Marji Gesick Duathlon

Top O The World

The week leading up to the event, I caught myself traveling down a path of fear and self doubt. The last time I had attempted the duathlon (66 miles bike, 42 miles run), my body broke down the last 20 miles and I hobbled to the finish 33 minutes over the buckle time of 22 hours. The early weather forecast was not helping my mindset either, as it was calling for rain Friday night on into Saturday. I even tried coming up with a legitimate excuse to DNS.

Would 4 years of strength training and running be enough to make this 57 year old body more durable?  Had my ligaments, tendons, and IT bands toughened up enough to bear the pounding of 44 miles (yep, the run was 2 miles longer this year)? Would it be enough to overcome the 4 years of aging I had incurred? Because at this stage in life, it can feel like the aging process happens at 2x speed.

However, with each passing day the weather improved, especially after I swapped my tires from Mezcal's to Barzo's. By the time I had finished my drive up to Marquette, I was "locked in" to get that damn buckle! The morning of the race was a brisk 46 degrees.  Normally I have no issues eating a hearty breakfast, but today I struggled to choke down my oatmeal. Making race weight was easy as I was a jumble of nerves.

Poker Faces!

Bike Leg:  Forestville to Jackson Park, 66 miles, 7000 feet, 7 hours 38 minutes

At the start, I lined up with Toby and Kristen.  It was good seeing them as it helped to keep my mind off of what was about to transpire.  Still though, I could not help but feel like we were all soldiers, heading into enemy territory, laden with obstacles that could take us out at any minute.

The LeMans start flew by and the legs felt spectacular.  As I approached my bike, I shed my jacket.  The early miles felt effortless and soon I heard the bagpipes. The line up to Top O The World was clear.  As I crested the top, I was in a flow state.  There were a couple of slower riders ahead of me, for which I gave them room before I headed down the rock face, calling out, "Rider back," hoping the walkers would move aside.  Most did, but a couple at the bottom were on the optimum line, forcing me to negotiate the alternate line.  Fuck Yeah!  I cleaned the Top O The World!  While I have done on a ride, this was the first time in a race.

The remainder of the Forestville section went by quickly and uneventfully.  As I passed by the start, I was 9 minutes ahead of my 2022 time. As I approached Pine Knob, I kept reminding myself to settle and ride smooth.  I was in a good group of riders, including Nicholas Mumma, who I had the pleasure of riding a good portion of Coal Country Roubaix with back in April. I nailed all the techy descents and before I knew it, I was zig-zagging along Blue Heron, Collinsville, Pete's Sandbox, and Silver Lead.

It is SO NICE to ride Lowe's when it is dry!  I was pleasantly surprised to see the powerline sandbox section to be fast and rideable.  Normally crusher rock is a SOB, but it was packed down and made those final miles to my first aid a real treat. At mile 30, I made a 90 second pit stop to swap packs and bottles and choke down a Honey Stinger waffle.  I was now 15 minutes ahead of my 2022 time.

Heading out to the South Trails, John Maggard gave me a free ride along the IOHT to Harlow Farms Connector.  I took care here to keep the carb game going, as I was still on track with 70-80 grams per hour.  Still feeling sparkly, I quickly ticked off the miles.  Even the Flow Trail, which in year's past has been a little intimidating, felt unusually easy.  I did tell myself once again to settle though, when I saw John plugging a flat.  

Gurly and Doctors came and went.  When I popped out onto the Marquette Mountain gravel climb, my legs started to get grumpy.  Just get to Scary, which I did, and the legs came back to play. But boy oh boy, I had visions of Mountain Chase being an escalator as compared to Zueg's.  Nope, nope, nope, it was a kick in the pants.  I let some racers by on this climb, as I did not want to blow up.  I am thankful I did because only a few seconds later, they got the wrath of the yellow jacket nest.  Fortunately I snuck through unscathed.

Above Grade, oh how I hate you.  Off/on, off/on, off/on, I played the cyclocross game.  At this point I was just wanting to get to Rough Rock Ridge, one of my favorites in this section.  But first the spaghetti-like nature of Old Camp Ridge.  One of my Marji campers came upon me here; I believe his name was Matthew.  He put a little pep into my legs as he passed me and I tried to keep him in sight. Fortunate for him I did, as he blew by a turn and I yelled out to him.  I wouldn't see him again until I was on foot. Finally the double track snowmobile/ATV trails!  Despite legs that were getting heavier by the mile, I could smell Jackson Park.

Having been a mountain biker for 30 years and only a runner for 5, is it crazy for me to want to be off the bike and on my feet?  I hit Jackson Park 36 minutes ahead of my 2022 pace.  A 10 minute pit stop had me out of my cycling kit and in my running attire.  I chose to wear an UltrAspire Lightning waist pack instead of a running vest like I did prior.  I could comfortably carry 2 500ml flasks, 2 gels, and my phone.  It even had a small zippered pocket, perfect for tokens.

Running Leg:  JP1 to Finish, 44 miles, 7200 feet, 12 hours 17 minutes

It took a couple of miles for me to get my land legs going.  The temperature was in the 60's with cloud cover, and I felt good.  I slowly began ticking off the miles.  My watch would alert me what my pace was every mile.  I am a numbers gal and like to play mathematical games while I run.  I intentionally ran the flats, mild hills, and descents, and would fast hike the steeps. The bikers played nice and would shout out words of encouragement when they passed.  I would also tell them, "I hear you," just to let them know I was aware and would continue to run and then stray off trail as they passed.  But I never slowed down or stopped for them ... I was on a mission!

I met my crew on Malton Road, just before Bacon Strip, around mile 10 (mile 76 of the race).  I was way ahead of schedule and worried that they would not be there.  They were and I quickly chugged an apple sauce pouch, gave them my empty flask, and carried on with the 1 remaining flask I had. On Lower Last Bluff, Merle Hacker came upon me on his bike.  We stopped and exchanged big sweaty hugs, and carried on.  That interaction stoked my inner fires, as Merle has had some challenges these past couple of years, but was playing the bike game and tackling his demons.

After seeing my crew again at mile 15 (mile 81 of the race), next up was a nice flat mile, cruising right on by the finishing area, where I could here music, Charlee calling out racers as they finished, and smell pizza and hamburgers.  Back in 2022, I was already suffering and struggling, but today, the legs were AFI! 

Climbing up Deer Shit, I ran into another of my Marji Campers, Omar.  He was crushing it.  Seeing him filled my stoke-meter back up and the next 5 miles went by quickly.  At Brasswire campground (mile 20 of the run and 86 of the race), I grabbed my lights, as the sun was beginning to set.  A little more flattish running before the two big pushes up Sissy Pants and the Hamptons.  At least in the dark, they didn't feel near as steep or hard.

On Fruit Loops I saw the sign for a Token Checkpoint ahead.  At this point it was pitch dark, but these signs are super reflective.  Somehow, I ran right passed the checkpoint.  I have absolutely no idea what happened, except that my brain went on hiatus.  After about a tenth of a mile, a rider caught up to me, and after asking him, he confirmed my mistake.  So I did a u-turn and went back and grabbed my second token.

I arrived back at Jackson Park at 9:06 pm (mile 24 of the run and 90 of the race). I spent a minute or so stretching out my lower back, IT bands, and patellar tendons.  I also opted to take my poles.  Although the legs were still feeling amazingly good, I knew at some point they would welcome my upper body taking some of the load.  Also, they were insurance in case of a stumble, which I knew could happen when the fatigue sets in. Temps were still fabulous and I was still very warm in my short sleeve and shorts.

As I began the climb up to Dirty Mary, I came across a rider named Theresa.  I could tell she was struggling, so gave her words of encouragement as we leap-frogged the next couple of miles. I ended up pulling away on The Luge climb and hoped that she would lean on her why and finish this beast. She did end up finishing, hell yeah!

I met my crew on Cliff Drive right after Flannel Shirt (mile 30 of the run, 96 of the race).  I was still feeling good, but was beginning to struggle a bit on taking in nutrition.  Thank goodness Lisa got me on to the GoGo apple sauce pouches, as I could swallow them without gagging, unlike the gels which were becoming difficult to even gulp down.

With my pace beginning to slow a little, I started playing a game of sub-20.  That is, I tried to run each mile in less than 20 minutes.  This helped to focus my attention on something other than the fatigue monster breathing down my neck. And it worked, as I was keeping my pace in the 18-19 minute range.

Heading onto Carol Jackson, I suddenly began to have some nausea and cramping.  WTF?  This was a first for me.  And then it hit me ... I need to take a 💩 NOW! I did not want a Joanna Wietrzyk incident (the Hyrox athlete that shit her britches) so I immediately hopped off the trail, turned off my lights, and lightened the load.  After that, I felt much better.

As I headed towards Lake Minnie, I could hear the music coming from the RAMBA tent on the beach.  Approaching the tent, there sat Zeke!  Rubbing my eyes, I realized a moment later it was Danny. I ran up to him and told him, "I am getting this damn buckle!"  Right then and there, I knew that Zeke had been with me on this journey.

I met my crew one more time on Cliff Drive just before the Suicide Bowl climb (mile 33 of the run, 99of the race).  Choked down a gel and swapped flasks. I wouldn't see them again until Jasper Knob. Angeline came and went, but it is always that section leading to 38 Special where you can see where you want to go, but parallel the trail on double track for what seems like forever.

Old 56 sucks less on foot than bike.  I passed quite a few HAB'rs here.  Once you hit Cry Baby, you think you are almost done.  But over the years, more spaghetti like trail has slowly been added, which indeed does make you want to cry.  For me, I had a little Yosemite Sam moment.  As I hit the pavement for the final push up Jasper Knob, I realized I was going to buckle.  

I hoofed it up the knob, grabbed my final token, the infamous Dum Dum, and made my way to the finish.  Now, could I get a sub 20 finish.  I pushed as hard as my failing body would allow, ran down the finishing chute, and jumped for joy over the line.

I HAD DONE IT!  THE CURSE OF THE BUCKLE WAS BROKEN! Lisa ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug ever.  We were squealing like little girls! The volunteer confirmed my tokens and Dum Dum and it was official:  20:05:24.  First woman and 8th overall.  I could not believe I had taken nearly 2 1/2 hours off my 2022 finish.

It is quite fitting that it took me 7 tries over 11 years (2 of the 9 times I have raced Marji have been the 50) to buckle. After all, Marji is the hardest one day mountain bike race in the U.S, in my opinion. My struggle for this goal makes this buckle so very special.  Marji has been instrumental in making me the athlete I am today.  Never would 46 year Carey have believed that 57 year old Carey would be strong enough, fit enough, durable enough to bike 66 miles and then run 44 miles, let alone in 20 hours.

I must thank my crew:  Lisa, Chris, and Dave.  For without them, I don't think I could have succeeded. They were NASCAR efficient and had me in and out within a minute each time.  And especially Lisa, because she believed in me, even when I didn't.  For pushing me to try out this adventure racing thing, which I absolutely love as much as mountain biking.  All those miles of off-trail bushwhacks, along with running with Chase and Honcho helped me to build a resilient body, capable of handling the pounding and the beating I put my joints and ligaments/tendons through.

I also want to thank all of you I met out on the trail that believed in me, giving me encouragement along the way.  We are all in this together, each of us has our why and our goals.  This is one of a very few races where we are not racing each other, but ourselves and inner demons.  So much positivity on the trail!  And so much support from family and friends of racers and the community.  You guys rock!

Crusher EX 225

The Crusher EX 225 is a self-supported enhanced gravel ITT in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, put on by 906 Adventures.  There are three 40+ mile courses, one 100+ mile course, and the 225, which is actually 241 miles. You can attempt this expedition style format anytime from July through September.

After Lisa set the fastest time last year, she asked if I wanted to join her this year.  Hell yeah!  She thought that we could possibly go under 24 hours, barring any misadventures. We stayed at Beeker's Grub and Lodging the night before, in Humboldt, which is where the start is.

A little before 6 am, we began our adventure.  Within the first mile, we had our first HAB on the Iron Ore Trail.  After that bit of enhancement, it was smooth riding, mostly downhill, all the way to Lake Superior.

Dead River CP, mile 31

We were crushing it, only stopping long enough to take our selfies, and for Lisa to refill water bottles at the water spigot.  I had started out with 100 ounces of fluids, which got me all the way to Lake Superior.

Piped spring on 510, mile 51

Sweet roads for the first 1/3 of the course

The last few miles to the mouth of the Huron turned to double track, but it still wasn't all that bad.  Once at the Huron River, I pulled out my pool ring floatie and began to blow it up.  Lisa had packed a large trash bag that she was filling with air.  I laid my bike down on the ring, attached my pack and shoes to my bike, and began the 100 foot swim across.  I was almost to the other side when I heard Lisa's struggles. Apparently, she had too much air in her trash bag, which made it like a beach ball, and she was having difficulty balancing her bike on it.  And then it just slipped right off her improvised raft.  So after I got to shore, I turned around and helped her get her waterlogged bike across.

Mouth of the Huron, mile 82

Unfortunately no cool pics of the swim, as all our electronics were safely packed away in ZipLocs. While I was filtering some water and getting my gear back on me, I had a nice little talk with a lady on the beach, who watched the whole thing.  I think she was more mystified than impressed. I ended up giving her my pool ring for her grandchildren to enjoy.  I wonder if she will tell the story to them of how she acquired it.

We absolutely crushed the first 80 miles and were just under 7 hours when we left Lake Superior heading south to our next checkpoint, Mt Arvon.  I give all credit to Lisa, as I pretty much sat on her wheel for the bulk of it.  She was flying and I was still having to ride comfortably hard to keep in her draft.

We had a mile or so of energy sapping sand before we popped out onto an asphalt road for a few miles of easy pedaling. Back onto gravel, we began the 10 mile 1200' climb up to the highest point in Michigan.  I loved this climb, as the grade was just right and the road was in great shape.

The 20 mile stretch to L'Anse went by lickety split, as we were both envisioning a cornucopia of food and drink.  For Lisa, it was a meatball sub from Subway.  For me, since I am celiac, it was the PB&J sammies that Lisa had stashed along a road close to L'Anse.  

L'Anse

Once we arrived, I went to the restroom and freshened up with washing my face and doing a little maintenance on the nether region.  Then it was on to enjoying a Coke and my sandwich.  Lisa ended up getting a 6" meatball to eat there and a 12" for the road.

1st of 4 down the hatch

L'Anse was a little over the halfway point and we were still making great time, covering the first 125 miles in 10 1/2 hours. It was a slow roll out on another short section of pavement as we let the 1000 calorie plus meal digest.  The next 20 miles to Mt Curwood was a gradual climb on dirt and double track that was a little more demanding than the roads leading to Arvon.  I actually thought this climb was more difficult. The roads in the second half of the course were quite chunkier and I was losing watts to the ground surface. However, I was still feeling relatively great, which was a nice surprise.

Mt Curwood, mile 145

The double track after Mt Curwood should be named Whack-a-Mole Alley.  Not only was the road narrow, the double track was littered with baby heads and the middle of the road was deep in grass, obscuring any objects.  This was the first time I started to get a little frustrated, constantly being face slapped by limbs. And this went on for miles!

Once we hit Huron Bay Peshekee Grade road, the riding became more pleasurable until ... the Trail of No Return.  I had heard stories and seen trail cam pics, but until you see it for yourself, you have no idea the difficulty of this HAB.  It was a definite doozy: 500 foot, 0.6 mile push.  Lisa practically ran up it, but I wasn't too far behind.  At the top, we put on our lights, as daylight was fading fast. I was also getting a little chilly, so I put on my SS base layer and warmer gloves.

Descending off the backside was a little sketch, as it is hardest to see during the twilight, and lights do not really help until it gets truly dark.  Also, my eyes are 57 years old and it definitely is more difficult for me to process the technical terrain at speed. 

Completely enveloped in darkness heading over to the Rock Cut,  I had the spectacular viewing of the rise of the blood red half moon.  Man, that was awesome! The out/back to the rock cut was a HAB, as the trail was almost completely washed out.  It was a nice reprieve for my tush, to be off the bike for a moment.

Rock Cut, mile 178

The next 10 miles or so were on rough terrain, with a few punchy climbs thrown in, just for good measure.  At least in the dark, the terrain looks flat, so not as much of a mindfuck when the legs are weary. I was so happy to see Triple A Road pop up on my Garmin!  Just 3 more miles and there would be a pavement reprieve.  NOPE!  This was the gravel part of Triple A.  Well, at least it was smooth'ish.

Yellow Dog River, mile 206

We took our final selfies at the Yellow Dog River crossing.  <insert ominous music>  Lisa's Garmin died; she connected her battery bank, which was either not working or not charged.  So, I gave my battery bank to her and she plugged it in and it slowly began to charge. We proceeded onwards, with her in the lead.  Suddenly, my Garmin was showing us off course.  We pondered for a moment, and then proceeded to backtrack and ultimately follow my Garmin ... doh!  Unbeknownst to me, my route had been corrupted.  So for the next 20 miles, we were off the official course.

We ended up going down Mosquito Gulch, which was 10 times worse than what I had ridden in 2019.  Most of it was a HAB descent. From there it was more "xtra-enhanced" double track littered with mudholes and downed trees.   Boy was I cussin' Todd, Paul, and Kiko for these god awful, probably decommissioned roads. At one point, it wanted us to cross a beaver pond. After placing a stick in the pond and seeing it sink into 1 1/2 feet of mud, we went around that shit.

We finally got back on course on SM5 (snowmobile trail 5).  This was a ruggedly loose double track road with relentless pitches.  But at least rideable.  I was beginning to smell the barn at this point and was able to dig deep and tap into the fumes in my gas tank. We rolled into the parking lot where we had departed 24 hours and 49 minutes ago.  As soon as I stopped, I started shivering in the 50 degree temps. I had completely emptied myself.

While we were both super stoked at our performance, I was concerned about an official finish.  While I changed into street clothes and began the process of warming up, Lisa had messaged Todd.  Yep, we indeed had gone off course.  Todd said that he had woken up at 2:50 am and upon checking our progress, said "WTF!" so loud he woke Stacie up.

Welp!  No need to send in our route or selfies, we both got the red dot. Fuck me and the RWGPS gremlins!  While I could live with this mistake, my mistake, I felt fucking horrible for letting Lisa down.  I had a few shoulda, woulda, coulda moments, but in the end I just had to own it. Fortunately for Lisa, she had secured a buckle last year, so the sting was so bad.

Yeah, it sucks not getting the green dot or a buckle (seems like I am unable to secure a 906 Adventures buckle of any kind 😒).  However, Todd's events are not just about the end result, but the adventure along the way.  I am happy how the body performed as I felt strong the whole time.  And based on our average speed up until the "20 mile heinous deviation," we would have completed the official course right at or just under the 24 hour mark.

For me this was NOT a DNF, but a DQ, my first in my long career of doing hard things.  I look forward to securing that green dot next year.  

Chatt-AR-Nooga 10 Hour Adventure Race

The inaugural edition of this race, put on by Jim and Susie Farmer, took place out of Covenant College atop Lookout Mountain.  No paddling at this one (YEA!) and heavy on the single track (double YEA!), teams of 2 had 10 hours to complete 5 legs. Since Lisa, my usual teamie, was cold plunging up in da harbor all summer, I asked Ali Whittier if she wanted to play with me.  And yes, she did!

Jim is a real stickler for playing by the rules, which I am all about, and so to ensure that we stayed within 100 feet of each other, several of the checkpoints had additional tasks, which required both players to hit every CP together.  He also made us seal our phones in bags, so no pictures for me 😞. He laid out the course such that strategy was involved and multiple route choices were available.

27 teams signed up, including a lot of first timers, and a lot of women, which was cool to see.  We received maps at 7 am, with the race starting at 8.  My "Jimmy the Geek" prediction of course flow was spot on.  And with Ali's extensive knowledge of these trails (Moonshine, Durham Mine, 5 Points, and Lula Lake), it was going to make my job of navigation a little bit easier.

Leg 1: Prologue and Bike (21 miles, 2 hours, 47 minutes)

The prologue involved retrieving Map 4 and CP at 2 different locations on campus. Ali went for the map on foot, while I went for CP1 on the bike. Like my legs, it takes my brain a while to warm up.  I blew past the turn to CP1, even knowing that it was on a power pole and I saw the damn power lines!  After calling myself a few names as I ran down to retrieve the CP, I was able to pass most of the teams that got ahead of me during my moment of brain fog.

A compilation of our race

Ali arrived back at the start, where her bike lay, at the same time as I.  From there we picked up the CCC trail and proceeded to go after CP2, just off the Bathtub Gin Trail.  I let Ali go first under the auspice of her extensive knowledge, but in reality I wanted her to collect all the spider webs.  We knew we were in first place, by her constant squeals and ugh's, as she slowly became enveloped in Charlotte's webs.

With overnight rains, the trails were slickety-slidy.  Knowing that this race is not just about speed, we wisely chose to ride safe.  After nabbing CP2, we backtracked along Bathtub Gin and finished off the CCC to Lula Lake Road.  We proceeded on road for 5 miles to Durham Mine/5Points. Next up was CP4 on the Marion Trail.  With so many twists and turns, I was quite proud of myself when we found the re-entrant within 50 meters of dropping our bikes. We rode Marion until it came close to the road and bike-whacked up to it.  

CP3

additional task at CP3

We then took the 5 Points connector to Kettle Bottom to the cut-through to Torino to grab CP3.  There, we had the additional task of taking the nail polish and painting each other's finger nail.  Then back down Back End Trail to Bank Head to Tailing's Run to get CP 5 which was a tailings mound.  This one befuzzled us for a bit as there were several mounds in this area.  I misjudged the distance and we dropped our bikes a little too early.  I would scramble up the mound while Ali walked below.  Finally, on our third try we found it. In the midst of my excitement I unknowingly got turned around.  Fortunately Ali was persistent in knowing which way to back track or else we could have been wandering and wondering for awhile.

We rode to TA1/2 at the Durham Mines parking lot, turned in our punch card, and changed into our running shoes.  There was ICE (first ever, in an AR) for us, as well as water.  

Leg 2: trek (11 miles, 3 hours 24 minutes)

We headed out to get CP 8 first, taking 5 Points ExpressWay to Slickenslide and then bushwhacked up to Windy Shot and nailed it.  From there we bushwhacked down to Kettle Bottom, ran along it 100 meters or so and then dropped off it to get CP 7, a tailings mound, nailing it as well.  

Perhaps feeling a little overconfident in our navigation, we  headed off next to CP 6, planning on attacking it from the trail above.  Ali thought Mick's was the blue one, so we ended up on the trail above the trail we wanted.  Ali didn't realize this until we came to the next trail intersection, after checking out no less than 4 re-entrants along the way.  We then dropped down to the correct trail and found the CP quickly.  It also helped that there was another team coming from the opposite direction looking for the same CP. That mistake cost us 25 minutes.

We then dropped down to the CCT trail and headed over to CP 9.  We dropped down off the CCT and found the roadbed and the CP was right there!  It was at this point the thunderstorm hit, dumping cooling rain upon us.  Man, that felt good.  We then headed back to Durham Mines and snagged the final CP of this trek, CP 10 by running along DC&C to Dinky and then bushwhacking down to Fuggett. This checkpoint had the additional task of us getting a selfie at the game camera. We then backtracked to TA1/2.

We went for the bonus CP, which had us split up and grab 2 puzzle pieces each at 4 trail intersections.  Ali grabbed the 2 at Durham and I the 2 at 5 Points.  Once back at TA1/2, we put our bike shoes back on and headed out for the next leg.

Bonus CP

Leg 3: bike (10 miles, 1 hour 23 minutes)

We hopped back on the CCT and headed to Lula Lake, grabbing 2 CP's along the way.  The first one, CP 11 was easy as it was located just off a major switchback.  The second one, CP 12, was a trickly bastard, located along a creek, off the trail a ways.  I should have paid closer attention to our mileage, but I thought I could go by creek crossings on the map.  Unfortunately there were a lot more that were NOT on the map ... lesson learned.  We ended up having to back track.  Fortunately there were several teams looking for this one, too, so that helped us in eventually finding it, after crawling through mountain laurel thickets and wading through the creek.  We only lost about 7 minutes on this one.  From there it was a little more single track followed by road to Lula Lake.

Leg 4: trek (5 miles, 1 hour 23 minutes) 

We arrived at TA3/4 at 3:45.  I told Ali that we had 90 minutes to grab as many CP's as we could. Her IT band and hip flexor was in full on revolt mode so we decided to drop 1 point here, CP 14.  We started with CP 13, which was a steep descent followed by clawing my way up a steep hillside of dirt that had a cat litter like texture. Fortunately Ali did not have to follow as we were well within the 100 foot rule.

CP 13 - a scramble up kitty litter

Next we crossed Rock Creek, which was flowing very well after the preceding night's rains.  It was a little tricky as I couldn't see the bottom, but it felt so so good. We nabbed CP 15, then continued up Middle Trail to the Bluff Trail.  What a glorious view from up top, at CP 17.

Ali's IT band barked all the way down the High Adventure Trail.  I could tell she was hurting, but she is no stranger to pain and gritted it out.  We got CP 16 at the base of Lula Lake Falls, which was raging!  It was a climb back out of there and then we hobbled back to the TA.  I thought we might be in first, but we were coming across quite a few teams that looked really strong.  As long as we could get back on our bikes first, I know we would be able to haul ass back to the finish.

CP 16 - Lula Lake Falls

Leg 5: bike (5 miles, 37 minutes)

Once we got back on our bikes, Ali's pains went away.  Still, climbing back up White Lightning made my legs bark a little. But now, I was smelling the barn. CP 18 was an easy find and then we rolled in to the finish with 16 minutes to spare.

We ended up with the overall win, getting a total of 18 points (17 + the bonus).  We made the right call to drop the one in Lula Lake, as there were a couple other strong teams that did get that point, but went over time and were penalized.

Birdhouses for the Win!

I was extremely happy with how we performed as a team.  We each had our "whoopsie" moments, but we stayed positive, focused, and rallied.  I want to thank Jim for putting on a challenging course.  He was all apologetic at the finish, thinking he had made it too hard.  But for many teams making timely errors, the course was definitely clearable.

 I loved the CP locations as they showcased the history of the areas we traveled through.  It was a true "choose your own adventure" course, as there were multiple ways to tackle the points.

Sequatchie 24 Hour Road Race

 

The idea of riding my road bike for 24 hours sounded great ... 6 months ago!  This event was the brain child of Lee Davis and Dawson Wheeler, who eventually hope to make this a RAAM qualifier.  It took place in the Sequatchie Valley, just north of Chattanooga. The daytime lap was a 75 mile out/back with a lollipop at the north end.  The night time lap was a 45 mile out/back, along the same road.

I am not afraid to admit that I was intimidated by this one.  It has been at least 15 years that I have done a 24 hour lap race and this would be the first time doing it on the road.  Having had a big week up in Michigan 2 weeks prior (250 mountain bike miles + 50 trail running miles), I wasn't sure if I had fully recovered.  I knew it would be as much a mental challenge as physical, riding the same stretch of asphalt over and over again.  But that is just one reason why I signed up:  to get in the ring and shake the monkey off my back.  Oh, and did I mention that the high was going to be 93 with an overnight low of 72?

For the 24 hour, there were 2 categories: drafting and non-drafting.  I entered the drafting as I had invited John Switow to join me in this BDR.  The bike I was riding was a 2019 Trek Emonda.  I do believe I was 1 of 2 people with rim brakes and the only one wearing mountain bike shoes.  I was running 28mm Conti GP 5000's with pressures at 65/70.

Wicked be her name and wickedly light at 15 pounds

In the past, for long races, I tended to eat a lot of solid food, and usually ended up with a bubble gut after 12 hours.  For this race, I was trying something new: high carb and gels.  I was aiming for 80 grams of carbs per hour.  I added 500 grams of sodium to each bottle. I also made GF pancakes and GF ramen, which would be my treat after finishing each lap.  With this plan, there was minimal protein and fat, which I hoped would keep my GI tract happy. I also pre made my bottles and froze them, in an attempt to keep my core cool.

The race started at 7 am.  The 75 mile and 150 mile racers zoomed on up the road, while John and I enjoyed a slow start to our day.  There were 8 in the drafting and 15 in the non-drafting.  The non-drafting started at 7:15 am.  John and I soon joined the company of Barry Allen.  Together we shared the wind on this first lap.  The roads were peacefully quiet and I only counted 9 cars on that first lap. The asphalt for the most part was pretty darn smooth:  just a short section near the underpass at Hwy 111, another one after crossing Hwy 30, a solid 2 mile stretch along old highway 28 that was recently chip-sealed, and the final rough section along Weasley Chapel Road.  So a total of about 4.5 miles of tooth-rattling pave'.

We rolled into the aid station at mile 38 where I quickly refilled my bottles and used the restroom in the church.  There was a cornucopia of snacks and ice cold Cokes.  I was so darn happy that the drink mix they had was Skratch, which sits so well with me.  I just cannot take Hammer or Gatorade, which seems to be the staple of most races.

I was ready to go, but John decided to grab a PB&J.  Those don't go down without a little chewing.  If you know John, he is a stickler for the "32 chew rule." 😴  Barry was kind enough to wait on us. As we left the aid station, I noticed it was getting toasty and the light and variable winds were heating up.

Finishing up lap 1 (4 hours 43 minutes), I was feeling great.  Yeah, it was HOT!  But that is exactly what I like and while many may wilt, I thrive.  John was feeling the effects of the heat and wasn't wanting to head back out as quickly as I wanted to.  I patiently waited and after 45 minutes, we got rolling again.  We couldn't find Barry, so it was just the two of us.  This second 75 mile lap was during the hottest part of the day.  John started to cramp about 1/4 of the way in.  Once we arrived at the aid station, I went into the church and soaked my jersey, as well as my head, under the bathroom sink. I refilled my bottles and slurped down a SIS gel with 150 grams of caffeine.  

John wasn't feeling well and told me to go.  I told him as I pedaled away that I would see him back at the start.  I was now on my own.  Even though the temps had soared into the 90's, I could feel just a slight coolness to the breeze, so long as I maintained a certain speed.  And the caffeine was the ticket for being able to push those pedals hard enough to hit that speed.  

Making it back to the start after lap 2 (5 hours 8 minutes), I did see John, but not in the way I wanted to.  He arrived in the broom wagon, having pulled out at mile 130.  His cramps had gotten to the point where he was walking most hills.  

I took some time at this point to change my kit and wipe myself down with one of the ice cold wash cloths provided by the event.  It was now 5:30 pm and beginning to ever so slightly cool off. I took another 150 mg caffeine hit and headed back out for lap 3. Now it was time to ride the 45 mile course, missing the worst of the rougher sections of road. As I rode by a church with an LED sign showing time and temp, I laughed out loud.  Who woulda thought that 82 degrees felt cool?!?

Being that this was an out/back course, I would see racers coming as I was going.  We always shouted out encouragement to one another.  At this point vehicular traffic was even less, with maybe 5 cars per lap.  What was really cool is that there were several volunteer cars out on course, all day and night, constantly checking on us and making sure we were ok and didn't need anything.

📷: Luke Swab

The third lap (3 hours) went by quickly as the sun began to set.  My legs felt great and my spirits were high.  I turned my lights on for the last 5 miles or so. I was looking forward to the night time. Back at my vehicle, I enjoyed another pancake.  At this point the only thing that was hurting was my nethers.  Chamois Butt'r to the rescue!  

It was now dark as I rolled out for my fourth lap.  Fueled by carbs and caffeine, I was still in a great headspace.  All of my focus was just on that small area of road lit up by my helmet light.  All sense of speed and elevation grade was muted.  Just me and my legs turning over the pedals ... serenity.  Well, until I passed within inches of a skunk walking the white line.  He attempted to spray me, but I was moving too fast and just missed getting "skunked."

I finished my fourth lap in 3 hours 5 minutes.  I took a little longer break this time to enjoy my ramen.  And guess what?  My stomach was still happy ... no gut bombs.  As I headed out for my 5th lap, I could now feel the fatigue in my legs and the tenderness in my nethers.  

This lap I was mathing.  I wanted 300 miles.  I knew I would have to go back out.  Just how far out was what I was calculating.  The witching hour came.  Those little hills all day long were adding up.  My knees felt like the Tin Man's.  I was standing a lot more because my nethers were on fire.  Sitting on your saddle for 20+ hours will do that.  Much different than being on a mountain bike where you typically spend more time out of the saddle.  What the hell are these few cars doing out at this hour? Nothing good happens after midnight, unless you are riding your bike!

Could I just do a short out/back to get my remaining 10 miles?  Or do the rules require you to ride those last miles the way the course goes.  Because I don't really want to ride 310 miles. I could but my lady parts might disintegrate. After 3 hours 25 minutes, I rolled back to the start.  I saw Shannon and asked him about the rules of travel.  Thank God!  I only have to do a short out/back to get to 300.  

With the sun rising, I watched my odometer slowly tick out those final miles.  46 minutes seemed like an eternity.  At 5:30 am, I completed my goal of 300 miles, the furthest I have ever ridden, in one pull. And this course was deceptively hilly.  I would call it lumpy. I managed to get 21,600 feet of climbing.

The only woman sick enough to do this

I want to give a huge shout out to Shannon and Celeste.  Their attention to detail for this scale of event was phenomenal:  ice cold Cokes, ice cold towels, vehicular support, plenty of food and water, a safe as possible road course, volunteers that were a plenty and always cheerful, and nice schwag!

My nutrition/hydration plan worked!  I felt great for longer than I expected with no GI distress.  

Cereberus Expedition Stage Race - Day 3

40 miles, 4500 feet

8 mile trek, 8 mile bike, 1 mile trek, 7 mile bike, 6 mile paddle, 10 mile bike

5 am wake-up, 5:05 am scare as I looked into the mirror seeing someone who looked like they lost a boxing match, 5:10 am coffee feeling some life come back into this battered and bruised body, and the best breakfast ever at 5:45 am ... corned beef hash! Although it may look like dog food, it tastes like heaven!

Today's leg started off with taking 3 bearings from the start: 110m @ 60 degrees, 260m @ 180 degrees, and 300m @ 305 degrees.  There were 12 maps at each location and 31 teams, so choose wisely based on running speeds. We took off on the 60 degree bearing, which involved crossing Craig Creek.  Wet feet, nice way to start the day.

The first leg was a bike to the Lignite Mines.  At the first CP, we would receive a secret map, that we would need to get the next CP's 7-3 through 7-6.. At the CP, race director Mark Lattanzi's long lost identical twin, with a Irish accent?? was there handing out the "treasure" map.

Cute, real cute.  There was about 10 minutes of reading through the jibber jabber to get to the important stuff, like where the CP's were. After nabbing CP 7-2, we made our way to the mine, dropping our bikes and proceeding on foot to acquire the 4 CP's from the treasure map. CP 7-4 had us scrambling up a steep red earthern almost cliff-like hillside. CP 7-5 was pretty cool and I had to scramble down into a cave about 10 m to punch. The last one was a butt slide down into a pit and then a crawl back out of.

We ran back to the bikes and pedaled to the TA where we transitioned to our pack raft.  No near CP misses today! This paddle was 6 miles which allowed us to stay ahead of the top teams.   They didn't catch us until the take out.  

The next leg was a trek in the Craig Creek Recreation Area.  I did not realize just how fatigued I was until Lisa shot straight up a 40% grade to attack CP 9-1.  I looked for my book of matches, but found it empty.  I was definitely on the struggle bus, grabbing saplings as I could to help me up the mountain.

Despite how slow I felt, we were still able to catch Pretty Reckless, the leading women's team of 4, which included some heavy hitters:  Mari Chandler, Kit Vreeland, Abby Perkiss, and Ashley Eaton.  We slowly pulled away from them after nabbing CP 9-2.  Heading towards the next one, we ended up running with Sojourners, the #2 coed team.  Every time we came upon another team, Lisa managed to pick up the pace even more.  Good Lord, she's trying to kill me!  

The biggest issue was the gut bomb I had.  Nothing like running with a sloshy GI tract.  I was probably also a little dehydrated and my BeFree filter was not playing nice.  Eventually I just took a chance and drank the water unfiltered.

After a few more steep ups and downs, we nabbed the final CP (thank God!) and ran back to the TA.  Now to just get back to the finish by bike with only 1 CP left. Despite how terrible I felt on foot, I did not feel bad at all on the bike.  It was mostly a flat pedal back on pavement and rail-trail.  But Lisa did manage to put the final nail in my coffin by having us bikewhack up to the rail trail ... oomph!

We arrived back at the Wilderness Adventure Center at 2:37pm. We were the 4th team back, behind Enabled Tracking, No Complaints, and Chip Dodd.  

We ended up finishing second in Women's and 7th overall.  The top 6 teams had cleared the course.  While we were definitely disappointed not clearing the course, we were stoked about our overall time of 25:21, the third fastest.  We feel we have a good shot at being a podium contender at AR Nationals this October in Oregon.  Especially with Susie on our team and our secret weapon, the Super Yooper.

I want to give a shout out to Lisa.  She has sharpened her nav skills over the past year.  I was very impressed how fast she could nav on the fly this year.  We were always moving, having very little down time. 7 minutes on Day 1, 8 minutes on Day 2, and 15 minutes on Day 3, of which 8 of those was reading the jibber jabber map.  And the TA Nazi Lisa is, our transition times were close to lightning fast.

Cerberus 3 Day Expedition Stage Race - Day 2

 

35 miles, 4500 feet

12 mile paddle, 18 mile bike, 5 mile night-O trek

5 am came earlier than I wanted it to.  Coffee at 5:05 am made the tired and somewhat sore awakening bearable.  Once again we were provided with a hearty breakfast:  I chose the eggs and oatmeal. 

At 7 am the games began.  Our maps for the day were at 2 different locations:  the pavilion and the gazebo.  Lisa made the longer run to the pavilion, while I walked to the gazebo. All team members had to be back at the start/finish before we could start blowing up our packrafts. We were one of the first teams in Craig Creek.  The first leg was a 12 mile paddle.  Since I had gotten chilly during yesterday's paddle (when it was 68 degrees), I threw on a heavy wool base layer, rain jacket, buff, and chemical warmers in my heavy weight gloves. Today's starting temperature was 50 degrees.

Although the creek during this section was deeper, it was still agonizingly slow.  15 minutes into our paddle, we began to hear the MRS Barracudas bearing down upon us in our Kokopelli sausage of a pack raft. Although we are not the strongest nor most technically skilled paddlers, we were getting our doors blown off by teams even less skilled than us. I could smell the smoke coming out of Lisa's ears. 

No less than 8 teams passed us during the 3 hours 50 minutes we spent paddling "The Slug," There were still an annoyingly amount of times we either had to butt skooch the raft across rocks or get out and walk for a bit.  But there was one Class 2 rapid towards the end that upped the fun factor of this leg.  

We came close to repeating yesterday's tragedy by almost paddling on by CP 4-3 ... Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! 

Taking out at the TA, we made quick work of packing up our rafts and gear and loading them onto the box truck. Once on our bikes, we turned the afterburners on!  The bike points took us up Bald Mountain, a 6 mile 2500 foot climb.  In the pre-race briefing, we were told that there would be a KOM/QOM award for the fastest time up Bald. And we were looking for a little redemption from yesterday's fiasco.  After nabbing the first CP on this climb, I stopped to take off my base layer as I was now getting hot!  Continuing powering up the climb, I realized that if they started the "clock" at the first CP, I wasted 45 seconds of stopped time.  I hoped this would not come back to bite us.

This climb is our jam!  With a nice steady average grade of 8% and smooth gravel, we were able to get into a good rhythm.  CP 5-2 took a little searching and CP 5-3 was tucked away in a boulder field.  It was a 30m scramble down and back up, using 3 points of contact. Fortunately there was a team just ahead of us that found it, allowing us to nab it quickly.  From there it was a furiously fast descent down to CP 5-4.  This one was rather tricky as the old roadbed was very faint.  Once again, lady luck was with us, as several teams had dropped their bikes to go get it.

One last CP at a cemetery and then it was a short bike back to the finish. We rolled in at 1:10 pm. Despite our slow ass packraft, we managed to only lose a few minutes to the top teams that so far had cleared the course.

Although the day was done, we still had a Night O course that would begin at 8 pm.  We went into recovery mode, eating lunch, squeezing our legs, and taking a short nap.  Dinner was some of the best damn chili I have had, with ALL the fixin's.  Followed by banana pudding.  

At 7 pm, the race directors gave out awards for the fastest paddle and the KOM/QOM.  Enabled Tracking won the paddle award.  For the KOM/QOM, No Complaints had a time of 70 minutes, Enabled Tracking was 64 minutes, and we took the W with a winning time of 58 minutes!  Hell yeah!  We received a mountain feedbag, a tow rope, and the best prize of all was a friendship bracelet, with the words "Queen of the Mountain," made by the race director's son.  That was so very cool!

The Night-O began at 8 pm with teams going off in 1 minute increments.  We started at 8:07, just behind No Complaints. Light was fading fast, but we were going even faster!  I think I tasted my chili more than once as we flew past No Complaints going after the 2nd CP.  Lisa was on point, smelling those CP's like a bloodhound on the trail of a killer. We did have a little hiccup looking for CP 6-10, managing to be one spur over.  This allowed Enabled Tracking to catch up to us, they having started 2 minutes behind us.  

From that point on, we were pretty much running with Enabled Tracking.  Not wanting to be "dick-ettes" and follow them, as they were taking the same route as we were, we tried to press ahead, but they were on point as well ... and fast!  I really don't know what the proper adventure racing etiquette is for this kind of situation, but neither one of us could shake the other.

From CP 6-5 to CP 6-7, we took the "low road," which meant grabbing onto the rocky cliff-face whilst submerging our lower halves in Craig Creek.  That was kinda fun, not knowing if we could make it around the cliff face without going for a swim.  Lisa led the way and fortunately I never saw her take a step in the creek and disappear.

After nabbing the final CP, it was a foot race back to the finish.  My wad was completely blown, as this night O was pretty stiff in the steep climbs/descents department (1400 feet in 5 miles).  We finished on the heels of Enabled Tracking in 1 hour 35 minutes.  But since they started after us, their finishing time was 1 hour 32 minutes.

We were still 1 CP down from the top 6 teams, but time wise we were the fastest team at 17:46.  Enabled Tracking had a total time of 17:50. 

We need a strategic Day 3 if we hoped at all to get back into the game.

Cerberus 3 Day Expedition Stage Race - Day 0 and Day 1

 

44 miles, 6000 feet

8 mile trek, 7 mile bike-O, 21 mile bike, 1 mile packraft trek, 6 mile paddle, 1 mile packraft trek

After having participated in last year's inaugural event and having a really good time, Lisa Randall and I were back for more punishment ... err, FUn.  This year it was taking place near New Castle, Virginia, in the heart of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.  The host site was the Wilderness Adventure Camp at Eagle's Landing.  Lisa and I stayed in a room in the Sly Lodge.  The accommodations were a huge improvement over last year ... real beds and no dead critters to sweep up.

Having received the schematics back in March, being the planner I am, I started throwing things into my AR bin 2 months ago.  By May 1, I forgot what all I had packed, so I dumped my shit out and made sure I had everything I would need, again ... and I do tend to pack my fears (ALL my winter clothing)!  Fortunately, Mother Nature played nice, so I wouldn't have to worry about becoming a popsicle.

Day 0 involved checking in, getting Day 1 maps, and competing in 3 summer camp style games to determine which leg the team would start on Day 1.  We fared well in the ball toss, frisbee golf, and bow and arrow and ended up with our first leg choice on Friday, the trek.

Since we were one of the first arrivals, once we unpacked, Lisa had plenty of time to plot our route for Day 1.  The pre-race meeting did not start until 9pm, so we ate, got our gear ready, and were in bed by 10pm.

Day 1

Wake up at 5am, coffee at 5:05am, breakfast at 5:45am, and go time at 7 am.  This was the chilliest morning at 48 degrees, which is why we opted to trek first, as opposed to the bike/paddle leg or the on site climb, string, outer space leg.  We needed to get the blood warm quickly.

Right out of the gate, I had to light a match.  Lisa was Jesse Spangler'ing it up the road to the first CP.  Of course the first 2 CP's would be hilltops.  Nothing like seeing my HR hit threshold within the first 10 minutes.  After the second CP, Lisa dropped back down to the road.  Other teams kept on trekking through the woods on a NW bearing. I assumed they were just contouring down to the road. And Lisa does not contour; it is straight up or down with her. But then Lisa let out an expletive as we hit the road; she had forgotten the one back up on the saddle. So we had to go back up a 20% grade to get that one. Lisa outran her coverage 😆😆😆on that one.  

The remaining CP's we nabbed without issue and ran back to camp.  We hopped on our bikes and made our way over to the climbing wall.  Only one member of the team had to do the wall, so while Lisa knocked that task out, I took a breather.  The next "task" was the string course, where we were zip-tied to a string that was strung out through the woods for about 1/2 mile.  We had to go around trees, over trees, under trees, through a spiderweb of more string, tight squeezes between trees (glad we are small people), underneath platforms, and then back to the finish.  It was about a 12 minute effort.

String course through the string spiderweb

Then we were onto the Bike-O course on the Outer Space Trail.  Some sweet single track through the WAC property, with a brief stop at Raider Bridge, where we were hooked up to a 5-point harness and then had to walk across a ravine on an 18" wide, 75 foot springy suspension bridge that had no hand railings.  Each team got a safety briefing which made Lisa's eye twitch ... a precious 60 seconds lost listening to the instructor.  For me, it was another chance to breathe and recover a little.

The last leg was a bike/paddle section.  Leaving the Wilderness Adventure Center on bikes, we had to ford Craig Creek, which was about knee deep.  We forgot to punch the CP on the near side, so I had to go back through the creek and nab it.  Climbing up Caldwell Mountain Road, we passed No Complaints, who we had been yo-yo-'ing with all morning.  We nabbed the CP at the top and then hopped onto a decommissioned forest road.  We contoured along the mountain for awhile before dropping down into a re-entrant and began the bike whack along a creek, as there was no trail.  At least it was downhill.  CP 2-3A (edge of pool below cascade) was a tricky one.  Water levels were low and at times the "trail" veered away slightly from the creek.  Even with my "speedo" tickking off the meters traveled, we still managed to go right past the CP.  This cost us 18 minutes, as we dropped our bikes at the bottom and then trekked back up, along the creek, and finally found the damn flag, tucked way down into the creek.

Next up was the Ferrier Trail, a 5 mile black diamond trail.  It was a very steep, side-cut, half-track climb, followed by a spicy descent. We passed No Complaints ... again, and enjoyed the descent back down to the town of New Castle.

We dropped our bikes at the TA, grabbed our paddle gear, and made a 1/4 mile trek to the put in at John's Creek.  You have got to be kidding me!  The creek level was 3-6 effing inches! We ended up slip sliding through the creek while dragging the boat for a solid mile before the water was deep enough where we could paddle.  Lisa was managing way better than I, as I managed to pull a hamstring and jack my back making my way through the slippery ass river rocks.

Our only job was to get 2 CP's along this 6 mile paddle/pack-raft-whack.  How we managed to paddle right on by CP 2-7 still befuddles me to this day.  I can only surmise that we just didn't see the "island" where the CP was, probably because water was not running on the right side of it due to low water levels. We did not discover our mistake until we were too far down river to do any sort of back tracking. So frustrating and disappointing.  We paddled on and got CP 2-8, where we pulled out, and then hiked our pack raft and gear about 1km through the WAC property to the finish.

At day's end, we were 2nd place female team and 7th overall.  But on the bright side, we were the 2nd fastest team on the day (10:07), only 1 minute behind No Complaints. And there were still 2 more days of racing. 

Now I only had to exorcise the squirrely Jesse Spangler demon from Lisa to help keep us on track over the next 2 days 😁

CP 2-3A  sneaky little bastard, gotcha!