Brian Ulmer’s Web Site

Venture Quest

So the Venture Quest is finally over and, despite some significant issues, we completed it successfully.  The day began with a 5 AM alarm and 6:30 AM arrival at Fountainhead Park.  The start/finish line and transition area were both located near the main parking lot.  Tommy, Darren, and I changed our registration from a team to solo racers in case my injured ankle forced me to drop out.  It held up so we just pretended we were a team.  The race began at 8 AM with a 3/4 mile road running prologue followed by the location of one check point about a mile into the park, which was quickly located.  Afterwards we returned to the transition area to grab our mountain bikes and take a lap of the 8 mi mountain bike course.  This was somewhat slow going as the many riders on the course bailed out on countless hills and clogged up the trail.  A couple small off trail encounters occurred but we emerged relatively unscathed. 

Next, we dropped off the bikes and had the option to kayak and/or run to locate 6 points in the park.  4 of them were very close to the river so we decided to start off kayaking.  The kayaks had to be carried about 1/3 of a mile down hill to a boat landing and then we paddled to the farthest away point and worked our way back.  At the 2nd point, someone stole Darren’s kayak while we were in the woods so we were compelled to make off with one that wasn’t ours.  I assume it all worked out in the end.  At the 2nd point, we also learned not to park your kayak in a giant mud pit.  At the 4th point, we left the kayaks and went off into the park on foot to find the remaining 2 points.  Some quick topo map reading a little luck got us to these 2 remaining points.  Another combination of trails and bushwhacking got us back to the kayaks where we returned to the boat landing. 

At this point, we had to carry the kayaks back up the hill.  Not fun!  We teamed up and attempted to carry them in a triangle shape, everyone holding two handles on the ends of the boats.  This worked pretty well and blocked the majority of the road in the process. 

Once we retuned, it was time for the second 8 mi loop of the mountain bike course.  About a mile in, Tommy’s rear deraileur spontaneously ripped off his bike.  It had broken at the hanger so couldn’t be reattached.  We removed his chain and the deraileur and he proceeded to coast down hills and run up hills.  Darren used some of the extra time this afforded us to test the structural integrity of various tree species indigenous to the park.  The most dramatic occurrence left me wondering if he’d knocked himself out.  In the end, his jaw and the tree were fine.  I used the rest of this extra time to take stretch breaks as my legs continually threatened to cramp up.  When we finally emerged from the trail, we’d taken about 30 additional minutes to complete the second lap.  Impressive, considering Tommy ran the bike most of the way! 

From there, we said goodbye to our bikes for the day and hello to carrying the kayaks back down the hill for a nice 4 mile trip down the river.  Now this river doesn’t actually move, zero assistance and I’m a slow kayaker apparently.  As I watched Darren and Tommy round the distant bend, I cursed my kayak and the teams in their canoes leisurely passing me.  I eventually made it, we located two more points, and then still had to carry the kayaks up another hill before leaving them for good.  At this point, we had to paddle back across the river in inner-tubes.  Inner-tubes don’t like to be paddled.  They just rotate as soon as you dip the paddle in the water.  If you fall off the tube, you get disqualified.  Lots of light paddling gets us back across eventually. 

From there, it was just 3-4 miles on foot to the finish.  Some additional bushwhacking and trails got us back to the main park road where we jogged into the finish together.  We finished near the back of the pack, but considering the issues we encountered, it was a great effort and we were happy to finish as a team.  The results can be viewed at EX2Adventures web site and the professional photographer at the event will have photos online soon.  A huge thanks to Tommy and Darren for all the hard work preparing for this race and for making it through despite injuries and equipment issues.

Do Not Take Your Syndesmotic Ligament For Granted

I’ve been nursing an ankle injury for a week and a half now.  It’s apparently a “high ankle sprain” that I sustained while trying to move a queen sized mattress up and down some stairs by myself.  In retrospect, I feel pretty stupid.  It takes a lot longer to heal than a regular ankle sprain and, while mine is very minor, it’s healing quite slowly.  I’ve been training for the Venture Quest adventure race with two friends and teammates for the last couple months and now there’s a very good chance I won’t be able to do it.  Instead of getting outside, I’ve been getting my money’s worth from Netflix for a change.  It’s all around depressing and this recent bit of amazing weather doesn’t help.  We did get out today to practice some of the one race discipline that doesn’t require an ankle, kayaking.  It was nice to get out on the Potomac and dodge the tour barges for a while.  I’m hoping to be back on the bike by the end of this coming week and running a couple days before the event.  We’re converting our team of three to solo registrations so a backup plan is in place if I crap out.  It also means we each get kayaks instead of manning a three person canoe.  I’m hoping for the best.