2006 SMAC XL Adventure Race

SMAC XL Adventure Race July 22, 2006

Team Enforcers/SMAC
Phil Shrader and Ed Shrader



Skipping all the race briefing, about as much fun to read about as attend, we jump right to the start of the race. Maps are handed out at 5am. One map per team. As a little twist Paul, the RD, tells the teams to split. Teammates with the map on the left and those without on the right. Those with the map are then told to give it to the other teammate. So now the one without the map must supply their required gear bandana. Those without are given time penalties. They are then instructed to use the bandana to blindfold themselves. The first two mile run will be done blindfolded. I track down Ed, who is blindfolded, and we decide the best way to do this is for him to hold onto my left shoulder with his right hand thus not getting our feet tangled. A couple teams are caught peaking from under the blindfold, “10 minute penalty!” yells Paul. This all seemed rather strange, but most teams found it exciting and were smiling through the section.



At the race start, all teams make their way across the grass to the gravel road. Once on the road the footing is more secure so we begin to jog. We are not moving fast, but we don’t need to navigate, simply follow the lights ahead of us. We reach the edge of the lake where we will begin our swim. Ed can now remove the blindfold. While many teams are changing gear or packing things away, we walk to the edge of the dock and jump in the lake. We jump from maybe 50th place to about 10th by not changing our gear. The water is surprisingly warm. The headlights and glowsticks make for quite a sight on the black lake before sunrise. We follow the leaders toward the second CP. The swim is slow with a PFD, shoes and pack, but we just keep pushing forward. Ed pulls ahead of me as we approach CP2. He has the passport, so I let him proceed while I cut the corner and wait for him on the way to CP3. He punches and swims over to where I am waiting. He easily passes me and we are on our way to the far bank where CP3 awaits. Some where along the way someone calls out that they lost their passport in the lake. The odds of them finding it are nil as the passport is clear plastic. Some teams with swim fins pass us, but we still exit the water in the top of the pack. The muck and mire at the edge of the lake have people exiting the lake with a Creature from the Black Lagoon walk. The run back to the Start/Finish for the canoe transition is a wet one.


Creature from the Black Lagoon

Once there, I change into my bike shoes with hopes that I will not need my running shoes for any of the canoe or bike stage. The wet running shoes are left in the truck to dry. We wheel our bikes to the canoes, grab a canoe and load it. A quick transition has us looking pretty good. The river is not moving very fast so you have to work to keep moving, but we will have to paddle back upstream later so I don’t mind. We grab the few CPs on the way to the canoe drop where we pull the canoe out and have to carry it up a hill to a field.



The bike portion requires plotting UTM coordinates which would not be too difficult except that the map case did not seal properly after Ed punched CP2 so the clue sheet was soaked. I use the master copy on the map table to quickly plot the CPs. The cool morning air is causing us to shiver so we jump on the bikes to get our hearts pumping. We jump on our bikes while many teams are still plotting the coordinates. We grab the first three CPs rather easily then decide to try a gravel road to the fourth CP in the gravel pit. Fifty feet down the road we spot Paul’s Hummer. He jumps out yelling that we are on private property. We had not seen any indication of this but there is no point in arguing. We turn our bikes on a dime and head back down the road. We follow the roads to the entrance to the gravel pit. A blow up map of the area was provided, but there are so many trails winding everywhere that is was easiest just to follow my instincts. Cresting a hill we see that lake and know the CP must be close. Several teams gathered at the bottom of the hill is our next clue that we are near. We punch and head back out. Somehow the hills where bigger on the way out. Ed lets me know that he disapproves of my route choice. Back on the road we can either head back south or straight east. We decide that heading east will put us in the best position to pick up the rest of the controls. A northern trail head off Bauer road gets us to the next 2 CPs in a timely manner. Back to Bauer road and past the campground where Paul and his Hummer have caught a team in the off limits campground. Ed and I know that just south of the campground the trail is only feet from the road, so we grab our bikes and bust through the bushes to a little bridge and the trail to the next CP. Several miles saved with that move. We find the CP and wind our way back to Bishop Lake Road. Straight across it we head to the next CP. Ed gets the honors of scampering up the earth bank to get the punch. We head out to Bishop again then east to do some more hike-a-biking. We find the steep hill near the meadow. We can carry our bikes up the hill, walk across the meadow then follow the trail to the last bike CP. The hill is a little harder to ascend than we wanted, but it still cuts off a lot of biking time. Everything else goes as planned. As we ride back to the steep hill which takes us back to Bishop, we encounter some teams walking their bikes the wrong direction on the trail. It’s proper etiquette but slower than cutting across the meadow. We take the back roads to the canoe drop. A little style help from Floyd Landis helps us fly down the hills.

At the canoe drop we are informed that we will be doing the archery and a ropes course. A shot or Red Bull and we head up the platform for the archery. The choice between compound bow and recurve is easy for me. I grab the compound, load the arrow, draw, find the deer in the peep sight and release. A good neck shot. Bad placement for a kill, but we only had to hit it for a bonus point. I give Ed some pointers while he prepares to shoot, he comes close but no cigar. We attempt to cross the river on the ropes but only succeed in getting very wet and tired. They give us credit for the ropes and we head back up the hill to get the canoe and bikes. It’s a good thing Ed was paying attention when we grabbed our canoe earlier because we had to get the same one on the way out. I had no idea which silver beast to grab, but he walked straight to ours. With some effort we carry it down the hill with the bikes and into the river we go. A volunteer, Lili I believe, tosses us another Red Bull as we begin to paddle away. Paddling upstream is not too bad, it’s the wind that makes the trip difficult. We work our best to maintain our position, top 10, but a couple teams catch us. The second team passes us as we are heading for the last canoe CP. The map resolution is not great but it appears to be a little upstream from the canoe take out. Some teams have stopped directly across from the take out but the team that just passed us keeps going upstream. We see a couple teams walking back downstream to where they left their canoes. Using that as a clue, we keep going upstream. The team in front of us stops so we join them. A quick scramble through the brush leads us right to the CP. Rather lucky, I suppose, as some teams spent more than two hours looking for the last required CP. We paddle back across the river and unload our canoes.


Red Bull right on target

We drop the bikes at the truck and go to get our maps for the O-course. But first a gear check. Not a problem because we have all the gear, except the bungee cords which were left on the bikes. We are granted leniency but have to run to the truck to get the missing gear.

The first part of the O-course is the ropes course. It shouldn’t be hard, simply shuffle your feet along the bottom rope while holding onto the top rope with the hands. They only words of advice is do not fall as it is difficult to get your feet back on the rope. We go along just fine until on the last section, Ed’s feet slip off the rope. The rope twangs with such force that I could swear it just snapped. As it turns out, it is still there, but with how Ed is hanging the bottom rope is now at his armpits. He somehow has to get his feet back onto that rope, not easy. He manages to get one leg over the rope but what next? With cat like agility he sneaks his other knee between the rope and his leg so he can put his weight on the rope. He can then stand and continue on to the end for the zip to the ground. I follow with some hesitation on the zip line. I don’t exactly understand how we are supposed to stop without hitting the tree and the end of the zip line. With a little faith I jump. The carabiners do not allow as much speed as a pulley, so when the ground approaches it only takes a little dragging of the feet to stop. We then scramble around on the cargo net for what seems and eternity. They give us the all clear and we gladly head onto the O-course.

The first three points are very easy to find. We are feeling good. We head north across the road and into the field for SS. The clue says it is in a thicket, but the only thing we see is a big meadow. Our minds are not working clearly so we begin running in circles. We do not find it and decide to just move to the next one. Our bearings are off so we begin looking for the next CP in the wrong location. Again we run in circles. Eventually after enough circles we recognize some of the features on the map. We can then find the CP. But crossing a swampy area causes our legs to start burning. We squirt some water on them to wash away whatever is causing the burning. It some what works so we head to the road. Realizing we just lost probably an hour to get one CP we now have to skip anything that presents a challenge, so we head for the closest CP. We find it and realize that a black X on the map indicates a man made object. This will help us as we look for the first CP we missed. We get into a groove and hit CP after CP. Time is running low and we are feeling the effects of a long day. We have the option of trying for two or three more CPs or just stopping with the time bonus. Knowing that two or three more CPs will not help us in the standings, we decide to call it a day. Any longer and the enjoyable day in the woods would turn into pure drudgery. We finish the course with 20 points, not great but respectable. We know that mistake on the O-course cost us, but there were some very talented teams this day. We would not have caught them at our best. We just know we had a great time and look forward to our next race.

Thanks to Paul and SMAC for a great race.
Thanks to Wildernut Photography for the pictures.
And thanks to everyone else that helped make the race great.

Team Enforcers/SMAC
Phil Shrader