Central Coast Adventure Challenge

The Rodeo's all loaded up and ready to go. Don't we look outdoorsy....

We did it! Last weekend held quite a bit of excitement for us, as we entered (and completed!) our first ever adventure race. We certainly weren't the best team out in the field, but we weren't the worst. Completing 3-4 miles of kayaking, 8 miles of mountain biking, and 5 miles of trekking we came in with an elapsed time of 5h 13m 18s. Here's a little run down of how it went:

Pre-race:
Before the race each team was given a topo map of the area, which you can see below. The hiking and biking sections were outlined on the map, but the kayaking portion was yet to be defined. Along with the map, we also received a "passport," which we had to punch at various checkpoints along the race. We then got all of our gear ready, staged our bikes in the transition area, packed up and got ready to run!

Blue is the mountain bike route, and red is the trekking route. The red square was the transition area, where we started and finished each event. WP's (waypoints) were areas with information, and had further instruction on where to go next. CP's (checkpoints) were the midpoints of each section where you got your passport punched. Click for a bigger image!

1st Leg: Kayaking
Overall, this was probably our strongest event. The start of the race began with a 100 yard dash to the launch ramp, where all of the teams scrambled to mount their 2-man kayaks without ending upside down (we did quite well at this, but not everyone was so successful). The first task was to paddle to a check point about a mile away. Here they had a map posted, with 5 additional locations spread around the lake. It was our job to collect 3 of the 5 check points, punch our passports, and head back to the launch ramp. We devised our strategy, figured out which of the 3 check points we were going to collect, and were off. We fell into a pretty good cadence early on, and even passed a few teams as we paddled along the lake. After collecting CP's 1, 4, and 3 we raced back to the transition area to grab our bikes.

Race start: Everyone make a run for the kayaks!

And they're off! The first few kayakers head out onto the lake.

Mini-challenge 1: A-frame Stilts

After we hit land, we had to perform a mini-challenge before the second leg. Working together, we had to cross about 15-feet using a large wooden a-frame. The frame was about 6-feet tall, with two ropes attached at the top. One person (Jessie) stood on the cross of the "A", and used the frame like a pair of stilts that were connected together. The other teammate (me), used the ropes to steady and balance the frame as the first person rocked it back and forth to move forward. No sweat!

2nd Leg: Mountain Biking
The mountain biking was probably our most challenging section, considering that Jessie had never really mountain biked before! It was easily the most hardcore mountain bike course that I had ever ridden (which I thought was awesome), but it was not the ideal way to start out for someone who was new to the sport. The fear of dying as we careened down the mountain aside, Jessie did really well throughout the entire course and we even held our position for quite some time. Until, that is, Mr. Murphy struck. At around mile 6, we heard the dreaded "pssssssstttt" that every biker fears. We moved off the course to asses the situation and found that not only did Jessie have a flat front tire, but also a 2-inch long gash in the sidewall . It's a good thing that Boy Scouts taught me to always Be Prepared, so I fished out a fresh inner tube and a roll of electrical tape from my pack. We performed a little trail-repair magic, and were good to go! And after two more miles of limping along with a band-aided tire and no front brakes, we finally made it through the second leg.....but lost quite a few positions while we were at it.

Mountain bike carnage:
Tire = 0, Big Pokey Rock = 1

3rd Leg: Trekking

The third and final section of the race was a 5 mile trek through the mountain, forest, ponds, and river beds that surround Santa Margarita Lake. The race organizers were particularly evil for this section, and included a few bushwacks straight up the side of the mountain that had several hundred feet of elevation gain. And luckily for me, the primary fauna in this region of the state appeared to be poison ivy. So here I sit a week later typing this, covered from head to toe in nice itchy red bumps and pink calamine lotion. Yes folks, I paid money for this. Woohoo. Anyway, the trekking was pretty grueling, but when we weren't on the uphill climbs it went pretty quickly. The sinister race organizers got their last laugh, though, once we got to our final checkpoint. The punch for the final CP, just happened to be tied to a float in the middle of the stinkiest, slimiest, mosquito-farm of a pond that you've ever seen.....and the water was COLD! I was the lucky candidate from our team that got to jump in to retrieve the last punch, which I thanked Jessie for very much. =) From this point we made pretty good time, until Mr. Murphy struck again about 1/2-mile from the finish. Right around this point, one of the trail markers had been knocked down. It also happened the the trekking trail intersected itself as well. We had a 50-50 shot at which way to go, and of course we chose the wrong way. After about a 30-min detour and a several more positions lost, we were back on track and headed to the finish line.

Mini-challange 2: The Cargo Net

The finish line was in sight....but not so fast! After kayaking, mountain biking, and trekking for over five hours, the only thing that stood between us and the finish line was a 20-foot tall cargo net. These guys never quit! So, we made a last-effort scramble over the net, gathered up all of our gear, and ran across the finish line hand in hand.

Post-race photo op: After all that and they're still smiling!

Needless to say, we had quite a bit of "adventure" for our first adventure race. All in all, we had a great time together, and would love to do it again. Hopefully next time though, Mr. Murphy decides to pick on someone else for a while and it goes a little bit smoother! =)