Training Log Archive: britty327

We did the standard CCW loop here, bushwhacking up the spur collecting CPs, including the photo on the impressive tower at the top. From there, we opted for the trail, which petered out towards the bottom. After running back and forth looking for the trail, I lost patience, feeling like we were wasting time with MR (in our minds) hot on our heels. I believe I told Dave, "Just go south. Get us off this f***ing mtn." He said ok, and what felt like 5min later we were on the road and heading to CP37. From 37, 5k road run back to the bikes. No sign of MR.

We headed to Skegg Branch for a short fun bike-o. Best biking of the race. Hiked down the middle of a creek, ran into some turkey hunters, scaled a rocky cliff, and found the 2nd flag torn up by bear. Heading out towards the route to the bridge, we attempted a shortcut road. Someone put a private sign on a public road, so we backed out and took the safe route. Zippy downhill to a looong climb back to Breaks for the finish. We came in 3 hrs behind UNE and 3 hrs ahead of MR. Honey Badgers finished just 5min ahead of us but missed a CP. it was great to trade places with the other 2 teams so much. Also, because part of the course was cancelled, we finished early and had a rare extra day to spend at Breaks, one of my fav parks. Made some new friends this race and got to catch up with others. Loved racing with Jeff and Dave...looking forward to doing it again in WY.

Discrepancy of distance btwn the tracker and my bike computer over the course of the race. 1 minute intervals miss a lot on the downhills. Max speed was 63kph. The elevation was also much less than our actual gain during the race.

Event: QOC Lake Needwood
 

cont'd

Fun Cumberland River packraft complete with rapids, fog, and cold. Perfect river for packrafting. Required constant focus with the fog, which kept us awake :) Dave worked a lot harder than us to keep up in the Scout, while Jeff and I lily dipped at times. We used the long pillow in the Gnu...definitely plan on using the Gravity Grip seats for Worlds instead. I wore tights and rain pants. My knees were taking the brunt of the air and water, and they started to go numb, along with the lower part of my quads. The last 30min or so was almost unbearable with white hot pain shooting through my knees. MR reached the take out ahead, but we found the CP cleanly while they searched for it. The transition was time consuming with boat deflation and full wardrobe change. I had a good cry as my knees started thawing out and made my quads spasm which felt worse than on the water.

Back on the road towards Little Shepherd Trail. We all took catnaps on our feet until we turned on the trail and the sun came up. Our packs were at their heaviest of the race for this leg, with a full change of wet clothes inside in addition to everything else. 15+mi on pavement. We saw Dusty and her badass solo self on the path up to the lookout tower. Popped a half dollar sized blister on the ball of L foot just before heading off the ridge. L knee and Achilles angry but not a problem since the rest of the race was mostly bike.

Pine Mtn Settlement to Camp Jacob via Little Shepherd Trail. We said good riddance to our paddle gear! We traded places with UNE for the first 2 or 3 CPs as Dave made cleaner nav choices before they left us for good. Laid down in the sun at the top of Kingdom Come for 15min and put our feet up. In the evening, we hit Wiley's Last Resort and got to chat with Dash. Note: big food winner this race was Trader Joe's dark chic sea salt caramel covered grahams. Heaven. As we neared Camp Jacob, we had a discussion and decided no one needed to sleep, and clothing/gear changes would be minimal since we were continuing out on the bike. Get in/out of TA in a timely fashion.

Upon arrival, we found MR was sleeping in TA. Race back on. We had been joyriding a bit all on our own, but now we were back to riding/racing with a purpose. Based on when they were supposedly getting up, we assumed we had a 45-60min lead. We slurped some ramen and quietly hightailed it out of TA to ride to Birch Knob.

Cont'd

To Pound River Campground

To Camp Jacob w/Mostly Retired. 30F overnight made for a chilly morning ride.

After a resupply at the TA, we headed North Fork Pound Reservoir for packrafting. Traded places with MR throughout and arrived together.

We dropped everything but mandy gear and headed out on the reservoir for 3 CPs. A note about our packrafts...we have a 2 Gnu setup for both this race and Worlds. However, about 30min prior to our arrival at the race location, I realized I left the bin containing our packraft (and more comfy seat setup) at home. Panic ensues. Fortunately, Mark had a spare solo Scout that he let us borrow. It was slower and less efficient than the Gnu, but it got the job done. Even saved us a couple lbs over the course of 100+ miles. Needless to say, we weren't too upset when 2 packraft legs got cancelled. For this leg, we opted to do an out and back through a saddle from one point to another. As we were coming back over the saddle, here comes MR carrying all of their paddle gear and boats. Ah they outsmarted us! Great strategic decision. Saved them over 1k of paddling.

All the way to Kingdom Come! On the way, we stopped at a convenience store CP where I enjoyed a delish RC Cola and we all had ice cream sandwiches. Kingdom Come is on top of a mountain, and we climbed in direct sunlight.

Quick run through the park with gloriously light packs for 2 CPs. The cave amphitheater was a cool feature.

Off to Pine Mtn Settlement and our B bin via the Little Shepherd Trail. We thought this was actually a trail. Turns out it's paved road. After the extended climb up to the park, the downhill out was righteous. Unfortunately, we would have to ride right back up that hill the next day, one of 5 or 6 out and backs of the race, mostly on roads.

At the settlement house, we went out for the quick CP tour of the grounds then stuffed ourselves with soup, bread, and butter. Honey Badgers were leaving as we came in and had not slept. MR was in and going to sleep. UNE came in shortly after us and were undecided. They later opted to sleep as well. Jonathan of MR had found a warm quiet place and offered to share it with us. The space was heated with cold concrete floor. We laid down for 1:15 until 1030pm. I slept for most of it. Our only sleep of the race. We got moving and climbed up to the ridge, then once again hit pavement trekking. Hit the Cumberland River and bundled up for a cold paddle. MR got on the water right behind us.

Event: Breakdown XPD
 

Racing with Jeff and Dave. First time actually meeting Dave! We got 6 maps at noon, then 15min before the prologue received a blowup 1:24k map with 14 prologue CPs. Had to collect 10. No trails on the map, but had time to quickly transpose them to the main map. Took the first couple CPs to get on the map, but then we were off. Virtually unlimited route choice. Wouldn't be surprised if every team took a different route. Came in right behind UNE.

Through Breaks with some CPs in the park then to the rappel down to the river. Great rap actually. No wait on the ropes and super smooth and quick despite a double rope system. At the river, we opted to inflate one raft and ferry the 3 of us across. Got in the water ahead of UNE and Mostly Retired (MR) but they left the takeout a min or so ahead of us. Next up was a long linear trek towards the packraft put in. UNE disappeared ahead of us, taking a wrong turn. They passed us on the road near the TA. Decent amount of pavement in this section, which would become a theme throughout the race. Our biggest gripe of the course. At the TA, we were informed that a packraft section, trek, and canoe had been cancelled due to high water levels. Turns out 11 boats had been lost downriver and 5 destroyed in the 15 hour race (in the dark!). Luckily no one injured. We were to proceed directly to TA6 by whichever route we wished. We chose to take roads all the way with a small bushwhack which ended up being the optimal route. The other 2 teams left 15-20min ahead of us. MR took a different trek route and came in while we were in TA. We rode out to Camp Jacob together. UNE lost an hour taking a packraft route.

Quick test ride at Conway with Dusty to make sure the new brake is golden. It is. Trails were junk from the Adventure Enablers races over the wknd. L shoulder super sore from truck work yesterday.

4 hours of truck ops 3 days before a race. Perfect ;) We got an acquired structure, so we had free reign on a house to do anything but burn it. Cut vent holes in the roof with saws and later an ax (hard work), threw ladders, vent/enter/search, forcible entry, took out window frames. Spent.