2014 USARA Nationals

This years USARA Nationals race took place in the resort town of McHenry, Maryland.  Team members JZ, Rick and PWild have been racing one year together and even thou they have all been to nationals before this was the first to race together.  Looking forward to racing together as always they knew they would have a great time.  Enjoyed seeing old friends and making new from all our the country. 

  
The race started at 8AM on October 3rd for 30 hours.  (http://www.usaranationals.com)  We did all the pre race check in Thursday, signed all waivers and then check out the "white water" boogie boarding location at the top of the ski resort.  JZ and PWild had shipped their bikes to High Mountain Sports.  Steven Green and Brian Glotfelty of High Mountain were great letting the team put them together at the shop.  www.highmountainsports.com Temps were to be in the 30s at the start of the race with highs in the 50's and raining off and on all during the race and dropping back in the 30's over night.  Winds were to be 15mph plus.  PWild had a real concern with Hypothermia during the white water section but the team discussed it and depending on when it was during the race they would do what they needed to do to get the team thru that section.

Team got a good nights sleep, Rick and Jason sleep like rocks no matter what.  PWild was tossing and turning as usual.  JZ's dad came down to watch the race and take photos.
It was nice to see him out on the course in random spots, he did a great job "finding" us.
   Waking up and making last minute gear preps the team was ready to head to pre race meeting.  Prior to getting the race instructions the team knew the following:  Paddle Bag drop was out side near where we staged our bikes. That was it!

The resort had a small breakfast area that we could get some hot food prior to not eating REAL food for 30hours plus and that was wonderful.  PWild and Rick love their hot coffee and usually end up sharing many cups prior to race start during the map plotting.  At the pre-race meeting one team member had to go to a short meeting on the spot trackers and how to use them while the other two teammates got maps(dated 1983) and started plotting the points.

  PWild went to learn about the tracker, it was mandatory.  There were many notes about the race during the pre race meeting about:  White water section, off limit roads, section of the race you can not go back to as cut offs will apply, mode of transportation is mandatory during all sections for those points, fastest OTeam Award, penalties during some sections if you do certain things like portage with the boat, keep track of multiple passports during some sections, SCORE O section and additional points,  and the final finish line cut off and being LATE. The whole race was a get as many points as you can, no penalty for skipping any but you could only use a lesser form of transport to get missed. After mapping the course we would find out that there was not real way that would make any sense. 

We learned quickly the race opening section we would be running straight up the ski hill with our bogie boards and doing the white water section.  We were able to leave our packs with our bikes as we were returning their, running back down the hill and getting on our bikes and riding back up the hill.   The gun went off and all teams ran, hiked fast and walked fast straight up the ski hill.  JZ helped pull the team to the top of the ski hill.  Quickly getting in to his wet suit with Pwilds help JZ was first in the white water section.

USARA really kept things organized at this section and only allowed racers that were in the white water past a certain section, this was a relay event.  Rick got changed and we waited for JZ to come around for Ricks turn.  The water was too cold so the guys said they would do PWilds turn(this was an option in the rules) or do a trail run and the guys choose the white water.   5min, 10min, we didn't know how long it would take.  12min.....14 min......ok THERE he is!  JZ came around and didn't look good.....exhausted.....rick took the board and went in after some quick instructions from JZ to stay to the outside of the last pool as its a huge eddy that had about 10 people stuck in it for about 8 min!!  "I got stuck in it for like 8 min!"  JZ was cold and telling PWild that he could go again that she was going to have to do it.  PWild told him to relax, get your breath, lets wait for Rick.  10min....THERE HE IS!  Wow, Rick was fast!  He came around looking tired and out of breath.  PWild told JZ to be ready, as Rick approached the relay tag in and out area he looked at PWild as she asked if he was OK.  He said wow, Im not sure I can go again taking in some breaths.  PWild said "Can you do it again, JZ is pretty wipped still".....Rick said "uh....give me a minute"....The before they knew it Rick was back in the white water going again!

JZ followed him around the edge of the course couching him on which way to paddle. He was like a bobbing cork flying threw the class 3 rapids with nothing more then a small kids boggie board. JZ got back and quickly changed out of his wet suite and got ready for rick to come in so the team could run back down to their bikes.   There he is!! Rick is a rock star!  Out of the water and got all 3 chips to turn in for that section.  They were glade that was over.  Now lets do some AR old school racing. :)

Back to the bikes and taking our packs we climbed the hill on bikes this time.  Then we were on a Mountain Bike trail section looking for points.  The leaves covered a lot of the trails but the team really liked this section! There were some trails not on the map and really had to pay attention!  JZ did a great job leading us right to all but one of the points we decided to skip! This was a hard choice to make so early but we knew that the Race Director stressed that is would be extremely difficult for even the top teams to clear the course in the 30 hours which only three teams did. After the Mountain Bike section we returned to the TA to drop our bikes and picked up our paddle bag and ran a mile to the Deep Creek Marina.

As we are running to the Marina we could see the boats in the distance and saw that they were the big yellow banana boats!  Hi Jerry!  We have paddled these things since the day we started racing!  The wind had picked up and there were white caps on the lake.  This is going to be ruff and really wet!  PWild said "I have never seen white caps like that coming up in the boat before....we were wet the whole time, sometime feeling like we were not evening moving!".  "That Sucked, lol".    We could get these 4 points in any order, the team saw the lake conditions and decided to skip the two farthest points.  There was an additional O Section on the paddle, the team was feeling good to get off the water and on their feet. 

This was the Deep Creek Lake Orienteering section, reminded us of navigating in Kentucky, with thick vegetation and all the fall leaves the colors really played with your eyes as you looked for the orange o flags.  The team took this time to get some food down and refuel their much needed bodies after that paddle section.  With a lot of the sections you could do in "any order" it was nice as teams took different routes and you were not playing follow the leader, causing teams to really think and use there navigation skills for choices.  It was great to see friends all the time during the race going in all different directions.

  After getting all the points on the O section they headed back to the boat to paddle back to the marina.  As the team got into the boat it started to rain, they knew they would have a tail wind back but now its raining.....lol.....The wind was actually half of what it was coming out.  The team grabbed all the paddle gear at the boat take out and ran back to the TA to get back on their bikes.  They took a few minutes to refill water and change into some dry socks and putting on rain jackets.  They did not except to return to this TA until the near end of the race.....the next day! 

Off on a VERY long bike section collecting CPS along the way to the Savage River Score O(teams were told this Score O will make or break the race for most teams).  As we biked up and down the Mts of Maryland it was still raining off and on.  About 430, starting to get dark with all the cloud cover and rain.  JZ said "I need to switch maps" as these maps were huge.  We came to a Y in the road and noticed a barn that had its doors wide open!  Yes!  Some place dry to flip the map! We all rode our bikes to the doors of the barn and went in.  Temps were starting to fall and the team was starting to get cold.  They decided to all put their rain gear on as it was coming down in buckets now, this was a great move and got their Lupine Lighting ready.   Trying not to spend much time in the Barn(it was nice) they put their game face on and headed back out into the rain...no more stopping til the O section now. Well it was late in the evening, we thought, as the team was getting sleepy on the Bike section. We did a counter clockwise route as this had the least amout of elevation gain/loss over the stretch. We made up a ton of time coming in to the trail O section from the top. Taking some chances on some unmarked trails that really paid off. Making up time "we think" on many other teams. on the home stretch we stopped at a barn/house looking shack and saw a pop machine.  Quickly pulling over and getting under the overhang out of the rain the team pulled out money to get a soda to wake up.  Rick said looking into the machine " I really wish this was a coffee dispensing machine"....we all laughed as he REALLY wanted it to be.  :)  Drank two sodas between us 3 and we were off on the bikes again collecting more CPs.

The team arrived at TA3, Savage River Score O and was greeted by awesome volunteers!  They had a big covered shelter area with hot coffee! OMG.....Rick and PWild were in heaven. The estimated distance on this section was 12-15 miles with 2500 to 3000 feet of vertical gain depending on your route choice. CPs in any order and each have a "value" with a max total value of 100.

Yea, more stragety with sleep deprivation! LOL.....JZ and Rick worked well together navigating while PWild tried to pace count during this crazy section of HIGH cliff lines, deep re entrants and slick limestone plates under the leaves. Footing in this section was tough between the steep climbs to the thick stickers! The first couple hours we saw head lamps in the distance and sometimes right near us but they became far between as the night went on......    We knew we had to be out of this section in a certain amount of time to get back on the long bike section back to the start finish TA to be able to do the last orienteering section before the 30 hour cut off.  The team really pushed the time limits, on extra time for any issues on the bike leg back to the O section.

 Daylight started to come up and the team was still in the score O section.  One pivotal point we were coming from HH to head to JJ and literally went in a circle on the ridge.  The team started to get frustrated with each other but quickly regrouped and got it.  Getting back to the TA was another chore as we started dropping in on the wrong spur but decided to just hit it to the bottom and head down the steam to the Road. We actually lucked out aand there was a trail at the bottom. Despite the hard time on this section, our soar ankles from all the slick limestone, Rick falling on his back hard one time we were in good spirits.  As we are in the TA, we saw our good friends Bushwacker and Mike was asking out loud if anyone had an "sugar"  JZ got mike some food, it was nice to see the lead teams during the race!  We knew they were in contention to win but had no idea they had no idea!  They quickly refueled and was out of the TA.  As they pulled out and out of sight in came Tecnu, we pulled out then, and knew Tecnu would be behind us shortly.  Getting to the first Bike Cp on the way back, coming out of the woods Tecnu was coming it.  We knew it was going to be a exciting finish for the top teams.  We continued to get all the bike cps back to the finish and the sun was coming out at this point.  Taking off our rain gear, and enjoying drying out some what.  PWilds IT band started to hurt on the way back to the TA so JZ helped pull her while the pain meds tried to kick in.  We were a little disappointed at our time during this bike section but we pushed as a team got back to the TA for the final O Section.  The Wisp Orienteering Section, 4 CPS, yep straight up the ski hill one more time on foot.  And DONT BE late, if you are its one CPS for every full minute your late.

PWild got her poles out to help easy the pain in her knee and off the team went to collect the final CPs.  Didn't see too many teams at this point, the CPS were spread out pretty good and again it was any order. Getting 2 of the 4 final points and running down hill, so close in getting 3 but out of time!  We ran to the finish making sure no other teams passed on the way in!  Way to finish strong team!

Thank to all the race volunteers and race director Brian Holzhowsen, what a awesome course design!  We loved it!  If your in and around Indiana please support DINO, Brians company, in Muntain Bike races, trail running, and more! http://www.dinoseries.com

Thank you to Hammer Nutrition, Suunto, Salomon, and Zeal Optics for everything!  

Finishing with 34 total points, 21th out of 63 teams.  Team Lupine Racing felt good about the finish considering several factors.....watch out....will be back.  See you out there!

PS.....wish we could find our finish line photo, a lot of photos seem to be missing!

Run, Row, Rock & Roll Adventure Race, Nebraska 2014

2014 Run, Row, Rock & Roll AR, 10th Anniversary
12 Hour Adventure Race by Angry Cows
Endicott, Nebraska

Another first for the Team racing in Nebraska. RRRR was a 12 hour sprint Race in the we'll call them rolling valley lands of Nebraska. We go into Town an hour before the pre-race meeting where we were given our maps and able to plot ALL 52cps on the course. With one map, the course was laid out in a large loop with some interesting team relay choices to make along the way. After Plotting we dropped two of the bikes at one of the volunteers house while the third we dropped along a river far to the southeast. Race started with a group prayer and then our pain began. The first section was 10 trekking CP's in any order then to the first TA.  This was not a good start for us and put us in a whole from the start.  We hit the first CP with the rest of the pack and then pretty much took off in all directions, our challenge started.

The terrain here was a little tricky as we had to change our normal nav "train of thought"..everything was flat and DOWN instead of Mts and UP.......which this took us overshooting the second CP. We backtracked at that point and stumbled upon CP5 so we regrouped and got back on track as the rain hit us. Again,  everything in this area was really navigating from the top down rather then looking up at mountains for bearings, we had to acclimate to everything was a valley or down. We managed to get threw the rest of these in decent time but we seemed to just never make up enough at the end. At the first TA one person Paddled and the other two biked an short bike O section. PWild and JZ took the first leg biking.  Then the second longer paddle Pwild did and JZ and Derek took off on the longer Bike O.  The way the second bike O section was described was that there were plenty of trails in that section, So we figured Derek and I could hammer that and make up some time. That didn't happen, many teams spent a lot longer on this section including us. We saw just about everyone getting a little frustrated in this area. We wound up leaving one CP out there and went to the paddle take out were Pwild was waiting for awhile.  PWild was so worried we would be waiting for her she killed that paddle section!!  

At this point we had to decide what we were skipping as time was running short and so was out patients. We were not firing well at all as a team on this one. We just desired head back to the start/finish and hit the points along the way and try to get there in time to get the final four Bike O points near the start/finish, which we did. We had to settle for fourth in this one. Congrats to NSpire and Unplugged Adventures for earning the top spot on this one.

We all as Racers have those bad races but taking away the lessons and learning from them is what makes us better. Thanks Craig and Jim of Angry Cow Adventure for putting this race together.

**Sorry photos will not stay upright, have more just wont load right**