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   

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.

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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 11^thoverall, 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