Preparations and people

I've already said how awesome Teva was, but 24 hours before it, I was not feeling so confident.

A shaky start

The day before the race, I was very nervous. In fact, I'd been nervous since Monday. I was worried that I would hold the team back or, worse yet, not enjoy the experience.

But, there it was - that was the whole point - this journey was supposed to be fun and full of laughs.

An early dinner with family (big bowl of pasta!) helped me relax and I got home in time to organise my gear before going to bed. By the time I hit the sack, I definitely felt ready to have a good time.

The day dawns

The day started very early.

My alarm startled me awake at 4am. By 5am I was collecting Mel and Candice and, about an hour later, we were meeting up with Kerry at the services near the Bribie Island turn off. I was starting to get pretty excited.

The event was held at Beerwah, near Australia Zoo. A week earlier, In2Adventure had sent out joining instructions that explained we were to first drop our bikes and then head back to Race HQ to register and prepare.

For me, driving up to the bike drop-off zone was when it all felt real. There were so many teams arriving and so many cars, bikes and people that I was reminded of cities like Amsterdam and Hanoi.

Senna and Susan from Adventure Seekers were among the officials helping to herd bikes and people at the drop-off area. Grabbing a few minutes to chat with them added to my excitement.

Gear and more gear

Back at Race HQ, we found a patch of ground and dumped our gear. Hydration packs full of food, water, compasses, tyre tubes and repair kits. Esky and extra water. Map board and container full of essentials like pens, highlighters, suncream and a change of clothes - just in case.

With our signed indemnity waiver in hand, Mel, Kerry and I lined up at the registration tent, where we received our race packs, bibs, map, course instructions, control card and timing chip.

We read through the instructions, planning our route and noting controls that could prove tricky. We had just enough time to make a loo stop, apply more suncream and get our packs on our backs before heading over for the first challenge and race briefing.

The starting line

The first challenge was a beep test, designed to stagger the teams at the start. Kerry stepped up as our representative and kept pace with everyone, but Mel and I were pleased when she decided to stop before she used up much-needed energy. As it turned out, our group of teams started just six minutes after the first group - in our opinion, not worth exhausting yourself for.

The race briefing followed, including updates on the course information and track conditions, reminders about safety and race rules. Importantly, the briefing also included clues that would help us in upcoming challenges.

I was stoked to see the friendly faces of the Phoenix Adventure team, as we milled around the start line. In the short time we had to chat, it seemed everyone was pumped for the race.

It was awesome to know some of the other people on the course. In fact, the camaraderie among the competitors was something that kept coming back to me throughout the day.

To be continued...

Tips and tricks

I'm loving this course. The strength and agility session on Tuesday night was a useful reminder that the terrain won't be what I'm used to. We did an exercise that involved leaping in a zigzag between markers - a useful skill, we were told, for rock hopping.

Judging by my performance, I will spend a lot of the race in soggy shoes.

Trail running this morning, drove home a few things for me. The first is teamwork. Andy reminded us to keep an eye on our team mates' position and call out trail conditions to give them warning. My problem will be deciding quickly how to describe a thing so everyone else will understand it perfectly - is it a stick or a branch? A branch or a root?

The other lesson I took away from it was remembering to use my core - it becomes really important for balance on the downhill.

Tonight's session was one I had been looking forward to the most. We went abseiling at Kangaroo Point. It was fantastic!! I was a little fearful at the beginning of each descent, because as the cliff drops away out of sight your natural instinct is get back to level ground. But, deep breathing and not looking down got me over that initial feeling - and the edge.

The rest of the trip down the cliff was cruisy. It's amazing how much control you have of your speed just by tightening and loosening the grip of one hand. The session was run by Susan from Adventure Seekers. She made us feel safe and at ease very quickly. To my thinking, that's exactly what you need when you're about to fall backward off a cliff.

Navigation, kayaking, team building and mountain biking are all to come, then the race on Sunday.

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