RD Summary of First Half - Josh Forester

Hey guys, this is my first update. I've been all over the course, as you guys know, the first parts of the race are the craziest. Trying to reduce bottlenecks, keeping track of the racers, and of course working with the Race Management team to manage all of the chaos. At this point, my phone has stopped ringing off the hook, but I have to keep checking it because I hear it ringing in my head!

My hands were shaking as I made pre-race announcements I was so excited. The last two weeks I had gone to bed at no sooner than 2am each night, and I kept promising myself that I'd stop the caffeine so it'd be effective on race day. Didn't happen, but I'm happy to say I don't need it I'm so pumped about the race. Truth be told, I got 5 hours of sleep last night, the most I've gotten in a while, and the only way I could was to write down a book of notes on my hand so my head could stop turning.

We had 102 racers out for the Atomic Adventure Race presented by Fuji Bikes, and 30+ volunteers. We've been able to pull off some pretty amazing feats simply with the manpower.

• We've got a media team dedicated with feeding you guys crazy amounts of maps, course statistics, leaderboard updates, and even a Google Earth overview of the race. Dylan and Amber Forester (Jack's kids) are working around the clock assisting Laraleigh, TheElleStudio photographer.
• We've got a safety crew that is dedicated to minimizing the risk to racers, and that is their only function--which keeps them on the ball. We're talking paddling leg sweepers, rangers blocking off traffic, paramedics, EMTs, MDs, the full works.
• We've got logistics covered--from the 30+ volunteers, getting them food, firewood, and teaching them the ropes.
• And we've got the course taken care of. We took special care with CPs, using cable locks and metal fishing wire to secure punches and CP bags. We set the more remote CPs thursday, the less remote ones on friday, and the more public CPs raceday.

And somewhere in the middle of the constant media/leaderboard updates and photo/video uploads, the rabid dog bites (RANDOM!), shuttling subway sandwhiches/drinks/XD card readers/firewood/instructions sheets/clipboards, a last minute switcheroo of CP19 (originally placed the incorrect bag day of, but realized it and replaced with correct one before anybody got to it), I'm filling in where I can.

So this is my grand tribute to Joanna Erion and her media crew (especially Austin, who has been working in tandem with her on the updates and leaderboard) to combine the constant onslaught of 10+ mobile devices SMS, email, and calling her as well as the talking heads popping in their 27-foot Reality Bikes RV--the mobile headquarters--to talk about the latest happenings.

So to review:
The initial climb to the top of Amicalola had the studs leading the pack, but the bike down the Lindsey Ford resulted in many teams overshooting the Amicalola Church road turnoff in their haste, knocking teams like ROAM/Inov-8 and Team Sport Factory into the very back of the pack. For the teams that didn't overshoot, Lab Rats dominated the relatively short bike from Amicalola to Lindsey Ford, putting a 12 minute lead on the next team. People's Temple Agricultural Project, the winners of the prologue, were seen at the top of the falls talking to their banana.

On the screaming 25% grade down, we had a blowout where someone's tubeless tire literally melted from the rim breaks heating it up, while Layer 3 was at the top fixing a flat at TA1.

The orienteering section at Lindsey Ford, where teams had to get 4 out of 8 CPs to continue on, separated the field into two groups--those that navigated it quickly and those that did not. The resulting two clusters became very apparent as they made their way down. Lab Rats continued to press the pace, gaining 3 minutes on Shake-A-Leg Miami between Lindsey Ford and the bike to CP5/CP20 Steele Bridge. ROAM/Inov-8 were no where to be seen, but we knew they were pressing hard to catch up to the pack. I believe Layer 3 had made up some time orienteering and had out-distanced some of the folks that left them with their mechanical at the top of the falls earlier. Meanwhile, Team Sport Factory's problems continued. A tough CP--LF3 (the Rock Cellar CP, which is below ground level in the ruins of a old moonshine cellar)--had evaded them. For a team of 3 experienced navigators, it was beginning to be a long day already. No CPs were labeled easy on this course, as teams went up and down the road by LF4 missing it and teams that approached LF5 coming from LF6 found themselves in a heavy briar thicket. LF5, LF6, and LF7 were some of the more commonly picked CPs, but most complained about LF7 and the rhododendrum thickets to get to it. It was a longer day still for The Search Bloc, who had a member decide to withdraw after the Lindsey Ford section. Nevertheless, Team Sport Factory, and many others soldiered on.

An intense moment at the Dawson Forest parking lot, TA4/CP8, the beginning of the Radiation Burn, where Shake-A-Leg Miami closed the gap on Lab Rats, arriving less than a minute behind them. Lab Rats chose to take all 5 CPs up front, while Shake-A-Leg Miami decided to go for the 3 in under 15 minutes. It was a tense moment as they plotted the CPs side by side. Shake-A-Leg's Tim Bucholz is one cool cat, shrugging off the challenge with a can-do attitude. After the decisions were made, they asked if it was doable. When I responded that Jordan and I had done it in 12:30 kind of knowing where the CPs were during vetting, their response in earshot of Lab Rats was, "Alright, guys, now we know the time to beat." They cleared it and continued on after taking ample time to recover at the TA while Lab Rats burned it get all 5 CPs. Shake-A-Leg Miami, well rested after the lactic-acid inducing 2km time trial, left as Lab Rats came in. No Man's Land came in after intentionally skipping CP6 and CP7, allowing them more time to make cutoffs later in the race. ROAM/Inov-8 surprised everyone with their sudden appearance next to Nature Cure at the Radiation Burn, coming in at the same time. They must have hammered it from CP5/CP20 down through CP6 and CP7. NADS - Freeflite shortly after that with Secret Squirrel in a few minutes later later. The transition from the 25 miles of biking to a run for these top teams was a flurry of activity. ROAM/Inov-8 and Nature Cure attacked the Radiation Burn together, but were spotted on the course in heated discussion about the best way to get back. The time they spent had to be made up for through extra leg work, but they cleared it together in 14:30. This triumph propelled them from 10th and 11th to 3rd and 4th respectively. Not a few seconds later came NADS - Freeflite, clearing it in 12:30, the fastest on the course yet, but it would be later surmounted by others who would break the 12 minute mark. Secret Squirrel diving for the line at 15:00 even! After a passport audit of what should have been RB1-RB3, it was discovered that Secret Squirrel had punched RB4 instead of RB3. After been notified of the 4 hour penalty for missing the checkpoint, they had seemed to have taken it in stride. The Radiation Burn was one of the more exciting spots on the course, as teams got BURNED. Pangea Adventure Racing was one of the first, but certainly not the last teams to have to go out for a second loop to get RB4 and RB5. Other teams, like the Kronites, decided descretion was the better part of valor. Knowing their limits, they opted to get all 5 RB CPs up front, which gave them a more efficient route and conserved energy that they would have otherwise lost pushing it for RB1-RB3. In the second half crowd, Ric Morton from Angelman's Syndrome Awareness can soaked in sweat, running his bike in from the top of the Dawson Forest City of Atlanta Tract (15 miles), because the bolt to which his rear shock was connected sheared off. An 2009 E-Fix veteran, his perspective on what is an actual problem has clearly changed.

At the canoe put-in, Paul Humphries from ROAM/Inov-8 was searching through his pack at the spot check for mandatory gear. The strobe or aerial flare that had previously been displayed as part of the complete mandatory gear check at check-in, was no where to be found. The penalty for missing a piece of mandatory gear was 4 hours. Then penalty for not having safety gear, was at the discretion of the RDs, from 1 hour to DQ. The latter would be waved if they could come up with or have a strobe or flare delivered, but were unable to. Faced with at least a 5 hour penalty, they debated continuing, now that the lead spot that they had worked so hard to capture, was no longer a probable happenstance. Secret Squirrel, noting they weren't the only team facing a penalty, put-in at the canoe unphased and ready to continue their campaign against the course. ROAM/Inov-8, faced with a difficult decision, decided to continue and pursue the course for pride, the possibility of a top 5 finish still within their reach, depending their ability and the ability of other teams to clear the course.