Race Report: 2014 Goomna 6hr Urban Adventure Race

Last year, I raced Goomna 6hr Urban Adventure Race with Alpine Shop and we won. So I was more than happy to make a return trip back to Highland, IL for another go at this fun race. Mark from the Highland Parks & Rec department is the race director, and he does a great job at creating a unique race out of local terrain. The race is meant to be beginner-friendly and is famous for its special challenges - last year we had to do a bunch of CrossFit-type stuff (pull-ups, tire flips, etc) along with swimming and "slacklining" - so we were excited to hear what Mark had thought up this year. Well, Jeff and David were excited. These short races make me nervous because they HURT. And I would much rather go through all-day type hurt than sprinting-type hurt. If that makes sense. At all. I'm weird.

Before the pain. David, Jeff, me. Photo by Carrie Sona.

Anyway, drove over the Highland, IL on Saturday morning, piddled around like the piddling champions we are, and then got ready for the start at 0900. We had one 1:24k USGS map, and Mark had a master map showing 4 CPs which we copied onto our map. Our instructions were to bike to the (non-numbered) CPs in any order, and at each one we would get additional instructions/challenges. We had some speedy competition, too: Off the Front (2nd place last year), Team MTZ, and Michelob Ultra. Our strategy was to watch Team MTZ at the start, and then go the opposite direction as them. We line up, see Melisa, Todd, and Zdenek's bikes pointed east, so we point ours west and when Mark shouts "GO", we zoom off to our first CP.

RD Mark with a pre-race selfie!

BIKE TO SPINDLER PARK - 2 miles
I'm on the back of the Jeff and David train and almost immediately I'm hurting, in the redlining sort of way. Today is going to hurt for sure! We ride the paved roads into the town of Highland, cross the train tracks luckily without delay, and then go to where we think the CP is. It's marked close to a gymnastics gym where we had a CP last year, so we ride there, expecting a similar challenge. As we pull up to the gym building, we see Team MTZ approaching from the opposite direction. What?? This was not our plan! No time to contemplate, when we don't see any race staff I jump off my bike and try the gym door. Locked. What? We must be in the wrong place. David checks the map again and decides to backtrack a little west. We follow him and are soon seeing the neon green shirts of race staff in a city park. And there are a bunch of teams already there. Crap! We check in and get instructions to "run to Weinheimer Center". Um, where's that? Since we aren't local, the race volunteer hands us a map, we change shoes, and take off.

RUN TO WEINHEIMER, SPECIAL CHALLENGE, RUN BACK - 1.2 miles
It's about a 1k run to Weinheimer Center and we hustle. Like almost sprinting. I see a team up ahead and so I watch their route, comparing it to what David is telling me, and we make great time despite running through an actual carnival! When we get to Weinheimer Center, it's pure chaos.

Weinheimer chaos! Photo by Lucy Wellen.

There are teams and basketballs everywhere. We check in with race staff and they try to explain the challenge over the noise - each team member must make 3 free-throws. For each miss, you have to do 5 sit-ups and 5 push-ups on the stage. It's all pretty much on the honor system because there are way more teams than volunteers. We get to work shooting baskets. Jeff makes his three almost immediately. I have a couple misses but get mine to drop as well. When I'm done, David still has to make one more, but Jeff coaches him and together we get out of there, but it seems like we are still behind a fair number of teams, including MTZ. We sprint back through the carnival and back to our bikes.

David dribbling, Jeff coaching, Greg from Off The Front doing penalty push-ups. Photo by Lucy Wellen.

BIKE TO MERWIN PARK - 4 miles

It's back on the pain train for the sprint to our next CP in Merwin Park. We are able to pass Off the Front on the town roads, and exchange cheers. We roar into Merwin Park and check in with the race staff - this time we are instructed to run to a nearby playground. Again, we have no idea where this is, but the race staff gives us a map and we take off.

RUN TO PLAYGROUND, SPECIAL CHALLENGE, RUN BACK - 2.6 miles

The map is sort of hard to read since the ink is really light-colored. There seems to be a shorter route to the special challenge, but we can't tell for sure, so we take a slightly longer route. Once we get to where the challenge is marked, we can't see anything so we run around for a while looking for race staff. Off The Front catches us and turns out we totally blew past the playground we needed a couple hundred meters back. Whoops! We turn around, run back, and are instructed to do 45 pull-ups on the playground bars. My worst nightmare, I'm horrible at pull-ups! But thankfully Jeff and David are better so we each do as many as possible, I think I got 4 total with rest breaks in between. Once those are done, we run back to our bikes and get a split on MTZ - 9 minutes down! Yikes!

BIKE TO HIGHLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL - 2.7 miles

We do our best to cut into MTZ's lead on the bike north. Sprint!!!!!! The next checkpoint is at Highland Middle School where we drop our bikes and get instructions to run to the brand-new hospital across the street for further instructions.

RUN TO ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL, SPECIAL CHALLENGE, RUN BACK - 0.6 miles
Once we get to the hospital, we get instructions on a multi-part relay that we have to do. For the first leg, Jeff wheelchairs across the parking lot while I do burpees and David holds a plank.

Hospital Relay Leg 1, 1 teammate wheelchaired, 1 teammate burpeed, 1 teammate planked.

For the second leg, David and I sprint down to Jeff, I get on a stretcher, and the boys carry me further down the parking lot.

Hospital Relay Leg 2, carry 1 teammate on a stretcher

Then we carry slosh pipes across a balance beam, and are presented with a word puzzle. We have seven cans, each with a letter on them, and we have to spell a word out of them and stack vertically. We all look at the letters, and after a few seconds I blurt out "RESERVE" and we stack it up. But the race staff says "Nope, that's not the word!". Ah! Panic! More looking at the letters, and, aha! We stack them again to spell "REVERSE" and the race staff finally approves. Then we are instructed to reverse the relay legs and do everything again. Cool! We race back through the challenges and then run back to our bikes.

Hospital Relay Leg 3, slosh pipe on balance beam

Hospital Relay Leg 4, word scramble. then we did reverse, doing legs 3-2-1 again.

BIKE TO SILVER LAKE PARK - 2 miles
We are still behind Team MTZ, and there might not be much race left! We sprint, again, the short distance to Silver Lake Park for our fourth CP. As we're riding in, we see MTZ running so we think the gap is somewhere around 5 minutes. Close! We arrive at the CP and race staff gives us instructions - run 0.4 miles on a 260-degree bearing for the special challenge. David takes an extra second to mark up our map, so we can take roads instead of staring at the compass for 0.4 miles. We take off in pursuit of MTZ.

RUN, SPECIAL CHALLENGE #1, RUN, BIKE, SPECIAL CHALLENGE #2, SPECIAL CHALLENGE #3

The 0.4-ish miles passes quickly, and without seeing MTZ, but when we arrive at the challenge the race staff tells us we're in first. What? Where did MTZ go? No time to contemplate that, because we have to complete 60 box jumps as a team on abandoned concrete blocks. We rip through them without MTZ arriving and then take off back to our bikes. When we get there, the race staff confirms we're first back, and gives us directions to the second special challenge in Silver Lake Park. We sprint, ecstatic to be in the lead but knowing that MTZ is super strong so we can't waste any time.

We spot race staff for the second special challenge and hurriedly drop out bikes. They tell us that we have to catch a fish in order to get credit for this. What? A FISH?!?! I moan out loud that this could take ages! But there are two kids helping out at the CP and their enthusiasm cheers me up. They show us the fishing poles already with worms on them, so we all grab one and cast into the lake. Not 5 seconds later, David shouts "I've got one!" and sure enough, pulls a squirming bluegill out of the lake. Awesome! Any doubts I had about adventure angling are erased as we run back to our bikes for the next set of instructions.

David caught a fish! Photo by Carrie Sona.

Race staff tells us our next task is to run 0.6mi on a 0.5-degree bearing, punch our passport, and run back. Again, David takes an extra second to mark up our map and we take off. Carrie is on her bike so she follows us with cheering and encouragement. We run north and find a trail in the direction we want to go, sweet! We just run the trail until David tells Jeff "the CP should be just around this bend", which it is, so he punches our passport and then we run the same route back. On the way back, we see MTZ running out so we know for sure that we're in first, but not by much. Exciting!

David leading the charge! Photo by Carrie Sona.

Running! Photo by Carrie Sona

BIKE TO RACE HQ - 2.2 miles
Having completed special challenges at all four CPs, we jump back on our bikes for the return trip to Race HQ at Korte Rec Center. Once we get there, Mark has another map showing 3 more CPs. David and I mark up our map for the final bike leg while Jeff gets everyone cold sodas out of the cooler. Yum! There are a couple off-limits roads to avoid, so we quickly plan a route and then hustle without seeing MTZ come in. Sweet!

Plotting the last 3 biking CPs

FINAL BIKE - 20 miles
From here, it's basically a long road ride on flat Illinois country roads, some gravel but mostly paved. We execute this in classic Alpine Shop style - lots of towing, lots of chatting, lots of working hard. David keeps the nav clean, Jeff punches with panache, and I keep looking over my shoulder for MTZ. We all keep fueling and hydrating too, just in case things come down to a last-minute sprint, or there are more instructions when we get back to Race HQ. But we are able to keep our lead, and roll into the finish line after 3 hours and 20-some minutes of racing as Goomna 2014 winners!

Insta-winners!
http://instagram.com/p/pPDSsjK7UJ/

We only wait a few minutes for MTZ to roll in. They ran a great race and really pushed the pace. Kudos! Turns out they had trouble with the 260-degree bearing in Silver Lake Park, which was where we passed them. We all chat about the day as other teams roll in. As usual, the post-race food is amazing, and it's also super nice to have showers on site.

As we were loading the cars up to return to St. Louis, another competitor asked us about other adventure races in the area. Awesome! It's also a dangerous question because Jeff, David, and I love to talk adventure racing and will yammer on for hours if you let us. So, Goomna competitors, feel free to check out my Schedule page for a list of races I've done. There are a bunch within driving distance, and many of the longer (i.e. 24-hour) races have a shorter (i.e. 12-hour) companion race running simultaneously that you can try out. Also let me know if anyone has any questions about getting into adventure racing, I'd love to answer them! Just leave a comment below.

WANT MORE?
my Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/153638149
Race photos by Lucy Wellen https://www.facebook.com/lucy.wellen/media_set?set=a.10152072186660951.1073742010.719750950&type=1
Race photos https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.797019773652093.1073741830.511145188906221&type=1
SuperKate http://kate-my-mind.blogspot.com/2014/06/goomna-guest-race-report.html

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Race Report: 2014 Mohican 100

The choice to race the Mohican 100 mile mountain bike race was an not easy one. It fell on the same weekend as Dirty Kanza, a geographically much closer event promising similar self-destruction. But seeing as I'd already gawked once at the beauty of the Flint Hills, and had never raced my bike in Ohio, I chose to make the trip out to Loudonville with Dwayne, Peat, and Adam of Team Noah Foundation. We loaded up the new-to-me Subaru with 4 bikes (thanks to Strove Frodeman for last-minute borrowing of roof trays) and the rest of our gear and hit the road very early on Friday morning. The trip east was pretty relaxed, we knew we were good on time so made some longer stops at lunchtime looking for a mom-and-pop sandwich shop (no dice, we had to go to Panera) and a few extra pee breaks. We finally rolled into Mohican Adventures campground (Race HQ and Finish Line) and learned that our camping spots were PREEEM-OHHH. I mean, less than 100 meters away from check-in, the bathrooms, the showers, the finish line, the food tent, and most importantly, the beer truck. We were in the heart of it all!

4 bikes, 3 dudes, 1 Subaru, and me.
http://instagram.com/p/ooYB0Nq7R6/

After checking in, the first priority was a pre-ride. I was super excited since due to travel logistics I've never been able to pre-ride an NUE course. The four of us kitted up and just as we were about to hit the trails, we were bombarded by friends: Tom from dirtwire.tv and Dan and Ryan from Toasted Head Racing. Team Noah is known for riding fast, but for also talking a lot so we had to catch up with them a little bit before hitting the super-sweet trails. Once we were on the singletrack, I was so glad to get a pre-ride in. Conditions were great and the trails had lots of roots that I needed to remind myself to be aggressive going over them. Dwayne tried to get us lost but we eventually figured it out, meanwhile we played The Repeater and No-Hands games, did some fake openers (fopeners?) in the parking lot, then spun over to Loudonville to check out the start line and opening hill. We rode right past a big party at race sponsor Kim's Bikes, and had to stop to eat free pasta and beer (and for Peat to show off his impressive shotgunning skillz). Then we rode back to Mohican Adventures and met up with Trevor and Rafal who had arrived from Iowa and Nebraska (respectively, but in the same car), and had dinner with Toasted Head at Trail's End. It was dark when we got back to camp but I took some time getting my drop bags sorted before heading to bed.

Peat, Dwayne, me on the pre-ride. 

Race morning starts with early bird Trevor's alarm going off and the rest of the crew gradually getting up-and-at-'em. Everyone pretty much has their own routine and Adam and I ride over to the start line in downtown Loudonville together. I find a spot about mid-pack, and say hi to Simona, my friend rom Cohutta 100. I scan the crowd as race director Ryan makes final announcements, and am surprised to see a Momentum kit - turns out another St. Louis rider has made the trip to Ohio, it's Roggo! He is a super strong racer and will probably surprise a lot of folks out there today. Ryan counts us down and then it's time to race!

START to AS#1 to AS#2 
(5mi road opener, 27mi Mohican singletrack and horse trails, 3mi gravel)
We're off! My main goal for the road opener/separator is to just stay out of trouble. Last year there was a big crash and I don't want any part of that. So I just pedal by way past Kim's Bikes, up the stair-steppy hill, onto some rolling country roads, and then into the doubletrack that will connect us with the Mohican singletrack. There are people all around me, but everyone's behaving themselves, even at the parts where the doubletrack is crazy muddy and we have to run around it. There is really no drama here, and that's just the way I like to start out my hundos.

Rafal, sounds like waffle, riding some roots.
http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/Photoglyphix/media/2014%20Mohican%20100%20MTN%20Bike%20Race/_DSC1529.jpg.html?sort=2&o=152

And then we're into the singletrack! It's just really, really fun. There are people everywhere, but for the most part everyone's keeping their egos in check and when they make a mistake, they get out of the way. I make my own share of mistakes too, and just try not to screw anyone else up with re-mounting. There are a couple of bottlenecks too, but again, just gotta go with the flow on these things, we're all in for a long day and might as well use the (short) waiting time to get an extra sip of water or extra snack. There are volunteers at every road crossing, stopping traffic for us which is super awesome. I don't need anything at Aid Station #1 (Mohican MTB Trailhead) but I stop anyway to check my rear tire - it's been feeling phantomly squishy on a few of the rocks. I stop/unclip and 2 seconds later a volunteer is there asking if I need a mechanic. What service! I give my rear tire a couple squeezes, reassuring myself that it's fine, say thanks but no thanks to the volunteer, and boogie on out of there.

Peat, shredding the horse trails.
http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/Photoglyphix/media/2014%20Mohican%20100%20MTN%20Bike%20Race/_DSC2024.jpg.html?sort=2&o=254

After zipping through Aid Station #1, there is even more Mohican singletrack to be shredded! There are a couple of rather gnarly spots where knowing the line would have really helped me, and I'm off my bike as a gap forms to the group in front. There's one rider ahead, so I catch up to him, he introduces himself as Glen, he's local, and he tells me there's a huge hike-a-bike coming up in less than 1 mile so there is no reason to burn extra matches now. I am very grateful for his advice and just follow his lines. Pretty soon, sure enough, there is a sharp left hand turn straight up a gasline hike-a-bike. It's packed with racers so I just take my spot in line and push. With my adventure racing background, I really don't mind hike-a-bikes at all, so pretty soon I'm at the top and following Glen again. We are on a horse trail now that's sloppy muddy and Glen tells me about the water bars coming up - they are the real deal and we need to be careful. Also good to know! Thanks, Glen! The water bars are definitely difficult to begin with, and especially now that they've acquired a thin coating of slimey mud from the front of the field. I ride some, I walk some, but I make it to the bottom of the hill in one piece and then it's onto the gravel. Almost immediately, I spot a very familiar-looking pink kit in front of me. Could it be Simona, my friend from Cohutta? I know she is a great technical rider and I would be thrilled if I'm this close to her after Mohican singletrack. I pedal faster. It IS Simona! I catch her wheel in the final meters before Aid Station #2 (Buckhaven). We say hi and both execute a pretty fast pit stop. I make a snap decision to keep my CamelBak on, add 2 CR bottles to the SegSlayer, some more food to my bento, and I'm off!

AS#2 to AS#3 

(15mi gravel, 4mi Tree Frog singletrack)

Simona aka pink Hammer girl!

I'm just slightly behind Simona as we roll out of Aid Station #2 (Buckhaven). From here, we have a longish section of gravel roads which, based on my experience at Cohutta, I know I can ride well. I've almost caught back up when we hang left onto Giffen Road, and the gravel points sharply upward. I stand and, oh no! I feel the beginning tingles of leg cramps. This is abnormal for me, usually I'm a cramp-free rider, but evidently I've got issues today. To me, cramps require on a "pay a penny now to save a dollar later" approach, so I stop, drink a huge gulp of water, and dig out 3 e-caps from my bento. Then I get back on the SegSlayer and focus on spinning easily for the next mile or so. My legs seem much happier and that means I am too.

Elevation profile of the course with Aid Stations shown.

So I start reeling Simona back in. I am by myself, dealing with the surprisingly swirly winds in the Mohican valleys, and trying not to get too angry about not having drafting buddies. On the longer straight-aways I catch glimpses of what I believe to be Simona's pink kit, and I am riding really hard to catch up. Around mile 45 we enter some freshie-fresh singletrack in the Tree Frog Zipline Park. This stuff is way slower than the Mohican singletrack and it's hard to stay motivated, except I catch Simona on a short hike-a-bike and do my best to stay in front. We roll that way into Aid Station #3 (Mohican Cabins), and with her only seconds behind me, I rush through the aid and hurry back out onto the course.

AS#3 to AS#4 

(1mi gravel, 1mi Tree Frog singletrack, 5mi gravel, 3mi Mohaven trail, 4mi gravel, 11mi rails-to-trails)

"green girl"
http://s1155.photobucket.com/user/Photoglyphix/media/2014%20Mohican%20100%20MTN%20Bike%20Race/_DSC1584.jpg.html?sort=2&o=167

Also right in front of me is someone I've started to call "green girl". She's riding in, duh, a green kit with her man-friend. Unfortunately, they are stopped on the side of the road, dealing with what looks like a flat tire. Bummer! I ride past, through a field and into some more slow Tree Frog singletrack. My legs are threatening to cramp AGAIN so I repeat my routine - stop, water, e-caps, spin to bring them back to life. While I'm spinning easy, green girl and guy pass me again. Bummer! But at least they got the mechanical sorted. We finally make it through the surprisingly challenging Tree Frog singletrack and I'm once again by myself on gravel. I reach into my bento and...oh no. Only one bar left, 235 calories of Amrita goodness. I check my bottles - one is filled with water, the other with about 100 calories of CarboRocket. Do the math yourself - this means I've got about 300 calories to fuel me the remaining 20 miles to Aid Station #4 (Glenmont). For me, this amount of calories for this particular portion of the race teeters on the border of "just barely-maybe-probably-not enough" and "woefully inadequate". I'm in disbelief. I put a huge emphasis on planning my nutrition and I've obviously made a big mistake, either not putting enough food in my drop bag at AS#2 (Buckhaven) or not picking up enough race food at AS#3 (Mohican Cabins). I don't have many fears when it comes to big endurance races, but running out of food and subsequently bonking is a big one. So I ratchet my pace back and start mentally preparing myself to suffer for the next few hours. I keep telling myself that everything's going to be fine, that I'm well-fueled up to this point, that there's probably not that much singletrack left, that I have plenty of water instead, basically any reason I can think of to quell my fears. And then the course turns right up a gradual doubletrack climb and I just about lose it. 20 miles of roads I could squeak out in less than 2 hours, but throw some trail in there? Uh oh. I've got an express ticket to:

But there's nothing left to do but pedal, so I slowly make my way uphill. There isn't even any other rider around me that I could maybe bum a bar off of. I'm actively looking for discarded gels/bottles/anything as the trail continues to climb. I'm also thinking that Simona is going to catch me any second! And then, at the top of the hill, I hear voices. There are people up here! And...they are standing behind a table. WITH FOOD ON IT. Is this a mirage? No, it's a secret aid station that I didn't know about! I literally freak out with happiness, pull the SegSlayer right up to the table, and start dumping little cups of Peanut M&Ms and pretzels straight into my bento while simultaneously stuffing my face with PB&J sandwiches. It's not a pretty sight, but I am just so happy. I thank the volunteers profusely, stuff a few extra PB&Js in my bento, and get out of there in a superior state of mind.

http://www.strava.com/segments/7376988

There is a little bit more trail to shred, then some gravel, then the course brings us to the infamous rails-to-trails section - about 10 miles of wide, pea-graveled, false-flat trail. Most mountain bikers, especially my singlespeedy teammates, dread these miles. But today I am really thankful for them - the false-flat terrain helps me refocus and restart my motor. Mohican country is famous for its Amish population and I pass a man driving a horse-drawn cart. We exchange smiles and I say hi to his horse, which helps me "conjure up a sense of gratitude" for this perfect day, my awesome bike, and the ability to ride it 100 miles for Team Noah Foundation. I roll into Aid Station #4 (Glenmont) with my motivation on the upswing. 

AS#4 to AS#5 to FINISH 

(8mi gravel, 1mi trail, 4mi gravel, 1mi trail, 2mi gravel, 4mi Mohican singletrack)

Final 25 miles of Mohican 100 course.

A volunteer brings me my drop bag and it's FULL of delicious things - CR333, a turkey sandwich, a Clif bar, and some gels. REJOICE! I reload my bottles and bento and notice that green girl and guy are just leaving. Wow, they're closer than I thought! And just as I'm about to leave, Simona rolls in! We congratulate each other on a good ride so far "You're killing it!" "No, you're killing it!" and then roll out together to tackle the final 25 miles. At first we just chat and reveal that we both had goals to finish under 10 hours, and agree that it's probably not going to happen today. We keep chatting until the first of several sawtooth climbs, where Simona just rides away from me and I don't have the motivation to respond. I don't know why, but I just can't convince my legs to work harder. This bums me out and I pedal solo in full-blown pity party mode.

A few miles later, I unintentionally swerve across the doubletrack and hear a rider exclaim in surprise. I hurriedly apologize for taking their line, and in response I hear "Are you Emily?". I say yes, and turns out the rider is Mindy! She's a triathlete/adventure racer from Team Tecnu whom I've competed against only a handful of times, but enough to know that she is seriously fast. I've spent the whole race convinced she was way ahead of me, so I'm surprised to see her now. But turns out she's recovering from some hard training the weekend previous, and a hard crash in the first 10 miles today. Ouch! We chat a little bit about the race so far, and then Mindy rides away. That makes TWO girls making me eat their dust in the past 5 miles. Something snaps in my mind. I can't take it. Full-on racer mode comes roaring back, I add a couple gears, and chase.

I am able to pass Mindy on some slippery slimey doubletrack that's peppered with short hike-a-bikes. Not too much farther the trail opens up into gravel and I pass Simona. Then just a few minutes later I pass green girl and guy at the top of a grunty hill. I don't have hardly any gap though so it's pedal-to-the-metal all the way home. I pass some 100k riders, some other 100 mile riders, and one guy jumps on my wheel just as we're approaching Highway 3. I explain the situation ("there's three women back there and I've got to gooooooo!") and he takes the time to talk me through the remaining course, including the cloverleaf turn under Hwy 3, the ride through Aid Station #5, and then into the singletrack. This is the second time that a local has helped me out - thank you!! There is no way I can afford a stop at AS#5, but I don't need anything anyway, so I whoop it up for the Kim's Bikes volunteers and cruise into the remaining miles of Mohican singletrack, certain that Mindy, Simona, and green girl are just seconds behind me.

There's a rider on my wheel as I enter the singletrack, but I'm relieved to hear the voice is distinctly male as I ask if they want to pass. They do not, so I continue riding until I glance back on a hairpin turn and see that the rider is my teammate Adam! I had no idea! But no time for chit-chat when I'm trying to redline the rest of the course. There are plenty of little tech sections left and I do my best to ride when I can and run when I can't. There are riders to pass too but everyone's super courteous. I can see, through, that Simona is inching closer to me in the singletrack. I feverishly ramp up my pace, doing my best to keep riding smoothly. My legs respond, and my mind is thrilled to see a "2 Miles To Go" sign. I think I can hold her off! Then there is a tandem mountain bike up ahead and I can only laugh. I'm barely leading a group of 4 women, less than 2 miles to go, and I have to pass a tandem in the singletrack? Good one, Noah. But we find a spot that works for all of us and I motor on by. I've picked up another single speeder (in a Toasted Head kit!!) and he squeaks by the tandem, too, and starts cheering me on. Awesome! The two of us bomb down a hill into the campground. We've GOT to be close now. Except there are cars driving in the campground so I move to the right to let them by. In the process, I lose sight of the course markings, and all of a sudden find myself in no-man's land - an unmarked intersection. What? Where do I turn? Panic! I sit up, glance around, and hear a race spectator yelling at me: "You missed the turn! It's back there! Turn around and go right!"

Well that's unfortunate.

F!!!! I turn around and see Simona making the correct turn just a few hundred meters behind me. Me and the Toasted Head rider are super bummed, but he yells "Let's go get her!" so we take off in pursuit, making the correct turn and re-joining the course. There can't be much left before the finish line so I chase HARD after Simona. I have to pass the tandem AGAIN but the graciously let me by. There's a downhill, the metal bridge crossing, then a hard right onto the finishing road. I can see Simona just a few seconds ahead, and Toasted Head guy yells at me "You can do it!" I sprint. I tell myself I'm closing the gap. But, it's too much. Simona makes the final right turn 3 seconds ahead of me and we both ride under the finish line, done for the day.

Dead to the world. Photo by Trevor Rockwell. Ha ha.

I can't believe it. I'm really, really angry at the situation so I immediately ride to our campsite and collapse, ignoring everyone around me so I don't say or do something embarrassing. I just need to cool off a bit before good sportsmanship can re-emerge. So I lay there and moan while teammates take pictures. Ha! One of the race volunteers has followed me from the finish line and sets the Mohican Finisher's Growler down next to me, along with a cup of ice water. She definitely didn't have to do that, and her kind gesture clicks me back into non-angry mode. I stand up and go find Simona to congratulate her on an excellent finish. It really was excellent - it wasn't her fault that the course markings were obscured by traffic, and I would have done the same thing if I had been in her shoes. AND it turns out we BOTH made it in under 10 hours. VICTORY!

POST-RACE

Mohican 100-mile women's podium.

The rest of the evening is superb. Mohican knows how to treat its racers right: the showers are hot, the food is plentiful, and so is the beer! I catch up with the rest of my teammates (Trevor, 3rd place singlespeed! Dwayne, 7th place singlespeed! Peat and Adam, sub-10 hours!) and meet some more friends as we wait for the podium presentations. Turns out my battle with Simona, Mindy, and green girl was for 6th place, and Simona gets to represent on the podium! Whoop! Congrats to Brenda on a fantastic win and the rest of the women's podium for crushing it! Let's be honest, Mohican 100 is a pretty awesome way to spend the day. I will definitely be back next year!

The SegSlayer, post-race.
http://silkychrome.blogspot.com/2013/01/meet-segslayer.html

WANT MORE?
my Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/148147890
Results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11WpesUkj0jBGUbE8wbpBc8nsLNRRHior4a1u-XK7sjA/pubhtml
Dirtwire.tv interviews and highlights reel: http://dirtwire.tv/events/mohican-100/
Trevor Rockwell: http://ridinglifeschallenges.blogspot.com/2014/06/nue-3-mohican-100-redemption-race.html
Randy Shoogs Larrison: https://www.facebook.com/notes/randy-shoogs-larrison/mohican-100-2014-nue-2/10152170580822106
Quickdirt 100k: http://quickdirt.com/2014/06/03/mohican-mtb-100-2014-race-report-graphs-photos/
Gerry Pflug: http://pfunwithpflug.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-mohican-100-2014.html
Tom Roepke video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly62eizDIPE

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Race Report: 2014 Odyssey Wild Wonderful 24hr AR

Tuesday, 12:38pm. I get a bookface notification on my phone. New message. From Mark Lattanzi?!?!?! Of course I open it right away:

"Emily, Team Odyssey might need a 4th for Wild and Wonderful this weekend. Interested? We should know today if Jen can't make it. Race fee is all paid so you just have to get to New River Gorge..."

The "Wild and Wonderful" he's referring to is a 24 hour adventure race in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia. It's directed by Ronny Angell of Odyssey Adventure Racing, and staged out of ACE Adventure Resort. It's a race I've been wanting to do ever since visiting this area in 2012 for Checkpoint Tracker National Championships, a course designed by Mark and directed by Ronny. This part of West Virginia has very challenging terrain, and Odyssey puts on very high quality events. Mark and his teammates are very experienced, fast, and friendly racers. Did I mention the race starts with 2 hours of Class III-V whitewater rafting on the New River? The only bugger was travel - it's an easy but long 8hr drive from St. Louis to Oak Hill, and I'd need to move some work commitments around. So the next 24 hours were filled with emails and phone calls and we eventually figured out that I was able to race! So exciting!

Almost there! Ready for some Wild and Wonderful adventure racing!

So I loaded up my iPod with listening material and made the drive over to Oak Hill on Friday. I actually listened to the TA1 podcast that Mark did with Legendary Randy Ericksen and called it "team research". There are also tons of country music stations all throughout Kentucky and, judge me if you will, I love country music. So I was a pretty happy girl until Frankfort, KY, where I'd planned to stop and ride some singletrack...I mean "off-track bicycle trail"... at Capitol View Park, but it was raining, so I just kept on driving. I rolled into Oak Hill pretty much on time, and met Mark in his Sprinter van for some pizza, tea, and chat before Andy and Shane arrived.

Andy declares victory over DC traffic. Shane agrees.

Eventually the boys made it to ACE (also with Kristen from TeamSOG, I mean TOG. Side note: this is what adventure racing is all about - carpooling with your toughest competitors!) and we proceeded to piddle around with bikes before the race meeting. Since I don't make it out to the East Cost area very much, I don't know hardly any of the racers here, but it's really cool to see the adventure racing community alive and well. Sure, there are a few faces I recognize from one of the Nationalses last year, but for the most part I feel anonymous which is awesome. What is not awesome, though, is the Oak Hill weather - cold and drizzly. The forecast is not predicting much improvement for race day, which will make staying warm overnight a challenge. We also learn that recent rains have put the New River above flood stage, making it unsafe for commercial paddling. We're not sure what Ronny plans to do about the start of the race now, but we do know that with the rafting being cancelled, we'll be on our feet and bikes a whole lot tomorrow.

We're clearly up to no good. Mark, me, Andy, Shane.

We attend the pre-race meeting and it's nothing unexpected. Ronny announces that we will be given maps in the morning, and be bussed to the start. There is a vague course overview but really, we just need to show up with all of our gear/water/food for the next 24hrs. So with that, we check into our hotel/motel and mess around with gear until it's time for bed.

What, you don't see the girls bathroom sign?

When we arrive back at ACE in the morning, we learn that Ronny has decided to bus us to the original paddle take-out, and start the race from there with a short LeMans run to CP1 and then a quick TA onto bikes. So we plot maps, waterproof them, load busses, and strategize on the ride down to the New River bank, which requires the bus to make a few three-point turns to negotiate the switchbacks. Love it! Once we unload, me and a few other girls declare a random pick-up truck as the girls' bathroom and all pee. Bonding! We also get a good look at the New River and....dang. It would have been very scary and probably very fun to raft that. But it's also nice to be alive. So Ronny counts us down and it's time to race!

Uh, yeah. Lotta water.

TREK 1 (CP 1, 0.3mi)

The first tiny trek.

There isn't much to this first leg. We run uphill a ways, get the punch, and the run downhill a few hundred meters and transition onto our bikes.

BIKE 1 (CP 2, 4k)

Biking from CP1 to CP2.

We get everyone into their bike shoes, under their helmets, and onto their bikes and pedal our way out of the New River Gorge. I think TOG (3-person coed) is already in front, and GOALS (2-person male) is right ahead of us and we can see them as we ride the singletrack up the western side of the gorge. Mark knows these trails really well and is surprised when GOALS takes the same (unmapped) shortcut he was planning. So we all ride into CP2 together, and see TOG just leaving the area on foot. We quickly transition, and I take Mark's mandatory gear so we only have three packs between us. Fun!

TREK 2 (CPs 3-5, 7k)

The second trek. 2-4-5 and then return to 2.

Before the race started, Ronny threw out CP3, so we only had to go to CPs 4 and 5 before returning back to our bikes. We run through the town of Fayetteville with TOG and GOALS leading the charge. I'm feeling just about as good as can be expected for a slow starter like me, and the boys all seem happy with the pace.

Yes. I navved the whole thing. NOT!

Since the urban-style nav is pretty easy, we goof around a little bit to pass the time between CPs on the outbound leg. On the way back, we get to cheer for a lot of other teams, and then Mark takes my pack for the last 1k. What a difference it makes! I feel amazing now! To me, that really highlights two things: a) the large effect that 10 extra pounds has on my pace, and b) I need to log more training hours with a pack. Noted. We run back into TA just on the heels of GOALS, excited to continue putting Mark's trail knowledge to use for the next leg.

BIKE 2 (CPs 6-13, 12ish mi)

The first part of the bike - left CP2/TA and rode to the Arrowhead trail system.

Our next route is to punch 6-7-8 in order, and then we can get 9-13 any way we chooise (aka rogaine style). So we use some singletrack connectors to get into the Arrowhead trail system which is pretty great. We think we've made up some time on TOG as we punch CP6, and then even more time on the attack to CP7. Our plan is to bikewhack across a switchback (see map) and then land directly at 7 for the punch. Mark leads us into the really open woods (almost ridable, they were so open) and I'm last of the bunch. About a hundred meters into the woods, I see something that is really, really not good - Mark on the ground, grabbing his leg, with Andy and Shane standing by him looking concerned. Something is definitely up, and in my mind I rule out cramps because it's early in the race and Mark is pretty experienced with managing nutrition/hydration/effort, so I figure it's a snakebite. This all happens in the few seconds it takes me to catch up with the boys. Once I get there, Shane says, "Get out your phone and call 911." This is bad!! As I'm digging my phone out (yes, the SAME ONE I was grateful to be carrying at the BRAWL), I take in the situation. Mark has a stick in his leg. As in he is impaled on a stick. As in he walked into a stick and it skewered his calf. As in he is a human shish-ka-bob. And it does not look comfortable.

In one side, almost out the other.

I get ahold of 911 and hand the phone to Shane, who is a former paramedic, to talk medical to EMS while Andy and I try to comfort Mark. There is very little blood, which is surprising to me, but evidently the stick's wedged in there pretty good. Mark even threatens to pull it out and continue racing, but Shane pulls rank and denies that request. We strategize how to get Mark out to the trailhead parking lot where the ambulance is going to meet us, and it turns out that he wants to use his bike as a crutch to hop back through the woods to the trail we attacked from. But before we leave, Mark is sure to tell Andy to "go get CP7 while we're this close anyway". So Andy goes and punches CP7 as the rest of us bikewhack back through the woods. Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly to those people who know Mark, he's really fast at this. Faster than I am with no sticks in either of my legs. Amazing.

Apologies on the orientation of this photograph. Blogger dislike.

We make it back to the gravel doubletrack, and my phone rings again. It's EMS. "Is this the guy who was biking and got a stick in his leg?" Yes, yes it is. They are asking for more specific directions to the trailhead that I cannot give them. So, logically, I hand the phone to the actual guy with the stick in his leg, and Mark responds beautifully, chatting with the EMS folks and giving them perfect directions. A horrible situation, for sure, but definitely one of my favorite race moments this year! Andy bikes ahead to fetch the ambulance, and pretty soon it's trundling down the gravel with the Park Ranger right behind. We load Mark up, making sure he's got his pack with calories and water, none of the mandatory team gear, and at the last minute I grab his race camera so we can document the rest of our day. It wasn't much of a discussion that the 3 of us would continue. Mark even cheers us on to go after TOG and GOALS. We wish him the best medical care possible, and then re-mount our bikes for the remaining CPs.

Given our current location, we have to ride right past CP10 on our way to get CP8, which is a slight bummer but race rules are race rules. Andy's taken over the maps which isn't that far-fetched because I'm told he does a lot of co-navigation with Mark anyway, and I completely trust his leadership. I have a hard time getting back into race mode, and am not especially speedy on the singletrack. It's hard to endure such emotional swings like that. Teammates are teammates, regardless of how long we've known each other, and it's difficult to see one of us injured. We work our way through the remainder of the singletrack (8-10-9-12-13) and by the time we get to TA/CP13, we're back on a roll. Sure, we've lost a bunch of time and positions, but a lot can happen in 24 hours and we aim to make the most of our Wild Wonderful race!

TREK 3A (CPs 14-15-18-16-17-19)

It's fun in TA because the boys are plotting (something I normally do for Alpine Shop) so I get to do the "other" TA tasks, like switching everyone's shoes, packing up bikes, getting food out, etc. I notice one of my hair ties has gone missing but a race volunteer gives me hers - it's the little things that mean the most! Thank you! The bikes get loaded up for transport back to Race HQ and we are staring at a looooooooong trekking leg. Honestly, I couldn't be happier because I have been lacking in time-on-feet-with-pack recently so this will help my trekking toughness a lot. Ronny is not making it easy on us, either, it takes three pairs of eyes on the map to determine the "best" route. We settle on 14-15-18-16-17-19 and run out of TA.

Here beginnith mid-race selfies! Mark's got an old-school camera WITHOUT a rear-facing lens so this shows some real skill on my part.

We are in the mix with the Halfway There/Spokes, Etc, but they find a better way through the rhodo to CP15 and we are by ourselves again. Then we have some trouble with CP18, located in a shallow reentrant that we attacked too late. While we're relocating, we run into Rafael, aka Lone Wolf, who's racing solo male. Andy and Rafael work together to find our subtle reentrant and boom, there's the flag! Awesome! The four of us end up staying together for 16 and 17 too, and we both use the road route to CP19, since we are all running a bit low on water and are hoping to find a house with a hose. It's always exciting meeting non-adventure racers during a race, since we usually look all crazy (in spandex and very dirty) and unexpected. But, almost unfailingly, people are so kind. This time it's no different - we find a man with a hose and a beautiful, fierce Rottweiler. The four of us all fill up, say thank you, and hit the road running. After we hit CP19, it's down to the red trail (I don't know the name but it contours quite nicely along the New River Gorge) for some more easy trail running. Everyone's feeling pretty good at this point, and we're able to keep a great pace all the way to CP20.

Add caption

I think CP20 is the one where we had to climb a cliff to check a code stamped on a utility pole. By this time we'd caught another team in front of us (Race Day Rush, but we just called them "The Canadians"...because that's where they're from, eh?) so now we've got a 3-team convergence on the pole. Of course it's the girls who are sent scrambling up the loose cliff, and after we write the code down (after some confusion), the Canadians continue up the power cut while we (Odyssey) and Rafael (Lone Wolf) continue to CP21. 

We love adventure racing! So does Rafael, he's in the background.

One picture, three teams: The Canadians, Rafael, Odyssey.

TREK 3B (CPs 20-21-23-24-22-26-25-27-31-29-30-HQ)

1:24k USGS map. Our route from CP20 to HQ.

ACE Trail map.

Now that we've hit CP20, it's time for the real strategy to begin. We can collect the remaining 16 points in any order, either on foot or on bike. Our bikes are located at Race HQ/CP35 and are available to us at any time, but we also have to finish with them. Ronny's done a devlish job placing CPs - there is no obvious/best route back and we study the map for several minutes, determining which combinations are optimal. In addition to the USGS map, we have an ACE trail map which has a TON of trails marked on it. We decide to trek indirectly back to Race HQ and then pick up our bikes for the last few points. This means A LOT of time on foot, but like I said earlier, I'm thrilled about the chance to bash through the woods with my pack.

Shane and Andy cruising.

We work hard to collect as many CPs in the daylight as we can. ACE property is a confusing place. There are trails everywhere, and while most of them are marked, some of them have developed around-routes to avoid huge mud holes, and some are so overgrown they're hardly visible. To top things off, there are some parts of ACE property that have been strip mined, forming vertical earthen "cliffs" that can be impossible to down/up climb. Of course those areas are best shown on the USGS map and not the ACE trail map. It takes a masterful navigator to assimilate all of this information run cleanly through this area, and Andy's doing a great job. We're being super careful with our route choices, and it seems to help quite a bit that Rafael is keeping our same pace, giving all of us the confidence of staying found.

32? or 23? #racebrain

Night falls just before CP25, and we take a short break to put on lights and for Shane to change socks. Andy nails CP25 easily and then we make our way through the spiderweb of trails to CP27. We have a fairly obvious trail bend as an attack point, and we stride off into the briars confident that we're heading up the correct reentrant. Except, we can't find the punch. There are loads of other lights thrashing around the area, and it's so hard to tell if anyone else has found it. We have to relocate multiple times, first using the road to the NE and then the powerline to the S to re-attack. But then, success! There is nothing more satisfying than pinging a control flag after it's given you trouble. The next few controls are along the same powerline, so we trek along the powercut and cross our fingers it doesn't get too briar-y. I happen to be holding the USGS map at this point (Andy has been switching between them all night, and whoever's closer between me and Shane holds the other one) and have the itch to pull out my compass and help with the nav a little bit. Sure, these are about the easiest controls on the whole map because they have a HUGE handrail, but it's still fun to play navigator.

Realities of overnight racing - not really seeing your teammates for 8-12 hours.

Andy resumes navigational duties for CP30 and then back to HQ. Rafael is still with us and it's pretty awesome to see him doing so well. His navigation is solid! On the way back to HQ, we start seeing other teams and get word that TOG is finished. FINISHED! I'm not going to lie, it feels somewhat depressing to still have a TA plus 4 controls left at this point. We were hoping to be neck-and-neck with them for as long as possible, and now the gap is clearly going to be larger than we'd hoped. But the only way for us to enjoy a finish line is to keep trekking! So we do! We don't have too far to go until we're back at Race HQ. TOG is there, huddled by the fire, and we have a quick congratulatory chat with them as we transition onto our bikes for the last 4 points.

BIKE 3 (CPs 33-34-28-32-F)

USGS map of our final biking section.

ACE map of the same thing.

We bike out to CP33, punch that really easily, and then trek down to CP34 in our bike shoes. It requires a little creative footwork, but we make it and then climb back up to our bikes. We overshoot the attackpoint to CP28 just a bit, but Andy adjusts and uses a trail junction instead for another successful spike. Now we just have 1 more control left! And it's a toughie. We get to our hilltop easily enough (basically...go UP), but then have a really difficult time descending the spur to the correct trail. There seem to be a couple phantom trails in the area and none of us are processing that information very well right now. But we doggedly keep at it, and pretty soon Shane shouts that he's got the punch and we just have to ride home! On roads! Mostly downhill!

POST-RACE (21:20 total time, 4th overall but unranked)
We finish about 5am which is awesome. The sky is just starting the lighten up, and we've made it through the coldest part of the night without getting chilled. We have plenty of time to chat with Ronny and shower before breakfast is served at 7am. As we're walking to our cars, the door to the Sprinter van slides open and out pops Mark! He reports that he had surgery to remove the stick and is now on pain meds and antibiotics. The doctors wanted to keep him for a second overnight, but he somehow negotiated his early release and is eager to hear race stories. Of course we share them with him, and with the rest of the Wild Wonderful racers. It's a great finish line atmosphere, and especially because of the delicious pancake-and-eggs breakfast! Yum!

Overall, I was SO GLAD I made the trip out to West Virginia to race with Odyssey. I have to admit I'm proud that I can add in a 24hr race with only a few days' notice and not freak out. My body and my mind are familiar with the challenges that overnight adventure racing brings, and every race is another chance to work on getting stronger. The Odyssey boys, Andy, Shane, and Mark, were excellent teammates and I really enjoyed tromping around the woods with them, all sticks aside! These three are also racing Untamed New England with Jen in June so you can be sure I'll be cheering them on!

WANT MORE?
Team Commie Bar: http://teamcommiebar.blogspot.com/2014/05/team-commie-bar-at-odyssey-wild.html
Photos from ACE: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152212430814748.1073741918.6328979747&type=1
Team TOG: http://teamtoyotagbg.blogspot.com/2014/05/odyssey-wild-wonderful-race-report-2014.html
Results: http://www.oarevents.com/events/2014/documents/ResultsforWebWWAR14.pdf Pin It