ADVENTURE RACE 2007 NOV 10&11^TH

For those of you that do not know what an adventure race is. A short 
description is a race that usually covers many miles covered with 
different forms of transportation, usually, but not limited to, on foot, 
on bike, by boat, & by rope. Most adventure races are 24-hour races. 
There are 6 & 12-hour races, referred to as sprints. Also there are 
multi-day races, referred to as expedition races. The race is done as a 
team. During the race the team members must stay no more than 100 yards 
from one another, in the middle of the night in total blackness that can 
be along ways apart. During the day, on the bikes, that can be hard to 
maintain. The team must move through & finish the coarse together to be 
considered to have finished the race. Before the race the team knows 
what is in the race. However the race coarse is not known. The team has 
to come prepared for anything that they can think of that might happen 
in the race. The team usually needs a crew to help move gear and supply 
the team at special checkpoints that are on the coarse.

The race for the team begins the night before the race when special 
instructions are announced. There are several maps handed out. 
Instructions for the coarse are also handed out. Then the team goes to 
work, as a team, each team member takes a job. Two usually copy the 
checkpoints onto the maps; one starts mapping the best way to travel 
along the coarse and makes notes that may be useful. One goes through 
the notes about the coarse and also decides what is needed during each 
section of the coarse. After laying out the way we think we will go 
though the coarse we then cut out what is not needed on the maps. We 
then laminate the maps. If the team is lucky we will get to bed around 
midnight and get some sleep, usually 3 to 5 hours. Then it’s up early to 
head to the start of the race.

The morning of this year’s race was at Pinecrest Lake. It was cold, not 
freezing, but cold. It was a clear day that would warm up fast for this 
time of year. The race got off at about 8:00AM. Everyone in the race 
took off too fast, that’s at least my opinion, including our team. 
Around to the far side of Pinecrest Lake we went. The first checkpoint 
(CP) was hidden a little. We found it and headed for CP 2. The next leg 
of the race started at CP 3, which was in front of the store at 
Strawberry. We got on the bikes & headed out. After getting CP 4 we 
followed a delightful single-track trail that meandered through the Oak 
and pine trees. We went on a dirt road for a short time then crossed a 
ditch. We followed this ditch for about 3 miles; along the way there 
were some interesting old wooden flumes that had a single 12” wide board 
down the length of the middle. There was not enough room to walk along 
side the bikes to cross the flume most of the teams carried the bikes as 
they walked. I found it fun to step from one beam to another along side 
the bike as it rolled along. We finished this leg of the race at Frazer 
Flats; this is a usually quiet campground along the south fork of the 
Stanislaus River. We knew the next leg was going to be long & into the 
night. We knew we were going to have the pleasure of doing a repel so we 
stuffed all our climbing gear & helmet into our backpacks. Also we put 
in some extra warm clothes.

Our crew informed us that it was going to rain, the previous report had 
been 30% chance of rain, and we all put our rain gear in. So I thought. 
We ate something fast, took some food then off we went, the day was 
warm, the sky was clear, we were having, what we Maniac’s call, fun. We 
went up & down & up & down some very steep hills until we reached 
Beardsley Dam.

During this part of the trek we were going down some steep hills, under 
the power lines that come from Beardsley Dam. The ground was dry, loose, 
strewed with pieces of wood, roots, and tangled vegetation. Debra hurt 
her knee during this section. Our shoes got full

of dirt in this section.

We had just finished down climbing a small cliff, about 30 to 40’ high 
when Adrian happened to come by on the road. He requested a photo op, so 
for the next half hour we posed for pictures, NOT!

On the north side of the dam there is a very nice trail we hurried down 
it. We followed along this trail until we had to head up to the top of 
one of the small mountains on the north side of the river. Now I say 
small mountain in the context of the race, we only had to climb about 
900 vertical feet to get to the top. Once we reached the top the view 
was the best view of the day in all directions you could see for miles. 
This was the climb site. We got out our climbing gear out and put it on. 
Climbing can be dangerous; we all check each other’s gear. The very 
helpful people with the race also check our gear. This repel was close 
to 500’. Repelling can be very interesting to do, going down on this 
repel was a bit hard. If you let go with both hands (I tried it) the 
weight of the rope would belay you. In other words you would stop on the 
rope. After trying different ways of feeding the rope I found that just 
pulling up quickly on the rope with my right hand to

allow the ATC (that’s a repel device) to release the rope would allow me 
to descend down the rope in a semi fast manner. For me going fast down 
the rope is one of the things I enjoy.

Upon leaving the rope coarse it was pretty much straight down a steep, 
leaf laden mountain side with more than enough rocks, roots, and tree 
limbs to trip you as you slipped, slided, and jumped your way down to 
the river.

Now the river was not really very deep and could have been waded across 
quickly by picking your route. We were true wimps; you know did not want 
to get our feet wet. We

Spent a lot of time jumping from rock to rock to cross the river.

Following along a trail that followed the river down stream we came to a 
campground called Sand Bar. From there we could have taken a route to 
the next CP that went around by road. The night before we had chosen to 
bushwhack this section almost straight uphill. That is given that the 
terrain looked good when we got there. We went up the road a short ways 
then looked uphill for the 20 yards or so that our lights would let us 
see the terrain looked passable. We took a compass reading and headed 
off uphill. There were up head there were lights in the night, it was 
another team. Both teams stopped to check each other’s compass settings. 
Deciding we were still heading in the right direction we took off. The 
other team did not trust our or their navigation. They said they were 
going to take the road. Off we went into the black night.

Rain no snow no rain no snow started to come down, the rain gods had 
forsaken us, our fair weather luck had run out. What was coming down was 
snow that was not making it to the ground as snow. It was not coming 
down hard just steady for the next 12 hours it turned out. I whipped out 
my poncho; put it on, then preceded to wrestle with it over the next 
several hours. Two days after the race I figured out that I had not been 
snapping it together properly. So much for being prepared. The poncho 
did however keep me dry, except for my feet. The feet must get wet. What 
did I say back at the river?

While heading uphill we came to a dirt road that was on the map. Seeing 
a bend in the road told us that we were not going up the hill were we 
wanted to. Taking the road for a short distance we came to a motorcycle 
trail that, to our surprise & joy, was on the map. Jumping onto the 
trail, being sure to make motorcycle noises, uphill we went. At a sharp 
bend in the trail we shut off our motorcycle noises and bushwhacked a 
short distance popping out on the road we needed to be on. Taking this 
road for a short distance we came to a junction. There were more roads 
coming into this junction than were on the map. Based on a compass 
reading we made a choice to take the road that headed in the direction 
we believed we needed to go. Not far from the junction there was the 
next CP.

Leaving that CP we followed a water filled muddy trail that went down a 
ridgeline to another intersection. This intersection had more roads 
coming into it than the map showed. The trail was also suppose to go 
straight through the intersection according to the map. Were we on the 
right trail? Had we gone the wrong way? Scattering out we looked in the 
dark rainy night for the elusive trail that was suppose to be there.

I was about 60 yards down one road shining my light down the hill into 
the forest looking for signs of the trail when there in my headlight 
beam were two bright eyes staring up at me from about 20 yards away. I 
held my light steady on the set of eyes the animal turned and walked a 
few yards. There in the woods to my surprise was a mountain lion out 
prowling for food. It stopped looked up at me trying to figure out what 
I was. Maybe it was thinking could that be something to eat? It turned & 
walked away. Now I have never seen a mountain lion in the wild, let 
alone one so close to me, I had to tell all my team mates about it. I am 
not sure they believed me? Could they have thought; we have been out for 
along time he probably just saw a rabbit.

Having not found the trail leading away from the intersection we took a 
compass reading.

Took what we thought was the best road to take going in the direction we 
needed to be heading. Off into the cold, wet, dark night we went again 
not sure we on the right road.

Now in adventure racing as a team everyone needs to work as a team for 
best results.

Sometimes that means helping another teammate or being helped by another 
teammate.

Seeing when someone is having difficulty or admitting when you are 
having difficulty is part of the team effort.

You see Debra & Derek had not came prepared for rain properly. It had 
been raining steadily for the last several hours. I had not paid enough 
attention; Debra was getting wetter & colder. I had a warm dry fleece 
that was water resistant in my backpack, more on that later. When faced 
with getting cold it is best push harder & faster to warm up. Debra had 
hurt her knee and had several blisters, by this time, on her feet. She 
slowed down, got colder & colder. We slowed to about 1 top 2 miles per 
hour. Derek would run up the trail and back again in able to stay warm.

We can to another junction that had more roads coming into it than were 
on the map. Does this sound familiar? We took the one that went in the 
right direction and slowly moved on. Derek & I checked the direction of 
the trail (suppose to be road), it was heading SE it was suppose to head 
SW. We went further down the slippery, muddy, water filled trail. The 
trail was going steep down hill; the map did not show this.

Debra was by this time shivering, very cold, and moving slower. We 
decided to back up to the intersection. Got all our warm clothing out 
and put it on Debra. At this point I felt I had failed her. I should 
have as a team member put my warm fleece on her when it started to rain. 
After all I was warm.

Although she had on her fleece, rays fleece, my fleece, a full hood, 
earmuffs, she was still shivering uncontrollably. It was then that Ray & 
I came to agree that we had to do something I have never had to do in my 
life before this time. Go into survival mode. The most important thing 
was to get Debra warmed up. I put my poncho over her and wrapped my arms 
around her to warm her up. Ray & Derek went to work starting a fire. Now 
with 4 lighters among us you would think one would work! One did work 
twice, for a very short time. Now for tender we pulled out our toilet 
paper, that was inside closed Ziploc Baggies. Toilet paper, thin, dry, 
easy to burn, right, wrong! Toilet paper happens to absorb moister very 
quickly thus it would not catch fire. The one lighter worked long enough 
for us to learn this painful lessen, then the one lighter would not work 
anymore, ugh! After an hour of trying to get a fire started. We went to 
plan B. That is to find a dry place to laid down and spoon. Unable to 
find a dry place, Derek, Ray, & Deb spooned between two trees on the wet 
ground. Covered by their space blankets they looked very much like a 
cocoon. I took my poncho and spread it over the top of them. I then 
curled up at their feet under my space blanket. It was about 3:38AM.

I had started to cool off by then and I have to tell you that getting 
under a space blanket helps keep the rain off, as for keeping warm. Well 
it keeps some heat in, operative word some.

By the time the intersection was filling with light I was going 
hypothermic. That is to say that I was shivering, then calming, then 
shivering again in a cycle. My legs felt like heavy cold extremities, I 
felt clumsy commanding them to move. I got from under the space blanket; 
it was still raining, and then started walking around in big circles 
inside the intersection. The time was around 6AM. After about 50 or 60 
circles I attempted to run down the road, a feeble attempt, my legs were 
still cold & stiff. I had hoped that my getting up would get the others 
up. They were waiting for the rain to let up. The rain slowed down 
around 8AM then the sun peaked through the clouds.

Ray was cold and shaking but he found some dry wood in the middle of a 
big stump. He had put the lighters in his pants two of them were 
working. Ray got a small flame going Derek and I gathered some tender, 
it took about and hour but we succeeded in setting that stump on fire. 
We cleared the area around the stump. It would not be good to set the 
forest on fire. Can you see the headlines Lost Adventure Racers Set 
Forest Fire. Ha!

Saying that the heat from the fire felt good is an understatement, it 
felt great. We stood around the stump that was getting bigger & bigger 
engulfed in flames.

I warmed up for a short time then Ray went to high ground to make phone 
calls. I went down the trail to check it out. It was as we had thought 
earlier, the trail went down the hill and turned SW, the correct trail 
to take.

Back at the intersection Debra & Derek had warmed up. We packed up. Now, 
remember that headline, we needed to put out the fire. This was almost 
as hard as starting the fire. This 2’X 2’ stump was really burning good 
flames rising from a nice bed of red-hot coals. Derek & I used our 
trekking poles to break up the stump. We carried pieces to puddles that 
were in the intersection. Derek filled his hydration pack with water 
from the puddles to put out the embers. Fire out dead out.

We set off down the narrow, rocky, steep, muddy, & slippery trail. We 
soon came to a road, with only about 5.5 miles to go to get to the ACP. 
Now this road if it was dry would have been a bit difficult to drive a 
4-wheel drive on. On this day after raining for the last 12 hours the 
road was so muddy even a 4x4 would slide off the side and get stuck. We 
pressed on often slipping & sliding ourselves. Boy were we having fun!

After about 31/2 miles there came a niece new Toyota pickup coming 
toward us. It sure is nice to have good friends. It was Mike Araiza he 
was a welcome site. After standing around the fire with wet clothes we 
must have smelled like the cross between strong smoke & cat urine. We 
started to climb in the back of the pickup but Mike had put covers on 
the seats & floors said get in the front. When I said we stink he said 
just smells like another day at the farm. Ah yes good friends.

Mike did an excellent job of backing up for about 100 yards to a wide & 
firm enough place to turn the pickup around. Then off we went slipping & 
sliding down the road. Firmer ground was hit soon and the last 2 miles 
went by quickly.

Reaching the ACP about 1:30PM made us happy to see that we had so many 
friends that cared about our well fair. Our crew was really good, gave 
us hugs, fed us hot food, got us warmed up, & smiled a lot. We had been 
in the race for over 29 hours.

We headed for home with another Adventure Race to remember for the rest 
of our lives.

This friends is what Adventure Racers do for what they call fun. I like 
to think of it as play and I get to play as few others do.

Carey Gregg