Training Log Archive: glewis

We ended up sleeping a bit long, and by the time we got up and onto the river it was 4:45AM. The timing worked out well to get us to CP34 (where there was a group of teams sleeping) and then to the rapids at first light. The rapids were ...underwhelming... After stressing about the river guide and the best line possible, we hit the X rapid and weren't actually sure that we had hit it, and then got stuck in the Y rapid (way too shallow) before Kate and I spun sideways through the Z rapid. Had we not known about them we would have paddled them like a regular rapid and had no issues. Kit navved us well through this section, getting us to the next CP and then the takeout for the first trek, where we arrived after 9AM. There were a bunch of teams here as well as some volunteers to watch our boats. We laid out some gear in the sun, I filled up a Mountain House meal for later, and we took off on the trek a few minutes after Untamed, with Paul Miller in tow filming and interviewing us.

I had a really good feel for the map in this section, and Scott supported me well as we made our way through the optional points on this section, hitting them cleanly and efficiently. We were moving really well as a team, with lighter packs and some pep in our step, so we stuck to fast moving trails and roads to avoid unknown and possibly thick bushwhacks. We started with G3 and then G5. On the way to G6 I found a kiosk with a park map that gave some info that we didn't have. Seeing as it wasn't illegal, I grabbed a copy and found it very helpful for the rest of the leg. After G6 we went to G8 before getting stymied on our way to G7 - we had to take some longer routes on trail around, but I imagine that most teams were forced to do something similar. We crossed paths with Untamed here before working west to G4 where we stopped for some water and a bathroom break. We used trails to get around to G2, but we also ran a bit here which helped cut some time off. Our bodies seemed to realize that we were truly in the final stretch of the race and responded in kind, letting us move a bit more freely. At G2 I took 2 nasty falls, one onto each elbow. They could have been race enders, but the pain subsided until after I got home from the race. We used more trails to get around to G1 before stopping in a campground to fill up water and then heading back to our boats. The whole section took us just over 7 hours - we felt great about clearing it and resolved to keep pushing. It helped that I was convinced that there were a few teams close by us in points. We TA'd back to boats super fast, and I enjoyed my rehydrated chicken and dumplings while paddling down the river.

The trip to the next trek took just over 2 hours, and it was a much more established site. We took the boats out of the water and got some meat pies and pizza from Kate Matthews while TA'ing to trek. We also got some info from Jim Mernin, who told us that Brent suggested leaving 5 hours to get to the finish line from this TA. We had budgeted 7, so we were happy to adjust our estimates. We also heard that this section was taking teams a bit longer than expected, so Scott and I really honed in deeply on the map to make sure that we didn't make any mistakes. We left (with Paul Miller again) and made our way through a few CPs in waning daylight before arriving at the Cathedral section, an area of old growth (massive) trees that contained a large groups of mandatory CPs and required us to stay on trail. We did this section nearly in lockstep with Recalculating; it was super quick and clean for us. After we finished we began a steep climb up towards CP49, where we saw Rib just before seeing Rootstock.

The lookout tower at 49 was a bit sketchy but fun, and from there we descended to 48. We kept checking our time as compared to our bailout , and we knew that we were looking good for trying for the last 3 optional CPs. The trip to G11 was easier, if not a tad bit slower, than expected, as we followed a trail for most of the way. The move to G10 was tougher and required a lot more focus. We did a stellar job as a team getting towards the area of this obviously challenging CP, where we found a maze of small reentrants and deadfall. We again worked really well together to identify features, specifically distance and elevation, to work around the deadfall and get to an open area holding the flag. Kit was fantastic here, so I had her punch the CP. The woods opened up significantly for us as we moved toward G9, which we hit cleanly once we resolved to attach from the north. It was 2:30AM at this point, and we needed to leave by 5AM. We had a long haul back to the boats on road. Our feet were killing us, but we were given some lift by the sight of a bear rummaging in a dumpster before scurrying up a tree - super cool! We got to the boats just before 4, where we could see Untamed paddling away down river as we approached.

We began TA'ing a bit methodically, knowing that we had time to make it to the finish. It was 4:04 when volunteer Greg told us that we probaby needed 6hours to get in - whoops! We sprinted through the rest of the TA and got on the water at 4:14.