Training Log Archive: nmulderIn the 1 days ending Oct 3, 2010:
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Sunday Oct 3, 2010 #
9 AM
Adventure Racing race (ARWC Bimbache Extreme) 99:45:00 [3] 695.0 km (8:37 / km) +22000m 7:26 / km
Raced with Team Cyanosis in AR World Champs (Bimbache Extreme) in Spain.
Race went from Avila to Salamanca, in the provinces west of Madrid. It was split over about 22 sections and featured heavily in the MTB and mountain disciplines. Team members were Ryno Griesel, Clinton Mackintosh and Jen Segger.
We arrived in Avila in good time and settled down nicely in our hotel. No major problems, other than only getting 2 hours sleep before the race!
Day 1 - Started off with a 4km urban orienteering in Avila, where we did quite well and came in with the lead bunch. Marshal stuffed us around though and only checked out 5 mins behind them on a 75km bike leg. I suffered big time as my lack of cycling in the last few weeks showed through. Thankfully this would be the last time I would feel weak and I would go on to personally have once of my best races ever. The MTB legs were technical riding as well as very technical nav. Lots of narrow ox-wagon trails linking all the pasture lands and fields, often with stone walling on either side. Lots of technical downhills which the Team aced.
This led us onto a 12km (team of 4) and 6km (in two pairs) orienteering leg. It was proper orienteering (easily Brown course technicality) on a great map by Sivert Axelsson (name from the past! - big suprise). Lots of fun. We started about 1hr behind the leaders and stayed there. After that, we headed out into the dusk on another 75km bike leg, this time in miserable pouring rain.
Day 2 - Lots of technical nav and riding during the night. Got into a paddle / hike leg in the early hours where the team split and did the loop in different directions with different CPs. The 'easier' leg that Mac and Ryno did turned out to have a nasty hidden control where all teams suffered. This meant me and Jen got over 1hr shut-eye at the swap-over. Came back in from the hike with Don and Hanno from Team Merell. Then onto bikes again for next 75km bike leg. Diced Merell in a few places, but then came across an injured athlete (Nathan from Orion) where we stopped for 2hrs to help with rescue alert and medical care. Great response from the emergency services into a valley in the middle of nowhere. Lost a bit of focus as a result and rest of the bike leg was sluggish.
Following this we set off into the mountains on foot for the first time as soon as we finished a short 5km roller blading on a slight uphill. Did most of the hike in the dark. Easy enough given the major topography around us. Got into the ropes CP near midnight, but were then Time Neutralized due to a queue. This was fine for us, as it gave us a 'free' 1h15 sleep! In reality, we were unfairly lucky :-(
Day 3 - Got the ropes over with. Would have been spectacular in the daylight! Lots of towers and big traverses. Hiked out of there (found the right pass on the 2nd go) and then set out on the hiking trails along the mountains. Thankfully a big loop had been cut out as teams were running behind due to the earlier rain. Still tough though, but we pushed on. Team Buff floored this section (trail running obviously) and opened a 4hr lead on the other teams which they held till the end. We did okay, notching up the same time as the next-best teams, even in the dark. Found a hiking shelter in the mountains (a miracle!) where we slept for about an hour, but were still hiking when the morning dawned (at a nice mountain hut in the middle of nowhere, where they served us Koo Spaghetti for R100 a plate). Had a good time racing a Scandanavian team that morning over a few more passes and through hidden valleys (spectacular!!!) before descending back to transition.
Back onto the bike for a short 22km tar downhill ride to town and the central transition. 4 hour compulsory stop. Our food box had taken a beating and smelt extremely unpleasant.
Biking again, this time about 40km to another Dam. More paddling, a loop with 2 stops en route for an orienteering leg on each. Did it in opposite order from the other teams so that we couldn't assist them. Nailed the first one, but suffered on the second. Spent 10 min looking for 1 CP before finding it, but the next CP was a big problem. Spent 1h20 looking for it (description: 'Contour 970m') before giving up and receiving a 1hr time penalty (plus 30 min walk each way there and back). Turns out that we got extremely close (metres?) as it was hanging on a bush (in a field of bushes), but had fallen off the tree. None of the team ahead had thought to hang it back up.
Day 4 - Got back to transition, got ready for bike and immediately checked into the bathrooms of the nearby camp ground for 1h30 sleep on a cold, but nice floor. The rest of the 40km bike leg went much better as a result. Merell caught up to us at dawn (had slept in the bush). Mac had mechanicals on top of a hill (side-wall slice), but Merell broke a cable immediately thereafter as well.
Got into transition and headed out on a 6km hike, leading to a 10km uphill roller blade (we walked 8km!) and then the 2nd mountain trek (30kmish). We started in mid-afternoon, so pushed hard to make sure we got as much daylight as possible. We got over the range for 2 CPs and back across before last light. More importantly, we even hit the first marked forest track just in time. Then a few hours walk back down to transition, getting in at about 11pm. Merell missed using the daylight and suffered badly, only checking in 12 hours later.
Day 5 - 1h30 sleep in transition before heading out on bikes for a 60km section. We had decided that we needed to miss the next trek-ropes-skating loop as we were running out of time to make the final river paddle darkzone. This was an error on our part, as we hadn't realised that the dark zone was only for the 65km river section, and not the 20km dam section prior to that as well. Anyway, this section was spent racing Team Sweco for 12th place over more mountains. They pulled away in the end as the team went through a bad patch up a VERY long hill (12km of forest uphill). Got light just before transition.
Realised our time mistake in this transition, as lots of other teams were hanging around. With no ropes gear and hiking shoes, we couldn't change our minds, but instead had to push on and try recover as much time as possible. Team was very down and we had a terrible bike section to start with. We averaged nearly 5-6km/hr until we had a sit-down for 5 mins and a good pep talk. That and late breakfast some kms later did wonders. Lost 45 mins at a restaurant, but it was worth it in the long run. Got into transition at 3pm for the start of the final paddle to Salamanca. We floored it as we wanted to get as far down the river as possible before darkzone to minimize our time loss as a result of our error. Quick across the dam despite a horrendous side-wind and incredibly quick over the 1km portage (20 mins - fastest team?). Got 1h30 of paddling on the river before dark. Was nice and fun paddle, with lots of small rapids and some weirs, some of which were shootable. Got yelled at by Jen, saying I was reckless in shooting one, but was nothing as bad as the Klip. Got 9hrs of sleep due to the 11hr darkzone!
Day 6 - Only about 50 km of paddling left. Mac had forgot to pack enough food for dinner and breakfast, so we felt a bit grumpy. Then he started falling asleep as well (huh?). Went through a bad-patch mid-morning where the team speed was awful. Got out of it and floored the last section into town. From there, a final 5km urban orienteering leg around the historical sights before finishing at the Cathedral. Yehaa!
Final results put us in 13th place, so we didn't loose too many positons as a result of our error. It is more a case of 'what could have been'. Team Sweco went on to finish 11th, but less than 3hrs off 8th. We would easily have caught these teams on that missing loop, but could still have finished anywhere between 8th and 12th, depending on how we handled the remaining mtb (in dark) and paddle section (on the final day). Once again, it was a love/hate race. I wanted to quit AR as soon as we finished, but less than 1 day later (much quicker than normal), I couldn't wait for the next race.
Spectacular course. Really enjoyed it. However, lots of time penalties / bonuses made it impossible to keep an updated picture of the race for team and even more so for spectators. Most annoying.
BIke Stats: Dst 480km, rest unknown.
Watch Stats: Didn't race with HRM, but the watch went and lost battery power anyway. Annoying.
GPS: Worked superbly until midday of the last day (with 670km on the clock), so only about 3h45 of racing missing (20-25km?)!
Race went from Avila to Salamanca, in the provinces west of Madrid. It was split over about 22 sections and featured heavily in the MTB and mountain disciplines. Team members were Ryno Griesel, Clinton Mackintosh and Jen Segger.
We arrived in Avila in good time and settled down nicely in our hotel. No major problems, other than only getting 2 hours sleep before the race!
Day 1 - Started off with a 4km urban orienteering in Avila, where we did quite well and came in with the lead bunch. Marshal stuffed us around though and only checked out 5 mins behind them on a 75km bike leg. I suffered big time as my lack of cycling in the last few weeks showed through. Thankfully this would be the last time I would feel weak and I would go on to personally have once of my best races ever. The MTB legs were technical riding as well as very technical nav. Lots of narrow ox-wagon trails linking all the pasture lands and fields, often with stone walling on either side. Lots of technical downhills which the Team aced.
This led us onto a 12km (team of 4) and 6km (in two pairs) orienteering leg. It was proper orienteering (easily Brown course technicality) on a great map by Sivert Axelsson (name from the past! - big suprise). Lots of fun. We started about 1hr behind the leaders and stayed there. After that, we headed out into the dusk on another 75km bike leg, this time in miserable pouring rain.
Day 2 - Lots of technical nav and riding during the night. Got into a paddle / hike leg in the early hours where the team split and did the loop in different directions with different CPs. The 'easier' leg that Mac and Ryno did turned out to have a nasty hidden control where all teams suffered. This meant me and Jen got over 1hr shut-eye at the swap-over. Came back in from the hike with Don and Hanno from Team Merell. Then onto bikes again for next 75km bike leg. Diced Merell in a few places, but then came across an injured athlete (Nathan from Orion) where we stopped for 2hrs to help with rescue alert and medical care. Great response from the emergency services into a valley in the middle of nowhere. Lost a bit of focus as a result and rest of the bike leg was sluggish.
Following this we set off into the mountains on foot for the first time as soon as we finished a short 5km roller blading on a slight uphill. Did most of the hike in the dark. Easy enough given the major topography around us. Got into the ropes CP near midnight, but were then Time Neutralized due to a queue. This was fine for us, as it gave us a 'free' 1h15 sleep! In reality, we were unfairly lucky :-(
Day 3 - Got the ropes over with. Would have been spectacular in the daylight! Lots of towers and big traverses. Hiked out of there (found the right pass on the 2nd go) and then set out on the hiking trails along the mountains. Thankfully a big loop had been cut out as teams were running behind due to the earlier rain. Still tough though, but we pushed on. Team Buff floored this section (trail running obviously) and opened a 4hr lead on the other teams which they held till the end. We did okay, notching up the same time as the next-best teams, even in the dark. Found a hiking shelter in the mountains (a miracle!) where we slept for about an hour, but were still hiking when the morning dawned (at a nice mountain hut in the middle of nowhere, where they served us Koo Spaghetti for R100 a plate). Had a good time racing a Scandanavian team that morning over a few more passes and through hidden valleys (spectacular!!!) before descending back to transition.
Back onto the bike for a short 22km tar downhill ride to town and the central transition. 4 hour compulsory stop. Our food box had taken a beating and smelt extremely unpleasant.
Biking again, this time about 40km to another Dam. More paddling, a loop with 2 stops en route for an orienteering leg on each. Did it in opposite order from the other teams so that we couldn't assist them. Nailed the first one, but suffered on the second. Spent 10 min looking for 1 CP before finding it, but the next CP was a big problem. Spent 1h20 looking for it (description: 'Contour 970m') before giving up and receiving a 1hr time penalty (plus 30 min walk each way there and back). Turns out that we got extremely close (metres?) as it was hanging on a bush (in a field of bushes), but had fallen off the tree. None of the team ahead had thought to hang it back up.
Day 4 - Got back to transition, got ready for bike and immediately checked into the bathrooms of the nearby camp ground for 1h30 sleep on a cold, but nice floor. The rest of the 40km bike leg went much better as a result. Merell caught up to us at dawn (had slept in the bush). Mac had mechanicals on top of a hill (side-wall slice), but Merell broke a cable immediately thereafter as well.
Got into transition and headed out on a 6km hike, leading to a 10km uphill roller blade (we walked 8km!) and then the 2nd mountain trek (30kmish). We started in mid-afternoon, so pushed hard to make sure we got as much daylight as possible. We got over the range for 2 CPs and back across before last light. More importantly, we even hit the first marked forest track just in time. Then a few hours walk back down to transition, getting in at about 11pm. Merell missed using the daylight and suffered badly, only checking in 12 hours later.
Day 5 - 1h30 sleep in transition before heading out on bikes for a 60km section. We had decided that we needed to miss the next trek-ropes-skating loop as we were running out of time to make the final river paddle darkzone. This was an error on our part, as we hadn't realised that the dark zone was only for the 65km river section, and not the 20km dam section prior to that as well. Anyway, this section was spent racing Team Sweco for 12th place over more mountains. They pulled away in the end as the team went through a bad patch up a VERY long hill (12km of forest uphill). Got light just before transition.
Realised our time mistake in this transition, as lots of other teams were hanging around. With no ropes gear and hiking shoes, we couldn't change our minds, but instead had to push on and try recover as much time as possible. Team was very down and we had a terrible bike section to start with. We averaged nearly 5-6km/hr until we had a sit-down for 5 mins and a good pep talk. That and late breakfast some kms later did wonders. Lost 45 mins at a restaurant, but it was worth it in the long run. Got into transition at 3pm for the start of the final paddle to Salamanca. We floored it as we wanted to get as far down the river as possible before darkzone to minimize our time loss as a result of our error. Quick across the dam despite a horrendous side-wind and incredibly quick over the 1km portage (20 mins - fastest team?). Got 1h30 of paddling on the river before dark. Was nice and fun paddle, with lots of small rapids and some weirs, some of which were shootable. Got yelled at by Jen, saying I was reckless in shooting one, but was nothing as bad as the Klip. Got 9hrs of sleep due to the 11hr darkzone!
Day 6 - Only about 50 km of paddling left. Mac had forgot to pack enough food for dinner and breakfast, so we felt a bit grumpy. Then he started falling asleep as well (huh?). Went through a bad-patch mid-morning where the team speed was awful. Got out of it and floored the last section into town. From there, a final 5km urban orienteering leg around the historical sights before finishing at the Cathedral. Yehaa!
Final results put us in 13th place, so we didn't loose too many positons as a result of our error. It is more a case of 'what could have been'. Team Sweco went on to finish 11th, but less than 3hrs off 8th. We would easily have caught these teams on that missing loop, but could still have finished anywhere between 8th and 12th, depending on how we handled the remaining mtb (in dark) and paddle section (on the final day). Once again, it was a love/hate race. I wanted to quit AR as soon as we finished, but less than 1 day later (much quicker than normal), I couldn't wait for the next race.
Spectacular course. Really enjoyed it. However, lots of time penalties / bonuses made it impossible to keep an updated picture of the race for team and even more so for spectators. Most annoying.
BIke Stats: Dst 480km, rest unknown.
Watch Stats: Didn't race with HRM, but the watch went and lost battery power anyway. Annoying.
GPS: Worked superbly until midday of the last day (with 670km on the clock), so only about 3h45 of racing missing (20-25km?)!
Adventure Racing 27:00:00 [3]