The MIX is over but my ears are still buzzing
posted Monday, June 04, 2007 by Team Checkpoint Zero @ 2:04 PM -
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Wow. The MIX was a crusher! If the nearly 400 miles didn't work racers hard enough, the mosquitoes were ready to finish them off. I can still hear them crawling into my ears!
The scenery was beautiful, the caving section was a first for me, the kayaking on the big bays was great fun (CPO/GoLight won the prize for the fastest kayak section, Yahoo!), but the mosquitoes nearly drove me insane!!! At the end of the race my face and neck were covered with their little insect carcasses.
The team should all be back at their respective homes today. Michele, Peter and I drove through the night Saturday, arriving home yesterday. Jeff flew out of Michigan Sunday.
Race highlights: We nearly got sprayed by a skunk, Jeff Woods and I took huge crashes on our bikes, Michele Hobson and I walked right up to a sleeping baby fawn in the swamp (he didn't even move), seeing a 6'5" Peter Jolles squirm through a cave at the speed of light, and hanging out with three of the coolest people I know.
We finished 4th after leapfrogging with the top two teams (EMS and BagelWorks) for most of the race. It really hurt to drop back at the end of the race. Ultimately, we lost 1.5 hours to WEDALI and the other two teams when we chose to take a short bike route to the final paddle put-in that, unknown to us, was just covered with many inches of new sand, making it nearly unridable. But it was a grueling, well-run event that featured absolutely AMAZING volunteers who were ready with a Coke and a smile at each TA.
Congrats to PVS Tech/AbsEndo/BagelWorks, Eastern Mountain Sports, WEDALI and all the teams that took on this huge race.
Thanks so much for all the shout-outs posted to Checkpoint Tracker. They really encouraged us to go hard. And to our sponsors -- we definitely appreciate all the great GoLite gear that kept us warm on the water and covered in the swamp, and the Nuun that kept us moving in the heat!
We'll post a full race report soon.
- Paul Cox
The scenery was beautiful, the caving section was a first for me, the kayaking on the big bays was great fun (CPO/GoLight won the prize for the fastest kayak section, Yahoo!), but the mosquitoes nearly drove me insane!!! At the end of the race my face and neck were covered with their little insect carcasses.
The team should all be back at their respective homes today. Michele, Peter and I drove through the night Saturday, arriving home yesterday. Jeff flew out of Michigan Sunday.
Race highlights: We nearly got sprayed by a skunk, Jeff Woods and I took huge crashes on our bikes, Michele Hobson and I walked right up to a sleeping baby fawn in the swamp (he didn't even move), seeing a 6'5" Peter Jolles squirm through a cave at the speed of light, and hanging out with three of the coolest people I know.
We finished 4th after leapfrogging with the top two teams (EMS and BagelWorks) for most of the race. It really hurt to drop back at the end of the race. Ultimately, we lost 1.5 hours to WEDALI and the other two teams when we chose to take a short bike route to the final paddle put-in that, unknown to us, was just covered with many inches of new sand, making it nearly unridable. But it was a grueling, well-run event that featured absolutely AMAZING volunteers who were ready with a Coke and a smile at each TA.
Congrats to PVS Tech/AbsEndo/BagelWorks, Eastern Mountain Sports, WEDALI and all the teams that took on this huge race.
Thanks so much for all the shout-outs posted to Checkpoint Tracker. They really encouraged us to go hard. And to our sponsors -- we definitely appreciate all the great GoLite gear that kept us warm on the water and covered in the swamp, and the Nuun that kept us moving in the heat!
We'll post a full race report soon.
- Paul Cox
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