Nothing Important: June 2007

Untamed VA Race June 9th, 2007

Race Report

The race was an enjoyable experience though from the very beginning I felt rushed and ill prepared. We arrived in Charlottesville, VA around 8:00 on Friday night. We drove straight to the biggest Western Sizzler Buffet I have ever seen to meet Chuck and Sarah to do a little (actually a lot) pre-race caloric loading. Afterwards we went by Food Lion to pick up some supplies for the race and finally checked into the hotel at around 10:00pm.

As usual before a race I had trouble falling asleep and got less than a full hour. I was awake when the wake-up call came at 5:00am. Since we arrived in VA so late the night before we had no time for last minute gear checks or to situate our gear like we wanted it so it was a hectic morning getting ready, checking out and driving to the race check-in site.

After arriving, we set up the testing equipment, started the generator, took blood draws, performed behavioral/mood tests and vigilance tests. Then things started to go wrong. The oscilloscope we brought to use for a particular force perception test would not work so we lost the opportunity to collect that data entirely. We then had to cut another test out in order to make it to a mandatory team meeting, which was scheduled at 8:00am. After this we scrambled back to the van to get our gear ready for the first leg of the race and to plot our course – something other teams had been doing for a couple of hours at this point. We rushed around but still left the check-in site late and arrived at the race starting line, which was miles away from the check-in site, well after the other teams.

Frantically we stuffed gear and food into our packs and then I realized the second thing to go wrong that morning. I had left the GPS tracking unit at the race check-in site, where Steve (one of the crew doing the testing) was still at. We didn’t have time to go back and get it so I decided we would get it from our crew when we saw them next which was at check point 1, at the end of the first paddling leg. I ran to the starting line to get our passport just in time for the race director to start the teams off. I was minus a boat and all my teammates so I ran back to the van to tell them the race was underway only to be greeted by the next dose of bad news; Chuck had forgotten his PFD at the check-in site. In only the first of many examples of his incredible ability to procure essentials he comes running back with one within minutes.

After carrying two kayaks and a beast of a canoe to the starting line – which we stood at all by ourselves – we were off carrying the boats to the river put-in, Chuck and I with the canoe and Felipe, Angela and Sarah with the two kayaks. After carrying, sliding, dropping and slipping for about 10min we finally get to water's edge. Chuck and Felipe shove off in the canoe and Sarah and I each in a kayak. Just as I push off I realize to my surprise that we are not in last place after all but hold a tenuous few second lead over the last placed team; 3 fat guys in a too-small plastic canoe. It’s on now! After yo-yoing back and forth in a tenacious display of raw talent and skill we finally lost out and were passed for good. Or so I thought. We eventually picked up steam and passed them and were happy not to be in last place because we knew we could contend with most teams out there.

We finally arrived at Check point 1 and quickly disembarked, carried the boats up a hill to the crew area and feasted on the perfect race food: personal pan pizzas, mountain dew and an assortment of other goodies that Angela (the best crew person around) and her virgin apprentice Steve had prepared for us. Then we were off on the second leg of the race which included an "environmental challenge", we had to trek through a newly designated wilderness trail and put up trail blazes on designated trees, but first, more bad news. When we arrived at the race official’s area to get our bag with nails and trail blazes in it, we were informed that we did not pick up a hammer at the start of the race. Upon hearing this we all just looked at one another in a confused manner each uttering something along the lines of “Do you remember hearing anything about hammers?” Apparently this little gem of instruction was given out at the starting line when we were still at the van gearing up. But without a second to think, Chuck was off and running back down the hill toward the crew vehicles. Sure enough, within 5min he comes running back up brandishing a shiny silver hammer.

Off we went onto the trail at a quick pace where it was dreadfully hot and humid. After putting up our signs and then making a wrong turn onto a horse trail and covering about a mile extra distance we come out at checkpoint 3 and a couple of kind fellas told us that checkpoint 2 was down the hill a ways, which is the way we should have come up. We punched our passport and before riding off on our first bike leg we had a race official come over and do a mandatory gear check. More bad news. We forgot the batteries for our rear bike lights then I thought I heard someone say we were missing a pump. Never have this many things gone wrong in a race. Never again will I attempt to organize the race and the study at the same time. Then Chuck jumped into action and produced both sets of items – from where I don’t know and didn’t ask. We got a thumbs up from the official and off we went riding a tight pace line once we were out on the road.

The copious amounts of fluid I lost through sweating in the sweltering conditions in the forest and the fact that I had mixed up a new sports drink for myself, one that contained protein (another mistake – protein delays gastric absorption a great deal - and yes I knew this but a certain website was having a really good sale on this particular item) began to take affect. I became slightly hyperthermic and hit a wall. I quickly dropped to the back of the pace line and was struggling mightily up the hills. Finally I gave in and hooked a towline up with Chuck. First time ever in a race and boy did that take some serious swallowing of pride. After about 20min we passed a country store and a nice man bought me a liter bottle of cold water, which did wonders. Rejuvenated, we rode on to CP4.

Next we were off to CP5, which was the Hardware River Wildlife Management Area Boat Launch. Here we had contact with our crew and refueled. We then set out on the river, Felipe and I in the canoe and Chuck on a riverboard. Sarah was in my kayak. It didn’t take long for us to realize that towing the riverboard with the canoe would be much faster, so we did. We must have passed 7 or 8 teams at this time. A few miles down the river was CP6 where we got rid of the riverboard. Chuck climbed in the canoe with Felipe & Sarah and I got in my kayak. Soon we decided that I would tow the canoe to increase our speed since this is my prefered mode of travel in races. We quickly arrived at CP7 where we met the crew and refueled then hopped on our bikes carrying our trekking gear along with us. By this time is was much cooler and we made really good time on the road, passing numerous teams.
We arrived at CP8 which was the Willis River Crossing and here we ditched the bikes changed into our trekking gear and entered the first of two orienteering courses, course A, where we had to find 3 trekking points (actually orienteering flags). After finding the 3 flags we came back to the race officials who punched our passport for CP9. It was dark by the time we finished this section. We hopped on the bikes and road off to find CP10, which was the site of the second orienteering course. We lost quite a bit of time here when we couldn’t find the small road that led to the start of the course but it didn't hurt us too much because most teams had trouble finding this road. Finally after stopping to go over the map for the 4th or 5th time we found the road and got CP10 punched. Then it was off into the Cumberland Clearing North woods to find 7 orienteering flags – and this place was huge.
With a name like Cumberland ‘Clearing’ you’d think it wouldn’t be all that hard but this is without a doubt the most dense bush I’ve ever bushwhacked through in any race. Our strategy was to find the closest flag and then methodically hit the rest in a clockwise direction. It was around 12:00AM so this was a difficult task. We found the first flag within 30 minutes and then by using a compass and dead reckoning we methodically found the rest. Surprisingly, we were fairly accurate with our course selection considering the environment and found each flag without too much difficulty in navigation. It was just incredibly hard at times to get from one point to another. Poor Sarah sprained her already tender ankle on this leg but handled it like a champ and marched right out of there with barely a whimper. At one point we did run up on some creature that growled and hissed at us so we beat a hasty retreat and gave it, whatever it was, a wide birth. Only one episode of hallucinations, I could have sworn I was staring right at an enormous concrete slab at one point and could not get my tired brain to fathom why on Earth someone would put up such a structure right here in the middle of nowhere. I was very confused for about 30 seconds as I stared then blinked then stared again trying to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. Finally I mention this to Chuck, rather casually I thought and the laughter was immediate, instantly telling me that I wasn’t looking at what I thought I was, though it was still a few seconds before I realized that I was seeing to large trees rising side-by-side up approximately 50 feet. Why these trees stood out to me and looked so different then all the others, my fatigued brain only knows. Nevertheless, I think we made up some more time on teams on this section of the race course. After 3.5 hours of sticks trying their best to gouge eyes out and thorn bushes raking across sun burnt arms and legs (in the rush I forgot my zip on leggings) we finally emerged from the forest and got CP11 punched and were off on the bikes again.

We tiredly rode to Cumberland Clearing South where the unmanned CP12 was located then on to CP13 on the bank of the Willis River. We had trouble finding this road as well and lost quite a bit of time. Time that would come back and haunt us dearly. Finally we found CP13 and went through the ropes course with our harnesses on and carabineers attached afterwards getting CP14 punched. It was here we realized that at 6.50AM we had no way of making the last hard cut off at CP15, which was at 7:00AM. We were all a little disappointed but were too tired at the time to be greatly disappointed. To add insult to injury Felipe got a flat on our way out of CP14. We rolled into CP15 at approximately 7:23AM, had our last blood draw and tests, ate, drank and hit the road for home.

All in all this was a fun race. I enjoyed the company of my fellow teammates, who I had never raced with before. Can’t wait for the next one.

Here are some photos. Not in any particular order. Unfortunately we didn’t take more.

Paddling on the Rivanna River. First leg of the race.