"Is this Hell? No, It's The New Jersey Inferno"
With my wife and daughter spending an early summer visiting the homeland of Sweden, I attempted to find a demanding alternative as time goes by. The goal; find the absolute hardest competition possible within respectable drive and an event unlike normal off road triathlons. Adventure races have evaded me for many years and an impulse decision led me to the New Jersey Inferno. A little bushwhacking and mountain biking through the highlands of New Jersey. All I needed was a map and compass.... right?
I have never navigated adventure race checkpoints before. Applying basic orienteering skills learned in Scouting and having worked my way through a 5-km flagged orienteering course in the wilds of New Mexico were a distant memory and remembering only to avoid stepping on rattlesnakes.
This is the third year of the event hosted by New York Adventure Racing Association (NYARA). Two first time race directors took on the enormous challenge of putting together their very own race. Brothers John and Aaron Courain have been more than committed to the sport of adventure racing for the better part of 6 years.
Hint: Skip the long winded trip report... Scroll to the bottom and check out the video edit.
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New Jersey Highlands |
The race format for the New Jersey Inferno was a modified Rogaine. Maps were provided bright an early at the start of registration at 5:00am which gave teams one hour to review the course and lay out your strategic plan of attack. 10 mandatory checkpoints must be navigated in order across the 25 mile course broken up into three distinct sections of the park. In addition, teams could pursue 26 optional points which starts adding up the distance traveled for the day. Every team has 12 hours to collect as many points as possible along the course. The team with the most points wins. A strategic plan to navigate the course and a good deal of time management play key roles in being successful.
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Check-in 5am was non stop for over an hour(Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
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Aaron highlighting restricted areas(Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
An adventure race in New Jersey? The Appalachian Trail runs through a good portion of the Delaware Water Gap in the Northwestern part of the state so this might be promising and what the hell, even the Jersey Devil might make an appearance.. The Jersey Inferno would not disappoint. and ended up dishing out as significant a backcountry experience you could ever dream of this close to NYC.
Off road, racers would experience all types of horrific plant-life poison ivy, concentrated patches of stinging nettles, penetrating thorns of Barberry bushes. Inchworms, caterpillars and creepy crawlers of all kinds covered clothing. Quite an active natural habitat with many wildlife sightings such as black bears, numerous close encounters with deer, snakes and plentiful turtles along the Musconetcong river.
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Racer preparing strategically (Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
The grassroots nature of the sport is attractive to me. Taking competitors to hidden gems in our backyards is not unlike searching for that next river run in some back-county town of New England you would never traveled on purpose. Competitors at different levels from exploratory newbies like myself, recreational teams and seasoned adventure racers all coming together in the same race to compete. Who knew that AR could be considered romantic?!?! It was awesome to see this one couple handling the entire course with patience and affection. The mission. Complete a course that is almost always brand new and will never be reproduced in quite the same way. Venues and racing formats change year to year. This unique variable puts everyone in the same playing field no matter what the experience level.
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Team getting ready 6am (Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
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Aaron at racer meeting and debriefing (Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
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Racer meeting 72 competors at 615am (Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
It is very important to listen to everything the race director has to say at the debriefing. There are lots of last minute hints, edits and changes. I was so overwhelmed with anxiety by this point I could not even think straight. The race began with a "King of the Mountain" KOM segment introducing an element of speed off the start and finished with Blazing Saddles.These point-to-point sections would be clearly marked and require no decision making other than how hard do you want to push the body. How could I mess those up. That is my style of racing!
Racers were transported to the starting location in the north section of the park north of Interstate 80. This is where I did most of my strategy and planning. Northern Allamuchy was the trekking section pushing towards the final checkpoint and rappel down a cliff to the mountain bike transition area. An athlete from a 2 person team sat down beside me and introduced himself. His name was Matt Lunt and he recently raced the Tuckerman Inferno solo alongside me this past year. Small world indeed.
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New Jersey Inferno Course Map |
Off the bus things moved pretty fast and I was the last person off the bus. Everyone shuffled down a dirt road following the race directors and I went off into the woods to pee. Thus the event started with the KOM and I was 100 yards behind taking a leak in the woods. Great start! Going hard could break you early on trying to speed to the top of the hill. This was an extremely long pursuit and I managed to catch up to the lead pack. It went on forever. "Don’t make the rookie mistake of taking off too fast!"
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Matt(Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
Matt Lunt on team "Sustainable Athlete" from Maine worked his way up the trail fast and furious taking a first place KOM with a time of 44:18. Here are both Matt and teammate Doug pushing forward towards Checkpoint 1.
I made the first major mistake an racer could ever make during an AR. I followed several packs of people on trail completely missing the trail marker taking you over to the KOM checkpoint. Making mistakes in off road triathlon might cost you 30 seconds here 3 minutes there. This mistake cost me well over 30 minutes and expended a ton of unnecessary energy. "Don’t ever assume the people in front of you know where they are going!"
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Doug(Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
Speed kills adventure racing it's not about who's the fastest point to point. Achieving a high cardio effort you get the tunnel vision of a triathlete continuous breathing patterns, maintaining elevated heart rates and focusing on both stride and cadence all elements of delivering a strong performance. AR requires a delicate balance with the right combination of efficiency through decision-making and strategy.
In Adventure Racing mistakes are magnified exponentially in mind bending, mind altering ways pouring on the physical exertion to retrace steps. Pushing forward even when things were looking pretty bad because finding each checkpoint instills a sense of accomplishment. Getting into rhythm along the course is methodical. Failures and small triumphs would ebb and flow the entire day but continue to push on. Finishing was the only option.
I pushed through the woods with a sense of urgency. Moving too fast I incorrectly took bearings from the wrong trail intersections and shooting off into the woods multiple times in the wrong direction. I was demoralized and frustrated knowing that it took me almost three hours and only reaching 3 checkpoints. I should have taken off in the direction for the final two mandatory checkpoints to complete this first section. Get back on schedule to recover hopes in section 2. I made the biggest mistake of the day and did not change plans. A relentless bushwhack ensued toward the first of 5 options I had originally planned to attack.
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| Searching for option A in the thorny thickets and twisted brambles of the park. |
The race directors pointed out that morning, not all trails are on the map there a primitive trails that will positively confuse the hell out of you. Essentially using trails as the primary source for information failed very quickly and not reading the features of the land.
Collectively it took me 7 hours to get through this section and get the 5 mandatory and ended up with 5 of 6 possible options. Trekking Section 1 ending with a ropes element and a guided rappel. Thus taking me 2 hours passed the cutoff time to participate in the ropes element. Race director John encouraged me to continue onto section 2 and just go after ONLY mandatory checkpoints. I had less than two hours to get 4 checkpoints on the mountain bike. It could be done..... Right?
Note to self: Be prepared to diverge as the route is not set in stone and plans can change several times along a race course. Double check bearings. Estimate the distance between checkpoint and understand the time it will take to reach. When in doubt, check the map always and often.
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NYARA team member on the ropes descending into transition! |
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Teams converge the hilltop cliff where the rappel(Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
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Matt and Doug coming into checkpoint 5 at the rappel(Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
Working my way into the southern section of the park on mountain bike became an immediate slogfest. Working up a continuous slight grade for 0.9 miles with team after team completing this section coming down that trail moving onto the paddling transition area. It had been 4.5 hours since I had been in the presence of another team on course so I welcomed the opportunity to see the competition and send a shout-out to each of them as they passed. Overall the riding was primarily easy single-track, rolling terrain, the kind of terrain you could tear up at speed and was super fun to rip up some dirt. Plentiful ferns abound in this section. Lots of fun log overs and quick windy sections free from technical obstacles. Fast and flowing. I learned that it is very difficult to navigate when your having so much fun cranking out the miles in the fast, flowy terrain. Miles go by quickly and next thing you know you way overshot a checkpoint. Oops! After overshooting checkpoint 6 I tried to go back and took a wrong turn. The map was backwards when I was choosing my new direction. I looped entire Deer Park Pond in a figure 8 until I finally got back to checkpoint 6. This was the second time I had gone in a complete circle on trails race day. Once again speed kills.
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| Serenity of Deer Park Pond |
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Blazing Saddles (Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
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Blazing Saddles (Photo Credit GTLUKE) |
I finished dead last place 31 of 31 total teams in my first AR missing both cutoff times and was on the course for 11:09:34 minutes. This is familiar territory. Progression in this sport will come slowly. In retrospect, the winning overall team was ridiculously impressive, Rev3 completely cleared the course of all checkpoints in 11:31:41, 100% Success! That is a reflection on the caliber of racers that meet both the physical and more so, the strategic and mental demands of adventure racing. Link to the posted results.
I walked away with minor degrees of poison ivy, two ticks, dozens of bites from a swarming forest of insects and possibly picked up some parasites drinking water from a small stream coming from an area of sketchy marshland on the plateau. Running out of water several times on course was tough. Katadyn water bottle filter or Aquamira chlorine water treatment will not stay home next time. Quite coincidentally, orienteering years ago in the Rockies had me watching out for snakes the entire time on course. This would be no different. I hurdled over a large black snake whom I am sure was as scared as me as it slithered frantically beneath my legs.
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| This is what an adventure race team looks like! |
Race directors John and Aaron did a fantastic job organizing their first AR race and choosing Allamuchy Mountain State Park was brilliant. The course encompassed the entire boundary of the park with certain areas marked as restricted. The selection of terrain incorporated off trail navigation and existing trail systems in pursuit of checkpoints in perfect balance. Racers immersed themselves into a sprawling deciduous forest teeming with flora, fauna and insects! King of the Mountain and Blazing Saddles were awesome elements. Transitioning between sections with a rope and paddling discipline was well planned and executed. A classy and ever so tasty Italian buffet awaited you at the finish line.. No lag time.... Just dig right in! There is no doubt in my mind they succeeded!
John and Aaron were especially concerned and aware of my whereabouts or lack thereof at all times on the course. They were encouraging and gave me every opportunity to continue racing. They wanted nothing more than I get to experience the entire race. All 10 mandatory checkpoints. I cannot thank them enough for sticking with me out there.
There is no glitz, no glamour in Adventure Racing. It's a raw racing experience in the natural world. Every single event is dramatically different on every level. Off road triathlon and multisport races were just a stepping stone into building the endurance and skill sets necessary to apply in the field when navigating variable terrain for long periods of time subject to any and all environmental conditions that stand in your way.
As in all sports, I would like to say that I am hooked but that would require an entirely different level of commitment to achieve the pursuit of personal greatness. I do look forward to the next event to continue building where I left off.... getting lost over and over again. I took this opportunity to take on a new challenge and have an entirely new experience. Adventure Racing has found its place on my things to do list. I will be back.
Work Hard, Train Hard, Play Harder.
Mark
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