It is Midnight...do you know where the CP is?

Chad, Juliana, Natasha and I raced the Trioba 24 hour Cle Elum race under the name, It is 3 am...do you know where your Passport is? As it turns out at 3 am the passport was tucked safely away in Chads backpack. However, at that time we did have some questions about where some other things were, but we will get to that.

Let us start off by saying the Yeager brothers are evil and love to make people get up at 4 am after only 3-5 hours of sleep. That is jus the first part of their enjoyment when setting up the Trioba 24 hour races. So we were up at 4 and at the check in area at 4:45. Since we were lucky enough to have a support crew, we did not hop into the buses, but instead followed them to the starting line. The fact that the bus driver took the wrong exit and looked lost was just an ominous beginning to what would be a very long and hot day. Did I say hot? Just making sure.

The race started with a trekking section, carrying our kayaking gear. We started on a flat section with a road to follow? Now that does not seem like something the evil Yeager Brothers would do. We started walking as the speedsters took off running. Weirdos? It is an adventure race; I have plenty of time to get all hot and sweaty, no need to speed the process up.

So we got to the first fork in the road; one way went up hill and the other way continued on the flat section. I have now done enough Trioba races to know, without even looking at the map, take the trail that goes up hill. As we went up the nice trail up the hill we caught up to Mark and Chris who were looking at the map because they had hit another junction. Options here were, nice trail that went up at a nice mellow grade, or narrow less used trail the appeared to go straight up the mountain. Reread sentence above if you do not know which option was the correct one. If you still cannot figure it out remember the Yeager Brothers are evil.

So we climbed and climbed some more. We set a good pace up the hill and climbed, as did the sun. After passing several teams during our 2000-foot assent, we reached the ridgeline. Instead of continuing along the trail and climbing another 600 feet up, we decide to bushwhack down to the lake and go along the beach. Sound plan, one problem; the beach was actually a steep rock field that ran into the lake. When we got to the Kayak put-in we saw many of the teams we had passed going up the hill. O well, I guess they knew it was a man made lake and had steep rocky edges.

Natasha hopped into the yellow pool toy that passes for an adventure racing kayak and Chad, Juliana and myself stripped down and hopped into the chilly lake. The Yeager Brothers evil plan of allowing only one person in the kayak and making the rest of the team swim backfired on us, Juliana got college paid for because of a swimming scholarship. We hooked on a tow, she hauled ass and drug us all across the 1.5-mile lake crossing.

As we left TA1 I saw Shane looking a little pail standing next to a tree. He would be just one of many people to fall victim to the heat and sun over the next several hours. The temperature would end up topping out around 100 depending on your elevation; lucky for me I grew up in Tucson, AZ, so anything less than 110 is not REALY hot.

After getting away from the parking area and the drunk drivers near there, the bike leg started on its inevitable uphill section. It would not be Trioba without biking uphill. On the way up we saw teams coming back down the road. Our route choice had us continuing past CP3 and up a single track and then down to CP4. To each team their own was our thoughts. Reed and Andrea of team Double Trouble came flying down the road as we climbed up. They had left TA1 around an hour before us. They would hit TA2 about 4 hours before us. I guess they choose the better route. The fact that at every junction on their way up the hill there was a Trioba sign to help the volunteers and support crews find TA2 must have really helped their navigation. Out thinking the evil race directors by choosing a route they had not thought of, good job.

So you may wonder how Double Trouble gained three hours on us while biking 20 more miles. Well by taking the most direct route to CP4 fell right into the evil plan the Yeager Brothers had set for us. What looked on paper as a somewhat ridable single-track accent turned out to be a 2400-foot hike a bike. Switchbacks? We dont need no stinking switchbacks. Send the trail straight up the hill. So we pushed, pulled, kicked and willed the bikes to the summit. Lucky for us we top out at nearly 6000 feet during the hottest part of the day. Teams that had chosen the other obvious route got a nice six-mile bike climb in the sun and heat.

At TA2 checked in and out around dusk. We headed off toward CP7, which was the rappel looking forward to doing the 150-foot rappel at night. Well Chad and I were. After some easy navigation we got to the top the cliffs. Now it was just the matter of finding the guys with the ropes. We went left along the cliff. Nothing there. We double back and went right along the cliff. Nothing there as well. Could we be at the wrong cliffs? After a long time of searching the top of the cliffs and studying the map we came to two conclusions; we were at the right location and there was no one up here. I know the Yeager Brothers are evil, but they could not be this evil, could they? We sat down ate some food and noticed the Northern lights. After 1 am, in the middle of nowhere sitting on top of a cliff, the Northern lights are very bright and cool looking. If nothing else the multiple hikes up to the viewpoint were worth the view.

After a powwow we decided maybe the rappel started at the bottom of the top cliffs because there were more cliffs below. We trekked off to find out how to get around the cliffs. After circling the bottom of the cliffs we did not find anything but some really steep hills. So we decided, what we should have decide 2 plus hours earlier, skip CP7 and head off to CP8.

Now I have been in some thick bushwhacking before and I am sure the teams that did the rappel will say they did some serious bushwhacking after the rappel, but lucky for them, they were on the correct side of the creek and only had a half-mile or so of downhill to go. As for us, we were on the other side of the creek, where the vegetation was even THICKER. Our speedy pace was a foot, maybe two a minute. It was so bad that at one point I pulled my Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon impersonation and stood on top of the vegetation.

Beat up, demoralized and second-guessing where we were because of the missing CP we emerged for the hell of an overgrown old clear-cut. We happened on a road, which was not on the map, saw footprints and decided to follow it. We found clear-cut and a sleeping team at the end of it. Since the clue to CP8 was, it was Southwest of a clear-cut, we figured maybe we were in the correct place. After searching in vain and sleeping for 40 minutes we realized that we were not one, but as it turns out, three valley off.

Once we were in the correct valley, we found CP8. I looked at my watch. The course closed at 1 pm. It was almost 8 am. If were could hit each CP in less than an hour we could still finish. We headed off to CP9 with renews, if somewhat limited, hope and determination. In our rush to find CP9 we altered our original plan which was to take a bearing off the river and road junction and head into the forest from there. Instead we found where we thought the CP should be next to the road and turned right. Well 45 minutes later and nearly out of water our rush to find the CP had failed.

We sat in the middle of the road and had another powwow. There was no way we were going to make the cut off at the rate we were going and bushwhacking had lost its fun. We took a vote and decided to call it. With the bitter taste of defeat in our mouths we started back towards TA2. Thirst would soon overcome that taste.

As we started walking at a little past 9 am, Natasha and I were both out of water, Juliana was running low and Chad was a little less than half full. I looked at the map; we had four creeks to cross on our trip. Turns out they were all dry. Plus what should have been an easy walk with three right turns turned into a trail nightmare thanks to all the crisscrossing motorcycle trails that were not on the old map. Hot, hungry, and dehydrated we showed up at TA2 a little after noon.

When we asked what had happened to CP7, a look of shock came over the volunteers at the TA. Apparently we were the only team that had somehow left the TA without being informed that the rappel section had been closed due to the ropes getting cut up on the rocks.

As I said earlier the Yeager Brothers are evil, but in a good way. They set a hard course that takes everything out of you to finish. They do not remove CPs and send teams out into the nigh searching for things that are not there, because that would simply be, just mean. So when Justin found out what had happened to us, he felt horrible and apologized profusely. But hey its adventure racing, these things happen.

I guess we should not feel too bad, only 6 teams out of the 40 that entered finished ranked. Most dropped out long before 12:30 on Sunday morning. Now, it is time to train for the next race.