This would be SB and my second expedition-length (>24hr) adventure race, and 4th AR overall. We have endurance backgrounds (particularly with rucking), and have picked up orienteering recently. We like especially enjoy challenges that test us not only physically, but mentally, too. We're not the biggest and strongest, but we can make up for that by making good strategic decisions and leveraging our strengths.
We got to know the Lung sisters through rucking events, and they are actually the ones who helped inspire us to give adventure racing a try. There was a period where the Eco Challenge on Amazon Prime piqued everyone's interests in adventure racing, including those in the rucking community. Most never did anything with it, but when we saw that and saw the Lung sisters conquer the Sea to Sea 72 hour race in Florida in 2021, we decided to dive in in 2022. Their advice was helpful as we prepped for that event.
The two of them are physical powerhouses, already have a good team dynamic between them (they are sisters, after all, and know each others' strengths and weaknesses and communication styles). They also have quite a bit of AR experience built up in the last couple of years. SB and I complement and work together well, too, and don't have as much raw strength, but we really enjoy the "smart ranger" aspect of events.
When we saw the Rev3 AR advertised, we decided to see if the sisters were interested in teaming up to make a team of 4. SB really likes the idea of being part of all-female teams that can show the world what we're capable of, and it's not often that you can find a team of 4 women who are crazy enough to do this kind of thing, so this would be an awesome opportunity.
We set up a call in Aug 2022 to discuss the idea, and determine if the 4 of us would be a good fit. When you form teams, it's important to be aligned on goals. You don't want some people to be gung-ho about winning, while others just want to finish. Fortunately, we were aligned on focusing on finishing, hopefully clearing, giving our best effort but not necessarily killing ourselves over it. We've done rucking events together and know that all of us can push hard and are good team players and people who can lead or follow and contribute.
We also discussed strengths and weaknesses, for transparency. You don't want giant surprises during the event. I explained about how I'm not super talkative, which they probably already knew from doing other events with me, so I wouldn't be able to help boost morale in that way. 3/4 of us had about equal skills and confidence levels on bike, and 1 had more confidence, which is a good thing. It's nice to have someone who does have more skill who can be a crutch to lean on for the others, or who can take on extra responsibilities during the bike portion, like bike nav. 3/4 of us were also fans of navigation, which was excellent. Usually, the limiting factor in team formation is finding a navigator, and we had 3 who felt comfortable with that skill! Like I said, we all know how to lead, but I nominated SB to be TL. We'd end up dividing up nav responsibilities, with Meg doing bike (she was the most confident on bike, so it was natural), SB doing water (she had wanted opportunities to refine that skill after the ridiculous paddle portion of Sea to Sea), and me doing land (Meg is actually waaay better at reading topo than me, but I can use a compass and pace count all day - I find it mentally soothing to count, which often leads to a dead reckoning strategy, but it works). Jenni would be in charge of gear (her and Meg's oodles of food ended up saving me from a pretty bad spot). I did the logistics plan, to estimate durations per leg and gear needs. That plan would end up going out the window during the very first leg... out the window and to the next universe, but that's kind of typical at events. No plan survives first contact, which is why you also plan for contingencies, although what ended up happening even blew my conservative estimates out of the water.
We communicated some during our training lead-up. SB and I were very focused on Mammoth until January, which we made clear up-front, but we were able to get more focused on Rev3 once that was over. I'd post about bike or orienteering-related practice sessions and share what I learned from them, to help myself stay motivated and absorb the lessons, but also try to motivate everyone else to keep training, too.
LEAD-UP WEEK
Monday, May 8:
Open Yoga Flow with Jason Kierce at the USNWC. He was very different from the other instructors who have come... he was fun and whacky. I do hope to see him again.
Tuesday, May 9:
Packing...
For this race, every 2 people got to pack a 27-gallon bin for the transition areas. We'd only be accessing the bin mid-race and at the end, when we'd also have access to our cars, too. We got an overview of the general sequence and estimated distances of the legs ahead of time, which gave us the opportunity to plan how much food and gear we needed per leg, and in the bin vs on our persons.
I made a calculator that took our estimated paces per discipline, to estimate how long each leg would be. I had conservative and more aggressive estimates. We also allocated time for transitions. At this race, we'd have to remove wheels from bikes to put them in canoes, and re-install them back on land. That's not something I've ever done before, so we needed extra time for that activity. Leading up to the race, SB had asked everyone on the team to practice this skill, and also do a functions check on our bikes and lights. Bike issues can decimate race plans if they pop up.
CHECK-IN DAY
Thursday, May 11:
Made the drive up to Woodstock, VA...
It's a small town with a nice new park called 7 Bends. It has two entrances. We went to the one where the race was not starting, before seeing no evidence of a race and going to the other one. It was good recon, though, since we'd be in the area for the race later. There are quite a few cool bridges around.
We were there a little early, so we got our bearings, and found the riverside and riverside trail.
We saw some sample canoes that we'd have to stuff our bikes into, although they wouldn't necessarily be replicas of the ones that we'd be using. Some people started experimenting with how we might do this.
Our teammates, the Lung sisters, arrived. We got our mandatory gear together for check-in.
We got the official pre-race brief, with an official demonstration of how one might fit the bikes, given by the Rev3 sponsored team.
Since this was an official North American AR series event, we got individual and team pictures taken, too. We felt semi-professional, haha.
We got dinner at a Mexican place, and then went back to the hotel, with SB and I plotting points and route planning, while the sisters did final prep for their gear. Divide and conquer! It's good to have a team.
It's a blessing and a curse to get maps early (the evening before is early, compared to Sea to Sea, where you get maps right before the bus ride to the start). You get to plan, but then you feel pressure to stay up as long as it takes to get the planning done. It's easier to do it from the comfort of a large, climate-controlled, clean space, with all the nav gear you want, than to do it out in the wild, though.
I was very mentally fatigued that night. It was hard and slow-going, plotting points. I'm glad that SB was there, to help cover down and help me through it. She was much sharper that night.
We reviewed the general plan with the sisters once we got back upstairs.
We took pictures of the rules of travel, maps, plus any outside maps we wanted since that was allowed, as backups.
We started going to bed some time around midnight, with a wakeup at around 6am.
Pre-Race
We dropped our bins and bikes off before the start.
Prologue
The race would start with a trek, to spread everyone out before a bunch of people rushed out of the park on bikes.
It was only like a half mile out to the first point, with the team moving together. After that, one rabbit per team was allowed to go alone to the next point, while the rest of the team could go and get bikes ready. I was the rabbit, which was perfect, since I'm the only one on the team who says that they enjoy running. The others are plenty capable, too, but don't enjoy it as much.
We didn't go out hard... we ran at the very beginning, to show our enthusiasm, but then we switched to a fast walk. It's a 50 hour race, not a sprint, after all.
When I got back, among the last to return, the girls had already gotten our bikes, so I switched into my bike shoes, put on my helmet and gloves, and we set off on our adventure!
Leg 1 - Trek
The first leg seemed pretty straightforward, nav-wise. Teams shared ideas about how to approach it. Just a few turns and milestones on our way to a trail to go up to an overlook to snap a selfie for our first virtual CP. There was a lot of uphill, though, as one might expect for a route that goes up to an overlook. We walked our bikes a lot, and used low gears often. Based on your bike and body, you figure out whether you're better off spinning fast and rolling slowly, or walking. I tended to prefer spinning, since I could at least sit the whole time, and didn't have to bear the weight of my ruck on my legs. It wasn't a super heavy ruck, but I did bring a lot of water, because I didn't want to have to find and purify random water if I could avoid it. We took a few breaks along the way, as needed.
We finally got to the trail, and then we had to make a decision - bike it or walk it? We were going to walk it, but we came across some other teams, who said that the biking wasn't actually as bad as the beginning of the trail with its rocky-ish and steep-ish uphill made it look. We decided to go for it and were glad that we did, because it really wasn't that bad... challenging at times because of the rocks and steepness, but not terrible (still upper green level by my standards, which is about as much as I feel comfortable doing). It ended up being a lot longer than I expected, too, so we were fortunate to not be stuck on foot the whole time. Eventually we did drop our bikes, at a pretty good point, because the trail did get pretty unrideable after that.
I didn't think that the walk would be that long, so I kept my MTB shoes on. I also kept my helmet on, since it didn't bug me much. It ended up being a decent walk, on some rocky ground, but the shoes were fine, fortunately.
Near the top, we came across official race photographers.
At the top, we were met by Alana from the Rev3 staff. She took our picture for us to get credit for the CP. She's an adventure racer herself, which is awesome.
We made our way back to our bikes, and rode them back to the road. We had a little retrieve-the-ruck detour, but got through that, always working together!
Leg 2 - Paddle
It was a short jaunt down to the river, where we now had to disassemble our bike, secure its components well, and set off on a decent paddle. By this time, we were quite a bit behind schedule vs the original plan. A big unknown was how fast the river would be, though... if it was fast, we'd make up some time. We'd have to see!
There were mile markers on the water, so after a few miles, we figured out our average pace. It would not be a super speedy paddle, so we were going to be in it for a while.
I was in a boat with Meg, and Jenni was in a boat with SB. That worked out well, since each boat had a strong paddler in the front. Meg was more experienced with reading the water and pointing out rocks and which way to turn. SB did that for the other boat.
Jenni's probably stronger than Meg, and SB is stronger than me, so their boat was typically ahead. They took a break a couple times while we caught up, but once we caught up, they'd get moving again, so I got flashbacks of Team Assessment, having to roll from one evolution to another without breaks, as "it pays to be a winner". Endlessly paddling hard.
SB did a great job keeping track of the turns, so that we knew where we were at all times. We knew where to stop to get points along the way. We came across one team who had blown past one of the points by 2 miles or something, and had part of their team go back on foot to get the points... that's a long way to bushwhack on the very slanted and uncleared riverbank! But more power to them for wanting to continue clearing the course. The RD had designed the course to be clearable and expected almost every team to be able to clear it, so we were going to keep that goal alive for as long as possible. Course clearers would earn a belt buckle, while non-clearers would get a more generic medal.
We kept paddling, and it was getting a bit later as we did our first on-land boat detour. These more land-oriented ones along the paddle route were placed by the RD to give us a chance to walk a bit and give our sit bones a break. There were a couple of options on how to approach the point. We decided to go the more sure way, using trails. It was longer, but you always have to weight risks vs rewards.
The point took a bit of extra searching, but we found it. We also came across another team that had taken a more direct route. The gamble had paid off for them.
We pushed on, wanting to make it past Compton's Rapids before it got dark. We were warned to stay on the far right side, to avoid the risk of having the rapids tip our canoes over. Some boats didn't listen and lost their bikes at the bottom of the rapids and had to drop out of the race because they had no way to continue!
We went through very cautiously and slowly, and made it.
The next point was nuts... a bunch of team struggled with it. It was difficult even finding the right boat landing point. Once we figured that out, it was still hard. It was at an abandoned campground, but with lots of odd trails in the mix, and many opportunities to miss turns, at least at night. The RD didn't disallow phone use, so that got some teams through. You'd think that a place with man-made structures would make it really easy, but it didn't. We at up a bunch of time, but we were still on track to clear.
We finally got to the end of the canoe leg, where we had the more challenging task of re-assembling our bikes. The chain part makes it difficult. It was dark now, too. The intention had been for everyone to be off the water before dark, which is why they completely removed the second paddle leg, but quite a few teams like us were still on the water after dark even during the first paddle leg. My waterproof pants had completely shredded during the course of the paddle, somehow, so I tossed them. We had been racing for about 12 hours now, too, which isn't nothing, so that fatigue also affects your mental state as you try to do something challenging like putting together bike wheels and executing your priorities of work.
Leg 3: MTB
We went to the boat house to fill up on water, and then began our mountain bike leg. We had a pretty good plan for how we wanted to tackle the points. We didn't have the full plan mapped out, because some of it would be dependent on how dense the vegetation looked and how bad the terrain was once we were there.
We were tired, but we pushed forward, knocking out one point at a time. Nobody ever complained, and we all worked together well. We went on gentler routes when we had the option, to match our bike skills. One team gave us a park map, which was helpful.
We did spend a while on one point, which we're pretty sure based on where we eventually came across it, was mis-plotted.
We ended up finding a good, safe spot for a nap in the early hours of the night, which was a good time for it, since you want to be able to wake up as the sun rises. There were no restrooms here, which was the only downside.
Like with GORUCK events between events, it's very difficult to will yourself to get up when you're tired and only got a couple of hours of rest. You do it anyways, though. The team is counting on you. It's always better with a team.... more motivation to not quit.
We kept going, trying to wrap up the points on the MTB course. We came across another team trying to do the same thing. They were much better MTBers, though. There are some very impressive racers out there.
We went on foot completely, for one section where we knew that the way up and the way down wouldn't be rideable for our skill level, which was a good move.
Back to the whole food thing... with my original race plan, I had accounted for 16.5 hours of food to get through the prologue, bike, paddle, bike, and bike, as I had planned to get to TA1 by 3am the first night. I had started rationing my food when I was still on the paddle leg, at the abandoned campground. I had been living off of crumbs from a packet of freeze dried cheese since the beginning of our MTB leg.
We were now about 6 hours past where my food plans had stopped. I asked the team how everyone was doing on food. Jenni and Meg both still had healthy supplies, fortunately, and were more than happy to share honey mustard pretzels and some kind of bar with me. It was the most amazing thing ever, and kept me going until we were able to get to TA1. I think I could've squeaked through to TA1 if I had to, but it would've been a close call, because I was running on fumes, so they definitely saved me!
At the very end of our MTB journey, we found a nice and flat riverside trail that we probably should've taken much earlier during the leg, too. At least we were taking advantage of it now.
We took a quick break, and even got to use the boathouse's real restrooms, before we set off on the next road-based bike leg.
Leg 4: Paddle #2 Removed
Looking back, it's now crazy to think that anyone could've done Legs 1-3 plus an additional paddle leg before dark on the first day!
Leg 5: Bike
We were glad to be off the MTB trails, and making our way to the TA. Pete would be meeting us there, and based on the original race plan, had been waiting since the previous day. The poor guy is the most patient and faithful and persevering man ever, not knowing at any minute whether we'd be coming or not, when we were really like a whole day away.
We ground through the steep roads leading to TA1. Since we were moving away from the river, it was largely uphill.
TA1:
At last, we reached TA1, where Pete and our bins were waiting for us.
I devoured a bunch of food that had never tasted so good before, and changed into fresh clothes.
We completed mini-challenges to get CP credit. We divide-and-conquered, with SB and me doing the tangrams challenge while the sisters did the water bucket challenge.
We said goodbye to Pete for now, and then set off on our trek adventure. We were glad to be off of bikes and on foot again. Trekking is my favorite, since I come from a running and rucking background, and feel more in control speed-wise.
Leg 6: Trek
Now it was my turn to navigate. Pressure's on! You don't want to mess up, since it means that the whole team has to do extra distance. SB and I came up with a good plan, though, where we'd tackle some easy ones first, and then go for the harder ones based on time.
It was a little tricky finding the trail into the first point, but once I found it, it was a confidence builder. We came across another team who had given up on it and turned around, but I knew that we hadn't gone far enough yet, so we kept going and found it! I'm glad I stuck to my guns on it and didn't get influenced by them. They later turned around when they realized that they probably didn't go far enough.
We continued on, getting a point on a bridge that didn't have a trail leading up to it like that map had suggested, but we bushwhacked our way in.
We followed a trail that ended up going directly through a water crossing!
We crossed a road to get to another point which ended up being very mind-boggling... real life didn't match the trails on the map. It did give us a little bit of recon for where we'd be going later on bike, but we did eat up a lot of time looking for point G.
We went for one more point, before deciding to give up on clearing the course and move on, since we had to get to the finish line before 50 hours, first and foremost, and if we weren't going to clear, we'd maybe have a better time vs points ratio at the later part of the event than we did in this forest terrain. It started raining, too. The "easier" points had already taken a long time, and the other ones were supposedly much more challenging.
Leg 7: Bike
We decided to take a rest now, before making a big push overnight. This spot was known, had water sources, had shelter and civilization, so it was a good decision.
We woke up a little while later, and got ready to go.
We'd be riding on these service roads. It was nice to not have to deal with traffic, and the roads were gravel, but pretty well-maintained. We had to stay vigilant for points, to not miss them as we were screaming past on our bikes. As usual, Meg did a great job with bike nav. In my mind, bike nav was like air force, paddle nav was like navy, and land nav was like army.
The service road did turn into a trail at some point, and it was narrow and rocky, so we walked it. There were some really cool stream crossings. It felt like a real adventure, as we carefully carried our bikes over the rocks that gave us a land bridge. This was my favorite part of the event.
There was also one part of the trail with a downed tree, and it was cool to see the team automatically know what to do to help each other get all the bikes over. Nobody I'd rather have around than GRTs!
There was one point that we blew past, but when we stopped to reassess, SB thought to go back to the water crossing to check, and spotted the point! That would've been sad if we had missed it!
There were some strange areas that we went through, even stranger at night. It was like an old mining town, with houses along the gravel road, and people actually live there.
We were finally getting close to the tower, which we'd climb up to snap a selfie for CP credit. It probably would've been an interesting sight during the day, but we were there at night, so the selfie had less of an impact. We did see fog and some lights in the ground below, and it was peaceful for the few moments we stayed up there, taking in the view.
We came across another team when we were at the fire tower. They were struggling physically, and with equipment (no working bike light for one of them, I think?) and morale. They asked if they could follow us down the mountain, which we were fine with. We were only miles away from the start/finish/TA2 now, where the final orienteering leg would take place.
The way down involved a crazy descent on a road with lots of switchbacks. I rode my brakes hard, the whole time. I wonder how scary it is at night vs in the daytime. Maybe it was easier to go down at night, since you couldn't see how fast you were going as easily. It was quite an experience! We all made it down safely, and rode the last couple miles into the TA.
TA2:
We checked in some time in the middle of the night, did another tangrams challenge, and then decided to get a couple hours of rest before our final leg. Car access was fair game at this point, so we changed clothes and slept in our cars. It always goes by really quickly, and before you know it, it's time to wake yourself up again. It's chilly and you're tired, but you must go.
Leg 8: Orienteering Trek
It was my turn to take point on nav again. Fortunately, my mind was very sharp and turned on at this point. I had a plan mapped out for getting easy points, before taking on different possible sets of far points based on how time was going.
The trails were pretty straightforward and accurately mapped. Pace counts worked out, and we found every point pretty quickly. It always helps at night when the points are reflective, and you have a powerful light that can help you see the point from far away. As one fellow racer said in her Youtube recap of the race, "they sure like their bridges in this town".
The sunrise meant that we'd no longer benefit from the reflective material, but it was pretty.
We did go on quite a trek with a decent amount of distance and uphill, but the plan was to bag as many points as we could before time was up, so everyone powered through, despite the fatigue. You don't know how many points the competition has, so you keep doing the best you can...
Near the end, we had some fun points to get... we felt pretty good about time management. We had 2 water points that Meg grabbed by kayak. She was feeling good and didn't mind getting wet for the team.
We backtracked a little bit to go for point R, since we had a bit of extra time. We searched for quite a while on a steep spur, but no luck. It turns out that it was ground level, by the stream. The MACV2s were doing very well, though!
We were in very good moods as we got our last point and made our way back to the start.
We crossed the finish line, with an hour to spare, which I'm good with. We need to cross the finish line before the 50 hour mark, first and foremost.
We hung out at the end, swapping stories about the race experience with other teams. Pete and his son were there to welcome us in and help us as we recovered.
We were psyched to learn that we placed 1st in our division.
Our willingness to keep going until the very end and get every point that we could within the time limit, got us to the top.
I'm so proud of this team, and to have been a part of it. We each come in with different strengths, but the same kind of stellar work ethic and grit, and an ability to work together through whatever situations we came across.
The next day after I got home, I put together a video recap of the experience, while the excitement was still very fresh in my mind:
Another team's experience... it's fun to see what other teams went through during the same journey... Each team has their own dynamics, but we're all athletes and humans, going through similar physical and mental struggles...
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