Adventure Racing 24:00:00 [3]
Fun start to the day crusing downhill along the rail trail, then a slow climb up a forest service road that would take us in the direction of CP19. Arrived there just after 10:00 am and Phatty, Leanimal and Relentless arrived just after us from the trek through CP17-18. Next section was the last big push and involved a part of the Seven Summits trail that we were all looking forward to. Took awhile to get to that though and involved, of course, more pushing of the bikes.
Seven Summits was cool, but would have been way more cool on Day 1 or another time when my legs didn't have 5 days of racing behind them and stomach had some food it in. No matter what I tried to eat, it was all just coming out the other end. I felt pretty weak, but was motivated by the fact that we were near the end. The downhills on Seven Summits were sweet; Adam wore his GoPro so I've got some cool videos to remember it. Got most of it done in the light with just the last couple of hours in the dark.
After finishing the Seven Summits section there we had to find a specific trail to take us down through Red Mountain. We had one misfire that cost us a bit of time but found the right one the second time around. When Adam had a tire problem, I took the opportunity to sleep for five minutes on the side of the trail. Mark very kindly put an emergency blanket over me but in my delirious state, I thought he was burying me :) Apparently when I woke up I was confused and perplexed about why my life jacket was on (it wasn't). Fun!
Long fun descent into Red Mountain where we had to find a CP at a resevoir then negotiate a complicated set of directions through Rossland and down into Trail. I had my first bike crash of the whole race in this last hour on a tiny little trail where a tree accosted me and threw me off my bike. Stupid tree.
I can't even describe the strange emotions I was feeling as we got nearer to Trail - it was quite surreal. It was just after midnight as we came across the grass and through the finish line. There weren't many people around so in some ways it seemed anti-climactic, but it was a wonderfully satisfying feeling to have reached this point all together.
There was so much of the course that we didn't do - including the make-or-break trek though Valhalla that I would wager did in half the teams on the course - but we were all really happy with what we accomplished. At the beginning of the race, Dan did not think he was going to make it, and many times neither did I. So many teams lost teammates or withdrew entirely, so to get all of us through the finish line together in good spirits and happy with each other was a huge success. Mark, Adam and Dan all race together normally, so I was concerned about what throwing a new person (and a female) into the mix would do to their dynamic, but I think we worked together very well. The boys were all very patient with me in my low moments and helpful when I needed it. They were great fun to be around and I am sad that our adventure is over now!