Race Report for Team HRAdventure at the Storm the Eastern Shore Adventure Race 18 Hours
Date: November 12 - 13, 2005
Race Organizer: Hampton Roads Adventure
Location: Cape Charles, VA
Filed By: Britt Anderson

The weekend began with navigating traffic through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel to get to Virginia Beach and meet teammates Pam and Mike, and Don who was acting as our support crew for this race – this may be one of the biggest challenges of the race! The Storm the Shore Adventure race was going to begin the following day in Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The Eastern Shore is a beautiful collection of marshes, small rivers and creeks on the Chesapeake Bay side and ever changing barrier islands on the sea side. And in between are quaint small towns, B&B’s, farm fields, and open countryside – in general a very nice and flat place for a race. But the issue with the Shore is the weather….it can blow like crazy and the weather can change in an instant. We had completely lucked out and the forecast was for light winds, temps in the 70s, and clear skies. Pam, being a Floridian was still a bit dismayed by the 40 degree overnight forecast but she looked at it as good training for a upcoming 30 hour North Georgia race in January….that and nothing gets Pam down for more then a couple seconds!

As I drove my car loaded with food, gear boxes, bike, and kayak - I was able to reflect a bit on the last week. It was good, I had had my moments of worry and self doubt, but I had been training and for the first time I think my pre race emotions was 80% excitement and only 20% of that nauseating stomach destroying anxiety. It also came to me as I blasted the new Dave Matthews how alone we really are, though we spend much time fighting being alone, trying to fool ourselves into thinking that we are not alone, ultimately no matter how many people are around us we are alone. Strangely I took great comfort in this. Adventure Racing is a team sport and the better the team personalities mesh the more fun the race and many times the better the team, but ultimately you are alone with your demons and questions….will I last, did I train enough, what if I can’t, what if I let the team down? You have to conquer your own fears along with conquering the challenges of the race with your teammates. I was really looking forward to the challenge this time.

The night before we prepped Perpeteum, filled water bladders, and sorted and purged a lot of the copious gear we had all brought with us. One tandem and one solo kayak were loaded along with food and gear bins and 4 mountain bikes into Don’s truck. We were ready. In this race we were going to have a mandatory ~6hr black out period during which no team could race and we would all be camping on an undisclosed barrier island. We packed one overnight gear bin, making the decision to ditch the tent and rely on a GoLite tarp and a bivy sack for shelter. Dry warm clothes, water, homemade banana and pumpkin bread, Pringles, hot chocolate and a thermos of chicken noodle soup rounded out our overnight bin.

The morning of the race dawned gorgeous. We were amazed at our good fortune. A quick stop for spare AA batteries and a breakfast of champions (McDonald’s Big Breakfast, McGriddles and coffee) and we were off to Cape Charles. We reorganized gear yet again, checked in and attended the pre race briefing. The Captain’s meeting was scheduled for 11:55am in a shelter on a pier over the Chesapeake Bay. We had a quick team meeting to determine who would be team captain and decided that I would take this responsibility this time….how “lucky” I was we would have never guessed. Team captains gathered exchanging joking barbs. I noticed two people standing in waders out in the shallows and the first inkling of “oh man…” hit me. Grant, the race director, made a couple last announcements, handed us our race instructions, pointed to the two people in the water and said….”and there are your maps! GO!” Ah the collective groan…I mean it was sunny and “warm” but the water was cold! We all took off running back towards shore and to the beach. I paused to take off my shoes . . . no way I was starting with wet shoes!

I got the maps and Mike met me at the water’s edge, grabbing the maps and instructions so that they could begin plotting points while I changed in to dry shorts. First leg…a trek through the town of Cape Charles for CPs 1-3. We plotted the first few points, threw the rest of the points to Don to plot and took off. We got to the first point on the map….uh, no flag/no race volunteers…hmmmm. It was then we realized that no one had really read the instructions carefully. We needed to answer questions and we had left the questions with Don. Groan. We begin to look around and a Cape Charles native asks Mike “Are you looking for the library?” Mike answers “Should I be looking for the library?” The woman replies “Well that is what everyone else is looking for! It is right on that corner over there.” Great we are definitely looking for the library. Uh okay we are at the library – no flag, no punch, but another team passes by saying to one another “Ok remember 1919!!!” Hmmm…don’t mind if we do! Of to CP2, located at the headquarters of Southeast Expeditions, a kayak outfitter and race sponsor. Okay no flag, no punch, no race volunteer….we have really shot our selves in the foot with this one. We look at them, they look at us….another team approaches saying, “What is the make and model of the orange kayak hanging on the side of the building?” Saved again – Wilderness Systems Tempest 170! We go to write down the answers and realized that no one had brought a pen either…but we are just warming up and don’t let this hinder our progress so off to CP3, a manned checkpoint thank goodness!

Back at the transition area we check in and begin the transition to the kayaks for our first paddle. Mike and Pam jump into the tandem, I in the solo and we push off. After some awkward first moments we settle into the rhythm of the paddling and head north up the Chesapeake Bay to CP 4 and onto TA2/CP5. Who knew there were sand cliffs in Virginia. Well there are and after beaching the boats our challenge is to get the boats to the top of the cliff with a lot of brute strength and then transition to a bike and tie. Don had a great TA set up for us; chairs, water, bike shoes, helmets, Hammer Gel taped to the bike frames. Mike desperately wants to run and get the blood flowing in his legs so Pam and I get on the bikes and off we go. We have only one CP to collect, CP6. Mike was a machine in this portion of the race, he wanted to run and run he did. I swear he was faster then most of the people on bikes!!! Pam and I went on ahead to scout out the CP but with out the map we turned down one road too soon but that was fine because there were these really wild white sand dunes covered in pines that maybe gave us some of the most “technical” riding of the race. We realized we were not in the correct place and headed back to the main road to meet Mike coming out of the correct road wondering how in the world he had beaten us there. So Pam and I headed to the actual CP to check in and while there found another team’s passport! The “precious” as we like to refer to it, the one way that progress is tracked and proof of each CP reached is established. As we headed back for the TA searching for those searching for their passport I thought about what a stomach sinking feeling loosing it must be. But we soon united the wandering passport with its relieved owners and continued onward, back to Mike’s bike so that we could begin the first bike leg.

Riding the roads of the Eastern Shore the first thing that you wish you had is a road bike, but we settled into our own little pace line of 3 and headed into a historical town, don’t recall the name of it, to see when the first courthouse was established (CP7) and to a certain telephone pole to see what numbers were on the yellow tag tacked to it (CP8) and then to CP9. CP9 was “fun,” it was hard to tell which road we were supposed to turn down but we had worked our way to the eastern side (ocean) side of the peninsula. We did pretty well locating the CP except of course the small inconvenience that it was on one side of a chain link fence and we and our bikes were on the other! So we boosted Pam across to get the passport stamped, then Mike was over and he and I ferried the bikes over the fence and I followed…no problem. I have to add that on the way out of that area and back to the main road I thought I saw a shortcut where we could cross a harvested field…well I was wrong but Mike and Pam were real troopers riding across that field after me when we could have been on the paved road. We had to get some off road biking in!!! From there is it was on to CP10 and then CP11/TA3. In between CP10 and 11 we played hopscotch with Team Trek. At first we did not really know who they were, we were just working together but then this guy kept staring at my bike, everyone’s bike for that matter. Finally he said “You guys represent our product pretty well.” Ah…you must be the Trek/Gary Fischer rep…it all became clear! Good – cause I thought maybe something was about to fall off my bike! Coming into TA3 it was dark. We were transitioning to the kayaks again and Don had a great spread for us at the truck – bananas, corn chips (salt good!), pb&j’s, Snickers, Take Fives (our new favorite candy bar) and who knows what else we stuffed into our mouths. He was very happy to see us doing so well but a little disappointed as he was going to have hot chocolate waiting for us but he had not had time to get the stove out!

Night paddling! Wow! We headed out towards Mockhorn Island – about a 2 mile paddle in a full moon…..Pam and Mike claim the water was somewhat rough, and actually later in the evening 2 teams would end up capsizing while crossing the channel (with the excellent race staff and fellow racers who stopped to give aid, everyone was safe thank goodness but it was a rather stressful time for all involved), but I was lucky to have a spray skirt and I did not remember the water being rough just that it was amazing to be out there at night. We kept yelling back and forth between kayaks how awesome it was and cursing our nav lights because they were ruining our night vision. It was pretty neat to see the white, red and green lights spread across the water in front and behind us. We checked into CP12 which was also the location of the campsite for the night. We had the option of then paddling or trekking to CPs 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. At CP 17 we would have the option of going after a series of 4 optional CPs for time bonuses….this is always a gamble cause if you do not get the optional points or if we returned to CP12 after 12 midnight we would loose all time bonuses AND have lost time overall! We chose to paddle this segment and when we arrived at CP17 we were surprised with oreos! Food of the gods really! Looking at our time, we decided to be conservative, go for 1 optional point and then get back to CP12. Off we went on foot along the beaches of Mockhorn Is. The moon was so bright we did not even need headlamps! It was such an amazing night. We passed through beach, mud, marsh, creek, shrub, woods and eventually came to CP 18 (2 hour bonus). Many other teams were in the area and we tried our best to not give away the location of the CP, “Pam it is not here let’s check the next tree line” & “Guys do you even think this is worth it, what if we don’t make it back by midnight!” all the while crouched at the flag, punching our passport in the dark. Then we ran back, jumped in the kayaks and paddled back to CP12 (kind of minimizes yet another hour plus spent sitting in a kayak!)

At the camp site we checked in, got into warm dry clothes and set up our shelter tarp lean to using a cinderblock wall on the island. We spread out a couple thermarests and sleeping bags and crawled in with pb&j, Pringles, banana and pumpkin bread, Endurox and the thermos. The silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife….”PLEASE PLEASE let the chicken noodle soup be hot.” We all looked at each other, breaths held in anticipation as Mike loosen the lid and steam poured out of the thermos – YES!!!!!!!!!! Gourmet meal AR style. Not only does Campbell’s make the BEST chicken noodle soup ever! (ok at least after 12 hours of racing), but it was not only hot it was burning hot!!! 5 star restaurant - Mockhorn Is in a Golite lean to….the food was pretty comparable! Grant came around right as the 3 of us were curling up to tell us we were in 6th overall (preliminary) and while we had been doing slightly better then that most of the day we were happy. Grant said with a bit of disbelief “you are all sleeping in there, is there room?” There is when you are spoonin’!

Morning came about on time….the cold dew kept dripping on my forehead. The Captain’s meeting was set for 6am. Water was a bit rough this morning with opposing wind and tide on a turning tide. I do not think any of us were looking forward to wet shoes, water proof pants, and jackets. In fact we all wanted to avoid the wet shoes at all costs…simple answer really. I wrapped my feet in the Ziploc bags from last nights dinner and Mike and Pam used extra garbage bags up to the thigh…also helped them to stay warm and dry in an open cockpit tandem! I am not sure I really want to recall too many details of this paddle around the base of the peninsula and back up to Kiptopeke State Park. There is a claim that it was a mere 7 miles…it may have well been 70. My hip was intensely painful; the waves were tossing Mike and Pam’s boat around making it nearly impossible for them to make forward headway. I think the second half of that paddle was the lowest point for all of us. I had to use my arms to lift myself out of the kayak as my hip did not want to function and Mike and Pam…I think they had run out of colorful metaphors to scream at their boat. There was talk of just throwing it out the back of the truck at the friend’s house who had lent it to them without even stopping. We happily got out of the kayaks and onto the beach and were a little confused by the looks of pity we were getting from volunteers, support crew, and the race director and medical staff. I thought perhaps they were feeling bad that we had just been past by pretty much the ENTIRE field of competitors…but no….it was the upcoming portage that we were about to embark on. It kind of sucked but as long as I did not have to sit in a kayak I really did not care.

We arrived at CP21/TA4 and Don informs us that we have McDonald’s breakfast and coffee. Now we are about to transition to a run and I am thinking…no way. But after changing cloths the warm coffee kind of looks good. Okay just one bite of the McGriddle. Wow…kind of tasted good, maybe two bites! WHO KNEW you could come off a horrible paddle, eat a McDonald’s McGriddle and suck down half a cup of coffee and then go run 7 or so miles with out projectile vomiting. Ah the beauty of adventure racing, it teaches us so much about our selves!

Off to CP22 and 23 on foot…how amazing it felt to put on the running shoes and run! We joined forces with Team Encompass for awhile and had a blast talking with them. There was even a bad rendition of Iko Iko at one point, “Your Grandma and my Grandma, sittin’ by the fire…” Oh sorry, I digress. One of the highlights was when we asked a little girl and her father walking on the trails at the park if they had seen more of us running in the direction that we were going (just a little nav check). The father, looking at us strangely says, “No, haven’t see you.” The little girl pipes up, “Well we have not seen you but we have seen more people that look like you!” She seemed much more excited about our mismatched outdoor wear and stench then did her father! Another chain link fence crossing, we are getting good at this, and we are back to the TA to transition to bikes….wooooohoooo the last leg. We had figured the route out last night, straight forward ride back to Cape Charles….famous last words.

So rules were you can cross Rt 13, the major highway up the Eastern Shore, but you cannot travel north or south using it. No problem….Uh wait how come the road we are on does not continue on the other side??? No problem we will parallel it north till it does cross. Uh wait, the road we are NOW on doesn’t continue across Rt 13 either. At this point we are NOT going back south; we do not have all the maps because it was such a “straight forward” route why bother. Hmmm….well straight across there is a farm driveway that leads to some harvested fields and we know Rt 600, where we want to be, has to be on the other side of the fields. Déjà vu…into the fields but this time it pays off. Once we reach Rt 600 we are pleasantly surprised to discover that we are even further north then we thought and we quickly approach the outskirts of Cape Charles. What a great case of “the race is almost over and we made it” chills!! It is amazing the surge of buoyant energy you get as you near the finish and look back over all you have done. It was my longest AR to date and I really felt like I could have continued (just NOT in a kayak!!!!). As we ride back through Cape Charles, past the crying parrot, past the library (built in 1919!) towards the finish it was such an amazing feeling, we laughed and chatted and finally got off our bikes for the last time after being gone from Cape Charles for 24 hours…almost 16 hours of racing and a nice brisk night of camping on Mockhorn Island!