Training Log Archive: getawaystix

Crux of the race. 15k night-time trek with some reasonably technical CP's on smallish features. I stayed as focused as possible on the map for the entirety. The most difficulty came from keeping track of precise locations on extended trail segments and also from not getting too off-track while on un-mapped trails. Once we hit the last CP with only a few k on road to the finish I was quite certain we'd won. It was great to be a part of the team for this race and help Tico capture this title he's come so close to for the past 3 years. Great teamwork, some good suffering (heat and Karen dealing with a pre-race calf injury) and excellent prep for AR Worlds

C • For Tico.... 2

USARA 24-Hour National Champs
Lemans Start in bike shoes

C • Congrats 34

I was a bit worried about this race due to some inconsistent training over the past few months due to work commitments, so we loaded up Tico with extra food & gear, since he was feeling dialed.

Started with 25k of marked single-track (very nice trails!), then a mix of road. trail & short hops off the bike to collect CP's. We made a 600m out & back trail selection error plus a poor choice to collect CP4 before CP5 (CP's could be collected in any order on this leg) resulting in a bit more distance and climbing, but overall a smooth ride had us in 2nd at TA1.

6k of low-water creek paddling/dragging. We'd identified a railway parallel to the river I knew would be faster once I saw the water level, but I incorrectly assumed it would be out-of-bounds for portaging as the road that paralleled the river was designated out-of-bounds (should have asked for clarification). I think the team who had the fastest split on this leg portaged, or pushed their plastic canoe sideways on the tracks, nice call!
Once we got to paddling we caught & passed DART, then had smooth treks to 2 CP's off the lake.

Lots of road & trail with many jumps off-trail to collect CP's on various features (typically re-entrants, ridges, or creeks). Nav was reasonably smooth, maps had small contour intervals making them hard to read and the hills appear larger than they were. Around 5:30pm we all started feeling the effects from the heat and our pace dropped off.

There were two clusters of 7 CP's, each with matching letters i.e. N1 & N2. we had to collect 4 matching pairs. We opted for Q1, N1, P1, U1, then N2, Q2, P2, U2. Most CP's were on subtle features not far from trails. Luckily, the reflective flagging tape on the CP's made them light-up like Christmas trees when you were within about 50m as the forests were reasonably open.

Quick bike with one climb & descent. Happy my legs felt decent still on the bike versus the fiasco I experienced in the Wyoming race

Started with a tough, techincal climb, then mostly roads back to Brown County State Park for a few more technical CP's off-trail. A couple mis-plotting errors (my fault) had us waste ~10min. on a few CP's

Quick tempo ride with Tico & Karen to stretch the legs before racing the next day.

stopped to stretch the legs enroute to Indiana for USARA natl's

Up scenic caves & back.
rode up tempo up scenic caves maintaining speed over 12kph

quick run off the bike

Ravena/PRV loop, reverse of what I normally ride. 10min. warmup, 10min cool down, 1:40 uptempo. Tough headwind climbing grey Rd 2

First game of the season....love this game!