Fort Custer Stampede. Battle Creek, MI. 5/5
I raced the expert 40-49 div. which had 27 riders and was 2 rows deep at the start line. I positioned myself in the front row hoping for a top 5 start. As we got the go signal I got a good jump looking to make a move into #2 spot. Then my foot slipped out of the cleat causing me to almost go down and all the riders behind me to check up. I was able to calmly clip in and recover for a top 5 spot. The first two riders had dropped the three of us behind them as me were making our way through the slower riders from the waves that had started ahead of us. I was feeling good mentally after the first lap but the miles and lack of training this spring was adding up. I lost a couple spots just before entering the red loop. Trying to hang onto their rear wheel was the best I had until the switch back on the green loop at Erin's rock they had dropped me for good. I was left alone with no one to push or pull me I had to finish alone. I was pleased to finish 9th out of the 27.
Infiterra Sports Adventure Rage 28hr adventure race. Oscoda, Mi. 5/18-19
This race started at 5am sat. morn. and the cut off was 8am sun. morn. Our team was Andy Weeks, Paddi Thornburg, Sara Williams and myself. Even though the actual race didn't start until sat. morn. It really starts the moment teams get their maps and finish the race briefing which was fri. at 9pm. With a 5am start time and a 45 min. drive to the start. That left our team 2.5hrs to work on our maps and route choices, pack food and mandatory gear, leaving only 3hrs. of sleep. Awaiting the start with the other 19 teams we decided to just ease into the race not to rush and race our race. We started with an orienteering sec. with 6 CP's. which took us 4.5hrs. and we were 6th overall. We then moved onto a biking section on roads to the Rifle river single track. Locating CP's along the way. After completing the bike section of +-20 miles. We arrived at our first TA knowing we wouldn't have food or water for the next 7-8hrs. we loaded up for our first of 2 river paddling sections. With a 4mile run in between the two.The first was 7miles and the second was a mind numbing 11miles with 12-14 portages over downed trees that caused me to have a complete melt down. I threw my paddle into the canoe cussing and swearing as Sara told me I don't handle anger well ??????? I was tired of lifting and dragging that damn heavy aluminum canoe. I through so many F bombs. That's what makes adventure racing so fun?????? So we finished the paddle around 7:30
14hrs. into the race arriving at TA2 in 8th place. We then started a 10-14 mile trekking section along the AuSable river with 5 CP's along the way. We made it to the 5th CP at 12:30am to learn the leaders had finished. With a few miles left in our trekking we would arrive at TA3 at 2:30am sun. This was our last TA of the race which we finished with a 30+ mile biking section with an optional orienteering section with in it where time management would be crucial. As we arrived at the orienteering sec. around 3:30am a team we had been leap frogging back and forth with was going to bail and continue the bike section. I talked them into working with us to go get at least one CP. which proved to be positive. It took us an hour to go 1mile total before getting back to the bikes. We decided to leave the rest the CP's so we made sure to finish in the allotted time. With 20miles and 2CP's to go we only had 3.5hrs to finish. So we linked up with the other team and agreed to finish together. This was a great idea as it helped all of us stay awake along the ride to the finish. We came in at 7:40 am on sun. Finishing tied for 7th overall and 4th in the 4 person co-ed division. With only an hour sleep and a great post race breakfast I had the hardest time fighting the sleep monster on the 4hr. drive home.
Seahorse Triathlon 5/26
Not a lot to report with this one. I did the relay option with Danny Wolin as our biker and a speedy swimmer Kathy Roche-Wallace hooked us up with. Olivia came out of the swim in 25min. Handing off to Danny he did the 40k bike in just under an hour. I took the chip for the 6.6 mile run. We finished the olympic distance race in 2:22:45 with a first place in the relay div.
The next race on the calendar is RAAM which everyone can follow at GoKathyGo.com, on Kathy's Facebook page or on the RAAM website 6/11-6/24.
Chuck Brenner
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