Adventure Race

[limewave]

DNF

The race meeting was at 9:30 PM Friday night. At the race meeting they go over rules, announcements, and pass out the map, clue sheet and passport. At the meeting we learned that EVERY checkpoint was mandatory

It was an 8-hour race, including a "special skills" section, mountain biking, canoeing, and orienteering (trekking).

Got to race start and learned our "special skills" section was a 1/4 mile run to a large barrel where we had to fill dixie cups with water then run back to the start to fill a cup. Fun, fun.

Then we got on our bikes for 7 miles of riding. We had just one CPU to pick up on our way to TA1. It took us an hour to bike the 7 miles because one of our teammates wanted to find a trail while the rest of us wanted to take the main roads. Our thought being that we could ride a lot faster on easily marked paved roads even though it was 1 mile longer than the unmarked trail. Wasted a lot of time on that . . . I was frustrated because the night before we had made team decision to take the road--not sure why the one person changed her mind after the fact.

Anyways, we had to transition to the canoe. We had to paddle across the lake and pick up 2 CPUs hidden in some islands. I'm pretty good at canoeing. I'm not strong, but I can manuever well and keep us in a straight line. We did well in that section.

Then we parked the canoes at TA2 and headed into the "O" course on foot. We had to find 8 CPUs. We had a lot of trouble finding the first CPU. We followed our bearings and got really close to it, but it was hard to see. We wandered around for awhile and finally found it.

After that we alternated between following the terrain (ridgelines and trails) and bushwacking (going cross-country) following our bearings in a straight line. We leap-frogged each other to keep accurate direction. It worked really well and we came right on top of the rest of th CPUs with little difficulty.

The terrain was made up of a lot of sand dunes, woods, and swamps. We had to crawl out on a log to one CPU and hike through thigh deep swamp to get another. It was good and messy!!!!

Even though we did well finding our CPUs, we were really slow. Two of our teamates struggled with the terrain. I tried to help them along as much as possible. I'd run ahead and look for easy passages or run to get our passport punched so they could get a break.

We made it back to TA2 at 1:45 PM, we still had a 4 mile canoe and 18 miles of mntn biking to finish before the 4 PM cut-off. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen. We had to make a decision: find all th CPUs or come in before 4 PM. We decided to get all of the CPUs since we'd get a DNF either way--then we could at least say we "cleared" the course.

The second leg of the canoe was really challenging. We had 4 portages! After 6 hours of racing, portaging a canoe is tough. But we did it and got all the cpu's in that section.

Back to TA1 where ditched the canoes and got back on our mountain bikes. We followed gravel roads through farm country to get the last 3 CPU's. Then we got on a twisty-turny single track to bring us into the finish.

Phew!!!!!!!!!!! We came in at 4:35--35 minutes over the cutoff. I was bummed because if we would have stuck to our original bike plan we could have finished by 4 instead of having a DNF.

However, it was a fun day and can't wait to do it again!

I'm still looking for a teammate that I can race with more regularly. I need to find someone that is at a similar strength at biking AND trekking AND has good paddling skills. Oh--and that doesn't get cranky after a few hours of racing. Team dynamics in ARing is key.

They're aren't that many women in the sport so there's not many people to pick from.

[Tri Girl]

Congrats, Limewave. Even tho it was a tough day, I'm so impressed!!! If I were near you, I would SO do it with you. Sounds like a BLAST!!

BTW: what is a CPU? I'm assuming some hidden item you have to find? Kind of like geo-caching?

[limewave]

CPU is usually an orange and white flag that they hang from a branch. Its generally pretty visible if you get close. They have unique paper punches at each CPU that you use to punch your passport card to prove you found it.

I've done some that are at night, and then th flags become really difficult to find. Some of them they had little glow sticks but they purposefully make some of them really challenging.

[Wahine]

Bummer about the DNF but you cleared the course and that's fanastic. Good job Limewave!!

[katluvr]

Awesome...so just how does one train for an event like that?
Sounds fun...in a crazy sort of way!

[limewave]

Awesome...so just how does one train for an event like that?
Sounds fun...in a crazy sort of way!

That's a good question.

I don't do specific training for AR. Having two jobs, taking care of two kids, etc., I'm lucky if I get one or two runs in a week and a good ride on the weekend. I rely on having good overall fitness.

The main disciplines are mntn biking, orienteering, trekking, and paddling. Most of the ARs I've done, the mntn biking is mostly on dirt roads and is not very technical. Practice doing some 10-15 mile rides on dirt roads would be sufficient practice.

You should be able to find a local Orienteering club that puts on clinics and practice races. They will teach you how to use your compass and give tips on orienteering.

I just love hiking and biking and being outside. When I take the kids for hike in the woods--its training! Or when we go on a family bike ride to the beach--its more training! AR's are not just about being the fastest. They are more about being smart, making good decisions, and having stamina. After that, speed counts.