Training Log Archive: glewis

I was woken up at 2:40 and told to get moving. The UHaul had been fantastic for a deep sleep. While packing things, I was told that both RibDALI and Chaos Machine had come in and passed up while we were sleeping - poo, down to 12th place. I was the first ready, so I went and readied the kayaks for us. While doing so, I noticed Chaos Machine with their tents sent up - back to 11th! It took us quite some time to get moving again, we put on the water at 4:05. As soon as we did, I noticed that my boat was terribly uncomfortable for someone of my height, so I turned around to switch it. The next boat was a bit better, but it meant that we weren't off until 4:15. The cutoff was completely unreachable, which meant that we had a leisurely series of paddles before we would reach the finish line that afternoon. We had that mindset as we set off down the river, taking a casual pace knowing that RibDALI were about 2 hours ahead and Chaos Machine was a bit behind. The water was moving us pretty quickly, and we reached the turn into Little Bay in less than 2 hours.

We met a raging current there, one that put us into a sort of "water treadmill" for a few minutes. We ended up needing to regroup and attack via the shoreline to finally break free of the current. The paddling across towards Goat Island was tough but manageable, and we were greeted by Pete from Seven Rivers Paddling who explained to us the best way to ferry across the bay, and confirmed that we had played ourselves into a perfect tide for the trip back. Around this time we passed the boys from 361, who gave us a short insight into their 31 hours in the lost world. We also got to see Untamed paddling strong on their way to the finish. We had to contend with some mud flats on the approach to the Newmarket Gap, but I was able to manage keeping myself seated in the boat. On the short paddle up the river to the takeout we passed Rootstock; so exciting to see them on their way to the finish in a solid 2nd place. They seemed absolutely blasted and utterly exhausted, but were moving pretty well!

The takeout was simple, and we packed up our paddle gear for the 4-5km trek to the TA (an odd formality at this point in the race). Garrison and I co-contributed to a bobble here, as we both expected the other to be navving and walked an extra 15 minutes around town. The walk out to the TA was nice in that we were able to see the teams who were ahead of us. We passed Delta Denmark, MRC/Main Nerve, and RibDALI, all way to far ahead of us to consider trying to catch. We also saw Bruce and co. from GOALS just before the TA. We had planned on just punching and then turning back, but the Mahoosuc SAR team was there doing medical work, and my feet (although a bit better) were pretty rough. He took 15 minutes to dry them out with a hair dryer and rewrap them - it was wonderful, as we would be able to run now instead of my trekking pole limp from earlier. Heather also had some blister work done. We also had an exciting surprise here, as Rebekah and Noah showed up with the Weimans!! Nice to see them for a little bit, but we had to get moving again as we heard that Chaos Machine was on their way down the road.

We ran much of the trip back out, passing them close enough to town to know that we were secure in 11th place. We saved our quickest TA for last and set off in the water knowing that the current and tide would be at our backs. The paddle was beautiful, but we were all pretty low. I had been out of water for hours (only drinking at the remote TA) and was rationing my food, and Mark had been in a very low spot all day; I think he was just flat-out exhausted from 3+ days of racing, and required a tow for the whole paddle back. The last CP was a nice site - I punch it with exuberance! I downed the rest of my food too and stole a drink from a teammate. The paddle back was 11-13km, and it would be the most technical.

I jammed my legs under the thigh pads in the kayak at this point. It was uncomfortable at first, but I got used to it pretty quickly - I wish I had done that sooner. The water in the Piscataqua was absolutely ripping. We hit big swells, washing machine eddies, white caps and large wake from big boats. When I think back on this race in a few years time, I imagine that this beautiful paddle towards the Atlantic with my teammates will be the first thing that I think of. Not forgetting that it was a race, I took the chance to pass GOALS right before the finish.

We docked on the beach at 4:35 in 11th place, a great end to a perfect race. We ended up only an hour behind the Danes, which shows just how strong the water sending us in was.

This race was everything that I was expecting it to be and more. It has been built into an icon of American adventure racing, and it felt like it throughout. As a team we had a tremendous race, nearly meeting our loftiest goal of a top-10 finish. It would have been nice to finish the full course (we finished with 19 hours to spare) but it was still a wonderful experience. I would race again with my teammates in a heartbeat. And I've already penciled in every future Untamed event into my calendar...

C • Awesome! 2

We chose to attack this eastern loop in a clockwise direction, climbing up to get C before descending to grab B and A. I was feeling strong, so I took the lead on the maps and began hammering a pretty aggressive pace. We felt pretty good (or so it seemed) and after the inefficient TA we needed to make up a bit of time. The terrain did not allow for quick movement, but we moved as well as could be expected. A quick look at the dots shows that we were flying. Garrison even commented something like: "Glen, you are made for expedition racing. You talk more and get stronger as the race goes on." This was the kiss of death, as I absolutely lost my mind only minutes later. We had tried to take a nap at the top of Mt. Major before grabbing B, but the bugs were't allowing it. By the time we had gotten moving again I had forgotten the purpose of trail blazes, and within the hour I saw Glen Gibson holding an apple in the woods, fell asleep sitting still, saw Randy Ericksen taking pictures of us, saw a parking lot in the woods and forgot who the nice people from Chaos Machine were. Fortunately Garrison had taken the maps and I was still banging out a pretty good pace, I just needed some consistent reminders about what we were actually doing in the woods and which direction to go.

By the time we got ourselves steered back to the TA, we had spent 5.5 hours on this half (way more than ever expected). We spent too long in TA restocking our food and drinking water, then headed out for D, E, and F. My head had returned by the time we began climbing the mountain for D, and we made decent work of this section despite the morning heat. We turned into the TA at 11:30 AM, way later than expected. We had kept pace with the Mercators, somehow passed RibDALI, and were keeping a decent distance on Chaos Machine, as we had seen them a few hours prior. Another slow TA and we were out on bike for a long leg with the promise of seeing our gear bins again at the end. It was also at this point that we learned of the first bit of course shortening. It turns out that it was only a small section of singletrack (would have been fun), but it kept our hopes of making the next cutoff alive.

Only a few moments out of TA I stopped to give the Mercators a spare tube as they were having tire problems. I told them to use it or give it back next time we saw them. After crossing paths with them 2 dozen times over the previous day, that was the last time we saw them until the banquet...

Again, this section was straightforward without much to write home about. The pattern from the previous bike leg continued, where we would travel from pavement to dirt/gravel to unimproved roads that may/may not be rideable. We did have a near run-in with a couple going off at a gun range. The highlight was the detour to a gas station (the Bosco Bell!) and the ice cream, sandwiches and soda that came with it. A great pick me up in the afternoon. We also began frequently running into ARGeorgia.com on this section, as they had advanced past a few points earlier on.

CP 42 was supposed to contain a trekking loop, and we had budgeted 3-5 hours for it. When we got there, they had shortened the loop to just one point, a total of less than 1 mile. Nice news! We had a major bobble here, as both Garrison and I thought that the other was navigating, so we wandered slowly and didn't really pay much attention. Heather and I also had a blast in this section laughing at how we kept forgetting our teammates names. I was repeating "Mike Garrison" over and over again, only to forget it a few moments later. "James Garrigan" was stuck in my head, and it worked well enough for us.

When we left this loop we had only one CP left, and we botched it completely. I had somehow run out of food and water, so I was getting pretty useless. In retrospect the map for this point (CP45) was mostly accurate, there was just a load of new construction that threw off my tired senses. Add in that I was getting very tired again (my sleep from the last night had been useless) and that it started to rain, and I was a mess. I had not eaten enough food, and when we found the correct trail I kept falling off my bike into deep mud puddles, unable to unclip my feet from the pedals. I recall getting angry and rage-y, but no one seems to have held a grudge from it. We had lost close to an hour and were now riding back to the TA on busy roads in a downpour. I got put in the middle of the paceline with the job of reading the bike computer to help keep me alert.

We checked in to CP 50 at 9:45 PM to some terrible news, that we would miss the next cutoff. We would have to trek for an hour, TA, complete a 6-ish hour paddle, trek for an hour and TA again before 1AM...not a chance, plus we needed sleep. We learned that we were again in 10th place, so we conservatively set out on the trek into Dover knowing that we were doing well, but no trying to get ahead of ourselves. I was a bit bummed, as it seemed that our race was getting cut a day short, and the most exciting section (Bike+Tie, O-Relay) was getting cut out. Even reflecting post-race, it would have been great to have those somehow kept in the race, considering that we would have had plenty of time to finish them before the end of the race. We found the two CPs on this section with ARGeorgia. We also got a notification on the tracker that the 1AM cutoff got moved to 6AM. We thought it might have been doable, but we still needed sleep, so we knew that there was no chance.

We rolled into TA at 11:45. It was a bit chaotic, as teams had been held off of the water until midnight due to storms, and they were all about to get back in. We grabbed a nice UHaul to TA in. I had my feet looked at by race medical staff, as 3 days of soaking wet feet had cause a few small hot spots to form in addition to the pad of my left foot splitting open earlier on in the bike leg. I joined my teammates in the trailer ASAP and drifted off to a nice deep sleep, sometime after midnight.

TA3 at the end of the paddle was another terribly slow episode for us. They had full bathrooms with showers and deep sinks; the allure of a full change and being indoors did not move us along quickly. Here was the first time we ran into Chaos Machine, as they were taking an equally leisurely (but much more intentionally so) TA. We left right around 5:30, with RibDALI and Chaos Machine right behind us, and the Mercators right in front of us. The rest of the day (and most of the race) would consist of the 4 of us being awfully close together.

This bike ride began at first light, and it held my only real low point of the race. Not sure what got into my head, but I had briefly convinced myself that I wasn't interested in racing anymore. Truthfully, it was around the time when I wake up each day, which usually gives me lull during overnight AR; anyone else?? I got some suggestions to fuel and hydrate even more, and I was out of my funk by 7, just in time to begin some hugely steep and long climbs, about an hours worth. I don't recall many other specifics of this ride, except that we spent an awful long time on stupidly tough roads to ride (class VI snowmobile and ATV trails) and that it took quite some time to get to CP27 which housed the MTBO and pancake paradise, not arriving until about 12:30. The ride had taken a toll on team morale, so we were hoping that some rest and fuel would do us well.

I had agreed to take the long-hard course, and I went off first as no one else was very willing to get started. I had a brief misfire at the start, as i had to return after 5 minutes to get my helmet (whoops!). My course wasn't too hard, but I was a bit frustrated by it. I had been hoping for an actual o-map, but instead got a map of ski trails at the slope. I was able to make do, but got turned around by a series of unmapped trails towards the end. I think my split was right around 45 minutes. I tried to get some sleep back at the lodge, but forgot to put my earplugs in and struggled to get more than 5-10 minutes. Instead, I focused on downing piles of pancakes with butter (free calories!), getting a little cleaned up, and sorting out my gear for the rest of the day. Garrison had no issues with the nav, but Mark struggled greatly, getting into his own head in the process. Heather's final run was smooth, but the rains opened up on her and didn't really subside until well after we left. Another slow-ish TA and a bit of light maintenance before we got on our way around 4. The rest of the afternoon was straightforward; the CPs were easy and we made good time on our way to TA4, well ahead of the 3AM cutoff. The ride in to the TA was tough; we added a few bonus miles on the way to the turnoff for the Belknap Range and then worked slowly in to the TA. I took the lead on this section, following on the supplemental map and sticking to the marked trails. This type of micro-nav is right in my comfort zone and is similar to east coast adventure racing. It took a while, but we ended up having a pretty good split (or so we think) and the actual trails there, arriving at 9:30.

We all desperately needed a little sleep, so we bedded down in the field while RibDALI TA'd out. I only got a short bit of sleep (maybe an hour) and woke in a pool of sweat surrounded by mosquitoes. The nice folks from Chaos Machine had moved in close by for a bigger sleep. I was up by 11 and spent some time getting myself ready. Although the rain was done, the dew and humidity completely soaked all of our gear; it was uncomfortable putting wet stuff back on. I switched shoes to avoid the insole issue from Wednesday.

Leg 4 was a trek on a series of supplemental maps with 6 points (A-F). We chose to do A-C first, then swing back through the TA to get more water and pick up a drop bag of food. The section appeared to be quick and easy, but ending up being much longer as it was tough to move efficiently on the trails. Due to more slow TA-ing we didn't start the section until just before 1.

Untamed New England 2018 with Mark, Garrison and Heather

Mark and myself drove up to Durham, NH on Monday to meet Garrison and Heather. Always a little apprehensive when meeting teammates right before a race (especially one this long) but it seemed like we'd get along real well. Monday was spent getting bikes and gear ready, and Tuesday was for checking in, dropping off gear and taking the "transportation experience" bus ride. We ended up at Sunday River Ski Resort in Maine, where we had some pizza and got our maps. We made a point to go through the maps in entirety once before marking down routes wherever possible. It took some time, but we got to bed in our room at the lodge before midnight.

Wednesday was an early wake-up, with Garrison having a 5AM captains meeting. We had a decent breakfast and got ourselves prepped (including picking up the tracker) before walking over to the starting area at the White Cap Lodge. The place was full of nervous energy. Fortunately, the time went rather quickly, getting passports and pictures taken in time for a 7AM start. The mandatory gear list for the first 4 CPs was small, so I carried my MS-1 while the rest of the team went without packs.

Despite our talks with ourselves, we started out way too fast on the way to CP1, which was straight up the biggest slope. We got to the top midpack after 40 minutes, but had succeeded in blowing the doors off ourselves and needing some time to recover. The rest of the opening 4 CPs went well enough, but we kept the pace conservative to try to get everyone recovered. I had some issues with the insole of my right shoe, where it would slip forward and bunch at my toes. Incredibly annoying and telling of the problems that would plague my feet for the next 4 days. This section was completed in a misty-fog that turned to rain by CP4. The rain remained on and off until the end of the leg, when it picked up in earnest.

After our conservative pace, we landed at CP4 where we reloaded with our larger packs (an AS-2 for me) and trekked up to CP5 where we would enter the Lost World, an area with no trails or real evidence of human presence. Pre-race we agreed that Garrison would take the lead on nav so I could get myself used to the feel of multi-day racing. The opening points on the ski slopes had a good supplemental that I was able to help with, but CPs 5-9 were all on his own, which was fine by me. We were able to share maps with some crossover at one point, but this type of nav suited his skillset better anyway.

The terrain was super-technical as we left the trail in the wilderness. Garrison had us slowly working our way up to elevation and then following the ridge line whenever possible. While easier to nav, it ended up being slow moving. Tons of steep side hill and scree, along with wet ground. We kept a relatively steady pace, but could only move as fast as the terrain allowed. Our first sign of life was from Untamed, then Rootstock right in the saddle between CP6 and 7, which gave us a good judge of our own speed. By the time we grabbed 6 and came back through, they had put a good 2 hours into us. It's worth saying again how tough the terrain in here was. I snapped a trekking pole on the way to 6 (it was still useable, but rather flimsy). We crossed paths with MRC/Main Nerve a few times in this area, and ran into them again right around the forest of skinny trees on the way to 7. It was midday, but almost headlamp dark in there, having to squeeze between every gap in the trees while getting scraped by seemingly every branch. We slowly worked our way to 7, following some surveyor's tape to the flag. As I went to punch the CP, I realized that my CP pocket on my pack was empty!! I had only a few moments to rage before I heard "did anyone lose a passport?" from the woods. My new friends from Rib Mountain-WEDALI (Tim in particular) had found my passport only moments prior, along with my sunscreen! A great turnaround in a miserable moment. They had been ahead of us on the way to 6 but had a suboptimal route to 7, so it was very fortunate that we had passed them in that moment.

We traveled with them down to 8 where the rain became heavier and heavier, to the point that we had to yell to hear each other. Wasn't too tough to locate 8, just had to travel a little further than initially expected. We found the trail that led down from 8 and ran whenever we could, arriving at the TA in an absolute downpour. Fortunately, we were the only team there so we got in the back of the UHaul to TA, then headed out on bikes. I found a way to stick a Sawyer bottle in the bottle cage of the bike, which gave me the quickest possible access to water on the ride. Note for the future: fit the lid/filter into a bike bottle. RibDALI had arrived a little bit after us, and we wanted to keep a slight lead on the 30+ mile bike ride that was rather straightforward. The 3CPs were simple, and nearly all of the ride was on pavement with only one real steady uphill. We pulled into TA just after 9:40.

This was the first of our unnecessarily slow TAs, as it took us close to 40 minutes to get on the water, meaning that RibDALI arrived in TA right as we put off in the water. This paddle section was pretty straightforward, with nav simplified as both Garrison and I had a map of the section. I had to pee more than a dozen times, thanks to the Sawyer bottle which I was constantly filling in the river. The CPs were all easy enough, with only a slight issue locating 17. We ended up at the TA just after 4:30, having not seen any other teams for the entire paddle. We were also pretty pleased, as the removal of CP15 allowed us to finish this section well below our estimate. We had allotted 10 hours for the paddle, and finished it in just over 6 hours.

Event: Untamed New England Expedition Race 2018