1 km to a point where the trail encountered watery terrain. We then picked up a 3-foot long x 18" diameter log and a 10-foot long x 1-foot wide slit log, along with a hammer and some spikes to improve a trail. Each team then lengthened the trail another 10-foot section and returned to their canoes and kayaks.

40-mile paddle (continued)
Before we put-in, we had to repair the middle sling seat that was not functioning for us. With our cinch straps, we wrapped them around several times to create a platform that we could them place a padded seat over to provide the middle paddler with a proper seat. Previously, our sling seat sagged to low to be very effective. We then put-in a river that connected to another series of lakes. At one point in the river, there was a large peninsula that we thought we might want to portage across a narrow section instead of paddling around. We had seen this the night before on the map and decided to take the chance. We lost a bit of time finding the correct point, but quickly found that many teams had portaged the same little section. Everyone must have been disappointed to find that the lake must have been a little lower than normal, and the narrow section wasn't very narrow at all. We had to portage across rocky and marshy-like conditions to get to the other side. When we put in, Keith realized he left a paddle on the other side. Whatever time we gained was quickly lost with those few things going wrong and the team behind us that opted to paddle around gained ground on our team and the team in front of us. We paddled to portage number 2. This was another portage of a few miles. Brian and I devised a new strategy since we were down to 1 set of portage wheels. We used cinch straps at the front and braced two paddles across our backs to pull the canoe "Crucifixion" style. It worked like a charm. Again, Mel and Keith struggled with the kayak at a slightly slower pace due to its awkward shape. We put in and paddled from lake to lake as the sun set over a mountain range. The lake was extremely calm with very little wind. It was so quiet; only the noised of us paddling and talking. Every once in a while Melissa would order a “snickers” paddle: 20 strong paddles on each side. With the lights dimming slowly, the mountains slowly went out of focus and the Milky Way lit up. Then the show began! We saw the Perseids meteor shower for hours while we were paddling. I have previously seen this, but never away from the light pollution of the big city. It was spectacular. At one point, one appeared to come screaming down so close it looked like someone shot a flare gun across the lake! Of course it was actually moving VERY fast and VERY far away, but from our perspective it was as bright as a flare gun from 100 yards! We proceeded to another take-out to portage past a dam. This rounded out the 6 total miles of portaging in the race and the task really separated the well prepared from the prepared and unprepared. Our team was running about mid-pack by the end. Now came the next challenge that separated the skilled from the unskilled: some whitewater at night! We put in and headed down somewhat swift currents in shallow conditions. Getting stuck on the rocks meant having to exit and reenter the canoe and losing much time and energy. Here, we excelled as a team. Brian took charge in front with sweep strokes and draw strokes to maneuver the bow, while I followed in the stern. Quick communication was key, since Brian was scanning the river constantly for the best path and reading eddy lines for possible hazards. Keith easily kept pace with some solid river reading as well. We had a few hairy moments, but never came too close to capsizing. We were surprised and simultaneously proud of ourselves when we heard others didn't have the same luck and ended up in the water. We portaged up a steep embankment to the sight of 2 raging campfires thanks to the volunteers. To a bunch of wet, cold, and tired adventure racers, campfires rule!

Conservation Project #2
Before we could get warm and dry out our clothes we had to hike down a new hiking trail in construction and nail a trail marker to a tree and return on the loop.

Ultimate Orienteering
In this section, each team member had to collect a few control points mapped out on an orienteering course alone. Brian took the "long and hard" section, I took the "short and hard", Keith the "long and easy", and Mel the "short and easy". None of us had too much difficulty here and we put-in the river after a few hours. While waiting for our teammates to return from their orienteering legs, we had the opportunity to read some of the words of encouragement that many people had written us. It definitely “picked up” our morale and we appreciated the time that everyone spent writing those funny and inspiring messages.

40-mile paddle (continued)
We put-into a little more whitewater and tackled it like season veterans and the proceeded to the take-out next to a parking lot for the fire station of a small town.

Transition Area #1 (TA1)
Here the firefighters raised money for charity by offering hungry adventure racers a great treat: a spaghetti dinner, salad, cookies, brownies, and sodas. We set down our “little red canoe that could" right next to his twin brother. Since they were set down in order, leaning against each other, we found it funny that both red canoes were in 20st and 21nd place. Although we knew some of the lead teams probably skipped this dinner, we decided ahead of time to take a break and pig out. It was about 5am Friday and we changed into dry clothes for the first time since 1pm Thursday. For those of you unfamiliar with adventure racing, one of the fastest and most painful ways to ruin your race is to ruin the condition of your feet. All had to deal with mushy feet in this section, and the portaging made it worse. Some alleviation was available by the fire while your teammates were out in the Ultimate Orienteering, but this section was the start of disaster for many.

30-mike bike
Although New Hampshire is not as mountainous as West Virginia, believe me when I say there are plenty to make it a grueling bike ride. We set out at dawn. By mid-day it was pretty hot and we were biking hard. Keith, our team captain, was not feeling good by the end of the paddle, and was starting to dry vomit on the bike course. Something was not right with his body and it was getting worse by the hour. I started pushing him up the inclines. As things got worse, we took his pack off and distributed the weight. It helped get him through, but he was near his limit. Otherwise, we navigated this section with relative ease. A few times, it was tempting to hike-a-bike across a river and bike-whack to gain some time, but each time we resisted. My mantracker skills (a superpower I am developing as a long time racer in the middle to end of the pack) spotted the sections where some teams attempted this. One team from South America got off track and ended up crossing the border to Canada and was detained by border patrol. Even though passports were part of the required gear for just this very scenario, the race coordinators had to stop by to explain what was going on. Everyone found this hilarious when the rumor spread. Of course it had to happen to one of the few non-American and Canadian teams in the field! Near the bike drop, we stopped by a pizza place and had a team meeting. I ate a 7" pizza and a bacon cheeseburger and finished the last piece of Keith’s pizza, Mel ate a 7" pizza and took 2 turkey sandwiches to go, Keith ate a 7" pizza, and Brian ate a 7" pizza and took 3 hot dogs to go. While I celebrated my eating victory, Mel and Brian mocked me for not having a beer with them and instead opting for a red bull. At our meeting, disappointingly, Keith decided to drop out because he was slowing us down and didn't feel up for the monster trek that awaited us, despite the fact that trekking is his strong point.

Transition Area #2 (TA2)
We pulled into the bike drop, dried our feet yet again, (oh, yes, there was enough water on this course to get your feet wet a few times, but mainly it was country dirt and gravel roads) filled our water and headed out on the trek just before 3pm Friday.

35-mile trek
Brian had mapped out a path that led us 1/2 km away from TA2 past a man on a lawnmower. He had helped previous racers find a better way to the next checkpoint and offered to help us. Stroke of luck! He showed us a road that wasn't on our map directed us there. We thanked him and returned to move in the other direction. Minutes later he drove by in his truck to explain that he forget to tell us the final part of his advice to follow another road all the way to the checkpoint. It was hilarious how nice this guy was. Later, we hiked a few kilometers and a gigantic chocolate lab lumbered toward us. It was so big it looked like a small bear, but luckily was a gentle beast. The owner told us we were behind the leaders who came through after 6am. But then came the hysterical part - he was the guy who maintained the snowmobile trails that we were planning on taking! What a coincidence! He offered us some advice to help us to each of the checkpoints on the map. On one, he said, "there isn’t a trail to that mountain, only a goat trail. Good luck!" He didn't give us additional information that we needed, but we at least gained confidence of our plan. We knew the trek was about to get gnarly and it would be dark soon. Brian, having done all of the navigation thus far and doing a good job, handed over the nav to me part-way through this trek to take a break. A few trails turned into logging roads (these are roads that are stacked with small limbs and branches so that equipment can get through - and they take a good deal of balancing to trek through). Still light out, I mantracked part of our way - following in the footsteps of at least a few teams, but at times the signs of travel died out. We had a final tough bushwhack to get to the snowmobile trail and hastily moved our way toward easier roads. I had a little difficulty finding an off-trail mountain top bog, but didn't lose too much time. The next part was difficult. As the night approached, we had a long off-trail hike that started off crossing the mountain top bog. I proceeded around thick hillside brush to open runable forest that quickly turned into several reentrants and bogs. It was old forest, so the downed trees and other obstacles made travel difficult. It was slow going along the less than 1 km bearing we took to a nearby road. Doubt crept in slowly as the night fell that we were lost. Thoroughly frustrated and a bit ahead of Brian Mel, I put down my pack to get my headlamp and re-assess the situation. As I turned my headlight on, I noticed I had dropped my pack on a pile of bear shit that I couldn't see moments before. How did I know it was from a bear? Well, the paw prints right next to it gave me the clue to this one. We used similar deductive reasoning for moose and deer, so after a while, you knew a pile of shit when you saw it! Brian and I studied the map and had no new insight. Stay the course - due East and the road we want is our backstop no matter how bad our bearing is. Check compasses - no problem. We finally reached the road - it was 20 feet away up a steep embankment that we couldn’t see in the dark! We walked the road for 1 km to determine exactly where we popped onto the trail. It was EXACTLY where I was aiming – what luck! It was then that I realized just how slow that last little trek was! We ran into a cheery French Canadian couple doing the race and quickly agreed exactly where we were on the way to the mountain-top CP, but split ways when I found a short cut trail that would save us several kilometers over their strategy of attacking the mountain from another side. At a flat close to the foot of the main ascent (the goat trail) we slept for a few hours. At the top, a manned checkpoint, now desperate for water, we find some on a mountain stream that a volunteer pointed us to. We then started down the mountain toward the ropes course on some easy country roads.

Ropes Course
The cutoff for this was 7:30pm Friday, probably because the course designer envisioned it to be completed at daylight. Since we arrived around 8am Saturday, we were out of luck. We dried out our feet and moved on. My feet were hurting from deep soft tissue creases, but I didn’t feel sorry for myself after Brian showed me his feet that were much worse.

35-mile trek (continued)
The rest of the trek wasn't tough to navigate, but it involved open country roads that offered little to no shade, and it was getting warmer by the hour. An interesting mini-challenge developed. We passed by Team Natural Selection previously in the trek when we ascended the goat trail (they were descending), yet we somehow made it to the ropes course first. They passed us when they transitioned faster, but we were quickly on their tail and passed them. It continued, again and again. When we started to jog the downhill a bit, they jogged a bit more. Then it got interesting. The race director passed by in a truck and told us there was a noon cutoff at TA3 if we were to proceed with the full bike leg. I estimated that our pace needed to increase a little bit. Team Natural Selection did the same, but two of their team members were hurting. Brian grunted it out, but his feet were blistering badly and his ankles were swelling. I played our iPod mix music for a little distraction from the tough miles. We finally decided to make a final push, when one of the team members on Natural Selection seemingly tried to slow us down by talking to me, but I kept the strong pace. Our team decided we were going to make this cutoff or kill ourselves. Mel and I distributed Brian's pack and we gave him Mel’s trekking pole (the other broke previously) and a stick we found and went as fast a possible. In the final few km's I realized I needed to run ahead on both the uphills AND downhills and hope we didn't get caught in the 100m rule (all team members must stay within 100 meters). I ran ahead, with no water left and in substantial heat and no shade. At the top of the last big ascent, I realized I might pass out if I kept going at this pace. I pulled aside in the shade and waited for my teammates to catch up since it was now apparent that we would not make the noon cutoff time. Brian hobbled up the hill with Mel and sat in the shade with me. He was done. I now had to walk ahead and call for a truck to pick Brian up because he couldn't walk the final 1km to TA3. Mel and I convinced the race management that we were good to finish the entire bike leg, even though we officially missed the cutoff. It worked and they let us on the full course! We also learned that Team Natural Selection lost two team members miles behind us and came into the TA over an hour later. Also, on that final stretch, we saw team GUATS adventure heading out on the final monster bike section asking us if we saw a team ahead of them. We didn't, but I would realize later that Team Skandia had already ridden past where we hit that particular road. It was neck and neck at that point and a few other teams were in the hunt not too far behind. We, … were still having a good time! Haha!, but it was a bummer that Brian dropped out at this point.

35-mile bike loop and 12 mile swim/trek loop
Since our team didn't make the cutoff for this, we didn't do it.

65-mile bike
Mel and I headed for the first part of the bike ride. It was pretty straight forward navigation and we tackled it easily, although with all of the team gear now spread between two people instead of four, the packs were feeling a little heavy. Refueled and rehydrated, we biked at a pretty good clip.

Waterfall Climb
Mel and I were strapped together with a harness, carabiners, and about 6 feet of rope. Duct tape was placed around the carabiners to act as a sort of "seal". We then had to climb upstream in a river to a waterfall finding checkpoints along the way. When we made it to the waterfall, a volunteer checked the "seal" and sent us to the conservation project. I'm used to hiking fast, even in rocky conditions, but strapped to Mel, we both had to watch each step to make sure we didn't pull on each other and cause a fall. It was quite a challenge.

Conservation Project #3
Each team member got clippers and saws to help clear a new trail along the river's edge that was thick with brush. We had to work for 30 minutes doing this before returning to the start of the waterfall climb. The night crept in as I plotted and strategized the next section, the bike and tie.

Bike and Tie
The next challenge was to find two points on a map with fewer bikes than people. Since we were a 2-person team at this point, we had one bike and one runner. A 3-person team would have 1 bike and 2 runners. I'm not sure what the 4-person teams did, whether they had two bikes or just one. The bike and each person had to reach each CP in any order, and the 100 meter rule is not in effect, so teams could split up if they chose to. We decided that Mel would bike 5 miles to the general proximity of the 1st CP and I would run and catch up, but since there were steep slopes, I made faster progress and we ended up doing it together. We got the first CP and bike-whacked (dragging bike through the forest) about 800 meters to the 2nd CP along a creek. Downed trees and large slippery rocks made this one of the toughest challenges. After getting the last point, I carried the bike up a very steep embankment that included several downed trees. I think my heart rate reached its max once or twice at this very point. Since I still needed to plot out our next bike route, I rode down and looked at the map while Mel headed back. We found out later that one team had a brilliant idea: disassemble the bike during the bike-whack to make better time and distribute the weight. With more teammates, this made perfect sense. For out team, now down to 2 people, it would have helped a little bit, but probably not as much.

65-mile bike (continued)
This is where the mountain biking and navigation got really fun! A supplemental map showed trails that did not exist or partially existed in the main map but in lesser detail. This supplemental map showed that the trails were numbered. At first, even in the dark, it was easy to match up trail numbers with the supplemental map, but after we saw one that looked like it was bitten off by a moose, it was the last one we saw. Mel I had difficulty, as did many other teams through the middle of the night on this long, long bike. Mental and physical fatigue set it. There was a route selection around two lakes that seemed about equal. Clockwise was the best choice, however, because trails turned into easier roads. We initially chose counter-clockwise. This direction had several split-offs that were not marked and the darkness hid the peaks, so reading the map details was very difficult. After the frustration set it, we decided a small nap was in order. Mel and I slept for about 1 hour until we shivered ourselves back to consciousness. With my wits back, I decided we needed to head in the other direction around the lake. It was probably the only really big navigation mistake we made, but once we got on the right trail, the sun came up and everything on the map matched up. We slogged up a several kilometer mountain on very steep singletrack trail, the toughest climb of the race, and made it to a call-in checkpoint. There we had to call headquarters from a pay phone to get instructions on how to proceed - we were to proceed and bike the final portion to the finish. We flew down the same single track on the way down to navigate to the next few CP’s that were on the way to the finish. We had maybe 15 miles remaining with a few hours left - very doable. We came screaming down a hill and I hit the brakes because we had found a trail intersection we needed. A few seconds passed and another team came right behind us. Then, suddenly, the air hissed out of my rear tire. That's usually what happens with a tubeless malfunction. It's so loud that someone always thinks it's a shock leaking air. Tired, both mentally and physically, I had to change a flat on a tubeless tire. Although I have installed tubeless tires before, I had never placed a tube in a tubeless set of rims. I had to get the nipple out of the rim so that I could fit the nipple of the tube through. I fumbled and got frustrated as the mosquitoes started to eat us alive. I thought I needed a pair of pliers. We debated our options and decided to call for a pickup with our satellite phone – in other words – to end our race. Just after we called we got disconnected and an elderly couple stopped by in a pickup truck. He didn't have a pair of pliers but offered to take us to his place in his truck. Since this is against the rules, I didn't want to do it. We then decided to recall and get the pickup. Race over.

When our team was reunited at the finish line, I knew Brian would get a kick out of me not knowing how to change the tubeless flat. I told him I figured all I needed was a 3 second demo to feel stupid. Keith was happy to give that 3 second demo, but even he stumbled a bit and turned it into a 15 second partial demo. Brian then told me of how Lance Armstrong was riding the Leadville 100 and blew a flat in the last few miles while in the lead. He pulled out a tube and pump and fumbled around with it, looking confused. Losing time, he decided to pitch it and ride the last part on his rims, fearing that he was about to get passed by his closest competitor. Apparently when you're handed new bikes every time you have an issue, you never learn to repair it! Oh well, race and learn.

Day 1 of Untamed New England