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Results
 Biking up a storm
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Tree Huggers Race report-
STORM the Trent 07
Report
by Richard
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Barb and I did this one as solos. It's a
well-organized race, with 166 racers in solo and team categories.
There's also a 2-day version and an easier "hike" race.
My recumbent seems cursed. 2 weeks ago I broke a hard-to-replace idler.
Last week the handlebars snapped. This time
I had a flat when I took it out of the van, and after changing the tire
I found it low again 10 minutes before the briefing, so yet another
panic tire change.
We started on the water. Paddling my huge expedition kayak into a stiff
breeze, I was going all-out and couldn't catch Barb until the downwind
section! I came off the water around 6th after a huge effort, with Dave
Zeitsma 's 2-person team and Barb hot on my heels. We had a short
but horrible 400M portage (My 80lb boat's a pig to carry solo).
On the bikes, I managed to catch Dave Z's team and a solo on the road
on a huge climb, but cramped up something fierce, and had to stop,
stretch and eat tums, probably from working so hard on the paddle and
portage. I passed them and another team of 2 later on the nice
singletrack, moving up to third.
We transitioned to the run, where I planned to bushwhack to
cut the marked route short. Unfortunately the first 2 CPs were
misplaced, and I wasted some time looking for CP1 with The Wetter The
Better. Once we found it I lost them by more bushwhacking, happened to
hit the misplaced CP2 OK, then leapfrogged Dave and Nuala, nailed the
advanced
section and came off the trek in 1st with a good lead!
Back to bikes, Dave Z and Nuala caught me when I took a bearing at a
suspicious curve under a hydro line, (threw my compass way off) and I
went squishing off through a muddy ATV trail. I eventually backtracked,
ran them down, and we worked together briefly. After that I took off on
my own. I just put my
head down (figuratively) and biked hard by myself the rest of the race,
thinking that if the headwind's hard for me it's worse for all the
Wedgie Bike riders. I kept waiting for the roadies to run me down.
At the final offroad navigation section I ran into a team of 4 as I
sloshed through a beaver swamp, but lost them with a final blast
on the road and sailed
in to win not only my category (Solo Masters) but take the overall win
too! Yee Haw!
I was 1st of 80 teams (166 racers).
The Wetter The Better (team of 4) were only 2 mintues back. They had
lead the paddle, had a bad trek, but made good time on the road in a
paceline. Dave and Nuala were about 10 minutes behind, and our RTN
teamamtes Jamie
and Lori were 2nd co-ed.
Barb's precision nav backfired due to the misplaced CPs. Still, she was
not only the first female Solo but the second of any solo and finished
8th
overall, so we were
1-2 solos!
We were really pleased to see Paul and Kendra race, and they narrowly
missed 3rd co-ed.
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