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5:00 in the morning comes early, especially after not sleeping well the night before. Some of it was excitement about the race, but most of it was "mind over matter" ideas, dancing around in my head. Visions of some great strategy that would put us in the lead, or at least far away from last place.
That is the greatest thing about an adventure race. It is not just how fast can I move, but how tactfully I expend the energy required to get to the next check point. Of course most of that well devised ingenuity goes to the wind once the start horn shocks you into movement, your heart pounding as if you had just sprinted a hundred yards. We didn't sprint a hundred yards, but we did bike 20 miles, kayak 2.5 miles and trek over 8. But first we have to get up, at 5:00 in the morning...
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This whole journey started much earlier than 5:00 on the morning of April 17th; it started months earlier, when I sent a "wouldn't it be cool if..." email to my new adventure friends Chris and Uwe. We all love adventure and the challenge of rugged terrain, but most often it is strapped into the seats of our 4wd expedition vehicles, bouncing along the dusty tracks of the Southwest and Mexico.
I was spending too much time in the drivers seat, and not enough time on the seat of my mountain bike, or strapped into my Zamberlans, trudging up a mountain slope, sucking on the ever thinning air that inspires us to climb to that tallest thing around. I really missed doing that, and have always wanted to participate in an adventure race. It also turned out that my new friends did too!
as most things today are, Team Baja was born late one night in a tirade of E-mails. We had less than three months to prepare, and we all lived many hours from each other. Not necessarily the best situation for "team" training, but we improvised and sent weekly training updates, encouraging each other the best we could. The team dynamic is a powerful motivator, and got me out of bed more than a few times.
About four weeks before the race we met in the KOFA NWR for a team training session. Even getting to the camp after dark was a navigation challenge, but we all made it. We rode an 18 mile training loop, and did several hikes, including a short bouldering effort in a tight slot canyon.
This training session was very enlightening, but mostly how out of shape we were (Super Uwe excluded). Just short of a full desert rescue, we managed to get back to camp, and proceeded to soothed our aching bodies and weakened pride with a few cold beers! |
So, with 3 weeks left until race day, we stepped things up a bit, and actually felt confident that we would at least make it to the second event of the race.
We all met along the shores of Bartlett lake and made camp in the fading light of Friday. We ate mounds of Wheat Pasta, bread and drank water in the thought that "carbo loading" would do much for us the next day, but it did taste good.
Under the light of our headlamps we sorted our gear and distributed the required items among the team members. Chris and I thought that Uwe being the strongest of the three should carry all of the gear, and maybe even a few rocks thrown in to equalize the team. |
Doing our best to prepare for the next days activities
(photo by Srisuda)
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Our tent trailer makes for a good "hostel" |
We crashed early in the hopes of getting some sleep, but knowing we wouldn't. I laid back in our little trailer and closed my eyes, only to have my mind filed with images of how the next day would be. There was no way for me to know the order of events, the exact route, or the capabilities of the other competitors.
We were up early, and on our way to registration , moving equipment hundreds of yards from the vehicles to the transition area.
We did our best to arrange the mountain bikes, water packs, helmets, oars, PFD's, and much more. We did our best to anticipate the water and fuel requirements throughout the race and included a cooler with additional water and hammer gel at our transition spot. |
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The Race |
We were provided a small map for the initial challenge, which was to locate three additional maps; one for each of the remaining events. The race organizers advised us that we could go after the maps in any order we chose, but we had to stay within 50 meters of our teammates at all times (this was true for the entire race). We decided to go after the map located on a steep hillside near the transition area, that would allow us to obtain the map, and traverse along the ridge to the road that would easily take us to the location of the second map. As with most plans, you cannot fully anticipate the outcome. the map in the ravine wasn't there! An error in communication of the race staff meant that there was no map to find. We scoured the hillside, searching the area until a young woman ran towards us yelling "I am so sorry, I have the maps". So we ran down the hillside and grabbed the map from her, and moved on to the next map points.
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Team Baja in the center, waiting for the start |
Teams head off in three directions to find the first maps |
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The others were easy to find, but we expended valuable time and energy on the first map. We were surprised to find that we still left for the bike leg ahead of half of the participants.
The mountain bike course was nearly 20 miles, over rough, sandy jeep tracks. The course actually followed FR42, which I had driven in my Land Rover several months prior. The track was somewhat technical, and challenged the competitors with limited bike handling skills. We passed many riders that had fallen, and even watched one competitor fall twice on the same hill.
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 The teams mountain bikes at the ready |
Bike Profile
(courtesy of Uwe) |
| Just prior to the third bike check point (CP), we came across a group of ~20 riders that were totally lost, and had ridden up and down the wash looking for the correct route. Having driven this trail before, I decided to help them out, and point them in the correct direction, up a steep two track to the top of a ridge. |
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The second half of the bike leg proved to be quite a challenge, with steep, sandy climbs sapping our energy. The last few miles of the bike leg were on the road back to the start/finish, and we took advantage of the smoother surface and long downhill's to make up time.
We rolled into the transition area and set-up for our first special task. This special task involved one member of the team being blindfolded, while another member of the team directs the first to a series of buckets, each containing a rock. After a rock is collected from all five buckets, the team member is directed back to the start and the timer stops. I was the one that was blindfolded, and Chris was directing me. I moved quickly through the course with Chris' great commands, and we ended up with a great time!
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Strategy |
The first special task |
Moving out to the kayak leg |
2.6 miles to go! |
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The kayak portion of the race was the least enjoyable of the entire experience, as these kayaks were like little rubber ducks in a pool, they didn't track straight, and blew helplessly in circles with the slightest wind. The afternoon winds had really begun to churn, tossing our boats, and us around, making progress a real challenge. We even witnessed one of the other competitors capsize and their boat go flying across the bay. The other CP was at the opposite end of the bay, and we made the best progress that we could in the prevailing winds. We finally made it back the the transition area and prepared for the second special task, which required the team to move a carabineer from one side of a blocked wire to the other. The challenge was that the carabineer and wire was ~10' off of the ground.
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| After the special task, we were off on the trekking portion of the event, moving up the shoreline towards the first CP of this course, located at the northern end of Rattlesnake Cove. The fact that there was only one CP after that allowed for much better route selection and strategy. Chris had developed some knee irritation on the bike section, and started to really feel it on the trek. We had him rest and take some Advil, and after a few minutes he decided to continue, and we moved inland slightly to a formed trail. The trail was a somewhat longer route, but better for Chris (and actually proved to be better overall). By the second CP, Chris was doing much better, and we began to pick-up time, making a few good navigation choices, cutting valuable time off of our return trip. |
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WE MADE IT! |
The race proved to be a wonderful experience and a true adventure. When we crossed the finish line we were so happy to have just completed the event, but we found out that we had actually come in 3rd place for our group (all male division, 9 teams total). We received third place medals and also won a few things in the raffle.
It was good to get out of the drivers seat and do a little self propelled adventure...
Note: Due to the difficulty of finding the first map, the course director removed the times for the first event, changing our official standing from 3rd to 4th place.
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