Despite a gloomy, stormy forecast, the rain held off on Friday (other than sprinkles). This was great news because my first grade class had a field trip to Cahokia Mounds.
Because it's so close, it's easy to forget what a cool place this is, but it's actually a World Heritage Site. Archeological study has shown that the area was inhabited from around A.D. 700 to 1400 and had a population of up to 20,000 at its peak. Over 120 mounds were built during this time; the largest, Monk's Mound, is shown above.
While the museum at Cahokia Mounds is really cool, the highlight of the field trip is climbing the 100+ stairs to the top of Monk's Mound, and of course, this is the part that's threatened by the weather. Despite a pretty chilly day, though, the rain held off. We had a few sprinkles on our way back down, but we stayed pretty dry.
I had sent Patrick a message earlier in the day suggesting that, if the weather hold off, we try mountain bike school again. While I'm able to bulldoze through a lot on the trails, I'm definitely lacking in the technique department, so Patrick had offered to help me work on skills. Last week rain spoiled our plans, but this Friday things looked promising...right until I left school. Luckily, once again the rain was light and short-lived, and we were able to meet up at the SIUE trails. Unfortunately, I was tardy for class because I realized halfway there that I didn't have my bike shoes. This is turning into a real problem for me as I've also left them in other peoples' cars twice. (Thanks, Luke and Bob for turning around and Emma for mailing them to me!)
Friday's lesson plan:
Using body momentum to lift the front wheel instead of just pulling with my arms (eh...long way to go on this still).
Flow: Next, we headed to the first dip in the trail. I'm comfortable riding it one direction, but I've walked it in the other direction ever since attempting it and crashing last year. Not anymore. Patrick made me ride it back and forth until I came through with a minimum of brakes in either direction.
Switchbacks: I lose a ton of time on turns and such because I'm braking so much, so we practiced switchbacks on the trail and then riding in fairly tight circles around a bush in both directions.
Log jumping: This is the one area where I felt fairly comfortable and maybe even surprised Patrick a little bit. I still need to work on my timing, but this was not terrible.
It was really good to just go out and ride and re-ride (and re-ride) different spots. There are so many times I'll just ride through something, think Oh, I went about that all wrong...and then ride on. It was very helpful to go out expressly to practice, and I really appreciate having a friend who's willing to help me out...even if it means having to listen to me whine about being afraid or not being able to do something or having to ride the scary dip again. And who knew how relevant skateboarding could be to mountain biking? :)
Over the shoulder shot. The trails were in great condition.
After bike school, I just left all my mountain bike gear in the car since I was meeting the Team Revolution ladies for a group ride at Cliff Cave Park. Cliff Cave is a lot like SIUE, except not so tight and twisty, and not so many roots. This was the site of my third-ever mountain bike ride last March. I was really slow and tentative last year, so it was a lot of fun to come back and see the trails without fear-colored glasses. We rode 10 miles of laps on the Spring Valley trail, which gave me a chance to get comfortable with carrying a little more speed than is typical for me. I still was hitting the brakes on some of the downhills, but not as much as I typically would.
Saturday's group
We were supposed to play volleyball at my father-in-law's sand court on Sunday, but a combination of busy friends and iffy weather convinced Jeff to cancel. I'd kept my mouth shut (hard as that may be to believe) about it because I do an awful lot of things that I want to do and didn't want to sway his decision away from his plans, but I was really wanting to go to Indian Camp Creek Park for an orienteering meet.
Actually, what I really wanted to do was first the meet and then mountain bike, but I wasn't quite sure how I'd get away with that since I planned to get Jeff and J to do the meet with me. When I first mentioned it, J was all excited: "Yeah, I want to do that!" Then he asked, "Are you going to do the map?"
"Well, I'd like to," I told him.
"Ok, that's good," he responded, "Then you can get practice navigating for your races."
He totally gets it. :)
So I got my way, and instead of being happy I was feeling crabby as we headed towards the park. The getting out of the house process is way more stressful when the family is going than when it's just me, the weather was looking like crap, my compass is still making it's way back to me, and the meet was going to use an aerial map rather than a topographical map, something which may have kept me home if I'd realized it before we were committed to going.
I'm so glad we went! J really likes orienteering, and Jeff, who wouldn't typically run unless you held a gun to his head, gets caught up in the spirit of competition and does quite a bit of running. I've been so proud of them every time we've done a meet together.
J checking out the big map during the orientation talk
This meet was basically geared towards beginners, so the SLOC members who were putting on the meet gave a brief introductory talk and then started us off. The meet format was a score-o: the controls/checkpoints have different point values depending on how far away and how easy there are to get to, you can find them in any order, and you have to be back in a certain amount of time or there's a penalty. We were doing the 90 minute course.
For once, I actually had a route planned when we took off; usually I realize at the start that I have no idea where I'm going first. We opted to go for larger point value controls first and then evaluate our plan after about 30 minutes. Two other teams headed off in the same direction that we did, and they quickly outdistanced us as J faltered running uphill.
Happy to be out there, and REALLY happy to be walking.
I have my own competitive issues, so I really have to focus on why we're out there. It's good family time, and it's good navigation practice for me. That's all that matters. (Repeat this mantra every time we walk. :D) J did a good job with our plan of running on downhills and walking on uphills.
All of the controls were easily accessible by road or trail.
We found the first two controls right after the family group ahead of us. I was really hoping that they'd get far enough ahead of us that we could feel like we were doing our own navigating, so I was delighted when, after punching the second control, they headed off onto a trail through the woods. Looking at the map, I was pretty sure taking the road would be the quicker, easier option, so we ran down the road until we could jump onto the trail at a further spot and then made use of a powerline cut to further shortcut our route.
J playing catch-up on the trail
We found the next two controls with no problem and then headed straight to where the next was shown on the map...but it wasn't there. It should have been right there, but I couldn't see it. I started to wander around a little when Jeff asked to look at the map and told me we needed to back up. As he turned around, he spotted the control flag in the top of a lookout tower.
J and I headed up the stairs, and the higher we got the more nervous he got. I'm no fan of heights myself, so I had to pretend to be brave for him while trying not to hyperventilate. OK, it might not have been that bad, but I was nervous.
Not as nervous as J was; note the deathgrip on the railing.
We were both very happy to have our feet back on the ground.
You can see the tower in the background.
Rather than hop back on the road, we opted to go off-trail again, cutting through the scrubby field to a spot where the treeline curved. We then cut into the woods and walked directly to the control. Pretty cool.
We did a combination of trail running and bushwhacking to get to the next control, and then we had a decision to make: continue to collect some closer controls or go for the 12-point big boy. We were doing pretty well, so we decided to go for it. Almost immediately we had a question about which trail we were on; it didn't look like it should be hard to figure out, but we weren't sure, so we hopped out onto the road until we got to where the trail crossed the road.
Coming up to the trail
We zipped up the trail, got our 12-point control, and headed back out. We again combined following the trail with strategic bushwhacking to save ourselves some time.
Even though it meant climbing some hills, the guys hung right with me.
We got controls 27 and 26, and then to get to 25 we could either follow the twisty trail a really long way out of our way...or we could bushwhack to the road and then run right to it. Of course we opted to go off-trail. We headed down a steep hill and then into...a swamp.
Standing water everywhere
We were completely soaked already, so it wasn't a big deal. Really, it probably washed a lot of the mud off of us...but that water was cold!
And kinda deep!
Our strategy worked, though, and we popped out on the road and ran/walked right to our next control. I know it was just a beginner course, but it was really satisfying to have things going right, especially after the last time I was in charge of navigation. We picked up two more controls along Big Creek and then started to turn back toward the finish line, picking up several more controls on the way. This is where I made my one real mistake of the day; our control #13 was at a trail junction. Focused on getting us back in time, I didn't notice that #12 was super close down the trail in the other direction. Instead, I headed towards the finish.
When we reached the start/finish area, we still had a few minutes left, and there were a couple of low-point controls super close. Another family group was doing the same thing; the son went one way and I went the other, coming out on the sidewalk ahead of him. I managed to stay ahead of the 10ish year old boy all the way to the first control. :) Realizing I had time to get to one more, I sprinted off around the pond. The run back wasn't so fun, but J was waiting for me on the sidewalk. "Daddy's going to get video of us running it in," he told me.
I handed him the passport, and we ran to the finish together. As we neard the shelter, the little twerp turned on the afterburners and tried to leave me in the dust. That was not going to happen, so I sprinted after him. I almost had him, but he cut me off and beat me to the finish line. What he lacks in endurance, he makes up for in strategy.
We hung around waiting for the other teams to come in, and while J was a little disappointed that there weren't snacks afterward like at the regular orienteering meets, he was intrigued when they started announcing winners. Obviously, with me navigating we've never focused on competition with other teams, just on how fun it is to go out and see how you can do...but we'd had a pretty successful outing. We had racked up 61 points worth of controls, and as they started announcing winning scores for the solo men, I started feeling good about our chances of placing.
Winning!
Turns out that our 61 points put us in 1st place for mixed teams...and we were actually third overall, just a couple points behind Dr. Fran...and waaaay behind the solo male winner, who cleared the course. Since we had had a fantastic time running around in the woods, the ribbons were just the icing on an already tasty cake. But still, it was pretty sweet.
I have this habit of underestimating things after doing them once. For example, since my half marathon I've considered anything shorter "only" ten miles, even though every time I train I'm reminded that, like spray foam and wire hangers, the difficulty of a run always expands to fill the available space. Thus, while I was super excited about Team Virtus's Carnage at the Creek non race, I wasn't worried about being able to complete it. After all, I'd just come through 28 hours of the LBL Challenge with flying colors.
This misplaced confidence endured despite my status as a solo racer and well-documented navigational woes, facts which in no way dissuaded me from indulging in some friendly smack talk.
My cockiness was in no way commensurate with my skill, but I like to think that's part of its charm. After all, trash talk you can back up is just bragging, right? I made this bet fully expecting to lose, but then Chuck decided to race and suggested teaming up. Since Chuck is a kickass navigator and his presence would completely change the spirit of our competition (the absolute certainty of me losing), I checked with Todd first to make sure he'd be OK with the change.
Todd didn't mind, and somehow Chuck's participation resulted in me becoming entangled in more bets, so I headed west on Friday with a target on my back and a banana cream pie with my name on it. I honestly had lost track of all the wagers I was involved in, but they just added another level of fun to the weekend.
Multiple bets going on here
I pulled into Dry Fork Campground excited to get together with friends and meet some internet buddies in person. Never actually meeting Brian and Todd (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) or Dave and Tim (Tardy Rooster) hadn't prevented me from exchanging friendly taunts across Facebook and blogs. Actually, I guess my only "contact" with Tim(e) had been advocating that he be saddled with Luke's accidental misspelling as a nickname, but like a foolhardy toddler, SuperKate knows no strangers.
It's a little intimidating to meet people who know you only by your own (self-created) reputation. I try to be the real me on my blog, but I'm definitely funnier on paper than in person. I wouldn't say I was worried about it, but it was on my mind. That said, I'm not a good enough actress to pretend to be cool, so they were stuck with the real me, take it or leave it.
Several of the tents at our site
I can only imagine the ulcers Bob and Luke developed when they arrived at our planned headquarters at Pine Ridge Campground only to see it overrun by Bushcrafters, but the nearby Dry Fork Campground was a great alternative. Cramming 15ish people into the one remaining site resulted in enforced (and very enjoyable) community...and the irony that our posse of mountain bikers, who would spend much of the next day cursing horses and their riders for the damage they do to our beloved trails, was staying smack in the midst of an equestrian campground.
We stayed up later and drank more heavily than perhaps is wise before a race, but luckily this was a non-race. Hanging out around the fire was a blast. Brian did his best to pin down exactly what my end of the WTF bet would be, and I put plenty of pressure on Chuck by assuring everyone that my choice of partner virtually guaranteed me a victory. There were many stories and much laughter around the campfire until the party broke up around midnight. Turning my phone to airplane mode to save the battery, I caught a rare signal and was able to see Todd's sweet good luck wishes on my Facebook wall.
Clearly I wasn't alone in the trash talk aisle.
I obviously hadn't had enough to drink because I had a terrible time falling asleep. Instead, I laid in my tent (that's right, Jill...TENT!) shivering and listening to snoring in stereo, which itself wasn't so bad, except it reinforced the fact that someone else was able to sleep. I dozed on and off, but at the sounds of the first tent zippers I was wide awake and pondering the eternal question: do I have to pee badly enough to get out of this sleeping bag?
Nobody's moving too fast, and everyone wants to be by the fire.
Despite getting a cold-assisted early start to the day, no one was in a big hurry to get moving for our 9:00 start. Luke and Bob headed to the other campground pretty early, and the rest of us slowly got breakfast and gear together. Emma, Derrick, Chuck, Lori, their boys and I were the very last ones to leave the campground, a mere 10 minutes before the pre-non-race meeting. Even so, we weren't the last ones to arrive at Pine Ridge; that distinction belonged to the boys of WTF, who got lost on their way to the race.
Brian and Todd do the adventure racing walk of shame
We got our maps and clue sheets, and I wandered around aimlessly while Chuck looked them over and figured out what was what.
Chuck works with the map...
I'd have been in so much trouble on my own.
While I'm interviewed by the competition (Brian of WTF)
Derrick gets things together while Bob and Luke fill us in on non-race details and Lori takes pictures
As Luke and Bob went over directions, I looked around and realized I only knew who about half of the people were. Probably my biggest disappointment of the race was not managing to actually meet everyone, which sounds silly, but it's one of the things I was looking forward to after seeing all the names and comments on the Virtus blog and Facebook page.
Some of the 23ish non-racers: Josh, another Wahoo, Steven, Allie E, Brian, Todd, Allie W, Dave, and Stephen
Our late arrival precluded social hour, though, and now it was time to non-race.
Pre-race game faces, all except Todd, who looks like he's already visualizing pie-in me. L-R: Justin, Allie, Stephen, Kate, Chuck, Todd
The race started with a short run to the bikes, and then a marked bike leg to spread everyone out before the trekking leg. My sprint was hampered by Brian's grip on my pack, though, and I'm sure he gained miliseconds on my there. We jumped onto the bikes and flew towards the trail. We had a 1:30 cut-off to finish the initial bike plus trek, and as we rode Chuck asked me, "Do you have a watch on?" Ummmm...no. And neither did he.
Chuck usually races with Robin. They're a well-established and successful team, and since they've been partners since around 2007 they have their routine down. Chuck navigates while Robin is in charge of time and tracking distance. I brought none of these skills to the table, not even a watch. On the other hand, our initial trip onto the trails wasn't marred by my typical beginning-of-ride tentativeness.
I chased Chuck down the singletrack and into one of the fields I remembered from last year's race. Still not a fan of riding through fields, I was working hard to keep up with my partner and not at all looking at where we were going. I managed to pass Brian with an evil laugh right before riding through a cow gate...and promptly toppling over right in front of him. To his credit, while he laughed he did not ride over me as threatened on the internet.
The singletrack past the cow gate got rough, and I managed to fall over yet another time. This early in the race, and we were already pushing and lifting bikes...this could be a long day. As we made our way across a creek and prepared to push our bikes up the steep hill I remembered from last year's race, Bob came running up behind us: "You guys are seriously way off course."
It sounded like a mean prank, but it was unfortunately true. The thing about a marked course is that you actually have to follow the markings, and when the lead rider missed one, I think everyone else rode pell-mell after him. Unluckily for the leaders, they flew through the area before Bob could catch them and had to figure out the mistake on their own. We got back on track and climbed over the first barbed wire fence of the day.
Much of the race was held in the Mark Twain National Forest, and since cattle are allowed to graze in the pastures there, we had numerous fences to cross during the day...not to mention plenty of cow patties to avoid.
The next stretch of singletrack was worlds better than our off-course route, but it was still a challenge for me. I walked some of the trickier spots (and some that weren't so tricky, but the wimpiness that had been absent earlier had found me). Behind me on the trail I heard Adam call, "That better not be a Virtus jersey slowing things down!"
Walking down a rocky drop, I saw Chuck waiting ahead of me. "I bet you rode that, didn't you?" I asked.
"Yeah, but I flatted on it," he answered. Not just a flat, but he gashed the sidewall of his tire. While he set about putting a tube in the tire, I pulled out a GU for him to use to boot the tire. It was my first experience with peanut butter GU, and I was definitely taking one for the team, because I'm not a fan. We watched almost the entire pack pass us up while Chuck changed the tire, a much quicker process thanks to an extra CO2 cartridge courtesy of Josh from Team Wahoo.
That's the smile of a girl who knows she'll be hiking in a few minutes.
Tire fixed, we headed back onto the trail again, and I began what was to become a daylong conversation with myself. Robin could ride this...Robin wouldn't be walking this...Robin would be faster...I bet Chuck forgot how slow I am on the bike...he must be really glad I couldn't do that race next month... I'm a word class ignorer, but somehow I can't tune out that little voice in my head. The last stretch was smooth and fun, and I was very glad to hear voices ahead of us in the woods signaling that we were almost back.
We pulled back into the campground at 10:04, 54 minutes after we'd left and right in the middle of the pack. Of course, some of that pack had ridden significantly farther than we had, but still. It was going to be a long race.
We made a quick transition to the trek and ran out of the campground. Yeah, ran. Chuck made me run. I need to work on getting my pack adjusted better so it isn't bouncing around, but I was happy to be moving faster and catching up with some of the people ahead of us. We passed Steven, who was out on his first (I think) experience navigating solo, and then we caught up with Travis, Adam, and the WTF boys at the pasture.
Travis was moving at about the same speed that we were, so we ended up hanging together. He and Chuck were right on with their navigation, and I was asking questions so that I was hopefully learning something. "What's our plan?" "What are we looking for?" "So is that a ridge?" Steven caught up with us in the pasture. He was struggling with the map and asked if he could kind of hang with us. The whole time he did, he was asking questions and following where we were on the map, so he was doing just what he needs to do to get better. It doesn't teach you much of anything to follow blindly along (Kate).
Rather than bushwhack through the forest, we stuck to the fields as long as possible. It was nice catching up with Chuck and Travis, getting to know Steven a little, and meeting Kelly Sumner of Offroad Fixation, who I knew by reputation only. We cut from the fields into the woods towards our first trekking CP.The area we were racing in is just beautiful. Not necessarily a lot of epic views (though there were some of those), but beautiful nonetheless, and I know that the guys picked out some highlights for us to see.
While Chuck and I were officially racing as a 2-person co-ed team, we actually had a third racer accompanying us. My nephew's first grade class is reading Flat Stanley, and he had sent his Flat Stanley across town to me. Rather than tell his class about their own town, I decided to take Stanley adventure racing.
Stanley and I at the first CP
Our next trek through the fields took us past a bunch of cows. There were several calves chasing each other around. It was really cute, and I mentioned that they reminded me of puppies playing together. Travis disagreed, "You don't spend much time on farms, do you, Kate?"
The cows gave us pretty wide berth, but I was still glad to get past this guy and his horns
The next CP was in a creekbed, and after I marked it we snapped a quick team picture.
We headed back across the pasture until we reached the pond from last year's mystery event, and then we climbed more barbed wire into the forest again.
All these fences made me really glad I have long legs, and Chuck's map case made it a lot easier to avoid getting poked or snagged. Other times we worked together moving wires out of the way so we could all get through
The only time we hit a minor snag in our navigation was looking for the waterfall CP. We came at it from above and had a great time scrambling down the steep sides into the creekbed and then pulled up before we found our spot. That meant clambering back up and hiking along the top before we finally found the right spot and making our way back down.
Getting down this wasn't too bad until I got to the vertical part. Then it made me a little nervous."]
Steven hiking up the creekbed as we look for the elusive waterfall CP
Unfortunately, despite some rain earlier in the week, the wet-weather waterfall wasn't running. Fortunately, unlike some of the other teams, we never saw any snakes. I'll take that tradeoff.
The picture doesn't really reflect what a cool spot this was. Big dropoff behind me. "The last time we saw Kate she was marking the CP...""]
After that last trekking CP we headed back to the campground and the bikes. There was a 1:40 cut-off to get to the there and a stiff penalty for being late, so while we had a comfortable amount of time left we didn't want to take any chances. Unfortunately, our chosen route put us at the top of a steep downhill.
Keep in mind...pictures never reflect just how steep hills are."]
Chuck and Travis went first, and then Steven and I followed. It was a lot of fun...once I was safe at the bottom.
