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.

The Fig 12 Hour Adventure Race

This year was the 24th edition of one of the longest running adventure races in the U.S.  Jimmy the Greek gave it two thumbs up, so I entered into the solo category.  It would be a great opportunity to work on my navigation skills ... hopefully one day they will be #LisaApproved. The course was within the Red River Gorge, a place I had never been to, but had heard it was stunningly beautiful.  And the race director had been teasing us all week by posting amazing views and arches where the CP's would take us to.

It dumped rain the night before, but the morning brought warm temps (50 degrees) and abundant sunshine.  Maps were handed out at 6 am, with the race to start at 7. That left me with about 45 minutes to read the course instructions and plot my route, as 15 minutes was spent back and forth to the bathroom.  Apparently making race weight at the cabin did not fully happen.

One of many gorge vistas

Leg 1 was a 5 mile bike TT on pavement to CP1.  Leg 2 was a bike/trek to acquire 19 CP's.  All the CP's were either on trails or a short bushwhack off trail, but no bikes were allowed on trails.  Four CP's were just a short run on trails, right off the gravel road that ran atop the gorge.  I quickly acquired those and then had to make a decision.  Do I acquire the next 10 CP's on one big trek from either Water Stop #2 or near TA1, or break it up into 2 smaller treks with a bike in between?  I decided on the latter for 2 reasons.  The first being that I had rolled my ankle earlier in the week and sprained some ligaments in my foot.  While 95% of the pain had resolved, I was concerned that one big trek might cause a flare up, whereas breaking it up by bike might give my foot a rest.  The second reason was that one big trek was daunting to "newbie" me.

One of many creeks I had to cross; feet stayed wet most of the day.

After grabbing those initial 4, I dropped my bike at the Red River Gorge TH and began trekking down the gorge to collect 4 CP's.  These trails were gnarly!  Rocky, rooty, and damn steep, I had to be careful of foot placement.  It was also a little bit muddy and I did not want to end up busting my ass.  I still motored along fairly quickly: all that trail time on the Cumberland Trail paid dividends. 2 of the CP's were at trail intersections, the third was up a stream, and the fourth was on a hill top.  The only one that gave me pause was the hilltop, CP7; it seemed that the trail on the map was not quite in sync with real time.  I only lost a few minutes finding it.  From there it was a doozy of a climb out of the gorge and back up to my bike.  

I then pedaled another 5 miles and dropped my bike at Koomer Ridge campground to nab CP10 at the Hidden Arch.  The clue said the punch (no flag) was at the bottom of the stair case.  Welp, I went ALL the way down several stair cases and did not find it.  I then back tracked UP the staircase and there she be, at the bottom of the first staircase 😠.

Another 3 miles on bike and then I dropped it at the Sheltowee Trace TH to go and get the remaining 5 CP's in this area. I nabbed CP12 first, another hilltop, backtracked along the Sheltowee Trace and then proceeded to get CP13, CP11, CP 14, and finally CP15 at Gray's Arch.  There was a shit ton of ascending and descending to collect these, and my glutes were beginning to hate me.

Gray's Arch was by far my favorite CP.  This arch was spectacular and I could tell it must have been one of the best ones to see, as noted by all the people here.

Gray's Arch

While I was humping it back out of there, my head was mostly down, watching the technical trail.  I smelled her before I saw her, like I was traveling through the beauty department at Macy's.  The perfume emanating off her singed my nose hairs.  When I looked up, my first thought was there was a high probability of a wardrobe malfunction.  If those puppies were pushed any higher, they woulda rolled right out of her V-neck shirt.  I was having a hard enough time on the trail with my Brooks Calderas and here she was with some sort of fancy boot with a 2 inch + sole!  The yin and the yang crossed paths and she was the comical "boost" I needed to get back to my bike quickly, quietly laughing inside.

Reaching my bike, I quickly pedaled the short distance to TA1.  At the start, Jim had said that I should leave TA1 no later than 3 pm, in order to finish the last trek, paddle, and then the 5k road run to the finish.  It was now 2:30.  There were a cluster of 5 points to the NW of TA1, but seemed so far away.  I did not want to take the chance to even to an out/back by bike to the first CP in that area.  As I approached the TA, Jim and Susie were leaving.  

I quickly transitioned, grabbing a hot dog, and then ran to catch up to the Farmer's.  I reached them just as we were approaching the Sheltowee Trace Trail.  They were moving as fast as I was, so I opted to hang with them during this trek (leg 3) to the paddle (leg 4) where we  could get 3 CP's along the way.  Many other teams seemed to be congregating along this corridor, so it was pretty easy to find the CP's.  And dayum, Susie was moving on the trail!

After knocking out those 3 CP's on the Sheltowee Trace, it was a 1/2 mile pavement run to the paddle.  I got in the water ahead of the Farmers and made my way to the first paddle point.  The clue was spur edge, small cemetery and a Question:  How old was Paul?  Although I navigated perfectly to the point, upon getting out I was looking for a flag and a punch.  I did see a metal marker on a steel post indicating Paul's name, bit it did not register that was it.  So I spent 5 minutes trudging around in that area looking for a flag/punch.  Finally Jim and another racer saw the marker and confirmed that it indeed was the CP. His date of birth and death was also on that marker in tiny letters. If only I had stopped, took a big breath, and read it in its entirety.  Damn squirrel brain!

Fortunately the remaining 8 CP's were a bit more straight forward, but acquiring them required getting out of the kayak and trekking up some pretty steep re entrants, slogging through muddy creeks, and crawling on all 4's up to an escarpment, traversing a 45-60 degree hillside to nab another, and then butt sliding all the way back down to the lake.

Sketchy AF climb up to paddle point 3

I was grateful to be in company of giants.  Even though Jim was nav'ing, I was also looking at my map and matching up the spurs and re entrants as we went. It was good to see that I was headed in the right direction; I was just able to knock out those 2 cliff side points faster with the Farmers. As I finished collecting my last CP, I passed a female racer headed up to it as I was headed back down.  It did not even register to me that she was solo. As I got back into my canoe, Jim called out that I had better "bust a move" to get back to the kayak take out and then run like a scalded dog to the finish.

I had no idea how many CP's she had collected, but I told myself that we were "even steven" so it was a foot race to the finish.  Fortunately, the final 5k was a slight downhill run on pavement, but damn were my feet getting angry on that hard asphalt.  So many times, my lizard brain telling me it would be ok to just walk.  Every time that thought flickered, I picked up the pace.  It also helped that I had many carrots ahead, all of whom were walking.  

I hit the finish line with 52 minutes to spare.  That final run was mostly in the dark.  I was glad I had not attempted those 5 most northern CP's, as that could have meant a dark paddle.  And especially those 2 cliff base points would have made for a pretty sketchy trek.  After everyone returned and CP's were tallied, I did end up with the win in the solo women's field and an overall placement of 14/35 teams. After doing some rough Strava math, I trekked 33 miles, biked 20 miles,  and paddled 2 miles.  And 95% of the 7700 feet of gain and descent was on foot.

With darkness upon, the temps began to fall.  I quickly changed out of my soggy shoes and damp clothing, and made my way over to the food line at Hop's.  Hop's is a farm to table restaurant in the gorge.  While waiting, the wave of fatigue hit me all at once and I got light-headed.  Oh please, oh please, don't let me faint in front of my fellow racers. Fortunately I went into a deep squat and instantly felt much better.

Sweet potato curry, amazing post race comfort food!

I also give this race 2 thumbs up. It was a low key event with a grassroots feel (my fave!), the volunteers were wonderful, and the schwag and meal was most excellent!  The way the course was laid out gave you many options at choosing your adventure. Having slept and replaced my calorie deficit, I could have had a better route.  I should have nabbed those most northern 5 CP's (1 bike, 4 trek) instead of dropping my bike near TA1 and going after CP11-15.  Studying the maps post race, I probably could have gotten all 5 up North and then went back and grabbed CP 12 and 13 along the rim of the gorge in the same amount of time I acquired CP11-15, just do to the harshness of the terrain.

But this is just one more amazing aspect to adventure racing: being able to debrief with others as well as your inner self about route choice. And if you know me, I just love looking at maps ... all ... day ... long!

And one step closer to becoming a master at this nav thing.  But I probably have another thousand steps to go 😄😄😄

Buff Betty 10 Hour Adventure Race

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.

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!

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.  

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.  

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.  

A Coke does pair nicely with jumbo shrimp 😂

USARA Nationals

 

Team Dragon's Back

Several months ago, I was approached by John Eichler and and Jeff Glassbrenner, who were looking for a female to round out their team for USARA Nationals, being held in Bentonville, Arkansas.  He had touched base with Susie Farmer, who had given him my name.  We set up a Zoom meet and greet in May, which went well, and then I rode with them in Little Rock, when I was on my way to the Maah Daah Hey 100.  These guys were super cool and super chill and definitely not "man-babies" as Lisa had mentioned looking out for 😂.

Blaze, my trusty adventure race steed

On September 12 at 6 am, we loaded buses for an hour ride to an undisclosed location.  At 7:15 am we were given our course instructions and maps.  That left 1 1/2 hours to plot our route.    The first leg was a trek with 15 CP's.  During the pre-race briefing the night before, the race director told us that we needed to be finishing the trek to TA1 and starting the paddle no later than 2 pm in order to make the cut off at CP 17 and therefore be able to continue the paddle to TA2.

The race started at 9 am. With 77 teams of 3 starting, it was a conga line to the first 3 check points.  The teams then thinned out and we were able to motor on at our own pace.  John's nav skills were spot on and we had nabbed 7 of the 15 in 2 1/2 hours. We continued on to get 4 more as the day was beginning to get hotter than damnit.  Both John and Jeff had started out with 3 liters of water and I had 2 liters.  Having been so dry leading up to the race, there was nowhere along this first trek to filter; all the creeks were dry as a bone. We all ended up without water for the last 1 1/2 hours.  And we still had 5 miles along a gravel road to TA1.  

John began to struggle in the heat and Jeff had a mechanical with his artificial leg.  The tread came unglued to the carbon plate and would repeatedly slide off.  Between our slowed pace due to the heat and Jeff's leg issue, our forward progress was significantly hampered.  We weren't the only team to seriously underestimate the time it would take to get to TA1.  What should have taken us 60 minutes to get to the TA ended up taking 90 minutes.  

We arrived at TA 1 at 2:22 pm.  No water was provided by the race, but we had 1 gallon in our paddle bag and I had a full 50 ounce bladder in my PFD.  Jeff was able to find some medical tape at the TA and temporarily fix his leg issue. We ended up getting on the water at 2:35.

Transitioning to the paddle

The second leg was an 8 mile paddle on the Illinois River with 1 CP midway.  It was a meandering river with a lot of strainers so we had to be on point.  It was also shallow in a few spots, where we had to get out and drag the canoe a short ways.  Although it was flowing roughly 3mph and we were paddling as fast as we could, it still took us 2 hours to get to the take out and CP17.  The final 100 yard stretch had some man made class 2/3 rapids. We made it down the first, but took in quite a bit of water and ended up sinking after clearing the second set of rapids.  Fortunately there were a couple of spotters in the river who grabbed our "yard-saled" items, including Jeff's hydration bladder.

We missed the 4 pm cut-off by 28 minutes ... meh.  We were then short-coursed, causing us to miss the second paddle leg and a trekking leg.  22 teams ended up getting short-coursed, including a few of the big names (Rootstock Racing, ThisAbility, TanZ Navigation).  

From TA3, we were on bikes to TA4 at Siloam Springs.  We transitioned to foot for a Photo O course. There were 6 CP's.  And once at each CP, we wrote down the number of the photo that was taken at the precise spot indicated on the map.  There were 12 photos to choose from, 6 of them being decoys. During this leg, Jeff noticed that his shorts and prosthetic liner were sopping wet.  It ended up being that his hydration bladder got a hole in it during the canoe fiasco at take out.  Fortunately he had an extra liner and a couple of smaller hydration flasks. 

We nabbed all 6 correctly and quickly transitioned back to our bikes. This next leg had us biking on pavement and gravel, collecting 5 CP's along the way (all of which were right alongside the road, no need to hop off the bikes and do any bushwhacking). Leaving the nicer side of town, heading into the less nice side, we got to witness a police versus toothless woman in a night gown and flip flops, similar to an episode of "Cops."  Now, that was funny!

We made it to the TA5 on the University of Health and Performance campus at 9 pm.  This was the "chuck wagon TA"  where a hot breakfast was being served (pancakes, bacon, and sausage), while individual team members would tackle a portion of the 0-relay course.

There were 3 parts:  one had you getting 1 CP (of the 6 possible), one had you getting 3 CP's (of the 6 possible), and one had you getting all 6 CP's.  But each part was only worth 1 point.  John went first on the 3 CP course.  Meanwhile, Jeff worked on his prosthetic leg, having secured 3 feet of duct tape.  I ate some sausage, drank a Coke, popped a 200mg caffeine tab and then tended to my gear, getting my hydration ready for the next leg.  I was gonna nab the 1 CP once Jeff got back, so I studied the map. The map had a satellite image, making it extremely difficult to pick out any trails due to all the tree cover.  

Once John got back, he told me about a trail that went down to the river and then from there I could walk the river bed to the CP.  That made it so much easier, as you could not see that trail on the map.  I quickly acquired that one and headed back to the TA.  Since Jeff had never navigated before, we opted out of  the 6 CP course.

We left the TA around 11:00 pm on the 20+ mile biking leg.  There was only 1 CP on this leg.  At one point about midway through this leg, we came to an intersection where there was another team.  They went left onto the gravel and having briefly talked to them thought they were taking a different route than us to TA 6.  So we continued on the paved road, but after about a mile, John realized we were off course heading south instead of northeast.  We quickly backtracked and got back on the gravel road where the other team had headed.

CP 34 was a little tricky as there were several hard lefts and rights on the course, with the CP being at one of these corners.  In this area we came upon a few teams having difficulties, but John managed to get us right to it, without any wandering and wondering.  His nav skills were close to impeccable. I was very impressed as he was suffering the most, yet still had enough brain power to make good choices.

Arriving at TA 6, we were greeted by the enthusiastic crew of volunteers.  We were in the middle of nowhere but could hear I-49 traffic to the east.  We were told that this was the seed tick trek ... wonderful.  There were no trails here so all CP's would require extensive bush whacking. I had pre-treated my clothing earlier that day, but was pretty sure it was all washed off when our canoe sunk. They had DEET spray/wipes so I sprayed my shoes and that was it.  I did not want to melt my clothing with that Deep Woods Off shit.

The witching hour

Shit's beginning to get real!

, 

We attempted CP 38 first, but the undergrowth was insane.  We managed to get into a clearing , but when we continued onward, we hit a second patch that was even worse.  To me it looked like a wall of concertina wire, with a million ticks just waiting to ambush us.  It wasn't hard to make the decision to turn around and try nabbing CP 37.  That one was way more doable and without the tick infested undergrowth.

We decided to call it after 1 CP and move on to the next leg. We were also out of water once again and the TA as well was bone dry.  One volunteer had gone to procure some, but we knew that once we got to Little Sugar trail system, there would be water there. It was an 8 mile pedal to the CP40 and the beginning of Tunnel Vision single track. We only made one slight nav error on the pavement as we were following Glasgow Road and missed the left hand turn on to Glasgow Lane.  

At the trailhead (CP 40), we stopped and filled with water.  Then we decided to go after 3 of the dog bones.  A dog bone is where you have to get a pair of CP's before moving on to the next one.  So we were going after 6 in total.  The Tunnel Vision trail is not technical, but demanding with its short punchy climbs and descents, and loose over hardpack tread.  It is like riding gravel single track.  John was so ready to be done; I don't think he ever fully recovered from dehydration on that initial trek.  I took over navigating, with an occasional redirection.  I was just having too much fun zipping along.  With the sun coming up, I got a second wind.  Actually, anytime I go from riding pavement/gravel to single track, my spirits rise, and the legs shine.

Once we got the 6 CP's, it was a easy pedal on the Razorback Greenway from Bella Vista to the Ledger Building in down town Bentonville. The nav was a little tricky once we got close to I-49 (I had not ridden the greenway since all the improvements were made).  Fortunately John knew which way to go and we nabbed the final CP 42 and then booked it to the finish.  Of course, the last 2 miles had a pitchy 200 foot climb, including the 6 story climb up the Ledger.  This building had a bike lane built on the outside of it ... super cool!

The Ledger climb

We finshed at 11:36 am with 34 CP's, out of a possible 56.  We ended up mid-pack in the short course. I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure.  It was super fun to race with these outstanding fellas. 6 months ago, I was questioning my decision to sign on with them, but so happy I took the chance.

Love these guys!

Cerberus 3 Day Expedition Stage Race - Day 3

Mack Creek

After a fitful night of sleep, I awoke with a mild bike hangover.  Nothing that a 20 ounce mug of Christopher Bean coffee couldn't fix.  I had brought my electric kettle and so was able to heat up water for both Lisa's and my french press.  The smell of coffee permeated the dank air of our cabin and made our bunkmates jealous, as they awaited the opening of the dining hall at 6 am and their Sysco-branded coffee.

While Lisa partook of scrambled egg whites in a carton and well done bacon, I finished off my farm fresh hard boiled eggs and home made chocolate chip banana bread.  Although breakfasts and dinners were included with our sign up fee, it was a little lackluster.  

The forecast for today had been rain showers, but fortunately they rolled through last night.  And some heavy ones at that.  Although the terrain would be wet and potentially sloppy, the skies were blue and the forecast was low to mid-70's once again. This morning was just a bit chillier and with almost 24 hours of racing under my belt, I was chilled at the start.  So I opted to wear my rain jacket.

Stage 3 started out with another 2 CP trek prologue at camp.  Lisa and I were first out of the gate, but did not realize there were 2 bridges crossing the creek.  We took the one that cost us just enough time for about 3-4 teams to jump ahead of us on the steep climb up to C-1.  We managed to scramble up the cliff face and get around a couple of them, punch the CP and then butt slide our way down to C-2.  This one was in the middle of a creek.  I don't know why I spent so much time/energy drying my gear, as each day and at each TA, we would immediately get soaking wet.  I am surprised that through it all, our feet remained happy and healthy.

The dining hall that served as a TA and the Start/Finish 

We were the 4th team to arrive at the TA (dining hall) .  I stuffed my jacket into my pack and changed into my cycling shoes.  Then we were off down the gravel road.  I shifted down ... and nothing happened.  Again, nothing.  AXS battery was dead.  I could have  kicked myself as the night before the thought about recharging it, but did not.  I called out to Lisa to stop.  I quickly took my battery from my dropper and replaced the one on my derailleur.  

All was good again, except a number of teams passed us.  But on the climb up Greenwood, we quickly passed many a team and were once again up with the top mixed teams. Lisa informed me of her mechanical, which was a broken Boa on her shoe. Since I was the CP gopher and we only had 2 on this bike leg, we decided we would duct tape her shoe once we finished the O course.

We were the 2nd team to  arrive at the Ottari O course.  11 CP's, in order.  And once you missed one, you were done and could not proceed collecting any more. 

Lightning Lisa continued her CP quest and we were nailing each one. However O4 had pink flagging under the incorrect building.  So while we were searching all the nooks and crannies of that building for the punch, two mixed teams caught up to us.  But they did see the punch on the building next to the one that we were searching.

From there we all kinda teamed up for O5-O10. Here I was, a newbie to the sport, and running alongside THE Mari Chandler.  She even offered me a swig of her Mountain Dew, which I gladly accepted.

Once at the lake, we split ways.  We went CCW around the lake while the other 2 teams went CW. I elected to do the 30 yard swim to the platform to get the final point.

Killing 2 birds with one stone ... nabbing the CP and ?? (hint: made a warm spot)

Once back at the TA, I went to fill bottles while Lisa worked on her shoe.  Mari's and Britt's team had already taken off.  We took the higher North Ridge route.  There were 3 high points and CP 8-3 was at the 3rd high point. We eventually caught up to Mari's team and saw where Britt's team dropped their bikes at the 2nd high point ... whoopsie!  After nabbing 8-3, the road/trail conditions slowly got worse with a infinite number of downed trees, some we could hop and others we could not.  The trails in the boy scout camp reminded me of Pisgah: steep and technical.  I was definitely getting my cyclocross practice in.  Finally we started to descend, but unfortunately I had a nonfunctioning dropper, having taken that battery to keep my derailleur functioning.  The descent was very similar to Cantrell Creek in Pisgah, only steeper. Lisa was having a good time shredding this section, while I was being conservative.  I did not want our day to end here with a crash or bike mechanical.  

So many derailleur demons during this 7 mile, 2 hour section, my patience was getting tested.  I may have thrown out a cussing rant or two. On the final descent, I heard someone behind me.  Turning around it was Jesse and Andrea.  WTF?  I thought they were ahead of us.  Jesse said that they had mis plotted the corrected O7 at the O course, so it took awhile for them to find it. We collected 8-4 together.  Man those two are like deer running through the woods. From there we hit the gravel road and made our way over to Lowman's Ferry Road to start our paddle, nabbing the final bike CP on the way

There was a gas station at the paddle TA.  As we were approaching, I hesitantly asked, begged, to be allowed to go in the store and fill our bottles, as opposed to filtering from the river.  Being the Transition Nazi she is, barked back, "As long as it doesn't take forever."  Oh, she's a hard one 😥. I managed to hit the solitary bathroom just before a couple of teams also stepped in  to fill bottles.  So I filled quickly, pee'd quickly, and then bought us an ice cold Coke.  Nazi Lisa became Mother Teresa Lisa once she saw that Coke.

I took off my pack and reached to get my rain jacket.  I wanted to wear this as I had gotten shivering cold on yesterday's paddle.  But the zippered compartment was wide open and my jacket was gone.  F*ck me!  I think I was more concerned about losing a $200 jacket than getting cold.  I quickly pushed those negative thoughts from my mind and got our gear ready to paddle.  This paddle was on Claytor Lake and their were 5 CP's. 

We were the second ones, of the leading teams, to start the paddle.  Jesse and Andrea were no where in sight.  I was the gopher for these CP's, all of which required exiting the canoe and going for a short trek.  Having witnessed just how skillfully tricky Mark Lattanzi was in placing these CP's (think nooks and crannies, not hanging where they are clearly visible), I made sure to walk with purpose and have my head on a swivel.

CP 9-4

Going after the 9-4, I felt like I needed a tetanus shot.  I had to make my way through muddy muck and find which rust bucket had the hidden flag. CP 9-3 was the trickiest, as there were multiple downed trees in the re-entrant.  When I came to the first tree, I did not see it, so I started making my way up the re-entrant to the second tree.  But something told me to turn around and look back.  Sure enough, the baby flag was hidden amongst a bunch of brush that had gathered up against the fallen tree.

Once we nabbed the first 3, we turned around and were met with a brutal headwind.  It was so strong it was interfering with my paddle stroke.  And I started shivering. For 4 miles we fought our way back to the TA, nabbing the remaining 2. Once I saw the bridge, signifying where the TA was, I was able to stroke it up a notch.  

I was a shivering mess once we reached land.  And my legs did not want to work.  But I was smelling the barn.  All we had left was a 5 mile pedal back to camp, no more CP's. Once we hit the climb on Julia Simpkins Road, I found more watts.  By the time we had crested the hill, I was warm again.  Even though we had first place in the bag, "racers will race."  We emptied the tanks those last miles, passing several teams, who had not cleared the course, on our way back to Camp Powhatan.

We arrived at the finish with 2 hours to spare.  With another 26 CP's collected today (26 must be our lucky #), we secured first in the women's division (78 CP's total), and 6th overall.  Today's totals were 42 miles (10 paddle, 7 trek, and 25 bike) and 6300 feet of gain.  And my $$$ rain jacket was awaiting me at the lost and found ... another victory!

No teams cleared the course.  Britt's team won the overall with 85 CP's; Andrea and Jesse came in second with 84, and Mari's team came in fourth with 81. The podium prizes were a hodge podge of goodies, including a rain kilt and a 1/5 of moonshine.

For its first year, this was a well run and organized event.  It was also frigging hard, which is great!  The trekking rogaine was the hardest discipline due to its vastness, the technical terrain, and the tricky off trail points.  The single track was very technical in the camp.  I just wish that some trail maintenance could have been done prior; the boy scouts take care of that once their summer camps kick off.

Although the food was mediocre, except for the final meal, a taco bar and ice cream, which was amazing and the bus hiccup on Day 1, I give this race 5 stars!  I don't come for the food and the additional 3 mile trek was icing on the AR cake.  

I want to thank Mike and Mark for a FUn 3 days of putting our bodies and Lisa's mind to the ultimate test of durability and resilience.  

Race HQ with grandmaster Mike Lattanzi at the helm

I want to thank Lisa for once again pushing us to victory.  I just wanted to point it out that initially on the drive up, we were just gonna focus on our division.  She specifically said, "So many big hitters coming that we needn't pay the other divisions any mind."  Well, that quickly went out the window on Day 1 when we were up there with the best.  And so, despite her initial ho-hum nature towards the other divisions,  she was "balls to the wall" ... the ... entire ... time.  Just one of the many attributes I love about her; I can now say that after a week of recovery.  During the race, if you had asked me, it might be a different story 😄. 

As the mighty Cerberus retreats to his place at the gates of Hades his anger grows. These souls came too close to securing a clear course back to earth. He is reminded of his solemn duty: no mercy to those who wish to escape from this realm. 

And so he plots. Studies. Trains.

Committed to redouble his efforts to protect the Underworld.

The Cerberus will return.

                                   Put this one on your calender for next year:  May 1-3, 2026

Cerberus 3 Day Expedition Stage Race - Day 2

After a solid 5 1/2 hours of sleep, Lisa and I were ready for redemption. Morning temps were perfect at 50 degrees, with highs in the low to mid 70's. 

First off was the trek prologue at camp.  We crushed it and were first back to our bikes.  We headed out with the leading mixed teams just behind us. The pedal up Big Mack's was the biggest climb of the day ... on bikes. Surprisingly, after that 1 mile prologue sprint, my legs were opened up and it felt like we were flying up that climb.  It also helped that we had some some heavy hitters (Britt Mason and her team, the dynamic duo of Jesse Spangler and Andrea Larson, and  THE Mari Chandler, and her mixed team) hot on our heels.  The 5 CP's on the bike were relatively easy, especially with several teams on the look out for them.

We rode to the Allisonia boat ramp, where we had to disassemble our bikes and put them in the canoe for the 10 mile paddle on the New River down to the TA at Lowman Ferry Road. Having practiced this at Lisa's house last month, we were like an F1 pit crew and were the first team in the river.  Our lead did not last long as the mixed teams were just stronger and more skillful paddlers.  But we had not seen CheckPoint Zero and they were the team we needed to beat.  

There were 3 CP's on the paddle.  The first one I nabbed, but the remaining 2 were kinda tricky as they were on super steep technical terrain and very close to private property.  We made the decision to let Lisa out at CP 5-2 and then I would paddle around the point and pick her up at the re-entrant where she would come down through after nabbing CP 5-2 and CP 5-3.  She took the map, but gave me a Day 1 map with the same area.  However, I did not realize that the map I had did NOT have the paddle points on them.  Frack!  I knew the general area of the last paddle CP, but there were 2 re-entrants.  I picked the first one.  After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I started yelling her name.  Two other teams passed on by.  I asked if they had seen her up river (in case I paddled too far); they had not.  But then they made it to the correct re-entrant, where Lisa was waiting for me.  I finally heard her cry out my name.  It was as if I heard an angel calling my name.  I paddled over to the second re-entrant and there she be, a sight for sore eyes.  I was like a dog being reunited with its owner!

Reassembling the bikes.

Once we arrived at the TA we made quick work of getting our bikes off the canoe and back together.  We then headed out for the pedal back to Camp Powhatan. There was a mandatory crossing point at the top of Duncan Hill Lane.  We would be on private property for about 1 mile. There was also a CP here as well.  As we were traversing this area, we could hear a lot of screaming and cussing at the racers as they passed through.  I don't know if the property owner was just messing with us or truly pissed off, but we didn't want to hang around to find out.  But the map of the CP was at 1:35,000 and the trail was just a black smudge on the map.  We over ran the CP, going downhill, but corrected quickly, and found it.  It was much easier to see pedaling up a 15% grade as opposed to bombing down it.

After snagging the final bike CP back in the Boy Scout reservation, we pedaled on into the TA at the dining hall.  We dropped our bikes and headed out for the trekking rogaine. We had 5 hours to collect as many CP's as we could. But first we headed over to the string course and the climbing wall.  We did the string course first as the climbing wall was occupied.  This was a 1/2 mile obstacle course where you were zip-tied to a string and had to negotiate through trees, under fences, down steep embankments, through creeks, and over logs.  Being small was an advantage as some of the things we had to weave through and under were quite tight.

The climbing wall was pretty straight-forward.  We could belay each other or let the volunteer do it.  We opted to let the volunteer belay us as it was a better management of time. Then we headed off to get CP-R19.  Attacking from the south (as opposed from the North yesterday), Lisa had redemption #1 finding R20.  We continued North and R2 was quickly gotten, redemption #2.  Lisa was on fire!  

We headed up Shelby's Dream Trail, with its infinite number of switchbacks.  My glutes and quads were on fire and I had a hard time keeping up with Lisa.  She was a bloodhound and was hot on the scent of R12, R5, R8.  After R8, we began a bushwhack over to R3.  We overshot it; Lisa was having a hard time making heads or tails of North and South.  I believe her brain was low on glucose; she needed a ketone shot! We found it, working our way back up the spur.

Heading down Burke's Run, we nabbed R2 and R1. and then headed back to the dining hall to finish the day.  We finished with 23 minutes left on the clock.  Once again, we nabbed 26 CP's.  This put us first on the day.  We were now ahead of CheckPoint Zero with 52 points; they had 47.  We also managed to snag the QOM/KOM of the day (CP 4-1 to CP 4-2).

Day 2, although still hard, felt easier.  The shock and awe of yesterday was gone and my body had settled into that adventure racer rhythm.  I was very impressed with Lisa, as her body was firing on all cylinders.  I was doing all I could just to keep up.  It probably didn't help that I had raced a 2 day gravel race the weekend before and then played bikes in the week leading up to this event.  Hello, my name is Carey, and I am an addict 😂😂😂.

Today's numbers were once again 50 miles (10 paddle, 12 trek, 28 bike) and 5700 feet of gain (1/2 bike, 1/2 trek).

Dinner was chili.  I opted out and once again had chicken salad sandwiches and homemade cookies.  Although we were able to get to bed a bit earlier, the sleep just would not come and when it did, it was a toss and turny kinda night.  It felt like I was still on course.  But, it was still another 6 hours of rest.

All we had to do tomorrow was stay focused and finish.