I had wanted to do the Adventure Race "Logs Rocks and Steel" for the past few years, but the event always seemed to conflict with other races I had committed to. This year my intention was to race the 85km Adventure race on the Saturday and then race mtb Provincials on the Sunday...
Saturday was a fairly early morning with a 530am alarm. I woke still full from last nights pizza a la Metro. I stuffed some cereal in my mouth and washed it down with some random java found in the mystery container in the cottage... mmmmmmmm....
The race started at 8:07am and since I hadn't sat in my 78lb 17.5ft Boreal kayak in almost 2.5 years, I figured I better give a test paddle before I raced. Ha I did a quick 100m out and back and everything looked good to go!
We started the race with a 14km paddle, which I quite enjoyed (insert sarcasm). I am not a paddler and never have been. I am as good of a kayaker as I am a swimmer... I don't float and mainly choose to doggy paddle. After what seemed like a good chunk of time I checked my watch and sunk deeper in my boat as my stop clock had 7min4sec on it... I was in for a long 14km paddle. We had 3 portages of roughly 300m each. The first one I carried my boat. The second I carried it halfway and then seeing everyone else drag their boats, I dropped it to the ground and proceeded to slug the 78lbs of plastic along the dirty rocky trail. I ended up paddling most of the way around a few other guys in similar boats as mine. Plastic, slow and heavy. It didn't mater how hard I paddled, my boat only goes so fast. So I then proceeded to check out a few of the small granite cliffs and wonder if anyone has climbed the few small routes that I could see.
I finished the paddle 21min behind the cigarette boat (seemed fitting) Jakob Van Dorp. He was a crazy fast paddler! I have never seen someone on a dinky little boat go so fast! He was also the 2009 and 2010 champion so I had my work cut out for me come bike and run time.
I hit the familiar feel of my Trek Top Fuel and pinned it. I had roughly 55km of rad mtbiking ahead and some serious time to make up. I was given'er all head down and stuff when I noticed I made a wrong turn... crap. Backtrack to where I was supposed to be and giver again with the head up, not down. I knew some of the trails that we were racing on and I got a little to comfortable with where I thought I was and just made a wrong turn onto the running section of the course. It was a great day outside and with a abundance of trails everyone was sure to make a little navigational error at some point during the race. Besides who doesn't like doing a few extra km's of wicked trails?
I got back into my rhythm and after about 1hr 40min I finally caught the cigarette boater. He had made a u-turn and backtracked to make sure he was on the right trail. We road together for 2 mins and then it was time to pin it again. Getting towards the end of the mtb leg of the race, I hit the deck (granite rock) hard. I cut my hands up badly and couldn't see where all the blood was coming from. It didn't hurt that bad, so I kept on. I finished the bike feeling good and switched into my runners and was on my way for the trail run section.
The run was fun. It was a mix of forest bushwhacking, rolling hills, creek crossings, fast single-track and pure wilderness. I kept getting a terrible stitch and it was probably due to the still digesting 3/4 pizza I mowed last night...gah. It was hot running out in the open on the barren rock, I was getting hard to drink because I felt bloated and full. During the creek crossing I stopped both times for a quick swim and a refreshing cool down.
I finished the run feeling hot, tired and in 1st place. I had a big smile on my face, or at least it felt like I did. It was a super fun day of racing with some good competition. It was a amazing event and I highly recommend it to anyone!
Here are a few photos from my support team (Eden and Rambo). Rambo is my puppy.
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