The Nocturnal 18-Hr AR (2010)

This past weekend I headed down to the middle of nowhere to race the Nocturnal 18-Hour Adventure Race.

Starting at 2:00PM on Saturday afternoon and finishing at 8:00AM on Sunday morning, it was going to be mostly a night race.  Team Nature Calls was going to be just Lori and I, since our other teammates were busy with other commitments.

The race took place in Forever Florida. I had never heard of the place before. It's south of St. Cloud (although it is still considered St. Cloud).  It would also take us out into the Bull Creek WMA, a place I've raced through before.

The Start/TA/Heat

Lori and I got to the race start around 10:30AM. And it was hot. Incredibly hot. We knew that when the race started at 2:00PM, we'd be sweating bullets.  Sitting around the TA getting our maps and gear ready was miserable. The heat was just unbearable. But it would get much worse.

And at exactly 2:00PM, off we went.

The Bike 1

The race started with bike ride.  We had to bike from the S/F Ta down to the Bull Creek TA. In between there would be two CPs we would have to find.

The ride was not hard, and finding the CPs was easy.  But already the heat was brutal.  The whole area we were in is pretty wide open.  In other words, it's mostly white sandy roads (a lot of soft sand) with very little shade. So yeah, hot.

Lori and I took our time and rode at our own pace. At around 3:30PM we reached the Bull Creek TA and quickly transitioned into the boats for a short paddle section.

The Paddle 1

There is not a lot of water in the area we were racing, so Greg (the race organizer) had to get clever.

Our first paddle was short.  We only had three CPs to get on the river, which was not long at all. So to add some time on the boat, Greg had us do a sort of time trial.  So after we picked up the CPs and got back to the boat TA, we had to go back out and paddle around a number of buoys he had set out.

All in all the paddle was nice and the CPs were fairly easy to get.  And lucky for us, the river was actually pretty shady, so that was a plus.

Lori and I finished the paddle at around 4:30PM. Now it was time to trek.

The Trek 1

We started the trek at around 4:40PM.  And I know I keep saying this, but it's hard to express just how incredibly hot it was out there.

On this trek we had to find four CPs along mostly sandy trails. The points were not hard to find, and the trails were not hard to follow, but the heat (and no shade) made the whole trek miserable.

Starting the trek we decided to take a shortcut through the woods while heading to CP7.  it was a short, but thick, bushwhack. Tons of big banana spiders.  And we even ran into a wasp nest, which we luckily saw before we walked into it.  After that, it was all trails to the rest of the CPs.

We finished the trek at around 6:30PM.  And in that short two hours time I went through an entire, full, 100oz bladder of ice water.

Oh yeah, while out on the trek, we ran into this beauty (below).  She was just curled up in the middle of the trail.  We went around it and as I tried to take a picture it ran away, which made it better for my picture.

The Bike 2

When we finally finished the trek I was so hot I decided to take a swim in the river just to cool off.  So I jumped right in.  It felt sooo good!

Now it was time to bike again.  This was going to be the longest (distance wise) leg of the race.  A bike leg with a few CPs to get, while making our way back to the main S/F TA.

During this section we ended up riding with Dr. Ron's Jim's Bicycles team.  I always like racing with Dr. Ron, he's a funny dude.

All the CPs were exactly were they were supposed to be.  The ride was mostly on nice shell-packed trails which made for good riding.  So mostly this was a section to get some miles in.  We had to try and stay hydrated as it was still brutally hot, even though it was now early evening.

We finished the leg and arrived back at the S/F TA at around 8:50PM.

The Trek 2

At 9:00PM, with a beautiful and bright full moon shining down on us (yes, Greg planned the race so it would be a full moon), we headed off on foot for the second trekking section of the race. The moon was so bright that we didn't even have to have our headlamps on, unless we were looking for a CP.  Still, even at night, it was till hot out.

The trek was fairly straight forward.  Lori and I quickly found CP6 and CP7.  At CP8 we again ran into Team Jim's Bicycles (Dr. Ron).  The six of us worked together to find the last three CPs before heading in.

All were fairly simple.  I think the one that gave us the hardest time was CP9, but that was our own fault.  We just didn't count our distance correctly.  Other than that we found all the CPs and at 11:30PM got back to the main TA for some zip-lining fun!

ZIP LINES!!

Forever Florida has some really cool zip line towers. I had no idea they had places like this in Florida, yet there it was, just an hour from my house.

They have these very tall towers all throughout the place. You get clipped into the line, and then zip line from tower to tower.  In between some of the towers they have suspension bridges that you have to cross, while way up in the air.  I really thought this was going to be boring and time consuming, but it really turned out to be one of the coolest things I have ever done in a race.

Unfortunately they don't allow you to bring cameras out to the area, so I couldn't take pictures.  We also didn't have our headlamps, but with the full moon it was amazing!

On this first zip line section (we had another one later on), we zip lined five different times.

The Paddle 2

During the zip lines I lost track of the actual time, but it was around 12:35(ish)AM that jumped back on our bikes and rode a short distance down to our second paddling leg.  This was was even shorter than the previous one.  It was a very, very tight river with lots of turns.  In other words, with a few boats in there it was really congested.  But, it took us no time to get the five CPs and get back to the TA.

The Bike 3

Around 1:30AM we headed off on bikes again, this time for our last bike leg of the race.

Again, this was a pretty straight forward section.  Five CPs and lots of riding.  Once again, halfway through this section we caught up with Dr. Ron and the rest of Jim's Bicycle team.

We slightly miscalculated the location of CP14 and spent longer than we wanted searching for it.  But we found it, moved on, and by 3:40AM we were back at the S/F/ TA.

Zip Lines (part 2)

At this point we headed back to the zip lines.  Now we had a shorter zip line section to do before moving on.  This part was short and quick.

The Trek / Finish!

At 4:30AM we headed off on the third trek, and the final leg, of the race.  I was tired.  Very tired.  But I knew I only had a short while to go.

This leg was once again pretty straight forward.  The only thing that gave us a hard time was looking for CP17.  It wasn't because we didn't know where it was.  It was because finding the FFT (Florida Foot Trail) was kinda hard in this area.  The typical orange blazes that mark the trail were hard to see since the trees were so far apart.  And the trail itself was very seldom used, so it was barely there, and very faint, so it was hard to follow.

But at exactly 6:55AM we made it in and crossed the finish line!

Summary

We finished 6th out of 17 teams.  And only six teams (us included) were able to complete and clear the full course.  The other 11 teams did not clear the course.  So we felt good about our race.

This was another excellent race! Greg and the rest of the Pangea staff and volunteers keep outdoing themselves with amazing races.  At every single transition area there was always a huge tote full of ice for us to use on our bottles and bladders. That was truly a life saver.

Lori was, as always, an awesome teammate. She is strong as a bull, even letting me hang on to her backpack during some of the trekking sections when I was hurting or moving slower. She is a bad ass! Thanks for another fun race Lori!

Not sure what I'll be doing between now and my next scheduled race, the Coast to Coast 72-hour race.  There are a couple races in between, but I haven't decided which one I may be doing.

---- Race Photos (click here) ----

The SCAR 6-Hr AR (2010)

This past Sunday, on Father's Day, Jason, myself and two of our friends, Aaron and May-Li raced the popular SCAR AR up in Wekiva.  We registered as Team Hoof Hearted for this race.  In fact, this race is so popular, it was the single biggest race (by attendance) that Pangea Adventure Racing has ever had.  That's pretty cool!

Anyway, our 6-hour race started promptly at 9:0AM, and it was already very hot.  I didn't know just how much the heat would factor into my (our) race that day.....

The Prologue

At 9:00AM the race started with a short 2.5 mile run.  we had two checkpoints (CPs) to find along the way.  There was little navigation on this section.  Just follow the trail to the CPs and head back.

We got out in front quick, and stayed near the front the entire time.  I was definitely the weak link as all three of my teammates are excellent runners.  But I managed to maintain a pace just fast enough to keep us in the front.  In 22 minutes (at 9:22AM) we were back at the TA ready to go on.

The Paddle

The paddling section was pretty straight forward.  We had a couple CPs down river (or actually "up" river since the Wekiva is one of the few rivers in the US that flows north), and a few points down river.

Navigation was pretty simple during this section.  The main issue was the heat.  By now it was getting brutal.  I tried to stay hydrated, but as I would learn shortly, I did not do a good job.

We took exactly 1 hour and 50 minutes to paddle nearly 8 (roundtrip) miles and get all the points on the river and get back to the TA.  We came in tied for second place with a 2-person coed team, Team Primal Instinct.  The first place team, a 2-person male team, Team Super Frogs, was a few minutes ahead of us.

The Bike

We rushed through TA and in a matter of seconds we were off.  We started the bike section at 11:15AM.  Shortly after we left is when I realized I could not breath.  My heart rate was through the roof and I could just not move very fast.  I couldn't get myself in a groove.

At first I biked as fast as I could, but it was just not fast enough to stay on the front.  So Jason did what we both have done several times before and broke out the tow rope.  And yes, for the rest of the bike leg (8.5 miles, 1:15 time) Jason towed me.  I was still not feeling great, but the towing helped a lot!  it helped me and it helped keep us near the front.  Jason was a freaking machine towing me through some nasty stuff!

Anyway, the CPs on the bike section were again fairly easy to find, nothing to hard.  We just had to keep moving.  On our way back we knew that Team Primal Instinct was just ahead of us, but we had not seen Team Super Frogs. We weren't sure why.

As I said above, the bike leg was a total of 8.5 miles which took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  We got back to the TA at 12:36PM.  Just a few seconds behind first place, Team Primal Instinct.

The Trek

Now it was time for the last leg of the race.  A short trek.  But it was noon, and brutally hot.

We left the TA at 12:40PM.  Again I was the weak link in the team.  Already hurting, I was moving slow.  So my team once again jumped in to help.  Aaron took my backpack to lighten my load.  And throughout the trek, I traded holding onto May-Li and Jason.  Again, as with towing on the bike, you wouldn't believe what a difference it makes.

So we moved as fast as I could.  It was a combination of fast walk and what I call the Ironman Shuffle, which is just my very slow run.  It's slow, but better than walking.

It took us exactly 40 minutes to cover the 3 mile section and pick up a few CPs along the way.

The Finish

We crossed the finish line at 1:19PM, 4 hours and 19 minutes after starting.  We finished in 2nd place, just shy of four minutes behind Team Primal Instinct.  But we were the first place elite team (3/4 person team).  So congrats to Team Primal Instinct for an amazing race!

At the finish line it was great to see that Alli, Erica, Thomas James, JD and Amy had come out to see us finish!!

So obviously we had a good race, but I've been kicking myself in the head since then for not having hydrated enough to keep from suffering as I did.  But our entire race was a display of pure team work.  Jason, May-Li and Aaron all came together to help me the entire day.  You guys rock!!  Thanks for an awesome race!

And thanks to Greg, Pangea and ALL the volunteers for putting on another top quality event!

---- Race Photos (click here) ----

The Talon 10-Hr AR (2010)

The Talon is one of the very first races I did.  In fact, it was my third adventure race back in 2004.  It is held in Alafia State Park which has some of the coolest MTB trails around.  I love riding the Alafia single track.  Moonscape is one of the touch single tracks I've ever ridden.  Anyway, I digress.  Back to the race.

For this race Team Nature Calls was back together with Jason, Lori and myself.  Our last race a couple weeks ago we won, so we were hoping to do well in this one too.

The Run

The race started with a short run (a few miles) in which we had to find two checkpoints (CPs) along the single track trails. We went off fast and stayed towards the front in order to try and avoid the congestion we'd knew would happen in some areas.  We finished the run near the front.  it was already getting pretty hot.

Ropes

During the race we had three 'special tests' we needed to complete.  We could do the at anytime during the race, but we'd knew some of them would get busy later on, so we decided to do the ropes section right away.  we were the first ones there.  We had to simply put on a harness and zip line over a small lake.  In no time we were back at the TA getting ready for some riding.

The Bike 1

The first bike section was a nice long ride along some of the cool single track.  For those who know the park, we rode 'Rock Garden', 'River Loop', 'and 'Sand Pine'.  Along the way we had four CPs wich would be right on the trails.  Finding the CPs was easy, and the riding was fun, although a little frustrating at first.

As we started the race we found ourselves behind several of the slower teams.  Several people who were getting off their bikes and any sign of a drop or a hill along the trail.  I was starting to get angry and Jason had to reason with me.  There was nothing we could do, just try to pass them when we could.  Eventually we got clear of all the slow riders and got towards the front for some good open riding.

We finished the bike section, now in second place, and decided to quickly do the last two 'special test'.  One was a puzzle and one was a dart throw thing.  Done and it was time to move on.

Orienteering 1

Now it was time for the first orienteering section of the race.  We had a handful of CPs to find by using compass bearings and distance.  Basically you shoot a compass bearing from a specific point, for a specific distance, to the first CP.  Once you find it, you shoot another bearing from that one to the next one.  And so on.  The race director made a little interesting by adding math to the equation.  For example, the instructions would say something like, "To get to CP8 from CP7, go 16x22-57 feet at 13x31+23 degrees.  Anyway, it was a fun section, but it was hot!

The Paddle 1

We now had a short ride of a few miles (no CPs) down to the river TA.  We packed up our paddles and headed off.  Reached the river still in second place, quickly jumped on our boat, and headed South towards CP11.  we were paddling against the current and against a head wind, which meant the paddle back up river would be very nice.  And it was.  we quickly caught and passed the team in front of us, and made it back to the river TA in first place.

The Bike 2

Back at the river TA we transitioned back to our bikes and headed West on the trails to find two CPs.  The ride was mostly on berms which were up pretty high, which meant some climbing.  I have to admit, it hurt.  We had a bit of trouble finding CP14, but eventually got to it.  After that CP13 was much easier to find, but tougher to get to.  Lots of bushwhacking for that one.  But it wasn't long before we were heading back to the river TA.  And did I mentioned it was hot out there?

The Paddle 2

Back on the boats now we headed North on the river towards CP16.  This part of the river was very different to the southern portion.  Less water and lots of trees, logs and other debris on the way.  We had to get out of the boat several times.  Fairly tough, but Cp was easy to find and we made it back to the river TA still leading the race.

The Bike 3

From the river we jumped back on our bikes and headed back towards CP18, located near the river.  In order to get the CP we had to cross the river. This was one of those few times I realize how great adventure racing is.

As we were pushing our bikes up towards the river's edge, Jason, who was at the front, stopped to listen.  I asked him what was up and he calmly said, "I thought I heard a rattle snake".  A few minutes later, when we reached the river, we saw a young gator, about 3 feet in length, entering the river on the opposite bank, exactly where we had to go.  But none of us thought anything of it.  I quickly picked up my bike over my shoulders and waded across the chest deep river heading towards the exact place the gator had just gone in.

Anyway, we crossed the river, picked up the CP and headed back to the main TA.

The Orienteering 2

Now we had another orienteering section, similar to the previous one.  A solo racer, Nick, had joined us for this section. The four of us quickly found and made it through, picking up CP20-27.  We made it back to the main TA easily 45 minutes ahead of the closest team.  Unfortunately, this is when we found out we had made one mistake.

After we picked up CP27 we misread the instructions and thought we were to head back to the TA.  But we really had one more CP, CP28 to find along the way.  We literally walked within a couple feet of it on our way to the TA, but since we weren't looking for it, we didn't see it.  So when we made it to the TA they informed us we had missed the CP.  Unfortunate mistake on our part, but we had no choice, we had to go back for it.  An hour later, we were back, with CP28 marked.

So just like that, a small mistake turned a 45 minute lead into a 20 minute deficit.  Six teams had jumped ahead of us.  But as I've said a million times, that's adventure racing.

At this point we had finished with the mandatory portion of the race.  Now we could start the bonus portion.

The Bike 4 - Bonus Points

So we jumped back on the bikes to go after as many bonus points as we could.  After finding the first two we headed up a sandy trail to the others.  The heat was brutal. It really got to Jason and I.  We were both hurting and moving really slow.  We actually had to pull over and rest under some trees for a few minutes.  And as always, Lori was strong as can be.  She never ceases to amaze me.

Although we were moving slowly, and some of the CPs gave us a hard time, we managed to get six CPs, for a total of 9 bonus points. We made it back to the main TA finishing the race at 5:13PM.  Nine hours and 43 minutes of racing.

Now we had to play the waiting game to see if any teams managed to finish the mandatory course, and get more bonus points than we did.

Results

We finished with nine bonus points in a time of 9:43. Only one team got more points than we did, a 2-person male team, Team Rinkside Sports (with 11 points). A couple other teams finished with 9 points as well, but we finished faster than they did. And in case of a points tie, time is always the tie breaker.  So we were second overall.  But in the elite racing division, the 3-person coed, we were solidly in first place.

It was definitely a tough race.  The incredible heat made it much tougher.  But as always we had a blast doing it.

I've said it dozens of times before, and I am sure I will say it dozens more, but I really want to thank my awesome teammates J and Lori.  You guys rock!

That was my 3rd race in four weeks.  Now I get a nice break before my next race in June.  I better start doing some heat training.

---- Race Photos (click here) ----

The Nocatee 30-Hr AR (2010)

Phew.  What a race.  What an amazingly fun and tough race.  Where to start?

Well, this race took place up in North Florida in the St. Augustine area, in and near the town of Nocatee, FL.  I've raced through this area twice before, and it was always hard.

For this race I teamed up with Trung and Jaime Lynch.  I had never raced with them before, but I know them both and I knew they are both very cool guys and very strong adventure racers.  So at 9:00AM on Saturday morning, off we went....

The Prologue

The race started with a very short prologue.  A simple 1/4 mile run to find some hidden clues.  All took about 7 minutes and we were done and bac to the TA to really start the race....

The Bike 1

After the easy prologue we took off on our bikes for a nice road bike ride with three CPs (checkpoints) along the way. The ride was about 11 miles or so.  The CP's were fairly easy to find.  In this section we hooked up with Jim Carr and Rod Price of Team Eco-Choice.  Since it was a road bike section it helped having five of us trading pulls against a pretty nasty headwind as we headed down A1A.

We quickly found the CPs and made it to the boat ramp were we would take off on our first paddling leg of the race.

The Paddle 1

The first paddle leg of the race would be on a dammed (as in contained a dam) lake which had recently been slightly drained.  Actually, the TA was at the dam itself.  In fact, changes to the course had to be made last minute because of the water level after the lake was drained.  Anyway, we had five CPs to find in this section. The total paddle distance was about 12 miles.  The CPs were again fairly easy to find.  The paddling itself was kinda tough because of the water level.  There were three of us in one canoe, which weighs us down a lot and makes it really hard to paddle in low water.  And it was starting to get really hot out there!

So we slowly made our way up the lake, found four CPs, and paddled back to the dam.  We had to cross over the dam (carry our boats) and find one last CP just south of the dam. Finally, after a few hours (3-4 hours I think), we were happy to get out of the water. I think all three of us share a big dislike for paddling, and we were ready to get out of the boats!

The Bike 2

Now the real fun was about to begin! A long bike section with lots of CPs to find, and all in kinda hard places. It was early in the afternoon, and off we went!

This section would be all off road.  Part fire roads, part jeep trails, part single track. We had nine checkpoints to find, along with an orienteering section in the middle of it.  Thanks to our pre-race planning, this section went really well for us.  Sort of (more on this later).  We did great finding all the points on the course fast and without issue.  CP14 gave us a hard time, but only wasted about 10 minutes on it.  The rest we got right away.

When we reached CP16 we had to go on foot to find five orienteering checkpoints (shoot bearings and go). Again we did wel on this section. Found all points with no issue and we were quickly back on our bikes heading back to the TA.

Just as we got the very last point we noticed something, we were missing one CP, CP9.  That's when I realized I had COMPLETELY forgotten about it! All of the CPs in this section were located north of where we got back on the bikes.  Except for CP9.  That single CP was south.  When we got on the bikes, I just totally forgot about it.  I led us north towards what I though were all the points.  This one mistake would bother me the rest of the race.  But there was nothing we could do about it now.  We were about 12 minles north of the Cp, and there was no way we were going to add 24 miles to our bike leg.  So we had to skip it.  I felt like a complete idiot for letting down my teammates counting on my navigation.

We finished the biking section in the early evening. Now to get ready for some good old fun in the dark.

The Trek 1

We quickly changed, fueled up, geared up, and headed out on foot.  Ahead of us we had a very long trekking section.  Daylight was about to be gone so we moved quickly to try and get at least one CP before darkness consumed us.

We reached CP23 around 7:00PM.  At this point we also ran into Dr. Ron's team, Team Florida Xtreme.  Instead of taking the much longer, but easier route to CP24, we all decided to try the much shorter, but slightly harder route, which meant bushwhacking through some nasty stuff.  Dr. Ron and his team went a different way than we did.  We were both trying to do the same exact thing, try to make it to CP24.  Unfortunately we overshot it and ended up on a road past the CP, and wouldn't you know it, we ran into Dr. Ron who had also missed it.  So since this was going to be a long section, at night, we decided to combine our navigation efforts and team up for this trekking section.

Together, Dr. Ron and I easily led us through the very long section.  We found all the points with only minor slow downs, told some funny racing stories (Dr. Ron has a lot of good ones) and had a really fun time.  Now came time for what would become the toughest part of the race.

The Paddle 2

We finished the trekking section in the middle of the night, on the Guana River where the boats were waiting for us.  Now we had what we thought would be a fairly easy and short paddling leg.  There were four CPs we had to find, and in the middle of the paddle we had another trekking section.  Pretty straightforward right?

Well it turns out that navigating a river like this one, in the middle of the night, is kinda hard.  Usually, when you navigate a river, you have river bends and islands and other features which allow you, as a navigator, to know where you are and find what you are looking for.  But this river had none of that.  It was basically straight as an arrow, and had no discernible features. Almost no way to know where you were.  My point being, finding the CPs became quite the endeavor.  Thankfully, we were still racing with Florida XTreme and Dr. Ron whose many years of navigating experience eventually helped us find all the CPs.  It was hard, no doubt about that.  Also Team Eco-Choice had also joined us.

We ended up backtracking on the river several times.  Getting in and out of the boats in several places only to find we were not in the correct place.  It was frustrating, but we did find all the points.

The Trek 2

We had another trekking section in the middle of the paddle.  It was much shorter than our previous one, and a nice break from the frustration of the river. Working together we found these points very quickly. We were all really enjoying the race so far.  Other than the frustration of the river navigation, we were having fun.  And the night ski, man, that was an incredible sight.  So clear and so many stars!

We found the CPs in this section and got back on the boats to finish the paddling section.  So just shortly after daybreak, early on Sunday morning, we finally, finally got out of the boats.  Phew! Another section down, two more to go.

The Bike 3

After walking about 2.5 miles back to the TA, we geared up for the bike again.  This time we had a long bike section in some of the same area we had trekked the previous night.  we had nine Cps to find in this section.  So again, off we went.

Most of the points on this section were off the trails, but most were again pretty straight forward to get to.  Just a lot of riding.  After a little while it started getting really hot again. And now we had to start worrying about the time. We had to finish the race by 3:00PM, no later.  After the bike we still had another short trekking section to get to, so we needed to plan accordingly. So we kept moving, slow but steady.  we had met up with Team Eco-Choice again, and we worked together to get through the section as quickly as possible.

Sometime just after 1:00PM we made it back to the TA.

The Trek 3

At 1:20PM we started the very last section of the race.  It was a 3.5 miles trek.  We had five very easy CPs to get.  And just about 1 hour later, at 2:27PM, we came across the finish line.

We had finished with all but one of the 55 checkpoints, and ended in 5th place overall.

We had raced for 29 hours and 27 minutes non-stop.  We were tired and hungry.  But were also very happy to have finished such a great and demanding race.

First first off, thank you to my great teammates, Trung and Jamie.  They both did an amazing job! They were great teammates and never complained about anything.  They were always working hard and doing anything they could to help us find the points.  Had a great time racing with them!  Thank you guys!!

I also want to thank Dr Ron, Jim and the rest fo the members of Teams Eco-Choice and Florida Xtreme.  Great time hanging out with all of you.  We now have some great stories to tell our grandchildren about the Guana River.

And finally thank you to Pangea Adventure Racing for another excellent race!

And as a great surprise after a very long 30 hours, Alli showed up to the race finish! Just as we had crossed the finish line there she was. A very welcomed surprised. She drove my tired ass home while I slept the whole way home. And then took great care of my tired, immobile self at home.

Now it's time to relax for a week and then get ready for the next race, the 10-hour Talon AR on May 1st.

---- Race Photos (click here) ----

The Squiggy 6-Hr AR (2010)

Yesterday Team Nature Calls headed back out into the woods for another excellent adventure race, The Squiggy 6-Hour AR, at Morris Bridge Park in the Hillsborough River area.

Jason, Lori and I had not raced together since the Turkey Burn, so we were ready to rock!

The Prologue

In order to split up the teams and put a little distance between them, the race started with a short prologue.  Basically we ran through a mini and short obstacle course right around the start/finish area.  We tried to stay near the front of the pack as we knew there would be back ups at some of the obstacles.  And in a few shorts minutes we were done and on our way to the next part of the race.

Ride -N- Tie

The next part of a race was a section called Ride N Tie.  One teammate rides a bike while the others run.  You can switch off at anytime you want.  The section was only a couple miles long, so we decided Lori would ride and Jason and I would run.  The ride actually turned out to be harder than we thought as sections the trail were not bike friendly.  But Lori did a great job while Jason and I tried to keep a good running pace.  When all was said and done, we finished the section in about 3rd place overall.

The Bike

After a very quick "special test" back at the TA, we tok off for the bike portion of the race.  This section was awesome!  Most of the bike was on great single rack trails which were perfectly maintained.  Very fast trail and very fun to ride.  We were the first ones of the trail, followed closely by our friend Greg (from Pangea Adventure Racing) and his son.

In this section we had five checkpoints to find, three of them would be right along the trail, while two we had to go find off the trail.  We moved quick on the trail and easily found all the points.  Lori who hadn't ben riding much (since she just finished a massive 7-day kayaking trip) did amazing on the bike!

Greg and his son stayed with us most of the way, but unfortunately halfway through the bike one of their derailleurs broke, and Greg had to tow his son all the way back to the TA.  Great job on that Greg!

So we were the first ones back to the TA, and quickly jumped on the boats to star the paddling section.

The Paddle

Now it was time to canoe down the Hillsborough River.  This was a very nice paddle.  Very pretty river. And thanks to all the rain we had the last few weeks, the water level was high which made paddling easy.  Well, except for the fact that heading south on the river the current was against us and very though.

The CP's on the river were again fairly easy to find.  Saw a nice big gator sunbathing or waiting for one of us to tip their canoes, one or the other.  Anyway, once we reached the last CP and turned around to head back to the TA, we were smoking it, thanks to the very strong current.

Made it back to the TA in first place, with a few teams about 10 minutes or so behind us.

The Trek

With a few teams on our tails, we wasted no time in leaving the TA on our last section of the race, the trek/run.  We had seven checkpoints to find in what was basically a very big swamp area.

Kip and Jessica had warned us about the mosquitos in this area, and man were they right.  Only once before have I experienced anything quite like it, and that was while racing through the Everglades.  It was insane.  As soon as you stopped for even a second, you were swarmed by hundred of big nasty mosquitos.  Luckily were had prepared with bug spray, but it was still annoying.

The first two checkpoints on this section were fairly easy to get to as they were off trails.  But the rest were out in the middle of the swampish area next to the river.  It was very wet and very muddy.  We hard a little problem finding FP3.  Looked around for a bit until we finally got our bearings (after making it to the river) and got it.  After that, it was smooth sailing.  Jason's navigation was, as always, spot on.

On our way back to the finish we decided to take the shortest route, which meant taking a dip in the river.  We tried to pick a good section to cross, but still ended up having to swim in what turned out to be pretty cold water.  That's adventure racing!

Made it to the finish line where we had to do a small mental test before finally crossing the finish line.  So a few minutes later, we came across the finish line, 1st Place Overall!  Second place came in about 5 minutes after us.

As always, I want to thank my awesome teammates, Jason and Lori.  We had a great time and good laughs!  Jason was again the man on his navigation and got us to all CP's very quickly!  Awesome job guys!  Can't wait to do it again!

And thank you to Kip, Jessica, and the rest of the WeCeFAR volunteers.  Excellent course!!

Now to get ready for next week's 30-Hour adventure race up in Nocatee, Florida with Trung and Jamie.  Should be fun!

---- Race Photos (click here) ----

The BOAR 6-Hr AR (2010)

Yesterday I did the 6-hour adventure race, The BOAR, with JD and Nikki Bell. It was a beautiful, somewhat cold morning, in East Orlando (Ft. Christmas area).

The Paddle

The race started out great.  We had a short bike ride from the start to the Paddle TA just a few miles away.  The roads were all very nice and hard packed.  It was easy going.  Made it to the boats together with the first two teams.  But here's where very quickly our race would get turned upside dow.

The paddle portion of the race was in the St. John's River flood plain.  Usually, when the water level is low, the flood plain has a very distinct channel that you can paddle on.  And the maps we had for the race, which were taken directly off Google Maps, showed only this clear channel.  However, thanks to all the rain we've had lately, the flood plain was flooded.  There was water everywhere! It was very hard to figure out what the main channel was because everything looked the same.

So we easily and quickly made it to CP1. But then we got completely lost heading to CP2.  As you can see on the map from my GPS watch (below), we ended up paddling way north.  Notice how it looks like we are going over dry land, but believe me, it was anything but dry. 1.5 hours later I was completely lost.  I have never been so lost in a race before.  There was so much water everywhere that it was nearly impossible to figure out where you were.  But finally after about 1.5 hours, we saw another boat and finally figured out where we were.  From there we decided to get a few close CP's then just head in.  Turns out almost every team had a hard time with the paddle, so that made me feel better. But it still sucked and cost us a lot of time.  So we picked up only 4 out of 8 possible checkpoints and headed back to our bikes.

The Bike (1)

Both bike sections of the race were really easy.  After getting off the boats we got on our bikes and biked up to CP9.  From there we backtracked back past the main TA and continued on to CP10 and CP11, before heading into the TA.  Very easy.

The Bike (2)

At the TA we had an option, we could go on to the next bike leg, or to the next trek leg.  We chose to do the bike leg first, get it out of the way, then have the remaining race time to do the trek.

Again, this leg was easy.  All roads were really nice and the CP's were exactly in place.  We saw a lot of big gators in this area just sitting right on the side of the trail, a mere 10 feet from where we were riding.  Very cool.  We finished this section pretty quick and picked up all the CP's (CP20-CP26).  Then we headed back to the TA.

The Trek

Now it was time to trek.  I knew this was going to be a long trek, and we had just about 2-hours to complete it. Since this is a rogaine race the finishing time is very important.  You have to be back to the finish line before the cutoff (3:00PM).  So we kept a a good eye on our watch.

We headed off running and quickly found CP18.  From there we moved up to CP12 and then CP13.  CP14-CP16 were really cool because you had to shoot navigational bearings to each one from the previous one.  Then you had to follow your bearing and find the CP.  I owned this section.  I came up on all 3 CP's right on!  At one point Nikki and JD were wondering what the hell we were doing, but then, there would be the CP, right where I said it would be.  I felt good getting those points so easily.

We finally reached CP17 and had just over 30 minutes to spare.  Now, looking at the map, the trail from CP17 to CP19, and then from CP19 to the finish, looked like a nice hard packed jeep trail.  It was about 2.4 miles from there to the finish.  So I thought we should have plenty of time to finish, no problem.

Unfortunately just south of CP17, the trail turned into a nasty, muddy, mucky shit pile that was impossible to run through.  Parts were under water, other parts you would just sink ankle deep into the cow dung mud.  Running was out of the question.  But, we had already committed so we had to keep pushing.

We found CP19 with exactly 15 minutes left to go.  Again, I thought the trail would get better and 15 minutes might be enough.  But the trail did not get better.  It almost got worse. so for about 1 mile were were walking through this nasty ass crap.  It was so frustrating because I knew this woud cost us big time and we would not finish before 3:00PM.  Finally the last 0.5 mile we got to a nice packed shell road, but by then it was too late.  We were already past 3:00PM.

The Finish/Penalties

We finally finished at 3:11PM.  We had a total of 22 points which was good for a solid 3rd place overall finish.  But the penalties for being late were 1 point per 10 minutes late.  So we got a 2 point penalty and ended up with a net of 20 points, which put us in 5th place.

But we still had a fun race.  JD did really good!  And Nikki was a freaking machine!  She was on fire running ahead of us to every single CP and getting it right away.  Plus the girl has eagle eyes.  She was spotting CP's from all over the place!  Good stuff!  So I want to thank both of you for an awesome race!  I was sorry I miscalculated our time, but, that's racing!

And a huge congrats to Jason, Erica and May-Li who ended up 3rd place overall with a total of 21 points!  Erica fresh of having a baby.  That's good shit!

Here are the two maps.  One is the entire race map.  The other is just the paddle map to show you how lost we were going from CP1 to CP2.

---- Race Photos (click here) ----

The Swamp Stomp 24-Hr AR (2010)

I've always said that the Swamp Stomp is the toughest adventure race in the state.  There are other tough races, like the Coast to Coast, but the Swamp Stomp has always stood out with it course selection, tough terrain, hard navigation and (almost always) cold conditions.  Needless to say, it is one of the "must-do" races in my calendar.  As so it was that Greg and I (Team Hoof Hearted) signed up for this year's race, having had very little training over the long holiday season.  But we had our experience so we figured we could get through it. And here's how it went....

This race was a 'rogaine' style adventure race.  For those of you who don't know, that means that there would be a lot of mandatory checkpoints to find (CP), but there would also be a lot of bonus checkpoints (BP) available.  It would be up to each individual team to decide what, if any, BP's to get.  The main rule on this type of race is that you HAVE TO be at the finish line before the time cut off.  For this race the time cut off was at 1:00PM on Sunday afternoon.  So no matter what you do, you have to make sure you will be done by that time.

The Prologue (Paddle 1)

In a very unusual start, all teams had to options for starting the race.  [u]Option 1[/u] was a 15-16 mile, tough navigation paddle from the Homossassa River resort down to the Chassahowitzka River TA (the main start/finish transition area).  There would be no CP's in this paddle, but all teams would automatically receive 9 points for doing the paddle.  [u]Option 2[/u] was to start at the Chassahowitzka River TA and do a short 1.5 hour paddle while collecting five different CP's located near the TA. The first three teams would ear bonus points in order. First Place = 3 points, 2nd Place = 2 points and 3rd Place = 1 point. The other unusual aspect of this start would be that the teams choosing option 2 would have three hours (from 7am-10am) to finish.  If they finished early, the could sit around until 10:00AM when the rest of the race would officially start.

Greg and I, both pretty out of shape combined with the fact that we hate paddling, decided to do option 2.  We figured we could do well and try to make up the points elsewhere in the race.  And it did pay off.  We ended up doing great on the paddle, taking just 1:35 to complete it, and finished tied for first place, which earned us 3 points. But best of all, we got to sit in our car and warm up for about an hour before heading out for 27 straight hours of pure, but fun, hell.

(more detailed full size image here: http://i46.tinypic.com/2rwuonp.png)

The Bike (1)

At 10:00AM we headed off on our bikes to continue the rest of the race.  This would be a fairly quick, easy bike section of just about 15 miles, and mostly on paved roads.  There were two very easy BP's along the way before reaching the Hebron Church TA.  Not much to tell here as it was a simple section which took us just short of an hour.

(more detailed full size image here: http://i49.tinypic.com/307qiba.png)

The Trek (1)

Here's where the race would really start getting tough. After arriving at Hebron Church TA on our bikes, we headed off on foot for the longest trekking section of the race.  There were lots of mandatory and bonus points to get, and we wanted to get them all. So off we went.

CP2 was a very cool point.  It was located at the bottom of a very cool pit.  Only one of us had to go down, and that was Greg's job.  There were ropes to help you get down cause otherwise it would be impossible (as you can see by the pictures and video below.

Greg coming back up from the pit....

The rest of the trek was just long.  Greg and I ran a good portion of it to try and make good time.  And we nailed every CP right on.  only had two small navigational mishaps which only cost us a few minutes, but nothing major.  The trek was actually fun.  Very cool places and some really cool CP's and BP's.  BP10 was in a cool rock quarry.  And BP9, which you can see below, was in some really neat caves out in the middle of nowhere.  Very cool indeed!

The total trek took us about 6 hours.  But we did what we wanted to do.  We skipped two BP's that were kinda far to get considering we had a cutoff time of 6:30PM to make it back to the TA.

(more detailed full size image here: http://i48.tinypic.com/2ngtpjm.png)

The Bike (2)

After the long trek were got back on our bikes to head of on what would become the toughest part of the race, and the reason a lot of people quit or didn't finish the race.

It was about 6:30PM when we start, and the temperature was already starting to drop fast. We bundled up.  I had five layers on me.  Two polypro longsleeve shirts, a thermal fleece, and two rain jackets. I had on my leg warmers under my long trekking pants.  And as I would find out, this was still not going to be enough.

For us the bike would be pretty straight forward.  We had spent a lot of time studying the maps the night before so we were confident of our route and that we would easily find all the points. What we had not counted on was how bad the trails would be.  Because of all the rain the trails were wet, and because all the short-race (there was another, shorter, version of the race taking place) competitors had already ridden the trails, they were all torn up and muddy.

We hooked up with a couple teams for part of this section.  Our good friends of Team It's Go Time (Trung, Sway, Jaime and Mike) were one of them.  And our friends Tom and Chris were the other.  Tom usually races as Team Punch Junkies.

Everything started out as planned.  We found CP5 quickly.  Moved on to CP6, BP14 and CP7 easily and quickly.  That's where we separated from our friends and went after BP12 on our own.  We found it and headed back.  Even though we were getting the points with no issues, it was still time consuming and slow going because of the condition of the trails.  So after BP12 we decided to go straight to CP8 and head to the TA in order to give us plenty of time to complete the last three legs of the race.  Easy enough right?  It certainly seemed easy enough to us.

It was around 10:00PM or so when we arrived at CP8.  The temperature as still dropping fast.  Last we were told, it got down to 28 that night, and it definitely felt like it.  After CP8 we continued on to what we thought would be a simple and straightforward route to the TA.  But around halfway through we ran into a huge hurdle.  The trail ended.  It just ended into a swamp.  The trail itself was still there, but completely underwater all around.  There was no walking or riding around it either.  There was only one way to do it, jump in the swamp and push our bikes through it.

So in we went into the incredibly, I say again, incredibly cold water.  In sections we would sink down to about waist deep.  But mostly it was about knee deep.  Either way, my feet were completely submerged for about 40 miserable minutes. And once I went into the water when I tripped.  Because of the loose mud, roots, cypress knees under the water, and because it was dark and we were pushing our bikes, it was very slow going.  But eventually, out we came out onto a solid trail where we could ride again.

By the time we reached the TA, around midnight, my hands and feet were completely numb.  My feet hurt like they have never hurt before. I've always known I have bad circulation on my extremities.  Even at 70 degrees my fingers get cold. So thankfully there was a couple very hot fire pits going at the TA.  We sat around for a long time trying to warm up. This is were we made a tough decision regarding the rest of our race...

(more detailed full size image here: http://i45.tinypic.com/2wqcw34.png)

The Trek (2)

Sitting around the fire trying to warm up Greg and I had some decisions to make.  We had about 11 hours left to finish the race.  We had what we knew would be a couple hours trek, a couple hours bike ride, and around a 6 hour paddle before finishing the race.  Basically we knew we would be hard pressed to finish the race by 1:00PM, even if we picked up only the rest of the mandatory CP's.  So after overhearing another team in the same situation, we decided to skip a few of the mandatory CP's.  we would still finish the race, but of course we'd be out of contention for prizes or anything of the sort.  But we didn't care.  We really just wanted to finish the race. So we decided to go get one of the trek CP's, skip two, and then continue the race with the last bike and paddle.

Obviously the trek was simple.  We trekked down the trail a short way, picked up CP10, and headed back.  Even in that short time we got so cold.  So we went back and warmed up by the fire one last time before biking all the way back to the main finish line to do the last paddle.

(more detailed full size image here: http://i46.tinypic.com/154wn6p.png)

THE COLD

As we prepared to leave the TA on our bikes we got a good idea of just how cold it was.  All the gear we had left at the TA while on our trek was completely frozen.  With actual frost on it.  And here's a new one for me, our bikes were frozen.  The chain and cables did not work. Seriously, we could not pedal the bike or change gears because it was all frozen!  We ended up pouring water on everything to try and melt it.  To make it more fun, our CameBak hoses were also frozen.  We could work the ice out of them, drink, and by the time we tried to drink again they would be frozen.  It was unreal.

The Bike (3)

This section was fairly straightforward.  Most of it was on hard packed shell roads.  We were tired and cold so we rode slow, but we found a few BP's and both of the mandatory CP's along the way.  We ran across a handful of teams on this section and arrived at the TA a little after the sun finally came out on a cold Sunday morning.

(more detailed full size image here: http://i50.tinypic.com/micord.png)

The Paddle (2) - The Finish!

To finish the race we had one last paddling section to do.  This section had just four mandatory CP's, and a handful of BP's.  The furthest point (CP5) was about 5 miles out.  We knew going out to get that one and trying tp pick up the other three CP's would put us past the 1:00PM deadline.  SO we decided to skip that CP, another mandatory one, and focus on getting the three other CP's.

These three were not hard to find.  They were actually very cool.  All three of them were located on natural springs.  CP14 and CP17 were very neat to get to.  The natural spring water was the usual 72 degrees, which made it seem so warm compared to everything we had encountered so far.  So getting in the water and getting our feet wet in these areas was actually pleasant.

CP16 was the last CP of the race for us, and also most unusual CP I've ever been too.  It was underwater.  CP16 was at another natural spring down in a cave-like hole underwater.  There was no punch, but a bucket with tokens.  One of us had to dive underwater and retrieve one of the tokens.  It was my turn to do the crazy...

After that we paddled back to the TA and the FINISH LINE!!  We were done.

(more detailed full size image here: http://i46.tinypic.com/k4ys5c.png)

The Finish

We had managed to get a lot of bonus points, but unfortunately had missed three of the mandatory points. So we did well and finished a very tough race, but it would have been nice to have gotten all the mandatory points.

In the end it was another excellent race.  Right on par for the previous Swamp Stomps.  Cold weather, tough navigation and a hard course.  Sure, we were pretty miserable at times, but in the true spirit of adventure racing, we never considered quitting.  Even though, I must admit, the thought crossed my more than a few times.  But if there's one thing I've learned from my adventure racing mentor (Jason) is that quitting is not an option anymore. In my first few AR's I quit a few times and later regretted it.  But Jason taught me to do what I have to (like skipping CP's), but always try to make it to the finish line one way or the other.  So Greg and I were definitely happy with our accomplishment of another successful race.

Jessica, Kip and Michael Moule did a great job setting up the course and putting together an awesome race.  Thank you guys!  And thanks to all the great volunteers who were out there in the cold in the middle of the night ready to help us out in any way possible.

And thanks to Greg who did a great job helping me with the navigation and pushing me in the times when I was hurting the most.  Awesome job Playa!

Now on to the rest of the 2010 AR races which are sure to be just as fun!!

---- Race Photos (click here) ----