Getting the Cramps.....

Looks like me after the MTB portion of the Blue Ridge Bear Epic last weekend........  Sitting in that stinking canoe cramping up is not fun.....

The race was the Odyssey Adventure Racing 24 hour Blue Ridge Bear Epic...
This race came onto the schedule after the decision to back out of the Equinox Traverse 48 hour race that was going on the first week of July.

The team roster going in was me and Chris Farrell and we were hoping to get perhaps Andy Hershey or Dan Schaefer for a third.  By the beginning of July neither one of these racers would be available.  Hmmmm.....

I then got introduced to another racer from Virginia named Tamir Klaff and we spoke and we decided to invite him to race...  The drama is not over and we haven't even started yet.  Literally 4 days before the race he called and said he had injured his leg and may have to pull out!!!  Ultimately he made the decision to race and that was a good one!

I rolled into area (Fincastle/Buchanan, VA) on Friday about 6pm.  We were supposed to drop all paddle gear at the outfitters but when I met Tamir there he said it didn't look like we could leave gear there overnight.  Okay, replan number #1.

We planned to meet up at Race HQ the next day at 0545 when we could get Chris's gear and then shuttle it up to the outfitter.

We checked in about 6am and got our maps and race book.  Right off the bat it looked like a mountain bike intensive course.  Tamir shuttled our paddle gear up to the point on the map where we'd meet up for the paddle put in.  Chris and I planned the routing.

The first segment was an orienteering prologue that we could do on bike or foot.  They gave us the maps at 5 minutes prior to start and we had one hour to get as many points as we could and get back to the main start.  We decided to proceed on bike and nailed about 4 points on the O course.  We got back to the main area and turned in our map and passport and got a new punch card for the main course.  It looked like a long climb on the first section up to an area where would nail a couple mandatory points.  From there we dropped the bikes and made our way down through a major re-entray to pick up optional points.  We were doing very well.

On the way out of the valley I started to not feel so good.  It was over 90 degrees and I was suffering from the heat.  It started to get a bit perilous because I had also ran out of water.  The bike slog along the ridge seemed to take forever and never begin to drop off the high ground.  I was reduced to pushing my bike along with my teammates for a long long time.  Finally the road dropped off and we descended to the town of Buchanan where the paddle section would start.

Thank God that in the town there was a convenience store.  I bought a coke, a gatorade, and a Giant Slurpee that I took with me on the paddle.  The mountain bike section had taken a lot longer and we arrived at the check in for the paddle with only 20 minutes before the official cut off of 6pm.  We had been on the bikes on the mountain for 8 hours!!

We quickly pulled wheels off the bikes and loaded all the bikes in the canoe with our other gear.  Tamir was in the front of the canoe and me in the back with a stack of three bikes in the middle.  Chris hopped in a kayak and paddled alongside alone.

The first 20 minutes of the paddle were reserved to recovery.  It was a lazy float down the James River.  I slurped on my slurpee and popped electrolyte pills.  Everyone was a bit smoked from the ride.

Slowly we began to paddle and about the same time a vicious thunderstorm came through that forced us to the bank and to tie up the boats and seek cover.  This actually helped my recovery as well but we lost another 30 minutes on this.

The paddle was uneventful and after about 10 miles or so we hit the take out point.  We found out that there were many, many teams that didn't make the cut off of 6pm at the paddle put in.  Everyone underestimated the time on the bike.

Our transition at the take out point was slow.  We were still recovering and had to rebuild the bikes.

 Eventually we got on the bikes again and started the long climb up to CheckPoint 16.  Thank goodness I felt pretty good and the team moved well and quickly up the gradual climb.  At CP 16 we moved to foot and began a clockwise move through the woods to start getting optional points on foot.  It was now dark and we were moving pretty good through the darkness.

These are the times I love Adventure Racing.  I'm standing on a mountain top somewhere COMPLETELY off trail knowing that no human ever has stood where I am standing.  I stop and listen to the darkness.  The only site visible is the head lamps of my teammates crashing through the underbrush.

We picked up 6 optional points before dropping back down the mountain to mandatory checkpoint 17.

We knew we had another LONG, LONG mountain bike slog back to the finish line so we all decided as a team to stop looking for optional points and make sure we started back by 3am.

We got back to CP 16 to pick up our bikes at 2:30 am.  We changed back to bike gear and the guys manning the CP gave us a cold Coke!!  That was great.

The first 5 miles of the MTB were downhill back to the river.   We then began a hike a bike segment for about 5 miles to get two mandatory CPs.  From there we continued the bike slog and ultimately dropped back down to a town and poached across some trails to hit the roads that would take us back to the finish.

We crossed the finish line strong with all the mandatory CPs and over 14 optional points.
That was good for 1st place in our division of 3 man elite and also good for 4th OVERALL out of 29 teams that started.

A really good race for the Commie Killers......

T

Still Seeking Teammate for Blue Ridge Bear Epic 24hour race in Fincastle VA on 20 July

Spread the Word!!!!!  Tamir pulled a hamstring and can't race with us....

TCOPE

Team Commie Bar to Odyssey Blue Ridge Bear 24 hour race

Summit Adventure Racing/Team Commie Bar announces Race Schedule update.

We're pleased to annouce that Team Commie Bar will be at the Odyssey Blue Ridge Bear Epic 24hour race on 20 July.  

We are also welcoming new teammate Tamir Klaff to the team in his debut race.

The roster for the Bear will be:
Todd Copley
Chris Farrell
Tamir Klaff

Independence Day and the Tour de France.... Enjoy.....

Enjoy yourself this Independence day

A little celebration for the Tour de France


Go for a ride......

Stock up on your high capacity ammunition magazines.....

Kiss your better half.... or both of them if  you're lucky....

Have a social drink to celebrate the Tour

Wonder what Lance is doing.....

Vive Le Tour

Run Flyover this morning. Bushwack Run in McHenry 2 July

The morning run with gaze.....

 

Next Race is the Race Up The Face.....

Next Race for the Commies is Race Up The Face at Wisp Resort.....

Link below....
http://garretttrails.org/race-up-the-face.html

Team Commie Bar Wins the Yough Extreme 10 hour Adventure Race as a season opener.

What a great day in Ohiopyle.... After a very chilly start to the morning (32 degrees just prior to race start) the sun came out and it was a great day all around. The Segments of the race (although not technically difficult) were fun and challenging. The movement from the paddle take out to CP 5 and then over to CP 6 was very, very tough.

Here's how it lined up:
The Team
Todd TCOPE Copley: Head Commie Killer
Dan Baitbanjo Schaefer
Andy The Professor Hershey

I got over to Opyle about 6:30 on Friday and met up with Bait and Andy. We checked into the race HQ and got the maps. It took us a while to figure out that they had the Grid posting on another map in another area and we had to go over and transpose them on our map. After that we went to Falls City Pub for a couple beers and a burrito. I like racing with gas.

Bait and I then went up to the campground and got all the gear packed. Andy went home. We packed up hear and bullshitted till about 10pm or so then we hit the sack. I had trouble sleeping mainly because of my knee hurting and thinking about my knee hurting during the race. I hate that. I was hoping that my knee issue would not be a factor in the race but I was pretty sure it would be. I finally got up and put on the steel brace to stabilize the knee cause every time I rolled over in the sleeping bag it ached.

I woke up about 0500 and went over to the shower room. Took a hot, hot shower (it was very cold out), fretted about my knee (although it felt better) and generally got ready for the race:

Let's see:
1. Lube up with vaseline all over to prevent chafing
2. Bandaids on the nipples
3. Contact lenses in 4. Knee taped up crazy with K Tape
5. Some sunscreen on
6. More lube, just in case.....

I'm ready.

Bait and I headed down about 0630 and met Andy over in the parking lot. Big decision now. What to wear to start the race, what to pack and what not to pack. I decided on a pretty normal set up with a long sleeve shirt covered by our team shirt. I did pack a pair of columbia rain paints and a rain jacket for the paddle. If it was going to be below 40 degrees on the Middle Yough for 2+ hours it would not be fun. So we went and check in and got ready.

At 0800 the race started.
Here' the summary
1. 1 mile run prologue
2. Mountain bike to the top of the mountain on Sugar Loaf
3. Run/Trek down the valley to the paddle put in
4. 2 hour paddle on the Middle Yough
5. Trek down the GAP and CLIMB, CLIMB, CLIMB, BUSHWACK, BUSHWACK, BUSHWACK up to CP5 and then over 1600 feet of elevation gain in 700 meters up to the trail to CP 6.
6. Bike section to finish with 4 CPs

The Prologue was uneventful and we probably should have just done it in our bike shoes cause we spent a time when we got back in changing back out of running shoes and packing them on our bikes/packs. Basically we were last out of transition!

We made a tactical decision early on in getting to the top of the mountain. I chose to go up the Sugar Loaf trail which I had never been up. My only comparison was the alternative Baughman trail which I knew was very technical and very steep. I think we made a great decision and we cruised into CP 1. I'd love to know the breakdown from guys that have raced here before about their thoughts on this.

From there we skirted the Sugarloaf and pushed up and over the ski/sledding hill to cruise down and to the transition area and CP 2. Knee condition:

So far so good. From there we dropped bikes and started trekking down the Firetowner road. We kept up a steady jog for 5 miles or so and into the paddle put in.



We decided that Bait and I would be in one kayak and Andy in the other. We started off with a tow line on the rear kayak but Andy said he could keep up and he did!. It's always fun to do the Middle Yough and we made it through the Class 2-3 water and into the take out in just under 2 hours. We took a break to change out of the wet clothes before starting down the GAP.

This would be the hardest section of the race.
There were two parts to this. One was getting to CP 5 and the other (probably more important) was getting out of CP 5 without transversing the entire ridge line. We jogged down the Great Allegany Passage for about 3 miles or so. We evaluated several drainages for access to the top but thought they might be too difficult and too much bushwacking. Ultimately we kept going and opted for a bit of a flatter start up the mountain but knowing it would be longer. Nothing eventful and our navigation was right but it was a hand over foot slog up this thing till we hit the gas well road. We then skirted the road down to CP 5. No problem.

Bait and The Prof look at the map in disbelief in planning the route from CP 5 to CP 6 and the transiion area.

Then we looked up.

There was no way out of here except to basically go straight up for close to 1 kilometer. We looked at the contour lines on the map and basically cried. It would gain over 1600 fee over that kilometer. After a very intense climb we hit the road. Knee condition: fading...

We didn't have enough in us to do much running after that and we walked down then back up to the bike transition area. From there we busted down and nailed the CPs all the time looking at the hours remaining. We knew it was getting tight and we headed back to the finish to clock in at 9Hours and 20 minutes. At the awards ceremony we found we had won the 3 man elite category which was great for a newly formed team and even better to get the qualifier for the National Championships.

That's it..... TCOPE

Summit Adventures Summer Schedule

What an amazing schedule for this summer.  We are truly blessed to be able to live in the places we do and do the things we love......

Check it out

20 April:  Bentonville, VA - The Rev 3 Family Adventure Race.  Family style adventure racing with paddling, mountain biking and trekking...  Bayden has said he's going to smoke me.....!!!

27 April:  Ohiopyle, PA - The Yough Extreme 10 hour race - The debut season opener for Team Commie Bar at the Yough Extreme.  We'll be racing over 10 hours looking for a National Championship qualifier...

2-4 May:  Missoula, MT - Annual high altitude training in the Rockies with the board meeting of the Adventure Cycling Association.

11 May:  Deep Creek, MD - Racing solo in the Master's group of the USA Pro Cycling's Wisp Mountain Bike Challenge.  

After that we'll cool off at the Stand Up Paddling Races and drink some cold ones...

17-19 May:  Deep Creek MD - Race Director and Event Production Company for the United States Kayak Team Trials to select the World Championship team for Prague, Czech Republic.

25 May:  Friendsville MD - UCI sanctioned Mountain Massacree Stage Bicycle Race.  

7-8 June:  Big Bear Lake, WV - 120 mile Ragnar trail Run - Team relay running for 24 hours....

14 June:  Green Ridge, MD - 24hour Green Ridge Adventure Race

22 June:  Deep Creek, MD - 125 mile Gran Fondo Bike event with over 16,000 feet in elevation gain

July and August to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adventure Racing....