Bimbache Extrem - Castilla y Leon
Lost in transition
Rob Howard / 05.10.2010
The second night of the race was another cold one for the teams, who were spread out on the high altitude mountain trek on the Sierra de Grados and the long cycling stage towards them. At TA7, where teams set off for the mountains the temperature dropped to -2C last night and there was a heavy frost covering everything by morning. What the temperature on the difficult trek and ropes stage was at higher altitude we don’t know, but it was most likely several degrees colder.
While the leaders pressed on over the mountains the slower teams were riding towards TA7 and this morning I waited to see who would arrive close to the cut off time which is 24 hours behind the leaders. Although the teams coming into the TA didn’t know it that cut off was at 12.18 but as it turned out the teams who arrived just beforehand elected to miss the long trek in any case. The trek was so long that any teams arriving too late in the morning knew their best option was to skip the stage.
The team arriving closest to the cut-off time were team no. 24, Saferibo Seti from Colombia, and they looked in good spirits, making their decision quickly and moving purposefully through transition. “We think it is better strategy to miss this trek and make sure we finish the course,� one of the team said, “so will cycle from here.�
He went on to explain they’d had a good night after suffering in the cold weather. “The first night was cold and wet and that was terrible,� he said. “Then yesterday it was colder and windy too, but we found an angel from heaven to help us. His name was Juan Hose and when we found a closed supermarket and knocked on the door he let us in to get some food, then found us a warm garage to sleep in! A Spanish team nearby in the same town slept in the bus shelter, which was much colder for them. We were so lucky and stayed there for 2 hours.�
In contrast to the Colombians, the Argentine team who were still in transition at the time of the cut-off had lost all sense of purpose and motivation. They’d arrived at 06.33 in the morning and were still there when the cut-off came nearly 6 hours later! It was a classic and extreme example of a team losing all sense of time in transition (see yesterdays story). They had spent hours looking at the maps, discussing options among themselves and fiddling with their gear, moving almost in slow motion and with no one able to find the energy to step forward to take a decisive lead.
In the end they did decide not to trek, though it was so late by then they had little option, but even then the racers were not moving out with any energy. It was almost painful to watch them slowly unpack and repack their bags, unable to decide what to take. When we left they were still there, and maybe they still are!
One of the marshals at this transition was a regular racer JD Eskelson. “I’m usually racing and this my first time volunteering,� he said, “man is it an experience seeing the race from the other side. I’ve only slept one hour since the start.� He told us about some of the problems a few of the other teams were having. “The other Columbian team left here without a punch card, and a couple of teams were unranked, having lost team mates. Only 2 of Team Orion were still continuing and 3 of team 35. Their girl was hypothermic at the orienteering and they said she could barely move even when sat by a fire.
“The Ukranian team, OS Direct had different troubles, they’d forgotten their maps for the trek, leaving them behind at the kayak/trek stage and had to set off with the tourist map we were giving out! They faced a penalty too as the marshals had found food hidden in their kayaks, which is against the rules.
As we left JD was busy helping move bikes and barrels out of transition and the staff were waiting for the final few teams to come in. They will ride down the road to the transition at El Barco de Avila, where there is a mandatory 4 hour rest and the teams will regroup for a while.See All Event Posts
