A Wicked BEAST of a Week

Well like many of the Adventure Racers of in the Northwest I did the WickedAR Urban in Portland on Saturday the 4th. Then the majority of us who live in Seattle went out and did the BEAST race the following Wednesday night. To finish off the week a few of us even did the Summit to Sound Adventure relay solo on Sunday. Add in the weeks training and you can see why I have been tired and not writing much. Well this week was a little less busy, so I figured I'd make a race report gumbo.

Saturday 9:30am:

After a half hour delay to get all the teams checked in, Shane counted down and the WickedAR Urban race started with a quick mile and a half run through the still empty, but soon to fill up with Rose Festival spectators, streets of downtown. We, Team MountainZone, (Lee Halford, Chris Hale and Juliana Nowlan and myself ) got back to the TA mid pack and would slide around near there for the remainder of the race.

We hopped on our mountain bikes, hit the pavement and were off to start the next leg. Since the TA was next to the Willamette River we were going to be heading uphill no matter what way we traveled. However, Shane searched long and hard to find the tallest hill around to put a CP on top of. So we biked up and up and then down to ten feet, only to head back up again. Once near the top, we headed up just a little bit more for the fun of it. After reaching the top of the hill (the last few feet on foot) we wrote down the answer to the CP clue.

Since it was an urban race, the CPs were actually clues and not marker flags like normal, since people tend to take those. During the Mountain Race this past winter a marker was stolen; and that one was on top of a ski resort. So it only makes sense to have clues based on permanent fixtures. The problem is the clues are not always where you think they should be or the answers are not always obvious (at least when you are racing and in a hurry and dyslexic and have sweat in your eyes and uumm the sun in your eye as well and .... well you get the picture). Hence the post race grilling, scolding, and slap on the hand I got from Shane for getting two answer slightly incorrect (in his opinion only, the lawyers are still debating) answers. It is not like we were not at all the CPs, I just can't simply add, read, write, solve complex questions such as "what is written on the sign" and race all at the same time. I guess I have to remove multitasking from my resume.

Now back to the race:

When we last left our foursome they were standing on top of the first of many big hills at the CP. A quick look at the map showed us that we were heading down (way down) and then back up again on our way to the zoo. And people think urban races don't have much elevation change to them. After the Zoo, we followed Rule #1 of Adventure Racing. Which reads: Whenever there is a choice to be made about which direction to go, always take the route that sends you up the closest, steepest and biggest hill.

So we climbed some more, hit some fireroads in Forest Park, followed AR rule #1 a few more times. Finally, we hit the long downhill section of the bike leg and ended back up at the Willamette River again. We just happened to be ten plus miles down river from where we started our ride.

Once we returned to the TA it was into the kayaks. I was surprised and relieved at the limited amount of speedboats on the river during summer afternoon. This made the paddling leg much more enjoyable because I could talk to my teammates and look around instead of worrying about getting plowed over by drunken one eyed water-skier. What? It could happen. My brothers friend who works at the hospital knows a nurse who treated a lawyers who represented a guy who's neighbor's daughter married the orphaned son who's dad this happened too.

After the kayaks, it was time for the metrogaining section (aka orienteering in the city). And guess what, Shane had found yet another large hill we had yet to climb and since the view was so nice from the top, Shane was nice enough to put a CP up there so we could enjoy it. Ahh look the river and downtown. We have how many CPs scattered around down there? We hit Pioneer Square, Chinatown, a couple of sculptures, some old building we were not suppose to be at, and a fountain. Apparently there are 16 things around the fountain and not 15...Lies, all lies I say.

After our final TA we jogged (I'll be nice and say the entire team was still jogging at this point. It is not true, but I'll say it anyways) to the rappel. After heading up the stairs we ended the race by rappelling off a 10 story Parking Garage. Now that is one way to get out of paying you parking fee.

Overall it was a great race and once again Shane set a fun course. Kathleen and the rest of the volunteers did and excellent job of keeping everything running smoothly. Many thanks to all of them for coming out. And thanks to Next Adventure and the rest of the sponsors for all the great prizes, enough though I never win anything at raffles.

I can't wait till the Gorge race next mouth. I have a feeling the orange flags will be back.

Now onto Wednesday: 5:20

Ahh a nice weekday afternoon, so what to do? O yes, it's BEAST time again. For the BEAST #3 Eric and Roger threw in a cannoning section. This was a prolog and had teams paddling around Union Bay. We went under the freeway and then around some little islands. Teams were forced to decide on strategy since CPs were both on land and in water, plus teammates were aloud to break the 50 foot rule. For the BEAST race Team MountainZone only comprised of Trea and myself. This meant one of us was running and one was paddling. She is a faster runner and I am a stronger peddler, so you figure out who did what.

After all teams had finished the cannon section, the race would be a staggered start based on teams cannon times. This meant that two guys from Team DART who had the shortest cannon time had a five minute head start on the next team. Funny after they took off on their bikes we never saw them again. Ten minutes after the first team left Trea and I hopped on our road bikes.

There was only one major climb during the race, it just happened to be about 2 minutes into the bike sections. Normally the climb would not have been a big deal, but as stated above the WickedAR race was only four days old and I had done my weekly STP bike training on Tuesday, so my legs were not quite loosened up. But by the top of the hill (going down) I was ready to go.

Then it was off too Magnuson Park. We started orienteering and passed two teams while running around. For me passing any teams while running is a good thing, so what if one of them happened to have a 12 your old girl on it. She was tough. I think she would have taken me down if she had the chance.

We hit the special test section of the race with a few other teams, plus there was a backlog of teams already doing the test. Some teams were running around like chickens with their heads, while other were not having as much difficulty with the special test. The concept of the test was simply. Answer three questions. The hard part was the clues to the answers where on numerous submarine "shark fins" sticking out of the ground. Trea and I flew through this section passing all but one team that was around. We hit the next CP and were on our way to a top 10 finish.

BUT.... Yes that is a big BUT

Was then a left I was supposed to take on top of the hill? NO it was not. About ten minutes and four thorn bush thickets later I realized the error of my ways. Too bad all those teams had re-passed us. O well, it was back to the course and time to finish the orienteering section.
We were back on the bikes rounding a corner when I heard the famous last word and sound "uuhhggg... SMACK". I turned in time to see Trea complete the final roll of her crash. I guess biking, turning, reading a clue sheet and being distracted by someone getting into their car did not all compute. Shaken, not stirred, and road rashed Trea trooped on (must be that goofy marine training stuff she went through) to finish the race.

Once again the BEAST was fun and we had a great time. Roger is off to get married next month so we'll have to wait until August for the next and sadly the final BEAST race of the season.

Sunday 9am:
So most people would call that a good week, but Trea and I decided that one more 50 mile jaunt through the woods would be nice, so we did the Summit too Sound Adventure Relay. Trea and I both did the relay solo, but stuck together to practice for the upcoming X-Raid (June 23-25).

Here are the quick highlights:

Cold rainy start at Snoqualmie Pass. What happened to June and summer?

Entered two mile log tunnel on mountain bikes and discovered the Trea's light was pointing at the roof and mine at my front tire. Nothing quite like fixing light placement while in the pitch black.

Missed TA from mountain bikes to road bikes. See what happens when I don't race with a map. Got to do entire bike section on mountain bikes, but passed five people during the cyclecross section (section of road bike section that was suppose to be hardpack mulch, but was actually two inches of mud.)

Trea ended up winning the solo female category. I would like to take all the credit for that, but Trea did drag my ass on the running section, so I can't. Good job Trea.

Well off to read the rules, pack, reread the rules, repack and then do a gear check for the Raid... Boy do the French have some strange rules for their race.