8 AM
Adventure Racing race 24:44:55 [0] 137.14 mi (10:50 / mi) +8990ft 10:12 / mi
USARA National Championships w/Mari/Biz
1st place finish. The weather was perfect. The course was excellent; physically and mentally technical. Lots of great teams were there. The first stage had 5 legs that could be completed in any order. Quest, Rib, and us (the final top 3) all chose the same first 3 legs. After fixing a broken cleat right after the start we pulled away from Quest (and Rib) after Quest made an early mistake on Leg 1 and we were able to slowly extend our lead. When we got to the big O-Course at night Biz started having major stomach issues. Our pace dropped significantly. Mari took his pack and we shuffled where he could and kept moving but when we finished that section Quest was now only 2 minutes behind.
Biz sucked it up and really put himself through the wringer after that. We then both made a mistake on the next bike leg (crossing paths as we did so). Our mistake may have actually saved them from catching us. We were able to minimize our time lost and got a bit of a lead back going into the final O-course which we mostly nailed and rode in for the finish/win.
Road Biking race 38:00 [4] 10.5 mi (16.6 mph) +530ft
shoes: Viathon M1 GX
We chose to do this leg first because we had to start with a bike leg to cluster the paddle-trek-paddle (minimizing transition changes) and we didn't want to start with the singletrack (worried it might be crowded).
Once we got on our bikes I wasn't able to clip in. Turns out my cleat was falling off. We were right in front of the lodge but the race had started so we couldn't get anything from our cars or room. Luckily Mari had a cleat screw. It took us <3 min to take care of business and get rolling again. Rib and Quest both went this way. We passed Rib early and they stayed close behind. We were able to almost catch back to Quest before the "TA."
Orienteering race 1:18:00 [4] 5.5 mi (14:11 / mi)
shoes: Salomon Speedcross 4 (DkBlue)
Short orienteering loop over some old iron deposits. It made the compass go wacky a few times. We were right next to Quest for the first 4 controls then Biz opted to get the last two in a different order. It paid off as we put 16' into them.
I was able to carry a zoomed-out version of the map while Biz navigated. I mostly was just keeping him honest and getting a sense for where I should go to punch the dipper.
10 AM
Paddling race (3p Canoe) 3:19:00 [4] 15.2 mi (4.6 mph)
We then wanted to get the long paddle out of the way as it was already starting to get windy. The wind was also going N-S and this was the paddle that had more N-S.
As we started we saw the teams that started with this leg (not a bad idea) getting to the last CP (i.e., Rootstock(s), Bones, and BEND(s)).
We had a pretty good tailwind on and off for the first third but slowly started shifting to more of a headwind.
No major issues or excitement. Just a long lake paddle.