2024 MAINE SUMMER AR
Race report by Glen Lewis
I was super happy to be racing this with Tom, Amanda, and Evan. I had done MSAR 2022 with Tom and Amanda (and Matt) and felt that I left a lot on the table in terms of performance; adding Evan into the mix would give us an extra boost in terms of our raw power, so long as he and I could stay awake from heat-related sickness...
I drove up the night prior and slept in a luxurious air conditioned bedroom at Cliff and Kate's in Portland. My Saturday began early with a drive up to Brunswick, with a preliminary stop at Dunkin Donuts for my pre-race egg sandwiches before meeting Evan at P-3 Park. We carpooled to the bike drop where we met up with Tom and Amanda, before returning back to P-3 for registration. This particular race has a reputation as being very tough to plan for in the ~2hrs between registration and the race start. We fought that by getting in line very early and grabbing a big space to do our map work at Wild Oats, just across the parking lot from the race start. With two sets of maps Tom and I were able to split up the work, with him taking care of the treks and me focusing on the bike legs. On top of that we had to navigate the complicated directions, cutoffs, and guidelines for the paddle. Amanda and Evan were incredibly useful for this, and we finished our map work a bit before the pre-race meeting at 9:30; it felt like we finally cracked the code for race prep.
Our estimates and measurements showed us that the course would be clearable; it appeared that we might even have time to spare. The only catch was the cut-off to end the paddle at 7:00PM; missing that would mean losing all of the paddle points. We resolved then to run hard on the opening trek to get ourselves as much time as possible on the paddle. It was looking to be a hot morning, but the resolution would be hydrating and fueling carefully during both the trek and subsequent paddle. There were a few teams and solos that we had our eyes on for competition, but we were mostly concerned with focusing on ourselves and doing the course as fast as we could without regard to what the other teams were doing.
Leg 1 - Trek
The race began without a prologue; we had a ~1km run on foot to get to the first set of 4 CPs. We ran towards the front but things quickly spread out with a bad attack on the first CP; it was mapped a little funny and things were hectic. We kept moving well and were the 2nd team to finish this short section, within view of Enabled Tracking. We had a bit of a road run to the next cluster of points, about 4km. We fueled as best as we could but we definitely feeling the heat. Evan and I had already begun joking about us "big boys" needing extra water in the hot heat. We got the next cluster right with ET, and did a little back and forth with them on the first few points, running into VERT and a solo (I would later learn that his name was Joseph, racing as Flying Tomato). We felt really good about this leg - Tom nailed the nav and we did our own thing, getting to the TA just over 90 minutes after the start. We took a few moments to get ourselves sorted and comfortable in the boats before shoving off. Joseph arrived here and told us that he had already lost a map! We tried to let him take a picture of ours but he wasn't able, so we left alone here.
Leg 2 - Sea Kayak + Trek
This was an expertly designed leg, with plenty of paddling distance but with 4 treks to break it up. There was also the challenge of balancing the tide in a few places; we had spent a good chunk of time pre-race getting this section dialed, and we thankfully stuck to our plan here. We struggled with the first cluster, as it didn't have a definitive landing zone; we actually missed the 2nd point and accidentally found the 3rd before back-tracking. It was hard to see the correct coves on the land, and we still weren't sure when we paddled back past it later on. From here we continued south to the furthest cluster in Harpswell. We chased VERT (who skipped the first set) for a while and were caught and passed by Joseph, although he hadn't gotten the first set of points yet either. We parked our boats as a group after some very adventurous wading and swimming in the low-tide shallows. We ran this section well here. Evan and I together were already noticing the effects of the heat and were doing our best to drink and eat to avoid damage as much as possible. To be honest, it felt like we were going to need to get ourselves pretty low and suffer before we could dig ourselves out.
As we left this cluster Amanda and I asked Tom and Evan to tow us. We just weren't able to match their boat speed and this kept us together much better and raised our overall speed a good bit. The 2nd cluster of points at Long Reach Preserve was mobbed with boats, to the point that we had trouble finding a spot to beach our kayaks. When we finally got ashore we moved as well as we could, but it was really hot and I took a tumble, getting a pretty nice cut and bruise on my knee. I soon thereafter rolled my ankle as a consequence, and we had to slow for a minute to help me get sorted out. When we finally got back to our boats I realized that the heat was really getting to me. I drank as much as I could but soon drained my bladder - 3L of water gone in 4 hours of paddling! I was able to make it to the next trekking section at Woodward Point Preserve without issue though, and got some water from my pack that was stowed in the boat. Amanda and I really appreciated the tow on this section, and I really appreciated the fresh green beans that she shared with me!! The final trek was done near ET (we had been seeing them at all of the treks), but we pushed off with a lead of about ~10 minutes. We had hit all of our cutoffs and were super happy to be heading to the takeout with plenty of time to spare.
After 4-5 hours of hoping for a cloud or rain to break the heat, we finally got our wish in the form of rain, first light and then heavy, then followed by thunder and lightning. We pulled off at a personal dock and waited about 15 minutes for the closest lightning to pass, but we were disappointed to be passed by at least 10 teams, including those in tightest competition with us who didn't heed the very clear rules about paddling in lightning. We were able to put back onto the water and paddle the final 1.5km without issue to the TA. We were relieved to see all of the lead teams here, and even though we took a deliberate TA (shoe and sock changes) we were very quick and get out on bikes with plenty of daylight left, around 6:30PM.
Leg 3 - Bike
We made really quick work of the road sections, with Evan setting a good pace for us and me feeling confident on the easy nav. There were a couple of funny sections that we figured out when we put our heads together, but it was overall a smooth ride and I was able to eat and drink a ton to help get myself recovered after the midday heat. The first cluster of points was in a twisty and winding trail system, where we had to ride each trail to find a mapped point but weren't allowed to bikewhack and had to follow a mapped route. It was fun and enjoyable, as we saw a bunch of teams through the woods. I began having some bike issues in this section; I had borrowed Cliff's bike as mine was still unusable after the Longest Day and was really struggling with the Infinity Seat. I found it 100% uncomfortable and did not enjoy the experience at all. I did a series of adjustments and made it manageable, but the entire race was a struggle and I was definitely not able to ride like I normally was.
When we hopped out of these trails the sun was beginning to set and we had to use our lights. We hopped onto our first ATV trail here and began working our way methodically through the section. I was trying to work my way back still from my overexertion and was struggling with how long the section was taking. Our time estimate was spot on but the effort required was pretty substantial. We never saw ET on this leg, passed VERT just as the sun was setting, and were passed by Joseph as we exited the never ending maze of ATV trails. We were happy to be riding roads for a while, and we made a joyful stop at CP 49 for a mandatory can of Moxie. Tom and I split it - it was so good and got me feeling great again. We liked it so much that I grabbed an extra can to carry along. The road ride from here was simple but still taxing. We were all happy to get off the bikes in TA, just after 11:40PM. We reloaded our packs with some fresh food, and I was happy to share my Chick-fil-a sandwich with Tom to lift our spirits. The race supplied some delightful ramen as well, and we all partook. I think I may had had too much as my stomach was super full for the next hour or so.
This was our big trek, all around Mt. Bradbury. Tom took the lead here and nailed it. We were efficient for a good while until we weren't, which is where our race took a sideways turn. It started with trying to be careful about cross water in the dark, but what we ended up with was the team being very particular about how to attack points and spending quite a bit of time in the direct vicinity of points not sure how we should get to them. The two biggest culprits were 53 and 52, where we wasted more than 30 minutes just wandering around looking for good attack points. This was between 2 and 3AM, and it seems like things always get weird and inefficient there. Amanda was, as always, feeling stellar. Tom and I were in a weird zone where we didn't feel great but could keep on trucking. Evan had slipped into a rough hole, and the team did our best to get him moving out of it. By the time we moved around the leg and hit another pocket of points I was feeling better, but Evan was getting worse. He wasn't able to get food in and was struggling to hold his normal pace. Still, he pushed as hard as he could for the team and helped up get where we needed to go. Towards the end of the leg we made the tough call to drop CP66, our first of the race. We had gone over our estimates because of the shenanigans at 53 and 52, and needed to get back on our bikes to head to the finish in order to finish the course. We huffed it in to TA, grabbing our last point before 5:30. I was happy to share my 2nd Chick-fil-a sandwich as we geared up. It seemed like we had plenty of time to finish from here.
Leg 5 - Bike (and "bike")
The leg started off with some singletrack before coming to some doubletrack and a powerline. The powerline section came with a warning in the race notes. What we encountered was so much worse than we had expected. At the worst moments we were pushing the bikes through knee-high water while breaking trail in chest-high grass. We later had to carry our bikes through 50-100m of sharp, painful bushes to try to find a "trail". Fortunately, we had been able to see the lone CP from rather far away, we just really struggled to get to it and then get away from it. It took us more than 1 hour to cover 2km before we mercifully got to a road, where Joseph flew up behind us again. We had seen him plenty on the night trek, but always going somewhere different from us. He told us that he had dropped 2 points, which made us feel good about our overall standing.
We felt less good about that as we attacked the next 4 cps - they were very close together on some well marked trails. It was a classic AR situation though, where the end of the race just kept creeping closer and closer; time was disappearing all around us. There was a final trekking section with 3 points, and we were pushing as hard as we could to get to it in time. It would be an all or nothing situation and we really needed those points. But alas, we really struggled to get out of the singletrack section. I was able to nav cleanly, but it was really hectic and I think my teammates were annoyed with the lack of communication that I was providing. I was struggling to give time estimates because everything was just taking too long.
We hopped back on roads and hammered towards the last 2 bike points, and we quickly realized that we were too low on time to attempt the final trek. We were able to calm down a bit as we had plenty of time to finish. The ride was simple from there, and we finished back at P-3 Park at 10:41, knowing that we had won the premier category. We had hoped that Joseph would be late from his trek, but he sprinted over the line with only minutes to spare, just one point ahead of us on the day.
I was elated to have won the category and get our team name on the trophy. Tom was wonderful to navigate with; I love the back and forth with him and really trust in his decision making. Amanda is just about the strongest racer that I've ever come across, and she is the best at helping with navigation without having maps in her hands. And Evan was a complete team player, digging as deep as he could for the team to stay in it even when he had nothing left to give. He finished the race on 10 hours with essentially no calories.
I'm already looking forward to next year - hoping to take the final step to first overall!!
I was super happy to be racing this with Tom, Amanda, and Evan. I had done MSAR 2022 with Tom and Amanda (and Matt) and felt that I left a lot on the table in terms of performance; adding Evan into the mix would give us an extra boost in terms of our raw power, so long as he and I could stay awake from heat-related sickness...
I drove up the night prior and slept in a luxurious air conditioned bedroom at Cliff and Kate's in Portland. My Saturday began early with a drive up to Brunswick, with a preliminary stop at Dunkin Donuts for my pre-race egg sandwiches before meeting Evan at P-3 Park. We carpooled to the bike drop where we met up with Tom and Amanda, before returning back to P-3 for registration. This particular race has a reputation as being very tough to plan for in the ~2hrs between registration and the race start. We fought that by getting in line very early and grabbing a big space to do our map work at Wild Oats, just across the parking lot from the race start. With two sets of maps Tom and I were able to split up the work, with him taking care of the treks and me focusing on the bike legs. On top of that we had to navigate the complicated directions, cutoffs, and guidelines for the paddle. Amanda and Evan were incredibly useful for this, and we finished our map work a bit before the pre-race meeting at 9:30; it felt like we finally cracked the code for race prep.
Our estimates and measurements showed us that the course would be clearable; it appeared that we might even have time to spare. The only catch was the cut-off to end the paddle at 7:00PM; missing that would mean losing all of the paddle points. We resolved then to run hard on the opening trek to get ourselves as much time as possible on the paddle. It was looking to be a hot morning, but the resolution would be hydrating and fueling carefully during both the trek and subsequent paddle. There were a few teams and solos that we had our eyes on for competition, but we were mostly concerned with focusing on ourselves and doing the course as fast as we could without regard to what the other teams were doing.
Leg 1 - Trek
The race began without a prologue; we had a ~1km run on foot to get to the first set of 4 CPs. We ran towards the front but things quickly spread out with a bad attack on the first CP; it was mapped a little funny and things were hectic. We kept moving well and were the 2nd team to finish this short section, within view of Enabled Tracking. We had a bit of a road run to the next cluster of points, about 4km. We fueled as best as we could but we definitely feeling the heat. Evan and I had already begun joking about us "big boys" needing extra water in the hot heat. We got the next cluster right with ET, and did a little back and forth with them on the first few points, running into VERT and a solo (I would later learn that his name was Joseph, racing as Flying Tomato). We felt really good about this leg - Tom nailed the nav and we did our own thing, getting to the TA just over 90 minutes after the start. We took a few moments to get ourselves sorted and comfortable in the boats before shoving off. Joseph arrived here and told us that he had already lost a map! We tried to let him take a picture of ours but he wasn't able, so we left alone here.
Leg 2 - Sea Kayak + Trek
This was an expertly designed leg, with plenty of paddling distance but with 4 treks to break it up. There was also the challenge of balancing the tide in a few places; we had spent a good chunk of time pre-race getting this section dialed, and we thankfully stuck to our plan here. We struggled with the first cluster, as it didn't have a definitive landing zone; we actually missed the 2nd point and accidentally found the 3rd before back-tracking. It was hard to see the correct coves on the land, and we still weren't sure when we paddled back past it later on. From here we continued south to the furthest cluster in Harpswell. We chased VERT (who skipped the first set) for a while and were caught and passed by Joseph, although he hadn't gotten the first set of points yet either. We parked our boats as a group after some very adventurous wading and swimming in the low-tide shallows. We ran this section well here. Evan and I together were already noticing the effects of the heat and were doing our best to drink and eat to avoid damage as much as possible. To be honest, it felt like we were going to need to get ourselves pretty low and suffer before we could dig ourselves out.
As we left this cluster Amanda and I asked Tom and Evan to tow us. We just weren't able to match their boat speed and this kept us together much better and raised our overall speed a good bit. The 2nd cluster of points at Long Reach Preserve was mobbed with boats, to the point that we had trouble finding a spot to beach our kayaks. When we finally got ashore we moved as well as we could, but it was really hot and I took a tumble, getting a pretty nice cut and bruise on my knee. I soon thereafter rolled my ankle as a consequence, and we had to slow for a minute to help me get sorted out. When we finally got back to our boats I realized that the heat was really getting to me. I drank as much as I could but soon drained my bladder - 3L of water gone in 4 hours of paddling! I was able to make it to the next trekking section at Woodward Point Preserve without issue though, and got some water from my pack that was stowed in the boat. Amanda and I really appreciated the tow on this section, and I really appreciated the fresh green beans that she shared with me!! The final trek was done near ET (we had been seeing them at all of the treks), but we pushed off with a lead of about ~10 minutes. We had hit all of our cutoffs and were super happy to be heading to the takeout with plenty of time to spare.
After 4-5 hours of hoping for a cloud or rain to break the heat, we finally got our wish in the form of rain, first light and then heavy, then followed by thunder and lightning. We pulled off at a personal dock and waited about 15 minutes for the closest lightning to pass, but we were disappointed to be passed by at least 10 teams, including those in tightest competition with us who didn't heed the very clear rules about paddling in lightning. We were able to put back onto the water and paddle the final 1.5km without issue to the TA. We were relieved to see all of the lead teams here, and even though we took a deliberate TA (shoe and sock changes) we were very quick and get out on bikes with plenty of daylight left, around 6:30PM.
Leg 3 - Bike
We made really quick work of the road sections, with Evan setting a good pace for us and me feeling confident on the easy nav. There were a couple of funny sections that we figured out when we put our heads together, but it was overall a smooth ride and I was able to eat and drink a ton to help get myself recovered after the midday heat. The first cluster of points was in a twisty and winding trail system, where we had to ride each trail to find a mapped point but weren't allowed to bikewhack and had to follow a mapped route. It was fun and enjoyable, as we saw a bunch of teams through the woods. I began having some bike issues in this section; I had borrowed Cliff's bike as mine was still unusable after the Longest Day and was really struggling with the Infinity Seat. I found it 100% uncomfortable and did not enjoy the experience at all. I did a series of adjustments and made it manageable, but the entire race was a struggle and I was definitely not able to ride like I normally was.
When we hopped out of these trails the sun was beginning to set and we had to use our lights. We hopped onto our first ATV trail here and began working our way methodically through the section. I was trying to work my way back still from my overexertion and was struggling with how long the section was taking. Our time estimate was spot on but the effort required was pretty substantial. We never saw ET on this leg, passed VERT just as the sun was setting, and were passed by Joseph as we exited the never ending maze of ATV trails. We were happy to be riding roads for a while, and we made a joyful stop at CP 49 for a mandatory can of Moxie. Tom and I split it - it was so good and got me feeling great again. We liked it so much that I grabbed an extra can to carry along. The road ride from here was simple but still taxing. We were all happy to get off the bikes in TA, just after 11:40PM. We reloaded our packs with some fresh food, and I was happy to share my Chick-fil-a sandwich with Tom to lift our spirits. The race supplied some delightful ramen as well, and we all partook. I think I may had had too much as my stomach was super full for the next hour or so.
This was our big trek, all around Mt. Bradbury. Tom took the lead here and nailed it. We were efficient for a good while until we weren't, which is where our race took a sideways turn. It started with trying to be careful about cross water in the dark, but what we ended up with was the team being very particular about how to attack points and spending quite a bit of time in the direct vicinity of points not sure how we should get to them. The two biggest culprits were 53 and 52, where we wasted more than 30 minutes just wandering around looking for good attack points. This was between 2 and 3AM, and it seems like things always get weird and inefficient there. Amanda was, as always, feeling stellar. Tom and I were in a weird zone where we didn't feel great but could keep on trucking. Evan had slipped into a rough hole, and the team did our best to get him moving out of it. By the time we moved around the leg and hit another pocket of points I was feeling better, but Evan was getting worse. He wasn't able to get food in and was struggling to hold his normal pace. Still, he pushed as hard as he could for the team and helped up get where we needed to go. Towards the end of the leg we made the tough call to drop CP66, our first of the race. We had gone over our estimates because of the shenanigans at 53 and 52, and needed to get back on our bikes to head to the finish in order to finish the course. We huffed it in to TA, grabbing our last point before 5:30. I was happy to share my 2nd Chick-fil-a sandwich as we geared up. It seemed like we had plenty of time to finish from here.
Leg 5 - Bike (and "bike")
The leg started off with some singletrack before coming to some doubletrack and a powerline. The powerline section came with a warning in the race notes. What we encountered was so much worse than we had expected. At the worst moments we were pushing the bikes through knee-high water while breaking trail in chest-high grass. We later had to carry our bikes through 50-100m of sharp, painful bushes to try to find a "trail". Fortunately, we had been able to see the lone CP from rather far away, we just really struggled to get to it and then get away from it. It took us more than 1 hour to cover 2km before we mercifully got to a road, where Joseph flew up behind us again. We had seen him plenty on the night trek, but always going somewhere different from us. He told us that he had dropped 2 points, which made us feel good about our overall standing.
We felt less good about that as we attacked the next 4 cps - they were very close together on some well marked trails. It was a classic AR situation though, where the end of the race just kept creeping closer and closer; time was disappearing all around us. There was a final trekking section with 3 points, and we were pushing as hard as we could to get to it in time. It would be an all or nothing situation and we really needed those points. But alas, we really struggled to get out of the singletrack section. I was able to nav cleanly, but it was really hectic and I think my teammates were annoyed with the lack of communication that I was providing. I was struggling to give time estimates because everything was just taking too long.
We hopped back on roads and hammered towards the last 2 bike points, and we quickly realized that we were too low on time to attempt the final trek. We were able to calm down a bit as we had plenty of time to finish. The ride was simple from there, and we finished back at P-3 Park at 10:41, knowing that we had won the premier category. We had hoped that Joseph would be late from his trek, but he sprinted over the line with only minutes to spare, just one point ahead of us on the day.
I was elated to have won the category and get our team name on the trophy. Tom was wonderful to navigate with; I love the back and forth with him and really trust in his decision making. Amanda is just about the strongest racer that I've ever come across, and she is the best at helping with navigation without having maps in her hands. And Evan was a complete team player, digging as deep as he could for the team to stay in it even when he had nothing left to give. He finished the race on 10 hours with essentially no calories.
I'm already looking forward to next year - hoping to take the final step to first overall!!
