As a passionate of outdoor and off-road activities, an idea was running since a while in my head....getting a foot in the Adventure Race world. But what is Adventure Race you will ask? It is like Triathlon a multi-sport race opened for a certain length of time, ranging from 4hrs to 6 days for the expedition format . The goal is to find as many checkpoints during the race time using map and compass by foot, mountain-biking or paddling on Kayak/Canoe.
24hrs is a popular and common length and the format of the national championship so accepting the invitation of Doug and Jim, two strong racers, I joined the "No Complaints" team to participate at my first 24. The course was organised by Shawn and Dallas from 361 Adventure in the "Land Between the Lake Area" in Kentucky.
We met Friday for a fast lunch before loading the truck of Doug direction the lodge for the check-in and the race preparation.
After a quick race meeting, we got the map wit the plotted CP that we will have to find during the different legs of the race (3 bikes, 1 paddle, 2 treks legs and bunch of CPs to get by whatever means).
A big hour deciding the strategy and the route we will follow tomorrow and we all jump in the beds for the last night before a long day.
The race start at 10pm but we are all awake at 7am for an early breakfast, early yes but not quick. After 1.5hr, we finally got our oatmeal that was somehow forgotten in the kitchen.
Well, we still had lot of time so we load the bags and the truck and realize soon that it is really warm for March and took of some layers.
10am the race is launched on MTB, I will have to get use to the rhythm, it is not a crosscountry race start, no-one is rushing and we all take our way after the first single track portion was finished.
Everything went good, we found all the CPs we were supposed too and after 30k we were transitioning to the paddle legs of the course. A quick notice to let us know that the winds is blowing quite strong and made the water choppy with some waves.
First positioning in the boat put me in the middle witch turned out pretty quick being not the best idea. Having almost no experience in paddling, I'm moving my body too much and with the waves I'm jeopardizing the stability of the boat. We decided that I should stop to paddle till the next CP.
20 minutes later we are on the ground to check our punch card and we left with me at the front. It is definitely better and now Doug is giving me the rhythm to maintain a nice cadence...first with a continuous right left then we all start to sing the imperial march which ended up being the perfect rhythm (our canoe is now named the Death Star).
Little by little my paddling got better and we caught up couple of team to reach the TA after 12 miles at the same time of Brian Topo Adventure Team.
We operated to a fast transition and re-started before them for a trek planned to be at least 12 miles long. The pace is good and as always Jim and Doug are amazing with the navigation, knowing our positioning and choosing the best route to reach the next CP. The night is now falling as we approached the 8hrs race mark.
Couple of hours trekking in the dark and we met a lost team who ended up following us to find the next 3 CPs and getting back to the TA. This is not really into the spirit of the AR but as Jim said "everyone is racing is own race!". Never mind, we reached the TA to jump back on the bike after purifying some water direction the northern part of race which we predicted being 2 to 3hrs far from the TA with 2 CPs on the way.
After finding a first CP pretty quick, we met with another team and after a quick discussion with them decided to change a bit our plan to quickly reach a road. This will end up being a mistake and we decided to go turn back. We met Brian and his team on the way back and on our way back to our strategy on the main trail a vicious branch jumped into Doug wheel leading to a torn hanger and a useless derailleur. After some tries to put the hanger straight, under the strength of Jim, the aluminium just snapped obliging us to set-up Doug's bike in single speed.
We have to reconsider our plan as we are moving quite slow now on the bike. We arrive at almost 2am at the next TA after giving up on a CP that was misplaced (learned that at the TA and decided to get it on the way back later). Two options at this TA, going on the MTB or on a trek, well the choice is simple as we were slow on the bike we went forst for the trek to get more CPs than scheduled and only one CPs on the MTB before heading back to the finish, leaving at 4:45am.
The ride back is easy in term of navigation, we first went to the misplaced CP which was 100yards than the expected cross road it should have been set. The daylight went right after and a new wave of energy with it. We then cruised to the last 2 CPs before a final push of Doug's back on the flat to gain a bit of speed and we crossed the finish line after 23.5hrs racing time.
A nice meal is waiting for us with Dallas and Shawn checking the CPs we found. The result : 5 overall and 1st in the open man category...which means a qualification for the AR national championship in late December but before that Doug and Jim will participate the the World Championship during 6 days after a training during the Breakdown race (4 days)...amazing motivation and spirit!!!
