Training Log Archive: silkychrome

ARWC report in the Aug 10 entry.

Post-Race Notes:
Good food: croissants, arby's chicken fingers, plantain chips.
Skratch not carborocket, CR333 is too sweet after Day 1.

Good clothes: Arcteryx Norvan jacket

Problem solvers valve stem nuts

C • CR333 1

C • Problem solvers valve stem nuts 1

Event: ARWC2017/Cameco Cowboy Tough
 

ARWC! w Sami11, Space Monkey, and Rainbow Unicorn...WEDALI team #140.

Leg 1 - Trek - 3 miles - Thu 1300 - Thu 1345
A short prologue run without packs around Jackson Hole Mtn Resort trails. We jogged in the back of the pack and chose clockwise w Rib Mtn while the bulk of the field went CCW. Fun to see the lead teams in reverse, we helped AMK w a trail junction as we were coming in and they almost ran past it. Go USA! It was a bit warm so Biz went race bib-only.

Leg 2 - Trek - 7 miles - Thu 1345 - Thu 1515
We picked up our packs and hopped on the paved trail out of Jackson Hole Mtn Resort. We started right behind Rootstock, caught them, and ran w them chatting for a bit which was really fun. We caught some other teams, too, but towards the end the paved trail was getting boring and my L hamstring hurt a bit. This leg was the last one I used my bladder for but still carried it for the rest of the race.

Leg 3 - Paddle - 19 miles - Thu 1515 - Thu 1815
Put in on the Snake River. Took some time inflating the packrafts. We had lots to stuff in the inner chamber (8 shoes, 2 packs, and mandatory gear) bc our Bin A was too full. We used Lifestraw bottles for water on this leg, 1 per boat, dip and sip. Once we got on the Snake, the paddling was SUPER fun. The water flowed and had some splashy sections too. We got to paddle w Rootstock, DART, MRC, and some other fun teams. It felt like adventure camp. Had kind of a messy portage at the end, the trail from the water to the TA road was tight and steep and we attempted to carry inflated boats up it. Had to stop part way and deflate. I paddled w Biz which was fun. Andrei (aka Sea Wolf) wore rain pants and jacket the entire time!

Leg 4 - Trek - 38 miles - Thu 1815 - Fri 1315
The first big trek. At TA, even tho we had only been racing for 4 hours, we re-lubed and changed socks. Took 4 trekking poles and mandatory bear spray and tent/sleeping bag. The first part of this trek had a mandatory trail route 1k uphill (to avoid unmarked private property). Once we got up on the ridge, the trail stayed high but we bushwhacked down to the parallel stream. Our reasoning was that we didn't want to be up on the ridge (over 9k elevation) for an extended period of time. We gambled that the up/down of the ridge trail would be less than the final climb for us out of the creek. Plus better water access down low. We dropped down and found some unmarked horse trails that brought us over to the creek, score! However once we got to the creek the trail was a bit hard to find. But we got on it and it followed pretty well for several k. We crossed a big muddy patch with no footprints and speculated that we were the only team on this route. We liked that the dot watchers would have something to discuss so early in the race! The sun set and we just kept following the creek. Finally it came time to climb out to the saddle above Hunter Creek and the trail flaked out on us. Hard to follow, lots of deadfall. Once we got up high, there was supposed to be another trail network to connect us back to the primary race route. However it was about 4AM, dark and cold, which makes trail finding harder! I was super sleepy (embarrassing for night 1 but true) and we all decided to sleep for 30min just before sunrise. Found a nice grove of trees near Cliff Creek Pass and just laid down and I was OUT solidly. Great sleep for me. We got up 5min late but otherwise a good use of time I thought. The sun was beginning to rise and we found the trails we needed. Trekking poles came out, one for each of us. Had to detour around one small reentrant when Biz saw an unidentified brown furry butt disappear into the brush and hide. The wildflowers were beautiful up there as well. We dropped down to the main route just behind Silent Chasers. Caught them and had a chat about their route, sounded like the ridge trail was pretty physical but not cold. On the climb out we also caught NYARA and had a nice chat. Then a long gradual descent into TA and my feet really hurt. I took 2 poles which helped a bit. It seemed like that trail would never end!

TA 4 trek to bike
As we arrived in TA, we saw Rootstock and DART so we felt like our route was pretty good, plus we got sleep. Also Tiki Tour was there, which was surprising but their team member was sick so they had bailed. They shared their shade w us tho. I think they were amused at our use of NZ/Aussie products...macpacs, ayups, and gurney goo. Biz built my bike and discovered that the rear brake had no engagement... what! So Erl and Biz got to work investigating. After they fiddled w it for a while and adjusted the throw, then pumped it a ton and eventually it came back to life (actually better than before the race) which was a huge relief. We also ate a hot meal here.

Leg 5 - Bike - 83 miles - Fri 1415 - Sat 0315
We cruised out of TA on a nicely downhill gravel road that eventually turned paved, plus we had a nice tailwind. We made great progress into Pinedale where there were some stores on route. We stopped at one, only to discover that our money had not made it into a pack! NV/Journey was leaving as we rolled in, they gave us a half can of Pringles and a half bag of ice, but we didn't feel like we knew them well enough to ask for $$. We didn't really need anything anyway so we just refilled bottles and left. Rolled fast for the next few miles and caught up to Rootstock again and shared some fun chat. They ID'd the access road to CP5 first so they went on ahead. As the sun was setting, we saw Chris Radcliffe and Legendary w a rad photo setup! Then a storm rolled in so we sheltered on the side of the road between sage bushes and an e-blanket. The storm was mostly bark but no bite. We got on bikes again and into the trail system to CP6. It was confusing in the dark and so many teams running around. Finally found the uphill slog to the field. Once we were up there, we attacked the CP directly w no luck. Not a lot of contours up there and the veg boundaries/trails on the map were difficult to find/rely on. So we backtracked to the trail and took it around to the CP, sorta following NV/Journey. Then mostly gravel road ride to the TA. I was feeling awake but Biz was not so it was a bit scary trying to keep him on the road on the big downhill. It was also super cold!

TA 5 bike to trek Sat 0315 - Sat 0730
We were pretty cold and this TA had tents so we decided to sleep. However the tents were all full when we rolled in so we had to wait for a team to leave. Luckily one did, but they were a non-competitive team so one of their injured/sick team members was still sleeping. At first he didn't want 4 extra people in his tent but when we said we were all small people, he said OK. So we crammed 5 people into the tent and closed our eyes for 2 hrs about 0345. It was an OK sleep for me but there were a slew of teams that left at 0500 so I woke up to their chatter. We also extended our sleep for 30min when no one wanted to leave the tent at 0545. Then it took us forever to get ready and leave finally at 0730.

Leg 6 - Trek - 40 miles - Sat 0730 - Sun 0830
Started out by hiking up the gravel road and eating a hot meal. Yummy! We went all the way to the trailhead we had passed on bikes last night instead of bushwhacking shown on the tracking. Got on the Continental Divide Trail and hiked to CP8. Then spent some time in the next creek filtering/treating water. We were mostly using bottles and Erl liked to have a bladder full. I really liked using bottles only since it made it easier for the boys to carry water for me :). Then it was a long hike/shuffle run over to CP9. I was on tow for a lot of this and it worked out great. The attack in to CP9 was tricky and at times I felt we were going in circles but looking at the track, Biz really nailed it. For awhile we worked thru a huge section of deadfall and I made a game of seeing how many steps I could string together on logs without touching the ground (sorta like don't step in the lava!). I made it 10-12 steps multiple times. After the deadfall we were around quite a few teams including NV/Journey and Sneaky Weasels who were rumored to have been looking for the CP for 24hrs. Shortly after the CP we stopped at a campground, used a real bathroom, and treated water and feet. We had to cross the creek to continue on the CD trail and Andrei requested a piggy back ride to keep his feet dry. Biz was up for the challenge and the two made it safely across. We saw Quest here as they trekked ahead of us. We also saw Vingnette who we called Vinagrette. We had seen them a bit earlier and here they were bedding down for a nap as the sun set. We thought this was a good idea, to sleep while it was warmer vs. during the cold night. So we pulled off trail as well and napped for 30min about 9pm. We made really good progress to CP10, hitting it about 2AM. We didn't want to sleep in TA again after taking so long in TA5 so we found a cozy pile of wind-blocking rocks to nap in for about 2hrs. I was super tired and grouchy as the boys debated the finer points of about 3 different rock piles. We stopped at 0215 and didn't get moving again until 0545...too long for the 2-2.5 hrs sleep we got. From there it was a mostly downhill shuffle to CP11 and then the TA. I was able to stay w a single trekking pole for this whole trek. My feet reached a point of tolerable but not increasing pain. I was super proud of this since it was basically 80 miles on feet w a long bike in between! We saw CanadaAR on the way and they had a dog! We were moving a bit faster so the dog jumped into our group and ran w us (and ate Biz's pepperoni). It was such a sweet dog, we brought it into TA on a tow leash and turned it over to TA staff.

TA 6 trek to bike
Andrei and I had been to South Pass City (TA location) as part of CT2015 so it was cool to be back. I had a tiny blister on my toe so got that treated by medical, it wasn't a problem but didn't want it to blow up. Andrei also got some foot treatment. Sneaky weasels were in TA w us as well. The TA staff brought the dog over to our area bc she was getting anxious but when she was by us she just passed out! Exhausted puppy. CanadaAR said she had trekked 40k w them on top of the 5k or so w us. I felt this TA was pretty good for us and we rolled out in good spirits.

Leg 7 - Bike - 36 miles - Sun 0930 - Sun 1630
This bike leg started on roads w some fast downhills, a repeat of the 2014 course (without the short loop trek). Then we turned on to Limestone Rd gravel and I was excited to repeat the three big climbs from 2014. The creeks were higher than 2014 so we got creative w keeping feet dry and crossing them, sometimes not successful. We passed Vinagrette having a sleep and a couple other short course teams. By this point we had fallen off our pack of competitive teams (Rootstock DART etc) and I was a bit bummed. But one of the short-course teams (361 Adventures) cheered for us and said we were amazing for still being on the full course and that was really encouraging. It was hot and there was a lot of bike pushing required to grunt up the climbs. But the descents were fun and not as sketchy as we remembered. Also the scenery was amazing and I hoped the international teams got to enjoy it. We made it to the top of the final climb and turned on to the Popo Agie single track and it was so fun!! Towards the bottom I started having a chafing problem so was really glad to get to TA.

TA 7 - Bike to Trek/Ropes - Sun 1630 - Sun 1645
We weren't planning on changing clothes for this short leg but I did anyway to get out of my chafing bike shorts. A storm blew thru TA so we hauled our bin into the shelter and huddled there briefly while it blew thru. Then it was out to the cave.

Leg 8 - Trek/Ropes - 4 miles (aka "the pee stop on a 200mi bike ride) - Sun 1645 - Sun 1915
We could do either the cave or the rap first so we chose the cave due to weather conditions. It was a short shuffle up the main road to the cave entrance which Andrei had done before. This time we all were required to squeeze in and it was super neat inside. We met Peaklife AR (Wendy and Jo) going in as we were going out. Then it was back to TA, we checked in, and headed up to the rappel. When we got to the top, short-course team MONARX was on the rope but they allowed us to proceed ahead of them bc we had a hard finish deadline still to make. I have done this rap before and it was fine...but long! Then it was back to TA and back onto bikes.

Leg 9 - Bike - 163 miles - Sun 1915 to Mon 1900
Oh boy. The long bike. This started pretty well for us since we could skip the detour into Lander, we were all feeling ok. But shortly after we turned off the main main highway, we needed a short sleep to keep Biz online. So we just crashed in the ditch on the side of a less-main, but still busy, highway to sleep for 15min as the sun set. Erl and I didn't sleep but the boys did. Several cars passed us laying there and I was amused that no one stopped. We got up and kept riding. Punched CP20 and go into some super nice gravel roads. Sometime after that, Andrei alerted us to a problem w his cleat. One of the screws was gone and the other was loose. Potential disaster, especially since he used eggbeaters and everyone else was on SPDs. But we solved it by taking a bolt from Biz's water bottle cage and using it for the cleat. They were the same diameter and the water bottle cage bolt's head was small enough to accommodate the pedal, plus the end was short enough to not poke Andrei's foot. We were pretty proud of ourselves for this fix! So we kept riding and saw our only rattlesnake of the whole race, a dead one in the road. Then we saw NV/Journey waking up from a nap in a farm drive. It was cold and windy in this spot but they said they had started sleeping while it was still warm so they were happy. We had been thinking about a real sleep too but we were close to CP22 and decided to use NV/Journey as a carrot to get there, so we kept riding. However we could not keep up w them, and we passed an abandoned cow pens w an empty lean-to. What a great sleeping place! We relocated some dried horse poop and rocks to make a nice bed in this wind-protected shelter and settled in for a 2hr sleep (check our track at 0230 and you will see it on the satellite map!) However I did not sleep at all. I was cold plus I kept thinking about the dead rattlesnake, that surely there were more in the area that were going to find us sleeping. I knew this was illogical but could not break the vicious cycle in my mind. So finally the alarms went off and I almost immediately started crying. I want so upset w myself for not sleeping, plus it was Erl's birthday on Monday and I had forgotten to pack the birthday headbands in the bin for us to wear on this leg. So I just lost it and fortunately Erl did a great job of pulling me together. We got back on our bikes and I just rode and tried not to feel too sorry for myself or get too sleepy. We stopped at CP25, the rest stop, and chatted w the boys of Lupine who were on a frankenteam w 361 Adventures. In the rest stop it was really warm and there was another team sleeping in the lobby area. We spread out our stuff and used the bathroom, filled water, etc. If a non-race person had walked in, it would have been a super sketch scene with people passed out on the floor and baggies of white powder, unlabeled pills, and lube just strewn about. Burt we were out of there before the team woke up or anyone else came in. I made it thru the rest of the night okay but before sunrise I had to get back on tow when I got super sleepy and sad again. I was a mess on tow, trying to sleep and cry at the same time. But as the sun rose I remembered the JD Eskelson method of sleeping which is to collapse on the side of the road whenever anyone stops. I did this once when we switched maps or something and felt so much better after just a few minutes of shut-eye. So then I would ride ahead (legally) of the team, stop and collapse and shut my eyes, and then they would wake me up as they rode past. We did this just 3 or 4 times and I felt like a new person. I started singing to myself and just felt amazingly strong on the bike. It is such an empowering experience to go thru a low spot in a race and come out out of it stronger. I was super stoked. We had a good morning pace on the bike when Andrei's knee started hurting (it had been hurting on and off throughout the race) so he went on Erl's tow. Between CP24 and CP25, we really slowed down, like less than 10k/hr, and then rolled thru the strong headwind into a CP25 (the manned CP w the skull dog). There, we took the opportunity to chat w the volunteers while we refilled water. We really struggled on this section CP24 to CP28/TA and had to take several 15 min naps, in addition to stopping at the CPs, to keep everyone happy on the bike, which slowed us down physically as well as lost momentum. The downhill washboard section after CP26 made me so so happy that we had mtb tires plus front suspension, it was super rough. The sand section at the end of this leg was super tough. At first it was a hoot surfing the downhills, Biz and I raced one. But then on the flats it was hard to find a good line and stay upright. Just had to grind it out. We sheltered under a flatbed trailer for the 3pm storm. Then we sheltered in a grove of trees for the 5pm storm, next to a beautiful horse pasture. Then we just had the climb up to TA. My chafing was pretty painful at this point but I found if I rode w no hands, it felt a lot better. So that is what I did for the last few miles. Finally we made it into TA and we're greeted by Emma, Derrick, and Molly!

TA 9 - bike to packraft - Mon 1900 to Mon 2030
We had to pack our bikes and also figure out how to carry our pack raft gear. We ended up taking paddles and PFDs out of the paddle bag, Andrei and I carried PFDs and paddles, Biz carried his and Erl's pack, and Erl carried the paddle bag w both packrafts in a super awkward arrangement.

Leg 10/11- Packraft - 43 miles - Mon 2030 to Tues 1730
First we trekked about 4 miles to the water w the carry arrangement discussed above. We punched CP29 and then found a nice place to inflate boats. Biz made a nifty frame out of paddles and webbing and we made a packraft tent to sleep under. Then we slept on the sandy shore from to 2330 to 0200. It was my second best sleep of the race, until I got cold just before waking up. Then we put on the water and paddled into the darkness. It wasn't scary until we noticed a dark gray mass on our left side. Biz expertly navved us over to the shore and we paddled hard to try and skirt around the brewing storm. It was really hard to judge our progress vs the storms progress in the dark. It rained a bit and the wind was constantly changing directions, plus lights were appearing and disappearing all around us. A very disorienting paddle. But the sun started to rise as we hit the north side of the reservoir and the storm turned into a tailwind which pushed us in to the Pathrinder Dam campground/beach. I ran up to pee and saw a team w 4 singles portaging ahead (DART). We got a bit disorganized here as I tried to follow the other team and Biz tried to follow the maps. We missed CP 30 in this confusion and had to carry all of our crap back to the flag to punch. Finally we made it down to the base of the dam and put in to Fremont Canyon. The first part was shallow and hard to get momentum going, but beautiful w all the cows and the rising sun. Once we got to the canyon proper, a race staff met us and gave guidance on the upcoming route options. We chose the s-curve vs. the drop and flipped! I think my first time dumping in the Gnu. But relatively easy to collect our stuff and get back in. The rest of the canyon was super fun. We paddled a bit w Sneaky Weasels (no idea where they came from) and another international team I think. We got to CP31A, took out, and hauled all of our crap up to the top of the canyon for a portage. For some reason we thought the portage was about 5k so I didn't dig out socks, and we didn't pack up anything. Biz and Erl carried the rafts and Andrei and I carried the other stuff and we all wore our PFDs. It turned out to be closer to 10k and my the end my heels were rubbed raw and we were all sick of carrying this stuff. It was nice to dry out a bit tho. Finally put in to Alcova Reservoir just behind Sneaky Weasels. We had some moments of panic when we couldn't find CP32, and I couldn't find the clue sheet, but we kept paddling and eventually spotted the sad flag all folded up against the reservoir bank. The portage around the dam was a bit harrowing as well, again because of the missing clue sheet we just weren't super confident w route. But once we got on the North Platte River, it was all systems go...we fired up our portable speaker! At first it was in our boat, blasting, but I didn't realize how little the sound carries. Biz and Andrei really needed it, so we put the speaker in their boat and they were forced to listen to pop country and Taylor Swift for 15 miles of river paddling. We had no idea how long it actually was during the race so we just paddled. A storm was blowing in and making me cold.

Leg 12 - Bike - 36 miles - Tues 1615 - Wed 0215
We had a pretty good TA for us, I got some tape on my feet for the heel rub and we all got dry clothes. We were pretty pumped to knock out a "short" bike ride with massive climb...we were thinking about 4 hours and back in Casper in time for drinks/dinner. Rolled out and saw storm clouds up on Casper Mtn, but didn't really think of the consequences, we were just happy to be on our way to the finish line and not riding in rain. Well we turned on to the gravel going up Casper Mtn and within about 10 minutes the team in front of us bogged down in mud and snapped an RD. We all rode thru mud as well and it collected all over our tires. Erl and I were mad about not warning our teammates sooner since riding thru sticky mud is a Gravel 101 no-no. So now our bikes weighed about 50 lbs each and we had 10 miles of hike-a-bike up to the top of the mtn. Joy! We briefly considered turning around and climbing the north side, but had a miscommunication (miles vs kilometers) about how far it was, plus we couldn't guarantee that the north side roads were paved (I thought they were but not sure). So we just started with carrying our bikes, and sometimes rolling them thru the sparse grass, and trying to ride. The road did dry out in spots but overwhelmingly it was too sticky to ride. We each collected a nice flat rock that we kept with us the whole way up..."scraper rock". As we ascended we got a bit braver about riding the mud, so we would ride a bit until our tires seized or our derailleurs threatened to snap, then we would stop and scrape. Ride, stop, scrape. Ride, stop, scrape. Eventually we got up high and it got cold. Here I started getting ANGRY. And if you know me you know I don't get angry very much. But fortunately I was able to channel this into some really fast bike carrying, which also helped keep me warm. I also had INTENSE DEJA VU. Like absolute 100% certainty that I had been on these roads before. I knew about the junction, I knew about the switchbacks after that, I knew about the weird houses we rode past, I knew about the reflectors on the gates, I knew about the lights in the distance, I knew it all. I thought it was because the 2015 route took us up here but after checking my race report, that is not true (instead we took the roads where Shane pooped). It was so crazy. Anyway, after a little back-and-forth on top of the mtn, we descended to the CP and punched and got our photo taken. It's now my FB cover photo and it totally tells the story of our last night - Biz falling asleep on his bike, Andrei not caring that he only has a functional front brake, and me and Erl thinking "how are we going to survive this descent?!?!?!". Anyway we distributed a few extra layers at the CP and ripped up an e-blanket for the cold descent (Jason the photographer told us it was 40F at the CP). I put my lights on super bright and followed Biz and Andrei down the hill. It was kinda scary for me just knowing what condition they were in. But somehow we made it downhill and thru all the traffic intersections with no issues. Biz spiked the final CP and then it was a short ride to the finish line!

POST-RACE:
We finished in 132 hours and 59 minutes...so let's just call that 133 hours which is right at 5.5 days. Seagate won in 79 hours, so at least we didn't take as long as 2x them? At the finish line, we had a small group to greet us which was super awesome given it was 2AM or something. Erl's mom and her friend were there, Mari/Dags and KP, RyanO, Randy, Adventure Enablers staff, and also TESS!!!!!! Erl's mom brought her out and it was so so awesome to get puppy kisses and tail wags at the finish. I was very honored to have those folks and pups greet us...THANK YOU.

We were about 12 hours slower than we planned, and our plan was not aggressive (included 10 hours of sleep and 8 hours of TA time). We definitely slept more than I anticipated, really only the first night and the long bike morning was I falling asleep while moving. Most of the naps we took I did not sleep. Some of them it was nice to rest my feet, but overall I think we could have pushed through more. Sometimes though those naps helped my teammates so it's just a challenge of expedition AR...how do you get the entire team to need the same amount of sleep at the same time? We also lost a chunk of time with pre/post-sleep and TA inefficiencies. What were we doing for 90 minutes in TA 5??? The world will never know.

So while I personally would have liked to move through the course a bit faster, and be able to challenge our USA friends on MRC (112hrs), Journey (114hrs), Untamed (118hrs), Rootstock (125hrs), Quest (127hrs), NV Journey (128hrs), and DART (131hrs), it is a HUGE accomplishment to finish a World Champs course with four relatively healthy people, four bikes, two packrafts, and no penalties. We didn't have a mechanical. We didn't really get lost. I am really really proud of this finish line (also it's my longest race evah) and I think that as time goes by I will become even more proud. Great job WEDALI!!

C • Rattler 3

C • No hands 2

C • Deja vu 1