Training Log Archive: Rowl

Event: Denmark Adventure Race
 

After a short run that already saw us seeded to the back of the pack we launched in the nice calm water at Peaceful bay.

I had been watching some big sets rolling in close to the shore outside the bay as we launched and paddled out and made sure to stay well out past where they were starting to break - good thing as I heard a double ski got wiped out and snapped early on.

We followed the pack slightly past the right bay for the first control but were lucky not to have to back track too much. Just after turning to head in for the control I heard Ann swear and turned around to see a wall of water coming up behind me. I added a few swear words of my own, but made it over the top and then watched a lot of skis in front of me get wiped out pretty badly.

Feeling very lucky we headed into the beach quickly after that hoping to avoid another big set, punched CP1 and headed back out for the paddle to the inlet.

We were pretty slow getting to the inlet with Andrew suffering back and stomach pain and unexpectedly being the slowest paddler. Landing at the inlet Andrew and I managed to surf the waves to shore but Ann got tipped out fairly early on and took a while to swim to shore.

The rest of the paddle was fairly uneventful but quite slow with Ann later discovering she had been lugging an extra 20L of water in her ski!

The paddle took a lot longer than we were expecting and we knew we would be pushing the paddle cut-off as we started the MTB. Luckily we had anticipated this possibility and marked some short cuts on the map with times we needed to make at the turnoffs in case we weren’t going as fast as planned.

I started out navving but my map board came loose and started flapping about almost at the start so I handed the maps over to Andrew and got snapped by the photographers dicking about removing the sail from my bike.

We were making pretty good time on the flat but the first big climb we got to Andrew, having started the day with a pretty bad cold, couldn’t breathe and after letting him have a short rest I convinced him to walk the top and then we put him on the tow behind Glen.

About half way through the leg the tow rope broke and with Andrew feeling steadily worse and the cut-off looming we thought we were finished. Luckily I remembered I had a few small cable ties in my bike bag and in under a minute we had the tow rope back on and ready to go.

Andrew navved this leg flawlessly despite feeling really ill and got us in for the paddle just before the cut-off with one bonus CP.

Leg 3 – River Paddle (1:52:15) 9km
This was by far the most fun leg of the race for me. The Endorfinn was the perfect ski being short and with having a bow that slopes up. I found by paddling hard at logs I could get half way over and then just push off with my legs to get the rest of the way. I could also get a good head start at the next log by diving front first onto the ski, which was a bucket load of fun and entertaining for the rest of my team to watch. By the end I had log crossings down to around 10sec and was having an absolute ball.

We passed a fair few teams on the log dodging section even although I don’t know how much Ann enjoyed my bumper car technique and Glen wasn’t enjoying the underslung rudder on the Finn Molaki.

It was a bit of a slog to the TA on the flat water and I was happy to know I was having a break during the next leg.

When I pulled the control card out to get the CP on the jetty I realised it was getting very waterlogged so I slipped it into a zip log bag with some snacks hoping to get it to the end of the day in one piece. I grossed Andrew out at the end of the leg by licking the soggy chocolate biscuits off it when I handed it over to him.

Leg 4 – Run (2:53:14)
I was disappointed to have to sit out the treetop walk having never done it before but was grateful for a break. Unfortunately my stomach decided to rebel and I spent most of the break either squatting in the bush or curled up in a pathetic little ball feeling sorry for myself. Luckily Wal had some Immodium I could scab and after popping a fair few I started to feel better just in time for the next leg.

The team had missed a few compulsory CPs, hence our 9hr time penalty, on the run leg when Andrew had gone downhill and passed the maps over to Ann who didn’t realise the difference between the compulsory and bonus checkpoints.

We sent Andrew home for a sleep hoping that he would be able to race Sunday and Ann took his spot behind Glen on the tow rope for this bike leg.

I grabbed the control card back to find someone had spilt some juice on it as well- yummy.

I was regretting not packing the hand drawn mud map as I stuffed up getting out of TA and managed to confuse a few other teams in the process. Finally got on the right track after some logical thinking and we blasted along trying to make up time.

Had a few more navigational wobbles as I didn’t know whether we were allowed to ride the track marked dual Bibbulmun and heritage trail as the Bibbulmun had been specified as out of bounds. In the end this appeared to be the only way around as the locked gates on the other trails blocked the way. Also had a few wobbles in the sand and we ended up walking most of it as Ann couldn’t stay on tow or ride these sections.

I almost had a very interesting run after starting in my bike shoes. Luckily Glen noticed the clicking sound as I walked across the car park and after a quick dash back the TA we were on our way.

I had thought I’d be the slowest on this leg but luckily the day of racing combined with Glen being smashed from towing on both the bike legs meant that I was out the front setting the pace for a few weary and discouraged team mates. I tried to raise their spirits by feeding them copious amounts of sugar and caffeine and they at least managed not to fall asleep.

Our pace was not fast but steady at about 5km/hr as we walked the uphills and flats and jogged the downhills.

The navigation for this leg thankfully was fairly simple following the Bibbulmum track back to Peaceful Bay and we got all of the CPs with exception of the hooded plover which we guessed from the big time credit would be tricky or slow going for some reason.

We finished up at around midnight almost tripping over our feet and after handing our soggy, chocolate and juice coated control card to Bridget and helping her figure out which control we had actually punched she had to prompt us to make our way out to our support car and home for a sleep.