BIG BIG weekend is behind me and IMD2 is off to a good start. It all started Saturday Morning at 6am when I went for a paddle and Min went to Rowing. At paddling we had 8 people so we took out 2 canoes 4 people in each. It's a lot harder to paddle a 6 person canoe with only 4. Anyway we paddled out almost to Picnic Bay Jetty and back. Which adds up to about 16km. Then went home had breakfast and packed the car for The Trip up to Lake Tinaroo where the Quoll Adventure race was. Picked Min up from her place she was a bit stuffed as I was from our respective training. Then we were off up the coast and the Gillies Highway to Lake Tinaroo. The Campsite and the start of the race was at the Lake Tinaroo Education Centre only meters from the lake near the town of Tinaroo.
We arrived about 5pm set up camp and pottered around waiting for the briefing at 7:30. Found out at 8 that the briefing was at 11pm. We quickly ate some dinner and got in the Tent for a quick power nap (we were going to need all of the power we could get). Woke up about 10:30pm got into our adventure racing gear and went to the briefing. We got our maps and were told the 
rule and the conditions of entry. Also we were informed that the Police were making it rather difficult and were taking the equipment needed way above what the road rule were. We had to have Two front lights one fixed and one flashing and on all major roads we had to dismount and cross the road on foot to make a right hand turn. About 1 minute before the race begins, at 12am mind you, I remember that I had forgotten One of the essential pieces of safety equipment (you get disqualified without) my safety whistle. Run down get my whistle and hear Go. Mount my bike and ride across the startline about 30sec behind everyone else. Start of Race 12:00:30am.
The first stage was a 2hr bike ride about 25km (we had to stop and get markers along the way) from Lake Tinaroo to Atherton via the back roads. We were the last team in but we got all of the markers and finished with about 1-2 minutes to spare. 1:59:00am.
Then we found out that the next stage would be a 5hr Bike Rogaine collecting as many markers as you could on the way back to the Start of the race next to the lake. At the start of this part of the race it was absolutely freezing. It was about 2 degrees C and you actually wanted to ride up hills as it warmed you up. I started to have some problems at about 7am. I felt a bit sick in the stomach and after about another 5km I was seeing stars whenever I stopped riding. Then I thought about it I had been expending large quantities of energy but I had failed to eat anything so far. I quickly munched down a powerbar and when ever we stopped to get a marker I had either a Apricot delight (Cube of processed Apricot and sugar) or a bite of Powerbar. By about 9am I was feeling better and we made better time. Min was amazing at this stage she was feeling good and kept us going and trying to get more markers. We wouldn't have done so well at this stage if it wasn't for Min. Finally climbed the last hill and coasted down to Adventure HQ. 9:41:00am.
We finished the first half of the paddle course and Mins Arms were about to fall off (you don't use your arms much in Rowing) and I was feeling tired but alright. We got all but one of the marker in the first half because we didn't read the clue that said it was 30m inland, we were looking for one hanging off of a tree over the water like all of the others. oh well. A quick tour of the peninsular for the bush Rogaine and we had collected just under half of the marker in 40min. Good time to get back to the paddling so we could do well in the paddling course. We got 7 out of the other 8 markers and then paddled for home. My arms were about to drop off after the paddle so Min put in an Absolutely mammoth effort. 2:10:00pm.
Then I went to sleep for about 30min woke up by Min who was falling asleep in her chair. We went to the Presentations ( there were some very impressive teams there). Found out we did Like second best out of all teams across all Events (7, 15 and 33hr)in the paddling leg of the Race. Ate a Meal and went to sleep 5:01:00pm.
Didn't wake up till 7 the next morning then got up SLOWLY and paked up drove home. Awesome Weekend and good start to the Month. Now I just have to compete in my 5 races at the Sunset Bay regatta and I have achieved my goal for the month. Oh as well as turning another year older
rule and the conditions of entry. Also we were informed that the Police were making it rather difficult and were taking the equipment needed way above what the road rule were. We had to have Two front lights one fixed and one flashing and on all major roads we had to dismount and cross the road on foot to make a right hand turn. About 1 minute before the race begins, at 12am mind you, I remember that I had forgotten One of the essential pieces of safety equipment (you get disqualified without) my safety whistle. Run down get my whistle and hear Go. Mount my bike and ride across the startline about 30sec behind everyone else. Start of Race 12:00:30am.The first stage was a 2hr bike ride about 25km (we had to stop and get markers along the way) from Lake Tinaroo to Atherton via the back roads. We were the last team in but we got all of the markers and finished with about 1-2 minutes to spare. 1:59:00am.
Second stage was a Hiking through the bush Rogaine style for three hours. We did quite well in this event and got about 2 thirds of the markers better than most other teams (everyone else seemed to have trouble finding the markers). We came in about 20mins early, which gave us time to get our stuff together for the next stage. We didn't know what that was yet but hey we would be ready. We covered about 15km on the hiking stage. 4:41:00am.
Then we found out that the next stage would be a 5hr Bike Rogaine collecting as many markers as you could on the way back to the Start of the race next to the lake. At the start of this part of the race it was absolutely freezing. It was about 2 degrees C and you actually wanted to ride up hills as it warmed you up. I started to have some problems at about 7am. I felt a bit sick in the stomach and after about another 5km I was seeing stars whenever I stopped riding. Then I thought about it I had been expending large quantities of energy but I had failed to eat anything so far. I quickly munched down a powerbar and when ever we stopped to get a marker I had either a Apricot delight (Cube of processed Apricot and sugar) or a bite of Powerbar. By about 9am I was feeling better and we made better time. Min was amazing at this stage she was feeling good and kept us going and trying to get more markers. We wouldn't have done so well at this stage if it wasn't for Min. Finally climbed the last hill and coasted down to Adventure HQ. 9:41:00am.Last stage is a paddle and hike Rogaine combined. We had 5hrs to do a paddle course and a 90min Rogaine on one of the peninsula's sticking into the Lake. Finally something I would be at least as good as the other groups in I thought. We had been a bit slower than the other teams on both of the bike legs (Note More bike training for next year). Problem was that some other teams had brought their own two person Kayaks with paddles and these things were about twice as fast as the bath tubs that the Race organisers provided (If any organisers read this I really appreciate the fact that you organised canoes for us that made it possible for Min and I to do the Race so Thankyou. They were not however very fast canoes).
We finished the first half of the paddle course and Mins Arms were about to fall off (you don't use your arms much in Rowing) and I was feeling tired but alright. We got all but one of the marker in the first half because we didn't read the clue that said it was 30m inland, we were looking for one hanging off of a tree over the water like all of the others. oh well. A quick tour of the peninsular for the bush Rogaine and we had collected just under half of the marker in 40min. Good time to get back to the paddling so we could do well in the paddling course. We got 7 out of the other 8 markers and then paddled for home. My arms were about to drop off after the paddle so Min put in an Absolutely mammoth effort. 2:10:00pm.
Then I went to sleep for about 30min woke up by Min who was falling asleep in her chair. We went to the Presentations ( there were some very impressive teams there). Found out we did Like second best out of all teams across all Events (7, 15 and 33hr)in the paddling leg of the Race. Ate a Meal and went to sleep 5:01:00pm.
Didn't wake up till 7 the next morning then got up SLOWLY and paked up drove home. Awesome Weekend and good start to the Month. Now I just have to compete in my 5 races at the Sunset Bay regatta and I have achieved my goal for the month. Oh as well as turning another year older
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