Crazy C's Big Ass Adventure Race

Date: 6/24/06 Location: Franconia Notch, The White Mountain's, NH Team: Me and D Duration: 11 hours Total miles on foot: 18 Total miles on bike:23 Total Elevation gain: 7500 feet Check points reached: 6 Overall Place: 3rd Liters of water consumed by the team: 9 Ah, adventure! How best to describe it? Let start with a little history. Last year C, C and J won the MIT GNARPMFSK adventure race in Acadia. Their prize: to organize this year's race. They moved the race to Franconia Notch, pretty much home turf for Dartmouth Skiing, and set two challenging courses: a medium-core and a hard-core. The medium-core was mostly road biking and hiking, with some team swimming as well. The Hardcore was Franconia Ridge, some mountain biking with orienteering checkpoints, and then Mt. Moosilauke with several orienteering checkpoints. Friday night the weather in Boston was really crappy: rain with threatened thunderstorms. The weather for the next day in Franconia looked no better, and I was concerned that severe weather might cancel the event. However, we got our stuff together and set a northward course. There was some doubt as to the end point of our Friday night journey. However, I got in touch with C, and she invited us to stay with her mom, so I mashed go and the cruise control and blasted up 93. When we arrived, C and B were busy writing up the hardcore course, which looked the best for us due to its epic hiking. We decided to eschew the mtb section, since we had road bikes, in favor of a day on Franconia ridge and Moosilauke. We fell asleep to C and B arguing about how to convert GPS coordinates to the system on the map. Saturday broke with rain, and I was not amused. Never the less, we suited up a drove over to Echo Lake. We got the bikes set up and obtained maps and coordinates from C, and then helped some old hippies jump start their conversion van. They gave us the peace sign, which I took for a sign of good karma for the day to come. We then sat in the car for 30 min and tried to mark the map. Due to the early hour (and my lack of caffeine) this process went slowly, and but for D's quick coordinate-to-centimeters calculations and my improvising a straight edge with a piece of paper, we would have been screwed. With the map marked, we jumped into echo lake, the temperature of which was actually quite pleasant. At this point, the rain had abated, and we mounted up and hit the bike path. After about 10 minutes, we arrived at Lafayette Campground, one of the Franconia trailheads. We locked our bikes up in the woods, and started up the Old Bridal Path. At first, we were running, but, knowing we were in for a long day, I slowed down our pace. The climb, about 3400 feet and 4 miles, took us a little over an hour. The trail was empty of people and absolutely gorgeous, especially after Greenleaf hut. The sun began to break through the clouds as we cleared the tree line. We summited Lafayette at around 9:15, our high point for the day at 5260 ft. The ridge continues on southward, and we followed it that way, jogging on rocks in ringed in clouds. The lack of other people on the ridge was a real treat: normally on a summer's morning its a like a crowded highway being only a 2 hour drive from Boston. Lincoln was maybe 3/4 of a mile from Lafayette over wonderful, rough terrain. I'm not sure why I'm not smiling in the picture. Maybe I'm trying to look tough. Our next checkpoint was Shining Rock, a water fall about 1000 feet lower than the ridge. Reluctantly we headed down the Falling Waters trail, which turned out to be steep and slippery, and probably would have been a better way to come up. Shining Rock was really cool, especially since I'd never seen it before. We continued down Falling Waters, which crossed many streams and involved a lot of slipping and sliding. However, we managed to keep our ankles safe and our knees unscratched. We returned to Lafayette campground at 11:00 a.m. after about 10 miles of hiking/running. After getting some calories and water, we set out on the road biking portion of our quest. It involved about 15 miles, 6 of them on the flat/downhill bike path. The bike path is a real rush. You know how in Return of the Jedi there's a speeder bike fight on the moon of endor? Thats what it feels like riding the bike path at 20 mph. When the bike path ended, we took turns leading and drafting, and came to the town of North Woodstock feeling pretty strong. Turning west on rt. 112, we climbed once more into the mountains. 6 miles of road with 1000 feet of climbing lay in front of us. We were fine up until the 4th mile, but then the earlier hike caught up with us, and we had to put the bikes in the easiest gear and suffer. We arrived at Kinsman Notch trailhead around 12:30 somewhat fatigued, so we rested for 10 min and consumed perhaps 300 calories each. Our plan was to summit Moosilauke first, and then get as many orienteering controls as we could. However, the Beaver Brook trail lay in between. It climbs to the summit of Mt. Jim from Kinsman notch in the steepest way possible. 1000 feet/mile. In places, there are steps carved into the rock and iron bars driven in as handholds. These aids make the climb possible. In slippery conditions, this trail can be terrifying, and the rain from the previous night had not entirely dried. Undaunted we started up. After a mile, we were in a bad way. The climb, though beautiful as it follows a roaring flume, proved difficult on our legs and our water was spent. D had become pale, so we sat down, drank our remaining water, and ate sugar. I had skittles, and they tasted good! I also had a hammer gel, which was the most palatable gel I've ever had. After 15 min we were refreshed, and we continued our journey. After reaching Mt. Jim, the trail flattens out, and we jogged again a little bit, and ran across B and C on their way down from setting the last checkpoint. They told us we could still win. I was skeptical, due to our previous near bonk experience. We finally made it to the summit of Moosilauke at around 3:30. We chilled for a bit, shared a Mt. Dew Amp, and decided that we needed to start back down at 5 pm to make the 7 p.m. race end. That gave us 1.25h to find 3 checkpoints. Not possible. So, we chose the closest one, and went after it. A little bit of compass work led us down a rocky pitch to a forest. We could see the orange tape on a tree, about 200 meters away. The forest was the impenetrable white mountain sort, the kind you have to body surf through, the kind that you can only hope to endure. A 15th level druid would still be troubled by such a passage. The 200m took us 30 minutes of hard, hard bushwacking. We did find the control, our reward for cut, bruised shins and hard labor. The climb up was easier, since we didn't need to set a precise course, but every branch hit me in the most painfully cut part of my leg and I cried out in agony many a time. Finally, we were back at the summit at 4:45. We had 2:15 to get back down, and it was all downhill. Beaver Brook was still slippery, and our legs were tired after 9 hours of effort, so we took it slow after jogging between the summit of Moosilauke and Mt. Jim. We were at Kinsman by 6:15 and on our bikes for the awesome 6 miles of fast descent by 6:25. D started the descent before me, and I gave him 2 minutes headstart. I jumped on my bike, grabbed my aerobars, and cranked the downhill at 40 mph. It felt awesome. I caught D 3 miles later, and we rode together to the Traunt's Tavern, arriving at 6:45. The Pemigewasset river was right there, so after checking in we chilled our legs, and chatted with the other racers. D passed out for about an hour while I got shuttled to the car. Truants had cold Guiness and good burgers, so I was content. After dinner, we finished off a good day by joining B and C in beating up on C and her friends in Taboo and drinking Coors lite. We finished 3rd in the hardcore division, but the first with an MIT student (me), so next year, I'm in charge of the course. I think we'll return to the whites :)

Hyannis I Sprint Triathlon

Location: Craigsville Beach, Hyannis, Cape Cod, MA Event: Hyannis I Sprint Triathlon Date: June 10, 2006 Its been roughly 3 years since I last competed in a triathlon, and that was somewhat evident in saturday's race. Still, I had a good time, and the race was certainly a good time. The story begins Friday evening, were I braved the epic Boston-Cape Cod traffic to make it to Hyannis around 7:00. A word of warning: Mountain Dew + Boston Traffic = lots of profanity. After I popped in my Fellowship of the Ring (unabridged) on tape, I calmed down considerably. My parents decided to come up to watch the race, and were generous enough to get me a hotel room. My father spends about half his time now in Marriots on business, so, he has an butt-load of rewards points. Score! I had dinner with them at the harbor, and got to watch some World Cup action on TV. I woke up at 5:00, suited up, and got in the car. My dad drove us down to the beach and when we got there at 5:40, the primary lot was almost full. I jumped out, checked in, and then hauled all my crap over to the transition area. I should point out, this event was well run especially since there were 850 racers. My transition set up, I jogged a little, and then sprayed cannola oil all over my arms and legs to facilitate the entrance to and removal of my wetsuit. The threating rain had not materialized, but it was cold and windy, so the race director had shortened the swim to 1/8 mile. I thought this was kinda lame, but we shall soon see it was probably a good call. I managed to get the wetsuit on, and ran down to the water to swim a bit. Damn, was that water cold. I can't imagine going without a suit. The swells were also pretty big, maybe 2-4 feet. The start was delayed by maybe 10 minutes, so, I swam a bit, and jogged on the beach a bit, and laughed at the poor guys with farmer john wetsuits who were freezing outside the water. Finally the first wave, composed of elite racers, and also people under the age of 24 started. Those of us in the 2nd wave, that is people ages 25-28 got down to the waters edge and waited for the horn. Then we were off! The first thing I did was pile directly into the dude in front of me, and get tangled up. Swimming was hard through the waves, and we were getting pushed around a lot. The field opened at the first bouy, and I tried, as best I could, to set a good line for the second. I failed miserably, and swam a less than optimal route. Rounding the second buoy, I set a course for the transition area gate, and, again, failed miserably. The current kept pulling me off course. I finally made it to the beach and was supremely disoriented, but I made it to the transition area in more or less one peice. One apon a time, I could fly through a transition in like 30 seconds. For this race, not so much. I put on socks, because I though it would be cold, and that turned out to be just plain ruinous. In the time it took me to get out of there, I probably could have made a sandwich or something. I finally wheeled my bike out and started pedaling. I wasn't turning hard gears, but I was making pretty decent speed, and I dualed with some dude on a tricked out Kestrel for most of the race. Course was decent. Rolling, with no real climbing, but interesting with lots of twists and turns. I broke the yellow line rule passing a couple of times before I remembered that that was forbidden. The course was only 10 miles, so the bike was over pretty quick, although, not before I got trapped in a "no passing" zone behind some guy on a mountain bike. I rode back to the transition area and racked my bike, threw on my racing flats and hit the run course. This transition was again slower than it should have been because I didn't get my feet out of my shoes before the transition area. The run started out pretty painful, but I think I built to some decent speed by the end. I was passing a lot of people from the wave before me, but only a few in my wave. The run course was pretty good; there was a little bit of climbing, and then downhill to the finish. The actual finish was on sand, which makes sprinting not too fun. I crossed the line in 1:02:53. Overall, I'd say the race was well run, even by C's high standards. The shwag they gave out with the number packet was first rate! My level of fitness is ok right now, but my level of speed is crap. I've got some work to do, especially on the bike, if I'm going to make any showing at the Boston Tri in September. Results are posted here. Pictures to come!

Introduction

Welcome to my racing blog! The purpose of this blog is to serve as a catalogue of race and adventure reports. I'm guessing that if you're reading this blog you are either a friend or a family member, but on the off chance that you aren't, my name is Scott, I'm 25, and I'm currently a graduate student at MIT. I enjoy lots of endurance sports including road and mountain biking, running, triathlon, rock and ice climbing, adventure racing, and alpine and nordic skiing. I originally hail from CT, but more recently I attended Dartmouth College where I was a member of the Dartmouth nordic ski team. MIT has not left me with as much time for racing as once I had, and I've kind of fallen out of shape. Now its time to get back on it, since the activation energy barrier is getting higher and higher the longer I wait...