Training Log Archive: Timato

Day 2 of Snowgaine. We tried to work with the trail network more today to avoid blazing the trail the whole like yesterday. Made a decision at about halfway to skip to controls along the back because I didn't they could be done in time, turns out they could. Oh well, still finished first all male and second to only Untamed NE.

C • Nice! 2

Snowgaine day 1. 2 ft of fresh snow and we broke trail for most of the day. Very fun but also very tough. Not a great score compared to other teams that were able to come up behind us, lite Pete and Lee.

C • Thanks for the report 2

Event: Salomon Dontgetlost.ca Snowshoe Raid
 

Good race with nik felt tired in the last hour.

C • That was because you were d... 1

The trek started with an up hill climb to a small town. At the town we then had to find another trail that headed up further. If I remember correctly we basically were going to climb from something like 1500m up to 3700m. As we tried to find the trail we ran into a man carrying a rather large machete. Figuring we were probably walking all over his land we went over and showed him the map. He didn't say anything, but just turned around and pointed up hill. Yup that's where we got to go. Up. Finding the trail we started to climb up hill. Further we went the more overgrown the trail became and the more the view became stunning. Something like 5 hours later we reached the top. Even though Audrey tried to cut it short by falling down a 20 ft gully, which luckily she was ok after (damn tough that woman is).

At the top we made our way into town, where the team ahead of us was sitting and had dropped out. One of the guys on their team showed us his altimeter which was showing at that point we're already climbed 8.5 K. Off again to the next check point I found it really tough to follow the map from here. Luckily they had positioned some of the emergency personal along the course to give teams a hand because it was rather tricky to find your way in this area. In the end we ended up walking out with the emergency staff as they were clearing the course. This was a lot of fun becuase we got to learn some more about them and the area. They even made us tea from a herb on the ground that was meant to help with altitude sickness (if only I could remember it's name). Through the last CP we had a slow gradual down hill along a road into the last TA.

At this point I was done. Looking at the clock it was late afternoon and we still had 110K bike to the finish area ahead of us. They never set cut-offs in the race, but if we knew if we kept biking we'd be racing for another day, basically the only team still out on the course. We spoke with the race officials and they offered us a chance to short cut this bike to the finish and go back and paddle. We took this as I don't think any of us thought we could finish this bike.

A drive to the finish and a short paddle around the lake , then a short run to the finish and we were done. Huarisinchi had given us a pretty amazing adventure, but it also kicked our asses so hard hard. This is probably the hardest thing I've ever done.

Looking back I have mixed feelings because we never were really competitive in the race a mix of the altitude and the size of the mountains. Also we didn't finish the whole course. At the same time we got an unbelievable adventure, saw some amazing things and I remember how much I didn't want to do that trek and we did it, so I have to remember some monsters were conquered during this race.

C • Awesome Story! 4

After probably the best sleep I've ever had in a race we continued along the top to the town of Pinan. This place was unreal. It had something like 20 huts, and only one road into the village. No electricity and a river that ran right through the middle of town. Very cool.

Finished with the trek we transferred to bikes and started what was probably the hardest bike ride I'd ever had to struggle through. Basically on this bike ride the following happened
- We had to climb for what seemed like hours, including a huge mountain covered in loose rock where we just pushed our bikes
- We then went down this mountain on the other side.
- Audrey fell and hit her head (not her helmet).
- We all stopped and sat down thinking there's no way we could do any more of this (we did though) some of us cried.
- We down hilled at one point for a couple hours straight, just going down and down and down, and trying not to hit cows hiding around the corner.
- My chain got so covered in dust that it wouldn't bend. Eddie had the brillaint idea to use but butter to lube it up and it worked
- I fell going down hill (as Audrey said I just bounced off the road), The road rash looks very nice
- The rear derailler cable on Tom's bike snapped, with some ingenuity we were able to rig something up so at least he could still ride his bike.

At the end of all this and something like 14 hours later we pulled into the TA completely exhausted. I will admit at this point I wanted to do nothing else but quit. The race had kicked our asses and I was exhausted. After a little sleep and some warm soup we decided to perserver. Changed and ready to go off we went trekking up hill again.

Event: Huairasinchi
 

Started in Cotachi on the bike, basically up hill to a lake for a paddle. At the start it was flat and we were riding with everyone near the front. In a fleeting moment I thought, hey maybe this will be ok. Then we turned a corner and started going up hill, and everyone (and I mean everyone) started to pass us as we struggled. Pulled into the lake still feeling a good and started the paddle. A beautiful paddle on a lake that was formed on a crater. Hit 3 control points without any problems and then tried to find the 4th which was misplaced. We ended up taking a lot of time trying to find it as we worked out way up and down the shore of the far side of the lake.

Oh well, we found it and continued on to the pull out. Back on the bike and more climbing.

Pulled into the TA and made a quick transitions to trekking. Left with the ladies and hiked up hill with both the ladies and Jen Segger who was reporting for breathe. This trek went pretty well for us. We ran the down hills and flats and hiked the up hills. However, the locals still continued to pass us. One team ran past us as we hiked up hill. Ouch that was a big kick in the pants. Overall the trek went well. No nav mistakes and a pretty good pace (for us). Saw some beautiful areas including a Andean jungle area. The trail was just covered in thick bamboo and to our right it was a shear drop off. All you could see over the edge was cloud.

Down the hill and over a small bridge and into the TA. Feeling good at this point we transitioned to bikes. The bike ride started with a massive climb and then from there it was rolling hills. After the climb we were able to re-group and kept a steady pace. Pulled into the TA before our support crew expected us. Transfer to foot again and we started a massive trek. The first part of the trek went well for us. After the zip line we were able to find a trail and work our way north. We found a bridge, crossed the river we needed to cross and then continued north. Everything was going well until I goofed and followed a trail back across the river thinking we were much further north then we actually were. This lead us cross country and away from our destination, but on the map the landmarks fit to what we needed to see. Well an hour later we realized we were wrong, and then we had the tough time of trying to figure out how to get back. The trail was gone and we were getting cliffed out as we tried to work our way back to the river. A few different attempts and some tough bush wacking and we ended up back at the river, right around where the trail was. We worked back to the point where I felt we'd made the mistake (costing us about 2-3 hours) and once we got there we realized the error in our ways and continued back on the original trail.

This continued for a while until we hit this huge hill climb up a mountain. The worst part of it was that the hill was covered in mud, so we slipped and slide up the hill for a couple hours stopping every so often to try and get our heart rate back down again. At the top we decided to sleep as it was now the next day.

Out climbing some mountain. Puked at 4100m. Sound like I'm ready to race.

C • :-) 2

Mtb bike ride in Quito. Very fun park right in the city.

C • How's the altitude? 2

Went out for a run along the Grand River before I finished packing. Came to the parking lot/trail access and the whole thing was closed off with police tape and there were a few cop cars sitting out on the road. In the parking lot, just a single car. Had to find a new way around to get onto the trail as they wouldn't let me through to the trail access.

C • Have a great race! 3

Run into work and home.

Run into work and home.

One of our support crew in Ecuador was nice enough to send us a link to photos from the race in 2007. The area looks pretty spectacular IMHO.

http://picasaweb.google.com/pachanor/Huairasinchi?...

C • Awesome scenery 10