Shooting Star Adventures SVS#2
SVS #2. - 7/9/2005
Brandon’s report: here.
After poring over maps and gear the Friday night before the race my racing partner Brandon and I arrived at the start of the race refreshed and ready to race. This was my first race with Brandon and I feel our goals and abilities perfectly aligned during the race. We decided to call ourselves Team High Sierra Haystacks in reference to Brandon’s parents’s company - such a sponsorship! Although there wasn’t a very large turnout for the start of the race it was nice to see so many good AR friends (Grant, Mark, Maja, Bob, etc) all geared up or volunteering. Mike of Shoooting Star Adventures gave the pre-race briefing and then Brandon and I were set upon our first task of the day which was a “roadblock”. The roadblock consisted of a crossword puzzle with various AR-type clues. Brandon and I had trouble coming up with the Doors (what can I say? I like rap!) which was the answer for one of Mike’s favorite classic rock bands. Once we were done with the crossword we were able to choose between hitting the bike (and the subsequent orienteering section) or going on the trekking section. We chose the trek section and headed south from the transition area and then up a steep hill. The trek was going to be a tough section for me because I am not a fast runner so Brandon was ready to give me a tow if needed. We made it up to the next checkpoint (dubbed the Photo CP because of the nice views and photo-taking opportunity). Maja (of Creating Adventure, LLC) was manning this checkpoint and here we had to do another “roadblock” which was a word scramble. We got this done relatively quickly and then headed on a nice run down the hill.
We nabbed a couple checkpoints and then Brandon and I spent some time looking for Checkpoint TF. TF was in a really confusing spot and we wasted a lot of time looking for it. After looking a the map for a bit I suggested that we go get the rest of the checkpoints and then comeback this same way and search for TF later. In these races forward progress is the most important thing and sometimes searching for the checkpoints can really waste time. We moved on grabbing several trekking checkpoints in succession. One of the checkpoints was located at the bottom of a steep hill and Brandon and I had a really interesting time working to avoid getting “cliffed-out”.
We then came back for TF. We searched again for quite awhile to find it but that was getting really tedious - part of the problem was that the reentrants in the area were really confusing and the other part of the problem was our reluctance to go crashing through the bush because there were several nasty plants in the way (poison oak, sting nettles, fauna-from-the-paleolithic that has yet to be discovered). We decided that it may be wise to go to the nearest known point and take a bearing from the there. The intersection of a trail and the powerlines worked perfectly and while it was somewhat of a long bearing (400 meters) it worked to help us grab the CP. I must also point out the sadism of Shooting Stars Adventures in that TF was located directly up above huge unavoidable mud spot. Mucky.
It was a run back to the TA from then on…I was really worked during this section and was putting all my energy into a fast run and into keeping pace with Brandon. I was really looking forward to the bike and to doing an “active rest”. We hit the TA, got our pictures taking by Jackie of Shooting Star, and then headed off for the mountain bike section. We decided to skip the Photo CP (one of the two dual checkpoints during the race - i.e., you had to go to them during the trek and the bike) and head directly off to some of the longer sections. There were definitely some big hills to climb during this section and even with all the practice on the Reno/Tahoe hills I was still getting worked. While Brandon is better on the run, I am a bit better climber on the bike and he definitely worked hard to tough it out on the hills. We nabbed a few checkpoints and then got stuck on checkpoint BO. BO was intended to be 10 meters or so off the road were mountain biking however on Friday night I had drawn the road on the map much too far to the east - we had the checkpoint being 100 meters off to the west instead of its correct location of it being 10 meters to the east. Needless to say when we discovered the checkpoint it was very embarrassing.
Anyway, we moved on from there joining up with Karl and Cynthia of Team Cyclepath to find a checkpoint and then it was downhill to the remote TA where we would change into running shoes and long pants for the O-course. On the way downhill I saw Team Snot Rockets flying up the hill. Grant and Mark, two guys that I met during the snowshoe orienteering event, are on this team and they looked intense! I was excited and proud that they were moving so fast. Later on they won 2nd place in the race - missing 1st by only 4 minutes.
We continued on downhill and we soon had our sights on the TA when all of sudden I took a nasty crash and went over the handlebars. The crash was instantaneous and I didn’t feel any pain and even turned back and flashed Brandon a thumbs-up (I’m always sort of proud of fantastic crashes where I don’t get hurt). Then I looked at my front wheel on my bike. Bent. Tacoed. Busted. Wrecked. Cracked. No more.
Oh well. At least the crash looked sweet.
It looked like we were done biking for the day but we could still complete the orienteering section. We changed into long pants and gaiters and set off on the O-course. My mind and body were definitely not into doing the course - it felt like my race had ended. Brandon took over the nav for awhile and we took a decidedly conservative approach to the nav. The O-course took us through this really fantastic creek section which was filled with all sorts of interesting boulders and cliffs and pools. Although we moved slow through this section this was probably my favorite part of the race. Toward the end of the O we were moving fairly slowly and really dragging but I spirits picked up when we reached the remote TA. By this time it was 5:00 and the race was officially over at 6:00. Bob, of Team-In-Training fame, had come to pick the volunteers up and wanted to take Brandon, I, and our bikes back to the TA. I did not want to get a ride back at all - I was feeling great, Brandon was feeling great…the only problem is that we had a busted bike. After some discussion with Bob he let us start the long hike home. Brandon rode slowly and navigated while I carried the bike. I was a bit worried about getting back in time for the barbeque but in the end it took us an hour and half to walk the bike home. No barbeque was left but there was definitely some extra cheesecake!
All in all, the race was 9 1/2 hours for us. It was probably the most challenging race I’ve ever done in all my 9-12 hour duration races but it was probably also the most fun (even with the nav mistakes and bike mishaps). Brandon was a great partner and our focus and goals really matched well. We also both tried our best which the most important thing.
Lessons learned:
- Be more exact with navigation - know when to move on from searching for a CP
- Practice orinteering and navigation with 1:24000 more often (once a week)
- Work on running speed and endurance
- Work on running more efficiently through dense forest
- Work on faster TA times (especially at remote TAs)
- Put more electrolytes in hydration bladder during races in coastal open-spaces.
Thanks again to Shooting Star Adventures and the volunteers for putting this race on!