"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." -Dickens
This could be said of almost any adventure race, but I find it fitting to recap the last two in which I participated.
The first race of the pair was the Milford Extreme Spring Sprint AR. Now every sprint race prior to this that I have participated in has been in the 3-5hr range. This race was upwards of 6-8 hours for the majority of the field. The teammates that I had gathered for this race were relative newbies to AR and did a fine job of pushing each other to a third place finish. The raceday went down as such:
We arrived and had only minimal time to check-in, stage bikes, pack, and plot coordinates (10 minutes with maps prior to race start).
The race started with a fast 1mile sprint to CP1 and then to the bikes. We took a quick trail into the woods, nabbed this point, and were first on the bikes. Having never raced together before, our pace line into 25 mph headwind was scattered, but we continued to jockey for first through CP2 & Cp3. We were the first to start the orienteering section and headed directly to the climbing tower.
The tower was our first physical challenge as we had to climb ropes up the outside of the structure using mechanical ascenders within the 30 minute time limit. We hadn't attended the training camp, so our knowledge of ropes was less than stellar. I fastened in looser than I should and end up over extended and supremely tired by the time I reached the top. Having learned alot about how to setup the harness system from my near failure, I helped my teammates (Jake, Max, & Julie) get situated.
After our team ropes challenge, we set off on the rest of our orienteering loop. This is where having only mere minutes to plot the CPs cost us...they were slightly off. We searched the shoreline of the lake for quite some time before pulling out the map and replotting. After doing so, we made our way along the cliff line and stumble across the CP. We then dove out of sight of before nearby teams could see. We trekked field and shore to the next 2 CPs and then headed back toward the bike drop. It was about this time that the slight cramps started...
At the bike drop, we were informed of the paddle section in which we needed to collect song titles and bands. This actually proved the hardest section of all. The 25mph winds were by this time even gustier. Between the wind, a broken boat, and some paddling inexperiencce, I am surprised we stayed as dry as we did. That being said Jake, me and the broken boat nearly got capsized as we got banged against the shore.
The exhaustion of the boats (also the long portage) was followed by a final ride to the finish by way of CP6. This was probably my favorite section barrelling down gravel Kansas backroads. We finished with worn out smiles on our faces in 7:38:06. Then after a photo and an apology to our supportive guest (Max's wife), we went for some post race grub (BBQ sandwiches & Beer, mmmm).
This could be said of almost any adventure race, but I find it fitting to recap the last two in which I participated.
The first race of the pair was the Milford Extreme Spring Sprint AR. Now every sprint race prior to this that I have participated in has been in the 3-5hr range. This race was upwards of 6-8 hours for the majority of the field. The teammates that I had gathered for this race were relative newbies to AR and did a fine job of pushing each other to a third place finish. The raceday went down as such:
We arrived and had only minimal time to check-in, stage bikes, pack, and plot coordinates (10 minutes with maps prior to race start).
The race started with a fast 1mile sprint to CP1 and then to the bikes. We took a quick trail into the woods, nabbed this point, and were first on the bikes. Having never raced together before, our pace line into 25 mph headwind was scattered, but we continued to jockey for first through CP2 & Cp3. We were the first to start the orienteering section and headed directly to the climbing tower.
The tower was our first physical challenge as we had to climb ropes up the outside of the structure using mechanical ascenders within the 30 minute time limit. We hadn't attended the training camp, so our knowledge of ropes was less than stellar. I fastened in looser than I should and end up over extended and supremely tired by the time I reached the top. Having learned alot about how to setup the harness system from my near failure, I helped my teammates (Jake, Max, & Julie) get situated.
After our team ropes challenge, we set off on the rest of our orienteering loop. This is where having only mere minutes to plot the CPs cost us...they were slightly off. We searched the shoreline of the lake for quite some time before pulling out the map and replotting. After doing so, we made our way along the cliff line and stumble across the CP. We then dove out of sight of before nearby teams could see. We trekked field and shore to the next 2 CPs and then headed back toward the bike drop. It was about this time that the slight cramps started...
At the bike drop, we were informed of the paddle section in which we needed to collect song titles and bands. This actually proved the hardest section of all. The 25mph winds were by this time even gustier. Between the wind, a broken boat, and some paddling inexperiencce, I am surprised we stayed as dry as we did. That being said Jake, me and the broken boat nearly got capsized as we got banged against the shore.
The exhaustion of the boats (also the long portage) was followed by a final ride to the finish by way of CP6. This was probably my favorite section barrelling down gravel Kansas backroads. We finished with worn out smiles on our faces in 7:38:06. Then after a photo and an apology to our supportive guest (Max's wife), we went for some post race grub (BBQ sandwiches & Beer, mmmm).
Exhausted, but satisfied.
To be continued...
