Paddles and Pedals....part 4.

Will and Andy had teamed up on one kayak and I was with Ross on the other one.  Once again, we were ready to continue our adventure.

As soon as we launched the kayaks, I realised my mistake...I should have worn shorts and not put on my fleece.  I was soaked within seconds.  The sit on top kayak is a very sturdy little vessel.  We had the added benefit of the seats we had bought but basically it is like a giant surfboard with a bit for your bum, a place to put your feet, somewhere to lash your backpack and holes to drain it.  It isn't what you would call a watertight vessel.  There was quite a swell on the lough.  This was a challenge in itself.  The other challenge was driving a tank (the sit-on-top) after steering a Ferrari (sleek little racing kayak)

After about 5 minutes we got into the swing off things. Despite the difference in vessel the training had paid off as we were able to implement the paddling techniques we had been practising.   I have to confess, I was a bit tired at this point and  I did try kayaking with my eyes closed but that didn't work terribly well, so I gave that up and got on with the job in hand.  Above us the skies were grey and pregnant with yet to be released rain,  below us the water was choppy and dark, we set our faces to the wind and paddled....and paddled....and paddled.

and paddled


and paddled

hmmmm.......


2 hours 59 minutes and 50 seconds of paddling apparently.

12. 95 km.

My back-as we made our way across the lough
(Photo:  Ross)

It's a long time of doing the same thing.  Especially if after 1 1/2 you start to desperately need a wee.  Here came modesty dilemma number 2.  How was I going to wee off the side of a kayak in a deep lough and without my team mates noticing?  The situation was becoming acute.  To make matters worse, I turned to my right to see Will managing to do just that over the side of the boat.  Great.  Ross said I would have to wait because I would tip us over if I tried hanging over the side....

I tried to wait.  No I was beginning to feel sick I was so urgently in need of relieving myself.  I had a sudden brain wave.  I lay down in my kayak seat which was a feat of great balance and wriggled out of my leggings.  (Someone asked me why I didn't just wee through them because I was soaked already but really eeeuuuwww!  Anyway,  you know those little drainage holes I mentioned....let's just say that I now know what they are really for....)

The men on this team have no idea of the lengths I have gone to and the sacrifices I have made for them!

After a great deal more paddling we made it to the first transition point and were reunited with our race box for the first time since the start of the race.  The original plan was for Andy to chivvy us all on, for me to get everyone's food and for Ross, Andy and Will to put the bikes together.  but, we were thrown a curve ball in the race briefing.  We had to pick up new maps, transfer the checkpoints on to the correct place on the map, plan our route and laminate our maps with sticky-back plastic.  What should have been a short transition of approximately 45 minutes transformed into a two hour epic of its own.

We knew that there was hot food and tea available at this transition and naturally, because I am the girl (ahem!!) I was put on getting the breakfast.I was a bit cold so actually I was more than happy to make my way into a building    It was the best breakfast I have ever eaten.  A cooked Irish breakfast, in a bap.....sausage, bacon, black pudding, white pudding and egg.  Oh yum.  I mean that with all my heart....really OH YUM!! I felt heaps better after that and joy of joys, there was a proper toilet too!  Luxury.

Ross and Will sorting the route.
 Photo by Andy,
 I was having my illicit doze

A lot of the teams seemed to all congregate inside and eat there food before all getting on with their team jobs.  I tried to suggest this but Ross and Andy were having none of it and demanded food like a pair of starving nestlings whilst rebuilding the bikes. It started to rain shortly after this. They told me that I should sort out the food for the next stage and get everybody's food bag out of the box but I had a rebellious moment and said that I needed to eat my breakfast first so that I would warm up and then be more effective.  I think Ross must have seen a steely glint in my eye because he suddenly agreed, I think the shivering like a juddering tractor engine might have swayed him too!  Anyway, the two of them had the bikes built in no time and we all went to help William with the maps.  He had transferred a lot of the check points by this time and was planning the route.  He and Ross consulted on that while Andy and I covered the maps in the sticky back plastic to make them water proof.  We got quite adept at this and had them done in no time.  In fact, I even had chance for tiny little shut eye (about 5mins) which was caught on film for posterity by the Adventure Racing Website, Sleep Monsters.....

I looked so peaceful!  I don't even remember dropping off...

Will in the foreground, me behind

Finally, the maps were organised and it was time to get onto our bikes.  Once again we were on our way.

Nobody mentioned we would be with the bikes for 18 hours with a brief two and a half hour respite while we tried to commit hari kari down a river!  (more on that later!)






Andy and Will checking the map.
Will taking the opportunity
to swallow down a gel

By 11 am we were off and the first part of the ride went well. I was keeping up with the guys and it was great to be on the bike.  The views were lovely as we went parallel to the lough for a while and then Ivan (the race organiser's) curve ball....The Hike-a-Bike.

If three words were as ill-suited to go together in the English language as hike-a-bike, I cannot think of them.  Basically, this is when you push your bike up a hill (for what seems like decades) because the path is too steep to cycle up.   Add to this the Irish idea of a stile (more like a very tall ladder you should climb with aforementioned bike) and their passionate attachment to the electric fence (Ivan had forewarned us about that little detail) The track was extremely narrow, bordered on one side by the electric fence and on the other side by a mixture of gorse, brambles, ferns and heather.  It was quite hard work.  Ross took my bike and I started to push his.  The reason for this was that his bike weighs significantly less than mine.  I thought I was going to be able to push it up all by myself.  I was determined.  But, I was under a misapprehension.  Eventually Andy and Ross leap-frogged the bikes up the hill.  Taking it in turns to get our three bikes up there.  I would pick up whichever bike they had laid down and try and push it until it was grabbed from me and then I would walk up to where they had left the third bike and the process would start again.  It was back breaking work shoving and hauling those bikes up that hill.   Eventually, we reached the top of the first hill.  The path widened out a bit, enough that I could push a bike while Andy towed it.  This worked quite well for us. The view at the top was completely worth the slog!

 Andy was carrying the checkpoint descriptions and William was navigating.  The next checkpoint we were looking for was one on or near a broken cross monument.  Sounded simple enough.  There were two of these on the very top of the hill.  The one to our left was fairly new and away to our right I spotted the broken monument.  It was beginning to drizzle a bit by now.  Just sort of blowing through rain and damp.  We made our way (thankfully back on our bikes and not pushing them) over to the broken monument.  Up behind us came team number 1, Adventurers Assemble.  We all looked around the monument. Where was the check point?  Oh. My. Goodness.  You have just got to be kidding.  The electronic dock for our tags which is how we register we have been to the checkpoint (CP) was at the top of the monument.  About 7m up. And every team member had to 'dib'  ("Have you dibbed?" became the most uttered phrase of the race)

"Go on," said Team 1, "You go first."

The CP was literally at the topmost point of ruin

Will was up the thing like a mountain goat. I took more persuading.  A lot more persuading.  It took Ross, Andy and Will levering, shoving and cajoling me to get me up there.  I got up and then I had to work my way around the thing to find a way to the top.  I was clinging to it like a limpet whilst Will tried to get me to move around.  I was utterly terrified.  I am not scared of height...it's more edges and this thing had lots of edges.  It was greasy with rain and just nerve-wracking.  Finally Will was able to grab my wrist and dibbed in for me.  Then I had to get down.  Gulp!

The Heavens opened.  It was like the clouds unzipped themselves and a deluge began and from then on it rained for literally hours  (I have come to think that perhaps Noah retired to Ireland)  William then spent the next hour and a half, telling us in increasingly grumpy tones how much he hated rain and that it annoyed him....over and over and over and over again.....would have tried the patience of a saint.  We all let him witter on, he obviously needed to vent.

Back on terra firma we had the most incredible down hill cycle... It was utterly awesome.  I stood up out of the saddle and I don't think I peddled for about 2 kilometres.  Then it was more of the same as we worked our way around the check points and had various dramas including me slipping sideways off my bike twice and landing in a heap of helpless giggles and a puddle!

The other obstacle we had to cross was a route detour because the land owner would let race competitiors through his land.  This involved shoving and pushing bikes over tussocks, through clay wallows  a lot of which I managed to fall in or sit in and ultimately through a stream where the only person who didn't get soaked up to the knees was Ross and none of us can work out how.

Finally at about 4.30 we pulled into the next challenge and I had to confront another fear....