Friendly Strangers in Chicago

Wild Onion Urban Race

September 13, 2002 

Story by Carey

 

“What have I managed to get myself into this time?” I was thinking last Friday as Lake Michigan had her way with me.  I felt a bit like a penny in a washer.   But I was making good progress paddling my little red kayak, following Nancy and heading toward the beautiful skyline of Chicago just beginning to light up in the early evening.   Gradually though, I kept falling behind.  I concentrated harder (“stop loafing & start paddling”) … but fell farther behind.  “What’s going on here?” I thought.  I shouted out for Nancy to wait.  When I caught up and heard her say “your boat is sinking!”, my perceptions and thoughts shifted.  “Ok, it can’t be that bad, remain calm”.  But panic crept in uninvited.  Time seemed to somehow slip out of control (“it’s getting dark fast”),  the water became rougher (“wow, it’s really getting hard to stay upright”), and our distance from shore looked farther than ever.  Then my little red boat flipped over.  I managed to get out of the boat with only a millisecond of panic.  But it would be impossible to right the boat and bail the water.  The possibility would’ve been allot better if the drywell hadn’t been stuffed with skates!

 Skates?  Let me explain.  This was just the second leg of the Wild Onion Urban Adventure Race in Chicago.  I was participating voluntarily and signed all the waivers as proof.  I’ll state the obvious: I’m one of many crazy thrill-seekers paying good American money for the chance of just such a scenario to unfold.  Why?  Don’t ask, because I really don’t know.  This particular version of adventure race involved skating, skootering (no motors), paddling, biking, running and anything else the race director can think of.  All in and around Chicago for 24 hours non-stop.  The race motto is “It’ll make you cry!”  If this sounds like fun to you, then you’re one of the crazies.

I was racing with Nancy and a new friend Kier O’Neil as team Crew Zen.  Race morning started out a bit bumpy.  Our rental van would not start.  Even after being coaxed by the wonderful people of Chicago.  The hotel staff were literally on their backs under this van, talking about removing the starter! 

 

Nancy was on the phone and within 30 minutes our new van was delivered to us at our hotel.  This is Friday morning at 8 am in downtown Chicago … I was, and still am stunned by these friendly people.  So we manage to get to the race start in plenty of time and everything starts out smooth. 

We’re STOKED to discover one of the top teams, Team SoBe, has staged their gear right beside us in the parking lot.  Kier had gotten these guys autographs the day before the race at gear check.  We laughed at him.

 

Getting ready to start.  Danelle Ballengee of 2^nd place Team SoBe is directly behind me.

 

 

And we’re off!

 

We had completed the first 14 mile skate leg along the lake shore in 2 hours.  The path was paved and we were pumped.  I biffed a couple of times and Nancy was actually on the hood of a car at one point, but overall it went well.  After the skate, we had to choose one teammate to “coasteer” back along the shore while the other 2 took the kayaks.  I thought the coasteering would be tough; something none of us had any experience in.  Kier bravely volunteered to give it a shot.  Nancy and I would paddle to the rendezvous at checkpoint #2 (CP2).  Nancy and I took Kier’s skates and quickly loaded up our “small” plastic boats and shoved off. 

The skyline was beautiful in the distance … and the water was rough.

 

 

Elsie and Mindy waiting for us at CP2.  Note our scooters ready in the foreground.

I’m now swimming in Lake Michigan on a Friday evening, struggling to the shore with a swamped kayak full of skates.  Nancy and I hook up my kayak to hers using our towing system made of surgical tubing.  We start heading to the shore.  Nancy’s paddling, trying to pull a kayak completely full of water and skates, I’m holding on to the kayak trying to kick … and not drown.  It’s not long before we realize, this is not going to work.  We are too far from shore and it’s getting dark.  There are no other boats around.  I’m getting scared that Nancy is going to flip in the water which is getting rougher by the moment.  Suddenly, it occurs to me … the phone!  “Nancy, get the emergency phone and dial for help!” I shout.  “Kier has it”, Nancy responds.  There was no need to discuss what an oversight that had been.  “Look, there’s a boat (with a motor) coming toward us!”  This is good.

 We start shouting “help” toward the boat.  I discovered shouting “help, help” in earnest makes me feel helpless … and a little like a lunatic .  Where’s that darn whistle?  The boat doesn’t see us.  It’s totally dark now.  Hmm, this may be harder than we think.  But thanks to our fantastic support crew of Mindy and Elsie Walker, Nancy’s headlamp had been taped to her helmet “just in case”.  Nancy smartly uses it to signal the next boat.  We later learn Nancy had actually signaled “OSO”.  The boat captain sees me in the water and realizes that we really do need help.  I climb up onto the back of the boat.  We tie Nancy’s boat to the back and try to make it to CP2.  It is very rough; my swamped boat breaks loose, we have to go back for it.  We struggle to pull it aboard.  Nancy jumps out of her kayak, swims to the boat and climbs on.  We motor in as close as possible to the beach.  The motor hits bottom.  The rope gets caught in the propeller … this is very bad.  The captain quickly strips his shirt and reaches under the boat to pull the rope free.  We push my kayak off his boat and I jump in after it.  The captain throws the paddles toward me and disappears into the night.  “Thank You” doesn’t even begin to express our gratitude to this man that will remain a stranger.  A friendly stranger … from Chicago.

We make it to shore cold and wet and learn that Kier had arrived only 20 minutes prior.  He had his own battle with the angry lake.  In one of the “swimming” portions of the coasteering , he loses his drinking water.  Thankfully, in true adventure racing spirit, other teams share thiers.    After the shock of being rescued at sea diminishes, I’m back in the racing mode.  We get top-notch support from our crew and get prepared for a scootering leg through the city.  I catch up to Nancy as we’re checking out of CP2 and catch a race official saying something like “so you guys are still official, right?”.  “Sounds good, let’s go …. now what did he ask?”

We head out on the scooters for one of the most unique and fun race legs I’ve ever done.  We scooter a short distance to the Sear’s Tower and learn as expected that we’re to climb up to the top:  103 stories within a small and very hot stairwell.  And then come down the same way.  The volunteer tells us this is the tallest building in the country.  I realize this is because the WTC no longer exists; I can think of nothing to say as images of that day rush back to me.  As we start climbing the stairs, I can’t help thinking of all those whose last act was climbing the stairs of the WTC.  This makes me feel strangely inspired and slightly guilty.  We eagerly start tackling the climb but quickly slow down as we realize the stifling heat in the stairwell is going to make this quite a challenge.  Kier was sweating more than anyone I’ve ever seen.  We soon start taking a short break every 10 floors, then every 5.  We pass many teams that are on their way down who offer words of encouragement.  We learn the top is a cool and beautiful oasis… 5 more floors. … 5 more floors.  The view at the top was worth the climb; the city was lit up in orange. 

 We take a short break before heading down.  Down was much easier .. and more dizzying!  When we get back outside, there are only a few scooters left but we don’t get discouraged.  We proceed to take a wild scooter tour of downtown Chicago.  A few of the checkpoints are at pubs and bars.  People are out in the street partying and having fun.  Everyone was surprisingly friendly and didn’t seem to mind crazy people on scooters asking “Which way is Butch McGuire’s pub?” Nancy shouts “Have a drink for us!”

 We ride strong and arrive at the Des Plaines River 30 minutes before the 3:00 am cutoff time.  Our crew stocks us up with food, water and warm clothes and we put our canoe in the river. 

It was very tricky getting in the boat because the water was so low

 

The water is very low and polluted.  We spend the majority of the night getting snagged on rocks and shopping carts, and keeping the sleep monsters away.  Kier paddled like a mad man and we managed to stay in contact with another team.  We make it to the end of the paddling leg just after sunrise.

Our crew is faithfully waiting with our bikes prepared.  We head out for a long bike leg.  We only make it about a block and I hear someone calling out to us… it’s Mindy and she’s running toward us carrying a pack.  She almost gets run over by a car crossing the street and then runs up to me, handing me my pack.  Only then did I realize I had forgot my pack.   Thank you Mindy!

We bike south to the “ Red Gate Woods” for some “classical orienteering”.  I learn “classical” means hard.  We have trouble finding the first of 12 checkpoints.  There are 2 other teams looking for it also.  Finally, Nancy backtracks on the trail and finds it.  We shout to the other teams we’ve found it.  It turns out it was actually very easy to spot which depresses me slightly … but I feel satisfied we found it.

We join up with a team of FBI workers for the rest of the orienteering.  We were moving pretty slowly and were starting to realize the next cutoff time was out of reach.  We later learn the top team (from Finland) finishes the orienteering in 70 minutes.  After several hours, we are finally looking for the last checkpoint as a volunteer is running out of the woods carrying it on his arm!  The course is being pulled out from under us.  I feel slightly frustrated … and a bit relieved.  Team HMRT generously offers us a ride back to the finish line.  After pondering this for a few minutes, we accept.  Our race is over but I really don’t feel too much disappointment. 

We raced hard and I had a great time.  Kier is a wonderful and positive teammate whom I’m looking forward to racing with again.  Elsie and Mindy did a fantastic job supporting us and as always, I can’t thank them enough for their time and generosity.  Thank you.  We promise not to ask you again.!  ; - )   Nancy raced like an animal as usual.  She braved the waves to rescue me in my sinking ship; never once seeming scared.

  Chicago is a great town full of very friendly people.  Maybe next year’s Wild Onion will make me cry!