1st off, it was very hard to get good beta on VQ. The only race report I could find was from several years ago and, let's just say, was written by someone not very detail oriented. Just enough to say, "yeah, did some canoeing, did some biking, tried to find some points in the woods, survived." So while I had an idea of what an adventure race was (watching EcoChallenge back when it was on TV - "Gee that looks cool! Lets do that!") I didn't really know what to expect from VQ. Then about a month prior to the race Mical and I realized we had no partner for our 3-person team. I guess it says something about the amount of trust Michelle has (had?) in Mical and I that she agreed to be on our team with no info as to what she was getting herself into, and less then a month to do any preparation, like learn to mtb. Maybe that means Mical and I are great people. Or maybe it means Michelle shouldn't be so trusting.
But surely we'll have no trouble; we've all run Highland Sky right? The logic is infallible.
A week before the race Mical, Michelle, Megan and I went and tried the mtb loop at Fountainhead, where we know at least part of the race will be held. The biking can't be too hard, because this isn't an "expert" dedicated mtb race, it’s an adventure race, right? We attempt to ride the loop.... hmm, this biking trail is really hard. It’s taking us a long time. We don't have enough time to do the whole loop, lets take the by-pass here that cuts off 3/4 of the loop. Gosh, this "Shockabillly Hill" is really steep. I'm not even going to try to go down it. Surely they'll let us go down the bypass during the actual race.
Afterwards Megan asks us what we think about the mtb section, seeing as how we could only do 1/4 of it in an entire morning and there will be cut offs at the race. Michelle's answer shows true character and her ability to unflinchingly assess reality: "Maybe the rest of the loop will be easier. Flatter, with fewer rocks. And not as slippery." Mical and I feel that Michelle has just voiced exactly what we were thinking and wholeheartedly concur. Surely this will be the case.
We go to the pre-race briefing the day before where they give you your passport, which contains just enough information to be maddeningly uninformative: 1st stage run down to the lake and back. 2nd stage: do mtn bike loop, stop at checkpoint midway through. Check in at transition area, drop bike, go run to another checkpoint. Get in canoe, paddle back. Portage canoe to transition area. See if you made 1:45 cutoff. If so, get on bike and do loop again. See if you make the 3:15 cutoff. Portage canoe back to lake. Canoe to another check point. See if you make another cutoff. Do unknown challenge. Run back.
Race day - the race starts at 8:00 am and you can register @ 6 to get your map. We decide to get there before 6, so we get up @ 4:20. After a week of low humidity and temps in the low 70s in the middle of the day, it is already 75 and humid @ 4:20 am. Not a good sign. Pick Michelle up by 5 and get down there a little before 6. Set up the bikes and gear in the transition area in the bike and Mical registers and gets the map for us. Look at map. Hmm, lots of different sections to in order to make 1:45 cutoff, think we can make it? Mical has read that "not so good" mtbers can do the bike course in 2 hrs. Having nothing else to judge on, we definitively state that if we can do the loop in less then 2 hrs we can make the cutoff. Gee, that paddling section looks pretty long. Should we try to figure out distinguishing features so that we'll know how much farther we have to paddle? Nah, it’s not important. It’s a lake, how hard can it be to know where you are? Plot course. Have everything set up with 15 minutes to spare. Go wait in long port-a-potty line.
Race starts! Go slow on the opening run so that most people wont be bunched behind us on the mtb portion, screaming obscenities at us as they pass us doing our mtb version of the slow guy in the fast lane on the beltway. Think we do a good job of getting towards the back of the pack during run. Do a great job in the transition area. Head into the mtb loop. Immediately bunch up large group of bikers behind us. Let them go by.
Fountainhead is a bi-polar mtb trail. If you can go fast you float over the roots/rocks, the bike bouncing around like a live animal. If you go slow all of the roots/rocks grab you, trying to make you fall over as you try in vain to get your foot out of the pedal to catch yourself. After the first few hills we are no longer going fast. We find out that the rest of the trail is, for the most part, slightly easier then the portion we previewed. Slightly easier. Finally get a downhill of nicely packed trail, now we're flying! Uh oh, why am I pedaling, but the bike isn't moving? Broken chain! Take 15 minutes to fix chain. To add insult to injury the course goes down Shockabilly. We all walk our bikes down it, not wanting to give the cameraman the "Agony of Defeat" picture of us going over our handlebars.
Get back to transition area. It’s only taken us 1:50 hr to do the mtb loop so we're under our self-imposed 2 hr time limit. Should be able to make the cutoff no problem. Do great in the transition once again. Now to our strong point, trail running! Make good time running down the trail. To cut off a portion of the trail we do a quick bushwhack to a streamcrossing. There is another team already there with the same idea but is afraid to cross the water. Mical and Michelle are tough, they jump right in and cross to the otherside, and we start running down the trail while the other team sits on the other side of the stream taking off their shoes. We rock! Make the right decisions orienteering to the wild-card checkpoints, and end up farther along the trail then I thought. It’s good when that happens!
Get to the canoe. Portage it down to the lake. Mical in front, Michelle in middle, I'm in back. After we get situated Michelle synchronizes her paddling with Mical. We leave a wake behind the canoe, passing teams with 2 guys/girl combination. They look at us slack jawed in amazement. We are kicking butt now! Just a few bends around the lake and we'll get to the transition area. Plenty of time to make the cutoff. Marina does not come into view after a few bends in the lake. Wake behind canoe starts to fade, then dies. Everyone getting tired. Still no marina. How much farther? Should have paid more attention to paddle leg on map. It’s hot and humid out here. Lake goes on and on. Hope of making cutoff fades.
See the marina! "More paddle, less talk." May barely make it. Get out of water, pick canoe up and throw it over our heads. Darn, Michelle is too short to carry it on her shoulders! Mical will have to carry the front herself. Mical wishes she were shorter. Michelle is secretly glad she is not. We get the canoe up the long steep hill to the transition area, and talk a team leaving into taking it off our heads so we don't have to drop it. Suckas!
Manage to get to transition area 5 (?) minutes ahead of the cutoff. So we have to do the 2nd biking loop. Maybe should have paddled a little slower, since we only have 1:30 to do the mtb loop to make the next cutoff. Don't think we'll make it but we'll try. Start doing second loop. Team getting tired; have to push bikes up more hills. See Michelle's friend Steve through the trees as he is running the last section towards the finish. He looks as fresh as a daisy. I suddenly notice that I smell. Slog through the death march that is the second mtb loop. Realize we will not make cutoff. We all push our bikes up the last hill to the transition area, 10 minutes behind the cutoff. A valiant effort. Secretly, I'm glad that I won't have to get into that damn canoe again for the next leg.
So, that’s the report. The race was actually a lot of fun, and I think we learned alot that we can apply to future adventure races. Bottom line is its alot different then ultras, especially the team aspect versus running yourself. My hat is off to both of my teammates, especially Michelle who put up with Mical and I and was a good sport even though she didn't really know what she was getting herself in to and hadn't been mountain biking for very long at all.
NO, I’m not trying to show off my belly!
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