Hot, hot, hot. 99 degrees F, heat index of 106, 12 o’clock noon start. The 2010 Odyssey One day race is in the books, and we won! Did I mention it was hot?!?! Ronny (the Race Director) put together an epic, grueling and absolutely unforgettable race, designed along the lines of the ‘old school’ Odyssey races.
An overview of the race goes like this: Short running prologue, hop on bikes for about 9 hours (!!!) of riding and hike a bike, trek up a mountain and along the ridgeline, drop down bag some points and check out a cool waterfall, run through the woods along old barely defined unmarked trails, bag CP 10 and start moving down the roads to the paddle put in, get shuttled to boat take out, ride like we were in a three hours sprint race, blow a tire, crush the rest of the ride and finish with a minute to spare! Yeah!!!
Ups:
- Teamwork! Racing with Sara, Charlie and Andy was awesome!
- Battling it out with the SOG team. Stellar athletes, completely crushing the pace and motivating us.
- Positive approach to dealing with the heat. If there was a stream crossing, I was lying in the water and dropping my core temperature. We stayed in the shade, and slowed our pace for the first nine hours of the race.
- Refilling our water at the CP 8 waterfall.
- NASCAR quality tire change. Andy’s rear tire blew, separating the inner and outer casings. Seven minutes later, we were rolling. Sara saved the day (she had dealt with this before) providing both duct tape, dollar bills and direction.
- Positive attitude, especially for the last 90 minutes of the race. We knew we would be cutting it VERY close to get to the finish on time.
- Our finish – with a minute to spare!
Downs:
- The heat.
- Bike wreck coming down from CP 3. The paddles in my pack hitting the rock made a very disturbing sound, but broke my fall!
- Tough time getting off a ridge to attack CP 6, and running out of water for about two hours.
- CP 9 to 10. Lots of repeating terrain features, tough navigation using unmarked trails.
This race yet again confirmed how important it is to continue forward movement and keep a great attitude. We keep doing that and getting great results.
Thanks to all our sponsors, we couldn’t race at the level we do without your support. Friends, families – we appreciate all the sacrifices you make so we can put in countless hours training for this crazy, awesome sport.
See you outside,
Shane
Thank you for the new AR report. It’s so exciting to just review!!! I wish I could have bee in your pocket to see all the wonderous sights and to have had that extra water ready for you! I’m overwhelmed that YOUR TEAM could not only finish the race within a minutes time, but also to have won it!!! YOU are all just excellent athletes. Rest you bodies, minds, rejuvenate well before your next race. Gosh it could be hotter! God’s Blessings! We’re so PROUD of YOU!
Love Mom and Dad