TeamTOG: Lionheart AR Recap 2014

Team TOG - 2014 Lionheart AR Recap

American Adventure Sports recently hosted their annual 24-hour Lionheart adventure race on Saturday August 16^th. We have each competed in this race in previous years and every year Doug Critzer (race director) and his crew comes up with new ways to challenge racers and run an exciting course.

The night before the race was team check-in. We received the maps as usual but when we went over to the master map to transpose the CPs we knew that the 9 listed on the map was not the whole race. It was a very straightforward and fast course beginning at the Sugar Loaf sledding hill and a run to the paddle put-in at Confluence, PA with 3 CPs on the way. After the paddle there were three more CPs before returning to the Sugar loaf sledding hill for a transition and the second half of the race. What we didn’t know was where/when the bike/orienteering section(s) were going to be.

Saturday 8:00am

All the racers took off as one bunch up a fairly wide trail to the first CP, which was only about 1km south of the start but required some bush whacking down a stream reentrant that quickly thinned out the crowd. Team AAS made it to CP1 first but we quickly followed with teams GOALS ARA and Odyssey. We jumped onto a dirt road along side team Odyssey that would lead us to a trail taking us to CP2 which was a beautiful 1200ft high lookout overlooking the Youghiogheny river. From here we were able to link up with a pipeline and fire tower access road down the mountain to the riverside for the 3^rd CP (about 10km). This left a fast 3km push up the river trail to the boat put-in. We arrived only about 5 min behind GOALS and AAS so we knew we needed a fast transition (about 2 minutes and we were on the water).

Paddle: 10:06am (16km / 10 miles)

This was a 16km paddle with one CP on an island about half way through. We decided to have Matt and Nick in the two-person boat and Amber in the single being towed behind. We could see teams AAS and GOALS ahead of us. We met up with both GOALS and AAS at the island CP but they were back on the water a few minutes ahead of us. The river was still a little low considering the controlled dam release, which caused all the teams to battle some rocks. During one of the faster water portions of the river we had to serpentine around some rocks to avoid getting stuck but Amber’s boat spun sideways and flipped her into the water. Luckily it wasn’t in dangerous part and she popped right back up.  It took a few minutes to gather up her paddle and get her back in to boat.

Out of the Water: 1:00pm

From the boat take-out we stacked two boats and carried the equipment to White Water Adventures, about 0.5 km away. From there we had specific trail directions on how to run to the next CP with a surprise waiting. Once we got there (about 30 min behind AAS and 10 minutes behind GOALS) we saw a slack-line stretched across a creek bed leading to a rappel over cucumber falls. This was a real highlight of this race! Although it was a lot of fun we had to keep moving to the next CP, which was about 3km up a nearby stream with another waterfall view where we ran into GOALS while having some trouble finding the CP. After a little searching we figured we needed to keep moving down the trail and found the CP.

We decided that the fastest way to the next CP (located a the start/finish) was to cross the stream on top of the waterfall and bushwhack 0.2km up hill to a trail that would lead us CP/bike transition.

 Second Half / Bike Orienteering: 3:56pm

Once we got back to the starting line we were instructed to plot an additional 8 points that were worth a total of 21 points and could be completed in any order (Rogaine). We hurried to plot the points, plan a route, and get our packs ready. We knew we had plenty of time to clear the course but there were a few different options how to attack the points. We decided to attack 3 points that were closer and required a bushwhack down a long draw to the base of some cliffs but would put us on a rails-to-trails path that would allow us to move fast to the next set of CPs. We had a miss-cue on the 3^rd point at the bottom of the draw that kept us looking around in the woods longer than expected.

Once we got down off the draw we jumped on the rails-to-trails path for a 20km ride to next group of CPs. We hit these points without a hitch attacking each from the rail-trail. We decided the fasted route back to the last set of three CPs was to back track past where came from but since it was dark we would be able to move much faster on the gravel and hard-top roads this route featured.

The last three points were on a fast loop that we figured would be the easiest to find at night. The loop allowed us to travel on gravel roads except for a small bushwhack section to cut over to another road. During the bushwhack we were welcomed by a trail that wasn’t on the map that minimized the bushwhacking but took a longer way around to the last CP. Once we punched the last CP we jump on the bikes and pushed up to the finish where we finished just 20 minutes behind GOALS. We ended up with a 4^th place finish behind AAS, Odyssey, and GOALS.

Finish: 5:06am (Total Time: 21hrs 6min)

Technical AR Principles: Reading White Water

Reading white water – Learning how to read water is like learning a foreign language. Just as being relaxed and confident helps your cross-cultural communication skills, being relaxed will also enable you to pick the best routes through rapids while in your boat. A cool head allows you to clearly see obstacles, drops, and paths, whereas anxiety clouds your vision so that you see only an undecipherable mass of white froth.

Volume – Volume is the amount of water flowing past a point in the river per unit of time. In the United States, volume is almost always expressed in cubic feet per second (cfs), though occasionally it is given in some other dimension, such as cubic meters per second or cubic yards per minute. Depth gauges usually give the river level in feet, which is meaningful only if you know the individual river and therefore have a reference level or some other basis for understanding the relevance of the gauge reading.
A river’s power and speed always increase with an increase in volume. This usually means a difficult river will become harder with more water, but sometimes the opposite is the case. Sometimes high water causes a rapid to wash out and diminish in intensity. Experience on a particular river is really the key to knowing what to expect.
High water can create other problems. Flooding can cause trees to fall into the river or be picked up from the banks, increasing the danger to boaters. Extremely high water also tends to wash out most of a river’s eddies, those still-water havens behind rocks that are used for scouting and resting. On a difficult, flooded river, there’s little room for error. The water can be so powerful that your strongest attempts at maneuvering will be ineffective. If you want to learn all sorts of fun facts about rivers in flood, see William Nealy’s book, Kayak.

Gradient – River gradient refers to the average steepness of the riverbed. A rapid forms when a stretch of river has a higher gradient than the river’s average. A consistently steep river forms one very long rapid. Conversely, pools form where the incline levels out and the velocity of the water decreases. Most rivers are characterized as pool-drop rivers, with the riverbed alternating between relatively steep sections and level sections. These are the type of rivers most commonly run because they allow kayakers to rest after each rapid and provide them with an opportunity for checking out upcoming drops.
Gradient is measured in feet per mile. The most popular stretches for river running have gradients ranging from 10 to 100 feet per mile. The relation between gradient and difficulty depends, of course, on the individual river. Some rivers drop so evenly that they have miles of continuous low-grade riffles, despite high gradients. Conversely, a river with a low gradient may have miles of flat water with only one drop—a 200 foot waterfall.
As an extremely rough rule of thumb, most rivers that have gradients from 5 to 30 are usually Class 1 to 2 rivers, and gradients from 30 to 60 are likely to be Class 3 or 4. But as always, this depends on the particular river. Rivers with gradients up to 300 feet per mile are run, but only by experts, crazed maniacs, or those who can’t read topographical maps.

Water Velocity – Water velocity depends on where it’s being measured. In a straight section of river, the fastest current is in the middle where the river is deepest (See photo above). Water velocity decreases toward the banks and near the river bottom. Friction accounts for much of this loss of speed.

When a river bends, a majority of the water travels on the outside of the bend. This causes a deeper and faster channel to form on the bend’s outer curve. Because the inside of the bend has slower-moving water, not much of a channel is cut into the river bottom and the water is shallow. Often, the riverbank is higher on the bend’s outside. If there are waves going around a bend, then the biggest and best waves are where the water is deepest—toward the out bank (See photo to the right). But be wary—the faster water at the outside of the turn can undercut the outer bank, causing trees to topple into the water. In addition, the outside bank may be covered with overhanging brush. The water wants to take you there, but this is not where you want to go, unless you enjoy being slapped and snagged by shrubbery.
When water hits an obstacle (midstream rock, bank outcropping, and so on), it piles up on the upstream side of the obstruction and then accelerates as it continues downstream. Consequently, water speed is somewhat faster downstream and to the side of (but not behind) and solid obstacle.

Water speed increases past obstacle and near eddy line

Eddies – An eddy is any spot in the river where the water is moving more slowly or in a different direction than the main current. Rocks in the river are the most common cause of eddies, but eddies also form behind logs, bridge pilings, and bedrock outcroppings, as well as on the inside of bends and along the riverbank where friction slows the water. The water in an eddy can move at a slower speed than the main current, be completely still, or most often, move back upstream. An eddy’s character depends on the shape of the obstacle and on the level of the water. The faster the current is moving when it hits an obstacle, the stronger the current moving upstream behind the rock. This upstream current is always fastest just below the obstacle, making the eddy strongest near its top. The phenomenon of eddy water flowing counter to the direction of the main flow is caused by downstream water pulling eddy water downstream out the top of the eddy. Water from the downstream end of the eddy then moves upstream to fill the void. This leads to a constantly circulating flow of eddy water upstream and then downstream with the main current. A big powerful eddy on the side of the river with a lot of upstream current is, in essence, a giant whirlpool. The center is somewhat like the eye of a hurricane and is sunken in relation to the periphery.

Technical AR Principles: Holding Your Paddle

Technical Adventure Racing Principles #1 -- Holding Your Paddle

For the next few weeks, I will be posting general principles, methods, and suggestions on Adventure Racing disciplines. While an infinite number of volumes could be written on any one of the disciplines found in this sport, we have highlighted a few of the major points in order to help you develop yourself and your team as Adventure Racers. I am starting with Boat Basics and will eventually move on to Navigation, Climbing, and last, but not least, Biking.

#1. Holding Your Paddle

Curved and offset blades are standard on all performance paddles. Blade curvature imparts more power to a stroke than a flat blade, but it does make proper paddle control a little confusing at first. The concave side of the paddle is called the power face, and the opposite, or convex side, the non-power face. A paddle is always held so that during a forward stroke, the power face is pointed toward the stern, or the rear of the boat.

Because of the offset and curve, you need a strategy to make sure both blades enter the water with their power faces pointed back. Without such a system, one blade may slice through the water, offer no resistance, and possibly cause you to tip. Here’s the strategy: one hand, designated the control hand, maintains a firm grip on the paddle shaft and rotates the shaft within the other hand (the non-control hand) so that the correct blade angle occurs on both sides. Depending on the blade orientation, paddles are controlled with either the left or the right hand. Most paddles on the market are right-hand controlled. The control hand grips the paddle so that the wrist and forearm are at 90 degrees to the blade, with the power face pointed back. To place the opposite, non-control blade correctly, cock your control wrist out while maintaining the control grip. Keep in mind, for later reference, that there are times when you’ll want to cock your control wrist in. It’s not necessarily the case that left-handlers should automatically paddle left-handers should automatically paddle left-control. Some instructors go so far as to maintain that a paddler’s dominant hand should be the non-control hand.

Beginners sometimes mistakenly rotate the shaft partially within both hands. This causes blade disorientation because the permanent reference grasp the control hand is meant to provide, gets compromised. In addition, rotating the shaft within both hands makes it difficult to do some of the more precise strokes. If you’re having this trouble, try a visualization exercise and imagine that there’s super glue bonding your control hand to the shaft.

An oval shaft (instead of a round shaft), at least in the area of around the control hand, facilitates the correct positioning of the control hand and gives you more control over the blad angle with strokes such as the draw and the duffle (which will be explained in future posts). In addition, an oval shaft gives you a better grip and slightly more leverage with your control hand. If you already have a round shaft, you can make it oval in the control area by applying a thick line of Shoe Goo or some contoured fiberglass putty. You can even improvise an oval by placing a Popsicle stick on the non-power side of the shaft. A wrapping of electrical tape will secure the stick and provide a good grip.