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.