Training Log Archive: nmulderIn the 7 days ending Aug 13, 2017:
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Sunday Aug 13, 2017 #
12 AM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 18:00 [0]
A quick transition to pick up our abseiling equipment and helmets for the caving.
Adventure Racing race (Abseiling and Caving) 2:00:00 [3] 7.0 km (17:09 / km) +240m 14:38 / km
shoes: Salomon Sense Pro 2 Blue
Stage 8, a short loop that included a 80m abseil and a fun sandstone underground river caving section.
Left transition shortly after R'adys and only just missed waiting for them at the top of the abseil (only 1 line open). We were not the fastest team on the way down and then not the fastest in finding the cave opening (ahead of R'adys though as they slept). Nice experience in the underground river cave and then back to transition in 13th.
Left transition shortly after R'adys and only just missed waiting for them at the top of the abseil (only 1 line open). We were not the fastest team on the way down and then not the fastest in finding the cave opening (ahead of R'adys though as they slept). Nice experience in the underground river cave and then back to transition in 13th.
2 AM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 2:35:00 [0]
A fairly decent transition. We check out and then went 100m upstream and bedded down beside a lay-bye for a 90 min sleep. We overslept the alarm though due to the noise of the running water by 30 mins. Don't believe the extra 30 mins was helpful though, so it was a proper time loss.
5 AM
Adventure Racing race (MTB) 16:04:00 [3] 264.0 km (3:39 / km) +1755m 3:32 / km
shoes: Specialized Epic FSR Mthn 2014
Leg 9. Whilst sleeping we lost 4 positions, from 13th to 17th (R'adys, Out North, Salomon CZE and Yogaslackers).
We got going in the early hours in some freezing temperatures. Downhill to start so we forced the pace on some tar roads to try and keep warm. This was a 264km leg, so easily the longest leg in an AR that any of us had ever done and probably will do.
We started slowing down just after day break and got within touching distance of a few teams for a while (Yogaslackers) and taking places back from Salomon CZE and Outdoor North. Had a few water points at CPs which helped. A real route choice presented itself at late-morning and we took the central route whilst most of the teams went north. We were only the 2nd team to take this (CZE Blackhill Opavanet) whilst only Silva took the South. We were the fastest route by about 15 mins and caught up to R'adys at the CP. It was some nice technical riding and a bit of an adrenaline boost knowing we were doing something different.
After this the afternoon got very hot and very dry. We had slept for 15 mins under a grader on the route choice and the low humidity dried out our mouths whilst we slept. Had to learn to ride with our mouths closed to retain moisture.
Lots of long, dry semi-dessert sections on dirt roads through this part of the race as we raced R'adys for 14/15th. Scenery changed a bit towards nightfall. First we got hit by a micro-storm (5 mins) that clogged up my bike wheel with mud. Then we went through a dune landscape just before a mountain gap. Seems like some other teams had problems here navigating the right path through the dunes but we sailed through. It got dark just after we crested a pass thereafter and we sailed into transition with R'adys about 1 hour after dark.
We got going in the early hours in some freezing temperatures. Downhill to start so we forced the pace on some tar roads to try and keep warm. This was a 264km leg, so easily the longest leg in an AR that any of us had ever done and probably will do.
We started slowing down just after day break and got within touching distance of a few teams for a while (Yogaslackers) and taking places back from Salomon CZE and Outdoor North. Had a few water points at CPs which helped. A real route choice presented itself at late-morning and we took the central route whilst most of the teams went north. We were only the 2nd team to take this (CZE Blackhill Opavanet) whilst only Silva took the South. We were the fastest route by about 15 mins and caught up to R'adys at the CP. It was some nice technical riding and a bit of an adrenaline boost knowing we were doing something different.
After this the afternoon got very hot and very dry. We had slept for 15 mins under a grader on the route choice and the low humidity dried out our mouths whilst we slept. Had to learn to ride with our mouths closed to retain moisture.
Lots of long, dry semi-dessert sections on dirt roads through this part of the race as we raced R'adys for 14/15th. Scenery changed a bit towards nightfall. First we got hit by a micro-storm (5 mins) that clogged up my bike wheel with mud. Then we went through a dune landscape just before a mountain gap. Seems like some other teams had problems here navigating the right path through the dunes but we sailed through. It got dark just after we crested a pass thereafter and we sailed into transition with R'adys about 1 hour after dark.
9 PM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 1:08:00 [0]
Transition in the dark on the side of the dirt road. Had a 60s storm blow through as well. R'adys and Yogaslackers left transition just before us, so back to 15th.
10 PM
Adventure Racing race (Pack Rafting and Trekking) 6:15:00 [3] 23.0 km (16:18 / km) +60m 16:06 / km
shoes: Salomon Sense Mantra 4 blue/gr
Leg 10, pack rafting and flat water paddle. Trekked out of transition after changing backpacks so we could carry pack rafts in them. Caught R'adys heading down to the Pathfinder Reservoir and stopped to sleep for 45 min about 1km before. This was the last sleep of the race, so 4h30 in total. Got up and going again and got to the water to see Yogaslackers putting in about 15 min ahead of us.
Went for a straight line across the reservoir and nailed it in the dark. We were able to keep an eye on Yogaslackers who hugged the east bank and then disappeared into the wrong bay. Pulled our rafts out at the CP that was the start of Leg 11 to find the Teton team sleeping for 2h already at the CP and not interested in chasing us at all. Now into 12th.
Went for a straight line across the reservoir and nailed it in the dark. We were able to keep an eye on Yogaslackers who hugged the east bank and then disappeared into the wrong bay. Pulled our rafts out at the CP that was the start of Leg 11 to find the Teton team sleeping for 2h already at the CP and not interested in chasing us at all. Now into 12th.
Saturday Aug 12, 2017 #
4 PM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 40:00 [0]
Transition in South Pass City, a small historical mining village. Quite a few teams in transition that looked blown. Saw Godzone again here and they and the rest left about 30 mins ahead of us on their bikes. In in 18th position and out in 17th after passing Salomon CZE in transition.
5 PM
Adventure Racing race (MTB) 6:49:00 [3] 58.0 km (7:03 / km) +1900m 6:04 / km
shoes: Specialized Epic FSR Mthn 2014
Stage 7, a mountainous MTB section. Dirt road to start (passing Outdoor North for 15th), with some serious hills along the way. Then we went onto single track, and even steeper hill, going over a few small passes (passed Canada AR here for 15th and Untamed New England for 14th). This culminated in us hitting the back end of the MTB trails in the Sinks Canyon State Park. We'd passed three teams up to this point (still trying to chase down R'adys) and we also handled the long technical single track riding well. Hit a tar road in the canyon and proceeded to fly past the transition at the end of the leg in the dark. Oops.
Friday Aug 11, 2017 #
7 AM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 40:00 [0]
Got into transition to find a layer of ice on our bike boxes. Assembled them and got going pretty quickly, but not as fast as Godzone who breezed past us whilst we were still assembling. Passed Sneaky Weasels though, so still in 11th.
8 AM
Adventure Racing race (MTB) 7:40:00 [4] 133.0 km (3:28 / km) +1000m 3:20 / km
shoes: Specialized Epic FSR Mthn 2014
Stage 5, a 133km bike leg going east. Very fast to start off with, first on dirt and then a flat tar road. We were averaging 39km/hr at one point in an echelon. Recaught Godzone about 1/2 way in the town of Pinedale as they stopped for brunch.
We were out first but a few kms later got caught by a peleton of 4 other teams on the tar road (Godzone, Sweco, Blackhill, Fenix). We tucked in until the end of the tar section, then messed up a CP together with everyone else immediately thereafter. We went back and got it first (highest place of the race, 10th!) but were slowly reeled in by the other teams on the way to the last CP on the stage. We sorted out a little bit of technical nav in the path finding for everyone and then got blown away again. The first bits of time loss on this section, 30 mins looking for the one CP and then 15 min again on the path finding.
We were out first but a few kms later got caught by a peleton of 4 other teams on the tar road (Godzone, Sweco, Blackhill, Fenix). We tucked in until the end of the tar section, then messed up a CP together with everyone else immediately thereafter. We went back and got it first (highest place of the race, 10th!) but were slowly reeled in by the other teams on the way to the last CP on the stage. We sorted out a little bit of technical nav in the path finding for everyone and then got blown away again. The first bits of time loss on this section, 30 mins looking for the one CP and then 15 min again on the path finding.
3 PM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 39:00 [3]
Transition in a field in the Bridger National Forest, arriving in 13th. No bike boxing, just unpacked transport where they damage the bikes a bit. Pretty warm day and some of the other teams in the field were taking strain. We filled up with water in the nearby stream and headed out along the trails in 11th, leaving Sweco and Blackhill behind in transition.
4 PM
Adventure Racing race (Trekking) 24:20:00 [3] 65.0 km (22:28 / km) +1900m 19:36 / km
shoes: Salomon Sense Mantra 3 grey/or
Stage 6 - the 2nd big trekking leg of the race took us along the Continental Divide trail in a SE direction.
The first CP was not too far out of transition. We were quickly caught and passed by Blackhill shortly after we walked out, but bedded down for a very short (and unproductive 0 mins for me) sleep just after the first CP. Lost a place here to Sweco before continuing along the trail (13th). In general the nav wasn't tough, but the trail markers were infrequent, poor and misleading. The trail indicated on our map was historic and didn't bear too much resemblance. We coped okay until darkness, gaining a couple of positions again (Teton, Blackhill) back up to 11th. We started hacking through windfall at one point when the team decided to change tacks and appoach CP9 from a different direction. After a bit more sleep (90 mins) on this different route, I made a 180' and ended up getting us lost on the wrong hillside for 4 hours until dawn. Total of 6 hours lost vs tiger lining it from where we were originally. We ended up loosing a significant number of places from around 11th to 20th. Blackhill, Vidaraid and Godzone would get ahead and never be caught again.
After dawn, things went better and we held our position. Day started getting hot again as we climbed again up to 3000m in altitude and swapped a few positions (passed Yogaslackers somewhere and got dropped by R'adys). Gained 1 again just before transition when we passed Sweco having a bad morning, after they were 3.5h ahead at CP9.
The first CP was not too far out of transition. We were quickly caught and passed by Blackhill shortly after we walked out, but bedded down for a very short (and unproductive 0 mins for me) sleep just after the first CP. Lost a place here to Sweco before continuing along the trail (13th). In general the nav wasn't tough, but the trail markers were infrequent, poor and misleading. The trail indicated on our map was historic and didn't bear too much resemblance. We coped okay until darkness, gaining a couple of positions again (Teton, Blackhill) back up to 11th. We started hacking through windfall at one point when the team decided to change tacks and appoach CP9 from a different direction. After a bit more sleep (90 mins) on this different route, I made a 180' and ended up getting us lost on the wrong hillside for 4 hours until dawn. Total of 6 hours lost vs tiger lining it from where we were originally. We ended up loosing a significant number of places from around 11th to 20th. Blackhill, Vidaraid and Godzone would get ahead and never be caught again.
After dawn, things went better and we held our position. Day started getting hot again as we climbed again up to 3000m in altitude and swapped a few positions (passed Yogaslackers somewhere and got dropped by R'adys). Gained 1 again just before transition when we passed Sweco having a bad morning, after they were 3.5h ahead at CP9.
Thursday Aug 10, 2017 #
Event: ARWC2017/Cameco Cowboy Tough
1 PM
Adventure Racing race (Trail Running) 37:00 [4] 5.0 km (7:24 / km) +300m 5:42 / km
shoes: Salomon Sense Mantra 4 blue/gr
AR World Champs - Wyoming, USA
Raced with Team Cyanosis: Mac, Nathan and Sue C-B.
Race started in Jackson Hole, WY and went east to Casper, WY.
Stage 1 was a trail run without backpacks on the trails above Jackson Hole in the Grand Tetons. 5 CPs to get started before returning to town.
Area is a bit high altitude (1900m), so we got off to a fair start and paced ourselves. Some teams like Vidaraid and Godzone struggled. We were sitting nicely in the main race bunch entering transition in 13th place and 3.5 mins down on leaders. Quick pick-up of bags and go.
Raced with Team Cyanosis: Mac, Nathan and Sue C-B.
Race started in Jackson Hole, WY and went east to Casper, WY.
Stage 1 was a trail run without backpacks on the trails above Jackson Hole in the Grand Tetons. 5 CPs to get started before returning to town.
Area is a bit high altitude (1900m), so we got off to a fair start and paced ourselves. Some teams like Vidaraid and Godzone struggled. We were sitting nicely in the main race bunch entering transition in 13th place and 3.5 mins down on leaders. Quick pick-up of bags and go.
2 PM
Adventure Racing race (Road Running) 1:08:00 [4] 12.0 km (5:40 / km)
shoes: Salomon Sense Mantra 4 blue/gr
Stage 2, a 12km road run from Jackson Hole down to the Snake River. Boring as hell as we ran on the paved walking track next to the main highway. Surprised though as to how fast it went, so we must have been motoring. Still lost a few positions along the way from 12th down to 16th, including being passed by Blackhill CZE, Salomon CZE and R'adys SUI. Fastest team was 54 mins! We were still 15th fastest on this leg though.
3 PM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 7:00 [0]
Got the river for the first pack rafting section. This involved inflating our rafts. After some good practicing before the race we were much faster than other teams here.
Adventure Racing race (Pack Rafting) 2:41:00 [3] 30.0 km (5:22 / km)
Stage 3, a 30km pack raft down the Snake River. Lots of fun in decent boats that we had to borrow from the Collins bros. Lots of class 1 rumblies and a good flowing river. Me and Nate had a bit of a wobble in the first swirly that saw the Czech team right behind us capsize. We then made up some decent places down the river to the takeout. Then had to pack the rafts down and climb up the bank to transition in 11th position.
5 PM
Adventure Racing race (Transition) 7:00 [0]
A quickish transition on the side of the road onto foot, making up a few more places.
6 PM
Adventure Racing race (Trekking) 13:32:00 [4] 62.0 km (13:06 / km) +3100m 10:29 / km
shoes: Salomon Sense Mantra 4 blue/gr
Stage 4 - a mountain trek along the Wyoming Range in the Teton National Forest.
Big uphill onto the Wyoming Range to start with. Had to find some water first and then we took a small track shortcut. Saw some bear tracks along here. Hit the ridgeline (which averaged about 2900m asl) just before dark. Quite a few other teams around. Estonia got away from us, and then we seem to have caught Naturex at one point. Also had Godzone, USWE, FMR, Sneaky Weasel and Sweco for company, whilst Vidaraid was way behind after a bad start.
Not much nav on this leg, only a bit of pathfinding to stay on the main ridgeline trail through the night. Got colder than we expected, just below freezing point. Came close to running out of water at one point, but just survived. Got into transition just after sunrise in 11th position.
Big uphill onto the Wyoming Range to start with. Had to find some water first and then we took a small track shortcut. Saw some bear tracks along here. Hit the ridgeline (which averaged about 2900m asl) just before dark. Quite a few other teams around. Estonia got away from us, and then we seem to have caught Naturex at one point. Also had Godzone, USWE, FMR, Sneaky Weasel and Sweco for company, whilst Vidaraid was way behind after a bad start.
Not much nav on this leg, only a bit of pathfinding to stay on the main ridgeline trail through the night. Got colder than we expected, just below freezing point. Came close to running out of water at one point, but just survived. Got into transition just after sunrise in 11th position.
Tuesday Aug 8, 2017 #
7 AM
Trail Running (Casper WY) 36:14 [3] 6.48 km (5:35 / km) +13m 5:32 / km
ahr:150 shoes: Salomon Sense Pro 2 Blue
With Nathan going up alongside the North Platte river on the cycling trail.
Monday Aug 7, 2017 #
7 AM
Trail Running (Casper WY) 35:17 [3] 6.33 km (5:34 / km) +15m 5:31 / km
ahr:139 shoes: Salomon Sense Pro 2 Blue
Out along the North Platte river trails again.
10 AM
Mountain Biking (Casper WY) 3:10:00 [3] 50.4 km (15.9 kph) +1015m
shoes: Specialized Epic FSR Mthn 2014
With the team out for a long ride up Casper Mountain and along the MTB trails on the top. Up a tarred road, got as high as 2420m, so 850m higher than Casper. Beautiful forest trails on top and a fast downhill back into town. Broke my longstanding max speed PB. :-)
Mx 85.5!!!
Mx 85.5!!!