Team Ragged Glory – Adventure Racing, Multi Sport, FriendsApril 2009 - Team Ragged Glory

Monthly ArchiveApril 2009

Photos Doug Theis on 30 Apr 2009

2009 Planet Adventure Sprint Photos

First time for me as primary navigator in the woods. We did well on a super cool course at Starve Hollow.

The paddle on the lake was peaceful. The bike trails were confusion. Remember an odometer.

We had to find each others shoes at the beginning. That’s pretty funny.

Race Reports Doug Theis on 20 Apr 2009

Long time racer, first time navigator

I’ve been adventure racing for 10 years. Apart from the first race we ever did in 1999 (nicknamed the adventure shuffle by Greg Arnold), I have never been the primary navigator for Team Ragged Glory in a non-urban race.

Like many AR teams, TRG team members have different roles: Bob and Steve are always the primary navigators, and if they race together, one takes the lead and the other is secondary. Leslie, Nancy or Julie usually manage the passport and help with pace counting. I’m the secondary navigator if needed , and I have responsibility for race directions and keeping the big picture of the race in mind.

But all good things come to an end. Neither Bob or Steve could race the 2009 Planet Adventure Sprint Race in Brownstown Indiana. So Nancy and I decided to race as a coed two person team. And I would be responsible for navigating.

The weather was sunny and a cool 48 to start the day. After getting maps and directions, we found out the race progression:

-A special test to start the race
-An on-foot orienteering section of about five miles. Four coordinates were plotted on the map. Three extra coordinates were be given to plot during the race, after we completed the first special test.
-A short bike ride to a special test elsewhere.
-A big bike loop of about 25 miles with a paddle section in the middle. The bike was laid out with plenty of hills, on- and off-road riding. A large section of the bike was off-road.
-A final special test

We had 7.5 hours to finish the course. Getting back on time was critical to placing, even if we missed some controls.

This was the first time either Nancy or I had raced in a two person team. Nancy’s been training with TRG since 2004 and racing as a TRG member since 2005. We train together, we’ve raced together, so it’s very comfortable racing with each other.

The race began. The first special test had one member of each team (Nancy in our case) take their shoes off place them in a common area. The other teammates then needed to find and retrieve their teammate’s shoes to continue. That was an easy challenge, and after we completed it, we received our three coordinates to plot. We then headed out on foot to the orienteering section.

We were pretty accurate on the O-course, overrunning a few but finding everything. Back to the start line, we grabbed our bikes and headed out to the second special test. We had three chances to launch a water balloon with a slingshot through hula hoops about 25 feet away. No joy on hitting the hoops, so we had to serve a three minute penalty and move on.

The bike loop was tough. On road climbing, off road riding, and an unmapped extra trail that threw many teams off early in the bike section. Many of the climbs were too steep to ride, so hike-a-bike was what we did. We ended up taking some bad advice and missing the trail leading out of the off-road loop, so we rode the roads to the south section of the bike loop. The extra road distance added about fifteen minutes to our time.

More off road riding took us though another bike-whack and on foot to the paddle. The lake was calm and the weather was beautiful as we punched controls on the paddling section. The third special test was on the last paddle checkpoint. We were given a magnifying glass with an aluminum pie plate with twine taped across it. We were told to burn the twine completely through. After holding the magnifying glass on the twine, I remembered that matches were mandatory equipment, and that the volunteer (Kim McNealy) hadn’t told us to burn it WITH THE MAGNIFYING GLASS. So we burned the twine with our matches and moved on.

Back on the bikes, we knew we were running out of time, and my back wheel was coming apart, so we opted to skip CP11, pick up CP12 and head back to the park. On the final special test in the park, two cables were strung horizontal, parallel to and about a foot above the ground. We were given four boards to lay on the cables and use to create footing to move across the cables from one end to the other . The exercise was not difficult, and Nancy and I finished quickly. We got on the bikes as finished at almost exactly 7 hours, and just 30 minutes before the cutoff.

We ended up finishing 10th overall in the long course, and second in our division. And after ten years of racing, I had to relearn a few things as a result of being the primary navigator:

Don’t follow the crowd.
Use your odometer.
Always check and mark alternate routes.
Consider multiple attack vectors for each control on the course.
Don’t trust other racers navigation advice.
Understand what’s more important in the race – finishing on time or getting all the controls, or both.

I had a ball. It was a more focused race as the navigator, but just as fun. I love racing with my friends.

News Doug Theis on 16 Apr 2009

Planet Adventure Sprint Race

Nancy Gawrys and I (Doug Theis) will race the Planet Adventure Sprint Race this weekend in Brownstown Indiana. This is the first time we’ve raced as a twosome, which puts primary navigation on my shoulders. I’m looking forward to it. We’re also looking forward to seeing all our friends. Over sixty teams are registered! See you on the course.

Team Ragged Glory – Adventure Racing, Multi Sport, Friends

2009 Planet Adventure Sprint Photos

Long time racer, first time navigator

Planet Adventure Sprint Race

Recent Posts

Pages

Categories

Search

Archives