Berryman Adventure Race 2013

Two Thumbs Up

This was my first time competing in the Berryman Adventure Race in 4 years, so I was excited that it fell on a weekend that I had free and could join in on all the fun.  Usually Chuck and I do adventure races as a 2 person coed team, but this race we did as a 4 person coed team because Chuck’s son Jacob wanted to do it and our friend Keith also wanted to try a longer race. 

Chuck (Master Orienteerer)

Jacob (Unruly Teenaged Boy)

Keith (Fast Grandpa)

Robin (Slow Girl)

Just a few weeks before the race Keith was hospitalized for a health issue and wasn’t sure he was going to be able to race, but luck was on his side and he was well enough on race day to make it. 

Chuck’s wife Lori came along and was our personal photographer, we would be seeing her a lot throughout the race, which I love because she takes great photos. 

We also had a group of friends, Jenny, Jim, Travis, and Trent, otherwise known as Team Jenny’s Angels, who were doing this as their first Adventure race. This was their first adventure race and first time as a team, so this was going to be interesting.  I just told them to take their time with the navigation and have fun.  

Jenny and her Angels at the start of the race

We hit the pre-race meeting then both teams gathered in Chuck’s room to plot the checkpoints and do some preliminary route planning.  Our plotting went well, and we helped the other team with plotting to make sure they were going to start off on the right foot. We were in bed by 10:30 with plans of leaving for the race start by 5:15 am the next morning. 

Plotting the night before the race

The next morning seemed to come fast, but I slept well.  Jenny and I shared a hotel room so we made sure we were awake on time and ready to go.  We met our teams in the lobby, grabbed some breakfast and were out the door.  It was a 30 minute drive to the start and it was way out in the deep woods. 

Team ROCK Racing

We parked, filled our drop bags with food, staged our bikes and got ready to start, the gun went off and we headed out.  We had decided to take a different path than most teams, there were only about 3 teams who took this line. 

Which way should we go

I think it was the right decision because we did not have to wait in line to punch our passport when we got to the CP.  As usual Chuck was our map guy and I had the passport and clue sheet.  This is how we always work as a team, so we kept it this way even with a 4 person team instead of a 2 person team, like we usually race. 

Jacobs got this

As we headed for CP2, we ran into Team JA, they were also looking for CP2, so we found it together.  We headed off South for our last CP before the bike, while they headed North for their two remaining points. 

 

Team Jenny's Angels

As we ran into the HQ / TA to get our bikes Lori was standing there taking photos and giving us an update and what teams had already been through.  We talked to some guys from Arkansas while there and ate deer sausage that Keith brought along.  We also took off our adventure pants, since we would be on bikes and we were so covered in beggar lice that they were weighing us down. Keith had shorts on in the woods, so the hair on his legs were covered with beggar lice, at least we could just take our pants off, he worked all day to get those lice off his legs. 

Beggars Lice

TA 1

Getting ready for the first bike leg

We started out on the first bike leg and it was mostly all single track.  It was really tough, with lots of sand, gravel, roots and boulders.  We weren’t too far into the bike and I turned a corner and came to a dead stop in the deep sand and crashed into a downed tree.  I was so tangled in the tree that it took a while to get out and I had to pull tree limbs out of my spokes and my brakes.  I finally got back on my bike and rode up to where my teammates were waiting, wondering what happened to me. 

We were back on track and soon arrived at a cave where a CP was inside.  We ran in to stamp the passport, but none of us had a head lamp on so we were just trying to guess if we were checking the right box or not.  We headed out thinking there was a trail around the cave, only to find out that we had to go though the cave, at least this time we had our bike lights to get us through.

The Boys coming out of the cave

We were back out for more single track and then we came out to ride hill after hill of loose gravel.  We did hit some pavement for a while and it was one of the few places that we had some really good downhill.  In fact we hit 41 mph on the downhill in this section.  I was just hoping that we didn’t have to ride back up it. 

Jacob and Chuck

Keith

Robin

I kept getting dropped off the back, every uphill I would fall behind and the guys would stop to wait, but as soon as I got close they took off again, so they were getting a minute to recover while I never had any recovery time, so I kept falling further and further back.  They couldn’t just take off and leave me because I had the passport they needed me, but I got to the point where I felt like I was the 4^th wheel and the only reason I was there was because I was the girl and they needed one to be a coed team.  As the day went on Chuck fell back closer to me and Jacob and Keith were off the front, usually waiting at the top of each hill, taking it easy catching a breath, so that they could stomp my ego again when I caught up.

Taking a nap while waiting for me to catch up

We made it to the canoe put-in and thankfully we had the light canoes, there was a lot of canoe carrying to get in and out of the water.  

The hardest part of the race

Lori was there taking photos, and it was nice to see someone who wasn’t in race mode and wasn’t thinking what a slug I was, and constantly stopping and waiting for me. 

Lori taking our photos

We got in the canoes and headed out.  

Jacob and Chuck

Robin and Keith

This race had a little bit of an interesting twist, there were optional points thrown in that could be picked up by any transportation mode as long as they were picked up before a designated CP.  On the map it looked like there was a rock road that we could use to get close to the points. So we picked up a couple canoe CP’s than beached, unloaded bikes and headed out for points, 41 and 42.  Oh and these points were worth 2 points each. 

 

Jacob and Chuck

Robin and Chuck

The section of road we had to cover to get to these points started out uphill in deep gravel, oh and that was after you got out of the sand.  It was tough but we made it.  At the first CP we had a gear check and after some digging in our packs we came up with all the needed gear, so we stamped our passport and headed out. We picked up the next point quickly, and we were really surprised to see how many people had chosen to trek to the points. It would have taken us at least an extra hour to trek it instead of bike it.  We headed back to the river and we were looking forward to some downhill to get back, but the downhill was in deep gravel which made it very scary, at least for me.  At one point I was flying down a hill, fish tailing in the gravel, I couldn’t brake or I would have gone down, and to top it off, bikes were coming toward me, all I could do was yell, “look out”.  I am so glad everyone scrambled out of my way.  I mean I wanted us to do well, but taking out the other teams with my bike just didn’t seem right. 

Just before the river on the downhill I saw a giant copperhead snake and it had it’s head up striking, I went as far as I could to the tail end of it to get around, I was really scared I kept checking to make sure it hadn’t jumped on my bike. I would have a photo, but there is no stinking way I would have gotten anywhere near that snake to take one.  Back at the canoe everyone was talking about the snake, at least I wasn’t the only one that it scared. So we put our bikes back in the canoes and took off again. 

Loaded down with bikes

As we paddled down the river, we came upon a team that had their canoe stuck under a log, they were taking bikes out to try and dislodge it, we asked to help, but they said they had it under control, but a paddle and helmet was floating down the river.  We started paddling harder to try and catch them, we grabbed the paddle first it was lodged in some trees, then we went after the helmet.  Once we had both we stuck them on a sand bar where the racers could see them and we paddled on.  

It didn’t take long to get to the TA after the gear rescue, we pulled our canoes out of the water and carried them up the hill and of course Lori was waiting and took some more photos of us.  It’s really nice having an “in” with the photographer.  

We ran up to the CP and picked up the next map. Chuck and I sat down and started plotting the maps while we ate and Keith and Jacob talked to Lori to get the scoop on all the teams while they ate.  

Plotting the second map

Chuck Plotting

We headed out to for the next CP’s planning on only picking up the CP’s that were close to the road and on the way to the canoe put-in because we only had 2.5 hours before the cutoff time at the canoe.   
As we headed out we were running the down hills and flats and walking the up hills.  I started to fall off the back again, which was just normal for me for the day, and Jacob let me grab the loop on his pack and he started towing me, when he got too fast, I grabbed on to Keith’s pack and he started towing me. For a while I kept up only because of the tow.  

What I looked at most of the day

We quickly realized that we would be trekking through some really tough hills and that we would also have to ride some of those same hills on the next leg. It was so frustrating to know that we were going to have to ride up those awful hills.  In fact as we started the second canoe leg I was so disheartened by the fact that we were going to have to ride up that giant hill, that I started thinking to myself, “this hill will not beat me”, and you know what, it didn’t.  And then if worrying about the hill was not enough, it started raining.

The rain just kept coming and it got really foggy out, then Keith started singing the oldies, which Jacob knew none of, and I started feeling old, because I knew all of them.  I was starting to feel a little beat and then we saw a rope swing in the distance, it was like we were just out on a float trip.  I said we should jump off the rope and Jacob said, “I will do it” so Chuck paddled up to the rope and Jacob grabbed it then jumped off the log onto the rope and into the water.  It was exactly what we needed to pull us out of a tired funk and the rest of the paddle went pretty well. 

Jacob jumping off log

Fun on the rope swing

We reached the TA, and saw Team JA there, they were having a rough time, but seemed to be in good spirits even though they had been doing a bit of swimming during the canoe leg.

Travis and Trent

We were back in the TA, doing more plotting, this time in the rain, we checked our time and made a plan on what CP’s we should shoot for to make sure we finished before the cutoff.  

Plotting under a campers tarp, he was very nice to let us use it

Loading up for the next biking leg

We headed out for CP 25, it was dark by then and I had to tell the boys that in the dark they couldn’t ride with me off the back because I might miss a turn, they said no problem we would all stay close, ha….ha, that didn’t work out to well.  We had a little issue of Keith and Jacob getting ahead and me and Chuck at the turn for CP25.  We figured sooner or later they had to look back and see we were not behind them. 

We got back together and punched CP25, but as Chuck got to the bottom of a hill heading out to the road, he blew a tire.  His bike is tubeless but there was a big gash in his tire, so he had to tube it.  He put the tube in and used the CO2 to air it up, the CO2 got stuck open and he blew the new tube.  Jacob gave him his tube, but it was the last 29’er tube we had, with the gash we worried about another flat.  Just about the time Chuck finished putting in the second tube a team stopped to talk to us.  They were nice enough to give us one of their 29 tubes in case we needed it. I don’t know the team’s name, but Thank You! 

Next we headed to CP29 it was in the single track section, but before we got to it we somehow missed the turn to the single track and ended up at an old silo, we knew it was wrong because we had not seen it earlier in the day when we were on that same section. We turned around and found the trail head.  Just before the turn to the ridge that CP27 was on we stopped to eat something and another team rode up, they said they were done and riding back in, but we wanted to get 27 so we let them go.  

When we made it to the ridge, we realized that 27 was really a long way out on the ridge, so we decided to skip it and headed back to the finish.   

Riding in the dark

As we rode into the finish we saw Lori taking photos and Travis, from Team JA waiting for us.  We were looking for the big finish line but it was gone. The generator went out so no finish line. It was kind of disappointing, we really wanted to ride under the finish line. 

This was long gone when we finished

We turned in our passport, got a team photo and headed to the food, which was really good, especially the cheesy potatoes.  Then we all changed clothes, I had to use a water bottle to pour water over my legs and arms to try and get all the sand off before I put on clean clothes. I think it took 3 showers to get all the sand off me. 

Now 2 days after the race, I am covered in chiggers, and my ego is bruised because I kept falling off the back. I have no excuse, I felt good, I just couldn’t keep up with them, but I did ride up every one of those stinking big hills, the ones that most people were pushing their bikes up.  It’s hard being the slow girl with 3 fast boys. 

Three Fast Boys

Photo Credit: Lori Vohsen.. click here to see all photos

Bonk Hard Chill 2012

As you may know, Robin has been on a doctor mandated 6 weeks off due to a broken tailbone, this past weekend was the end of the 5th week. Because of this, Chuck had to get a new partner, which would be me, who wishes to stay anonymous, so to protect the innocent, I will be known as Lula for this post.

So this is how the adventure starts, I meet Chuck at the same park and ride lot that he always meets Robin at. As I load my gear, he says, where are your bike shoes, and I of course answer, why they are in my van back at home 45 miles in the wrong direction. No worries though, check-in is at a bike shop and I need new mountain bike shoes anyway, I will just buy a pair. As we head onto the highway, Chuck says “you have your paddle, right” and I say, why no, it’s back at home with my bike shoes. Now Lula never forgets anything, but today she has forgotten two important items. It’s just a good thing that the paddle is optional, if you don’t have one, you can use one of the crappy canoe company ones, so that is what I would have to do. So I sat there for a while and mentally ran through my gear, luckily I had not forgotten any other gear.

So we make it to the Ozark MO, and to the OZ bike shop to check in. When we go into the store we find out that they had been robbed just a few days earlier and they only had two pair of size 10 men’s bike shoes. Time to go to plan B, I bought a pair of used platform pedals for 5 bucks and Chuck and I tried to put them on, but were unsuccessful because my current pedals were on too tight. We took the bike into the shop where the mechanic finally was able to loosen the pedals up and get them swapped. That was a load off my mind. So we got checked in and then drooled over the rack of Swiftwick socks, they must not have been out when the robbers were there, because it was one of the few things left in the store.

After some dinner, it was time for the pre-race meeting. Gary the race director was throwing out prizes into the crowd of racers, when all of the sudden a water bottle was flying right towards me, just as it was about to drop in my lap a guy across the aisle from me jumps over and grabs it. Man, it was just a water bottle, but I think someone saw what happened, and just after that I caught a flying rubber chicken. Well the rubber chicken is the best thing you can catch because you get to trade it for a really nice prize, so I got a Kuat water bottle lock, a very cool prize. Next the maps were handed out and we found out that we had to plot 29 points, that’s a lot of points. We also were told that we had a bike drop, but needed to keep our helmets with us. Chuck and I took that to mean, we would be caving, and guess what for once we were right, I mean Chuck was right, this was my first time racing with Chuck, so I never guessed about this stuff before. You will hear more about that later.

So bright and early Saturday, we dropped our bikes at the bike drop and headed for the start, where we parked in a muddy field, we were pretty sure we would be pushing the adventure van out of the mud at the end of the race. I was just hoping I would have enough energy to do that, otherwise, we were sleeping in the van. We grabbed our gear and headed to the starting line, stopping first at the Johnny on the Spot, while standing in line, Chuck says “oh, I have to run back to the van” and he takes off, when he gets back, I ask, “hey what did you forget” he says “nothing important, just the map”. I could just see us at the start, the gun goes off and we are standing there looking at each other, not knowing where to go.

The first few legs were trekking, they were pretty long, but the orienteering was simple, I think Gary planned it that way just to spread the teams out. The terrain was beautiful, there were so many places where we were trekking though giant rock formations, it’s too bad we couldn’t take our time and look around more.

We had no problem finding any of the checkpoints, as we headed to the first canoe CP, we came upon Team Orange Lederhosen, we passed them just before the water and from there on, I think it became a race between ROCK Racing and Orange Lederhosen. We went back and forth all day long, discussing the finer points of life, like how thick bacon should be, what kind of priorities a girl should have if she wants to have an adventure racing boyfriend, oh and if farting during a race will draw or disgust potential girlfriends. It was all very important stuff.

As I tried to get my wet hands into my canoe gloves, it wasn’t going well, Chuck just watched me, wondering just how many teams would pass us before I finally got those gloves on. Of Course Orange Lederhosen passed us, and Chuck finally took charge and pulled my gloves over my hands for me. So into the water we went and we stayed dry, but that didn’t last for long, at least not for me, every paddle stroke Chuck splashed me with water, I had to put up my hood, just to keep my head dry. It’s a good thing there was a rescue boot in the area, because we had so much water in our canoe, I thought we might sink.

We paddled our way to the next CP where we found out that we would be doing some caving, it was in the Bridal Cave, the name right there scared us, there was no way Lula would be marrying anyone in that cave. So with our helmets and head lamps on, we headed into the cave. It was about a quarter mile back in some really small areas and as we went, my headlamp kept getting dimmer and dimmer, I knew I should have changed those batteries. I was navigating with the light of Chuck in front of me and another team behind me. It’s a good thing I am short or I might have smacked my head on one of those stalactite rocks, like Chuck did, good thing he had a Hardnutz helmet on to save his head.

We made it back out of the cave, grabbed a honey stinger and ate it on the run back to the canoe. We then headed to CP 10, which was back near where we originally put the canoe in, as we rolled up to the floating dock, Chuck could see an orange jeep in the parking lot, he just knew it had to belong to Orange Lederhosen. Emma, who is either, the girlfriend, wife or groupie of one of the Orange Lederhosen guys was there taking photos, so Chuck yells is that your jeep. Chuck can’t help himself when it comes to Jeeps, he is one of those Jeep guys. It didn’t belong to Orange Lederhosen, but to another volunteer who was on the dock, so Chuck yells, “man that’s a nice jeep”. About 30 minutes later we made it to the canoe take-out and had to carry the canoe over a wall and up a hill, I think that was the hardest part of the entire race, but what made it worse was after huffing and puffing and almost killing ourselves to carry it up to the parking lot, one guy sitting in the parking lot, walks over, picks up the canoe, puts it over his head and carries it to the trailer and throws it on top, show off.

We head out to CP12 when we get to it, there is a note that says it’s at the top of the stairs, they were stairs that climbed up the side of a long rock face, there were 316 steps with some long walkways to get to the top. It’s a good thing I was Chuck’s teammate and not Robin, this would have killed her tailbone.

Soon we were at the bike drop, I was ready to go in no time since I had platform pedals and didn’t have to change shoes, Chuck was taking a little longer to get his shoes on, so while I waited, I ate a turkey sandwich, I was so hungry, it was like having king crab legs. We took off down the road, which was a good choice, we cut off the road and crossed a field, where we ran straight into the CP. Next we had to ride through some tough mushy terrain and then bike whack to the CP, we were passing teams that took another direction to get to the first bike point and of course we ran smack into Orange Lederhosen again, we just couldn’t shake them all day. Once we got back out onto the gravel roads Chuck stops right in front of us and jumps off his bike yelling something that we couldn’t make out, then he grabs a hubcap laying on the ground and says, this is the hubcap like the one missing on my van. Orange Lederhosen said they had duct tape and could tape it to his pack, but he declined saying we would drive back and get it after the race. So he throws it in the field and Derrick says “hey put it against the tree where you can see it” and Chuck says “no way, someone else might get it”. I’m pretty sure no one was going to drive by and take that hub cap. Then as we rode further I saw a Red Solo cup, oh and I bet you can guess what happened, that stupid Red Solo cup song was now stuck in my head.

We continued through the bike CP’s riding gravel and hills, it was almost all hills, We ran into a few dogs, they didn’t really chase us, just barked and ran in front of us mostly, except for the three dogs laying on the chewed up truck seat that was sitting in the front yard of what I would have thought was a condemned trailer, but someone was actually living there, it was just east of GOA WAY rd. The dogs barked, but I’m guessing they had chased enough adventure races that by the time we got there, they were too tired to chase us.

We also came across a few horses and one in particular did not like bikes or maybe he just didn’t like me and Chuck, but he was just jumping around making all kinds of noise, I’m glad he was in a fence, all the other animals we passed weren’t. By the time we hit CP29, both Chuck and I were ready to have our butts off those bike seats. We had figured that we would be given another O section and then a bike to the finish, but once again, wrong. The O section led us to the finish on foot. I have never been so glad to hear that I didn’t have to get back on the bike.

We quickly plotted the points and chatted for a minute with Orange Lederhosen, they had missed one CP on the bike, I guess they were riding too fast to see it. We headed out to the next O section and found ourselves trekking across some burned terrain, it was very rocky and black from fire, and it reminded me of the terrain that the tributes were competing in, in the book Catching Fire. If you haven’t read the Hunger Games series you should, so much of it will remind you of adventure racing. I’m glad I had on Swiftwick socks, if I hadn’t my socks would have been full of rock dust, but with these socks when I take them off my feet are as clean as when I put them on.

We picked up the first CP without a problem and headed to the next, it was a reentrant and there were about six teams all looking in the same place, it took about 10 minutes to find it, but we did. This was the only CP we had any problems with at all. It was starting to get dark as we headed to the next CP, so we pulled out our headlamps and I changed my batteries, since they had just about died while we were in the cave.

Another team was near us and we were all watching the time and contemplating if we could pick up both CP 34 and 36, and still make it to the finish line in time. Even with my newly bright headlamp I was having a hard time seeing, that usually happens when I get really tired. I had really been conscious of eating all day, I usually forget to do that enough and then end up bonking, but that wasn’t the case in this race, in fact, I had eaten two turkey sandwiches, HS waffle, HS Rocket Chocolate, Kind bar, two peach cups, and two V8 fruit juices. I probably ate more calories than I burned, but still I was body tired, but at least not bonking. We chose to go after CP 34 and then head in, the CP was out on a spur and we had to climb over a very large downed tree that was completely rotted out in the middle. After getting the CP and heading to the finish, I tried to get over the tree, but ended up just rolling over it on my belly. Chuck looked back, I can’t imagine what he was thinking, but he said, “what are you doing” I said “trying to get over this tree and I’m stuck” instead of pulling me over, he just says, “don’t fall into the rotted middle of that, you don’t know what could be living in there”. Shoot, here I am in the dark, I’m dog tired, stuck on a tree and he has to tell me something may be living right under me. Well, I did roll off that tree pretty fast after he said that. As we made our way down a jeep road headed for the finish a team came up behind us and Chuck asked them if they thought there was still BBQ left at the finish line. They said “We hope so, that’s why we are trying to pass you, we want to get to the food before you do”

The team passed us and finished and we were just a few yards behind them, then we turned in our passport and had our photos taken, we had finished! Oh and the food, Chuck and I both had some BBQ, but it was the bottom of the bucket and Orange Lederhosen got the rest, we barely made it in time for the food and it was totally worth it. Emma was looking for Orange Lederhosen and asked if we saw where they went, we said nope, they just got their food and were gone. Emma says “You give them whiskey and they just disappear”, we are still laughing about that.

We look pretty spiffy in our new Team Cyclery jerseys, I mean I (Lula), look pretty spiffy wearing Robin’s new Team Cyclery jersey. I know, I look incredibly like Robin, we might be related somehow. And we didn’t go get the hubcap, because Chuck is trading in his adventure van for an Adventure Jeep. Which is a whole ‘nother story……

Castlewood 8 Hour Adventure Race

On December 3rd, ROCK Racing’s Robin Rongey and Chuck Vohsen, held somewhat of an Adventure Racing clinic, well actually we got 8 of our closest non-adventure racing friends and talked them into competing in the Castlewood 8hr Adventure Race with us. This was the first adventure race for most of the team, and what a great team it was. The weather was perfect, the race was fantastic and teammates were the best we could ever ask for. I think everyone is now hooked on Adventure racing, so me and Chuck’s job is done.

If you would like to see the race from the view of the ROCK Racing teammates, take a look at the video, I think it’s Oscar worthy.


Castlewood 8 hour Adventure Race in 4 minutes
Check back soon, the Race Report is on the way.

SleepMonsters Front Page News

Rock Racing's (Robin and Chuck) report on the LBL adventure race made the front page of SleepMonsters the internationally acclaimed Adventure Racing News site that is headquartered in the UK.

http://www.sleepmonsters.us/news.php?article_id=4169

Visit the website to read all about the race. I sure hope I didn't make any grammatical errors or misspellings when I wrote this report.

LBL 24 hour Adventure Race 2011

To say that the Land Between the Lakes was the hardest adventure race I have ever completed is just not enough.  In no way can these few words explain to you exactly what I was feeling and what I was thinking, that is when I was lucid enough to have an actual thought.

24 hours, that’s all it was to be, heck Chuck and I have done longer races than that and in what at the time seemed like much more treacherous territory then the Midwest could ever be. Let me just tell you, the Midwest is no place sissies.  

We arrived at the pre-race meeting with speculation as to the race start time and where we would start from, but like every other speculation we have ever had about adventure racing, this one was just as wrong.  We even tried to trick Jason, the race director into telling us the start time before the meeting, but Jason is sharp, he just laughs and says I guess you will find out at the meeting.  We were kind of hoping for a 7 am start, but were sure it was going to be a 12 am start.  So when Jason said the race would start at 12 am and that we had 40 points to plot, everyone groaned.  Lucky for us he then said “April Fools!”, we thought it was a gift from God when he said the real start time would be 7am.  We thought everything was going our way, ha ha, now that was a completely goofy thought.  We were given our maps and some instructions and sent on our way. 

Back at the hotel we plotted the points and realized just how long the mileage could be on all of the legs, but we were pretty confident that it would be no problem for us.  I mean we were nervous, but still confident.  I guess our confidence has been a real laugh, now that it is over.  So off to bed it was, I woke up every 45 minutes worrying that I was going to miss the alarm.  5:30 am came and I loaded my gear into the Adventure van and was happy about the warm temperatures outside.  Boy, was that a mistake, I would have liked it to be about 10 degrees cooler as the day went on.

We lined up at the starting line, which was after what seemed to be 10 trips to the bathroom. 12 hour racers in front, 24 hour racers in back, then with 15 seconds to the start Jason says, 24 hour racers, you don’t have to carry your packs for the first leg, but you do need your cell phone.  On one hand I was relieved that I wouldn’t have what felt like 30 pounds on my back for the first four checkpoints, on the other hand, we had to scramble to get our packs off and grab our maps before the race started.  Luckily our new Osprey packs are easy to organize and Chuck had the cell phone out in a flash.  This was just another of Jason’s little surprises.  He likes to surprise the racers every once in a while to keep us on our toes.

We took off and all was going well, we ran the entire first leg and went directly to all of the checkpoints.  At CP3 we had two choices, walk across a very long log over the lake or run a long way around the lake, we chose to cross the log.  I really think Chuck wants to see me swim in these events, but lucky for him I made it across without falling into the lake. CP4 was the transition, so we headed back up a long steep hill to grab our packs and our bikes.

CP5 through CP11 were bike points and they were all on single track. If you have never been to LBL, they have some of the best single track around.  We were moving through this section, hitting short steep climbs and rolling over lots of roots and logs.  This part made me think about Castlewood, there is a section at Castlewood that has a short steep climb and just before the top there is a tree root and some rocks and no mater how hard I try and can never ride through it without getting off my bike.  I have even tried to go up and down the hill trying to make it through, but I have never been able to do it.  So now we are hitting sections that are 10 times as hard as the section at Castlewood and we are riding through every one of them.  I just can’t figure out why that section of Castlewood beats me every time.  Sorry about the digression, back to the race. We quickly picked up CP 5-8 and then we rode and rode trying to get to nine.  On the way we passed a team that was having mechanical problems, their chain had broke for the 3^rd time and they didn’t have a master link to fix it this time.  We didn’t have one or we would have given it to them.  They were really tough though, they were running pushing the bike and hopping on during down hills and coasting.  Get this, they were keeping up with us!  Somehow we were discussing the chain issue and rode right by CP9.  We rode for about 5 minutes and realized we had gone too far, so we turned around and rode back, only to see the bike pushing team at the CP.  I don’t know the team’s real name, but I would really like to know if they got the chain fixed and finished the race, they really deserved a shot at finishing after that, most teams would have just dropped after the 3^rd break in the chain.

We hit the bike drop at CP11 and took off for a long orienteering section, which based on the maps looked to be at least 18 miles long.  We were told we had 7 hours to be finished, if we didn’t finish in 7 hours we would start losing CP’s , the first one being 1 second after 7 hours then 1 CP for every 5 minutes after that.  We knew we had to do what ever it took to be back in 7 hours or we were just wasting out time finding CP’s. 

We had a plan to pick up most of the closer CP’s then check our time and see what else we could grab.  Things were going pretty well, we were finding the CP’s exactly where we thought they would be.  I had forgotten to bring a headband and the wind was blowing my hair in my eyes, I really needed to see what I was doing and it wasn’t working too well.  We came across a tree that was marked by an orange ribbon, so I pulled the ribbon off the tree and tied it around my head as a headband, it worked really well, even if I did look like a dork.

Of course now there is some deer hunter out there wondering around in the woods unable to find his deer stand because I took his marker.   I’m pretty sure it belonged to a deer hunter because right after I grabbed the tape, we found a deer skull close by.

I was starting to get tired and there were a lot of really steep hills. Chuck even mentioned that I had not talked for 6 minutes which was a record for me, he knew something was going wrong when I wasn’t talking the entire race.  We hit a road and started walking for a few minutes, as we crested the hill we saw the Alpine Shop team coming toward us.  They were all hooked together by bungees and Jeff and pulling the entire team along. They were moving and looking as tough as ever.  Of course here we were walking and looking like death warmed over.  Chuck and I said the same thing,  “I can’t believe Alpine Shop just caught us walking”  it was too late to start running and no use doing it for show, they would know we were slackers just trying to look good. So as they ran by I said “I can’t believe you caught us walking” Oh and that wasn’t the worst of what they caught us doing, more about that later.

The next CP was at the end of a long plowed field.  We were lucky it wasn’t all mud, but walking through the plowed rows was no picnic.

We were watching the clock and knew we needed to start heading back to the transition at CP29, so we decided to skip CP26 and go after CP15 then head in.  Well something happened, I don’t really know what.  This was probably because I was starting to fall apart.  I was connected to Chuck with a bungee made out of carabiners and surgical hosing.  Chuck was dragging me behind and I was just thrashing through the thick brush, trying to jump logs to keep up before I fell to the ground and was dragged to my death.  We finally stopped so Chuck could look at the map a little closer and we found out we were way off course, so we trekked over about 3 or 4 more hills looking for a road. 

 We finally found the road, but we only had 23 minutes to get to transition and Chuck estimated that we had 2000 meters to go. So we took off running, the longer we went the tighter the bungee was being pulled, by the time we hit the last section of woods, which was covered in thick branches and logs that were left from the ice storm of 2009, the bungee was at it’s breaking point and so was I.  I knew Chuck was running so fast because he felt like it was his fault we might not make the cutoff time, but the truth is, I’m no help at orienteering, so he gets no second set of eyes like most teams do.  I wasn’t going to blame him if we missed the time cutoff, because if I would learn to orienteer, we probably wouldn’t be in these kinds of predicaments.  We were running fast and I couldn’t go any faster so I told him if he went any faster I was going to be laying on the ground and he was going to be dragging me, of course he thought I was joking, I wasn’t.  Then I told him I was going punch him if he didn’t stop dragging me, I think he still thought I was joking, I wasn’t, I was ready to resort to violence.  

We made it to CP29 with only 3 minutes to spare.  Our cheerleading squad was there, Chuck’s wife Lori and his boys, Sam and Jacob and my mom, daughter China and niece Kayla.  China and Kayla were stuck up in a tree and I think Sam and Jacob were just glad they couldn’t get down, because those girls just about drove them crazy talking all weekend.   Team Torti was there and we discussed the best way to start the bike, by either heading through the woods or taking the longer road route.  Fletcher (a fantastic navigator) convinced us the road route was better, I need to thank him for that.  I was really tired of crawling through downed trees and I didn’t want to do it with a bike on my back.

Lori gave us some updates from Checkpoint Tracker. We had lots of shout outs from our friends.  Kate, Shannon, and Mark were keeping it positive, while Patrick was telling us to get our butts moving while he took a nap. Oh and my son Garrett, asked if he could use the credit card for beer because he was having a party and they were out, what a joker he is. Those shout outs really gave us some motivation, because by this point I was thinking that maybe adventure racing was not fun any more.  We both ate a sandwich and put on a few more clothes, it was starting to cool off a little and the wind had really picked up, we knew we would be cold on the bikes.  We had been having a hard time all day figuring out what clothes to have on.  It was the type of weather that standing still or moving slow you were cold, but the uphills would turn you into fire.  We spent the entire race, dressing and undressing at the CP’s.

We said our goodbyes put on our Hardnutz helmets and headed out on the bike for the next leg, this leg had a lot of biking, but most of it on dirt and gravel roads, so we thought it might go faster.  

It was a long way, the leg was 40 miles by the time we reached the next transition.  I was glad I was riding my Trek Top Fuel, but as I watched Chuck on his Trek Superfly 100, I was getting 29er lust.  It just seemed like the 29ers roll through the hills, and turns with no effort.  It could just be the rider, but I would like to believe if I had a Superfly I could be the one riding effortlessly through the trails and making it look so easy. As we left on our bikes Chuck said he was so tired that it was like he was riding on flat tires.  As we headed up the hill and I fell in behind him, I saw why it was so hard for him, he did have a flat tire. 

We pulled off the road and fixed the flat, we only had to air it up, Chuck rides  tubeless tires, so we thought maybe some air and a rolling wheel would seal the leak.  I seemed to work so we kept riding, we did have to stop one other time to add air, but the new Kenda Slant Six tires took the beating well and we didn’t have to tube the tire at all.  We then rode right past our turn, but figured it out quickly and turned around.  It was really getting dark, if we turned off our lights we couldn’t see anything.  It’s a good thing we both have great bike lights.

Like I said the bike leg was long, but the CP’s were pretty easy to find, well that was until we hit CP35.  It was about 1 am and we found the creek we thought that the CP was in, but somehow were too tired to think straight and couldn’t find it.  So we rode on thinking maybe we were one creek away.  Well we figured out that the CP was just a little off the road and we didn’t look well enough, but we did not want to spend the time to go back, so we just rode to CP36 which was the bike transition.  We had ridden though a couple creeks and we both had wet feet when we got to transition.   We hit transition, quickly made it through the gear check, there were some great volunteers working the CP, they had built a campfire to warm up by.  We added a few layers of clothes, it was really starting to feel cold, probably because we had wet feet and legs.  I had an extra pair of socks so I put them on, Chuck didn’t have extra socks so he sat down and put his feet in the fire.

After a long transition, we headed out.  This is where it really fell apart for me.  My feet were hurting, I had gotten a cortisone shot in my foot a couple days before the race, to help with an injury to it, but the affects sort of wore off after the first 12 hours and now every time I put my foot down it hurt.  I’m not going to sugar coat this, I was whining about it the whole race, I think Chuck was about to resort to violence if I didn’t quit whining. Chuck did a little whining too, his knees and feet were hurting, but I was taking the prize for the biggest whiner.  I was also having problems eating.  I had eaten almost everything I had, I thought I had one Honey Stinger Rocket Chocolate left, but couldn’t find it in my pack. I did have a pack of sport beans, but I just couldn’t make myself eat them.  Chuck tried to get me to drink a bottle of Ensure he had, but I knew if I did, it would end up in projectile vomiting, so why waste the Ensure, he could drink it and keep it down.  I was stumbling around, I couldn’t walk a straight line. To top it off, we were told at the pre-race meeting that the maps were not correct for this section and didn’t show the trail in detail.  Chuck needed to study the map and I needed to stop just for a minute, so we stopped on the side of the trail, I laid down on the ground and went right to sleep, just as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard something, 4 bikes came past us, it was Alpine Shop.  So now not only did they catch us walking earlier, they caught me sleeping.  They asked if we were ok and Chuck told them we were just taking a break.  Well, that was pretty embarrassing, so we got up and started moving again.  Two more times during this trekking section, we had to stop for me to take a 15 minute snooze, but I would not have been able to go on without it.

As we walked up the last hill into the transition area, where we would pickup the last set of CP’s, we discussed our options for finishing the race.  With the condition I was in at the time, we weren’t even sure that we could get one canoe CP, then do a trek and ride to the finish.  This is what we were expecting from the next map based on the comments we overheard at the last CP.  The fastest teams had already come through and picked up bikes, heading to the finish line.  We knew even with the 29 hour time limit we might not be able to make it back in time.  We discussed skipping the last CP’s and taking the hit.  We were not sure if that was legal. If that would be considered a withdrawal, we would not do it, and would take our chances on making it back on-time. Chuck mused that maybe he could leave me at the finish and complete the race solo.  Even though I wasn’t sure I could make it, there was no way I was sending him out solo, plus I think that is illegal and wouldn’t fly anyway.  I thought I was going to have to revert to violence again and kick him in the shin so he couldn’t go out.   

We reached the top of the hill and came down to the transition which was also the finish line, where we handed the volunteer our passport, ready to start exploring our options once we received the next map.  The volunteer said “Good Job you’re done.”  We both looked at each other and said, “Nope, we have one more map and a canoe to get into”.  That’s when the birds started chirping and the angels were singing and the sky opened and a rainbow with a pot of gold showed up.  Well that’s how it felt at least.  We were told that there were 50 mph wind advisories and that we were not allowed on the lake, therefore we were finished.

All of the sudden a feeling of relief so great came across me that I almost cried.  I really wanted to grab that volunteer and hug her.  But, as the seasoned adventure racer that I am, I decided that maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do, so instead we got a picture at the finish line, then went to the tent where I ate a chili dog minus the dog, which bye the way completely renewed my lease on life and I started talking non-stop about the stroke of luck we just had.  Chuck ate a baked potato covered with chili and he called Lori at the hotel to come pick us up.  My plan was to go back to the hotel, take a shower and a nap and head home.  I thought we had done so badly that there was no use staying for awards.  But Chuck being the optimist that he is, asked if we even had a chance at the top three and was told you are probably second or third.   So guess what, no nap, we had just enough time to go take a shower and make it back to awards.  Chuck found a few extra minutes to find the biggest plastic cup he could and fill it at the Kuat Rack trailer with his favorite Springfield Brewery pale ale.  Thanks Kuat!

We ended up in 3^rd place in the 2 person co-ed division, which gives us a load of Checkpoint Tracker points towards the national rankings and a prize.  We both ended up with 30 dollar gift cards to the Alpine Shop, it’s only our favorite store.

Even though in the last few miles of the race, I had decided to end my adventure racing career, move to some old folks home and never workout again.  I now, after some of the pain has faded, am considering another race. I guess Chuck is stuck with me for a while longer.  And one last note, I am covered in chiggers and still removing ticks from my body.