A mere 3 days after racing in the teams Coast to Coast I rolled up to Nelson airport. Another slightly larger mission on the horizon, I should have been as nervous as hell. Instead I was just excited. We were headed for Northern Patagonia, Argentina for the first expedition race in the AR world series. I had good reason to display a few nerves as this was to be my first expedition race. Offsetting the nerves was the thought that we were to race in Patagonia...an area of beauty and dramatic lanscape...playground to the outdoor enthusiast.
Unfortunately Aerolineas Argentinas had other ideas for our trip. I had been warned that delays were regular and what better way to start a trip than a few extra hours at Auckland Airport's gate 9. It was the stuff dreams were made of.
Cutting a long trip short 36 hours later we arrived at Bariloche airport where an enthusiastic member of the organising committee 'Sacha' met us. Not only did he speak great english but he had a ute that could take our gear to San Martin de Los Andes, base town for the race. What a legend! En route to San Martin des Los Andes we met Sacha's parents who were also racing Terra Viva. Super friendly bunch and fantastic hospitality. Luckily Sacha was able to translate...
Onto San Martin (Base town for the race) we headed and not wanting to waste precious daylight we hit the hills for a quick run. What a beautiful spot. Beautiful clear lakes surrounded by steep hills and huge rock slabs. Volcanic activity was evident in that ash lined the roads and became airborne every time the wind blew. A constant reminder of how close we were to the source of the infamous Chilean ash cloud. The next 3 days were spent exploring the hills around town, getting food and gear sorted and trying to get some sleep. Easier said than done...we all tended to spend between 2 and 6am wide awake then sleep solidly until 10. Not ideal but sleep is sleep and provided it was being banked we weren't too concerned regarding the timing. Sunday night came all too quickly. Gear checks, briefing and an amazing roast beef that had been slow roasted for close to 10 hours certainly got us in the mood. Racing would start tomorrow at 11am with a 60km kayak. Gentlemans hours!
The race was divided into 5 stages. Stage 1 was the 60km kayak plus 12km bike back to base camp. Stage 2 was a bike/trek stage with 2 treks linked by various biking sections. Teams could do these treks/ bikes in any order making it difficult to ascertain exactly how we were going until everyone had completed the stage. Stages 3, 4 and 5 were bike, kayak and trek/bike stages and could also be done in any order. For stage 2 we took advantage of a stonking tail wind and completed the longer of the bike sections leading into the trek. This took us to the start of the longer of the 2 treks that would take the best part of 14hrs to complete. It also took us through our first night on the course. Probably my toughest mentally. Not having raced anything over 24 hours before I spent much time pondering the sheer duration of racing ahead of me. Overwhelmed is one way of putting it. Nonetheless I plodded on concentrating on staying awake and keeping the food/fluid intake regular. For several hours its safe to say I wasn't enjoying myself at all. We were high on the ridges with plenty of rocky ridgeline to keep me entertained, a beautiful starry night, but it wasn't cutting it. Thankfully a couple of hours later I snapped out of it and was glad to leave my first low point of the race behind me. Instead we were in the early hours of the morning and found ourselves jogging down a creekbed to stay warm. The temperature had dropped below zero and it was freezing. The trees were frosted (as were my shoes) and keeping warm became difficult. Luckily on day break we struck a track on the hillside keeping in the trees and out of the cold valley floor. More food, another CP and a quick water stop and the mood lifted. The next 5 hours were spent climbing another high point with amazing views of the surrounding mountains and volcanoes before dropping back to our bikes. By now the sun was out and it was hot!
Onto the bikes, another 20km on gravel to the start the 2nd trek (still part of stage 2). This was to be one of the highlights of the race for us. Several hundred metre ascents of volcanos followed by several hundred metre scree run descents.....Awesome! Apart from the fact that my brain was in la la land this was a great section. Such was the fun that we knocked it out in just over 4 and a half hours.
All we had now was an approximately 3 hour bike via Lago Lolog (the lake we paddled on to start the race) back to base then we would have some rest...all going well! All was going well until just before dark (details are sketchy) just before the lake I came off my bike in a nasty fashion taking out Nath and Sophie. I have no recollection of the fall only that I heard a lot of loud banging. Out cold for about 10seconds I woke to the team standing over me with instructions to "wake up" which I as all good team mates would followed. Adrenalin was kicking in and I was keen to get back on the bike but a hard knock to the right shoulder slowed my progress. Eventually in a semi stunned state and all rugged up in warm gear I got the pedals moving again. Apparently I had been adjusting something on the bike with only one hand on the bars. Corrugations on the road delivered the final blow. The remainder of the ride is a blur. I remember following Chris and thats about it. Before long we were back at base, had decided to bike next and were off to the Chalet for a some sleep. Stage 2 completado!
Two hours passed all to quickly and before I knew it we were back on the bikes. Chris estimated the bike to take us 7-8 hours to which he was pretty accurate. Starting on tar sealed road was less than inspiring but later in the ride we found ourselves up the skifield explored prior to the race. This not only provided some amazing dawn views but some great single track and smooth fast flowing 4wd riding. By 9:30am we were back at central camp and preparing for the 2nd and final kayak section. Unfortunately for me with a bruised shoulder this was going to hurt. Improving the situation however was a beautiful clear day. It would be hot but calm. Motivation dropped during the paddle. Now on anti-inflammatories my arm was at a manageable level but the heat combined with close to 7hrs of paddling and little sleep slowed our progress somewhat. A couple of swim breaks helped to not only cool us off but woke us up and provided some much needed alertness for the remainder of the section. During the last 40 minutes Chris and I were certain Nath and Sophie had put in a surge to drop us. Unfortunately the real reason was that slowed considerably. Luckily we had almost finished and made our way to the stage finish on the lake edge at San Martin town. The plan now was a couple of hours more sleep and some real food then the final bike/trek to finish the race. Great!
Again two hours flew by and the numbness of my butt on the bike seat greeted me. Back to central camp, collect food and drink, then ride to the start of the final trek. The home straight.....kind of! This section was to be the expanding horizons section. Every part of it seemed to extend beyond our predictions. The bike to start the trek was no exception and took 1.5hrs instead of 1hr. Into the trek we slogged it out for 17hrs instead of our estimated 8hrs. Tiredness crept in. At first we power napped for 10minutes then before dawn pace had slowed so we bivvied for another 40mins. It got cold. There was lots of snot and mucous, coughing, sneezing, hacking. Without question one of the least attractive times of my life. The only thing making me feel better is that everyone was in the same boat. Dawn brought with it the realisation of exactly how far we had to go. After 9hrs there was still a good 8hrs left to the bikes. This was a long haul. The best thing for it was to revert back to the trusty one foot on front of the other regimen. Can't go wrong...and to keep us alert was plenty of wild roses. Great fun without gaiters! One memorable moment for me was close to the end of the trek when we exited the forest. It was hot, or seemed hot anyway. Following the lead of the boys I submerged myself into a stream for a few seconds. Within a couple of minutes I was shivering. When exhausted the body loses it's ability to thermoregulate - crazy stuff.
Back at the bikes we got going quickly for only an hour or so remained - mainly downhill. Nath was battling to stay awake on the bike so took off adrenalising himself awake again. The rest of us took it steady. Back at camp there was one final section---a final tar seal ride into town to the finish. It went in a blur and as the finish line shots show I was in another world even once we finished. I was there in body but my brain was fast tracking itself to a very very happy place....a place of sleep!
It had not been a long race as far as expedition races go but long enough for me. A new style of racing, a new crew to race with, a new country. It had been a tough course and I now know what it takes to excel in these races....lots of toughness! The team had been great. They are all super strong and Chris's navigation was superb.
Now we look towards Godzone in Queenstown. Can't wait!
A big thanks to the team sponsors to whom without their support the race would not have been possible: Seagate,
Many thanks also to my personal sponsors who make my racing possible: R & R Sport, Thermatech, Rasdex kayak gear, the Frontrunner, and migym Nelson.
To see the Sportzhub article for the race click below:
http://www.sportzhub.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13952&Itemid=96
Two hours passed all to quickly and before I knew it we were back on the bikes. Chris estimated the bike to take us 7-8 hours to which he was pretty accurate. Starting on tar sealed road was less than inspiring but later in the ride we found ourselves up the skifield explored prior to the race. This not only provided some amazing dawn views but some great single track and smooth fast flowing 4wd riding. By 9:30am we were back at central camp and preparing for the 2nd and final kayak section. Unfortunately for me with a bruised shoulder this was going to hurt. Improving the situation however was a beautiful clear day. It would be hot but calm. Motivation dropped during the paddle. Now on anti-inflammatories my arm was at a manageable level but the heat combined with close to 7hrs of paddling and little sleep slowed our progress somewhat. A couple of swim breaks helped to not only cool us off but woke us up and provided some much needed alertness for the remainder of the section. During the last 40 minutes Chris and I were certain Nath and Sophie had put in a surge to drop us. Unfortunately the real reason was that slowed considerably. Luckily we had almost finished and made our way to the stage finish on the lake edge at San Martin town. The plan now was a couple of hours more sleep and some real food then the final bike/trek to finish the race. Great!
