Double Bigfoot Thunder Race Report

To build some team camaraderie with our Texas Independence Relay Teams Jon Walk and I entered and rode in the 9th annual Midnight Bike Cruise benefiting the Montgomery County Food Bank on August 11. We let our teams know what we were doing but had no takers and we ended up touring The Woodlands roads after midnight with several hundred other cyclists for what would be 23 miles. It was a fun and unique event.

Round two would be the 2nd Annual The Woodlands Adventure Race benefiting The Woodlands High School Triathlon Team to be held on Labor Day. This event looked like it would be a lot of fun with its format of completing challenges at different locations throughout The Woodlands. The invitation went out to our TIR teams again for another opportunity for some team building activities.

The day before the race there was a short paragraph in the Conroe Courier running section stating…..
ADVENTURE RACE – And with no race-day registration available tomorrow at the 2nd annual The Woodlands Adventure Race in Northshore Park, you’re left with no choice but to come out and cheer on Woodlands Fit half marathon coach and The Woodlands Running Club secretary Bill Dwyer and myself as our “Double Bigfoot Thunder” team will compete and help raise funds for The Woodlands High School Triathlon Team.

So much for being under the radar. My team members know I’m working hard to be in shape for the relay…. but to let all of Montgomery County know is a little different. I guess there is no more slacking during workouts now.

The night before was spent going over my bike and making sure all was in good working order and organizing my gear. Do I wear Tri gear or running gear? Since I’m still far from being in shape I opted for the running gear. I have to look fast before I put the tri gear on. One note about my bike….it’s a purple and yellow Ironman Centurion from my triathlon days in the 80’s. It’s probably a collector’s item.

Event Day
I arrived at Northshore Park about 7:15am and parked next to Jon who was already there. We picked up our team packets, got marked with our team number 33, and spent the next 30 minutes unpacking and visiting with several of the other participants. Shortly before 8am race director Sandra Sutherland addressed safety, the event rules and handed out envelopes that contained our first set of challenges. After each challenge was completed we would be given a letter. We would write down the letters on a form that we kept with us in a zip lock bag. The last task would be to solve a phrase and turn in the correct answer. Turning in the form was your actual finish.

Teams who had completed this event last year and knew the routine had a clear advantage over rookies like us. TWRC members Greg & Gena Alvarez, who are also members of my Texas Independence Relay Team had done this event before and would cruise to a 4th place overall finish.

Sandra started the event having us all open our envelopes at the same time for the first set of clues. It took a moment to realize that the first four challenges were all within Northshore Park, at each of the four sides of the park. We rushed to the dock by the lake to read about a fern and fill the name of it on our card. Off to the next stop where we had to blow up a balloon and tie it to ourselves. These were very tough balloons to blow up. Next was logging a phone number located on an information post and last was a scrabble board where we had spell out a fitness related word. With the four tasks completed we turned in our card for the next “mission”.

We were off to the Branch Crossing YMCA on our bikes. This is a team event so we needed to stay together. We set a steady pace, Jon on his neighborhood cruiser and me on my classic. We passed a few teams including the two “Crews” teams Dana-Sue & Morgan (age 9), and Bill & Dylan (age 7). Several teams also passed us on our way to the YMCA. On more than one occasion I heard someone say, hey I like your pink bike. Back in February Jim Braden mentioned something about my bike being pink. It’s not pink.

Setting up for the training groups I’ve helped with over the year’s gives me a big advantage on knowing the length of just about every road in The Woodlands. We took the most direct way to the YMCA and did leap ahead of a few of the teams who had passed us.

At the YMCA our task was to each swim 50 meters in relay fashion while holding three balloons in one hand and then go to the top of the water slide for our letter, go down the slide and get our next mission as we exited the pool. I went down the slide slower than the team behind me and we had a little pile up, the three of us hit the water at the same time. It was one of the teams that had said they liked my pink bike.

Our next mission was to bike to Cranebrook Park. I knew where Cranebrook Drive was but was unfamiliar with the Park . To make sure we didn’t get off course I did a quick consult of our supplied parks map and we were off on our bikes. Cranebrook is less than two miles from the YMCA so we were there very quickly…not quite recovered from the one armed swim. Our task was a relay run on a short BMX course with an egg on a spoon. I got into a short kicking match with a member of the team that I collided with on the water slide. Jon was also pressed by her teammate.

Our next mission was to go back to the Branch Crossing YMCA. While exiting Cranebrook Park we saw both Crews family teams arriving. Wow – Morgan and Dylan were hanging tough. The task at the YMCA was for each of us to kick a soccer ball across a short field and score a goal. We were to do this while holding hands. That’s two soccer balls and we had to stay together as we each tried to score in different goals set next to each other. We both missed and had to re-kick.

After finally completing the soccer task we were off to Terramont Park, about 2 miles from the YMCA, where our mission was a little Frisbee golf. This task was to find tee box 9, one member would play hole 9 with a Frisbee and the other would run a lap around hole 8. Our Luke’s Beat program uses Terramont a lot so we completed this task quickly. As we were leaving we saw local Ironman Alan Richardson trying to find tee box 9. We were very surprised that at the moment we were ahead of him.

Our next mission was to bike back to Northshore Park. As we exited the park we noticed the Crews family once again arriving at Terramont. Yes we were ahead of an Ironman, but we still had Dana-Sue & Morgan and Bill & Dylan too close for comfort. Did I mention that Morgan & Dylan are 9 and 7 yrs old?

It’s a long ride back to Northshore. After about 4 miles our lead over Alan Richardson was over as he and his son passed us like we were standing still. We stayed steady and were able to pass one team and get into a little sprint action with another coming into the park.

Back at Northshore our last task was to fill a bowl with water across a volleyball net. They gave us a little leeway and we completed this task quickly. Once completed we were given the last letter and it was time to solve the puzzle.

The puzzle had 13 letters and, wait a minute, we only had 10! We had missed an important clue that had given the positions of three letter A’s. Getting just a little outside help we did manage to solve the phrase and we turned in our form for a 34th place finish out of 50 teams. About the outside help – the teams that had already finished were all cheering and helping as everyone finished so there was no advantage for one team over another.

Morgan & Dylan faded a little on the last long bike segment from Terramont to Northshore. They did have us worried more than once during the day which they should consider a big victory. They are two amazing kids.

There were awards in several categories including best costume and best team name. Our “Double Big Foot Thunder” was awarded best team name. As race director Sandra Sutherland announced us she also asked everyone…”did everyone see Bill’s bike? Those are custom made aero bars that you don’t see anymore”. Yes it’s a classic, but it’s a fast classic. At least she didn’t say it was pink.

I really enjoyed the morning with great friends for a great cause. This race will be on my calendar from now on.