Grassroots Sprint Adventure Race Series
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2007 GrassRoots Adventure Racing |
Rewind to 2006. Resident teammate Jon McCune suggests to Lenny Lucas to mountain bike with him while staying in Pittsburgh for the summer. This lead to a whole summer devoted to mountain biking, and an eventual reunion with the Wulfkuhles at the 2006 24-Hour Subaru Champion Challenge at 7Springs. Big Lead Pipes was back.
Fast forward to 2007. Lenny returns for another summer. This summer the duo again does the 24-Hour Champion Challenge with the Wulfkuhle's and Jon's fiance Kathleen in the 5-person sport class, 125-175 years division. Armed with our two extremely talented and willingwomen, Andy on the rigid single-speed, and Jon and Lenny on full-suspension bikes, the team pulls out a third place podium finish in a special-ordered gorgeous-weather weekend.
This particular story highlights the summer around the 24-hour race. Early in the summer, Jon and Lenny decide on races to compete in, anticipating the 24-hour race to be the apex of the racing season. They begin by signing up for an adventure race in Frick Park, encouragingly named AFAR, "A Frick'n Adventure Race". This was one of a few summer races organized by Grassroots Racing (GRR), a relatively new promoter of adventure racing in the southwest PA region.
AFAR proved to be a learning
experience in both adventure racing and teammate interaction.
The experiences began with the anticipation of the flow of the
race and the course. A signature of GRR- as we would experience
time and time again- was a conscious confidentiality of the
course until race start. The staff at GRR intended the racers
to use their skills at following directions, navigating, and
communication to realize and execute the course. The race began
at the ass-crack of dawn, with a kayak prologue upstream then
back downstream the Monongahela just south of Frick Park. Jon
and Lenny wholeheartedly expected to do quite well with their
rowing experience, but hey, kayaking is completely different
from rowing. The kayak would not stay straight, and they
meandered their way to the pier at the turnaround, calling out
power three's to get the boat straight, over and over again as
each power stroke overcompensated. The paddling finally notched
into a steady straight course, but it was too late. They managed
to almost DFL out of the three heats in the prologue.
The next portion of the race started two hours later. Here they
were told they would be running along a marked course, biking
along a navigated course, then running the first course
backwards. They started the run near the end of the line
because of the prologue disaster. But first they were tied at
the hands and had to shimmy through a 1.5'x4'x20' box to begin
the run course. In and out the box, cut the rope, and off they
went. They held a solid pace and were passing teams like they
were cold product. Another hazard at the end of the run- climb
over an elevated truss without falling. A stop at the TA to get
the bikes and consume energy, then back through the box with our
bikes. With front wheels off quickly, the box was no match for
BLP. Off onto the bike course where Jon was embarassingly
familiar with shortcuts and trails marked to gather our
checkpoints. The checkpoints came along smoothyl except for a
short distance navigational checkpoint that took BLP ten minutes
to search for in vain. Losing this checkpoint cost BLP ten
minutes of time. Would this matter? It was too much time to
waste looking any further. The technical red biking course was
followed by a lengthy but easily navigatable blue course. After
both courses were finished, they learned they had gained almost
29 positions out of 36 teams from 32nd to 3rd. This left the
last run. The stream running and steep downhills on the first
run leg proved more difficult in the subsequent backwards run
leg where the steep uphills required Lenny to pull a faiguing
Jon up the grades. Towards the end of the run, Lenny felt the
fatigue, but the duo held together for a spectacular finish
under 4 hours and in third place. The ten minute penalty pushed
them back to fourth, and second in the all-male division.
SUCCESS for BLP!
Here BLP learned of the adventure racing series GRR organized.
Interests were piqued to continue the race series at the Moraine Adventure Dash
(MAD).
MAD required the majority of a
weekend's time and a support crew (Kathleen). The pre-race
meeting the night before the race introduced BLP to the use of
UTM coordinates, a way of plotting points on a map like on a
grid. The course was divulged expectedly little. No maps, no
clue. Camp was set up at Bear Run campgrounds, chicken
sandwiches were distributed for proper pre-race energy, and BLP
set to get a good night's 6 hours of sleep. At 3:55am, BLP woke
up, cleaned up camp and headed for the start line. After
setting up TA, BLP had 10 minutes until the the prologue start
at 6:18am. With a BLP shout-out, they jettisoned onto the
2-mile prologue run course. With teams ahead, navigating the
checkpoints off of the main trail was easy- as Frank would say
we were gaining and using information. If the run wasn't
completed in 20 minutes, teams would be docked a point for every
minute. BLP managed to finish in 19:16, safely gaining a point
for being under the time limit.
The bike course began with fastest teams from the prologue, BLP
being third to go. Jon remained at the start while Lenny was
shuttled to an unknown location along the course. Jon would
make a determined pass of the before reaching Lenny about 3/4
mile away. Jon was to collect Lenny's bike from the brush on
the trail to Lenny further up the hill. With an amazing push
before the crowd of shuttled teammates, Jon rolled the bike the
distance to Lenny, saving seconds in transport, gaining gaining
points in cool. With one team ahead, the duo raced feverishly to
pass, and upon a clearing, did so with authority. This would be
team Snot Rockets, a veritable competitor particularly in this
race. With the technical 7-mile bike course ahead, Jon and
Lenny hammered the rocks and logs and hills to come out a few
minutes ahead of the pack. A quick mathematical hazard at the
TA slowed the team up - the directions read to use you team
number for the next leg, but instead went through all the math
that lead to the same number. Knowing the number to use, they
searched the clotheslines of numbered baggies for the packet to
be used on the Rogaine section, taking advantage of Jon's height
and a ladder to get Lenny to grab the packet. After recovering
one and heading towards the TA, they learned two baggies were
needed. So off they went to recover the second. Jon made a
spectacular leap to get the second.
At the TA, the packets required BLP to plot UTM coordinates on a
topo map, with an option to climb into a monolith to retrieve
possible information. Jon ploppedi nto both holes into the
monolith and discovered a colored trail map that would prove to
be much more useful than the topo map. Off they went in first
place. With a steady run leg, the two held the lead until the
second to last checkpoint where Snot Rockets shot past. The
sounds of them ahead would help lead BLP to pinpoint the next
checkpoint, on the edge of Lake Arthur. Faced with the option
to swim the cove or run around it, and Snot Rockets having
decided to swim, they opted to follow. The first minutes in the
water were dedicated to deciding the best wat to swim with a
lifejacket and baggies full of information. Eventually
backstroke superceded all strokes and Jon motorboated onto the
other side of the cove. The next checkpoint would require the
same decision. Not knowing the path of Snot Rockets here, they
forged the run around this cove. When the trail started to
stray from the cove and doubt surfaced, a trail down the next
checkpoint emerged, and Snot Rockets reappeared. The route back
to TA was spent with Snot Rockets. With no hazard before the
last biking leg, BLP hammered the road part of the course and
pulled ahead for good. Dedicating a steady pace to prevent
cramps from overcoming them, BLP managed to set a grueling pace
for Snot Rockets to follow and pulled into the finish with a ten
minute lead on them. BLP was victorious! With this win came
somce recognition from the Tribune Review, with both an article
and video
of the race.
Hats off to BLP- but now the remaining series races gleamed with
opportunity to take the series points lead. This charged Lenny
to change his travel plans to go back to school a week later.
Would it prove worthwhile, especially considering the makeup
race in South-Side, The Urban Race for Fifty (TURFF) needed to
be done to recover points from the SONAR race BLP missed?
TURFF
was more of a triathlon than
an off-road race, but the Rogaine, kayaking, and pedestrians
ensured it remained an adventure. The race began at 8am sharp
with a cool morning and cool hazards to be done at any time.
Any part of this course could be done at any time. Since the
kayaks were limited, many raced towards the docks at 18th
Street. Team BLP reached the docks in time to get the third
kayak and did much less struggling than in AFAR. With a higher
cadence and straightened course, BLP held its position. The
search for checkpoints continued through Greater Pittsburgh with
checkpoints at the Point, Heinz Field, the Strip District, and
the South Side.
Before the last checkpoint, BLP attacked the monolith with
checkpoints in each monolith and a checkpoint hanging high in
between. Lenny threw Jon up into the first monolith, and ran
and jumped into the other. Luckily for Lenny Jon was able to
make it out on his own and get the hanging checkpoint in time to
pull short Lenny out of the tall monolith. Drafting each
other on the bikes to the last biking checkpoint allowed for
speeds on the flat averaging 23mph. BLP manhandled the
teeter-totter hazard by sitting and slowly inching forward
patiently.
With only the run left, BLP felt good, but knew there were hills to be conquered on the South Side slopes. Luckily the first checkpoint, though being all uphill, was a bee-line from TA onto a lengthy city staircase. It was a few miles until the next checkpoint in Mt. Washington, so BLP took the high and relatively flat route through Arlington and Allentown. This guaranteed BLP wasn't going to be running and dying up Sycamore Street. Once the checkpoint on Sycamore was reached, BLP realized extra points were atop Mt. Washington, and had to retrace 1/4 mile of Sycamore. Once up to Grandview Avenue, the checkpoints rolled in. With only half an hour to finish that part, Jon opted to rest while Lenny forged ahead to the remaining checkpoints while feeling peppy. luckily this part of the course allowed for teammate separation. This proved worthwhile since both Jon and Lenny felt fatigued on the run back into TA. Even though the South Side flats felt like terrible uphills, BLP made it to REI to complete the rock wall. Jon took the difficult side because lanky people make climbing easy. Fatigued, both did the wall flawlessly, and bolted to the finish. Second place to a blazing fast Team Blaze was quite the accomplishment, and the series points totals saw BLP, Team Blaze, and Snot Rockets all within three points of each other. The Nemacolin Season Finale (NSF) would mean having to beat both of these teams to succeed.
NSF
anticipation mounted early, with
multiple training sessions of mountain biking and running. They
knew what had to be done, they were ready - they needed to
execute. Focusing on these two areas payed off as the NSF had
the most minimal water time. The teams lined up according to
time, but to their dismay, all teams started at once, with series
leaders up front. Hoping to be spread out from the start, they
knew immediately they had to abandon their steady pace for the
first run. Under the hot afternoon sun and minimal warming up,
BLP stayed near the front without burning out. The field quickly
came back in, and before they knew it, BLP had overtaken all
other teams on the Arden biking course, happy to be familiar with
it by riding it weeks earlier. The second half of this bike leg
threw them for a curve as the route back to the TA was not
marked. Knowing the way back was slightly longer than taking
roads, BLP opted for the same route back for the guarantee of
knowing it would lead them back safely. Luckily other teams
followed this maneuver and the lead remained intact. Fearing
being passed on the run, BLP would be happy to get to the next
biking leg a few minutes behind the leaders. The heat had
different plans as the teams behind BLP drifted further back in
the heat. BLP were the fastest on this run leg! Coming back to
TA with 20 miles of biking ahead, BLP felt confident about
remaining in the lead for the rest of the race.
This however is where the team would stumble. After taking much
time to gain information from the maps, Lenny neglected to notice
the flat tire on his bike. This cost the lead as Team Blaze
exited the TA before them. This woul dbe the first of many
disheartening events throughout the evening. The first
checkpoint was relatively easy to get to, but the maps had to
come out several times. This would be the case for the next five
checkpoints. Luckily BLP hammered it on DinnerBell Road to catch
Blaze and pass them and even leave their sight after getting the
second checkpoint. Hopes were back up but so was the heat. The
uphills on the dirt roads to follow were degrading and sucked up
lots of energy. In a major navigational error on Lenny's part,
checkpoint three appeared to be at a Y-intersection of two roads,
but the description on the punch card did not exactly match this.
If they would have check the topo map and distances on the google
road map, it would have been painfully clear where checkpoint 3
was, but BLP kept going out another 1.5 miles, pulled out the
maps, became frustrated, and turned around. Seeing Team Snot
Rockets, they all decided the checkpoint was behind. If Lenny
had been more vigilant in looking down his side of the trail, the
checkpoint would have stared him in the face but indecisiveness
and previous blunders rendered him unsure and he assumed it would
not have been in the woods that far. After BLP and Snot Rockets
decided to scope out the next checkpoint together, BLP
immediately pulled ahead and had to leave Snot Rockets behind in
the name of racing.
Here BLP started to get back on track. Though no one was around
to guage our progress, they knew they were making ground on
Blaze. After luckily turning their heads to spot a checkpoint,
the navigation improved until the duo found Blaze and Batty Boys
at checkpoint six, where by unanimous decision was to skip
checkpoint seven and try ot make it back to the TA in time to do
the important hazards. Hopes went back up, and for the third
time, BLP would pass Blaze. With steep downhills and road riding
back to the TA, BLP gained a lead on the pack. With Batty Boys
just behind and Blaze further back, BLP anticipated a solid
hazards and final run execution with Batty Boys being the points
buffer between BLP and Blaze. Again these plans would be washed
away. Once at the hazards, BLP only failed at archery, but
succeeded in everything else. Thinking the race would end soon
and being ahead of their main competitors, GRR's time
restricitons on the race would give them an opportunity to finish
early and retain their lead in the race and series.
Unfortunately for their tired bodies, the race would be extended
to 9pm, making it a full 8-hour race.
Now BLP had to fanangle as many points as possible on the run
course. In doing so, Blaze skipped the teeter-totter and went
ahead in the run. Here BLP would run into Blaze often in an
attempt to keep up with points. In learning that Blaze got
archery points and BLP did not, BLP needed to get every check
point that Blaze did minus a buffer of 3 points, but there were
checkpoints out there with 4 points. The last checkpoint that
BLP attempted was at a swimming pool out in the woods which
became precarious and too dark to navigate. This was another
disappointment, but hopes were still up in the fact that the race
would finally be over and that Blaze was not able to get multiple
checkpoints beyond what BLP had attained. Snot Rockets was no
where to be seen and this scared both teams, but they encountered
issues with hazards closing down and slipped out of points
contention. After having checked in, Blaze pulled in no more
than two minutes afterwards. Not knowing the points spread, it
was anxious times. When the awards ceremony began, the series
points were anounced for each sex division. Blaze came through
with 248, and BLP with 251. Excitement overwhelmed them as they
realized they had won. It all came down to the two minutes
between them and Blaze as the points total was the same.
In four races and in one eight hour race, the series was one by a
two minute margin. This was the finsh that GRR could have only
dreamed of. Team Spang actually came home with the NSF win and
pulled ahead of Snot Rockets to get third in the series behind
Blaze and BLP. It was an epic battle with all four of these
teams each winning a race and contending for the final series
points win.
With the win came picture frames of the winning teams in action,
medals, and a set of jerseys for BLP for being series champs.
Not to mention that BLP on the male division in NSF, so a small
prize was at hand to pick from. Relying on energy gels
throughout the race, BLP chose the Hammer Gel bottles for
sustained race energy.
