Last weekend I traveled to James River State Park for a women's only adventure race. I signed up for solo as I wanted to hone my navigation skills. Last year I raced my first solo at the 10 Hour Chattanooga Epic. But I felt that it did not really challenge me, as I am so familiar with that area. I needed to get out of my comfort zone.
I arrived at 6 am Saturday morning and got all my shit together. At 6:30 am, I received the maps and the rules of travel. There were 5 legs: trek, bike, paddle, big trek, and big bike. The map for the big trek we would not receive until later. I spent the next hour plotting my route; man, I love Mark Lattanzi's maps!
There were 46 CP's and 4 TA's, so a total of 50 points. While I would love to be able to clear the course, my goals were to: 1) not get lost, 2) find every CP I went after, and 3) make it to the finish before the time cut-off.
At 9 am, we were turned loose. The first trek was short, just 3 CP's, and close to the start/finish. I made quick work of them in order and got back to the start/finish to transition to bike. My first mistake was to start in my trekking pants instead of just bike shorts, which would have made my transition quicker. Although I was one of the first back, I ended up having to play catch up on the 2nd leg (bike).
This bike leg had 4 points that you had to acquire in order. It took a moment for me to get my nav eyes adjusted to the map on my bike as I rode up a gravel road. I wish I did not have "old" eyes that required readers. Do they make eye ball gimbals? 😆😆😆
I slowly reeled in the leaders on this bike leg and by the time I hit the paved road to head to the last CP and then TA1, I was in the lead. Once at the TA, I dropped my bike, changed again into my trekking pants and paddle shoes, made sure I took all the necessary items with me in the kayak, and handed my bike to the volunteer to be loaded into the box truck , where it would be taken to TA 4.
I and another fellow soloist, Allie, were on the water first. The river was extremely low, so a few sections required some boat butt scooting to get through some shallow areas. Fortunately I never had to get out and drag the kayak. We stayed together for the majority of the paddle and had a nice conversation. At the CP, I did have to get out and take a picture of me on the island as proof. There was not a flag or punch on the island because Michelle had forgotten to put that in her boat on the day she was setting the course.
I about flipped the kayak getting back into it, as I did not quite have my land legs under me. From there it was about another 30 minutes of paddling to the take out at TA2. I drug my kayak up to the grass, packed up my paddle bag, and then semi-hid behind a tree to pee. There I received my map for the third leg, a big trek. There were 20 possible points, and all but 2 were off-trail. During the pre-race briefing, we were told that it took 3 1/2 hours to vet that trek, at a fast walk.
It was 12:45 pm, so a little over 6 hours to finish. I was figuring 2 1/2 -3 hours for the bike, so that left 3 - 3 1/2 hours for this trek. Looking at the points and seeing several of them that would be very hard for me to get, if at all, I dropped 2 of the points in the first half on purpose. I Airborne shuffled when I could and power hiked when the terrain became challenging. I started knocking off the CP's one by one, pretty much nailing them. And when I did not immediately find one, I carefully looked at the terrain and was usually one re-entrant or 1 spur too soon. I tried pace counting, but damn sometimes that can be hard, especially when my brain is trying to think at race pace.
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| CP 10 |
After nabbing 7 CP's in 45 minutes, I was crushing it! Until I wasn't. CP 17 had me wondering and wandering for 20 minutes. At first I was at the wrong spur. Once I figured that out and found the trail, I tried to take a bearing, but my compass got all wonky on me. I knew I needed to go due North, but my compass was telling me just the opposite. I finally said F'it and went where I thought North was and then I finally found the flag.
Knowing I now had 2 hours left before I needed to get to TA 4, I dropped a few more points (18-21) and focused on those that were relatively close to the TA. I picked up CP 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, and 29 on my way to TA 4. After getting 24, I bushwhacked on a bearing and came out EXACTLY on the trail that led me to 25 ... hoo-rah!
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| CP 25, overlooking the James |
The bushwhacking had been relatively clear of underbrush up until the point where I needed to head to the road after nabbing CP 29. Floundering briefly through hip high grasses, I just knew I was going to be chiggered!
I ran on into TA 4 at approximately 3:15 pm. I was so focused on transitioning to bike, I did not take a moment to realize that I probably should have attempted another CP or 2 that were relatively close. One of them, CP 27, was said to be the hardest/trickiest to find. I let my monkey brain win on that one ... durn it!
With a quick change (8 minutes) from trekking attire to cycling attire and a hydration bladder fill up, I was off on the last leg (bike) to attempt to clear it (17 CP's). I quickly knocked the ones out that were down on the River Trail, going in a CCW direction. I slowly began gaining elevation and picking off more of them.
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| CP30 |
Most were right on the trail; a couple were 30-40 meters off the trail, but visible from the trail. I was in a flow state, nabbing these CP's until I hit the MTB specific trails, Burnside and Kerr Loop. These were spaghetti like in nature and I wanted to go CCW on Burnside but took the wrong entrance. I was confused for a while until I figured out my mistake. I quickly corrected and was able to find CP 43 and 42 on this trail.
I then tried bike whacking over to the Cabell Trail to find CP 45, but was unsure exactly where I was or which way to go to get to 45. So I played it safe, bike whacked back to Burnside, rode it out and then hit the Cabell Trail and found CP 45. Definitely the right call, as that took less than 10 minutes. From there I rode Cabell out to an intersection, and then bike whacked to the Kerr Loop and found CP 44. Bike whacking back to Cabell, I finished this trail by nabbing CP 46.
CP 32 was the last one to get and then I pedaled back to the finish in a time of 8:35. I accomplished my goal of clearing the bike leg, but ended up leaving 85 minutes on the clock ... meh. The last leg only took me 2 hours and 10 minutes.
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| 1st: Anna Stewart 2nd: Erin Brandt |
I ended up with 43/50 points, which gave me a 3rd place in the solo division and 5th overall. First and second soloists ended up with 52 points each and with a finishing time of 9:50 and 9:52. I had a solid day and learned a lot. I was pleased with my performance, but wish I would have had the cahones to go for some of the more challenging trekking points. But this race has definitely boosted my confidence factor.
Adventure Addicts put on a great race with a challenging course, very nice maps, and a delicious post race meal.
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| A Coke does pair nicely with jumbo shrimp 😂 |
