So we had to be prepared for anything happening at what Barrie and Steve say is “their easiest race of the year”. The weather turned out perfect, sunshine and warm but not too hot. Guess that’s why I love San Diego!

Race starts at 10am – a good size turnout at over 30 racers. So the start gets split into 2 groups to stagger the kayak / bike section and we all finish on the hike. There is a short and long course offered, and as Bangers & Mash are meant to be at a wedding in Murrieta at 3pm, we decide for the short course.

Into the water we go on the lovely double kayak Barrie let us borrow for the race. We now have boat envy having used the sit-on-top kayaks for the past few races. The luxury of a rudder saves the arguments from starting on the kayak section to the hike section. Bravo!

We have 3 checkpoints on the kayak for 4 miles and get started on the closest one. Some fisherman are casting their rods right next to the buoys, but realize that these kayaks are headed straight towards them…so they swig their beer down, and make a hasty retreat. Checkpoint 1 down and off to number 2.

The proven technique of counting and singing is used again in this race ensuring we stick to the same paddle rhythm and keep our minds focused. It’s too easy to be thinking about other things or just have idle chatter on a beautiful placid lake…, which leads to a slower time. So “snap out of it Bangers and start counting” says Mash. We pull the kayak in at 45 minutes, a respectable time, and run up for the transition.

Bikes are up next. Now I saw someone from work at the event and he said it was his first adventure race. He’d never done the other events before of orienteering and kayaking, but I knew he was a really good biker. So I was looking out for him with his team of 4 to judge our distance and time. So far we were ahead at the transition, so mood was lifted a bit.

Get to car, shove food in mouth, drink energy drinks, change shoes, consult the map for the first few checkpoints and 10 minutes later we are off.

The adrenaline factor in these races causes people to act fast, but not necessarily smart. And other racers see where people are headed and just go after them rather than take that extra 1-minute for additional map reading and decision-making. That’s where mistakes are made. The drum roll of ominous moment…

We had many checkpoints not on the map, just told to stay on the path near the lake. We come in from the car park and miss the first 100 yards of the trail and start biking. My gut says “I bet that Barrie and Steve placed a checkpoint right at the start just to get people that miss that part of the trail”. But we continued down the trail following others….

Sure enough, we hit Checkpoint 2 and have missed 1, so had to turn around and go get it. A whole 10 minutes lost but more importantly a mental frustration of not listening to that little voice. Note: Later you’ll see where I listened to that voice and it was NOT a good move, so little voices can be dangerous!

We bust a groove on the lovely single-track biking trail through to checkpoint 4. I am grateful to Equinox for once having a bike section that I can actually bike most of it. They tell me that won’t be the case for the November 6th 12-hour race. Oh dear.

Back to the race. We check in at #4, consult the map, and have energy food.

RACING TIP: Make sure you have energy food of some sort every 45 minutes, even if you are not hungry. If you wait until you feel you need it then it’s too late and you risk hitting a “bonk” phase, which will lose you a good 15-20 minutes of time. This tip was brought to you from Bangers & Mash experience…

We bike round the lake for a few more miles, ensuring we always take the path closest to the lake. It has these cheeky little splits where you could take either, but as soon as you don’t take the one closest to the lake – you miss the checkpoint. We forgot to do this on one section and sure enough we had to backtrack for checkpoint 7.

CP 8, 9, 10 were straightforward for us and easy to find and follow the trail. The final 2 checkpoints were in the Upper Otay Lake and on the map seemed to actually be in the water, but we were assured the water levels were down and we’d be good. We find 11 easily, spot a very smelly dead fox and then take a few turns here and there before finding 12.

Another adventure race fight (I mean “learning experience”) ensued where Mash headed in a different direction to find checkpoint 12 than her partner, Bangers. She was busy looking for the checkpoint and shouted at Bangers when she found it only to have her ear screamed off never to separate again. Uh-oh!

RACING TIP: Emotional outbursts are VERY common in adventure races (well at least with us anyway) as you are exerting so much physical energy that your emotional energy needs releases too. The most common form of this is through cries of joy whilst speeding on a single track…or towards your partner when they choose a different trail. Acknowledge it’s from the race and not at each other, then hold hands, sing a rallying team song to re-focus, and move on.

We return back to the transition area and head out on the hike section. Clock check: 1:30pm. How are we going to make it to the wedding by 3pm in Murrieta? Hmmmmm…..

We look at the map and Checkpoint 1 (of 4 hiking points) looks easy enough, straight up the hill of 800 feet. But there are fences all around with “No trespassing” on them and of course we would not be expected to cross that right? I look at the map and trails are marked off the road about 1 mile up, so we walk (yes on the road even though explicitly says to not do so). Here’s where my “little voice” says it will be ok and I should NOT listen to it. We get to the trail and even more signs stating, “No trespassing”.

I sit down and am ready to quit. Tired, stressed from the repercussions of missing the wedding, and arguments from Bangers telling me “I told you so” led to my breaking point.

We walk back towards the transition point thinking we are going to get in the car and go home, and we meet another 2 racers walking on the path – Teri and Josh. We chat race talk for a few moments and then they look towards the barbed wire fence and say “let’s go for it” as another 4 racers (that guy from my work) also cross the road and go for it.

So we are back in the race, charging through. Ticked off checkpoint 1 and 2 and at this point not looking for trails, just busting through the shortest direct route from A to B. Seeing many other teams at the same stage as us gives me a mental boost that we are not far behind other teams.

We chug up the large hill for Checkpoint 3 and then here’s where the little voice says “don’t follow the pack, take this route instead” and I should NOT have listened to it. We take the trail in the opposite direction, and then cut across the field, and we should arrive at the checkpoint 4 hilltop. Except there is a large gulley of water between us! And we essentially have to walk on the ridgeline of the hill all the way to the end to get to the other side….and as we see the teams that took the trail the other way get to checkpoint 4, my heart sinks. Uuurrrggghh!

We finally get to the trail and are looking for a quick way up to the top of Checkpoint 4 when we suddenly see the 4 Mexicans (Ramon leading) charging out of the bushes. We yell “can we get through there?” and he shouts back “yes” and we switch to a more direct path through the bushes.

RACING TIP: If a Mexican that does not speak much English shouts “yes” to something you say, NEVER assume he knows or understood what you said. You’ll understand why in 1 more sentence.

We turn to the bushes to go up the hill when suddenly Bangers is screaming like a wild banshee. “RUN!!!” he screams and pushes me. I’m trying to see what he is talking about; I don’t see a wild animal around?? Then I see a swarm of bees all around Bangers and I understand. I think he’s over reacting a bit as bees like to fly around people, but suddenly I have one of these bees on me and it stings me. “Ouch!!” I scream and REALLY understand why Bangers is screaming over and over again. “Get them off me” and “run” and “ouch” continue for what seems like hours but is really just a few minutes. I start to worry about allergic reactions. One is fine but he had over 50 of these things at him…”can you breathe” “how are you feeling” “let’s turn back now to get back”

Banger says he wants to get the last checkpoint, so we climb up on the trail. At the top of the hill he takes his pack off and there are 4 bees in his back lodged between hid backpack. His hands are starting to bloat, so I start to get concerned. I consult my emergency book in my bag, which turns out to be about avalanches and not bee stings. Uurrggh.

We hustle our way back 2 miles to get back to the finish….which we complete at 3:45pm (cutoff 4pm) and proceed to get him some anti-histamines so he can pass out from the pain.

Now you know why it’s called “adventure racing”.

Post Race Note: Bangers is ok, we counted over 23 bee stings on his arms and back. So he get’s the “most bee stings in adventure race” award.

The event was put together by Team Equinox (Steve & Jake) where they had spent long hours thinking and trekking and testing the trails in Mount Laguna. They then had a group of like minded fun adventure racers to come and put then through their paces. They did an awesome job and it is much appreciated!!!

So seeing as it was my birthday….what better way to spend the day than to push myself to a new limit of physical and mental exertion. And indeed I did.

Race Report Summary

27.1 miles total in 8:55 mins

15.7 miles of hiking (expected was 11 miles)

11.4 miles of mountain biking (expected was 20 miles)

Mount Laguna Race Map

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Race Report

We woke up at 5am but the week had been quite busy with work, geocaching adventures, good bye parties, and my birthday. So it was very difficult to drag myself out of bed to get into the car to get to the race….We arrived at the El Prado Campground at 7:45am with the expected race briefing to be at 8am. Thank goodness it was not a formal race because they did not start the briefing and map handout until 8:30am. This meant that all the stuff we had just thrown into the car at 6am could be sorted out into some semblance of organized chaos.

I thought of little tips along this day of learning….some of which we did and some of which we didn’t.

Tip #1: Organize your stuff the night before. (did it)

Tip #2: Pack it into the car the night before as well. (should have done it)

Tip #3: Have a standard checklist at hand to tick off what you need pre, during, and post event (we were not even close)

So we faffed around and checked our stuff, handed water to Steve to take to checkpoints. It was already 70 degrees at 8am so we knew it was going to be a hot day of racing. Water was going to be a key resource.

We got the maps at 8:30 and sat at a picnic table and talked with 2 ladies from the team called So Cal Hoycats. They knew the area and were helpful in chatting with us and discussing their thought process. We discovered that we needed to plot UTM coords for the long course and that was a nice “uh-oh” moment. We’ve never plotted a UTM coordinate before and did not have the ‘plotter’ tool. The ladies explained it and I had my “ah-ha” moment that it was not as hard as it sounded. Just using a ruler to measure distance. Our GPS geocaching adventures meant I knew what I was doing.

Tip #4: Know what a UTM coordinate is and have one of those plotter things handy (we kinda had this)

We also picked up a new crew member at this point, Keith from our weekly hiking group. He didn’t bike but came along for the atmosphere and asked if we were running or hiking the first section. “We aimed to hike it but we are going at a Barrie pace” And our team “Bangers & Mash” became “Bangers & Mash & Gravy”

Tip #5: Know who’s on your team at the start and set expectations for pace and style (did this)

The whistle was blown at 9am and we took our time to plot coords. Seemed logical where they were placed giving me confidence I’d plotted them correctly. I had a good plan of action for the route we were going to take, knowing that there were some places to check and adjust if needed and of course to expect the unexpected. If Equinox put on the race, they like to put some little twists to teach you!

Tip #6: Have an initial route plan laid out, using existing trails as much as possible (practice here has ticked this one off)

Tip #7: Be ready to adjust the route as needed or before (got this part but learnt a new tip added later)

We started by mountain biking to get to the first transition area. It was 2.5 miles and took 20 minutes. Enough people were around that meant you didn’t need to follow the map as much at this point. It was hard to get started and uphill with a full backpack got my first mental test “will it be like this the whole way?!” freakout moment. Now I know that this is just the start up jitters and the loosen up of the legs…so don’t fear the first 30 minutes.

Tip #8: The first 30 minutes are about loosening the mental jitters. Expect it and it’ll shake out.

Hiking adventure begins! Got the map, got the route, and ready to go. The start section is exciting, all the team is in jovial spirits and because it’s my birthday, Bangers had set up little ‘points mean prizes’ activites along the way where he would ask questions about the tv series Friends and we had to answer questions. This was a nice touch for the birthday – but actually a great adventure race tip as well for mental agility and focus. We’ll repeat this one!

Tip #9: Have a trivia topic that can engage the whole team and last a whole adventure race to kee a positive mental spirit.

Part 1 of hiking was complete with 5 miles down. Stopped for water – we had already drank 100 ounces of water already. Continued on and the first section where the long adventure racers had to choose diferent options to get to their checkpoints. I discussed the choice with the team and why (take the road up and around or the closer trail and expect bushwhacking). I chose the latter and was happy with the choice. During the navigation – I was vocal about the route we were taking, expectations of landmarks they would see (sharp bends, up hill sections, hills to the left or right) and also the expected timing. This meant my team members always knew what was going on, what to expect, and had confidence in me and in themselves.

Tip #10: Navigators need to be open in communication with the team mates of what’s happening, what’s expected, and distances and times. (got this one from a few good practice sessions and training from Barrie)

We go the R2-L checkpoint at the water dam and headed back to the trail. This was a BIG decision for our route. We could backtrack to hook up with a clear main trail or carry on the way we had seen another 2 teams. The map didn’t show a clear reason why they had chosen this….so we went the backtrack route.  All went well to get to checkpoint 3.

At checkpoint 3 it was now under the mid-day heat, we had eaten all the good food and were sweating a lot. Not overheated but not feeling peachy either. We had done 8 miles of hiking, the limit we did on the weekly Wed hike. This was my biggest navigation learning that I did not do and Jake gave me tips at the end of the day.

I had plotted the option to go to R3-L after Checkpoint 4 because there was not a trail showing on the map. It didn’t look like an easy trail from CP 4 but was trying to use prior tips of “always stick to trails if there is one”. I did not look to adjust until after we had gotten to CP4 whereas I should have used the higher vantage point we had at R2-L to see if I could see any unmarked trails in the valley for a possible alternative to R3-L.

Tip #11: Use higher vantage points on hills to scout out navigational points across the whole course – even 2 or 3 CPs ahead (my biggest race learning)

By not using this tip we had to use a harder trail that had more elevation gain and was less well marked creating over 1:40 minutes of a hunting detour. We came to a road and I was not sure if it was the road on the map – it looked abandoned rather than a “road” (now I know a road is a road is a road). We walked for a few minutes and kept checking and asking questions to see if we were on the right path. But 5 minutes turned into 15 turned into 30. We knew we had to head back to be at the transition area before 3pm and i was now 1:40pm. That’s when we saw the trail we were looking for.

Do we go or skip it? I REALLY wanted to tray and get it, if we didn’t then we had no option to complete the long course. So we followed the trail, but we had the same issues with 5 minutes becoming 15 becoming 30. At 2:25pm we had to turn back and knew we’d miss the 3pm deadline too at the transition area.

*LOWEST MENTAL POINT* reached at this point for me and the team. Felt dejected after so much looking, lacking energy and cold water, and had been in the hot sun for hours.

Tip #12: Have a plan to get out of these mid-race mental funks (we didn’t)

We hiked it back as fast as we could and got back at 3:45pm. Christine was not pleased to see us so late at the checkpoint (sorry!) and we were close to having a search team started. Another kicker to the mental low point.

Decision – do we just call it a day then? We would not be able to finish even the short course in time….and we were tired….and our feet hurt. And we were cranky. But we were here to practice and see what we could do. The point was to make mistakes and see how you recover. We settled on just biking back to camp.

So we got back on the bike after a 40 minute break. No rush from our decision and it let the throbbing feet cool down. We started the bike and it was not easy going back uphill. But a funny thing happened after 15 minutes. We had reached the trail split off point to the camp or to the checkpoint. We looked at each other and felt just a little bit of energy to tackle 1 checkpoint and then we’d go back to camp.

The trails were nice and flat with a few tree roots and rocks thrown in for some technique practice. But overall very do-able for us both. We took 20 minutes to get to the checkpoint and cheered to ourselves. Let’s get 1 more and off we did in another 20 minutes. Time was now at the end and we had to get back before the deadline of 6pm. So we biked back and rolled in at 5:55pm.

We felt fantastic – exhausted from the heat and 9 hours of being out there, but elated that we had lasted 9 hours and had pushed past a mental barrier and not given up. We heard the stories of others and found that only 2 teams completed the long course – most did not find the R3-L that we had spent so long searching for. We also found we were only 200 feet away and had touched the early orange marker flag. Vindication in my navigation!

Overall we did the most time we’ve ever done at 9 hours, the most total distance at 27.1 miles, the longest hike ever at 15.7 miles….and all whilst having fun and exploring a beautiful new area of San Diego. A great way to spend a birthday!

Thanks to Steve and Jake for setting up a fun course! If others are interested in trying out a race, their events page has some great upcoming events….including canoeing in La Bufadora.

Bangers & Mash enter the Black Mountain Hall of Fame

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The ones that are not smiley faces are actually not active or are geocaches we have placed….so this is the complete Black Mountain Series.

It started a couple of months back when FlagMan set out  challenge for people to complete all the geocaches that were located in a certain area. Lots of beautiful mountains and trails in San Diego, with thousands of geocaches on those trails. So why not set the geocaching hike adventure challenge to find them all…

This was a nice challenge, but Bangers & Mash were only at ~800 geocaches and no way or time to go and get the remaining ~2000 on the complete list. This would be more of a goal in 2 years than in 2 months.

But last week we then got passed the M.A.S.H geocache event details….on June 6th there was an awards ceremony for all the geocachers that had completed one or more of the Hall of Fame series in their geocaching hike adventures.

We checked out the names and saw Black Mountain. A local for us that we had done many geoccahes – indeed even had placed a few there. With 8 days to go to the geocache event we needed 20 more. But this included 4 puzzle geocaches and 2 multi-caches.

We looked at each other and our calender for the week (which included hosting a goodbye party, a race in Mount Laguna, and my birthday, and some deadlines at work) and just shook our heads. Absolutely no chance to squeeze in a hike adventure to make the Black Mountain Hall of Fame.

But then we just kept saying…”if we get up at 5am and do 2 hours before work”. “The sunset is at 7:30pm so we could get a few in the last hour before this on Friday….”

And off the last week of geocaching hike adventure began….

• Sunday - 5 hours on the mountain trekking and bushwhacking including #1000
• Monday – 1 sneaky puzzle geocache before work
• Tuesday – 2 hours at 5am for the multi-cache
• Friday - 2 hours of sunset geocaching to get the puzzles
• Sun June 6th (day of M.A.S.H geocache event) – 4 hours of geocaching 4 different areas of the mountain to pick up the last one in each area.

WOO-HOO!! We made it to the Black Mountain Hall of Fame! And got an award at the M.A.S.H award ceremony. The M.A.S.H reference is to the old tv series and was also a costume event, so double fun.

If you are interested in going to Black Mountain – here is a link to the trail map.

A 5/5/ geocache is one that is Level 5 difficulty and Level 5 terrain. The scale is from 1-5 so it is the hardest one out there. I’m not sure how many exist but in the San Diego area I think you are looking at maybe 10 of these.

The email crew decided to make it a geocache event and hike together to the location. We scheduled it for Jan 2nd to welcome in the new year and to start getting those extra holiday cookies off our bodies.

I’m not sure what I expected, the reviews suggested it was quite a difficult hike, but I’m young and reasonably athletic, so no problem, right?

Well, this ended up as a 9 hour hike in the attempt to get the 5/5 geocache El Capitan GCDAO6

Alas, it was not to be today – but the geocaching crew that went did get loads of caches on the way up – and are determined to go up again in a few weeks.

Happy New Year – this was a great 14 mile hike – great way to start the year!!

el cajon

Map your trip with EveryTrail

Geocaching took me on the Catalina Highway in Tucson – and to this rock on the edge of a tourist pullout.

What an amazing adventure to have a picture and experience like this….and yes at the base of the rock is a geocache!

This geocache blog post is about the Tucson Geocaching Adventures that took me to fantastic places

We had a 2 mile hike to the waterfall from the parking lot and we just kept following the Garmin Colorado GPS to take us to the right place. We got there and it was a lovely view.

Then on the other side of the river there was another geocache….we were not sure how to get across and could not see a trail, so decided we would have to cross the river and get wet – it’s worth it for a geocache!

After crossing the river (yes, we got wet!) we had to hike to the top of the hill and then foudn it was pointing towards a huge pile of giant rocks….walked around it but knew what we had to do….go to the top.

We scrambled and huffed and puffed but we finally made it to the top. Got to say the view (and the geocache) was worth the effort!