Adventure Race 18:16:49 [4] 89.56 mi (12:15 / mi) +2075ft 11:59 / mi
ahr:66 max:66
Rib Mtn Adventure Challenge 18hr w Biz and Erl, WEDALI!
Let me say, trying to do an 18hr race in the middle of moving states isn't the best idea. We packed for this race a week in advance and put the totes in my car. Then spent the remaining days packing up the rest of the house, which took about a day longer than planned, and hit the road north. A quick stop in AL to drop off Tess and combine vehicles and then we headed over to Wausau. Met Biz at the bike drop, dropped bikes, drove, dropped paddles, drove, then had the remaining hour to collect maps, plan routes, change clothes, pack, etc. Some panic in the parking lot when all 3 of us were missing mandatory gear but we scrounged the vehicles and found replacements...I guess yay AR messiness? Made our start window just barely (10:30-11pm) and headed out.
TREK 1
Cold temps and good trails so easy to get warmed up. We did spend some extra meters keeping our feet dry...hahaha for later on (as normal). Mostly roads and trails down to the paddle put-in.
PADDLE 1
Put on all the layers and hopped in our boat. There were other canoes all around and it was fun hunting checkpoints as a group. By the 3rd or 4th paddle CP we were ahead of most boats - Biz's nav was excellent and it seems packing has been a great substitute for paddle training! Also it was motivating to paddle hard to stay warm. We hit the portage in the lead and enjoyed the 1-mile run (thanks Rib for letting us bring wheels!!) to warm up. Then got back in the river and paddled the remaining downstream CPs, again some tricky nav and when we slowed down to be careful, it was difficult to stay warm. Took out the the lead.
BIKE 1
Of course the bike TA was fa-reezing. Soaking wet, mid-30s, even the hot coffee/chocolate didn't do much to warm us up. Only choice was to take off wet things and get going on bikes. It was about 3am and sunrise was already peeking over the trees!!! Road ride west was mostly flat but we pushed where we could to get blood flowing back into fingers and toes. Then...we hit the snowmobile trails. Everything was wet (3"-12" water) and as we drug our bikes thru the swamp, the water was freezing on spokes and frame. We got CP19 but then got messed up heading to 20 (bog) so had to do a few circles by which time several other teams were in the area. Combo of flat area, trails disappearing/veering around not mapped, and us not travelling far enough. Biz kept at it though and we did get 20 which was pretty dang cool!