Untamed New England

Could have, should have, would have…in whatever order you like. We raced hard, and generally, I think we raced well. We made few actual “mistakes”, though we got hit hard by risks gone wrong. Apparently, in the media handout, we were described as a team that is “known for being risk-takers, not afraid to attempt unusual strategies to get them to the finish line more quickly...[T]heir race success hinges on those decisions. Journalist note: be careful if you choose to follow this team as you may not know what you’re getting into!” How dead on, and ultimately our race did hinge on several decisions, though we added several timely mistakes to the mix to make it that much more interesting. Unfortunately, few of these risks paid off this time, and by the end of the race all the time added up, making our prospects at finishing tighter than we would have liked. But still, we had the time to nail the final bike point and we made quick work of moving most of the way toward it. After that point, it looked like a relatively quick bike back to the start where we believed we would have enough time for the final foot check point. In retrospect, had all gone smoothly at this point, I’m not sure we had the time to nail the foot-point anyway.

Unfortunately, however, I made a critical mistake. We had been on a series of trails with a number of turns, and everything had been extremely straight forward, exactly where it ought to be. We made it 80% of the way through the system and were on a trail that should have turned to the right. Instead, the trail had been mauled by loggers and extended, which was not marked on the map. Throughout the race, I had helped with nav at times, but Jon was our primary navigator. I had taken over for this bit, and while I suppose I could blame it on the lack of sleep, less experience navving in a long race, or the fact that I had not been navving much and so picking it up all of a sudden was not as easy as if I had been in the groove by this point, the simple fact is, I blew it. At that point, I actually felt wide awake and quite sharp; I had a great sense of the particular map I was looking at, but I simply missed the turn. It was in fact there, but the bend had been masked by the loggers’ activity, and so we continued to peddle onwards along a muddy mess of a road working our way farther and farther away from the trail everything rested on. I SHOULD have been watching the compass, and I SHOULD have been watching the odometer, but I had been lulled by the easy trails and map I was using, and I was eager as the end was in sight, and a strong finish to boot.

Ultimately, when we realized the mistake, we decided to forge onward rather than turning back. According to the map, there were a few trails that would take us back around to the CP from the other direction, and it appeared that it would only be a few kilometers from that point. Going back would have been much farther, and at the time, we had no guarantee that the trail turn was really even there. So we pressed onward, knowing that time was running out, and we quickly found our trail, except it petered out into the thick New Hampshire forest. We backtracked to another trail we had passed, rode that to its end and set off on a bike-whack up over a ridge. Theoretically, another trail lay just over the ridge’s spine, but once we had slogged our way through the thickets and bogs, we found this trail to be a thing of the past as well. By this point, the hourglass had run its course. Our race had come to a crashing and insect-riddled end in a dense forest south of the finish. We had been within two to three kilometers of our CP for the better part of three hours, but now our attention turned to pinpointing where we were and finding the easiest and most expedient exit from the hell we had landed in. I can’t speak for the rest, but on top of the joys of a relentless bike whack and the ravenous bugs, I felt completely demoralized as I realized that my first multi-day race was ending in a DNF…
70 hours prior, we had taken off on our bikes from the Panorama Club at the golf course of the Balsams Grand Resort. For the previous several days I had run through my gear numerous times, and I absolutely refused to let myself think beyond the near horizon as the race approached and finally began. “Baby steps” I told myself, as we set off on the opening bike leg; “one leg at a time”. I can’t say I ever felt nervous, but I had my moments of “what the hell am I doing?” leading up to the race. I decided before the race started that I wouldn’t let myself think too much about competing or Day 3 during hour 1, and so as we set off and Tracey asked how I felt, I answered truthfully: “I really don’t know”.

The first bike leg was a slog as the month of rain had softened the trails considerably, leaving behind ample mud and water. Thankfully, we hit New Hampshire in the one stretch of dry weather. From what I hear there wasn’t a single 48 hour period for weeks before that didn’t include significant rain. So as we set off under warm sunshine, I thanked the skies that mud was all we had to contend with. But that mud slowed progress considerably and clogged bikes. By the time we finished and hit the first long paddle, the field was already moving slower than anticipated, a problem that would quickly change the race entirely.

After a nice paddle down the Androscoggin River, we biked again before setting off on our first trek, a long haul west along the northern edge of the White Mountains. We found ourselves in a good position leaving the café that had agreed to stay open all night for teams as a TA, and as we approached the first CP, we ran into Merrell, with whom we had crossed paths several times by this point. Many teams seemed to be struggling with this first point, and we passed many of them, moving off into the night for our first optional CP and a four hour bonus. And here is where things began to take a turn for the worse. A miscommunication somewhere along the line had Jon thinking a time cutoff was later than it was and so we set off for a couple of optional points. Hours later, we had one but not the other, and we were making a move to get out of the mountains as we had lost significant time on an unexpected bushwhack. Several hours later we ran into the driveway of the Jefferson Inn, overlooking Mt. Jefferson, and it was there we realized time was running away much too fast. Thankfully, we were not the only team in this position, and the course had been modified.

We set off on our bikes for a short ride to the second long paddle, un upriver run on the Connecticut River. When we arrived, we learned that it was once again taking far longer than anticipated, and we settled in for a seven plus hour slog up the steadily moving waters of the CT, which were running south toward Long Island Sound. When we finally climbed out of the boats, portaged to the TA and loaded our bags with gear for the duration, we biked to another TA at the Stark Inn where we learned that all but two teams had been downgraded from the full pro course. Several teams, including ourselves, were still on an alternate pro course and competing for third place, and as far as we knew we were very much in contention for this. From there, we trekked and biked through the night, through another day and into and through the final night. Dawn broke with us near the finish with one bike CP to go and a mandatory footpoint somewhere near the finish. We had made a handful of mistakes during the night, and a few more risks had gone the wrong way for us, so what had seemed like a guaranteed finish and respectable if not amazing finish was now coming into question as we turned off our lights, shook off the sleep monsters and set off for the final morning and the fatal bike-point…

Ultimately, we lost our chance at a podium finish and qualification for Portugal, which we learned was indeed ours for the taking when Margaret, Sue and Abby met us at the rendezvous once we dragged ourselves from the woods. A week later, I still find my sprits sinking as I think back to that turn I missed and the other mistakes we made leading up to that final bushwhack. Yet, this isn’t the first time a race has gone wrong, nor will it be the last. It was anything but a happy ending, but there’s much I will remember fondly about the 2009 Untamed New England:

· We didn’t cross the finish line, but I raced for 72 hours. As my one firm goal was to do my first multi-day race, I think I succeeded. After all, most racers raced no more than the official 70!
· Sleeping: the second and third nights worried me most going into the race, not having any idea whether we would sleep or how it would feel being so sleep deprived, but I was quite pleased with the experience. We did sleep, though we all slept different amounts. I ultimately dozed at best for half an hour the first night; I think the intrigue of sleeping in a space blanket on the ground in rain gear with mozzies buzzing around was too exciting, and so I actually slept very little. Likewise, I think I slept a few minutes at best during my second attempt on the third night. But while I had my moments, staggering about, dozing off as I paddled or hiked, I ultimately found it to be far easier than I expected and I generally felt quite strong and awake throughout the race.
· The Wildlife: As usual, races are made that much better by wildlife. I saw two moose, one of them on two separate occasions, a river otter, a bald eagle circling above us on the Connecticut River, a porcupine bristling a tree and numerous waterfowl. No bears, but plenty of bear scat as well as thousands of piles of moose poop throughout the woods.
· The Climb: Didn’t get to do it:( by the time we got to the ropes, they only required one person to do the ascent and rappel, so Bruce scuttled up and down the rock face; but it was a nice break, and Abby, Sue, Finn and Margaret were all at the TA, so their company was more than welcome at a relatively low point.
· The Sleepmonsters: All I can say is I loved them. A plant and a red sign were Margaret and Abby, waiting for us around a bend in a trail. Great thing is, I pointed them out to the team, and they seemed to agree with me. Saw a random sign that wasn’t there. Saw all sorts of shapes and animals on a bike section along a wooded road. After the race was over, as I was eating a delicious meal at the Common Man near Squam, I saw a kitten begging me not to eat it in a tomato dip…That one disturbed me a bit…But, in general, they made the nights more fun and a bit easier to get through. As long as they just don’t turn into real monstery stuff next time…You know, like Pennywise or Bob from Twin Peaks…
· The Setting: There were definitely some wonderful views, and the race was bigger than anything I’d done. Far more dramatic setting and atmosphere than the Mid Atlantic or the races I’ve done out of the region thus far.
· The Storm: For almost three days, we had sun, but when the rain came, it came hard, blasting us just after dark on the third night and coming with thunder and lightning. At the time, we were biking along open high ground, and the lightning was bursting extremely near as we’d find ourselves blinded and surrounded by giant balls of light…or at least, that’s how I saw it:) At one point, I had the realization that I had a space blanket wrapped entirely around my torso for warmth, and I wondered just what that would mean if I actually got hit…
· The Aftermath: I do have a bum shin with some funny muscular things going on, but other than that I actually feel completely fine a few days after. (Finally editing this a weeks down the road, I’m happy to report that all is well and fixed…)
· The Learning: I can’t even begin to think of everything that I learned from Jon, Bruce and Tracey. They definitely helped me get through it with timely advice and through the examples they set. I couldn’t have asked for three better teammates to lead me through my first multi-day, and I was amazed at just how much I learned. Not that I thought I knew everything, but wow, SO much still to work on…

So, while it ended in heartbreak, I’ll of course always remember this as my first multi-day. I’m dying to have a shot at another one.

A hug congrats to friends from ATP, NYARA and Berlin Bike for their storng finishes as they collectively filled 2 of the 3 top spots. And congratulations to everyone out there who played in the woods for a brutal three days.