Big Blue Folsom Lake Adventure Challenge
Written by Ryan Van Gorder Created Date: Wednesday, 27 April 2011 07:12
The gun went off at 9:00 am and we were off. The first leg of the race was a nine check point (CP) rogaine (you could do them in any order) on our mountain bikes and was mostly on single track. The key for us is that I was navigating using the 1:24,000 race map that was provided and it had little detail of trails in the recreation area. Evidently we missed the boat on receiving the trail map but we survived. We did make a small wrong turn early on a trail that was not on my map, but recovered quickly and made it to the last CP in the section in 3rd place behind 2 solo racers. We bombed down the road to the American River and climbed the big hill back up to Auburn, which coincidentally is the finall 2-3 miles of the Western States 100 running race. South of Auburn at the China Bar Recreation area we transitioned to foot, laced up my new Vasque Blur SL's (Love them!) and descended upon some of the most beautiful single track I've run in a while. Mari was light on her feet and ready to throw down, I on the other hand felt like someone pumped my legs with lead and tried to hold on for life. Towards the end of the run we got passed by a solo racer moving at mach speed, as it turns out 2 of the 3 solo racers ahead of us now missed the turn to the TA and kayak put in. We got to our boats in 2nd place just a couple of minutes and in sight of the lead solo racer getting into his surf ski. Our paddle on Folsom Lake was beautiful, non eventful and was around eight miles that we knocked off in around 1:15. Mari reminded me that Folsom Prison was at the end of the lake where they make California license plates and Johnny Cash played his last concert. Folsom Prison Blues was stuck in my head through the rest of the race, not a bad song to replay for a couple of hours. After exiting the boat at the event site and what was to be the finish we received the last two CP's which would be around 5 miles of running. In the end we finished 2nd overall behind a solo racer and 1st in the coed category in 6:05, click HERE for results. Not a bad days work, thanks for the great venue and race production Big Blue!
Saturday April 23rd Mari Chandler and myself (RVG) toed the line at the Big Blue Adventure Folsom Lake Adventure Challenge. The race took place on some of the best terrain that the Auburn State and Folsom Lake State Recreation areas have to offer. The event was a point to point race, which is nice to have in a sprint format, and really made for an exciting and adventurous day of exploring the trails from Cool to Auburn and then on to Folsom Lake.