At the start, we realized we had forgotten a bunch of gear prep, and we ended up starting late. One guy who was on a time penalty asked us if we were also on an official delay. Nope! Self-imposed penalty over here! Finally started down and along the lake towards #22, which we had skipped the day before. The lake/marsh skiing was beautiful. A layer of snow had fallen over night, and conditions were perfect. We did have to struggle a bit towards the control because all the snowshoe tracks had frozen over in the woods. We saw the soon-to-be winning team wildernesstraverse.com (who would be done for the weekend in another 3hrs), and I was kind of embarrassed at sliding around trying to climb up to the control. The woods would usually prove more icy than the open lands and marshes.
We also saw CM's team Untamed Torpedo, and eventually caught on that he might have decided to do the same loop we had, as we were all discussing things together at our motel. Sneaky! The race was on. Skis vs. Snowshoes - it would be epic. Well, for one of the teams anyway.
We cut a straight line for #51 across another marsh, but then veered too much north-west, so it took us a long time of looking around and second-guessing to get back out to the snowmobiles. But then we swish-swished down to one of the big 81-point controls, and even the long dog-leg through the forest to #83 was a sweet ski. UT were just leaving when we got there though. I realized then that my water hose had totally frozen, despite my having diligently blown the water back each time. I just wanted to ski, so I let it go for the time being. The foam tubing I'd bought to fashion an insulator out of was still sitting in CM's car untouched.
We took another nice long ski over and around to get to the 60s in the southeast corner of the map. The snow was so perfect and easy. My skis wanted to skate, so I let them. Cool! Never skated before, that's for sure. We cut a perfect line for #62 and noticed that UT had not been there yet - yes! But they came up behind us just as we were leaving - geez, that was fast! I later found out that while we took the long way around on our skis, they had even gotten out to #50 in the meantime!
 |
| We got kinda used to thrashing through this stuff. I mean skiing. |
We had been worried about the state of the big marsh ahead, but it turned out to be as frozen over as all the others. Only the first bit was rough, but we bumped into Attack from Above again, who were travelling with a surprise friend - a runaway black lab that would go on to switch teams later on and end a long day of rogaining with a burger in front of the HQ fire. Latest reports had him safely back with his totally unconcerned owners!
We also found out that PH on the team had fallen through some ice and been rescued out by his snowshoes by CL. Knowing he was soaked right through, I really reconsidered packing extra clothes for next year. I thought I was saving weight by dumping stuff, but it turns out that all the experienced teams had spare gear just in case. No messing around.
 |
| Skating! |
From #66, it felt like we were meandering along a river valley to get back out to the road, but we were actually on our plan the whole time. The map was very accurate, so reading the contour features was a breeze. We did a very short road run once we ran out of snow, but my ass got angry with me. Nooooo running.
 |
| Tree Huggers |
After #38, we decided to skip #49 for a second day in a row, as it would be a time-wasting dog-leg. Because of our complete lack of overall strategy, we had ended up in an area where we had picked up most of the controls already. We wanted to shoot up along the big trails to the north part of the map to get the bigger points. At this point, CB had come down with a terrible headache. I started kicking myself for forgetting painkillers in my kit. We had a long ski ahead of us, and she was going to be a trooper.
I found myself in the lead for the first time in the race. I'd look back and see her skiing with her head immobilized and almost with her eyes closed. She said, "I'm okay, it just hurts to think and talk." Yikes! She had to recover quickly though, because my line in towards #47 was less than perfect.
Our final push was to cross the big road and swish up to pick up some bigger points. We were both getting a bit antsy about the time, but I gave us an hour to take care of business up there and have 30mins to fly down the main road to the finish. I decided on 56-64-41 to make best use of available trails. With the existing tracks, this last foray was a no-brainer. And I think I finally got the hang of this skiing thing! We passed PK in there, who was courageously doing the whole course on skate skis. The RD had had a good laugh at his expense at the start, telling tales of those skating snowgainers whose bodies had never been recovered in years past, but here PK went on to be one of those to clear the whole course. So there!
We were right on time with these last three controls. The snowbanks on the side of the main road were quite squishy, so we ended up getting out-walked by some snowshoers as we sunk into the snow with each "glide." But we made it back with 10mins to spare and big huge smiles.
And we weren't last! 20th out of 23rd, baby! And... 2nd Female Team. Here's to all those other female teams who didn't show up.--Distance: 30km
--Duration: 7:50:00
I am so glad this was a two-day event. A lot of things finally clicked the second day, and we were much happier campers. We retired in front of the fire to hot dogs, burgers, chili, and the sweetest dog ever to race all day in a winter rogaine. (There's probably been more than one.)
CM had had the bright idea of taking a sweet three-day motel deal so that we could still take showers afterwards. Amazing. Then we drove down to Syracuse to meet up with my race buddy MK for sushi dinner. And to trade war stories of course. Wicked! What an amazing weekend. The race was amazing, and so many friends to spend it with. I'm really grateful for CB being my teammate too. No one could have been more patient.
Gear Worn:
Same, except packed my little gloves, good move. That Salomon front add-on is really dorky but awesome.
Gear Packed:
2x Socks, Turtle mitts, Toque (ditched the jacket, probably shouldn't have)
8x Roctane, Cheese sandwich, salt pills, 1.5L water (ditched the big 2L tank)
Headlamp, First aid, Emergency blanket (lightened the load a bit)
Snafus:
Being cocky about having stuff prepared from the first day and then realizing I still had to make food and get my gear in order. Result in a lot of time wasting at the start.
Not adding pain killers to the first aid kit, duh!
Not taking the time to rig the water hose insulation.
CB forgot her watch, while I forgot to charge mine. Thankfully, unlike its owner, my watch is Ironman-ready with minimum 17hrs of GPS on the battery. But this could have turned out badly.
Next year:
- Use insulated water, and much less of it.
- Do a team gear review to make sure all essentials are there and easy to reach
- Pack all essentials in the front for both teammembers
- Do keep the warm stuff in the back just in case
- If skiing, use trails as much as possible
- Re-read the rules to take advantage of them when necessary
- Might use the string-on-board concept now that I know how fast we can travel (in these conditions at least)
- Make only planned stops and do as much as possible on the move. Boy, did we waste time on stoppage. 5mins here, 8mins there... yikes.
- Be very disciplined with eating at intervals (which I finally did on day two)
- Strategy: don't get stuck in an area with no controls on day two. Plan better!
- Might add more stuff as I remember it...
No comments:
Post a Comment