Saturday, November 24, 2012

Canyon Trail Hike/Jog November 2012

Canyon Trail Hike/Jog, Second Visit into the mountains for us since moving to Colorado not even two weeks ago.  We had friends tell us about this trail over Thanksgiving dinner.  In the shape of a lolly pop about 7+ miles, make sure to take it clockwise as its some what easier than counter clockwise.  It was a great day, over cast with highs in the upper 60's.  We set off with full osprey packs, food and first aid with extra jacket as they said we were under a wind advisory.  This trail is open to bikes but not on Saturdays, so all we had was foot traffic and that was few and far between.  This trail is mostly dirt and rock, with very technical foot.  We came up on a parking lot at the start of the "lolly pop" after a 1.5 mile CLIMB with switchbacks.  This location had restrooms as well.  Testing out my SUUNTO watch and heart rate monitor.  Why? ....... at this altitude it was already hard to breath.  :)  My watch would start to beep as it dropped below 125, then we would take off again.  Trying to keep it from beeping at us became a game.  I am sure I will feel it tomorrow.  
Max altitude was 6581, with a distance of 7.3 miles. 
Honey Stingers and homemade Turkey Burgers sure made the time on the trail go faster.
Stay tune for more........This is just the START!













Sunday, November 18, 2012

Heritage Trail Half Marathon along the Wabash River

13.1 Miles of Heritage Trail Marathon, along the Wabash River, lots of sand and more sand.
West Lafayette, Indiana

I really wanted to do this marathon but life got in the way of training so I signed up for the half.  The start/finish, out and back course was at Fort Quation, a mile from where I grew up as a kid and where my mom still lives.  The trial was not there when I grew up, not that it mattered as I was not a fan of running until about 6 years ago.  It was a cool and brisk morning, lots of trail runners trying to stay warm as the sun came up.  PA was in full swing with music and welcoming everyone.  One thing I love about PA, they cheer you on if your 1st and if your last.  They just want you to have a great experience and enjoy your race.  Lets just say the gun went off, I was struggling to get moving it seemed after my hour and half drive up from Indy that morning.  The trail started on a short gradual grassy uphill to a paved walk way along south river road then ducked into the woods taking you on a winding, some VERY SANDY sections, over roots but pretty much flat trail that ran along the river.  I thought this was very pretty until I was blinded by the sun coming off the wasbash river.  At one point I thought to myself "I cant see, I hope I don't run into a tree" and then turned my head to refocus to have the sun hit me again.  That soon passed as we came up on downtown Lafayette, over the bridge and continued to head east for a few more miles to the turn around.  Thank goodness for the turn around....ah, more friendly volunteers that reminded us runners what cup was HEED and what one was WATER.  Thank you!  I continued my slow run back and pushed on....remember talking to myself after my Ipod decided to die.  As I was with in 1/2 of the finish I could hear music off in the distance.  The finish line!......come on finish line....:)  It was over.  Ah......PWild

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Team Lupine Training Day for TR2012

Team Lupine just got done picking some daisies for our training day. Well we didn't see any daisies but we did have a hard training day. We decided to meet up at 9:30am down at Brown County State Park and do some hard trekking then Biking. It was an absolutely beautiful day, we hope this weather comes race day next weekend.

Starting on foot with some tough hill work in brown county, on trail and off trail. Today was also a day to test new gear. Jason testing KT Tape from Weekend Warrior Shop, Paula testing CW-X Shorts instead of tights and Robbie trying the honey stinger pomegranate energy chews. Things are working well. Instead of locating CP's we decided to bushwhack our way to Geo Caches. After a few hours we head back to the cars for a quick change to our MBikes. Off we were on Trails.......Flying! KT Tape was holding up, more Honey Stingers were eaten and staying cool in the gear we picked for the day. The weather was PERFECT! More hill climbing on the roads back to the cars, practice with the bike tow as well as drafting in a pace line. Day ended with us sweating and all smiles. See you out there!!






Monday, August 6, 2012

SXT 4 2012 Race report


Shaltowee Adventure Race, 15 Hour, 2012 Team Lupine
Jason Zorilla, Gary Dunham, Karen Clark
Cave Run, Kentucky

Temp: High in the 80’s, low in the 60’, 30% chance of rain
Pre race meeting:  8am
Race start time:  9am with Prolog
Race cut off:  Midnight

Course: leg estimates
Start: Prolog climb on foot up hill to get passport
Leg 1 Bike Cps1-3(2cps minimum) approx time 2.5-3hrs
Leg 2 Trek Cps4-9(2cps minimum) approx time 2.5-3hrs
Leg 3 Paddle Cps10-12(2cps minimum) approx time 3.5-4hrs
Leg 4 Tek Cps13-18(2cps minimum) approx time 3.5 - 4hrs
Leg 5 Swim Cp19 approx time 20 min
Leg 6 Biking Cps20-22(2cps minimum) approx time 1 1/2hours
Finish

Well Second year of Racing this what turned out to be another wet monster of a Race, thanks to Stephanie and All the Volunteers for this Adventure. Had some wonderful support for team 11 as well. Went into this Race With a former co racer Gary Dunham and a newbie to us but not new to Racing...our European counterpart Karen the Climber Clark.   After suffering what I thought was a break to my elbow the weekend before I figured I might not make it to this race this year. But I was feeling better and Gave it a go....Not the best Idea I have had, but it is Adventure Racing. All started well with an up the Damn prolog which did okay to spread out the field a bit. But I think the first Climb in the heat took care of that even more. I could feel my heart in my brain at this point, already knowing it might have been better to sit this one out. I think blood was still thin from the meds I was on. Pedaling past what I thought to be a Cicada on the ground which to me seemed really loud. As I got closer I looked not two feet from my bike and there he was a Timber Rattler all coiled up with his tail shaking like mad. “OMG its a Rattlesnake” I shouted back, “look out”. We made out better then Team 361’s Dallas, whom tangoed with a baby copperhead and ultimately won .We pushed on just took it easy for the first 3 bike cp’s. Got those no problem. Wheeled into TA1 with the head of the pack . Karen and I took a min to transfer the points to the waterproof map.  This way we could have two sets of eyes looking at a map. “Gary, where is Gary?...Oh there he is” thought we lost him in all the commotion. Then our slippery slope started, more of mine on the nav.  Found our pond  took what we thought was the right spur and went up and up.  Up to far and not over enough.  spent way too much time here and decided after seeing Team ToPo up there that we would scrap CP 4 and 5 and grab the rest of the CP’s on this leg...cut our losses so to speak based on our time frame of sections thanks to Gary who was our time and pace counter and he is right on the money as long as you giving him the right info. ie when you get a new Suunto compass make sure you know if it is meters or miles. I figured that out a little later.  So we moved on and grabbed the last Cp’s on this section in good time, Ending up and oh yea....TA2  comes after TA1.  Some Road time to kill here so we decided to fuel ourselves up with some Honey Stinger Bars and Chews for our 14 mile paddle coming up...Yum.
All three of us Climbed into Gary’s canoe and set out for the next three CP’s.  We left this TA a little behind the time we wanted but pushed on  as a team and paddled our asses off...literally , Gary’s Left cheek went numb and Karen’s right cheek did. Paddled hard making up time around all the teams within reach. Why when you see someone on the water does it seem so long to catch up to them? Yet another Reservoir of hidden stumps that really kept us on our wits. We were lucky not to take a dip on this trip. We wound up later finding out Team Lupine Had the second fastest Paddle Split next to the Overall winner and solo at that, Drake.  Did I mention it Poured on us like crazy for about 30 min.  Did some bailing at the CP’s to lighten our load. Checked in at TA’3 to the oh so happy lightly moist volunteers , whom I must say are the best on earth. Decided to use the open u haul truck to transfer the Points for our last trek to our main map, because the Issued map was not waterproof and we were down to one waterproof map case because the other we had left with the bikes thinking at that time we would get back to them to get it.  It is always tough racing with a new team.  Figuring our team dynamics is a tough challenge to do on the fly. We got things figured out as they came, this day.

On with the next Trek, I decided to Pull Out my Lupine Wilma and put it on now as I knew the darkness was coming soon and why not with the pro band I hardly knew its on my head.   Headed up to CP 13 which it seemed 7 to 8 teams all got to it at the same time. Kind of follow the leader at that point. I myself am not a fan when a race gets this way....Paddle section was like this after we pulled ahead...teams behind us didn’t even have to think.  I guess it happens on shorter races like this. One reason I like 24 hour and over . So at this point we had to make a decision based on what the old Suunto Core was telling us...time to cut this trek short as we were running short to finish on time. Eyed up our last mandatory one for this leg (CP14) and made our way down to it . Found this Really freaking sweet Cave/shoot  down threw the cliff face that we would have had to go around. Man I wish I had a camera , If you ever get out there it was straight north of the CP13. Down we went to the mud trail to CP 14. up the main rentrant passed the small one by about 50 meters and went back to check that first small one to the left...up and up and bingo.  So out we went back to the trail and on to TA 4  the last bike leg. We were running about 30 min behind what we wanted to at this point and that only got longer with the rain and the slippery Rocky trails we had coming. My arm was starting to really not like me anymore, shooting pain up to my ear with every small bump. Karen was officially racing her longest race yet and she was pushing hard. Gary was keeping the pace going clearing the trail of copperheads and warning us of possible bad ruts and washouts.  I was spent and in Pain....no amount of KT Tape  or arm support could help me at this point. Lets just keep moving and get to the finish as best we can.  I had some issues with keeping in the map at this point with all that was going on. I tried my best to keep in it making a couple missed but quickly corrected turns. All and all through the rugged horse trails and intermittent bouts with pain and the wildlife I think as a virgin team we did great.  Made it to the Finish a little later then we wanted but for this time around we made it and that was our race. Great Job Team Lupine and Thank you Flying Squirl for putting on this great race. I’ll get you next year....

Friday, August 3, 2012

Race of Hope 24 hour Rogaine

Team Lupine is heading to Ohio to practice some navigation.......Race of Hope 24hr. ROGAINE 2012
Our Wilma's will be in the house! Light it up those flags Lupine! Looking forward to seeing friends and playing in the woods for 24hours straight. Time to tape the feet, put on our Point 6 socks, grab some honey stingers, and "punch and go".

See you out there

Monday, July 23, 2012

Weekend Worrior Medical and KT tape.

We would like to thank our local support from Weekend Warrior Medical for Keeping us from falling completely apart. Give them a call if you have any questions....Great people with the "support you will need" Pun intended. KT tape and all there products really do help. almost Bionic....almost. Leukotape will stop the hot spots and fend off blisters, really great simple stuff. Save your feet and take care of you....it will pay off.




http://www.weekendwarriormedical.com/servlet/StoreFront


Saturday, July 21, 2012

First MBike Race PWild Lupine 2012

Dino MBike Race May 19, 2012
This would be my first MBike race every, boy did I learn A LOT!  I never liked the mass starts of any race and this was no different.  I was told by a fellow racer that if you "get in the whole first" you can stay out front you will do good.  So Cat 3W came to the line and the racer next to me said "I race these trails all the time Im from here!"  I said "Great"(thinking I should let her in the whole first because she will be fast as she knows the trails, right?)  Well, I was wrong.  The gun went off we peddled like made down the grass field to the "whole" in the woods on the trail and I was in SECOND, with the towney right in front of me.  Hot on her tail we made the first 3 turns fast on the trail with the rest of the pack only feet behind us.  I could feel my heart rate pounding out of my chest and I just keep thinking hold on, it will be over before you know it.  DONT STOP!  And then the townie took a wreck right into the 6th turn(90 degrees into a uphill) only 10 minutes into the race and I about ran her over.  Coming to a stop so that I didnt hit her head with the front of my bike tire I yelled "rider down" and tried to move out of the way so I didnt get hit.  Next thing I knew I was being past by riders as I asked her if she was OK and then thought OMG, this is a race.  And no other rider is asking ANYONE if they are OK?  Well thats not nice!  Anyway, my heart rate still in my throat I jumped back on my bike in hot race to catch the madness now.  This only made my riding even more all over the board.  Not knowing the trail and trying to catch people and being chased by other riders after you pass them had my heart in a FULL SPEED race mode and I couldnt even breath.    I ended up wrecking 3 times, blood down my left leg and not feeling so hot after.
lessons learned
1.  Get in the whole first if you can
2.  Pre ride the trail if you can
3.  Dont stop for anyone(no one will stop for you, so why bother)
4.  Learn to bunny hop over people too! not just trail logs
5.  Enjoy the ride
Finish time: 43:16 (bad race time but boy I learned a lot)  :) 

Monday, June 11, 2012

Pack Rafting. .. Feels like your in a inter tube....

You do get wet and paddling is very different than a canoe or kayak. Think I will go shoeless too.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Osprey Sirrus 36 Pack

I love this pack! Really does fit my small back well and stays in place. Ive tried several packs and this is like no other. Thank you Nurpu for hooking me up! It can hold A LOT

Suunto t6d is awesome!

Have to work out all the ways to set up workouts but love it. Fits my small wrist great too. Goodbye garmin 405 you have been replaced!! Take that!!

Tape your feet, really is a art! Hope it holds...

Powder EGGS? They really look and taste like real eggs! Lol

Lupine is the ONLY way to light it up!

12HR Over Night Hike, 2012 Ohio

May 25, 2012 Over Night Hike with Topo
Shawnee State Forest, in south east Ohio
Full loaded expedition Packs, including PFDs, Pack Rafts and Hiking Poles
Goal: 20 miles in 12 hours


As I write this report I am still not sure this expedition race is a good idea.  Its going to hurt, A LOT!  The team decided to get together to do a over night hike in the most "similar" area that we could even get close to what we thought Maine terrain would be like.  Brian says to us that this forest is known for NO SWITCHBACKS, its all straight UP and straight DOWN.  I said "Great"(not enthusiastic what so ever and thought to myself why? did I say yes?) In my old age, as I was to turn 42 just a few days after this hike, I was beginning to think my better judgment was totally toss out the window when I turned 41! 

Off to Cincy to meet Brian and Shawn(new teammate) to drive to Shawnee together.  We meet at Shawn's house and wrapped our feet with moleskin and lueky' tape.  Shawn was so kind to help me learn how to do this as we all know no matter how good a shoes and socks you have your feet will go first out there if you don't tend to them.  Only one of my fears.  :)  Shawn's sense of humor fit right in with Brian and I so it was a total good fit!  :) 

Stopping at subway on the way to the park for some much needed dinner fuel before we hiked off into no mans land.  Brian says about 10 min from the park, we are about to lose cell service so shut down your phones now.  I thought great, first response to call 911 is out for the next 12 hours.  And this was a good idea?  LOL 

We arrive at the lodge of the park to change cloths and back to the lower parking lot to "sign in" a log that we are leaving our car and going into the woods.  Huh?  I said did you sign us in?  Brian said "Nope, there wasn't a pen".  As we hiked away across the road and straight up into the woods, some how we all thought that reply was funny(no one knows your out there and your cell phones don't work! huh, whatever) but then stopped laughing to catch our breath as we hiked straight up out of the gate.  Typical AR crazy people. 

Let me just tell you, the trails are NOTHING like the trails back in Indiana.  These were barley trails in most parts, over grown, not marked much(orange paint) that Lupine Wilma helped us find in some overgrown parts, very rocky, lose rocks and several stream crossings.  We were lucky that every 6 miles there was a water pump station that we could refill(if we didn't find ourselves hiking right by it) so we didn't have to treat water that night.  It was SO HOT, our gear was like we just got rained on and rained on again, every minute.  Dripping! off my chin I thougth, OMG, its so hot.  We hiked away taking turns on who was leading, the person in the back got the best of the bugs for some reason we couldn't figure that out but we all took turns. 

Up.....down.......UP.....DOWN(don't slip)....."you OK?".....huff puff......"I like those crackers, A LOT"....."I'd like to slap some peanut butter between two of those"......."Want to try some rice in a bag?"..."Sure"!......"I got to pee"...."that's ALL Poison IVY!"....."That Snake is HUGE!(while poking his hiking pole at it!)"......  OMG, (high pitch squeal) I just jumped over a copperhead!, %*&$!....."How far is that?"....."Lets go this way"..."If we go in a circle I be pissed"...."I think I just ate a bug and several up my nose"....."Go away BIRD"(I think hes your new bff and hes staking us!).........Up.....Down......UP.....Down........

As the sun was coming up we were coming up the road to the car from the woods and all happy it was over.  Great times, tuff hike and team energy was at its highest still!  :)

 Finish:  21 miles, 10 hours, 2 miles an hour, 4000 foot elevation gain


 

Indianapolis Mini Marathon, 2012 Indiana

Indianapolis Mini Marathon 2012, 13.1 Miles, largest 1/2 in the world
 
The morning started with coffee and a honey stinger. Yum!  I tried to dress light as I knew this was going to be a hot one.  The Indy directors were saying to stay cool, temps would reach in the upper 80's and very humid.  Being a road race, I was a little worried not on the distance but the pounding on my knees of the road.  I have been running/jogging trails mostly and have not trained on road.  We lined up at the start, corral J I was in.  LOTS of people and it took me back to memories of mini's before and how awful crowded it was and knowing it wouldn't break up til we got to the track 8 miles in on the course.  The gun went off, took 12 minutes just to get to the start line with all the runners.....1 miles in and i really had to go to the bathroom.  :)  So I went, still fighting stomach issues from PA30 the weekend prior.  The miles went by, as we approach the track I got this feeling of excitement when you revisit something that has a lot of history.  This was the first 1/2 marathon for me back in the day and still holds a special place in my heart.  We entered the track, the temps getting hotter and you could tell some runners were not doing well.  I continued to pour cold water on my head as I went Thu the aid stations.  Brrrr....down my back it went, but so worth it.  I had two hammer gels with me and used both of them as my legs wanted to cramp so bad in the heat. 
I stopped to kiss the bricks on the track as lots of runners did and continued on.  We reached mile 10 and I knew it was time kick it up.  Two bathroom stops, 3 walk breaks to talk to friends, lots of cold water from aid stations.....I turned to my friends and said "I got to go!". I turned up so good old 80's rock and kicked it in high gear.  Mile 11... Turn to Mile 12....as I turned to head down town Indy the last home stretch I saw the checker flags on each side giving a nice feeling in my chest that it was almost over.  I knew that we still had 1.1 to go but runners around me started to sprint and I thought to myself, its a lot farther than you think......so I held my pace and when i saw the camera crew above and top of the finish line in the distance.....its was time.  I pushed my legs, as I could feel the heat trying to cramp my calves up and crossed the finish line.  With a happy ending to my run, I just wanted to walk and stretch my legs but the bottle neck past the finish line was so packed I felt like I was at the start again.  Moving Thu the finish line and photo op I got to a shade spot in the grass to wait for my friend.  Nice job Indianapolis, another successful Indy 500 Mini.  Done! :)   PWILD
 

ICO 12HR Rogaine, 2012 Indiana

ICO 2012, 12HR Rogaine, Owne Putnam Forrest, Cloverdale Indiana
April 7, 2012 up at 5am and out the door by 6am to get to the race start by 7am.  It was still dark as we loaded up in the car, Zender and gear, the air was very cool and breeze.  Maybe around 35 but was to be sunny and clear with a high of 65 that day.  But Brrrrrrr til then!  After several twisty turns down country roads  and stopping at a gas station on the way as Paula's stomach was not doing well.  We arrived at 730 am to a small open field surrounded by tress with two cars and frank standing under a canopy waiting.  Our thoughts first were, where is everyone but then slowly cars started to pile in.  Paula immediately ran into the woods as there were no bathrooms at this location.  Zender and I went to check in and get our map, clue sheet and passport.  The main map didn’t have any trails on it but frank was so kind to have a forest map posted that we could transfer over on to the main map if we so choose.  BOY were we glade we did this!  Start time was 9am, seemed like forever but time got away from us again.  At 8:45 Frank gave some pre race guidelines and safety concerns for the course and surrounding areas.  There were lots of “out of bounds” and “off limits” due to private property.  This one was going to be tuff.  A total of 1250 points with a total of 40cps. In any order.
Promptly at 9am frank said “GO”!  We headed back to the car to finish up a few things and make sure Paula's stomach was going to be OK. She said “lets go!” (have to mention that she wanted to try out her new expedition pack and soon into this race she was like “what was I thinking”. LOL)  Its like trying to run with a dead body on your back.
I broke the course up into 4 sections starting with the south east section first, then we would move counter clock wise finishing with the south west section near the start/finish.  We were off to a good start leaving at 9:08am.  Heading for the first cp #12 taking the road southwest.  Then off to cp19, then taking cp19 to 43 on the road.  #43 was a slight delay as the map showed it near the road and after reading the second clue it was off the logging road near a large log pile.  Back on track we took the logging road to stream to hit 50.  Cp 50 we climbed the spur to the top then east to trail to cp28.  Heading north on the trail to the road we kicked it to cp30.  Cp30 up the spur to cp15.  Cp15 was a power line/trail xing southwest quadrant but let me tell you the power line field below was NOT like we have ever seen.  Paula called it large moguls with lots of stickers and some other colorful words that made me laugh, that didn’t make her happy either.  LOL  After cp15 we jumped on the road to cp 18.  My knee was starting to ache at this point but we were doing well and still pushing on.  Paula was going after those flags!  Leaving cp 18 we were going for cp24 but ended up past it and went on to cp47.  Cp47 to stream to cp27 with no problem, took a bearing and a small prayer and we took off up and down to cp24.  Went back to cp18 so we “knew” where we were and took a bearing to stream, stream intersection bearing to cp39.  Really wishing there was a trail on this one. But Paula's pace counting really does help ya out. I found this very helpful several times.  Cp 39 we took off on the old fire trail to intersection to cp16.  Cp16 we jumped on the road and picked up sometime to cp21.  At cp21 we went south due to out of bounds back on road to fire road to ridge to cp36.  Going north west to top of peak we went to cp44.  This one was like a treading a needle, we came up on several no trespassing signs, turned around and went back to the peak.  I took another bearing, we got to the location on pace counts as well and realized we were with in 50 feet of it 30 minutes ago.  Frustrating!  CP44 took another bearing to cp17.  There was a nice fire road from 17 to near cp42.  This would then start the awful trek thru the most painful stickers, briers, log piles start the awful trek thru the most painful stickers, briers, log piles you can imagine.  One after another…..OUCH!  Stuff that is not even jog terrain.  Cp42 bearing to cp33.  Cp33 bearing to Cp44, this was the farthest point north east on the course.  My knee was really in pain now, we jumped out on the road to head to cp37, I clipped into Paula as she towed me on the gravel road the whole way to 37.  Much need relief and the added ibuprofen helped.  She said let me tow you now as I'm going to need you later on the hills.  She makes one laugh but always a great teammate.  We got to cp37 took the trail to cp26.  I drew the trail a little off on the map so I took a bearing to cp26.  Cp 26 another bearing to cp45.  Paula is saying we are running out of time again so we need to think about the cut off.  We decide to head straight for cp32, it had an extra 30pt bonus is you got the year of Abner Frazier's death.  We got it!  Cp32 took the trail to cp23.  Paula mention time again so we knew we had to push harder now.  I tell Paula as we are coming up to a fire road that cp25 is out there.  I check the trail map at the trail head and told her to grab on we were going for it!!  It as an uphill dirt trail climb the whole way to cp25.  She hung on and we were up and down the ¾ mile trail and back in 15 minutes.  Its now 8:25 and we need to be back by 9pm.  One more cp to the finish line we wanted to try and find.  Off down the road we went to find cp11, on the way to the finish.  The clue for cp11 was trail/road crossing 70 meters due south to rootstock along stream.  Paula pulled out my Lupine Wilma headlamp as dark  was setting in and took the go pro for herself. She said no time to get her headlamp out she would just due with following mine.  Took the first trail we saw along the creek and with in 3 minutes realized we had turned too soon, sprinted back to the road and went 20 feet and there was another trail, the correct trail.  Sprint to the creek and trail crossing not far in.  Paula read the clue out load again as l was looking west down the creek, she yelled “other side! South!” as I jumped to the other side and there it was, another meaning to punch and GO!  Time was ticking and off we went to the finish.  Paula counting down the time, knowing we were close but she didn’t know how close we were as her map didn’t have the trails drawn in. 15 Minutes! She yelled, I said grab on! It was really dark now and with one head lamp I was afraid she would fall not being able to see.  I told her to get  in front of me and Lupine Wilma lighted the way.  We sprinted to the finish with 10 minutes to spare!  The last hour of this race was our favorite!! J  Thank you ICO for another fantastic Rogaine!  Our favorite event of yours!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Redbud ride 2012

Team Lupine update on PWild Redbud ride in Kentucky.  Temps were at 50, with 15 mile an hour winds and rain.  Ride started at 8am, the storm hit right as the ride started.  The radar looked like it would blow thru by 915 so we decided to wait it out as we were in bike shorts and no tights to put on.  Seeing lots of riders not even starting the ride and some starting but quickly returning to call it a day.  Putting my GoLite rain jacket on(it saved the day), gloves, warm hat under helmet and extra dry Point 6 socks in my pack we decided not to wait any longer.  Off we went, the roads were so wet that puddles started to form in the turns and the rivers were flowing fast.  Wish we were riding faster than the water was flowing.  Water was running down our backs from the spray off the back tires and dripping off the front of your helmets.  You could hardly see the road at times.  This was a nail bittter.  Two of my friends decided 37 miles was all they could take.  Cristal and I pushed on, soak to the bone from the waste down, hands cold, feet frozen and we pushed on.  Sometimes going 32 mph down hill in the downpour rain, we were crazy!!  After hours of this we decided to take the short route back to the finish bringing us to 64 miles.  What a day.  Hot coffee and the heaters at the finish were well recieved.  Meeting back up with our group we all were happy it was over.  Dont worry REDBUD RIDE, we will be back in 2013 and take the 100 miles we came for....maybe more too.  :)  BTW - no blisters on my soaked feet thanks to Point 6 socks, they rock.  PWILD   

Friday, April 13, 2012

Our Feet Couldn't be happier Thank you Point 6.

We would Like to welcome Honey Stinger to our family. Its great to be in the Hive. Thank you for your support.


Thursday, April 12, 2012

LBL Challenge 2012

Sorry this took so long but here it is....



Lupine Hammer
LBL Challenge 2012

The Land between the Lakes Adventure Race has been a bucket race for years for us. Finally got it worked into the schedule and off we went.  Pre-race meeting was Friday night at 8 after we had all you can eat spaghetti with fellow racers.  You always wonder if maps and such will be handed out the night prior for planning and LBL gave us everything but our passports.  Race director did the normal thanking sponsors, course overview and safety concerns. So off to our rooms to start planning! Weather looked like it was going to hold out for us with a slight chance of rain, cool morning temps, warming mid day to 65ish and potential strong winds.

Heading back to the hotel to pack final gear and get bikes ready to transport to bike drop on the way to the race start, 30 min drive in the morning.  Getting to bed at 11pm seemed great but the 5am alarm not so much.  Crawling out of bed to brush our teeth,  making some coffee and taking the dog out.  We need to be loaded and out the door by 5:45.  So we grabbed breakfast at the restaurant that the Hotel was so kindly to open at 4:30 am for racers to get some much needed bacon and eggs. Big props to all those that woke up to make us food, you don’t know how great that was. So Paula grabbed our great looking to go’s (if you know me I am scatter brained before a race) we grabbed our stuff which we prepared the night before. Zender (the Dog) wanted to give me a good bye and decided I needed some carpet dirt in my nice hot breakfast sandwich before a race “ Thanks lil buddy”

Chilly morning to start and we could not wait for the sun to come up and warm things up. Finally found our way to the bike drop then to the start/finish line.   We got turned around on the way to the bike drop, happy we got that out of the way BEFORE the race.  

LBL was a beautiful area to race.  The terrain would be tough to navigate and the vegetation(vines! I can’t tell you how may times I tripped, And sticker vines) would sure put us thru the test. Based on the course design of 42+ check points, 2 passports and each discipline more than once we were in for it. At the start of the race we sang the national anthem as the sun was coming up.  And then the gun went off! 

The first leg of the race was on foot collecting cp’s down muddy trails and reaching our bike drop.  We started off really strong nailing the first trek on pace a head of what we planned. Got to the bike TA no problem maybe wasted 20 seconds for the photo op you see on the web page but we were in and out in less then 5 min. We hit every Bike CP without any problem keeping all routes in memory because we will be back this way later. We did a lot of retrace during this race, being that is was in a tight area.  Paula also decided to stop and take a quick Mud treatment over her handlebars, she was okay thanks to the mushy brown mud.

We got to the paddle section this would be cp’s 9-12.  Deciding not to change out of our bikes shoes, knowing we would be nice and dry with out Point 6 Socks we were jogging down the boat ramp quickly.  I carried the canoe while Paula had all the team gear, pfd’s and paddles right behind.  The lake seemed clear and calm until we turn the corner out of the cove and BAM!  The white caps and wind came at us like we were in a storm.  We tucked our heads and push on paddling like mad.  Paula was a trooper in the front, breaking the waves, and She wasn't happy.   We were dead on the navigating on water even in these conditions. We also decided to ford the land to get to CP 11 which saved us some time vs.going around. So if the canoe people were wondering my there were leaves in the canoe that is why. We saw all the top teams coming towards us as they were finishing the short paddle section…..Team WEDALI said it was “better on the way back”.  Got back to TA jumped on bike and off to the “O” quick like.    Hitting the O section about ½ hour behind the time we wanted to we knew we would could probably make it up if we did well here “positive thinking”.  Knowing that this was a tough section we needed to be “on it”.   So we changed out our wet Point 6’s with some dry ones and saddled up our trail shoes and took off grabbing some much needed Fuel as we Jogged. Nailing the first 2cp’s with no problems. I had a little issue with 3 and I will admit,we were right on it until I got my map switched around as  I was looking at 5 for a couple of min.(this is what I think started what is to come) Good news is we took a look around and saw it off on the other spur. The 2 and 4 we had no problems with, and CP2 one just plain took us out of the game.  CP2 will forever haunt us, we got turned around, it was 5:30 and the cut off was 9pm to be off the O course. Lesson Learned on this “If things don’t look right or terrain does not match up, GO BACK TO WERE YOU KNOW”. I am still kicking myself in the butt for this one. We knew we were way NORTH of the TA and had to find something to get us back on track or at least to the TA.  Running out of time and getting frustrated and losing day light we decided to get back to the TA.  Following a horse trail we found  by a bit of LUCK, following a south west bearing we made it back to the TA by 830. Just as it got dark we were almost out of the woods, we finally saw another team, Technu starting there second O section. I was not a happy camper because now I knew how much time I lost us.  

 Time to regroup, we were doing so well and now our heads and MY navigation confidence was shot. BUT we knew we were getting back on the bikes, dark now, and the bike was our strong point for the day.  In the TA we changed back into our bike gear, while eating and putting our jackets on as the temps were falling.  I realized I was out of water and we needed to find some. Team 361 heard us talking and graciously gave us 2 water bottles and a Gatorade!  Thank you!!  Adventure Racers are competitive but always willing to help with food, water or bike repairs when a team’s in need!  Back on the bikes and we knew we were heading to another paddle section of the race.  Remembering the “whitewater” from earlier in the day we thought to ourselves this is going to be tough and our confidence is in the tank.  We got to the paddle TA and the volunteer there was amazing.  Lots of bikes already there and we saw fellow friends(racers) changing to get on a cold paddle putting rain jackets on.  Paula stepped up and got all our options that we could do for the rest of the race. The course was designed that you paddled south getting Cp’s to a takeout, then trekked back north getting Cp’s back to your bikes.  Then once you got back to your bikes a“surprise” was given to you about the course and then to the finish line.  So basically you were committed to that entire section of the race once in the paddle. We talked for about 10 minutes and what we wanted to do, still thinking the lake water was ruff like the morning. In the end we decided to skip the paddle/trek section due to time and The chance of dropping way back after having the trouble We had at the first O.We took the “surprise” section and to the finish line.
The surprise section ended up being 7 cp’s on Mountain Bikes trails(well not ON the trails,we had to get off our bikes to go into the woods to get them).  You could say we were not happy about having to cut the course and not do a those two sections but we knew it was best for us at that moment.   So we took off on the bikes and some how some way My confidence level came back and we nailed all CP’s on the way back to the finish line. Not knowing other teams would have had such a difficulty finding CP30 because other then seeing Technu Bike whacking up the hill on the first turn off we tried which was too far according to my measurements. They asked us in a worried competitive inquiry “did you guys clear it?”. Much to there relief, we didn’t. We went a little further down the trail and took a quick look at another “off trail”. No Spur at 1/10 of a mile.Quick check on mileage and back we went to where we measured (1/2 mile off turn). took a careful look and Bingo a small little trail threw the canopy of trees. What gave it away is having our Lupine Wilma’s lighting up the woods so we could see the semi fresh cut tree that was just off the trail. Followed that down 1/10, and there was our Spur. Having a  Lupine Wilma helped too,she sure knows how to light up those Cp’s.  Paula's legs were feeling pretty fatigued but I  continued to push her and kept the pace up, "She is a Machine". Nailing the rest of the Bike CP’s after seeing the all the Top teams a few times on all the out and backs, we came popping out of the woods onto the paved road about ¼ miles from the LBL Orange Arch Finish Line, we headed for the finish and we could hear cowbells and people cheering.  What a great feeling we had, for all the ups and downs of this race we highly recommend it.  Finishing with 10 minutes to spare under 24 hours (which turned out to actually be a 27.5 hour race) not bad!  2nd place in our division and 11thoverall, team Lupine Hammer had a great time! Thank you LBL, the volunteers and the wonderful meal at the end. 

See you out there,
PWild, JZ & Zen 

Friday, March 23, 2012

LBL Challange 2012

Well final pack up and on our way to Land Between the Lakes 24 hour race. Looks like it is going to be a little on the wet side. We are all ready for it.