Texas Quest Adventure Race

SLIDESHOW of pics

The main TA, at CampTexLake, was quiet this morning when Rodney and I arrived at 7:00AM. Lesley, Emily and Steve were packing gear and preparing for the day. Lesley said they slept well in the cabins because the constant hum of the air conditioner kept them sleeping peacefully. They shared the cabins with a few other people. Rodney had a good night's sleep as well, in the RV park and woke up refreshed and ready for the day.

As the gear list was reviewed, we realized Steve did not have a PFD. There was some miscommunication prior to the race. The boat drop was about a quarter of a mile from the TA. After considering trekking to the drop, they opted to drive instead. Once there, the team

unloaded their canoes from the stand and placed them near the lake, with the other boats. They loaded the gear into the boats that they will need for the paddle later in the day. They were able to borrow a PFD from another team. (Thanks to Mark with Team Thrive!) After the boats, oars and gear were loaded we headed back to the TA for race start.

The bus had not arrived for the 8:30AM departure. It arrived about 8:45 and the teams were instructed to load up. I followed along behind the bus for the near 45 minute drive to Reimers Ranch. Once we arrived at the ranch, the bus had some difficulty making it up the hill into the ranch entrance and had to back up a couple of times. The drive over was beautiful and seemed so vast. The view is full of steep, rolling hills. The weather today is overcast, windy and chilly.

Once we arrived at the Reimers Ranch TA, the race began at 10:06 with a short 2 mile run. The next leg was a bike leg that team SteelSports started about 10:30. They arrived back at TA about 12:10 and were instructed that the cutoff for this trek would be 12:45 sharp. Rodney and Lesley plotted the points for the trek and Rodney said it shouldn't be that far or hard. Emily filled back packs with water and was keeping track of the time. Steve seems to be enjoying the race so far. After they arrive back, all teams will load back onto the bus to travel to another location. I'm not sure yet where that will be. It's 12:26 and I'm waiting for them to arrive back here. They seemed in great spirits and all said they are feeling great. The bike was a little rocky, and a couple of them had falls. Nothing major hurt, except Emily's pride.

At 12:40, the team arrived back at the TA. They grabbed all their gear (except bikes), and headed to the bus. They are heading back to the main TA.

At 1:55PM, the bus arrived back to the main TA at CampTexLake. Teams checked in at the main check in, in the order in which they checked in on the bus, to keep things fair. Team SteelSports was the fifth team to arrive. They received the instruction sheet for the next leg of the race, which is a trek. Rodney estimated it should take them less than an hour to complete this leg. They had a very fast transition and were one of the first teams out of the TA. It's still slightly chilly, extremely overcast and it drizzles small amounts of rain periodically. The team seems to be doing well, although they got a little sleepy on the 45 minute bus ride back to Pace Bend.

4:15PM: Two, 4-person coed, teams have checked in from the trek leg. From what I've overheard at the front desk, the coordinates for the TA on the passports were wrong. So what they plotted on their map was actually the boat drop, not the TA. Teams are being given a 20 minute time bonus for this error. Still no sign of the team. I did see them about 20 minutes after the left. They passed by the TA looking for points. I overheard Rodney say a couple of times, that he didn't think the TA was plotted correctly. So, turns out he was right, now I just have to believe he will figure it out and they will get all the CPs and back here soon. They are on leg 4-b. Leg 4 has an "a" and "b". I think "a" includes a zip line.

5:35PM: The race directors have decided that teams who have not arrived back from the current trek leg, if they are not strong paddlers, will not be able to complete the race by the cut off time (1:ooAM). From what I understand, the remainder of the race is, a 9 mile (one way) paddle. Along the way, there is a special test, which is repelling. From the special test, they will paddle the remainder of the 9 miles to another bike/trek at MuleShoe Bend. From there, they will paddle 9 miles back to CampTexLake for another bike/trek to finish the race. They have the option to cut the paddle short, and only paddle to the special test and back. The ropes course will be closing when it gets dark. I overheard the race director say the bikes would be transported back to Pace Bend and they were hoping to have all racers finished biking at MuleShoe by 10:00. It appears as though most teams are going to be short coursed as I think there are only about 3-5 teams on the water now.

6:20pm: The zip line is closed. The staff was only reserved until 6:00pm, so Team SteelSports will not do the zip line.

6:35PM: Team SteelSports arrived back at the TA and didn't seem to be in good spirits. They have been "Super Short Coursed" by the race director. They are paddling 3 miles to check point 17 and back and will not get to repel. When they get back from this leg, they will trek/bike...if their bikes are back from MuleShoe.

7:00PM: The race director has left to go pick up bikes, but doesn't anticipate that he will be back for another 3 hours.

So, The Texas Quest Adventure Race was shortened from a 24 hour to a 15 hour race, combining 12 and 24 hour racers into one race. Within the race, there are now 3 categories. A long course, short course and super short course. Five of the 20 teams are long course teams and expected to finish by the 1:00AM cut off time. The Short Course teams paddled to the special test (repel) and back to Pace Bend. Super Short Course teams will paddle to one CP and back. The newer racers who have decided to call it a day, seem to be enjoying the race and are very complementary of the race directors.

I overheard the volunteer at the front desk talking about the 20 minute time bonus that will be given to teams who were not told about the wrong coordinates on the passports. Team SteelSports was not mentioned and when I asked about it, they said they'd have to ask the race director.

7:55PM: Two short course teams have arrived back from the paddle.

8:40PM: Team SteelSports arrived back from the short paddle leg. They were given another trek leg, which Rodney expected to take them an hour and a half if they run, 2 hours to 2 and a half hours otherwise. A few of them were smiling, and others were not. They seem somewhat frustrated with some of the navigation. Rodney will most likely elaborate on this issue in his race report. [Inserted by Rodney: The UTM coordanates were in 1927 datum, but the maps were 1984 Datum. We learned this from another team around 4:30 pm. After we learned this, we were able to find all CPs with less problem.] I left to get them some pizza, at their request, and passed them on the road. They were running...so I'm expecting to see them soon.

10:50PM: The team arrived back at TA, enjoyed some pizza and were off about 20 minutes later. This trek leg was originally supposed to be a bike leg. The bikes are back at CampTexLake, but the race director altered this leg to another trek. There are 3 points, which they plotted easily. The farthest check point was farther than they thought they could do in the remaining time. Their plan is to get the two closest points and decide from there, based on time left, if they want to get the others before heading back to the TA to finish the race.

12:25AM: Team SteelSports completed the race. They got all the checkpoints they were allowed to get. They were still smiling and glad to be finished. Overall, it was a good race for the team. More to come in Rodney's post race report.

I had a good day supporting an awesome team, taking in the scenery and enjoying the atmosphere of adventure racing. Until next time...when I'll be Katrina Skyles : ) ... KT

If you don't have a good time, it's your own dang fault

The Texas Quest Adventure Race is set to begin tomorrow morning at 10:00AM.  At 8:30AM, a bus will transport all teams from Pace Bend Park to Reimers Ranch.  Bikes for all teams were loaded into a trailer this evening and will be dropped at Reimers Ranch in the morning.  Team SteelSports is made up of Rodney, Lesley, Emily Haberman Roe and Steve Durnam.  Steve is new to the team and just met everyone this afternoon.  This will be Emily's second race to do with the team.

The trip to Austin was relatively uneventful.  Rodney and I met Emily at the Cracker Barrel in Tyler.  From there, we met Lesley at the Cracker Barrel in Desoto.  We got caught in some pretty heavy Friday afternoon traffic, but made it to Pace Bend Park, met Steve, set up the TA, checked in and got everyone settled into their cabin.  Lesley, Emily and Steve are bunking at Camp Tex, which is a girl scout camp located within Pace Bend Park.  The cabins are cedar with several bunk beds lining the cabin walls and two round tables at the entrance.   Located at the back of the cabin are two rooms on opposite walls.  One contains two shower stalls, the other two sinks and toilets separated by doors.  They are cozy and quaint.  

Rodney and I brought the travel trailer and are camping at Pace Bend RV Park.  After we left the park, we headed to the RV park to unload the trailer.  The manager helped us find our spot, after she had to walk up the hill to find "Vernon".  The original spot was 13, which I feel is slightly unlucky.  Plus, I'm a big chicken and may have to be alone at the park while they race.  So, we opted for 14, but were unsuccessful with backing the RV into the spot, even with the help of the manager lady.  She ran to get Vernon, who instructed Rodney to "put your front truck bumper right up to that RV in front of you...but don't hit it".  Eventually, with Vernon's help, we backed into spot 15.  We knew Rodney had the trailer straight, and well positioned in the spot, because Vernon yelled "YOU DID IT BROTHA!"  ... "Brotha from anotha Motha!"  Entertaining, to say the least.  When we got out of the truck to finish Vernon told us we were welcome to join him for some dinner, horseshoes and a beautiful lake view and proceeded to say, "Did y'all come here to have a good time?"  "If you don't have a good time, it's your own dang fault!"  (Vernon didn't say "dang", I've added that to be more polite.) He did recommend a local restaurant, Lake Front Cafe, which we tried.  The dinner was delicious and we enjoyed a nice evening on the patio. We finished off our meals with shared carrot cake.  The team is feeling good about this race and are looking forward to the challenge.  

   

Texas Quest 15-Hour Adventure Race - Austin, TX

Team:  Rodney, Lesley, Emily, Steve (recruited for this race)

Track us during the race!  --------------------------------------->

NOTE:  This race has been changed to a 15 hour race, instead of 24-hour.  The 12 and 24 hour courses have been combined, due to low turnout.  Here is a portion of the email notification:

"We haven't taken any elements out of the race just rearranged them a bit to get everything into 15 hours.  "

Race Promoter: Texas Adventure Racing

Location:  Pace Bend Park (Main TA), Reimer's Ranch, Muleshoe Bend Park

Date:  Saturday, April 11, 2009 - Sunday, April 12, 2009

Start Time:  10:00 am on Saturday

Approximate Distances:

• Mountain biking 60 miles
• Trekking 15-20 miles
• Paddling 20+ miles
• Rope work and mystery events

-----------------------------------------------------

I will be using my SPOT tracker, so you can view our position during the race.  

We just received our Pre-race letter.  We will get on a bus at Pace Bend Park and be transported to Reimer's Ranch to start the race at 10 am.  Our bikes will be transported for us.  At Reimer's Ranch, we will be biking and trekking with at least one transition, before we return (I assume on bikes) to Pace Bend to continue the race.

SteelSports 2009 Eco-Lonestar Race Report

*This is one of 3 maps that we used*

Team:  Rodney Skyles, Lesley Conrad, Emily Roe  Support:  Katrina

Eco-Lonestar event page

Race Date: Saturday, March 7, 2009

Race Start: 7:00 am

About:  This was a qualifying race for the 24-hour USARA nationals adventure race in October, 2009.   This was a 3-person race, instead of the normal 4-person, which was actually good for us, because Lesley and I could not find a 3rd person, until race week!  Our other teammates were either unavailable for this weekend, or injured.

Lesley knew Emily and invited her to come along.  Emily had never done an adventure race, but was very willing to give it a try.  She's a triathlete and is doing an iron man this year.

Pre-race:  Katrina and I arrived at the race Transition area and set up around 3:30 pm.  Lesley and Emily arrived a few hours later and we all set up our race gear.

Sleep was a little difficult, because starting out it was pretty muggy.  During the night, there were teams arriving and setting up their TAs, so there was always something going on.

Leg 1:  TREK

The race start was a 100 yard sprint to pick maps and instructions up off the road.  There was a HUGE bottleneck since all team captains were picking up these items from two piles.  One team came back saying they ran out of maps.  Oops!

We plotted the two points on the map and took off running down the road.  We were in the top 25% of teams as we turned off the road onto a logging road.  We took the logging road just short of the trail that the point was on to save some time.  It worked and we briefly jumped a head of three or four teams.

The clue for CP 1 was "Bridge".  As teams arrived at the bridge, there was a CP marker, but no punch.  Someone was there saying THAT was not THE CP, so teams began looking around.  I told Lesley and Emily that the CP was just East of where the bridge/trail crossed the creek, so we went down the trail a little ways.  Team Werewolves were close behind.  We all started looking where the trail headed East, after the bridge and then crossed the creek again.  No luck.  After about five minutes, I followed the creek back toward the bridge and BOOM.  Found it.  Tom Lane from Werewolves was right behind.  Off we go to CP 2.

Now here is where I made a rookie, navigation mistake.  Growing up, I have always defaulted to "muscling" through competition, instead of using my head.  I've gotten better as I've aged, but it's still a problem sometimes.  I think my dad can still beat me at basketball, because of the relaxed "touch" it takes to shoot.

For those who don't know, Navigating is a skill, just like any other discipline (mountain biking, paddling, etc.)  The more you do it, the better you get at it.   I haven't adventure raced much in the past few years due to money, time and injury, so I'm a little out of practice.  Usually Justin is racing with us.  I have a habit of planning the route and then quickly showing Justin what I am thinking.  He's a good navigator, so he will concur or let me know what he thinks.  Regardless, it's a quick double-check for me to make sure it's the best route.  Justin was directing another race on Sunday, so my normal routine was off.

In the heat of competition, there were now a lot of teams around us, I quickly decided to follow the creek to the next CP, since it went right to it.  Well, we tried to do this, but instead of heading East, we ended up going SOUTH.  We spent about an hour going in a circle (or two) back to CP 1.  From there, I did what I should have done before, which was actually look at my compass and head EAST to the CP2.  When we did this, we quickly found a HUGE, Wide trail that pretty much led directly to the CP on the bridge.  UGH!

We ran all the way back to TA.  Katrina let us know that Vignette was an hour ahead and Werewolves were a couple of minutes behind them.  We blew an hour on an easy CP.  SORRY!

Leg 2:  PADDLE 

I sold my Kayak after competing in the Epic last year, so Lesley borrowed Justin's boat and a solo Daggar whitewater kayak for this race.  We had to portage our boats about 300 meters to the water and start an 8 mile, open-lake paddle.   

I started out in the whitewater kayak.  It was a tight fit, but I was able to squeeze in there, with a shoehorn and some butter.  I was able to keep it in a relatively straight line, as long as I was paddling, but if I stopped, I would immediately do a 180 and face backwards (not sure why).After being the LAST team back from leg 1, we passed a couple of teams in transition, but they quickly passed us within the first quarter mile of the paddle (PB & J and Tom McMillan's team).

After about 30 minutes of paddling, Lesley volunteered to trade with me.  I pried myself out of the kayak and jumped in the big, roomy, tank that Justin calls a boat ( ;-P  just kidding ... kind of ).

Lesely paddled the remaining 6+ miles in the whitewater kayak.  It was still slow, but she is TOUGH!  I owe her a pizza or something.  Maybe I'll build her a cake.

We found CP 3 at the end of the lake with no problem and started heading back North for CP 4.   To our surprise, there were tons of boats on the shore at CP 4.  Mystery event!  We had to look at a map and memorize our location and the location of another CP.  As we arrived at each CP, there would be another map with our current location and the location of another CP.  There were three CPs on this trekking leg (CPs A, B and C).  With a ton of bushwhacking, we found each CP with very little problem.  We came back to our boats and noticed there were two or three other teams' boats still on the shore.  Bobby (volunteer) asked if we found all the CPs, we said, 'yes'.  He told us not to judge our position by the boats on the beach, because many teams did not find all of the CPs.  COOL!  A little encouragement after a poor race start!

So, we jumped back in the boats for the remaining 3+ miles back to the TA.  We did not get passed on the way back, so I guess we maintained our position, but our time was still slow.

Leg 3:  Mountain Bike

Glad to be off the water, we quickly transitioned to the mountain bike leg.  Lesley called out UTMs (very well, I might add), as I plotted and Katrina took care of me, as usual, by filling my water pack, providing food/fruit.  She rocks!

Oh, yeah, as a side note, Katrina said that our transitions were faster than she has ever seen them.  I was racing with two women, so that ruins the stereotype that women take longer than men to get ready (ZING!  Chris and Justin!)  

Anyway, this mountain bike leg would rely heavily on route selection for speed.  In spite of my nav error on CP 2, I was feeling pretty confident about our ability to navigate.  Most of the eight CPs on this leg were off trail.  I only remember #13 being on trail, so....

We made a number of route choices that saved a ton of time.  One was a risky choice that did not pay off and ended up requiring a little bushwhacking and fence jumping, but we did not really lose time.  Plus we knew it was a "risk" when we tried it.   :-D

The mountain bike leg required teams to bike on "multi-use" trails.  We saw a number of motorcross bikes tearing it up through the sand.  YES SAND!  Imagine the sandiest sectoins of Tyler State park.  Multiply that times 10 and have it go on for 100 yards.  Fun times!  Oh, by the way, Emily recently purchased her first mountain bike.  As we started the sand slog, Emily had her first wreck!  Congratulations, Emily!  ;-P

We passed a number of teams on this section.  Especially on CP 12, we bushwhacked through some gnarly briars.  There were three of us teams that went into the woods around the same time.  We found the CP and jumped back on our bikes and headed to CP 13.  As we passed the area all us teams jumped into the woods, there was Nancy Bills' team and a couple of other teams on the bridge looking at their maps and asked if we had found the CP.  I said, "Yes, but I'm hungry and need to find a pizza!"    Keep the jokes coming, is my motto!  But seriously, I was hungry ... didn't eat or drink enough.

We biked quickly back to the TA and got instructions for the last leg.

Leg 4:  Rogaine Trek

There were 6 points (plus a punch at the TA) on this leg.  We had to get as many as we could and be back by 7 pm (although this seemed to have changed by the time we got back, due to the late start).  We quickly transitioned again.  We had about an hour to get CPs and get back.  

The first CP to try was about a mile away.  We found the CP 16 with no problem, after a little bushwhacking.  We still had some time, so I thought we would try to pick up CP 18 and maybe stab at 17, depending on the time.  It started getting dark and rain a little.  CP 18 was a little under a mile away from 16.  It was getting dark and hard to see the terrain features, but we quickly started off the trail to look for 18.  In retrospect, I know that we were about 200 meters short of where we should have jumped off the trail to bushwhack.  Oh well, we need to get back by 7 pm (we thought), so we headed back.

We made it back to the TA around 6:40 pm.  The race started at 7:15 am, but Scott the race director said the cutoff was still 7 pm.  The race clock still showed 40 minutes left to race when we got back.

We found a race volunteer and asked what we needed to do.  We saw teams doing a special test.  She said, "If you didn't find all the CPs on the last leg, it doesn't really matter".  She scanned our bar code that recorded our finish time.  We talked to another volunteer and told them we want to do the special test, if it's part of the race.  We did that.  The race end was a bit chaotic.  We did not get five (5) of the CPs on the last leg, but got all of others (skipped 17 - 21 due to time) you can see on the map.

Finally:

Overall, the course was laid out very well and I really enjoyed the nav challenge.  I was not crazy about the sand, but that's part of it.  I'm looking forward to seeing split times of the other teams, because I think, the only "bad" parts of the race we had were my mess up on CP 2 and the paddle (of course).

This was Emily's first adventure race, but you would not have known it, by the way she raced.  She was fast, strong and positive.   She was a great teammate and I'm looking forward to racing with her again.  Lesley was strong, as usual, and showed that she is a well-rounded adventure racer.  I love her "can do" attitude too.

Even though we didn't achieve our objective for this race, it was still a good learning and training experience.  I do think we have the strongest, fastest team of core racers that I have ever raced with.  We just need to improve our paddle legs (working on that now) and keep reducing the nav errors, which I am more confident than ever we (and by "we" I mean my bonehead mistakes) can do.

When we finished the race, Katrina had most of the camp put up and ready to go!  I felt so bad, because I thought we would finish the race earlier and be ready to head back home.  Most of the people we know at races were not there, so Katrina was pretty much by herself most of the day.  I owe you BIG TIME!

Thank you, so much, to Katrina for feeding, packing, cooking, loving, caring for me/us while we race.  I love you!

I'M READY FOR THE NEXT ONE!

2009 Eco-Lonestar Results

• 15 of 28 Overall  (This is bad, but considering we were dead last after the 1st Trek and then we lost time on paddle, this isn't THAT bad.  I think we could have placed 5th or 6th overall with a faster boat.  That is with keeping the mess up on CP 2).
  

• 12 of 18 in Division
  

Lake Bryan Sprint Race - Bryan, Texas

Team Members: Dusty Williams & Lesley Conrad

Race Distances: 7-10mi mtn bike, 5-8mi trekking, 4-5mi kayaking

We took Dusty's dad's RV bus down to Lake Bryan, so our sleeping accomodations were quite luxurious. With 30mi wind gusts and Texas A&M kids partying next door, my sleeping was restless, but enough nonetheless.

Lake Bryan is horseshoe shaped with the campground located on a wiggly mushroom-shaped island in the center, connecting the north and south ends of the lake. TA was located here as well. See map above.

At 6am we all awoke to the dripping and smells of freshly brewed coffee. We gathered our gear and headed down to to set up our TA. Cold and windy! We gathered our maps and passports from the race directors and with freezing fingers we plotted CPs 4-6 and 10-13 with clues. The leg instructions and the rest of the CPs would be handed to us along the way. Leg one was handed out and as final questions were asked to the race directors, we received one last "clue." Due to the high winds, we were given the option of biking, trekking, or paddling to CP 3, which was located on the northwest side of the lake. I think they felt sorry for us. As Team Steelsports and fellow Team Slow n' Steady aka "Grand Masters" (Teresa White and Mike Williams) hundled behind a stone pillar to block the wind gusts, we eagerly awaited the opening of out first leg sheet with countdown to race start.

At 9am race start, Leg 1 read "CPs 1-3 can be obtained in any order. CP 1 trek, CP 2 bike, and CP 3 bike/trek/paddle. As many teams headed off running to CP1, Dusty and I quickly decided that biking to CP3, then biking up CP2 and catching CP1 on the way back to TA would be best. We headed out on our bikes to CP3 on the levee of the West Loop Trails with 30mi gusts to our right side. We swapped sides to block the wind and save our legs. About 2 miles out, we dropped our bikes and headed to the backside of an island to pick up CP3. We hopped back on our bikes and headed to the East Loop Trails to find CP 2 located on a pier passing by many teams on our way. This time winds were fiercely blowing to our left. At times, I thought we weren't even moving. Dusty waited as I biked out on to the pier to pick up CP2. CP1 was located back near TA, and since it was a trekking leg, we debated the idea of dropping our bikes at TA and trekking back out to CP1 or just dropping our bikes on the road as we headed back and trekking out to CP1. We decided the later as we noticed a team in front of us had the same idea. Good thing. I think we saved a few minutes.

We made it back to TA in just 39 minutes, well ahead of many teams. Leg 2 for CPs 4-6 could be obtained in any order, all by paddle (and quite a bit of portage as we later discovered). With wind being a huge factor in maneuvering the lake, Dusty and I chose to get CPs in the 4-6 order to avoid a big windy section. We pushed off the beach and headed straight into the wind for several hundred feet before we could turn south and round the bottom end of the horseshoe to reach CP4. Waves were crashing over the edge, soaking Dusty and I. We saw a team with a sit-on-top kayak flip over and hopelessly try to get back on. No such luck. We were hoping we wouldn't follow suit. However, we succesfully rounded the bend and found CP5 at a canal intersection without much trouble. We headed back in the wind toward CP6, seeing Mike and Teresa emptying their kayak on the shore. We snagged CP6 and headed back to TA with the wind to our backs.

Leg 3 was mtn biking again for CP 7-9, the doggy dash challenge, and as we later discovered the bonus CP for a (one) free beer! We came to the doggy dash challenge first. We looped our wrists through a foot long rope and headed over, over, over, straight-up, up-and-down, balancing along, and then through (or in my case...dragged) each obstacle before grabbing CP 7. Back on the bikes through the West Loop trails to find CP's 8 and 9...easily found right on the trail. We made it back to TA with no issues, picking up the last leg - trekking.

Leg 4 for CP's 10-13. We decided to take the longest trek to CP 12 on the northeast corner of the lake first, then pick up the final 3 CP's on the way back to TA. Rather than taking the windy trek on the East Loop levee, we took a risk and headed straight through the middle island, hoping over some fence property lines along the way. Seemed pretty quick. As we later discovered, most if not all teams stuck to the levee. We then headed for CP 13 and 11 located just of the levee with some bushwacking along the trials. These points were probably the hardest to find based on the lay of the land, but we persevered and found them with little time lost. CP 10 was at the restaurant "icehouse," and another challenge. Dusty and I had to string tiny necklace beads on to some fishing line until we reached about 8 inches. We saw another coed team next to us, but they we're well into stringing. It took about 5 minutes to complete. We raced back to TA for the finish.

We placed 3rd overall in the coed division with a time of 3:43, just 19 minutes behind Werewolves and 25 minutes behind Outcast. Not so bad! We won some poison ivy scrub and ultimate direction waterbottles! A great race all around.

Check out the race website and at http://www.toocoolracing.com/springsprint.html and pictures at http://bobcat13.smugmug.com/Too%20Cool%20Racing%20Adventure%20Races/727365. See if you can find out which teammate relaxed in the kayak as the other wet her (oops...gave it away) feet as she hauled teammate + kayak ashore :)

Big Chill Race Report by:JDog

“We are going to milk it for all it’s worth,” I kept saying after every mistake or misfortunate we ran into or plunged upon ourselves. We were four hours into the paddle when the pain began to arise from our arms and back on the paddle leg of this race. At this point we were about six hours and forty five minutes into the entire race; a race that would prove to conquer us and drive us back to our wits faster than a horse running back to the barn.

Race starts at 10am sharp with the sound of the female race director bellowing through the megaphone. She warns us to pack enough food to last 15 hours so we know this first leg is going to be a monster. The morning is a crisp cool morning with gusts of wind reaching well over 30mph and producing a bone chilling wind chill factor on any exposed skin. She begins by giving us an envelope with our first set of directions inside. We stand there with our teams of four waiting in anticipation for the horn to blow. The count down begins and race is on. Each team shreds through their envelope to discover the start of the course. In the envelope there are Bastrop City Maps, Tourist Guides, and tourist maps, with one clue on the place we need to go to get our next clue. This type of start is fun in adventure racing because you have to think quick and get there before everyone else. If not there could be a bottle neck at any special test the director might throw at you. All at once like a wild buffalo stampede each team is off in the same direction to make it to the next clue. At this clue we have to catch a goat in an arena and bring it to the volunteer in the middle. So without even thinking about it I jumped the pipe fence and took off to catch a kid. This was easy because I just corned the goat herd as other racers frolicked after them aimlessly. Now for the next clue; we had to find the opera house and take 4 canned goods. Then, we had to complete a puzzle for the next clue. This section of the course took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes because we were not able to run due to an injured teammate. It wasn’t that big of deal that we couldn’t run because after all this was a 24 hour race and we needed to conserve as much energy as possible. So we raced for all the clues and locations in town so that we could advance to the next leg. The last part of this leg we received our large water proof topo maps, the first two legs of the race, and the coordinates to go with them.

The next leg is the paddle leg. We launched our two kayaks at about 11:45am Saturday morning. We paddled down stream in on the Colorado River for about 20+ miles. This is where most of our problems began. We started out ok and feeling pretty good. We only had 3 check points to find on this leg but they are really far apart and when I say far apart I mean about 2-2.5 hours apart. Crazy! Our paddling vessles were not the right equipment for a race of this distance. One kayak weighed about 95lbs and the other about 70lbs with beams of about 32inches wide. That’s huge for a paddle this long. The more weight you have and the wider the beam the more drag you have. The more drag you have the more work you do and the more work you do the more pain you feel. Our kayaks were our remedy for being miserable on the water. At CP2 on the water we did have to get out of the boats and go find 4 quick points that had special letters on them that we had to spell and bring back to the boat docking area at the CP. The word we had to spell was duet. This was good to do because it warmed our bodies and gave our shoulders a much needed rest.

Now it’s off to CP3 of the paddle. The end is in sight, or is it? The map that we had used a datum of like 1983; so what that means is that the map hasn’t been updated since 1983. As we get closer to our final paddle CP we know to look for a bridge that crosses over the river. You can’t miss it, it is an obvious bridge. Finally we see it, but something isn’t quite right, it is way too close to a power just north of the bridge, but I don’t think anything of it and begin to paddle stronger to reach the bridge. About this time it is getting dark and it’s time to break the glow sticks and bring out the headlamps. Come to find out the area, Smithville, had added a new loop and that first bridge that we saw was the loop bridge. Talk about depressing! So here we are in a miserable situation with our 95 lb kayak that I am ready to sink at this point and still not there yet. This leg ended up taking us about 7 hours. But to our surprise at the end of this paddle were to angels waiting on us cheering us on. These two angelic, shadows gleaming in the dark where next to CP3. They were Katrina and Diana our support crew, two of our spouses. We could not have gone as far as we did without them. We love you guys!!! Your support for us kept us going and we needed it!

It’s dark now and we land our kayaks and start getting ready for the bike leg of the event. At first we aren’t quite sure where we are but we quickly figure it out. The reason for not knowing exactly where we were was because the CP coordinates for CP3 the directors gave us were wrong.(COME TO FIND OUT THEY WERE RIGHT ON, sorry to blame the race director, it was us again) We still have CP4 and CP5 to get in this first leg but we get them on the bike. The bad part about this is we remember that for the second leg, the bike leg, the directions say NO TRAVEL ON HWY 71 IS PERMITTED. So because we are on the bikes we automatically, without looking at the stupid clue sheet, conclude that we can’t travel on Hwy 71 to CP4 and CP5, so the road we need to get us to CP4 must be in this parking lot. Right? Wrong! We wheeled around the stupid area at night looking for this stupid road that doesn’t exist thinking it has to be there because we can’t travel on 71. We decide we will just get in the grass beside 71 and if we get disqualified then oh well! So we start out doing that, but being the good, rule abiding racers that we are we feel guilty and decide to turn back around one more time just to double check. The grass was a HUGE mistake. We ended up getting three flat tires on our bikes. Lesley, Chris and Rodney all got flats at the SAME time. To top it off our brainless CO2 would not work correctly and it wouldn’t completely fill a tire up. And guess what, none of us brought a mini hand pump so we were OUT of air. We were just about to give up when another team came to our rescue with a mini hand pump. So we aired up our tires and headed for 71. This time we said forget it, we are getting on 71 whether or not it is allowed. So we did that and then I had a brain flash. Duhhhh!! the clue for leg one didn’t say anything about not traveling on 71 just for leg 2 you couldn’t travel on 71. And we were still on leg 1. AHHHHHHH its times like that, that make me want to scream and yell like I did when my brothers would shoot my GI Joe men into orbit with bottle rockets. I was mad, not at the race directors, but at myself.

So now we are off to Rocky Hill ranch where there is superb single track bike trails. We have several points to get here at night then we are headed back to the transition area. I went ahead and transferred the approximate location of the CPs from the topo map to the Rocky Hill Ranch trail map so that it wasn’t a total guessing game with the location of the CP and which trail we should take to get there. This proved to be a success. We struggled with some points but for the most part found everything without any problem. Good job Rodo! Once we found all the CPs it was off to the TA, then suddenly cccsssshhhhh…. We have another flat tire! And no air to fix it with. So I get my phone out and call Diana, “Hey we just had another flat and can’t fix it so we are going to drop out, wait what’s that I think I see a light in the distance. Let me call you back later we might still be in this.” Team 118 pulls up and offers some assistance and loans us a co2 pump and some co2, awesome! We fix the tire and we are off again. We travel on park road 10 I think or it maybe park road 1. I didn’t have the map at this point so I don’t remember exactly. This road is long hilly and brutal. Towards the end Rodney is shot but, Chris is feeling good because this is his strong point. Lesley is hanging on with Chris because she just finished an Ironman and is in excellent shape. I’m just trying to hang on and so is Rodney. About 2 miles before the TA my front tire goes flat so I decide to just roll down the down hills and walk the up hills. This worked and we finally made it back.

We checked in and we had to put together a puzzle that was a map of Bastrop State Park. On that puzzle map there were four CPs that we had to transfer to another map and then trek/run to those CPs. Before we got those CPs Katrina had the best meal of our lives waiting for us. It was exactly what kept us going, it’s what helped us “milk it for all its worth.” Diana was there giving support to us also and the good Lord knows I couldn’t have made it without her. So now we are off to get the CPs. We make several mistakes here but like I said, at this point “we are going to milk it for all it’s worth.” And that we did! Up to this point we had gotten all the CPs and were going strong but running out of time.

We make it back in and the director gives us the wrong sheet, she gave us the final leg sheet and I thought we actually might have a chance when she did that, but she raced back to me to get it from me and give me the right leg. Another mountain bike leg! WE decide to give up getting all the CPs and just get the closest one which ends up being the ropes course CP. We do that and come straight back hoping that we can get at least one CP from the next leg so that we can be officially ranked.

She gives us the last leg sheet and we only have 1hour and 30 minutes to finish. We plot the closest point and….. You guessed it too far away. So at this point we realize, in utter disappointment that we are not going to be ranked. It would have taken us 2.5 hours to get the closest CP on the last leg. Oh well…

We learned a lot during the course of this race. I realized even more so that I really do need a new kayak if I’m going to race that distance again. Chris learned that 24’s just aren’t his cup of tea and right now I wouldn’t disagree with him myself. But I’m young and dumb and want some more. Lesley is a great racing partner because she is strong and offers good advice. She also isn’t afraid to speak up amongst a bunch of guys. Rodney is always fun to race with as well. We normally do a really good job of navigating together. This race we just didn’t have it. Maybe next time…

We had fun, but what killed us was poor equipment, direction misinterpretation, a bad decision making, but what kept us going was each other and that is what this sports all about.

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.