rev3/mk

1
rev3/mk
rev3
One cold October
morning three REV3
teams, and a volunteer,
set out to race the USARA
national championship
rev3 masters
The "A" team
rev3 nova
The "masters" team
dave ashley
The "volunteer"
The "we got another
half off race entry,
so let's make
another team" team

the following
story is about
rev3 nova's 30
hour race
route and
experience
2
Dusty Reppuhn
the navigator
Travis Siehndel
the pack mule
Cory Mason
the brain
AKA CHOPS

using only the
following...
3
highly
recommended
but not
mandatory.
they have
to find 46 of
me out in the
middle of
nowhere
30 hrs!

4
show me the
SWAG!
why do they
call it a brief?
there's nothing
brief about this
no way are
we getting
these points on
the water
do we even
need to plot
them?
we are
going to try
to clear this
thing
someone
have a file?
teams were given
2 hours to plot
points and plan
routes. not all
teams would be
able to clear the
course. so many
teams had to
decide what points
they were going
to leave behind.
nom nom
this egg sandwich is
delicious
mmmm,
take this
trail, then
bushwhack to
the road

oom!
guess
that boom
means we are
starting
and off they went up a
little hill to do a white
water relay, with boogie
boards
5
glad i
didn't wear
my wet suit up
this thing
drat!
that is so
not the
top
gulp...cough
pshh, i got
this!
who the heck
is eddie, and why
am i supposed to
stay away from
him?
weeee!
...grrgle..cough..
choke...

6
after a refreshing
white water relay with
boogie boards, teams
went back down the
same little hill to
start stage 2
stage 2
back up the
little hill!
should
have taken that
ski lift
i think we
have a shot at
winning "king of
the hill"
not! haha

7
THIS IS THE REAL
MAP I USED
CP2-6 BIKE
CP7 PADDLE START
CP33-CP35 FOOT
TA,CP1,CP6,CP16,
CP32,CP36 WERE
WISP RESORT
the original plan
was to bushwhack
to the road from
here and ride to cp4
on the road. We
chose the scenic
trail ride instead
my tracker pod
results

8
feels like i was
just here a few
weeks ago...
finally. let's
get off this
mountain!
cory
just got a
cool picture of
me at cp4
i think
i just took a
picture of my
face
this spot was for
Travis. Cory took his
picture punching cp4.
this picture could not
be posted because cory
took a picture of his
face instead. travis
deleted the picture of
cory's face. otherwise
it would be in this spot.
sorry travis. next time

9
dude,
these things
are huge!
universal
adult my
butt!
look
people with
cameras. this
must be a
short cut
sweet!
which
way does this
wing blade
paddle go?
Get the one
with a motor
on it
can we walk
yet?
not yet. I think
they are still
taking pictures

10
The paddle was
pretty straight
forward. We chose
to skip cp8 and cp9.
we went directly to
cp10. the wind was
crazy strong and
the water really
choppy. we saw 2
teams sink their
boats. the other 2
rev3 teams went on
to get the 2 further
points.

that
wasn't too
bad
yeah, we needed
those 2 points to have
a chance to clear the
course
11
did the
media boat just
try to swamp
us?
yes, yes it did
man, these are
some crazy
people out here
paddling

12
After landing at
cp10 teams
prepare for a
foot O.
After the foot O,
teams paddled
back to cp7 and
ran/walked back
to wisp resort
of course, the
wind would die
down after we got
those points.
lame!
Snacks!
that paddle felt
like a scene from
sharknado!

13
the red points are
foot o points and
the blue are bike o.
the orange line
drawn was my
planed bike route.
the bike points
could only be
gotten by bike. we
biked back to this
section later to
get them
THIS IS WHERE I THOUGHT
WE ENTERED. NOT THAT IT
MADE ANY DIFFERENCE. WE
FOLLOWED THE CLIFF LINE
UNTIL WE FOUND THE POINT.
IT WAS THICK BRUSH AND
SLOW MOVING. AT ONE
POINT WE REALLY THOUGHT
WE HAD PASSED IT
PINK ARROW BELOW
SHOWS WHERE I
STOPPED TAKING A
BEARING AND
FOLLOWED A MOIST
RIVER BED INSTEAD.
WHEN WILL I LEARN!
BLUE ARROWS SHOW THE
DIRECTION WE TOOK
FROM TA2. THE OTHER
LINES ARE FROM WHEN
WE CAME THOUGH LATER
ON BIKES

14
FROM TA2 WE
PADDLED BACK TO
CP7. SAME ROUTE WE
PADDLED IN ON.
THEN A SHORT WALK/
RUN BACK TO TA1
(WISP RESORT). THE
WATER WAS A LOT
CALMER ON THE WAY
BACK.
we took a long break at wisp resort
before heading out for the longest
portion of the race. night was closing
in and the rain really started pouring
down. my original plan was to take
the north route and collect 10 points
on bike before heading to the mystery
O course. I changed my mind and
decided to head south, collect 4 bike
points and head to the o course. I'm
better with foot orienteering than
bike, so i wanted more time in the o
course. the blue circles below were
the bike points

15
from wisp resort we
took hwy 219 to rock
lodge rd to state park
road. from there we
got on fire tower rd
and got cp31 and cp30.
we continued on
another trail to cp29
there was quiet a delay
after cp29. i had to
refold my maps. i hate
cutting my maps so i
had to refold a giant
map in the rain.
lesson learned. cut
the map!
the yellow arrow is
where we followed a
trail thinking cp29 would
be right off of it. nope.
had to head back to the
puple arrow and
bushwhacked in
CP29 TO CP28 WAS A
NICE RIDE, WITH A
FAST DEsCENT AT THE
END. I'M SURE THIS
WAS GORGEOUS
DURING THE DAY.
THERE WAS A SHORT
OUT AND BACK TO
CP28. THEN ON TO
THE FOOT O COURSE
(TA3). the orange
highlighted route
was my planned
route and the
route we took. not
often i did what i
planned :)

16
once we arrived to TA3,
we were given the map for
the o course. It was a
score o. that meant each
point carried a different
value. you would only
get credit for 100 points.
there were a total of 116
points out there. for
every 10 points you would
be credited 1 point for
the overall race. if you
got 19 points on this o
course, you would only
get 1 point credit for the
race. you needed 20
points to get 2 points.
there was no rounding up.
there was a lot of
thinking to do. we
originally decided to get
all points except BB and
aa. as the night went, we
changed this plan too
many times to even tell.
the next page shows the
map and values for
points.

17
there were no
easy routes to
take. Hills were
not options. it
was going to be a
long night.
the total given
was 12-15miles
and 2500-3000
feet elevation

i need a
calculator
18

zzzz..
.
19
thinking...
still thinking...
thinking some more...
got it!
we're outta
here
we are
here

20
what looks
best to skip
here?
hmm.
this has been
in my shorts
all night
here are
the point
values
teamwork
makes the dream
work!
time to add
some layers

mmm caffeine
21
let's get
moving!
and just like
that, we were
all off. we all
had different
plans and mine
would change at
least 5 more
times before
morning.

22
blue arrows
indicate the route i
intended to take.
get ll. climb the
spur to kk. identify
the hill for the
future attack on hh.
follow the ridge
line to JJ. double
back to that hill.
shoot a bearing for
hh. then drop down
to the road and head
for dd. too easy!
what really happened.
red arrow-seriously couldn't find ll. we finally gave up on it
an decided to grab it on the way out. we followed some old
fire road between the red arrow and the blue arrow. we
decided it wasn't taking us to the top so we climbed up the side
to the spur and followed it up to kk. from the yellow arrow
on, things got really thick. it was really slow moving and
hard to stay on the ridge. we over shot jj. we got distracted
by some guy looking for a spork. thanks spork guy. the purple
arrow is where i tried to go back to jj by going back up to the
ridge line. it was too thick and we had to drop back down
the green arrow is after we
got jj. i thought we would
just go back the way we came
and head for the hill where
the yellow arrow points.
never looking at my compass.
we were lost in this area with
another team. we could't
figure out how we could be
going west. ugh! eventually
we found our way back to the
main ridge.

LEFT: AFTER DROPPING TO THE ROAD from hh,
THE PLAN WAS TO GET DD,gg and ee. all would
23
be out and backs. I thought i was going to
be able to count the reentrants and use the
reentrant at the red arrow as my attack
point for dd and gg. unfortunately, you
could't see the reentrants at night and that
particular stream was not as obvious as the
others. because each point had no good back
stops, and they all would look alike
climbing in the dark, i chose to try for these
points on the way back. we went on to EE,
which had a steam crossing i used as the
attack point. finally a point that was easy!
below: FF, although a long haul, had a
good attack point and seemed pretty
straight forward. climb the spur and when
it flattened out go NW up to the hill top
below: we went up to
ff just as planned.
well... direction wise.
what was not planned
was the crazy thick
rhododenron! it was
also a really narrow
climb in the beginning. at
some point we
considered going back
down and finding another
spot to climb, but the
way down became more
dangerous than the way
up. so we pushed though.
eventually, it opened up
where it leveled off and
it was a nice night hike to
the top.
left: at this point i still had
not learned my lesson about
keeping a bearing on the way
out. i mean all we had to do
was go down right? wrong!
the yellow arrow shows how
off i was. eventually we
figured it out and got back in
the right direction. when we
got back to the steep thick
stuff we had to jump a tiny
cliff and went off the spur to
the south. i could swear we
went off the north side.
travis got me oriented at the
bottom and we found our way
back to the road. no trout
were harmed.

24
WE WERE STARTING TO BE SHORT
ON TIME TO achieve OUR GOAL OF
100 POINTS, SO WE STARTED
RECALCULATING. we decided to
drop gg, get dd, ll and see if
we had time for aa and bb. at
the red arrow we ran into the
rev3 "a" team. it is alway nice
to run into friends out there.
unfortunately i wasn't paying
attention to my stream
crossings and missed my
attack point at the yellow
arrow. i'm pretty sure we
found the right stream, but i
couldn't be sure i didn't
already pass another one
while talking to the other
team. so we left dd . when
we got to ll it was finally
light out and easy to find. we
went up to aa avoiding all the
steep thick stuff. found bb
and went back to ta3.
i think i see
a bear
no cory
those are
people
Bears!!
for real!
and baby
bears!
i
thought i
saw a polar
bear
nope
that was a
legit bear
oh man!
another
bear!

dude, i
can't believe
we saw
bears!
punch
25
man, the wind
is too strong. i
need to fold this
gigantic map in
the bathroom
hey
guys, brb.
headed to the
bathroom
ookay!
that was the
fasted map
folding
ever

can
someone say
gratuitous
hills?
26
i have 9
out of 10
points.
correct?
yeah, we
had a bit of
trouble with
cc
no such thing
as too much
sportslick
i wish i'd
worn pants

these
are all
easy. watch
out cp29 is
not off the
road
cp21 and 22 are
straight forward. 27
just make sure you shoot
a bearing from the right
bend in the road.
and cp22
is right on
the power
lines
we skip
23-26. grab 21-22.
head north for 17-20.
we head home at
noon
i
swear i
saw a polar
bear
mmmm,
portables
yippie!
weirdo

our plan after leaving TA3,
was to follow the road (blue
arrows) and try to find what
28
look like a fire road that
would lead to the main trail
(yellow arrows). we found
the fire road. it looked
promising at the start, but
turned into one hell of a
bushwhack with the bikes. we
should have gone south on the
road and collected CP22 then
21. at the time my map was
folded so i couldn't see that
the road near 21 connected to
the road i wanted to take
north. I got a little rushed in
the bathroom when folding my
map and didn't get a good
look. i just figured the fire
road was going to pan out.
we had to attack 21 twice. i went
in thinking it would be obvious
and didn't take my map. never a
good idea to leave your map
thanks to the above
volunteer, CP22 was
removed early. his identity
shall be protected, since
he did volunteer and all.
we spent over 40 min
looking for it. greg said
it was there, so we stayed
there until our noon
cutoff. It was a team
decision to head back home.
travis led us home through
some of the nastiest
weather of the race.
strong wind, rain and
seriously cold!

29
I NEVER CRASH WITH
MY EYES CLOSED
MMHMMM

30
we, rev3 nova,
ended the race with
the bike. we didn't
have enough time to
go back up that
little hill for
another CP. our
finish time was
29:35 with 30
points. we got
credited for the
missing
(removed)cp22.
the rev 3 "A" team
finished after
grabbing 1 point on
the last foot o with
a time of 29:02.
THEY GOT A TOTAL OF
43 POINTS
the rev3
masters team
also finished
after grabbing
one more point
on the last foot
o. their time was
29:31 and 44
points

1st place masters
7th place coed
31
27th place coed
what a great year we had! thanks to
our newest team members Jeffery
woods and joe brautigam, we were
able to dominate the point series.
we all worked really hard winning
those points! we made it our team
goal. support usara! some of us
even raced races we wound't have
raced had we not been going for the
points win. we achieved our goal
and received... a plaque. next year
we look to revamp our goals, check
out new, interesting, challenging
races, and go back to the
established races we love.
rev3- first place in usara points series for the fourth year in a row