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)

Odyssey Wild Wonderful Race Report 2014

Saturday May 17

Event: Odyssey Wild, Wonderful 24 Hour AR

Writer: Bryan Mayer & Kristin Eddy 

The team had a strong race. We moved fast and in the right direction almost the entire time. Urgency suffered a bit since GOALS was no longer elite and Odyssey had to go unofficial early on in the race (Mark punctured his calf with a stick). Probably would have been better if GOALS hadn't told us. We still moved fast but stopped for pictures and maintenance a little more than usual. We had a great time though and saw some great scenery. 

Brian: We executed everything well and worked well as a team. I made one wrong choice in route decision but lost minimal time. Also had trouble finding one tough CP in the dark and misplotted another. We triple checked the one that I thought was misplotted and still didn’t realize my mistake. Luckily it was the closest point to the TA/finish so we were able to re-attack at the end without wasting too much time. If this had been in the middle of the course we would have been in more trouble. 

Kristin: Next time I will ask you if you are 110% sure (not just 100% : ) makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Brian: Ronny put together a great MTBO on the new Fayetteville MTB singletrack trails (Arrowhead) and we had a pretty epic trek back to ACE HQ from there. Lots of tough Nav. 

Kristin: The arrowhead trails/mtb section was one of my favorite parts of the race - always sweet to have great singletrack rolled into the race WITH challenging nav (which, by the way, you'd never know was challenging the way that Brian navs it: fast paced & nailed each point)

RECAP: Black (Brian) Blue (Kristin) 

8 AM

Paddle was cancelled. River peaked at over 16ft exactly at race start. This was the 22nd highest peak recorded. 0 is standard and 4-6ft is normal for this time of year. The rafting would have been EPIC. The river looked insane. Like a beast. I surely would have peed my pants if we had rafted it (though would have been fun i'm sure) SICK!!!!

Road Running 5:00 0.34 mi

LeMans start to bikes. We literally had to tell Dan to slow down (by the way, I said this to him more than once during the race!!! : ) He was a human rocket...for the entire race!!!

When I got to my bike I found that someone decided to lay it down in some nice poison ivy. Thank you.

Mountain Biking 40:00 4.58 mi +960ft

Climb to Fayetteville from “takeout”

9 AM

Road Running 40:00 4.6 mi

Run through Fayetteville to gather some CPs the lovely rhodo that blooms in the neighborhood between the park & town was in glorious full bloom...it is tri-color and almost as big as the house that it shades - remembered it from previous races, love that beauty.

10 AM

Mountain Biking 1:50:00 11.63 mi

MTBO on Arrowhead trails. Really well designed course section. Adding topo lines to the trail map and making the lines less than a 1/2 in thick iwould make this a professional MTBO. Yes, Ronny did a great job with this - FUN!!!

12 PM

Orienteering 9:00:00 24.2 mi

Long Orienteering section. Started with some points we had to plot around Fayetteville area. Had some amazing views and awesome scenery on this section. Did some of it with GOALS.racing alongside goals & the sweet spots of the controls were definite race highlights - overlooks, waterfalls, cool rock formations - really gorgeous.

On the first half (14-19t) I had to make a few minor recoveries (1-2 min) to each of the points. But no real problems. Still good navigation. (GREAT nav)

The second half was on ACE property. Struggled deciding when to get CP 22. Got it after 20 because I thought it would allow for more trail travel but I think in retrospect it would have been better after 24 (i tried to tell brian this, but he wouldn't listen, can you believe that?). Distance looked just as far but with the way we ended up leaving 24, 22 wouldn't have really been out of the way and would have been on trails. It was a tough call for me though so I don't feel too bad.

On our way to the last few points before we went to TA I started having trouble with the trail map. The labels are aligned E-W. I kept reading it as if they were N-S though so we were going the right way because I was following terrain but every time I looked at the compass I couldn't understand what was wrong. Befuddled me for two points until I realized the cause. Other than the 1 route choice only one 5 min error on the second half. Misread the map right before the attack to 24.

The pace was fast for this entire trek (yes it was...brian & dan kept steady gunnin', even with no sense of pressure...always nice to push simply to do our best - which i think we did!). Running whenever we could. Finished just after civil twilight.

9 PM

MTBO 2:40:00 12.25 mi +1300ft

Gathering the last points around the TA on bike instead of foot. Moved slow on these because it was dark, the trails are slow and everywhere, and we were starting to get tired.

Translated CP30 to the trail map incorrectly onto a parallel spur (the spur had a matching road with a unique shape, trail, and reentrant). When it wasn't there we thought Ronny had misplotted because the clue was off. We double and triple checked and then moved on. Next two points were clean and the trails to them were all good.

27 was difficult. Everyone had trouble with it. The planned attack was through private property. Had to back out and attack from farther away. On my way realized I mistranslated this point as well (just 1 reentrant off) but caught it in time. Had trouble finding the small (actually big but shallow) reentrant in the dark. Spent time looking in an wrong reentract full of briars before we reattacked from the top/private property. Still had to go all the way back to the bikes though. (low point of the race for many folks...lots of stories afterwards about this one!)

Had trouble finding an ACE trail on the way to the last point but got it and then rolled back to TA. When we got back we asked about CP30. Teams had apparently collected it so I checked one more time and noticed my translation error. The road is really what messed me up. Luckily it was only a mile or so away (but 400ft climb) so it was fairly easily attainable.

Orienteering race 1:30:00 2.3 mi

Trekking during MTBO

You are invited to view K mama's photo album: Team American Adventure Sports at Odyssey's Wild Wonderful

Princeton Tec: Bike Light Review

The EOS Bike is Princeton Tec's EOS headlamp that one can not only attach to your bike helmet but your bike frame.  Thus if you are doing some bike touring or over night riding this is the light for you! For night mountain biking we often include both a higher lumen light on our bike itself and the EOS bike on our helmet that way you can physically see where you are looking along with where the bike is moving. Often I find myself keeping it rigged on the traditional headlamp strap in a front pannier while riding so it is ready for setting up camp.  I keep the velcro helmet strap permanently rigged on my helmet and can mount the light quickly if need be.  For one light that can work flawlessly for climbing, backpacking, etc. and also be secured to a helmet comfortably (instead of stretching a traditional headlamp's headband over your helmet) this is the ticket.

Now, most folks don't get too excited about taillights.  So long as it is red and perhaps even flashes nobody pays much attention.  I on the other hand have a fear of being crushed to death.  Why more people don't share my fear is beyond me.  Very often I find myself in dense traffic in areas of Pennsylvania where cycling is not recognized as a legitimate past time.  You're none too sure if folks are paying attention or even care to see you.  Another hazard I find myself in is open stretches of road with high speed limits and no road lighting.  Do you think that someone whipping along at 60 mph is going to see that single pukey LED?  I don't want to bet on it.  That's why I have used a Princeton Tec Swerve for a couple of years now.  It is bright and annoying as shit.  I mean that in a good way.  Whenever I ride directly behind my friend who uses a Swerve too, I fear the onset of seizures.  That's exactly what I want out of my taillight.  Also, the light uses a heavy duty rubber band to mount the light on any bar.  I have never had a problem with the light falling off.  It makes for quick transfers from bike to bike.  And if the need arises, the light also has a clip so you can mount it on your courier bag, jacket collar (hey, it has worked in a pinch), or bazooka sling.

      Clockwise from left: PT EOS Bike, PT Push, PT Swerve and Cygolite ExpiliOn 250

The Push is a handlebar mounted light from Princeton Tec that they advertise for anything from urban riding to mountain biking. The Push throws off a good beam for riding around town and some night road riding.  It isn't as expensive as many other lights are so if it gets swiped you won't need a government bailout.  It is light enough and compact that you can throw it in your pocket while you stop for a brew and you won't get the inevitable question "It that a banana in your pocket or are you happy to see me?"  The only thing that troubled me about the light is that there is little way to tell when the batteries are getting low.  Sometimes there was a barely discernible flickering minutes before the light died, but usually it was rather abrupt.  That can be a little alarming when you're ripping downhill at night...

I believe that the Princeton Tec lights are all splendid within their respective categories our team has been racing with their products for many years now and would recommend their many products for any outdoor activity....or night reading at your bed...or just a lamp to keep in your car. The best part is they are made in the U.S.A. You can't say that much any more so props to them!

They crew of guys are also one of the most entertaining companies we have come across in the past couple years do check out their videos to get a taste of the company!

http://vimeo.com/princetontec

Odyssey One Day Xtreme: Starting the Race Season

Team AAS/TOG will be starting the season in only a few short weeks on March 22nd with the  Odyssey One Day Xtreme Adventure Race. The race will have unsupported teams of 2, 3, 4 and soloist navigate, paddle, mountain bike, and trek their way through the beautiful mountains and waterways surrounding Fairy Stone State Park, while battling the elements of Mother Nature, by using only a map and compass.

This 24 hour adventure race will be a great practice run for some of the expedition length races the team will be competing in this season. 

Keep up with our blog this season for post race reports, training logs, gear reviews and more! We will be publishing bio's on each of our team members within the next few weeks.