The Longest Day and Night

I have discovered a new love, and it is called river tubing. Oh, I’ve had my lazy river floats in inflatable tubes, carelessly splashing down smoothly running water with the occasional ripple hinting at shallower depths, but I had never attempted anything like this before. The funny thing was, I was absolutely dreading hitting our second water section during the 28 hour Longest Day adventure race in the southern Catskills. Chris and I had pushed hard from the start and were running a strong race. We had started the day off with a flat-water river paddle, which somehow saw us paddling steadily ahead, leaving us in first after hitting the one optional CP and pulling out of the water slightly ahead of EMS and the two man NYARA 2 crew. It was then off to the races with a long and leg-tiring 50 mile ride which included a big trail section bookended by long road sections. We had nailed all the optional CPs on that section as well and were feeling good about the first third of the race, but my legs were growing heavy, and we were expecting a whitewater paddle at the end of the bike. I had no doubt that I was in store for some leg cramps unlike no other, and then there was the white water itself…
On Friday morning, Tracey dropped us an email, regretfully withdrawing from the weekend’s competition. Bruce, Jon and I scrambled to find a replacement to round out the team, but luck was not on our side. The two teams of GOALS racers converged in New Paltz that night, Abby and I arriving with Keith, while Bruce and Jon showed up with Chris. After a brief conference, we decided to reshuffle the entire line-up. Abby and Keith would race with Bruce and Jon in the premier, co-ed division, and Chris and I would race as a two, the logic being we were the speediest and would perhaps push EMS to work a little harder! All agreed and after the usual few fitful hours of sleep, we were on our way under darkened morning skies to the rally point just south of New Paltz where we left our cars, sorted our gear into several gear bins and bags and hoped we had everything set as there wasn’t much time to digest the enormous course and the amount of information we were given before the gun went off. After a brief separator, Chris and I hit the water first and other than a moment when NYARA 2 passed us as we ate and drank, we held the lead for the rest of the paddle.
The early going went well, with numerous notable points along the course.
-On the initial paddle, Chris and I were skimming along when suddenly, a large wave emerged out of the water. Several large splashes ensued, and while we didn’t actually see the mysterious river monster, we marveled at the amount of water it managed to displace, especially when we got a glimpse of it breaching down river on one occasion.
-After the paddle and an hour of flat riding, we found ourselves scaling a steep embankment to the top of a tall waterfall, one of the finer CPs of the day, though we lost a bit of time trying to ascend only having to find a second attack point when we found the going too steep and too muddy.
-While the mountain biking orienteering leg went much more smoothly than last year, I did have a scare as I went tumbling over the bars of my new ride, chin bleeding after landing face first on a rock (I don’t know how many times I can pull myself off the ground having literally landed on my face with and keep avoiding some sort of reconstructive surgery). Thankfully the damage was minimal, though I managed to bend one of my bran new brake levers. While it was an inconvenience, the brake continued to work fine.
-My first ever stop in civilization during a race welcomed me with deliciously cold vitamin water and a snickers bar, though I never ate it…
And with all that and more behind us, we approached the water, expecting kayaks and finding tubes instead. Now, for those who don’t know me well, I LOVE water. Absolutely adore it. While no longer active, I’m an MSDT (Master Scuba Diver Trainer), have always been a huge fan of swimming, canoeing and kayaking, and learned to stern canoes through class 2 and class 3 water when I was in Middle School. But after high school, I had my first exposure to real white water. I was in Costa Rica, and on my first ever rafting trip, I found myself on a three day expedition through class 4 and 5 rapids. Within the first 30 minutes of the first day I was sucked into a class 4 hole and pinned to the bottom. I vividly remember fighting to reach the surface and realizing that I had no control of my fate as my body was thrashed about on the bottom before being ejected down river. I went into the water twice more in similar situations over the next 2 days, once because our boat flipped.
I freely admit, that I was shaken by this event; I still love the water, but I also have a healthy fear of it thanks to the fun in CR and my experiences diving. It’s an awesome natural force, to say the least, and while I can fight the cold with warm clothes, the wet with rain gear and the heat by drinking and seeking shade and rest, there is nothing I can do to control the water if it is strong enough.
And so I found myself standing alongside the river, watching the water rushing by, tube in hand, rain pants on and paddle gripped tight. Chris and I had caught up to GOALS 1 who had skipped a CP or two on the bike and were already embarking on the tube, but as we readied ourselves for the cold water, Abby came splashing along the shore. She had lost her tube and had been caught in a strainer, so we waited for her to gather herself so we could accompany her down river to find the guys. As we waited, however, Keith came crawling out of the bushes, having met a similar fate as Abby. Leaving them together, Chris and I jumped in the tubes and flew away, passing through the first set of rapids and quickly passing Jon and Bruce who were waiting on the shoreline down river.
And that was about the time when the miracle happened. Put me in a boat now and I’ll tackle whitewater. I’m happy to do it, but I’m always a bit uncomfortable…maybe more than a bit at times. Take the boat away, put me in a tube and set me adrift, and I am apparently in my element. At least in lower grade white water! It was an amazing realization, but after the first set of rapids, I found my groove and easily maneuvered the tube about the river, finding that while the paddle did little to speed me up, if used correctly I could move side to side quite easily, positioning myself wherever I wanted as I ran the rapids big and small. I went over once, loving that moment just as I did when I went in during the Lionheart last year. Something about being in the water works for me. I don’t like being on top of it, but in it is great. And even in the tube, I felt like I was in it. Being able to spin 360 degrees on a dime gave me an element of control I sorely miss in a boat, and I found myself whooping, and laughing and cheering all the way down the river. Chris seemed a bit incredulous at the easy time I had with it, and afterwards I learned that most if not everyone had loathed the section, finding it to be terrifying or at least overwhelming. But for me it was pure joy, and the shocking thing was that after almost 2 hours of cold water, I didn’t suffer a single cramp!
After finally pulling out of the water, which had become chilling under the descending sun, we transitioned and set off for what seemed to be a relatively straight-forward foot section. We had been told that we would likely be off trail for the entire section, and the race directors told us to expect to be in the woods for 5-7 hours. Well, other than a face to face with a rather large black bear as we ascended the 2,000+ feet of initial elevation and a beautiful view of the rising red moon reflected in a distant lake, the trek was as challenging as any I’ve done. All thick bushwhacking, we were one of two teams (the other being a solo) to bag one optional point. Everyone else hit the two mandatory CPs and nothing more on the harder than expected bushwhack that left many bloodied by the rocks and brush and itching from the thickets of stinging nettles. I, of course, continued recent stupidity by not wearing pants or tights, and I wonder how much discomfort I could have saved myself by changing out of my shorts…
As the night wore on, we realized this trek was taking far longer than expected. We were supposed to be down from the mountains by midnight or so, and as we realized that we were going to be nowhere near the recommended cutoff, we became steadily more demoralized, thinking our race was taking a serious turn for the worse. Ahead of us lay a massive climb on bikes, and as we looked at the vanishing minutes, we weren’t even sure we’d be able to finish the course. And so it was that we emerged from the woods, having passed EMS and Berlin near the end of the trek. A bonfire was raging and Bess was there with Denise and the crew. The frustration and exhaustion were clearly evident as they all were quite encouraging, and then Rodney gave us the good news that the course had been modified.
We were not the only ones who had suffered that night, and the climb over the mountain was out of the question for all at this point. So after a 25 mile road ride, we did our first Tyrolean Traverse, pulling ourselves across a large creek, 30 feet or so above the water. Once on the distant shore, we embarked on one final climb, a scramble up another 2,000 feet mountain which brought us to the final foot section and the finish. All did not go perfectly, though we managed to bag an additional 3 CPs and 6 more points.
We ultimately finished well, third overall behind EMS and the solo racer we spent time with on the nighttime trek. 3 points separated all of us. We certainly had our struggles with this one, Chris suffering on the foot section and me on the bike, but we couldn’t complain with our win in our division and strong showing overall in a solid field of teams. Even with our struggles, we could have pulled it out in the end, but by that point we decided to play it safe. In retrospect, we could have nailed a big five pointer as well that would have given us the lead, but in all we ran a great race, one of the best to be sure. By the end of the race, both of us had decided to skip the Cradle of Liberty (another 28 hour race), but by the end of the race, we had signed up, with Tamela Lynch joining us for the ride. So, 4 days and counting until another day long romp in the woods!