Well
the Ocmulgee
Adventure Race is Over for this Year.The trip started out well, I arrive to pick my Bro up right on time Friday at 4:00. We had A canoe on top, Two Bikes
on a rack in back and the rear of My Old station wagon packed
with gear. Off to Lake Juliette we went. As we rode down
the gravel/dirt road to Holly Grove to drop off our Bikes
I had a Flat at some point but just kept going until we
reached the pavement to stop and change it. We checked our
Bikes in and changed the flat in no time. Then Off to Dames
Ferry to check in the Canoe and the rest of Our Gear. The
Gear check was a Joke! We had all kinds of stuff we thought
we had to have packed. Flares, medical kit, water purification,
Cell Phone, Dry Bag. The only thing they checked for was
Head lamp, water, and extra batteries. I Duct taped a Red
Bull to the bottom of My boogie board before I checked
it in with Jeff D. I knew I would be needing it by the time
the river swim came around. After checking everything in we opted to head back to Macon to
eat at Chic Fil-A. We were back in time for the Raffle.
I won a jug of Hammer
Perpetuem and a Bike Tech water bottle. The time finally
came for us to get our maps. 11:30 pm, I held the light
wile my bro plotted the first few check points (CP's). The
first one was easy, I have been fishing that lake for years
and new exactly where it was. Well at 12:00 am they started
us off to the "prolog". It was a swim across the
Cove to get a password required to get your Canoe and go.
I volunteered to do the swim since my brother was doing
the plotting. There was a short 1/4 mile run to the cove,
I tried to walk across, but it did get over my head in the
middle so I side stroked it thru the sea weed in the warm
water. I have only been doing Pool swimming this summer
so I felt pretty good and was actually passing people there
and back. I didn't feel to great about starting off the
Race with wet shoes and socks, Suprisingly I didn't get
any blisters. After providing the Marshal with the Password
off in the Canoe we went to the first check point. This
was not hard to find there musta been 40 to 50 boats heading
to the same point. Some with three people paddling and some
just single man kyaks. There was a fierce head wind that
was reaking havoc on all the lighter craft making them zig
zag left to right. Our Heavy "Pickle" Canoe just
plowed thru and held straight. Tom ran "Up" the
climb to claim our first check point then off we went to
the next. We were diggin deep with our paddles and keeping
up with the crowd. The next check point was deep within
a cove and most folks were paddleing into it. We decided
to run aground way out at a point that showed a trail leading
about 1 mile inland to the check points. We thought we could
move faster that way. We ran down the fairly clear trail
until we reached the high way then followed it tward the
check points. We must have been in some ones yard cause
we herd some one yell "what yall doin?" Well that
startled Tom and I and we got out of there fast before they
started shootin. Some how in all that excitment Tom dropped
our Punch Card. We spent about 30 minutes looking for it.
Some one finnally found it and yellled out who's looking
for a punch card and we ran to him thanking him and offering
Goo packets and Power bars as a reward. Back on track now
we ran down the road and finnally found check point 2. We
High Fived and were like "this is gonna be cake".
Then we ran all over for about anouther hour looking for
Check point 3. We finally gave up and realized we were spending
WAY to much time and energy on this check point and should
have skipped it. By the time we made it back to our Canoe
there were no other craft in site. They all had either got
the CP's and gone or decided not to waste the time searching
as we did. Well this was a lesson learned the hard way on
our first Adventure Race. We decided to skip the 4th check
point and head straight for 5 witch was the start of the
Biking Leg. We reached the Holly Grove boat ramp right at
5:00 am. Yep we had spent close to 5 hours on that lake.
My Bro was really struggling by now, Not feeling good and
probably dehydrated. I had been drinking and eating goo's
the Whole way. I was feeling good. After resting for a wile
and eating a MET
RX Bar we hopped on the bikes and were off to the Canoe
lauch in Town of Juliette, The site of the River Swim. My
brother's Wal-Mart bike isn't all that easy to ride. He
was having to stop and push it on the inclined gravel road
leading out of Holly Grove. I knew we had a long way to
go so we swapped bikes and he had a little easier time Riding
the HARO. After gettin there and getting that check point we were
suppose to go on riding to the wildlife management area
for more hike a bike check points. We dicided to just skip
all that and wait for the River swim at 6:30. The River
swim put FU in FUN! I enjoyed it and was actually rejuvenated,
"or mabey that was just the Red Bull Talkin to a Brotha".
The river swim was good for 4 CP's. One when you started,
One you had to find along the way then One when you exited
the River and one when you returned by foot to the in town
Juliette canoe launch. You had to get all 4 for them to
count. We found the one along the way after a little help
then off down the river we went, mostly shallow rocky sections
but also deep wide slow flowing sections. The water was
fairly clear. Not like the mud you see flowing thru Macon.
So any way we had the exit in site. THEN my brother decides
he is no longer having fun and exits stage left up to the
road and proceeds to walk down to the exit. I continue on
and get our punch card punched. The Marshall says she has
to see him swim up and exit the River for this to count.
My brother walks up and says "well I guess this just
won't count". We
didn't get any points for the river swim but I had a good
time. We had planned to try to make it back to the Canoes
in time to paddle back to the finish and scoop up those
final 2 CP's but by the time we got back from the river
swim it was just Too much for us to even think about paddling
back. We packed up and rode our bikes back to the finish
and got there at about 10:30am. We did finish! The results
are not posted yet but I know we did not come in last. There
were some teams that did not make the 12:00 finish cut off
and were disqualified. I'm sore, Tired, Scratched up, and
my arms are chaffed from my life Jaket rubbing as I paddled.
We did good and had a great time, Learned ALOT about Adventure
Racing. I'm proud of my brother for sticking with it. I
know he was Felling sick most of the way.
Last Years Photo's Taken By My Bro and Me photo SET 1
