The Waiting

This time, I was ready. I had a vast inventory of strategies that I was ready to array against the navigational challenge of the coming weekend. I had been doing ultramarathon training to strengthen my joints. And I was finding myself comparable to some of the fastest mountain bikers I know.

We were in the truck driving to Vernon for the Raid The North 36 hour race. The scenery had been changing steadily as we travelled the familiar route towards Ironman country. In front was Rick Bruce and Chris Artibello, two tough teammates. We took adversity head-on last year at Kimberley and we kept our wits despite some of the most difficult terrain we had experienced.

Our support crew, Ian and Christophe, were coming out later in the day with our female teammate, Janna. I had only met her once and it was clear that she was apprhensive about the whole thing (who wouldn't be). However, she had proven herself in other races of higher intensity and I was certain that she would push through this race as long as we worked together and as long as we kept the whole thing lighthearted. In the end, Rick and Chris would bring that to a whole new level.

From left: Chris Artibello, Janna Gillick, Mike Melnick, Rick Bruce

The time spent in Vernon was uneventful. We ate, we moved into the condo, we slept. Even the gear check was routine. Being there early and getting thing out of the way made the day pleasant. Well, up until we had to wait for the maps. With all the time to wait, my thoughts would sway between imagining us racing right behind the leaders to imagining us getting hopelessly lost and having to dig ourselves out of last place. I hated the thought of having to say "We have to go back" to the team. Hopefully the map would clear up the uncertainty.

The Map

We attended the race briefing and discovered the race course. The team killing section was trip between transition 1 and 2. It started with a hike, then to a rappel and then to a bike pickup. After doing the math, it would work out to about 14 hrs with all of our stuff on our backs.

During the hike back to the condo, I had retreated to my thoughts while I tried to visualize how we would be feeling as we progressed through the race. It was hard enough since the course was very much up in the air, but it was not made easier by some jabs made from a friend of mine on a different team. I said nothing as I imagined how much ridicule and condescension I would receive from this person if I took a wrong turn and he did not. Thanks alot! I said nothing.

Back at the condo, I quickly rigged up my bike for night riding and then set to work marking the maps. It took 2 hours for Rick and I to mark up the map. The phrase-of-the-day was "Not Shown on Map". Gees, nothing was on the map! To make matters more difficult, one section of the map was in metric and another in feet. I knew I should have brought the instructions for my altimeter watch so I could switch between meters and feet. I was employing all the pre-race tricks I could think of and I was thankful for the format of the race where you received the entire course up front.

The support guys cooked up a great meal and I ate two and a half plates of chicken and pasta. And then there was nothing to do but wait.... and wait. It seemed like forever before we were finally donning all the race gear. I put on the shorts and shirt that I would be wearing for the next 36 hrs (yuck!) and put all my biking gear on and proceeded to try to sound re-assuring and assertive. Maybe I just came across as pushy, but with this being my 4th 36hr race, I felt I should show some leadership. Besides, it felt good to be moving towards some objective.

The Start

We hopped onto the chairlift for the start. That's a first and a pretty awesome first too. The bike section was going to be 30 km and all down (4000' down, in fact). The damp night seemed to close around us, cut only be scattered light beams giving the whole atmosphere an eerie feeling. Despite the humidity, the evening was warm while the wind was still.

At the top, I chatted with some friends. One of the race volunteers took extra care to note where our bikes were placed. Thanks Kim! I tried to sound relaxed, but I could feel the adrenaline coarsing through my system. This first section may end up being a total navigational nightmare. The team parked the bikes and I quitely slipped away to poke around and plan our strategy.

At night, distant features are invisible, the sun is not present to act as a backup check and your mind is somewhat tired. All these factors make navigation at night harder than in daylight. Combine that with the fact that NONE of the trails leading from the top of the resort were shown on the map, it made it hard to guess which way to go. The logical direction was on the trail that was in the same direction as the direct line to CP1. I walked over, and down and over and down some more. Other teams were around trying to do the same scouting. I concluded that the cross country ski trails seemed a likely candidate for the direction and I walked back to the start area.

The next half hour was spent busting my sides at Chris and Rick's antics. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. The team huddled together to stay warm while we waited for the start time to arrive. Eventually, we lined up near the start arch and the countdown began. The butterflies weren't there for a change. It was time to go to work, time to make this happen.

The start happened and the teams streamed through the arch. "What the hell?" a bunch of teams were angling left while most angled right. "What do they know that we don't?" Well, there wasn't really an option to reformulate a different plan, the information in front of me was the same, so changing directions was a big risk.

The Crux

The team held close together and we wound our way around and down the hill. There was some really nice double track to enjoy, but not without debris. It didn't take long before Rick found a stick with his rear derailleur. Can you believe he had a spare? What a superstar! I should do that.

The result of the delay, however, was the our team was now isolated. It was our own race for the moment. We continued down the slope until we came across a sign of the trails in the area. After consulting it briefly, we decided that Alder Point was the way to go. Apparently, we weren't the only ones. Down this path we found some heavy weight navigators.

We went down, then up and then down and up and things didn't seem to be working. On the one hand, the team had relaxed and was settling into the task of moving efficiently over the ground, but myself, I was getting frustrated. I tried not to show it and made some exploratory decisions to try and eliminate other options. Some teams continued down the hill, some tried bushwhacking to get another trail.

We biked back up to the sign we saw earlier. Yes, biked, everyone of us biked the uphills including our girl who was so worried about her ability. I remember one particularly steep hill and having Janna cycle past me as if she were Lori-Ann Muenzer. Impressive!

We reached the sign post that we were looking for and got back on track. The net cost was 3 hours. 3 hours of spent energy, time and most importantly bike light battery life. The trail was fast as Lucas had promised, but with waning bike lights, it eventually became an experiment in riding by feel. Rick and Janna were up front on the downhills (crazy kids!). On the uphills, I tried to make sure that we were at least in pairs and I could tell Janna was thinking the same thing when she kept waiting for me. Why was I stopping? My bike was complaining and it turned out that the bolts on the front chainrings were coming loose. It looked like I'd be in my middle ring for the rest of the ride. "Andrew would be proud of me!" (Andrew is the fastest mountain biker I know).

Our navigational woes weren't over. Daylight was breaking when we came upon a truck. Hmm, wrong elevation and wrong bearing, can't be it. Duh, what other reason could there be for some person to drive up here, park their truck and go for a hike? None, that was the clue that they had intended for us and we burned another hour going lower and climbing back up (cursed middle ring!!)

After bagging the checkpoint, we broke out onto the road and formed up a draft line. Yah, we're all bikers and it showed. The final road to transition was a fire road with nothing but uphill. Janna still seemed strong, but it didn't make sense not to tow. We hooked up and spun the pedals the whole way to the top of the hill. I knew Janna was pushing hard too because we were keeping up with the other guys.

The Bushwhack

It wasn't supposed to be relief that I felt when I saw the transition, but it was. I ate as much as I could while packing my pack and I tried to take as much weight for the team as I could. In the end, I was limited by the volume instead of weight. I was tempted to ditch my rain jacket, but it wasn't heavy, so I left it in there.

Up the road we went. We circled the area that the checkpoint was in until we were as high as the road would take us. We paused to don our "buswhacking" gear and then we plunged into the brush along the creek bed. The team broke out onto the plateau close to our destination with nary a scratch on us. From here, the navigation attained a new difficulty level. We tried cutting a straight line to the CP, but we drifted off track. In fact, we got close to a few likely spots and then switched to hunt mode. Big mistake! Every clearing was sucker bait to lure us away from the actual CP, so around in circles we went. I knew were within 500 m of the CP, but damned if I could find it. Throughout the meandering we came across a few teams in the same boat and some of them had spent over 4 hours going in circles. I had a decent idea of where we were and it was hard to pick a decision and stick to it, but we cut to the west on a line that I thought would bring us close.

We had eaten up our buffer time. If we had to go back to the road to re-orient, then it was likely we weren't going to make it to the next CP. I thought of skipping the CP and take the time penalty, but I couldn't be certain that missing a CP wasn't a DNF. I knew the team was worried and frustrated and I felt like I was letting them down.

That's when we happened across a trail with recent heavy traffic. We tried it in both directions and sure enough, it ran right into the checkpoint.

Team 180s were with us at this point and we formed into one big team as we thrashed through the woods to the northwest. I was actually starting to have fun. How cool. Well, at least until we hit a really steep drainage. It was expected, but the steepness of it made our progress slower than we were hoping. The terrain was steep, rocky, moss covered and much to my chagrin, home to more than a few wasp nests. Ouch!

Once we made it to the creek, we refilled our water and stretched our toes. My apprehension was high at this moment because I knew it was still going to be a race to get to the rappel before the cutoff time. Another mistake, I still had 1.5L of water, so I decided to go on without refilling any containers. I would later be glad that Janna refilled her container. Thanks, Janna!

We rock-hopped down the stream and made incredible time. More than a few times I glanced over my shoulder to see Janna impatiently waiting for me to get out of her way. LOL! She must be a snowboarder! It was straight to the bottom and then straight up the other slope. The bushwhacking on the other side was easy, but the relentless slope was hard work. It was nothing short of jubilation when I broke out onto the road and yelled back, "Found the road".

We had 2 hours from here to hike 6 km, so it seemed that we would be able to make the cut off easily. The hike up the road went exactly to plan. But the path we found heading towards the waterfall disappeared all too soon. After some thrashing around and doubling back we came across Team 180s again. We eventually dropped down to the creek that led to the waterfall.

Just as we found the creek, the sky opened up with a steady deluge of rain. Travel along the creek bed was slowed to a crawl due to the treacherous rocks. Down, down. "Just around the next bend." "Oh, I think that's a clearing up ahead" "What are we going to do if we miss this?" Wow, talk about demoralizing. Everyone was sure that we weren't going to find it. Then, suddenly there it was. We made it with 13 minutes to spare.

The Rappel

"Time to get to work", I thought. Everyone had to make it through this section and the next before dark. With the cloud cover and the surrounding hills, daylight was waning rapidly.

Janna was first up. She was a little distraught with all that had happened in one day. A quick hug and click and she was ready to go. Rick and Chris came and went over the edge, then it was my turn. I lowered myself over the edge and I initially felt a lot of pressure to look smooth and quick. LOL! I was bouncing off the walls, slipping on the wet rocks and sinking right into the deep pools of water. I felt that I looked like I had never done this before. "Who cares, Mike, just move it" I thought.

Once down, we moved to the hand over hand rappel. Rick and Chris went down with only a little concern. They were asking me how this should go. "I dunno". I knew how it should go, but I'd never tried something like this before. "Just don't let go"

There were two sets of ropes and we each watched the person ahead of us negotiate the first section. I finally started down and found some big footholds to make the upper section not so bad. At the mid level, I heard Janna having having trouble below. I lowered myself down the second set to her and talked her down/placed her feet in the scarce footholds.

Once we were all down, Rick popped a crass, humourous remark. It was perfect timing and even Janna was giggling. I was impressed with how she didn't dwell on the previous events and just got on with the task at hand.

The trek from here was treacherous and slow because of the slick rocks in the stream. We inched down looking for a volunteer to aim us up onto the lone safe path that would lead down the mtn. Instead we came to the end of the stream. "Streams don't end you say" Yes they do, at a 300 m vertical drop.

A brief radio call and the officials had no idea if it was supposed to be a volunteer or just flagging. "Wait there while we check" The team said no way, it was getting darker by the minute and Rick didn't have rain gear and was getting pretty cold.

We connected with Team 180s again. They had been expecting flagging and figured it was a little upstream. I know Wayne as a solid navigator and I knew what he was planning, so I tried to convince our team to give it a try. I'm not sure if they listened or they simply went because I went, but it worked out. Before long though the path disappeared and we were back to bushwhacking down a slope to a powerline.

The Egress

It was ink black by now and hiking along in the aura of our headlamps allowed our minds to relax. The sleep monsters were out and I could feel myself fending them off. Chris shuffled behind us for a while. Janna was slurring her words and her eyes were almost closed. Even the unwavering Rick was showing it. The next section was a mountain bike ride on roads and with us being so sleepy, it was going to be pretty dangerous to continue. If we slept, it would mean missing the cutoffs.

That's when Chris pulled up beside me and told me that Rick was dehydrated. What? He hadn't been showing any signs of distress. Had I not been paying attention? I should have given him my jacket or something back before the rappel, but I wasn't thinking straight either.

We rolled into the CP and it was dark, raining and lonely. What now. The team had to come first and our status was just not good enough to warrant us pushing on. Even if we had posted stellar times from here on, there simply was not enough time to complete the course. We had the volunteer radio for our support and we huddled under a tarp with some of Team 180s. It was nice to feel the human touch of someone next to you trying to stay warm. It wasn't long before we were squished into the support vehicle heading for the condo.

The next morning, we learned of the aftermath. Of 30 teams, 4 finished officially, and 3 teams finished outside of the 36 hrs. Our placing? 13th. We quietly packed up and headed home. No, we didn't finish, but it was some of the most fun racing I've ever had because of the team I was with. Great work team :)