Training Log Archive: nmulder

GPS battery dies a couple of hours before finishing

Stage 7 – Mountain Bike 77km

We set off on the last stage of the race mid-morning and it was obviously going to be another hot and humid day. There had been a subtle change however and we expected that we might well see thunderstorms later in the afternoon. Our experiences in our acclimatization week leading up to the race in Paraguay had taught us that these tropical storms were inevitably short but extremely severe and that we would be better off if we covered most of the riding distance before we got hit.

In transition we had taken note that the next team’s bike boxes had yet to arrive at our transition and so we would made some educated guesses that there were no teams chasing us down. This proved correct in hindsight as we were told after the race that we had a 12+ hour lead at this stage, having been as big as 18 hours in the transition after the 2nd long trekking leg. CP28 had definitely done some damage to the chasing teams with none of them finding it until first light the following morning.

The final 77km bike leg started off with some very flat cycling along the marshlands and plains as the heat and humidity continued to build. A few of the routes we followed took us down small footpaths, but you still had to be careful of coming across one of the locals on their motorbikes, their main transportation for getting between their cottages in the middle of nowhere and their local villages and towns. As we started crossing some larger areas of open ranch land we realized that the storm was about to break. The discomfort index had reached breaking point for us due to the extremely high humidity and despite the potential problems of mud for our bikes, we were relieved when the storm finally hit in the early afternoon. We were lucky though in that we only caught the end of the storm, thus avoiding a true downpour but still benefitting from cooler temperatures.

The checkpoints soon took us across a river where a ferryman was on hand to take our bikes across, but from then on we started climbing up into the hills again. The cooler temperatures and the firmer ground meant our pace improved again and the hilly terrain was an indicator that we were getting closer to the finish back at San Bernadino on the other side of the hills. A final stop in a small town meant that we could buy our final round of cold drinks and Sue could finally get her long-awaited ice-cream before we pushed on to the finish. The last two CPs seemed like they took ages to get to, but when we were greeted by a bunch of media crew at the final one, we were thrilled to almost be done. It was literally downhill all the way into town from here and we really enjoyed this experience, chatting comfortably amongst ourselves about the race and our achievement

The finish line of an Expedition race is really something, the utter joy and feeling of total relief that the pain is about to stop is indescribable. We crossed the finish line a short while before sunset, taking 1st place with a comfortable winning margin of about 12 hours, a very large gap that we have never had the privilege to enjoy before. In the end, 6 teams completed the full course with a further 10 completing short courses after missing various race cut-offs out of a field of 23 starters.

Stage 6 – Kayak 90km

We set off on the kayaks just after mid-afternoon, leaving us a few hours of daylight to navigate the early parts of the river. Once again our expectation didn’t match reality as the ‘easy’ river paddle turned out to be tough and technical, with a swollen river choked with very big trees that forced us to manoeuvre through small little gaps between branches and trunks whilst leaves, insects and other debris rained from above as we pushed through. We managed to avoid any severe tree blocks and were just grateful that we did this in the daylight! We had been told that high powered headlamps would be advisable and we could now see why, although our Petzl headlamps would have been perfect for the challenge.

After about 4km we joined with a slightly larger river and started making better headway as it appeared to be flowing very well. On a few meanders we could even hear the swollen river cutting across through the forests to the next hairpin bend, but we definitely weren’t interested in taking any potential shortcuts. The river was surreal as the sun set and we got enveloped in darkness. We had a smooth but fast flowing river bordered by thick forest on each side and as the full moon rose, we could switch off our headlamps and navigate it with moonlight.

The 90km paddle was expected to take us all night, so we settled down into a good rhythm, making use of the main current and when needed, one person sleeping in each boat. This didn’t always work out perfectly as sleepmonsters descended on the team as this was the fourth night of racing; a boat ending up in the trees on the edges of the river every now and again. Additionally, the high volume of the river meant that there were some large upwellings, particularly in river bends that destabilized the boats, spinning them sideways. The edge of the boats dug in occasionally and even resulted in an unexpected swim on one occasion. This proved to be partly the result of one of the boats leaking slowly and filling with water. When dragged to the river bank it took about 5+ minutes to empty the water out of the drainage hole.

After 12 hours of paddling (and a bit of sleeping) in the dark, the sun rose and immediately the paddling tempo improved. We were already 16 hours on the river and still had around 1.5 hours to go before we hit the transition. A short time later we pulled ourselves out of the boats. We felt like we’d been sitting in bathtubs for the last 17.5 hours! Our muscles and skin showed it and we were pleased to be off the water and onto the final stage.

A side-story to this paddle is that we apparently paddled past two of the organizing crew without seeing them, who were trying to get our attention to avoid a very large anaconda in the river (which we also didn’t see…).

Stage 5 – Mountain Biking 102km

We assembled our bikes and got them ready for the bike leg. This included a complementary bike service put together by the organizers for all teams. Although our bikes were still in good condition, we felt that a good clean and a quick service wouldn’t hurt, so we let this local Specialized bike team sort out any potential problems for us.

We left the transition at last light, expecting to complete the leg in about 10 hours. The first part was a compulsory section along an old railway line to avoid busy tar roads. Unfortunately the vegetation along the track was extremely dense and a big surprise to not just us, but apparently the course director (we returned quickly to the transition to confirm that we hadn’t misinterpreted anything!). However, with no other route choice option, we had to forge on, breaking down branches and vegetation to create a tunnel through the dense undergrowth. The first 2 km were the worst and we literally ended up crawling through some sections, towing our bikes behind us. Obviously as each team member progressed it got easier for anyone following, so Cyanosis definitely got the worst of it by leading at this stage! Thereafter the bush got a bit patchier, but the in-between grassy sections were often still waist high, pulling and snagging at your derailleur and pedals at every opportunity. On a few occasions we did decide to ride parallel to the railroad in some open grass fields but this was still tough going.

We took another hour of sleep along the way, but in the end it took us 7 hours of active movement to cover the 11km train track section to the next town, something that would take the teams further back in the field only about 2.5 hours...

In town, we found the local police station for a quick fill up of our water bottles and then set off along the next cobblestone road. Even with a full suspension bike, these can be a bit monotonous and so three of us took pity on Rob, the only one in the team on a hard-tail bike (Ouch!).
At day break we rode into CP40, a monument in a town square where a nearby information board informed us that today’s minimum temperature was 27˚C. We took the opportunity to raid another corner store and purchased more cold drinks, but also our new favourite, drinking yogurt!

We progressed along the bike leg as the day wore on (the initial 7 hours of bushwhacking slowing down our predicted times by a notable margin), finally getting to the last checkpoint at a ship in the middle of a marshy flood plain. The presence of these ships (2 of them) in the middle of nowhere would prove to be an interesting story from Paraguayan history as we were nowhere near a major river, never mind the ocean. From this checkpoint, it was a short ride into transition and the 90km paddle leg down the narrow river that these ships has sailed up to escape during a major war with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Stage 3 – Mountain Bike & Ropes Abseil 89km

In transition we quickly had to unpack our bike boxes and assemble our bikes. Food and fresh fruit were provided by the organizers in almost all transitions, which was especially gratifying after struggling to eat during the paddle and trek legs due to the high temperatures.

The first part of the mountain bike leg was relatively uneventful, although the minimum night temperature never dropped below 26˚C. We rode through the night at a steady pace, easily collecting CP’s 13 and 14 in the hilly terrain. Some of the roads were cobble-stone, which was quite different for us, but otherwise the route made use of sandy roads and tracks of moderate to good ride ability. At CP15, the check point was at a chapel on top of a hill, where we could leave our bikes at the bottom with one team member. We had fun discussing who the lucky “fourth” would be who could count a few sheep.

The team had a slight wobble around CP16 when we struggled to make sense of a whole lot of new tracks when approaching a village nearby. However, it was approaching CP18 (the abseil) just after dawn where we made our biggest navigation error of the race, losing about 1 hour when we ended up following a track network up the wrong hill slope. We identified the error and recovered, but were caught by a chasing team (Euskat-Raidaventura.org) just before the abseil point. After having been the solo team upfront for almost 24 hours, the presence of another team definitely added some pressure. Luckily there were 2 lines (1 per team) on the abseil, so we didn’t need to race each other to be there first.

Abseiling with a bike is definitely unique and a first for the team. After some initial hesitations, it all went well as we clambered over the rocks with our bikes strapped to our backs and descended the 50m drop. Team Euskat were quick to get down and speed away on their bikes but we found them again shortly thereafter on one of the main tar roads in the area. A quick little side path took us over a rickety wooden suspension bridge, to the sudden fright of a poor old lady already on the narrow bridge. We all quickly stopped and waited for her to cross before we continued, but I’m sure she didn’t think too well of us. We continued riding on the far side, but Team Euskat started pushing the pace. With temperatures already starting to climb rapidly, we found an excuse to drop off the pace and stopped at a small corner shop to purchase something to drink (one of the local Guarani-infused colas).

By the time Cyanosis were on the move again, Euskat were well out of site and we could focus on riding at our own pace. The day was proving to be extremely hot once again and we managed to look after ourselves well, even stopping once again to visit another roadside store for more cold drinks and some drinking yoghurt.

Upon arrival in the next transition area we noticed that Team Euskat had arrived only 7 minutes ahead of us, so we hadn’t lost much time at all. We also looked in much better condition than they did.

The Transition was a resort camp set in rocky sandstone hills with a beautiful swimming pool. We assembled our bikes, ate and drank, but also took the opportunity to cool down in the pool. We had a good transition and didn’t rush anything, making sure that we prepared properly for the next leg which was going to be an extremely long and tough 54km trek.

Stage 4 – Trekking 54km

The fastest expected time was going to be 17hrs for this trek but we immediately expected to take longer, setting a 20+ hour target for our food and drink planning. We made a quiet exit from transition (knowing that Team Euskat were also planning on leaving when we did) and managed to get away and to the first checkpoint without them being in sight. Once again we found ourselves in a position of only having a few hours of daylight left, and a tough section of navigation ahead of us. We thus tried to go at as fast a pace as possible, but this had to be tempered by the hot conditions that were exacerbated by the sandstone rock surroundings. We ended up crossing rivers on numerous occasions and made full use of these by immersing ourselves in them to bring our core body temperatures down.

We approached CP26 with the setting sun and the knowledge that CPs 26, 27 and 28 were going to be extremely challenging from a navigational point of view. All of these were in mixed terrain with sandstone outcrops surrounded by dense forest, some of it thorny, with only a handful of small footpaths / animal tracks shown on the map. With some careful navigation, we ticked off CP26 with no time loss and quickly moved onto CP27, successfully finding the indistinct path leading down to a small waterfall. We climbed out of there onto higher ground and used the last available light to see what the terrain looked like to CP28, which would be located on another small indistinct track going between two rock pinnacles. Although this was only 1km away, getting across the terrain proved difficult in the dark, whilst accessing the forest area around the checkpoint proved even harder. We first tried to find the small path from the north side, but were unable to find it in the dense forest. We then tried going in direct from the east, but the sandstone pinnacles and rocky landscape meant that there were big 50m cliffs between us and where we needed to be. After a short 1 hour sleep due to tiredness and the heat still radiating off the rocks even at night, we finally were able to find the indistinct track and access the checkpoint from the south side. We checked it sometime before 10pm but had an immediate feeling that our 1 hour of time loss looking for this CP could well be very acceptable compared to other teams trying to find this CP28 at night.

After CP28, the navigation got a bit easier, relative to CP28 at least. The high number of checkpoints on this leg meant that the navigators had to maintain high levels of concentration throughout, but Cyanosis pulled it off, with both the moderately difficult CPs 31 and 32 being located with no time loss. After that there were some longer stretches between CPs and the team found themselves approaching CP34 at sunrise. CP34 was on top of a mountain and required some decent rock climbing skills, but it was also only the first of 3 summit checkpoints before the next transition. With all three hills having dense forest covering their sides, progress was slow and the conditions tough with the combination of high humidity under the forest and the ever increasing temperatures. The second climb had only a very indistinct track whilst the final climb was straight up through the forest. It took the team another 7-8 hours to cover the final 10km into the transition for a final leg time of close to 27 hours! Definitely a trekking leg to remember.

After the tough trek we took a good rest in the transition. We arrived at 3pm, with slightly more than 3 hours of sunlight left. On this occasion however, we were content to hit the MTB at night as we could move a little quicker and we could do with the recovery period. We had a slight inkling that the gap behind us to 2nd place was quite big, as none of the media crews we had bumped into on the mountain tops had any interest in staying in place for the next team, instead choosing to follow us on the leg. Given how long it would have taken and the effort expended by them to get to some of these points, their reluctance to stay in place was notable.

GPS tracks cover 7pm - 7pm each day (i.e. Midnight SA time)

08h00 Race start – The build up to the race had been very relaxed and quiet. This changed rapidly two hours before the start and the race maps and final route instructions were handed out and the teams went into the final ‘no electronics’ lock-down. Preferred race routes for the entire course were quickly analysed and our race strategies amended accordingly. It was then a quick rush down to the boats lined up on the lake shoreline to set up all our kit before the Le Mans style start.
Although the days leading up to the race had seen the wind pumping across the lake towards our villa, race-day dawned calm with flat conditions providing a superb reflection of the boats and the horizon. The negative was that this exacerbated the heat, with temperature highs of 36˚C and almost no rain expected every day of the race. With tropical humidity and elevations changes of only 100 to 400m above sea level (despite being 1000km from the nearest ocean), the heat was going to be the BIG factor in the race and would dictate Team Cyanosis’ racing strategy.

Stage 1 - Paddling 55km
The team got off the start line well and quickly settled in to a solid paddling rhythm, both crews working together pulling and sitting on the others wave. After 1km a quick glance over our shoulder revealed that a notable gap was already opening, which was both surprising and disconcerting (are we going too hard too early?). We felt comfortable though, so continued on at the same tempo. We are still not 100% sure why the other teams didn’t attempt to stay with us in a group, but the positive was that we got to set our own pace.
The first 20km of the paddle were on the lake, with the calm conditions effectively nullifying any potential use of sails (the race had been declared sail-legal just a few days before the event start when the team were already in transit to the race and we would have been at a disadvantage to some teams had the conditions allowed for this). Thereafter the race course entered a narrow river through a meandering wetland with superb scenery and great birdlife. The river flow was also fairly quick, which speeded up the paddle from the expected 9 hours to almost 7.5 hours in duration. We came across the assembled press corps and a horde of race supporters at one point as we crossed under a road bridge, but apart from that it was very quiet except for the odd fisherman on the banks of the river.

Stage 2 – Trek 34km
We finished the paddle well under the scheduled 9hrs, but now started the next trekking leg at the hottest time of the day. We left transition in the lead and managed to get off the main road in to the “bush” before any other team could see us, thereby making sure they didn’t have anyone to chase through the first technical section of navigation. With the oppressing heat, we didn’t think we were moving particularly fast as we walked our way to the first of a sequence of checkpoints, any jogging definitely off the cards for the moment. We progressed across these checkpoints across a flat flood-plain at decent pace, refilling water wherever possible and trying to keep ourselves cool with constant dousing. The navigation in this bushland was particularly challenging, so we aimed to finish the sequence of 4 checkpoints before darkness fell, something we just managed to do and which gave us an advantage over the chasing teams.

The darkness brought slightly cooler temperatures, but the terrain also became hillier and the vegetation more enclosing at certain times. We managed to refill our water at some of the houses and villages along the way, with the super-friendly locals not only helping us fill up from their well and taps, but on a few occasions even offering ice! We ended up wading rocky rivers, fighting through some dense forests and finally finding some nice motocross tracks and footpaths that brought us closer to the next transition.

Throughout this we found ourselves stopping a few times in order to check Rob’s sugar levels. These tests were very important to manage his diabetes and were thus a major factor to our race strategy. We said going in to the race that we want to test his sugar as often as possible to be ahead of the “game” rather than chasing overly high or low sugar levels. We had a little scare on this leg as Rob’s sugar levels spiked and his insulin did not work as expected, possibly as a result of his insulin’s effectiveness reduced by the very hot conditions. When we got into the transition where we were able to replace this medication and make plans to keep it cold for the rest of the race.