Sleep deprivation, altitude, fresh air, competitive and adventurous spirit, along with great teammates and the high is better then any drug.  This was the Gold Rush Mother load, 2011.

The 2011 race was the only World Adventure Racing Championship in the United States and only 1 of 2 in North America.  The course was designed and put on by Adrian Craine and Mark Richardson along with a long list of out standing volunteers.  It was a trans-Sierra-Nevada crossing, starting in the Historic town of Bridgeport and ending in the equally Historic town of Columbia on the Western slopes near Sonora.  In between were 10,000 foot peaks, bush whacks, rocky climbs plus a great ropes course.

 Angle Garbarino and I had talked about doing this race last year but didn’t solidify a team till early this year.  And what a strong team.  First, Angel is super strong, has a great attitude and is a generally wonderful person.  We were very luck to pick up JD Eskelson.  He has had some great results in major races, has raced for years and this year did both Raid the North, Expedition Idaho and climbed Mount Witney the day before showing up to the race.  In other words, he’s a monster.  Our 3rd male was Garrett Bean, attacking his first expedition length race.  Strong on both the bike and run, he had a natural knack for the type of endurance that this type of event requires.

 We ran under the team name of the Breakouts.  Both Angel and Garrett are in their mid 20’s, and JD is in his late 40’s.  At 51, I was certainly the old man in the group and clearly the weakest link.  By many standards that made this a pretty good team.  However, going in, I was very concerned about my bothersome IT band and an achy knee.  My bike riding had been concerning and the heat often gives me trouble.  But I never drop out and get stronger as the race goes on.  At least that’s what I told everybody so they wouldn’t be too concerned with a slow start.

 We got through check in with out event and participated in the somewhat lame prolong.  We had to have one team mate run around a field, one ride a bike then all 3 had to carry a team mate the full circumference.  I was a bit fun, but totally established that we were at elevation by driving up the heart rate from normal to red line instantly.

 We got the maps and plotted the course.  There would be only 4 transition areas.  The lay out was as follows: A 1 mile run through Bridgeport, then a short 12 mile ride to Twin Lakes to take a 1K swim.  Then we would start on a 25 mile trek topping over a 10,000 foot peak.  This would lead to a 70 mile ride up and over the ridge of the Sierra Nevada’s.  After the bike would be a longer trek leading to a ropes course.  Up to this point all of the CP’s were mandatory.  After the ropes there would be numerous optional check point.  After completing the long trek (distance depending on the number of options the team got but would be between 28 and 60 miles) we had a long bike (40 to 100 miles) down to the Stanislaus River.  Once on the river there was a paddle with options and finish with a short bike ride to Columbia.  This type of course has long legs, requires good planning, sleeping on the trail and heavy packs.

 The race started at 8 am with a quick run around town to spread things a bit.  The run took us through a muddy boggy creek.  Then we jumped on the bikes and raced at over 20 mph to Twin Lakes.  The front of the group was bunched in a peloton with our team just a few minutes back.  We were riding so fast, I was just on the edge of redlining right away.  The 12 miles along with our transition into wetsuits took us under an hour and the swim including peeling off the wet suits took 47 minutes.  We started out on the trek as the day began to warm up.

 This is where the race really started - a 24+ mile trek.  First we had to climb several hundred feet up to a ridge to the first CP.  We moved steadily to the ridge then started running.  This is where I needed to step up my game.  I’m not a big fan of running anymore but to keep up with Garrett and JD, that was what I needed to do.  We ran to CP 3 then did a 180 and started working our way down the ridge toward CP 4.  We had a bit of trouble finding 4 just because we had not gone as far as we throughout we had (typical AR mistake).  The team just kept running and I did my best to keep up.  My real problem was that running aggravates my IT band and once that goes I’m in a world of hurt.  I would go as long as I could till I could feel the knee (where the pain manifests) start to come, then would back off to a fast trek till it would subside.  Once it loosened a bit, I could run again.  This was how it went for hours.

The first several miles were relatively flat with rolling hills.  We kept pushing and I struggled to keep up as the day got hotter.  Finally we turned to start up the trail towards the first major peak.  I was probably the only one who was glad to be climbing so I wouldn’t have to run. Up till now we had been moving north.  We turned west heading for Rickey Peak.  JD had me on tow and Garrett had Angel on tow.  We just kept grinding up.  By mid afternoon we reached the summit and learned that we were in 11th.  I think we were surprised that we were that far back given how hard we had pushed. 

 The downhill off of the peak almost broke me.  Rough downhill just kills my IT band and this was no exception.  I hobbled down and fortunately the grade was reduced for the remained of the decent.  That plus some strong vitamin I.  In any event we keep pushing, cutting cross county.  We caught Racing with Giants and another team and we just pushed down the hill heading to Highway 395.  Just before we got to the Highway we caught up to Perdidos.  We crossed the road, did the quick climb to CP 5 and the short jog to ACP1.  We got to our crew just as the sun was setting.  The trek took us about 9 hours and 34 mins.

 We had the greatest crew - Club 111.  Nikki and Scott were completely into helping us with great food, encouragement and support.  We ate better then any other team out there and everything was as ready as it could be.  At the after race party they won the best crew award - well deserved.

 Just as we arrived at the ACP (Assisted Check Point) team TMT was just leaving.  Perdidos had a quick transition and left about a 1/2 hour before us. Starting this 70 mile bike ride just after dark and after a 54 min TA I think we though it would be a long but fairly uneventful ride.  I didn’t appreciate that right out of the gate we would start climbing.  I was put on tow right away and pretty much stayed that way all night.  We pushed hard and moved steady north over a series of pretty steep climbs towards Little Antelope Valley.  Then we crossed 395 again and began back south ascending up Mill Canyon.  For a long way this was a good dirt road with a steady upward pitch.  I was successfully being towed along.  At one point JD took my pack while Garret towed me.  I was happy for the help but distressed that I was being such an anchor.  At some point along the way we hit an intersection and choose the road that headed more directly up the hill.  There were several sets of bike tracks so we felt good about this.    This road was not on the map but that is not unusual for these kinds of maps.  After climbing for a while the road ended and we found both Perdidos and TMT poundering where to go.  In the end we all wound up bike whacking in different directions.  We tried to contour along for a while until it became clear that that would take forever.  So we dropped down till we finally found the trail - a mostly ridable single track.  We followed that along, riding and pushing as necessary until we came out on to a double track.  We followed that double track for a while.  Just as it ended we heard voices.  We were sure that we were at the CP.  We started up what appeared to be a trail when we ran into team TMT coming down with a second team.  They said that they had been bush whacking around there and it didn’t go any where.  Even though we knew that the CP was above us we followed them back down to where we first got on the double track - down about 200 feet.

It was around 3 am at this point and it was clear that no one, including us knew where to go.  So we decided to lie down and sleep for an hour till sun rise.  We heard the other teams moving around for a little bit then I fell asleep.  At sun rise we woke and now we could triangulate off the surrounding mountains.  Now we were pretty sure where we were and headed back up the double track.  This time we found the small trail going off diagonally.  We pushed the bikes up the trail and it opened up  to a road with several port-a-potties.  Looking at the map, CP 8 was on a road and the clue was next to a port-a-pottie.   We knew the ones at the intersection were not right.  According to the map it would be about 500 meters from the intersection.  Close to that distance was another set of toilets.  Long story short, we were pretty certain that this was the right place even though the flag wasn’t there.  2 of the toilets had been knocked over so we figured the flag had been taken.  We searched around and then decided that we were right, took a picture and off we went.  After the race, I looked at the satellite and realized that we were on the opposite end of the meadow and that CP was not on a road at all.  We were faked out by the road on the map rather then relying on the more permanent features.

In any event, we continued on.  There was a ton more of climbing.  Up and over several 9200 foot passes.  It was quite unexpected as we hadn’t really gone over the maps that carefully and kind of expected that after CP 8 it was going to be mostly down hill.  It took us several hours of climbing up and over the numerous ridges before we finally hit Highway 108.  Another climb up to Sonora Pass then a bomber down hill for about 14 miles to the Danelle Resort to the 2nd ACP.

 We hit the ACP late morning.  Our crew was ready with good food and cold drinks.  We got our selves ready as fast as we could, got some foot care, packed up and took off.  It was after noon when we hit the trail, loaded down with climbing gear.

 The first part of the trek was hot and I was struggling with the heat.  We caught Racing with Giants within the first hour and trekked with them for a while.  We had to cross a couple of streams.  At one point they stopped and we continued on.  Shortly after that we caught up to team Mojo.  We were all heading for Eagle Peak a 10000 foot climb.  We had been warned not to go up the east side as it was all cliffs.  Again the map showed a trail that went around the south side of the mountain.  This trail wasn’t there.  We followed a trail as far as we could then went cross country toward the mountain.  JD found a saddle that we could get up and it took us very close to the peak.  We saved a great deal of time with this move.  We got to the summit around 6 pm and made good time to the next CP - 10. getting there before dark.  We were of good spirits and making good time at this point.  The next CP was the ropes.  We took a shortcut , cutting cross country as we headed towards the ropes course.  At this point we had to make a decision as to whether we sleep before or after the ropes course.  I urged that we sleep before so that we would be fresh for the climb and that after the climb we would be too pumped up.  Everyone agreed and about 20 minutes from the climb site we lay down.  We over slept by about 20 minutes but we were quickly up and heading to the cliffs.

When we got to the ropes we were told that 3 teams were currently on the course. The ropes course was both hard, scary and epic.  We started with a short low angle repel then continued down to the first jumar - about 100 feet of fairly technical ascending.   Then over to the first large repel - about 600 feet.  With it being pitch black I couldn’t see anything outside my head lamp - which wasn’t much.  It was rapping into the abyss.

After the first long repel we had to scrabble around the foot of the cliffs and find the red rope to jumar up.  This was a single rope for everyone.  At one point there were 7 of us on the rope at the same time.  The second jumar was about 500 feet (maybe more) of generally low angle climbing with several ledges that we had to negotiate.  It was hard work and slow going but we got to the top.  Then we had another 600 foot repel into the blackness with a nice overhang.  The second repel was much easier then the first as the rope fed much easier.  After the repel we had to scrabble back around the cliff then climb up to the CP.  The climb was a bit dicy and required some serious scrabbling.  At one point we needed to use the 30 feet of rope we were required to carry to get Angel passed a tricky ledge.  The whole ropes course took us 4 hours and 15 minutes and we finished just as the sun was coming up.

We made really good time down the mountain heading to Pinecrest Lake.  We were followed by a camera man and eventually outran him.  Once we got to CP 13 we were free to start hitting the optionals.  We decide that we would get 13A at the foot bridge.  Once we hit that, after some long discussion we decided that we would be more efficient getting optionals on the bike so headed straight to Strawberry and the 3rd ACP.

 When we got to Strawberry we were pleasantly surprised by several things.  Only 4 teams were ahead of us and all of the teams had only gotten 13A and no other optionals.  We also surprised our crew by coming in so early in the morning.  They weren’t completely ready but got food and gear ready in no time.  While we were prepping and going over the maps for the next leg Perdido came in.  It was clear they were disappointed to see us already in the TA and getting ready to leave..

 With over 24 hours left in the race we wanted to try to clear the bike course.  The ride started with a quick peddle to CP 15 which was the start of a cool single track section which would lead to the flume trail.  I have ridden this section before so took the lead.  I was feeling better then I had the entire race and rode the section with some urgency.  We got some good video.  Then on to the flume with the numerous sections of walking over the flume itself, which Angel didn’t like very much.  This took us to CP 16 which was at a PG&E substation. From there we went to CP 16E - an out and back climb up to a communications site.  We came back down and then dropped down almost all the way to Beardsley Lake. Picked up CP 16F and started the ride back up.  About 1/2 way up it began to rain.  Then it rained hard with thunder and lighting.  By the time we got back to the PG&E station it was coming down pretty hard.  We sought shelter in their  “house”, and put on some rain gear.  About this time TMT came by.  They were soaked and didn’t look too happy.

 As the rain let up we headed to CP16D finding that without too much trouble.  Then on to CP 16G which was on a small peak.  We got there just as it was getting dark.  We were moving well, I was ridding strong and we were very encouraged with the time we were making.  We headed down the hill heading to CP 16B, which was on the rail road grade.  According to the map, there was a trail that would get us across the South Fork of the Stanslaus River.  We didn’t find that.  We wound up going across some locals land, and then wading the bikes across the stream.  We had taken our shoes off and the crossing was very painful on our extremely tender feet.  We were told that on the other side was an old trail.  Where we came out it wasn’t much of a trail and I was pretty concerned but within 50 meters it opened up and we were on our way.  A couple of quick misdirection’s and finally we were on the grade and riding.  I had expected it to climb more but it was just a steady low angle grade.  It seemed to go on for ever and we were really getting tired.  We road on and on and finally found the CP in a washout.  We took a 20 minute nap and then back on the bikes to grab the last optional CP 16A.  (CP 16C had been removed by the race management.)

 We were going to attack CP 16A from above and bushwhack down to it.  We got to the right place and spent and hour looking for it in the dark.  Finally, discouraged we had to move on.  Long story short, the CP was misplaced (The race management had marked it in two different locations on the master maps.) As a result most of the teams didn’t find it.  You would only find it if you rode the length of the rail road grade.

 From the CP 16A location it was a long ride to CP 17 through a maze of old dirt roads.  I wasn’t navigating so I’m not really sure how we got there but we wound up in a location called Star Ridge and Jupiter.  According to the map you could get through but it was now all private property and closed off.  We were with another team at this point and we got re-routed  through Italian Bar which required another big climb.  I remember I had to really work hard to stay up with the group or I would have been left behind.  We continued on for a while till it became necessary to stop and sleep again.  JD especially was asleep at the wheel but we were all fighting sleep monsters.  I was very concerned at this point that we would not make the 2 pm final cut off but we had to stop or someone would have gotten hurt. 

 We over slept a bit but around 5 am we were back on the bikes and moving forward.  One last long climb out of Rose Creek and we got to CP 17 just as the sun was coming up.  There were Pepsi’s and pizza.  This really lifted our spirits and the caffeine really helped.  From CP 17 there was still some climbing to do, especially out of Knight Creek but we rode and pushed and just keep moving.  Finally we were at the last high point and had a long, windy ride down to the Stanislaus River.  Angel’s and JD’s brakes were pretty shot so we had to take it easy but by 7:30 - 8 am or so we were in our TA and getting ready for the last push.  At this point I was certain that we would make the cut off.  The only question was whether we could get an optional on the paddle.  After looking at the maps we figured it would take an additional 2 hours to get a single optional and that would be cutting it too close so we opted to go directly to CP 19 then the finish.  We had a great plate of pasta for breakfast then jumped in the boats.  The paddle was uneventful.  We passed one team and at the take out was TMT and DART.  We carried our boats up the ramp, jumped on the bikes and started the short, but up hill ride to Columbia.  The ride (about 5 miles) took us about 40 or so minutes.  We dropped the bike, had to do a run around the town and crossed the finish line at 11:40am.  We had cleared the bike , got the same amount of optionals on the trek and the lead teams.  Only three (3) other teams cleared the bike course and got optionals on the kayak.  We finished ahead of Pordido on time.

Now the politics began.  If we got credit for CP 8 we were in 4th.  If not, we had missed a mandatory and would be moved back to 10th.  Not withstanding my best arguments we were not given credit for CP 8, but were for CP 16A.  So officially we were 10th.  I was very disappointed in that but over time came to realize that we did miss the CP - apparently everyone else found it.  The important thing was that we put in a great effort, had a great time and really worked well as a team.

 I have never been pushed so hard and had so much fun in the process.  Every race has it’s memories but this is certainly one of my favorites.

Raid the North Extreme held in the Western Kootenay Mountains promised to be one of the best and most difficult expedition races of the year.  As a World Championship qualifier, there was a very good field.  As the course was disclosed, it was clear that there were going to be two large treks filled with huge and slow bushwhacks as well as long bike sections with steep hike a bike sections.

 This year I was fortunate  to be racing with the Dancing Panda’s.  We were a unique team in that we were far older then any other team competing with a combined age of 197 years.  We also had lots of  expedition experience under our belt - experience that would provide very useful over the six day race.

 The team was made up of Masha Glanville, our team leader and captain; Thor Egerton - from Australia - our navigator, Peter Spagnoli - from Long Island NY - our mule for carrying gear and towing me up the hill; and myself.

 From our prospective, we wanted to make sure that we got all four of us across the finish line.  Traditionally if you finish with your full team you are ranked.  You have to finish to in order to place.

 We all arrived in Nelson, Canada with little trouble and began the gear checks, and bike checks and general check in process.  Then we got the maps and were given 24 hours to plot and  determine our routes.

 From Nelson we were taken north to Kelso to spend the night.   Then in the morning it was off to Creek Meadow, just East of  Goat Range  Provincial Park.  The race started with a wicked 5000 foot climb on the mountain bike in 24 kilometers.  For me, in many ways this was the toughest part of the race.  It was warm and I wasn’t feeling well.  While my teammates were grinding along I was really struggling.    There were several sections that were too long and steep to ride (at least for me) so early in the race I was pushing a bike up a hill.  This would be come a very common theme.

 Peter recognized my suffering and put me on tow.  This made a huge difference and I’m sure we save 30 minutes or more just with Peter helping me along.  I remember thinking at the time that this was taking for ever, but in fact we hit the bike drop at little over 3 1/2 hours after the start.  Of course this was just a warm up.  After dropping the bikes we started the first long trek.  I had anticipated 18  hours for this trek.  What I didn’t appreciate was just how slow it is to move through slide alder and other thick brush.

From the bike drop we climbed at bit more up the fire road and in to the snow,  in search of a switch back trail that dropped from 7000 down to the river at around 3500 feet.  During the bike ride Thor told us that she was starting to get a migraine.  For her it effects her eyesight for a few hours. While many teams bushwhacked down, we stuck to the trail as long as we could in the hopes that it would increase our speed.  Also, Thor was essentially blind in one eye so trying to bushwhack wasn’t really an option at this time.  We kept moving and Thor started felling better as we desended.

Once we got to the end of the trail we turned south east and bushwhacked to the clearing that had a goat trial running along the hill side.  This eventually led to a fire road and to the turn off  to cross the river and head up Stony Creek.  This would split and we needed to then follow South Cooper Creek.  We were initially faced with a significant creek crossing.  The water was cold and very swift.  Wading through it was not a good option.  So crossing on fallen trees became one of the skills of the day.

 For periods of time there was a trail. Then it would end at the creek.  We had to cross the creek multiple times, always in search of the trail or at least a clear enough area to move with any speed.  We made reasonably good progress, although we got cliffed out a few times and spent a hour going up and down the hill looking for a way through.  At around 3 am we did a 1/2 hour lay down and got moving at first light.   We spent the entire night moving up the South Cooper Creek .  After the morning we really began to gain elevation and finally emerged from the forest.  From there you could see the Col we were heading to, a couple 1000 feet above us.  We were surrounded by beautiful peaks and we could see a small glacier high on one of them. It was going to be steep up but was mostly on scree.  But before we got to the real climb we had several long sections of Slide Alder.  At this point I was all scratched up and found the climbing through and in the alder exhausting.  Draining and difficult and frustrating is what slide Alder is all about.  You think you will never get through it.  However, we did.  Once we got through it was a easy hike (but very steep) up to the CP in the middle of the saddle.  We were with 3 teams as we go to the CP - all of the teams converging during the climb up through the scree and snow.  We were officially 23rd but we were within an hour of 5 or 6 teams.

 One of my big concerns going in to this race was my knees.  My left knee had been sore for a couple of weeks and my right IT band was achy and tight.  Down hills typically on very hard on my IT band and I was concern that this would be come a problem.  The good news was that even though from time to time the knee and IT band spoke to me they held up and after a while completely quieted down.

 The trip down from CP2 to the town of Relallack was relatively uneventful.  We glissaded down the top part of the mountain then followed the trail till it disappeared in the snow.  We followed the creek along with several other teams still we hit the road.  The maps were 1:50,0000. with 100 foot contours.  This means that there was very little detail so we had to really make route decisions on the fly.  Finally at around 3:30 (27 hours) we reached the TA at Retallack.  We took an hour transition getting some hot food and getting prepared for the first long bike ride.  And there was a storm rolling in.

 From Retallack we began climbing.  Our next CP, CP 4 was a warming hut.  At first it was sprinkling, then the rain got harder.  We didn’t put on our rain gear right away in the hopes that the rain would stop.  So we got our inter layers wet.  By the time we got to the hut in was raining pretty hard.  From the hut the map didn’t have any roads or trails on it.  It was not clear how to get to the way point at Recon pass.  We took off and tried a service road/trail that climbed a ways but ended in a clear cut of trees.   It was pouring rain as we stood there trying to determine the best course. We headed back down the hill and went to the hut.  it was here that we made a good decision.  We were wet and cold so we took advantage of the warm, dry hut and took a nap.  During our nap team 30 came into the hut. they had tried to get over the pass but couldn’t find it.  With this discouraging news we took yet another nap, in the hopes that the rain would stop.  around 3 am we got up, put on our now semi dry clothing and headed out.  We hoped to be able to time it so we hit the pass near daylight so we could get a visual.  As it turned out, we got on the correct service road and simply followed it all the way over the pass.  The road was very steep, some times a 25% to 30% grade.  We got to the top and began the long ride down to the town of Coby.  Being wet, it was very cold coming down.  For me it was very frustrating in that I had good winter gloves and booties in my gear bag.  why I didn’t bring them, I don’t know. 

 We know that hanging out in the warming hut was a good idea because several of the teams that were right in front of us and pushed on wound up dropping out.  I would guess from hypothermia or other related issues.

 We sped down the numerous switchbacks down the mountain and went through Coby and then the ghost town of Shelton to start the climb up Idaho peak.  At Shelton we meet up with a couple of teams and rode together for a while.  We left some behind and we were dropped by others.  We rode as much as we could with pushing the bike from time to time.  We got above the snow line and had to push through snow banks on the road.  We made pretty good time just by moving steadily.  We hit the CP and continued up to the parking lot.  Finally we reached the top and the beginning of the Wakefield trail.  This was a very narrow and technical trail that was carved in to the mountain side  with very big drop offs if you went over.  I lead the way down often with one foot unclipped to avoid any big fall.  Periodically, I was able to ride sections freely only to run up on a fallen tree.  We had a very scary, but short, snow crossing.  Masha got a flat which required a quick fix.  We worked our way down the mountain finally dropping on to a good fire road that allowed for some quick riding all the way in to Silverton.  Silverson, which is on the lake, boasts that it is in the middle of nowhere.  We found a coffee shop and  got a quick sandwich and a couple cups of coffee.  At the coffee shop were a couple of racers who had dropped out and someone from the race with a lap top.

 We were in the middle of the third day and over all every one was felling pretty good.  We had gotten some sleep (except Thor who had trouble sleeping the first few nights) and no one had any serious injuries.

 We took a little less then an hour and then made our way to the TA.  We had a quick transition since we had already eaten and got on the water pretty quick.  Thor and Peter were in one canoe and Masha and I in another.  This first paddle was pretty uneventful although I had some trouble keeping the boat straight.   Whether it was the wing paddle or just my poor technique, I struggled keeping that boat in a clean line.  No withstanding my crazy Evan paddling style, we finished the paddle in a few hours at the end of the Slocan Lake in the town of Slocan.  The last bit was moving water and a quick turn into the landing.  The boat directly in front of us (team 30) dumped the canoe but we managed to keep the boat up right. 

 When we got to the TA it was full of people.  There had to have been at least 4 or 5 teams there at the same time. 

 Because of travel costs of shipping regular gear boxes, the Dancing Panda made the decision to go with gear bags.  Pete and I had big North Face bags and the ladies had other large bags.  In short, this was a nightmare.  First and foremost the bags were not water tight so when left out in the rain, the bags leaked and most everything got wet.  There is nothing more discouraging then to only have wet gear to put on.  On top of that the organization in a bag is poor when all of your gear is black.  In short this was a lessoned learned to never do that again.  This made the transition more stressful for me as it just seemed that I could never find what I was looking for.

 As it was still afternoon, we transitioned as quickly as we could and headed out on the longest trek, into Valhalla Park.  We were a few hours ahead of the cut off where they would not allow teams to go forward on the trek.  We were within a 1/2 hour of at least 4 teams.  This trek was going to be the crux of the race.  In to Valhalla Provincial Park.  We followed a trail to Beatrice Lake then bushwhack  a long way into the high alpine country and over several passes.  We knew that this could take us at least 48 hours so we packed accordingly.  We brought the tent, extra clothing and lots of food.  We even brought the jet boil and mountain house food.

 The trail was very pretty with tremendously  powerful water running.  The snow pack was 150% of normal so the water was high, cold and strong.

 Our initial goal was to get to Beatrice, about 25 kilometers and 3000 feet of climbing.  We moved off at a steady pace.  The trail was good and steep at times.  It was raining lightly.  As darkness fell, the trail became a bit harder to follow and with the tree fall our progress was slowed at touch.  I was doing the route finding and moved with purpose.  I was tired and looking forward to a sleep at Beatice.  Around 2 am we finally hit the campground.  To my surprise there were at least 5 teams in the campground. There was a fire burning.  We quickly set up the tent and laid down.  I got some sleep and woke before the sun came up.  I cooked a couple of bags of mountain house and started packing.  Finally, Thor got some sleep and we let her sleep an extra 1/2 hour.

 We packed up and got ready to go.  The other teams started leaving and we left about 1/2 hour behind the 4 or 5 teams.

 We were told that the South side of the lake was the prefer and better way.  So we went on the south side.  We headed in to the bush.  The slide alder is brutal.  We went up and down and slowly moved forward.  We would bull through the bush and run into a series of cliffs.  Nothing showed up on the map.

 After about 3 hours we figured that we had travelled maybe 1 1/2 kilometers.  We stopped and talked about our concern that we wouldn’t be able to get through this trek and do anything else.  In other words, we were on day 4 and knew that if this trek took  60 or more hours, we would not have time to do any other parts of the course and certainly would not get to the finish line.  We had heard that it took the top teams over 20 hours to the Ice Lodge and well over 30 hours to complete the trek.  It was not unreasonable for us to expect it to take twice as long.

 We pulled out the radio and called the race director.  Amazingly enough we actually got him on the radio.  We explained that our concern was we would not have time to finished the race and wanted to know if we would stay ranked if we turned around and went back to the TA in Slocan.  He told us that we would just be on the modified short course and would remain ranked.

 After some discussion we all agreed that going back to the TA was the right choice if we wanted to complete the rest of the course.  Knowing what I know now, I still believe that it was the right decision.  Two of the teams that left Beatrice Lake that morning took 69 hours to complete the trek and we not allowed to do any other part of course.

 We bushwhacked for another 3 hours till we got back to the campground.  Then we proceeded on the long trek back to the TA.  Round trip the whole thing took us about 26 hours.  We got to the TA right at dusk.  We talked to MA and asked her if we had any deadline to get out of the TA.  She said that in order to stay ranked we had to leave by midnight.  And that we would have to bike to the TA at Upper Little Slocan Lake about 20 k away.  We (except Thor) got an hour of sleep, drying stuff as best we could in the heated room and got ourselves ready to go at midnight.  From the TA to Little Slocan was a gradual climb up the road.  We got to the TA and Thor really needed to get some more sleep.  So we took another lay down and all slept another hour.

 When we got up it was still dark.  We headed down the road about 8k to the zip line.  When we got there we had to wake up the rope crew.  It took about an hour to get us all across.  While it was a great photo op, the zip only took about 20 seconds to get across.

As we finished up team SOG caught up and started working across the line.

 We took off and started the climb up to CP 12.  Masha started having some mechanicals and I tried to fix the ghost shifting.  While I made it better, I didn’t get it completely fixed at that time. 

 After CP 12 we had missed the cut off the day before so we had to do the “short course” which would cut about 30k out of the paddle.  But the short course climbed from the CP at about 3000 feet to over 6000 feet at the top of the climb.  It was loose gravel and very steep.  We rode as much as we could but spent most of the time pushing the bike.  We kept expecting SOG to catch us and were surprised that we got over the top and they were not in sight.  It turns out that they took a road on the wrong side of the river and the road didn’t cross.  We had seen this on Goggle Earth and didn’t have that delay.

 After getting to the top we had a long and very fast down hill.  We would travel for several minutes and then make sure we gathered.  This was the type of down hill, where a crash would hurt.

 We got to the bottom at lake level and SOG finally caught up.  We had a bit of trouble finding the TA and tried getting directions for an unfriendly local who could not understand what we were doing on her property.  Finally we got to the TA and it was mid afternoon.  We made a hot meal and got our paddle stuff together. 

 The next leg was a 40K+ paddle with our bikes in the boats.  We had to paddle to a TA on the left side of the river, get our bike gear and then cross the river and start the bike ride.  Before we left we asked the race director if we need to take all of our bike gear.  He said no, they would have our gear bags at the next TA.  So we didn’t take bike shoes, helmets or lights.  And only took enough food for the paddle.  We started the paddle into a head wind.  I was concerned with the bikes in the boat.  If the boat flipped we would never be able to flip it back over in the water.  And the water was very cold.  After about an hour or so the wind began to pick up and we were starting to see white caps. This concerned me because once you get water in the canoe they become more and more unstable.  We found a place to pull over in the hopes of sleeping a bit and letting the wind die down.  We hated to burn day light but paddling into the wind  was going to be slow and take a lot of energy.  SOG who was just behind up also pulled up and took a lay down.  The plan worked perfectly.  We got some sleep and the wind had died down a great deal.  So off we went.  It was a long paddle in the moonless night.   The more tired that I got the harder it was to keep the canoe straight.  Masha was struggling to stay awake.  We pushed hard with the idea that would get to the TA, sleep till day break and have all day Friday, all night and into the morning to finish.

 Finally we pulled up to the boat ramp that was the TA.  When we got there, there were two other teams there - SOG and the French team.  The volunteer immediately let us know that our gear was not there and that they didn’t expected it till around 8:30 am.  It was 3:30 am at that point.  So we came ashore and  laid down near the fire.  At day break I got up and others awoke as the morning wore on.  There was no hurry as we weren’t going any where.  It never occurred to us to try to move forward without bike shoes, helmets and lights.  We later learned that DART went on  with boat shoes, not helmets and no backpack. 

 We waited for 13 hours for our gear.  The locals seemed less then pleased at our being camped out on their boat ramp and made their feelings well know.  At that point I had just about given up on being able to  finish.  We waited so long, I began to heal, which makes the muscles very sore.  The teams talked about finding a road route to try to get over to the seven summits. Ultimately we were told that we couldn’t ride the road and we had to stay on the original course.  Shortly after our gear showed other teams started paddling up.  They said that they had also been delayed about 8 hours waiting for gear.

 We quickly got in the boats and paddled across the river and to the little town of Renata.  Quickly through this town and started the long push up Bulldog mountain.  Again, the road was steep and loose and impossible to ride.  SOG and the French team rode by us and we didn’t expect to see them again.  We slogged up the mountain for a couple of thousand feet.  We topped out and then came down the sketchy decent.  The original course would have had us head south through a mile long train tunnel and to the TA to the last trek.  We had long missed that deadline.  We might have been able to make it if we had not been delayed so long, but with losing 1/2 a day we had missed the cutoff before we had even started.  The train grade was in great shape.  It was slightly down hill and a very nicely maintained road.  We sped down the grade to the last climb to CP19.  Masha had not been feeling well with stomach problems and her bike was still ghost shifting.   As we started the last 2000 foot climb we had to stop and work on Masha’s bike.  I finally got the bike working properly.  We continued moving steadily up the mountain.  We were caught and passed by CP tracker and WEDALI.  They looked like they were moving well and we couldn’t keep up with the pace.  By the time we got close to the TA, we were all falling asleep and really struggling.

 We pulled in to CP 19 just a few minutes before midnight and I thought we were all done.  .  We were told the cutoff to continue on the bike was 10:30pm.  However, we were told that they would provide a shuttle to move the many teams that were at CP19 to the trail head of the seven summits.  We were going to be on the 2nd shuttle so we had a little bit of time.  Masha laid down in the back of a truck and Thor found a place to sleep.  Pete and I had some Top Ramon and were getting ready to lay down when the shuttle pulled up and we had to load up.

 We had heard a lot about the seven summits trail.  It was suppose to be one of the best rides in the world.  We jumped on the trail and the very first part was like a ride in Disneyland.  Some downhill with smooth swoopy turns and climbs.  But after about 1/2 k it began to climb.  With smoked legs, all I could do was push the bike up the technical single track.  Masha was still not feeling well with her stomach jumping all around.  We pushed for a few hours.  Near the first summit at  Mount Lepsoe we did a 20 minute lay down.  After finally hitting the first summit the down hills were a hoot.  Fast and windy and very fun with some technical sections.  There was one section that was very exposed but most of the ride was fun and fast.  I was very concerned that we would not have enough time to get to the finish line, but to my great surprise, by early morning we had finally hit Red Mountain.  Now it was a long down hill on the cat tracks to cp 22 and then through Rossland and continue down to the finish in Trail.

 At this point we were riding with the French team, who was still on the course and doing very well.  From CP 22 at Red Mountain was pretty uneventful.  It was all downhill and fast.  At about 8:40 we crossed the finish line in Gross park in Trail.  The finish line was disappointing.  No fan fair, and the race director seemed confused as to how to deal with the teams that we coming across the finish line.

 To our great disappointment, we were not ranked.  We spoke to the race director and he denied telling us that we could remain ranked.  We were not the only teams that were DNF or unranked.   Tecnu and Yogaslackers both completed the entire course only to finish after the 10am finish cut off.  No allowance for the time delays that they suffered.

 After the race we learned that the website hadn’t worked and showed us as withdrawn for a while.  The website gave the impression that we had dropped out.  That certainly was never the case.

 Over all, this was an excellent course but the race was run very poorly.  It had the feel of someone who didn’t spend the money to do it right.  In my opinion there is no reason to have a complete team that crosses the finish line unranked.  An there are no excuses for making a team wait ½ a day for gear.  While we aren’t sponsored per say, we had lots of friends and family following the race.  Having us listed as withdrawn caused a great deal of concern because those that know us know we would not drop out unless someone was injured. 

 For our part, I’m very proud of how our team performed.  We made good decision for us and achieved the primary goal, to get everyone across the finish line.  Way to go Dancing Panda’s

 It’s unfortunate, but I doubt anyone will do this race again – I know I won’t.

The normal rules can’t apply to me.  I go days on end, non-stop with little or no sleep, looking fear in the face and spitting in it’s eye.  I boldly go where few have gone before.  I cover great distances with little resources and under the power of my own body.  How can the rules apply.

I have had the good fortune of racing some of the greatest races in North America and lived to tell the stories.  I greeted by 50th birthday by starting a 9 day race through the most dangerous land on the planet and came home to tell about it.  Of course the normal rules don’t apply to ME.

And yet her I sit, just after my 51st birthday, with a sore back and struggling to get through my daily training routine.  How can this be??

Well, I guess the rules have a limited degree of application.  I often get nagging injures this time of year as I try to shed some of the weight of winter and start putting the miles under my belt.  Motivation becomes harder as the press of business, family and marriage take it’s toll.  And yet, in my mind, I should be able to do it all.  After all, in my head, I’m as much of a “Rock Star” as old Charlie (without the cash or the live in porn stars.) 

For the past three or four years (at least) I have noticed that the late winter and early spring are the toughest time of year for me.  Races are still months away (at least the big ones) the days have been short and I’m not feeling quiet as spry has I did when I was - say 45.  The joints take a minute to snap into place, the back gets stiff in the morning and my motivation wanes from time to time.  The most disheartening is that I’m just not as fast as I was in my youth.  The days of running 6 minute miles, back to back are over.  I find that I get dropped on my bike more often then before.  This plays on the mind.  Every year I notice everyone else seems to get faster and that the training is a little bit harder and it takes a little be longer to get back in to race shape. 

The shorter races, anything 24 hours or less seem too short, and I feel like I’m red lining the whole way.  For me, expedition races seem to be the best fit.  It takes 6 or 7 hours for me to get warmed up and settle in.  I get stronger as the race goes on and by the second or third day I’m leading the group.  This is more a function of experience then fitness, and being long in the tooth helps in that area.

On those long workouts where all I have are my thoughts and my iPod, my mind often wanders to those pro athletes that continue to play past their prime.  The old stars who have lost a step, who no longer can hit the long ball or brake away like days of old. Am beginning to become like them?  Past my prime and ready for retirement.  Should I listen to my wife and friends who ask me, when are going to give that silliness up and concentrate are more grown up endeavorers.  Be like the normal fathers and husbands and have BBQ’s and beers and watch the waist line grow.

I find more and more often that I am not able to do what I think I use to be able to do. 

But this is adventure racing.  The great thing is that the emphasis can be more on the adventure and less on the racing.  Sure I want to always do my best and help the team be as successful as possible.  But I’ve never been burdened by being the best or the fastest.  I have always done well but never been a champion on any level.  So finishing in the pack is not the trauma for me that it is for the others who feel that finishing 2nd is failure.

In the end,for me the fun and the challenge is the adventure.  Getting older and slower only slightly detracts from the experience.  Experience  has it’s benefits.  Some things I’ve learned the hard way while others I just figured out.  These “tricks” help the team move faster and to be more comfortable.  And I can still walk as fast as anyone I know - a skill that helps in a multi-day race.  As long as we can move fast enough to complete the long course and to be “competitive” in our own way, I am happy.

So I will spend another year or two pretending that the rules don’t apply to me and continent to push my body beyond what mere moral believe is possible.  I will be returning to Raid the North in July and Motherload in September with a few other events sprinkled  in. 

In fact I suspect that I will be doing adventure races long after Charlie Sheen has fallen off the radar and the goddess’  have moved on.

The normal rules can’t apply to me.  I go days on end, non-stop with little or no sleep, looking fear in the face and spitting in it’s eye.  I boldly go where few have gone before.  I cover great distances with little resources and under the power of my own body.  How can the rules apply.

I have had the good fortune of racing some of the greatest races in North America and lived to tell the stories.  I greeted by 50th birthday by starting a 9 day race through the most dangerous land on the planet and came home to tell about it.  Of course the normal rules don’t apply to ME.

And yet her I sit, just after my 51st birthday, with a sore back and struggling to get through my daily training routine.  How can this be??

Well, I guess the rules have a limited degree of application.  I often get nagging injures this time of year as I try to shed some of the weight of winter and start putting the miles under my belt.  Motivation becomes harder as the press of business, family and marriage take it’s toll.  And yet, in my mind, I should be able to do it all.  After all, in my head, I’m as much of a “Rock Star” as old Charlie (without the cash or the live in porn stars.) 

For the past three or four years (at least) I have noticed that the late winter and early spring are the toughest time of year for me.  Races are still months away (at least the big ones) the days have been short and I’m not feeling quiet as spry has I did when I was - say 45.  The joints take a minute to snap into place, the back gets stiff in the morning and my motivation wanes from time to time.  The most disheartening is that I’m just not as fast as I was in my youth.  The days of running 6 minute miles, back to back are over.  I find that I get dropped on my bike more often then before.  This plays on the mind.  Every year I notice everyone else seems to get faster and that the training is a little bit harder and it takes a little be longer to get back in to race shape. 

The shorter races, anything 24 hours or less seem too short, and I feel like I’m red lining the whole way.  For me, expedition races seem to be the best fit.  It takes 6 or 7 hours for me to get warmed up and settle in.  I get stronger as the race goes on and by the second or third day I’m leading the group.  This is more a function of experience then fitness, and being long in the tooth helps in that area.

On those long workouts where all I have are my thoughts and my iPod, my mind often wanders to those pro athletes that continue to play past their prime.  The old stars who have lost a step, who no longer can hit the long ball or brake away like days of old. Am beginning to become like them?  Past my prime and ready for retirement.  Should I listen to my wife and friends who ask me, when are going to give that silliness up and concentrate are more grown up endeavorers.  Be like the normal fathers and husbands and have BBQ’s and beers and watch the waist line grow.

I find more and more often that I am not able to do what I think I use to be able to do. 

But this is adventure racing.  The great thing is that the emphasis can be more on the adventure and less on the racing.  Sure I want to always do my best and help the team be as successful as possible.  But I’ve never been burdened by being the best or the fastest.  I have always done well but never been a champion on any level.  So finishing in the pack is not the trauma for me that it is for the others who feel that finishing 2nd is failure.

In the end,for me the fun and the challenge is the adventure.  Getting older and slower only slightly detracts from the experience.  Experience  has it’s benefits.  Some things I’ve learned the hard way while others I just figured out.  These “tricks” help the team move faster and to be more comfortable.  And I can still walk as fast as anyone I know - a skill that helps in a multi-day race.  As long as we can move fast enough to complete the long course and to be “competitive” in our own way, I am happy.

So I will spend another year or two pretending that the rules don’t apply to me and continent to push my body beyond what mere moral believe is possible.  I will be returning to Raid the North in July and Motherload in September with a few other events sprinkled  in. 

In fact I suspect that I will be doing adventure races long after Charlie Sheen has fallen off the radar and the goddess’  have moved on.

Traveling through the Mojave Desert is about survival. Problem solving, navigation, and team work are critical to making it out alive. Without being too dramatic, death can come in the desert quickly if one forgets the importance of making wise choices. The intense heat, the canyon climbs, both up and down, and the various critters can be fatal.

Desert Winds was set up to be several things. First it was the longest expedition in North America this year. It was designed to be an epic journey - one that is unlikely to ever be repeated. And it was put together by adventure racers who truly believe in the sport. Great emphasis was put on allowing the teams to continue to move forward without cutoffs or penalties so long as the athletes wanted to keep moving forward. Teams were rewarded for sticking together and the few teams that stayed intact were given the highest ranking. This was not as much a race as it was a true expedition.

The Dirty Avocados were proud to be a part of this event and applaud the hard working staff that made it possible. This sport needs more people like the Finley’s to keeps this sport what it was meant to be - an experience that you can- and will tell your grand kids about.

If the after party was any indication there was not a single participant that regretted his or her decision to be involved. The overwhelming applause for the staff, the course and the event as a whole demonstrated that the people most affected were glad there were there.

For this event the Dirty Avocados were joined by Masha Glanville of the Dancing Pandas. Masha brought so much to the team and kept us laughing the entire event. No one has a better adventure racing spirit then Masha. The rest of the team was made up of Brian Schmitz, Adam Doti, and Mike Chastaine.

The event was centered out of the Hacienda Casino near the Hoover Dam. This one star hotel was accommodating and seemed to need the business.

The check in was Saturday. The scheduled prologue of biking, trekking and rope work was set for early Sunday morning. A slight permitting issue presented itself in the form of being stopped by the rangers and turned back. This caused much discussion among the racers about whether we should start the race. After a group meeting and assurances that the manned CP’s would be staffed and water would be available all but one team started the race.

A note for critics of this event - none of whom were actually present - This race was well organized and safety was never compromised. Anytime a team requested help they received it. When teams were lost and unaccounted for the staff went out and found them. Without getting in to the politics of the permitting issues, I never felt that we were in unnecessary danger beyond what a course like this would present. I have raced all over the world and, in my opinion; this race delivered everything that it promised. It’s too bad that politics can (and often does) prevent experienced outdoor persons from experiencing the best and most epic terrain that an area has to offer. As a tax paying citizen who (in theory) owns our federal lands, why should we be denied access to the best parts of it? At Desert Winds we were not denied. (This is the authors personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any other person or organization. It’s my opinion, but I could be wrong.)

The event regrouped and began with a staggered start beginning at 8 pm with teams leaving from the casino in 5 minute intervals. We left at 8:35 with our packs loaded down with 2 pack rafts, paddles, rope and climbing gear and as much water as we could carry. We exited out the hotel’s side door, crossed the dark parking lot lit up by only the large strobing casino sign. We crossed the street and disappeared into a dark canyon directly behind the gas station.

The basic course was broken-down as follows: 60 miles of desert and canyon trekking with canyon repelling and pack rafting. The 2nd leg was a 100 mile mountain bike ride with some tricky navigation. 3rd leg was a 20 mile desert trek with more pack rafting. The final leg was a 35 to 50 mile canoe paddle. There were 12 “mandatory” CP’s and 55 optional points. Most check points were man made objects on the course like windmills or signs with associated questions. A few were PVC stakes or stores.

The first trek took us south from the Hacienda Casino, over a ridge and in to Boy Scout canyon. We moved well though the canyon towards the first repel above a hot springs.

A short repel into a dicey down climb put us back into a canyon with hot water running from the hot springs. Slipping and sliding down we worked our way to the Colorado River and the 1st pack raft section. We had experimented and found that the hull speed of the raft was so slow that it was more efficient to have only one person paddle while the other person held on to packs and rested. We got our 2 rafts pumped up and paddled about 5 kilometers to a take out marked by glow sticks. The take out was a tricky cliff scramble, but we got the boats out of the water and up to a ledge where we could deflate and repack. We had to be very careful with the boats as they are quite thin and can be easily punctured. Our next goal was to climb out from the river about 600 feet in elevation gain and head to adventure canyon. The bottom of the canyon was tricky scrambling but we worked out each problem as a team to get over the obstacles.

We steadily climbed to the ridge in the dark. When we got to the top we did not see what we expected. The map showed a large flat area. What we found was rocky undulating terrain. In the dark, even with the full moon, we struggled to find a landmark that matched up. We thought we knew where we were but were north of that location. We worked our way south for several hours till the moon went down behind the mountains. At this point we decided to take a sleep till the sun came up so we could figure out where we were. An hour or so later, as dawn broke we could see and determined that the flat area were looking for was about 200 meters east of us. Finding that, we moved quickly to the entrance of one of the real highlights of the event - adventure canyon.

Adventure canyon was a series of repels and down climbs. Nine separate repels with the last dropping us directly in to the Colorado River. It was beautiful, challenging and scary all at the same time. Excellent fun.

After dropping into the Colorado River (which was about 50 degrees) we inflated the boats and were off again paddling our pack rafts about 3 miles. The water was calm but the day was starting to heat up.

An hour later we pulled on to a little beach at the entrance of the next canyon. Just leaving was a team from Pennsylvania - Gung Ho. We filled up every container we had with water, deflated and packed the rafts and shouldered our heavy pack and set off up the canyon. Our goal was CP2 about 1500 feet above.

The early part of the canyon was full of technical climbs and scrambles that required team work to get 4 bodies and packs past. As we continued to climb the temperature continued to climb. It was easily 120 degrees F in the sun. After a while we would have to stop in the shade every 45 minutes or so, just to cool off. About 3/4 the way up the canyon we caught up to Gung Ho. From there on in we played leap frog all the way to the top of the canyon and on to the road that took us to CP2 - a truck full of water.

Robert was there to greet us. We arrived at about 3 pm in the heat of the day. We knew that we were about 6 hours behind the teams in front of us and 10 hours behind the leaders. That navigation error had cost us both time and confidence.

We had two options at this point. The first was to trek through the desert in search of the 5 OP’s that lead back to the river. This was about a 20 mile section. The second was to go back down the canyon and pack raft 16 miles to CP 3. Gung Ho was going to try the pack raft route. So far our experience on the pack rafts had been pretty good and with the current we figured we could do the whole trip in 10 to 12 hours. Our concern with the trek was the fact that there was no water for the entire 20 miles. This is where the confidence in our navigation came to bear. If we got lost, would we cook in the desert? Finally, after much discussion we decided to do the trek.

We left around 3:45 and made pretty good time across the open desert, past the power lines and into the valley we were aiming at. The trekking was slow as the ground was covered with rocks and tough going. We climbed to the ridge and got on the razor ridge on which OP 7 was located. Just as it got dark we were walking along this ridge. We were very confident that we were in the right place but could not find the PVC stake that was OP 7. This was very discouraging. We continued on toward OP 8. We were beginning the traverse around a large knoll. In the dark the features didn’t look right. We stopped, took inventory of our water and determined that after about 5 hours we were through almost 1/2 of what we had taken. At this point, with doubt about our ability to get to the river, we decided to turn around and go back to CP2. Feeling that we were going to have to drop out we made our way slowly back to the CP. We were pretty sure that no one would be there and that we would have to request help. What a bummer.

To our great surprise, the truck and more important the water was still there. We took a nap and when we got up in the morning Briana was there. We found Adam who got the chills, curled up in the back of the truck bed spooning a giant roast beef sandwich apparently belonging to Briana. She lifted our spirits and we decided that we would head down the canyon and do the pack rafting. We knew that we were way behind at this point, but figured that if we could keep the team together we would be fine. We were pretty sure that if we were having these types of problems, other teams were as well.

We made it down the canyon in under 3 hours - even with all of the technical down climbs, and got our rafts pumped up and loaded. However, instead of the calm water that we had experienced the night before, the wind was really picking up. Paddling these pack rafts was a lot like paddling a beach ball. The wind really impacted our progress. Being adventure racers, we put our heads down and just paddled along. We were covering a couple of miles an hour and making progress. After 8 miles in about 5 hours we were about 1/2 way, but the wind was getting stronger. If we stopped paddling for a second, the boat would go backwards.

Finally a power boat came up with race officials in it. They told us that the wind was even worse further down the river and we were strongly recommended that we take advantage of a ride to CP6 - the bike TA. Given that we were behind, we figured this was the smarter move.

When we got the TA - which was Roberts house we discovered that we were right. Other teams were also having problems and many of the teams had either been rescued, received assistance or had lost a team member. We were still in the race.

We were given new maps and had to plot the bike ride as well as the last trek and paddle. The bike started with a 30 mile loop that we were told was tricky. This could easily be short cut. We figured at this point, the key was to get to the finish line in tack.

We went directly to CP7 then followed along the many roads to the various OP’s. This was a bit tricky in that the map and the roads didn’t match up. But using features and some plain old deductive reasoning we were pretty successful in moving through this area at a good speed. The route consisted of a maze of very confising fireroads that we needed to navigate through the night. It was a very surreal and lonesome experience navigating around old abandoned and some still operational windmills creaking and moaning in the dark. Finally we got to Red Lake - a dry lake bed. The CP was in the middle and we had to navigate it in the dark using nothing more then a bearing. We were only about 100 meters off when Adam happened to look over his left shoulder and saw a faint dark black man made object in the distance. Dreuce‘ s truck in the middle of the lake. We found a couple other teams sleeping as well as Druce. From there it was about 10 K to the next OP - also in the dry lake. Upon finding that we took an hour sleep at the base of a giant water tank. Upon waking and gathering our belongings, Brian found a small scorpion taking refuge in his bike shoe.

When we got up we headed to the highway and traveled south in to the teeth of a very strong head wind. We worked our way to Vock Canyon and started the long slog up the mountain. We were told that it was 70 to 80 % rideable. Not on our best day. We pushed and pulled our bikes up the mountain to almost 7000 feet. Finally, after several hours we were at the junction. We had the option of dropping the bikes and climbing the last several hundred feet to the top for an additional OP. We were pretty beat up so skipped it. We got back on the bikes and jumped on the unmarked single track that took us for 5k to the road that lead to the town of Chlorine. This down hill section was uneventful and finally we arrived at the little town store. We cleaned them out, eating pizza, burritos, ice cream and several cold beverages.

From the store it was mostly down hill, across highway 93 to the TA. We arrived there in the late afternoon, got the bikes packed, gear ready and took an hour sleep. We looked at the maps and concluded, consistent with our game plan, to skip most of the optional OP’s pick up the mandatory CP and head to Cottonwood road that lead to the paddle TA. This was not going to be a short trek but we would avoid the canyons and many of the navigation issues that could arise.

We left the bike TA at sunset on foot for a long cross country desert trek through the night. The trek took us through some very remote sections which occasionally would bring us near makeshift neighborhoods and compounds whos resident dogs would signal for us to not come any closer. We zig zagged around these and made our way to Cottonwood Road.

As the sun was rising we arrived at the paddle TA. 4 of us in a canoe was quite the sight. We paddled for 11 hours getting out of the boat only twice. One to swim in the heat of the day and a second time to grab some optional CP’s along the way. Just after dark we hit the beach at Willow Creek - the finish line at 95 hours, 7 minutes and 22 seconds.

True to our strategy we were awarded 4th place. Staying together, never giving up and grabbing all of the mandatory CP’s except 3, 4 and 5 put us ahead of all but 3 of the other teams.

While, from the perspective of things going well, this was not my best race. Without a doubt this was the most fun I have had out on the race course. We laughed at ourselves and everything else throughout the course. Masha kept the mood light, even when we thought we were on the verge of dropping out. The entire team pulled together and really made this an epic experience.

We would like to thank the following companies for all their support and encouragement in making our adventure possible…

Camelbak
Outdoor Research
nuun
Aquan Sports
Headsweats
National Geographic Maps
Rudy Project
CAMP

   Members of the Dirty Avocados were all over the place.  Brian was at Untamed New England, DP was racing with Galen, Will is getting ready to have a baby. Abomb just opened a business and Doti was being a race volunteer.  This left Angel and I to race as a 2 person team at the 2010 Gold Rush 24 Challenge.    We were racing under the name of Big Blue in hopes of winning some sponsorship dollars. 

 Mark, Adrian and their crew always put on a very well thought out, challenging and fun course.  As they say, it is not a race you will finish in24 hours.

There was a very good field but the class of the teams were the Yogaslackers and DART/nunn.  Angel and I were just looking to run a solid race.

The race started with a paddle O course where we would get bearings and distances at each checkpoint on the lake.  The teams were divided in to 2 groups - an A group and a Z group.  We were in the Z group with the Yoga slackers and DART.  We paddled well.  DART and Yoga got turned around on the bearing and we pulled a significant lead over them.

We were 2d off the water and after a very quick transitions, including loading the boat onto the car, we were off on the bike.  We rode hard up to Crandell Peak, almost 3000 above.  We picked off the CP’s as we continued to ride hard through Strawberry and were working our way to the TA when I began cramping. The last climb was 2300 feet, mostly on exposed pavement.  I chased Angel up the hill but really suffered with massive cramps in the major muscle groups.

We finally got to the TA, still in the lead.  however, that lead was short lived as Yogas and DART pulled in within minutes.

After a quick TA, we headed out on the trek towards the ropes course.  We ran down the hill and instead of following the road bush whacked straight  up the mountain.  We moved up the mountain as fast as we could and eventually found a downhill mountain bike trail that lead us to the main road.  A slight misdirection and then back on then right path hitting the CP at the top.  We hustled down toward the ropes running into DART.  DART beat us into the CP just as Yoga was getting onto the ropes.

The repel was a fun 200+ foot dropping down a rocky face.  There were 2 ropes.  I took the more aggressive route which included a short overhang.  This was Angels biggest repel ever so she was a bit nervous but handled the rope work without any problem.  After getting ff the rope and traversing over to the spine we affixed on to a rope for a jumar assisted climb back to the CP.  This was a beautiful repel with a wonderful view off towards Pinecrest lake.

After the climb we gathered ourselves and began heading to the canyon.  There was a waypoint at the junction of the rivers.  I took a quick bearing and began down the ridge.  We ran into a bike trail and followed it a ways.  I sort of lost track and we followed it too far.  The long and short of it was the decent was tricky requiring many down scrabbles and bush whacking through nasty Manzanita

It was getting dark as we finally got down to the river.  We were too far to the West of the way point.  As it was getting dark we by passed the way point and headed straight up the mountain towards the next CP that was located at the top of a ski lift.  It was a long hard climb but eventually we made it.  Just before we got to the CP we were caught by the Brazilian team including our local friend - Jen Klifflin.  We got to the CP and quickly moved on while the Brazilian team took a break. 

We bushwhacked down toward the road that would lead to CP 10.  The bush was nasty and scratchy and tore our legs up.  Even though I tried to stay on the compass moving in the dark around the various obstacles we hit the road father west then I had planned .  We walked a ways till it became clear we needed to turn around. We quickly adjusted and found the CP 10 in short order.  At this point time was becoming an issue.

Looking at the map we realized that we would have to skip CP 11 in order to give our selves a chance to get all of the bike CP’s..  The map showed a horse trail that went from CP 10 to CP 12.  We couldn’t find the trial head so we just started bushwhacking along the creek.  After a while we ran into the trail and moved on at a good pace.  We arrived at the TA at the base of Dodge Ridge Ski resort around 3:30am.

After a quick transition we were back on the bikes and climbing.  We had a trouble finding CP 14.  I missed the turn off and we did some extra climbing.  Just as the sun was rising we found 14 and started working our way through the check points.  There was a lot of climbing and many of the down hills were rocky and sketchy and slow.  It was taking us a long time between the CP’s.  The cut off for finishing was 2 pm and the clock was running.

We had decided that we would have to skip a few CP’s including 21.  We were moving as fast as we could and our navigation was solid but this was a very long bike ride.

As we were heading to CP 22 we came to the last bail out point.  We had only 2 hours to finish.  I was beat.  We took the bail out and finished in just over 29 hours.

When the finally tally was done we were 3rd overall.

Gold Rush had a great course.  The swag was great - a really nice long sleeve tech shirt, an engraved pocket knife and a nice personalized finishing certificate.  The organization was great and everyone was very nice and very helpful.  The Gold Rush is a must do race every year.

XPD - the final trek

We got to the ski club at Lake Tinaroo around 4:30 - 5:00pm on the 7th day.  I was a mess and my feet were killing me.  We wanted to get on the lake as quick as possible.  However, I was moving slowly.  I had to work on my feet - get them cleaned and re taped.  I was hoping to let them rest during the paddle.  While I was taking care of my feet (with the assistance of one of TA members,) Brian and Karl were getting the boats blown up and Jen was packing the boxes.  I was just moving slowly.  I felt better then I did at the cafe but was still not in very good shape.  The rest of the team wanted to finish the paddle and head straight into the trek.  I just wasn’t going to be able to do that and insisted that we sleep some before the trek.

Several teams came into the TA and left before we were able to get on the lake.  Just before we left, I noticed we had 4 mountain house packages in the box.  I spoke to Karl about whether we should take it.  He thought we had some in the next TA box.  Why I would listen to some one so sleep deprived just shows how sleep deprived I was.  Anyway, I didn’t bring the food.

We got on the water right at sunset.  After being past by several teams in the TA we were out of the top 20.  The paddle was uneventful except that Brian and I did crazy Ivans down the lake.  I had a very tough time keeping the kayak going in a straight line.  Jen navigated us to the take out where there was a nice fire.

Sure enough, we had very little food in the TA box, and no mountain house.  I had to settle for a can of tuna fish before I laid down.  We agreed to hit the trial at midnight.

We got up, packed up our packs for the final trek and hit the road about 12:30 am.  The trek started on a good fire road the climbed up the ridge towards Caines.  I was feeling much better after that short sleep.  According to the map, after getting to the top of the ridge and rounding a bend there should have been a trial head leading north.  About 12 kilometers in, around 3am we got to the spot I thought the trail should have been, but couldn’t find it.  We were at the right elevation, the trial turned as indicated on the map but we couldn’t find anything that looked like a trail.  We went back and forth, up and down the trail, but no luck.  We went back up the ridge and found a trail head with a tent of another team that was taking a nap.  We tried heading up the trail but it was going the wrong way and I found it on the map leading to a peak we didn’t want to go.  Leeches were falling out of the trees and I got one attached on my lip.  We didn’t go up the trail too far before we turned back, quietly sneaking around the tent without waking it’s occupants.

We were at a loss, so we studied the map some more.  Further down the trail, there was a trail on the wrong side of the road that was marked “overgrown.”  I thought, maybe it crossed the road.  As we were heading down the trail we ran into an all male team that had been out there for hours.  They did not look like they were in very good shape. Sure enough, there was a solid trail with nice blaze markers.  We took off moving well.  I was feeling pretty good at this point. 

We were doing well until we crossed a stream.  We picked up what we thought was the right trail.  We followed it for a while and all of a sudden dropped onto the road.  We had found the original trail head we had been looking for before.  It was completely overgrown and required a climb up to it.  The sun was just coming up.  So we turned around and trekked back to the stream.  The first trail we followed had nice blazes.  The trail we were now on had only yellow ribbon marking the way.  At this point, I was pretty sure I knew where on the map we were and was able to follow it as we moved forward.  From that point on, we made good time. The trial was not very good, completely overgrown.  Every once in a while we would lose the trail.  One team member would stand at the last ribbon till we found the next one.  That worked well, especially when there was a lot of tree fall. We later found out that this section caused a lot of teams a great deal of trouble.

Youtube – last jungle trek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOCgWfkG_Ks  and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BToY1ZNt6c&feature=related

We had a very big climb up to a peak, then down along a ridge and finally came out to the intersection we were looking for.  This was the trail to the outlook where the next CP would be.  This was going to be a 2000 foot climb.

We got to this intersection around noon.  We took a quick 10 min lay down and then we were off.  There were two ways to the top - a shorter, steeper section, or a longer, more gradual path.  We picked the shorter path.  It was extremely steep.  Those Aussi’s are a tough breed, calling this a walking path. 

 A couple of hours of climbing and we were at the lookout.  It was a nice little clearing by a tower.  We got there around 3:00.  We took a bit of time to eat and work on our feet.  I was getting concerned that we were going to get stuck in the jungle in the dark. 

The next section was a 5 kilometer jungle bush whack.  I had been concerned about this section since I first saw it.  When we originally got the maps I had located a second route - one that was all on road, but was about 25 kilometers longer.

From the outlook CP (located at Kalphalim Rock) we dropped down into the jungle, attempting the bushwhack.  After 45 minutes, we hadn’t gotten anywhere and realized we were not on the ridge that we wanted to get on.  We got back up on the trail that lead us to the outlook.  We were looking for an entry to the correct ridge.  As we worked our way along the trail, looking for the ridge, we saw two teams show up.

At this point, given the lack of sunlight left, we started to talk about doing the longer “walk around” route.  Not only was I concerned about the slow going in the jungle, but I knew sleeping in the jungle with the leeches and other nasties would be very tough.  Also, given our physical state, I was concerned that someone might slip and get injured. We figured that the best we could do would be 1 kilometer an hour in the jungle, while we could do 5 kilometers an hour on the road.  We also figured that if it didn’t go well in the jungle we could be in the jungle for hours, while on the road, as long as we keep moving we would do fine.  So we agreed to take the longer route.   

The Kiwi girls and an all male team were with us at this point, but didn’t seem interested in working together.  They took off to somewhere, I don’t know where they went.  We headed down off the ridge back to the parking lot near the intersection we had been at several hours before.  We dropped down about 1700 feet and hit the parking lot just as the sun went down.  We did an hour lay down and got a little sleep before starting this long trek on the road.

The trek on the road was long and painful.  My feet were really hurting.  It appeared that everyone had bad feet and the trek was just a grind.  The road turned out to be much more hilly then I had expected.  Very steep up hills and steep down hills as we moved along.  Although it was painful we were making good time.  We headed West, then cut down some power lines north.  We found the main road heading East.  We were looking for the dam that crossed Lake Morris.  It seemed like it took us forever to get there.  As I was sleep walking (Brian was navigating) I kept thinking how could we miss a huge lake and dam.  As is always true in AR, you are never as far along as you think.  Finally, we got there and found the dam around 3 am.  We were beat so just laid down in the middle of the dam and slept for an hour.

It was a short walk from the dam to the turn off down to Crystal Cascade. The trail that dropped down to this very beautiful park was extremely steep and several hundred feet vertical - all switch backs.  We worked our way down and as the sun began to rise we were at the park. We walked past the CP marker in the dark and went all the way to the end of the park.  We cursed the race director and took a picture of the end of the gate thinking that some one may have stolen the flag.  As we were walking out of the park we saw the marker and gathered the CP. 

Now we were on the home stretch.  20 kilometers to the finish.  As we began to walk out of the park, a lady on a bike rode up to us.  She was very excited to see us and said she had come to the park hoping to find a team.  Like many of the locals, she had been following the race.   She, like many of the people, was very encouraging and urged us on.  During this last trek we had several cars pull over and the people get out and cheer us on.

Just before we left the park Karl jumped in one of the bathrooms and was greeted by a huge yellow spider, the size of his head.  Deeming that stall occupied he moved on.

Like horses smelling the barn, we were on a mission to the finish.  We had no idea if our walk around had changed our position, but we knew we were going to finish well in advance of the cut off ( a concern that I had had that entire leg.)

First we needed to trek east around a mountain range (we did have the option of climbing over the range; an option we soundly rejected.). We were trekking at a strong pace.  We cut though a neighborhood, through a sugarcane field and into a park.  We cut through a creek and around the end of the range.  At this point we had 10 kilometers of walking through the town.  For me this was the toughest section.  So close, yet such a long way on hot, hard pavement.  We stopped briefly at a gas station for ice cream and red bull.  We kept working our way to Carins.  I had misplaced the final map - the one of the city that showed the location of the final CP - on the north end of the Esplanade (about 5 minutes from the finish.) 

We had some trouble locating the CP.  The instructions said it was at a phone box but there was no phone box at the north end.  We found the closest phone box, got the number and took it to the finish line.

We found the finish at the pool at the Rydges.  We crossed the line at 11:30 am, just a few minutes shy of 8 full days after we started.    We were the 13th team overall and 11th in the Premier (Co-Ed) division.  In the last trek, between passing teams and drop outs, we moved up 7 position.  20 teams finished the full course fully ranked, 3 teams finished the full course unranked, 2 teams did a short course and 21 teams did not finish.

This was a great race for us.  For all of us it was the first time we had finished the long course of an expedition race fully ranking.  For me this was the hardest race, both physically and mentally, I have ever done.  The great support of my teammates got me through.

I came to his race hoping for an Eco-Challenge type expedition.  I got exactly what I was looking for.  It was hard, interesting, and exciting, with leeches and all. 

For more pictures see the gallery at www.Dirtyavocados.com.  For more video, go to youtube and search under Dirty Avocados

XPD - the final trek

We got to the ski club at Lake Tinaroo around 4:30 - 5:00pm on the 7th day.  I was a mess and my feet were killing me.  We wanted to get on the lake as quick as possible.  However, I was moving slowly.  I had to work on my feet - get them cleaned and re taped.  I was hoping to let them rest during the paddle.  While I was taking care of my feet (with the assistance of one of TA members,) Brian and Karl were getting the boats blown up and Jen was packing the boxes.  I was just moving slowly.  I felt better then I did at the cafe but was still not in very good shape.  The rest of the team wanted to finish the paddle and head straight into the trek.  I just wasn’t going to be able to do that and insisted that we sleep some before the trek.

Several teams came into the TA and left before we were able to get on the lake.  Just before we left, I noticed we had 4 mountain house packages in the box.  I spoke to Karl about whether we should take it.  He thought we had some in the next TA box.  Why I would listen to some one so sleep deprived just shows how sleep deprived I was.  Anyway, I didn’t bring the food.

We got on the water right at sunset.  After being past by several teams in the TA we were out of the top 20.  The paddle was uneventful except that Brian and I did crazy Ivans down the lake.  I had a very tough time keeping the kayak going in a straight line.  Jen navigated us to the take out where there was a nice fire.

Sure enough, we had very little food in the TA box, and no mountain house.  I had to settle for a can of tuna fish before I laid down.  We agreed to hit the trial at midnight.

We got up, packed up our packs for the final trek and hit the road about 12:30 am.  The trek started on a good fire road the climbed up the ridge towards Caines.  I was feeling much better after that short sleep.  According to the map, after getting to the top of the ridge and rounding a bend there should have been a trial head leading north.  About 12 kilometers in, around 3am we got to the spot I thought the trail should have been, but couldn’t find it.  We were at the right elevation, the trial turned as indicated on the map but we couldn’t find anything that looked like a trail.  We went back and forth, up and down the trail, but no luck.  We went back up the ridge and found a trail head with a tent of another team that was taking a nap.  We tried heading up the trail but it was going the wrong way and I found it on the map leading to a peak we didn’t want to go.  Leeches were falling out of the trees and I got one attached on my lip.  We didn’t go up the trail too far before we turned back, quietly sneaking around the tent without waking it’s occupants.

We were at a loss, so we studied the map some more.  Further down the trail, there was a trail on the wrong side of the road that was marked “overgrown.”  I thought, maybe it crossed the road.  As we were heading down the trail we ran into an all male team that had been out there for hours.  They did not look like they were in very good shape. Sure enough, there was a solid trail with nice blaze markers.  We took off moving well.  I was feeling pretty good at this point. 

We were doing well until we crossed a stream.  We picked up what we thought was the right trail.  We followed it for a while and all of a sudden dropped onto the road.  We had found the original trail head we had been looking for before.  It was completely overgrown and required a climb up to it.  The sun was just coming up.  So we turned around and trekked back to the stream.  The first trail we followed had nice blazes.  The trail we were now on had only yellow ribbon marking the way.  At this point, I was pretty sure I knew where on the map we were and was able to follow it as we moved forward.  From that point on, we made good time. The trial was not very good, completely overgrown.  Every once in a while we would lose the trail.  One team member would stand at the last ribbon till we found the next one.  That worked well, especially when there was a lot of tree fall. We later found out that this section caused a lot of teams a great deal of trouble.

Youtube – last jungle trek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOCgWfkG_Ks  and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BToY1ZNt6c&feature=related

We had a very big climb up to a peak, then down along a ridge and finally came out to the intersection we were looking for.  This was the trail to the outlook where the next CP would be.  This was going to be a 2000 foot climb.

We got to this intersection around noon.  We took a quick 10 min lay down and then we were off.  There were two ways to the top - a shorter, steeper section, or a longer, more gradual path.  We picked the shorter path.  It was extremely steep.  Those Aussi’s are a tough breed, calling this a walking path. 

 A couple of hours of climbing and we were at the lookout.  It was a nice little clearing by a tower.  We got there around 3:00.  We took a bit of time to eat and work on our feet.  I was getting concerned that we were going to get stuck in the jungle in the dark. 

The next section was a 5 kilometer jungle bush whack.  I had been concerned about this section since I first saw it.  When we originally got the maps I had located a second route - one that was all on road, but was about 25 kilometers longer.

From the outlook CP (located at Kalphalim Rock) we dropped down into the jungle, attempting the bushwhack.  After 45 minutes, we hadn’t gotten anywhere and realized we were not on the ridge that we wanted to get on.  We got back up on the trail that lead us to the outlook.  We were looking for an entry to the correct ridge.  As we worked our way along the trail, looking for the ridge, we saw two teams show up.

At this point, given the lack of sunlight left, we started to talk about doing the longer “walk around” route.  Not only was I concerned about the slow going in the jungle, but I knew sleeping in the jungle with the leeches and other nasties would be very tough.  Also, given our physical state, I was concerned that someone might slip and get injured. We figured that the best we could do would be 1 kilometer an hour in the jungle, while we could do 5 kilometers an hour on the road.  We also figured that if it didn’t go well in the jungle we could be in the jungle for hours, while on the road, as long as we keep moving we would do fine.  So we agreed to take the longer route.   

The Kiwi girls and an all male team were with us at this point, but didn’t seem interested in working together.  They took off to somewhere, I don’t know where they went.  We headed down off the ridge back to the parking lot near the intersection we had been at several hours before.  We dropped down about 1700 feet and hit the parking lot just as the sun went down.  We did an hour lay down and got a little sleep before starting this long trek on the road.

The trek on the road was long and painful.  My feet were really hurting.  It appeared that everyone had bad feet and the trek was just a grind.  The road turned out to be much more hilly then I had expected.  Very steep up hills and steep down hills as we moved along.  Although it was painful we were making good time.  We headed West, then cut down some power lines north.  We found the main road heading East.  We were looking for the dam that crossed Lake Morris.  It seemed like it took us forever to get there.  As I was sleep walking (Brian was navigating) I kept thinking how could we miss a huge lake and dam.  As is always true in AR, you are never as far along as you think.  Finally, we got there and found the dam around 3 am.  We were beat so just laid down in the middle of the dam and slept for an hour.

It was a short walk from the dam to the turn off down to Crystal Cascade. The trail that dropped down to this very beautiful park was extremely steep and several hundred feet vertical - all switch backs.  We worked our way down and as the sun began to rise we were at the park. We walked past the CP marker in the dark and went all the way to the end of the park.  We cursed the race director and took a picture of the end of the gate thinking that some one may have stolen the flag.  As we were walking out of the park we saw the marker and gathered the CP. 

Now we were on the home stretch.  20 kilometers to the finish.  As we began to walk out of the park, a lady on a bike rode up to us.  She was very excited to see us and said she had come to the park hoping to find a team.  Like many of the locals, she had been following the race.   She, like many of the people, was very encouraging and urged us on.  During this last trek we had several cars pull over and the people get out and cheer us on.

Just before we left the park Karl jumped in one of the bathrooms and was greeted by a huge yellow spider, the size of his head.  Deeming that stall occupied he moved on.

Like horses smelling the barn, we were on a mission to the finish.  We had no idea if our walk around had changed our position, but we knew we were going to finish well in advance of the cut off ( a concern that I had had that entire leg.)

First we needed to trek east around a mountain range (we did have the option of climbing over the range; an option we soundly rejected.). We were trekking at a strong pace.  We cut though a neighborhood, through a sugarcane field and into a park.  We cut through a creek and around the end of the range.  At this point we had 10 kilometers of walking through the town.  For me this was the toughest section.  So close, yet such a long way on hot, hard pavement.  We stopped briefly at a gas station for ice cream and red bull.  We kept working our way to Carins.  I had misplaced the final map - the one of the city that showed the location of the final CP - on the north end of the Esplanade (about 5 minutes from the finish.) 

We had some trouble locating the CP.  The instructions said it was at a phone box but there was no phone box at the north end.  We found the closest phone box, got the number and took it to the finish line.

We found the finish at the pool at the Rydges.  We crossed the line at 11:30 am, just a few minutes shy of 8 full days after we started.    We were the 13th team overall and 11th in the Premier (Co-Ed) division.  In the last trek, between passing teams and drop outs, we moved up 7 position.  20 teams finished the full course fully ranked, 3 teams finished the full course unranked, 2 teams did a short course and 21 teams did not finish.

This was a great race for us.  For all of us it was the first time we had finished the long course of an expedition race fully ranking.  For me this was the hardest race, both physically and mentally, I have ever done.  The great support of my teammates got me through.

I came to his race hoping for an Eco-Challenge type expedition.  I got exactly what I was looking for.  It was hard, interesting, and exciting, with leeches and all. 

For more pictures see the gallery at www.Dirtyavocados.com.  For more video, go to youtube and search under Dirty Avocados

mid camp - day 3

Once we pulled into mid camp we were feeling pretty good about things.  We were all healthy, we were 1/2 way (as far as distance) and we were going to get a big sleep.  We were fed a nice hot meal, given the opportunity to clean up with a warm bucket of water and get some sleep.  This was the only real opportunity to look at the trail mail but there really wasn’t time to go on line to do that.  I spent a couple of minutes looking at it but really needed to get sleep.  We greatly appreciated the trail mail but didn’t get to look at it till the race was over.

The race management  provided a wake up call, for us it was 3 am.  I was hopeful that we would be on the road by 4:19 (our 6 hour point) but I was really moving slow and we were a little late.  Brian gathered up the kayak stuff and loaded the wheelbarrow.  I was struggling getting my bike taken apart and my gear put way.  Finally, about 4:40 we were off.

Being off meant pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with kayak gear down the road for 20 kilometers.  In the 1870’s Queensland had a gold rush (much like the one that occurred in California a few years before.) Many on the miners had no horses or wagons, so they transported all of their worldly possessions to the mines in wheelbarrows.  Midcamp was at a town called Dumbula - apparently the wheelbarrow race capital of the world.  It was from this transition that we pushing our nice green Kelso wheelbarrow.

It was very dark and foggy when we set off and I really had to rely on the bearing because we couldn’t see more then 50 feet.  We wanted to make sure that we got to the bridge to get across the Walsh river. Less then 1/2 a click down the road Jen realized she wasn’t wearing her mandatory vest.  She quickly ran back and got it and we were on our way.

We had agreed that we would alternate every 5 minutes and everyone would take there turn.  At first, it wasn’t too bad.  Our wheelbarrow was pretty nicely balanced and the weight wasn’t too bad.  As the hours rolled on the push became harder as we each in turn was glad when our 5 mins was up and we would have 15 mins of walking without pushing. 

As the sun came out and the fog cleared it got hotter.  We were clearly heading to the outback.  The narrow road we pushed Kelso had almost no vehicle traffic except photographers and one lady who scolded us for being on the wrong side of the road.

Finally, at a little before 8 am we got to the kayak put in.  It wasn’t much to see, just a spot by a very low river.  It because obvious that the rumors were true, the river was so low we would be doing a great deal of portaging of one kind or another, including just dragging the boats over the shallows.

For hours it was paddle a little, push and pull a lot.  The river bottom was very treacherous with large slick rocks making up the entire river bottom.  Walking along the bottom risked twisted ankles and banged up shins.  Also the consistent   jumping in and out of the rubber boats tore up the shins, especially as they got burn burned.

We “paddled” for hours.  Some times we would be in an open area where we could actually paddle then we would be looking for some small river off shoot were the river continued and flowed into another open area.  Jen quickly realized that we had to always follow the moving water and became our route finder. 

Around 5 pm (an hour before darkness) we located the bend in the river where the 1st CP on the river would be.  We beached the boats and Karl and I went looking for the  flag.  It appeared to be close and I thought I would just grab it quick. I must have over run it because soon I found my self heading up a creek bed and was too far.  I tried to circle back but must have missed it again.  Daylight was waning and I didn’t want to be out there without a light.  As we were heading back to the boats we ran into Latitude 19 and they had already gotten the CP.  They gave us a bearing and I walked right to it.  I had gone completely around it on my first go.

When I got back it was almost dark.    We changed into our night kayaking gear. The bad news was that all of my gear was soaking wet.  The good news was that it was not too cold so we were fine.  We got back in the boats and continued on.  Hour after hour paddling and pulling and following little shallow narrow water ways.  We saw some “freshies” (small fresh water crocs.) Finally around 1:30am we need some sleep so we pulled off on to a beach and build a fire.  We had seen Latitude 19 pulled up a few 100 meters before.

I wanted to sleep for a few hours but the general consensus was that we would only sleep for a hour.  After a very quick, but comfortable hour we were folding up camp and putting out our nice warm fire.

Our getting started early strategy didn’t work so well.  We paddled to the end of the water.  We didn’t see or hear the outlet.  I got out of the boat and looked around but did not do a very good job because I missed the water which was about 50 meters to the west.  I was relying of hearing the sound of moving water which was not happening at that location.  Soooo we paddled back up river running into the Kiwi girls.  We didn’t find any other way so we turned around again and paddled back to the end of the water.  This time, as the sun was starting to come up, we found the outlet that we were looking for.

We continued to paddle and pull boats over the rocks.  In this last half of the paddle there was actually longer stretches of real paddling.  We were with the Kiwi girls off and on.  There was one section where we were weaving in-between and through a groove of trees.  Watching the little yellow boats go back and forth between the trees reminding me of a ride at Disneyland.  Finally we were getting close the final kayak CP.  It was on a big bend in the river, where the river turns 180 degrees to go south.  The map also showed 2 creeks feeding the river with the CP at a hot springs in between the 2 creeks.  We over shot the CP by about a 100 meters but used our backstop (the bend in the river) to know where we were.  The river was so low the creeks were not apparent until we were out of the boats.  We made pretty quick work of finding the CP (there was a muddy bog with steam coming out of it). 

After the last CP we were approaching the rapids.  We were promised a set of rapids with specific instructions regarding how to approach them.  They were not very impressive and a lot of work to get the boat past the little waterfall to lead into the 30 meter stretch.

 Youtube of the rapids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJrnJCNOsY

After the “rapids” the paddling was pretty straight forward except a little strainer we got caught in that caused us to lose our Sun Screen and had me chasing Brian’s helmet down the river after it fell out of the boat.

Finally, 30 hours after starting we arrived at nine mile, the TA.  We came in just ahead of the kiwi girls.  We were told no team had been there for 6 or so hours.  Just after we arrived, however a whole parade of teams came in and soon the TA was very busy.  We had to deflate the boats, stow our paddle gear, try to dry stuff out, eat, and get ready for the most intimidating legs on the course - The Tigerland trek.  This trek was completely without trials, roads or any man made objects.  The navigation was going to be difficult. 

And we were starting just after sunset so we had to travel the early section in the dark.  We had agreed to team up with Latitude 19 again to tackle this section.  We all felt that we would move faster if we worked together.  While I contributed and was very active in the navigation Adrian from the Aussi team really did the lions share of the work.  His ability to concentrate hour after hour was pretty amazing.  There were certainly times when I just faded and was really glad for the help.

 youtube - 1st part of the Tigerland trek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysCUPjFG_-U&feature=related

By taking and maintaining accurate bearings we were able to cover the large distances to the first way point, a canyon heading in the main part of the area.  We did some serious climbing that night and were very glad to be doing it in the cool of the night.  We were very concerned about locating water.  We were told that there was water on this section, but seeing is believing.  Fortunately, there was water, as long as you kept to the many streams.  Not all of the water was that great, but we were able to locate enough to keep us going.

We moved well through the night and were getting pretty close to the sole CP on this leg.  However, around 2 am, everyone was tired from the paddle and trekking and we agreed to take a sleep with the understanding that we would be on the “trail” by daylight.  I found a relatively comfortable spot to lay down and was instantly asleep.  Our alarms woke us and by 1st light we were on our way.

By early morning we had located the CP and were pretty pleased with our progress.  We worked well together as we slogged along hour after hour through this hot, barren hostel terrain.  We were making good time as we were trekked along.  As we began climbing a pretty steep hill, I felt the tape on my right heel slip and an instant blister developed.  Up to that point my feet were doing ok, but all of a sudden, I was in a great deal of discomfort.  After a few steps, I had to stop to fix this.  I hated to stop like that but I was doing some real damage.  A few minutes of taping and I was good to go again.

As the trek went on my feet became more sore and various blisters started to pop up.  I taped them as best I could but the ground was so rough and uneven that the feet were taking a beating.

All day we trekked on.   It was hot and barren.  No human has any business in this place.  As the sun began to set we were climbing the last hill that would drop us on to the river that we had aiming for.  We were running low on water and figured this river would be our supply.  The river was dry.  The next part was a climb over another ridge to shortcut the bend in the river.  This was a very steep climb and an even steeper decent down into a creek bed.  After carefully descending into the creek bed we had about 3 kilometers of negotiating  the rocks and uneven ground.

It seemed like this creek bed went on for ever.  Finally we got to the river.  I was so tired I had to sleep.  We got to the river, which did have water, and I immediately laid down and went to sleep.  Latitude 19 went on.

We got up about an hour and half later.  It was still dark as we made our way, crossing the fingers of the river.  We started out pretty well but turned the wrong way on the river for a short while.  Just before sunrise, Karl climbed to a high point and we got ourselves back on track.  We were making good time as we were working our way towards a road that was on the map.  As we were crossing one of the river fingers, we ran into Latitude 19.  They had camped out, explaining that they had become so tired they had to stop.

Again, together, we soldiered on looking forward to finding the road and getting to the TA.  Of course, the road was not where it showed on the map.  So we continued to work our way along the river along the uneven and rocky terrain.  Finally we found something that use to be a road.  We followed this “road” until it slowly turned into a real dirt road.  Still we had several miles to go.  We slogged on till finally hitting the little oasis in the middle of this wasteland - in the shadow of Mount Mulligan - an old cattle station.

Youtube - coming out of the Tigerland trek  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu51p-kw4Mc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvMJxJQ3URs&feature=related

Again, when we pulled into to the TA we were told that no one had been there for several hours.  Shortly after we arrived a bunch of teams came in.  Again we were feeling the pressure of the teams behind us.  At the end of the trek we were in 18th place. It was around 3pm

We took the time to eat, rehydrate and rest.  The station had a shower, which felt great.  We decided to take 2 hours, to get past the heat of the day before we got back on the road.  We rested, got our bikes put together and loaded food in our packs.  We were told that the navigation was going to be tricky as there were many roads that were not on the maps.  This proved to be true.

We had talked to Latitude 19 about riding with them, but when the time came for us to leave they were not ready.  They were having some serious medical issues that ultimately caused one of the team members to have to be taken to the hospital.

Putting my bike shoes on was a very painful experience.  Walking in bike shoes was even worse.  Fortunately, riding the bike was not so bad and didn’t really hurt to much. 

The first CP was only a couple of miles north in a cemetery in a ghost town.  Then we would back track and head south towards a gold mine some 30+ kilometers down the road.  We took off about 5 and within 20 minutes were at the first CP.

As we were heading back past the TA, we saw several teams right on our tail.

We made good time down the road as darkness fell.  We rode along uneventfully and worked our way to the next CP at a gold mine.  The maps (being 30 years old) were not completely accurate but we were able to work our way to the home just above the mine.  The family that lived there was very nice and very excited about the race.  They said that they had been following our progress and gave some helpful local information.  They were also selling cokes which was very nice.  As we were drinking our cokes several teams came up, including the Yogi Bears, BMX bandits and Racing 4 Cancer.   After these many days you would think we could relax, but instead the pressure was still on.

We grabbed the CP 1st and took off.  We were riding well as a team.  The trail was very rocky and rutted and at times technical.  We rode together very well working the climbs and downhill well.  A few miles in I crashed and got a pitch flat.  We quickly fixed it.  A little while later Jen did an endo.  Fortunately she was ok.  Still we were making good time and appeared to be putting time on other teams.  We were told to follow the fence till we got to a gate.  It all came together and I was lulled into feeling like we were going to knock this ride off without any trouble.  Wrong. 

When we got to the gate there were two routes indicated on the map - a northern route and a southern route.  On the map the northern route looked shorter and easier.  However, we simply couldn’t find the right road.  Every road we took dead ended.  After an hour or two we went back to the gate.   The Yogi Bears were also there.  We tried to work with them, but they were not interested in working together.   As we sat there trying to determine what to do, we decided  that a little sleep would help.  There was a nice sandy area and we were able to get a few hours sleep.

When we woke up, we spread out the maps and after looking at everything, and based on Jen’s suggestion, tried the southern route.  I couldn’t find the roads that were on the map, but I figured that if we stayed on roads that went either south or east we would be fine.  We rode past a group of trailers that looked like a meth lab.  That lead to a road south.  We made pretty good time down the road.   It was very misty and foggy and the visibility was poor.  We found a main road and followed it for several kilometers.  We ran into a construction worker who gave us some good directions.

We were trying to find a canyon with a river running through it.  We peddled on and were going in the correct direction.  We went on and on and I couldn’t understand why we had not got through the canyon.  A little after sunrise, we came to an open area and I looked back.  As the fog lifted, there was the canyon.  We had ridden through it and didn’t know it.

A short while later we found the CP, which as on a hill top.

After the CP, we back tracked about a 1/2 kilometer to a “road” that, on the map should lead us to a main road and toward the long paved stretch to the TA.    This “road” was rutted and a real mess.  Slowly, it improved and was looking very promising.  We were moving along at a good rate, and except for some huge spiders, the going was good.  Then all of a sudden, the trail just ended.   We backtracked but could not find a better another way around.  I figured that we were within a kilometer of an actual road.  So the only real option was to bike whack.  As much as it hurt my feet to walk, that is what we did.  Pushing and carrying our bikes through the high grass, soon we could ride and then we were at some kind of farm.  After jumping a fence what did we see - two teams just ahead of us.  We cut through the farm and there we were, back with Yogi Bears and BMX.

Youtube - riding through the field - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHzG_BKT3U4&feature=related

We were out of water so we had to stop to fill up at a garden hose.  The other teams went on.  As we caught them, they were talking to a local who was giving some directions and clarifying where we were on the map.  The other two teams then stopped for water as we continued on.  From this point to the lake was going to be all paved roads.

We worked out a pace line as best we could.  We were making pretty good time and looking forward to getting off the bikes.  About 15 K into this part of the ride the BMX guys caught us and we rode to gather, more or less to the town of Tolga.  In Tolga, about 10 k from the TA at Lake Tinaroo, we hit a cafe for meat pies and drinks.  I was completely spent when we got there.  This was a real low for me.  I ate a pie and had a chocolate milk then promptly feel asleep on the patio.  A solid 20 minutes and I was feeling much better.

We started to the Lake for our TA, but followed the directions given by the ladies at the shop, instead of the map.  So a 1/2 hour later we corrected our mistake and were on our way. 

We got to the Kayak TA around 4:40pm still in 18th place.  While I was a mess, everyone else on the team seemed to be feeling pretty good.  They wanted to push on into the trek without sleeping.  I just couldn’t do it and told everyone that I had to have some sleep before the trek.  At the TA, I worked on my feet, cleaning and re-taping.  I was very concerned about the last trek and was trying to get my feet as ready as I could.

Everyone else packed the boxes, inflated the boats and generally got us ready.  While this was going on Yogi Bears came in to the TA and left before we were ready.   A couple of other teams - BMX and Race 4 Cancer came and left the TA before us.  We were out of the top 20 when we left on the kayak - just as the sun was setting.           

mid camp - day 3

Once we pulled into mid camp we were feeling pretty good about things.  We were all healthy, we were 1/2 way (as far as distance) and we were going to get a big sleep.  We were fed a nice hot meal, given the opportunity to clean up with a warm bucket of water and get some sleep.  This was the only real opportunity to look at the trail mail but there really wasn’t time to go on line to do that.  I spent a couple of minutes looking at it but really needed to get sleep.  We greatly appreciated the trail mail but didn’t get to look at it till the race was over.

The race management  provided a wake up call, for us it was 3 am.  I was hopeful that we would be on the road by 4:19 (our 6 hour point) but I was really moving slow and we were a little late.  Brian gathered up the kayak stuff and loaded the wheelbarrow.  I was struggling getting my bike taken apart and my gear put way.  Finally, about 4:40 we were off.

Being off meant pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with kayak gear down the road for 20 kilometers.  In the 1870’s Queensland had a gold rush (much like the one that occurred in California a few years before.) Many on the miners had no horses or wagons, so they transported all of their worldly possessions to the mines in wheelbarrows.  Midcamp was at a town called Dumbula - apparently the wheelbarrow race capital of the world.  It was from this transition that we pushing our nice green Kelso wheelbarrow.

It was very dark and foggy when we set off and I really had to rely on the bearing because we couldn’t see more then 50 feet.  We wanted to make sure that we got to the bridge to get across the Walsh river. Less then 1/2 a click down the road Jen realized she wasn’t wearing her mandatory vest.  She quickly ran back and got it and we were on our way.

We had agreed that we would alternate every 5 minutes and everyone would take there turn.  At first, it wasn’t too bad.  Our wheelbarrow was pretty nicely balanced and the weight wasn’t too bad.  As the hours rolled on the push became harder as we each in turn was glad when our 5 mins was up and we would have 15 mins of walking without pushing. 

As the sun came out and the fog cleared it got hotter.  We were clearly heading to the outback.  The narrow road we pushed Kelso had almost no vehicle traffic except photographers and one lady who scolded us for being on the wrong side of the road.

Finally, at a little before 8 am we got to the kayak put in.  It wasn’t much to see, just a spot by a very low river.  It because obvious that the rumors were true, the river was so low we would be doing a great deal of portaging of one kind or another, including just dragging the boats over the shallows.

For hours it was paddle a little, push and pull a lot.  The river bottom was very treacherous with large slick rocks making up the entire river bottom.  Walking along the bottom risked twisted ankles and banged up shins.  Also the consistent   jumping in and out of the rubber boats tore up the shins, especially as they got burn burned.

We “paddled” for hours.  Some times we would be in an open area where we could actually paddle then we would be looking for some small river off shoot were the river continued and flowed into another open area.  Jen quickly realized that we had to always follow the moving water and became our route finder. 

Around 5 pm (an hour before darkness) we located the bend in the river where the 1st CP on the river would be.  We beached the boats and Karl and I went looking for the  flag.  It appeared to be close and I thought I would just grab it quick. I must have over run it because soon I found my self heading up a creek bed and was too far.  I tried to circle back but must have missed it again.  Daylight was waning and I didn’t want to be out there without a light.  As we were heading back to the boats we ran into Latitude 19 and they had already gotten the CP.  They gave us a bearing and I walked right to it.  I had gone completely around it on my first go.

When I got back it was almost dark.    We changed into our night kayaking gear. The bad news was that all of my gear was soaking wet.  The good news was that it was not too cold so we were fine.  We got back in the boats and continued on.  Hour after hour paddling and pulling and following little shallow narrow water ways.  We saw some “freshies” (small fresh water crocs.) Finally around 1:30am we need some sleep so we pulled off on to a beach and build a fire.  We had seen Latitude 19 pulled up a few 100 meters before.

I wanted to sleep for a few hours but the general consensus was that we would only sleep for a hour.  After a very quick, but comfortable hour we were folding up camp and putting out our nice warm fire.

Our getting started early strategy didn’t work so well.  We paddled to the end of the water.  We didn’t see or hear the outlet.  I got out of the boat and looked around but did not do a very good job because I missed the water which was about 50 meters to the west.  I was relying of hearing the sound of moving water which was not happening at that location.  Soooo we paddled back up river running into the Kiwi girls.  We didn’t find any other way so we turned around again and paddled back to the end of the water.  This time, as the sun was starting to come up, we found the outlet that we were looking for.

We continued to paddle and pull boats over the rocks.  In this last half of the paddle there was actually longer stretches of real paddling.  We were with the Kiwi girls off and on.  There was one section where we were weaving in-between and through a groove of trees.  Watching the little yellow boats go back and forth between the trees reminding me of a ride at Disneyland.  Finally we were getting close the final kayak CP.  It was on a big bend in the river, where the river turns 180 degrees to go south.  The map also showed 2 creeks feeding the river with the CP at a hot springs in between the 2 creeks.  We over shot the CP by about a 100 meters but used our backstop (the bend in the river) to know where we were.  The river was so low the creeks were not apparent until we were out of the boats.  We made pretty quick work of finding the CP (there was a muddy bog with steam coming out of it). 

After the last CP we were approaching the rapids.  We were promised a set of rapids with specific instructions regarding how to approach them.  They were not very impressive and a lot of work to get the boat past the little waterfall to lead into the 30 meter stretch.

 Youtube of the rapids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJrnJCNOsY

After the “rapids” the paddling was pretty straight forward except a little strainer we got caught in that caused us to lose our Sun Screen and had me chasing Brian’s helmet down the river after it fell out of the boat.

Finally, 30 hours after starting we arrived at nine mile, the TA.  We came in just ahead of the kiwi girls.  We were told no team had been there for 6 or so hours.  Just after we arrived, however a whole parade of teams came in and soon the TA was very busy.  We had to deflate the boats, stow our paddle gear, try to dry stuff out, eat, and get ready for the most intimidating legs on the course - The Tigerland trek.  This trek was completely without trials, roads or any man made objects.  The navigation was going to be difficult. 

And we were starting just after sunset so we had to travel the early section in the dark.  We had agreed to team up with Latitude 19 again to tackle this section.  We all felt that we would move faster if we worked together.  While I contributed and was very active in the navigation Adrian from the Aussi team really did the lions share of the work.  His ability to concentrate hour after hour was pretty amazing.  There were certainly times when I just faded and was really glad for the help.

 youtube - 1st part of the Tigerland trek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysCUPjFG_-U&feature=related

By taking and maintaining accurate bearings we were able to cover the large distances to the first way point, a canyon heading in the main part of the area.  We did some serious climbing that night and were very glad to be doing it in the cool of the night.  We were very concerned about locating water.  We were told that there was water on this section, but seeing is believing.  Fortunately, there was water, as long as you kept to the many streams.  Not all of the water was that great, but we were able to locate enough to keep us going.

We moved well through the night and were getting pretty close to the sole CP on this leg.  However, around 2 am, everyone was tired from the paddle and trekking and we agreed to take a sleep with the understanding that we would be on the “trail” by daylight.  I found a relatively comfortable spot to lay down and was instantly asleep.  Our alarms woke us and by 1st light we were on our way.

By early morning we had located the CP and were pretty pleased with our progress.  We worked well together as we slogged along hour after hour through this hot, barren hostel terrain.  We were making good time as we were trekked along.  As we began climbing a pretty steep hill, I felt the tape on my right heel slip and an instant blister developed.  Up to that point my feet were doing ok, but all of a sudden, I was in a great deal of discomfort.  After a few steps, I had to stop to fix this.  I hated to stop like that but I was doing some real damage.  A few minutes of taping and I was good to go again.

As the trek went on my feet became more sore and various blisters started to pop up.  I taped them as best I could but the ground was so rough and uneven that the feet were taking a beating.

All day we trekked on.   It was hot and barren.  No human has any business in this place.  As the sun began to set we were climbing the last hill that would drop us on to the river that we had aiming for.  We were running low on water and figured this river would be our supply.  The river was dry.  The next part was a climb over another ridge to shortcut the bend in the river.  This was a very steep climb and an even steeper decent down into a creek bed.  After carefully descending into the creek bed we had about 3 kilometers of negotiating  the rocks and uneven ground.

It seemed like this creek bed went on for ever.  Finally we got to the river.  I was so tired I had to sleep.  We got to the river, which did have water, and I immediately laid down and went to sleep.  Latitude 19 went on.

We got up about an hour and half later.  It was still dark as we made our way, crossing the fingers of the river.  We started out pretty well but turned the wrong way on the river for a short while.  Just before sunrise, Karl climbed to a high point and we got ourselves back on track.  We were making good time as we were working our way towards a road that was on the map.  As we were crossing one of the river fingers, we ran into Latitude 19.  They had camped out, explaining that they had become so tired they had to stop.

Again, together, we soldiered on looking forward to finding the road and getting to the TA.  Of course, the road was not where it showed on the map.  So we continued to work our way along the river along the uneven and rocky terrain.  Finally we found something that use to be a road.  We followed this “road” until it slowly turned into a real dirt road.  Still we had several miles to go.  We slogged on till finally hitting the little oasis in the middle of this wasteland - in the shadow of Mount Mulligan - an old cattle station.

Youtube - coming out of the Tigerland trek  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu51p-kw4Mc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvMJxJQ3URs&feature=related

Again, when we pulled into to the TA we were told that no one had been there for several hours.  Shortly after we arrived a bunch of teams came in.  Again we were feeling the pressure of the teams behind us.  At the end of the trek we were in 18th place. It was around 3pm

We took the time to eat, rehydrate and rest.  The station had a shower, which felt great.  We decided to take 2 hours, to get past the heat of the day before we got back on the road.  We rested, got our bikes put together and loaded food in our packs.  We were told that the navigation was going to be tricky as there were many roads that were not on the maps.  This proved to be true.

We had talked to Latitude 19 about riding with them, but when the time came for us to leave they were not ready.  They were having some serious medical issues that ultimately caused one of the team members to have to be taken to the hospital.

Putting my bike shoes on was a very painful experience.  Walking in bike shoes was even worse.  Fortunately, riding the bike was not so bad and didn’t really hurt to much. 

The first CP was only a couple of miles north in a cemetery in a ghost town.  Then we would back track and head south towards a gold mine some 30+ kilometers down the road.  We took off about 5 and within 20 minutes were at the first CP.

As we were heading back past the TA, we saw several teams right on our tail.

We made good time down the road as darkness fell.  We rode along uneventfully and worked our way to the next CP at a gold mine.  The maps (being 30 years old) were not completely accurate but we were able to work our way to the home just above the mine.  The family that lived there was very nice and very excited about the race.  They said that they had been following our progress and gave some helpful local information.  They were also selling cokes which was very nice.  As we were drinking our cokes several teams came up, including the Yogi Bears, BMX bandits and Racing 4 Cancer.   After these many days you would think we could relax, but instead the pressure was still on.

We grabbed the CP 1st and took off.  We were riding well as a team.  The trail was very rocky and rutted and at times technical.  We rode together very well working the climbs and downhill well.  A few miles in I crashed and got a pitch flat.  We quickly fixed it.  A little while later Jen did an endo.  Fortunately she was ok.  Still we were making good time and appeared to be putting time on other teams.  We were told to follow the fence till we got to a gate.  It all came together and I was lulled into feeling like we were going to knock this ride off without any trouble.  Wrong. 

When we got to the gate there were two routes indicated on the map - a northern route and a southern route.  On the map the northern route looked shorter and easier.  However, we simply couldn’t find the right road.  Every road we took dead ended.  After an hour or two we went back to the gate.   The Yogi Bears were also there.  We tried to work with them, but they were not interested in working together.   As we sat there trying to determine what to do, we decided  that a little sleep would help.  There was a nice sandy area and we were able to get a few hours sleep.

When we woke up, we spread out the maps and after looking at everything, and based on Jen’s suggestion, tried the southern route.  I couldn’t find the roads that were on the map, but I figured that if we stayed on roads that went either south or east we would be fine.  We rode past a group of trailers that looked like a meth lab.  That lead to a road south.  We made pretty good time down the road.   It was very misty and foggy and the visibility was poor.  We found a main road and followed it for several kilometers.  We ran into a construction worker who gave us some good directions.

We were trying to find a canyon with a river running through it.  We peddled on and were going in the correct direction.  We went on and on and I couldn’t understand why we had not got through the canyon.  A little after sunrise, we came to an open area and I looked back.  As the fog lifted, there was the canyon.  We had ridden through it and didn’t know it.

A short while later we found the CP, which as on a hill top.

After the CP, we back tracked about a 1/2 kilometer to a “road” that, on the map should lead us to a main road and toward the long paved stretch to the TA.    This “road” was rutted and a real mess.  Slowly, it improved and was looking very promising.  We were moving along at a good rate, and except for some huge spiders, the going was good.  Then all of a sudden, the trail just ended.   We backtracked but could not find a better another way around.  I figured that we were within a kilometer of an actual road.  So the only real option was to bike whack.  As much as it hurt my feet to walk, that is what we did.  Pushing and carrying our bikes through the high grass, soon we could ride and then we were at some kind of farm.  After jumping a fence what did we see - two teams just ahead of us.  We cut through the farm and there we were, back with Yogi Bears and BMX.

Youtube - riding through the field - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHzG_BKT3U4&feature=related

We were out of water so we had to stop to fill up at a garden hose.  The other teams went on.  As we caught them, they were talking to a local who was giving some directions and clarifying where we were on the map.  The other two teams then stopped for water as we continued on.  From this point to the lake was going to be all paved roads.

We worked out a pace line as best we could.  We were making pretty good time and looking forward to getting off the bikes.  About 15 K into this part of the ride the BMX guys caught us and we rode to gather, more or less to the town of Tolga.  In Tolga, about 10 k from the TA at Lake Tinaroo, we hit a cafe for meat pies and drinks.  I was completely spent when we got there.  This was a real low for me.  I ate a pie and had a chocolate milk then promptly feel asleep on the patio.  A solid 20 minutes and I was feeling much better.

We started to the Lake for our TA, but followed the directions given by the ladies at the shop, instead of the map.  So a 1/2 hour later we corrected our mistake and were on our way. 

We got to the Kayak TA around 4:40pm still in 18th place.  While I was a mess, everyone else on the team seemed to be feeling pretty good.  They wanted to push on into the trek without sleeping.  I just couldn’t do it and told everyone that I had to have some sleep before the trek.  At the TA, I worked on my feet, cleaning and re-taping.  I was very concerned about the last trek and was trying to get my feet as ready as I could.

Everyone else packed the boxes, inflated the boats and generally got us ready.  While this was going on Yogi Bears came in to the TA and left before we were ready.   A couple of other teams - BMX and Race 4 Cancer came and left the TA before us.  We were out of the top 20 when we left on the kayak - just as the sun was setting.