Training Log Archive: getawaystix

Section D - Abu D

Wild start, cross-country over sharp, rocky terrain. A huge pack, and a few people hit the dirt, hard, faceplants etc., ouch! We had a decent run & made it to a marked scramble section with the lead pack and then shortly into the TA where'd we'd left our bikes the day before.

Section E - Abu D

Monster 13k climb up Jabel Hafeet, which is a crazy mountain that juts straight out of the desert plains, very weird/unique feature. Of course they have a wickedly paved road climbing some 4000ft to the top. We started smooth with Orion, but soon Billy was suffering. We implimented the full-team tow for a bit, which seemed to limit the damage. A few more teams passed, but we finished O.K.

Section F - Abu D

Not really a trail run, more like a scramble, with a massive via-ferrata all the way down & back up Jabel Hafeet. Easily the biggest and most elaborate ropes section I've ever experienced. One of the rigging crew told me they set over 2k of rope, which took 9 days to set up, crazy! We ran well on this leg to the start of the via-ferrata, passing a few teams. We probably hit the top of the ropes in 6th-ish place, just behind Orion & just ahead of Adidas. The descent went on forever, with some technical down-climbs here and there. There was an off-the-clock rappell at the bottom where teams re-grouped, but since there was no water & we were running low we opted to push on. Not long into the climb back up Billy started hurting, by the top of the ropes we were all out of water with roughly 3k of scrambling left to the Finish. Surprisingly, only Salomon Santiveri caught us, so we presumed others were suffering as well. Overall it ended up being a good leg for us.

Section A - Adventure Tri - Abu D - canoe-run-swim-run-canoe-run-canoe

Crazy start, bumper boats around some buoys, we were lucky with a good start location on the beach. Running went smooth & I was happy to hold my own on the swim, only getting passed by one team. Jenny snapped a paddle towards the end, but we didn't lose much time as Orion came up behind us with a spare (very lucky).

Section B - Abu D

Stressful restart for us as two of our bikes (supplied by the org.) weren't up to snuf. Both Bill's & Jenny's shifting was suspect. We barely made it to the start after much rushing, not fun. The peloton was crazy with many twitchy riders. After a big roundabout I lost track of the team, so I waited for a bit letting a bunch of teams pass then started thinking they may now be ahead....shit...dropped the hammer for the next 5-10 minutes and managed to ride back up to the front of the lead pack who were averaging over 40kph for the first bit. Narrowly avoided a guy who went down hard, I later heard he came through relatively unscathed & kept riding, I thought for sure he was headed for the ambulance, or sag wagon. After riding up & down the lead pack a few times I succummed to the fact my team-mates were behind, not good. I dropped off the lead pack, which probably contained 10 teams and waited, and waited, and waited, yikes, I thought for sure someone was injured. Finally they appeared, luckily, it was only a mechanical (Jenny's gears still not working), so we re-grouped & tried to ride hard for the remainder.

Section C - Abu D

A scrambly trail run section w/ a rappell. A small taste of what was on tap for tomorrow.

Easy spin before Abu D. One quick 1k pick-up @ 3:33, legs are feeling loose, should be a fun week.....