The next few days should be interesting. I’m joining up with team Checkpoint Zero/Inov-8 (or perhaps ROAM/Inov-8…I’m not sure yet) to race the 3.5 day Odyssey Endorphin Fix.
I had originally planned to skip this race (as a solo) and focus on the Benton Mackaye speed attempt instead. But when Checkpoint Zero lost a teammate and asked if I’d like to join them, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to race with a strong, competitive team.
However, in the time-honored tradition of mentally bludgeoning a team before they reach the starting line of a multi-day AR, fate still had a couple of more blows to deliver. With only a week to go, another teammate was lost. Meanwhile, a nearly identical beating was be delivered to team ROAM/Inov-8, who had replaced a team member only to lose another one with mere days remaining until the start.
A last minute decision was made to combine the teams and race as a “six-headed monster“. Officially, we will be separate 4-person and 2-person teams, but plan to stick together and race unofficially as a 6-person team. Keeping six folks together over 3+ days of wilderness racing is going to be a challenge, for sure, but should also be a fun and interesting experiment.
And not to be done yet, fate delivered one more kick to the nads last night when I discovered that my CatEye LED light for the bike was missing, and my big-daddy MOAB HID had given up the ghost. After some tinkering, I finally put the multimeter on the battery and measured a dismal 0.05V. Far from the 11.1V it should’ve been. I ignored the warnings of fire and explosion in an attempt to open the casing, but it was a rugged sucker and I gave up before getting out the power tools (it was getting late anyway). Hopefully the LBS or REI will have a decent, cheap LED that I can pick up this afternoon.
So far, the weather looks relatively nice for three days of playtime in the woods. I’m hoping the water sections will be as fun as previous Beast of the East races, or the EFix a few years ago near Seneca, WV.
You might be able to view our progress at the Checkpoint Tracker site. But so far, Odyssey hasn’t really updated it and has warned that comms won’t be great across the course. So, updates may be few and far between. I’m sure there will be a report or two following the race, though. Heck, I might even write one…maybe…probably not, but it could happen…
