Chapter 2, Continued
The first wave starts on time, after a mediocre singing of the Star Spangled Banner. The first wave was made up of a couple of categories, I believe they were, all female, corporate and veterans(combined age of 120+). Second wave was Coeds. Third wave was all male, my category. CRACK goes the starter pistol and we are off on a couple hundred yard dash to the very tight and bottlenecked put in. We reach the water to the sight of 600 yellow boats spinning around in the water in no particular direction or discernible purpose. It looked like sperm or one celled organisms under microscope, boats going this way and that. We get in the water and use a carabiner(sp) to clip the bow and stern of our two boats together. Some people were using tethers of various lengths and composition, some teams simply used the boats as two independent vessels, Fools. Our carabiner technique allows the boats to have limited independent movement, while forcing the front of the rear boat to track closely to the lead boat. Jim and I in the front boat, with long legged Kyle paddling solo in the back. Within my boat, Jim was in front, me in the rear. My knees were bent up to my chest the whole time, and that hurts me later. As a side note to the tethering techniques, we saw one team who actually used there team mate to bridge the two boats together. On guy paddling in the front of the front boat, one guy paddling in the back of the back boat and the third guy lying with his legs in the back boat and arms/torso in the front boat. This did not seem to work very well.
We make our way towards our first checkpoint, and laugh along the way at all of the yellow protozoa scurrying this way and that, some knowingly, others at the mercy of their incapabilities with a paddle or group paddling techniques. About 1 mile later we get to the first waypoint. Jim & I go to look for our letter, Kyle stays with the boats and reinflates Jims seatback, which was not staying in place properly, and was pretty much pushed back in my face the whole way across the lake. Jim finds the letter Y without too much problem and dash back to the boats. I run full speed for the bank and jump off of a two foot ledge into shallow water. Admittedly stupid, but in a testosterone/endorphin fit it was fun. Now children, I do not condone the practice of jumping into unknown water. I was a lifeguard and I know better, but I am also a bit stupid, intelligent, but stupid. On to check point two a short paddle across a cove. By this time people are piling up at all of the different waypoints, and we can easily see where we need to be. Set course and stroke, we got there quickly and efficiently. Kyle stays with the boats, Jim and I go searching. We actually did not need to leave the boats, because the cache was hanging in a tree about 20 yards from where the bats were, right on the waters edge. I get this one and we sprint back to the boats, again I do the amazingly stupid and jump into unknown waters, it was fun. Set course for a cross lake journey. This was a sight to see by this time. Every boat was going in a different direction. We were constantly on the look out for collision courses, some we avoided, some we maintained ramming speed. Same as before, Kyle with the boats, Jim and I looking. I cross a bridge over a drainage ditch and see a cache up the creek. I let Jim know I found it, and dash up the muddy creek bed to retrieve the ever coveted H, only to be fooled, because this was an F cache. I give the letter to a woman who was searching for that letter, and go on my way. Jim and I look a little while longer, and then determine we are one cove short of our intended destination. Back to the Boats in a mad dash. Can you guess what I do next? Thats right, I jump into unknown waters, again it was fun. Only this time while airborne I can see the bottom of the lake inches below the surface. I prepared for impact. Luckily the bottom was smooth and slippery, my feet slid from under me and I landed primarily on my ass, sliding along. Into the boats and onward. We get to where we needed to be, Jim goes for the number, Kyle holds the boats, and I was silt from my lycra.
We set course for the take out and stroke away. Lots of teams are coming in at this point, but we know we passed a lot of teams already and we were at the back of the pack for the start. Pandemonium. I dont know how such incapable paddlers beat us to the take out, but there were idiots everywhere. We just paddled through, over or under anybody in the way. At the take-out people were bottlenecked and dropping their gear two feet from the waters edge. The coordinators should have a required distance portage a safe distance from the waters edge, but they didnt. I take the paddles, Jim and Kyle a boat each, and deposit them properly, everyone drops their vest onto the pile and go for Transition Area for Transition one.
In the transition area we choke down some powergels, Vanilla flavor. I love them, they are just like icing. Time for shoe change number one, into riding shoes. The Announcer alerts everybody present that the leaders are just coming in from the second leg. What the F---! How can that be, we are 45 minutes into the race, and we are already 35 minutes behind the leaders. Oh well, that is why they get paid to do this and I pay to do it.
To be continued
The first wave starts on time, after a mediocre singing of the Star Spangled Banner. The first wave was made up of a couple of categories, I believe they were, all female, corporate and veterans(combined age of 120+). Second wave was Coeds. Third wave was all male, my category. CRACK goes the starter pistol and we are off on a couple hundred yard dash to the very tight and bottlenecked put in. We reach the water to the sight of 600 yellow boats spinning around in the water in no particular direction or discernible purpose. It looked like sperm or one celled organisms under microscope, boats going this way and that. We get in the water and use a carabiner(sp) to clip the bow and stern of our two boats together. Some people were using tethers of various lengths and composition, some teams simply used the boats as two independent vessels, Fools. Our carabiner technique allows the boats to have limited independent movement, while forcing the front of the rear boat to track closely to the lead boat. Jim and I in the front boat, with long legged Kyle paddling solo in the back. Within my boat, Jim was in front, me in the rear. My knees were bent up to my chest the whole time, and that hurts me later. As a side note to the tethering techniques, we saw one team who actually used there team mate to bridge the two boats together. On guy paddling in the front of the front boat, one guy paddling in the back of the back boat and the third guy lying with his legs in the back boat and arms/torso in the front boat. This did not seem to work very well.
We make our way towards our first checkpoint, and laugh along the way at all of the yellow protozoa scurrying this way and that, some knowingly, others at the mercy of their incapabilities with a paddle or group paddling techniques. About 1 mile later we get to the first waypoint. Jim & I go to look for our letter, Kyle stays with the boats and reinflates Jims seatback, which was not staying in place properly, and was pretty much pushed back in my face the whole way across the lake. Jim finds the letter Y without too much problem and dash back to the boats. I run full speed for the bank and jump off of a two foot ledge into shallow water. Admittedly stupid, but in a testosterone/endorphin fit it was fun. Now children, I do not condone the practice of jumping into unknown water. I was a lifeguard and I know better, but I am also a bit stupid, intelligent, but stupid. On to check point two a short paddle across a cove. By this time people are piling up at all of the different waypoints, and we can easily see where we need to be. Set course and stroke, we got there quickly and efficiently. Kyle stays with the boats, Jim and I go searching. We actually did not need to leave the boats, because the cache was hanging in a tree about 20 yards from where the bats were, right on the waters edge. I get this one and we sprint back to the boats, again I do the amazingly stupid and jump into unknown waters, it was fun. Set course for a cross lake journey. This was a sight to see by this time. Every boat was going in a different direction. We were constantly on the look out for collision courses, some we avoided, some we maintained ramming speed. Same as before, Kyle with the boats, Jim and I looking. I cross a bridge over a drainage ditch and see a cache up the creek. I let Jim know I found it, and dash up the muddy creek bed to retrieve the ever coveted H, only to be fooled, because this was an F cache. I give the letter to a woman who was searching for that letter, and go on my way. Jim and I look a little while longer, and then determine we are one cove short of our intended destination. Back to the Boats in a mad dash. Can you guess what I do next? Thats right, I jump into unknown waters, again it was fun. Only this time while airborne I can see the bottom of the lake inches below the surface. I prepared for impact. Luckily the bottom was smooth and slippery, my feet slid from under me and I landed primarily on my ass, sliding along. Into the boats and onward. We get to where we needed to be, Jim goes for the number, Kyle holds the boats, and I was silt from my lycra.
We set course for the take out and stroke away. Lots of teams are coming in at this point, but we know we passed a lot of teams already and we were at the back of the pack for the start. Pandemonium. I dont know how such incapable paddlers beat us to the take out, but there were idiots everywhere. We just paddled through, over or under anybody in the way. At the take-out people were bottlenecked and dropping their gear two feet from the waters edge. The coordinators should have a required distance portage a safe distance from the waters edge, but they didnt. I take the paddles, Jim and Kyle a boat each, and deposit them properly, everyone drops their vest onto the pile and go for Transition Area for Transition one.
In the transition area we choke down some powergels, Vanilla flavor. I love them, they are just like icing. Time for shoe change number one, into riding shoes. The Announcer alerts everybody present that the leaders are just coming in from the second leg. What the F---! How can that be, we are 45 minutes into the race, and we are already 35 minutes behind the leaders. Oh well, that is why they get paid to do this and I pay to do it.
To be continued
