Dude, I get it. Adventure Racing is not a mainstream sport. Most of your buddies have never heard of The Best Damn Sport Ever Created™ (Yeah, I made that up and trademarked it.) What I don’t get is why teams want to look like they just rolled out of bed, threw on the first t-shirt they picked up off the floor, and accidentally rolled into the starting line of a race.
Our local 4-year old soccer team has uniforms. The local bowling league has uniforms. Hell, half of the damn tourists at Walt Disney World have matching outfits.
Come on people! You are adventure racers, you are athletes, most importantly you are part of a team! You wanna be a team, look like a team!
Shirts. These days it can be really tough to find matching shirts with a Walmart on every corner and an Amazon on every computer. But, if you’re up for the challenge, I think you can do it. Better yet, step up your game and head over to our favorite place, Logo Sportswear. Custom apparel, fast turn around, no minimum orders. Inexpensive and good. What more do you need? Did I get you psyched and now you want custom hats, jackets, and polos? They got all that and a bag of chips! Maybe not the chips, sorry, I got a little excited there.
Accessorize. Yeah, you read that right…accessorize! Don’t judge me, bro. Matching water bottles, compression socks, headbands, whatever. There are 20 different colors of duct tape for goodness sake. Pick a team color, any color (except lime green of course) and then accessorize.
Getcha a sweet ass canopy from E-Z UP. They’re inexpensive, indestructible, and made in about any color you can imagine. And guess what, it rains and the sun is hot. Want a dry place to do your pre-race planning while everyone else gets soaked? Done! Want to chill in the shade with your team and a cold one post-race? They gotcha covered. Don’t want to go all fancy dancy with matching colors? That’s cool, they make them in basic black. Are you a super duper awesome race team or race company looking for custom printed graphics? They can handle that for sure!
Put it all together and you get, Boom!
More poseur than pro? Sure. But I’m cool with that. If for a few hours out of the month I can pretend to be half as good as Nathan Fa’avae, Kyle Peter, or Robyn Benincasa, count me in. Aren’t we all poseurs anyway? I see you strolling around town in your Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins jersey.
One, you picked a crappy team. Two, you’re in the wrong decade, maybe even the wrong century. Three, it’s okay. You want to be a part of something bigger than yourself, part of a team. That’s why you got into this. Adventure racing is a team sport. Get out there and look like a team!
Wekiwa Springs State Park was the location of the 2016 Florida State Championship AKA Turkey Burn 12Hr Adventure Race. Dave Brault and Jim Feudner teamed up to design another amazing race that pushed all the teams for everything they were worth. This was our first time at the Turkey Burn. Unfortunately, we were missing our #GetRad guy, Stephen, who was off doing stuff like getting married, adopting a dog, and working his ass off over in Europe…
…or not.
Bike 1 (~8 miles)
For the 4AM race start, Dave led the teams to the bottom of a sugar sand covered jeep trail. At go, we put on our best hardcore faces and pedaled for everything we were worth, until we passed the volunteer snapping photos 20 feet ahead. Once safely past, my race face changed to Mr. Huff and Puff and I concentrated on staying upright and not hyperventilating as my back tire churned up sand. In front of us, Good ‘Nuff kicked up a cloud of sugar sand as they powered through, their taillights vanishing in the darkness. I have words for moments like that…special words.
This section had 4 CPs that we had to get in order, and as much as we wanted to pull away from the other teams, they were having none of it. Behind us was a steady stream of lights with mere seconds between teams. This was no time to screw up and we cleared the section quickly, racing back to the Main TA where we had our first special test, making S’mores at a campfire. Pretty sweet!
Foot 1 (~3.5 miles)
The start of Foot 1 presented us with our first strategic decision. We could either do the foot section while carrying our paddle gear, or clear the foot section and then go back to the Main TA to get our paddle gear before heading off to the canoe section. We decided to carry all of our paddle gear and raced out of the TA. Then we realized that they probably had PFDs at the canoes and it would be smarter to not carry ours. We ran back to the Main TA, dropped our PFDs, and raced out of there only to realize we forgot to grab extra water for the 4 hour canoe section. Crappy, crappy transition. Luckily, I helped us recover by totally screwing up the first checkpoint on the foot section. Why stay in second place when 5th is much more fun.
Y’all ready for a pro tip? Here it is. The scale on an O-Course map is probably different than the scale on a 1:24000 map. You see, CP5 was only about 200 meters from the bend in the road if you use the right scale. Use the wrong scale and it looks more like 350 meters. It’s pretty stinking hard to find a little orange and white flag when your 150 meters past it, at night, in the woods. What’s really cool is if you can watch the headlights of other teams pass you as you struggle in vain to find the CP. I have plenty of these pro tips, ya just gotta ask.
Boat (~12 miles)
The canoe along the Wekiva river was beautiful. The canoe along the backwater channels was hell. Of course, all of the CPs were along the backwater channels. According to many race directors, the word “canoe” is Native American for “hunk of fiberglass you push and pull over many downed trees.” Todd was nailing the nav on this section as we struggled to regain the time we lost on the previous foot section.
After 3.5 hours of paddling and getting soaked to our waist from jumping in and out of the water, we were freezing and just wanted to get off the canoe. Once we landed, we ran back to the Main TA on numb feet and chattering teeth. It took the entire 15 minute run back for us to warm up.
Bike 2 (~12 miles)
Boom! Lookin’ Pro! Long enough to take the photo anyway.
This section had us going in a clockwise direction to collect the CPs in order. Somewhere close to CP24 we ran into Ron, Courtney and Erik from Lost Cause. It was the first time we had seen another team since the paddle section. We ventured to CP24 and CP25 together, and after punching CP25 away they all flew like the down of a thistle. What the hell does that mean?! Seriously! I’ve heard that line for 44 years and still have no clue what it means…down of a thistle…whatever.
In more tortoise-like fashion we raced back to the Main TA and almost got ran over by Good ‘Nuff as they were flying up to CP25. They are crazy fast!
Foot 2 (~7.5 miles)
Foot 2 is where the strategy started to come in. We were clearing the course up to this point. But, we knew that we wouldn’t be able to clear the entire course and doubted any other team would either. So, we had to make decisions to maximize our points. Todd and I debated two far away CPs. We estimated it would take us 30-40 minutes to grab them both and get back. I wanted to get them. Todd wanted to leave them and save our legs for the last foot section. In the end, I agreed with Todd and it ended up being a wise move. Mentally, it is hard to drop any points when you’re clearing a course, but who can resist Todd’s Cheesy McPleasy smile?
Cheesy McPleasy – You can’t resist me!
Bike 3 (~11 miles)
Not much to say on this section. I have little chicken legs and knew we wouldn’t be able to get many bike points, so we didn’t try. With the sugar sand trails that suck the life out of you, we knew we’d end up killing ourselves for just a few points when there were more to get on foot. Instead, we raced to get the first easy bike CP and then headed right back to the Main TA and transitioned to foot.
Foot 3 (~4.5 miles)
The final foot was the make or break section. We knew we had to clear it and get back as quickly as we could to have any chance of winning. There wasn’t any room for errors here and we tried to be as solid as we could with the navigation. With Ana pace counting and Todd spotting CPs with his super x-ray vision, we cleared this section efficiently. One final push to the Main TA and we finished after 11:31:00 of solid racing.
There is this feeling you get in your gut when you get to the finish and realize you left 30 minutes and a whole bunch of checkpoints out on the course. It is not a pleasant feeling. It’s more like that feeling you get the day after you eat bad sushi. You have no idea what the other teams got and your mind replays the whole race and every point you left out there. Should we have gotten those two far checkpoints? Could we have picked up one more on the bike? 30 minutes is an eternity to wait.
In the end it turned out great. We tied Lost Cause on points but won on time. Only thing left to do was eat some delicious spaghetti, check Todd over for ticks, pack up, and drive the 6 hours back home.
As always, a big thanks to Dave, Jim, and all of the volunteers that made this event awesome! There is nothing better than racing hard with great friends out in the beautiful woods of Florida. This is why we do it:
Let’s talk hydration packs. Yeah, yeah I know it’s not sexy like a new carbon fiber 29er. But, as everyone knows, hydration is the key to racing success. Like many, my first water bladder came with my pack. It had some funky screw on cap, was a mess to fill and an absolute pain to clean. When I bought my MS-1 pack from OutThere it didn’t come with a hydration bladder, so I had to go looking for one. I knew I wanted something bomb-proof. I’m all about reliable gear and am willing to pay a little more for something I can absolutely rely on. Nobody wants a leaky bladder.
I came across GEIGERRIG, now part of Aquamira, and was instantly intrigued by what I saw. Here was a hydration bladder that was pressurized. Sounds gimmicky you say? Maybe. But think about it for a second. When I’m huffing and puffing up some gradient that only sheep and billy goats should be climbing, it’s not easy sucking water out of a hydration bladder.
With a few quick pumps of the air bladder, I can now get a stream of water. No more sucking on the hose until my eyes pop out. And, with that stream of water I can do lots of things. My teammates can now get a drink without putting their dirty mouths all over my bite valve. Hey, I race with these guys, I know where their mouths have been. Got mud in your eye? A squirt of water and boom, done! Need to rinse off your sunglasses? Need to rinse a contact lens? Need to fill a water bottle with water to add your last packet of Skratch but don’t want to take your pack off? There are a lot of times when a little pressurized water is a great thing to have.
What’s also super cool is that the hydration bladder has quick disconnects for the hoses. This means that I can remove the bladder from my pack, refill it, and not have to reroute my hoses. It also means that I can instantly add or remove GEIGERRIG’s in-line crypto or virus filters. So now you won’t have to worry if Team Adventure Medical Kits is upstream from you relieving themselves. You’ve got filtration!
“But it’s added weight!” I can hear the whining in the background. I’m kidding, adventure racers don’t whine. Sure it is, everything we carry is added weight. You just have to decide if the benefits are worth it to you. But wait, no you don’t. You see, you don’t have to have the air tube and bulb. You want to go super light and fast? Disconnect the air tube and the GEIGERRIG hydration bladder functions just like any other hydration bladder. You suck, water comes out. But I think once you give it a try, you’ll realize how nice it is to have pressurized water. Why do you think pro cyclists have squeeze bottles? Pressure, my friend! You don’t see riders in the peloton sucking water from a straw. That would be silly.
For outback races and hiking, you really can’t beat this setup. With the inline filtration and the wide mouth opening, filling the hydration bladder is a breeze.
Simply disconnect the hoses from the bladder. You can then remove the bladder from your pack while leaving your hoses installed. Then simply fill that bad boy up.
Now that 2 liters of Florida swamp water is ready to go back in your pack. Plug in your hoses, pressurize that puppy, and get ready to enjoy filtered goodness.
In 20 seconds you’re back on the trail and best of all you’re not waiting 20 minutes for your iodine pills to flavor your water. You do like the taste of iodine, right?
Best of all, once you get back home, turn that bladder inside out and throw it in your dishwasher. It’s dishwasher safe my friend. Who wants to come home from a 3-day race and scrub out a hydration bladder? That’s right, no one.
There you have it. If you need a hydration bladder, check out the GEIGERRIG Hydration Engine Video. And, if you’re looking for a hydration backpack, they have those as well. Got questions? Drop us a comment below. We’re always happy to discuss our race gear. If you’d like to check out more reviews by the pros who know, check them out here:
There is nothing worse than the walk of shame. You know, that walk you have to make after you realize that you blew right past the first checkpoint in a race and have to slink back towards it. I don’t know what it is about the first checkpoint in an adventure race, but I always struggle with it. It’s like I’ve never held a map and compass before. Who put this paper with all the squiggly lines in my hand and what am I supposed to do with this floating needle thingy!? Maybe it’s nerves or excitement or just turning off the nav when every team is racing to the same CP. I don’t know, but I hate it and I never feel settled until the first CP is punched. Howl at the Moon started off no differently. The good news is that Ron captured it all on camera…what a swell guy!
At CP1 there was an option to shorten the foot section by swimming across Kitching Creek. After taking a look at the inky black swamp water, I was all for the longer route. I’m chicken, I know, I’m okay with it. This decision added about 2 miles to our trek, making it 11.5 miles total. Other than this shortcut, I really didn’t see anywhere else to save time on this section, so we went around collecting CPs in order. Somewhere along CP3, we ran into the Warriors, a couple from South Africa that are working in Florida. They’ve done a few Expedition Africa adventure races and it was fun to talk with them. We stayed together until CP6, where they decided to take a different route to CP7. Pretty awesome that at a small adventure race in Florida we’d run across a team from ½ way around the world.
Bike 1
Last year we got to ride the Camp Murphey off road bike trails and were looking forward to riding them again this year. They are managed by www.clubscrub.org and are fantastic. This time, though, the CPs were not right on the trail. Four controls were “can’t miss” on-trail, but the remaining six were placed off-trail. Because we had ran the entire first foot section, we were able to do this technical bike section in daylight, which was a huge help. We were doing well, trying to catch up with Good ‘Nuff, which is impossible for us on bike sections…or foot sections…or canoe sections, for that matter.
Somewhere between CP20 and CP21, we ran across a dog on the trail. No owners in sight, just wandering around. Of course Ana had to stop, check the collar, and call the owner. After 5-7 minutes trying to reunite the dog with its owner, they finally show up. A happy ending and we were back on the trail.
By this time, I felt like we hadn’t really enjoyed bushwhacking through thickets and briars, so I sent us on a random bash through some really nasty stuff in the hunt for CP23. This was actually an easy control to find, if you started looking in the right place…but what’s the fun in that.
We finished the single track and then made a mad dash back to the transition area, racing to cross the railroad tracks as a train was approaching.
Paddle 1
From the main TA, we transitioned to canoe and started our paddle west along the Loxahatchee River. Night had descended, the little sliver of moon provided little illumination, and the beautiful Loxahatchee took on a spooky appearance as our headlamps swept across the water’s edge, illuminating cypress trees, mangrove roots and the yellow eyes of gators sheltered within them. Our first 3 CPs on the paddle where CPs 1, 2, and 4 from the foot trek section. We decided to land the canoe at CP1 and jog north to CP2 for fear that the shallow creek would make the paddle tougher. I think this saved us some time, but we lost 5-10 minutes trying to relocate CP1, even though we had already been there previously on the foot section. Bummer!
After collecting CP1 & 2, we crossed Kitching Creek by boat to get CP4. This was another CP that should have been easy. We had been there before, we were at the right bend of the river, but we just didn’t spot it. Another 10 minutes wasted here, and I could feel my frustration level building.
We had 2 CPs remaining for the paddle section and both were further south, where the Loxahatchee River turns into meandering shallow creeks, swallowed up by the surrounding swamp. All I can tell you is that it’s a mess and following this watery trail at night was frustrating.
Just prior to reaching CP27 along Cypress Creek, we ran into the Warriors, heading back from the bridge where the CP was located. They had turned back in frustration, not being able to locate the checkpoint. They had also lost their passport along the way. We asked if they’d like to search for the CP with us, but at this point their frustration level was too high and they were ready to head back.
When we got to the bridge, I could tell why. We couldn’t find the CP either. The clue was, “Date on Pile N bank Cypress Creek.” We looked at the north bridge pylon for a date and didn’t see it. We looked at all of the bridge pylons for a date and didn’t see any. We forded the creek and looked at all the pylons on the south side of the creek for a date…nothing. We were frustrated and ready to turn back too until we checked the southbound I-95 pylon and saw a date scratched into the concrete. We ran back to the pylon on the north bank of cypress creek and maybe a foot from the base was the date. I guess our headlamps had made it difficult to see. Had we known what we were looking for, this would have taken us seconds. Instead it took us 15 minutes.
At CP28 we ran into the same problem. This time it wasn’t the date, we knew where to find that. Instead, the clue was, “DOT# Casting# Above N. Pile Cap.” Once again, I had no clue what I was looking for, but we were told there would be an FLX sign with an arrow pointing to it so we would know we got the right number. 17 minutes wasted here and all I can say is…
Ron…you know I love you man!
Back on the canoes, we paddled back to the main TA to salvage any type of race we had left.
Bike 2
The final section would be a bike to all of the controls we hit during the foot section. However, this time, instead of punching the controls, we were to take pictures of ourselves at a few of them. Once again CP1 would cause us problems. We had already been here twice during this race, so I have no idea why we couldn’t find it easily. I swear Ron was moving it a few yards further south each time we went out to look for it.
After CP1, we rode up to CP2, and here I made my genius move of the race. You see, when we were here on foot, we decided to cross the creek and bushwhack to the next checkpoint. In my head I was thinking, “Just do what you did on the foot section.” So, I did. We crossed the creek with our bikes and bike-whacked through to the trail. Now, Ana has had to tolerate a lot of stupid things from me over the past 20 years of marriage. But nothing…NOTHING…has been as stupid as making her haul her bike through this jungle of sawtooth palmettos, briars, and vines. The double bonus was that ½ way through the mess, I realized that there was a much quicker, much easier way to get where we wanted to go and all of it along perfectly groomed bike trail. But, being ½ way through, it made no sense to turn around now, so we pushed through. The woods of Jonathan Dickinson State Park still echo with my screams and curses! Another 25 minutes wasted.
The good news though is that somewhere along the trail we met up with Running in Circles. This group of four firefighters were definitely running circles around us. They had a late night and had to start the race an hour behind everyone else, and here they were at the front of the pack. With an hour credit, there was no reason to race them to the finish line and there was no way we were going to catch Good ‘Nuff, so we just cruised it in, picking up the final CPs and enjoying the conversations along the way. Sometimes you have to throttle it back and just enjoy the fun of it all.
After 15 hours and 18 minutes of solid racing, we finished in 3rd place overall, 2nd place co-ed, and had a blast doing it.
Conclusion
Once again, FLX Adventures put on a fun race. Jonathan Dickinson is a great park and the single track is amazing. Most of all, I’m very grateful that Ana didn’t kill me in the middle of the night during that horrendous bike whack.
A big thanks to our friends for helping us making it all possible!
I never sleep well the night before a race. Maybe it’s the thought of getting lost in the woods, or being chased by bears, or eaten by alligators. Maybe it’s the thought that we’ll run out of dark chocolate peanut M&Ms…who knows. All I know is that it’s not because of our air mattress. About a year ago, we got two KlymitStatic V Recon air mattresses on a recommendation from our friend, and we couldn’t be happier.
These things are light, inexpensive, extremely comfortable and durable. Pair it with a Klymit Cush Seat and you have a portable sleep system you can take anywhere. Plus, the seat can be used for…well…a seat! As in providing a little padding on the posterior for those 6 hour canoe sections. On long races, we pack the Cush Seat and the Static V in our gear bins, since they pack down to nothing. For the 72-Hour Florida Sea to Sea, they were priceless. After 48+ hours of non-stop racing, you tell me how sweet this setup was #SleepAnywhere
Sometimes the race location is so remote that we end up primitive camping the night before. Add the Static V, a couple of 30A Beach Blonde Ales, and it’s nighty night time until race start the next morning.
We opted for the non-insulated version, because we live in Florida. However, for those unfortunate souls that live in colder areas, you can get an insulated one as well. The best thing is you’re not blowing up your bank account to afford one either. $55 bucks for a bomb-proof air mattress…
If you’re a savvy shopper you may even find it for less. Klymit makes a lot of other radical stuff too, like their award-winning KSB 20 degree down sleeping bag. We don’t have one yet (hint hint), but you don’t need me to review it, it was awarded the 2016 Outside Gear of the Year Award as best sleeping bag. I’m pretty sure they know what they’re talking about.
These guys & gals are innovators and their whole team consists of outdoor enthusiasts, so they know their shiznit. Seriously, it’s good stuff. We only recommend items we use consistently and trust.
One final thought for those on the fence. Sometimes we roll high class and even get a hotel the night before a race. But 3 dudes + 1 bed does not equal fun times. So, before you find yourself in an undesirable predicament…
you might want to think about a Static V air pad & sleeping bag in your gear bin. This is my typical setup and it makes any hotel floor a dream.
You know there is nothing better than crawling out of a warm bed to go slap cold lube on your butt cheeks and stuff them into a pair of spandex cycling shorts. But, when you’re getting ready to race 30 hours at the USARA National Championship, that’s how you get rad. I wonder if this is how Team Adventure Medical Kits and Tecnu roll out of bed…I doubt it.
We staggered into the Savannah Rapids Convention Center where we were given a map the size of a bed sheet, a list of 36 UTM coordinates to plot, and an hour and a half to get our crap figured out before loading buses and heading off to the starting line. Lucky for us we found a little corner of a fish cleaning station to do our map work. We never got our crap figured out, but we were pretty good at faking it.
Prologue
After a short bus ride to Wildwood Park, we were given a final pre-race briefing and then it was game on.
The prologue consisted of grabbing 12 CPs around the International Disc Golf Center. 180+racers converging on the first CP led to some interesting last second route choices by many teams. Stephen was leading the nav on this section and we ended up clearing it quickly and with no issues.
Boat 1
The prologue ended up spreading out…well…no one really. Teams were all over the place, scrambling to launch canoes and get on the water as quickly as possible.
Todd, always in full race mode, decided this was the perfect time for him to capture some epic videos of the race. Or, as I like to call it, bailing out on paddling…
But, who can blame him for capturing a video of this epic 4.5 hour paddling section. Oh, did I say 1 video…oh no, I meant 2 videos. Todd still not paddling…
Or was that three slacker sessions, Uh I mean totally rad video captures. Anyone want to guess whose limp paddle that is?
Actually, Todd, AKA “Limp Paddle” did awesome navigating the canoe section and we cleared this section quickly. And by quickly I mean 50 minutes slower than the fastest 3 teams. If I could only think of a way to make a three man kayak go faster…hmmm…I’ll have to ponder that one.
Bike 1
On to the bikes, and a quick ride over to Mistletoe State Park. We were racing neck and neck with our Florida compadres, Good ‘Nuff and Off the Grid Racing until I decided we should pick up CP14. Totally awesome move, until Shane Hagerman (bad ass adventure racer on team Happy Mutant Main Nerve) reminded us that CP14 could only be gotten on foot and not on bike. Oh yeah, we got them rules and stuff we should pay attention to.
We raced off along Rock Dam Trail to the transition area, and I was lucky enough to impale myself on the only piece of rebar along Gawd Damn Trail, I mean Rock Dam Trail. Red Badge of Courage earned and, more importantly, photographed. I was feeling manly and ready to rock (after a short break, a few snacks, and maybe a hug or two from Stephen that is).
Trek 1
Now on foot, we could get CP14. We could also get CP13 and CP15 according to the rule sheet that we started reading. Now, if we could only read a map. That’s something that could come in handy. We decided to poke around CP13 for awhile. These CPs can be kinda skittish you know, and you don’t want to just go blasting towards them. Instead, you kinda want to circle around them a few times, picking out just the proper way to approach them. We’ve been to USARA Nationals, we know these things.
Bike back to Wildwood
After we cleared the foot section, we had to bike back to Wildwood Park. You would think that biking back the same way that we came in would be easy. You’d think that. Yep, so would we. For the sake of a short race report, let’s just imagine a quick bike ride back to Wildwood without me deciding to try a new path we hadn’t been on before. And let’s just imagine that the new path led exactly where we thought it would, rather than meandering off into the never ending wilderness…yeah, that’s a nice thought, let’s go with it.
The good news is we found our way to Wildwood and we also found one of the greatest inventions ever made by man…
Trek 2
By now it was dark. We were hopped up on Coke and ready to start our second O-course. We were actually doing pretty well on this section until we ran into CP20. We were doing a straight bearing shot from 21 to 20 and you can see how close we were to the control, but we just didn’t see it. So, we headed northeast to the shoreline, dropped down to find the inlet and shot another bearing past 20. We knew the CP had to be somewhere between those intersecting bearing and finally found it within 10 feet from where we originally were. Bummer!
The cool thing though is that we ran into another set of Florida adventure racers, 3 Shades of Gray out of Pensacola, FL. Awesome set of guys who we enjoyed running with for a little while. I’ll say it again, the best part of adventure racing is meeting all of the really cool people out on the course. We hope to see you guys at the FLX Adventures Earth Day AR in Tallahassee next year.
Bike to Final Paddle
You know what helps to keep your bike moving? Pedals! Yep, all the cool kids have them now…they’re kind of a big deal. You know what’s not cool? Riding Bartram’s Trail for 3 hours on this.
But, in Adventure Racing, things can always be worse. Like having your rear hub explode on you and then having to race with your bike on your back. Kudos to Kevin Tobin of Team ASR – Raging Burritos. First rate dude, first rate!
Trek 3 – Clarks Hill Dam
We finally made it to Clarks Hill Dam for the final O-course. This section would prove to be challenging for many teams. While pros like WEDALI would clear this section in 1:50:20, us mere mortals would take 3:43:55. Of course, I’m sure WEDALI didn’t have the pleasure of meeting the convenience store operator who told us that the land owner next door would shoot us if we ended up on his property. Now that’s useful information.
After checking every reentrant in this area twice, we finally cleared the section and moved on to the final paddle section, tired and a little hungry #DennysGrandSlam.
Paddle 2 – Final Paddle
We hit the final paddle section just before day break and if there is anything that will put you to sleep quicker than reading this race report, it’s paddling on a dark, flat river after 21 hours of racing. While most experts may think that canoes are meant for the water, adventure race directors know that canoes are best lugged around on foot…especially uphill. The final Portage section…uh I mean Paddle section to the Savannah Rapids Visitor Center was beautiful. At least they didn’t make us paddle upstream. Todd nailed the nav on this section and I think he even paddled once or twice, between naps of course.
Final Bike:
Only 3 CPs were left in the race, and we were excited that we had cleared the course up to this point. With Florida Xtreme right behind us, and Off the Grid out in front, the race was still on. The race took us along the Augusta Canal Trail with a short detour along the Savannah Mountain Bike Trail and to a final CP at the end of the path.
Right after punching the final CP, we passed Off the Grid going to the final CP. Somehow we had managed to get in front of them. Now, the race was really on. Those guys are strong bikers and I knew we’d have to pedal our tails off not to be passed just before the finish line. So, we formed a pace line and cranked it out as hard as we could. Stephen still had his broken pedal and how he managed to hang on to our rear wheel for the final sprint finish, I don’t know. But he did and Todd and I couldn’t have been prouder.
A final sprint to the finish to claim 4th Place Open Division was an awesome way to end the race.
Conclusion
USARA Nationals is always a great race with amazing competitors. The winning team, Adventure Medical Kits, cleared the course in 17:24:38 hours, compared to our time of…well now there’s really no need to compare finish times is there? Actually, we cleared the course in 26:51:44 Putting us 19th overall. The top racers in the coed and the master’s divisions are absolutely amazing athletes and we’re just thrilled that we get to participate in this race alongside of them.
USARA hosted an awesome after party where we got to kick back with our fellow competitors and the new friends we met while consuming large quantities of beer…I mean exercising Calorie Replacement Therapy. Good times had all around and we can’t wait to be back next year. A heartfelt thank you to those that have supported our meager efforts:
Todd and Stephen, Rock Stars as always. Thanks for not abandoning me out in the woods.
And to those that actually read these verbose postings, thank you! I hope you get some enjoyment out of them…you’re definitely not going to learn anything from them. If you get a chance, please like our Facebook page or comment below. We love to hear from other racers and it helps feed my ego.
Jump? Yeah, you just hold on one stinkin’ second there little lady.
This is no “jump” this is a plummet into an abyss and I’m not sure I’m mentally prepared to plunge my body over the edge just yet.
“Oh my gosh, you didn’t jump?!” Ana says “1…2…3…Jump! Do it!”
“But, I don’t wanna jump!” I whine before hurling myself over the edge. I don’t like heights, I never have. I probably never will. But, adventure racing has a way of taking you outside of your comfort zone and making you do things you wouldn’t normally do for the sake of your team.
Eventually, I splash into the Coosa River below and after checking that my Man Card is still in my back pocket, we press on with the race.
Pre-race:
Way back in 2014, when we just started adventure racing, we did the Coosa River Challenge and had an absolute blast. We weren’t able to make it back in 2015, but were extremely excited that we would make it in ’16. The Coosa River Challenge is more than just a race, it’s an event. It all starts with a pre-race party at Coosa River Adventures the night before. Racers are treated to a delicious meal provided by the Wind Creek Casino & Hotel, an open keg of beer (Score!), and live entertainment by Sam Marsal. But, don’t let the party atmosphere fool you. While some come just for the challenge of completing the race, there are plenty of competitive athletes ready to rock the course in the morning.
Foot 1:
The race starts at the Swayback Bridge Trailhead, a 12-mile network of gnarly single track maintained by the Trail of Legends Association. 230+ competitors started off trail running a short section of switchbacks and hills, making their way to the top of Jordan dam and then returning to the start location to transition to bikes.
Bike 1:
We quickly transitioned to bikes, shoving down a fig bar and a bottle of Skratch before riding off. I didn’t want to bonk again like I did at the Cauldron, so we took a little time to get some fluids and food in us. I don’t like heights, Ana doesn’t like single track. It’s just the way things work for us. But, today was the day Ana decided to fly. Two years ago we struggled to make it up the climbs, but this time she was powering the ups and bombing the downhill sections. Maybe she had the Eye of the Tiger, maybe I spiked her Skratch with cocaine…I’m not saying. But I was impressed.
Foot 2:
Back to the start, we transitioned to foot and made a quick dash to the base of Jordan Dam for an orienteering challenge. For this section we had to answer a few questions on compass use and plot a couple of bearings. In 2014 there wasn’t an orienteering section and I was happy to see that it was back for this year. For us, orienteering is one of the reasons we love adventure racing.
Boat:
The rest of the race was down the Coosa River with stops along the way to do certain challenges. The first challenge was to swim our kayak across the river. If there is a good way to swim a kayak across a river, please post it in the comment section below. Call me kooky, but I’m pretty sure man didn’t create a kayak so that he could hang on to the outside of it and swim it across a river. I have never felt so inept in my life! I tried the front crawl. I tried the side stroke, I tried holding on to the back and just kicking. The only thing that worked for me was letting Ana swim it across. That made it a lot easier.
Once Ana, I mean we, swam the kayak across the river we had to execute the leap of death. From atop a 40 foot rock, we had to jump into the Coosa River below. Okay, maybe it wasn’t 40 feet, but it was high. Higher than it was 2 years ago, and higher than in my nightmares of the week leading up to the race. Needless to say, we did make the jump and I’m alive and I’m pretty thankful for that.
After the rock jump, we got to paddle our boats back to the launch location where we would do the 85 foot rappel. This was my favorite part, mainly because I didn’t have to do it. Look, it’s my job to kill all the spiders and roaches. Ana’s job is to do the high, scary stuff and not tell my buddies that I’m too chicken to do it. Ana flew down the rope like a Cirque du Soleil acrobat. It was beautiful to watch, especially with both feet on solid earth.
Back on the boats, we were now in full paddle mode, except that the paddles were more like dumbbells with blades on the end. Seriously, I think they were made out of driveshafts they weighed so much. We cruised down to Dead Beaver Island, a perfect place to camp out, drink a few cases of beer, and make 200+ people crawl through a pipe that’s been 90% submerged in muddy water. Lucky for us, they left just enough room at the top of the pipe to breathe…that is if you’re a freakin’ dolphin with a hole in the top of your head. For us normal humans, not so easy.
After Dead Beaver Island, we made the run down to Moccasin Gap, a Class III rapid and the largest rapid on the Coosa. We didn’t have any issues with this one and were starting to feel pretty proud of ourselves. That is until we hit Big House Rapids.
Let’s go left around this rock…
No, no let’s go right!
Ah $hit! Let’s see if we can go over it!
So, there we sat pinned atop some rock in the middle of the river as our good friend Kaitlin comes cruising past. Why is it that people always arrive just when you’re screwing up?
You need help?
Nah, we got this. Just wanted to stop for a bite to eat.
We worked ourselves free and headed off to Corn Creek Park for a short orienteering course where we quickly grabbed 3 checkpoints and then headed back onto the water. We had another 1.5 miles of paddling before the final takeout at Coosa River Adventures. And, after three and a half hours of solid racing what I really, really wanted to do was a few air squats and burpees. How about a punch in the gut? Can I get one of those too, please?
Ana could now smell the end of the race…or was that me. Whatever. She knew it was close by and after scraping her amazingly handsome husband off the ground, she was ready for the final sprint to the finish.
“Come on! This is it! This is it!”, she yelled.
We burst out of the recently cut trail near Coosa River Adventures and saw our old teammate, Stu, waiting to run the final leg of the race with us. What a fantastic surprise! A mad dash through Gold Star Park and we finished, 1st place Co-ed.
We celebrated with peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and the most awesome cookies ever. Seriously, who made those cookies?! They were delicious and in a convenient Ziploc bag of 20. We were supposed to take a bag each, right?
Conclusion
Once again the Coosa River Challenge was awesome. The race director, Therese Carter, always does an amazing job of putting together a top-notch event. I don’t know how she does it every year, or where she finds her amazing volunteers. Maybe she pays them in cookies. Regardless, I’m not asking questions, I just know we’ll be back as often as we can! Thanks everyone it really was amazingly fun.
Oh, and one last comment. Post-race, some buddies and I hit one of the race sponsors, Los Mayas Mexican Restaurant. The food was excellent and we ended up ordering so much of it that they had to move us to another table because ours was too small to hold all the plates. Stinky, sweaty, middle-aged men in spandex pants sucking down burritos. Now that’s a mental image nobody wants.
Who wouldn’t want to race 36 hours straight in Florida, in September. What’s not to love about asphalt melting sun pushing temperatures well into the 90’s while you and your team run around in spandex suits sucking hot water out of a plastic straw connected to your backpack. That, my friends is the definition of fun. And if you can add in getting lost, dehydration, and the overwhelming desire to puke, well you’ve hit the jackpot and pushed yourself into euphoria.
Off the Grid Racing race directors Erik, Jeanette, and Craig put together a completely new course for us around beautiful Marianna, Florida. And when I say beautiful, I mean crystal clear springs, limestone outcroppings, numerous caverns, natural sinks and a ton of history and old Florida charm. For the adventurer, or eco-tourist, Marianna needs to be on your list…just maybe in October or November when the weather is cooler.
The race started at midnight with a foot section from Merritt’s Mill Pond. Starting a race has always been a problem for us, mainly because there are so many teams heading off in different directions and the pace is always excessively fast. Not knowing the area, we headed off in one direction along with Ron and his team, FLX Adventures. But, after hopping a fence and running into thick brush, we decided to take a different route. We floundered for a few minutes but recovered and started to tick off CPs. It seemed that many CPs centered on a pump house and by using this as our anchor point, we made short work of this section.
FLX Adventures
One of the CPs was inside of a cave, and when they say “inside a cave” they meant really inside the cave. We first gave it a cursory look, didn’t see the flag and moved on. Only to discover minutes later that the flag was in there, just tucked way in the back.
By the time we cleared this section and transitioned to bike, Pangea, FLX Adventures, Canyoneros, and Wet Feet AR had already left on bike.
Bike 1
Let me introduce you to Quadzilla, I mean Erik Wise the race director.
He likes to run around in his underwear, maybe it has something to do with his days in the Navy. I don’t know. But I do know that he likes biking, a lot. And any race he puts together will have plenty of it. For this section, we were to bike to the Hinson Conservation Area, collect a few checkpoints on foot and then bike back to Merritt’s Mill Pond. As we started the bike section, we passed Wet Feet AR and soon caught up with FLX Adventures who were looking for BP2 – NW corner of Chester Rd. & Old Spanish Trail.
After playing Brer Rabbit for 20 minutes, we finally found the checkpoint on the SW corner. North corner…South corner…whatever. Who uses their stinkin’ clue sheet anyway.
Sometime during that long, dark bike ride, we met up with the Canyoneros and started a pace line with them. They ended up falling back for some reason, and when we looked back to see where they were, we heard this snarling, barking and crashing through the woods. I assumed that it was just a couple of frenzied dogs running out to the end of their fence line. But once I heard claws hit asphalt, I wet my pants a little and hit turbo. There is nothing worse than pedaling your ass off and hearing crazed dogs gaining on you. About the time I got to the fifth line of the Lord’s Prayer, I could hear them backing off. We were worried for the Canyoneros since they were behind us, but they said by the time they ran into the dogs they were on the side of the road panting their lungs out.
Bwahahaha! I think we made one of them pee their pants!
We finally rolled into the Hinson Conservation Area with FLX Adventures and after transposing the checkpoint locations from a master map to our map, we headed off on the trek. While Ron’s group decided to attack the trek going south, we took the northern route.
It was dark and we had a hard time locating the karst window (TP5). What’s a karst window you ask? Yeah, we wondered the same thing until we saw this huge hole in the ground with an orange flag at the bottom of it.
Canyoneros – Karst Window
This section seemed to take a really long time and I felt that we were floundering. There didn’t seem to be anything we could do to speed things up and I could feel our 3rd place standing floating away.
We finally emerged from the woods, having cleared the section and as soon as we reached the transition area to hand in our punch card, FLX Adventures emerged from the opposite woods. It was crazy to think we went in at the same time, took totally opposite directions, never saw or passed each other, and yet finished the section at exactly the same time. Crazy I know!
We now had 4 CPs left to collect on our way back to Merritt’s Mill Pond to start Boat 1, and it was only 7 hours into the race.
Boat 1
Merritt’s Mill Pond is absolutely stunning.
Did I mention it was stunning. Not kinda cool, but absolutely stunning. We arrived about the same time as FLX Adventures and ended up circling the mill pond with them. I wish that we had some awesome videos or pictures, but we were slackers on this section and didn’t take any. Just imagine pure awesomeness in a canoe and you get the idea. Yeah, just like in the photo below!
Canoe Badassery
Bike 2
Back on the bikes, we tried in vain to chase down Pangea, who we hadn’t seen since the beginning of the race. This leg was a slog, with long dirt roads and sweltering heat.
We struggled with BP14 (Oak in swamp south side), but after searching both the south and north sides of the swamp, Todd stopped a passing truck and the local told us that the landowner had removed the flag. Time wasted.
We continued our chase of Pangea, rattling our brains out on the washboard dirt roads. At one point Todd had a slow-motion crash and laid in the dirt like a flipped turtle with his bike on top of him. Sorry for laughing dude, it was funny.
One of the last checkpoints was in an abandoned church. If you want to freak yourself out, head out to Parramore, Florida: A Real Florida Ghost Town, and crawl around an abandoned church. Dead flowers and religious artifacts in a decaying building, there was no way I was heading in there alone. “Hey Todd, why don’t you be a good pal and go in and grab that checkpoint while I stay out here and look at the maps?” Yeah, he wasn’t buying it either.
Cavern’s Trek
We made it to the Marianna Cavern’s State Park at 6:30PM, an hour before the time cutoff. 18 hours into the race and so far we were clearing the course. Unfortunately, the cavern’s trek was the start of the breakdown.
As the sun was fading, we started off on the Fence Line Trail, a 3 mile loop with a few CPs on it. After clearing this section, we headed off to the Sink Hole trail where CP25 led us to a bonus CP, 600 meters into the woods on a direct bearing. After finding the bonus CP, it pointed us to a second bonus CP another 600 meters into the woods on a direct bearing. I was physically fading fast and all we could think about was the other teams skipping these far out CPs in exchange for collecting more points on the paddle and the Bellamy Foot Section at the end of the paddle. We decided to skip the second bonus CP and head to the Cavern Trail where there was a greater concentration of points to be collected.
By the time we made it to the Tunnel Cave, I could feel myself really struggling. We hit the bathroom and I splashed water on my face to recover. It didn’t work and we decided to crash for 15 minutes on some benches. Todd and Ana were snoring in seconds, but I couldn’t get any rest. We soon pressed on.
Ana had to carry my pack and hers as we struggled to clear this section. I was pretty useless by this point and Todd and Ana had to do all the work. We made another tactical decision to drop a far out CP to a hidden cave with the hope of making the paddle and the other foot section. We were sure other teams had moved on long ago.
I stripped down to spandex shorts and running shoes, trying to cool off and stay in the race. Let me tell you, ain’t nothing pretty about a shirtless man in spandex shorts.
We made it back to the Caverns TA and found Junos from FLX Adventures recuperating from dehydration…it seems the heat had affected a number of racers. I tried to eat and drink, but couldn’t stomach anything. I told the team I needed to rest for 45 minutes and then we could figure out our next move.
Cavern Boat
At the Caverns TA, we learned that all of the other teams were still out on the trek portion, and no teams had gone out on the paddle yet. That was a frustrating blow, since we gave up 2 controls thinking the other teams had pressed ahead. But that’s part of Adventure Racing, making those tactical decisions in an attempt to maximize points.
Pangea came through the TA, and decided to head out on the paddle to pick up a few points. I was still passed out on the ground trying to recover. When 12 Chunky Layers passed through the TA and started heading out on the paddle, I got up and we strategized about our next move. We could either do a short paddle and hope to collect 3-4 points, do the last bike section of 45-60 miles to collect 6 points, or just bike to the finish and go with what we had.
With the hope of an easy paddle, we set out on the Cavern Boat section…we were idiots.
We soon found out that the water level was down 3-5 feet and the river was filled with downed trees. We picked up one checkpoint and struggled with multiple portages before abandoning all hope of collecting any more. We did find the second bonus CP from the Cavern’s Trek section, but that wouldn’t help us any.
We decided to turn back and ran into Pangea along the way back to the boat take out. We weren’t sure how many CPs they had collected but we knew that they would kill us on the final bike section, so we didn’t try to chase them down.
Finish
From the Cavern’s TA, we decided to just bike it in. The bike points were too far away and my butt couldn’t handle another 45 mile bike ride. I already felt like someone had been spanking my ass all night, and not in the fun 50 Shades of Gray kinda way.
We pulled into the Finish after 34 hours and 28 minutes of racing. 40 minutes later Pangea rolled in, having collected 1 bike CP along the way. At the closing ceremonies, we were surprisingly announced as the winner, but a couple of days later the count was re-tallied and we discovered that we had actually come in 2nd place…from 1st place to 1st loser.
I was totally frustrated with myself knowing that I had let the team down and lost the race for us. A few days after the race, I texted those sentiments to Todd and his reply was, “I race to be a better me, meet great people, and push the possible, not just to win. I accomplished all that in this race. Could have been one of the most challenging I’ve done.”
Well said my friend, I couldn’t have phrased it any better! Thanks for racing with us and being a great teammate. To be able to race with someone for 36Hrs and laugh throughout the whole damn thing is awesome. You’re rock solid and we look forward to more races with you and Broccoli #2.
As far as losing. There’s no better team to lose to than Greg, May-Li, Jake and Allen from Pangea. They are an amazing group of tough, seasoned racers and some of the friendliest competitors out there. Good luck at Nationals!
Pangea coming off the canoe section
A big thanks to Erik, Jeanette, and Craig for putting on an amazing race. Cheers to all those who we competed against, it was a great time and we’ll see you out there soon! And special thanks to our outstanding sponsors whose products pull us through:
We were at the 2015 USARA National Championship when I had finally had it with my headlamps. Rather than resting at the cabin in preparation for the next day’s race, I was at the bike staging area wrapping my bike helmet with a Walmart bag. My cheaply made headlamp and batteries were not waterproof, not even water resistant, and they wouldn’t survive the evening’s downpour without protection. At that moment I decided this was BS and if I was going to take this racing thing seriously, then I needed to be willing to invest in better gear. First on my list was a great set of lights.
When you think about it, few things will improve your overall course speed better than good lights. For night sections, you use lights during every event: trail running, biking and canoeing. Very few pieces of gear cross all 3 of the main domains of adventure racing. So, in my book, it’s definitely worth the cost. Cheap lights are simply a frustration to be avoided. I wanted lights that I could throw in my pack and if I have to swim across a river, or hike for hours in a downpour, I don’t have to worry about them. I like gear that I can trust. There is nothing worse than bombing down a muddy mountain bike trail at night, in the rain, and have your headlamp fail on you. And if you adventure race, you know that you WILL be bombing down a trail, at night, in the rain…every race director has a direct line to the rain gods to make that happen.
So, I asked some racing buddies of mine what lights they recommended and did a few inquiries online and chose the Lupine Piko.
I’m not a professional gear reviewer, I just like sharing what works for me. If you want to hear the good remarks from the pros then check out the reviews. But here’s the skinny:
All that in 55 grams. 55 GRAMS! Oh sorry…1.94 ounces. Yeah, that doesn’t help either does it. How about this, it’s freakin’ light, like 2 slices of toast light. Yeah, I know, that doesn’t include the battery weight. But, who knows what battery size you’re going to use. You can choose either the 2.2Ah, 3.3Ah, 6.6Ah, 13.2Ah or the mack daddy 20Ah Bottle Battery. For me, when I want to attach it to my bike helmet, I use the 3.3Ah
When I’m doing night orienteering and need a lot of light for a long time, I’ll throw the 6.6Ah into my pack and run an extension cable up to my headband. This means that all the weight is in my pack and I’m kicking out 1500 lumens with only a 55 gram light on my head. So what does 1500 lumens look like?
BAMM! About like that! Oh, and did you notice the red lights on the back of the battery pack? These serve as a visual indication of the battery’s charge level so you know, before you go. They can also be set to stay on as a taillight. Not something you’re going to find in those cheap lights and battery packs.
I will say that the biggest negative for the Piko is switching between bike helmet and headband. I don’t think the designers were thinking about multi-sport applications, like adventure racing, when they designed the mount. However, there is a simple fix, and that is to get the GoPro Adapter. Once you have the GoPro Adapter, your mounting options are endless. Check out what Team Odyssey did for their Lupine Piko using the GoPro Adapter
Psyched?! Ready to go Lupine! Then contact the awesome folks at Lupine North America. Tell them Team Disoriented highly recommended them. If you have any questions on the Piko or other Lupine lights, contact Bill and he will help you out.
If you have any questions for us on the Lupine Piko, or any comments in general, drop us a line below. Oh and BTW, this isn’t a picture of us, I just thought it was bad ass!
How do you prepare for 6 hours of canoeing followed by a 4 hour bike ride. Pretty easy actually. Just drop your shorts, sit your bare ass on your driveway, and have your teammate grab you by the ankles and drag you for 30 feet or so. I stand here writing this, not wanting to sit on anything for the next week.
Butt, enough with the training, let’s get down to the fun stuff. (See what I did there? Yep, only the best from yours truly)
Maps, instructions and all the other goodies needed to follow along:
Ana’s knee has been bothering her since Sea to Sea, so I teamed up with Broccoli Covered Powder Babies for this race. I registered as a solo, but we would really be running this as a 3-person team. I didn’t want to be responsible for DQ’ing Broccoli, if I had to fall out for some reason. Anyway, the Earth Day Adventure Race started at 6PM from the River Rise Preserve State Park and leading from the very start was Good Nuf. They tore out of the TA like Road Runner from those old Looney Tunes cartoons, you know the ones where the road runner is going so fast that the road flies up in the air behind him. Yeah, it was pretty much like that. I think I even heard a faint “Beep Beep” in the distance.
Since we couldn’t go off trail for this section, due to park rules, this was pretty much follow-the-leader and we hit all the CPs without issue.
Boat 1:
Ah, the beginning of the boat section…I remember it fondly. There I was, staring at the beautiful Santa Fe river and my fiberglass canoe seat, anticipating how intimately connected we would become over the next 3.5 hours.
Stephen provided the motor in the front, Todd navigated from the middle, and I flung buckets of water on top of their heads for hours from the rear. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
It was nighttime when we paddled down to CP10 at Blue Springs Park. As we struggled against the spring’s current, our headlamps illuminated an aqua-colored pool of the clearest waters I’ve seen. It was absolutely stunning.
Our next checkpoint, CP11, was a gauging station just east of Ginnie Springs. We actually nailed the navigation to it and saw a tall piece of wood sticking out of the water. But, we didn’t see any numbers on it and thought that perhaps the gauging station was little further downstream. We paddled a little further until we ran into some drunk locals hanging out at Ginnie Springs.
Todd yells across the river, “Have you seen a gauging station around here?”
Y’all lookin’ for a PlayStation?
No, a gauging station!
Todd, they wouldn’t know a gauging station if their 6-pack was hanging from it.
Up river we paddled, back to our original location, where two other teams were marking the level of the Santa Fe river. Come to find out the numbers were on the back of the board. Oh well.
Cruising past Ginnie Springs was interesting, part campground, part Rave, part spring break…there was a dude wearing a light suit and people dancing around with glow sticks. If you’re looking for rednecks, drunk women, beer guzzling and loud music, then Ginnie Springs is your place…Todd was in Nirvana and once Stephen and I wrestled him to the floor of the canoe and tied him to his seat, we commenced paddling down the Santa Fe. It was straight out of Greek mythology were they tied Odysseus to the mast so that he could withstand the Sirens’ call.
Foot 2:
We arrived at the Santa Fe TA after 3.5 hrs of paddling and began our first orienteering section.
I think we were in 4th place by this time with DeChunkers right in front of us. The Foot section map shows a beautifully outlined trail following the river. Some people say there was a trail, some people say there wasn’t. We fell into the “wasn’t” category.
You can see our track above. We started with CP1 then a straight south bushwhack to CP6. From their, straight east to CP2. We tried to pick up CP5 on the way, which was silly since we were going due east and about 150m too far north to see it. From CP2, it was straight bearing shots to CP3, then CP4. Then back up to CP2 to attack CP5. All this time we kept running into DeChunkers. They’re like freakin’ Space Ghost. Here we are in the dark searching for a CP thinking there is no one around and all of a sudden, there they are, at the control ahead of us, as if they could materialize out of thin air. “Hey DeChunkers you want to work together on the next…hey wait…where’d they go!” Spppaaaacccceeeee GGGGhhhhhoooossstttt!
We struggled on CP7, having no clear attack point, and no clear trail. Eventually, by wandering around, working from the river bend and triangulating off of headlamps, we found it and beat feet to the TA where DeChunkers were once again just ahead of us.
Boat 2
One hour of boating from Santa Fe TA to Tudeen TA with no CPs along the way in the middle of the night. About as exciting as it sounds. I’m kidding of course. It was a really nice paddle and the blisters were forming beautifully on my posterior.
Foot 3
We arrived at Foot 3 slightly in front of DeChunkers. I think we were now in 1st place by a good 15 seconds or so. I don’t know what happened to Todd and Stephen on this section, but once we hit it, they turned into a pair of bloodhounds.
My navigation wasn’t all that great, but man you put those two within 50 yards of a CP and they would sniff it out. As we were heading to a CP, I’d say something like, “Should be right about here.” and then I’d here “Got it!” and off we’d trot to the next CP. There’s not much more to say on this section, they were bad ass and I was along for the ride.
Boat 3
Transitioning to the boat, we knew we were in 1st, but had no idea what kind of lead we had on any team. The race had been really close from the beginning and there were some fast teams out there. So, we got on the water as quickly as we could for a final 2 hour paddle with one CP along the way.
Some people like 3 in a boat…I say they’re wacko. I hate it. I feel like I’m on the verge of capsizing with every paddle stroke and my butt is trying to attach itself to the seat like a sucker fish so that we don’t fling ourselves into the water. We found the sole CP without issue and made it to the final transition area.
Yep, love this pic! Middle of the night, headlamps on, rockin the USARA jacket.
Bike 1
Can you believe it, there’s actually a bike section in this race. We hit the final TA knowing that we had some of the fastest bike teams right on our tail and a 4+ hr ride ahead. Talk about feeling the pressure.
We knew our navigation had to be spot on if we were going to win this thing, so we decided to screw up the first CP. When the clue says, “Boat Ramp” and you see a sign on the road that says Boat Ramp –>, you gotta take that turn, even if its 1500 meters too soon. It’s a really good way to waste 15 minutes and get the adrenal glands pumping.
Once we fixed that issue, we formed a pace line and hit the rest of the CPs without much issue until the second to last CP.
We’re racing down sandy horse trails less than 30 minutes away from winning this 18Hr race, knowing that we have speed freak teams behind us and I can’t find the stupid westbound trail that CP24 is on. Thank god Stephen and Todd were there to sort it all out. I got turned around on an unmarked westbound trail and couldn’t make sense of where I was. After studying the map, they got us pointed on the right trail and we raced off to the finish.
Final
And with that, we took our first win of the season. Although I tried to keep the trophy, Stephen said he had a special place for it and wouldn’t let it go.
As always Craig and FLXAdventures put on another excellent race. I always look forward to Craig’s races as he takes the time to find really interesting areas with great history. Glad to see all of our adventure racing friends out there again. A big thanks to Broccoli Covered Powder Babies for letting me race with you guys. Y’all are awesome and I always have a blast racing with you guys. I only wish that Ana could have been there racing as well, she always adds to the fun plus she let’s me drink her beer.
This was primarily a night race with heavy paddling and I relied heavily on my Epic paddle, Lupine lights, and KanPas compasses. I’ll be writing a review of my Lupine light in the next week or so, but let me say they are AWESOME!
The cool thing though is that we ran into another set of Florida adventure racers, 3 Shades of Gray out of Pensacola, FL. Awesome set of guys who we enjoyed running with for a little while. I’ll say it again, the best part of adventure racing is meeting all of the really cool people out on the course. We hope to see you guys at the 
teamdisoriented.com 