Finally got a few pics of Lover’s Leap rock climbing…

Russo climbing at Lover’s Leap.

Russo relaxing at the belay station.

Ritwik and I at the top of the climb.

The view from the top of the climb.

This weekend I joined Ritwik and his cousin Russo for some nice rock climbing at Lover’s Leap. Lover’s Leap is located just a few miles west of the Lake on Highway 50. We got a late start on Saturday but we were able to get in a nice two-pitch climb before nightfall. The Leap is supercool because the hike in and the hike out is literally only 5 minutes long back to the tent!

The next day we joined up with a guy, Stefan, whom we met in the campground for some mountain biking at Crystal Basin. Crystal Basin is a large area of granite slickrock - you can basically bike anywhere you please on the slickrock while doing jumps, drops, and other technical riding. It was really just a fun time. The best part of the day was biking up this huge granite bowl and then cresting a ridge to Loon Lake. We were able to relax a bit and take a dip in the lake. We then explored around the lake’s edge to see if we could find a way to the other side but unfortuntaly the cliff line of some of the rock formations prevented us from biking further.

Also, the Crystal Basin area intersects with the Rubicon Trail - the most famous Jeep and 4×4 trail in the world. We were able to see some massive rock crawling machines do some amazing stuff over the boulders in the area. No comment on the *cough* environment impact of the area.

I’ll post some pictures from the weekend when they are provided to me with my fancy friends and their fancy digital cameras.

Off to the 12/24 Training Hike tonight - updates on Monday!

Here’s the gear list if you’re interested:
- Backpack (mine will be roughly 1892 cubic inches)
- Headlamp with enough batteries to last 12 hours
- Water purification (either water tablets or pump-based purifier)
- Sunscreen
- Bug spray
- Camera
- Hat for sun shade
- Non-cotton t-shirt
- Non-cotton shorts or pants that can take some abuse and don’t chafe
- Warm jacket for night time
- Stocking cap for night time
- Socks
- Extra pair of socks
- Trail running shoes or hiking boots
- Toiletries you may need
- Whistle
- Emergency space blanket
- Trekking poles if you need/have them
- Spare compass
- First aid kit
- antiseptic wipes
- duct tape
- anti-inflammatories
- bandages/gauze
- small knife
- blister care kit
- Food
For adventure races I eat roughly 1 energy gel or energy bar every 45 minutes - then every 6 hours I eat a bagel, beef jerky, peanut butter, and trail mix. It is easier if you try to keep the weight of the food down since, ideally, you’ll be carrying a lot of water.
- Water
- Electrolytes replenishment (either in the form of gatorade or in E-Caps
form)

See ya!

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!

Well, plans got kind of mixed up this past weekend. It turns out that Derick had never been to Tahoe before so we scratched plans to head to Lassen and Lava Beds and spent time in Reno and Tahoe instead. Saturday Derick arrived and we headed off to rent a couple kayaks from UNR. We were able to snag a Necky Mission and a Wavesport BigEZ and the requisite gear. We headed down to the playspots on the Truckee. We hit the first surf wave on the north side of the river and stayed there for awhile (until I got used to being back in a whitewater kayak!). We soon decided to make a run of the south side - which is running high and fast right now. The first rapid is roughly a class III rapid and the others, while pushy, are class II. At the bottom of the run there is a big huge surf wave which we didn’t get to play in but I definitely want to go back and try it out.

The next day we decided to go up to Lake Tahoe and doing a hike out to Emerald Point and on the Rubicon Trail. It starts at the top of D.L. Bliss State Park and a foot trail follows down the side of Eagle Falls to the beaches of Emerald Bay. From there you can tour around Vikingsholm and then head onto the Rubicon Trail following it northeast to Emerald Point. From there you could see all of the lake as well as back into Emerald Bay. It was very cool.

Today Derick and I headed up to the summit of Peavine Peak (8265′) it took 2 1/2 hours to reach the top and from there we could see down into Reno as well as into the forests and mountains northwest of the Reno area. It was a great time although I did get a bit sunburned. We are a bit sore now but it is well worth as that was Derick’s first summit ever. Later on this afternoon we hit REI and Reno Mountain Sports to look at whitewater and mountaineering gear. I’m buying an ice axe and boots for my trip to Mt. Shasta in a couple weeks and I wanted to compare prices. I think I’m going to settle on a Black Diamond Raven for my ice ax.

Anyway, tomorrow I gotta head back to work - after work I’m doing running intervals in Keystone Canyon or at the UNR track.