Chadron
Adventure Race
Chadron, NE
April 25, 2009
The first points race of the year for the Angry Cow Adventures series proved to be a challenge…and that is probably a huge understatement! Racing in Chadron, Nebraska is challenging enough even in ideal conditions. But when you toss in 3 inches of fresh snow and cold, overcast skies and lots of mud, well you know you’re in for a real treat!
However, despite the less than ideal weather, our Race Director, Donna, put together a spectacular course that challenged even the most seasoned veterans of the sport. Nebraska National Forest and Chadron State Park offer up some of the greatest single track racing in Nebraska. And Donna managed to showcase some of their best trails to the racers.
Switching to a different division and adding a new teammate this year added yet another unknown for BentVenture as well. Luckily we were able to race a few shorter events together before Chadron, so we weren’t totally unfamiliar with each others race styles. Any questions as to how we would perform together as a team were quickly erased…Tammy more than proved she was a great fit for Team BentVenture!
After a 400+ mile road trip, we were happy to arrive in Chadron Friday afternoon. We stashed our gear in our cabin at Chadron State Park and checked in for the race. We received our maps, instructions, and last minute course changes. Then it was back to the cabin to begin plotting.
Just before bed Friday night, we looked out at snow which had just started to fall. By Saturday morning when we awoke, 3 inches of fresh white stuff lay on the ground.
We gathered our gear and bikes and walked over to the starting point for the race. Jim gave us our final instructions and sent us out to the start line. Donna rang the cow bell and the race was on! We ran down the hill to receive our punch card and back up to our bikes. After a quick change of shoes, we were rolling down the hill again, out of Chadron State Park and into Nebraska National Forest.
Upon entering the forest, we encountered the first of many very muddy roads. It wasn’t long before we found our first Check Point (CP). We punched the card and moved on. As we hit our first big hill climb, Tammy suddenly stopped. Her chain had locked up on her and she wasn’t able to move. We cleaned off a bunch of mud, hoping that would solve the problem. No luck! After stopping several times to try to repair it, we finally realized the futility of our efforts. Granny gear wasn’t going to work today and this was a time when it was needed the most! Unfortunately we were going to be stuck having to push bikes up the big hills.
After finding several more CP’s, we made our way towards Transition Area 2 (TA). Just before pulling into the TA, we stopped to check our map. That was when we heard the dreaded hiss of air escaping from a tire. Tammy had punctured a hole in her front tire and it was going down. We decided we would stop right there to fix it rather than try to push it to the TA.
Normally changing a tube in a tire isn’t that big of a deal. But when you add in lots of mud, along with cold and wet conditions, it makes it just a bit tougher! Eventually she got it changed and we continued on, pulling into the TA a few minutes later.
At TA 2, we had to leave our bikes and set off on foot to find four CP’s. The first three we found relatively easily. However the fourth one proved more challenging. After a long run/trek down yet another mud road, Adam found it and punched the card.
Finished with this section of the race, we went back to get our bikes and check out of TA 2. I asked Adam if he had the punch card, because I was going to stick it back in my pocket since I had been carrying it all day. He couldn’t find it! And Tammy didn’t have it either! We back tracked hoping we could find it laying somewhere along the path.
No luck! We were about to give up hope when I realized my pocked was zipped. Strange…I only zip it when I have things in there I don’t want to lose. I unzipped it and…voila! There was the missing punch card…apparently Adam had given it back to me after he punched the last CP, but I had no recollection of it! And he had forgotten as well. Funny how several hours of intense racing can make a person lose their mind.
Tammy came up, gave me a relief hug, and said she wanted to kill me! Yeah, I probably deserved that for giving everyone a heart attack! Sorry guys…I still don’t remember Adam giving it to me though!!
Now that we had our card again, we only had one more CP in the National Forest and could head over to Chadron State Park. Being deep in the forest, it wasn’t a quick ride out. Several times we had to stop and check the map just to see if we were heading in the right direction for the CP and the exit.
We thought we had gotten off course and missed our final CP. We didn’t figure it would be worth going back for, so we pushed on hoping to find the trail out of the forest. Long after we had given up any hope of finding the missing CP, an orange and white flag appeared along the trail. We had found the mysterious missing CP!
Heading towards the trail to take us out of the forest proved to be the most treacherous of all for BentVenture. Just after leaving CP 11, we started a descent downhill. Adam switched on his helmet cam and bravely offered to go first.
Tammy and I held back, watching Adam blaze the way. About halfway down he hit a washout. I watched as his rear tire came up to about level with his helmet. It was almost slow motion as his bike went over and he crashed onto his handle bars. As he stood there recovering, and holding himself, he uttered the quote of the race…”I think I may have severed my penis!”
Tammy and I busted out laughing to the point we almost had tears in our eyes! Yes, we were concerned about the well-being of our Captain, but we knew he was talking figuratively and not literally. And after many hours of racing, it was just a very comedic moment.
Gathering himself back up, Adam got on his bike again and we all took off. At this point we figured we must be close to the exit of the forest. One more downhill ride and we would be on the road out.
Again Adam led the way and I followed. Tammy was right behind me. I was watching the trail well ahead of me when I suddenly looked down directly in front of my bike. Seeing a small washout, I instinctively grabbed a little brake. Unfortunately for Tammy she was close enough it messed her up. I didn’t even need to look back to know what had happened.
We made sure she was alright, which she was, and got back on our bikes. Finally we found the exit and headed across the highway and into Chadron State Park!
At this point we were exhausted from all the events at the National Forest. We chose the four easiest CP’s and got them. This race had a 9½ hour cutoff and we decided to take a penalty for the remaining CP’s as we wouldn’t be able to get to them and still make the time limit.
We want to thank Donna Ritzen and all the volunteers who helped make this race possible. BentVenture had a great time and we are already looking forward to next year’s race!
Matt