Primal Quest Tahoe volunteering (part 2 of 2)

I drove over from TA3 to TA6 - which was at Ruck-a-Chucky river crossing, how cool is that!  I'd love to run Western States someday and this is an iconic part of that course.  As a TA, it was kind of a sand pit and one of the hottest places of the whole course.  But hey, no bugs!  And we had a super awesome crew working there for several days straight, making this the spot I will remember most of all.

Starting with Paul, Spencer, and Khristy, showing up in the middle of the first night to set up the rope crossing over the river.  Khristy and I were short on sleep by this point so we were sorta punchy and it didn't take much to make us laugh.  Paul and Spencer were good sports, and they were also awesome with crossing the river on a paddleboard and stringing the rope.

Here Spencer is holding said rope to keep it above the water while Paul is adding another length to make it long enough to tie off to a tree, while I'm doing anything but helping and Khristy is managing to get a funny picture through all the laughter:

OK, back to the seriousness of racing.  Team Bones made it in from the first whitewater section plus trek (including the river crossing with the rope) in time for the whitewater raft leg in the morning.  Here they are getting ready to load up in a truck for a shuttle to the rafting put-in.  There is a dam release each morning around 9 am, so all teams would be doing the whitewater rafting starting in the morning.  If they arrived too late they would have to camp with us overnight and wait for the next day.

Team Bones was the only one to make it that first morning.  No sign of GODZone - ?

After a fun whitewater rafting trip (complete with a snooze in the raft while waiting for the water to catch up to them again), team Bones prepped for the next long bike section:

Going over the maps, I think there were several options through here:

Every once in a while I get a decent action shot.  Go team Bones!

From that point on, teams arrived off the trek at all times of the day and night.  Here is team MMDJ assembling bikes and drying clothes under an EZ-Up:

Team GODZone arrived too late for the first day's rafting adventure, so they were the first on the water the next day.  Here they are arriving back at our TA.  They moved quickly, but it seemed like they were racing for 2nd place after spotting team Bones a 24-hour lead:

Team Rusty Bottom Runaways was "stuck" for many hours at TA6, and while they were there they helped anyone and everyone they could.  It was amazing to watch - they moved boxes and large water jugs with the logistics team.  They moved EZ-Up's around to keep shade over everyone.  They even helped team Journey Racing put their bikes together:

But that wasn't all.  When they heard that another team was missing a key bike part and would not be able to ride out until they somehow got a replacement, Tosh (Rusty Bottom team captain) GAVE UP his own bike to the other team.  Who does that?  Tosh said that anyone would do the same, but that seems unlikely.  It was an incredible, selfless act of generosity.  Paul brought his own bike down for Tosh to use the next day and it all worked out.  Amazing.

Rusty Bottom Runaways won the spirit award for the race, well deserved!

Meanwhile, back at the TA... team NorCal getting some sleep while they can:

We waited for the last team to arrive, team Seek Adventure.  It wasn't certain they would make it for the 3rd day of whitewater rafting - until they showed up on the other side of the river in the early morning light.  Hi guys!  I yelled over that there was a rope crossing further upstream, but they opted to just jump in and swim across right there:

It was a rowdy bunch of racers piling into trucks for the final day of rafting.  Richard from team Renegades looks stoked!

Getting to know everyone really well in the back of a van:

Finally a bit of a break - time for Khristy to relax for a couple minutes!  She and her team worked their butts off with medical and foot care for the teams.  Well done y'all!

Soon after I was called to drive out to CP23 to hang out with Matthew for a day and greet the teams coming through on bikes.  Hey, another Western States locale, Robinson Flat!  Wish I had more time (and energy), I would have loved to run on the trail.  Instead I opted to sleep when given the chance  :)

Team Tahoe/Haeleum getting prepped to depart from CP23:

Nutella on the go!

Team Seek Adventures ready to explore more of this bike section:

Team MMDJ getting food and doing a map check:

Team Renegades entertaining us at CP23:

And that was it for my time on the course - what fun and what a experience!

It was also great to get to know Dr. Bannar, Maria, Khristy, and Zak better during a "decompression break" while waiting for teams to arrive at the finish line:

And the winners - wait, it's GODZone!  How did that happen?  Apparently there was a challenging bike-whack section in the area called (appropriately) "Hell Hole" and team Bones spent some time trying to find a way through.  They ended up going the long way around instead.  Team GODZone managed to figure out a way to get themselves and their bikes through the mess, saving them a bunch of time.  And overcoming a 24-hour deficit for the win.  Congratulations team GODZone and what a finish!

More teams arriving back at the Hardrock Hotel, this time it's team NorCal:

Welcome back, team 40/50 Promax Pure Bar!

Team Renegades with a fine finish line pose:

Another gear explosion at race HQ as teams came through briefly before hitting the showers and hopefully getting some sleep:

Team MMDJ approaching the finish:

Team Rusty Bottom Runaways regaling us with stories.  One of them asked Tosh why the heck he thought they could do this, when their normal Crossfit workout is 5-7 minutes at a time?  I also heard one say he could bench press however many hundreds of pounds, but at some point he couldn't lift the kayak paddle anymore.  Too funny!

Chriss and Tosh from Rusty Bottom Runaways hanging out with the Kiwi's Lisa, Sarah, and Sonya from GODZone:

An elaborate cake for Maria's birthday at the post-race party:

Matthew and Beth setting up the awards table:

The post-race party was great fun, lots of stories and laughter, good food and drink, and some Outdoor Television videos and amazing photos from Kaori.

Well, that's a wrap on the race!  I'm so glad I was there!

Primal Quest Tahoe volunteering (part 1 of 2)

I volunteered at PQ-Tahoe, wanting to see how the new incarnation of this race would unfold.  I enjoyed our time volunteering in Montana in 2008 and it seemed like a fun addition to our summer.  It was indeed fun, in fact a lot more fun than last time.  I met many amazing, awesome, inspiring people, laughed a lot, cried a little, and I think I even helped some here and there.

I was impressed with the race directors and I respect the way they ran the event.  They obviously care a great deal about all the people involved and about putting on a good race.  No race is without glitches, but in this case I truly believe the RD's learned from them and will come back with an even better event next time.  They worked incredibly hard, constantly helping and getting hands-on with all aspects of the race.  Kudos to Maria, David, and Paul, I enjoyed working with you!

And huge congratulations to all the racers that tackled this beast of a course.  It was huge.  It was challenging.  It never seemed to end  :)  And almost all the teams persevered right to the finish line.  With smiles on your faces!  It was a true joy to watch.

OK, from the beginning, with gear strewn around race HQ as teams got organized before the race:

Kayaks waiting in the Hardrock Hotel parking lot:

Water skills testing and kayak setup:

All the stuff making its way into boxes to be loaded and transported:

The team parade to the base of the gondola:

A beautiful view of Lake Tahoe from aboard the gondola on the way up to Heavenly where the race would start:

Ropes skills testing:

And... go!  The race started with teams running down a dirt road from the top to the bottom of the mountain.  The instructions were to follow the markings down the road.  When the markings went one way and the road went the other, the lead teams went to check it out.  Hmm...

OK, forget the flagging, just follow the road:

Team NorCal trekking down the road:

Team MMDJ in good spirits:

I had fun running down the hill with the teams, then I drove over to Cave Rock (TA1) for the take-out of the first paddle leg.

Team Bones was the first one to arrive:

Changing out of PFD's to switch to bikes:

At that point I needed to leave to "set up" CP2 (i.e. put up a PQ flag and have my clipboard ready).  I spent the evening checking off teams as they came through Spooner Pass to start their long (long!) journey on the Tahoe Rim Trail.

The camera crew getting lots of footage of team Bones:

Team Tahoe/Haeleum at CP2:

Team NorCal checking in at CP2:

Team Seek Adventure was all smiles:

From there I continued - oh wait, I actually got to sleep in my own bed that night!  That was a nice little break.  OK, now ready to start on the long adventure out on the course for 6 days.

On the way to my first TA (#3) I stopped in at TA2 at Kirkwood where teams would arrive on bikes and leave on foot.  This TA had a huge parking lot to work with.  Lots of space (and wind) but no shade.  They did a nice job with the visual setup:

Team GODZone was the first to arrive.  One of the ladies (the one not in the photo) was feeling rather sick, so they weren't in a huge hurry to move on:

Seems like a good time for a recovery nap:

I wanted to make it to TA3 before dark, so I drove on ahead.  The scenery in this section is amazing, I can only try to imagine what the racers got to see during their trek:

TA3 was at a shady campground next to a creek, very nice.  The main downside was the bugs, but really they weren't too bad.  I got to meet John Vonhof (of "Fixing Your Feet" fame!) and Khristy the medical lady and Phil my co-TA captain.  Except Phil ended up getting called to do a lot of other things so we never really got to work together, bummer.  A bunch of other folks came and went, the media teams, the POV camera guys, the logistics crew bringing gear and bike boxes, more medical staff, the TA4 volunteers, and the race directors.  Way more folks than I ever saw at a TA in Montana.

I had time to run up the road and view the massive climb site of Calaveras Dome in the morning.  What a rock!  I cannot imagine ascending and rappelling this thing, although I have a few friends (and a husband) who have described it to me from 2003.

All teams were moving quite a bit slower than expected, between the hike-a-bike on the Tahoe Rim Trail and the challenging terrain in the trek.  That pushed back the whole timetable and required some adjustments, but eventually things seemed to get sorted out.  The biggest disappointment is that 3 teams didn't get to do the ropes, bummer.  The RD's never meant for that to happen and hopefully they will prevent that from ever happening again.

Team Bones made it to the ropes first, eventually completing it and then trekking to TA3 in the early morning.  They slept a couple hours and then got up to build their bikes:

Team GODZone chasing them, not long later:

One of the racers had apparently found this, carried it to our TA, and put it in the trash.  I rescued it briefly so I could send a photo to John - my turn to find an apt balloon!

We realized that the sections between TA3-TA4 (fast bike) to TA5 (a few hours of whitewater kayaking) to TA6 (a trek that could be as quick as 18 hours) would not take the lead teams very long.  We were all scheduled to head to TA6 next, but there were still 9 teams coming to TA3.  Time for one of us to go set up and man TA6, so I gathered some supplies and one EZ-Up and boogied on out of there.

Next post - From TA6 to the finish line...