Bonked Hard

Time to elaborate on the other item I recently crossed off my list:

#4. Do an adventure race - check!

Last Saturday I completed the Castlewood 8 Hour adventure race as a part of the super-fantastic Bo'z Up team. Uniformed and ready to go, we met before the crack of dawn to car pool and drop off our bikes at the designated spot and then headed to the starting point at Camp Wyman.

Roughly 6:45am at Camp Wyman, ready to go. Digging the fun/creepy facial hair my team members decided to sport for the occasion.

Luckily, Craig had already plotted our first three checkpoints whose coordinates were given to us at packet pick-up the night before, so we had a plan of attack when we started the running and trekking part. Unfortunately, we started our search for Checkpoint #3 in a different spot from where we thought we were on the map and lost a good 45 minutes in the process. But once we decided to re-orient ourselves using a main road, it didn't take us long to get our bearings and find the first three checkpoints before heading to our bikes at checkpoint #4.

Me punching our passport at what I think was checkpoint #7

From there, we proceeded on our mountain bikes to the next checkpoints throughout and surrounding Greensfelder Park. Lots of fun trails in the hills, and then some flat sections on the roads. We elected to do the "bonus" section to get another five checkpoints before getting to the canoes. (A good strategy move, as this automatically put us ahead of all the teams who elected to "opt out" of that extra section.)

It was a beautiful day for paddling on the Meramec River, which is what we did through another two checkpoints. Bikes in tow, we shored up and did our gear check (had to show we all had headlamps, emergency blankets, whistles and a couple of other items), then got back on the mountain bikes and headed back toward the starting point, punching more checkpoints along the way. Shortly after tackling a killer hill on Alt Road, we were back at Camp Wyman and got the coordinates for our remaining checkpoints, which Craig quickly plotted on the map using his UTM tool.

A quick refuel on water and food, and we were back on the trail on foot, trekking again through Greensfelder. After punching our passport at another few checkpoints, we decided to head back to make sure we were at the finish line on time. (Teams had to be in by 4:30pm or risk losing checkpoints for each minute late.) At roughly 3:45pm we finished our nine hour adventure, ready to sit and enjoy some pizza.

There was some debate that day about which is more difficult: riding two century rides (100 miles) on a road bike two days in a row (which the Bo'z Up team does each year at the MS150) or finishing the Castlewood 8 Hour adventure race. Being a veteran of both, I can say that my vote is solidly in the adventure race camp. I have never before been more thoroughly sore in my life than I was this past week! Even my hands were fatigued...presumably from gripping my mountain bike handles and canoe paddle so intensely for hours on end. :-)

In retrospect, there's good reason why I was so sore after this event. I can't say that I followed a rigorous training plan in preparation for this adventure. I had only gone trail running once before (years ago), and never with a stuffed hydration pack on my back. Saturday's ride was only my third time mountain biking, having just recently gotten the mountain bike that was given to me tuned up at Big Shark in October. And while I'd been in a canoe before, this was my first experience with a paddle in hand rather than a beer.

Reflecting on our journey throughout the day, it's likely that we trekked 7-8 miles, biked at least 25-30 miles and canoed over 3.5 miles. During the nine hours it took us, we barely stopped moving...only breaking for pit stops, pickle juice and to eat our packed sandwiches and power bars along the way. If a weak link were to be named, it would most definitely be me. I couldn't keep pace, particularly up the hills. But my team was awesome in waiting when needed (although there were times when I'm sure they didn't mind the break), and pushing me through.

Overall we ended up finishing 11th out of 18 in the 4-person coed division and 52nd out of 93 overall. Not bad for a first time group! The entire experience was awesome, and something I'd definitely do again...provided I could do it with such awesome teammates. Kyle, Craig, Brad - thanks for making #4 such a great experience!

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