Training Log Archive: escondido

Started the paddle around 3am. We were a little out of race mode and we fiddled around at the forst portage trying to get to Birch Lake when the portage trail did not exactly line up with the map. Finally I said that we should just portage down the trail and whichever lake it leads us to (Birch or Shawanaga) was the route we'd be taking. Ended up taking us to Birch which was the one we wanted.

Should mention that 1L paddled through this section with a bum wrist which resulted from the bike. She batled through and provided horsepower whenever she could. As a result MJ paddled like a machine and still kept up the pace of their boat to match DD_on11 and I.

We also had troubles at Bear lake locating the route to Fox Lake. But a disgusting bog wadding got us to the right spot.

Right after CP7 we spoted a team nipping at our heels, 100 metres back. They seemed to be trying to put pressure to pass us (for that coveted 16th place). All of a sudden our race mode was ignited and our team nearly doubled our output. We kept that team at bay and finally got a 2km lead on them. We would not give them the satisfaction of that 16th spot without some effort!

The paddle/portage leg was another great leg for me as I felt strong.

C • Congrats! 2

Still trying to hold off the 17th place team who were 2km back we quickly transitioned and left for the trail. MJ and I formed a v-tow for 1L. We booked it back to the finish line. We tried to catch the 15th place team who we saw walking on the road but we fell 5 minutes short of that.

Finished the full course at 11:34am (16th palce) after 27 hours and 34 minutes of racing. Really enjoyed the course and the team - nobody complained (well except DD_on11 at the beginning when he got stuck behind some novice riders which was quite amusing) and we were all strong at some point in the course to help the others out. We actually finished just 9 minutes off my estimate of 27.25 hours which was amazing.

Huge thanks to Bob (getawaystix), Barb (Bash) and all the volunteers for putting on a flawless race. The pre-race registration and atmosphere were smooth and electric, the race day logistics were clean, and the course was well planned.

C • Awesome! 2

Event: Wilderness Traverse
 

Second 24hr race with 1L, MJ and doubledown_on11 taking on Wilderness Traverse - the preeminent 24hr adventure race in Canada. There were lots of top teams present.

Lack of recent training on bike trails hurt me on this first leg of the race. Power and energy rose and faded quite often. The powerline trail was quite bumpy and my butt got a good sandpaper finish to it which lasted me throughout the rest of the race. Only 1 fall which occured while trying to drink from the bottle and steer clear of rocks - the rocks won.

We finished 40 minutes ahead of our time estimate which really lifted spirits coming into the TA.

DD_on11 was strong on this leg but unfortunately we could not utilize his power to the full extent as the tow was not suitable for the technical riding which consumed most of the leg. He did shoulder the madatory gear for 1L though which helped her.

C • I also found one handed steering and braking 2

Things started off well for us. Quick 20 minute TA and then we swam across the river. Didn't find the first trail but headed on without over thinking it and picked up the second trail crossing. Over to CP4 without a problem. Instead of the long bushwhack to CP5 we opted to use trails as much as possible, thus went east and then bushwhacked down to another trail which would get us to within 1 km of CP5, however this proved ill advised as the trails were generally overgrown with many unmapped trails lying around as well. Spent too much time near Seesee Lake trying to relocate ourselves. 'Bent was playing wonderful host at CP5 dishing out cheese, crackers and coffee which was super nice.

We also took an interesting route out of CP5 as we chose to cross the water at the very northwestern tip of Little Wilson Lake (believing it would be the shortest crossing and least deep option) - the climb down to waters edge was way too steep but we made it down on the second attempt. The water crossing was great as it was only 20 feet across and waist deep. Once on the other side we headed due south trying to hit an unmapped trail we identified on a trail guide we had the night before. We hit something and continued on it for what seemed a very very long time. we were worried that it kept going southwest instead of southeast. At points it was going northwest, west, northeast, east, south, etc - pretty much every possible direction and confusing the heck out of us. Coupled with the fact that it was not very distinct and a few spurs in the trail had us guessing. We were hanging on a prayer and really did not have a good sense at all where we were. We finally hit a large logging road and continued south on it which eneded up being the right road to the TA. We wasted a good 3 hours in the marshy area 1km south of Little Wilson Lake.

The encouraging thing was that our team stuck through it all and we all tried to help MJ relocate us on the map using whatever faint features we could make out in the night. It was a long walk/slog to the TA.

While I was not navigating this race, taking that hat, I probably would have liked to have seen more trails filled in on the map - for instance, the major C trail snowmobile trail south of Wislon Lake going west was showing as a dead end but in reality would continue on to hit hwy 69.

Except for the troubles we had a the end of the leg, the Trek was my most enjoyable portion of the race - and one of my strongest. My legs felt strong and I really enjoyed the lakes and forest.

C • C trail 6