SOME PEOPLE CALL IT CRAZY

Some people call it crazy; I call it adventure.

I loved calling the hotel front desk at 6:00 pm and asking for a 1:00 am wake up call. Crazy!
Better yet was walking out of the hotel lobby dressed entirely in black including the ski cap on my head. The clerks probably thought I was going to rob someone.

This past Saturday did not involve any robbery.

I was signed up for the 12 hour Turkey Burn adventure race in central Florida.
Gun time for the race was 4:00am. Pre Race check in was 3:00am.
Even though this is Florida, it was really cold that morning. A chilly 47 degrees.

For those who do not know, adventure races involve a combination of navigation, trekking (running), off road biking, and paddling. This particular race even involved rock wall climbing.

Before the race start I noticed a guy in running shorts and Vibrams on his feet. I am all for minimalism, but Vibrams do not seem to be a good choice for 12 hour long adventure races through scrub, rocks, dirt and so on.
I had a feeling that this nice guy would soon be riding the pain train!

If you would like to see more details on Vibrams:

www.vibramfivefingers.com

My teammates for the race were both experienced racers. Ron is a fantastic navigator, Primal Quest finisher, and seasoned adventure racer and Rod is an expert with a paddle and canoe, not to mention the first place finisher in the following 1000 mile race:
http://yukon1000.com/

I was really looking forward to opening up the can of whoop ass with these guys!

The race began with a 1.5 mile bike loop to be completed by one team member.
This typically spaces out the teams. I rode the leg and then we were off.

The thing about adventure races is that you can never really know exactly what to expect.
It is just best to be as prepared as you can for many possible issues.

Our team unfortunately had our first issue about 20 minutes in to the race.
As we were making our way to the first checkpoint, Ron must have hit the only stick in the sugar sand and it snapped his rear derailleur hanger. I have heard of this happening in races before, but why did it have to happen to us? We spent the next 50 minutes removing the derailleur and converting Ron’s bike to a single speed. Here is the bike with the lonely derailleur by its side:



We plucked off all the checkpoints and made our way to the paddle section. We expected to catch quite a few teams on this section. The paddle was on the Wekiva River and it was beautiful. We had heard that several teams had tipped their boats and been baptized in the chilly water. I figured that we were safe from this since our “issue” cup had just been filled dealing with the snapped derailleur.
I am not to clear on all the details of this section except to say that we busted a move on that water and cleared all the checkpoints in quick fashion.
Since I am the mean one on the team, I did not want to give any checkpoint tips away to other teams, but Ron is a nice guy and he actually gave several teams “freebies” on checkpoint locations.
Good Karma collector Ron!

After the paddle section we made our way in to the transition area and put on our harnesses in preparation to climb the wall:



The wall climbing would actually seem like fun if it were not for the fact that our fingers had frozen into “claws” while paddling on the water for 3 hours.
We did our wall duty and then made our way to refuel with homemade cookies.
Next was the trekking section. This was actually my favorite part and there were some beautiful sites along the way.



We had a bit of a time finding a couple of checkpoints on this section and Rod had an inflamed ITB making it difficult and painful to run, but we barreled through.
I always like to have various snacks in my backpack to give a boost in the later stages of the races.
For me the highlight was the beef jerkey. Yum!
Also fun was seeing all the bear , deer, and coyote tracks out on the trails. If only we could have spotted Sasquatch!







The very last section was on the bikes and it was apparent that we were not going to be able to clear all the checkpoints in time. This was a bummer, but we were going to finish anyway, just a bit late. Ron and Rod are both much stronger bikers than I am and I was slowing them down quite a bit. I was secretly wishing for a motor for my bike at this point, and I was very envious of Ron's super padded gel saddle.
With about two miles to go, I was really suffering form a gut stitch and had to let Ron tow me in to the finish line. This was a bit of a blow to my ego, but after 12 hours of racing all vanity and egos get thrown out the window for sure.
Thanks for the ride Ron!!!

I had a fantastic time racing with Ron and Rod and hope to get together with them again for another race in the future.

If you are interested in adventure racing check out the link to Pangea:

http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/

Also, here is a link to my teammate Ron’s blog:

http://eaglinar.blogspot.com/

I LIKE TO RIDE MY BICYCLE, I LIKE TO RIDE MY BIKE

I would think it to be a difficult search to find an individual who has not been affected by a bicycle at some point in their life.

Can you remember your first nervous ride as a kid? And the feeling of freedom that followed. Did you ride your bike to throw your paper route before school?
Did your bike take you to work? class? The park?
Do you ride your bike to fight off the fat, clear your head, or have some me time?

Whether you have been a lover of the bicycle in your childhood, adulthood, or always, at some point “it” has affected you.

By “it”, I refer to the freedom, joy, usefulness, function, independence, and beauty of the bicycle.

When I see adults out on their bicycles, I smile.
When I see kids out on their bicycles, I smile even bigger. And I hope that by getting outside in the fresh air on two wheels, those kids will foster a passion for bikes for the rest of their lives.

If you have been away from the bike for longer than you can recall, dust it off and go for a ride.

Here’s to two wheels!