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June 12, 2010
24SEVEN participated in the Minnesota Wild Adventure Series 6-hour Summer Sprint race near Hastings, MN. The weather was more spring than summer-like, with temperatures in the 60s and a cool, gray, intermittent drizzle falling throughout the event. But despite the weather conditions, the venue was fantastic. HQ was located at a neat park area in Schaar’s Bluff, and the course made it’s way through the Spring Lake Park Reserve. The entire area is actually a part of the Mississippi River National Park. A park ranger was on hand before and after the race to educate everyone about the park system and its features (including 30 active bald eagle nests).
There was a good field of competitors, including powerhouse Wedali, and contenders The Beautiful People, Blind Squirrels, Lil Sumpthin Sumpthin, and other regular AR scene squads. The 24SEVEN line-up for the day included team members: Tom, Andrei, Kelly, and Tom’s cycling friend, Brandon Manske.
Following a brief pre-race meeting, all racers were ordered to line up and dump out the contents of their packs. The first twist of the day was a quick unpack, repack just as maps were being handed out. The race was on!
24SEVEN took off to the north with Andrei navigating the first, trekking portion of the race. The rules mandated that teams get five mandatory checkpoints (CPs) in sequential order. In addition, there were three optional CPs, which could be obtained at any time, in any order during the race. 24SEVEN had decided before the start to go after all checkpoints.
After a little bobble, heading to CP 2 before CP 1, Andrei began laying down a wicked pace from point to point. Kelly was punching, and Tom and Brandon were right on their heels. The trek portion was only about five miles so there was no letting off the gas pedal. After realizing 24SEVEN was leading the pack following a quick punch at CP 3, the entire team implicitly agreed red-lining was the strategy of the day. On the trails we were putting down sub-eight minute miles, with packs on.
The last portion of the trek led the team on a bush-whack through a pretty gnarly reentrant that ended up being private property (confusingly, as the maps were ambiguous and mis/unmarked) causing them to lose a little speed and pop out of the bush at the paddle transition just behind Wedali, who also lost time trying to decipher the private property debacle.
After a decent transition, Tom and Kelly hopped in one boat and Andrei and Brandon in the other. There appeared to be a lot of weeds and logs near the surface of the water, it was a rather shallow river. Kelly was thankful for that because after taking a couple peeks over her shoulder to eye the competition, she noticed Tom seemed to be sinking dangerously lower and lower. Despite briefly checking the drain valves in the boats before pushing off, their boat was definitely taking on water. Brandon and Andrei’s boat was just ahead and they were hopping out as they had hit a sandbar. Even further up, 24SEVEN noticed leaders Wedali out of their boats and crawling/swimming/dragging themselves over a mess of trees and other debris in the water in an attempt to get to shore. 24SEVEN sort of followed suit, getting out of their boats and swimming/dragging their way through the debris. Tom and Brandon agreed the floating garbage was likely the same place that the Star Wars garbage/water pit scene was filmed as they feared the appearance of the giant one eyed BoaConstrictor monster. IT never came up for a bite, and they continued to look for a bench on a point as their next CP, and felt fairly confident they hadn’t traveled far enough yet.
Not long after their decision to paddle on, Kelly eyed a CP flag. They were on the right path! The team hit the point in first place, hopped out of the boats, and hit the trail to the boat clean/bike drop transition area.
There was a mandatory 10-minute period for boat cleaning, but teams could earn up to a 4 minute bonus by tossing some Norwegian golf balls onto a target. Tom earned a self-proclaimed limp-wristed one-minute advantage, as Brandon and Kelly cleaned boats, and Andrei previewed the next section on the maps.
Nine minutes later, the boats were cleaned, bike gear was on, and 24SEVEN was off. Unfortunately, Kelly, the least experienced on the bike, had a case of numb and wet hands from the paddle and accidentally dropped the tow rope which immediately (and dangerously) wrapped itself around Tom’s rear cassette. Fortunately, he was able to react with a quickness and lock up his rear wheel and skid out to avoid a tightly wound tow-rope catastrophe. The entire team was stopped in its tracks and forced to help disassemble his rear wheel, unwind the rope, and reassemble. Wedali sped by at this point reclaiming the lead after their bobble on the river.
Tom and Brandon were producing watts on the bike like Chernobyl. Kelly and Andrei, known for their quick trekking, were doing everything they could to not tug too hard on tow. The majority of the bike route was on paved roads, with short gravel sections (hard-packed gravel), allowing the pace to be lightning fast. Even on hills, bucking a headwind, and towing teammates, Brandon and Tom were pushing the sound barrier.
The CPs were coming fast and furiously on the bike. After a dog-leg stretch in and out of a residential park area, 24SEVEN spied Wedali not more than a few minutes ahead. Both teams were inspired by the competition and knew there was no time to relax.
Five miles of trekking, 5 miles of paddling, and about 20 miles of biking ended at Schaar’s Bluff, with 24SEVEN claiming second place. Wedali took the top spot on the day finishing the course in approximately three and a half hours, and 24SEVEN about seven minutes back.
We were happy with the result, and more importantly, we all agreed to do it again soon.
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