This year's TLD was being held a mere 4.5 hours away, included guided whitewater rafting and was taking place within Adirondack Park, for the first time. For these reasons, plus the fact that we know that we can count on NYARA for a quality event, this was an obvious choice for a summer race - our first of the year.
For a summer race in the northeast, you never know what's in store. Depleting hot humidity? Thunderstorms? Gorgeous dry air? Insect swarms? As race day approached, it became clear that we would be in for some solid rain - over an inch was predicted during the race period. This prediction turned out to be absolutely correct.
The day prior to the race, by contrast, was gorgeous - breezy, warm dry air. Since this race included a short orienteering prologue following registration, the day prior to the race, we got to enjoy a little of this. This consisted of 3 checkpoints in the woods around the Ski Bowl in North Creek, NY. I got a little turned around and cost us about 10 minutes but this was otherwise straightforward. Having not packed another set of race clothes, I ran in cotton boxers and cargo shorts.
After a nice dinner in quaint North Creek, we got to bed fairly early in preparation for the early alarm to get to race HQ - back at the Ski Bowl. We woke to the rain which would come and go with varying intensity throughout the race. We spent an hour or so with the maps, dropped our bikes and then drove ourselves to race HQ #2, Garnet Hill Outdoor Center. Here we dropped gear bins, got some race info and then boarded busses to Beaver Brook Outfitters. Here we picked up rafting gear, stood around and then got back on the bus to reach the put-in.
At the put-in, we met our raftmates, our raft guide, got more instruction and then got in line to hit the water. We learned some commands on the water and soon after we were on our way down the Indian River to its confluence with the Hudson. Reed had a good bit of whitewater training during his Outward Bound trip a couple years ago and he took the point paddling position (front right), while I, a newb, sat across from him in the front row. I had been tasked with GoProing the river section by race media man Jeff O'Connor and I wanted to have a front row seat.
This was a scenic, fun, interesting and, at times, exciting race leg. We survived rapids up to class 3/3+ while covering 16 miles over 3 hours or so. We rafted at the normal, safe, recreational/instructional pace that the guides were used to, stopping to regroup after the sections of rapids. We also had a mid-trip break on the shore, to eat, use the bathroom, etc. For the final, flatter section of the river, we were allowed to "race" the other boats. Reed and I dug in and tried to boost the pace, but it wasn't really possible to gain any significant time in this way.
We left the river a little cold and hungry, so we were happy to grab some food out of our waiting backpacks at TA1 and get walking. Everyone was transitioning very hurriedly. We had been awake for almost 10 hours at this point without really racing, which felt a little strange, honestly. Everyone was very ready to get out and put some of the hard part of the course behind us.
We set out on pavement and then dirt road toward the entry point into the woods, a little over 2 uphill miles away. We ate, warmed up and got wet on the way.
Now, ahead of us, was a big hilly trek. We could attack the CPs of this trek during this leg and, because of the loop shape of the course, again on the penultimate leg. We elected a plan of grabbing a good chunk of these now. Our plan was to get most or all of this trek done, with fresh legs in the daylight, as we'd probably not have time left to re-attack the wilderness later
We grabbed the first 3 without issue, navigating through open forest and later, a bit of trail. The forest was fairly open and not too difficult to traverse. We had occasional contact with a few other teams who had also chosen this route.
After the 3rd CP, we made the decision to undergo a long trek on trail to 4 CPs which were located around the heights of Gore Mtn. Ski Resort. This began as a straightforward, mostly uphill trek. After a while however, the trail became harder to follow, dumping us into boggy meadows and leaving us searching for the non-obvious linear tracts of ferns which defined the trail. We began feeling the first twinges of fatigue as the steepness of Gore Mtn loomed ahead. Reed was also feeling some early chafing from trekking in wet bike shorts for hours.
We climbed steeper and steeper grades now, sometimes on all fours in the wind and fog near the top of Gore, after gaining over 2000ft on the trek. I'm not sure if it's just me but I often struggle to navigate on USGS maps in these highly modified ski resort landscapes. There were enough clues, however, to eventually navigate to the first of the Gore CPs (CP13). Now that we knew exactly where we were, it seemed easy enough to stay on track to find the next 3 up here. What seemed easy ended up being fairly challenging, however, which became a theme during this race. We did not make great time up here, but we were ultimately successful in finding all 4 using adequate nav and plenty of determination. Highlights included a tough scramble up a very steep brushy knoll for CP 16 and a nice foggy lookoff from the Twister Cliffs.
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Looking down the slopes of Gore Mountain
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| Deer in the mist |
After the 4 high-elevation CPs, it was time to drop down off the mountain to find 2 more CPs in the woods en route to TA2. At this time there was a lengthy downpour and the sun was setting. We wasted a bit of time trying to find a trail that was incorrectly mapped on the wrong side of a power line cut and stream instead of just bushwhacking to it perpendicularly. Then it was a soggy trek on trails which became progressively more slow and technical as we paralleled the aptly named Roaring Brook. By this point, we were definitely feeling the trek. My lower back and knee were hurting but both responded nicely to a strong dose of ibuprofen. Reed, on the other hand, had developed worse and worse chafing and was having a lot of discomfort even at an easy walk. This was concerning, with only one major stage behind us so far.
We made our way downhill to TA2 via the now somewhat familiar slopes of the Ski Bowl and found, to our great excitement, a bunch of hot food waiting for us. NYARA staff had prepared several food options and we both dug appreciatively into a steaming plate of mashed potatoes, meatballs and gravy. Reed painfully, belatedly applied chamois cream while I changed maps and geared up for a long bike leg.
After slamming a post-dinner coffee, we left on bikes. There was a mountain bike and road/gravel bike option at this point and we decided to tackle the road bike first. This way we could get a break from the wet woods and hopefully Reed could recuperate with some non-technical saddle time.
There were 6 CPs to find along a big gravel and pavement loop that would end up being 33 miles. Some of these were straightforward. Others seemed like they would be easy but then ate unnecessary chunks of race time. The rain came and went as we clicked off the miles. As dawn broke, we found ourselves nearing the end of the loop, approaching TA3. I was, uncharacteristically, having trouble remaining fully conscious in the wee morning hours, and Reed's chafing was progressing.
At this point, there was no way for Reed to hike or mount a bike without major pain and there was a substantial chunk of each yet to come. So, we decided to call it quits here after 19 hours, 65 miles and 7k ft of elevation gain.
Although we were rendered unofficial for the 2nd straight TLD (broken pedal last year), we came away having had a solid race experience and were happy to have made the trip and experience the majority of the course which NYARA had created for us. We will certainly be back to give it our all for the next edition.
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| Post-race gear dry-out |
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