Jack Van Dorp Racing.com – Ontario Racing

May1

Frontier Adventure Challenge

Posted in: Uncategorized


Race Report: Frontier Adventure Challenge
Peter and I drove to Deerhurst Friday night, arriving around 10 pm and opting for the less ostentatious back-of-the-van-in-the-parking-lot accomodations. Lots of signs of renovations around in advance of next months G8 Summit – including some dumpsters nad a variety of shipping trailers here and there.
We tuned up our bikes in the van light, found a quiet spot at the end of the parking lot, and bunked down for the night. It was a bit cozy with the two of us squeezed between our bikes, but we got by fairly comfortably. Andrew, our teammate, stayed over in Orillia before heading up Saturday morning.
Saturday morning we were up and about around 7, as we had to check in, get our bikes to a transition area on the west end of huntsville, sort our gear into bags for the transition areas, collect our maps, and plot our route over the race course, by 10 AM.
The race started with a quick run through the resort down to the lake where we had to grab a canoe. we carried our kayak paddles along, and pieces of foam seats so we would be able to have a seat for our middle paddler (Peter) and, hopefully, some foot supports. we found a fiberglass boat, preferable to plastic but not quite as nice as kevlar, and were off.
Two kayaks and a canoe got out ahead of us, but we caught the other canoe fairly quickly. As we reached the open water of the lake we heard some thunder in the distance and began to wonder whether to go ashore and wait it out. Based on our position, however, we determined that it would be nearly the same difference to head to shore or press onward, so we pressed on.
Another boat got onto our wash and was close in behind us, and a third boat, team adrenaline rush, was catching up on the right.
At the transition pete ran up to check us in while andrew and I stowed the boat and found the gear bag. we had started in our mountain bike shoes so were able to get out of there fast — just behind the lead solo racer. we passed him when we got off the roads and onto the trails, and then rode a combination of asphalt, gravel, and bush roads further and further into the woods. eventually the trail petered out and we had to choose between a clearer trail running not quite where we wanted to go (and not on our map) and bushwacking north for a short bit to where we were more sure of a trail. we chose to bushwack, and came thoruhg in good time. Adrenaline Rush was just behind us coming into the next transition, a hunting camp where we had to drop our bikes and proceed on foot to get 3 checkpoints in the woods. We brought shoes along (I had tucked my trail racing flats into my jersey pockets) so we did a quick shoe change, had a drink, and headed off. we followed beaver-dammed watercourses to the first and second CP, then headed south until we found a trail that brought us back past the hunt camp en route to the third CP. for that one we opted for precision over speed, and took a straight bearing through the woods, bearing slightly right to be safe and aiming for a large water feature. we came out at the water feature a little bit right of the CP, and headed back in to get it. by this point a lot of teams were in the CP area, some choosing this CP first, others opting for the order that we chose, so there were lots of people around. a straight shot north back to the trail, along it to our bikes, and we were off again.
the second last stage was a steep bush road, some gravel roads, and then asphalt and a steep descent towards deerhurst. we apparently arrived about an hour ahead of schedule, changed shoes again, and started our final  stage – a short trek that brought us along some of the deerhurst trails using a somewhat less precise map. flags had also been set for the high school adventure challenge scheduled for sunday, so we found the first CP and then another nearby, either of which could have been the assigned CP. the next CP was at a trail junction, and we found it without difficulty, turned on the jets, and headed for the finish, coming in at just under 4.5 hours.
And that was that!
we cleaned our bikes and ourselves, then settled in to enjoy the party and see the others come in!

Peter and I drove to Deerhurst Friday night, arriving around 10 pm and opting for the less ostentatious back-of-the-van-in-the-parking-lot accomodations. Lots of signs of renovations around in advance of next months G8 Summit – including some dumpsters and a variety of shipping trailers here and there. We wanted to get a good sleep though, because the race was anticipated to take 6-8 hours.

We tuned up our bikes using the van light, found a quiet spot at the end of the parking lot, and bunked down for the night. It was a bit cozy with the two of us squeezed between our bikes, but we got by fairly comfortably. Andrew, our teammate, stayed over in Orillia before heading up Saturday morning.

Saturday morning we were up and about around 7, as we had to check in, get our bikes to a transition area on the west end of huntsville, sort our gear into bags for the transition areas, collect our maps, and plot our route over the race course, by 10 AM.

The race started with a quick run through the resort down to the lake where we had to grab a canoe. we carried our kayak paddles along, and pieces of foam seats so we would be able to have a seat for our middle paddler (Peter) and, hopefully, some foot supports. we found a fiberglass boat, preferable to plastic but not quite as nice as kevlar, and were off.

Two kayaks and a canoe got out ahead of us, but we caught the other canoe fairly quickly. As we reached the open water of the lake we heard some thunder in the distance and began to wonder whether to go ashore and wait it out. Based on our position, however, we determined that it would be nearly the same difference to head to shore or press onward, so we pressed on.

Another boat got onto our wash and was close in behind us, and a third boat, team adrenaline rush, was catching up on the right.

At the transition pete ran up to check us in while andrew and I stowed the boat and found the gear bag. we had started in our mountain bike shoes so were able to get out of there fast — just behind the lead solo racer. we passed him when we got off the roads and onto the trails, and then rode a combination of asphalt, gravel, and bush roads further and further into the woods. eventually the trail petered out and we had to choose between a clearer trail running not quite where we wanted to go (and not on our map) and bushwacking north for a short bit to where we were more sure of a trail. we chose to bushwack, and came thoruhg in good time. Adrenaline Rush was just behind us coming into the next transition, a hunting camp where we had to drop our bikes and proceed on foot to get 3 checkpoints in the woods. We brought shoes along (I had tucked my trail racing flats into my jersey pockets) so we did a quick shoe change, had a drink, and headed off. we followed beaver-dammed watercourses to the first and second CP, then headed south until we found a trail that brought us back past the hunt camp en route to the third CP. for that one we opted for precision over speed, and took a straight bearing through the woods, bearing slightly right to be safe and aiming for a large water feature. we came out at the water feature a little bit right of the CP, and headed back in to get it. by this point a lot of teams were in the CP area, some choosing this CP first, others opting for the order that we chose, so there were lots of people around. a straight shot north back to the trail, along it to our bikes, and we were off again.

the second last stage was a steep bush road, some gravel roads, and then asphalt and a steep descent towards deerhurst. we apparently arrived about an hour ahead of schedule, changed shoes again, and started our final  stage – a short trek that brought us along some of the deerhurst trails using a somewhat less precise map. flags had also been set for the high school adventure challenge scheduled for sunday, so we found the first CP and then another nearby, either of which could have been the assigned CP. the next CP was at a trail junction, and we found it without difficulty, turned on the jets, and headed for the finish, coming in at just under 4.5 hours.

And that was that!

we cleaned our bikes and ourselves, then settled in to enjoy the party and see the others come in!

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