Gear check day!

So, today was a pretty busy day doing all the gear & skills checks! I had no idea that this would be an all day sort of process ... very glad that we were able to do this today so we have tomorrow to do the last minute tweaks so we're completely dialed in for the big dance. ;-)


We started the day by going to the bike shop so Jeremy could pick up the bike he rented. Jeremy is seriously amazing in the "deals" that he is able to swing - absolutely unbelievable how he is able to get people to loan him things or give him incredible deals! I think its a combination of using the Irish accent and his sharp skills as an attorney (although I don't think he mentions that to most people). Here's a pic of Jeremy on his rented bike ... testing out clipless pedals for the FIRST time ever. No doubt though, he'll pull it off and will do great on the biking sections.


We did a climbing skills test where we had to ascend a rope that was tied to one of the ski lift poles, including passing over a knot in the rope. Then we rappelled down another rope. It was very good to do this because I got some good advice on the setup for my ropes gear which really helped. Of course, yes, I was still a little nervous the higher we got, but it was really quite safe since we always had 2-3 safety connections and there were several people around to make sure that we were doing things correctly. I was absorbing every piece of info I could, but was fairly relieved to find out that there will be ropes safety people around at all places where there are ropes like this to ensure that we're doing everything correctly. :-)

We also spent quite a bit of time in a lake doing water skills stuff ... the water was a balmy 47 degrees! I had a wetsuit on, plus "dry pants" and a "dry top" which kept out most of the water, but the seal wasn't perfect so some water got in - and I was happy to have the wetsuit on underneath! We swam around in the lake on our riverboards. We also paddled around in an inflatable kayak to show that we could turn it and then we also had to flip it upside down when we were in the middle of the lake and show that we could flip it back over and get back in. Not bad in a lake, but I won't be upset if we don't get to test that out on the rivers during the race! We also did the same sort of tests (including the flip) in hard-shelled 2-person kayaks.

Other "checks" included gear checks for the biking sections and the mandatory gear that we need to carry with us at all times. Still amazing how much stuff we need to carry with us at all times - I should have brought a scale so I could weigh the pack! One of the things in that mandatory gear is an 8oz bear spray can that each of us needs to carry, accessible at all times. Ok, well, that's another piece of gear that I hope we never need to use! We had briefings on the emergency beacon & tracking device we'll be carrying, medical & safety info, completed a survey, took the team photo, and finally picked up our SWAG bags with lots of goodies. If you take a look at our team photo (team #18) which should be available on the primal quest website in a few days (ecoprimalquest.com), you'll see that we had a bit of fun with it. LOL!!

Ok, final parting picture before I head to sleep ... hmmm great visions for my dreams tonight!