ItS NoT as EaSy As It LooKs: HuRaCaN RePorT

So, I have gotten really good and really effective at packing.

Friday morning, bike was loaded up with packs as I headed up to work, to spend my half day there, cleaning and organizing and preparing to leave by 2pm.

A hustle here a Bustle there and I get Rob Roberts and we haul Ass to Tucker Hill trailhead for the start of the 300 mile tour.

Rob was only gonna do about 100 plus miles of the trip with us, but Heck, He is a great friend and the more the merrier when it comes to adventures.

The weather was Ominous as You could feel the humidity in the air.

When we arrived at Tucker Hill, Low and Behold, where the Hell was "Kanning".

The convo went like this:

Nk: "Kanning, were at Tucker Hill, where are you at?"

Kanning: "Liars"

back and forth for about `10 minutes with the end result being he was still at home.

(say this next part, ala Simpsons Character, the Superintendant Chalmers yelling at Princinple Skinner,)

KANNING~!~!

So TWO HOURS LATER, we roll out.

Now, you sit at home, and you hear about a trip, but, riding a fully loaded bike with a fully loaded pack, is alot harder than you think it is. Food for thought.

Its not impossibly hard, but until you experience it, its real easy to look at these rides and just say, hey, doesnt sound so difficult etc, etc.

We rolled out, 30 miles later, were on the withlacoochee, and its pissing rain and its cold.

15 miles later were at Circle K warming up, eating grub. 1100 calories out of the 2200 I brought were already gone and we still had an estimated 60 or so miles to go.

We ate, warmed up, got batteries, got outside suited up.

From there on Green Swamp, Kanning and Roberts hammer away from me and I am left alone. Its dark, its cold, its wet, and all I can think about is how good it would feel to crawl in my sleeping bag and sleep.

So many people out at 3am, WTF, we finally hit pavement, then back to dirt, then I stop at the fire station. Lube my squeaky chain, refill my water, and pop in my headphones. Roberts said we got 19 miles left. So I get into work it out mode.

AND I start riding strong again, feeling good, ignoring the Freezing temp and the harsh conditions.

THEN, we make a LEFT on US 27 into one the most fearest Headwind I have ever encountered in 2009.

So strong in fact that at top effort all I could muster was 7.1 mph.

On the downhills I could only get up to 9mph and I was working.

Feeling very demorralized and pretty much ready to shoot myself in the face, seriously.

I get to the top of a gradual climb, find Kanning and Roberts there. Here is how the conversation went.

Roberts: We got two miles to Hancock.

NK: According to my count we got two miles left.

Roberts: nah, two miles to the turn, then 7 more miles, then two more miles.

NK: Somebody KILL ME>...

I pull my bike into the grass, break out my sleeping bag and crawl in it fully dressed. I was DONE.

It had taken all my motivation to have ridden the past 19 miles, I did not have 11 more in me.

I bivy'd up and waited for a pick up or the sunlight whichever came first.

I actually, shivering and all, fell asleep, was woken by the strongest urge to pee.

After an 11 minute argument with myself, I unzipped the bag and let loose with the extra water. It had been like the 10th time I peed. Was that over hydration or a sign of hypothermia??

Anyhow, I get back in the bag zip up, and I hear my phone go off, its Rob Roberts, they made it and he was on his way back.

I got scooped up, 11 miles short of the 105 mile total for the stage. 94 miles I did, suffered for about 90 miles of it, LOL.

Some changes are going to be made for the race. For one, we are going to exit the woods a little earlier in Croom. No sense in backtracking its a loop and I want it to be as LOOPY as possible.

For two, we will start every stage at 9am, riding in the dark, was really hard, I had to do it with my Princeton Tec EOS, which at 50 lumens is enough in a pinch, but it does require your eyes to work a little harder, I think that added to my fatigue.

I now realize that after the CFiTT both lights needed to be fixed, the MIni newt is ready, I now need to send the stella in for a repair.

SO, what now. Well, I will send my ETREX in to get replaced or repaired since the SD card slot malfunctioned. Still works, but I want my topo maps to work as well, helps with water sources and referances. In the meantime, I am going to prepare, get back on a steady Yoga routine, and get back to riding steady to prepare for My Individual Time Trial of the Huracan route.

The Route, first part, was beautiful, we've ridden the other parts, and I have every intention of riding all of it, as soon as I get my GPS back!

It was actually in retrospect, pretty awesome, except for the adverse weather.

I think I need to add some rain pants to my arsenal.. I had some goretex, cold/wet weather gloves that I left at home, not expecting it to get so cold on night one, next time I wont be so naive.

I admit, I am still trying to harden up and get a grip of all the variables that go into a self supported enduro. IN retrospect, I wish I would of thrown on all my clothes, changed my sock and rolled miserably slow to finish. But, all I wanted to do was sleep, so I listened to the body, maybe it was all for the best.

At 637am is when the ordeal finished, after sleeping till about 12pm, Our timetable for the rest of the weekend was destroyed. We accepted the truth of our situation, and got a ride back to Croom on Saturday and spent Saturday evening hanging out in Tampa with Kanning and Mucaro.

Next time Huracan!

Laters,

The NaKeD InDiaN