GOALS Cradle of Liberty
Great race. We could have easily had
5 more CPs (1 due to communication error). We moved efficiently for the first
17 hours with really no mistakes. The last 3 of those 17 really hurt us though
for the next 4. Earl and I were falling asleep, we made a few errors, lost
focus on the race, and caught a bit of bad luck. We ended up recovering and
finished the race smart.
Earl was nursing an injury but was
still able to move effectively except riding on rocky ST trails. I think the
course might have even been clearable (5 more CPs, 10 total) if Earl was fully
healthy and we didn't have that low point.
Abby and Brent did a great job and
put on a great race. Organization and communication was spot on. They also do
an excellent job of taking you to the right spots on the course and requiring a
fair amount of navigation (some might say too much). The night trek was a bit
much for beginner teams.
Saturday Jun 28
8 AM
Orienteering 20:00 3 mi
Prologue - Team O-Relay
Each of us had about a 1 mile run to
a CP, a waterfall, and back. Kristin nailed her section! (by taking the first
leg and following Jason from GOALS)
Paddling (Canoe 3p) 4:00:00 16.4 mi
(4.1 mph)
Swataraaaaaa (Ninja) Creek
Started out for the first 2 miles
having to get in and out of the boat to push, portage and walk down the creek.
After that it was mostly clear enough to paddle the entire way.
There were 8 CPs total. Earl did the
Nav for this. We slightly overshot 1 CP and overshot another along with the
rest of the leaders. We finished the paddle within minutes (+ and -) of the
rest of the leaders.
12 PM
Mountain Biking race 2:30:00 [4] 18.3
mi (7.3 mph) +1225ft
Mostly rail trail and road with a 4
mile singletrack section. We collected several points along the way. One was a
random cabin with a bonus clue and CP that Brian had forgotten about. We missed
out on this due to this communication error. The singletrack was fun except for
when Brian took a spill. Brian was lead nav.
3 PM
Orienteering 3:00:00 8.23 mi (21:52 /
mi) +1452ft 18:44 / mi
Excellent orienteering course. Only
one minor mix up at the top of the ridge. Checked one direction, then turned
around and went back the other, then finally turned around again and went a
little further the other way to find the control. The trail we had planned to take
up the ridge wasn't there but the woods were clear enough to shwack just as
fast.
This loop had some excellent
locations. We came across several freshwater springs to cool us off and refill
with fresh, clean and cold water. Next up was a 100yd boulder field.
Immediately followed up with a random 70ft high, 100yd long ravine. Great CP
locations! Awesome Trek!
Both Brian and Earl were nav since we
had two maps!
6 PM
Mountain Biking 1:30:00 11.0 mi (7.3
mph) +1114ft
Left Lebanon doing a hike-a-bike.
Followed that up with a short rail trail ride, a major climb and major descent
(80kph) into Tower City. Stopped for a quick slice of pizza and filled our
water before heading to the TA where our bins were waiting.
7 PM
Orienteering 6:00:00 10.65 mi (33:48
/ mi) +1387ft 30:05 / mi
This was by far the hardest leg of
the race. Off trail travel at night always is. We started the trek thinking we
could still clear the course if everything went as planned so we weren't ready
to drop points yet.
We were able to get the first two
points in daylight and the third as the sun set. These points were pretty
straightforward and allowed some traveling on roads. We were still good on
time. After the 4th CP we started a 5 mile shwack through knee to chest high
blueberry bushes. We had two 1/2 mile trail breaks. Otherwise both Earl’s and
Brian’s eyes were glued to the compass to stick to our bearings. Only stopped
looking for 5 minutes when we did a small loop back to a road crossing. We then re attacked from a different spot on the road.
This trek was very draining mentally
and physically but we really did nail it. Still took 2 hours longer than we
were hoping for (2 hours for the first 3 CPs and 4 hours for the last 4). Brian
had mapped a few extra roads from a FS map without contours that we never found
that would have helped. Aerial seems to say some of them existed and that we
could have used them if he had known exactly where they were.
Sunday Jun 29
1 AM
Mountain Biking 6:30:00 26.0 mi (4.0
mph) +2789ft
Decided to drop one big cluster of
CPs on this bike leg and 2 more scattered CPs. As we started Earl had to give
me back the map since he was falling asleep. Brian wasn't doing much better as he
rode right by Kristin without noticing she had stopped at the trailhead of our
next turn.
Shortly after that we ended up on a
super rocky singletrack. Earl wasn't able to ride because his shoulder was
still sore from his crash 2 weeks ago so we walked the mile long technical
rocky trail. Would have been faster to take the long way around on doubletrack
and we would have gotten another CP. There was really no way we could have known
the trail condition though.
Had trouble on the next CP. It was in
a steep reentrant. We had to go in and out of the reentrant to find it. Missed
it on the way down. Then checked to make sure we had the right reentrant. Then
found the CP on the way back up. Kristin was really the one powering us through
this rough spot.
It got much more straightfoward after
that. Followed doubletracks along long high ridges to capture more CPs. Skipped
another because time was running short. Dropped down the ridge and then monster
climb back up the next one to TA.
8 AM
Orienteering 20:00 0.5 mi (39:59 /
mi)
Box Car Rocks
"Orienteering" section
without maps. Just pictures and directions. This was a good way to force us to
spend some time here and enjoy the feature without being cheesy. Awesome
scenery. A nice little break too. Maybe too much of one.
Orienteering 45:00 2.5 mi (18:00 /
mi) +389ft 15:41 / mi
Went to collect a few close CPs
before leaving to make the finish cutoff. Got 2CPs quickly then headed for
another 2 with hopes of getting at least one. As we approached the pond Brian
encountered 2 rattlesnakes that surprised him one at a time at the last second
running across some rocks. The second one was the only one who hissed and
rattled. He was maybe a 100yds away from the pond but still not sure where the
point would be and we were running low on our self-imposed cutoff so we took
that as a sign to turn around.
9 AM
Mountain Biking 25:00 6.0 mi (14.4
mph) +420ft
Bike to the finish on roads. We left
right at our self-imposed cutoff. 2 descents and 1 climb. Climb was about half
the size that Brian thought it was (didn't look close enough) so we made it to
the finish with 20 minutes to spare. We didn't think we'd be able to make it in
under 30, but we did.
The race began with a prolog where racers had to run
100yard to a parking lot and find their bikes with one teammate racing on foot
to the first CP. We came out of the prolog in third and raced to the beginning
of the mountain bike course. The section was an intensive 10 miles of
single-track designed specifically for some fun mountain biking and favored the
more experienced riders. During this bike course we stopped to help another
race team fix a broken rear derailer which turned out to be unsuccessful. We
came out the single-track course a little behind but pushed fast toward the
orienteering courses about 10 miles away getting two CPs along the way.
