Dawn to Dusk
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. When I saw the picture below, the blue sky, the huge boulders, the trees, the lake in the background and there I was climbing over that ridge, oh-yeah that’s not me, but I immediately knew I wanted it to be me. I knew I wanted to do this race. I’m not sure how I found the http://www.ccadventure.com/ website and that is not important, what is important is that you now know it and you need to sign up for next year. This race is AWESOME!
Photo lifted from the Central Coast Adventure Challenge website
The CCAC started last year as a sprint. This year they added a 12 hour race Saturday and the sprint was Sunday. I wanted to do both races, but the long race sapped me so I just became a supporter on Sunday to the 120 folks who raced it, including a fun and energetic Team In Training group.
Saturday – Dawn To Dusk (12 hour race)
Winning time ~9hrs, my time ~11 hours
Pre-race descriptions told us it was 8-10 miles of paddling, 25-35 miles of biking, 5-6 miles of trekking and a 200ft rappel. The description was accurate, but it never told about the 6000+ ft of elevation gain, or the bushwhacking to find a couple of the trek CPs, or the bouldering, or the swimming. I made a huge mistake in underestimating the difficulty of this race. I figured 10 miles of paddling would take say 2½ hours, 35 miles of biking about 4 hours and 6 miles of trekking 2 hours. My goal was to race hard for 8-9 hours and be in the top 10. Even if I am patting myself on the back, I figure I raced well for 8 hours and then ran out of gas with what ended up to be 3 more hours of racing left. But I did make it into the top 10, 4 th in solo, and 8 th overall, of 50 racers on 22 teams.
The race was a mixed bag of disciplines with section 1 being kayaking, then a bike section, then you could kayak, run or bike to get 3 CPs and after that was an orienteering and rappel section. They provided great maps (to no “regular” scale – which meant the UTM plots had to be worked out with a graded plotter, which was OK by me). The map had most CPs marked, we only had to plot CP6 which was an intersection from road to single-track on the bike, then we had to plot a waypoint which was worth a 10 minute time bonus if you found it. And finally, somewhere on the kayak section you had to go through a waypoint to get the UTM coordinates of CP2. To make it even more mixed up, the required CP order was CP4 through CP10 (on the bike), then the other CPs in any order – which ideally was CP3, CP1, CP2 and CP11, and after that came the 5 orienteering CPs and the rappel. I love a good puzzle!
As convoluted as the CP order was, the instructions were clear enough that everyone figured out in 10+ minutes what their race plan would be. The CP6 plot was quite simple and since CP7 was named I guessed I would see a sign at the intersection telling me I was headed down the correct single-track. The 10 minute bonus waypoint I had plotted at a saddle we would bike across, and the question was to calculate the age of David Watson when he died, so I figured on one of the hills either side of the saddle I would see a grave marking to find the dates. As for the waypoint on the kayak, I would get it as soon as I first passed it since the CP could be anywhere. There was ample time to stage my surf ski and transition gear and get to the start line.
5..4..3..2..1..GO! And we were off on the 2006 Dawn to Dusk 12-hour race.
I was first to the water as most others had to drag their boats from the grass area. With a 19ft surf ski on a flat lake it was easy to be in the lead for the first couple of KM to the waypoint. I had to beach the boat and read the co-ordinates (which I also plotted). This allowed Paul Romero (Team Sole) and Jon Wiercinski (a first time racer), who were racing together, to catch me (they finished first overall). Without exiting their boats, P read the co-ordinates to Jon and they were off, but I was able to slide in behind them and Paul and Jon did all the work with me riding their wake, to the end of the lake.
There was about a 1 KM run from the kayak beach to the bike TA. I had already staged a second backpack so just had to transfer my mandatory equipment, change shoes and I was off in the lead for 100 meters, then Kevin Cooper (who ended up third overall) passed me followed by Paul and Jon. I don’t consider myself strong on the bike but I held my own through the first CP to the big hill. The big hill was up Navajo Grade about a 900 ft ascent on dusty paved road. The first 2-man team passed me close to CP5 (I think it was Chris Boyer and Lance Munselle who were first place 2-man) and I had another 400 ft of uphill to CP6. Yes, there was a sign at the start of CP6 to confirm it was the correct trail.
The downhill was a steep 2.5 KM single-track which was lots of fun for me. The road was narrow (like one tire width) and I was working just as hard on the downhill as any uphill climb. It was muscle tenseness and concentration I had to work at. A fall would have been (a) onto rocks and/or (b) about 200 ft into a steep ravine, it was exhilaratingly scary but I could not slow as downhill is where I can make up time. I blew through CP7 at Friis Camp and then there was more single-track along Fernandez Creek and up Fernandez Trail. This was some GREAT single-track. I would class it as moderately difficult. As with the downhill you had to be alert, the terrain changed; criss-crossing the creek, going up and down small hills, rolling over rocks and sand and splashing through puddles. There was so much constant terrain change that is was just plain FUN!
But for every downhill there has to be an uphill and I had to push the bike some of those. On one of them the second 2-man team caught me. We traded positions a couple of times and came to the saddle for the bonus waypoint together. I could see no marking on the hills as I rode up the saddle but at the crest there was a hikers resting bench with a plaque and the date-of-birth, date-of-death inscribed. In a twist on dates David Watson would have been 50 years old the next day (Sunday), only he died in 2002. So I had the 10 minute bonus and now a downhill from the saddle to CP8.
At CP8 there was a choice to be made of riding about 1 KM on a twisty jeep trail or finding a single-track to a more major jeep trail and saving maybe 400 meters. The single-track looked more fun though it turned to a 100 meters of cross country as the trail disappeared. I don’t think I gained or lost anything from the route selection, except I had a fun hike-a-bike for 100 meters. Then it was a long 10-12 KM bike to CP9 (which was also CP4). The ride was all on fire road, but it was another 900 ft of elevation gain, some of it was really steep and the sun was out as it was almost high noon. There were sections I walked as my legs, back, arms all ached. I was racing hard and while drinking lots I was sweating lots too. But once I reached the top of the hill it was back to Navajo Grade and the big downhill.
Arriving back at the bike transition (CP10 and CP3) it was a quick change of backpack and on to the kayak to CP1. CP1 was an “object”, which I had trouble finding. You had to paddle to the main part of the lake and find a finger to the north, I had seen it while on the first paddle section so getting there was no problem. I knew I was at the correct landing spot as there was a creek and a road configuration which looked exactly like the map contours. About 300 meters north of that was this “object” which I somehow went past. While looking around I decided I had gone north too far, so used triangulation on a couple of peaks to return south to a lost flashlight (the “object”). I wasted 10 minutes there, then 10 more minutes as I could not find the kayak.
Once back at the kayak it was a 6 KM paddle to another arm of the lake and a hike about 1 KM up a canyon to CP2 which was the one we plotted from the waypoint UTM’s. I figured it would take about 20 minutes to hike up the canyon, but the boat shoes have no grip and this became a bouldering exercise so I had to take it more carefully. The canyon went on and on and on and on, and 42 minutes after I started up it I found the CP. It was in plain view which was lucky as I had it plotted off to the side of the canyon. The return trip only took 30 minutes, and I got to see about 5 teams hot on my trail. 3 more KM on the kayak and I was into the race for over 8 hours.
Next was the orienteering and a rappel. I donned the rappel harness at the transition, made sure I had my helmet and gloves and then climbed the 300 ft peak to the orienteering start location. The O section was really neat. We were given 5 plots, but they were not UTM co-ordinates, rather it was “head 274 degrees MN (magnetic north) for 0.56 miles to point A, then head 158 degrees MN for 0.5 miles to point B”, etc.. All distances were as the crow flies, and “A” was on top of peak some distance away. I spent almost 10 minutes plotting the 5 points and double checking them. It was a lot of time but worth it as the ideal order was to go to point C, then E, D, B, do the rappel and finally get A on the way to the finish. As I said earlier, I love a good puzzle.
While the crow distances were mere half miles, third miles and less, the elevation gain for the O course (including rappel) was almost 1100 ft. To get to point C then E was on an old trail which was overgrown and I basically followed the tracks of racers who were ahead of me. I really screwed up going for point D. I had it plotted at the same elevation as point E and it was a mere 3 degrees off due south of point E. I ran down a hill past a pond and up the other side where I had to bushwhack to about where I thought the CP was. As I passed the lake I though it strange that a 5 gallon water-bottle was floating in the middle of the lake, but I was in a hurry to make time up on team 51 who I passed as they took a food break.
Once in the thick bush it became difficult to move. I went up the hill, crawled on hands and knees through the manzanita, down the hill, around the rocks and did everything I could to get to the position I thought the CP should be. I was now into the orienteering almost an hour and a half and I was getting tired. At one stage I stopped, sat, had some food and rested while listening to a bunch of racers come down the hill and yell “Hey look, the CP is floating in the middle of the lake!” Duh! Was I a dummy or what? I ran right past it almost 30 minutes ago. , drat, other expletives and how do I get out of here? It must have taken me 10-15 minutes to work my way out of the bush and down to the lake where I was prepared to swim to the water-bottle and find the clue. But we (there were a couple of other teams there too) were lucky in that three hikers had come to look at this small lake and one of them had binoculars which he used to tell us what was written on the O marker.
From there it was a race to the rappel via point B. When I saw the two teams ahead of me running the trails, as I wearily dragged myself, I was resigned that I would be held up at the rappel, so walked easily enjoying the great scenery. When I got to the rappel the first team (Doug Carscaden and Roy Worthen) were just going over the edge, the second team (first co-ed, Lynn and Mark Henderson) were getting prepared and I was hanging-out having fun chatting with the workers and photographer.
When it was my turn to rappel I simply had a fun time as there were no other teams in sight so I could pretty much take my time to the finish line. Well let me tell you, after the rappel it was no easy walk to the finish, we had to go down and up, down and up, up some more, a small down and then up to the top of the peak with the marker for point A. But then it was all downhill to the finish line.
Yishai has a mean streak, and I told him so. But he put on an excellent race. I venture to say it was the best I have ever seen in course design. I really liked that we kayaked twice, that the trekking was in short sections off the kayak, that the orienteering was a puzzle but not overly complex. The only thing I did not like about the race was that I took it too lightly, silly me. I highly recommend this race to anyone from a beginner to a professional. The organization was seamless, the back-country CPs were manned by search and rescue and as you checked in they asked questions like a first responder, so it gave a feeling of being well cared for. They had radio communication going all the time, they were friendly and it was simply a pleasure to be there.
Thank you to everyone who had anything to do with organizing this race, volunteering for it or just racing it. I know Yishai is the name you will see, but I observed many others making sure things were accomplished and on behalf of all the racers thanks a whole lot to everyone.
Sunday – ESPN Sprint
Before I finish I have to give a quick recap of the Sprint race. I hope one of the competitors will give a full account, but from a spectators viewpoint it looked lots of fun. The winning time was about 2 hours, the back of the packers were 4+ hours, so the race was totally doable for anyone.
The race started with a run of about 1 KM to the kayaks. Kayaks were provided and were all the same (plastic sit-on-tops). The first paddle was about 3 KM to an orienteering course where they had to get 3 of 4 points. Then they paddled about ½ a KM to a “grapevine” challenge, where they had to pull themselves on their kayaks across a bay using overhead ropes (I understand the steerage was difficult as they were not to use their paddles). They then paddled about 2 KM back to the start line (portaging across the orienteering landing).
At the start line they had to do a balancing challenge before following a marked bike course of about 8 KM. This took them up the hill where we had our orienteering. They had to get the CP in the middle of the lake (with no binoculars to help them it required a swim), then they had probably the hardest part which was a hike-a-bike on that trail I mentioned as points C and E (dang, when I heard that I knew they were in for some serious tough hiking – right Max and Julie?). The last part of the bike was about 2 KM down the hill and still following the marked route around a point. Before crossing the finish line they had a cargo net climb.
Most competitors in the sprint were 2-person teams and it seemed half the field was from Team In Training who did awesome. I spoke to lots of people this weekend and all were having a great time. I hope to see you all back at some of the other races. Have fun and train hard.
Cheers and many thanks
Barrie Adsett
