Training Log Archive: JayXC

Bike to finish at Agape Camping area to finish 2nd overall, 2nd co-ed and 2nd in the CP0 Series. Difficult ending to a very enjoyable season. Fortunately to ease my nerves CP0 managed to clean the course negating the impact of my mistake.

Bike drop for another 4 cp "Walk the Line" segment.

Bike to bike drop along country roads.

Paddle on Cape Fear River from Raven Rock State Park to take-out. Water level is a little higher and we only need to walk the canoe a few times. David and Christy are waiting for us at the next TA and we take out with the intention of trying to catch CP0. Knowing that we need to plot a few extra points I mention that I saw some UTM coordinates on the bottom of the new passport. Looking closer at it we discover that there was a CP 27 which should have been plotted immediately upon receiving the new passport so that we'd know to look for a punch at the Falls portage. I failed the Thoroughness Test from the race director and most-likely taken us out of contention for the overall win for the event and the series with my rookie mistake.
Missed point value- 50 points.

O-course at Raven Rock State Park. Joe is on a mission and we run nearly the entire course. Again encounter cp's in wrong locations. Take 1 hour out of CP0's lead.

Receive new passport and put-in on the Cape Fear River. If following along at home you should be yelling to me "LOOK AT THE NEW PASSPORT!" We paddle along the river to a dam and hit a 'must make eddy' then portage around and find that the river below the dam is a rocky mess due to low water. Plenty of hidden rocks to add racing stripes to the bottom of the kevlar canoe. Along the way Joe remembers that there is a ropes section just in time and we double back to hit the Tyrolean Traverse at the island we had just passed. Back in the canoe and continue on the mine field to the Falls at Raven Rock State Park. LOOK AT THE PASSPORT!. I didn't look at it. Beach the boat and on to the o-course.

Ride to San Lee on roads to ride a "Walk the Line" segment on some mtb trails. I've seen this type of event quite a few times this year and have come to the conclusion that I don't like it at all. Basically you ride the trail and have to find a certain number of points along the way. No clue where on the trail they are so you never know until the end if you've managed to find them all. No talent required, just luck.
Having said that we actually struggled a little here and looped around on the trail network, ultimately finding them all but grew more frustrated with our inability to make up time. From there we ride back along the same route to the canoe put-in TA.

Lake paddle cont'd
After finally finding the 1st cp we paddle a short distance and then portage across the peninsula (nice wheels) to save us a ton of time an put us in first place. We nail the next couple of points with no issues and we're finally starting to roll along well even passing CP0 heading the other direction which I'm sure confused them to no end.
Then the cp-from-hell hits and we spend way too much time looking for the point in the numerous coves along the peninsula and hiking up the hills from there when we suddenly stumble upon it coming down to the cove we thought the canoe was in after previously givin up on it. Presto! CP- yes, canoe- no.
For a moment we contemplate that the canoe may have drifted away and it seems it may be true when a team comments that they saw a canoe out in the lake sans paddlers but when pressed further their description doesn't match our boat. We then start the search for our canoe as team after team goes by. Ultimately we find our boat and paddle to the TA.

Paddling in Harris Lake. Catch CP0 struggling to find the first point in the many coves on the reservoir. We join in the struggle which takes about 40 minutes with them finding it about 2 minutes before we do.

Rogaine-style course. Struggle to find 2 of the points, one because I read the clue sheet wrong causing us to look in the wrong location and the second one which was thought to be placed in the wrong location. One of many to come. Finish up 20 minutes behind CP0.

Bushwhack 24 hr AR
Raliegh-Durham area, NC

We went to an adventure race and a scavenger hunt broke out.

Prologue start on 1 of 2 courses with 3 cp's on each. We chose the B route fortunately as the A route was missing one of the points. Unfortunately while climbing the tree for the first point I catch a branch in the eye and tear the map in one motion. Joe unhappily punches the next two...
Back to the TA in first place.

1st day of 09/10 season.
300 wu
4x50 k on side
8x75 25 skull, 50 fr
3x100 k/fins
400 pull w/o paddles
8x50 fr

With RF around Dryer Road with headlamps