HELL froze over, a race report

“Got up at 430 yesterday morning. The canoe,bike and loads of other gear was already packed last night. Hit the road by 450am. Called Dhutch who was also on her way (she and I are always early to races).

Met up a bit after 6, drank coffee and talked. At 630 we got a map for the boat drop off and went to take care of that. Just as we pulled in to the drop area, I realized we didnt have dhutchs paddle gear. I made a trip back to drop her stuff while she organized gear.

Gots briefed and maps at 8am. It was COLD! Strong winds of just over 30 mphs were ouuta the west across the lake.

We worked our route out in no time. We both knew the area quite well.

9am and the race began with a 2-3 mile trail run just to spread the group out. We had gotten just under an inch of snow so it was really pretty. Not to cold out of the wind. We then transitioned to bikes. That would be cold, even with rain coats. The headwinds for the first few miles were rough and made getting a rythm going hard. Finally we turned north and got a break. We got to the boats and were solidly in the middle of the pack. A quick change to water shoes and sealskinz and we were of. After losing my paddle and getting wet past my knees we got underway (note to self, use paddle leash in canoe.)

Wind gusts of over 30mph hammered us on the water. The lake is very shallow so the wind affects the lake substantially. We fought for every inch of forward progress . My right shoulder (with denerative arthris was in agony till I got warmed up 40 min latert). We hit the water checkpoints easily and pretty fast after getting the wind in our favor. I was wet to my waist at this point but wasnt terribly cold (so I thought). After beaching the boat we stumbled to the vehicles and loaded gear and changed back to bike stuff. Then I realized how bad my feet were. We started off slowly on the bikes and made our way to the "hike-a-bike" which is exactly like its name. Hiking with your bike. We realized at checkpoint 9 that I had missed 8 (at the canoe drop area). We decided not to go back and to beg for mercy at race end. Got to some roads for the final bike leg. It was cold and I suffered. By CP 10 I felt horrible, after CP11 I had a horrible cramp in my right calf and my hamstrings felt awful. I also had a headache. I took some electolyte tabs (thanks dhutch) and ate and drank and inporved a bit. The last bit of biking was through a small town called Hell michigan (hence the trip report name). We Finally got off the bikes and were footbound. We had thought this would be good. My feet were so numb I couldnt even feel putting the dry socks on. I told Dhutch that in 1-1.5 hours if my feet hadnt improved I was done. This was the lowest point of any race I have ever been in I felt nauseas, cold and my feet felt like blocks of wood. We made very slow progress. Finally I started to improve though my hamstrings and a lingering case of plantar fascitis bother my right foot. The orienteerinf section went well, if slow. By the end we were able to get 13 of the 16 points (If I had felt better we could have gotten them all, I was spent though). So we knew our finish would be less then hoped for. But we did finish as hard as it was for me.I dont know where we placed will find out tomorrow. I do know that I learned loads abiout winter racing and preperation.

My boduy aches far worse then it should after a short 8 hour race.I finally figured why my hamstrings were shot. I switched over to a clipless pedal and this was my first real use of them and I am sure that the pulling/scraping motion they allow caused the extra strain. Though I did love the extra power provided.

All in all another great race with a great partner and friend!
last edited: 12/12/04 9:03:11 AM”

“woooo hoooo....great trip report.....I used to have cramps in my legs.....ouch...and then they would be sore for a few days...really sore....LOL..you need hand warmers in your socks!!!!!...and you finished...wooohooooo!!!!”

“Short 8 hour race? I don't know if there is such a thing. I applaud what you do and wish we had stuff like that over here; I'd be into it at whatever level I could particpate. Great job!”

“This mring my daughter was asking why I kept saying "OUCH" last night when she was in bed. I explained that mommy was trying to wrok the cramp outta my calf, too funny.”

“Birch, I can't believe you used clipless pedals for the first time in a race. They do a job on the hamstrings. Did you ever have any problems getting unclipped from them o what most people do the first time..fall over..lol

Congrats to both of you for doing the race in such conditions.
How you both start feeling better.”

“Ewker, I surprisingly had no real trouble with the clips. No falls, though I did struggle at one point with the cramp trying to unclip. Even after going through trails in a few inches of mud on foot I had no trouble clipping in.”

“your extremely lucking you didn't fall over. First time I used them and stopped..right over I went.I was just trying to lift my foot off the pedal the normal way..lol

I like them now esp on my road bike. I still find it hard on my mtn bike, I want to put my foot down to much. Still hard for me to get comfortable on a mtn bike”

“Thanks for the report. It was very interesting.”

“dude, you are a wildman!!

keep up the good work!!”

“Birch, racing with you is always a pleasure. I had a great time! We seem to be familiar enough now to be comfortable voicing our thoughts whether we agree or not and accepting each other through truly listening. That's a real team! Here's my version with maybe a few more details. If I bore anyone, please report to another thread you need not read as it will be long.

I was up by 3:00 am race day as phsychologically I usually struggle with a mixture of excited anticipation and utter dread of these races. There's always one thing I fear going in and this time it was my ability to tough out the weather. Maybe it was an omen that when I packed up the night before, my new bike had a flat and I was forced to take the old one because the tubes I have are not interchangeable. (still a great bike, but a disappointment nonetheless)

I was at the race start area by 5:15 and while assisting the organizers to bide time, I learned that the canoeing section was still a go. This is what I least looked forward to in 30 degree windy weather, a 1-2 hour paddle in an open boat.

We prepared quite easily and pretty much had our route entirely memorized by the time the race started with the trail run. It seems more and more it takes me at least an hour or two just to get warmed up during a race. You find a kind of rythm or mental state I suppose. Anyway, I had to curb Birch's enthusiasm and keep him to a manageable pace. We may not have high hills in MI but the race area is a maze of steep ridges.

After the short run we transitioned quickly to our bikes. 20/20 hindsight, I had let a touch too much air out of my rear tire and Birch was using new clipless pedals. It's usually not a good idea to switch any gear right before a race, but 8 hours for us is no big deal. I didn't even think about it. No real problems biking as the route was very straightforward. We were at the lake for transition to canoes in no time.

As we got in I felt a major rock and heard a splash behind me. That must have been when Birch got wet the first time. I was terrified of getting wet as the temps had not risen, nor had the wind decreased. Perfect weather for hypothermia. The waves were choppy and in birch's new canoe my legs are too short to get any leverage for paddling. Birch soon suggested that I half kneel and half sit. In this position I was able to put my head down and transfer energy into my paddling more efficiently. Birch steered us as I just pumped away. We made several positions through the water, but stayed with the stronger teams that had started at the same time. I was fairly surprised that birch bounded out of the canoe at several cp's and waded in thigh deep water to avoid the lineup of canoes waiting to "land". What intensity! It made me colder to think about it.

Getting back on to bikes was a bit of a struggle. We had to unload the boat and put it on the trailer, secure our paddling gear and load it into another trailer and change our clothes for pedaling all without feeling in our hands or feet. Even though we vocally checked in, during the ensuing activities, we both forgot to search out the punch. As we rode off for cp9, birch realized the error and we agreed that as there was no way we could finish without being at cp8, we'd plea our case and accept any ruling the organizers gave including disqualification rather than riding an extra 3-4 miles back. We continued on and put our minds back to the task at hand. Riding through cp's 9-14 easily, if not quickly to the transition and dry clothing. A change of socks and shoes, dry gloves and my warm fleecy wool hat and I was ready to roll. I couldn't really feel fingers or feet but was confident that I would warm up shortly. Birch on the other hand was suffering from nausea and a headache along with the chill. It was very concerning as I knew if it was serious enough for him to mention he was in really bad shape. I encouraged him to walk on at his pace and we pounded out a couple of checkpoints thinking it may just be a matter of warming and letting some electrolye supplements kick in. Keep in mind he had been 1/2 submerged in the frigid water. Hiking warmed me up quickly and I was ready to jog. Birch was tight and we were trying to figure out the proglem. It seemed as if we may cut our day short. We both agreed that an 8 hour "fun" race is not worth risking any injury for future training. As Birch began to feel better we pounded out the checkpoints and got to do a fun little zip-line. It was apparent that at the walking pace we could not risk going for the three furthest cp's but called it a great day and headed into the finish at 4:20ish.

We had a quick bite to eat and as the chili I had looked forward to for the last several hours ended up to be cold, I gave it to birch and just ate cookies. Hot food would have to wait until I got home. A short drive found my faithful wagging shanedog and a super hot shower. By the time I was drying off, birch was on the phone and we both realized what had happened to make this race so miserable for him. The new clipless pedals in conjunction with the chill had caused serous muscle tightness. No matter how many races I do, I think the count is now at 9, you always learn something. I'm just glad that birch is as tough as he is and was able to enjoy the day a little bit despite his agony. Some hot compresses my friend!

Thanks also to Joy for being such a gracious friend and letting her husband come out and play. I know you should have been in my place Joy!”

“Kewl report.

Mad props to Birch and dhutch.”

“Big kids! That's whatchya are. A couple of big kids. Gonna get yourselves sick and for what? A day of fun and games!

;o) I couldn't resist!

Wow! Kudos to you both! I'm impressed. :)”

“Yeah, Sunshine, that's right. Did you guys wear your rubbers? You're going to catch your death of cold, lol.

By the way, Dhutch, what kind of training do you do for this? I imagine you have some kind of daily or weekly routine. I'm interested and curious.
last edited: 12/12/04 3:48:36 PM”

“Sunshine, lol - it's a really warped torturous kind of fun at times, but you are right, we're just big kids playing explorer :-) Can I be the cowgirl?

Nimblefoot - I run almost every weekday morning with my dog Shane. I'm about done riding my bike outside but will hit the trainer or spin class 2-3 times a week in the evenings. On the weekends I'll trail run (snowshoe when we get enough of the white stuff) mountain bike (in the summer) and paddle my kayak. I like to combine 2-3 of these activities during the spring and summer to form a "brick" workout. I have to get back to a regular gym schedule for weight work but its boring so I'll push myself towards it over the winter. That plus riding my horse 3-4 times a week and backpacking whenever I get the chance, keeps me in pretty good shape. I have to admit that after a pretty heavy competitive schedule this year, I'm taking a 2 week break for the holidays, except for an easy run and riding Iggy, my horse. Oh, and eating lots of Christmas Cookies! :-D”

“About 1 hour in the hot tub today, plus the massage yesterday night and I am improving. I am actually getting ready to sign up fro some spinning classes.”

“Great job you guys! It's the hard ones you remember the most right? I can't imagine how cold that must have felt.”

“Its worth noting and was unfortnately neglected in my haste to post a report. When I was in the hurt locker after getting off the bikes and on our feet Dhutch was what kept me going. I woulda been happy to stop but she was motivated and encouraged me. If she hadnt been racing we'd have been done, a belated thanks.

Nigal, it felt cold really really really phucking cold. Really cold.”

“You guys absolutely rock!

I'm not worthy.”

“Nice report birch& dhutch, it was good to see you two there.

We were at registration by 7:00 to get signed in then went back to our cars to finish getting our gear prepped and to stay warm. 8:00 briefing was strait forward if not a little cold standing in the wind writing down a few minor notes. Our map prep was easy with the race course being fairly simple and not a lot of route choices. I decided on wearing an extra layer of fleece since I could drop it off after the canoe section of the race. After the short run, which we took it at a very easy pace we probably stayed in the middle of the pack. We then did a quick transition to the bikes and I was able to keep warm and had a nice ride to the canoe section of the race except that my bike speedometer was malfunctioning and giving erratic reading(too cold or the batteries need to be replaced) this would prove to be a problem later in the race.
The canoe section was a different story once we hit the main part of the lake and the head wind we new it was going to be quite the paddle. I tried to keep my fingers moving while paddling to keep them warm with limited success. We retrieved all the canoeing check points and it was after getting back to the canoe takeout point that I realized just how cold I had gotten since I was starting to shiver uncontrollably with wet feet and cold hands. But we quickly transitioned to our bikes looking forward to the hike a bike section where we were both hoping to warm up, which worked with only limited success and was sort lived as soon as we got back to riding our feet froze again. After riding though Hell we ended up making a navigational mistake and took a wrong turn taking us on a scenic tour around the far side of the lake and adding 3.5 mile to our ride.
After “finally” getting back to our cars where I was able change to warm dry socks and shoes my feet felt like blocks of ice which made putting socks on a little bit of a chore and my race partner was feeling nauseous so we started off the final section very slowly while we were both hoping to get feeling back into our feet and my race partner to start to feel better. We started knocking off CP’s all be it slowly, towards the end we keep running into this one co-ed team from of all places Pennsylvania and raced with them for the last of out CP with the most interesting check point being CP26 it was on a small island with a three nice log bridges connecting the island’s to the mainland. Of course these log bridges were badly deteriorated partly submerged with each of the three bridges getting progressively worse. No normal person would call them a bridge but with a lot of luck and balance both my team and our co-ed team from PA was able to cross there and back with out getting wet. We ended up getting 14 out of 16 CP before running out of time.

Both my race partner and I still had fun and enjoyed the race.
Interesting note my race partner had the opposite problem as birch on the bike he switched from clipless pedals to cages so that he didn’t have to switch shoes but found out during the ride that the cages didn’t let him put his feet on the pedals far enough and with his large feet he was only pushing with his toes and really stressed out his calf’s and hamstrings trying to compensate.
For myself I learned that if you are going to be smart enough to bring chemical toe warmer to keep your feet warm and happy, it would be even smarter to actually use them!!!”

“Great job Birch and Dhutch. Excellent report too. Vitamin C for cramps....take the pill form. My mom used to get cramps in her calf when swimming...now she take one or two chewable vitamin C pills, before her swim...no more cramps....she can swim for 1 and a half hour.”

“Great job guys!!
Birch & Ewk.....I've had clipless pedals on my road bike for like 5 yrs. now and I still forget to unclip sometimes!!! I'd prolly kill myself if I put them on my mountain bike...lol”

“I think you are insane, but congrats on finishing.”

“dude and dudette.

cool.”

“I tell myself that I would like to race like y'all do. But the couch has such a strong gravitational pull.

Congratulations.”

“The results are in...
35th out of 77 finishers
10 out of 20 co-ed

Not bad for feeling like dooky”

“thanks for the report. 8 hours can be a long time if you are insured, or cold.
Still sounded like fun though, just the accomplishement alone is fun!!

Congrats on finishing!!

Oh, I just saw your results...heck yeah that's pretty good for feeling like doodoo. Awesome!
last edited: 12/14/04 7:05:49 AM”

“Better than I thought:
We came in 31st”