NB's Comments:

This was the fifth and final race of the Terra Firma Texas State Championship Sprint Adventure Race series, and I can tell you, it sure was nice to be going into the final race leading the points race by as much as we were.  Basically, we'd have had to not finish the race, and the number two team would have had to win this race for us not to win the series.  But we weren't taking any chances... we went all out...

Pre-ride:
brewer and I arrived in Glen Rose within about 15 minutes of each other.  The four-plus-hour drive from Houston was uneventful, and I assume brewer's jaunt was equally exciting...

... although I did get pulled over by a 90-year old state trooper because my truck was lacking a front license plate.  He gave me a warning ticket, which would have been fine... but I guess riding around in a police cruiser can be a bit boring because he proceeded to talk to me about Glen Rose, dinosaurs, mountain biking, his friend who mountain bikes, the weather ('cause it was HOT!), and several other things that I eventually tuned out, because all I could think about was getting to the ranch to pre-ride the course.  At some point the following words broke my drifting thoughts, "Well, it's gettin' hot.  I reckon I'll go get back in the AC.  Good luck on your race tomorrow."  And with that I was off again...

After dropping off some of my gear in the hotel, brewer and I headed to the ranch a short distance down the road.  We parked, said our pleasantries to Kathy and Scott and hit the trail.

We decided to check out the bike section figuring that was where we could make up the most time.  O my.

Riding out, it was apparent we were climbing a hill.  I remember commenting, 'Well, at least the climb is at the beginning..." Little did I know.  The following shows the elevation changes of the bike section.  Look at the first mile... from about 565 feet to 690 feet in about a mile... 

Then we descended the quick downhill only to climb another 100 feet in less than 1/2 mile.  I'm guessing you need not be a genius to see the pattern in the graph... though I would like to bring your attention to mile marker 4.25 to 4.45... that's a 150 foot climb... in less than 1/4 mile.  0.2 miles is 1,056 feet.  A 150-foot climb over 1,056 feet is a 14% grade... now throw in the loose softball-sized rocks, and you can quickly figure out why we walked this section... and the section from 5.75 miles to 5.8 miles... and the section from just under 6 miles to 6.1 miles. 

And at some point, I think I should mention the temperature... and I reckon the following sums it up:

We obviously figured out a lot from the pre-ride.  We figured out that race day had the potential to suck. 

After the pre-ride, we went ahead and unloaded the majority of our gear and set up the TA (our spot in the transition area), found an Italian restaurant for dinner and eventually made our way back to the hotel room to discuss strategy for the following day while watching Old School on the television.

Race Day:
My chirping Timex told me it was time to get up.  My rumbling tummy was an exclamation point to the beeping. 

I opened my cooler and spread my breakfast over the comforter... though I did ensure nothing I was about to eat made contact with the comforter... 'cause God only knows who or what had been on it since it was last washed.  Breakfast consisted of a high-protein Power Bar, an ice cold banana, a peanut-butter sandwich and bottle of Gatorade that washed down the assortment of my daily vitamins.

We arrived at the race site at 7:30ish if I were to guess.  We unlocked our bikes we had left the night before and carried the rest of our gear to finish setting up our TA. 

As usual, the race started at 9:00 with the Star-Spangled Banner sung by the little girl who typically sings it until the PA went south, so the entire group of racers broke into song to finish off the final verse.  Pretty darned impressive if you ask me.  And with a shot from Scott's 22 cal. pistol (don't worry, it was only a blank), we were off on the running section.

The run was just over 3 miles, and I was very happy I decided to go with my Salomon XCRs on this race.  Yeah, they're heavier, but the rocks on the course were brutal, and my Speedcross don't really absorb the uneven terrain like the XCRs. 

We ran down hill and through the mostly dry creek bed, but then it was a 200-foot ascent for the next 0.15 miles as shown in the elevation graph of the run below.  That would be a 25% grade for those of you doing the math.  Nothing like taking it out of you right out of the gate...

My heart rate wasn't too pleased with the climb, but it settled back down as we pressed on through the run. 

A welcomed break during the run was just a short section routed through the river to cool us off... the downside was the climb out in the loose sand, 'cause now I had not only wet socks and shoes... they were full of sand... and just as Gore-Tex keeps water out... it also keeps water in.  Oh well, we kept running... through the off-camber sections... over the rocks... around the trees... and up and down the hills...

The second-place team in our division was keeping pace with us.  Basically, they were right behind us for the majority of the run section.  But after the sandy-hill climb, they decided to pass us.  I told them it wasn't a good idea and to save it for the ride, but my words fell on deaf ears...

Having completed the 3-mile run in 30 minutes, we grabbed our bikes and boat seats and set out for the 0.6-mile trip to the river's edge where we found kayaks, paddles, and PFDs stacked up in piles waiting for us.  (For what it's worth, we passed the #2 team in the TA... and this was pretty much the last time we saw them until the end of the race...)

We carried the boat and associated gear down a steep hill and waded into the water about knee deep before jumping into the boat to begin paddling.  As always, the boat had a mind of its own for a bit as it decided to go left... or right... or left again... for no apparent reason.  Eventually we figured it out and were able to track straight to complete the 1.8-mile paddling section of the race.  Of course we were about half way out to the buoy when we see Team MOAT paddling back the other way.  Damn those guys are fast!  Fortunately they're not in our division!  (brewer commented that he saw the #2 team back a ways, but they weren't able to catch us...)

Once back on the shore, we climbed back up the hill with the boat and related gear and hopped back on the bikes for the 0.6-mile ride back to the TA.

At the TA, we switched shoes (I was so quick, I even changed into some dry socks), put on our Camelbaks and gloves, and without wasting a second we were on our bikes ready to face what we knew was coming...

Just like the pre-ride, we climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more.  We decided we were simply going to walk up the steep sections... it wasn't like we had a choice, mind you.  We also kept a good pace, but we didn't overdo it at the beginning of the ride because we knew what was coming...

The total ascent/descent on the biking section was 1,100 feet up and 1,100 feet down.  It felt like the entire ride was uphill... I'm not sure if it was because the uphill sections were so steep or if the downhill sections were more gradual... but it was tough going.

At some point during the ride, a pack of riders was coming towards us.  I'd tell each one, "You're going the wrong way", but I'm not sure if they believed me or not.  Of course, I did consider the possibility that WE were going the wrong way, but taking note of the wrong-way riders, I decided we were indeed on the correct path (and we were).

Coming off the bike so many times for the exhaustive climbs took its toll on my calf muscles.  I had one calf seize up once, and the other was darned close to doing the same, but I kept woofing down Endurolites and drinking water and made it through it. 

We crossed the finish line at two hours and 28 minutes after completing the 15.25 mile course.  The total ascent/descent was 2,077 feet up and 2,077 feet down.  My computer said I burned 1,661 calories with an average heart rate of 177 beats per minute.  My max heart rate was 192.

I knew we did good, but I wasn't completely sure where we placed. 

We saw the second-place team come in about 15 minutes after us.  One of them said he wanted to quit five different times, but his partner made him keep going. 

Another team we befriended during our pre-ride on Friday said he had five flats.  Thank God for tubeless wheels and tires and Stan's tire sealant!

Turns out we took first place in the male-masters division... and during the awards ceremony, we actually would have placed fourth had we raced in the open class. 

Anyway, our 1st-place finish was icing on the cake to winning the series.  We won a new pair of Salomon trail-running shoes for winning the race, and a second new pair for winning the series.  We also won a gym bag, two nice plaques, T-shirts, 6-month memberships to 24-hour Fitness, and several other items.

And with that, we're the 2008 Texas State Champions of the Terra Firma Sprint Adventure Race Series in the male masters division.

Link to official result here.

Now what are we gonna do?

... I'm sure we'll think of something!

:-)