Training Log Archive: cfosp1In the 7 days ending Apr 5, 2014:
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Saturday Apr 5, 2014 #
12 PM
Adventure Racing 9:26:59 96.93 km (5:51 / km) +1302m 5:29 / km
ahr:133 max:168 shoes: Good Loaner Bike
With the first communication I got from the YogaSlackers came this sentence: "Dan and I are determined to see the Durable Man show you how it's done!" Hmm, a lot to prove and to live up to. But as Pierre de Coubertin said after founding the Olympic Committee, "The most important thing is not to win but to take part," which is also my motto for any of the sporting events I participate in.
In the morning, starting with a great oatmeal breakfast we loaded up on race food. Jason, Chelsey and Stephen shared their practice of ultra-long distance nutrition. Then we picked up the bikes at Pine Mountain Sports. My ride turned out to be a nicely appointed Trek Fuel EX 29er.
When we returned with the bikes, all teams had arrived and everybody was busy readying their gear. Pre-race talk included instructions on out of bounds road sections, notably China Hat Rd and US97. Dan explained how to use the smart phone app he had created to check in at the controls. Sounds like something I'll want to leverage for O training!
Then it was off, starting at Dan's driveway, with son James and Dan (who was not to help with navigation because of his intimate knowledge of the terrain). First an O leg, which was mostly easy navigation. One questionable CP was a trail junction of trails that were not on the map. There were a few minor bugs with the app, too. It became easier to check off the CPs when we figured out that we had to wait for the location to refresh. James was suffering a bit, not being used to much running.
We made it back to Jason and Chelsey's and transferred the CPs from the master to our map. Off we were. I made a navigation error approaching CP 9 due to poor map reading, crossing from Ferguson Rd onto a dirt trail which lost itself in the sage brush. I guess we could have bush-whacked but after consultation we decided to return to the road on go around. I overshot the turn-off but then we made it. Next CP was Horse Butte. Easy to navigate to but from where to attack? We hid the bikes under a tree and hiked up along the SE spur. Pretty easy going but an effort. A gorgeous view from the top. On the way down we encountered Team GearJunkie, who had started with a 45' handicap. Strong team! Over the hellos I started down in a slightly off direction and was glad when Dan gave me a nudge. Finding the bikes in the woods was not as easy, I had taken some general bearings but not enough close-up markers. I always doubted myself but in the end end we we found them without any searching.
From the top of Horse Butte I had upon a recommendation from Dan scouted out the start for the next leg. We hid a single track trail that we would be on for most of the way east of China Hat Rd. Team GearJunkie caught up with us before CP 11. We picked off CPs 11, 12, 13 and 14 in quick succession. 11 and 12 were switchbacks on the trail, not too difficult to find because of their orientation and uniqueness. 13 and 14 were caves, very fun to have a spelunking leg! Growing up in Belgium we had tons of limestone caves around, those here were of an altogether different nature. The first one, Skeleton Cave, was nothing special. Climbed down the stairs into a sink hole, took a short walk to the "bedroom" reverse and continue. When we arrived at Boyd Cave we met Team GearJunkie again, an indication for what was awaiting us. Dan took his bike down because he didn't want to leave it unattended. James and I followed suit. Then it was a 15+ minute walk, clamber and crawl (on hands and knees and on our stomachs) to get to the end. James was faltering by this time and was sent back to wait at the entrance.
As we got going again it became clear that James couldn't continue. He was spent. With no specific training and hardly any physical exercise I was surprised that he lasted as long as he did. We started moving towards CP14, Bessie Butte. The trails were confusing; shell casings and shots in fairly close proximity weren't exactly confidence inspiring. We got back to China Hat Road and James decided that this would be a good spot to split. Dan's wife Devin was available to do an extraction so we left James by the road side, waiting for her.
After dropping James, we rode past a car that contained an elderly lady who had furiously waved at us a few minutes earlier. She seemed asleep. A few steps away from the car her husband let go from a side arm. The entire area was strewn with shell casings and targets, like bullet-riddled propane containers. OK, I am certainly not gun shy but folks, at least clean up after yourselves. I'd also be more than a little worried about eating lead-contaminated venison from here. We eventually hit the trail paralleling China Hat Rd and were quickly at Bessie Butte. En route I had failed to stash my compass and was holding it in hand in addition to the map. Whilst trying to stash it I dropped it and reflexively hit the brakes a little too aggressively. I was treated to experiencing the difference between rim and disk brakes: I went over the handlebars. Two things saved me: the SPD pedals were set to a gentle grip and the ground was not volcanic rocks. Thus I grabbed the compass, dusted myself off and rode on.
Bessie Butte was another cone-shaped hill. Taller than Horse Butte but it had a ridable trail. I almost made it to the top but parked my bike with about 50 m to climb. I reached the top only a minute or so after Dan, who had pedalled on. After checking in, we continued, I the way I had come up, to retrieve my bike, and he on a more direct trail that he had noticed. I connected with him before we got to the bottom, he had never found the trail he had seen on the way up.
Our departure from Bessie Butte started what I perceived to be the hardest leg of the race. We headed NW towards China Hat Rd, planning to take another forest road heading parallel. We never found it. At China Hat, we made had a difficult decision to make: go back to Bessie Butte and head W along its south side or cheat and take 500 m of China Hat. In the end I decided to take China Hat. It was that or dropping additional controls later on to beat darkness. Another decision we had to make whether we'd follow one of two straight line trails intersecting the one we were riding. We did try the first one, a power line but returned, the road going along was lose sand, nasty stuff. We continued to the next line a buried pipeline. Much better, rocky and mostly firm. Not to say it was easy. You could see it ascend to the horizon. Starting at a gentle climb, it seemed to get steeper in the distance.
And so it was. We did make it to CP16 at Lava River Cave eventually. No entering here, a sign forbade entrance due to hibernating bats. Who can argue with that.
While Lava River Cave constituted the farthest distance from start and finish, it was also well over half of the total distance. Never the less, we needed to cut some CPs to make it to the finish not too long after nightfall. After a quick consultation of the map we decided to cut 18, 19, 22 and possibly 24. 17 was kind of interesting. Riding along a black-topped very narrow and steep interpretive path near Lava Lands Visitor Center we checked off 17. From here, we had the option to take FR 9702 or Blackrock Trail. I suggested the trail since we were cutting some controls and I wanted to get some more sightseeing in. At one point Dan pointed to some treetops across the lava field and asked "are you sure you don't want to take CP 18?" I said "nah." A few minutes later, he turned to me again with a grin, pointing at some bike tracks that went straight into the lava field and said "I think we can get it." We followed the track straight through the trees and sure enough, within a few minutes we were just an easy jog a way from the CP. After this was accomplished we easily headed for 20. Dan checked it from the road but it was actually on the cliff top. He asked me if we should continue but. Since we had checked it off, I suggested we needed to get to the top. Nice little climb and a steep descent.
We did skip 19 and 22 and almost missed 21. There were some hikers with dogs with whom we exchanged a few words and then we were chatting. Lack of concentration. We flew right by 21 and had to backtrack a couple of ks. We checked it off right when Team Gearjunkie was there, too. They had done 19 and were headed for 20. 23 was easy and we skipped 24, followed by some fast road distance. Back into the valley for the Natural Bridge, CP 25. I would not have recognized it as such. That was followed by some pretty technical stretches of mountain biking (for me at least). One very steep climb on a trail on which Dan had said he'd taken his mom. I would have liked anyone see climb this hill without getting off the bike. Even Dan dismounted. On top, we were rewarded with being able to check off CP 25, exchanging some greetings with a few guys who were just getting a camp fire going. And here we were, approaching CP 27, our last trail-side control. We caught up with another team and rode into town with them, grabbing our last control on the way.
Arriving at the brewery, I took on the final task, downing a pint of ale, which I did manage a couple of minutes before the other team. Food and drink and comparing notes took care of the rest of the evening. Great day and a good learning experience on oh so many levels.
In the morning, starting with a great oatmeal breakfast we loaded up on race food. Jason, Chelsey and Stephen shared their practice of ultra-long distance nutrition. Then we picked up the bikes at Pine Mountain Sports. My ride turned out to be a nicely appointed Trek Fuel EX 29er.
When we returned with the bikes, all teams had arrived and everybody was busy readying their gear. Pre-race talk included instructions on out of bounds road sections, notably China Hat Rd and US97. Dan explained how to use the smart phone app he had created to check in at the controls. Sounds like something I'll want to leverage for O training!
Then it was off, starting at Dan's driveway, with son James and Dan (who was not to help with navigation because of his intimate knowledge of the terrain). First an O leg, which was mostly easy navigation. One questionable CP was a trail junction of trails that were not on the map. There were a few minor bugs with the app, too. It became easier to check off the CPs when we figured out that we had to wait for the location to refresh. James was suffering a bit, not being used to much running.
We made it back to Jason and Chelsey's and transferred the CPs from the master to our map. Off we were. I made a navigation error approaching CP 9 due to poor map reading, crossing from Ferguson Rd onto a dirt trail which lost itself in the sage brush. I guess we could have bush-whacked but after consultation we decided to return to the road on go around. I overshot the turn-off but then we made it. Next CP was Horse Butte. Easy to navigate to but from where to attack? We hid the bikes under a tree and hiked up along the SE spur. Pretty easy going but an effort. A gorgeous view from the top. On the way down we encountered Team GearJunkie, who had started with a 45' handicap. Strong team! Over the hellos I started down in a slightly off direction and was glad when Dan gave me a nudge. Finding the bikes in the woods was not as easy, I had taken some general bearings but not enough close-up markers. I always doubted myself but in the end end we we found them without any searching.
From the top of Horse Butte I had upon a recommendation from Dan scouted out the start for the next leg. We hid a single track trail that we would be on for most of the way east of China Hat Rd. Team GearJunkie caught up with us before CP 11. We picked off CPs 11, 12, 13 and 14 in quick succession. 11 and 12 were switchbacks on the trail, not too difficult to find because of their orientation and uniqueness. 13 and 14 were caves, very fun to have a spelunking leg! Growing up in Belgium we had tons of limestone caves around, those here were of an altogether different nature. The first one, Skeleton Cave, was nothing special. Climbed down the stairs into a sink hole, took a short walk to the "bedroom" reverse and continue. When we arrived at Boyd Cave we met Team GearJunkie again, an indication for what was awaiting us. Dan took his bike down because he didn't want to leave it unattended. James and I followed suit. Then it was a 15+ minute walk, clamber and crawl (on hands and knees and on our stomachs) to get to the end. James was faltering by this time and was sent back to wait at the entrance.
As we got going again it became clear that James couldn't continue. He was spent. With no specific training and hardly any physical exercise I was surprised that he lasted as long as he did. We started moving towards CP14, Bessie Butte. The trails were confusing; shell casings and shots in fairly close proximity weren't exactly confidence inspiring. We got back to China Hat Road and James decided that this would be a good spot to split. Dan's wife Devin was available to do an extraction so we left James by the road side, waiting for her.
After dropping James, we rode past a car that contained an elderly lady who had furiously waved at us a few minutes earlier. She seemed asleep. A few steps away from the car her husband let go from a side arm. The entire area was strewn with shell casings and targets, like bullet-riddled propane containers. OK, I am certainly not gun shy but folks, at least clean up after yourselves. I'd also be more than a little worried about eating lead-contaminated venison from here. We eventually hit the trail paralleling China Hat Rd and were quickly at Bessie Butte. En route I had failed to stash my compass and was holding it in hand in addition to the map. Whilst trying to stash it I dropped it and reflexively hit the brakes a little too aggressively. I was treated to experiencing the difference between rim and disk brakes: I went over the handlebars. Two things saved me: the SPD pedals were set to a gentle grip and the ground was not volcanic rocks. Thus I grabbed the compass, dusted myself off and rode on.
Bessie Butte was another cone-shaped hill. Taller than Horse Butte but it had a ridable trail. I almost made it to the top but parked my bike with about 50 m to climb. I reached the top only a minute or so after Dan, who had pedalled on. After checking in, we continued, I the way I had come up, to retrieve my bike, and he on a more direct trail that he had noticed. I connected with him before we got to the bottom, he had never found the trail he had seen on the way up.
Our departure from Bessie Butte started what I perceived to be the hardest leg of the race. We headed NW towards China Hat Rd, planning to take another forest road heading parallel. We never found it. At China Hat, we made had a difficult decision to make: go back to Bessie Butte and head W along its south side or cheat and take 500 m of China Hat. In the end I decided to take China Hat. It was that or dropping additional controls later on to beat darkness. Another decision we had to make whether we'd follow one of two straight line trails intersecting the one we were riding. We did try the first one, a power line but returned, the road going along was lose sand, nasty stuff. We continued to the next line a buried pipeline. Much better, rocky and mostly firm. Not to say it was easy. You could see it ascend to the horizon. Starting at a gentle climb, it seemed to get steeper in the distance.
And so it was. We did make it to CP16 at Lava River Cave eventually. No entering here, a sign forbade entrance due to hibernating bats. Who can argue with that.
While Lava River Cave constituted the farthest distance from start and finish, it was also well over half of the total distance. Never the less, we needed to cut some CPs to make it to the finish not too long after nightfall. After a quick consultation of the map we decided to cut 18, 19, 22 and possibly 24. 17 was kind of interesting. Riding along a black-topped very narrow and steep interpretive path near Lava Lands Visitor Center we checked off 17. From here, we had the option to take FR 9702 or Blackrock Trail. I suggested the trail since we were cutting some controls and I wanted to get some more sightseeing in. At one point Dan pointed to some treetops across the lava field and asked "are you sure you don't want to take CP 18?" I said "nah." A few minutes later, he turned to me again with a grin, pointing at some bike tracks that went straight into the lava field and said "I think we can get it." We followed the track straight through the trees and sure enough, within a few minutes we were just an easy jog a way from the CP. After this was accomplished we easily headed for 20. Dan checked it from the road but it was actually on the cliff top. He asked me if we should continue but. Since we had checked it off, I suggested we needed to get to the top. Nice little climb and a steep descent.
We did skip 19 and 22 and almost missed 21. There were some hikers with dogs with whom we exchanged a few words and then we were chatting. Lack of concentration. We flew right by 21 and had to backtrack a couple of ks. We checked it off right when Team Gearjunkie was there, too. They had done 19 and were headed for 20. 23 was easy and we skipped 24, followed by some fast road distance. Back into the valley for the Natural Bridge, CP 25. I would not have recognized it as such. That was followed by some pretty technical stretches of mountain biking (for me at least). One very steep climb on a trail on which Dan had said he'd taken his mom. I would have liked anyone see climb this hill without getting off the bike. Even Dan dismounted. On top, we were rewarded with being able to check off CP 25, exchanging some greetings with a few guys who were just getting a camp fire going. And here we were, approaching CP 27, our last trail-side control. We caught up with another team and rode into town with them, grabbing our last control on the way.
Arriving at the brewery, I took on the final task, downing a pint of ale, which I did manage a couple of minutes before the other team. Food and drink and comparing notes took care of the rest of the evening. Great day and a good learning experience on oh so many levels.
Friday Apr 4, 2014 #
Note
Today the GearJunkie, my son James and I are leaving for Bend, OR to claim the CORDURA/GearJunkie Durable Person prize! The YogaSlackers have put together an 8 hr AR for tomorrow, a bunch of their friends are joining in. Climbing and slacklining on Sunday. Super excited to get out there! Just finished shoveling around the house, pretty much all systems on go!
Thursday Apr 3, 2014 #
6 AM
Strength: Flexibility 9:23 [1]
ahr:99 max:105
Just stretching.
Running 18:41 3.69 km (5:04 / km) +27m 4:53 / km
ahr:154 max:166 shoes: Nike Air Pegasus+ 29 Trail WR
Quick jog, no rain or snow yet! No gloves!
Wednesday Apr 2, 2014 #
6 AM
Biking Commuting 42:57 18.04 km (2:23 / km) +59m 2:21 / km
ahr:137 max:154 shoes: All-City Space Horse
Great ride for a first time out! A little chilly for my feet but that's ok. Tackled Snelling Ave taking off behind a bus. Unbelievable how much dust in air the headlights reveal. Hardly any ice on the pavement, anywhere. Stopped on Stone Arch Bridge for a pic. Not too many bikes out yet. Was the first one to get to the bike parking. Also glad I got this in before the snow starts flying again tonight.
4 PM
Biking Commuting 44:38 18.01 km (2:29 / km) +162m 2:22 / km
ahr:143 max:163 shoes: All-City Space Horse
Rode slower but worked harder than this morning. Light but steady headwind, some slow downs. Milder. So glad to be riding again. Activated the cadence sensor and was not surprised about how low my cadence was, compared to normal. It'll come!
Monday Mar 31, 2014 #
5 AM
Running 33:03 6.17 km (5:21 / km) +33m 5:13 / km
ahr:150 max:162 shoes: Nike Air Pegasus+ 29 Trail WR
Glad I got this run in before the weather changed. Though it wasn't bad at all when I got home. Amazing how much snow thawed over the weekend and I think even overnight. Lots of puddles and mucky spots, though.
Strength: Flexibility 11:20 [1]
ahr:98 max:108
Sunday Mar 30, 2014 #
7 AM
XC Skiing Classic 46:42 6.76 km (6:54 / km) +24m 6:47 / km
ahr:125 max:141 shoes: Rossignol Max Classic
Another ski on the lake, went to check out some ice formations I had noticed on the way back yesterday. Chose classic skis and stuck to snow mobile ruts, mostly. Much better experience than yesterday. I did not do a single kick, double-poling only. Very nice, also for Mellie, who seemed to be enjoying herself. Weather note: it was already above freezing at sunrise and the bluffs have their feet in water! Spring's definitely on the way!
10 AM
XC Skiing Classic 36:50 3.25 km (11:20 / km) +10m 11:10 / km
ahr:122 max:145 shoes: Rossignol Max Classic
Had to return to the ice formations with Lynn, Liz and Craig. Nice, leisurely ski for the four of us plus the two dogs.