AR Ramblings

I decided to go scouting potential climbing areas around John Rock this afternoon. I was hoping to find a ledge of some sort that would have easy (3rd class or less) access to the top and be a good location for covering ropes skills such as rappelling with some folks from the Triangle-AR/Trailblazers Adventure Racing Club. By the time I got away from work and drove to the parking area, I only had about 90 minutes of daylight for scouting.

I started by going almost directly south and bushwhacked straight up the hill. It had rained recently and the wet leaves required the use of both hands and feet in places to get up the steep slope. Ten to fifteen minutes later I had managed to get to the base of the rock. I decided to check out the right (west) side first. It was fairly easy contouring around the mountain most of the way, but occasionally I did have to scramble and bushwhack through some thick stuff. I saw a couple of bolted climbs. They looked kinda mossy and had lichen on them. They definitely hadn’t seen too many recent ascents. One even had some old, homemade hangers on it. Cool, but scary! I saw a few possible trad routes, but everything looked runout. The eyebrows looked flaring and not very deep. It was cloudy and getting kinda dark though, so I may have missed a few possible placements while scouting from the ground.

Before it got completely dark, I was hoping to backtrack and get around to the other side. The cliff face appeared to fade out for a short distance and I was forced to go down a little bit to find a path through the thick brush. Unfortunately for me, the brush just seemed to get thicker the further I went. I haven’t been in rhodo hell this thick in a long time. I’m talking about throw-all-your-body-weight-down-the-hill-and-hope-you-break-through thick. I spent what seemed like an eternity doing this until it turned into a boulder field as well. The brush and leaves were covering big holes between the boulders, and my technique of throwing by body weight now had the potential of breaking a leg. Oh, the joys of bushwhacking in the Pisgah forest. Eventually I thought I saw the cliff reappear and could just make out a waterfall through the branches. A few more minutes of uphill bushwhacking and I managed to find a clearing near the base. The view of the waterfall was worth it.

By now, it was getting too dark to continue scouting, so I pushed, slid, fell, and fought the bush back to the fireroad at the bottom. I didn’t accomplish my goal, but found a very scenic view and had a chance to explore an area I hadn’t seen before. I guess we’ll just do the ropes stuff at Looking Glass. It’s not that much farther anyway.

Well actually, I wasn’t racing this time, but it infuriates me just the same. A CP at the USARA Nationals race was mis-placed by approximately 400m from what I’ve read (See the Enduraventure Blog and the TrailBlazers forums). It wasn’t stolen. It wasn’t missing. It was mis-placed! And even more mind-boggling, it was manned!!!. How the hell does this keep happening? GPS’s are cheap. Could they not verify with one when they got there? And if a GPS wasn’t available, the course director should have marked the area with flagging tape (or equivalent) to allow the volunteers to verify their position. Or, they could have been escorted to the location or had someone check on them later. There is no reason why that should have happened. None! No excuses. I’m not listening to anyone who says otherwise. Those teams paid big money to race, to qualify to race, to travel to the race, and probably spent countless hours training for the race. It was the National-freaking championship even! The results were ruined and should be thrown out. However, throwing out the results wouldn’t make anyone happy either, so some worthless post-race decision (or rule in this case) gets applied as a contingency plan. For those potentially affected by this f**kup, however, it does nothing to make them feel any better. I’m sure the winners worked hard and are great athletes, but no one can say for sure who would have won, if the race promoters had done their job correctly. No matter what anyone says or thinks, a mis-placed CP causes pure luck and chance to become a part of the competition. If I want to test my luck, I’ll blow some money at a casino.

What a disappointment and let-down to everyone whose ranking was potentially affected. Sorry guys. I feel your pain, disappointment, and frustration. That sucks. If there is one thing that will kill this sport (for me at least), it is the problem of mis-placed CPs. AR has a horrible track record with this. I’ve only known of one Orienteering meet to have this happen, and their points usually require much more precise placement than AR. That O-point was only 30m off. The Nationals point was 450m, and I’ve done races with points as much as 2km off! Come on AR directors! Get your sh** together or don’t even bother to hold an event….or one of these days myself (and maybe others) will just stop bothering to show up.

Ok, I think I’m finished ranting for now. Maybe. Yeah, I’ll stop here

Registration for the Uwharrie Mountain Run opened Nov. 1. I signed up for my second attempt at breaking the 8hr mark in the 40 miler. This year, my attempt was foiled by an evil, Gatorade-induced, stomach-cramping, pukefest at about mile 30. But that’s another post. I have no idea how Gatorade can be so popular in ultra-distance races. It messes with my stomach every time. For some reason I’d thought that maybe it would be different if I only drank a little of it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The clock was 8:37 when I finally crossed the finish line.

I haven’t been doing any long-distance running since PQ earlier this year, but have kept my base fitness up. I hoping that 3 months will be enough to break the 8hr mark with no troubles this time. Vonda has signed up for the 8 miler and will be training with me, so that should help me stick to the training schedule through the winter.

I think Ernie and Brian will be there again this year as well. It’s a very fun race. 100% singletrack running on your choice of a 8, 20, or 40 mile course. Registration filled up early last year, so if you’re thinking of signing up (and you should), do it now!