This chapter is too long to fit within the parameters set by RM or the software, so it will have to come in two segments. Only 10,000 characters allowed.
Chapter two
I am wide awake at 3:58 am, with some head-banging song looping through my head. Dont ask me what it was, because I do not remember. Since my alarm is due to go off in two minutes, I do my wife a favor and turn it off and quietly get out of bed. Get the coffee going, take a shower to wake up, drink coffee, eat a bagel and hard boiled egg. The egg did not want to go down, but I figured I could use the protein, drink more coffee. Get my gear bag in the truck, Cooler with too much water, too much fruit, too much ice, and just enough Citrus flavored cytomax goes in next, then the bike. I leave the house at 5:15 am to go to Kyles house to meet the rest of Step Smack and drive to the venue. Arrival at Kyles is scheduled for 5:30, and I arrive just in front of Jim. Things are good, because it is rare to have all parties arrive and depart on time, but we did just that. We all pile into Jims ride and leave for the race at 5:45am.
The mood in the car is light and jovial, well, as jovial as we can be at quarter to six in the morning. We see a couple of cars with three bikes on the racks, all presumably going to the same place. The weather is going to be perfect, unusually cool temperatures and low humidity. This is an oddity for Georgia. Temps were probably high 60s to start, low 80s to finish. We get to the park at 6:30, as planned, but instead of letting us get close to the transition area to unload, the park us about a half mile from where all the gear needs to be(I believe that is about 1.1 kilometer). We get to the Transition area at 6:45 and stow our stuff at the assigned spot. We are told that at 7:00 we can go and pick out our kayaks and life vests, but not our paddles. This was no surprise, because we could see all of the paddles on rafts about 25 yards out in the lake. I needed to get rid of my pasta dinner, so at 7:00 I was wasting time in the facilities. I say wasting time, because nothing was leaving my colon today, total shut down, Oh well. Sorry I had to share that, but it is pertinent to why I was late for kayak pick up duty.
At 7:05 I return to the transition area, get my teammates, and we head down to water edge to pick up our kayaks. It is total madness, 1000 contestants trying to get three life vests and two kayaks per team. Jim goes for vests, Kyle & I for kayaks. By this time the pickings are slim, mostly under inflated kayaks, and only two air hoses in sight, both if which have a crowd of uncooperative competitors jockeying for position. The staff person operating the hose said that the crew in charge of inflating boats was not scheduled to start until 7:00 am, boat pick up time. This is perhaps the stupidest blunder on the part of the coordinators, but it seemed to be the only screw up. I team up with a guy from another team to get the hose and keep the hose. You see, we both had two chambers to fill on our three chamber boats, so it worked like this. He got the hose and filled one chamber, I took the hose and filled my first chamber while he sealed his first chamber. I hand the hose back to him to fill up his second chamber while I close my first. We pissed some people off with this move, because they thought they were going to get it next. Then he gave the hose back to me, so I could fill my second chamber. It worked well for us, but others were fuming when he handed it to me the second time. This was a good example of teams helping other teams, which is allowed in this race, and is necessary for some teams.
7:20 and we are called to the start line, 300+ teams, close to 1000 competitors, en masse. The announcer asks that all competitors sit down, except for each team Captain, who should remain standing. Event staff begin handing out our second special test instructions(remember, the first was bike disassembly). The hand out is a laminated map of the lake and instructions. We are to navigate to three points along the shoreline, and find a cache hidden in the woods, and remove a letter from the cache. There are more than three of these caches around the lake, each one containing the correct amount of letters. Our map identifies that we are to pick up the H, Y & M letters. At least one person is to remain with the boats in the water, while the others search in the woods. Of our points, one is straight across the lake in the longest possible direction, one is close to the first, across a cove, and the third is along the shoreline close to the put in. We decide to high tail it to farthest one, hoping to get ourselves out of the crowd and inevitable melee.
Chapter two
I am wide awake at 3:58 am, with some head-banging song looping through my head. Dont ask me what it was, because I do not remember. Since my alarm is due to go off in two minutes, I do my wife a favor and turn it off and quietly get out of bed. Get the coffee going, take a shower to wake up, drink coffee, eat a bagel and hard boiled egg. The egg did not want to go down, but I figured I could use the protein, drink more coffee. Get my gear bag in the truck, Cooler with too much water, too much fruit, too much ice, and just enough Citrus flavored cytomax goes in next, then the bike. I leave the house at 5:15 am to go to Kyles house to meet the rest of Step Smack and drive to the venue. Arrival at Kyles is scheduled for 5:30, and I arrive just in front of Jim. Things are good, because it is rare to have all parties arrive and depart on time, but we did just that. We all pile into Jims ride and leave for the race at 5:45am.
The mood in the car is light and jovial, well, as jovial as we can be at quarter to six in the morning. We see a couple of cars with three bikes on the racks, all presumably going to the same place. The weather is going to be perfect, unusually cool temperatures and low humidity. This is an oddity for Georgia. Temps were probably high 60s to start, low 80s to finish. We get to the park at 6:30, as planned, but instead of letting us get close to the transition area to unload, the park us about a half mile from where all the gear needs to be(I believe that is about 1.1 kilometer). We get to the Transition area at 6:45 and stow our stuff at the assigned spot. We are told that at 7:00 we can go and pick out our kayaks and life vests, but not our paddles. This was no surprise, because we could see all of the paddles on rafts about 25 yards out in the lake. I needed to get rid of my pasta dinner, so at 7:00 I was wasting time in the facilities. I say wasting time, because nothing was leaving my colon today, total shut down, Oh well. Sorry I had to share that, but it is pertinent to why I was late for kayak pick up duty.
At 7:05 I return to the transition area, get my teammates, and we head down to water edge to pick up our kayaks. It is total madness, 1000 contestants trying to get three life vests and two kayaks per team. Jim goes for vests, Kyle & I for kayaks. By this time the pickings are slim, mostly under inflated kayaks, and only two air hoses in sight, both if which have a crowd of uncooperative competitors jockeying for position. The staff person operating the hose said that the crew in charge of inflating boats was not scheduled to start until 7:00 am, boat pick up time. This is perhaps the stupidest blunder on the part of the coordinators, but it seemed to be the only screw up. I team up with a guy from another team to get the hose and keep the hose. You see, we both had two chambers to fill on our three chamber boats, so it worked like this. He got the hose and filled one chamber, I took the hose and filled my first chamber while he sealed his first chamber. I hand the hose back to him to fill up his second chamber while I close my first. We pissed some people off with this move, because they thought they were going to get it next. Then he gave the hose back to me, so I could fill my second chamber. It worked well for us, but others were fuming when he handed it to me the second time. This was a good example of teams helping other teams, which is allowed in this race, and is necessary for some teams.
7:20 and we are called to the start line, 300+ teams, close to 1000 competitors, en masse. The announcer asks that all competitors sit down, except for each team Captain, who should remain standing. Event staff begin handing out our second special test instructions(remember, the first was bike disassembly). The hand out is a laminated map of the lake and instructions. We are to navigate to three points along the shoreline, and find a cache hidden in the woods, and remove a letter from the cache. There are more than three of these caches around the lake, each one containing the correct amount of letters. Our map identifies that we are to pick up the H, Y & M letters. At least one person is to remain with the boats in the water, while the others search in the woods. Of our points, one is straight across the lake in the longest possible direction, one is close to the first, across a cove, and the third is along the shoreline close to the put in. We decide to high tail it to farthest one, hoping to get ourselves out of the crowd and inevitable melee.