Tug Hill Extreme Race Report

First 24 hour solo race done!!!

The Tug Hill Extreme 24 Hour Adventure Race was accidentally probably not the best race to choose for that goal as the weather was absolutely atrocious and several teams dropped out due to hypothermia issues.

It appears as though all of us racing took a look at the weather forecast and just said, "nah, that can't be real". I didn't even bring warm gloves (and fingerless bike gloves don’t cut it in that weather). Thanks to Mary Foster's secrets of the trade, I had medical nitrile gloves with me that SAVED my fingers from freezing the whole race. It's incredible how effective those disposable gloves are at keeping your hands warm in a pinch! I also had my trusty and super fashionable Mylar poncho to save the day again.

Not too many big surprises or issues besides the weather, but there are a few highlights to report.

The day started with a confidence building paddle as I got my hands on the surf ski I have used at Tug Hill in previous years, and I had the immense joy of being able to really push the pace in such a fast boat. I employed the work smarter not harder method of also drafting off of other teams for almost all of it. By the time folks were coming off the water, the cold rain was rolling in and racers’ shivering was a common sight.

Leg 2 on the bike was uneventful; I missed a turn about 20 minutes into the leg because of a momentary loss of focus that cost me around 5 minutes. It's still bizarre to me how much that little bit of time matters in a 24 hour race. During that tiny mistake NINE teams passed me.

I skipped the embedded trek leg in favor of staying very conservative. Since I knew that the hardest part of going solo is the mental resiliency, I committed to racing at 80% physical capacity so that if I panicked a bit in my head, at least I wouldn't also be dealing with a super fatigued body on top of it. This worked REALLY well. It was hard to not push the pace sometimes, or rush in and out of TAs, but it was the right choice in the end especially because of the wet and cold environment. I was in super good spirits for the entire race.

The big trekking legs were exceptionally tricky nav, but luckily I was able to find every check point that I took a shot at, although I got lucky a few times working around and alongside other teams for a few of them. CP 30 took me 2 hours to find as I attacked it three times only to discover that frustratingly my first approach had been right on the money and if I had pushed through a single line of trees I would have seen it.

I took a LOT of time in and out of TA3—friends, food, and gear bin access had a hold on me, but to my earlier point I don't regret it because my goal was to stay slow and steady to I avoid bonking later in the race (especially as I knew that TA4 was also the finish line, which we all know is kryptonite for tired racers).

On my way to TA4 I had my first big fall off my bike ever (although I'm a pretty conservative biker so big falls for me are nothing to real MTBers) while cutting down a trashy trail leaving CP 26. Luckily no harm done besides some tender bruises.

I timed it perfectly getting back to TA4/finish AFTER the sun came up to make sure that I wouldn't be tempted to drop leg 7 and just finish then. I was falling asleep on my feet heading out on the last trek so I pulled out my mp3 player which magically perked me up instantaneously. Moseyed to a few more CPs and then headed back to finish at just over 23 hours.

Thanks so much everyone for the trail mail and the support!! I definitely would race solo again for a 24, it was a really good challenge and helped me dial it all in before Endless in a few weeks!