Scrambled Legs and Aching and Dainty Flowers take a Bitter Pill

"I must be reading this map wrong... they expect us to bike through that swamp?" - GMARA crew. Photo GMARA

5 am. Making a plan of attack at the start of the race. Photo GMARA

It has been clear for several years now that I would not be able to keep the sport of adventure racing all to myself. It was only a matter of time before my loyal cheering squad on the sidelines would sign up to become my teammates. At ages 11 and 13, Dave and I finally decided that Charlie and Noah were old enough to get their feet wet at the 10-hour Maine Summer Adventure race in the summer of 2017. Ever since then, it has been a matter of when, not if, we would give family adventure racing another go.

Fast forward to 2019's Bitter Pill, put on by Green Mountain Adventure Racing. 4 Koenigs. Two teams. 12 Hours of adventure.

Team Dainty Flowers all registered and ready to go!

The reality is that multi-sport adventure racing isn't exactly popular with kids. It seems to me that it should be; the idea of running around in the woods on an epic scavenger hunt seems like it was made with kids in mind. While there are others in the under 18 crowd who participate, usually the number of teens at any given race is no more than just a few. This is probably due to the either the duration or simply amount of gear required (and schlepped) for the duration of the event. To minimize this, Dave and I agreed that we would all have the most fun if we  limited the amount of gear that the kids needed to carry by shouldering as much of the load as possible. The kids would only carry mandatory gear needed in the event of an emergency. Everything else would go in our packs. 

Team Scrambled Legs and Aching at registration.

On this day, our adventure race consisted of three major disciplines: mountain biking, trekking, and paddling over 5 different segments for the duration of the race. The first leg was a mountain bike leg- a bike leg that would take us up through beautiful single track, lots of climbing, and over slippery, wet sections of trail in the Perry Hill trail network. The Perry Hill trails are known for outstanding downhill single track riding in the region. Unfortunately for us, we would climb all of these trails from the bottom up. This is one of the many tactics that race directors use to torment racers.

After grabbing the first 5 mandatory checkpoints, we started out the big climb conservatively and opted to skip two optional checkpoints to save time. However, it became obvious to us pretty quickly that these checkpoints were going to be the low-hanging fruit of the day and that our original plan to skip optional checkpoints was needlessly conservative. The kids were in good spirits, having fun, and riding well, so we adjusted our plan accordingly and were able to punch all but 2 of the first 22 checkpoints (needlessly skipping #6 and #13) during this biking section. Charlie had one ugly mishap involving a small footbridge and stream, but we otherwise came away from this section unscathed (sorry, no crash photo available).

Getting ready to head up Perry Hill. Pic GMARA

This bike leg also included a little additional race director humor: a 1.5 mile-long bike-whack through a swamp. Really, it was a swamp: in places, a more-than-waist-deep swamp.

A fun little video captured by Mason and Reed of the NH Trail Vets Development squad of a few seconds of our fun in the swamp.

Not so rideable here.  It turns out that there is a faint trail just to the left of us in this picture that Charlie suggested that we take. We ignored her advice. We later learned that this would have circumnavigated the first portion of the swamp. Oops. Photo GMARA

Photo of the "mandatory, heinous, swamp-whack" courtesy of NH Trail Vets. During this section, we met up with Mason and Reed Holland of the NH Trail Vets Development Squad- one of the other groups with the next generation of adventure racers.

The swamp-whack was actually quite beautiful and not altogether unpleasant. It turned out to be not really so heinous after all. Photo GMARA

At transition area #1, we got our shoes cleaned out and did some quick foot care while making a plan for the trekking portion of the race.

Not all teams were quite so lucky to arrive at TA 1 unscathed. When we saw these guys, they were trying to fix the frame with a big stick. Zip ties for the win? GMARA photo.

The kids took us literally when we suggested that we toss their shoes in the stream. Photo GMARA

Foot drying, snacking, and map reading. Parenting has taught us solid multi-tasking skills.

The trekking portion of the course included some pretty challenging navigation and an all-you-can-bushwhack smorgasbord of checkpoints. There were a total of 9 CP's along the trek- all were optional. We opted to do what we could in 3 - 3.5 hours of bushwhacking through steep ravines, contoured hillsides, and some tricky hidden checkpoints (after 30 mins of searching in the wrong place, the "log bridge" clue at CP 22 nearly flummoxed us because we were in the wrong reentrant.). In the end, we were able to secure half of the optional trekking checkpoints before descending back to the transition area to jump back on our bikes.

Patiently waiting to head back out for another little bike ride. Photo GMARA

Departing TA 2. Note how sleek Charlie looks with her cute little Salomon running backpack. Photo GMARA

Me, looking like a pack mule with a pile of lifejackets hanging from my overstuffed pack. Photo GMARA.

The bike to transition area #3 was quick and straightforward and soon we found ourselves heading off for a nice 10-12 km paddle on the Winooski river with some easy rapids and fun moving water. 

A fun little checkpoint along the Winooski River. Photo GMARA

Paddling up to the final checkpoint of the river section. Photo GMARA

Portaging boats up to the transition area from the paddle. This was definitely the most difficult part of the paddle leg. That blue kayak had carry loops in the most ridiculous, unuseful places. Who decides to put a grab-loop in the middle of a boat anyway? Photo GMARA

The final segment of the race was a trekking section back to the finish. Ducking between a few scattered raindrops, we made our way to the finish with about 30 minutes to spare for our 12 hour 15 min cutoff (about 5 minutes before the sky opened up, finally giving way to the threatening thunderstorms). 

While we weren't the top team for the day, together we accomplished something pretty special. Together, we snagged 35 out of 48 possible points. Team Scrambled Legs and Aching also won the prestigious "best team name" award that came with the best race prize ever: homemade cookies!!

Scrambled Legs and Aching and a box of the most delicious cookies. Thanks Yager family!

While Charlie and I didn't win cookies, we did win socks and zucchini. Yep, that is, in fact, zucchini.

Despite the occasional bickering (if there is anyone out there with young teens who don't bicker, please tell us your secrets), we all finished the day with a renewed appreciation for one another. We faced challenges throughout the day, but none that we couldn't overcome when we worked together. While there were moments of the day that might be considered by some as Type 2 fun (I think bike carrying generally falls in this category), I think we would all agree that the Bitter Pill served up a spectacular day for family adventure! 

Leaving TA 4.  Photo GMARA

A big thanks to the folks at GMARA, all of the great volunteers that made this day special, and the other teams we ran into on the trail who were awesome to share this event with. Also, as always, thanks to our friends at Spandits!

Maine Summer Adventure Race- Round 3!

The paddle out to Fort Gorges, Casco Bay. Photo: Strong Machine racing.

Another 24-hour Maine Summer Adventure Race for team Scrambled Legs and Aching in the books. From the moment that I learned that this year’s race would start at Pineland Farm, I KNEW that Kate and Cliff of Strong Machine racing would not be able to resist routing at least some part of the course through Bradbury Mountain SP. For some perspective, the last time I rode my bike at Bradbury, it didn’t end well. Dave and I had gone for an anniversary weekend to camp and ride mountain bikes sans kid about 10 years ago. After several crashes and frustrating hours of sliding on wet, slimy roots in the pouring rain, I wound up hurling my bike into the woods (and likely screeching at Dave about our weekend destination). Needless to say, the remainder of the weekend was spent in downtown Portland…
So flash forward a decade and we are back on the trails of Bradbury SP (and mostly wet and slippery as I remembered). Here are some of the highlights of our 24 hours of racing:

Gathering maps at the start. Photo Strong Machine racing.

    1) The race started with a fun little twist: teams had to split up and each teammate needed to acquire the first three checkpoints individually. In several races, I have actually gone the wrong way FROM THE STARTING LINE- and this was with a navigator! I have never navigated myself, so this was a pretty tall ask of my skills. Needless to say, all three of us returned with our respective checkpoints completed right on schedule. Crisis averted.

Sam's wardrobe malfunction. Photo Strong Machine.

2) In the first 10 minutes of the race, Sam managed to tear a giant hole in his bike shorts in some venomous pruckerbrush. He returned from the orienteering leg with said wardrobe malfunction in progress. I found his solution of wrapping his 28” quads in medical tape to avoid indecent exposure particularly amusing. I think the creative tape solution lasted a full 20 minutes.

Coming into transition after a long time on the bike.
 Photo Strong Machine.

    



     



     



3) Despite my irrational hatred of Bradbury Mountain, we acquired every one of the mountain bike checkpoints set in the race, including the Bradbury Mountain bike orienteering section. I only had one epic over-the-handlebars crash that resulted in a face full of soft forest duff. Rumor has it that this was around 80 miles of mountain biking in total. For someone who isn’t particularly fond of mountain biking, I am pretty happy with this accomplishment.

    4)  A license to eat Nutterbutters and Fig Newtons for 24-hours straight is never a bad thing if you ask me.

Scrambled Legs and Aching making a plan. Photo Strong Machine racing

    5) The paddling leg included a stretch down the Presumpscot river and into Casco Bay for a few checkpoints. While we strategically chose to skip some of the paddling checkpoints in order to save time, we did visit Fort Gorges on Hog Island. Exploring the fort, including climbing the stairwells in complete darkness and the spectacular ocean views from the top, was pretty cool.

Beautiful Casco Bay. Photo Strong Machine racing.

6) OK, I’m not gonna lie. When one of your teammates is a professional athlete who can squat a small school bus (and your 44-year-old husband wants to pretend he can keep up), there are perks. While I entertained the idea of letting the men portage the boats while I carried just the paddles, in the end, I couldn’t let them do it. Thanks for the chivalry though, fellas (we did manage to carry both the tandem and single sea kayaks with all of the gear in one swoop). Let’s just say that I did enjoy a rare opportunity to lily dip, sightsee, snack, and relax while Sam powered our little boat through the choppy ocean waves though. It is a nice way to travel; I highly recommend it.

Oh my gawd! Are you, like, doing the Amazing Race?

7) Urban orienteering in downtown Portland on a Saturday night was super fun (still looking like we just finished a game of mud football from Bradbury Mtn). Turns out, we must have been a bit of a spectacle here. I wonder how many other teams were also asked repeatedly if they were doing the Amazing Race? 

8) It has been a year in the making, but Dave and Sam finally got their well-deserved mid-race pizza. In last year’s race, we were not able to come to a team consensus about stopping for pizza (despite carrying 10,000 calories of food in each of our packs, the boys both seemed to think we were on the brink of starvation without it). Our failure to agree was followed by 20 minutes of team silence and then a 2.5 hour shenanigan searching for an elusive checkpoint. I will continue to hold my ground that correlation does not equal causation, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. Anyway, thank you Circle K for ready-made pizza this year. I’m not going to lie; it was delicious. Oddly, the only time we found ourselves “lost” this year was immediately after the pizza. Coincidence?

photo Strong Machine racing

9) Sunset on the Western Prom… how cool was that? Fireworks and all!

North Franklin 12U All Stars. Who said I can't be in two places at once?
Play ball kids!

10) A race director who is happy to text your 13-year-old daughter to keep you updated about her all-star baseball tournament that you are missing  while playing in the woods. Thank you Cliff for minimizing the parent-guilt that goes along with these endeavors!

11) I think my favorite part of racing is always the hours after darkness when the world grows quiet (assuming it isn’t pouring rain, that is). This year was no exception. This year brought us a perfect Maine night with a great mix of mountain biking and on-foot orienteering during the hours between sunset and sunrise. I am grateful for the laughs, the stories, the tired feet, and the memories. This only happens when you have awesome teammates!

Meet Mega John. This is a drawing my 13-year-old doodled at
dinner last night. Clearly, I am not the only
one with issues with these monsters.

  12) No ticks. Did I mention that? This wet spring has been terrible for ticks up here, and yet, I saw none during the entire race. Dave found two after the race looking for a home, but no bites. For anyone who shares my hatred of these nasty little pests, I highly recommend spraying your gear with Permethrin. It really seems to work! I wonder if other teams had issues with them?


13) Our final result: 3^rd place finish! Woohoo! Not too shabby of an effort, I might say (a legitimate qualification for Nationals this year!). Can't wait for the next one!