Training Log Archive: silkychrome

CT Day 4

BIKE 1 (70mi)
from Willow Creek Ranch on gravel into Casper. i felt horrible for the first hour of this ride, super flat and just gross. then we stopped and i took my tights off and felt much better. continued riding thru a BEAUTIFUL sunrise and stunning Wyoming terrain. then things flattened out and we just had to grind it out. caught up to DART/nuun later in this ride and got to chat for several miles, that was fun and great to spend time w them for a bit. finally got onto hwy 20/26, but Shane had to poop so we stopped and got passed by a ton of teams. then i picked a cool route into town (the 20/26 bypass instead of main hwy) and we passed all of those teams back. super proud of that!!

TREK 1 - 3ish miles
just a slow shuffle/walk w DART up to the put-in. more chat, and just such a nice way to close out the race by hearing stories from these folks.

PACKRAFT 1 - 3ish miles
i was up front in Shane's Gnu, Erl in a Sevylor Trailboat, and JD in an original Alpacka. i fell in just getting into the Gnu, the water was COLD!! but after that we just powered thru the rapids and floated the slackwater waiting for Erl/JD to catch up. i've never packrafted before but this was a fun intro.

then the finish! yay.

Sunday 0400 - Sunday 1200 = 8hrs

CT Day 3

rolled out about 0645 because life on the short course means not being very disciplined with TA.

BIKE 1 - private land ride
oh my gosh, easily one of the most beautiful bike rides i've ever been on. Rev3 got access to a whole lot of private ranch land so we were on two-tracks through this remote area. wow!!!!!! just open, beautiful country and Shane kept the nav dialed through some difficult terrain. we took a southern route, slightly longer but less climb, not sure what other teams did. we were the first team thru this section and saw a ton of antelope, mule deer, cows (obvi), birds, just amazing wildlife.

then to the Butch Cassidy Outlaw Cave, pretty fun little trek down to the bottom, and then hamburgers and TURKEY BURGERS!!!!! from NYARA back at the top. wow, so nice. continued on our bikes to CP43 and Shane ran over a rattlesnake which then struck at JD. scary! but luckily JD is basically an AR version of Crocodile Dundee so he just made a movie and we rode on.

PICK YOUR POISON 1 - grasslands bike/trek rogaine
we hadn't planned a route for this before the race so Shane and I sat down at CP43 (Cowboy Camp) and came up w a strategy. since we weren't really racing for anything, we just wanted to get to the EOD3 TA with some time to get the optional points in daylight, so we made a short route and set out. got CP 5-something in a reentrant and Erl found our 2nd rattlesnake! then we went to the Buffalo River CP, way down in a river canyon, and i found a den w a parent and 4-5 babies. scary, but again JD just ushered us around and made a movie. he is awesome. from there we just picked points that were easy and had cool clue descriptions. again, beautiful terrain and we saw horses! got a little hot here but just moved steadily and enjoyed the afternoon.

TREK 1 - end of day optional CPs
rode into Willow Creek Ranch well before sunset and headed out for the 8 optional CPs. the first one we realized we didn't bring the passport...trekked back to get that. whoops. then hit the next 5 really well, finally we felt like we were good at racing again. CP3 was missing (gate) but we confirmed w contour lines and moved on. the sun set. then went to punch our final CP and realized that the passport was missing. nooooooooo. trekked back to the previous point and JD found it!!!!! hero. trekked BACK on the ridge to get CP1, then stealth mode back into TA. they had hot veggie burgers here and we got about 90min sleep, again cold.

Saturday 0645 to Sunday 0130 = 19hrs

C • Turkey Burgers 3

Event: RMC Hellbender 16hr AR
 

in TA at Paradise Ranch for about 1hr. Mark gave us our short-course options, we packed our EOD2 bin, then the rest of our bins and rode out on a mission straight to EOD2 TA.

CT Day 2 - short course

our only option was to ride straight from EOD1 TA (Paradise Ranch) to EOD2 TA (Middle Fork Campground) so that's what we did. I think about 16? miles on the Cloud Peak Scenic Byway (paved but large rollers that I needed lots of towing help) and then another 50ish? miles on gravel Hazelton Rd.

this ride was long, but we got an absolutely BEAUTIFUL sunset on Hazelton. then we saw a pick-up truck w 2 bikes and a case of Busch Lite in the back, JD made a comment that the driver has his priorities straight. then about 30min later we see the same pick-up driving the other way, turns out the driver had picked up 2 other racers and driven them to EOD2 TA, and was stopping to give us a distance estimate. well we chatted and ended up purchasing 4 Busch Lites for $20. score!

rolled into TA around midnight and couldn't leave until 0600 so we built a fire, made some hot food, drank the beer, and then slept under the stars. barely had enough clothes to stay warm but it turned out ok.

Thursday 1500 to Thursday 2359 = 9hrs

Event: Rev3Adventure Cowboy Tough Multi-Day AR
 

CT Day 1

TREK/PROLOGUE (5k)
special challenge underwater CP, whiskey shot, telegram and gun casing retrieval for turning in later in the race (scary to keep track of these small items for so long). no packs.

BIKE 1 (14mi)
roads, include special challenge of grabbing ribbon from a calf's tail, Roses nailed it.

PADDLE 1 (14mi)
flatwater, 2 canoes on Lake De Smet. went CCW and started w missing CP11, Yogis were there too so we searched for a bit (30min?) and then abandoned. started paddling w Erl but switched to Shane's boat for better speed balance.

BIKE 2 (16mi)
roads, include special challenge semaphore writing (flag writing) that we GOT! our word was ACT. a special challenge that was actually really challenging.

TREK 1 (50k)
left from Story Fish Hatchery on a long trek. we thought we had time for all CPs on Day 1 (mandatory and optional) so we grabbed 15 and 16, both high points and both absolutely beautiful views. after a rather slow start to the race, we were all feeling good and moving really well, navving well, just generally felt like the race was finally starting. had a slight mistake on 17, it was plotted up on a ridge but actually hung down in a creek bottom, that cost us 30min to figure out. the sun set and we knew we had to keep hustling to get to EOD1 TA in time. but then CP19 blew us apart, we couldn't find the trails on the map, and our relocation attempts were not disciplined enough to be helpful. i was REALLY sleepy (embarrassing for Night 1, but i think combo of pre-race planning stress and altitude) and unable to contribute much in the nav department. there were a bunch of teams all searching for the point, but that wasn't helping, so we took a 10min nap to regroup, then re-attacked. again no luck, but we joined up w 2-person team Action Adventure who were also lost, and we all puppy-piled at 10,000' for a shivering sleep in space blankets. when the sun rose, we were finally able to re-locate, get CP19, and then got on with the rest of the trek at a hiking pace.

Thursday 0900 to Friday 1400 = 29hr

early ride to meet Jeff and borrow his strobe light.

so thankful for teammates.