Race Updates from the last couple of months:
Whew, I’m not sure where the last couple of months went but I feel like I’ve done a few things! Trying to remember the highlights and in some cases, the low points, this many weeks out might be a challenge, so from oldest to newest, here goes!
March 26 2022: DINO Death March Bike Race
With Karen, Team Chickpoints
Placing: DFL – We finished 60/60 with 5 teams who either were overtime or unofficial. Scored the 5 mandatory points and 3 bonus points.
I signed up for this race with one major goal, just to go out and train riding my bike! I know this is not my strongest skill in adventure racing so spending more time in the saddle is necessary. The format of the race made for easy planning and since it was basically in our backyard, it was a no brainer! I mapped out a roughly circular route that included all of the known points and totaled 86 miles and a vertical range of 545′ to 937′ with a gain/loss of 6424’! The route we actually did was a distance of 65.7mi with a gain/loss of +4220’.
Race Day Memories: We started off and immediately decided to go in the opposite direction of our original plan. At this point, I can’t remember why we made that change but I’m not sure it would have made a difference in the end. Both Karen and I were ok with treating this as a training ride and to that end, we hadn’t strategized which points were worth more bonus. From Story we went out (or should I say UP considering that first hill past the Nebo Ridge Trailhead) to the first mandatory CP, Elkinsville Cemetery. Next was the muddy ride/slog that is Combs Road to Robertson for a bonus CP. From there we headed to the Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower which also included the first of the aid stations. The CP required both teammates to go to the top of the tower for the picture. At this point, my legs still felt good but I’d made a serious mistake with my shoe/sock combo. Given the cold temps and potential wet conditions, I’d chosen my classic combo of Randy Sun waterproof socks (also windproof!) and wool liners, which has worked in a lot of adventure races. The issue was I didn’t wear my Altra shoes, instead going with just my Brooks running shoes since we didn’t need to do any off trail climbing. The more narrow toe box combined with the thicker socks meant that my right foot was completely numb and white by the time we hit the fire tower. Stupid Raynauds syndrome certainly wasn’t helping the situation! Karen graciously offered me her spare pair of wool socks that were thinner and after I applied some rungoo to the offended foot, things improved. I won’t say I was warm and comfortable but I could sense that I had a foot attached to my leg instead of just a concrete block! We grabbed a snack (but no beer) from the aid station and headed off to the next couple of bonus checkpoints. And here dear reader is where the route falls apart! Since Henderson Creek was a “dead” CP, ie, no reason to go there, and I saw a trail that seemed to access the trail system we wanted, we headed back to 446 instead of continuing down South Dutch Ridge. This magical “shortcut” was in the burg of Yellowstone, which we totally blew by and missed the first time. Catching my mistake, we turned around and when we did find it, found that the trail wasn’t a trail at all but a private drive that was clearly marked no trespassing! Well crap. Back out to the main 446 where we saw BRF BARF coming in to attempt the same thing we had just tried. We shared our mistake and then the six of us all headed down a small side road that dead ended at a sketchy bridge that led to another private drive that we all just went on with anyway! This finally led to the same spot the original plan would have gotten us. So, to recap, we could have taken a 3 mile route from the last CP to this junction, but instead took a 9 mile shortcut! At this point, fatigue and mental strain was catching up to me and I went the wrong direction at the next intersection for another 1.4 mile goof before we arrived at Hickory Grove Church. At this point I told Karen I needed a bit of a sit down with a snack to try and regroup my legs and confidence. We had two more mandatory CP’s to collect in order to be official finishers and time was getting slim. There were lots of bonus CP’s that we could have taken a more southern route to collect but time was an issue, as was leg fatigue! We chose to make the possibly first smart decision of the day, and just do the mandatory CPs! I don’t remember much of the ride to Taylor but I do remember being greeted by some wonderful volunteers, a fire, and a fruity rum drink! A couple bag of chips later, we pried ourselves from the fire and headed off to the final CP. We came in with 8 1/2 minutes to spare! Had we chosen to go for a single bonus CP on the way home we would have time capped for sure.
The Rambling Hamblings 