Laziness and lack of ambition had me unloading my kayak, preparing to race the Spring Fury as a solo. Had I gotten off my butt, I would have called Andy and asked him to race with me, but by the time I decided I actually wanted to do the race, he had already signed on to race with someone else. So here I was, on a suprisingly pleasant April morning, staging my paddle gear.

I pulled into race headquaters on the shore of Holloway Reservoir next to Bill Scanlon, a friend and frequent race collaborator (we've never formally raced together, but often team up on course sections when we both race solo).  We did a bit of pre-race prep together, but mostly just catching up and a little map strategy.

The race began with a paddle across the reservoir, a large damning of the Flint River north of the small town of Davison. Almost immediately I regretted my choice of boats. I had the opportunity to borrow a touring kayak, which would have been a much better choice for the flat, open water. But instead, I was in my short, stout, Old Towne Castine. Not as bad as a rental boat, but on the glassy water, it is not at all the fastest boat. Bill, who has a boat with similar dimensions, was equally hindered. As we paddled out into the lake, even the aluminum canoes were pulling away from us. (There is a misnotion that kayaks are faster than canoes, when in fact, two people in a canoe can compete with all but the fastest touring kayaks on calm, flat water.) Also in the field was Scott Eveningred in his Nekky touring kayak, and although he was slowly drawing away from me, even in his boat he was not a match for the better canoe paddlers.

After about an hour of paddling, we found our way into the channel that connects the two main bodies of the reservoir. Bill and I landed on shore at about the same time, and hit the O-course together. Only a few minutes behind Scott, we were able to catch him at the last O-point because we beached our boats farther up the water and ran to the point instead of paddling close in. Getting back in the boat, we had one more CP on the water to get before heading back to the transition area. As we got back into the boats, I had a small technical glitch that allowed Scott and Bill to pull ahead of me (Scott moreso than Bill). Paddling out to the main reservoir also put us into a growing wind that would gradually strengthen as we paddled. The wind is actually an advantage to us in kayaks, since they have a much lower profile than the canoes, so I was able to pass a few canoes along the way, but Scott and Bill stayed 10 minutes or so ahead of me. As I punched the last paddle CP, I could see Scott pulling up to shore across the lake, Bill was already half way across. I counted the boats already finished with the paddle as I pulled into the take-out...29, not the start I had hoped for.

The next leg of the race was a bike ride on mostly roads. In the past, this would have been my strongest discipline, and biking is still a strength. But I'm unfortunately not in the biking shape I was in even a year prior. Still, I passed far more people on the bike than would pass me.

I caught up to Scott, who was racing as a solo, but with his friend, also a Scott (but neither are Scots, to my knowledge...). We crossed the damn together and stuck with each other through the first five miles or so of the ride, which included a long section of hike-a-bike through an old road bed that had largely overgrown. Once in the town of Columbiaville and on a rail-trail that connected to the town of Otter Lake, I picked up the pace a bit and started to pull away. I was able to catch and pass quite a few other racers on this section, which took us to another short O-course west of Otter Lake.

This second O-course had a slight spin to it. Rather than a topographical map, we were given a satelite photo to navigate by. This was not a particularly difficult O-course, though the undergrowth was fairly thick. Still, I was able to pass a number of teams at this point as well, including Andy and Cooper, as well as a pre-race favorite, the Animals. Following the O-course, I got back on the bike to head for a couple of bike CP's. On the way I passed Bill, coming TO the O-course. This was a suprise, as he left the paddle and the transition area way before me. Being a strong cyclist, I knew I couldn't have passed him in such a short ride, so I knew he must have taken a wrong turn somewhere on the ride.

I pulled into the final transition at around 1o'clock. During the pre-race, I measured the distance I would need to cover to complete the remaining O-course in a recreation area known as the Hogbacks. About 9 miles. If all went well, I should be able to clear it in about 3 hours. I took off from the transition area feeling really strong. Only one solo male was a long way ahead of me, and two others were leaving the transition area at the same time. With navigation being a strength, I felt pretty confident.  No problem.

Problem. Cramps. They really suck. As soon as I started to run, my right quad started to cramp painfully. So I started walking, hydrating, and taking E-caps by the handful, hoping that they would subside after a short time (they did not). I ran into Gary Harrington, one of the solos who left the TA at the same time as I did. With navigation one of his weaker areas, he asked if he could stick with me for a few points. I didn't mind at all, Gary is a hell of a nice guy, and besides, until the cramps went away, I wasn't going anywhere!

We did a few points together, two right off the TA, the next two on the shores of a small lake. Every time I tried to so much as jog, the cramps returned. Very frustrating. So Gary took off ahead of me. My plan was still to clear as much of the course as possible, and I did fairly well. I was nailing the points, one after the other. But I was moving slow, and the steep hills of the Hogbacks weren't helping the leg cramps. As I made it to the southernmost point of the O-course, I had to make the decision to limit my time searching for points to 15 minutes per CP in order to get in on time. I was still hitting them, but finally near the end of the course, I overshot CP 36. I could see from the terrain that I hit that I was only about 100 meters, probably less, from the re-entrant/hilltop that it was at, but it was in the wrong direction. Going back to hit it would mean risking a late return and missing the cut-off. So I elected to skip it.

I hit two more CP's before time became short. I made the decision to skip the last three CP's in favor of hitting roads back to the finish since I could move relatively fast on the roads compared to the bushwacking necessary were I to go for the CP's.

I rolled into the race finish with just over 10 minutes to spare, good for 12th overall, 4th in the solo male division (though it later became a "tie" for both those positions, since another racer was given credit for a CP that was stolen plus 10 minutes removed from his time for "looking" for that CP). Actually a disappointing finish in the sense that last year I finished 5th in this particular race, and had a legitimate shot at improving upon that. Still, as I crossed the finish line, both kids were there to yell "DADDY!", which definately lifted my spirits.

Post race was under sunny skies. Following, the two Scotts were kind enough to rack my kayak for me, since the cramping had spread to just about everywhere, and I couldn't lift my boat (or even breath) without something cramping. (Thanks, guys!)