The Storm Race 2006

The Sept 15th weekend was a quandry. Several interesting races were scheduled this weekend. My early season goal was the US Surfski Champs, and I was training for that up till 1 month ago. The overmountain extreme was also this weekend. However, my early morning training buddy Dave Petty wanted to do an adventure race, and looking over dates and races, The Storm seemed the best "bang for the buck" for him to get his "feet wet." Little did we know how true that would be, the wet feet and all. I always thought HRAdventure put on quality races with a short drive, so it became an easy choice. Somehow, I was always introducing newbies to the sport thru HRAdventures, mostly because of the short drive, but the races weren't always easy. Maybe I should rethink that. We debated picking more team members along the way and after qualifying for USARA Nationals twice this year, I was holding back and considering using the Storm as a team get together. I ended up bumping into the Pain Seekers clan, and we decided to join forces for MegaDose. So, we figured The Storm would serve three purposes: weekend training fun, getting Dave a dose of Adventure Racing, and getting experience together with new teammates. At least for The Storm, our goal was training, fun, and win, but not necessarily in that order. I always get a kick out of people who say they only do a race for fun, but in reality everyone tries to do well as they possibly can, even if it's to improve on one aspect of their race. For us, the more we reviewed the race, the more this race suited us. Even though it was Dave's first race, we were seriously thinking we would do well. And knowing Dave, he wasn't into this just for the adventure, he liked to hammer. Scanning the website, the mileage was heavily centered on paddling and biking. Well, I was training for the Surfski Champs, Sasha our female was previously a K1 Kayak racer and had a coach, and Dave was a beast all around and can put out enough watts on the bike to pull us fast through a bike course. We had done a 8 hr training weekend two weeks earlier and it was clear we would be very strong in paddling. Biking would also be our physical strength although we hadn't raced with Sasha, but I at least figured we could tow if that was an issue. (note: she didn't need a tow) Now, knowing Grant, the trek could likely make or break the race, so we knew we would have to keep our heads about us. Unfortunately, we left some of that back home with our hectic lives.
The week before the race was a brutal week of work for all of us, and I entered Friday exhausted. Our company had entered the start of a very ugly billing company lawsuit which had me pushed to the edge trying to keep our schedule together at work. Something just too unpredictable to anticipate prerace. I literally didn't see my wife or kids for the entire week since my freetime was spent getting ready and packing, and since my wife is also a doctor, we tend to pass each other on the way home or say hello while one of us is answering pages. Sasha had recently undergone a few sleepless nights when her dog got very sick and needed emergency surgery. So, our team decided to leave at 5:30am Saturday morning so we could sleep in our own beds with our families. Probably a bad choice, but life is life. We all ended up being a little late and couldn't load the bikes till everyone was present sat am. So, that added maybe 30 minutes of time. Not too much of a big deal since we were only 30 minutes late, but then we all loaded in the car and quickly found out the battery was dead. Gulp!!! Probably happened from leaving the doors open while packing Friday night and Sat am. So, the race was on! Dave had to find his car keys (loaded and tucked under all the gear) and run to his house to get battery cables. Eventually we were off an running, but seriously behind schedule. We had a schedule which was already tight, but now we were pushing it. Lucky or not, the two kayaks on the minivan kept us at a reasonable speed since we passed mr policeman several times on the drive down the Eastern Shore. Reminded me of a time we were late to a race in NH and got pulled over by a cop for speeding. When he saw our gear and outfits, he took a double take and let us go. If we had gotten pulled over this time with the dark circles under our eyes, I'm sure there would of been a full car search.
Packing for The Storm reminded me of an expedition race. Bringing boats and the overnight tent and food stuff really added another element. It was amazing how much preparation went into this one and how full the minivan was. We were all exhausted, so we traded off driving so we could at least close our eyes.
We rolled into Cape Charles behind schedule, so I rehearsed the sequence of events to get us ready. We piled out of the car like going into transition. It was amazing how efficient we were given we hadn't raced together and what little time we had. We seemingly were among the last teams checking in our boats, and we were at least releaved we didn't have to do the rescue drill, although I was rehearsing doing a quick eskimo roll to get us through quickly. That was the first good news of the day. Now we would likely survive this ordeal.
The plan went like this, unpack car, run to gazebo and sign in, do gear check, Bill dresses so he can do maps, Dave and Sasha prepare bikes and kayaks, Bill goes to pick up passport at team meeting, then Dave and Sasha dress before driving to start. During the race presentation, Dave and Sasha loaded the kayaks and prepared the boats for the first transition. I felt bad Dave wasn't getting to enjoy the whole prerace excitement thing, but was instead lugging around boats and gear, but maybe that was a good thing somehow. It was purely amazing how efficient Dave and Sasha were since they hadn't ever done this together and they got it perfect since we smoked that transition. They were really allowing me to focus entirely on the maps and getting reading for plotting.
Getting the maps, we had 16 checkpoints to plot and 3 bonus checkpoints. To plot those fast enough, I had to skip some of the passport and only had time to draw our anticipated course on only half of the maps. Not really too much of a problem usually since I quickly strategized I could do bits of it later. I scanned the cutoffs quickly and mentally noted the 8:30pm and 12 midnight cutoffs thinking they made sense because of the paddle across the channel at night. For me, cutoffs have been mostly meaningless except in a few races, so it was just something I scanned. I finished plotting the UTM's while Dave and Sasha navigated our way to the start where we would drop off our car for the day. What a crazy start!! I knew it would be hectic for all the teams, but I was surprised that we were the last teams to leave. At 12:30pm, we were still getting ready. The other teams must of rushed the plotting, planned on plotting later, or had support crew to do that. We were going with the no support option. Partly because our support person fell through and also since it sounded like an easy option and good training for Megadose which would also be unsupported with gear bins. I gave a 5 minute warning with the last two plots and jumped out of the minivan. We quickly looked around and determined we had our gear and off we went.
Even though we were seemingly the last team leaving, somehow I wasn't too worried. Watching them, I wasn't sure Dave and Sasha knew we were ok since i didn't have time to explain the strategy. Soon as we started biking, they were all happy to be going and have the hectic morning behind us. During the bike, I reread the passport checkpoint descriptions while Dave did the bulk of the drafting up front. We had on semislick road tires and were happy we made that choice. Dave was antsy to push the pace up to 25mph, but unfortunately we would have to do that later since it was only a few miles across the DelMarva peninsula to the boat put in and lots of turns, stop signs, and support vehicles to watch out for. Dave was on his spanking brand new Specialized bike from Capital Bicycle after his old bike fell apart one week ago. I think his engine and his bike were ready to crank. We averaged close to 20 mph the first leg and already had caught alot of the teams in the transition, which is a particularly good pace on mountain bikes. Acting like an experienced well oiled team, we had got in and out of that transition quickly and passed another group of teams still preparing for the paddle. We got to meet our transition support person who was just the neatest and most helpful person. It was almost like having our own support person. He even cheered us on to catch up. I joked with him, don't worry, we will be back to the next transition in the lead (ok, I think i have a sense of humor).
Dave and Sasha were in the tandem, and I was in the solo boat. I knew I was in for some work keeping up with them, but that was our strategy. I would do the work in the paddle, and Dave would do most of the bike drafting. Sasha would keep us eating and smack us if we got out of control. If needed, we would split the weight during the trek. I decided to carry all the mandatory gear, but it didn't amount to much. Luckily, our strategy was already working since I didn't route the paddle with the intention that we would follow the line of boats. I hit the water first and started ahead to give me a second to scan the maps just in case since following a herd in the wrong direction would be disastrous. I didn't have much time to do map reading since Dave and Sasha came steaming though like a freight train, and I spent the next 90 minutes chasing their stern. These guys were ready to race. We did everything we could to avoid the adverse current, kept in the deep channel going down current, and we kept passing boats along the way. Unfortunately, the waves made it difficult to draft well, so I had to max out my effort. The effort was well worth it, since by the trek transition on the beach of Mockhorn Island, we had passed most of the field and hit the beach of Muckhorn Island with only a few kayaks on shore. Our strategy was right on plan, but I had to suck down 2 gu's to replenish my glycogen with that effort. I was a bit over baked from the hard tempo paddle, but I was confident our plan was on track after a hectic start.
Dave had become the keeper of the passport, so while he was away getting punched, I reviewed the map quickly We had 4 checkpoints but only had to obtain 3. If we got the fourth, we would get a 3 hr time bonus. Talking with Morgan at the checkpoint on the beach, he said we had till 7pm before cut off instead of 8:30pm, and they warned us of the approaching Storm. It was about 2:30pm when we left the transition. We saw the leading teams scatter North, East, and South. We chose to go for cp6 first since it had the easiest navigational backstop and then we could get a feel for the terrain and our speed on the way. We would decide on the 4th cp later. I don't think it really mattered which direction you went, but going to cp6, we were lulled into believing it was a very doable trek. We immediately took to the beach running after talking with Morgan. We were following a few teams foot prints and caught one of the teams ahead of us. They then veered left presumably for cp5 and got tripped up by several steam crossings. The interior of that island was truly wild in a way that only swamps and isolated marshes can be. Scanning inland, the interior of this barrier island was a mix of tidal marsh grass, creeks, and small hammocks. It was gonna be slow going for cp 4 and cp 5. So, we ran most of the way to cp6, occasionally having to detour around little bays and occasionally swimming across creeks on the way. The scenery was rugged and beautiful in a way very different from being in the mountains. We knew we were lucky enough to be on terrain seldom seen by folks at home playing golf or watching the ESPN channel. The sweet smell of marsh bog was telling of what we were gonna encounter later. The team ahead of us passed the cp while we trusted our plot and hit it right behind the crumbled walls of a long ago homestead. There was a few rundown buildings on the premises. Amazing that such a marshy wetland was used at one time given the risk of tidal surges.
Quickly going back North, we passed Too Many Kids and are few other teams heading down to cp6. Since the west coast was nearly runnable, we kept to the shoreline returning. I ventured inland once to check the terrain and didn't like what I saw. So, we stayed on the shoreline for as long as possible Once we hit the 20 ft creek we had crossed going South, we headed due East for cp5. The interior of the island was mostly undistinguishable marsh and water. We were nearly knee to waist deep in water most of the way, with occasional swimming on the way. The slow pace was disorienting since looking at the distance on the map, you'd think we could find cp5 quickly. When we were within 100 meters near cp5, a storm set in with higher winds and rain. It became difficult to see well. Also, I needed to unfold the map, but didn't want to do it in the rain. I didn't have time to laminate the maps prerace. I wondered if anyone had been able to do that, and I had a pinge of memories of normal races made epic by wet, soggy, and destroyed maps. Last year, our team was running in the top 5 teams at Nationals, lost all our maps on a brutal canoe portage when a strap broke, then borrowed a wet map from team Nike BC who had to drop. We then spent the next 10 hrs in the dark with a ball of oatmeal soup map in reptile infested swamp trying to look at other teams maps just so we could survive the night. Ever since then, I have become a pathetic compulsive keeper of the maps.
While we were headed East, we ran into another team looking for cp5 in the downpour and together we agreed that there was a glimpse of orange hanging from a lonesome tree in the marsh. Somehow that tree reminded me of the Lion King when the lush land turned to dryed out sahara, but we were instead in a wet soggy marsh. The other team decided to bail South for some reason, so we continued our trek (well, swim) East. Our pace was very slow given we had to swim, scramble up on marsh grass, and be careful not to leave our shoes stuck in the marsh. As we headed East across yet another swimmable creek that was on the map, the fleeting glimpse of an orienteering flag proved correct. We scrambled up on the dry hammock and had a brief respite from the hard rain. Taking a bearing from the lookout tower at the paddle transition to confirm cp5 was correct on the map, we then followed a compass bearing to cp 4. By now, we had our pace estimates down well for this island, which were some of the slowest I have experienced. Dave and I were joking about what happened if we had brought some of our triathlons buddies on this race. We were lightyears away from a triathlon.
After 35 minutes of swimming and wondering what mysterious things were swimming around our legs, we came right up on cp4 and ran into Too Many Kids who had likely gotten cp5 on the way to cp6. We were now happy that we had closed the distance on all the lead teams in the first 4 hrs of racing. Both teams briefly debated going for the next bonus point while we headed back into the wetland. The choice came down to the possibility of a 3 hr time bonus by getting cp3, or bailing and hoping to get back in enough time to reach one of the paddle bonus points which were 2 hrs. At one point, we stopped and I addressed the question to all of us. We were ok with the 7pm cutoff time if our current paces held true. We all agreed to continue for cp3 one we realized the terrain was getting easier and easier to move thru. We ended up jogging part of the way to cp3, but we were still in wet marsh and water the whole way. On the way, we met several teams coming down from cp3 which confirmed our direction. cp3 was definitely well hidden but we luckily hit it right off. So far, my plots were accurate which I had been cautious about since I did it quickly in the back of a moving car.
We high tailed it back to the transition and ran when we could. The marsh trekking had definitely taxed us some, but we hit the beach with more than 20 minutes to spare. Morgan and the volunteers informed us we were the only team able to reach all 4 pts. So, we hit the paddle knowing we had a 3 hr advantage in the bank. I hadn't plotted the next route, so Morgan was a little confused by the fact that we didn't know the direction at first.
The paddle crossing of Mockhorn Channel was challenging given that the wind was on the beam at about 15 knots with some small cresting waves. We later heard one of the teams capsized and had used an aerial flare to alert the race officials. We passed several teams again, but were much slower now since my boat was broaching alot in the beam seas. Again I had to work to stay with the tandem team of Dave and Sasha, but we were more relaxed knowing we had a 3 hr time advantage. It was a beautiful evening and I got to surf a couple of nice wave trains. Made me realize I was missing the Surfski champs, but I wouldn't have given this up for anything. Things were seemingly going very well for us....
When we hit paddle/bike transition at cp8, it was now beginning to get dark. So, naturally, the transition slowed down, but I had instructed everyone to take the time to get on dry socks and shorts. All the volunteers were congratulating us on obtaining the bonus point. Despite not having raced muched, Dave and Sasha got ready with no assistance during the most difficult and cold transition. I guess prerace emails work, but Dave was acting like a seasoned veteran. I actually asked the 2 volunteers helping us with our bins about any new time cutoffs since there were alot of kayaks still back on Mockhorn Island when we left. I only heard about the midnight cutoff addressed earlier.
The next bike was roads all the way through cp9 and cp10. We were holding a reasonable clip, but had backoff knowing it was all about not making too many mistakes at this point. We were somewhere in 5th place, but had the 3 hr time bonus that nobody else ahead had. We were still doing pace lines the whole time. Our only bobble was not having all the routes drawn or highlighted because of lack of time prerace and one of the maps got wet during the swim. Since we had to take a 4 hr penalty at the last USARA Nationals for destroyed wet maps, I was nursing our wet map along like a true "precious." All the cp's went well without a hitch. cp11 was a interesting location where we biked out onto a concrete pier and were surrounded by nightime fishermen looking at us strangely. At cp12, I took the time to route our course to cp13 and debated attempting a fireroad with some farmfield wacking versus the long road route. A preliminary search of 2-3 minutes and the wet farm fields convinced me that the long route seemed safest. 20mph+ versus 2mph with muck filled bike shoes. Not a hard choice. We were biking safely and not wanting to miss a turnoff. Sasha was hitting the kilometer distances perfectly and keeping us on track. Dave continued to work the front and allowed me to save my energy for naving. We were feeling more and more confident. The trails around the park bluff were a nice diversion and tests of our bikes lights, but they ended all too soon. Riding the roads around the farmlands outside Cape Charles was pleasant. We experienced very little car traffic given that it was a Sat night although we were leery of the joke told to us about how drunk driving was a sport down in Cape Charles.
Coming into cp13 on highway 184, I went over the sequence of events for cp14-16 and how we had to transition. When we arrived to cp13 at 10:15pm, I was all confident of our first 10 hrs of racing. We leisurely jumped off the bikes thinking we were still in AR heaven. Then the lovely volunteer mentioned nicely how well we were doing in 4th place or something to that affect, but we were on the alternate course. I was like, "what." I nearly barfed and had triplets. I am sure they were like "these guys are a pain", but we went from AR heaven to depression in a nanosecond with the words "alternate course at 10pm." We begged and pleaded once the shock went away. As they say in the grieving process, we displayed and experienced all of them. Shock, anger, denial, and acceptance. I was quickly scanning my brain thinking of further cutoffs and thinking "what if's" like if teams ahead with no trek bonus point might be short coursed, but it just didn't seem likely. I even begged the volunteer to call Grant if we could prove we could get all the trek cp's by the next cutoff. We hadn't even started to push the pace yet. We eventually walked away with our tails between our feet. Eventually, we started running again and the experience of the race kicked back in.
I gave Dave the maps for awhile to let him experience some of the love and to let this mistake set in. Countless races and lessons learned, but missing a cutoff when all was well, was so disheartening. By that's life, and life is like AR. There are mistakes made, and good times and bad, and we just had to move on. The journey had been memorable and we had trekked in beautiful terrain, so our hearts were still happy.
We ended up trekking into a new resort which made me feel we had just trekked into the pink and colorful houses in the Florida Keys, one of my favorite places to visit. By then, knowing we were "short coursed", life was more leisurely. We were hunting around the back of the Aqua restaurant looking for a cp "on the beach North of aqua." I debated joining the Sat evening crowd for a few drinks and good food, but we ended up hiking the beach and we were instead treated to yet another swim. This time, we were off race mode and looking forward to the transition, so we debated the swim and trying to keep the maps dry. The aloksaks were so full of sand and weren't closing well, so we took a few minutes to double check them. The rest of the check was a few mile run into the finish at Reed Farm. By now, my new tri shorts were meshing with a mix of salt water and sand and causing quite the abrasions on me underparts. Something I have been lucky not to experience to this extent, but I have seen this ailment make crown men cry. I made a mental note not to race in this new fabric again and stick to my usual things. (They were a new form of dimpled swim/triathlon shorts.) By the time we hit the finish we had time to nearly hit one paddle cp, but since we were short coursed, all bonus points weren't worth anything.
It was now time to eat, sleep, take a few vitamins and recover-ease and start planning for tomorrow. Well that didn't happen. We ended up fending off mosquitoes and searching for dry clothes. Our only problem was the finish volunteer couldn't tell us what the plan was or where our bikes were. Our car keys were unfortunately with our bikes. We spent quite a long time fighting off mosquitoes and freezing too death. I debated mooching off someone else's tent and food and was now missing the fact that we didn't have a support crew. Luckily, I had a can of "off" spray in my gear bin, but it wasn't enough to ward off those nasty hungry critters. They were more hungry than us.
Eventually, our persistance got the volunteer to call and find out where our bikes were. It was either that or die of anemia from mosquitoes sucking out all our blood. (we later learned that the other areas of the Farm land were less infested with mosquitoes) Eventually Dave had to take the long trek in a car up to the trucks that contained our bikes. He was probably freezing cold and tired, but I at least figured he'd be in a warm car. Sasha and I eventually made our way down to the car and attempted to wake up my wife at home since the car (her minivan) had an external code. We couldn't get through, but we eventually found a way to open the car, setting off the alarm in the process. As all things go, eventually the alarm stopped. We felt bad since we likely woke up a few support folks in the process. Eventually Dave got back from his own adventure searching for the car keys and by now we had the tent, tarp, and some solid food almost ready to go.
By now, the recent sequence of events convinced me that our luck wasn't with us and I briefly considered our options with the 3 of us. Sasha had joined us this race and was meshing in 3 weekends in a row of racing leading up to MegaDose. Dave had a 50k trail run the following weekend, and I hadn't seen my family for about a week. Since we were short coursed, we realized we had achieved our other goals of training and fun and were happy with the decision. Certainly, our families would be happy to hear the news that we would be home by noon versus late evening.
We slept in to 5:30am (a big 3+ hrs of sleep) when we awoke to all the teams getting ready. It was difficult not to continue forth and we all felt very good physically in the morning despite the previous 12 hrs. We learned that there was going to be more paddle and biking, and we had some lingering doubt of our decision. We eventually broke camp and waited for directions to our bikes and the first transition.
The transition was set up on the end of a long farm field with expansive views of the Chesapeake. It was a perfect spot just to sit and watch the teams come thru, but we were hungry and wanted to get back to our families and start planning for the next race.