Report by Dima Kaganovich, Photos Vladimir Bukalo.
It seems that every adventure race involves some sort of firsts. The Checkpoint Tracker National Championship in Moab, UT was the first time I had to fly to the race. Vlad and I took a plane to Salt Lake City, then drove to Moab. In just 9 hours we arrived at the race area. We might as well have taken the space shuttle to the Red Planet, as unworldly as Moab’s scenery is.
At 3 pm on Wednesday we checked in and I got my bike that was shipped directly to the Red Cliffs Lodge. The same day we drove to the La Sal Mountains for acclimatization. I also began studying the topo maps of the area. I was trying to predict the race course and was successful in guessing the locations of a few major transition areas. Thursday morning we went to Slick Rocks to practice mountain biking. My cross country bike was too stiff for this unusual terrain and one practice loop satisfied my curiosity. I didn't like it. Race check-in started at 5 pm and was the fastest I've ever seen. I even got a teammate for a team photo. After plotting all 3 checkpoints, we dropped off my paddle and the bike at remote transition areas. The rest of plotting was done during the race the next day...
Friday morning sunrise was chilly, air temperature close to freezing, and the water in Colorado River was just a little warmer. Not a good time for a 3K swim, but that's how the race started. I was ready for that with my Gore Tex dry suit and inflatable boogie board. At the end of the swim we exchange boogie boards for inflatable kayaks and kept moving down the Colorado River for another 40K. Paddling solo in a short kayak was slower than most tandems teams and I arrived at the first TA in the middle of the pack.
At the TA I received a good quality google-earth-image map and coordinates of 8 CPs for the next foot-navigation section. I plotted the CPs on both google and topo maps and spent next 3 minutes developing a good strategy for that section. Race instructions were clear and made perfect sense: use Via Ferratta to get to the top, use ropes to get down and back to TA. Do whatever you want in between. The ropes had a cutoff time around sunset.
As it often happens, there were two teams that decided to create their own interpretation of the race rules. Since I became a race director I have seen a team or two like this almost every race. They always ask a question from the rules, just to "verify" something. Especially for such teams, I instruct all my volunteers to give the most universal answer: "I don't know. Please read the rules". It is not surprising that during this race one of these "verifying" teams also had a very interesting interpretation of the river swim gear and paddled the entire “swim section” in their inflatable boats with hard paddles.
When I arrived at Via Ferratta, I found a long line of racers waiting to ascend the ropes. My 45 minute wait at Via Ferratta and my conservative solo racing approach forced me to skip two optional CPs. I knew that another long backlog was possible at the Tyrolean closer to the cutoff time and I wanted to get there in plenty of time. Navigation was easier than I expected; you can see miles ahead, and just have to figure out how to get around the canyons. Because of this easy navigation I got to CP11 - the Tyrolean almost 2 hours before the cutoff. 2 out of 3 ropes were free. I zipped fast across the canyon and down the rappel. 15 minutes after the rappel I was back to the TA. That was the best section of the race, with breathtaking views and wonderful arches.
At the TA I got coordinates of the next stop. I knew it was going to be Slick Rocks and I didn’t like an idea of riding there at night. Fortunately, volunteers at Slick Rocks TA told me that I have a choice and can complete this section without my bike. That was great news and I cleared all Slick Rocks CPs without any problem*. The bad news was location of next CP, or more precisely, its elevation. CP 23 was close to 9000 feet, just under the peaks of the La Sal Mountains. That’s where my fight for the oxygen began.
I don’t have an altimeter watch, it’s a useless toy here on the east coast, but in Moab I measured the altitude by the heaviness in my chest. The route from Slick Rocks to the finish was 4500 feet up and 5000 feet down with CP 23 at the highest point. I didn’t need a map of this section, since we drove exactly the same road the day before. All my effort was concentrated on pedaling. One team passed me, and then I passed them back, and passed another team or two. My goal was to stay on my bike until the end of the road. I did it, but couldn’t ride part of the way on the next trail; it was too steep, too technical, and I had too little oxygen in my lungs. The few hours I spent at this altitude the day before were not enough for acclimatization.
The 5000 feet of downhill from CP23 to the finish were one of the coldest experiences of my life. Growing up in Siberia, that is saying something. I descended in about 30 minutes, passing 2 teams, a few patches of ice, and one cow. At one moment my fingers became so cold that I couldn’t squeeze my brakes any more. Without brakes I couldn’t stop and put my warm jacket and gloves. At 5:55 am a solid piece of ice that once was my body crossed the finish line of the Checkpoint Tracker National Championship. 22 hours and 55 minutes plus 4 hours penalty for skipping two* optional CPs earned me 4th place in solo and 16th overall in this championship race. In my solo division I was beaten by 3 local guys from Colorado and Utah. This result was good enough to keep my leading position in Checkpoint Tracker series ranking, where I am first in solo and 5th overall (sharing 5th with team CheckpointZero).
It was not the most difficult race of the season, but it was the most breathtaking experience of my life. Thank you planet Moab, thank you Checkpoint Tracker and Gravity Play for this experience. Thanks to Calleva for sponsoring my trip to Moab, and thanks to my friend and teammate Vladimir for support and the amazing photos he took during the race.
And congratulations to the winner of the race soloist Jeff Chmielewski that cleared the course and was the first racer to cross the finish line without any penalties!
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*After reexamination of my passport Will Newcomer, the race director, credited me for CP15 that was missing in preliminary results. It doesn’t change my division rating. The final results are published on CPT web site.
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