Dale and I left Wausau to meet up with Josh and Jeremy in Hammond, WI at Josh’s house and proceed North to the Boundary Waters. We met the first night at [Kawishawi Lake Campground].

Having driven the route along Lake Superior in the past I anticipated a lot of windshield time – 7 hours. There were definitely a couple of us who didn’t realize how removed we were from civilization. That wouldn’t become clear until we drive out on the last day when fuel on the Escalade turned critical. The Kawishiwi Lake Campground has a total of five sites which were all filled when we got there at 9pm. Since the sites are first come first serve, the six of us had to make our own campsite! I spotted a place on the beach that was somewhat slanted but allowed us to setup a place to sleep.

Here are the videos I took on the trip as well. [BWCA Aug 2010]

Thursday morning, we awoke to a very picturesque view of the lake as fog covered the lake, the moon cascaded light onto the lake, and feeling was very serene.

Since our start and finish location was to be different we had to move a vehicle to the finish point to get two drivers to shuffle vehicles. As Jeremy and I waited for the shuffling to complete, Jeremy decided he would practice his fishing prowess. Here he is after just catching a fish without any bait, just a hook and bobber.

The first day of paddling was a learning experience for Jeremy and I. Neither one of us had done much in the way of paddling in the past and it showed. We lagged behind, made numerous turning mistakes as we navigated the tight channels between lakes, and couldn’t hold a line. Though, later that night after setting up camp, Josh spent some canoe time with Jeremy that helped correct the lagging. I think that once the output up front improved I was able to correct steering as well.

Thursday consisted of about four or five portages. Jeremy and I also needed to figure out the best method portaging the canoe and packs. By the end of the day we found that having one person carry the two packs weighing roughly 100lbs and the other person carry the canoe weighing roughly 45lbs was our best approach. Early on we tried alternating canoe + pack for one person which didn’t work well for us.

Making camp Thursday, we had a great spot atop a rock at the point of a peninsula that pointed toward an island about 400 yards away. We arrived at the site about 1:30 and which allowed us to prepare a nice camp for the remainder of the day/eve. Each individual gravitated toward taking on certain roles for the site. For example, I was took on the role of pumping water. For those of you who don’t know how this works it consists of a hand pump with an intake and output hose. With the first half of the pump stroke water is taken and purified. On the 2nd half of the pump stroke water is pushed out as purified water for drinking. This process is essential to prevent sickness most specifically from Coliform and bacteria.

Friday morning we off kind of late because Adam was feeling that well from a few to many beverages the night before. Most of our alcohol was consumed in the form of vodka mixed with lake water and kool-aid or crystal light. Although Thursday night we had the luxury of box wine that Steve and Adam brought along. Sufficed to say between six of us took care of the Vella box wine – vintage 2009.  As we started Friday, we all felt fortunate that the weather was great and hoped it would continue – which it did for the duration of the trip.

Saturday was going to be the hardest paddle and portage days and the wind picked up and we had to do a total of 8 portages with 4 greater than 90 rods. Our final portage to the camp site for Saturday night we prefaced by an extensive paddle into a strong headwind for about a mile. There were a few moments when whitecap would come up and you wondered to yourself if it would tip the canoe.

All and all the trip was amazing from every angle.

]]> http://www.joelhynes.com/2010/08/boundary-waters-canoe-area-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.joelhynes.com/2010/08/2010-wausau24-12-solo-3rd-place-2/ http://www.joelhynes.com/2010/08/2010-wausau24-12-solo-3rd-place-2/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 03:06:09 +0000 joel http://www.joelhynes.com/?p=632 The [ Wausau24 ] event for 2010 was “inaugural” in name only. For those of you that don’t know, in years past, the event went by “24 / 9″. After changing ownership twice in the past two years, newest management understands the proper way of running this event; start with local support and keep a grass roots feel.

The Wausau24 is a focal point on my schedule every year. I enjoy the venue, atmosphere, course, pretty much everything about it. This year’s course was a deviation over years past in that it was shortened by a about three to five miles. In my opinion, having a slightly shorter course works to a riders advantage in timing water, eating, pitting, etc.

www.xtrphoto.com

This year, my goal was to ride 12 hour solo and obtain a podium position. Using the WEMS Series as a training mechanism for mileage and duration, I felt my goal was obtainable considering I placed 2nd and 7th in the WEMS races leading up to the Wausau24.

The race started at 10am and I rode the first three laps and felt Ok. After the third lap, Beth and Gavin showed up and had to hang out in the pits for a while. Most of this pit time was to help Gavin ring the cow bell as riders went by. It is amazing how a little pick-me-up like that helps to motivate during a long race. The riders passing him smiled and thanked him on numerous occasions. One rider gave him a high five as he passed!

As the race progressed I dropped to fourth place for while as I enjoyed family time in the pits. After spending a good part of the afternoon in the pits, Beth and Gavin went home. Though, after hearing the results at the next split I knew it was time to get back to the business at hand. I proceeded to get my 3rd place spot back and maintained it for the remainder of the day.

In late afternoon my dad stopped by to help support me the remainder of the day. Any and all help was much appreciated!

After wrapping up my day with 12 laps (one off the lead), 3rd place, and 132 miles, I felt I had a great day.

The pre-race setup went without a hitch thanks to Luke’s help and his photography skills as seen below.

As for the start of the race, I kept my bike off to the left as I figured I would have a decent run up to the bike. Turns out I was mistaken, I lost my bike in the ensuing chaos!

The picture doesn’t show it here but I felt like I stood and looked at the bikes for about three minutes after the start. <slaps forehead>

The first two laps I was off the lead group by only a few minutes and felt good going into the third lap.

My third lap on the other hand wasn’t as successful. I think I cramped no fewer than five times and didn’t eat right and “bonked”. Sufficed to say I dropped two places on the third lap and called it a day at six o’clock.

The Niner Air9 was cleaned  and dialed-in after about two hours worth of maintenance and TLC from the day before. The race start was quick as one might expect for a Cat 1 XC race and since I’m not in the top 10-15 riders I had to succumb to the bottlenecking when entering the first single-track section. The trails were in excellent condition for racing with just enough moisture to make them tacky. Though there was a large section of open field (which was dry and dusty) that wasn’t the case for most of the course.

After three laps, I started feeling the fatigue that sets in as usual, but was still able to clear the 50 ft very technical rock section near the lap/finish area on each lap. Feeling hydrated and having popped enough gels, lap four felt good as well. On the fourth and final lap, near the end of the 50 ft rock section I wasn’t sure if I could clear it as I came to a complete stand still / stall. Then, someone in the crowd started yelling in my ear, “you can clear it!”. Sufficed to say that was the motivation I needed. I cleared the difficult rocky section and finished my race. After racing for just over 2hr and 22 mins my time was good enough for 7/16 and 33/65. I was happy with my result and am looking forward to racing at the Levis Trow 50 miler this coming weekend.

Outside the family scope, I recently accepted a position with Wausau Financial Systems to be a Network Administrator.

Seth and I recently pre-rode the Horribly Hilly Hundreds course which was, in fact, hilly. I recently received my bikeman clothing kit and am looking forward to the racing season this year. My schedule will consist of a mix of road and mountain races.

Training for the Mad-City marathon is progressing as well; this weekend will be my second of three twenty milers.

Thats about all for now. When I get the opportunity I need to post pix of young Ethan.

I also decided to replace my road R-Sys wheel set with hand built wheel set consisting of Power Tap hubs (SL+ rear), DT Swiss RR415 rims, and DT Swiss Revolution 2.0/1.5/2.0 spokes. I ended up ordering the spokes from an E Bay vendor and saved about $100. It is counter-intuitive that spoke vendors only sell in lots of 60 – that’s great for a bike shop, not so great for an individual wheel builder! I am still waiting for the hubs to come off back-order (somewhat impatiently). For a backup wheel set I picked up a set of Rolf Vector Comp’s for $130!!

I decided to ditch the roof racks and save on fuel economy by switching to a hitch mount system instead.

Most, if not all these items were purchased through my new sponsor for this year: [ Bikeman ]

Two known events on the calendar for this year include: The Horribly Hilly Hundred and the Dairyland Dare. As always the 24-9 will be added as well.

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