Big Chill 2010

Team SteelSports: Rodney Skyles, Chris Clemmons, Lorinda Putter, Justin Reneau

You can also follow the race on CheckPoint Tracker, where there's a leaderboard, and race updates. Check it out:

http://www.checkpointtracker.com/events/27

The 2010 Too Cool Big Chill Race has begun! The day started off a warm, slightly muggy and overcast 64 degrees. The main transition area is at South Shore park on Lake Bastrop. In the pre-race letter, the racers were told to expect to be out on the first leg for 10+ hours. During the pre-race meeting Robyn Cantor, the race director, told the teams they would have a task to complete on the bus ride to the starting line. They had to take their paddling gear with them. At 7:55 this morning, the 24 hour racers loaded onto the bus and departed about 8:00. The official race start time is 8:30. The cutoff is 8:30 tomorrow morning.

Team SteelSports are ready to make this the best Big Chill so far. Their packs were heavy, but their spirits were high as they headed to the bus this morning. I don't expect to see them again until late this afternoon, or early evening. They are most likely doing some type of urban trekking, then paddling down the river. The pre-race letter indicated there would be about 18-24 miles of paddling. I checked the spot tracker tracking website, and the tracker doesn't seem to be working. Hopefully it will soon, so we can all keep track of where they are. I plan to head back to the main TA in about 8 hours. They all took plenty of food, clothes and hydration, so they should have an excellent start to this race!

10:00 Looks like the Spot Tracker is working now. I see they are close to the river.

2:00: Per the Spot Tracker Team SteelSports is off the water. According to some other support crew members, the main TA is 4 miles from the water exit, with one CP along the way. Team Vignette (who finished the first leg in 5 hours) and Team IMOAT have checked in and it appears Team SteelSports is pretty close behind them. I am expecting to see them in less than an hour.

2:45ish: Team SteelSports checked in from leg 1 of the race. They were in GREAT spirits and seemed to be feeling good. Justin's knee is hurting pretty bad, but he took some ibuprofen. They had a fast, efficient transition and took off on the second leg at about 3:00. They are now biking and expect to be gone for 4 - 6 hours. They are in fourth place overall right now.

6:30ish: Team SteelSports checked in from the bike leg. They said they lost about 40 minutes by going down a road that didn't go where they thought it would go and seemed to be feeling pretty down about it. They haven't lost their place and seemed to spunk up a tiny bit before leaving on the next trekking leg. They expect this leg to take about 45 minutes. Looked like they had 4 or 5 points to get. I know that the next leg is a paddle leg. Basically an out and back paddle to get one check point. I also know they will have to use the rented boats, pfds and paddles. The weather is cooling off a bit, but fortunately there no wind right now.

8:00ish: Team SteelSports checked in from the trekking leg and are now out on the short paddle. They are all feeling tired and fatigued, but feeling like they can finish strong.

8:45ish: Team SteelSports checked in from the paddle leg and had a longer transition to fuel properly for the next bike leg. It's an urban bike leg, so it will be on roads to a place called Tahitian Village. They will be gone about 2 hours. Justin said it would be a pretty brutal bike with lots of hills. They can get these CPs in any order. They left TA at 9:05.

10:50ish: Team SteelSports checked in from the second bike leg. They all seemed to be doing well and ready to finish strong. The last leg is another trekking leg to Bastrop State Park for the rest of the CPs then back to the TA to finish up the race. They expect this leg to take about 4 hours. They left TA at about 11:15, refueled and with fresh socks. : ) The socks they have taken off through out the day really stink, by the way. This from a support crews point of view. Other than the stink, they are rocking this race.

3:27: Team SteelSports has finished the Too Cool Big Chill 24 hour race. They got all the CPs and finished in 18:48. They are all exhausted and hungry. They're showering, sleeping for a bit and having breakfast, before the awards at 9:00am.

Thanks for following. Until next race, Katrina