race report - part 1
It's hard to know how much detail to give in a race report. The people who read this who also adventure race, and especially those who have done this race before, probably want lots of details. Other people would probably find that boring. I'll see if I can find a happy balance. Pictures would help, of course, but alas, I don't have any.
The whole race experience started by picking up the NC boys at the airport. It became clear why I'm not a navigator after circumnavigating DFW airport a few times trying to find my way to the gates. Finally I noticed a very little sign that had been eluding me. Then I circumnavigated Terminal E three times looking for Charlie. Once we realized that I was looking on the arrivals level while he was waiting on the departures level, everything went smoothly. Picking up Ernie was uneventful and we were on our way.
Wednesday morning was sunny, with no traces of the lightening storms we'd been driving through the night before. The forecast had a low (40%) chance of rain that evening, with a higher chance on Friday. We were still optimistic that the weather would be better than the previous year.
The race started, as it usually does, with a prologue around town that could be done either on scooters or rollerblades. I'm competely useless on rollerblades (you might think I'm exagerating, but I'm really not. Useless. Dangerous to myself and others.) so I chose the scooting option, as did Charlie. The prologue was longer and more difficult than previous years. It involved solving some puzzles and then heading around to various houses looking for words to resort into a phrase. In the meantime, storm clouds were moving in.
We finished the annoying scavenger hunt and jumped on our bikes for the ride to L&N Ranch. Fortunately, it hadn't rained yet and the roads were totally fine. We thought we were waaaaay behind after the hunt, but we arrived at the ranch and there were only two sets of bikes there. We had to run out and get two check points, about 12 km total running. We ditched a bunch of gear and set out. We managed to catch the one team ahead of us and put some time in on them before the wind suddenly changed directions and the temperature dropped 15 degrees. It happened in an instant and that is never a good sign. The rain started with about 2 km to go, and with about 3/4 to go, it really started. Cold, horizontal rain with some hail mixed in.
We got to the bikes and dug for our rain gear. Through the wind and rain we heard someone calling us. Leiza made us crawl into the truck to wait out the storm warning that was in effect. It was 11:37 when we crawled into the truck. The warning was lifted at midnight. In the meantime, Tom's team had joined us in the truck and soon after that, the 4th place team (Nike) climbed into the second truck (STAR was leading and was already on their bikes somewhere). At midnight, we were told we could go, but we were still eating and hoping it might lessen a bit more. We were also getting sleepy. Nike headed out right away, and we finally got motivated about 10 minutes later to make the ride to the lake (on paved roads).
On arrival at the lake, we were told no one was going out. The two teams ahead of us were here, and we were to just hang out until it was safe. We ended up spending the night in the bathroom at the park. We were soaking wet, the concrete floors were freezing, and it may be one of the most uncomfortable nights I've spent. Obviously, we didn't get much sleep.
(long winded part 2, coming soon)
The whole race experience started by picking up the NC boys at the airport. It became clear why I'm not a navigator after circumnavigating DFW airport a few times trying to find my way to the gates. Finally I noticed a very little sign that had been eluding me. Then I circumnavigated Terminal E three times looking for Charlie. Once we realized that I was looking on the arrivals level while he was waiting on the departures level, everything went smoothly. Picking up Ernie was uneventful and we were on our way.
Wednesday morning was sunny, with no traces of the lightening storms we'd been driving through the night before. The forecast had a low (40%) chance of rain that evening, with a higher chance on Friday. We were still optimistic that the weather would be better than the previous year.
The race started, as it usually does, with a prologue around town that could be done either on scooters or rollerblades. I'm competely useless on rollerblades (you might think I'm exagerating, but I'm really not. Useless. Dangerous to myself and others.) so I chose the scooting option, as did Charlie. The prologue was longer and more difficult than previous years. It involved solving some puzzles and then heading around to various houses looking for words to resort into a phrase. In the meantime, storm clouds were moving in.
We finished the annoying scavenger hunt and jumped on our bikes for the ride to L&N Ranch. Fortunately, it hadn't rained yet and the roads were totally fine. We thought we were waaaaay behind after the hunt, but we arrived at the ranch and there were only two sets of bikes there. We had to run out and get two check points, about 12 km total running. We ditched a bunch of gear and set out. We managed to catch the one team ahead of us and put some time in on them before the wind suddenly changed directions and the temperature dropped 15 degrees. It happened in an instant and that is never a good sign. The rain started with about 2 km to go, and with about 3/4 to go, it really started. Cold, horizontal rain with some hail mixed in.
We got to the bikes and dug for our rain gear. Through the wind and rain we heard someone calling us. Leiza made us crawl into the truck to wait out the storm warning that was in effect. It was 11:37 when we crawled into the truck. The warning was lifted at midnight. In the meantime, Tom's team had joined us in the truck and soon after that, the 4th place team (Nike) climbed into the second truck (STAR was leading and was already on their bikes somewhere). At midnight, we were told we could go, but we were still eating and hoping it might lessen a bit more. We were also getting sleepy. Nike headed out right away, and we finally got motivated about 10 minutes later to make the ride to the lake (on paved roads).
On arrival at the lake, we were told no one was going out. The two teams ahead of us were here, and we were to just hang out until it was safe. We ended up spending the night in the bathroom at the park. We were soaking wet, the concrete floors were freezing, and it may be one of the most uncomfortable nights I've spent. Obviously, we didn't get much sleep.
(long winded part 2, coming soon)
posted by little b @ 9:07 a.m.
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