The race began with a heart pounding sprint to three nearby check points (CPs) to grab maps and coordinates.  We decided to hit the uphill point first.  All three team members were feeling pain on that first leg.  A little high-ground ‘short’ cut to the second point ended up costing us a few minutes and dropped us behind the main pack as we reached the paddling section.  We were the seventh team to put a boat in the water to begin the 3.7 mile paddle.  This was our first race in Jim’s new kayou, the “Big Red Rabbit.”  (A kayou is what Jane calls it because she cannot bring herself to say canoe – as two of us use kayak paddles to paddle the skinny canoe, the Rabbit is a bit of a hybrid).  The Big Red Rabbit scooted quite well and we were the third team to pull our boat out of the water and start on the trek. 

 

The sun was setting and the clouds were growing.  The 4.5 mile trek portion was designed to take us back to where the paddle began.  It followed a trail that snaked along the lake shore climbing and descending along the way.  No sooner had we started on the trail than Backside sprinted by us making the run look effortless.  We could see and hear Red Energy chatting away not far behind us.  Jane decided it was time to get out the tow line to give Gerry some help up the steep climbs along the run (Note: Gerry considers it more of a leash used to slow Jane down).  We could see the full moon rising over the mountains to the east.  No time to enjoy the beautiful moon rise — Red Energy was gaining on us.  Finally, after running for an awfully long time we came to a cove that looked like it should have our checkpoint in it.  We couldn’t find any markers so we pressed on.  Then we got clever and decided to let Red Energy catch up and ask them if they found the checkpoint.  If they had, then we would know that we somehow missed it.  They hadn’t, so we all pushed on with our brightly glowing chem-lights making us look like a swarm of giant fire flies.  The CP marker was in the next cove.  Onward and upward we climbed along the ridge.  Red Energy stopped for some team administrative reason so we squeezed past them and continued running.  We caught Backside near the plotted location of the next CP.  One of their members was busy removing a cholla ball from his leg while the other two were searching for the CP which they had plotted essentially in the same location as we had.  Our combined search effort turned up the missing CP which had blown out of the tree and was hiding in the grass on the ground.  Jim found it and put it back in the tree.  We were off on our merry way.  It was now pretty dark.  The moon was behind the clouds and lightning was flashing regularly to the southwest.  In the dark, the Ruination/Backside gaggle managed to take a wrong fork in the trail and climbed too high on the ridge line.  We soon figured it out and started bush-whacking down toward the lake, looking to intersect the correct trail.  About half way down the side of the hill, as Jim was negotiating a tricky down-climb on some rocks, the sky opened up and the rain arrived with authority.  Jim’s down-climb quickly became much more interesting as his firm footing on the rock instantly turned slippery.  The rest of the gaggle negotiated the obstacle, and continued downhill at moderate speed through the rain (which was really cold) to the next CP – the bike transition. 

 

Jim and Jane jumped on their bikes and started for the next CP while Gerry drove the truck to join them there.   Having gone from running through the freezing cold rain to sitting still driving the truck (with the window open) Gerry managed to get a major chill.  By the time he drove to the next checkpoint he was shivering badly.  At the checkpoint his mission was to ready his bike and plot the next checkpoints while Jim and Jane peddled a couple miles through the rain to meet him.  By the time Jim and Jane arrived Gerry was numb with cold and struggling to plot.  Jane, who had the opportunity to warm up on the bike ride, took over and plotted the last few while Gerry tried to warm up and get gear together for the real bike leg.  We hopped on our bikes and headed out into the rain for a long, cold evening of cycling (well, that’s what we THOUGHT that we’d be doing). 

 

The first few miles of this bike section were on paved road and we made good time through the rain (think wind chill factor here).  Gerry still could not shake the chills.  After hitting CP 6, we headed up the steep forest service road (anywhere else it would be called a wash, but here it’s called a road).  Just after starting up the road/wash, Adventure Racing Concepts passed us -- peddling.  We had to get off our bikes and walk because we were struggling in the deep sand.  After only a few minutes, we pushed our bikes by Adventure Racing Concepts who had stopped for repairs or a team meeting or some such activity.  Onward we pushed our selves and our bikes -- on foot.  It was raining hard, the wind was blowing:  it was COLD.  The water running down the road started as a little trickle.  Within a very short space of time it was a pretty good flow.  We pushed, pulled, dragged our bikes through the water as we made our way up the rutted, flowing road. 

 

Suddenly, there were lights behind us.  Riders on bikes!  Someone was actually riding up the river.  Josh and Barb of Ascent were riding right up the main flow of what was now a respectable little flash flood pouring down the road, probably 8 to 10 inches deep.  We stepped aside in awe as they peddled by, their back tires throwing rooster tails of water into the air.  That was impressive – especially knowing that they had ridden a mountain bike race earlier in the day in Prescott.  We fell in behind them, pushing our bikes along in the water – on foot.  After what seemed like forever, we crested the high ground and started down the other side of the hill. Jane’s bike was so mired in sand that even when she managed to sit on it, it rolled over like a dead dog, instead of coasting downhill.   We met lights coming from the other direction.  We hoped to get a report as to how far we were from the next CP, but this was not to be.  Two teams were heading out; one because they felt the water was running too hard and one because they had missed CP 6.  They had had enough.  Our night and adverse weather experience were paying off for us as we found the weather annoying, but not otherwise threatening. The flood could be avoided by cross country travel as necessary. We continued on cautiously in search of CP 7. 

 

We found CP 7 at the bottom of a flooded road/wash near the edge of the lake, got barked at by a dog, and headed back up hill into the driving rain to CP 8.  We hadn’t gone far when we saw Monster Energy’s lights, heading down from where we thought CP 9 was.  It turned out that they were also on their way to CP 8.  We traveled down the next steep road right behind them to CP 8.  Monster doesn’t linger long: they were off to climb back up the road in search of CP 9, with us hot on their heels as we watched their tail lights get smaller and smaller.  Eventually, after much huffing and puffing, we caught up with them at CP 9.  We did it the old fashioned way – on foot.  Monster cleared CP 9 and we headed out right behind them.  All we had to do now was make it back several miles in the dark and rain to the transition area and do one final orienteer to finish the race.

 

By now, we had noticed that there were no other teams in the area.  We knew we were in the right place, so it had to be the other teams that were missing.  Were we going to have to go searching as soon as we finished the race?  Nothing gets this team moving as fast as the prospect of a good wilderness search - we pushed on, following Monster’s tail lights back up the steep hill we had only recently come down.  Soon after pushing our bikes up to the last high point and starting the long descent back to the paved road, we came upon two pickup trucks in the road.  What drunken fools would be out driving around these roads, in bad weather, this late at night?  It was the race management staff looking for us to make sure we were OK.  They confirmed what we had already concluded: Monster and Ruination were the only two teams left in the race.  All the other teams either dropped or had been pulled from the race.  We had about six miles to go to finish.

 

We continued on riding — actually riding — the bikes down hill through the wet sand.  Once back onto pavement we peddled hard to the Transition Area.  By now, Jane and Gerry were without rear brakes on their bikes – exciting to say the least as we plummeted down the final hill to the Transition Area.  Upon arrival at the TA we consulted the map showing the location of three CP’s comprising the final orienteering section.  Monster was only minutes ahead they said.  We headed out to chase Monster for the final time (in this race: we hope that we will be chasing them again one of these days!).  We finished the final orienteering section seven hours and seven minutes after starting the race and five minutes behind Monster Energy.  We crossed the finish line and were greeted by Monster Energy and the SAS race staff.  We put on dry clothes.  We were tired, but happy to have done as well as we did.  Gerry was disappointed to learn that the spaghetti was gone.  He should have asked for a rain check.  We loaded our gear, found a flat spot to put up our tents and had chocolate chip cookies with guacamole for dinner and pretended it was spaghetti.

 

The Big Red Rabbit is a canoe.