Pre-Race
The signs for how this race would play out should have been read well before the start of the race itself. The gale force winds and torrential downpours on the way to the start should have turned our butts around. But our determination to abuse ourselves took hold and we pressed forward to Savanna and the race checkin. After signing a couple waivers and checking into the hotel we were immediately off to Poopy's for some pre-race nourishment.
Start
Since turkey hunting season got bumped a weekend, this year's race would take place just outside Savanna rather than in the Palisades State Park. One of us would have to begin with a short mile run (Heather... she's the runner) followed by some biking. After the sound of the start, Heather was quickly off and finished in the top 5 or so runners. She handed me the maps she got along the way and I looked them over as she changed into her bike shoes. We jumped on the bikes and headed out of the TA in 4th place.
Bike Section
We new the wind would be playing a big factor in the riding today, but luckily it would be to our back for the first section of riding. We passed our first team just outside the TA and the next two within a few minutes. WE WERE WINNING! Granted the race had just started, but we felt strong and confident. We arrived to the turn in the road that should have been home to CP1, but it wasn't visible from the road. We jumped off our bikes and began searching the nearby area. We were soon joined by the two teams we had just passed. I told one of the teams that we would vouch for them if they would do the same so we can get out of there. We agreed the CP was missing. By this time most of the teams had caught up to us, but we were soon moving again leaving the teams still searching behind. We ended up spotting the CP incorrectly placed at the next turn in the road. We had a pretty smooth ride with the other team. Although hilly, the wind still wasn't hurting us too bad. We arrived at where the CP should have been and couldn't find it anywhere. After checking up and down the road, in all the shelters, up the trail, near the cemetary, you name it we gave up. Of course it wasn't until we killed a good half hour and all the teams were once again caught up that we found out the CP had been placed incorrectly, and we were looking in vane! ARG! We were able to pass a couple teams on the way to CP3, but the damage had been done. We arrived to find a number of bikes laying around meaning our lead was gone.
Orienteering
The orienteering course was fairly easy. At each checkpoint there were numerous control markers, so we assumed they had doubled up on someone elses course because of the whole changing venues due to turkey hunting. I was sure to check each flag we punched to make certain it was the GMRAS flag. After knocking out the CPs with relative ease and finishing with a zip line off the bluff, we were back on the bikes and began our ride back to the TA
Bike Section
There's really not much I can say about this ride except that hilly dirt roads and a 20MPH head wind don't make riding easy! We cranked out the ride back slow and steady and reached the TA feeling strong but tired. Next we were to get on the bike path and head to the paddle put in, although the paddle had been cancelled due to the high winds. Bike Path? I asked the volunteer to point me in the right direction, but she wasn't sure what I was talking about. I looked at the map a little longer and noticed a series of dots near the river that could be what the instructions were talking about, so we headed off without a break.
Bike - Run - Bike
We had a short road ride to tackle to get to where we were hoping the bike path would be. I took a turn early and began looking for a path in a neighborhood just off the main road. After a few minutes, I realized what I had done and we were back on the road and soon found the bike path trail head. We continued down the path to a park where the canoe would have been, however, looking at the whitecapping waves, it's no doubt they called it. Instead, we would be running 4 miles on the dike system in the area. The run was more like a run/walk since the wind stopped us in our tracks. Never the less, we pushed through it and much to our surprise found ANdrew dancing around near the end of the run back at the park. He had rode his motorcycle out to cheer us on!! SWEET! After finishing the run, we hopped back on the bikes and doubled back to the TA
Final Bike Section
On our way back to the TA we decided we didn't really need to do anything, so once we arrived, we checked in and immediately checked out and started our ride to the final 3 points. We were allowed to get these checkpoints in any order, so I decided to get them out of order so we could ride on some better roads. The start of the ride wasn't too bad. The wind was to our back and the hills seemed pretty tame. By the time we got to the first checkpoint, one of the teams that we passed in TA had caught up to us. After getting CP7 (which was actually marked CP9 but there was NO way we were in the wrong location) we were off to CP9. For the next hour or so, our riding was taken down to a crawl. Facing the strong headwind, we were only able to move around 6-9MPH instead of our regular 18-20MPH. This was demoralizing! Never the less, we pushed on mile after mile doing the best we could. We would see Andrew here and there stopped to take pictures or video or just sing and dance for us. This was a nice break from the torturous ride. We were releived to get CP9 because most of the head wind riding was done. We quickly headed out for the last checkpoint which was on the way back to the TA. We saw several teams heading to CP9 at this point (they had done the points in a different order) which was motivating to push a little harder. Eventually we got CP8, faced some more head wind, and reached the finish.
Finish
After 9 hours and 13 minutes of LEGS, we were finally finished. Our total bike mileage topped 63 miles! Given the conditions, I couldn't help but be excited with our performance. While checking the sheet to see how many teams were in before us, I noticed they only had us down for 5 of the 7 orienteering points. I told them we had gotten all of them, but they informed me we had punched the wrong ones. WHAT? I had checked all of them to make sure they were the GMRAS flags. APparently they were ALL GMRAS flags and we were supposed to use the clue sheet to tell us which one to punch. I wish someone had told us this before the END of the race. Because of that fact, we were put in last place for our division. Regardless of the GMRAS results, we feel we should have been placed 2nd for our division and 6th overall. I'm extremely proud of our performance given the fact that we came into this race relatively un-trained and faced the crazy wind. Thanks to the GMRAS team for their hard work and time putting this together. See you next year!
Performance Highlights - AWESOME!
- Orienteering: 2nd fastest time
- Transitions: FASTEST total transition time
- Bike From O to TA: FASTEST time
- Final Bike Leg: 3rd fastest time
