Racing Solo at the Raid Pulse 8 Hour Adventure Race

On May 17th, Nathalie, Steve and I (James) headed to Camp Air Eau Bois, near Lac-Ste-Marie, Quebec for the Raid Pulse 8 hour adventure race. We all chose to race solo for this race, giving each of us the chance to test our mettle and navigation skills. Nathalie and I had acquired new Spirit surfskis late in the fall, so this would be our first chance to test them out in a race. With the lingering cold through April and early May, we didn’t have as much practice as we had hoped for on the boats, and quite nervous about the risk of dumping into the very cold water - particularly once we found out the race would be starting on the water.

James on the first trek section

Once we saw the maps, Nathalie and I (and a few other teams) chose the unconventional option of portaging our boats a few hundred metres across a point of land to the first CP, while Steve chose to paddle to the CP with the rest of the teams. It was a tough climb to get up from the shoreline, so Nathalie and I agreed to help each other portage the kayaks to the other side. It seemed like a great plan, as we arrived on the other shoreline to see a bunch of teams still off in the distance approaching the CP we were heading to. Nathalie hopped into her boat and sped off, and I hopped in mine, ready to give chase. Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized that when I slipped on a mossy rock while portaging the boats, I had actually cracked the blade of my paddle at the heel. So when I took my first full paddle stroke on the right side, the blade of the paddle gave way, and I promptly rolled into the water - not the start I was hoping for... soaking wet and with a broken paddle! My only option was to hop back in the boat and paddle exclusively on the left side, using the rudder to keep me straight. 

As I arrived at the next CP, I was extremely lucky to see a familiar face - a fellow athlete who wasn’t racing and had paddled in to the next CP - who saved my race by offering me his paddle. What a relief! The rest of the paddling, which included both mandatory and optional “advanced” trekking CPs, went relatively smoothly. I arrived on shore to see a number of boats, but since not all of the CPs were mandatory, it was tough to know one’s actual ranking in the race. After a quick transition and a slightly tricky “marked trail” section over a big hill, I was off on the first bike leg. Overall, the biking was a lot of fun, particularly thanks to our new Cannondale F29 Carbon 3 bikes, which both Nathalie and I are loving! There was a great mix of gravel roads, trails, mud, and even a fair bit of bike whacking too! I had a few struggles with the navigation at a few points, but eventually managed to find my way. I was really doubting my navigation when I lost the overgrown trail as we approached the first bike drop, but after a couple hundred metres of bike whacking, I came out on the road - very relieved!

Steve hammering toward the finish line

The next trek was the crux of the race for me. I figured it would be some of the tougher navigation and, as such, would be my biggest test of the day. I wasn’t sure if the course was clearable at this point, but I decided I would try to get all of the CPs in this trek section and deal with the potential fallout afterwards. I opted to start with the simplest navigation - straight up to summit of a huge hill - the highest CP of the day, and what looked like the highest peak in the area. This was a real grind for me, as I was trying to push the pace, knowing that if my navigation was poor on the rest of this section, at least I could make up some time here. The view from the top was amazing! Back down I went and off to try and find the rest of the CPs. I was very happy with my navigation through this section, not having made any major errors and having corrected my mistakes fairly quickly. 

I transitioned back onto the last bike section as quickly as I could and tried to put down the hammer. Around this time, it occurred to me that I had forgotten to do something very important up to this point in the race... eat! I had chugged a Boost and gulped as much Nuun as I could at the 2 transitions, but otherwise was so focused on the map and not making big mistakes, that it hadn’t occurred to me to eat. Now I was starting to feel the effects. So I began the challenging task of trying to eat while biking on some pretty gnarly trails. I managed to finally get a Fruit2 and a granola bar into me and chased it with as much Nuun as I could ingest. Again, I enjoyed the trails and the different challenges, but clearly the lack of nutrition was catching up to me. At this point I wasn’t sure what position I was in, but from the information I had, it appeared to be 2nd place, so I pushed as hard as I could to try and catch the leaders, with no clue how far they were ahead of me. At one intersection, I stopped to look at my map and saw a team about 50 metres down what I suspected was the wrong trail. But I didn’t know if this was the lead team or if it was a team that had skipped some CPs. I assumed it was the latter and tried to keep up the pace as much as I could.

James discussing the race with race director Thierry Raymond

I rolled into the manned marshaling point where we could either head for the finish line, or be shown a map with 2 additional advanced CPs to get on the bike before finishing. I opted for the advanced CPs after being told that I was in the lead at that point. I headed off, nearly out of water and feeling really wiped. Not far up the road, I made an error that had me climbing for about 500m in the wrong direction. Coming back to the intersection, I now had no idea if I had been passed by any teams, which meant having to assume I was once again chasing a team in front of me. I chomped on a Fruit3 bar (the new "revved up" version of the Fruit2 bars) and drank the last of my water and headed down what I hoped was the right trail to the final 2 CPs and the Finish. The Fruit3 bar made a huge difference and I finally started to get some energy back. The navigation was a little tricky in a few spots, so I was extremely relieved upon seeing each of the 2 remaining CPs. The final downhill section of trail was sketchy, but super fun. I crossed the finish line and received confirmation that I had indeed won the race. What a great surprise!

Speaking with Nathalie and Steve after the race, it sounds like they both had a great day, with a few challenges mixed in as well. Steve finished in 3rd place of the solo male category. Nathalie was the lone solo female in the race, and therefore got to race against the boys. Even still, she managed to finish in 4th place of all of the solos. She says that she found the bushwhacking tough - and there was a lot of it! But the one time I did see her in the bushwhacking, she was chest deep crossing a swamp - now that’s hardcore!

Once again, we all agreed that the Osprey Rev18 backpacks, Swiftwick socks, and 2XU clothing were awesome! It was also great to sport our new North Face clothing branded with the X:act Nutrition and Endurance Aventure logos. Thanks to all of our sponsors for their support!

Nathalie celebrating her 4th place solo finish

Steve relishing his 3rd place solo finish

James at the finish line - happy to be done!