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

 

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!

Coal Country Roubaix 300 Mile

 

This race is in its 3rd year and takes place in Northeast Ohio, not too far from Pittsburgh, Pa.  There are mutiple distances:  50K, 100K, 100M, and the 300M.  I became interested in this race last fall when Dave Jolin mentioned it.  When I began to get some background information on Joe Lawhorn, the promoter, I knew I wanted to participate.  Joe is a retired marine veteran and RAAM solo Triple Crown finisher.  His values and principles also align with mine.  He puts on the CCR to showcase the town of Lisbon and the beautiful lumpy countryside of this "definitely not flat" part of Ohio.  And having never ridden 300 miles in one push, why not go for it?

I drove up to Dave's on Wednesday, spent Thursday finalizing my gear and drop bags (2 drops, mile 107 and mile 197), and then did a shake out ride on Dave's local rail trail.  Friday, we made the 2 hour drive to Lisbon and then did a short group ride to the covered bridge.  Along the way, my shifter battery died, despite my AXS app saying that it had a full charge. Upon attempting to change it out after the ride, I had a tense moment when it still didn't work when installing a new battery.  Problem solved several minutes later after realizing I had put it in upside down 😕

Saturday morning, we awoke to 60 degrees and rain.  I was prepared to ride and threw on my shower cap, rain jacket, and rain pants.  The race started at 9 am under a steady light rain.  200 racers were escorted through town and then hit the first (of a gazillion) pitchy climbs, the Steubenville Pike climb. For the first few miles, all distances rode together.  At the 5 mile mark, we parted with the shorter distance racers.  

It was hard to get in any sort of rhythm, due to the wet, slick conditions and the steepness of the climbs, most of which were 10-15% grade.  While this part of the country does not have mountains it has knobs from hell. It was also difficult to carry your momentum due to the twisty roads.  This gravel race was more like a road race with gravel sectors.  I would say equal amounts of pavement to gravel.  The paved sections were mostly tar and chip, as Joe kept us off the busier state roads and highways. I saw less than 1 car per mile of paved road.

I was really trying to keep my effort low, as I wanted to feel like the first 100 miles was too easy.  But that was hard to do given the nature of the climbs.  And there was no drafting off of Dave or Nick, the fat biker, because you would be water boarded.  So I wasted a lot of energy in those first few hours, fighting the rain, the muddy gravel roads, and the steep climbs.  My rain pants also became saturated and tended to migrate down my arse, gangsta-style, when I stood up to pedal.

The rain finally subsided around 11:30 am. We were 30 miles in at this point and Dave looked so strong and at ease on the climbs. I, on the other hand, was beginning to have doubts. Something did not just feel right.  I tried to ignore it and just focus on the beauty of the countryside, but red flags just kept popping up in my brain. By the time we hit a 100 miler aid station at mile 38, I seriously began to have doubts I could complete this race.  Hoping it was just a nutrition thing (deep down I knew it wasn't), I ate and drank 700 calories over the next couple of hours.

While the roads dried up, the gravel sectors were still quite muddy and sloppy.  And they were becoming more numerous and longer in length the further we rode, heading south.  During the next few hours, we saw 2 others come up from behind and then fly by us:  Jesse Stauffer, who took a wrong turn and Josh Ely, who had 2 punctures.

When I hit mile 60, each subsequent steep pitch, became increasingly more difficult.  I also started having a nagging pain in my left biceps femoris tendon.  If I had any doubts before about completing this race before, they grew exponentially as the miles ticked on and the pain did not let up, but only intensified.

At mile 70, I told Dave that I planned on bailing at the first bag drop (mile 107).  While I hated to see a DNF next to my name, I also did not want this soft tissue pain to turn into a lingering injury.

While the last 37 miles were a physical slog for me, mentally I was in a much better headspace, now that I had made my decision.  The gravel road were also beginning to dry out and firm up, allowing for some easier speed. While not the eye candy of my backyard gravel, the beauty was in the rolling green hills, the forested riding along the creeks and small river, and the smells of wild flowers and silage (big dairy country).

Rolling into Clark's Gas Station at mile 107 was a relief as my journey was almost done. My drop bag contained a fresh kit, some rice with butter and Parmesan, and my lights. I took my time getting ready for the final push home.  I notified Joe that my day was done.  He offered to come pick me up, but I declined.  I got myself into this mess, I will get myself out. I did not need to bother him, as I was sure he still had a ton of things to do after the shorter races finished.

Dave, being the gentleman that he is. was adamant about riding back to the start with me. It took some convincing, but I finally managed to get him to turn back on the course and proceed with the race. 

Night was falling and I still had an estimated 50 miles of riding back to the Start/Finish.  I was actually ok with that and thoroughly enjoyed the night riding.  I chose some state highways to get back; they were less pitchy than the course. And traffic was minimal.

I had plenty of time to gather my thoughts and determine what went wrong.  This race taught me that running and adventure racing miles don't quite prepare your legs for the hundred thousand times that they gotta turn the cranks over this distance. While I have a strong base, my tendons were not ready for that kind of relentless repetition.  

As I was heading back, Kenny and Corianne found me via my tracker and pulled up alongside me around 9 pm.  We both pulled off the road and had a short chat.  They had also wanted to see Dave, but his tracker was not working.  That interaction kept my spirits high ... all the way to the Stuebbenville Pike climb out of Irondale. That 3.5 mile climb made me a little grumpy.

I finished up my ride at 12:30 am, 154 miles and 17,500 feet of climbing.  I had no regrets as I hobbled around the truck, cleaning up.  No FOMO for me, only JOMO (joy of missing out).  This has been my 3rd DNF in 26 years of racing/riding.  The first one was at an XC race where I double flatted and the second being TNGA in 2011 where I had developed metatarsal foot pain. As much as I hate those 3 letters, sometimes it is necessary to pull out the DNF card.

I texted Dave, letting him know I got back safely.  I tried to curl up into a fetal position in the front seat of Dave's truck and sleep, but the aches and pains in my legs only allowed for a fitful 90 minutes. As I looked at my phone, Dave had texted back, "Call me when you wake up?"  WTF?!?  He should be on his bike.  So I called.  Apparently Dave had hooked up with Josh Ely, but around mile 150 decided to call it and get a motel room in St. Clairesville.  Josh was getting light headed on the climbs and Dave did not want to leave him.

Their idea was to sleep a few hours and then continue on course. I knew better; once you give in to creature comforts, there is a 95% chance of not continuing.  So when 6 am rolled around, I got the call to come pick them up.  While it is nice to hook up and find a buddy on course, some times it can end up biting you in the arse.  I know that if Dave had been riding by himself, he would have finished.  

The both of us have unfinished business.  If I can get the stars to align, I want to go back in 2027.  I already have a pre-game and game plan figured out.  For one, have more than 600 miles in your legs before you try and tackle a 300 miler 😂.  And two, St Clairesville is the mid way point in the race and a perfect place for a little resupply and power nap at a motel.

If you like low key grassroots events, with challenging countryside and low vehicular traffic, I encourage you to come out and give the Coal Country Roubaix a try next year. The course is a sweet mix of pavement and gravel, which is more dirt than gravel, and almost as fast as the pavement, when dry. There is also not much of a dog factor, as 90% of them were chained up or behind a fence.  I only got chased twice and both times the dogs were friendly.

 

Land Between The Lakes 12 Hour Adventure Race

I raced solo for this event, put on by 361 Adventures.  Temps were frigid at the start, by my standards. It was 36 degrees and the first leg was a paddle.  I made plenty sure I was going to be warm, as I wore wool long underwear, rain pants and jacket, with a trash bag over top, just to be sure.  I stuffed chemical warmers into my gloves and shoes.

Energy Lake

The paddle had 5 CP's.  Starting out on Energy Lake, the winds were pretty stiff, but the water was calm'ish.  After nabbing the first two, I headed out into the main channel, Lake Barkley.  The waters were very choppy and even with a stiff cross tailwind, it was still a challenge to paddle.  For CP3, I opted to skip an out/back paddle and instead make a 600 meter trek over to the point on Energy Lake.  On the way back, I was getting hot, so as to save some time while trekking, I removed my PFD and ripped off my garbage bag.  Unbeknownst to me I dropped my map.  When I finally realized my error, I had an 'Oh Shit!' moment. Fortunately I was able to backtrack and find it within 100 meters.

The remaining CP's were acquired without incident.  But boy, my tailbone was getting angry with all these miles on the water (11 to be exact).  I could have cut off 1 1/2 miles of paddling by portaging for 800 meters, but I knew that would ultimately destroy my legs.  Might have been a different story had I been on a team.

At TA1, I had a 10 minute transition for the next leg, a trek. This was the most difficult leg for me.  All maps were on a 1:24,000 scale.  While not a big deal for the paddle, because all the points were off-trail, my old eyes had a hard time reading all the itsy bitsy contour lines.  There were also trails on the map that were non-existent and trails I came across that were not on the map. I advocate for us peeps with old eyes that we get 1:12,000 or better 😁

CP 6 took me an hour (lost 30 minutes), as I wondered and wandered.  CP 7 took another hour (lost 40 minutes), and I almost gave up when Karen and Kristy (Chickpoints), who were in the 24 hour, helped me to find myself.  Once I nabbed it, I realized that I just had not gone far enough initially ... doh, just 75 meters away! CP 8 I thought was going to be easy, as there was a trail on the map on the opposite side of the road from where the point was.  Welp!  No trail!  Once again, burning daylight, I took over an hour to find this one as well.

There were 3 CP's left on the trek, but after having spent 4 hours on the first 3, I needed to get back to the S/F where TA2 was to begin the bike leg. 

TA2

After a short 8 minute transition, I was on my bike picking off the CP's in quick and methodical way.  I nabbed CP 12-17 in order and they were relatively easy, mostly visible from the road/trail. After CP17, I took a time check ... 5:58 pm.  I had 2 hours to grab any remaining ones and get back to the finish.  I had already been on the bike for 1:50.  So I opted not to grab CP 18, which was another 3-3 1/2 km north, but to start heading back and possibly get CP's 20-22, which were southwest.

CP 15 ... thank goodness it was NOT at the top

These remaining CP's were on the North-South mountain bike trail.  Finally some single track!  It was 6:24pm when I punched CP 20.  It was gonna be a definite nail-biter getting back to the finish by the 8pm cut off.  I had to bail on CP's 21 and 22.  These were cemeteries that I rode right by, but since the CP was not a punch, but involved answering questions regarding tombstones, I did NOT have the time to wander around the graveyard looking for the right answers ... meh!

Once I got back on the gravel, it was 7pm.  After 11 hours of effort, I now had to find energy to do a 9 mile time trial back to the finish ... on flat pedals!  I rode like a scalded dog and skidded across the finish line with 17 minutes to spare.  Probably could have found at least one cemetery CP answer ...

Somehow I managed the solo female win, and 6th overall.  It wasn't pretty, but I'll take it.  Despite my mistakes and wandering more than I wanted to, I had a fantastic time playing in the woods.  Hopefully I learned a few things that will only help me to be a better navigator next time.

I ended up with 65 miles total (11 paddle, 15, trek, and 39 bike), and 6500 feet of elevation gain.

Thanks to 361 Adventures for a challenging and fun course.  And that post race potato bar was amaze-balls!

OMAR 24 Hour

Team Mountain Goat Adventures

This year Lisa, Susie, Marcus, and I teamed up in the Coed division for the Oak Mountain 24 Hour Adventure Race.  This was a great opportunity to see how the 3 of us would work together, as we are gunning for Adventure Race Nationals in Bend, Oregon in October.  Kristi McBride is our 4th team mate, but was unable to make it down South ... I think she is still under 4 feet of snow! Marcus Barton joined as our 4th team member.  I like how Susie, in our text threads, determined that he would be The Mule.

I just recently had hand surgery for "trigger finger," but I had recovered well from that and did not think it would affect my racing.  However, on the final day of my Florida vacation/family reunion (Wednesday the 18th), I slipped and fell in the shower/tub.  The left side of my tail bone and all those ligament/tendon attachments took a solid blow.  If not broken, definitely bruised.  Running through the woods and pedaling technical trail was going to be a bit of a challenge, with my broken a$$.

To start off the race, we "spun the wheel" to decide which discipline we would start first.  None of us wanted to paddle first, so we made Lisa spin the wheel.  Welp! Guess what we got to do first ... paddle!

PADDLE #1    4.6 miles    1:12    6 CP's

We were given the location of the first CP.  At each control was a map of the next CP, which Marcus the Punch Monkey marked.  Susie and I settled in a good stroke rhythm.  Not 15 minutes into the paddle and I think we were all glad we started with this discipline.  Our team was out front and it was kinda funny looking back and seeing all the other teams following us like ducklings.

PADDLE BOARD    1 mile    30 minutes    2 CP's

None of us had paddle boarded in the past 5 years, unless you count Lisa who did the paddle board section at OMAR last year.  But since she was nav'ing, Marcus volunteered.  We transitioned and ate a bite, and got his gear ready while he was paddling.

TREK #1    9.5 miles    3:04    10 CP's

Lisa started out pretty fast.  She may have not thought it was "all out," but Susie and I beg to differ.  I blame it on Oso, the German Shepherd she is fostering.  Lisa took up running again, to train Oso as well as to drain his huge stockpile of energy. Unfortunately, Lisa managed to find an 18 inch hole.  She wrecked hard, rolling her ankle in the process.  After muttering a few choice words, she bounced back up and continued on her blistering pace.

Four of the first five CP's had us climbing up multiple hill tops.  And it was getting hot!  While the heat had no effect on me and surprisingly Lisa, too, it was oppressive for Susie.  The speed, combined with the heat, had Susie's heartrate hitting that of a hummingbird's. By the time we hit Peavine Road on our way to CP 7, she was starting to struggle.  Marcus offered to take her pack, but she refused as she needed to drink.  (For future races, I think each one of us needs to carry a flask of hydration, along with our bladders.)

CP 3

Susie was able to grab hold of Marcus' pack which allowed a little "tow" up the road. As we began our descent down a hiking trail to grab CP 8, it was high noon.  The spring foilage had not come out in full force, so the sun was blazing down upon us.  Slip sliding down pine straw, Marcus began talking about his Dad, B.B., born and raised in Alabama and his pig named Snowball.  With a melodic Southern drawl, like molasses rollin' off your tongue, he told the story of how B.B. and Snowball would sled ride on dem der banana boxes.  You know why we used doz boxes?  Cuz' them were waxed!  And Snowball would squeal all the way down the hill. B.B. loved his Snowball.  I asked Marcus what ever became of her?  To which he replied ... bacon!

 

CP 9 Peavine Falls

Trekking up to Peavine Falls, both Marcus and I did our best to help Susie.  She was deep into the pain cave of heat exhaustion: elevated HR, profuse sweating, nausea, and extreme fatigue. I tried to get her to cool off in a couple of creeks we crossed.  She finally let Marcus carry her pack, once I filtered some water for us.  She pulled out a soft flask, which I filled and she dumped a baggie of electrolytes into. As we made our way to the final CP, I just tried to keep her morale up, but I wasn't doing a very good job.  She kept saying to me that she was going to quit once we got done with the trek.  

As we hit the TA, we all jumped in trying to get her to forge on.  I think it was a combination of taking a 15 minute breather, handing her LMNT packs like it was candy, and Lisa reminding her that we as a team would be unofficial in the final results.  I am super proud of Susie's perseverance and sacrifice.  Adventure racing is difficult even when you are feeling good, but to feel like absolute 💩, knowing you are probably gonna continue to feel this way for a significant amount of time, shows just how tough she was.

BIKE #1    17 miles    3:44    11 CP's

We took it easy on this leg, especially since it was at the hottest part of the day.  Susie slowly came around.  How I know is that when I asked her how she was doing, her replies became a little more chipper each time.

Most of the points on this bike were right on the trail or just off trail but within sight.  I struggled a bit on the more techy trail or whenever there were steep pitches.  My tailbone and all the little soft tissue connections would light up in pain whenever I had to apply the torque. So I walked a fair amount.

BIKE #2    17 miles    3:01    5 CP's

We made it back to TA#1 around 4:30 pm and had a quick transition.  Back on the bike we were now headed to TA#1, picking up CP's along the way. We climbed back up Peavine Road for the 3rd time (1 trekking, 2 biking).  Susie was definitely in a better headspace now and was slowly beginning to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix.  

CP30 was a small waterfall off trail.  Here we began the bike whack from hell.  After nabbing the point we began pushing our steeds up a 30% pitch for 0.2 miles to reach a trail.  2/3 of the way up, I made it to the top first, dropped my bike, and headed back down to help Susie.  Grabbing her bike, I began pushing it up, when I heard Lisa cry out in pain.  Once I got to the top with Susie's bike, both Marcus and Susie arrived shortly thereafter, with Lisa's bike. Apparently Lisa's agony was due to GI issues, which was quickly alleviated with a sudden back door evacuation.

Time out while we waited for Lisa to unload a load.

On to Queen's Ridge, we nabbed this point by dropping our bikes at the first switchback and hoofing it up to the ridgline. Halfway up the climb, Marcus had to turn back around, as he had forgotten the tracker. The final point on this bike was on Longleaf Trail.  As we approached the CP, Susie asked me if this was an out and back.  But what I heard her ask was if we found it, to which I replied yes.  So as Marcus punched the CP, I turned my head around and Susie was gone.  I yelled for her, she responded, as she had already climbed back up those 2 steep switchbacks.  I felt bad about that, knowing that she wasted energy, and immediately apologized. (Payback is a bitch 😈)

We put on our lights and headed down Belcher's Byway to TA#1.

TREK #2    7 Miles    3:00    7 CP's

Marcus's wife, Trista, was here, and let us know that we had a 2 hour lead on 2nd place.  That made my night!  After a 19 minute transition, we headed back up Belcher's Byway. Lisa led the way and we followed like little duckling's.  Her walking speed, however, was so stinkin' fast that the 3 of us had to Airborne shuffle to keep up. After nabbing CP33, we began the bushwhack to CP35, along a creek.  This area had been hit by a tornado in the past.  This whole section was a combination of multiple blowdowns and patches of thick 4-5 feet tall pine tree saplings. 

Marcus was the caboose through this section and the caboose suddenly disappeared. We hollered ... no response.  We hollered again and then finally saw his headlamp.  Apparently his backpack had gotten stuck on a limb as he was crawling under a downed tree.  To free himself he had to cut off to cut off his arm.  Not really, but he had to take his pack off, and then untangle it from the tree.

After a "nothing but net" nab of CP35, Lisa's nav skills continued to shine as we collected the remaining CP's, all off trail.  It was nothing short of magic!  And remember, this was at night!

Marcus coming out of creek CP 37

PADDLE #2   5 miles    1:35    3 CP's

The hardest part of this leg was the freakin' portage.  Jeff's canoes, I swear, are made out of lead, because carrying that across the road from Lunker Lake to Oak Mountain Lake and then back again, after we got CP 40, was awful! A 150 meter portage each way.  Here is where Susie got me back from the earlier incident on Longleaf Trail.  As we were getting out of the canoe for the first portage, Susie yanked the canoe out from underneath me as I was getting out.  Kerplunk I went into the lake, up to my chest!   Susie said that she thought I was gonna stay in the boat until she pulled it up on shore a bit ... 😜😜😜.  Karma's a bitch! After that final portage, heading back to the TA, I was so glad the paddle was almost over.  Despite a night time temperature of 60 degrees, being wet, I was starting to shiver.

BIKE #3    12.5 miles    1:50    6 CP's

After a 16 minute transition, we were on the final leg. All these CP's were the same as previous ones from the earlier legs.  We were making good time now, as we could smell the finish.  All of our discomforts were immaterial now.  We rode under the finishing banner at 2:43 am, competing the course in 17:35, with only 37 minutes of stopped time.  We were the overall winning team.

The Triple G Award (Grit, Gristle, and Gumption) goes to Susie.  She fought through adversity to make it to the finish.  She had a phenomenal "2nd half" rally, which kept us on a blistering pace through the night.

The Chris Forne Navigator Award goes to Lisa.  I have been able to watch her skills progress over the last 3 years.  This race she was dialed and we did not dilly-dally trying to find CP's. She also gets the most poops in a 24 hour period award.

The Mighty Mule Award goes to Marcus.  He did all the "extra" tasks with no questions asked.  I also must say that his comedic character, even when poking the bear (the bear being Lisa), kept our minds upbeat and our smile muscles engaged.

I had an absolute blast with this team.  I think this race was a great start to our build up to USARA Adventure Race Nationals this fall.

Snake Creek Gap TT

 

Keeping the streak going!

22 years I have been participating in this race.  Driving down the morning of, I was dreading toeing the line.  It was cold (for me) at 30 degrees, and I had only ridden my bike 3 times this year. So I wasn't exactly feeling the bike fitness.  I had more running miles in my legs than cycling miles.  I thought of the gentleman who had run with a Strider bike one year and toyed with the notion of doing that, although where am I going to find a bike like that at 6 am?

The bus ride gave me plenty of time to fell just how unprepared I was for today.  Whatever mojo I may have have mustered was driven deeper into the depths of my psyche by Karen Carey.  She was filling both my ears with inadequacy, ineptitude, and despair. Had it not been for the fact that I would be unable to attend the March race, keeping my racing streak going, there was a good chance I would have bailed today.

After warming up by running around the parking lot, I made my way over to the starting line.  Lisa pointed out that my right shoe and pedal was covered in 💩 ... and human, at that😒. How fitting!

Fortunately, all that negativity left my soul once I saw my favorite peeps at the starting line:  Ray and Tammy Blevins managing the scoring table. 10 pedal strokes in to the race and Racing Carey (aka Taz) flung Karen Carey off the trail.  Jayden came by a few seconds later and I hopped aboard her wake.  I managed to hang onto her until halfway up the double track climb.  Not too shabby I must say.  

The legs felt surprisingly good at a comfortably hard pace and with the trail being in great shape save for loose baby heads, I made good time through the first half, only 5 minutes slower than my April 2025 time.

As I stopped to swap bottles at the SAG, Lisa rolled by.  I quickly hopped back on and slowly made my way up to her wheel.  At this point, I could care less about "racing," but having my best friend to share the second half and provide some stoke, was what I was craving.

I could tell I was struggling a bit in the last 7 miles.  I kind of felt like a pinball on the rocks.  I think it was more to do with rusty technical skills than a lack of fitness.  But the sun was out and I was truly in my happy place, despite my less than stellar performance.

Lisa and I popped out together on the pavement.  Knowing I had faster tires than her, I took the lead so she could tuck in. Still, I out rolled her and crossed the finish line well ahead of her.  But she had started 30 or so seconds behind me and ended up beating me by 2 seconds!  

Jayden ended up with a stellar time of 3:45, and first in the money class.  This kid is fast!

So, although the morning started out crappy, it ended up being a good day on the bike.  And the Snake Pit cooking crew were on fire!  Plenty of food for everyone to replenish their calories.  And some awesome schwag socks to boot!  I still have my pair from 10+ years ago.

Georgia Navigator Cup

This was my third year of competing in this 3 day event.  Friday was a standalone o-meet at McIntosh Reserve Park.  Time to dust off the ole compass and work on my nav skills as I work towards my big A event in October, USARA Nationals in Bend, Oregon!

Temps were in the low 50's ... perfect!  I had just gotten my Tifosi prescription eyewear and was wearing them for the first time.  My brain was a little slow in adjusting to the prescription, so when the gun went off, I had a little difficulty in seeing the map.  I shoulda just taken a bearing, but there were trails, so I started off on them, figuring I would pace count and then attack. Welp, 15 minutes later, I finally found the damn thing.  I did not go far enough on the trail before I attacked and then went to far and hit another trail that served as a handrail.  Jeezy-pete!  My brain just did not want to wake the f up!

Fortunately, I was able to get the remaining 13 controls with ease, each taking about 2-4 minutes.  Total time was 58:53, good enough for third in my class. The one plus I had was the ability to move much quicker off-trail, as compared to last year.  I could actually run, hold a bearing, and hit the controls spot on or within 20 meters.  I attributed this to all the time spent running the Cumberland Trail.

Saturday and Sunday both took place at Chattahoochee Bend State Park.  Saturday's temps were the same, but with cloudy conditions and wind, I layered a little more. Saturday's course was on the eastern side of the park, I was told that the course designer said it was one of the hardest he had ever created.  That gave me pause for concern.  The first 2 controls I nabbed in no time.  The 3rd one gave me a little trouble, as it was hidden in a thicket of small pines at the edge of a large slab of granite.  I found the correct slab, but had a hard time seeing the control.  There were a few of us looking for the same one and eventually a fella saw it.  This one took me a little over 9 minutes to get, my hardest for the day. The others seemed to fly by and I was so proud of my ability to hold a bearing and see features on the map, as I was running by them.

My time for Saturday was 1:16:47, only 4 minutes off 1st place.  And since the actual CUP was a cumulative time for just Saturday and Sunday, perhaps I had a chance to challenge Patty Carrigan.

The temperature for Sunday was a lot cooler, in the 30's.  Why I was so fearful of being cold, I dunno.  I layered perfect and my extremities were happy the entire time.  Navigating to the first control caused me a bit of a headache, as there was almost too much information on the map:  multiple trails, roads, campgrounds, which caused my head to sping.  I had to keep stopping and orienting myself.  In hindsight, it probably would have been faster running up the road, but you don't get a chance to preview the map.  You don't get to turn your map over until the gun goes off.  CP1 was an easy find; it just took 2 minutes longer than it should have.

The terrain was a lot flatter than Saturday's, so it behooved me to stay on my bearing.  Of course, this caused me to go a bit slower.  I was doing good until I went for CP8, about 450 meters from CP7, almost due North. Had I been holding my bearing, I shoulda passed by the water station, on a hilltop.  Never saw that.  I think I ended up straying a bit NW, as I started seeing what I thought was the approach to the river.  I did come upon a control; it was CP9!  Yep, strayed way off course.  At least now, I could shoot a bearing back to CP8, about 250m away.  Nabbed 8, then reversed and went back to 9. This mistake cost me 5-7 minutes.

The last 2 controls were quickly obtained.  I finished with a time of  1:17:30, bested by first by 11 minutes.  Dang it!  

Overall, I finished in 2nd place.  I had an absolute blast.  And hopefully learned from my hiccups.

Dark Horse Invitational

The Dark Horse Invitational is the brain child of SS bike pack racing extraordinaire Chris Joice.  This "not a race" 😉😉😉 takes place in the vast expanse of the Cherokee National Forest (Reliance, Coker Creek, Tellico Plains area). In its 3rd year, Chris upped the ante by having a 3 day event, where you could just do the main event on Saturday or the full pull. As the name applies, you must have an invite to "race."  Those who raced the prior year get an automatic entry and can extend an invite to newcomers. The "not a race" is staged out of Fireside OutPost, owned and operated by Kim Murrell, the infamous creator of the Tennesee Gravel's ITT series, as well as the Three Rivers Way Vista 316/Mountain 430 bikepacking races.

This is a team event (teams of 2-3). I teamed up with Lisa Randall and extended an invite to Dave Jolin, who teamed up with John Switow and Justin Hunter. While the forecast leading up to the event had me  questioning my life choices, it changed enough to take it from Type 3 fun to Type 2.

DAY 1:  Friday Night Time Trial

For the full pull, only one team mate needed to ride Friday and Sunday.  But Lisa and I both wanted to experience the entirety of Chris' madness.  The fastest time of the team would be scored.  I pre rode this the week prior and boy was I glad.

Think of a back country cyclocross course on a decommissioned forest service road with downed trees and washed out roadbeds as barriers and saplings growing up in the roadbed that you had to weave through.  Now do this at night and after rain had fallen the previous day.  Yep, super spicy 6 mile TT!

📷: Graham Skardon

We took off in 30 second intervals.  Lisa started behind me, but caught up when there was a bit of a rider pile up at the road wash out, where we had to descend down, cross a creek, and then hike back up.  Overall, Lisa and I managed a win for the team, as she had the fastest time.  All that adventure racing paid off!

DAY 2:  Check Point Race

This was the big day out in da woods.  Think PMBAR, but on gravel bikes.  Using a map, passport, and experience, you had 10 hours to collect 3 mandatory CP's and 3 bonus CP's.  The passport, which contained rules of travel and the check points was not given to us at the start.  Instead we were given a boarding pass to the Hiwassee River Train.

📷: Graham Skardon

This was so freaking cool!  A 6 mile train ride to start.  Which meant 6 less miles to pedal and warmth for 15'ish minutes.  The boarding pass contained information regarding 2 checkpoints, 1 of which would have our passports.  The 2 CP's were the bridge at the Powerhouse and Kimsey Mtn/Piney Flats intersection.  So for those 15 minutes, my mind went back and forth between which CP had the passport. If I chose wrong, then it would cost us extra miles to head back to the other CP.  In the end, I figured heading to the Powerhouse was the lesser of two evils.  Most teams chose to go this way.  Most times when I have a 50/50 guess, I end up choosing wrong.  Well, the statistic gods were with me today, hoo-ray!

Once we arrived at the PowerHouse and grabbed the passport, we quickly plotted the CP's and I chose to head in a CCW direction, starting with the Kimsey Mtn/Piney Flats CP. The roads were wet and sloppy in spots, made worse by the fact that it was opening weekend for bear hunting, so all the Bubba's were out in their trucks driving the roads at breakneck speeds.  Think bass fisherman, but in Tacomas!

Lisa was on fire early on, as she dragged me through Piney Flats and then up Kimsey Mountain.  Not having any troubles snagging the second mandatory and then the bonus CP at Deep Gap TH, we motored over to Ditney Mountain.  I began to question my route choice when several teams came down Kimsey, going in the opposite direction as us.  Did I miss something in the rules of travel?  Perhaps 2 pages got stuck together and there were more CP's than we thought?  While I had this internal struggle for a few minutes, Lisa came through and assured me, even though she had no idea where she was, that I was going the correct way.  Later that night, at the campfire, as we exhchanged our route choices, those teams took the more arduous route up Smith Mountain.

Ditney Mountain Road was in the best ... shape ... ever!  Like a highway almost, it had been graded and compacted.  We made exceptional time going down to Farner. A short descent on Hwy 68 led us to Shuler Creek Road.  This was also in amazing shape, dry and fast!  We came upon Chris Joice and Rachel Woods, the photog.  We stopped briefly for a water refill and some candy.  Chris told us that Ali's team was just up the road.  

Smoke Signal Photography

That lit a fire under me and I had an amazing climb up to Unicoi Gap. It also helped that the sun came out and allowed me to thaw out ... again.  The previous 5 hours of riding had been super cold and I had experienced no fewer than 4 freeze/thaws of my extremities, between the climbing and descending.

Unicoi Gap CP

After snapping a selfie, we descended down and stopped at the Coker Creek visitor center for a quick pee break and bottle refill.  As we pulled in, Ali's team was just heading out.  I was shocked, as I had not expected to catch them.  Ali had brought some heavy hitters to this adventure, what with the likes of Amy and Chelsea, who between them, had multiple national titles and at least one world title.  And Ali is no slouch, as she represented the USA at UCI Gravel Worlds. 

We might have had a bit of an advantage on the descents, as we were on mountain bikes and they were on gravel bikes.  But, now that there was a lot of pavement left, I did not expect to be able to hang with them or even catch back up to them.

The next CP at the junction of Epperson Road and CR 631 was a bug a bear to find.  We knew we were at the right intersection, but could not find the CP.  It also didn't help that while the Nat Geo map listed county road numbers, all the road signs were names. I was looking for a white bag, figuring it was similar to the one at Kimsey/Piney Flats, since we had to grab a sticker as proof.  But nothing!  In the end, a couple walking up the road, helped us to find it, as the lady saw a tiny post with a red reflector that had never been there before.  Sure enough, that was it, along with a tiny note saying, "Take a pic."  Come to find out, there were some hooligans playing shenanigans with this CP.

Epperson at CR 631

with a little help from our friends

We had plenty of time left on the clock at this point and headed over to Witt Cemetery for the final bonus CP.   Arriving at the cemetery, we could earn an additional 1 hour time bonus if we took a pic of the oldest readable headstone.  We found one from 1878 and snapped a pic.  As we began heading  back to Fireside, we had to contend with a pack of dogs.  No less than 6 papillons began squeaking at us.  Seriously?!?  😆😆😆 All it took was an aggressive pedal stroke towards them and they skedaddled.  

We finished up our adventure a little after 4:30 pm: 76 miles and 8300 feet.  Along with Ali's team, we were 1 of 6 teams to get all the CP's.  Chris had warm Peppo's 3 pound burritos (I had the burrito bowl) awaiting our spent selves.

DAY 3: Short Course "not race" Race

A frosty cold morning greeted my bike hangover.  Today's ride was a 9 mile neutral roll out, followed by a 33 mile timed segment.  We were escorted by a moto dude (sorry, but forgot your name).  On our way, we had an amazing road find.  Not a discarded tool, not a dirty diaper, not a shoe, but an AR-15!

Spring Creek Road treasure!

We regrouped at the fire station.  I opted to ride my gravel bike today.  Lisa stuck it out on her SuperCaliber with the wibble-wobble rear wheel (she broke a spoke yesterday). I knew there was no way I was going to make up 18 minutes on Ali's team, but I was still gonna go hard because that is just what I do.  The timed segment was about 50:50 gravel:road.  

The hangover was real. 📷: Smoke Signal Photography

As we got rolling, Dave and I settled in with each other.  He had some gas left in his tank from yesterday and did not have the route loaded.  So that gave me extra incentive to push the gears, so he could follow my lead.  Despite my fatigue and the 29 degree start, I loved this course.  Towee Pike --> Fingerboard --> Ivy Trail --> Bullet Creek --> Starr Mountain --> Hwy 315 --> Spring Creek Road. Compared to yesterday, the gravel bike felt fast, and the gravel roads were in spectacular shape.  Slowly it did begin to warm up and I dropped a layer at Chris's vehicle on Bullet Creek Road.  Dave and I rode well together and I was super glad to draft off of him on Spring Creek Road.  As soon as we crossed the train tracks on Spring Creek, the fog rolled in and the temperature must have dropped 15 degrees.  And that wind!  I tucked in tightly behind Dave and rode his wheel to the finish.

Lisa and I ended up second behind Ali, Amy, and Chelsea for the full pull. I need to give Avah Cherry and her team mate a shout out for Saturday's main event.  Despite having rarely ridden this area, they acquired 5 CP's and did not have any "wandering and wondering" moments.

Despite the freezing conditions (for me), I had an absolute blast.  Coming from a mountain bike background, I appreciated the "spiciness" that Chris added to this gravel "not a race" race.  While I do like to ride gravel, sometimes gravel races can be a bit boring to me.

Saturday Podium

The vibes all weekend were amazing.  It was so much fun to engage with others during the neutral roll outs and afterwards around the fire.  I loved hearing about everyone's day and route choices.  I told Chris this was my favorite gravel race because it combined adventure, competition, and camaraderie. And huge props to Rachel Woods for capturing the weekend on film.  She was everywhere and managed to take over 2000 photos!

If you are interested in the 2026 Invitational, let me know and I will send you an invite when the time comes.