Checkpoint Zero/Inov-8 Team Blog
presented by Inov-8

Team Checkpoint Zero / Inov-8 Omega 1337 consisited of mentor Jon Barker and team mates Jamie Frazier and Greg Schnapp. Our mandated first leg was on the bike then we decided to paddle then trek. Jamie navigated on the bike and trek and Greg navigated on the paddle. The team experienced very few problems and worked their way steadily around the course. We had decided ahead of race start which points we would and would not try for during the legs and stuck to this very successfully until the last, trek leg when we only had an hour left to find the mandatory two points. We found our first point (T15) on the small island with no trouble then headed north to T16 which proved too tricky for us and after looking for 15 minutes pushed on to T12 with another bearing bushwack but, again, we were unsuccessful in locating this point. With time fast running out we took off at a near sprint for T1. Fortunately we had more success and picked this one up cleanly then took off for the finish line with about eight minutes to go. We finished within the five hours time limit with about 30 seconds to spare. I believe we picked up about 20 points.

Well done to Jamie & Greg for hanging tough on a scorching hot day and getting the job done!

Jon

Last year's edition of the Wild Wonderful was a tough battle against Berlin Bike and EMS, but in the end we had come out on top. Subseqently, heading into the race this year the team had high hopes for another good finish.

Unique to this race, is the guided white water rafting segment which features two four person teams paired up in the same raft working together to get down the river as fast as possible. This was the third time that we have done this paddle leg in three different races, and for whatever reason, we always seem to get a slow boat, this time was no exception. Nevertheless, we soldiered on, knowing we'd have plenty of time to catch up later on.

After the paddle, we had a quick run up and out of the New River Gorge to our bikes. No Odyssey race would be complete without lots of elevation, and once on bike we were sent via old coal mine trails back down into the gorge. If one took the time to sight see along the white knuckle ride you got beautiful views of the lush greenery and sheer rock walls that make this area of the country so beautiful.

Dismounting the bikes, we set out on for for the meat of this course. A long foot rogain section. Before the race, we had asked the race director if the course was clearable, and the response was "one or two teams" might clear it. We figured we had a good shot at it and plotted out a route that would take us to all the points. We were taking a bit of a risk in that if we ran into time constraints, we didn't really have a good exit strategy.


As we started knocking off the points one by one, it seems as though we might beat our own expectations and get it done early. As we have come to learn, that's rarely the case. As darkness fell, we started to have problems finding some of the points. After giving up on one, we bumped into Berlin Bike and swapped tales of our adventures. We decided to give it one more combined effort, in the hopes that eight pairs of eyes would make the job easier. Fortunately, that's all it took and I marched right to the point. We had similar luck on one of the last points. We had given up and were on our way out of the woods when we came across the flag. I was fairly sure it wasn't where it was plotted on the map, but at that point I wasn't going to argue beacuse we needed to get out of there.

Getting close to our self imposed time limit, we started to descend off the plateau back to the river to get on our bikes. What should have been a short hike down, turned into an hour plus long slog down a creek. Just before we hit the road we happened upon a two man team that was looking rather defeated. When they saw us, they commented on how fast we were moving. I told them we weren't going to miss any cutoff and they were welcome to follow us out. I think the prospect of running down this creek was a little too much and they resigned themselves to missing the cutoff.

As we finally made it back to the transition area, we quickly jumped on our bikes and started the long road ride back to the finish. It's a tough thing to be under the gun for a time limit, but be at the darkest, hardest time of the race. I always have a hard time staying awake around 3 AM and from the wavering lines being ridden by my teammates, I knew they were sleepy as well. Digging into my pack I pulled out the caffeine and we all took the equivalent of 4 cups of coffee in a couple seconds and waited for it to kick in.

As the chemical rush started, we started passing teams and shouting encouragement as we went along. I envisioned a large Tour de France style peloton cruising to the finish, but many of our competitors didn't have the enthusiasm we did. As day broke, we came screaming into the last transition area 20 minutes before the time limit. Knowing we were safe was a huge boost, as we knew it was a short run to the finish line.

Although we were fairly confident that we were the only team to collect all the points on the course, you really aren't sure until you cross the finish line. When we did, we were pleased to learn that we were the only team to get them all, which meant a first place finish.

Relieved and exhausted, we spent the rest of the morning gorging ourselves on the wonderful feast put out for us by the race, and spent some well deserved time napping in the cool shade of some local trees before getting in the car and driving home.

More photos of our adventure can be seen here.

As you may recall, two years ago in the top secret R&D lab of Team Checkpoint Zero we developed a sailing apparatus for the last edition of the MIX. Unfortunately, that race didn't have us on any open water with any wind, so the sails sat unused in our gear boxes for the entire race, and the next two years.

This year, with the MIX back on the schedule, the prospect of sailing once again became a possibility. The first leg of the race this year was a long lake section which would provide ample opportunity to test out our unproven equipment.

I am happy to report that the sails worked very well, once we figured them out. When deployed in a stiff down wind breeze, one sail easily provided more power to one boat than Bo and I could provide via paddle. We easily reached the max hull speed of the plastic yellow tubs we were using. In that first paddle leg Michele got about 45 minutes of rest, all she had to do was keep the sail up.

The unfortunate part of the story was that we broke one of the sails early on in the paddle leg and had to make due with only one. It's back to the drawing board to reinforce the defective parts and next time we'll carry a spare.

Watch for the tri-color Checkpoint Zero sails at the next race that allows them.

It's 62' high, weighs 16,000 pounds, took 8,000 man hours to design and install. What is it .... You'll have to click the link.

The pre-race meeting is over, now we're pouring over the maps. Peter and I did most of the plotting last night, so now we're working on routes.

Michele and Bo made it in to Traverse City alright, though poor Michele had to take THREE flights to get here.

The course looks to be true to the race name, with a real mix of trekking, paddling and biking, which the race directors says includes the best single track in Michigan.

Less than 16 hours before the race starts!

- Paul

We've plotted the 40+ points we've been given so far, but we don't have the directions yet. We'll get those at the pre-race meeting tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Until then, we'll just be taking some good guesses at how the race will flow. But ... it does look like we'll be paddling right past my brother-in-law's cabin on beautiful Lake Bellaire, through Clam Lake and to the small town of Alden on Torch Lake. I've paddled that portion before and it's very picturesque.

More tomorrow ... Peter and I are going to get some sleep and we'll pick up Michele and Bo at the airport tomorrow.

- Paul

Paul and I are well on our way to Traverse City, location of the 2009 MIX adventure race. Apparently our 2007 experiences with mosquitoes, rocky streams, and sandy roads weren't enough to keep us away. What do they say? Time heals all wounds? If it does, we're about to spend a lot of time and effort reopening some of those painful memories.

Along the way we've been suffering a distinct lack of quality radio. We especially feel for the citizens of Lexington KY. There are about 4 stations, and the one we caught blasted us with the following lineup:

Cher
Some american idol alumni
Wham
George Michael (a bit redundant eh?)
Elton John
Ricky Martin

The obvious question is why did we keep listening. Well, we are dumb enough to be headed back to Michigan again aren't we?

Be sure to stop by Checkpoint Tracker starting on Wednesday and give us a shout out.

When I first got my hands on the Sawyer 3 Way Water Filter I was somewhat skeptical if it would be practical enough to use for adventure racing. After having used one extensively for almost a year now, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one to anyone looking for a lightweight worry free water purification system.

Hooking up the filter is trivial; you can cut your current bladder hose and insert it in line, or use the supplied tubing to connect it. Depending on your pack, you'll have to determine where in line to install it. On any of the Inov-8 Race Pro packs you'll need to attach the filter close to the bladder so it doesn't kink the hose and so it fits inside the pack.

One of the most common questions I hear when I tell people about it is "Doesn't it make it harder to drink?" and my answer is no. You need slightly more suction to take a drink, but most of the time I don't even remember it is there.

Why not just use chlorine tablets or iodine? The filter certainly weighs more than a bunch of tablets, but at 1.8 oz it isn't a lot of weight. The biggest advantage is that you can fill your bladder and drink immediately. There is no need to wait 15 minutes while the chemicals go to work on whatever might be in the water you just scooped out of a river. There is also no fumbling with nearly impossible to open foil packets or tiny tablets that spill all over the ground when you job the jar. In addition, the filter doesn't add any flavor to the water like iodine will.

One of the best things about the filter is that it can be used with your favorite drink mix or electrolyte tablets, like nuun. The instructions warn that anything added to the water must be completely dissolved, or it may clog the filter. I've run more than 5 tubes of nuun through mine without any issues.

You don't have to use the Sawyer filter with a bladder if you don't want to. On several occasions I've hooked up a hose to the filter and submerged the filter in water and used it like a filtration straw. It's a great way to travel light and fast when there are many water sources available.

-Peter

Two of the southeast's most competitive adventure racing teams, Checkpoint Zero/Inov-8 and ROAM/Inov-8, teamed up this past weekend to take on the Odyssey Adventure Racing Endorphin Fix.

After three hundred miles of mountain biking, trekking, paddling and orienteering we came away with sore feet, swollen ankles, bruised muscles as well as 2nd and 3rd place overall, along with second place in the co-ed elite category and first in the two person male category.

About a week before the race, both Inov-8 teams were left with only 3 team members each due to last minute injuries. Seizing the opportunity to race together, we joined forces and decided that racing as a 6 person group was worth the risk.

Known for their brutally difficult courses, Odyssey once again lived up to their reputation and gave us over 300 miles of torturous terrain. We went up mountains, down mountains, across the tops of mountains, and through the valleys and rivers. Typical fare for adventure racing, spread over 80 hours.

Unlike most races that put a ropes section far enough into a race to spread teams apart, this years E-Fix had a relatively short 35 mile bike ride before the rappel. Our starting strategy was to be one of the first teams there so as not to get held up by any bottle necks. As it turned out, we hammered the first bike ride and wound up at the ropes first. We managed to get 4 of our 6 people down before ATP / Salomon showed up at the top.

Knowing they were right on our tails, and only able to send one person down at a time, our two person team of Bo and Charlie got down first and quickly set out for the paddle. There they started getting both teams bikes situated in the boats, in anticipation of the longest paddling leg.

Paddling with a bike in the boat is not high on the list of things that I want to do on a regular basis, but as it turned out that the paddle wasn't too difficult. We took on some water dropping through a series of rapids, but fared much better than the pack that was spread out for miles behind us.

As the race progressed through paddling, biking, and trekking sections, our lead over ATP/Salomon stretched and contracted depending on mode of travel. We were slower on foot, while they were slower on bike. By the middle of the second day, we had come into CP 23 together. As we took a moment to rest our feet, we watched as ATP passed us. I had a feeling we wouldn't be seeing them again.

Because of course cutoffs in place, we were fairly sure that no other teams were going to make it to the point we were at. All we had to do was make it to the finish to secure second place. It is hard to let someone pass you by, but when running around for days, even feet shod in our fantastic Inov-8 shoes needed a break. The hard part of just making it to the finish, was that it was still at least 18 hours away.

As we completed the last major trek section, we found out that one other team, Untamed New England, had made an all out effort and made the trek cutoff. Now they had a chance to catch us. Instantly, our strategy instantly switched from just getting to the finish, back into race mode. The six of us debated on the gap we had, and decided we had to go for several orienteering points at the finish, just to provide a little extra insurance.

We ended up nabbing 2 optional orienteering points, figuring that was enough of a cushion, and started the last haul up to the finish. To our amazement, Untamed New England caught and passed us about 6 miles to the finish! We panicked. Did they have more points than us? Why would they be moving faster than us? Certainly the person at the last TA would have told them how many points we had, and how far ahead we were. Not taking any chances, we pushed the pace to catch up with Untamed.

As we asked them how many points they got, we new that we couldn't trust what they said if we really wanted to keep 2nd place. What if they were tricking us?

Realizing we had no choice, we upped our pace and assaulted the last climb to the finish as best we could. After 77 hours of racing, an hour of sleep, and two hours of rest, we crossed the finish line.

Having left almost three hours on the clock, we knew that we left points out on the course, but sometimes pointless suffering must be cut short, no matter how much fun you think you might be having.

In the end, Untamed New England obtained 3 CPs less than we did, and we kept 2nd place overall.

As we all sit and nurse our feet back in the land of the living, we can only thank Inov-8 for making such wonderful shoes. It's rare for me to be able to race for 3 days and come away blister free. Now if only I had some Swiftwick compression socks like Julia has, my feet wouldn't look like overstuffed sausages right now.

-Peter