race report, part 2
Last we saw our heros, they were waiting out the first night's storms in the cold bathroom...
I had been awake for awhile trying to stay warm because the floor just wasn't that comfortable. The sky was clearing and the rain had stopped. Just as I was waking up my team, Leiza came by to tell us that the race would restart at 6 (it was 5:50). We were all set to go, and were the first team out on the water. There were four checkpoints to get. It was a relatively uneventful leg, except for the beer drinking (see highlight post). We were paddling sit on tops, very slow boats compared to other teams, so we were third off the water.
Next leg was to ride to L&M/Circle S ranches. There were a number of trekking points on the two ranches, and we could choose to ride to the entrance at either ranch. The question was whether it was going to rain again, leaving the dirt roads impassable. We decided to risk the bad roads and we went in at Circle S. I got pretty sleepy on the ride out, so started a rousing game of 20 questions, which worked pretty well except for how long it took us to finish a round. When you're tired, you can drag out a game for a very long time. It was a relatively straightforward trekking leg. We had a few nav errors, but otherwise we were doing well. A few teams passed us, but we were still in 4th (3rd?) when we got back to the lake for the second paddle.
There was yet another storm rolling in as it got dark, which was becoming a theme for the race. Two teams were out on the water already. We were allowed to go out, but were told the storm was about 45 minutes away. We decided to wait it out and have a nap for 1.5 hours. We once again settled in to the bathroom, but this time we learned from homeless people that cardboard makes a huge different in how cold it is sleeping on concrete. It is amazing how much better we slept.
After 1.5 hours of sleep, the storm had totally blown over and we headed out for the last paddle leg. It was pretty uneventful, although definitely more difficult to do the nav in the dark. We had one problem when we paddled right past a point, but led another team right up to it and then spent about an hour looking for it again. Once we got that sorted out, it was back to the TA to head out for a ride to a ride/trek at Circle S. We were in 4th place.
(part 3, coming soon)
I had been awake for awhile trying to stay warm because the floor just wasn't that comfortable. The sky was clearing and the rain had stopped. Just as I was waking up my team, Leiza came by to tell us that the race would restart at 6 (it was 5:50). We were all set to go, and were the first team out on the water. There were four checkpoints to get. It was a relatively uneventful leg, except for the beer drinking (see highlight post). We were paddling sit on tops, very slow boats compared to other teams, so we were third off the water.
Next leg was to ride to L&M/Circle S ranches. There were a number of trekking points on the two ranches, and we could choose to ride to the entrance at either ranch. The question was whether it was going to rain again, leaving the dirt roads impassable. We decided to risk the bad roads and we went in at Circle S. I got pretty sleepy on the ride out, so started a rousing game of 20 questions, which worked pretty well except for how long it took us to finish a round. When you're tired, you can drag out a game for a very long time. It was a relatively straightforward trekking leg. We had a few nav errors, but otherwise we were doing well. A few teams passed us, but we were still in 4th (3rd?) when we got back to the lake for the second paddle.
There was yet another storm rolling in as it got dark, which was becoming a theme for the race. Two teams were out on the water already. We were allowed to go out, but were told the storm was about 45 minutes away. We decided to wait it out and have a nap for 1.5 hours. We once again settled in to the bathroom, but this time we learned from homeless people that cardboard makes a huge different in how cold it is sleeping on concrete. It is amazing how much better we slept.
After 1.5 hours of sleep, the storm had totally blown over and we headed out for the last paddle leg. It was pretty uneventful, although definitely more difficult to do the nav in the dark. We had one problem when we paddled right past a point, but led another team right up to it and then spent about an hour looking for it again. Once we got that sorted out, it was back to the TA to head out for a ride to a ride/trek at Circle S. We were in 4th place.
(part 3, coming soon)
posted by little b @ 4:18 p.m.
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