Training Log Archive: fluceluceIn the 31 days ending Jul 31, 2011:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | ||||||||||||||||||
Saturday Jul 30, 2011 #
12 AM
RTNX race 8 [3]
8hrs 10
Our timing was to perfection! An uplift had been aranged to get everyone to the 7 summits ride and the finish in time after the logistical problem with the 12hr wait for boxes...
We got there as they were loading up the last uplift! Woop!
The uplift saved us some climb, but dont be mislead, we spent the following 2hrs climbing singletrack in the dark.
I payed for the earlier pace and my stomach went crazy. Felt very rough but we still managed to get up ahead of all the other teams on up lift. The 7 summits was very pretty as dawn arrived and we flew down the fun single track. We made a small nav boo right at the end and added in an extra climb but then we were off down the hill, fire tracks under ski lifts, through Red Mountain resort where we would be staying that night, to the final control. We saw Chris who was pleased we had made the up lift and that he had kept it running late! The some more fast and furious downhill with a bit of fine nav at the end, and into trail to the finish line! What a great feeling, amazing to finish! So happy and amazed at what we had just done. If you spoke to pretty much anybody they said that was one of/or the hardest race they had ever experienced.
Our timing was to perfection! An uplift had been aranged to get everyone to the 7 summits ride and the finish in time after the logistical problem with the 12hr wait for boxes...
We got there as they were loading up the last uplift! Woop!
The uplift saved us some climb, but dont be mislead, we spent the following 2hrs climbing singletrack in the dark.
I payed for the earlier pace and my stomach went crazy. Felt very rough but we still managed to get up ahead of all the other teams on up lift. The 7 summits was very pretty as dawn arrived and we flew down the fun single track. We made a small nav boo right at the end and added in an extra climb but then we were off down the hill, fire tracks under ski lifts, through Red Mountain resort where we would be staying that night, to the final control. We saw Chris who was pleased we had made the up lift and that he had kept it running late! The some more fast and furious downhill with a bit of fine nav at the end, and into trail to the finish line! What a great feeling, amazing to finish! So happy and amazed at what we had just done. If you spoke to pretty much anybody they said that was one of/or the hardest race they had ever experienced.
Friday Jul 29, 2011 #
12 AM
RTNX race 24 [3]
24hrs
When the gear turned up we levered Nick into a boat and - silly us - decided on a new tactic using kayak paddles and no catamaran system. This was a loooong paddle and we dropped off the back of everyone immediately - Nick was cooked. Thomas paddled the two of them down the 8-9hrs of lake! Amazing effort. Me and Eoin even had time to look at the view, it was stunning, beautiful and sunny!
The first thing Nick said when we landed at TA was that he couldn't carry on....we weren't surprised as we had dragged his body 2 stages further than it was really capable of, just a little disappointed as even having done that we were somewhere between 7th and 9th when we had started that paddle....
The rest of us set off on the final stage - a long bike leg which started with a last bit of paddling across the lake before, you guessed it, a monster climb! The other 2 had a new lease of life now they were only pushing 1 bike each up a hill! We flew down the fire tracks on the other side, setting a cracking pace along the flatter disused railway - I was working hard to keep up but it was fun! Then we climbed again.....Into the dark....
I got tired and was dropping a little so we stopped for 30mins kip - seeing as we weren;t competitive anymore. This worked and we pushed on to checkpoint 19!
When the gear turned up we levered Nick into a boat and - silly us - decided on a new tactic using kayak paddles and no catamaran system. This was a loooong paddle and we dropped off the back of everyone immediately - Nick was cooked. Thomas paddled the two of them down the 8-9hrs of lake! Amazing effort. Me and Eoin even had time to look at the view, it was stunning, beautiful and sunny!
The first thing Nick said when we landed at TA was that he couldn't carry on....we weren't surprised as we had dragged his body 2 stages further than it was really capable of, just a little disappointed as even having done that we were somewhere between 7th and 9th when we had started that paddle....
The rest of us set off on the final stage - a long bike leg which started with a last bit of paddling across the lake before, you guessed it, a monster climb! The other 2 had a new lease of life now they were only pushing 1 bike each up a hill! We flew down the fire tracks on the other side, setting a cracking pace along the flatter disused railway - I was working hard to keep up but it was fun! Then we climbed again.....Into the dark....
I got tired and was dropping a little so we stopped for 30mins kip - seeing as we weren;t competitive anymore. This worked and we pushed on to checkpoint 19!
Thursday Jul 28, 2011 #
12 AM
RTNX race 24 [3]
24hrs
This track has to be the most bizarre bit of racing I have ever done....I started to get very tired and couldnt keep up with the pace that Thomas set towing Nick. So me and Eoin walked a distance behind. It was soon apparent Eoin was wrecked too, and drifting off to sleep occasionally. So we linked arms and I kept him upright. But then I got to the same state of tiredness and it was hit and miss whether we would stay upright!
This was not helped by the non descript, straight, nature of the track as we had no real clue how far we had traveled or had to go. Then we got to a bridge! This made all the difference for me, I knew how far we had come (7km) and how far we had to go (11km) Doh!
But at least I knew this and there were km markers along the track. I also knew my feet were in agony and I couldnt walk without support. Thomas came back to meet us and we joined up as a 4 again for the slowest km of the night! Then I got my poles out and set an agonizing pace (for my feet anyway) as I was determined we were going to reach the transition! All I can remember is putting one foot in front of the other and counting down km markers as the pain increased in my feet and Nick chatted nonsense to my fish shoes. By the time 3km came I thought my legs might give out any minute (even though my arms had taken most of the impact for the last 7km). Somehow we made it! Tent out, all a state, crashed! 2hrs sleep - Valhalla - the deciding leg - over!
When we got up my feet felt so much better, not good, but I could get on a bike which was important for the next leg! Thomas fed me a miracle pill (don't know what it was but I think it was anti inflam and antihistamine) which made them feel great!
Nick on the other hand looked like a gonner. He sat on the kit boxes staring at the pasta meal in front of him, trying to work out how to eat it....
At some point while he worked this out Checkpoint Zero came into TA, they had taken a wrong turn at the end of the death track and had to bivvy out.
Nick got food into him, and hey presto, he was a new man...a man with very blistered feet...
I patched those up then we set off on bike.
We completed the zip wire gorge crossing with bike and made it to the next Checkpoint. We were a little worried that Nick was losing his mind as he was talking some proper nonsense but he could come out of it and talk normally too , so we carried on over the next climb. Just like the others it was huge - but this time Nick was in no state to push up or ride up. So new tactic. I put Nick on run tow and pulled him up the mountain whilst the other 2 pushed 2 bikes each. On the steeper parts I would drop Nick off and run back to help with a bike. We made it pretty much to the top with Wedali who caught us on the climb after we had overtaken them somewhere on course...
We made it to 100m from the top and Nick crashed. Big time. The other 2 were 100m ahead at the top and all I could do was fill him with food and wait. When I suggested moving after 15mins I nearly had my head bitten off...so eventually I dragged him up that 100m.
Another stop off and a small shout and the food started to kick in....onto the bikes again and down the fun fire tracks to the TA. We found Wedali debating how to get through to the TA and split up to find it. Eventually got through, only to find no gear bins.
Apparently there was some logistical nightmare after 2 teams needed rescuing from Beatrice Lake and nobody had gear bins at any transition. So we settled in for the long wait whilst other teams arrived, including checkpoint.
We had ourselves a good 12hrs rest!
This track has to be the most bizarre bit of racing I have ever done....I started to get very tired and couldnt keep up with the pace that Thomas set towing Nick. So me and Eoin walked a distance behind. It was soon apparent Eoin was wrecked too, and drifting off to sleep occasionally. So we linked arms and I kept him upright. But then I got to the same state of tiredness and it was hit and miss whether we would stay upright!
This was not helped by the non descript, straight, nature of the track as we had no real clue how far we had traveled or had to go. Then we got to a bridge! This made all the difference for me, I knew how far we had come (7km) and how far we had to go (11km) Doh!
But at least I knew this and there were km markers along the track. I also knew my feet were in agony and I couldnt walk without support. Thomas came back to meet us and we joined up as a 4 again for the slowest km of the night! Then I got my poles out and set an agonizing pace (for my feet anyway) as I was determined we were going to reach the transition! All I can remember is putting one foot in front of the other and counting down km markers as the pain increased in my feet and Nick chatted nonsense to my fish shoes. By the time 3km came I thought my legs might give out any minute (even though my arms had taken most of the impact for the last 7km). Somehow we made it! Tent out, all a state, crashed! 2hrs sleep - Valhalla - the deciding leg - over!
When we got up my feet felt so much better, not good, but I could get on a bike which was important for the next leg! Thomas fed me a miracle pill (don't know what it was but I think it was anti inflam and antihistamine) which made them feel great!
Nick on the other hand looked like a gonner. He sat on the kit boxes staring at the pasta meal in front of him, trying to work out how to eat it....
At some point while he worked this out Checkpoint Zero came into TA, they had taken a wrong turn at the end of the death track and had to bivvy out.
Nick got food into him, and hey presto, he was a new man...a man with very blistered feet...
I patched those up then we set off on bike.
We completed the zip wire gorge crossing with bike and made it to the next Checkpoint. We were a little worried that Nick was losing his mind as he was talking some proper nonsense but he could come out of it and talk normally too , so we carried on over the next climb. Just like the others it was huge - but this time Nick was in no state to push up or ride up. So new tactic. I put Nick on run tow and pulled him up the mountain whilst the other 2 pushed 2 bikes each. On the steeper parts I would drop Nick off and run back to help with a bike. We made it pretty much to the top with Wedali who caught us on the climb after we had overtaken them somewhere on course...
We made it to 100m from the top and Nick crashed. Big time. The other 2 were 100m ahead at the top and all I could do was fill him with food and wait. When I suggested moving after 15mins I nearly had my head bitten off...so eventually I dragged him up that 100m.
Another stop off and a small shout and the food started to kick in....onto the bikes again and down the fun fire tracks to the TA. We found Wedali debating how to get through to the TA and split up to find it. Eventually got through, only to find no gear bins.
Apparently there was some logistical nightmare after 2 teams needed rescuing from Beatrice Lake and nobody had gear bins at any transition. So we settled in for the long wait whilst other teams arrived, including checkpoint.
We had ourselves a good 12hrs rest!
Wednesday Jul 27, 2011 #
12 AM
RTNX race 24 [3]
24hrs
So yeah - we were back to bush whacking, but I think Geoff was wrong, it wasn't worse than before, just longer....oh and yeah, the heavens had opened again...
Here I started to have a real bad patch as we were playing 'stick with checkpoint zero' and checkpoint zero had Pete bashing a path through the undergrowth. Pete is good and fast at this and I was fine keeping up on anything that was tree or bracken or fight related...sadly the most part was fallen tree related and being on the shorter side (and not practised at this) I found getting over all the fallen trees fast enough really energy draining. I also didnt get a chance to stop for water or food often enough as hands were required for climbing over trees and whenever I caught up to everyone they immediately moved on. So around 8hrs of this later we crossed a big fast river at the end of Beatrice lake over a dubious log....and headed up!
I was pretty wrecked but not last anymore, so I could eat something! Then a call came from behind, Paul from Checkpoint was hypothermic, we needed to find somewhere to start a fire. Within 15mins base had been set up, a fire made and Paul dryed off and put in a survival bag. I realised I was pretty cold too so decided to sod leaving the dry trousers for once we got out of the bush and followed suit.
I don't really know what time this was but I think it might have been about 10pm, we stayed there until almost 2am, watching headtorches on the other side of the valley wander up and down and up until finally ending in stopping and making a fire....I don't think anyone made it through that part of Valhalla in one go! Hard work!
I'm also not sure if I class this as sleep, but it was certainly rest.
When we got going again there was a lot more up, around lake,up, around lake to go - all the while fighting the undergrowth...At Dawn we hit the last of the lakes to traverse and the terrain changed. The daylight revealed either a steep rocky scree slope interspersed with tree fight to negotiate. Or some steep snow banks where one wrong foot would result in landing in the lake around the other side of the lake.
We chose the scree/tree combination. Still very hairy and at the end of this was a climb that looked impossible without rope! I was shattered, the navigators were getting way ahead again and me and Chris and Michelle and Nick formed a following group. The following group were all tired and we got a bit narked about the fact no1 was telling us how we were supposedly getting up this climb - all we wanted to know was what the plan was before we took the route of no return....there was a bit of an angry moment but we eventually made it onto the climb which wasn't half as bad as it had looked on approach.
Up we went and at the top, emerged at the same time as the french who had gone the opposite way round Beatrice lake and this last lake!
We were now out of the bush (WOOO) and onto snow. Around another couple of lakes then onto a col and the climb was over...well for now!
We then descended to Ice Creek Lodge (I think), splitting from Checkpoint Zero right near the bottom and spiking the Lodge saving 10-15mins on them....
The Lodge was great! Warm, there was soup, we could have stayed there all day! A few teams did :-)....But Eoin restricted us to 30mins so I ate and the others slept.
When we got going again it was apparent Nick was suffering BIG TIME! After 5minutes we got the bivvy out and slept for 40mins, then pressed on again. Nick could at least now move!
The route was stunning! A climb up to the snow line then up some more, to a col with breathtaking scenery! Then shoe skiing/bum sliding down to a lake and across the flat land (where we caught the french team again who had passed us during our 40min nap - they had underestimated the leg so we donated them some food) before heading up another snowy col climb to even higher!! Down again via show ski or bottom and we were at the next control - woohoo this one took less than 24hrs to get to!.
Nick was struggling again so I got the tow out, but it wasn't good towing terrain until a little way on. Within 30mins of the control, Nick had a complete bonk! Out with the survival bag, wrapped him up, injected sugar and caffeine until he could stand, then it was me towing him down off the mountain. This was where Nick saw his first sleepmonsters ever, my Inov8 shoes were fish and he had a great time chatting to them on the way down....
At the bottom of the little track we hit logging tracks again - call for a short celebration - until we realised we had 18km of flat logging track to the next transition....
So yeah - we were back to bush whacking, but I think Geoff was wrong, it wasn't worse than before, just longer....oh and yeah, the heavens had opened again...
Here I started to have a real bad patch as we were playing 'stick with checkpoint zero' and checkpoint zero had Pete bashing a path through the undergrowth. Pete is good and fast at this and I was fine keeping up on anything that was tree or bracken or fight related...sadly the most part was fallen tree related and being on the shorter side (and not practised at this) I found getting over all the fallen trees fast enough really energy draining. I also didnt get a chance to stop for water or food often enough as hands were required for climbing over trees and whenever I caught up to everyone they immediately moved on. So around 8hrs of this later we crossed a big fast river at the end of Beatrice lake over a dubious log....and headed up!
I was pretty wrecked but not last anymore, so I could eat something! Then a call came from behind, Paul from Checkpoint was hypothermic, we needed to find somewhere to start a fire. Within 15mins base had been set up, a fire made and Paul dryed off and put in a survival bag. I realised I was pretty cold too so decided to sod leaving the dry trousers for once we got out of the bush and followed suit.
I don't really know what time this was but I think it might have been about 10pm, we stayed there until almost 2am, watching headtorches on the other side of the valley wander up and down and up until finally ending in stopping and making a fire....I don't think anyone made it through that part of Valhalla in one go! Hard work!
I'm also not sure if I class this as sleep, but it was certainly rest.
When we got going again there was a lot more up, around lake,up, around lake to go - all the while fighting the undergrowth...At Dawn we hit the last of the lakes to traverse and the terrain changed. The daylight revealed either a steep rocky scree slope interspersed with tree fight to negotiate. Or some steep snow banks where one wrong foot would result in landing in the lake around the other side of the lake.
We chose the scree/tree combination. Still very hairy and at the end of this was a climb that looked impossible without rope! I was shattered, the navigators were getting way ahead again and me and Chris and Michelle and Nick formed a following group. The following group were all tired and we got a bit narked about the fact no1 was telling us how we were supposedly getting up this climb - all we wanted to know was what the plan was before we took the route of no return....there was a bit of an angry moment but we eventually made it onto the climb which wasn't half as bad as it had looked on approach.
Up we went and at the top, emerged at the same time as the french who had gone the opposite way round Beatrice lake and this last lake!
We were now out of the bush (WOOO) and onto snow. Around another couple of lakes then onto a col and the climb was over...well for now!
We then descended to Ice Creek Lodge (I think), splitting from Checkpoint Zero right near the bottom and spiking the Lodge saving 10-15mins on them....
The Lodge was great! Warm, there was soup, we could have stayed there all day! A few teams did :-)....But Eoin restricted us to 30mins so I ate and the others slept.
When we got going again it was apparent Nick was suffering BIG TIME! After 5minutes we got the bivvy out and slept for 40mins, then pressed on again. Nick could at least now move!
The route was stunning! A climb up to the snow line then up some more, to a col with breathtaking scenery! Then shoe skiing/bum sliding down to a lake and across the flat land (where we caught the french team again who had passed us during our 40min nap - they had underestimated the leg so we donated them some food) before heading up another snowy col climb to even higher!! Down again via show ski or bottom and we were at the next control - woohoo this one took less than 24hrs to get to!.
Nick was struggling again so I got the tow out, but it wasn't good towing terrain until a little way on. Within 30mins of the control, Nick had a complete bonk! Out with the survival bag, wrapped him up, injected sugar and caffeine until he could stand, then it was me towing him down off the mountain. This was where Nick saw his first sleepmonsters ever, my Inov8 shoes were fish and he had a great time chatting to them on the way down....
At the bottom of the little track we hit logging tracks again - call for a short celebration - until we realised we had 18km of flat logging track to the next transition....
Tuesday Jul 26, 2011 #
12 AM
RTNX race 24 [3]
24hrs
We reached the top! Then the descent was a Canadian single track (Black) off Idaho Peak - flipping heck this was hairy! Get it wrong and it was off into the drop of doom on one side......so it was ridden by me with one foot not quite clipped in....(wussed out a little...)
When we reached the bottom there was some good fast fire track riding again into transition. Again we were wrecked and it was pouring down so the tent came out for 2hrs sleep - apparently the alarm went off and there was a consensus to not move for a bit as it was still dark and chucking it down - I was oblivious....(funnily enough the same convo was going on in the tent next door...the same decision was made)
An hour later we forced ourselves out of the tent and after a much smoother transition than the last one (even though this was into a canoe), we were onto the lake in our craftily catamaraned up canadian canoes! Shame the wind wasn't with us for us to use our sails as a couple of teams past us but we made reasonable progress. For the start of the paddle I realised I was massively dehydrated as I felt pretty sick, so drank a camelbacks worth of water, and by the end (5hrs later) was back on form!
Next - the smoothest transition to date! Yes! Here we saw Geoff (Race Director ) who taunted us with the fact that the bush whacking was even worse on the next leg....I told him I didn't know how it could be and he laughed...so I got out my legs and his eyes nearly popped out of his head hehe. Good Banter.
So we set off onto what we thought to be the deciding leg of the race - a trek into Valhalla Provincial Park - and boy were we right about it being the decider!
The route started off with 10-15km undulating back around the lake and I felt really strong at the start of this trek! By the time this was over we had caught the french team and Team Checkpoint Zero and we all made our way up the first part of the climb into Valhalla together. The climb was on trail all the way to Beatrice lake and we made good ground, swapping positions back and forth. When we reached Beatrice Lake this was where the real 'fun' began...
The French went left whilst we, along with checkpoint zero, went right. We stuck with checkpoint zero through the bush where a handy bear track made moving swift. Working together we made good progress but as darkness descended the going got slower,and slower, and slower....back to >500m per hour!
We reached the top! Then the descent was a Canadian single track (Black) off Idaho Peak - flipping heck this was hairy! Get it wrong and it was off into the drop of doom on one side......so it was ridden by me with one foot not quite clipped in....(wussed out a little...)
When we reached the bottom there was some good fast fire track riding again into transition. Again we were wrecked and it was pouring down so the tent came out for 2hrs sleep - apparently the alarm went off and there was a consensus to not move for a bit as it was still dark and chucking it down - I was oblivious....(funnily enough the same convo was going on in the tent next door...the same decision was made)
An hour later we forced ourselves out of the tent and after a much smoother transition than the last one (even though this was into a canoe), we were onto the lake in our craftily catamaraned up canadian canoes! Shame the wind wasn't with us for us to use our sails as a couple of teams past us but we made reasonable progress. For the start of the paddle I realised I was massively dehydrated as I felt pretty sick, so drank a camelbacks worth of water, and by the end (5hrs later) was back on form!
Next - the smoothest transition to date! Yes! Here we saw Geoff (Race Director ) who taunted us with the fact that the bush whacking was even worse on the next leg....I told him I didn't know how it could be and he laughed...so I got out my legs and his eyes nearly popped out of his head hehe. Good Banter.
So we set off onto what we thought to be the deciding leg of the race - a trek into Valhalla Provincial Park - and boy were we right about it being the decider!
The route started off with 10-15km undulating back around the lake and I felt really strong at the start of this trek! By the time this was over we had caught the french team and Team Checkpoint Zero and we all made our way up the first part of the climb into Valhalla together. The climb was on trail all the way to Beatrice lake and we made good ground, swapping positions back and forth. When we reached Beatrice Lake this was where the real 'fun' began...
The French went left whilst we, along with checkpoint zero, went right. We stuck with checkpoint zero through the bush where a handy bear track made moving swift. Working together we made good progress but as darkness descended the going got slower,and slower, and slower....back to >500m per hour!
Monday Jul 25, 2011 #
12 AM
RTNX race 24 [3]
24hrs
Still bashing through the bush - I had taken to swearing at trees by this point. Very tired! Then we made a silly nav mistake after spotting the French teams headlights on the hillside. Went massively too high and spent a lot of time hacking to achieve this...
Dawn came and we made our way back down to the creek, up stream (bash bash bash, swear at tree, repeat) then spotted our way out of the valley - huge climb up a scree slope then onto the snow.
By the time we made it to control point 2 we were pretty nackered...so it was nice to know others were having similar difficulties with the undergrowth as we were 12th!
Next was a loooong descent to Transition 1. At transition we slept for an hr and a half - when I woke up my mind was a mess and shamefully we had the worst transition I have ever seen take place in my life, it took for ever!
I now know why Eoin has a no sleep in transition rule...
Leg 3 was back onto the bike, as was becoming the theme for this race it was straight onto a 1000m plus climb up another mountain, then straight down the other side on forest tracks through 2 ghost towns. Then you guessed it - an even bigger climb!!! My ITB was having a little trouble with my bag and saddle positions so I was towed a fair bit of this one....
We hit the snowline again so a bit of pushing followed. The heavens also opened and immediately EVERYTHING was saturated! Torches out and into the storm....
Still bashing through the bush - I had taken to swearing at trees by this point. Very tired! Then we made a silly nav mistake after spotting the French teams headlights on the hillside. Went massively too high and spent a lot of time hacking to achieve this...
Dawn came and we made our way back down to the creek, up stream (bash bash bash, swear at tree, repeat) then spotted our way out of the valley - huge climb up a scree slope then onto the snow.
By the time we made it to control point 2 we were pretty nackered...so it was nice to know others were having similar difficulties with the undergrowth as we were 12th!
Next was a loooong descent to Transition 1. At transition we slept for an hr and a half - when I woke up my mind was a mess and shamefully we had the worst transition I have ever seen take place in my life, it took for ever!
I now know why Eoin has a no sleep in transition rule...
Leg 3 was back onto the bike, as was becoming the theme for this race it was straight onto a 1000m plus climb up another mountain, then straight down the other side on forest tracks through 2 ghost towns. Then you guessed it - an even bigger climb!!! My ITB was having a little trouble with my bag and saddle positions so I was towed a fair bit of this one....
We hit the snowline again so a bit of pushing followed. The heavens also opened and immediately EVERYTHING was saturated! Torches out and into the storm....
Sunday Jul 24, 2011 #
10 AM
RTNX race 14 [3]
14hrs
Hold onto your hats this is going to be a long one.....or 6.
The start of the Raid the North Extreme XPD race in Canada. I was racing with Eoin Keith (Irish AR), Thomas Etter (USA) and Nick Harper (Accelerate) as Team BRAT (#4) in RTNX which was advertised as a 6 day non stop proper wilderness XPD in the Rockies.
The race started at 10am with a beast of a climb (1500m?) on bike up a mountain.
We carried our trek kit as there was only a bike drop at the top, not transition, then it was onto the first trek. Our first taste of things to come!
Started off fairly well on the straight line down the 1500m to a creek on the other side of the mountain and when we found ourselves with Team Technu (and another team Thomas knew) we were extremely happy, knowing they were likely to do very well. We pressed on up the creek toing and froing with the 2 teams. Then night happened and the 'track' ended.....in a bush....and another bush...then another bush....we probably moved at a rate of around 500m per hour here....
Hold onto your hats this is going to be a long one.....or 6.
The start of the Raid the North Extreme XPD race in Canada. I was racing with Eoin Keith (Irish AR), Thomas Etter (USA) and Nick Harper (Accelerate) as Team BRAT (#4) in RTNX which was advertised as a 6 day non stop proper wilderness XPD in the Rockies.
The race started at 10am with a beast of a climb (1500m?) on bike up a mountain.
We carried our trek kit as there was only a bike drop at the top, not transition, then it was onto the first trek. Our first taste of things to come!
Started off fairly well on the straight line down the 1500m to a creek on the other side of the mountain and when we found ourselves with Team Technu (and another team Thomas knew) we were extremely happy, knowing they were likely to do very well. We pressed on up the creek toing and froing with the 2 teams. Then night happened and the 'track' ended.....in a bush....and another bush...then another bush....we probably moved at a rate of around 500m per hour here....
Friday Jul 15, 2011 #
5 PM
cycling 40:00 [3] 8.1 mi (12.2 mph) +200m
Ride to Wils work to meet him, then off to Lotties! Its quite hilly over that way and there are soooo many traffic lights!
Thursday Jul 14, 2011 #
7 PM
S&C 45:00 [2]
It's been a while but I still have core muscles.
Running warm up/down 15:00 [1]
Running without the orthotic, feet not at all strong enough, not a surprise
Wednesday Jul 13, 2011 #
6 PM
Mountain Biking 1:45:00 [2] 12.5 mi (7.1 mph) +507m
Ride with Nick around to then over Win Hill from Ladybower. and over past Hagg Farm. Now I have 2 working wrists again, I appear to be able to do technical riding :-) So much fun :-) Can't wait for Canada!
Monday Jul 11, 2011 #
6 PM
Running 12:42 [2] 1.56 mi (8:08 / mi) +70m 7:09 / mi
Break from transfer report - run to buy sweet and sour sauce in Crookes. Not very far or very fast but first time since ruining my stomach it felt half like it was ok...
Saturday Jul 9, 2011 #
Note
After control hanging I got a phone call from a dog walker (9:30am - starts from 10:30) and it turned out that although we had been granted permission for these specific courses by the owner of Wharncliffe, we had not got permission for wheata woods. I didn't know there was a section of wood called wheata and there had been no mention of the fact that they couldn't give us permission for the controls in this area at all while negotiating permission (although it had been pointed out that they didn't own Greno so couldn't give permission there, which I already knew and had applied for permission in!)
So, replanned the courses, redrew all the maps, delayed the starts by half and hour. Skin of the teeth job, but completely out of my hands! Gotta love it when that happens....not very smooth...
In case anyone was wondering, I don't think we would have been granted permission: http://www.heritagewoodsonline.co.uk/map/033/Wheat...
Although there is a LOT of evidence that bikes ride through there all the time....
So, replanned the courses, redrew all the maps, delayed the starts by half and hour. Skin of the teeth job, but completely out of my hands! Gotta love it when that happens....not very smooth...
In case anyone was wondering, I don't think we would have been granted permission: http://www.heritagewoodsonline.co.uk/map/033/Wheat...
Although there is a LOT of evidence that bikes ride through there all the time....
7 AM
MTBO 1:25:38 [2] 10.28 km (8:20 / km) +180m 7:40 / km
Control hanging - carrying 7 stakes down the singletrack needed some care...and skill...
4 PM
MTBO 29:10 [2] 4.4 km (6:38 / km) +75m 6:06 / km
Control collecting
Friday Jul 8, 2011 #
12 PM
MTBO 1:44:24 [2] 10.25 km (10:11 / km) +226m 9:10 / km
Control site tagging with Ben and Helen
Wednesday Jul 6, 2011 #
7 PM
Running warm up/down 20:27 [2] 2.11 mi (9:41 / mi) +15m 9:29 / mi
Down
Running race 17:04 [4] 1.6 mi (10:40 / mi) +230m 7:22 / mi
Up - in the down and up relay. I was hoping Wil might set me off ahead of Olivia, but it turned out I set off about 50m down. Kept the gap consistent for about 8minutes, then I think she changed gear as the gap grew quite a bit! Not sure what it was at the end....will have to wait for results. Pleased with the run though as have been feeling slow recently, think theres still some speed in there somewhere...
Cough still lingering and stomach hurt again, shouldn't have eaten wheat on Friday, never mind how hungry I was. Had a chat to Edie about the best fake bread and travelling abroad...
Cough still lingering and stomach hurt again, shouldn't have eaten wheat on Friday, never mind how hungry I was. Had a chat to Edie about the best fake bread and travelling abroad...
Tuesday Jul 5, 2011 #
6 PM
Mountain Biking 1:35:00 [2]
Final map checks at Wharncliffe - It's going to be good! Wish I was racing!
Monday Jul 4, 2011 #
Note
I think I have found what is wrong with my position on my road bike. If I sit right at the back of my saddle things are much better - probably time to move the saddle back a bit....
6 PM
cycling 2:24:51 [3] 33.29 mi (13.8 mph) +940m
Finally hit the point of being tired because I haven't done enough exercise - as it was a nice evening I headed out on the bike round Damflask then had planned to go round Agden but my map memory failed me a bit...so went through Strines after almost getting to the junction I had wanted but turning back to low bradfield. Forgot how hilly it is up to strines!
Out to the A57 - ladybower - Hope via Thornhill and Aston. From Hope I put in a bit of an effort along to the railway crossing the road at Hathersage, 3.6miles in 10:44 (by no means flat out but by no means gentle). Just brushing under 3mins per mile.
Stopped off to watch the end of Hathersage Gala Fell race then home over ringinglow and Lodge Moor.
Turned into a fairly hilly ride with some interspersed fast bits! I liked the fast bits!
Out to the A57 - ladybower - Hope via Thornhill and Aston. From Hope I put in a bit of an effort along to the railway crossing the road at Hathersage, 3.6miles in 10:44 (by no means flat out but by no means gentle). Just brushing under 3mins per mile.
Stopped off to watch the end of Hathersage Gala Fell race then home over ringinglow and Lodge Moor.
Turned into a fairly hilly ride with some interspersed fast bits! I liked the fast bits!
Saturday Jul 2, 2011 #
10 AM
cycling 3:05:00 [1] 31.3 mi (10.2 mph)
Very very gentle ride with Wil and parents around the north east - cough is slowly disappearing...