Training Log Archive: Kim

Paddle / Trek 87km - I was spent and starving at this TA and struggled a bit to focus on what I was doing. With a few other teams we headed back down to the river to paddle as far as we could before the dark zone was applied at 7.30pm. We got an hours paddling in before setting up camp, then walked back up to get the first CP (where we saw Jarad sleeping on the track!). We had a great 7hr sleep as we took 2 tents and 4 sleeping bags!!! Also camped near us was AXA, McCain, CBD, Cyanosis, and Adidas just up the river.

MTB 105kms - Every red-neck in town was out tonight with the BBQs fired up. Granville Harbour is an interesting place! The first section was on and off the bike on sandy roads before riding up a nice track which eventually hit a creek and a massive dune on the other side. We walked up and across this and bumped into Adidas who'd been looking for the continuation of the track for 4 hours. We looked for a bit before riding onto and along the beach to another track which eventually met up with the road heading to the next CP. We then did the river crossing in Seyvlors with our bikes across the Pieman River at Corinna and onto a long dirt road which eventually turned to bitumen for a loooong climb up to Waratah. We rode with AXA for a while who were acting really strangely, but we now know they were working really hard just to stay awake. We were struggling as well but stopped for two 15min power naps - the last one left me feeling more tired than before. We soon hit forestry roads after Waratah as the sun rose and some long lasting hills. We then made a big nav mistake by heading down the wrong track to the Arthur River, up the other side, then down, then up, then down again before realising our mistake. It was a long ride back out where we'd run out of food. Once back on track we headed down a mostly unridable muddy track. The 2nd half of the descent was really cool though down to Farquars Bridge before a 5km climb to the TA on an empty stomach.

We left midcamp in Strahan somewhere in the early afternoon of Friday. We were now in 5th as Adidas had passed us on our return trip to the missed CPs. We headed straight out to the coast for a nice trek up the beach. We left the beach for the sand dunes a tad early and found ourselves bashing up and down thick beach bush before finally hitting the dunes on dark. We looked around for a while for the next CP with no luck. We bumped into Buff at the same spot who were also having difficulty. They took off soon after having obviously re-located, and we did the same 10 minutes later (we'd both been looking in the wrong spot). Once in the right spot we still couldn't find the CP however there was no sign of Buff who must have been quick to find it and move on. We eventually found it where we'd looked several times before - however it was attached to a snapped off branch thrown underneath the vegetation.... Adidas went through earlier in 4th and it was hung right for them as photographers went there with them.... No more needs to be said. We continued on until two large rivers we needed to swim across which we arrived at with McCain. These came at 2am and 3.30am - it was cold. Everyone nuded up bar me and swam across. I seriously didn't want to go and it took a secret tactic from Josh to get me in - it included the use of his bowels... Once across both of these we trekked the long way up to the next CP and down a very overgrown track - apparently not the best option. From here we were on a high up coastal road with awesome views collecting couple of CPs on knolls on the way. Trekking back down I was feeling the tendons at the front of my ankles warming up which slowed me down a bit. Once on the road nearing the TA at Granville Harbour we stopped on the side of the road for a 90min kip in the warmth of the sun. It was then a quick 4km jog into TA.

Raft 11km - We all jumped in the one Seyvlor to get to the next TA. We had the bungs in so immediately started taking on water on the windy lake. I spent the middle half of the paddle bailing water out before we paddled to shore and let the bungs out which worked much better.

Paddle 20kms - Into TA we picked up two plastic fantastics to paddle. Leaving the TA our portage wheels collapsed under the weight and a wheel fell off. NOt a good start. We paddled to the portage and then had to carry our boats the 2kms on road. We had planned to portage the rest of the paddle (which Thule did and beat us into TA 15 earlier after starting with us). The portage was fairly epic as these boats are heavy. We paddled the 2nd half into the night finishing in Tullah quite cold.

MTB 105kms - This MTB included a lot of the Wildside MTB race course. We had a few nav problems finding the second single track section. This was quite technical riding and I was a little over-cautious as not to crash on my shoulder in the wet slippery tracks. The tracks were quite annoying to ride in parts, but may have been okay if dry. We then rode a fast track to Motezuma Falls and across the swing bridge. I got my rear wheel stuck between the bridge floor and rails for a while needing the assistance from both Damon and Josh to get it free - gumby! The sun came up soon after as we rode along some old overgrown tram lines and then finally onto the road for a fast ride all the way to TA and mid-camp...... We'd been in mid-camp for about an hour when Damon had a light-bulb moment - we'd forgotten to go to the final two CPs along the road on the way in. We cancelled our hot meal and did the 90mins to go back out and get them before returning and re-starting our 6hr stop.

AR World Champs - XPD in Tassie with Blackheart. I have no splits for the legs so am just logging as one big continuous session. It's from memory too so may be a bit vague...

Ocean Kayak 17km - the race started with an ocean kayak from Burnie. I'm always happy with a kayak start so was pleased to see the race started this way. We got to the beach early and set up as far east as we could to minimise paddling distance. It worked out well as we got away well settling into the 2nd group with only Seagate well ahead showing their paddling strength. Started with Rob in the plastic fantastic but swapped half was to be paddling with Damon. Got to the next TA in equal 2nd with 3 other teams 10mins behind Seagate.

Trek 25km - Trek into the Dial Ranges via the clay shooting range. Even though I'm the only one with proper firearms training I deselected myself for the shoot claiming to be protecting my shoulder when in actual fact I thought I had 0% chance of hitting a moving target! Josh stepped up and shot an impressive 3 out of 5 targets meaning no penalty for us and we were on our way in 3rd place. Some nice nav by Rob saw us hit the CPs well and be in TA in 3rd, 3 mins behind Silva.

Bike - Caving - Bike 70kms(?) - Jumped on the bikes and did road ride to the caving section at Gunns Plains Caves. The ride included a very fast downhill near the end. I couldn't find my riding legs all ride and crossed my fingers they'd come good later on. The caving section was good including some crawling in mud to find codes before reappearing to daylight with 30mins to spare (this was an untimed section where we had 1hr to complete it before being able to leave again on bikes). Back on the bikes we rode to Leven Canyon for the next trek.

Trek 60kms - this trek took us up high and into the night where it did get quite cool. The ground was very soggy too. This trek apparently had great views on Cradle Mountain and surrounds however passing through at night denied us of these. Thule passed us about 2/3s in so we hit the cancelled abseiling section in 4th. We instead had a short steep trek down into the canyon with an impressive waterfall at the bottom. We didn't pay great attention to this as we freaked a little over the task at hand. We had two swims of 10m and 40m to do in flowing water which was <10 degrees. I jumped in last and was shocked by how cold the water was. On the 2nd swim I had to resort to a survival stroke as it felt like the body was shutting down - seriously! We trekked the rest of the canyon (~5hrs?) mainly staying on the banks and only crossing in knee deep sections. We caught up to Thule near the end and came into TA with them. It was now mid afternoon on Thursday.

Event: Adventure Racing World Championships - XPD Tasmania