Old School

A Shakespeare Triumph 1958 Reel

When I was adventure racing, weight was everything.

You bought the lightest mountain bike you could afford, the lightest canoe and the lightest pack.

Everything was about weight. 

Food?  The most calories for the lightest weight.

Use the heavy race-provided paddle or carry your own break-down paddle?

Shoes?  The lightest shoes that drained the fastest when they got wet (and this was the right side of the country, so feet were ALWAYS getting wet).

Trying to figure out how much (or how little water you could get away with carrying until the next fill up opportunity, 'cause water is heavy).

The smallest trowel that would meet pre-race gear inspection.

100 weight or 200 weight fleece? 

Carry a rain jacket or will the weather hold up until the next Transition Area, where you could restock and change out for the next section of the race?

3 inch folding knife or 2 inch folding knife?

How much food will we need until the next TA? 

We screwed the pooch on that one a couple of times, by carrying too little.

Every decision about what to carry had to take into account the weather, the time of year, the race conditions through each section, whether it was a day or night section of the race, mandatory gear that had to be carried at all times, specific gear required for each section of the race, what you could hold off carrying until the next TA, how fast or slow you wanted to travel. 

Ultimately it all came down to weight.

Heavy gear, heavy packs, heavy bodies all slowed you down.

Now that my racing days are over I don't think of weight in quite the same way.

On a personal level I still pack carefully. 

I still have tons of gear from my racing days.  It's not the latest and greatest gear anymore, but it's still high tech and still lightweight and still serves me well.

And I know my gear. 

I treated it respectfully when training back then (but generally treated it awfully during races) and it all held up.

So me and my gear are like old, familiar friends.

We've been through a lot together.

Over the past few months (and without really trying), our store has managed to accumulate some interesting, way cool, totally old school gear.

Some of it is interesting.  Some of it is unique.  Some of it is heavy.  Some of it is just as functional and efficient as uber, ridiculously high dollar, new gear.

When we first opened OAR we imagined that it would contain only "new skool", high tech, breathable, wicking, synthetic stuff.

But when you open a consignment store you have no idea what will come into the store.

OAR is not the same deal as retail outdoor stores such as Sierra Trading Post (which receives regular and predictable shipments of gear sent to it by its distributors).

We find what we find, and what walks in the door is what we share with the community.

If you look this stuff up on-line (and we have) you'll see buzz words like vintage and antique.

I guess it IS vintage stuff.

But when we look at this stuff we see Made in America, great gear in great shape even though it has been used for many years, the history of outdoor gear development, the military service of previous owners.

We love the newest, latest and greatest gear.

But we also LOVE our old school stuff.

It's awesome, sometimes heavy, and always totally bomb proof gear!

Outdoor Life Complete Book of Fresh Water Fishing / Complete Book of Hunting

A pair of vintage GALIBIER RICHARD PONTVERT hiking mountaineer boots. They were made in France, likely from the 1970's, in great shape for their age, weigh a ton and are virtually indestructible. The sole looks brand new and is screwed to the upper (not glued like the newer, lighter, high tec boots).

Carman Super Gator lined gaiters.

Based on the little we could find on-line, and the background of the man who brought these in, we believe these are 1960's military ski poles.

A Sunshine Of The Night Model 2420 Coleman Lantern

These are an awesome pair of boots!  They look brand new but are actually Adidas Thunderstorm boots from the 80's.  They include attached gaiters.

A Kelty external frame pack and a 60's military cot. 

THREE REMINDERS

1.  Check out our Facebook page.  We post up gear info and pictures almost daily.

2.  Hunter Gear Swap is scheduled for Saturday June 29 (10am-2pm) in the parking lot outside the store.

More info on the gear swap can be found in the Special Events section of this blog.

3.  The 25% discount for former, retired and currently serving military and law enforcement ends May 31.

Space Blankets

I was an adventure racer for many years and raced all over the eastern side of the country.

There were always many obstacles we faced and had to overcome during every race. 

Some of them were anticipated, but the nature of AR meant that many challenges we faced were completely unexpected.

Every racer I ever knew was a compulsive planner, a compulsive trainer and (the week of the race) a compulsive weather watcher.

 Sometimes the forecast held, but many times it didn't.

In April of 2006 I was doing a race in the Smoky Mountains.

The race was scheduled to begin at 10pm and even during that day leading up to the race start, the forecast had promised temperatures in the 40's.

The race began with a road ride to the canoe put-in, and by the time we hit the water it was windy with freezing rain.

An hour into the paddle one of my team-mates made the observation that he hoped we didn't capsize, because we would all be in big trouble.

The water was very choppy, it was windy and the freezing rain continued, but even in those conditions I thought that my team-mate was overstating his case.

Within a few hours I learned to have the same concern that he had.

Throughout the night (as we continued to pick up checkpoints on the water) the weather continued to deteriorate, and by the time we made it back to the race start at 6am the next morning we were all hypothermic.

A couple of hours later we had warmed up, rested, consumed hot food and drink, and had changed into dry and warm clothes.

Clicking into already frozen pedals on our bikes, we headed on gravel roads up into the mountains.

Freezing rain turned to light snow turned to heavy snow, as we continued to climb through the morning and into the afternoon.

I was still using brake pads on my bike at that time (as opposed to the disc brakes I eventually upgraded to) and the combination of snow, mud, ice and gravel had eaten away at them over the rough hours of climbing in horrendous conditions.  I had front brakes but no back brakes.  One of my team-mates had back brakes but no front.  My other team-mate had no brakes at all.

We were looking for a checkpoint using very old and outdated topo maps, and began to realize that we had likely missed it and blown right by it in the snow.

Eventually we came to a steep downhill, and I had to concentrate very hard to keep my bike upright with failing brakes.

I got down to the bottom of the hill, realized that I had used up the last of my braking ability, and slid into the snow covered road before being able to put my feet down to stop.

I turned to look at my team-mates (who I had skidded right by) and said "that's it - my brakes are totally gone", and then I looked around me to see where we were.

Heavy snow was blowing in sideways and the world was entirely and absolutely white.

The road wasn't on the map.  We had obviously blown by the checkpoint.  There was no form of shelter anywhere around us.  Our brakes had failed or were failing.  We were in windy and total white out conditions in the mountains.

Reluctantly we broke open our emergency radios.  Our race was done.

While we waited for race volunteers to come pick us up, we reached into our packs and dug out our space blankets.

A space blanket was always part of the mandatory gear racers had to carry with them throughout every race, and I was carrying the cheapest one I could find.

It was cheap.  It was lightweight.  It was compact.  I had no idea whether or not it was actually a useful item.  All I knew was that race rules required a space blanket, and the cheap one from Wal-mart was accepted by those inspecting my gear. 

I never actually thought that such a cheap piece of tinfoil would work.

Fighting against the strong winds in the mountains, I broke open the blanket package and wrapped it around me.  My team-mates did the same thing.

We had to wait for quite a while before race volunteers showed up, and that stupid piece of "tinfoil" we were all carrying, saved our bacon.

It was the first time I had ever used a space blanket, and on that day I became a believer.

Over the years I have used space blankets during races more times than I could count, in many cold and wet races, and for its weight it is one of those pieces of gear that I do not ever leave home without.

Here in Cody Wyoming the weather last week was sunny with temperatures around 60 degrees.  For the last couple of days we have had snow, cold and wind.  By the end of this week it is supposed to be warm and sunny again.

There are compelling reasons why everybody who heads out into the hills or mountains around this area should carry a space blanket with them:

1.  The mountains (to quote that great movie) "makes its own weather".   No matter what time of year it is, and no matter how warm and sunny it is when you head out, the weather can change on a dime and unexpectedly become very cold with yes.......even snow in summer.

2.  You never know what you will run into in the mountains - a river you fall into, an injury that unexpectedly keeps you up in the mountains overnight, misjudging how far you travel on a day hike which causes you to get off trail after the sun goes down, getting hopelessly lost for a couple of days before rescue arrives.  You just never know.

Sometimes the distance between "Life is good.  Who's got the next joke?" and a potentially catastrophic emergency in the mountains can be very short., and with space blankets being so compact, lightweight and cheap, there is just no good reason not to carry one with you at all times.

I begrudgingly carried one every race until that first time I needed one. 

Now I would never think of heading out in the wilds without one.

A Youtube video on different uses for a blanket:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOAD5nr4IgM

A couple of REI space blanket options:

http://www.rei.com/product/407106/space-all-weather-blanket

But even the Wal-mart variety will do the trick.  Toss it down into your pack and just leave it there for the time when you'll need it.  If you spend enough time in the woods or in the mountains you WILL need it eventually:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Original-Space-Brand-Emergency-Blanket-Silver/15935551

EPILOGUE:  After we called in on our emergency radios and were picked up, we heard team after team over the radio calling in to race Head Quarters, asking to be pulled out of the mountains.

A couple of hours after we were picked up, the race was called off.

It took all night for race volunteers, race staff, and emergency services personnel from five surrounding counties to find all the racers who were stranded in the mountains................

Pictures snapped the other day of some of the great gear we currently have at OAR:

The Power Of Duct Tape

When I was adventure racing, one of the items that was always on the list of mandatory gear we were required to carry with us at all times, was duct tape.

Early on in my adventure racing career I resented having to carry six feet of duct with me.  It wasn't heavy to carry but it was only one of many pieces of mandatory gear they nailed us with, and the totality of all that stuff was a heavy pack.  Sometimes our packs were only fairly heavy, but for other races (depending on the length of the race, how many transition areas we had out on the course, the time of year we were racing) some of our packs were crazy heavy. 

I resented carrying it until the first time I needed it, and then I was sold.  There's an expression in adventure racing related to duct tape.  Pardon my French (and we spoke a lot of French out in the field) "If you can't duck it, f*ck it".  Meaning of course, that if you couldn't fix it with duct tape, it couldn't be fixed.  I saw a whole lot of McGyver-ing over the many years that I raced.  And I did some of my own.  Just a couple of examples:

1. 12 hour race in North Carolina - my team was up in the mountains outside of Asheville after dark.  I had a headlamp mounted on my bike helmet, but had foolishly not put new batteries into my handlebar mounted bike lights before heading out.  Yes........the batteries died only a couple of hours before the end of the race, I didn't have replacements and ended up duct taping my tiny back up headlamp to the handlebars, so we could book out of the mountains and complete the race.

2.  6 day race in West Virginia - leading up to the race we had been told that we could either use our own paddles or the race-provided paddles, but if we brought our own we would have to carry them with us for an unspecified amount of time during the race.  Stupidly we elected to use the race-provided paddles.  They were single blade, very heavy, we were the ONLY team who was not using kayak paddles and within the first couple of hours of the race we were already at the back of the pack.  We had to paddle in one direction to pick up a checkpoint.  We then had to paddle back the way we had come, pass by the race start and head further down first lake and then river.  As we passed by the race start we saw more canoe paddles laying in the sand.  My team-mate suggested that we duct tape canoe paddles together to make make-shift kayak paddles.  As I held paddles and as he taped the ends together, I doubted that they would hold for the duration of this first paddle section.  They did.  They lasted all 15 hours.

3.  Same race in West Virginia - during the first freezing cold bike leg, my rain pants got caught up in the chain ring and they got badly ripped.  Funny - when you're in the middle of a race it never even occurs to you to get upset that a $80 pair of rain pants are now trashed.  All you're thinking about at that point is that they're ripped and it's freezing cold and you need to keep all of your layers of clothing functioning.  I wore the same layer upon layer of clothing for almost six days straight, and my duct taped rain pants held together for the entire race.

4.  24 hour race in North Georgia - the sole of my trail shoe got caught on a rock and tore away from the rest of my shoe.  I looked down at my beloved Salomon shoes sadly knowing that they were gonna be trashed at the end of the race.  In the meantime I reached into my pack, grabbed the duct tape and wrapped layer after layer of the stuff around my entire foot so that the shoe would hold together for as long as I needed it.

I've seen duct tape used to cover blisters, used as a compression bandage, used to slow down leaks in canoes and rafts and bicycle tubes, to repair a ripped rain jacket, to repair a ripped pack, to repair a cracked water bottle and a leaking water bladder.  The uses are endless and that sticky stuff is priceless anytime you are away from civilization.  I would never head out into the woods or up into the mountains or out on the water without duct tape.

There is no need to carry an entire roll of the stuff (and most people don't need to carry around 100 feet of it anyway).  While I was racing it was second nature to wrap tape in one spot around trekking poles, to wrap it around the base of a water bottle (yes........the bottle will still fit down in a bike cage), to wrap it around a small piece of cardboard or a stick.  

So there you go.  The Power of Duct Tape.  Don't leave home without it.

One of the things we have really enjoyed about opening OAR is the people that we have met along the way and one of those people is a really nice guy who drops by the store about once a week just to chat.  This man is one of my favorite store visitors and the other day he brought this gun case into the store.  It is an older 4-handgun hard-shell carry case, and comes with one slide-out shelf and one static shelf.  Stop by OAR soon to check it out, and don't forget that we have a March Madness Winter Gear Sale going on now - most winter gear is 30% off!

Bike Endos And Upcoming Sales

This is me and my sweet girl Jamie.

This picture was taken in the mountains of North Georgia a few years ago, after a long day in the woods.

We camped overnight with a group of adventure racers and then while I spent the entire next day trekking and mountain biking throughout the area (while doing some navigation training with a team-mate), my husband and dog kept a huge camp fire burning.

It was mid-December, very cold and very damp, and the fire was a hit with both stay-behind family members and freezing cold racers once they came back out of the woods.

I taco'd the front wheel of my mountain bike during that training, when I hit a log that was completely buried in fallen leaves.

I saw the end of the log too late and unsuccessfully tried to maneuver around it at the last second.

I hit the log hard, and my bike came to a screeching halt on the rock and leaf covered downhill section of rutted out trail.

I did a slow endo over my handlebars, went airborne and landed softly in another bed of fallen leaves on the back side of the log.

After picking myself up and standing my bike up again, I looked down at it and my first thought was that I had a flat tire.  It took me a second to realize that my entire front wheel was now in the shape of a taco.

It was close to the end of the day and I told my team-mate to go on and pick up the last checkpoint we were headed for, and I'd meet him back at the campsite.

Good times. 

OAR has been open for three months already.

It's been an interesting, exciting, and sometimes even frustrating time, but we are loving the great outdoor gear and clothing that has come through the door, and are really enjoying meeting great outdoor people!

Our operating hours will remain the same through the month of March (Wed-Sat 9am-5pm).

The week of April 1 we will extend our operating days and OAR will be open

Tuesday-Saturday 9am-5pm.

Check back with this blog later in the week for information on upcoming sales!

Thunder and Lightning

Sometime during my first year of adventure racing, me and two other women signed up for a 12 hour race at a state park west of of Nashville, Tennessee.

It was in the spring, the race started early in the morning and it started in cool but very sunny conditions.

Throughout the morning the sky began to get increasingly cloudy and by early afternoon it looked downright ominous.

We heard it first mid-afternoon and it did not take any of us by surprise - a very loud thunder boomer.

The sky had turned black.

We were not in the middle of the North Carolina or West Virginian mountains as we had been in other races but we were too far from civilization when the hard rain started.

The thunder began and then so did the lightning.

We were on mountain bikes at the time, on a trail surrounded by woods on both sides, and there was no shelter from the storm anywhere.

We did the only prudent thing we could do, which was to ditch our bikes, ditch our packs, move away from each other and make ourselves the smallest targets we could possibly make ourselves.

Squatting in a field with violent thunder and lightning all around us, was the scariest race experience I had had to that point.

As we were in the middle of it I looked across the small open field in one direction and then in another direction and saw the faces of my team-mates and knew that they were also feeling the same dread that I was feeling.

Thankfully the violent storm was short lived and thankfully we came through it none the worse for wear.

Once it had passed we retrieved all of our gear, nervously laughed off the experience, and continued on with our race................

Great pieces of gear that we have had in the store for a while, and stuff that we would LOVE to find a new home for!

Oxygen Element 580 snowboard (size 152) - without bindings, has a few scratches but no major dings, and graphics on both sides are still in great shape.  There's still a ton more snowboarding left to do before the end of the season!

This super cute girls Rossignol snowboard/ski helmet is filled with all kinds of flowers, hearts and serious pinkness.  It is in brand new condition.

Burton Ranger snowboard boots that are in very good shape and a pair of Vision youth snowboard boots that are in excellent (barely used) shape.

Sleeping bags in brand new (never used) condition, tent and camp chair both in great condition.  We've also got a couple of camp stoves.

We've got winter hats, gloves, ear warmers, neck warmers and scarves - fleece sweaters - winter jackets with labels that include Columbia, Mountain Hard Ware, LL Bean, Cabelas, Winchester, Patagonia and more - climbing gear including shoes, harnesses, gloves.

To name only a few items in the increasing stock of used outdoor gear and clothing that OAR is happily beginning to accumulate.

What would we LOVE to see more of at this time of year?

Day packs (we sold a Salomon pack and a Go-lite pack within days of putting them out on the floor) and they can be used for just about EVERY outdoor activity.

Hiking boots.  Trekking poles.  Local topo maps.  Gaiters.  Wind resistant jackets.  Wool and Smart Wool socks.  Compasses.  Head lamps.  Fishing rods and reels.

Soon we would love to see mountain bikes and road bikes (please no BSO's - bicycle shaped objects!). 

New Life For Gear In 2013

I picked this guy up just today.

He is a 100th Anniversary Teddy Roosevelt bear.  When you press his paw a voice tells you the history of Roosevelt's hunting trip, that was the inspiration for the very first "teddy bear".  He is absolutely adorable.

These Walls Blizzard Pruf coveralls are in excellent shape.

I bought these Cat Eye bike lights many years ago.  They were the first set of lights I bought when I started Adventure Racing back in the early 2000's and they still work perfectly (although the black shells on the lights have a few nicks and scratches).   

Handlebar brackets are included.

This familiar icon makes up part of the base of a metal candle holder, and the Trek youth bike helmet has been in the store since the day we opened.  It needs to GO already!   Somebody please come buy this thing!

We have lots of great gear at OAR and we're accepting consignments from outdoor adventurers.

Packs, trekking poles, hiking boots, bikes, boats, hunting gear, and more - we are accepting gear related to anything people love to do when they head outside.

If you received great new gear for Christmas, bring your old stuff to OAR. 

Please consider sharing your old (but still functional and in great shape) gear with someone else in the community.

Give your old gear new life in 2013, rather than letting it sit and collect dust in your attic, closet or garage! 

Undertrained And Running A 50K - A True Story

I had been trail running consistently for a few years as one component of adventure racing training. 

After a tough year of illness, serious injury and divorce I decided to run a trail 50K.

I had never run that distance before and although I had spent a lot of time on trails it had been too sporadic.

I was under trained for that distance and weak mentally from too many "life hits" that had happened in such a short period of time.

And in reality that was why I needed to run the 50K.

Because I WAS under trained.

Because I was still sick.

Because I was mentally weakened.

Because it would hurt.

And I wanted to know if I could find the mental and physical energy to dig deep enough to finish the run.

Was I tough enough to finish it?

Or wasn't I?...................

I was making good time and felt solid and strong, but kept trying to hold myself back anyway not wanting to go out too fast.

Not wanting to implode.

I was totally in the zone, enjoying the run, life was good.

 I was fine for the first 18 miles.

By the time I hit 19 everything in my lower body began to cramp.

I was on medication and could not take anything for the cramping and everything only continued to tighten up more and more with each passing mile.

Over the next few miles running became shuffling became limping became walking.

Everything in my lower body was one continuous tight muscle and my good and solid run became a thing of the past.

People passed me and I continued to struggle to walk.

One step in front of the other one step in front of the other one step in front of the other...........

Runners had eight hours to complete the course if they wanted to be counted among official finishers.

I had to cross a field, maneuver across a shallow stream and then hit the final section of single track to the finish.

I made it to the single track, looked up and through the trees I could see the very large digital clock at the finish line counting down the time.

With alarm I saw that I had 1:47 left to go.  One minute forty seven seconds to make it an official finish.

I started to kick it in and something that I could only call magical happened.

I started to run faster and then faster and then faster still until I was sprinting.

I was running just as fast as I could and I saw people at the finish line clapping and cheering me on.

I crossed the finish line, slowed down, stopped and then leaned forward and rested my hands on my thighs, trying to catch my breath.

I had no idea if I had made it or not.

As I was still trying to breathe a guy came running down the hill yelling at me so excitedly you would have thought he had just won the lottery.

"Do you know what your time was??  Do you know what your time was??"

I looked up at him breathlessly and said "No - what was it?

7:59:59

True story............

A few pictures of my favorite trails.

They are located in middle Tennessee and I spent many years trail running, navigating and mountain biking on these trails in every kind of weather.  I knew every inch of that place.

Across the road from the extensive trail system is a huge reservoir and I also spent many years exploring every single cove by kayak..............

I surreptitiously left this trail gnome one day at the entrance to the mountain bike trails, because in middle Tennessee it is almost tradition for all trails to have a gnome (to bring safety and good luck to those who travel the trails) and I thought that my trails needed one too.

This little guy has sat in exactly the same place for the last four years............

Interesting and Cool Stuff

This morning a retired law enforcement officer brought this pack into the store on consignment.

Because I did adventure racing for so many years I own a lot of packs in different sizes, and in brands normally named Gregory or Salomon.

But THIS pack is a whole different animal.

It is a great looking, rugged, tough and very serious piece of gear.

Here is a link about this Eberlestock Tactical Gunslinger 2.

Awesome piece of gear available to buy here at OAR for half the price of new:

http://www.eberlestock.com/G2%20Gunslinger%20II.htm

There is a forest of skis starting to grow in a corner of the store right now.

They all have names like Rossignol, Fischer and Atomic.

None of them are the latest and greatest (at least not yet!), but if you are looking for a good, solid set of skis to get you out on the slopes without breaking the bank, come take a look at what we have.

We have boots as well, but are definitely looking for more of both.

If you want to clean out your garage (or downsize your ski and boot collection) bring what you have down to OAR and we'll sell them for you! 

This awesome snowboard is a 63 Flow Mainframe with Salomon bindings.  It's for a taller person and is in great shape.

We've got gloves, hats, socks, base layers, fleece tops in all weights, snowboard pants, lined and unlined nylon pants - all the clothing you need to look good and stay warm out on the slopes.

Not long after OAR opened for business a retired law enforcement officer was talking to my husband (who is also a retired LEO - I'm detecting a pattern here!).

They had their heads together beside the counter while they were looking at these items above. 

A leather holster, a gps bag, belt pouch, Tex Shoemaker holster, baton loop, Bianchi holster and more.

They are all for sale at OAR.

The last picture (bottom right) is a picture of pure black and blue awesomeness!

When I was racing I could never afford a Mountain Hardwear jacket.

I always needed so much STUFF for so many different sports, that I spent most of my time searching through online outlet stores for the best I could afford, which was never Mountain Hardwear.

This jacket fell into my lap early this year and is for sale at the store.

Double storm flaps, pit zips, side slash pockets, chest zipper, arm zipper, inside zippers, lined, waterproof, windproof and with hood.

It's got it all.

We've got a good number of Columbia jackets - soft and hard shell jackets and winter jackets.

But so far only one black and blue awesome!

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by OAR to both consign, buy, browse and visit!

We are very grateful for the warm reception we have received!

We've Got A Counter

When we first took over half of the garage bay that we are converting into an outdoor gear consignment shop, there were two two-legged workbenches in the bay that were attached directly to the wall.

They were pure dirt and oil stained nastiness, but (since we are opening this store on a tight budget), what we lacked in money we hoped to make up for in creativity.

We asked the owner if we could use the benches and (after receiving the nod of approval) went to work on them.

The picture on the left is what they looked like after we added more legs to the tables so that they could be free-standing.

Tons of sanding, stain, clear coat, plywood, nails, screws and curse words later, and the picture on the right is what it looks like to this point.

It still needs work, but the rest of the work will be much more fun.  We'll add some character to it in the form of rope and horse shoes and whatever else we can dig up that will fit, but HEY!!  We have a counter!!

These pictures were taken of me kayaking last May at Buffalo Bill Reservoir here in Cody.

A kayak story from my adventure racing days.  This took place while I was doing a 24 hour race as a solo team:

Late at night, and in the middle of summer 2007 (and after having raced for about 14 hours to that point) I found myself gearing up for the second water leg of the race. 

I was kayaking and heading towards a small island on a lake in eastern Tennessee.

I had the checkpoint plotted on the south side of the island but I knew from talking with other teams that some had it plotted on the south and some had it plotted on the north side.

As I approached the island I saw headlamps dead center in the middle of the island.

I paddled around to the south side and as I was making my way around the shore looking for a place to stash my kayak ran into a fisherman in a power boat, fishing close to shore.

He yelled at me and asked me if I was looking for an orange and white flag.
"Yeah!!  Have you seen it??"
"Nope"
Slightly cranky because he had raised my hopes up that it was close, I thanked him anyway.  Best not to tick off the locals................
I paddled around to the north side of the island looking for a spot to ditch my boat so that I could make my way onto the island on foot.
After leaving the boat I climbed up the embankment and onto the island, zigged and zagged and bushwhacked my way through dense underbrush making my way to the center of the island, and did indeed find the checkpoint without incident.
And that is when I realized how much I had wandered and that most likely I was not going to be able to straight-shot my way directly back to my kayak so that I could continue on with the rest of the race.
I made my way back to the north side, looked down and............no boat.
I was fairly certain that it was located further down to my right and made my way along the side of the island, fighting soft dirt along the way that wanted to crumble underneath my feet.
Eventually the ground gave way under me for real and I started to slide uncontrollably, certain that I was going to take an uncontrolled fall down into the lake.
Thankfully a tree broke my fall (the second time that day that had happened and becoming a running theme with me as a racer).

Grateful for not falling six feet down into the water, and after catching my breath for a moment, I dropped down into the lake and swam the rest of the way to my boat................

The Beast

About six years ago I was in the middle of an adventure race (as one half of a two-person team) and was racing with a male team-mate in West Virginia.

We had been on the go for two straight days and were in the middle of our third night.

We were grinding out a long steep climb on our bikes up a paved mountain road.

It was the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, very windy and cold, and freezing rain was coming in sideways at us.

As we were close to the top of the mountain a kitten came running out of the woods along the side of the road and unexpectedly followed us the entire rest of the climb.

We crested the top of this isolated place in the dark and began looking for a side road where we knew a check point was placed.

The small kitten was still with us.

We found the side road without problem and my team mate went down the road a couple hundred yards to collect the point while I watched him.

With my head lamp mounted to my bike helmet I also watched as this little kitten eagerly followed my team-mate down the road.

And then I watched as the kitten got underfoot while my team-mate dismounted from his bike, punched the point, remounted and returned to where I was waiting.

By the time they both got back to my spot I looked at my team-mate and said "We can't leave him up here.  He's gotta come with us."

There were no houses up there.  It was freezing.  It was freezing rain.  This little thing would never make it up there by himself in that weather.

My team-mate did not say a word.  He just looked at me.

I had raced a few races with this guy and over the years had come to recognize that look as one that wordlessly said "Are you outta your mind???"

We had places to go and days to race and we were standing in very awful weather in the middle of the night on some mountain top in West Virginia.

Thankfully he did not expend energy arguing with me.

So the next question was how were we going to get this sweet thing safely off the mountain? 

Both our packs were too full.

He wouldn't fit inside our jacket pockets.

Finally I stuffed this kitten inside my jacket hoping the chest and hip straps of my pack would keep him in one place.

So there we were.

Riding mountain bikes down the back side of a mountain, on winding switch-back filled gravel roads, in the middle of the night, in freezing rain, with me carrying a kitten inside my jacket.

I could feel him squirming inside my jacket but the straps did indeed keep him in one place.

I eventually handed him over to race volunteers at the next manned check point hoping that someone - a racer, a volunteer, one of the race staff - would adopt this beautiful little thing.
He was adopted by the entire race staff for the duration of the race.  
Nick-named The Beast, race officials posted updates not only about the race but also the status of the race's new mascot online.

And then after the race he was indeed adopted by a racer from Florida.

Hopefully he is still living a long happy life in the sun.............