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Roz Puleo
Hey Guys - I raced the first Genesis Sprint AR on Saturday in Harriman State
Park, NY with my friend Ray. Good stuff, good stuff......here is my report:
The day before the race was as much of an adventure as the race itself. We
drove through Ithaca NY to visit a friend and my car got towed. We then got
back on the road and got to the State Park at 10pm. The key to adventure
racing is navigation; well, it was the night before, and we are lost in the
park, unable to figure out where the campground is. Not good foreshadowing.
The race doesn't even begin until 9am the next day. Finally, at around
10:30pm, we find the site, pitch our tent and head out for eats before
retiring around midnight in a ONE MAN TENT for the night. Tight quarters
indeed.
Next morning: we head over to the start of the race and prep our gear for
the start. This race actually handed out maps 30 minutes prior to the
start, so we (Ray) had plenty of time to figure out our course. Ray is a
Ranger in the Army's 10th Mountain Division (and heading off to Special
Forces in the fall) so thankfully, our (his) land navigation was pretty
flawless.
The race started with the trek leg, and we chose to complete the Elite
course (because I knew Ray would be able to navigate us pretty easily) and
we came through without much to note (except that I kept tripping and
falling like a moron...pretty funny). Second leg was a hike-a-bike to a
road bike leg. During the hike-a-bike, we got behind two jerks who would
let Ray pass them by, but not me. Frustrated, I tossed my bike on my
shoulder and raced by them, and they were mad that they got passed by a
girl. Later on in the race, they tried to get us back by telling us to go
the wrong way, but we knew better. Stupid jerks. After the hike-a-bike, we
had a five mile uphill ride to the kayak leg.
The kayak leg ws good, but tough. The map mismarked one of the checkpoints,
so we ended up carrying the kayak to the checkpoint rather than paddling to
it. That lost us a bit of time. Then we had another portage section until
we got back in the kayaks. When we turn to head over to the elite
checkpoint.....the wind was in our face and the waves were crashing over the
boat! Now, y'all know how nasty it was on Saturday....yeah, we were cold!
After the kayak leg, we got back on the bikes and had to pedal back downhill
for five miles. We froze!! But then back to the transition area and out on
the mountain bike for the final leg.
All was fine...we were motoring ahead to stay in front of two jerks who
trashed talked us, until Ray's rear shock broke....to the point of being
unrideable. He jammed it up so it was like a hardtail. As we were
mid-repair, the trash talkers rode by us and said "well, at least you can
walk your bike in". That FUMED us! I rode so hard to the next checkpoint
with Ray following me, determined to catch these two. We finished up
strong, but 2 minutes behind the trash-talking jerks. We're still pissed
about that.
Overall, we finsihed up ninth in the elite category, in 7:46. There were
lots of teams who didn't finish, or who chose to do the non-elite course .
It was Ray's first AR and my second, so we were pretty psyched that we
finished as well as we did.
Hopefully, we'll be at the next Genesis Sprint in June in Hartford. Anyone
else? Matt?
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