This was the first time out as a team of 4 with the current lineup of racers seeing those of us living in Switzerland reunite with Steph from the UK. It is clear that Steph has been doing more racing and more involved in the adventure race scene and it was great to all be back together and at the start line for a race.
But before we got to the start line we had a journey to get there first. We left Switzerland just after 3pm on the Thursday and headed for Belgium where we would spend the night in the family home of Rainer. It was nice to have a bed to sleep in before the race day and after a long drive. Kristian drew the short straw and shared the bed with me. He had forgotten that I fall asleep quickly and that I snore. But in the morning we were all refreshed and a nice breakfast of bread, cheese, meats and eggs was served up to prepare us for the day ahead.
We had plenty of time to get from our accommodations in Belgium to the race HQ in Valkenburg, in the Netherlands, so we didn’t really rush to leave. A short drive and we arrived at the HQ site and went looking for Steph who had arrived the day before and was already packed and ready to go. Of course this was not the case for us and we had to unpack and rebuild our bike boxes, get the bikes ready, pack our bags and sort our gear.
We were soon ready to do all the checkins and quickly found that we had over packed our boxes with too much gear and so we spent far longer than we would have liked taking things out of our boxes and trying to get them down to the required weight. We could have saved ourselves some trouble if we had of read the information we had already received at checkin as we found out later that we would be seeing our bike boxes at the start and so we could always take stuff in our pack and at the start drop it into the bike box (not sure they had thought of this loophole).
After the checkin process we went to have the meal that was provided by the organisers and have our photos taken. Unfortunately, the team serving where not sure of the ingredients and so Steph decided not to take any risks right before the race start and went to get something from outside. We tried to relax for a bit and waited for the race briefing and welcome speeches.
We did the race briefing and asked a few questions we still had, got plenty of information to prepare for the race and the rushed back to the car at this point to reload all the stuff we had taken out of the boxes that we wanted to put back in. Bags over packed we left them inside while we went out to do the prologue stage of the race.
The prologue was a nice tour of Valkenburg where we teams had a staggered start and went through the caves under the city, through the main bar and restaurant area with all the cheering people eating and drinking and down a few paths around the town. We finished this stage in an average time with only one place where we had to backtrack and look for a marker we had missed.
After this we had a little time waiting for the other teams to also complete the course and for the busses to be ready to depart for the races actual start location. We took this time to eat a little more and get our kit all set up properly in our bags.
The busses arrived and they gave all the teams the first packet of maps (that we could not open until we were all on the buses) and we loaded up. Rainer and I were going to be doing the navigation so we sat together with the maps and the other two settled in to get some rest before the start. We opened the maps and right away Rainer knew we were headed on the buses to Belgium where we would spend nearly the entire race. We took our time marking the maps and choosing some routes to take. It took a while but eventually we were done and able to settle ourselves in for some rest before the start as well.
The busses pulled into the final stop and we all made our way in to the initial transition to wait by our bike boxes and await the official race start. The flare gun went off at 1am and we quickly opened our boxes to get the bikes out and build them. As soon as we had done that and deposited the stuff we wanted to add to our bike boxes we headed off for the overnight trek. Because of the way the course was set out there were two loops that could be done in either direction meaning that there were 4 ways teams could logically go for the course. We had chosen our order and headed off to start collecting check points. For most of the night it was pretty straight forward and we were making decent time and finding most of the checkpoints without too much difficulty. At one point we had clearly found a checkpoint that others were struggling with and while we were trying not to give the checkpoint away to other teams we ended up leading them right to it.
The night wore on and as the sun was coming up we realised we had made an error of judgment with the map. What looked like just a steep road in a clearing ended up being a huge quarry with a no entry sign at the gate. It was too far on difficult tracks to go back and we were not allowed to go into the quarry to go up the muddy roads so we decided to straight up the hill through the forest next to the quarry. In the end this was a nice place to spend the sun rise as we had a nice view, no one else around and birds were all signing. But it was hard work and we still found ourselves in the quarry at the very top for a little. This was where Rainer first told us about how much he loves mud. And the mud theme would follow us through the rest of the race.
We finally made it to the top and then we were pretty close to the end. A coupl eof checkpoints to go and we were then headed into T1 to get onto our bikes and start the first bike leg of the race. This transition was not fast but also not that slow as we only had to check our shoes, refill our bottles and then get going on the bikes.
Out onto the bikes and at first it was not too bad. But the day would be as much hike-a-bike as it was cycling. We headed down some mud trails and through some single track where we were pushing through brush the whole time (and Kristian was getting it flung back in his face from me). There was more mud and at one point Rainer fell into a river with his bike only a few minutes after saying this would not be a good place to come off. It was a slow-motion comical fall where he started going, saw a branch from a tree that he grabbed to support himself, but then it snapped also and he fell in the river, still clipped into the bike. Of course, the camera was off at this point. We took a couple of longer routes on this leg to try and avoid some of the worse hike-a-bike mud trails but this cost us quite a bit of time. As we were coming into the end of this bike leg Steph also had a brain fart and although she saw some walkers in front of us she switched off and cycled right up to the back of them in her own little world and at the last second realised she was about to hit them and so got onto the brakes and went over her handlebars in an effort to not crash too badly into them. Thankfully neither Steph or the walkers were injured and we moved into transition.
We spent a little too long in this transition with our bike boxes, some food, our shoes off and flip flops on. After packing the bikes up into the boxes and resetting our packs for another hike and changing our socks, we headed off. It was hot and we seemed to be making good ground. We found a few difficult checkpoints without too much trouble while other teams were all milling about trying to find them. And although we tried not to give them away we also led a few teams right up to checkpoints that they seemed unlikely to find otherwise. But we were making decent time and made it to the kayaking transition.
Again, we probably took too long at this transition, not sure how it happened but I guess it was from being awake for a while and feeling a little sore and hot from the sun. but we eventually got started on the kayaking leg. Rainer and Steph in one boat and myself with Kristian. I was suffering a bit at this point and although at the time I thought I was doing ok in the kayak I think I might have been sleeping and leaving Kristian to do it alone for the first half in the sun. Later I woke up and took back the control I should have always had in the back of the Kayak. Unfortunately, Rainer and I were enjoying our roles in control a little too much and led the kayaks through the roughest of the sections in the river getting plenty of water onto all and into the kayaks as well. We would regret this later when it turns out Kristian’s shoes ended up swimming around in the back and soaked and that he also didn’t have the most waterproof bag and so no dry socks. My bad, sorry mate. Also, towards the end of the kayak the weather changed, it rained, it got cold and the water turned very cold. At one point I could not feel my hand and it was fused around the kayak paddle, unable to move the fingers at all.
After this we dried off on the bank and then headed the short distance into the special stage. We were one of the last teams that were allowed to participate in the special stage, which was via ferrate and some wire bridges and a zip line. This test Kristian’s fear of hights and Steph was struggling with her short legs to reach the wire bridge at times. At the end of this we walked into transition as one of the last teams because of how long it had taken at the special stage. There were a lot of teams in the transition that had been sent straight there rather than doing the special stage. Of course, we did not really know or understand this at the time.
This next transition was the one where we and all the other teams received our next set of maps and where there was hot water and most teams were having a hot meal. We did the same, the set about building bikes, plotting all of the next maps and routes and resetting all our gear for the rest of the race as this was also the last time we would see our bike box. We took a long time in the transition and were the second last team out of it. At the time this felt depressing, but when looking back at the race dots, we spent as long in this transition as other teams, it is just that because we were at the special stage we were in there later than most. As we were leaving this transition, this is where my head started to play mind games on me and the lack of sleep and the mental exhaustion was starting to get to me.
We headed up onto the bike and it started to get dark pretty quickly into the bike. We tried to avoid some of the biggest hike a bike sections when making the map but there were points where we didn’t have a choice. A really steep, wet, slippery and dangerous climb up to an old castle early in the night set the tone for what was to come. There were famous hill climbs, muddy hike a bike sections with soooo much mud, and fast road sections that lead us through to the next transition.
At this transition, we saw plenty of teams there, some leaving for the net bike having already done the trek, some sleeping, some about to start the trek like us. We decided to just head off to the trek asap and headed out. But this night was going to be a long one for us. We were slowing down, we made a few errors (like dropping the route book and taking a wrong turn and having to backtrack) and sat down for what ended up being too long. We had a long chat as a team trying to work out what we wanted from the race, what we thought was achievable, and what we should do next. It all felt like it was about to fall apart and don’t think anyone really knew how the others in the team were feeling. We walked back into the transition and what we didn’t know, which would have possibly changed so much in out mindset, was that we had only just missed another team leaving by about 5 minutes. However, we were the last team into the transition and the organisers were waiting for us so they could pack up and move on to the next section.
Some of us were ready to give up, but thankfully some of the team (mainly Steph) and the support crew talked us into continuing and getting to the finish line. We looked over the maps and decided that yes, we really did want to make it to the finish line and not give up. We drew a new course on the maps that mostly just headed for the next TA but collected a couple of checkpoints along the way. It was a long ride and I myself do not remember too much of it. I think I again was micro napping on my bike at intersections and just before we made it back into the Netherlands I passed control of the map over to Rainer to lead us in. We had a few mishaps with the route and asked a few people for directions but eventually we were on the right tack and made it to the final transition area only to find it had already closed. So quick smart we got back onto our bikes and headed for the finish line. We were given a tip about a longer course that was flatter and faster and we settled into a 4 bike train slip streaming along at a rapid rate to get to the finish line.
We crossed the finish line a half hour late but it felt so good to make it to the finish line. The organisers had a nice finish line area for us with food and beer, seating and the sun was out. Rainer and I crashed out at a table and missed the prize giving ceremony but we managed to have a good talk as a team before we packed up to head back to Rainer’s mums house for Belgium chips and a shower.
