Hammer Nutrition Ice Pop Recovery Treats with Fresh Fruit

These awesome refreshing treats will cool you down after a hot work out. Sometimes you want more than just a recovery drink but not something as heavy as food. This hits the spot. You can use any fruit you want, that is your natural sugar.

You do need a small funnel to use to fill the plastic Popsicle sleeves. Blend in your blender to a smooth texture, let some of the air bubbles settle if you can prior to filling the sleeves. Fill and freeze. Enjoy!
PWild
Hammer Recoverite, Honey and Fruit

VENUS de Miles 100 Road Ride 2015

    VENUS de Miles 100 Road Ride 2015
        Saturday Aug 22, 2015, Colorado

Well, I have not been on my Road Bike in almost 3 years and I heard about this ride the wed before the Saturday start.  Thursday night I thought it be a good idea to take the Amira for a short ride around the house to make sure I still at least felt comfortable on it.  Hee Hee!  Thank goodness I did as the seat needed adjusted, thank you JZ and I really need to NOT wear my tri shorts for this one.  Friday night at 7pm I signed up for the ride that started the next morning at 645 AM out of Longmont Colorado a 45 minute drive north from home.  Tossed my short list of gear together as they stated 5 aid stations the whole ride.  It was going to be a hot one once that sun came out (80+) so i decided to wear my Mt Bike small pack with just water in it, very happy I did as the longer the ride the hotter it got and the aid stations became farther apart.  I think only about 200 riders if that did the whole 100 miles (106 to be exact lol) 

     The start of the ride I felt really crowded and a little scary as some rode pretty close to one another and others not holding lines in the turns.  I backed off a bit to let the field spread out and it did.  Got to the first aid station at mile 23.3(Eagle Spirit Alpaca Farm)  Yes, there were 10 plus alpacas in a large field just staring at us. LOL  I grabbed a banana and checked my water, Im good.  Back on the bike I went.  I also had hammer Sustaine Energy and Perpetum in a bottle on the bike that I took when needed.  Carrying baby wipes, phone, ID, money in my small pack and hammer gel and pills in my jersey pockets.  Seems like a lot of turns on the ride you really had to pay attention to the arrows the race staff had drawn on the ground.  Of course all traffic laws apply, stop signs and red lights really put a stop to a good pace. :(  Rest stop two came at mile 47.0.  At that time I was really starting to feel the heat, not too hungry I just had another small banana and some gel.  Filled my water as i was just about out and for some reason craving some coffee, didnt find any. Next stop was Hygiene Elementary at mile 59 water only, I decided to keep going as I felt like I just did a stop.  Now we are heading east to Lyons, MT Biked in this area so it was familiar.  I have been pretty much riding by myself since the second aid station now.  Winds have picked up and the sun is relentless on baking all of us.  Lyons elementary was the 3rd rest stop and i did stop here, mile 65 and gave my you know what a break, as it was starting to feel the pressure from my seat.  I had a half peanut butter and jelly sandwich a very nice volunteer made form me and did a few minutes of small talk with some very nice riders.  Back on my bike as I new just a few miles down the road was the turn around and that was a good feeling to me.  As I turned the corner on to the Highway just north of Lyons I got my first flat of the day.  Oh boy, (I said a few other colorful words) as at this point I was doing great on time.  I pulled of the road and took by back wheel off and got my tools out.  No shade in site so I was going to just have to try and be quick.  Lucky for me! two race support motor cyclist going the other way saw me and turned around to come help.  They had my tire changed in no time and I was forever grateful!  Thank you!  Back on the road again...riding alone.....this is boring I said several times to myself.  Then I would just push harder to get the ride over faster LOL!.  As I came to the turn around it was nice but I had my bike computer in KM(for AR) instead of miles so i had to keep doing the math in my head.  lol......my legs and lower back were starting to feel the ride, I had 25 more miles to go and the wind out on the open plane roads pushed me to lean. Yikes!  Ya know, no matter what way you turn it feels like a head wind or side wind.  Got to mile 78 i saw the turn to the right to go back in town to the finish but NOPE, 100 mile riders had to go North, left. UGH....OK PWild, time to suck it up put your head down and push past this.  Hitting several gravel roads on this section, trying to not get a flat by trying to stay in the smoothest part I could find as I did not have anymore tubes.  And it would have been a long walk back.  Got to the final aid station at the Community Church at mile 87.  I pulled off and got some more gel, hammer and a bit of food and decided to not really stop but then checked my pack for water and I was out.  Dang it.....peddle back to the aid station and filled up water.  WOW, they have choc cake, that looked amazing but I had a few miles to go and I knew if I ate it, with these heat that would have come back up.   Back on the bike and heading in to town, lots and lots of little turns and stop lights and traffic.  Probably my least favorite part.  Coming into the finish was nothing spectacular.  No one announcing your name, no clapping and certain no medals given out.  Looking down at my watch I felt good AND my time was better than I thought it would be.  Would I do another one, YES.  But I would just hammer out front and go totally self supported except if I need more water.  Cheers to my first 100 miles on my road bike and looking for another one in early spring.  I will be back!

THANK YOU Hammer you fueled me the whole time.  Thank you Zeal for protecting my eyes from the blazing sun, forever grateful.  Hoooooo!   Now get out and play.  Chase your dreams people!

The RETURN to Pikes Peak Marathon 2015

Pikes Peak Marathon Recap -  Sunday Aug 16, 2015

Written by Rick Schnell

Arguably, the hardest marathon in North America and not one I ever look forward too.  But it had been a few years since my pathetic past performance at this marathon, and it was a chance to get together with old teammates, whom I had done Primal Quest with back in 2003. 

Training is always tough for this marathon, as living and training for me  at 650 feet above sea level really doesn't prepare oneself for a marathon that starts in Manito Springs, elevation about 6,800.  Of course that's just the start, as one has to run up the Barr trail, at an average grade of 11.5% to above 14,000 feet.  Then one must then turn around and run down to the finish.  Footing is treacherous, and I have always managed to take at least one good spill coming down (usually several).  The finish line has its share of running wounded, and they have a nice triage tent set up where the first thing they do is spray your  wounds down with Betadine.  Yikes!

 I flew into Denver, where Michele, a  good friend and adventure racing team mate for years lives.  Dan, my other teammate flew in a day later.  We all drove up to Manitou Springs for the pre race registration, and checked into a motel right across from the race start.  The race is capped at 800 runners, and most seem to be from the area of Manitou Springs,  Colorado Springs, or other higher elevation places. 

After a couple days of sightseeing and just chilling, it was time.  I had a game plan this time of watching my heart rate, and keeping in zones during the ascent.  I know my heart rate max's out at 178, and I wanted to keep myself in my Aerobic zone (under 160) for the ascent portion, with the exception of the last couple miles.  I knew the elevation and diminished available oxygen would probably make me go anaerobic near the top. The race organization now uses chip timing,  and a wave start system staggered at 1 minute intervals.  My wave start was at 7:03, but since Michele and Dan had later starts,  I started back with them at 7:06AM.   

Our wave was off, and the 1st mile is through Manitou Springs, on roads with gradual elevation gain until it passes the Cogs Railway and onto a spur trail that will get us to Barr trail.  Things get a little steep here, and the physical absurdity makes most experienced normal  people start walking.  My heart rate was hovering  near my self imposed limit, and I adjusted my pace accordingly, backing my pace down when my heart rate got to high.  I had written down the aide station locations and mileages to make the ascent portion more of a series of milestones, and not one big ascent.  Occasionally I got hung up in some slower groups, and passing is sometimes next to impossible until the trail widens up.  I was feeling strong, and even above treeline, found myself passing  where I could. 

I normally go into an altitude coma around 12,000' where I have serious trouble thinking (not to mention breathing) but I was feeling great almost all the way to the summit and turn-around.  Michele and Dan whom were ahead and now on the decent (runners coming down have to pass the runners coming up, which makes for some pretty close calls) Both passed me (Michele, ahead of Dan, which goes to show you that Michele living and training at altitude was a benefit for her!)  I hit the summit turn around, and looked for Michele's husband whom was going to hand me a pair of  biking gloves to use on the downhill when I fell.  Cripes, he was nowhere to be seen, so I started down knowing that when I fell, I was going to lose some skin on my hands.  The next few miles down is a challenge as you get caught up in runners going uphill, as well as downhill runners that do well on the uphill, but are a bit timid to open it up on the descent.  About treeline I was able to open it up, and pass at will except when it was really rocky. So far, I had not taken a spill, although a couple people whom were running at my pace and we were talking... went down.  I hung around till they got up and said they were okay, but they backed their pace down and I never saw them again.  

The field really thins out on the descent, and you only see one or two people ahead of you through the forever series of switchbacks.   I was feeling pretty strong until about 3 miles from the end, when I hit my wall.  The temperature was starting to warm up, which may have been a factor.  Strange how you can be running down hill, and hit the wall.  But your actually braking with your quads on the descent, so it's not like your actually getting a free ride down. I have always said that the downhill is more punishing on your legs then the ascent.   With about 1 mile to go, you break out of the trail by the Cogs rail way, and it's a mile to the finish line on the road.... down a grade.  Now my feet were feeling really good till now, but with each foot impact on the hard road, I knew it was going to cost me a toenail or two at the end.  But if you run marathons, or adventure race that is usually a common occurrence.   I was actually starting to suffer, and was passed by a few people on the road section.  But the curve in the road was there, and I knew the finish line was just around the bend. 

Sucking it up, I made my finish look strong, but it came with a price of just about collapsing into the arms of a volunteer.  I was ushered to the a chair to sit down for a few minutes while I held a bag of ice to my neck.  After a few minutes, I was fine enough to walk out of the finishers tent and find Dan and Michele.  Michele, finished about 6:29, Dan about 6:45, and I finished at 6:50.  Not my Personal best, which was 6:29 but that was when I was 44 back in 2002.  Let me tell you,  I was quite happy with my time this year, as back in 2002 I had altitude sickness so bad, I suffered beyond my ability to describe here. 

So, Michele, Dan and I walked across the street and cooled our legs off in a mountain stream.  I have to admit  I really enjoyed the challenge, and we talked that we will come back in 2017 and do it again.  Now I just have to think how to get some altitude training in....

The 60th running of the Pikes Peak Marathon was held on Sunday August 16 2015.  The Ascent race, where runners run to the top and finish, is held on the Saturday before.  (They are bussed down) The field is limited to about 1600 starts for the ascent, and 800 for the marathon.  You need to have a qualifying time to register, and they are serious about this.  People lose their registration fee, and get banned from future races for trying to pull stuff.  If you're interested in this race, check out their website at http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/

EROCK Sunrise to Sunset 2015, PWild Solo Female Mt Bike Race

EROCK Sunrise to Sunset 2015!

29th Annual Subaru Elephant Rock Cycling Festival

EROCK chewed me up and attempted to spit me out, but I fought my way to the finish! 

After missing out on a podium finish in last years Sunrise to Sunset and placing 4th, I had to sign up for a serious comeback in 2015. A new year also brought a new race venue at The Philip S. Miller Park in Castle Rock, Colorado. A pre-ride of the course a few weeks prior to the race set my mind at ease as I was able to identify some of the more technical sections, some sandy turns, low vegetation, and tree hang-ups. I only wish I would have ridden the course in the correct direction J

Race day arrived with an early mass starting lineup, cycle cross style at 8:00 am sharp. Our estimated finish time would be 7pm with each lap course being 7 miles long. 

http://erockrace.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/15-SS-sitecourse-map.7.pdf

At the start we ran our bikes about 100 feet up trail to a set of orange cones, then jumped on, and began to peddle. The trail bottlenecked into an amazing single-track climb and since it had rained the night before I was treated to some tacky hero dirt wonderfulness. 

I was movin my first two laps!  My chain skipped a little out of tune on the start of my third lap, so I jumped off and ran, carrying my bike to the top to fix my gearing. Dirty from chain lube, I proceeded onward only to be met with some debilitating quad cramps on the climb. I could see my quad contraction under the skin like an alien attempting to escape its host in a science fiction movie. Motionless, I massaged my leg as I watched others suffering, walking their bikes to the top of the climb. Once the contractions subsided, I was back on the bike and eager to see the next transition area (TA) for an electrolyte fix!

Jason was at the TA ready and waiting to load me up on electrolytes and some much needed pickle juice. Yeah, you heard me right, pickle juice. Off I went on lap 4, which turns out to have been my slowest lap. I was behind the cramping 8-ball at this point, so it was mind over matter time. Chatting out loud, I talked my way through the rest of the race, certain the other riders thought I was delirious with my own banter. My plan was to double up on electrolytes and pickle juice, walk the 3 climbs and ride the downhills as fast as I could to make up time. This rest time on the climbs paid off, lap 5 and 6 flew past. 

It was time to put the hammer down #howihammer for lap 7 and 8. Fighting back the tears of pain, thoughts of self-doubt began to surface as I heard the race director say, due to poor weather conditions no one else would be permitted out on course. The cooler temperatures, light drizzle of rain and encouraging words from a fellow rider washed my doubt away. I got my second wind, hero dirt beneath my feet, and the lightning in the sky, I was energized, a little adrenaline at this point was just what I needed. 

Water dripped from my helmet as the rain came pouring down in buckets. Jason shoved ravioli and more electrolytes in my mouth as he pushed me out on course, yelling, “push it!” I thought stubbornly, “I feel better than I did 4 laps ago”. 

Delirious as to time and place I flew over jumps on laps 9 and 10, laughing out loud and yelling some expletives. Finishing before the cut off time with little time to spare, I completed 10 laps. “I DID IT,” I thought. I didn’t even care what place I was in, Jason never would tell me my results until its official. What a great sense of accomplishment, to do what few others dare to attempt. 

It turns out I placed second in the solo female category! Continue giving it all you got and we’ll see ya out there! 

Run, Row, Rock & Roll, Nebraska 12 HR

Run, Row, Rock, and Roll 2015

Another one in the books for the team. This was a race we had on the teams sights from the big fining of the year and it almost didn't happen due to some injuries. But we shuffled some people around and managed to make a showing for the two person coed division. Pwild and JZ really went into this as a training race just to keep sharp, and sharp they did. Coming out with a First Place win in their division and 5th overall. This really was a surprise to them after some of the hiccups that occurred.




The Race Report:

 RRRR took place with the start in Fairbury, Nebraska. We arrived after a 7 1/2 hour drive at about 4pm. Check in was 5 to 7, where you got almost everything you needed (maps,number,clue sheet). There where 31 points to plot and as it looked from plotting we had a 30 min drive to the  bike drop in the morning and much to JZ's enjoyment..."a freaking bus drive to the start". We wake up at 4:15am get our gear together and head out to the remote bike drop/start/TA. Got that taken care of and headed back to get a quick breakfast before we had to go to the bus pick up/finish which was at the wellness center at the hospital. So on bus to take a second trip down to the start.

The start was located at a small lake which was separated by a causeway for a road about 2/3rds of the way up the lake. At the start gun teams had there option of doing the paddle or the trek to start. We went with the paddle first(Section 2). Reason being it was very humid and we thought it would allow the tall grass to dry and not be as wet and more packed down for quicker moving. Only about 10 teams decided to do the paddle first. So it was a lot of saying hi to our friends Boom Boom Pow, Shakenbake and another 3 person coed we found out later was NYARA. This consisted of 7 points(In Order) and four portages over the causeway, each time they checked your passport to make sure you didn't punch out of order.

Some of the clues for these CPs are as follows “Inlet on Tree, Tree on shore, Inlet on Tree, Inlet on Tree”. No real issues here other than teams were not permitted to use their own paddles or PFDs. Everyone except solo's had to use a canoe paddle and PFD provided.(3person teams could only have two people paddling at any one time). This was enforced as NYARA started with 3 paddling and the race staff took one paddle away sometime during the paddle.  We were not a fan of this handicapping as some teams are better at one discipline than others. I mean everyone doesn't have to run the same tires on their bikes or only aloud to walk on the trek. But we all had to do it so we just hunkered down and paddled our canoe. We had lots of laughs on the paddle as PWILD never used a canoe paddle before but picked it up pretty quick.  We managed to be off the water fourth and on to the trek.  We did a quick transition, checked in with race staff showing our passport and off we went.  PWild usually never carries the passport racing but she picked up the slack like a champ.  The trek section(Section 1) had 7 CPs(any order) in and around the lake we were just on.  Some of the clues for the CPs were “tree on dam, Tree on hillside, Meadow, Lone Cedar Tree,Tree in Bare Spot” it had seemed that some of the points
were strangely wrapped to the other side of trees out of site, most likely not how they were set (not nice, but it will take more then that to slow us down). It got hot out pretty quick and we tried to keep up on fluids, the race director did have water on parts of the course. (thank you!)  We only refilled when we were OUT.  That came up twice in just 12 hours, hot!  The heat was setting in and as the team was pushing JZ needed a mind break and Pwild stepped up and helped out. JZ ate some jerky, we walked some and then he snapped out of it after PWild said a few colorful words.  Then it was on like donkey kong.  We also got followed by a dog for miles during this section, ate up by mosquitoes, and trekked threw waist high poison ivy.  Almost as bad as Wisconsin.  Ok maybe not that bad.  JZ nailed the rest of the O section, running back to the TA to transition to bikes.  So glade to see our bikes.  JZ changed shoes, while PWild checked in with the Volunteers again, then he helped her pack her shoes away while she changed into bike shoes.  And OFF on the bike section(Section 3).

This mostly dirt gravel road ride was rolling hills with 6 CPs to get.  The CPs on this section were just a punch with cable so you really had to watch for them and trust the mileage you rolled out on the map.  Really strong on the bike and got them all, we even refilled at CP 15 “Fragers Water Stop” and met the owner as she was out pulling weeds, really nice lady.We thanked her several times.  JZ was out of water so good timing. and again we were chased for over a mile by a dog that didn't sound nice made us move a little faster.   Whats up with the dogs in Nebraska?    Arriving at the next trekking leg (section 4) there was a “special challenge” in this section as well as 8CPs in any order.  We arrive and see a 3 person female team doing a what it looked like stacking buckets in a pyramid shape.  I check in with the volunteer and they tell me what the challenge is.  “You can do it now or whenever during this section, its worth 2 points if you don't do it, all you have to do is stack the buckets as tall and neat as you can”.  PWild looked at JZ and said it looks like that team is almost done, lets do it now so we don't have to wait.  As the team disassembled their pyramid JZ mentioned that maybe we just stack them inside each other all the way up and get out of here.  We dont need the prize, lets just move on.  We agreed, and we had it stacked up in no time.  DONE!  Un stacked them and off on the Trek we went.  This happen so fast that we looked down and notice we were still in our bike shoes.We stopped in the shade and changed shoes really fast and went on.  Some of the clues for these CPs are as follows “Tree by Trail, Bare Spot (CP missing after wasting some looking time and checking with RD), Dam Tree (this one was tucked deep threw the gullies), Wheel, Bush on rocky ridge, Tree on Hillside, Shed”.  This was a tough section with deep dense re-entrants. Big enough to be a pain in the butt but small enough that many didn't show on the map. After getting the last cp in this section we jumped out on a gravel road to run back to the TA.  While on our way we ran into ShakeNBake again heading out on bikes on the road section back to town. They looked good and were peddling strong.  We exchanged “good jobs” and continued on.  Getting back to the TA we had some refreshing Ice Tea….so good….changed shoes and off on our bikes.  This next section was called (Section 5) TREK/BIKE/CANOE.   Bike straight to TA 3 and get instructions from Volunteer.  We were now back in town of Fairbury along a river.


At the start of the race, the race director said this section may change but will let us know when we got there.  So we had no idea what we were going to be doing.  As we arrived at TA 3 along the river we saw single kayaks.  The volunteer said one of us would paddle up river to the bridge, the other would run down the path to the bridge.  Teammates would punch the punch at the bridge and exchange places and arrive back at TA 3.  The water was moving pretty fast and JZ said I'll paddle up stream, as PWild took off down the path running.  Both in bike shoes still.  It started to rain and that felt good after a long hot day. PWild made it to the bridge and spent a few minutes looking for the CP as she couldn't remember what side of the bridge it was on.  Plenty of time as it took JZ some time to get up river.  Looking for a good place to exchange with JZ, the banks of the river were like quick sand, full of bugs, and tons of washed out wood logs from the floods.  Couldn't get out of that river fish smell, fast enough.  Why every AR river seems to smell I have no idea, you know the smell! :)  PWild jumped in the kayak, with some instructions on how to stay away from the “hard current” from JZ was off.  Scared but off!  JZ ran back the same way PWild came up the trail.  The Volunteer was so kind to help PWild with the boat MUD RAMP out of the river he about tipped her over right in it.  Muddy and wet but it stopped raining now we jumped on our bikes to collect one more CP back to the finish.  Pushing hard to the finish as we always try to, the race was complete!  The volunteers took our crumpled up dirty passport and told us about the food inside and showers.  Thank you!

Coming in HOT

We Showered up, ate and enjoy the awards...as we were happy to take away a 1st Place in the 2 Coed Division, and the prize for neatest stack on the team challenge. We are still wondering what that light was for.

UOG -ULTRA O-GAIN 24HR Orienteering Race, Buffalo Creek Colorado 2015

ULTRA O-Gain(Rogaine) Orienteering Race
Buffalo Creek Colorado
July 3-4, Friday Night start at 8pm.

We were really excited to see a 24 Orienteering Race in our own back yard!  We signed up right away!  Having work off on Friday July 3rd was great allowing for plenty of time to get to check in at 6pm.  We arrived to a remote start/finish location (camp site) in Buffalo Creek area.  We decided not to camp as we live only 1hr and 30 minutes away, we did bring sleeping bags for after if we were tired to rest before driving home.  We checked in, chowed our dinner and were ready to receive the Map only to find out they would not be handed out til 7:30 or until everyone is checked in.  So we went back to the car and got ready so that when we did get the maps we just had to take care of the route planning and we were off.  At 7:30 we got our  1:24,000 maps.  The rules and gear list were very detailed that there were no questions at the pre race meeting.  With 41 CP's (all different point values), 1983 Map with 1/24 scale with deceleration of 8.5. 

JZ quickly highlighted all the points greater than 50 on the map in one color, 49-20 in another color and 20 less than in another color.  JZ planned the route getting most of the high point values and picking up ones in between.  Leaving some around the start finish based on time at the end of the race.  It was a very informal and relaxed start of 8:00 pm.  Even thought the race was unsupported you could come back to your car at anytime during the 24 hours for anything.  We planned to not return to the start/finish until 24 hours was up.
We took off at 8:03 working the course in a clockwise direction.  The first 5 hours we picked off cp's with ease after some major bushwhack climbing (and lots of side hilling) on boulders that at one point felt unsafe.  Taking a barring from 27 to 76(big campfire here and they asked if we were in the amazing race lol) to 40, almost to 40 we turned around to take a look at the view and WOW!  Amazing!  The terrain was rocky, some nasty yucca plants that went right thru fabric, and a ton of freaking foxtails that stuck to socks and gaiters and don't like to let go. JZ had issues of these going thru the vents on the toes of his Salomon Fell Raisers as these great shoes that vent well turn into foxtail pin cushions (a strip of duct tape across the front would have helped but we had none) so he pushed threw until we were out of the area and then removed them.

Lots of mountain sand and not much shade from the sun about half the course was in the burned out area from the Buffalo Creek Fire on May 18, 1996. This area is amazing because its like being on different planets as the topography and vegetation changes. (do you see the cp next to the boulder at the bottom of the photo?) Tons of Climbing and bouldering took a toll on PWilds Insole to the point it started to cut the back of her left heal.  Mole skin did not help so she took the Insole out and did the rest of the race with out one in her left shoe.  Not recovering very well this took a turn and slowed the team down the rest of the 10 hours.  She was not happy as she felt good otherwise.  Getting her poles out she pushed on. 

Temps got into the 80's during the day and 45ish at night.  At one point the sleep monsters took over around 330 am and PWild had to rest her eyes for 20 minutes as we were up for 34 hours by this point.  Laying right on the trail side by side to stay warm.  We ended up putting our rain jackets on for a couple hours late night/early morning just to keep the chill off.  The sun came up quickly and we were re-leaved!  The CPs did have a piece of reflective tape on them, not traditional O Flags, they were white plastic PVC pipes. Will talk about the 3CPS that gave us trouble.

CP 55

  
We spent an hour and half at this CP before moving on.  Yea too much time, but ya just don't ever want to leave one.  The rest of the CPs we have found before this one were dead on with pace count, barrings and clues.  So we thought it has to be here. We counted in ran across a pile of boulders but searched and searched but did not see the control. So we check the surrounding piles up and down the spur.....Nothing......

 CP80

This was the second CP that gave us difficulty. We attacked off the gate again and counted in (we were not having much luck with gates today). . We scoured the surrounding area's and still no luck. Time spent...had to let it go. Ouch to leave 80 points.

 CP67

This was the third CP that gave us difficulty. We did not see the trail continue on the other side of the creek and things were pretty Steep in this area. So we elected due to time to leave it. (Later talking to Mark that is did pick up a bit down stream, but 67 was still a tough one to find)

 

We want to thank Patrick the Race director for putting on a challenging race. It was a great design as controls were well places and the descriptions were good. Now there were some tricky points which we shared above that if you didn't approach from the right direction you apparently will have a hard time or spend extra time pinpointing the point. We hope this is a normal race and the parks department helps support our sport as this could help show how much we love the area and enjoy Colorado.

PWild and JZ feeeling the heat in the burn zone.

We had to Treat the water we added in our Source
Water bladders. Yes, that is a dead mesquite larvae
so close to extra protein.

To our surprise Mark Lattanzi of Team Oddyssey was in town to race.
 He wound up first overall Surprise surprise. Great job Mark.
 Its always great to compare notes
 with a highly experienced Navigator like Mark.  

She moves so fast that she is blurry, Paulette showed up too.
on right is Teresa, Marks better half of course. 

It was great to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones during this race. The family is closer then you know and we enjoy that about our sport. We Finished the Day with as the 2nd place team and 6th overall.

 http://cpadventures.com/ultra-o-gaine/results/