Training Log Archive: HarpsIn the 1 days ending Sep 24, 2011:
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Saturday Sep 24, 2011 #
6 AM
Paddling race (Canoe) 1:45:00 [3]
8 AM
Cycling race (MTB) 1:00:00 [3]
9 AM
Running race (Orienteering) 1:45:00 [3]
11 AM
Cycling race (MTB) 1:30:00 [3]
FAC champs race with Leanimal and Goose. Since Leanimal took the lead navigation for this one I figured I would get a better sleep but a soloist in our room with sleep apnea roomate kept us and MBR awake most of the night with the loudest snoring I have ever heard. After a few winks up at 4:30am for the bike drop-off, coffee and race start.
The paddle was a partial out and back - about 6K to a CP in a bay on western Lake Rosseau then back SE to another small bay in L.Rosseau. Ended up third into the first few paddle CP's, behind Benoit and his draftee Frenchie. Passed them into the first paddle/bike TA on the last portage.
On the bikes we were joined for most of the ride with Benoit who missed team racing and snuck in some draft opportunities. Once we hit the ATV trails he dropped us and we settled into some pretty nice riding until Goose flatted his tubeless. The short delay adding a tube saw Kenetic passing us and placing us third into the bike/trek TA.
The trek had 5 CP's all about 700-900m apart in sometimes trivial locations (high point of land, Y-jcn of unmarked trails...). Ugh... We decided to be conservative and just take bearings directly, not wanting to risk going off bearing since there were little handrails/catch features and the CP's were in the corner of our only topo map. Lee pace counted while Angus and I held the bearing. Other than losing 5 minutes on the wrong exit trail from a CP, we nailed every checkpoint, However, we knew that bushwhacking could lose us some speed with the numerous trails should some teams go that route instead. Our fears were realized when we entered the TA again in 4th, dropping a spot and behind Adrenaline Rush, Kenetic and soloist KURA. Eff.
Back on the bikes for the final ride we pushed on hoping to catch a glimpse of another team ahead to provide the carrot. Unfortunately we could not make up much ground on the lead teams and finished 4th overall, 1st co-ed. Was great to win co-ed but I know we were all hoping for the overall win. Leanimals navigation was bang on and we moved well as a team. Pleasure was all mine racing with the two! It was nice to have less nav duties too... I actually was able to eat during the race ;)
A few thoughts on the race...
Positives:
Location - muskoka in sept - beauty fall colours; new course location (last 2 years covered much of the same course)
MTB - with all the rain the trails were advertised as being a sloppy mess so I was prepping for the worst (and another huge AR-related bike repair bill) but in actuality other than a few short sections almost all of it was rideable. It was a mix of grassy ATV, open cdn shield (like torrence barrens) and rocky snowmobile stuff.
Host site - awesome awards dinner, great to have everyone staying in the same location, community feel. compared to $200+/night at the 4* marriot the last few years $30/night/pp in a cabin was pretty good deal (provided you can sleep with snoring roomies).
Negatives:
Duration - billed as 12 hours but winners in 6???? There was plenty of time for a real trek.
Layout - the one bike advanced CP was maybe 2-2.5 hours into the course and enroute to the next CP. In my opinion it would NOT have taken a team longer to get the adv CP versus not getting it. If you are trying to have teams finish together why wasn't the advanced section near the end?
Trek - way way way too short, 2 trivial locations unidentifiable on a topo map (needle in a haystack), CP's were on the edge of the only map provided so if you overshot several of them, you were off your map.
Overall still a very fun race!
The paddle was a partial out and back - about 6K to a CP in a bay on western Lake Rosseau then back SE to another small bay in L.Rosseau. Ended up third into the first few paddle CP's, behind Benoit and his draftee Frenchie. Passed them into the first paddle/bike TA on the last portage.
On the bikes we were joined for most of the ride with Benoit who missed team racing and snuck in some draft opportunities. Once we hit the ATV trails he dropped us and we settled into some pretty nice riding until Goose flatted his tubeless. The short delay adding a tube saw Kenetic passing us and placing us third into the bike/trek TA.
The trek had 5 CP's all about 700-900m apart in sometimes trivial locations (high point of land, Y-jcn of unmarked trails...). Ugh... We decided to be conservative and just take bearings directly, not wanting to risk going off bearing since there were little handrails/catch features and the CP's were in the corner of our only topo map. Lee pace counted while Angus and I held the bearing. Other than losing 5 minutes on the wrong exit trail from a CP, we nailed every checkpoint, However, we knew that bushwhacking could lose us some speed with the numerous trails should some teams go that route instead. Our fears were realized when we entered the TA again in 4th, dropping a spot and behind Adrenaline Rush, Kenetic and soloist KURA. Eff.
Back on the bikes for the final ride we pushed on hoping to catch a glimpse of another team ahead to provide the carrot. Unfortunately we could not make up much ground on the lead teams and finished 4th overall, 1st co-ed. Was great to win co-ed but I know we were all hoping for the overall win. Leanimals navigation was bang on and we moved well as a team. Pleasure was all mine racing with the two! It was nice to have less nav duties too... I actually was able to eat during the race ;)
A few thoughts on the race...
Positives:
Location - muskoka in sept - beauty fall colours; new course location (last 2 years covered much of the same course)
MTB - with all the rain the trails were advertised as being a sloppy mess so I was prepping for the worst (and another huge AR-related bike repair bill) but in actuality other than a few short sections almost all of it was rideable. It was a mix of grassy ATV, open cdn shield (like torrence barrens) and rocky snowmobile stuff.
Host site - awesome awards dinner, great to have everyone staying in the same location, community feel. compared to $200+/night at the 4* marriot the last few years $30/night/pp in a cabin was pretty good deal (provided you can sleep with snoring roomies).
Negatives:
Duration - billed as 12 hours but winners in 6???? There was plenty of time for a real trek.
Layout - the one bike advanced CP was maybe 2-2.5 hours into the course and enroute to the next CP. In my opinion it would NOT have taken a team longer to get the adv CP versus not getting it. If you are trying to have teams finish together why wasn't the advanced section near the end?
Trek - way way way too short, 2 trivial locations unidentifiable on a topo map (needle in a haystack), CP's were on the edge of the only map provided so if you overshot several of them, you were off your map.
Overall still a very fun race!