Training Log Archive: Bash

Today's training consisted of eating chocolate gelato while watching Le Tour.

RockstAR Adventure Race

When two companies known for top quality events come together to present a new race and tell us that it will be a cut above the norm, it's worth checking out. Sean, Mark and Heather did not disappoint! It's too bad that more people didn't try this fun new race format - I hope it will continue in future years. Even though entries were lower than hoped for, the organizers didn't cut corners, and everyone I talked to had a fantastic time.

The RockstAR event theme meant that great tunes were playing around the Bark Lake dining hall most of the weekend and, as advertised, the racers were treated like rock stars. There was a red carpet leading to the race check-in and to the awards table. The transition area - a central hub - was stocked with juice, pop, sports drink, sandwiches, chips, chocolate bars, cookies, and so on. Each racer was assigned a plastic chair in the transition area with their name on the back (laminated card). Even the rental canoes were pretty nice - although Richard and I brought our own. So the whole event was fun and different and put a big smile on everyone's face.

The race concept was interesting and creative. For the first section, we were bussed to a remote start location with our bikes, then we rode back to Bark Lake on a marked course. The first part was on mucky, rocky ATV trails - classic adventure racing terrain. I was really happy with the way my new bike handled, and Richard's recumbent bike worked well too. My disc brakes seem fussy about getting wet and muddy - they continue to work just fine, but they make scratchy, rubbing noises to indicate that they're not pleased. Princesses! Most of the time, I did pretty well at riding along the thin strips of mud beside the mucky slop, but I miscalculated at one point and tipped over sideways. With my new running shoe-style AR bike shoes and cleats, things are *very* tight, and I didn't unclip before the entire right side of my body had been submerged in the muck, including my head. I cringed and waited to crash into a rock or log, but fortunately it was a soft landing.

I realized that I've been racing too long when the first thing I said was not "&%$@!!", but rather "Quick! Get the camera out!!"



We did about 10K of technical riding, then a longer section on gravel and paved roads to get back to the beach at Bark Lake. After the first 15-20 minutes, we didn't see anyone ahead or behind. We reached the transition in 4th place (out of 26) behind Team Hunger, a couple of 24-hr solo mountain bikers doing their first adventure race, and Beowulf. We left the TA about 1.5 hrs into the race.

For the remainder of the 8-hr time period, we were given a well-designed rogaine-style race course where we could visit up to 20 checkpoints worth different point values in any order, using any combination of paddling and trekking. A very nice way to explore the terrain on a warm July day, and it was awesome that there was no obvious route choice. A nice touch was that both of us received copies of the detailed navigation maps, one of which had been updated with considerable field work by the race organizers - and all the CPs were pre-printed to avoid any confusion.

When I was planning the course, I didn't think that Richard and I could sweep the course - and I would have been surprised if anyone could. This turned out to be true. I figured that we were relatively strong on paddling and portaging compared to most teams, so I planned a paddle-heavy route. About 40% of the rogaine points were accessed from Koshlong Lake to the north, so our first priority was to get up there and pick all of them up. On our way out of Bark Lake, we pulled ashore to run half a km inland to pick up #41 (the hardest control to find of all the ones we looked for), and we punched the floating control on Bark Lake - which was floating along a bit *too* well. I noticed the rescue boat picking it up at one point to bring it back to the right location! But it was big and orange, and nobody was going to miss seeing it on the lake.

Richard insisted on running the hilly 1 km portage from Bark Lake to Koshlong Lake, and since I only had 2 packs and 2 kayak paddles to carry, I couldn't complain (too much). He attracted some stares, but since we did 38 portages on our honeymoon alone, if we had to pick our best discipline, portaging is probably it. Unfortunately, it doesn't win us many races!



It was windy on Bark Lake, but our paddle on Koshlong Lake (about 8-9 km return) was beautiful. We picked up a checkpoint on an island, then arrived at Camp Wanakita on the north shore, punched the control at the staffed checkpoint (where they watched our boats) and headed out for a 1-hr trail and road run to pick up three high-value checkpoints.



We paddled/portaged back to Bark Lake and parked in a bay just west of the portage to pick up two more checkpoints on an out-and-back trail run. (Managed to lose the trail on the way back when diverting around a fallen tree, but eventually found it again as we bushwhacked along.) From this point on, our race plan depended on the clock. I'd analyzed different clusters of checkpoints to prioritize them based on the number of points we could get for a particular investment of kilometers - where not all kilometers are created equal, since trail runs are faster than bushwhacking. All of these clusters were reasonably close to the finish and would take different lengths of time, so my job at this point was to maximize our points in whatever time we had left.

One monkeywrench... All teams were required to pass through the central hub at least once before 7 p.m. (the race finished at 8 p.m.) and after visiting at least one checkpoint. In retrospect, we should have started by visiting the checkpoint in the swamp behind the transition area, then we would have been free to stay out the full time. But since we didn't, this rule meant a 10-minute paddling diversion late in the race which affected our options in the final couple of hours. Several of us were talking about other ways to achieve the same end (punctuality, thus avoiding having teams wander around in the dark) and wondered if it might reduce the impact on race strategy if the central hub became a mandatory checkpoint that had some point value, but only between certain hours. Anyway, it didn't end up being a biggie.

We headed down to the southwest corner of the lake to get 31, 23 and 52 (nasty bushwhack on the way in, much better on the way out). Then we came back through the hub and ran across the road with our canoe to pick up 32 - the swamp checkpoint. We could paddle fairly close to it, then it was my job as bow paddler to hop out, clutching to and bobbing on the unsteady sphagnum moss, and stumbling the last few meters to punch the control hanging from a dead tree. I ended up waist-deep in swamp water and just missed bringing home a huge leech the diameter of my little finger. The things we do for glory in our sport!



We dashed back across the road to drop off the canoe, then headed out on the trails to pick up one final checkpoint - #21. We screwed this one up, running way past the correct trail junction and just about giving up on it due to the 8 p.m. time limit. But we found it, then Richard towed me back at top speed. As we emerged from the woods, Pete was standing at the road looking our direction with a concerned expression on his face. Very nice to have someone looking out for us! He ran with us to the finish line where the tunes were playing, excellent snacks and drinks were being served, and most people headed to the waterfront for a swim to clean up.

Dinner was delicious and included a salad bar in a canoe. Dessert was chocolate cake with icing, ice cream and chocolate sauce - YUM. There was a cash bar, and a projected rock and roll video game which required various groups of racers to perform on guitar, drums and vocals. My star turn was doing the lead vocals for Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" along with my girl band, Heather on guitar and Cathy G. on drums.



The race medals were heavy "golden" stars, and category winners also got free shoes from Saucony. We edged out our friendly rivals Beowulf to win the Coed Team of Two category, finishing 2nd overall of 26 teams with 960 pts. They were 3rd overall with 930 pts. Our buddies on Team Hunger (Wayne, Andre and John) came 1st with their male team of three, earning 1020 pts, only missing three CPs - great job!

Thanks to our friends at Storm Events and Hark Events - and to all the terrific volunteers - for a race that was a class act and loads of fun.

I'm a princess in hot weather, and let's not even *talk* about smog. I just noticed that I've only logged 7.5 hrs of training in the first 11 days of July - and that trend will continue today because, um, I'm tapering. Yup - big race tomorrow that will more than double my training hours for the month.

Just before 'Bent and I turned into the access road for Bark Lake Centre, a large black bear shot across the road in front of us. I've seen a few bears in my life - but they were never galloping. Anyone who believes the rumour that you can outrun a bear - no, you can't. He was coming from the area where we will be racing tomorrow. What I'm wondering is... what was chasing him???

Wed. morning ride with Coach LD, Gazelle, Padre and 'Bent. It wasn't as hot as it was going to become later in the day, but it felt like 100% humidity. I enjoyed my new bike, although I'm noticing that the weight falls onto the back wheel much more than I'm used to on the steep climbs. I'm trying to adapt my riding style to sit further forward. On the flip side, I feel like it encourages me to be a little more aggressive on singletrack, and today I ended up having a spectacular tree hugging incident when I leaned too far on a hairpin turn and then overcompensated. I'm not quite sure what happened, but suddenly my face was heading for a 15 cm tree trunk. I know I fended off the tree with one arm, banged my other arm in two places, fell, and somehow ended up with my bike seat turned at 45 degrees. No serious damage to me or the bike, but I rode a little more cautiously after that.

But that was nothing compared to ex-BMX racer Padre's purposeful leap off a drop followed by an unintended bounce and extra flight, followed by a hard, face-first landing while still attached to the bike. Gazelle was fighting chain issues with his borrowed bike, and I managed to rear-end him at one point when his bike stopped moving suddenly on single track. Minor damage to my little finger - lucky it wasn't worse. I deserved that.

And last but not least, Gazelle was attacked by a wild turkey on a short, steep climb. Never a dull moment in the Caledon hills!

(Oh, except maybe for 'Bent and Coach LD. Everything seemed to go smoothly for them today.)

Stoopid smog. I've had a headache ever since the levels shot up a few days ago. Grrr.

While watching Le Tour. It was harder work than I'd expected, but 'Bent tells me that the tension can be adjusted down from the Moose Wrestling setting that he uses. Phew! For an indoor machine, it's not that boring. Yet.

Hot Yoga for Endurance Athletes. I'm not a fan of the hot yoga concept, but that was the only kind of yoga available in our un-airconditioned house today.