Tree Huggers Race report- CNYO Snowgaine- from Barb

 We got the map about 40 minutes before we started on Saturday morning, and the goal was to maximize our points by visiting controls on one rogaine map, dividing our efforts into two 8-hour days. Any mode of non-motorized transportation was allowed, as long as you took it to all controls. Richard and I had brought classic & skate skis and snowshoes, but decided to just head out on foot with snowshoes on our backpacks.

There were a surprising number of bikes at race HQ, and I hope that they all got dragged to all the controls. The eventual race winner, who used a bike, expressed concern about seeing minimal evidence of other bikes in the woods while he was snowshoeing with his bike on his shoulder. Most people were snowshoeing, and there were a few skiers who had some long, lovely downhill runs interspersed with some tough bushwhacking.

After finishing way too early at the Laurentian Rogaine, we made a decision to plan Day 1 under the illusion that we could get all the controls. There was no time for detailed analysis, so we picked what looked like a longer, harder loop for today, assuming that we'd be tired tomorrow. One thing I would do differently in future 2-day races would be to start our loop from the outside of the map and work toward the middle. That way, if we didn't finish everything we'd planned, we would leave the skipped controls in play for the next day.

We started out with a long road run, then headed into the woods, travelling west for most of the day. The navigation went smoothly, although there was some debate about the merits of avoiding excess elevation gain (me) vs. avoiding breaking trail (Richard). Especially on the 1st day as we were getting used to the area, it was hard to know where we might find a well-packed trail anyway, so I didn't want to let that influence my navigation choices too much.

Richard did well, and towed me whenever it made sense. I'd started out the weekend with a GI bug, and - surprisingly - it turns out that 16 hours of winter racing did not cure me. I felt pretty dehydrated and lightheaded at times - never energetic.

Time was getting tight to get the 100-pointer at the far west of the map, so rather than repeating the Sherpa-Bash Rogaine Dash, we decided to turn back and do a long, stress-free road run to the finish, including several detours to pick up easy controls enroute. Other than the cold rain falling and the SUVs zooming by with skis on top and cell phones blaring, this scenic run was a great way to finish the day.

We were greeted by an amazing spread of post-race snacks - pasta, potato soup, burgers, sausages, grilled cheese sandwiches, homemade cookies and brownies, hot and cold drinks, etc. Hard to believe they can do all this, plus set up a race course over a huge area, for only $35/person.

Tim & Eddie had a great day, but felt that their snowshoes were slower than the skiers they'd seen. Phatty & Leanimal tore up the course in spite of restricted route choices due to adhering to the private property rules more literally than the organizers intended. (It hadn't been clear.) They arrived half an hour late though, which means a 90-minute delayed start tomorrow.

We were happy with what we'd accomplished, although we wasted 30 minutes on a 20-pointer that should have been used to get the 100-pointer we eventually had to skip. Note to self: Don't wait until halftime to re-evaluate a rogaine route. By then, it's too late - I'm already at my turnaround point. In future, I probably should look at our progress after 1/3 of the time has passed.

Day 2 of the SnowGaine. Richard and I had lots of time to plan our route, so things went more smoothly today, and we got every control we'd planned except for one 40-pointer that we'd left for an optional side trip near the finish. I felt worse than yesterday, so there was virtually no running, even on roads, but fortunately most of our route was snowshoeing, so 'Richard could just pull me along. The snow got softer as the day went on, so snowshoeing was harder work than yesterday. However, we had figured out the map legend better, so we were often able to choose harder-packed trails. Also, our total distance and climb were less today, since we were cleaning up all the points in a relatively compact area of the map.

There were two 20-pointers along the ski trails at the Nordic Centre, and we'd left them for the end in the hope that we might be able to enjoy our skate skis for a few minutes after hauling them all the way to New York. We got back to race HQ with 32 minutes to go, and had a smooth transition to skis. It wasn't easy in the soft snow, but it felt great to use different muscles and fly down hills. We made it to the final two controls, then dashed for the finish. We were OK for time, but Richard was so full of adrenaline that he crashed hard three times in less than 15 minutes of skiing! (And Richard almost *never* falls.)

More great snacks, along with a quick and efficient awards ceremony. Congrats to Pete and Leanne for winning the Coed category with 1689 pts, in spite of their penalty, which meant they had 1 hour less than the rest of us to do the course. Richard and I were 2nd Coed with 1589 pts, and the amazing veterans Eric & Mary Smith were not that far behind us. Tim & Eddie were the top Canadians with about 1769 pts, finishing 5th Male.

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