Well we are super, super excited in the early race season calendar. Despite a recent miserable period of cold, cold weather and dreary skies, we are all eagerly looking forward to some upcoming races. Here's what we are shooting for right now for sure in the first half of 2010:
March 6th, Ultramax 8 Hr Adventure race near Innsbrook, MO This is Ultramax's first crack at an adventure race, and they normally put on triathlons. Ken is unable to race this one with us so we have Elizabeth Sparks, an accomplished triathlete to say the least joining us for this one. Cannot wait.
March 13th: Myself, Ken and Marc will be traveling to Syllamo Arkansas for Three Days of Syllamo, a strictly trail running event on the hallowed trails of Syllamo. You can bite off as much or as little as you want for this 3 day event. The mileage of trail running equals 100 miles over the three days if you choose all 3 days.
April 10th weekend we have the Bonk Hard Racing 24 Hr LBL Challenge. This is one we absolutely positively cannot wait for. This will be myself, Marc, Ken and Jill.
Finally, in May we have the Ozark Greenways race once again near Richland Missouri. We have had good success at this race over the past few years and hope to continue that success or possibly even improve on it.
We'll be looking to supplement another race in the mix somewhere during June or July, then hopefully we can tackle the Berryman 36 hr in September.
Post by Bryan Greaser
The Cyclewerx Adventure Racing Team. Pushing the limits both physically and mentally.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sand Spring Adventure Race
The Sand Spring Resort Adventure race is a popular sprint race just outside of Lebanon , MO. Marc has run this race three years previous and claims this is one of his favorite races. I was unsure at first whether or not I wanted to do it since I have absolutely no sprinting ability! Plus, it was the same weekend as volleyball sectionals. Unfortunately for my volleyball girls at Zumwalt West, we lost in Districts. But on a positive note, I was able to run the race with Marc. The weekend actually turned out perfectly. Friday afternoon I left St. Louis to go to Richland/Lebanon to spend some time with my family for the Halloween weekend. I was able to not only run the race with Marc, but also able to participate in some Halloween festivities with my sister, my nieces and nephew, and my parents. What a great weekend! And to top it all off, Marc and I surprised ourselves a bit and did pretty well in the race. 
Marc and I arrived to the race fairly early as usual. The morning was chilly, but bearable. We hung out by the fire until the race meeting started. During the meeting, I just happened to ask Marc is he had any bike tools with him. He said no, so last minute I decided to run back to my car to get some bike tools just in case of a flat. I rushed back to meet Marc, and a few short minutes later we loaded the buses so they could drop us off at the race start.
We started the race with a short sprint run for about 3 miles before jumping in a four person raft to begin our journey down the Niangua River. Since the rivers were above flood stage at dangerous levels, we were not allowed to go down the river in canoes. We happened to get into a raft with Amanda Glendenning (the wife of the person in charge of the race) and her partner. Amanda immediately instructed us on where to sit and how to keep count on our strokes. It was intense, but she led us exactly where we needed to go down the river. We actually went at a pretty good pace with the water moving so fast.
In the middle of the rafting section, we jumped out of our rafts, jumped in the water (about waist high, burrrrrrr………
It doesn’t get better than river water at the end of October) and began our hike up the mountain. It seriously felt like a mountain even though it was just a huge steep hill. In my opinion, this part of the race was pretty intense. I had to keep telling myself to keep my legs moving, pick one leg up, then the other. I am not sure how Marc felt during this part. There wasn’t much talking. But at one point, Marc did tell me to take a second and look at the view. It was an awesome view, not realizing how high we had hiked. Wish there would have been more time to relax and enjoy the fall scenery! Once we made it to the top, it was time to go down. Parts of this were a bit rough with the ground being muddy and slippery, but we managed to make it back down, back through the river (but this time chest high for me), and back in the rafts. Away we went for another couple miles or so with a different team.
After the rafting, we arrived at our bikes. Our families were there at this point cheering us on. My parents even brought Cooper (my dog) down to the river. It was now time to complete a 2-lap bike course with an obstacle in the middle. We changed our wet muddy running shoes to our biking shoes and off we went. Near the end of the first lap, we were walking our bikes up a hill (yes, Bryan, we were walking) and I looked down to notice my front tire was completely flat! Uugggghh!!!! I was so upset, this was the second race in a row one of my tires has gone flat. Marc did an amazing job getting the tire off, tube switched, aired up, and back on in about 5 minutes! Thank goodness I took the extra minute before the race to get my bike tools!!! While Marc was changing the tube, about 3-4 teams passed us. It was so disappointing trying to play catch up the rest of the race. Five minutes in a sprint race is actually quite a bit of time lost. Marc even did an amazing job with the obstacle by splitting a piece of wood with one swing!
We finished the race in 2 hours, 37 minutes finishing 10th overall and 2nd in the co-ed division out of about 30 teams. After looking at the final results, 5 teams were within about 2-7 minutes of our finishing time. It’s disappointing about the flat tire, but I guess that’s going to happen from time to time. Let’s just hope it’s not my tire AGAIN next time!
Post by Jill Plassmeyer
Marc and I arrived to the race fairly early as usual. The morning was chilly, but bearable. We hung out by the fire until the race meeting started. During the meeting, I just happened to ask Marc is he had any bike tools with him. He said no, so last minute I decided to run back to my car to get some bike tools just in case of a flat. I rushed back to meet Marc, and a few short minutes later we loaded the buses so they could drop us off at the race start.
We started the race with a short sprint run for about 3 miles before jumping in a four person raft to begin our journey down the Niangua River. Since the rivers were above flood stage at dangerous levels, we were not allowed to go down the river in canoes. We happened to get into a raft with Amanda Glendenning (the wife of the person in charge of the race) and her partner. Amanda immediately instructed us on where to sit and how to keep count on our strokes. It was intense, but she led us exactly where we needed to go down the river. We actually went at a pretty good pace with the water moving so fast.
In the middle of the rafting section, we jumped out of our rafts, jumped in the water (about waist high, burrrrrrr………
It doesn’t get better than river water at the end of October) and began our hike up the mountain. It seriously felt like a mountain even though it was just a huge steep hill. In my opinion, this part of the race was pretty intense. I had to keep telling myself to keep my legs moving, pick one leg up, then the other. I am not sure how Marc felt during this part. There wasn’t much talking. But at one point, Marc did tell me to take a second and look at the view. It was an awesome view, not realizing how high we had hiked. Wish there would have been more time to relax and enjoy the fall scenery! Once we made it to the top, it was time to go down. Parts of this were a bit rough with the ground being muddy and slippery, but we managed to make it back down, back through the river (but this time chest high for me), and back in the rafts. Away we went for another couple miles or so with a different team. 
After the rafting, we arrived at our bikes. Our families were there at this point cheering us on. My parents even brought Cooper (my dog) down to the river. It was now time to complete a 2-lap bike course with an obstacle in the middle. We changed our wet muddy running shoes to our biking shoes and off we went. Near the end of the first lap, we were walking our bikes up a hill (yes, Bryan, we were walking) and I looked down to notice my front tire was completely flat! Uugggghh!!!! I was so upset, this was the second race in a row one of my tires has gone flat. Marc did an amazing job getting the tire off, tube switched, aired up, and back on in about 5 minutes! Thank goodness I took the extra minute before the race to get my bike tools!!! While Marc was changing the tube, about 3-4 teams passed us. It was so disappointing trying to play catch up the rest of the race. Five minutes in a sprint race is actually quite a bit of time lost. Marc even did an amazing job with the obstacle by splitting a piece of wood with one swing! We finished the race in 2 hours, 37 minutes finishing 10th overall and 2nd in the co-ed division out of about 30 teams. After looking at the final results, 5 teams were within about 2-7 minutes of our finishing time. It’s disappointing about the flat tire, but I guess that’s going to happen from time to time. Let’s just hope it’s not my tire AGAIN next time!
Post by Jill Plassmeyer
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Berryman 36 hr Adventure race
Wow, where do I start? Chronologically I guess.
I arrived in Van Buren about 5:30 on Friday and met my teammates for the first time ever near Race HQ. I was never concerned about racing with people I don't know, and after meeting them, I was even less concerned. I knew everyone was cool, prepared and easy to get along with. We signed in and then took our bikes to the trailer for the race management to haul to an undisclosed location. We continued getting some gear together, then went over and ate at the pasta dinner, then off to the pre-race meeting to find out exactly what this thing was all about.
The pre-race meeting was at the Landing which is right beside the Current River and almost under the Hwy 60 bridge. Here's a shot of the pre-race meeting:
Very cool place. It was outside and weather cooperated. Jason began explaining things, and most importantly finally disclosed that the 36 hr race would start at 11 pm Friday night, just hours away. He then said that we would board buses beginning at 9:30 and the bus ride was an hour away. So it was getting to be 8 pm. How would we have time to drive back to Race HQ, pack our gear, and plot so many CP's before 9:30? Well, that question was answered when he then revealed that the entire course was pre-plotted and every CP was already on the maps! Wow, that was a first. It took the UTM plotting completely out of the mix, so there was no chance of anyone mis-plotting and searching in the wrong area for mis-plotted CP's. We also learned that we would have some disposable sacks to stash a food cache and anything else we might need later on in the race. These would be encountered much later in the race and provided the much needed opportunity to refuel.
So we stuff our packs to the gills, including our breakdown paddles, and we boarded what had to be one of the smelliest buses I have ever been on. We turned on the headlamps and looked over the course maps and highlighted our agreed upon route choices. This worked out very smoothly between me, Mike and Bill, and we discussed different routes from each CP to CP, pros and cons of each, and then by committee came up with our agreed upon route. They all turned out to be pretty much 'spot-on' for this initial nighttime 17 mile trek.
So we arrive at riverside and get dropped off, warned about wild horses on the trails, and off we went into the dark of night. It was really foggy at times too, expecially with the scattered hue from our headlamps.
We had no significant problems at all finding these CP's. There were several times we had to cross knee to thigh high deep creeks, but nothing any deeper than that. We had very minor problems finding two particular CP's. We wandered for a bit looking for CP 7, then we decided to go up to the peak (a known point) and shoot a bearing to the CP. We headed off in a southwesterly fashion and began dropping down the hillside and sure enough, we hit it. It was there that we encountered the Iowa Wolfpack and kept running into them for many, many hours to come. We also refilled our hydration packs several times with Mike's water purifier which did a bomber job. The creeks were clean and water tasted just fine. It was super nice to never have to worry about conserving water, we had so much clean water around us at all times.
Night trekking:
The good thing about the terrain is that there were almost always jeep trails running along the ridge tops which didn't show up on the map, but nonetheless were there. Sometime about 3-4 am we came to a clearing and we all marveled at the clear sky and the stars. While I don't by any means live in a metropolitan area, it is big enough to have city lights which inhibit such killer views of the dark night skies. It was truly phenomenal. I think it was also about that time that we discussed hallucinations and sleep deprivation, and somehow this resulted in us singing the song to the Muppet Show under a canopy of stars. But I digress......
We made our way towards CP8, crossed a creek and found the correct hollow and began following it, waiting for it to turn westerly, then began looking for the second reentrant on the left which should have CP8 ready to welcome us. We finally came to the second one, but the downfall was very thick, so the movement was very slow. Mike started scrambling up the reentrant in the lead and finally shouted out that he had found it. We were thinking that it shouldn't have been up the reentrant that far off of the creek, but we found it and continued climbing out of the hollow and back to ridgetops to head to CP9. As the sun began to come up, Karin's knee was really beginning to bother her greatly, especially from the brutal terrain. We did what we could, but ultimately, when we came to CP11 and prepared to transition to the canoe leg, she made the tough decision to pull out. I knew she was in pain, and selfishly I would have loved to see her continue onward with us, but when a knee begins hurting that badly, no good can come from pushing onward, especially with what still lied ahead of us. She could have done some serious damage to it had she continued. Due to having lost a teammate, we were now considered an "unranked" team so we were only racing for pride from here on. So we bid her farewell and we took off in canoes for the 25 mile canoe trip. Mike made like Rambo and said he would prefer to paddle a canoe solo rather than three of us in one canoe, and that was a solid decision. He managed his canoe very well down river. If Bill and I pulled ahead a little bit, I used the opportunity to get some 'shut-eye' and practically fell asleep in the canoe for a brief few minutes. Here's a shot of what the river treated us to all morning and early afternoon on Saturday:
Once we pulled into the riverside TA, we finally arrived at our first re-fueling station. We chugged Monster energy drinks, scooped our fingers into a jar of peanut butter, and pretty much ate and drank to fill the ole tank as much as we could, then threw some of the food into our packs and took off onto what would be another trekking section, this one about 12 miles. Once the three of us took off, a pretty chubby rain began to fall but it cleared out after about 15-20 minutes. We made a small navigational error here but we realized it fairly quickly and righted ourselves just fine and it was of no real consequence.
We hit CP13 & CP14 nearly perfectly, passing GoLite and DFW Hounds, then came to the infamous CP15. From CP14 we followed the reentrant down to a creek/hollow, and followed that creekbed into Sugarcamp Hollow which brought us to a crossing with the Ozark Trail, and then came to the base of the looming Barnett Mountain straight ahead of us. With no obvious trails up and around it, we just went UP, and kept going UP, through a large boulder strewn course. We started at 600 feet elevation, and ultimately the peak was nearly 1100 feet. It was a very strenous 500 feet of elevation gain. Towards the summit, the downfall was utterly insane. I don't know if this was due to higher winds up there, lightning strikes, or the recent devastating ice storms that the region sustained, but the peak of Barnett Mountain was awful. It was the only time all day that I saw a snake too, and I nearly stepped on it. And there were many false summits as well. Yes, I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't been there, but it seemed so many times it was about to plateau and peak out, but just kept going on and on. Finally the three of us came to the CP, took in a super awesome view from the top, shot a bearing and took off down a spur to where we would descend the mountain and intersect with the Ozark Trail. The descent was not any easier than the ascent with navigating through the downfall and bushwacking. And to top it all off, the gnats that were swarming us at the top of Barnett Mountain were awful too. They tapered off as we came down the side of the mountain though.
Finally we came to the bottom and intersected with the Ozark Trail. From here at least we were on a trail finally and no more bushwacking, and we were to follow this to CP16 & CP17/TA where the bikes were waiting.
This hike on the Ozark Trail was a big relief but took longer than we had expected. There were several little shut-ins type areas with small waterfalls, etc. We agreed that Rocky Falls (our destination) would have to be pretty impressive to be better than these spots. It was...
We finally came to Rocky Falls probably about 6:45pm or so. It was still daylight. The CP was in a spot that you really had to scramble up alot of rocks to get up to it but the falls were spectacular. Once we punched the CP we followed the creek and came to CP 17 and the bike transition area where we would get additional maps with the bike course. Here's a shot from the TA with the race volunteer laying out our new maps while we pondered life....
When we hiked into the TA we could see that there were many, many bikes still there, which is always a comforting sign to know that there were still alot of teams behind you.
Many teams were transitioning in progress also. We began fueling again as this was a second food cache that we had with our bikes. Prior to coming into this TA we were all having foot issues with wet feet non-stop, and unfortunately Mike was suffering from some severe chafing in his nether regions from just trekking 30 brutal miles in cycling shorts with a chamois. That does have a tendency to rub you the wrong way if you get my drift. Despite applying generous amounts of Bodyglide on several occasions, he was in major pain. He tried to sit on his bike seat to test the waters, but the pain was too much. We were staring at a 65+ mile biking leg ahead of us all through the night, and he made the decision to pull out. I didn't doubt for a second his pain and discomfort, as I had just raced along side iwth him for nearly 24 hrs, and it was clear to me that he was a warrior and a very strong racer, never complaining about fatigue or soreness, etc. I knew that he still had energy and strength in his legs, but if you can't sit on a bikeseat, all the strength and energy in the world can't compensate for that. Bill and I changed into dry socks which felt soooo good as our feet were killing us with wet socks. When I took off my shoes I was prepared to see something out of horror movie, they felt that bad. I thought the soles had split open on me. There were deep fissures and swelling but nothing beyond that. We dried them and rubbed them back to life.
So Bill and I put on our bike gear, I looked over the new maps and highlighted our routes, and we took off into the dark of night with lights burning. We hit CP18 pretty easily, and then we were off to CP19. This was the very first time all day long that somehow, someway we could not get the right road to connect us from 18 to 19. We tried several different jeep trails/fire roads, but none of them were the right ones. We would ride one for a mile or so and it would be a screamin' downhill, only to come to a deadend and have to spin back up and climb back out of there. I knew we couldn't keep doing this or our legs would be zapped.
A straw that broke the camel's back was when I went through a large puddle in the road that turned out to be deeper than I thought, and the mud stopped me in my tracks. I had to put my foot down and the water went up to my ankle. So much for the dry socks and shoes now. I was back to having feet issues again.
After never finding exactly which trail connected to CP19, I suggested to Bill that if we continued to wander, and even eventually came to CP19, we had so much left to do, and if we pulled the plug later on we would be that much further from that last TA where there were volunteers and potential to get a car ride back to Race HQ. Since we were only about 8 miles from that last TA where we took off on the bikes, we made the call to turn back and return to CP17 and hope to get a ride back to my van. It also made a difference, at least mentally, that we had dropped two teammates at this point, and I believe that we would have been more likely to push onward had we still had a full team. Nonetheless, Bill and I pulled the plug after having raced about 24 hrs. I have no regrets. Even though we were an incomplete team at that point, we made it much further than alot of other teams who had pulled into CP17 and decided not to go out on the bike leg at all. They all got DNF's but will still rank ahead of us since they never dropped a teammate, even though Bill and I in reality went farther and longer than many of them did. But that's the way the game is played, and rules are rules.
Parting thoughts: This was a remarkable race and I had a great, great time racing with Karin, Mike and Bill. Ultimately the dropout and DNF rate was extremely high, evidencing the brutality of the course. In fact, all three Colorado teams that came in for this race didn't finish either! That should say something! Morale was high throughout the race generally (with a few lows but nothing that spoiled the race by any means). Morale certainly hit a low point on Barnett Mountain. I suspect that teams who summited that at night were demoralized beyond comprehension. That would not have been pleasant.
I never had a single cramp, never bonked, and overall felt very strong throughout. My legs felt super strong when I mounted our bikes Saturday night. My feet hurt alot from the long treks but that was the extent of any pain that I had. I really feel like I have had some good races this fall that are preparing me for some good racing next year. And I am very fortunate to have had the Mid-Rivers gang invite me along to race with them since my normal beloved Cyclewerx comrades could not do it with me due to schedules.
What a great weekend, man, just great. All told we trekked 30 miles, paddled 25, and Bill and I covered 20 miles on the mountain bikes. And I came home to a beautiful loving wife and beautiful loving little daughters, and I was once again reminded that I am the luckiest guy in the world......
Post by Bryan Greaser
I arrived in Van Buren about 5:30 on Friday and met my teammates for the first time ever near Race HQ. I was never concerned about racing with people I don't know, and after meeting them, I was even less concerned. I knew everyone was cool, prepared and easy to get along with. We signed in and then took our bikes to the trailer for the race management to haul to an undisclosed location. We continued getting some gear together, then went over and ate at the pasta dinner, then off to the pre-race meeting to find out exactly what this thing was all about.
The pre-race meeting was at the Landing which is right beside the Current River and almost under the Hwy 60 bridge. Here's a shot of the pre-race meeting:
Very cool place. It was outside and weather cooperated. Jason began explaining things, and most importantly finally disclosed that the 36 hr race would start at 11 pm Friday night, just hours away. He then said that we would board buses beginning at 9:30 and the bus ride was an hour away. So it was getting to be 8 pm. How would we have time to drive back to Race HQ, pack our gear, and plot so many CP's before 9:30? Well, that question was answered when he then revealed that the entire course was pre-plotted and every CP was already on the maps! Wow, that was a first. It took the UTM plotting completely out of the mix, so there was no chance of anyone mis-plotting and searching in the wrong area for mis-plotted CP's. We also learned that we would have some disposable sacks to stash a food cache and anything else we might need later on in the race. These would be encountered much later in the race and provided the much needed opportunity to refuel.
So we stuff our packs to the gills, including our breakdown paddles, and we boarded what had to be one of the smelliest buses I have ever been on. We turned on the headlamps and looked over the course maps and highlighted our agreed upon route choices. This worked out very smoothly between me, Mike and Bill, and we discussed different routes from each CP to CP, pros and cons of each, and then by committee came up with our agreed upon route. They all turned out to be pretty much 'spot-on' for this initial nighttime 17 mile trek.
So we arrive at riverside and get dropped off, warned about wild horses on the trails, and off we went into the dark of night. It was really foggy at times too, expecially with the scattered hue from our headlamps.
We had no significant problems at all finding these CP's. There were several times we had to cross knee to thigh high deep creeks, but nothing any deeper than that. We had very minor problems finding two particular CP's. We wandered for a bit looking for CP 7, then we decided to go up to the peak (a known point) and shoot a bearing to the CP. We headed off in a southwesterly fashion and began dropping down the hillside and sure enough, we hit it. It was there that we encountered the Iowa Wolfpack and kept running into them for many, many hours to come. We also refilled our hydration packs several times with Mike's water purifier which did a bomber job. The creeks were clean and water tasted just fine. It was super nice to never have to worry about conserving water, we had so much clean water around us at all times.
Night trekking:
The good thing about the terrain is that there were almost always jeep trails running along the ridge tops which didn't show up on the map, but nonetheless were there. Sometime about 3-4 am we came to a clearing and we all marveled at the clear sky and the stars. While I don't by any means live in a metropolitan area, it is big enough to have city lights which inhibit such killer views of the dark night skies. It was truly phenomenal. I think it was also about that time that we discussed hallucinations and sleep deprivation, and somehow this resulted in us singing the song to the Muppet Show under a canopy of stars. But I digress......
We made our way towards CP8, crossed a creek and found the correct hollow and began following it, waiting for it to turn westerly, then began looking for the second reentrant on the left which should have CP8 ready to welcome us. We finally came to the second one, but the downfall was very thick, so the movement was very slow. Mike started scrambling up the reentrant in the lead and finally shouted out that he had found it. We were thinking that it shouldn't have been up the reentrant that far off of the creek, but we found it and continued climbing out of the hollow and back to ridgetops to head to CP9. As the sun began to come up, Karin's knee was really beginning to bother her greatly, especially from the brutal terrain. We did what we could, but ultimately, when we came to CP11 and prepared to transition to the canoe leg, she made the tough decision to pull out. I knew she was in pain, and selfishly I would have loved to see her continue onward with us, but when a knee begins hurting that badly, no good can come from pushing onward, especially with what still lied ahead of us. She could have done some serious damage to it had she continued. Due to having lost a teammate, we were now considered an "unranked" team so we were only racing for pride from here on. So we bid her farewell and we took off in canoes for the 25 mile canoe trip. Mike made like Rambo and said he would prefer to paddle a canoe solo rather than three of us in one canoe, and that was a solid decision. He managed his canoe very well down river. If Bill and I pulled ahead a little bit, I used the opportunity to get some 'shut-eye' and practically fell asleep in the canoe for a brief few minutes. Here's a shot of what the river treated us to all morning and early afternoon on Saturday:
Once we pulled into the riverside TA, we finally arrived at our first re-fueling station. We chugged Monster energy drinks, scooped our fingers into a jar of peanut butter, and pretty much ate and drank to fill the ole tank as much as we could, then threw some of the food into our packs and took off onto what would be another trekking section, this one about 12 miles. Once the three of us took off, a pretty chubby rain began to fall but it cleared out after about 15-20 minutes. We made a small navigational error here but we realized it fairly quickly and righted ourselves just fine and it was of no real consequence.
We hit CP13 & CP14 nearly perfectly, passing GoLite and DFW Hounds, then came to the infamous CP15. From CP14 we followed the reentrant down to a creek/hollow, and followed that creekbed into Sugarcamp Hollow which brought us to a crossing with the Ozark Trail, and then came to the base of the looming Barnett Mountain straight ahead of us. With no obvious trails up and around it, we just went UP, and kept going UP, through a large boulder strewn course. We started at 600 feet elevation, and ultimately the peak was nearly 1100 feet. It was a very strenous 500 feet of elevation gain. Towards the summit, the downfall was utterly insane. I don't know if this was due to higher winds up there, lightning strikes, or the recent devastating ice storms that the region sustained, but the peak of Barnett Mountain was awful. It was the only time all day that I saw a snake too, and I nearly stepped on it. And there were many false summits as well. Yes, I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't been there, but it seemed so many times it was about to plateau and peak out, but just kept going on and on. Finally the three of us came to the CP, took in a super awesome view from the top, shot a bearing and took off down a spur to where we would descend the mountain and intersect with the Ozark Trail. The descent was not any easier than the ascent with navigating through the downfall and bushwacking. And to top it all off, the gnats that were swarming us at the top of Barnett Mountain were awful too. They tapered off as we came down the side of the mountain though.
Finally we came to the bottom and intersected with the Ozark Trail. From here at least we were on a trail finally and no more bushwacking, and we were to follow this to CP16 & CP17/TA where the bikes were waiting.
This hike on the Ozark Trail was a big relief but took longer than we had expected. There were several little shut-ins type areas with small waterfalls, etc. We agreed that Rocky Falls (our destination) would have to be pretty impressive to be better than these spots. It was...
We finally came to Rocky Falls probably about 6:45pm or so. It was still daylight. The CP was in a spot that you really had to scramble up alot of rocks to get up to it but the falls were spectacular. Once we punched the CP we followed the creek and came to CP 17 and the bike transition area where we would get additional maps with the bike course. Here's a shot from the TA with the race volunteer laying out our new maps while we pondered life....
When we hiked into the TA we could see that there were many, many bikes still there, which is always a comforting sign to know that there were still alot of teams behind you.
Many teams were transitioning in progress also. We began fueling again as this was a second food cache that we had with our bikes. Prior to coming into this TA we were all having foot issues with wet feet non-stop, and unfortunately Mike was suffering from some severe chafing in his nether regions from just trekking 30 brutal miles in cycling shorts with a chamois. That does have a tendency to rub you the wrong way if you get my drift. Despite applying generous amounts of Bodyglide on several occasions, he was in major pain. He tried to sit on his bike seat to test the waters, but the pain was too much. We were staring at a 65+ mile biking leg ahead of us all through the night, and he made the decision to pull out. I didn't doubt for a second his pain and discomfort, as I had just raced along side iwth him for nearly 24 hrs, and it was clear to me that he was a warrior and a very strong racer, never complaining about fatigue or soreness, etc. I knew that he still had energy and strength in his legs, but if you can't sit on a bikeseat, all the strength and energy in the world can't compensate for that. Bill and I changed into dry socks which felt soooo good as our feet were killing us with wet socks. When I took off my shoes I was prepared to see something out of horror movie, they felt that bad. I thought the soles had split open on me. There were deep fissures and swelling but nothing beyond that. We dried them and rubbed them back to life.
So Bill and I put on our bike gear, I looked over the new maps and highlighted our routes, and we took off into the dark of night with lights burning. We hit CP18 pretty easily, and then we were off to CP19. This was the very first time all day long that somehow, someway we could not get the right road to connect us from 18 to 19. We tried several different jeep trails/fire roads, but none of them were the right ones. We would ride one for a mile or so and it would be a screamin' downhill, only to come to a deadend and have to spin back up and climb back out of there. I knew we couldn't keep doing this or our legs would be zapped.
A straw that broke the camel's back was when I went through a large puddle in the road that turned out to be deeper than I thought, and the mud stopped me in my tracks. I had to put my foot down and the water went up to my ankle. So much for the dry socks and shoes now. I was back to having feet issues again.
After never finding exactly which trail connected to CP19, I suggested to Bill that if we continued to wander, and even eventually came to CP19, we had so much left to do, and if we pulled the plug later on we would be that much further from that last TA where there were volunteers and potential to get a car ride back to Race HQ. Since we were only about 8 miles from that last TA where we took off on the bikes, we made the call to turn back and return to CP17 and hope to get a ride back to my van. It also made a difference, at least mentally, that we had dropped two teammates at this point, and I believe that we would have been more likely to push onward had we still had a full team. Nonetheless, Bill and I pulled the plug after having raced about 24 hrs. I have no regrets. Even though we were an incomplete team at that point, we made it much further than alot of other teams who had pulled into CP17 and decided not to go out on the bike leg at all. They all got DNF's but will still rank ahead of us since they never dropped a teammate, even though Bill and I in reality went farther and longer than many of them did. But that's the way the game is played, and rules are rules.
Parting thoughts: This was a remarkable race and I had a great, great time racing with Karin, Mike and Bill. Ultimately the dropout and DNF rate was extremely high, evidencing the brutality of the course. In fact, all three Colorado teams that came in for this race didn't finish either! That should say something! Morale was high throughout the race generally (with a few lows but nothing that spoiled the race by any means). Morale certainly hit a low point on Barnett Mountain. I suspect that teams who summited that at night were demoralized beyond comprehension. That would not have been pleasant.
I never had a single cramp, never bonked, and overall felt very strong throughout. My legs felt super strong when I mounted our bikes Saturday night. My feet hurt alot from the long treks but that was the extent of any pain that I had. I really feel like I have had some good races this fall that are preparing me for some good racing next year. And I am very fortunate to have had the Mid-Rivers gang invite me along to race with them since my normal beloved Cyclewerx comrades could not do it with me due to schedules.
What a great weekend, man, just great. All told we trekked 30 miles, paddled 25, and Bill and I covered 20 miles on the mountain bikes. And I came home to a beautiful loving wife and beautiful loving little daughters, and I was once again reminded that I am the luckiest guy in the world......
Post by Bryan Greaser
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Berryman 36 Hour Adventure Race
Since our Cyclewerx team cannot do the Berryman Adventure due to several schedule conflicts, I have managed to team up with Mid-Rivers Adventures to compete in the 36 hour race on September 26-27. I really didn't want to miss it this year. While I don't know the people that I am racing with, it is sure to be an adventure on so many levels.
There are some great teams coming in for this race, including an awesome team, WEDALI, from Minnesota, Golite from Colorado, Alpine Shop, Bushwacker, and a team from Texas. There are 12 teams in the 4 person co-ed division and many more in other divisions competing in the 36 hour race.
My goal is to finish this race. Post race report to follow sometime next week!
Post by Bryan Greaser
There are some great teams coming in for this race, including an awesome team, WEDALI, from Minnesota, Golite from Colorado, Alpine Shop, Bushwacker, and a team from Texas. There are 12 teams in the 4 person co-ed division and many more in other divisions competing in the 36 hour race.
My goal is to finish this race. Post race report to follow sometime next week!
Post by Bryan Greaser
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Berryman Offroad 6 Hour Duathlon
The weather for this Bonk Hard race could not have been any nicer. Well, I can't lie, I was a little hot a few times. Maybe next year the highs can only be about 72 instead of 80. Ok, KIDDING. August in Missouri and the high was only around 82 with low humidity. It was great.
It was nice being casual about getting ready in the morning for the 9 am start. Marc and I agreed that it sure beats these 4:30 am wake ups, and 5:30 pre-race meetings that we always have in adventure races, not to mention the last minute scramble to make sure we have all of our mandatory gear, maps, cluesheets, passports, etc. We got up early, cooked some breakfast, tooled around, and got ready to line up for the race. You can choose which leg you do first, bike or run. Marc and I both chose to do the bike leg first. It seemed more people chose to do the running loop first.
We lined up, and I made sure to be out front and found the 'hole-shot' into the woods right off of the bat. I wanted to get up front on this bike leg and stay there. Immediately onto the trail I was reminded of the extreme technical nature of this trail. Roots and LOTS of rocks. Big ones, small ones, sharp ones, loose gravel, you name it. I was intending to set down a hard pace on this bike leg. It consisted of 8 miles of singletrack on the Berryman trail, then it hit a connecting fire road up to a gravel road which we rode back to the Start/Finish. All told the bike loops were about 12.2 miles or so. One screaming downhill on the gravel had me clocking myself on my cyclocomputer at 35 mph! Yikes.
I stayed out front for this bike leg and came into the transition area, my computer showing me having completed a 1:12 minute lap. I think official race time might have been 1:14 though. It was time to transition to the run.
I transitioned and took off onto the run, knowing it would not be my strength for the day. I just came off of a 50k trail run two weeks ago, and being undertrained already for the run, coupled with fatigue from the 50k still (yes, I know, sad isn't it?) I wasn't counting on setting any records for the run. I took it at a moderate pace. The run had alot of doubletrack climbing towards the end, like some seriously long hills.
There was a cut-off time where you had to come back in to Race HQ under the 5 hour mark or you would not be allowed to go back out for another lap. I came in under it and transitioned again to go out for the final lap. I was told by Jason and Laura that two of the guys ahead of me pretty much just went out for their final laps also, one on the bike and one on the run. I had some work to do if I wanted a top 5 finish. I didn't see Marc at that time but I later found out that he had come in after 2 laps just over the cut-off so he was held back from doing a 3rd lap. He completed 2 laps in 5 hrs 19 minutes. Nice job Marc!
I went back out for lap 3 knowing I had to catch one of the guys on the bike. I finally caught him about 5 minutes from the end, so I hit the transition area, laced up my shoes, and took off knowing I had a fight going on with me and this guy. I was concerned because earlier on one of the laps this same guy went blazing by me on the running loop, so I figured he was a stronger runner than I. I also had the motivation of knowing that the other guy ahead of me was out on the bike and only minutes ahead of me.
So here I go, leaving Race HQ knowing I was in no worse than 4th but needing to fight to stay there, and possibly shooting for 3rd place. When I did this final run I swear I looked over my shoulder 50 times, thinking he would be fast approaching. It got to be a bit dangerous as it isn't too wise to turn around and take your eyes off of a rocky trail, but I couldn't help it.
I came to the long doubletrack climbing section and slowed it down some, still looking back, still seeing nobody. I ate a final AccelGel packet for the final push, pulled my hydration hose up and sucked for some water but it was EMPTY! No big deal rally since I was close to the finish, but I had a mouth full of gel that was thick and no water to wash it back. Anyway,I wondered what had happened to the guy giving chase? I was only a few minutes ahead of him when we left Race HQ, and I really thought he would catch me early. Well I kept pushing along, finally hitting the gravel road which takes you back to Race HQ/Finish. This meant about .6 miles left. I knew when I looked back then that if I didn't see him coming, I could hold my lead over him for that short remaining distance. As I was running this final portion, a guy came by on the bike (the end of each loop shared some of the gravel road) and I didn't know for sure since many different divisions were racing, but I had a feeling that it was the other guy who was minutes ahead of me.
When I came into the finish, I was told I secured 4th place in the 6 hour solo division, with a race time of 7 hrs 5 minutes, and sure enough, the bike that had just gone by was 3rd place, beating me by about 2 minutes. It turned out that the guy who was running that final lap that I kept looking over my should for finished 15 minutes back.
It was a fun time, pushing your body hard always is, and with great company and great weather, what more could you ask for? I had a great time talking and camping with my ace Marc Fisher, Jeff and Carrie Sona, Jason and Laura Elsenraat, Todd Holtman, Dathan Atchison, Jim and Wendy Davis, etc etc. I love this sport and all of the people who go along with it. The course was super fun, although I have to admit that by the 3rd lap I was really beginning to hate the rocks and found myself longing for some hardpacked singletrack like my hometown Klaus Park trail, or the Canal Loop trail at Kentucky Lake. The Berryman has a way of beating you up on a hardtail, but that's what makes it soooo fun. Like I have said before, to do these types of races, you have to like to suffer..... 37 miles on the mountaibn bike, half marathon trail run, and like minded people=A good day to be alive.
Post by Bryan Greaser
It was nice being casual about getting ready in the morning for the 9 am start. Marc and I agreed that it sure beats these 4:30 am wake ups, and 5:30 pre-race meetings that we always have in adventure races, not to mention the last minute scramble to make sure we have all of our mandatory gear, maps, cluesheets, passports, etc. We got up early, cooked some breakfast, tooled around, and got ready to line up for the race. You can choose which leg you do first, bike or run. Marc and I both chose to do the bike leg first. It seemed more people chose to do the running loop first.
We lined up, and I made sure to be out front and found the 'hole-shot' into the woods right off of the bat. I wanted to get up front on this bike leg and stay there. Immediately onto the trail I was reminded of the extreme technical nature of this trail. Roots and LOTS of rocks. Big ones, small ones, sharp ones, loose gravel, you name it. I was intending to set down a hard pace on this bike leg. It consisted of 8 miles of singletrack on the Berryman trail, then it hit a connecting fire road up to a gravel road which we rode back to the Start/Finish. All told the bike loops were about 12.2 miles or so. One screaming downhill on the gravel had me clocking myself on my cyclocomputer at 35 mph! Yikes.
I stayed out front for this bike leg and came into the transition area, my computer showing me having completed a 1:12 minute lap. I think official race time might have been 1:14 though. It was time to transition to the run.
I transitioned and took off onto the run, knowing it would not be my strength for the day. I just came off of a 50k trail run two weeks ago, and being undertrained already for the run, coupled with fatigue from the 50k still (yes, I know, sad isn't it?) I wasn't counting on setting any records for the run. I took it at a moderate pace. The run had alot of doubletrack climbing towards the end, like some seriously long hills.
There was a cut-off time where you had to come back in to Race HQ under the 5 hour mark or you would not be allowed to go back out for another lap. I came in under it and transitioned again to go out for the final lap. I was told by Jason and Laura that two of the guys ahead of me pretty much just went out for their final laps also, one on the bike and one on the run. I had some work to do if I wanted a top 5 finish. I didn't see Marc at that time but I later found out that he had come in after 2 laps just over the cut-off so he was held back from doing a 3rd lap. He completed 2 laps in 5 hrs 19 minutes. Nice job Marc!
I went back out for lap 3 knowing I had to catch one of the guys on the bike. I finally caught him about 5 minutes from the end, so I hit the transition area, laced up my shoes, and took off knowing I had a fight going on with me and this guy. I was concerned because earlier on one of the laps this same guy went blazing by me on the running loop, so I figured he was a stronger runner than I. I also had the motivation of knowing that the other guy ahead of me was out on the bike and only minutes ahead of me.
So here I go, leaving Race HQ knowing I was in no worse than 4th but needing to fight to stay there, and possibly shooting for 3rd place. When I did this final run I swear I looked over my shoulder 50 times, thinking he would be fast approaching. It got to be a bit dangerous as it isn't too wise to turn around and take your eyes off of a rocky trail, but I couldn't help it.
I came to the long doubletrack climbing section and slowed it down some, still looking back, still seeing nobody. I ate a final AccelGel packet for the final push, pulled my hydration hose up and sucked for some water but it was EMPTY! No big deal rally since I was close to the finish, but I had a mouth full of gel that was thick and no water to wash it back. Anyway,I wondered what had happened to the guy giving chase? I was only a few minutes ahead of him when we left Race HQ, and I really thought he would catch me early. Well I kept pushing along, finally hitting the gravel road which takes you back to Race HQ/Finish. This meant about .6 miles left. I knew when I looked back then that if I didn't see him coming, I could hold my lead over him for that short remaining distance. As I was running this final portion, a guy came by on the bike (the end of each loop shared some of the gravel road) and I didn't know for sure since many different divisions were racing, but I had a feeling that it was the other guy who was minutes ahead of me.
When I came into the finish, I was told I secured 4th place in the 6 hour solo division, with a race time of 7 hrs 5 minutes, and sure enough, the bike that had just gone by was 3rd place, beating me by about 2 minutes. It turned out that the guy who was running that final lap that I kept looking over my should for finished 15 minutes back.
It was a fun time, pushing your body hard always is, and with great company and great weather, what more could you ask for? I had a great time talking and camping with my ace Marc Fisher, Jeff and Carrie Sona, Jason and Laura Elsenraat, Todd Holtman, Dathan Atchison, Jim and Wendy Davis, etc etc. I love this sport and all of the people who go along with it. The course was super fun, although I have to admit that by the 3rd lap I was really beginning to hate the rocks and found myself longing for some hardpacked singletrack like my hometown Klaus Park trail, or the Canal Loop trail at Kentucky Lake. The Berryman has a way of beating you up on a hardtail, but that's what makes it soooo fun. Like I have said before, to do these types of races, you have to like to suffer..... 37 miles on the mountaibn bike, half marathon trail run, and like minded people=A good day to be alive.
Post by Bryan Greaser
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The 'Stank' not so stanky....
Well the Stanky Creek 50k trail run is over, and as I write this my legs are back in normal shape again. For a couple of days there my legs were sore enough for someone to have mistaken me for Frankenstein as I walked, but I am feelin' oh sooo good once again.
It was a hot day but the trails that this course covered were almost completely shaded from the sun, so that helped. But countering that was that there is no breeze blowing through this wooded area on a trail run, and the humidity was pretty much typical Memphis humidity in August. There were about 75 runners for the race, some doing 50k, some doing 40 miles, and some doing 50 miles. One thing that I noticed was that everyone was fit, fit, fit. Aid stations were spaced out nicely. I was drinking and eating like a maniac despite my stomach not really wanting anything. My fingers were really swollen from retaining sodium and fluids, as well as my feet, so I got some weird blisters and hot spots on my feet from that. And the roots on the trail cause you to trip now and again, especially later in the race when you start to get the heavy feet and heavy legs.
I felt pretty strong on the first 17 miles, but after that my lack of any real serious training and preparation for this race began to sneak in a little. My mind kicked it into overdrive and took over for the weakening legs, and I ultimately finished at 6 hrs, 22 minutes. Not by any means a blazing fast trail run, but it was my first ultra, and I truly just set out to hopefully finish the race. It ended up being 14th out of 38 total racers in the 50k race.
Ultra running is a very different creature from mountain bike racing and adventure racing. There was something very simple and primal about just running out into the woods with some food and hydration. When doing an Adventure race, it is nerve wracking to make sure you have all of the necessary gear, maps, etc etc. And the navigation throughout the adventure race is stressful yet fun. Doing an ultra trail run, it was you and the trail, and that's about it. When the run started, in my mind I said, "Well, here's to 6 hrs of getting to know yourself even better." That pretty much sums it up. I
It was a great event, and I am really glad that I did it. I cannot wait to step it up a notch and take it to the next level, whatever that might be. But I do know that I loves trail running.... Always have, always will. And that's all I have to say about that.
by Bryan Greaser
It was a hot day but the trails that this course covered were almost completely shaded from the sun, so that helped. But countering that was that there is no breeze blowing through this wooded area on a trail run, and the humidity was pretty much typical Memphis humidity in August. There were about 75 runners for the race, some doing 50k, some doing 40 miles, and some doing 50 miles. One thing that I noticed was that everyone was fit, fit, fit. Aid stations were spaced out nicely. I was drinking and eating like a maniac despite my stomach not really wanting anything. My fingers were really swollen from retaining sodium and fluids, as well as my feet, so I got some weird blisters and hot spots on my feet from that. And the roots on the trail cause you to trip now and again, especially later in the race when you start to get the heavy feet and heavy legs.
I felt pretty strong on the first 17 miles, but after that my lack of any real serious training and preparation for this race began to sneak in a little. My mind kicked it into overdrive and took over for the weakening legs, and I ultimately finished at 6 hrs, 22 minutes. Not by any means a blazing fast trail run, but it was my first ultra, and I truly just set out to hopefully finish the race. It ended up being 14th out of 38 total racers in the 50k race.
Ultra running is a very different creature from mountain bike racing and adventure racing. There was something very simple and primal about just running out into the woods with some food and hydration. When doing an Adventure race, it is nerve wracking to make sure you have all of the necessary gear, maps, etc etc. And the navigation throughout the adventure race is stressful yet fun. Doing an ultra trail run, it was you and the trail, and that's about it. When the run started, in my mind I said, "Well, here's to 6 hrs of getting to know yourself even better." That pretty much sums it up. I
It was a great event, and I am really glad that I did it. I cannot wait to step it up a notch and take it to the next level, whatever that might be. But I do know that I loves trail running.... Always have, always will. And that's all I have to say about that.
by Bryan Greaser
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunflower State Games
On Friday, June 25th I picked up Lullel Hickman in Bolivar, MO and we headed to Perry State Park in Lawrence, KS. Before that time I had never officially introduced myself to him but had seen him many times at other events. I was thrilled to finally meet him and even more thrilled to get to race with him.We pitched a tent when we got there at around 10:30. We did not waste much time getting some rest. Overall we both agreed that we had gotten more and better rest than we thought we would.
Saturday morning we were up at 6:00 and we began to take care of prerace stuff. We knew that this was a sprint race but we both had taken enough stuff to race a normal 8 to 12 hour race. My philosophy is if I do not pack it I cannot use it.
At 7:30 the pre-race meeting got underway with Jason Elsenraat of Bonk Hard racing directing the rodeo. He was in a chipper mood once again and was having way too much fun throwing out Salomon water bottles.
We got our map and clue sheet and began to strategize. This race had a specific bike section, a specific run section, and a specific canoe section. Jason allowed the racers to choose the leg that they wanted to do in any order. Each time you finished a leg you came back to HQ to receive a punch on your passport. We chose to bike first.
Before we took off we looked at the bike section as it had three checkpoints(CP's). The first was at the entrance to the singletrack trails and the other two were in the midst of a complicated trail system. I was very concerned about finding them but I kept that to myself.
Lullel and I had about a mile to the entrance of the singletrack and we then began our quest to find the two CP's amongst the puzzle of trails. My concerns were greatly brought to life as we struggled a little to find CP #6. The concerns were full blown as we struggled greatly with #7. We were falling behind at a rapid pace. Our biking was very fast but our locating of the CP's was very slow. We found them both and finally escaped the maze.
We then chose to trek. Lullel's gift is running. He towed me with a bungee. It was awesome. We knocked out the trek pretty quickly. We were slowed a little as I fought off some cramps. This was the first time that I had ever been towed running and we would not have gone even close to as fast as we did if it weren't for Lullel towing me. It was a great experience.
We then bolted for the canoes. When we were done they had told us that we were the fastest canoe time recorded for the race. We bushwhacked a hundred yards to the finish and was through. We ended up 22 minutes behind first place and we are thoroughly convinced that we lost all of that on the bike section.
Results completely aside, I was thrilled to spend some awesome time with Lullel. I truly looked forward to spending the time with him way more than the racing. My expectations were fulfilled.
This post is from Marc(as if you could not tell by the above picture).
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