Wicked Ocean Race (racing with Mo)
A long rainy afternoon that dragged into Friday evening, was spent sitting more then driving in our cars. Juliana along with her dogs made the normal 2 plus hour drive up from Eugene to Manzanita in a little over 5 hours, while Carol and I made it down from Seattle in just under six. Nothing like time in the car to prepare one for racing. We made it to gear check with five minutes to spare. Talk about stretching the time cut offs even before the race starts.
The Wicked Ocean race started under ominous clouds after the previous day’s rain. The Pacific flexed it’s muscles as large choppy wave crashed out in the break. Twenty five teams sat on their bikes waiting for Shane to start the last race of the season. After a quick 3..2…1….go the race was off. The teams took off down hard sand of the beach. Saltwater and sand mixed then toasted with a hint of tire rubber actually makes a fine breakfast.
The first CP was a straight shot down the beach. We hit it with a multitude of other teams and started climbing the road towards Hwy 101. After warming up on the beach Juliana and I started to increase our speed and passed a few teams. That is when Mo showed up to race with us for a while. I first met Mo while playing football years ago. Mo would show up and hang out with one team for a while until something happened and then would go hang out with the other team. It made for more exciting games.
During an Adventure Racing Mo is not always the best one to hang out with. For one reason Mo likes to get things excited and make things happen faster. Mo likes to push and get ahead of other people. Mo always wants to be on the winning team, so if you’re not winning Mo likes to give you kick in the ass. So going up the hill on hwy 101 Mo gave us a kick in the butt and we started to pass a few more teams. We ended up at the TA along with several other teams, including Pure Fit and Peak Fitness. Together we all headed up a trail right next to the TA. Since Mo was with us, I did not take enough time to look at because Mo said “teams are getting away, speed your ass up”.
So running up the trail I was reading the map by trails and not really be topo lines and elevation. (Note to self, do not do in future as you always get lost when you do this.) So we took the first left at junction, then hit the next junction and turned left again. We were supposed to go down and cross a creek. Well we went down hill next to a creek, but did not cross it. So we kept going. Then we came out into an opening by the beach. Now that is not right. Hey why is Mo leaving? Trader.
The other teams that we were with had all disappeared. They had come to the realization that there was a road at the other end of the parking lot next to the TA we should have taken, not the trail. I figured this out a few hours later while staring at my map and confirmed it by driving by the parking lot out the way home the next day.
So without Mo and the rest of the teams that were around Juliana and I tried to find the trail that went up and around the creek. After looking for awhile and doing a good stint of bushwhacking we end up on a trail that appeared to go in the correct direction. We had crossed a creek during our bushwhacking stint. So we started jogging down it to make up for lost, I should say completely blown time.
After about five minutes it was obvious that we were not on the correct trail, but at least I knew where we were on the map and we were no longer bushwhacking through the impenetrable costal range underbrush. I figured if we stayed on the trail it will lead us to the next CP eventually, we would even get to go by and see CP 4 on the way.
We ended up taking a little detour. If the race was expedition length it would have made no difference. Had it been a 24 hour race we still would not have been that far behind. But this was a 8-10 hour sprint race, with a hard cut off time only 2.5 hours into the race. So even thou we jogged a good majority of the detour, the extra 5 plus miles pretty much ended any hope of doing good in the overall standing of the race. Plus since we were going to miss the cut off we would not be aloud to run around the point and back down the beach, but instead would have to back track which added an extra mile or so to the over trekking section.
As we continued on foot down the trail we saw the first few teams heading back the way we had come. Always a demoralizing sight. We hit the third CP in second to last place. Well at least one other team was also having a bad day. Then something happened. We started seeing other teams coming back that had also missed the cutoff. Also we started heading down hill and wouldn’t you know it, Mo showed back up again. So Mo said, “get your ass moving, you can catch some of these teams”. So I picked up the pace a little. Then I heard a team in front of me down the hill. This got Mo even more excited so I picked up the pace even more. We caught and passed the team before hitting the next CP.
After a quick hello to Shane at the CP we headed back up a little creek and onto the trail again. Look another team heading a different way. We passed them too. Hey now we were forth from last and moving up. Mo was happy about that. We reclimbed the hill and ended up seeing Mark and Austin from team Full of Bull heading down the trail. After few words with them we were off jogging again.
Soon we were back on the long detour trail again. Except this time we were suppose to be on it as we made our way out to Falcon Point, again. This is when Mo left again. The trail started to drag on as I began feeling the effects of over excursion during the big run to catch up and pass a few teams. We hit the CP and learned that next closest team had a least a 20 minute lead on us. The trek back to the TA was going to be long, but at least we would soon be back on the bikes. This is where I figured we would do well and make up some more time. Then it was into the kayaks where I know we would be very strong since both Juliana and I own and had brought our own kayaks.
What’s this? A surprise check point map. Ahh clever Shane added two extra CPs at the end of the trekking section. While refilling our water at the parking lot I studied the map. Both the CPs were going to be reached by bushwhacking with no trails in sight. So what does that mean? Well, I actually looked at my map and the topo lines during this section and what a surprise we hit the two CPs dead on.
Back to the TA and on to the bikes. I had originally selected a different way to reach CP 8, but at the TA Juliana and I decided to change routes. The new road we were going to turn onto off 101 was going to be easier to find this new way, and it was. Take the first left after the bridge. Up the fire road we peddled. We hit a clear cut and the road got steep. But up ahead was yet another team. Hey look Mo was back. We started pushing hard to reach the summit where there should be a trail junction that we had to simply turn right at. I looked at the map and it did appear that the hand drawn trails did not quite touch, but I figured that was just a slight misprint. Well at the top of the road, we hit kind of a dead end. Maybe the trail didn’t quite touch. But the navigation was going to be easy, just go up this last bit of hill, hit the road and turn right.
Well what ends up happening? Both teams end up near the top of the hill and we both drifted left. Didn’t I just say we were supposed to go right? Ahh what’s a little extra bikewhacking to complete a full day of racing? After some pushing of bushes and bitching, I reorientated myself and figured out we had to head downhill to hit the road. How far down hill? It ended up being a good 150 vertical feet. Which was nice because as soon as we hit the road, we would have to go back up 140 of those feet.
What do we notice when we hit the road, it is Mark and Austin pushing their bikes up the road that was our original route choice. How long were we bikewhackig? Well it turns out the Mark and Austin had not refilled their water at the parking lot and had been dry for quite a while. So Juliana and I feeling nice offered each of them some of ours. No big deal, we had plenty. Opps, turns out we had both drank a lot more then we had thought during the climb and bikewhack. So the four of us, now all out of water, reached the CP together, followed closely behind by our bikewhacking buddies who had made it to the road shortly after we had started up it. Should I point out that near the top of the hill there was a nice little trail that came out of the bushes and had all kinds of bike tracks on it. Maybe they had turned RIGHT?
But the downhill was fun. Mo was back because there was excitement and speed going downhill. Plus we were getting close to the end of the bike leg and there were other teams around. After heading through downtown Manzanita we reentered Nehalem Bay State Park and headed for the bike/kayak TA. This also happened to be the start/finish line and where post race barbeque were being held. It was close to five when we walked up to the TA to have them sign our passport and give us the kayak UTM’s. The barbeque was going and the lead teams had already finished. Did I add that those greasy burgers and dogs frying over the open flame smelled real good. Hey what is this? Mo said, “screw you guys I’m off to get some food and hang out”.
Juliana and I sat around debating what to do. Technically the kayak cut off was not until 5:15. Mark and Austin rolled in about five after five. They too were going to be allowed to do the kayak if they wanted, but since they had been out of water for the majority of the afternoon, they were ready to call it a day. I think Mo had left them a long time ago. Down at the TA, our bikewhacking buddies were messing with their gear and getting ready to head up to the sign in booth. I got down there and told them they still had five minutes to make it to the kayak put in, they quickly began to retire their shoes and adjust some straps and move some stuff around. They looked at their watch and then checked their shoes again. Maybe the bow was not quite centered because I agreed that it did need to be retired. Sadly they just barely missed the cut off after they had meandered they way up to Shane and the check in booth.
Juliana and I passed on the kayak leg and voted for some food. Plus Juliana had two dogs that had been locked up all day waiting for her back at her rental cabin. The post race party was a blast and I finally won something at the raffle, even if Todd tried to give it to someone else. About twenty minutes after we ended the race the sky that had been threatening all day finally opened up. As a 120 plus racers, support crews, volunteers, friends and family all gathered under the Next Adventure and other sponsors tents, I thought to myself, “I sure am glad I am not about half way across the bay in my kayak right now. I am sure Juliana would be hitting me in the head with her paddle just about as hard at these rain drops”.
What a great location for a race. The Oregon cost is awesome and I doubt I would have ever seen those places had it not been for Shane and Kathleen liking to hang out in Manzanita. I had a great time even if we were not always going the most direct way. Hey Juliana and I traveled fast, just not always smart. I guess ending the season on not a prefect race is a good thing because it leaves the bitter taste in your mouth that makes you train harder during the winter. Plus it will teach me how to race with Mo better.
For those of you who have not figured out who Mo is yet, watch a Monday Night Football game and I am sure John Madain will end up talking about and explaining it. He does so almost every other week.
See you at the next Wicked AR event.
The Wicked Ocean race started under ominous clouds after the previous day’s rain. The Pacific flexed it’s muscles as large choppy wave crashed out in the break. Twenty five teams sat on their bikes waiting for Shane to start the last race of the season. After a quick 3..2…1….go the race was off. The teams took off down hard sand of the beach. Saltwater and sand mixed then toasted with a hint of tire rubber actually makes a fine breakfast.
The first CP was a straight shot down the beach. We hit it with a multitude of other teams and started climbing the road towards Hwy 101. After warming up on the beach Juliana and I started to increase our speed and passed a few teams. That is when Mo showed up to race with us for a while. I first met Mo while playing football years ago. Mo would show up and hang out with one team for a while until something happened and then would go hang out with the other team. It made for more exciting games.
During an Adventure Racing Mo is not always the best one to hang out with. For one reason Mo likes to get things excited and make things happen faster. Mo likes to push and get ahead of other people. Mo always wants to be on the winning team, so if you’re not winning Mo likes to give you kick in the ass. So going up the hill on hwy 101 Mo gave us a kick in the butt and we started to pass a few more teams. We ended up at the TA along with several other teams, including Pure Fit and Peak Fitness. Together we all headed up a trail right next to the TA. Since Mo was with us, I did not take enough time to look at because Mo said “teams are getting away, speed your ass up”.
So running up the trail I was reading the map by trails and not really be topo lines and elevation. (Note to self, do not do in future as you always get lost when you do this.) So we took the first left at junction, then hit the next junction and turned left again. We were supposed to go down and cross a creek. Well we went down hill next to a creek, but did not cross it. So we kept going. Then we came out into an opening by the beach. Now that is not right. Hey why is Mo leaving? Trader.
The other teams that we were with had all disappeared. They had come to the realization that there was a road at the other end of the parking lot next to the TA we should have taken, not the trail. I figured this out a few hours later while staring at my map and confirmed it by driving by the parking lot out the way home the next day.
So without Mo and the rest of the teams that were around Juliana and I tried to find the trail that went up and around the creek. After looking for awhile and doing a good stint of bushwhacking we end up on a trail that appeared to go in the correct direction. We had crossed a creek during our bushwhacking stint. So we started jogging down it to make up for lost, I should say completely blown time.
After about five minutes it was obvious that we were not on the correct trail, but at least I knew where we were on the map and we were no longer bushwhacking through the impenetrable costal range underbrush. I figured if we stayed on the trail it will lead us to the next CP eventually, we would even get to go by and see CP 4 on the way.
We ended up taking a little detour. If the race was expedition length it would have made no difference. Had it been a 24 hour race we still would not have been that far behind. But this was a 8-10 hour sprint race, with a hard cut off time only 2.5 hours into the race. So even thou we jogged a good majority of the detour, the extra 5 plus miles pretty much ended any hope of doing good in the overall standing of the race. Plus since we were going to miss the cut off we would not be aloud to run around the point and back down the beach, but instead would have to back track which added an extra mile or so to the over trekking section.
As we continued on foot down the trail we saw the first few teams heading back the way we had come. Always a demoralizing sight. We hit the third CP in second to last place. Well at least one other team was also having a bad day. Then something happened. We started seeing other teams coming back that had also missed the cutoff. Also we started heading down hill and wouldn’t you know it, Mo showed back up again. So Mo said, “get your ass moving, you can catch some of these teams”. So I picked up the pace a little. Then I heard a team in front of me down the hill. This got Mo even more excited so I picked up the pace even more. We caught and passed the team before hitting the next CP.
After a quick hello to Shane at the CP we headed back up a little creek and onto the trail again. Look another team heading a different way. We passed them too. Hey now we were forth from last and moving up. Mo was happy about that. We reclimbed the hill and ended up seeing Mark and Austin from team Full of Bull heading down the trail. After few words with them we were off jogging again.
Soon we were back on the long detour trail again. Except this time we were suppose to be on it as we made our way out to Falcon Point, again. This is when Mo left again. The trail started to drag on as I began feeling the effects of over excursion during the big run to catch up and pass a few teams. We hit the CP and learned that next closest team had a least a 20 minute lead on us. The trek back to the TA was going to be long, but at least we would soon be back on the bikes. This is where I figured we would do well and make up some more time. Then it was into the kayaks where I know we would be very strong since both Juliana and I own and had brought our own kayaks.
What’s this? A surprise check point map. Ahh clever Shane added two extra CPs at the end of the trekking section. While refilling our water at the parking lot I studied the map. Both the CPs were going to be reached by bushwhacking with no trails in sight. So what does that mean? Well, I actually looked at my map and the topo lines during this section and what a surprise we hit the two CPs dead on.
Back to the TA and on to the bikes. I had originally selected a different way to reach CP 8, but at the TA Juliana and I decided to change routes. The new road we were going to turn onto off 101 was going to be easier to find this new way, and it was. Take the first left after the bridge. Up the fire road we peddled. We hit a clear cut and the road got steep. But up ahead was yet another team. Hey look Mo was back. We started pushing hard to reach the summit where there should be a trail junction that we had to simply turn right at. I looked at the map and it did appear that the hand drawn trails did not quite touch, but I figured that was just a slight misprint. Well at the top of the road, we hit kind of a dead end. Maybe the trail didn’t quite touch. But the navigation was going to be easy, just go up this last bit of hill, hit the road and turn right.
Well what ends up happening? Both teams end up near the top of the hill and we both drifted left. Didn’t I just say we were supposed to go right? Ahh what’s a little extra bikewhacking to complete a full day of racing? After some pushing of bushes and bitching, I reorientated myself and figured out we had to head downhill to hit the road. How far down hill? It ended up being a good 150 vertical feet. Which was nice because as soon as we hit the road, we would have to go back up 140 of those feet.
What do we notice when we hit the road, it is Mark and Austin pushing their bikes up the road that was our original route choice. How long were we bikewhackig? Well it turns out the Mark and Austin had not refilled their water at the parking lot and had been dry for quite a while. So Juliana and I feeling nice offered each of them some of ours. No big deal, we had plenty. Opps, turns out we had both drank a lot more then we had thought during the climb and bikewhack. So the four of us, now all out of water, reached the CP together, followed closely behind by our bikewhacking buddies who had made it to the road shortly after we had started up it. Should I point out that near the top of the hill there was a nice little trail that came out of the bushes and had all kinds of bike tracks on it. Maybe they had turned RIGHT?
But the downhill was fun. Mo was back because there was excitement and speed going downhill. Plus we were getting close to the end of the bike leg and there were other teams around. After heading through downtown Manzanita we reentered Nehalem Bay State Park and headed for the bike/kayak TA. This also happened to be the start/finish line and where post race barbeque were being held. It was close to five when we walked up to the TA to have them sign our passport and give us the kayak UTM’s. The barbeque was going and the lead teams had already finished. Did I add that those greasy burgers and dogs frying over the open flame smelled real good. Hey what is this? Mo said, “screw you guys I’m off to get some food and hang out”.
Juliana and I sat around debating what to do. Technically the kayak cut off was not until 5:15. Mark and Austin rolled in about five after five. They too were going to be allowed to do the kayak if they wanted, but since they had been out of water for the majority of the afternoon, they were ready to call it a day. I think Mo had left them a long time ago. Down at the TA, our bikewhacking buddies were messing with their gear and getting ready to head up to the sign in booth. I got down there and told them they still had five minutes to make it to the kayak put in, they quickly began to retire their shoes and adjust some straps and move some stuff around. They looked at their watch and then checked their shoes again. Maybe the bow was not quite centered because I agreed that it did need to be retired. Sadly they just barely missed the cut off after they had meandered they way up to Shane and the check in booth.
Juliana and I passed on the kayak leg and voted for some food. Plus Juliana had two dogs that had been locked up all day waiting for her back at her rental cabin. The post race party was a blast and I finally won something at the raffle, even if Todd tried to give it to someone else. About twenty minutes after we ended the race the sky that had been threatening all day finally opened up. As a 120 plus racers, support crews, volunteers, friends and family all gathered under the Next Adventure and other sponsors tents, I thought to myself, “I sure am glad I am not about half way across the bay in my kayak right now. I am sure Juliana would be hitting me in the head with her paddle just about as hard at these rain drops”.
What a great location for a race. The Oregon cost is awesome and I doubt I would have ever seen those places had it not been for Shane and Kathleen liking to hang out in Manzanita. I had a great time even if we were not always going the most direct way. Hey Juliana and I traveled fast, just not always smart. I guess ending the season on not a prefect race is a good thing because it leaves the bitter taste in your mouth that makes you train harder during the winter. Plus it will teach me how to race with Mo better.
For those of you who have not figured out who Mo is yet, watch a Monday Night Football game and I am sure John Madain will end up talking about and explaining it. He does so almost every other week.
See you at the next Wicked AR event.
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