On the south side of Pikes is an incredible collection of rocks called Cathedral Park. It's breathtaking. We couldn't stay and play, though, because we had to do our final big climb of the trip which would take us up to an exposed 11,400 feet and bad looking clouds were quickly approaching. | We beat the weather, barely, and began our rewarding descent. |
James and I embarked on a 2 day ride to circumnavigate Pikes Peak on Saturday morning, August 17th. We started from our house and would use the current segments of the official Ring the Peak trail system, and link them up as seamlessly as possible in-between the official segments. The route would take us counterclockwise around the mountain. The purpose of the trip was to have fun together doing something we'd wanted to do for a long time, explore some new areas around Pike's, and to take our new bikes on a christening event. The beautiful weather, meadows, and flowy single-track gave us both riders-high on day 2. We successfully biked (and enjoyed) the entire RTP trail and celebrated over some good BBQ. Ahhh....real food!
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Results: First in Division (2 person coed); 2nd Overall
Further Race Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/527000374008557/ Short Race Recap: I raced the Golden Goose with Julian Tonsmeire as my teammate on Sunday, June 9th. Julian was strong; I was not. I had done a full-course dry-run of the Big Mountain AR course the day prior to test the course. With the full Saturday of fatigue, lack of eating a solid meal that evening after my dry run, dehydration due to not taking care of myself Saturday, I was sensitive to the heat and puny for the entire training day on Sunday. The Golden Goose was a fun course, and Ryan did a great job of course design. The race started on foot in some steep, fun trails. Then we came back, jumped on the bikes and biked in Red Rocks, and East of that. Great trails. Julian made some great nav calls which saved some time and fatigue on the tail end of the race and we got to enjoy Dinosaur Ridge all the way back to the race finish. Things I learned: - I need to make sure to eat a lot of good food following a big day if I need to fully recover for the following day. If I haven't topped off the reserves the day prior, I start behind on calories and I can't get caught up. -I am sensitive to dehydration/heat if not taking care of myself as I would normally. WHAT A BLAST!!!! I'm addicted to expedition AR now!! Results:
Things done well:
Summary
Day 1 - Bike Trials....not the cool kind. The race started at a State Park with some really pretty trails. The field split in half; half the racers going one direction and half in the other. We started with a fun bushwhack/run, where I made 2 quick errors which slapped me around to make me realize....oh yeah! We're racing! Pay attention! We jumped on our bikes, enjoyed the fun single track. We got through the entire park with it's technical single track, and as we were pulling up to the easy checkpoint 11, Julian's tire popped and threw the wheel WAY out of true. From then on, he had a Dr. Seuss bike wheel. We didn't see anything that could have caused it. It seemed such a fluke! We quickly changed the tire, and charged forward to regain on those teams that passed us. Luckily, he was able to ride on it. We were on our way to Vedawau...a beautiful set of hills, mountains, and crags which housed our scramble and rappel. We parked our bikes, got into our climbing gear and scrambled up to the rappel, rappelled, and ran back. It was short, but I enjoyed both....back on the bikes! I felt like we were going kind of slow on the bikes, but I deferred to Julian on pace setting; we definitely needed to take care of his bike to ensure it would last the remaining days. We had a lot of miles that we would need to put on that Dr. Seuss wheel, and as long as we were making good forward progress without making it worse, and we got through the 1st day of technical riding, we knew we could keep his wheel alive for fire road and road riding the following days. We were doing well. At one CP a storm was coming. We had the option of going up on top of the plateau to obtain our CPs on the other side, or go around. We chose to hike to the first, hike down, and bike around to the other side to avoid the risk of the storm. But before our hike began, Julian accidentally dropped the e-punch.....somewhere......(the E-punch-- the only way the race is scored). We searched for 20 minutes. Julian was sweating bullets...I hadn't gotten nervous quite yet...I figured we'd swing it even if it's not with an E-punch and even if we had to finish "unranked" ... but.....finally we found it! Ahhhhhh..... During more biking, we realized Julian's sidewall was busted and the tube was herniating out of it. We wrapped duct tape around it to keep it all in. This worked well....well enough, anyway. Then, we got to the nutso, oober-rough downhill. Many miles of rough downhill grade with lots of loose rocks on our descent to Laramie. It was a bone rattler. My bike did well, but suddenly Julian's bike started wanting to buck him off. The chain kept getting stuck and we couldn't find the reason. Towards the end of the descent, we found it. Julian's spokes were breaking and getting caught in the cog wheel. Poor bike! We had to tape spokes to other spokes to prevent them from getting caught in the cog and chain. Now both wheels were out of true, and both were held together by duct tape! Julian was having a rough day. Bike issues are never fun, and this many in a day-- on a race!?! With 3 more days to go on that same bike!?! He was dealing REALLY well with all of it! But, it called for some real food. We made a stop at Subway in Laramie to help lift the spirits. Grabbed some food, mounted our lights, and prepared for the 40ish mile highway ride to Medicine Bow, where I would have my flat tire of the race. The highway ride was pretty, though. Gorgeous sunset on our left, cloud lightening to our right. If you have to ride on the highway, that was some nice scenery to do it by. Night 1 - Earn your sleep! We got to Medicine bow where the on-foot night orienteering course was. We dialed in our compasses, began pace counting with hopes to clear the course with some time to spare so that we could earn some night ZZ'ss off the clock (if you cleared the entire course before the dark zone was complete, you could earn time off the clock). Together, we did well, finding all the CPs and we earned some off-the-clock sleep! A whole 1 hour of sleep! Wahoo! Sleeping on a lumpy dirt slab next to some cow pies never felt so good! Day 2 - Bike, Run, Paddle, Run At sunrise, we were able to see the water we filled our water bottles with...ick! Those cow pies we slept next to were definitely contributors to our water supply! We re-filled at the next river in attempts to get water we would WANT to drink. It was better, but we still ended up with stomach issues despite the purification. No big. Now the run! Let's Run! Julian's bike may have been giving him troubles, but he is a beast on foot, and that requires no technology....just a good pair of socks & shoes. He hammered, and I just tried to keep up with him. We had the excitement of passing a few teams which helped cool the sun's heat bearing down on us. Then to the boats! Wahoo! Here there was some better water, so I refilled the waters and purified while Julian paddled. Then we'd both paddled, sang, drank, ate, sang, paddled. Repeat. We had a new goal: Get off of the lake before those big clouds turn to dangerous thunderheads. We made it. Night 2 - First dopiness We jumped into the Orienteering, doing well on our feet and passing a few more teams in the remaining bits of daylight. Then, darkness began to fall, and Julian and I started getting spacey. We thought we had an easy trek to the next trail intersection....but as in every time you think you have it easy and can let up, that's when you miss your cue and get off course. We floundered a bit, jumped to the opposite side of a trail when a rattlesnake began warning us to steer clear, eventually gave up on our point because we had spent too much time on it, and we were going to be cutting it close to get the remaining CPs that we had on our agenda. Julian was the MVP for the rest of the evening finding the remaining CPs that we had chosen to pursue. We eventually got back to the TA with an hour sleep to go, but because we had skipped a few points, this sleep would not be off-the-clock. Nevertheless, it was an investment we needed to make, because we needed our minds for the rest of the journey. Day 3 - Hot & Dry Day 3 started with biking some long, hot road miles, recessed by a short run to some points around a neat old dam, then biking further to a beautiful Morman Historical Place at Martin's Cove along the Oregon Trail. Here we had a unique challenge of toting a hand cart to the points, dropping the cart, running to our Orienteering points, grabbing our cart and returning back with it. This was a unique challenge and really brought home the daunting task the early LDS settlers had of having to travel from East to West without horses or wagons! Holy smokes! Then, we pace lined with awesome Nord Vrai out of the Cove through a storm, then made decent time to the next segment. Julian was having to sweet talk his bike to work at this point, and we were really worried about it blowing up at any moment, because of the nature of the malfunctions, towing wasn't an option, but we made it to Alcova and were doing well. Last Night - Push Hard and Clear the Course! We knew that if we hammered on this night O course, we could pull out a win....not to mention, feel really good about our race. We knew our biggest challenge to getting our goals would be keeping our minds on task. Our minds were more tired than our bodies at this point. I was the nav, and Julian was the motor. We drove hard, and worked hard to keep our minds engaged, making awesome time for the first several CPs. On the water CP, we nearly swam out to a booie thinking the flippers were provided by the race director....Julian was putting on the flippers and an angry camper started charging out of his tent at us....we were obviously not in the right spot! The CP was on the map in the wrong spot, but we found the correct location, and pursued the rest of the CPs. We had the option to forgo the last CP, knowing we had likely already secured the win. We could wrap up one CP short and get an hour of sleep, or push hard to get the final CP and return on time to leave for the next morning. Both of us felt clearing was in reach and both had the eagerness to meet the challenge. We did it, finding the CP 30 seconds before we knew we would have had to turn around whether victorious or not. We were victorious! We'd done it! We'd cleared the Day 3 course! Day 4 - And visions of sugar plums danced in their heads...or are those white horses chasing a jeep?!
I didn't know if what I was saying from one second to the next made sense or not! I'd ask myself in mid sentence, "Hmmm...is this the same subject I started talking about?" We both thought it best to pull off of the pace line. I just focused on riding in a straight line. But, it was a losing battle and Julian saw that. He had me pull over for a 10 minute nap in a gravel lot. I got enough shut-eye to get us to the boat put-in, but by then, I was having trouble again. I think having the knowledge that we had secured the win made it hard for my mind to ignore the desire for sleep. I feel like if I would have still been in "chase" mode, my mind might have held together better....but I don't know.....maybe not. We had pushed our minds harder than our bodies and they needed rest, whether I wanted to give it rest or not. The way the race was scored, and the way our points stood, we only needed to cross the finish line in order to win....we didn't need to make good time. So, Julian was gracious enough to let me sleep for 30 minutes. All the while, he visited with folks at the put-in and prepared the boat. Somewhat rested up, and fully knowing how dopey I must appear to everyone, I was ready and excited to go finish the race. I had been looking forward to the river paddle the most. I was trusting Julian to get me down the river, and we both knew I may end up falling asleep along the way. He seemed and felt totally awake and on top of it. We were good, and all we had to do was get down the river. So, I asked that he talk to me to help keep my head in the game while we paddle. It was some easy conversation that I had to work hard to keep my mind engaged on. I could tell that sometimes I'd be answering correctly; then other times, I'd come to and realize I had been talking about something random. Then....in my fog, it seemed Julian was starting to not make sense. Was that me not making sense of Julian's talking? Or was Julian truly not making sense? Uh-oh. I just asked him what he thought about that landscape, and in response, he asked me how many stand up paddle boards I owned? Oh no! I may be on a boat with 2 delusional paddlers! When we started to drift, he stopped mid-sentance and began giggling, I knew he was as bad as I was. I hit him with my paddle, "Wake up! You're as bad as me! We need to sing!" We had 3 hours of seeing cows resting in every docked fishing boat, yelling at the top of our lungs to wake ourselves up, splashing our faces, asking each other if they saw the same 2 beautiful white horses following that Jeep up the mountainside (they were really there!), zoning out and realizing we were drifting, singing the Seminole chant, and having simultaneous rambling conversations about nothing. We were beyond sleep deprived.......and it was HILARIOUS!!! Everything we said and saw cracked us up! We were in tears it was so funny....we just couldn't remember WHAT was so funny!! Finally, knowing the danger we were to ourselves, we were stoked when we actually saw the REAL take-out. Both of us having a hard time thinking about what needed to happen, our transition was slow, but we were soon in the water with the cool waves waking us up. We jumped out of the water and ran to the finish line and were super excited to finish. I have never been so spacey, but I was trying hard to capture the finish line moments.....the 2 most memorable finish line moments: #1 Husband!!!, #2 Barbecue Beef!! Today's Goal: Leave from home, bike almost 4,000 vertical feet via some excellent trails, drop the bikes, hike another 3,500 feet of elevation to summit Mt. Rosa -- the peak Zebulon Pike mistakingly thought was the tallest peak in the area. THEN...take a bearing and bushwack to find the cave that Pike and his men sought refuge in on their first exploration of the area. Starting from home, we biked some of the best single track in Colorado Springs in our approach. The bike alone was incredible and would normally by itself be considered a good day in the mountains. But....that's not enough if we're chasing Zebulon....
Once to the planned bike drop, we began the trek. James was pooped at this point, so I got to get a good workout by towing my hubby. The trek was slow, but we made progress to the summit of Mt. Rosa. We had a narrow window to summit because we saw the weather rolling in. Luckily, we had just enough time to enjoy a snack and get some pics from the top. Zebulon's Mt. Rosa Summit:Mt. Rosa Summit with my hubby...
On the way down, we discovered a beautiful new trail and followed it, running downhill back to our bikes. From there, it was a beautiful fast descent back home via some wonderfully exhilarating single track. Despite not finding the cave, it was a REALLY fun day....
Today I climbed Pike's Peak via the Crags route. I got my best time of 2 hours 11 minutes....next time I shoot for sub 2 hours [puke]. It's a steep climb. 4,393 feet of elevation in 6.8 miles! It got me thinking about Pike and his exploration of the area. As an adventure racer, I'm impressed by the guts and endurance that early explorers had in their travels. "When Pike first saw the peak that would later bear his name, he grossly underestimated its height and its distance, never having seen mountains the size of the Rockies. He told his men they should be able to walk to the peak, climb it, and return before dinner. Pike and his men struggled through snow and sub-zero temperatures before finally taking shelter in a cave for the night, without even having reached the base of the towering mountain. Pike later pronounced the peak impossible to scale." - History.com Then, I started thinking about Pike's Cave....hmm...I wonder if I can find it? And I look at my map and lo! It's on there! This is my next mission: Find the cave Pike and his crew hunkered down in. How cool it will be to trace this explorer's footsteps!
Results:
Lesson's Learned:
Things done well:
Race Details: The race started with the sound of bagpipes. I don't normally care for bagpipes, but they get even worse when you add the doppler effect running toward then away from them. Nevertheless, it added to the excitement of the starting line sprint for the boats. We were racing as True Grit, my first time racing with the 3 seasoned AR guys. We were the first in the boats, and led the caravan to the other side of the lake. Just prior to the end of the paddle, Tecnu passed us in a 3 person glass boat (they were racing 3 coed). We pulled ashore just behind them and pulled our shoes out of the mud to run. Jonathan, our navigator, made a great call and we took a route along the shoreline to the trail we needed. We were ahead of Tecnu again. The boys were hyped up and fast. I'm not a sprinter, and though not quite a sprint, it was definitely a speed I just don't have. Andy took my pack and helped me to keep up with the blistering pace. Just prior to the bike transition, Tecnu caught back up and passed us again. I transitioned quickly and helped my teammates with their transition, then we were off on the bikes to try to chase down Tecnu. My bike had been lost on the plane trip to California, so I was on a foreign steed. Thankfully, though the geometry was different, it was the right size with the right kind of pedals. The bike slowed me slightly, but truly, the boys were able to push at a pace that I simply didn't have so I was on tow and pushing hard to ease the burden on Andy. If you haven't realized it yet, Andy is a beast. Andy was setting a pace, even with me on tow, that the other two guys had to work really hard to maintain. I was in awe during these first legs of the race, and feeling bad I couldn't go as fast as them. We got to our first bike drop for a out and back hike down a bouldered creek bed. We knew we were going to be hiking in the creek but didn't know what to expect. So, just for safety, we went ahead and changed our biking shoes to running shoes. Because of this, we were able to scramble and boulder hop the car- and refrigerator-sized boulders much more quickly than the teams in front of us. We quickly caught up to the other teams, found the cave CPs and sped out of there back to our bikes. We biked up the rest of the climb with Tecnu close on our tail. Once we reached the summit, Tecnu had caught up and it was a neck-and-neck, hair-raising descent to see who had the most guts. Apparently we all have the same amount :) . Eventually, we got to another bike drop and hike CP, and we ran up the knoll and back down. Andy scrambled up the knoll to the CP punch faster than Tecnu, so we jumped on our bikes and got to bomb down some fantastic single-track, pushed hard on pavement and dirt roads back to the transition area (start/finish). Back at the transition, I could tell the heat had been taking it's toll and I wanted to do as much as I could to stay cool as this was my first day of heat for the year since Colorado had more recently been having 40 degree temperatures as highs. Thanks to Jonathan's preparedness, I dumped some ice water on my head and it did wonders to rejuvenate me. After reading coordinates to Jonathan for plotting, we were off on what promised to be an epic trek. We ran on a road for a while until we split off to go up a reentrant/creek to the "Waterfall." After hearing it referred to as the waterfall, I was looking forward to a cooling douse....sadly, there was no water. We ascended up the ~35 ft cliff and then progressed up the mountain to summit and go down the other side. At the bottom was the zipline! Woohoo! I was excited to hear it was a true blue zipline and not a tyrolean traverse under the guise of zipline. It was a great zipline and I was grateful to not have to run around the inlet we were flying over. Following the zipline, I was finally cooled off, and feeling much better. We ran to the next few CPs flawlessly thanks to Jonathan's great navigation. Then, we got to the CP which would reveal some coordinates for some "bonus" CPs. On the tag, it listed the coordinates. But it also said one word, "HELL." Was the race director trying to tell us something? We were off to the next trek CPs after a brief stop to get some water at the kayaks. Then, we headed up a long canyon with high temperatures. Each of us ran out of water and the sun beat down. I was still feeling good through this section, but the heat was sapping the rest of the team and their spirits. We realized that we could take our time during this section as we hadn't seen anyone for hours and were obviously far ahead of the other teams. We conserved energy to reduce the effects of the heat and hiked down back to the boats. On the way out, we saw Tecnu debating whether they were going to withdraw or not. We encouraged them to stay in, but the heat had taken it's toll on the team and they decided to withdraw. We jumped in our boats and knew we could go pretty easily from here to the finish of the race. We picked up the final water CPs and had a fun, leisurely kayak all the way back to the finish. I had issues going this pace during the race, as my tendency is to always go as hard as I can until the finish line....but admittedly, it was really fun and nice to be able to take in more of the scenery and chat about ocean paddling with my kayak-mate. We coasted to the finish, docked our boats, and Roger said, "Let's run to the finish line triumphantly!" Andy said, "Nope. Let's build suspense" :) So we walked slowly through the finish line together. Pics I haven't bought: - http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508048547&k=jDHPNc8 -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508300048&k=PxzL2nt -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508323569&k=6xv9bNh -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508323618&k=NLsLCQC -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508344337&k=hPW5K43 -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508731311&k=gC5jBdJ -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508731418&k=GSZ3Fbv -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508736036&k=zSMthks -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2509115671&k=GxkXzDB -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508735960&k=vqbt5Wm -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508740322&k=XxstWH2 -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508740117&k=vGtpdVg -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508805415&k=mMqbNWC -http://www.kaoriphoto.com/Archive/Events/All-Out-Events-Dawn-2-Dusk/29386010_BLVZsv#!i=2508806072&k=nXTdhkZ - Last weekend, I got to workout with my team mate Julian and some cool new folks Katie, Jim & Sara in the Boulder area.
This weekend's Fox Run O course was fun. I did the Red course and got first place female, 9th Overall. I didn't do my best. Do to some "life stuff" that had been going on, I was somewhat distracted; and for some reason, my compass was all over the place and VERY slow to settle. Do compasses lose their magnetization? If so, I think mine is in the process. Oh well. I still did okay with no major hiccups I think I'm getting better and faster, and the mistakes I do make are getting more and more minor.....just as they should.
Results: http://www.rmoc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=86&Itemid=111&PassedEventID=2013-FoxRun Results: 7:38 total race time. 1st place female 11th overall Not my smartest race, but a good physical performance. Picture on Left: James standing in for me at the awards ceremony. I was running an errand. Lessons Learned
Things Done Right
Race DetailsMoab typically attracts good racers from the West since it's an early season race and everyone is chomping at the bit by the end of winter. I had planned for Moab to be my season opener; a race to see where my fitness was at relative to some top athletes. The race started on bike. It was a steady climb to the top and I played it smart, tagging on the draft of the lead peloton. The field eventually spread out, but I maintained a solid pace and met some fun pace-line amigos willing to trade lead and draft for part of the way. The rappel was in Onion Creek along a creek-side bluff. I scrambled up the rock on my way to the rappel. At the top the wind stole my map that I had tucked in my britches and tossed it to the bottom of the canyon. I debated leaving it down there until after the rappel, but feared an updraft may come and hide it elsewhere. So, I scrambled back down, got it and scrambled back up. I stashed it in my backpack to prevent it from happening again. This would bite me later. I should have bought a map case with a neck strap before this race, and it would have saved me time and mistakes. Bike/Rappel Split: 4 hours 53 minutes. The total biking mileage was 47.4 miles with 5,589 feet of climbing. Next, the running leg. My transition was fast. Sadly, too fast. I forgot to take off my armor, helmet and harness, and ran about 50 feet before I realized. It got a good laugh from me and all the spectators. I quickly ran back, shed the extras but forgot my map out of my backpack. I was gaining on 2 racers in front of me. I could see them in the distance, and it inspired me to keep it up. I realized I had forgotten my map, but it was too far to turn around. I decided it was okay. I had the course pretty well memorized and remembered that I needed to take the large reentrant off of the trail to gain access to the correct canyon. And, I determined that I'd use context clues like racer foot prints to ensure I chose the right way. But, when I got to that area, there were hikers and their tracks everywhere....a kink in my plan. I tried to follow the trail to the reentrant I knew, but in my hurry, lost the trail. I couldn't find a way down into that reentrant without risking limbs. So, I circled around and waited for the team I saw coming to the previous CP. They thankfully let me tag along and we ran to the CP did a short, but fun canyoneering section and ran back to the TA. Run/Canyoneering Split: 1 hour 29 minutes Running Mileage: About 7 miles with ~700 feet of elevation gain I transitioned quickly; this time remembering everything. I chose not to wear my spray skirt because it is incredibly difficult to don and it was only class 2 rapids. I was confident I could keep class 2 splash out well enough. So I took off. I passed several racers and enjoyed being on water. I was gaining on the 10th place person toward the end of the paddle and decided I'd make my move and pass him. So, I turned up the heat and made a B line. However, the wind had picked up so fiercely, I could hardly paddle! I looked over at the guy I was trying to pass and he was having the same difficulty I was with water coming off of his paddles horizontally! I'd never paddled in this kind of wind! I was in the middle of the river and he was on the edge. Why was he on the edge? Vhoooosh! The wind dunked me. I threw a brace, but I scooped water into my cockpit and didn't make it upright. I was underwater. I rolled up, but with all the water in, I wasn't able to nail the roll. "Okay," I said, "I'll get it this time, I've rolled a swamped boat before." But my hips and thighs slipped out and so I was swimming. The water was cooooold! I was swimming the boat to the bank when I heard someone say, "Are you okay?!" I looked up to see a guy who had stripped down to his skivvies and started swimming in to help me. They had been driving by and saw me flip. There was no stopping them from helping me! He and his buddy helped me wrestle the beached whale out of the water and dump it. It was so heavy I honestly don't know if I could have done it without their help. The ground was pure mush and we were sinking in to our knees. Once the boat was empty, I jumped back in and asked them if I could buy them some drinks or food for their unselfish help. They said they were late to go climbing so had to move on. I decided maybe they must have been race-angels :) I crossed the finish line a few minutes later. Kayak Split with Swim: 1 hour and 16 seconds. I did my first Orienteering meet of the year on Saturday. Gorgeous day and I got to precede the meet by a good hard paddle workout. What a gorgeous weekend!
I learn new things at each meet. It's pretty neat how such a seemingly easy concept (find the checkpoints), can have such a complex series of decisions- right or wrong. I second guess myself a lot on which route will be the fastest, but I have to remind myself to make the call and make it work. Overall, I did pretty well. No hiccups, just some things I could fine tune and get faster at, so I'm pretty happy with the results. I got first place female and 9th overall on the Red Course. Posted Results I always pause at water crossings. For some reason I always say, would they really send me through this? Or am I missing something? Chelsea! Of course they'll send you through this! These Orienteers send you EVERYWHERE!!! Somehow in all the running around, through and under rubbish, I got some "porcupine eggs" tangled up in my hair. I didn't even find out until about an hour after the meet. They were stuck!! It took me about 15 minutes to get them all out! |
AuthorChelsea loves to explore the mountains and trails and wants to share her discoveries with you. Archives
May 2015
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