Adventure Racing is.........

The Bushwhack Adventures asked folks to put together a video of what Adventure Racing meant to them.

Check out our new promotional video for the Waterlogged Dogwoods and for the awesome sport of adventure racing! Special huge, giant, enormous thanks to Kevin Rader-Rhodenbaugh of Rimshot Drum Studios for the original music.

http://www.endurogirl.com/waterlogged-dogwoods-promotional-video

Read more...

2011 Checkpoint Tracker Championship

Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Championship
Cadiz, KY
October 21, 2011

Race Report
Team #62 – Waterlogged Dogwoods

From Waterlogged Dogwoods Photo Album

The 2011 Season started off, not racing, but Marcey and I race directing the Gleneagles Challenge Sprint Adventure Race in April. It wasn’t until late April that we toed the line for the first time at the Bushwhack AR produced Yuki-BAR. After 4 races under the Waterlogged Dogwoods Moniker and many teammate combinations, we found ourselves at the Checkpoint Tracker Championship for 2011 at the beautiful Land Between the Lakes in southwest Unbridled Kentucky. After a last minute injury (hope you are healing Jeff), the team was finalized with Bob, Marcey, Dave (TIMEFIN), and Marcilynn representing the Dogwoods.

The drive was long, 9.5 hours, but the location was awesome. Lake Barkley Lodge was one of the best venues I’ve seen to host a race at. Plus we were able to share time and space with the Schmidt Family Reunion……a great wholesome family from Western Kentucky. After checking into the lodge and unloading a gear bomb in our hotel room, we checked in with the race staff – great swag by the way….fleece jacket, hat, swiftwick socks. We posed for some M&M pics with the girls and a nice sorority sisters lean-in, hands on the knees, pouty lips shots with the guys. (MR - Bob was way too familiar with the pouty lips sorority girl pose) There was even a ‘Significant Other +1’ representational ribbon capture that provided some laughs for everybody - sorry Rob. After a nice buffet dinner we went to the race brief. Yak was on his game for the brief and Jason, from Bonk Hard Racing, did a great job presenting the race instructions. Ian Adamson, AR Legend, was on-hand to assist with the race and add some flair to make it truly memorable.

We were handed a few maps with the first half of the UTMs. Plotting began on a ping-pong table in the game room of the lodge. The course looked like an Orienteering Prologue, Paddle, 10 Hour O’Course, then Paddle to a Bike TA where more UTMs would be handed out. We plotted enough detail to get the race started and did a small amount of planning on how to attack the first O’Course section. We strolled back to the room to do some last minute gear checks. This is where I realized I had probably not packed enough nutrition – that’s what you get for throwing stuff together the night before, my J-O-B is taking too much time right now. Luckily, Dave had a big supply of pizza and sausage biscuits and my other teamies could hook a brother up as well. My goal was to not Rat F my gear too much and hunker down for some decent sleep – already being a bit deprived. (MR - it doesn’t matter how many times one can make a list and check it, there is always to much Rat F with the gear)

From Waterlogged Dogwoods Photo Album

The race start was at a remote location near a beach. We dropped off our bikes and funion sacks of gear to be hauled to the Bike TA and checked out our yellow plastic canoes. Except for the Solos, all the boats were the same. Our Nation was honored in a singing of the Star Spangled Banner and then we learned of a twist to the start. There was one start to grab all our paddling gear and another to have Dave and I run to a canoe to paddle a small loop in a mass mess. It was fun except watching a Soloist in an unstable kayak fall in the chilly water. Back on shore, we were off on the short O’Log. CPs 1-3 retrieved with no issue and we were in the lead group heading out on the water at TA4. (MR - On the way back to the paddle, Bob almost got ran over by a deer running through the woods. I think it was his cousin.) And speaking of Deer - the joke is that Marcey has been slow while Bushwhacking and I told her she needs to go live with a family of Deer and watch them run through the woods. Well, not any more - she is a bona fide Bushwhacker now. Great improvement shown by Endurogirl

It was decided we would have a boys and girls boat and we tried towing the girls first. The tether was cut due to the boys being too slow and not being able to paddle straight. The 5 miles of paddling was ducks in a row, not having to pull the map out once. At first I thought there was a bit of a lemming effect until I realized the off-course route was due to a sand bar that popped up out of nowhere – great lakes, but not a fan of the foot shallowness hundreds of meters from shore. We reached TA5, made a quick transition to foot, and were on our way to check into the O’Course. (MR - David and I didn’t dress properly for the paddle. Thankfully it was short since we were both shivering messes by the time we hit the shore). It was nice to be running alongside fellow Triangle friends from Northern Lights – Bruce, Brent, Dale, and Mark. We attacked CPs 7-8 together, separated a bit, and came back together for CP 10. We then found CPs 15, 14, 9, 11, 20, and 21 walking right up to the points so far. We stopped for a water fill up at a shallow pool of water. I always add both sets of tablets in together and then never wait the recommended time. David followed the instructions. (MR - thankfully, we did not need emergency Imodium due to Bob’s bravery). Then CP 22 cramped my style, by not finding it, and also not knowing where we ended up except for a general box to work with. After some searching and trying to reorient, we shot an azimuth to come out on the unimproved road to the southeast. Already feeling bad, matters were made worse by taking a decent tumble while looking at the map too much. (MR - I have never seen Bob do anything awkward so I was surprised to see him fall and slide down the hill. Up until that point, we had been jogging most of the fire road sections and walking the bushwhacking portions. He fell in the woods again after that so twice in one night was hard on his knee) My knee was now injured and the icing on the cake was another not found point at CP23 – a series of north-south spurs / draws. Some advice during Ian’s presentation Post-Race would have been handy at this point, Pull Back and Re-Attack.



CP18 re-saddled me on the horse and we headed back to the Paddle TA. We decided that due to the cold weather and Marcey’s previous experience with hypothermia at Mandatory Gear, it would be best to get started on the paddle during daylight hours. My knee was hurting and I was concentrating too hard on the map. Marcilynn reminding me of my nutrition and water intake helped, but I was starting to get Map Fatigued. Dave had the map for a bit and had us headed to CP19 which we had no problems finding. CP13 is where I stopped for a Chef Boyardee Ravioli break. The metal lid folded over makes a great spoon. CP30 was the last point we retrieved and also where Dave and I enjoyed a swig of a volunteers Miller High Life and we all had some Snickers bars….YUM-O. Our Bushwhack Adventures Friends are asking AR Teams to put together some videos of what Adventure Racing means to them, so Marcey was using this race as an opportunity for us to tell the world what AR means to us. For me, it is Chef Boyardee and Miller High Life at random spots on the course, later it would be swig of Kentucky Bourbon.

Back on the water, we started north toward the Bike TA. It was still light for CP32, but the light was leaving quickly, with the cold coming in behind it. Cool sunset on the lake. (DP - after the sun set, we were the only boats on the water and there was no ambient light. We were able to see the whole milky-way and Bob showed me how to ID the North Star. Not only that – but Bob NAILED the boat cp’s. pitch ass black and we paddled right up on both boat cp. Bob’s a hell of a Navigator!!!) We portaged the canoes across the sand barge at CP34 and left the boats. The fire lured us in slightly and we were off on foot. Being in the boat for about 7 miles, my knee was locking up a bit and sore from the fall. I zoned out for a bit, so we took a detour to get to the Bike TA at CP35. It felt good to be on the saddle finally, but only for a bit. My knee was starting to hurt progressively worse. We started biking south to CP13 and then west to Sugar Bay where we linked up to the first section of real great single track. It is always great to ride single track on a race and I was excited about exploring it as much as possible. (MR - FINALLY! Bob lets me ride single track at a race!) At CP38, we evaluated our progress. My knee was not doing well and Dave said his leg was at an 8 on the pain scale due to an injury as well. We decided to head east back to the Bike TA 49 at Energy Lake. This was frustrating because there seemed to be some great terrain in the northern single track and we all are MTB enthusiasts. Hindsight, I think this was the right call – the risk of jeopardizing our future outweighs placing a few teams higher. If we needed additional mandatory points to get a ranked finish we would have pressed. With the Waterlogged Dogwoods, it’s always more about the adventure, the fun, and the course. Although, it still isn’t easy to have to make a call like that when other teammates who are relying on you are ready and able to push. (MR - I didn’t realize how bad Bob’s knee was until this point. Bob never complains so I knew that if he was pulling out, it was because he was really hurt. I let him make the call. AR isn’t our job and we aren’t saving anyone’s lives by doing it so it’s important to pull out when we have to.)



At the TA we decided to hang by the fire until we could bike to the paddle TA and be on the water when it was starting to get light. The fire was nice and warm and luring. Dave and I enjoyed the Bourbon and it was fun to hang with the great volunteers and some other like-minded teams. (DP - I want to give a huge shout our to Derrick Boos (pronounced ‘booze’ – appropriate, huh?) for sharing the brownest of the Brown Bourbon) It did feel a bit pathetic to have some top teams make speedy shivering transitions and be on their ways. (DP- it sucked being hurt and watching the teams roll in and out – I vowed to myself I’d never be unprepared for a race – I was mad at myself for not listening to my P.A. and love of my life for not stretching more- bad move on my part) We got back on the bikes and had an agonizing short ride back to the boats. The fog had rolled in and the navigation was becoming a bit of a challenge - very thick fog. We turned too soon to steer clear of the lemming dune, and then started getting turned around trying to stay east across the Barkley Lake. I would check the compass, paddle a bit, check the compass, and be drifting right toward the south…..right into a sand formation. After de-layering and getting my compass situated where I could have it on the bottom of the boat and just stare at it while paddling we were off again. The compass does not lie, but in this case my brain was playing very weird tricks, even with the occasional sun peeping through to confirm the eastern direction. I knew we were staying east, but it felt like we were circling to the left and too far north. This is why when we reached the other side we started south instead of searching north for the Little River entrance toward the Lake Barkley Resort Park. The sun was starting to burn off the fog now and we had a nice straight paddle to the finish. What should have been a 1.5 – 2 hour paddle turned into 3 hours. (MR - I am sooooo glad my watch was under my glove and I couldn’t see how long we were taking. On the other hand, I had some nice conversations with Marcilynn on all three of our paddles.) Our boats reached the sandy shore followed by our wake and we were finished…whew.



We gathered our gear, took a team picture - I bet I look cool and like a BAD A-Double S holding a bilge pump (MR - I literally choked on my tea from intimidation when I saw you with that bilge pump!) After getting all the gear to the Suburban, we sat down for a nice bowl of chili and cheese with a hot potato. (MR - I am sure we will be on the Vogue December cover. Erin, you would be proud, Bob made sure we always had the right lighting and pouted when we needed to.) It was nice to talk with Ian for awhile as he described the “Noodle Affair” at CP43 – something we didn’t partake in, but heard many stories about. We drove back to the hotel and were lucky to be able to get a room early. Thanks Marcey and Dave for letting Marcilynn and I get cleaned up and rack out a bit before driving home that day. The Post-Race Banquet and Awards was a lot of fun and it was nice to be with Northern Lights again to share the experience. The buffet dinner was “Kentucky Chic” – whatever that means, great food. No raffle wins for our table, boo. It was great to watch all the top teams do well. Northern Lights finished first in the 4-Person Male…….amazing work, and our Elite 4-Person Coed Division had WEDALI first, TeamSOG/Tecnu Extreme second, and Odyssey Adventure Racing-ImONPoint.org third. Ian Adamson had a great presentation with some clips from the New Zealand Eco Challenge where Team Eco Internet beat out the Kiwis using some late race sleep strategy. He also had some great advice about race prep, foot care, route planning, and race nutrition. The quorum was closed with an announcement of the 2012 Championship being held in West Virginia New River Gorge / Gauley area and the course designed by Odyssey…..familiar venue and closer. The ride back through the night was not fun, but we made it back safely in time for Marcilynn and I to turn right around and go to work…..blah!!!!!

(MS - The race was laid out well. Appreciated the split paddle although the length wasn't bad overall. Controls were where they were supposed to be which is #1 importance to me. Enjoyed the O course as well as small single track we rode. Nice decision tree for Jason to give racers to use roads vs single track. Long O and bike courses were a good challenge for teams to overcome, especially at O'dark 30. Lodging was great, Highly recommended to visit. Rooms were clean and affordable. Venue was primo for pre and post race festivities. Plus start location not far away and convenient for all. Appreciated "new" challenge of rolling terrain vs large mountains. Different type of challenge for Navigators - overall excellent race.)

Congratulations to all the racers who toed the line, to those that finished, and especially to those teams that rise above and inspire us all. Checkpoint Tracker did a great job organizing this world class event and Bonk Hard Racing put together a phenomenal and challenging course – I wish we saw more of it. (DP - Jason at bonk hard put on a top notch race, a new standard was set!) I also think the sponsor support from Swiftwick and Photographers - Chris Radcliffe of Mad Race Media and Vladimir Bukalo was exceptional. I bought a few digitals from each and Marcey raves on Swiftwick Socks and Arm Warmers. The volunteers were all amazing and we truly appreciate your time and effort to make the experience enjoyable. RDs cannot put on a race and racers cannot race without your selflessness. Great news was received – Dave was selected with the Raleigh Fire Department’s Training Program – YAY!!!! And to the family, thanks for allowing me this. My hope is that I can share these adventures with my little Buddy-B and Vivi-V someday as future Waterlogged Dogwoods.

Read more...

Odyssey Sprint AR

Odyssey Sprint Adventure Race
New Castle, VA
July 23, 2011

Bob and Drew's Race Report
Team #35 - Waterlogged Dogwoods

The first race that the Waterlogged Dogwoods had participated in was a winter Odyssey Sprint AR and that year we did a whole bunch of Odyssey events, finishing 2nd in the Sprint Series. It's been awhile since the Waterlogged Dogwoods participated in an Odyssey Event - the last time was the 3.5 Day EFIX in 2009. This year, Drew and I turned the car north to drive to Virginia for the Odyssey Sprint AR in New Castle, VA.

This part of Virginia was in Drew's old stomping grounds and a beautiful part of the state. We sang duet on some country songs on the way up and took in the majestic views the Blue Ridge Mountains have to offer. Race headquarters was at a great wilderness adventure lodge called Eagle's Landing. The 24 Hour racers were checking in and had already received their maps - it kinda made us wish we signed up for the 24 as well. Also bumped into some AR friends that I had not seen in awhile. After checking into the lodge we got our gear ready for the next day and then walked around the pond, checked out the bass swimming in the weed beds, and shared a six pack of Sam Adams pre-race brew. A sitting room in the lodge had a huge topo map of the George Washington and Jefferson Forest areas on Virginy and it's neighbor By Golly for wall paper - we studied the maps for awhile. It makes you wonder who lived here in years gone by......with the names of some places - Three Sisters Knobs, the Creamery, Lick Run.

The next day, I woke up early to watch the 24 Hour racers start their adventure. A another hour of sleep and we both got up, checked in, and received the maps, passport, and directions. We dropped our paddle stuff at the river TA and planned our route on the preplotted maps - seemed straight forward except that there was a topo map and a map with trails that didn't exactly match up. My opinion for RDs is that if there is a marked trail network, it's better to just GPS the trails and place them on the Topo map. The day was going to be in the mid-90s and mostly sunny, so we were trying to stay hydrated.

Start time was 1000 and we started trekking toward the first CP at the Bluff Outlook. There were a couple trails that went up hill and we decided on the White Trail, the first of three times we would go up it. We were the second team to CP1 and then made the big mistake of the day. The trail map made it look like a trail we needed to get to was close to the water. We decided we would drop a couple hundred feet to Craig Creek and walk around it to pick back up with the trail. The problem was the vegetation got fairly dense and the trail ended up being on the high ground above the creek......so we had to scamper back up the hill wasting alot of energy and time. We also hit up with the trail too far south and didn't realize because the trail stopped on the trail map but kept going outside of the WAEL park boundary. We had to back track slightly and then used pure terrain association to find CP2. All in all, we lost about 30-40 minutes on our ill thought out creek tour. A quick trek to CP3 and we headed down to the start finish to get CP4, also saw that we were somewhere near the 20th team to head to the the paddle TA at CP5.

In the boat, we started paddling down Craig Creek in shallow water. It actually was better than I initially thought it would be. We still had to get out and drag the boat a bunch, but passed a bunch of teams along the way. The water felt great and I wished we had tubes instead of a canoe and were floating down the river next to a beer ball. That would also be a good way to spend a hot weekend day. Reaching Eagle's Landing we carried the canoe to CP6. Two minutes later we were on the bikes heading up the White Trail again.

It felt great to be on the saddle and making good time along the jeep trail. AT CP7 we started down the single track to the hard ball. This was a nice stretch of trail with some tight switchbacks. The route we took was to continue along the single track to RTE 615 and around the fire road to retrieve CP8. This probably wasn't as fast as taking the hardball to Fenwick Mines. The climb up the fire road was also challenging with the mid day heat blistering down on us. We had to take a break to get some electrolyte tablets. We then rode back to RTE 615 to 606 to 614. CP9 was at a ford on Craig Creek and since we approached it from the opposite side, we had to carry the bikes across. The cool water felt really good and Drew layed down in the water to cool off - I should have as well. A quick ride brought us to CP10 and the start of the O-Course.

We had about 90 minutes left to get three points. Back up the White Trail and we took the jeep trail around to the hill top, which we used as an attack point to drop down into the reentrant to get CP11. It was really getting hot now and we were slowing down. The intersection of the Yellow and Orange trail was our next attack point. We went down the wrong finger and had to go down into the reentrant and back up to the next finger to find CP13. There wasn't enough time to try for CP12 so we decided to head back, finishing with 10 minutes remaining.

The post race BBQ was great, but we didn't have time to stick around for anything else. For Results, we got all but one CP finishing 2nd in the 2-Person Military and 2nd overall - not too shabby for making such an early mistake. Odyssey put on a great challenging Sprint race at an absolutely amazing venue. I'll be back for a race in 2012. Racing with Drew is always a great time because we have lots of fun and don't worry about being super competitive. To me, that's what Adventure Racing is all about.

Read more...

9-1-1

9-1-1 Challenge AR, Bushwhack Adventures
Umstead and Crabtree Parks, NC
June 5, 2011

Bob, Drew, and Marcey’s Race Report
Team #79 - Waterlogged Dogwoods


Marcey's comments are bolded.


Bob, Marcey, and Drew were back together for another go at an Adventure Race, the 9-1-1 Challenge, 8 hour AR. It was a bit of a week for all of us leading to the race. I took a terrible tumble on my mountain bike and my whole left side was bruised from knee to shoulder, with my hip taking the worst of it. Drew was getting over a crazy sinus infection and feeling like poo and Marcey had recently returned from a rim to rim to rim hike at the Grand Canyon. You should check out her Endurogirl blog to look at her report from the hike(s) - it will make you tired just reading it. Drew and I joked about making Marcey carry a 50lb sandbag to slow her down so we wouldn't be anchors.

The race start / finish was at Rally Point Sport Grill, a great tiki-bar area. After the race brief we were given the passport at the start of the race and had to plot all the CPs before heading out. We started out biking Sludge Trails to Crabtree Lake getting CP1 at a cool wooden bike playground that is being built. Marcey – I hadn’t ridden Sludge since the last 9-1-1 and they have done great work on the trails! Challenging technically with a few small hills. A quick ride down the Black Creek Greenway and we found CP1 in the water tunnel under Harrison Road. Turning north, we started our way back to Crabtree Park. The single track brought us to CPs 3 and 4, but we had a couple small breaks in contact trying to get to Umstead Park. CPs 5-9 were all straight forward except for deciding how to go for CP 7 or 8 from CP6. We decided to go clockwise and get CP8 first. These were all bridle trails with some nice downhills followed by some steady climbs, that's what I love about Umstead Park.

We then went to the TA at Schenck Memorial Forest and the start of the Trek Orienteering portion. At first we went to the ropes course, but the line was too long, which was not what we were expecting....I guess most teams took a more direct route to the TA and decided to get the bike points in Umstead and Crabtree on the way back. We then decided to come back to the ropes and attack the O Course in a clockwise fashion getting the CPs in the following order, 13, 14, 19, 16, 17, 18, 29, 28, 27, 26, 30, 20, 21, 25, 22, 23, 24. We pretty much walked right onto all the points except for CP30. It was part of the permanent course and having no white letter designator card threw us off on the first time we came to it....after scouting around a bit, we came back and figured out it was the right one. Marcey – actually, it just threw me off. Drew and Bob thought it was right but I didn’t.

I was not able to run much due to my hip hurting and Drew was still sucking a bit from the last bike portion. To conserve the boys energy for the ride back, Marcey ended up being the Punch Monkey for the O Course. Drew and I would nav to the point (liked having two maps) and we would deploy Marcey to grab the point. Early we had a conversation about her value added....which was already super high because she is the female that makes us Co-Ed and she is a very solid strong Adventure Racer. It did feel weird not running to punch points, watching somebody else do it, and getting small breaks at every CP. She's the Duracell Battery, the Energizer Bunny. Marcey – Yes, I am always concerned that I am not adding value to the team because I can only nav my way to pizza afterwards….but this race felt great because not only did I find a few points first, but I had a lot of energy all day and was more than happy to run ahead and punch the CPs. If we would have had a good towing system, I would have added even more value by towing Drew on the bike and Drew is not too macho that he wouldn’t have taken it. Now had we been kiteboarding, Drew would have kicked our butts.

Back at the CP24 Ropes Course, there was still a small wait, but not as bad. We donned our harness and waited for our turn on the ropes. This was also a good break to get some food, refill the camel backs, and watch how everybody else was tackling the three high obstacles. Drew did a commando crawl on one of them that the Ropes Crew thought was impressive.

Marcey – I don’t have a fear of heights but I do have a fear of falling so this was the hardest part of the course for me. I just took deep breaths the entire time. I was disappointed that I had my back to Drew who was completing the rope across from me because I would have loved to see his stealthiness (is that a word?). He was up the pole, across the ropes and being lowered down before I was even finished! I would have also liked to see Rambo (ET) do the ropes since Patrick said he was so good I presume he will replace Tobey McGuire in the next Spiderman. It took about 50 minutes to get through the course and onto the TA to turn in the O Course passport and get the bike passport back. This was decision time.....we had 90 minutes left and 3 CPs. The decision was either to get CP11 or skip it and go right to CP10 on the way back through Umstead to the Sludge Trail. I was thinking we should push to try to clear the course and lay it out on the line. 90 minutes left in three 30 minute segments....Hubcab, Umstead, Sludge.

At the entrance to Umstead, we left the decision up to Drew, and he said OK to the attempt to clear it. We got CP11 along Hubcap and CP10 near the creek, but didn't get out of Umstead with the 30 minutes we wanted left for Sludge. CP31 was the last one and we were getting really close on time. With about 7 minutes left, we bikewhacked to the Embassy Suites instead of riding Sludge out, finishing with two minutes to spare. Marcey – Massive kudos to Drew for going ahead with this decision. He is not a single-track rider (or really a rider at all) and he was going to have to push himself really hard. I really wanted to clear the course but since I was not having any energy issues, it wasn’t my call.

The after race was awesome with good food, Marcey (REAL FOOD!), and it's not that often that you can relax with a beer in your hand right after a finish. We ended clearing the course, tops in the 3-Person Co-Ed Division and 4th overall. The Bushwhack Crew put on another great course with a great venue. Thanks to them and all the volunteers. Marcey – The finish at Rally Point made it nice because people wanted to stick around longer after the race. I loved that there was a hose out back to clean off prior to our eating, real food requiring utensils and lots of places to sit. It was great to meet the next generation of Scheidt adventure racers as well!

Read more...

Yuki-BAR 24 Hour Adventure Race

Yuki - BAR, Bushwhack Adventures
Hang Rock State Park and Pilot Mountain Area, NC
April 29, 2011

Bob, Dave, and Marcey’s Race Report
Team #19 - Waterlogged Dogwoods

Marcey's comments are bolded

The 2011 AR Season is in full swing, but the Yuki-BAR is my first race.....Course designing and Race Directing the Gleneagles Challenge took up most of the first few months of the new year, along with training up and running the American Tobacco Trail Marathon. I ran a ton of miles in Jan - Mar, but probably should have put some more miles training on the mountain bike - more to follow on that subject. Dave was a new member to the Waterlogged Dogwoods, so we decided to get a canoe and bike ride in prior to the race. We had talked about trying to get to the check-in early so we wouldn't be rushed, which always seems to happen. After stopping at the Durham REI to pick up the canoe, I started the drive toward Camp Hanes near Hanging Rock State Park and Pilot Mountain area of NC. Dave was there so we started getting our stuff ready and I thought Marcey was going to be pulling in soon after. Turns out they took a wrong turn and showed up later than they planned - the crunch time we were trying to avoid ended up happening any way. Marcey - Google Maps and local folks are not always to be relied on. The funny part was that during the Race Brief, I noticed I still wasn't in race garb so I snuck into the cabin to change and also listen outside to the last part of the brief. Totally buff, a female Camp Hanes worker walked in on me. I had just enough time to put a pillow over the family jewels, smile at her, say hi, and look completely ridiculous.

After the 1900 race start, we started up the Sauratown MTN to get CPs 2 and 3. This was a bit over a 1100' climb so the blood was flowing. We then turned south and started heading toward CP 4. We searched for about 45 minutes and decided to move on - I guess there was something wrong with the placement or UTMs and many teams had trouble with it. Marcey - During the first part of the trek, David and Bob had a serious conversation about the Royal Wedding, which had happened earlier that day. I thought they were joking until they both started talking excitedly about a 'second kiss'. I was ready for them to start talking Guiding Light or All My Children. After poking some fun at them for this, David told me 2/3 of the planet watched this wedding so I was the oddball. I don't watch television and had not heard much about the wedding. I only knew that half of my company was off that day. Regardless, I felt like I was at a slumber party. Concerned with time we also ditched CP5 and went to the high ropes course at CP1. Donning harnesses we scampered up the cargo net to the platform. There were some smaller platforms scattered on several cables we had to cross - not sure if Marcey was too fond. Marcey - Not too fond at first. Very high up, in the dark and not able to see below. The platforms moved and my short legs couldn't reach all the way so Bob had to go first, I had to semi-jump to Bob and then David came over. At one point, with all three of us sandwiched on the platform and my face at armpit level, I thought of my friend who doesn't adventure race. She has said she could never race overnight with other men nor would she want her husband to. I laughed to myself thinking there was nothing sexy about three smelly, sweaty people back to front to back on a moving platform high above the ground at midnight. The last part of the course was a zip line over the lake, forgot to mention, it was now really dark with no moon illum. We continued on to get CPs 6,7, and 8. Marcey - I got a 'gomarceygo!' from Sosa and Thompson who were driving by which put a smile on my face and gave me a burst of energy.

A quick transition and we were off on our bikes toward the Moores Springs MTB Single Tracks. Marcey - I must mention that during the transition while we were getting on our bikes, I looked up and thought the moon was full. Alas, it was David's bare butt that my headlamp was illuminating. We stopped to pick CP 9 and 10 on the way which we had to take digital pictures of a feature and also capturing a team-mate holding our team number. This was a good idea for an RD to limit the number of CPs that have to be put out or retrieved. Marcey - not to Race Directors - excellent idea!!! At TA1, we got the MTB single track trail map. These are great trails and a gem in the area. We attacked the points by riding the trails to CP 13, 12, bushwhacking to CP14, and then pushing through the dense rhododendron to the road. We re-entered the trails to get CP15 and then continued up the reentrant to get CP17. On the way back to the bikes, I realized I was moving much faster than Dave and Marcey because I had trek shoes on and they had slippery bike shoes.....at one point I remember looking back up the creek and seeing Marcey and Dave fall into the creek. They were there and then just disappeared. Marcey - Bob didn't forget, he just likes to torture me. Especially since I was so excited to ride these fun trails. I also pulled Dave into the creek although he is nice enough to say someone from Trailblazers Charlotte did it. We rode to CP 16 and then headed back to the road to enter the trail network at the start. Riding to the blue trails, we ditched the bikes and started up the hill to get CP19. The first attempt was no good so we continued on to retrieve CP18. We then looked for CP 19 again on the way back down to the bikes. It was only by chance that we found it and headed to TA1 - Marcey lost a shoe. Marcey - my trek shoes were bungeed to my bike rack and I noticed as we were heading out that one of them was gone! Dave and I turned back around and searched for about five minutes but Bob had no sympathy and said we had to get moving. All I could think of was 18 miles trekking in bike shoes. Who knows where it landed with all that bikewhacking? Jeff Eichman was at the TA and said I might as well throw that one away since it was just weight. I couldn't and didn't do it. Don't know why. We started plotting more points while I grabbed my signature Chef Boyardee Beefaroni and wolfed it down along with some Pringles. Then started the long bike journey to TA2 - already pretty far behind schedule.

We then rode to Moores Springs Camp to get CP20 at the top of the hill and then to Camp Sertoma for CP23 near the Waterwheel at the dam. Marcey - Jeff from TrailMonkeys ROCKS!!!! Not only did he pick up my shoe that he found but he carried it with him with the off-chance that he might find the owner. I gave him a hug and told him where the CP was (ok, I also told them about another one with a picture). CP22 was at a stone house and CP23 was at a waterfall (both digital pictures). After CP23, we got back on another single track section to get CP 24 and 25. This was a great trail along a cool little creek. We rode about 1/3 of the trail and pushed the bikes about 2/3. CP24 was on a hilltop and CP25 was up a steep reentrant. Exiting the single track, was another steep climb to take a picture of CP26 at the curve. It was close to morning now and this was the time were my legs were giving out on the bike up the hills - should have spent more time riding then running. Marcey had a suprise at first light with disposable toothbrushes and toothpaste - Ahhhh, freshness!!!

This was also the time in the race were we gave up on trying to make it to CP36 prior to sunrise to get 200 points. Our race strategy was now slow and steady, continuing on the planned course until we got to a point that we need to make it back to the start / finish before time expired. Heading south, we passed through Pinnacle on the way to TA2. If it wasn't for Marcey's eagle eyes, we would have passed CP27 at the church - which was at a map crease that I hadn't unfolded yet and would likely have just passed the CP. My absolute favorite part of the race was the decision to stop for a hot breakfast at EJ's Restaurant - Dave and I didn't even have to twist Marcey's arm all that much. Eggs, sausage, toast, coffee....Yum-OOO. Marcey - Dave and Bob ate like they were at the race finish. I had one egg, toast and a hot cocoa. At this point, my agreeing was a compromise because I could later hold this against Bob to not fjord the river that was up to my chin while trying to hold my bike above my head. It was cold in the morning and I didn't want to get cold and wet just for the sake of getting cold and wet. A bit further south, there was a cool little shed with a whole bunch of signs and knick-knacks that I took a picture of during one of the "pee" "im sick of biking" breaks. Marcey - we are a very hydrated team :o)

One final push and we made it to TA2 for a bit of an extended rest before pressing. This section had CPs on the north and south side of the Yadkin River with a fording location to carry bikes across. We needed to stretch the legs a bit so ran somewhat to pick up CP29 in the log cabin and CP31 along the trail to the ford site. The other CPs in this section would be targeted if we had time on the way back through during the paddle. It was then one more long bike trip to TA3 and the paddle put-in. This was absolutely the worst part.....my legs were toast and I was walking up most of the large hills - feeling pretty pathetic and sorry for myself. Marcey - during one of our group pee breaks, I went across the road and wondered what all those file cabinets were doing in the field. After counting about 50 while I was squatting, I realized they were not file cabinets but BEE HIVES!! Needless to say, it was a fast pee break. At the Rockville General Store we had some awesome biscuits and filled up our packs with cold water. Marcey - this was the first biscuit I have had since the Impossible Panther race a year ago. Must be something about Bushwhack races....We dropped the bikes off and prepped for the 20 mile paddle. A short portage across a field brought us to the Yadkin River where we were happy to see the river moving swiftly along.

The miles on the water went quick and we found CP38 with no problems. I was keeping our progress slightly under wraps, so the crew was happy to hear that the CP39 (12 HR put in) was 2/3 of the way down the river. We learned that Marcey's husband Kevin, who was volunteering, had spent his entire morning manning this CP and never did get to the awesome Moores Spring MTB trails. Marcey - I am so sorry Kevin. You have not volunteered at one race that you have gotten what I have promised. I owe you HUGE! We were all excited about getting out of the boat for a second to stretch out a bit. Back in the boat we were now just focused on getting to the take out and making it to the finish - time was starting to be a bit of a factor. We did stop to punch CP32 but passed on by CPs 33, 34, 35, and 30 which would have taken longer to get. The water level made it possible to not have to get out of the boat and slide it across rocks, but we did get stuck on one boulder, which almost had us floating down the river with all our race junk scattered. A couple scooches freed us and we paddled on. Marcey - The quote of the race came at this point from David, which is X-rated and I cannot repeat. I had the giggles off and on the entire rest of the race and the next day just thinking about it. I think Dave was getting sick of paddling, because he flipped and turned into the General Patton of the Sea - shouting out command after command and navigating us through the class I-II rapids with some unique flair. I must say, it was inspiring and kept us moving with a smile on our faces. The last island signaled that the take out bridge was close - YEA!!!!! The paddle was done a TA4.

Another portage brought us to our bikes and not so quickly cleaned up a bit and prepped for the last leg. Marcey - I saw Two Pieces of Scheidt and practically fought Mule Scheidt to put on more sunblock. I would have taken him down but I think he ended up putting it on or at least pretended to since he is probably afraid of me. There was no chance to go to TA5 and attempt any CPs at Pilot Mountain, so it was a straight shot to Camp Hanes. My legs were not looking forward to biking more hills, my arse was not excited about the bike seat, and I was generally feeling a bit overheated and brain fried at this point - don't get to that point too often. I was motivated to push on by my great team-mates and the thought of finishing. The strategy of towing me was discussed but with the time we had left, I would rather get home on my own will power. I was feeling bad about slowing Marcey and Dave down, who were both exceptional endurance mountain bikers. The last few miles along YMCA Camp Road were excruciating and we brought it home with a little less than 30 minutes remaining - about 86 miles of biking, 20 miles of paddling, and 8-10 miles of trekking. Finishing 3rd in the category and 5th overall - not too bad considering. Marcey - If we had the time to get to Pilot Mountain, I probably would have pushed Bob to take the tow but it wouldn't have mattered so I let him go at his pace. He stopped eating and finally had a GU after awhile. Looking back, I should have been more diligent about his nutrition as he had clearly bonked. I consider this my fault. Surprisingly, I was never really upset about the situation as I had been in a similar one on vacation and being upset wouldn't have gotten us any more CPs.

The post race spaghetti dinner really hit the spot, but I don't remember much else.....I was out and slept hard until the next morning. Marcey - The dinner, showers and campground were perfect for this event!! Bushwhack Adventures always do such a great job with race course / support, and this race was no different. Great job to Dave, Don, Pat, Jeff, and all the volunteers who selflessly volunteer their time and efforts to ensure the race goes off without a hitch - well, this is adventure racing, so minimal hitches. Thanks to Erin for putting up with this passion to do ARs.

Read more...