Gnawed by the peer pressure, last Sunday I gave in and for the first time in my life I took part in adventure race. If there was such thing as Adventure racing for Dummies, it would most certainly describe it as activity recommended for everyone enjoying outdoors, cycling, running and orienteering. I got a taster of it last December when I was accompanying Pete and Spider to the race and I was actually quite envious seeing all those fit, wet, exhausted and dirty people crossing the finishing line with high spirits and great satisfaction. It was time to give it a go.
In the nutshell, Open Five Adventure Race, which we took part in, looks something like this: you pay an entry fee, and arrive to the place of the race, preferably fit and equipped with a good bicycle and other gear. (The latter proved to be crucial in my case!)
On the spot, you get a map and a dibber on your wrist to record the places you visited. The race has a running and a cycling stage and the aim is to find as many places - controls marked on the map as possible, all within the period of five hours. Each control is worth different number of points, depending on its accessibility. The word “Open” in the race’s name is very appropriate, it suggests that racers are free to decide which route to take, which controls to visit or which stage to start with. Therefore, it is not only a matter of speed, stamina and navigation skills, strategic thinking and planning are equally important. Anyway, if I managed to get your attention now, have a look here.
I have to admit that I was a bit of a slacker in terms of preparation, so at least in the last week before the race I took it a bit more seriously and went running a few times, even up the Clougha Pike, our nearest “big hill” in the Forest of Bowland.
And so, there we were, Pete & Claire and me & Spider, ready to compete against each other (primarily) and against everyone else in the mixed pairs competition. Despite Spider’s complaints, (his arguments included indecency and rudeness, and “what if my parents will find out”), our team was given name Big Fat Bitches. For those who are wondering why – are you of medium height and medium built with slightly thicker thighs (thanks mum!) and have you ever tried those fancy body hugging lycra trousers and then have a look at yourself in the mirror in the changing room? Then you know what I’m talking about:). And if you don’t, then lucky you!
But let’s not divert from the main story line. So there we were, on bright and cold Sunday morning, in Hebden Bridge in the South Pennines, ready to race. Well, actually, we have won one race before we even started, a race against the time. I really like my good old bike, a faithful companion for three years now, but it would have been very foolish to ride it, potentially fatal for both of us. The only other option was to hire a bike, which proved to be almost impossible, except in the local bike shop (Blazing Saddles, I should have sensed the danger from that name) in Hebden Bridge, which only opened at 10 am. The time slot for the start of the race was until 10.30, so we had half an hour to drive to the town from the registration point, down the steep and narrow roads with deadly descents, collect the bike, climb up those steep and narrow roads with deadly ascents and get to the starting point which was away from the reg point. We made it!
After the exchange of byes and good lucks we dibbed our dibbers in the “dibbing machine” and that was the start of our running stage, from that moment there was a countdown running. Dibber is a funny little plastic thing, a gadget similar to the clock-in machine. Initially I thought it was called dipper and considered myself very smart for being able to deduce this from the way it works. You dip it in the hole in the dipping machine and while you dip, it does beeep. Well, I was wrong.
Do not worry, I am not going to bore you with account of each control we visited .I’ll try to give a general outline instead.
In all honesty, a boost that we got from being able to find the first control easily quickly faded away while desperately looking for a second one and never finding it. I knew that my navigation skills are appalling, Spider was giving me a lecture on how to find a place using the compass while having our breakfast and on the way there I was studying the map legend to at least know what the symbols stand for. I did not know though, that his skills are equally bad. Eventually we found our way and gradually we improved so much that we managed to find quite a few controls, some of them without any difficulties. At one point we even ganged up with other competitors and searched together for one especially well hidden control (which turned up not to be there, a little practical joke on the part of organisers). We picked a few more on the way to the transition for the cycling stage. We were running for two hours and a quarter and it was tiring, but enjoyable at the same time. At that point, I was really having fun and enjoying myself, the initial tension was gone. We seemed to have been similarly fit, so none of us had to wait for the other one too long and we could comfortably pace ourselves. Or perhaps Spider was just being polite:).
At the transition there was not much time to spare, quick drink, some snack, quick discussion about the strategy and route and off we went. We found the first control and on the way down I was literally growling with pleasure from the long forgotten experience of bouncing on the bike with a front suspension and was looking forward to some more bouncing, when everything went wrong. I noticed that my pedal is a bit wobbly, it was turning in a weird way, kind of askew and right in the moment I was telling this to Spider, it came off!! Since we both share another skill - being useless for bike fixing, we could not do much, so we just tried to put it back hoping that it will work and what do you think? No, it didn’t. It was not good. I was furious and helpless and I addressed the bike shop with every single swear word I could think of, luckily in my native language, so Spider knew f*ck all what I was going on about. In this desperate situation, I could not think of anything better than starting to cry. We had to decide quickly and the decision was that I would return to the transition and kill the time and Spider will carry on, even though the race was already over for us. At least I found a nice way of killing the time; I was playing football with local kids on the nearby playground. When Pete arrived (without Clare, they had a break down too!),we took the bike back to the shop ready to fight for a refund, which was fortunately offered without asking for and a little compensation on the top of it. I’d still much rather not have the money and have the experience of mission accomplished, even with a mud on my face …As a result of all these unpleasant circumstances, we finished on the modest 15th place….. out of fifteen pairs competing…
So there is a lot of room for improvement and the next race is in the mid March!
In the nutshell, Open Five Adventure Race, which we took part in, looks something like this: you pay an entry fee, and arrive to the place of the race, preferably fit and equipped with a good bicycle and other gear. (The latter proved to be crucial in my case!)
On the spot, you get a map and a dibber on your wrist to record the places you visited. The race has a running and a cycling stage and the aim is to find as many places - controls marked on the map as possible, all within the period of five hours. Each control is worth different number of points, depending on its accessibility. The word “Open” in the race’s name is very appropriate, it suggests that racers are free to decide which route to take, which controls to visit or which stage to start with. Therefore, it is not only a matter of speed, stamina and navigation skills, strategic thinking and planning are equally important. Anyway, if I managed to get your attention now, have a look here.
I have to admit that I was a bit of a slacker in terms of preparation, so at least in the last week before the race I took it a bit more seriously and went running a few times, even up the Clougha Pike, our nearest “big hill” in the Forest of Bowland.
And so, there we were, Pete & Claire and me & Spider, ready to compete against each other (primarily) and against everyone else in the mixed pairs competition. Despite Spider’s complaints, (his arguments included indecency and rudeness, and “what if my parents will find out”), our team was given name Big Fat Bitches. For those who are wondering why – are you of medium height and medium built with slightly thicker thighs (thanks mum!) and have you ever tried those fancy body hugging lycra trousers and then have a look at yourself in the mirror in the changing room? Then you know what I’m talking about:). And if you don’t, then lucky you!
But let’s not divert from the main story line. So there we were, on bright and cold Sunday morning, in Hebden Bridge in the South Pennines, ready to race. Well, actually, we have won one race before we even started, a race against the time. I really like my good old bike, a faithful companion for three years now, but it would have been very foolish to ride it, potentially fatal for both of us. The only other option was to hire a bike, which proved to be almost impossible, except in the local bike shop (Blazing Saddles, I should have sensed the danger from that name) in Hebden Bridge, which only opened at 10 am. The time slot for the start of the race was until 10.30, so we had half an hour to drive to the town from the registration point, down the steep and narrow roads with deadly descents, collect the bike, climb up those steep and narrow roads with deadly ascents and get to the starting point which was away from the reg point. We made it!
After the exchange of byes and good lucks we dibbed our dibbers in the “dibbing machine” and that was the start of our running stage, from that moment there was a countdown running. Dibber is a funny little plastic thing, a gadget similar to the clock-in machine. Initially I thought it was called dipper and considered myself very smart for being able to deduce this from the way it works. You dip it in the hole in the dipping machine and while you dip, it does beeep. Well, I was wrong.
Do not worry, I am not going to bore you with account of each control we visited .I’ll try to give a general outline instead.
In all honesty, a boost that we got from being able to find the first control easily quickly faded away while desperately looking for a second one and never finding it. I knew that my navigation skills are appalling, Spider was giving me a lecture on how to find a place using the compass while having our breakfast and on the way there I was studying the map legend to at least know what the symbols stand for. I did not know though, that his skills are equally bad. Eventually we found our way and gradually we improved so much that we managed to find quite a few controls, some of them without any difficulties. At one point we even ganged up with other competitors and searched together for one especially well hidden control (which turned up not to be there, a little practical joke on the part of organisers). We picked a few more on the way to the transition for the cycling stage. We were running for two hours and a quarter and it was tiring, but enjoyable at the same time. At that point, I was really having fun and enjoying myself, the initial tension was gone. We seemed to have been similarly fit, so none of us had to wait for the other one too long and we could comfortably pace ourselves. Or perhaps Spider was just being polite:).
At the transition there was not much time to spare, quick drink, some snack, quick discussion about the strategy and route and off we went. We found the first control and on the way down I was literally growling with pleasure from the long forgotten experience of bouncing on the bike with a front suspension and was looking forward to some more bouncing, when everything went wrong. I noticed that my pedal is a bit wobbly, it was turning in a weird way, kind of askew and right in the moment I was telling this to Spider, it came off!! Since we both share another skill - being useless for bike fixing, we could not do much, so we just tried to put it back hoping that it will work and what do you think? No, it didn’t. It was not good. I was furious and helpless and I addressed the bike shop with every single swear word I could think of, luckily in my native language, so Spider knew f*ck all what I was going on about. In this desperate situation, I could not think of anything better than starting to cry. We had to decide quickly and the decision was that I would return to the transition and kill the time and Spider will carry on, even though the race was already over for us. At least I found a nice way of killing the time; I was playing football with local kids on the nearby playground. When Pete arrived (without Clare, they had a break down too!),we took the bike back to the shop ready to fight for a refund, which was fortunately offered without asking for and a little compensation on the top of it. I’d still much rather not have the money and have the experience of mission accomplished, even with a mud on my face …As a result of all these unpleasant circumstances, we finished on the modest 15th place….. out of fifteen pairs competing…
So there is a lot of room for improvement and the next race is in the mid March!
Just a few things to remember:
- Don’t hire bike from the dodgy shop
- Go left when Spider says to go right, purely for the sake of conserving energy
- Don’t eat strawberry & banana flavour energy jelly freebie, the taste is disgusting
- Don’t tell anyone you are going to race until you see your name in the top half of the result list, you can spare yourself from embarrassment
- Don’t ever think about missing out the adventure race again!
P.S. no visual footage this time, you might be lucky to spot me somewhere in the race report and photo gallery!
1 comment:
Mama ťa asi zabije keď sa to dozvie!!
Post a Comment