Adventure Racing race 17:10:00 [4]
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.