Training Log Archive: kpoire

Day 4

Bike 6. 24.5km / 1hr17min. As soon as we get to the TA, I go immediately to the med tent to get my toe / foot sorted out while Phil preps our gear for the final push. With 10 mins to spare, we load our bins and depart on our bikes. They throw enough tape on my foot just to hold it together and get me through the next 5-6hrs. It is a short, but for once a cool-ish ride to the boat put in. As we are pushing off on the boat, I remember that I hadn't punched... that would not have been good... after all that hard work. okay, now we are back on track.

Paddle 2. 34.5km / 3hr48min. A nice paddle down the North Platte River to Casper. It was a quick moving river so we half paddles, half floated. No urgency.... Lots of birds / ducks and saw a river otter which was kind of cool. Phil had a couple naps... I could always telll because the canoe started going sideways... But also thankful he was steering as there were a couple 'hairy' spots and he has a lot of experience in the boat.

Riverboarding / trek to finish. 4km / 54min (incl transition time). This was a fun way to finish the race. There were 3 or 4 rapids that we got to 'play' in. Flipped a couple times but got the hang of it near the end.









Once out of the water, we had a little over a km 'sprint' to the finish with the river boards.





And get to enjoy a well deserved beer...



5th place overall / 2nd place 2-pers male



Distance travelled:
Day 1 - 188.0km
Day 2 - 136.0km
Day 3 - 180.5km
Day 4 - 63.0km
Total distance - 567.5km (350mi)
By bike - 387.5
By trek - 119.5
By paddle - 60.5

Total time - 3 days 1hour 59min

Day 3



Bike 3. 50km / 4hr. It was nice to be on the bike. Could at least generate a little bit of wind speed to cool us down. The road out to Pathfinder dam was quite pleasant. A few climbs with switchbacks but a couple of nice long down hills. Mainly on asphalt so could roll a bit better. A nice stop at Fremont Canyon for a spectacular view before the last stretch to Pathfinder Dam. As we were pulling into the dam we saw a sign for a store - we were not passing up on this one!



Fremont Canyon:



Trek 4. 5.5km / 1hr15min. Pathfinder dam. After a quick transition and drenching our heads under a water hose, we climbed, and climbed - after a few false summits we finally reached the CP at the top (insert pic). According to the volunteers it was 103 deg F and I would believe them. Another quick transition and biked to the store for some morale boost. Provisions included: gallon water each, one and a half liter of Gatorade, a V8, OJ, an ice cream, the. best. Mr freeze ever! We laid under shade for a couple mins while listening to the locals talk about dropping boats, etc but we didn't want to get too comfy so we packed up and made our way. One team laid on the store floor in front of the freezer to keep cool.... Stopping at the store was probably the smartest thing we did during this race - it gave us the energy to get us to Martin's Cove.









Bike 4. 48km / 3hr50min (incl stop at Independence Rock). We didn't get as lucky with a head wind all the way to Martin's Cove (and I think it was uphill as well) but we were moving and going for it. After a quick stop at Independence Rock to get the CP on top we dropped some extra food and non-mandatory gear to lessen the load but pick up on the way back. We had to arrive at Martin's Cove by 6pm and got there at 5:35 so no issues.

Trek 5. 15km / 2hr14min. This portion consisted of pushing an 600lb hand cart around an 8km loop, storing it at designated spots and then going off trail to collect 4 CPs. For the most part the points were pretty straight forward. The last part of the hand cart push was a bit of a slog as we were on the 'Sandy Trail' and as it would suggest was deep-ish sand (uphill in a couple cases) so a little extra effort was required. We opted for the one pushes from the front and one from the rear tactic but on the sandy portions it was all hands on deck in front... It was just getting dark as we made it back to the TA, where there was some nice potable water waiting for us. We took a little more time at the TA before the long ride back to Alcova.









Bike 5. 51.5km / 5hr5min. Most of this ride was a mental push to get us back to Alcova. Although 5hrs, looking back it didn't feel that long. We did stop for about 30min on the side of the road for Phil to have a nap to keep the sleepmonsters at bay. He was dozing off, seeing shapes on the side of the road, so for safety sake...

Trek 6. 10.5km / 3hr42min. We didn't give ourselves a lot of room for the final trek but still had a chance to get them all. This was still our goal but would have to move fast. My feet were a mess but it was a matter of 'suck it up cupcake' as this is the home stretch, you can rest them tomorrow! Our goal quickly slipped away as the first CP we went after was in the wrong spot and cost us 45min looking for it - thanks to Nord Vrai for point it to us. We did pick up the next 4 CPs in about 45min so gave ourselves a chance. I stripped down and swam to CP 56 (which was quite refreshing) and we were going to swim across another cove to reach a CP but opted against it with no PFDs and heavy packs. A few of the CPs were in the campground and hopefully they were offering them a rebate for that evening with headlamps everywhere, dogs barking, etc! Near the end of this trek, I had a shooting pain in my left big toe. It felt like I had ripped off my big toenail (it wasn't, but pretty close) but the entire top of the toe is one big blister and will surely lose the toenail in the next week or two. We linked up with DART Nuun and made one last push to get CP 58 but ran out of time and returned to the TA for the End of Day 3. A valiant effort but just short.

Day 2

Bike 2. 41km / 1hr40min. My BB was still on Central Time so we ended getting up an hour early...d'oh! The only water supply was the reservoir next to the TA so we filled up all our bottles. The problem is it tasted like the smell of a rancid animal (or "dog's ass"). Even with iodine, Nuun tabs, and Perpetuem, it tasted awful. We opted to not stop at a convenience store and push on... bad decision... a nice morning ride to the TA. A few pronghorn out for their morning run. We saw the peloton go off and for the most part pedaled alone. A quick strip down and put on long white top and hat - it was already hot!







Trek 3. 19km / 2hr16min. The Bataan Death March... I was struggling. The water was awful. It was sooooo bad, you could only drink a small amount or it made you feel nauseous, but with the heat, you needed much more to sustain. We shuffled as much as we could between power poles and then walked. One of the highlights was getting to the TA and downing a Gatorade that the volunteers had waiting for us - a lifesaver. Still didn't want to spend too much time hanging out not moving as we could recover while in the boat so kept moving.



Paddle 1. 26km / 4hr40min. Paddled the full length of Seminoe Reservoir. I really don't like paddling and I was so glad to be on the water. We spent the first hour drinking water. Phil would fill his filter bottle, drink half, pass to me, and I would drink the rest... repeat. We finally got caught up on hydration. Perhaps a couple gallons of water? A few wildlife sightings with deer on the shore and surprised to see a pelican cruising the reservoir (didn't realize they would be this far north). Other than for the last 30min or so, there was no wind. We got very lucky. The rest of the field got caught and some did not get off the water until after midnight. Highlight of the paddle was Phil's bio break... plop... 'nuff said... Once at the TA, we dried our feet, topped up the water and were on our way for the long trek.







Orienteering Course. 50km / 14hr42min. This was going to be a long trek. Even though it was late PM, it was still quite warm and there was no trees to hide under and started to struggle again. A series of sand dunes, filled my shoes up in a hurry. Next, a series of roads (lots of ups and downs) in and around the shore and some canyons - lots of spectacular views. Traveled with Rev3 for a bit until CP 11. After CP 11, we started discussing whether we wanted to get CP 1 & 12 as they would add an additional 2.5 - 3hrs to the evening. We would make the decision by the time we got to CP 16. After a 15-20min break, we decided to go - it was a make it or break it. I finally was feeling better under the cover of darkness and thank goodness because it was a long climb to 12 and then to 1. Phil almost got attacked by a rattlesnake that we startled but that wouldn't be our only wildlife encounter for the evening. As we were climbing to CP 1, we stopped for a refresh break on the side of the trail and DART Nuun came flying down. They asked us later that evening when we met them again "So, did you see the cougar watching you while you were stopped?", "No", "Yeah, it was crouching above you watching you".... I guess we didn't have enough meat on us to make it worth its while... By this time I was singing "Basket Case" by Green Day:

"Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up
Am I just paranoid? Am I just stoned?"





The moon was nice and bright and you could see the silhouette of the various ranges (would be really nice in the daylight...). After a long, long, and I mean long climb to CP 18, we met up with DART Nuun and Yoga Slackers and worked with them for the most of the rest of the evening. The evening / morning was capped off with Phil and Andy swimming across the river to get CP 2 before we made our way back to the TA at around 6:30am. We slept for maybe 30minutes after I got some maintenance done on my feet (they were a mess) and we were ready for day 3. We were one of 5 teams to sweep this long orienteering course section. It was hard work but worth it in the end.

Event: Rev3Adventure Cowboy Tough 3.5-day AR
 

Skills test:



Calm before the storm:



Day 1







Trek 1. 5.5km / 1hr23min. The day was already warm as we set out on foot to get the checkpoints in and around Curt Gowdy State Park. To save time and weight later on the bike, we decided to do the run in bike shoes (looking back it was a good decision). We could also leave our climbing gear and non-mandatory gear here to reduce some of the weight. Most of our run was spent on single track but there was a couple of bushwacking sections. Could already feel some of the affects of the altitude (7500ft) but no major issues. Met a couple teams doing the points in the opposite direction and they were flying (but it is a long race...)



Bike 1

(CP 5 - CP 11). 10km / 1hr44min. We threw on our helmets quickly and headed out on the bike on a series of gravel roads, single tracks (which definitely isn't my forte). On one of the climbs, I got too close to Phil and clipped his rear wheel and went down like a sack. Crapped up the knee pretty good, bruised my palm pretty good, and my seat post got twisted... not a good start...

(CP 11 - CP 17). 26.5km / 4hr2min (incl rappel time ~ 1hr). After leaving Curt Gowdy, we followed along Rte 220 before jumping into Medicine Bow State Park. I was starting to cramp big time. With the heat and elevation, I must have gotten behind on my hydration and electrolytes and couldn't get caught up. I had to lay on the trail for about 10 minutes as I couldn't walk. You could see the muscles in my quads contracting / spasming... I estimate that throughout the first day I took in about 5000mg of sodium!! I think one of the things that saved me on this day was the scramble / rappel section. It gave me an opportunity to recover / hydrate a bit before heading out on the next bike section.

The ropes section consisted of a Level 4 scramble at Vedauwoo to the top of a rock feature (which was a little sketchy in bike shoes but certainly doable) and then rappel down the other side. They had three lines set up with varying degrees of difficulty and we got the one that had an initial rock face for about 5-10 feet and then is was a free rappel to the bottom. It was a lot of fun. (insert pic of scramble & rappel). Once back to the bikes we filled our water again and headed out. The next section was quite nice. It was 'flowy' trails through some woods (the only trees we saw in 3.5days) with a small stream crossing and had to shoo some cows off the trail. One of the volunteers commented that I had a Boise State coloured bike...I was still tired but at least the cramping had subsided.





(CP 17 - CP 23). 12km / 1hr46min. Really nice single track with long gradual climbs (with the exemption of the climb up to CP 18 which was almost straight up...) At the start of this section, it started to rain quite hard so we put on our rain coats and left them on until the end of day (it was now late afternoon). We reached the high point of the course during this section at 8770ft. A nice view at this point of the valley down to Laramie and the whole ride down, for that matter.

(CP 23 - Laramie). 24km / 1hr05min. This was pretty much all down hill but you couldn't relax, the trail was so rough. It was almost like petrified clay. I realized half way down, that my fork was still locked out (d'oh!). The trail did have a lot of sharp rocks, so it was almost inevitable for a flat tire... and it did... a quick change of Phil's tubeless (and a couple top ups of air as we made our way down the hill). Once on the road, it held its air quite well. A nice ride through Laramie to All-Terrain Sports (unfortunately they were closed when we got there) so we kept on moving for next looooong leg.

(Laramie - CP 28). 100km/ 4hr17min. A long straight stretch along Hwy 30. Luckily the wind was behind us. Because it was so flat you could see for miles and see the storm coming across that would drench us, but along with the rain, we got to see a spectacular light show and a double rainbow. We kept a pretty good pace for this and just kept plugging along. There was nothing on this road - no towns, nothing. We got into the transition area around 11:15pm.







Trek 2. 10km / 2hr30min (incl transition time). Finally had my energy back. Phil did a great job picking off these points. On our trek to the water tower to get the penultimate point, we met up with Yoga Slackers / ENDracing a worked with them until the end of this section. Once back to the TA, we laid out our clothes to dry, ate, drank, and climbed into my bivy sack / sleeping bag for a couple hours sleep. End of the first day.