Women Rock! Adventure Race

Saturday Jill and I ventured up to Mirror Lake to participate in the Women Rock! Adventure Race. It was one of the nicest days this year, with blue skies and temps in the 50s. Downright steamy after coming out of the cold winter.

We went and hiked up Peters Creek and up to Bear Point the week before because we figured a race starting near Peter's Creek would access the mountains this way and that we would possibly be biking out the Peter's Creek trail and hiking up Eklutna Mountain.

But we were wrong. We didn't take into account that this was a race geared towards beginners. It turned out to be more of an urban adventure race. But it was fun! We navigated roads, trails and powerlines in the Mirror Lake and Peter's creek area and did a bit of bushwhacking to find points in the woods.



The bike portion was interesting as we navigated through a maze of roads whose layout make no sense whatsoever. We then did a huge 1000 foot climb up the hillside in Peters Creek towards Bear Point.

This was painful, but a good gauge of the fitness I am starting with for the summer. I'm feeling pretty good about it. I definitely have more endurance than ever and now just need to work on speed. Despite my higher level of fitness, my lungs were still burning on the climb. I guess it really never does get easier, you just go faster.

My teammate Jill is a beast who, despite not riding very often, can climb on a bike like mad woman. I chased her up the entire climb and got the feeling she was slowing down to wait for me. She really needs to enter some mountain bike races this summer, because I think she could do very well.



The finish line was back at Mirror Lake, where we got a free massage and an aromatherapy foot bath. Now that is a new one. It was awesome, but I hope these new adventure racers don't think that this was a typical race finish. The closest thing I ever got to a foot bath was having to cross a glacial stream (which also actually feels pretty good).



Perilla's Gorillas (I got to name our team since Jill wasn't at the meeting) came in fourth place! What a fun day out in the sunshine!