Big Chillin' with Team SteelSports

As the sky filled with light, the TA began to come alive with the sounds of teams preparing for what promises to be a great race.  The morning brought with it a crisp, chilly wind, which was  very  different from last nights 80 degree temp.  Team SteelSports started to stir around 7:50AM.  Justin decided it was time for him to get up, and everyone else followed along.  Rodney started a pot of "prissy" coffee and Chris discussed his morning restroom trip and reminded us of the word.  That bird is the word.  Lesley, unbundled out of her snuggle blanket and started packing her pack.  What we know so far about the race is:It starts at 10:00AM

• The race has a 24 hour cut off
• The fastest team is expected to finish in 16 hours
• One leg of the race may take teams up to 15 hours
• The boat drop is 2-3 miles away
• The paddle will be on a river, not a lake, with expected wind gusts today of 25-30 mph
• The bikes will be transported by the race volunteers to an undisclosed location
• Teams will have to trek with all their bike gear to reach this point

It's 8:15 now and the team is going to drop their boats and trying to warm up.  It's shaping up to be an exciting, and entertaining, 24 hours.

It's 9:00AM and the team is finishing up the last minute preparations.  Lesley cooked some sweet potato pancakes from a sweet potato she grew over night.  Rodney closed his curtain, but still put on a peep show in the "naked" room.  Justin has cleaned off his sticky feet and Rodney has done some kind of white man dance.  The pre-race meeting will be starting soon, so the excitement is building.  They are about to load their bikes in the transport van.  They are all getting dressed in their warm, race clothes and having breakfast.  Outside it's pretty chilly, but in the travel trailer, it's nice and toasty.   We might be a little spoiled.  

9:35AM After the pre-race meeting we now know:

• For the first leg of the race, they will be away from the TA up to 15 hours
• They will be starting on foot
• They will be taking biking gear with them
• The river is low enough that a person can stand up in it at any given point
• Teams don't have to get check points in order
• One set of instructions will have 2 legs
• The legs have to be in order
• They are required to take money with them

10:03AM: The race has begun.  The team was handed a sealed envelope to start the race.  At 10:00 all teams were allowed to open the packet.  The packets contained a ReMax real estate flyer for the Batrop area, a Bastrop Historical downtown map, an instruction sheet and another map.  The instructions indicated this leg would contain a road block where one member of the team has to complete a task.  They can use their cell phones to phone a friend during this leg.  They have to use the enclosed maps and other resources they find around town.  They have to collect clues and complete tasks along the way.  All team members have to stay together while searching for five different locations.  They have to turn in all 5 clue sheets.  We are feeling like this part of the race will be sort of like a scavenger hunt.  Team SteelSports left rather quickly, after reading the instructions and seemed to know where they were going.  They all had plenty of clothes, food and water.  We most likely won't see them again for awhile.  So Diana and I will be biking at the Rocky Hill Ranch in Smithville with my sister-in-law, Paige later this morning.   We are hoping to see them out there and snap some photos.  Otherwise, we will track them with the Spot tracker.  I will post more later.  Until then, keep us all in your thoughts and send them luck.   

It's 4:08PM.  Several of the 12 hour teams have checked in, but no 24 hour teams.  The front desk said not to expect them until midnight or so.  We've been following them constantly on the Spot Tracker site and figure they've been paddling since about 11:40AM.  Last we checked, looked like they are still on the water.  The sun has not shown it's face today.  The weather is just cold and windy at times.  I'm sure for the racers, it's not pleasant.  

At 5:30 PM we asked where to bike drop was and decided to go cheer on the team from that location. We drove to Riverbend Park and found the bike drop, which was also where they exited the water.  We were still tracking the team using the Spot Tracker, so we had a pretty good idea of how long it would take them to arrive.  Several teams had already started the biking leg and while we were waiting several teams exited the water.  At 6:40, after the sun had gone down, we saw the gleam of glow sticks reflecting off the water.  Team SteelSports arrived on the sandy beach of the river where we were waiting.  The CP was on the dock a few feet away, but they had to drag their boats up a sandy hill to the boat drop location.  Rodney's pants were soaking wet from the long paddle.  They seemed tired and a little cranky, due to slow kayaks, which will later be "burned".  Chris punched the CP.  They all changed shoes and clothes and Rodney and Lesley found a bathroom, to refill water packs and warm up.  Justin re-plotted some CPs for the next leg of the race, which is mountain biking.  The only restriction they had was they could not ride on, or near, Hwy 71.  They had a rather long transition, which is why they looked liked they were going in circles on the tracker.  When we left them, at 7:40, they were headed to Hwy 153 toward Buescher State Park, then to Rocky Hill Ranch, gathering CPs along the way.  We later learned, they had trouble finding a road to ride on other than Hwy 71 to take to Hwy 153.  That is another reason why they looked like they were going in circles.

At 8:40, Justin sent Diana a text message stating they had 3 flat tires and ran out of air.  We're crossing our fingers that they have no more flats, because he said they would have to DNF, or call it quits.  We wouldn't mind going to get them now, but know the disheartened drive back to TA would be no fun.  So far, they have not missed any checkpoints.  The weather tonight is projected to be 27 degrees with a north wind of 5-10 mph.  If they can just maintain good bikes, stay warm and stay focused, they will make it back to the TA and will be able to refresh themselves for the rest of the race.  From our trailer we can see the check in desk and we see 4 bike lights, but don't expect it's our team, yet.  Most likely, they will be biking for quite awhile longer.  Slideshow of bike drop/water exit.

4:15AM:  Since we never heard back from them about flat bike tires and needing a ride back to TA, I went to sleep around 10:00 and Diana fell asleep around midnight.  We woke up about 30 minutes ago because our generator for the trailer, ran out of gas.  The noise was keeping me asleep, oddly enough.  We checked the tracker site a few minutes ago and it looks like they are closing in on the TA.  They are within the park grounds.  They've been racing for 18 hours and 15 minutes.  So far we know they have completed some special tests, a monumental paddle, trekking and miles and miles of biking in the dark, some on roads, some on trails.  

6:00AM:  The team made it back here around 4:30.  They were energized and positive.  They have not missed a single checkpoint, but ended up with 6 flats.  They had to push bikes on the way back to TA.  They ate some warm soup and changed out of their wet clothes, socks and shoes.  Justin told us about his rodeo days helping him gain the experience he needed to be able to catch a goat earlier today.  They layered up again for a trekking leg with high spirits and laughs.  They were given three pre-plotted check points around the park.  From the looks of the points, they are in a triangle on different ends of the park.  Looks to be rather hilly and will most likely take them awhile, but overall, a short leg.  They took only a few lights with them, since the sun will be up soon.  The next leg of the race will be more mountain biking and traversing.  That should get them close to finishing up.  We have aired up all their bike tires and hopefully that will get them through the remainder of the race.  Cut off time is 10:00, so they've got 4 more hours to go.  They seemed up for it when they left here at 5:25, after we located the passport that was temporarily misplaced.  The temperature is 37.8 currently.  Thankfully it didn't get as cold as projected and the wind has died down to zero mph. So this leg will just be chilly.  The temp should be in the mid-50s soon and after the sun comes up, I know they will be even more enthusiastic about completing the race.  

8:05AM:  The team returned from the trek about 10 minutes ago.  Their transition was quick and efficient. We put their helmets on their heads for them.  They left with climbing harnesses on, biking with no refills of water or food. This is the next to last leg.  The were able to get all the CPs on the leg they returned from so they still have not missed any CPs.  However, in order to be counted as an "official" team, they have to get one checkpoint from each leg, so they are biking a short distance to traverse and getting one CP.  Not the only CP for that leg, they are skipping all the others.  The final leg is a trek and they will get as many CPs as possible in order to finish by the cut off time, but will be skipping some there as well.  They left here a little after 8:00 an seemed eager to finish up with outstanding attitudes.  

At 8:40 the team arrived back at the TA.  After looking over the coordinates for the last let, they decided the nearest CP would take them longer than the alloted time, so they've finished the race.  They will be ranked as DNF, since they skipped the last leg.  They still seem to be pretty positive and glad to have had a full day of racing.  We are starting some breakfast off eggs, bacon and biscuits for them now.  Justin will be posting a race report later this week.  Until next time, thank you for supporting Team SteelSports and tracking them online.  It was a great race and an enjoyable weekend in the cold, windy great outdoors.  -Katrina

Still smilin' and profilin' even after 22 hours and 45 minutes of racing.