I couldn't help but pass on this great race report:
The male members of each team start paddling downstream past the I-88 bridge to pick up their female counterparts who had a short run out of the park down to the river to retrieve the maps and instructions sheet.
What happened? Do we need to go over our starts again? With the sudden "out of the ordinary" loud and spirited cheering from Brian Pfister our teammate turned support crew, Shep and Keith sprinted to their Grumman canoes, which for some odd reason is becoming quite the theme boat for the year! Using their Zre bent shaft singleblades they quickly took the lead in the water snatching me on the shoreline after my short run, to begin our first paddle to CP1 in Prophetstown State Park. With me in the middle with my Simon River Kayak blade we made good progress to the first CP no other boats in site. The rainy skies from that morning remained gray riling up the winds and making several sections of the river whitecapped and nasty to paddle. Besides my buttocks being in tortuous flames from the middle seat, we proceeded strongly making the 24-mile journey in approx. Hours 3. 5 hours.
CP 2 - 1 mile River Swim/ 5.8 mile run
What happened? We arrived at the take out to a cheering crowd, "What ya got a motor on that thing?" One spectator yelled! We had made decent time. Quickly we stuffed everything into dry bags, threw them into the river, zipped up our dry suits and started the swim across. Did I even remember how to swim? The lakes back at home had just unthawed! But that fleeting thought passed as I peered back and saw Team Fever River coming into the TA, Whoaa, we need to put the Afterburner on!
We reached the other side and continued to go as fast as we could in the water. I looked back in desperation a couple times to see absolutely no one! A good thing at this time! We reached the bridge locating an orienteering flag as we scrambled up the steep banks and peeled off our wetsuits. At this time I learned that "dry bag" can be a really relative term. In fact, I believe MY personal dry bag was designed to keep the water in as opposed to the opposite of keeping it out! Everything in my bag was drenched. But I pulled on the wet stuff and figured what the heck, it's a short run.
At this time, Mike Echert, GMRAS race director approached us just before we took off
"Gee you guys made good time on that swim I figured at least an hour!" Running now down the side road Shep hooked me up to the tow assist with my immobile knee. We hit the pavement of Hwy 78 and headed out on the 5.8 mile run. At this time no other team was in site. We kept pace steadily until we reached the bike barn in first place overall!
CP3/TA1 - Mountain Bike
What happened? When we arrived at the TA meting Brian for support, the first thing he said was "Its wet, its muddy and you have a river crossing that's chest deep. AND OH.... you must do three laps."
At first this sounded good. Yehaww! Wet and muddy? A singletrack riders dream! Our only thoughts at this time was widening our lead since not only did we love dodging trees and other obstacles, but also the thought of another concussion practically excited Shep!
So, off we went! Twisting and turning, skidding out in the mud. Was this fun or what?
More mud, slow mud, slippery mud, some roots, some logs, a small creek crossing. Ahhh this isn't to bad. Mud again. Mud now sticking. Mud now jamming the tire. Mud now jamming the derailuer. FLAT TIRE. Push the bike mud. ENOUGH with this crappy mud hole pain in the butt singletrack! Opps! With brakes undone, tires weighing as much as those god forsaken Grumman's we rolled back into the CP hoping that Mike the race director would make us do AT least one more loop! WHY?? Strategy. Weed everyone out. Slow them up!! Be evil!! Unfortunately when Mike greeted us at the end of the first loop he smiled and snickered coyly "You were my guinea pigs. NO MORE loops!"
What? The volunteer behind Mike noted our teams disappointment and seemed confused "Look Mike they want to do another one?? She's ready to cry about it!! What the heck is wrong with this team???" Mike laughed and said "Come back here after your TA and we'll get you going!" Rolling back to the support truck we suddenly noticed not just Brian getting into the thick of things, but Matt. The Outek sponsor. Like a kid frothing at the mouth he just couldn't take the excited any more! Moving fast he assisted in changing out the wheelsets for the upcoming road bike section and attempted to organize us fast!
"I'm getting naked don't look!" I hollered as I stripped down and smashed a piece of banana bread in my mouth. "I'm peeing on the truck tire, watch out!" Shep screamed from one side. "Are we ready to go??" Keith screamed from the other. Within minutes we rolled out of the TA now solidifying our lead.... for the second place team had journeyed into the bike loop 25 minutes behind us, and who knew how long it wold be before they came out alive and covered with mud!!
To CP 4 - 12 mile road bike
What happened? Flat tire. Ok, this is doable. Stop, change the tire and proceed.
BUT THEN after a mere half-hour of riding the sound from around the world was heard!
Front tire hitting back tire. Skid. AHHHH. Thug. Crash. Suddenly Keith had fallen like a huge building being demolished. When this guy goes down, he goes down! The thud was thundering! The only words from his mouth were mere groans and grunts. And then....... The CRACK f the helmet hitting the pavement squarely!! All bikes came to an immediate halt as silence filled the air. Was he alright? Was he injured? Is he alive?? Who could survive a crash like that?? Tick tick. No movement. Some movement. Upright. "I'm ok, let's go!" Keith stood up and popped back on his bike and smiled "That's why I don't own a lightspeed!" Nothing could stop this guy, NOT EVEN solid asphalt. We continued on the bike reaching Fultton's lighted windmill, our next CP into the kickbike section
"How are we doing? Where's the other teams?" We shouted out as we jumped off the bikes and dashed for the kickbikes. "You've got a good lead" Mike said "You guys staying warm out there??" We hadn't even noticed it was dark and the temps were beginning to drop. I popped on my Jet Light as a spectator yelled "Look at them go, their still running full speed!"
CP 4/Windmill Fulton - 1 Bike/ 2 Scooter/Blade 22 miles
What happened? Surprisingly. NOT MUCH. Which was probably the precursor warning for the rest of the race. We hit the Great River trail and were ecstatic to see a flat paved/pea gravel road, which stretched on into the dark for about 22 miles. I road the bike saving my knee as I towed the two kick bikes. We moved along nicely! Coming off the trail we found Sandbrgide road to Riverview Road north until we hit I 84. With a quick spin through the mainstreet of Savannah we arrived at Marquette Park Marina around 11:30 p.m. ready for the next paddle section, a short 4 miles up river
CP 5 - River paddle 4 miles. Did someone say 4 miles??
What happened? Do you want the short or long version? We paddled so fast to the marina that when we got there we were confused. Was this the place? Where is everyone? Mike said it would take at least an hour! This cant be it! Ok, so lets just keep on paddling. Yea, that sounds like a great idea. Lets go explore every carp infested, rice patty back bay on this river! Let's extend the paddling course by over three more hours. Better yet, while we're at it, let's just make our own Stephen King movie
We'll call it "Go towards the blinking light". Yea, that was our last mistake. The blinking light we attempted to convince ourselves in our now inert frozen fog plagued mind was the actual TA turned out to be a navigational bouyou, who'd have known??!! Turning back we hit every sandbar out there. When we emerged from the haze our last choice was to drag the boat across a huge muddy bog to the other side. When we did this we hit the channel again and there we were, at the same spot. THE MARINA!
Wet, dejected and on the verge of hypothermia we couldn't believe our blunder. We paddled into the TA where Brian awaited. We could tell he had gone through some trauma watching helplessly as our huge lead slowly began to eroded away. He sadly shook his head and then told us first that "YOUR mistake cost you FOUR HOURS!!
YES..That's FOUR.count them HOURS!! Team Flight came in after our vacation paddle taking a 40-minute transition!
Thus, we ate, changed clothing and within 15 minutes or so (our FAST transitions always a strong point) we grabbed our O maps and continued on now somewhere around sixth or seventh place.
CP 6/7 - On this section each member required to complete at least 3 controls. Hard, intermediate and easy course.
What Happened? Still in a state of extreme disturbing shock from the paddle, we headed out on our own separate O courses. I found the first easy one and headed up the trail and hit the road. Missing the unmarked trail head several times I found myself cussing and swearing until I finally tripped over my own shoelaces smashing to the ground on my bad knee. Rolling now in the gravel I looked around first to see if anyone had seen me. Nope. Then I continued to cuss and swear until I was upright. I came out of the o section meeting several teams also waiting for their other members. Slowly within the hour more teams emerged. Team Chiropsort, Fever River, Ya Mule, Flight, Comfortably Numb, Orange Triangle now all sat on the edge of the pavement expecting their last members. First out Comfortably numb. Next Team Orange Triangle. I prayed Keith would come back soon. More teams left. FINALLY Keith emerged and yelled "Lets gooooooo."
CP 7 - 11 mile run to ropes
What Happened? First thing, knee brace on. At this time my new running technique started to take form Coined the "Side winder scramble while silently wailing in severe distress." the 11-mile run moved forward. We knew we had to close a huge deficit. The last team ahead of us (Team Flight) had left for the run at least 25 minutes ago with the lead team (Comfortably Numb) about an hour. Despite the agony we made it to our first destination, the intersection of Messmer/Oakton where we located a box tucked under the bridge. When we opened it for our instructions we were greeted buy a pile of Hostess Treats! What a site. Devouring a quick snack we signed in and noticed now Team Flight was just a mere 15 minutes ahead of us! We couldn't believe we had actually made that much time up! Pumped from the good news we continued to run as much as we could. Rounding the final 200 yards before the creek we spotted a team! How fabulous! Dragging my leg behind me know, we made it to the creek and passed them! Team Perpetual Motion who had left the O section in third place was now perceptually flabbergasted!
CP 8 - Ropes ascend
What Happened? We made it down the river and found the ropes to be backlogged with ALL THE TOP teams STILL there! Hanging on the ropes was Team Orange Triangles female. Stuck midway through she twirled in the air going no where for quite a while. In the meantime Team Choppers Jeff LaForce shimmed up with his spider man technique making it look simple followed by Team Flight. When the ropes cleared and the three top teams took off we got on. Unfotunatly my ascend device which was used in place of a crull didn't work very well. : Luckily Keith was able to assist me to the top. A VERY long and slow process which ate up a lot of the time we had just gained!
Finish - 35 mile road bike to Camp Bensen
What Happened? Ok should we flash back to the paddle section again for a quick refresher? We hoped on the bike confidant we could make up the time lost. However, I found myself not moving very fast. Upon looking down I noticed our last and final curse. THE FLAT TIRE. Ohh this just wasn't ANY flat tire. This tire emerged from the howling innards of HELL!!! Since we were such quick thinking team we had ALL forgotten to grab a spare tube for our skinny tires! Visualize a ride where you are stopping every 10 minutes to REPUMP the TIRE! Visualize a ride where the tire (YES the tire itself) starts talking chanting..."GIVE UP GIVE UP! What the heck do you think I'm made out of ?? Some indestructible rubber or something??? I'm just a tire..JUST A TIRE!!!!"
THEN the knee! Another friendly reminder that attempting to finish this race without any further debilitation would be an impossibility. At the end, it was a wash! We stopped for the 80th time and finally packed the tire with grass (yea..that's grass. Like the stuff you mow in your yard! AND yes we thought for a moment about smoking it too!) Shep road the grass bike, I pedaled with one leg, and Keith continued to tow. We hobbled into the finish line SIXTH OVERALL. But hey, there's one highlight. Since we're old and decrepit we actually got SEOND in the Masters a.k.a. Senior Citizen Division winning a cool $300 dollars which we will be investing in TUBES, PAIN PILLS, Common Sense (can we buy that??)
Thanks Mike for an awesome race and course that was interesting, unique and challenging! Especially that Four mile paddle!!
Thanks to Matt from Outek.com for the continued support he offers to Adventure racing and the cash donation of THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS for the winning team to go to the USARA Championships!
Congrads to the top teams Flight, Comfortably Numb and Orange Triangle and all others who braved over the 30 hours to cross the finish line.
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