Giving Father Time the Finger
The 2019 edition of the 90-Miler brought the 18-foot Jensen back into competition by the NCMC for the first time since 2013 (not counting loaning the boat out). John had a bad back, so representing the club fell to Jack and Bill in the trusty tandem.
As he wasn’t racing this year, Tom decided to join the pit crew for the race and see what those unsung heroes—blah, blah, blah—do to “push” rather than “pull” during the race. As Jack wasn’t working at the moment, he was going to head on Thursday to Old Forge from Kimpton, where he was spending the pre-race week in training with Mary and Tuki, rather than from Buffalo, where Bill would be driving from in his V-6 Accord.
As Jack texted:
“What’s wrong with this picture?
I arrive Old Forge 3:30
Bill arrives 6:30
Conroys 9:00 pm?”
Jack was traveling down to Old Forge with race czar Brian McDonnell, so we can be sure that Jack would not have been to Old Forge that early if he had been left to his own transportation.
Tom’s main mission was to bring the Jensen to the Adirondacks for the race, and, with the Jensen on top of his car, Tom picked up Jan from work in New Haven on Thursday afternoon, and they were on the highway north at around 3 p.m. They stopped in Saratoga Springs for dinner at the Olde Bryan Inn (encountering, as usual, a left-handed waiter) and then got to Clark’s Beach Motel (it is not on any beach) around 9:45 p.m. Jack and Bill brought the Jensen into their motel room to fiddle with the boat, and then it was off to sleep.
For once, Tom didn’t care what was being done with the boat the night before the race, or how long it would take to do whatever was being done. He was VERY relaxed for the first time ever in Old Forge during race weekend.
They all went to Walt’s as usual for breakfast on Friday morning (encountering, as usual, a left-handed waitress) and then to the start line for the race. Tom didn’t care what time they went to breakfast. For the first time, the NCMC boat was in Wave 1 (Tom was sorry he had to miss that wave), which went off at a bit after 8 a.m. Now began Tom’s life as a pit crew member under the tutelage of Jan, the longtime Directeur Sportif of the NCMC for the 90-Miler. With Jack and Bill powering down the Fulton Chain of Lakes, Jan and Tom got everything out of their room and Jack’s and Bill’s room and put all the junk in their car or Bill’s car. They gassed up the Subaru and then drove the cars along the Fulton Chain. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about them:
The Fulton Chain of Lakes is a string of eight lakes located in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, United States. The chain is the dammed-up Moose River, and the dam which creates the chain holds back nearly 6.8 billion US gallons of water. The lakes are located in Herkimer and Hamilton Counties. Inlet, Old Forge, and Eagle Bay are towns on them. The chain begins near Old Forge and ends before it reaches Raquette Lake. The lakes are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat, who proposed connecting the lakes to create an Adirondack canal. They are suitable for pontoon boats (the most popular type in the area), kayaks, and motorboats. The chain is part of the 740-mile (1,190 km) Northern Forest Canoe Trail, which begins on First Lake and ends in Fort Kent, Maine. (No mention of canoes?!)
Jan and Tom could see glimpses of the lakes as they drove toward Inlet. They stopped in Inlet and parked. Jan knows where she can get free wi-fi from standing next to a certain building. She connected and checked her work email. They then went into the food store across the street. The store has a deli and Jan bought sandwiches for lunch. Next, they walked to the small bridge over the channel between Fourth and Fifth Lakes, which is where Jan always goes to get the first look at the racers since the start of the race. It was all quiet under the bridge and the water, which is a churning boil when Tom has paddled through the channel during the race, was glass. There were half a dozen people on the bridge. After a while, the first racer, a 76-year-old man in a blue kayak, appeared and cruised under the bridge. A C-4 came by and then another kayaker. Then Jack and Bill appeared! They were the virtual leader on the water in a tandem canoe, and were two hours into their long day, having paddled about 10 miles. They looked great as they powered under the bridge and by their cheering pit crew! Now it was back in the cars for Jan and Tom, and they headed to Eighth Lake state campground to see Jack and Bill get out of Seventh Lake and do the long portage through the campground to Eighth Lake. Jan and Tom missed the campground entrance on Route 28 and passed it because the campground was closed for the season for maintenance work and the sign to the entrance had been taken down! They stopped at Raquette Lake, which was the first point at which they could turn around. Tom parked Bill’s car at Raquette Lake and got in Jan’s car, and they headed back to find the campground. This time they were successful in finding and entering the campground, which was eerily empty. It is usually full of campers during the race. They parked and walked down the camp road past all the empty campsites and down to the beach where Jack and Bill would be starting their portage. They were afraid that the big plastic Green Giant statue would not be at the campground, but he was there at a pit stop a volunteer was manning. It turned out that the volunteer was the owner of the statue. Tom and Jan chatted with a few race volunteers while they waited for the first paddlers. One of the volunteers mentioned that he knew a racer who had done the Yukon race. Tom figured it might be Paul Repak and asked the volunteer for the name of the paddler and it was Paul, who should have stuck with the NCMC, as he finished in a tandem canoe in 18:29! The lone elderly kayaker appeared on Seventh Lake and came in to the campground first, and then a few other boats arrived. Jack and Bill then appeared in the distance. Again, only a few boats came in to the portage ahead of them, and they were way in front of most of the field and looked good. They got out of their boat, put it on the wheels, and headed through the campground, with Jack picking up some Oreo cookies at the pit stop. Jan and Tom walked along with them and chatted. The racers got back in their boat at Eighth Lake and headed for the portage that would bring them to the dreaded Browns Tract, or Brown Tract, or Brown’s Tract (There is a Brown Tract state campground, so perhaps it should be called that.) After seeing Jack and Bill off in Eighth Lake, Jan and Tom left the campground and drove together back to Raquette Lake, where they would now see Jack and Bill from a bridge at the point where Brown Tract empties into Raquette Lake. Since they had time to kill, they tailgated, eating their sandwiches and having a beer. Then they walked to the bridge. There were a lot of spectators on the bridge. Mac was also there and Tom told him what a great time he was having NOT paddling. Soon enough, the spectators could see paddlers, or at least the top of their heads, navigating the oxbows of Brown Tract. Racers then came to the bridge and paddled under, to the cheers and cow bell clanking by the spectators. Tom finally saw the photographer who takes the photos of the paddlers as they approach the bridge. Soon enough, Jack and Bill appeared and went under the bridge. Jan and Tom ran to the downstream side of the bridge and watched the paddlers navigate over the small beaver dam just past the bridge. Racers have to make a sharp left turn just as they glide over the dam where the water makes a “V.” Bill did a rudder stroke to accomplish the turn and Jack yelled, “Tommy, see how it’s done?” They were then off into Raquette Lake, with a lot of paddling left. Tom and Jan could see Blue Mountain in the distance in the direction the paddlers were heading to the finish line at Blue Mountain Lake. Jan and Tom got in their cars and headed to Blue Mountain Lake and the finish line. They parked on the road not far from the finish line and, since they had more time to kill, browsed the antique fair that was going on. Jan saw some nice rustic chairs with cane seats and discussed them with the vendor. They met Mary as they walked among the vendors and went to the finish line, which was still quiet. Soon enough, however, boats started to come into sight. Kayaks and C-4s began coming in. Jack and Bill had run into heavy wind and beaver dams on the Marion River and had slowed a bit from their fast start, coming in at a respectable 7:30. Jan and Tom took the boat back to the house from Blue Mountain Lake so Jack could add the portable yoke to it for Day Two. When Jan drove near the finish line to pick up the boat, which requires special permission, Mac came over and feigned anger that the NCMC was confusing his staff because the boat had the red dot decal to indicate that Mac’s team was transporting the boat. A couple of people were listening to Mac give Jack a hard time, but he turned to them and said Jack was his best friend. On the way back to Kimpton (and Tuki!), Jan called the vendor with the rustic chairs and told him she would buy them. Mary made a great dinner Friday night.
On Saturday it was off to Long Lake for the start of Day Two. Jan and Tom took the boat on their car and Jack and Bill followed with Mary driving. At Long Lake, spectators cannot go to the start line on Day Two, so after Jack and Bill picked up the boat to take it to the start, the pit crew went to the bridge at Long Lake to see them. It is cool to see a wave of boats coming from the start line to the bridge, and then to see the paddlers all head down Long Lake after they go under the bridge. Jack and Bill were right at the front of their wave as it got to the bridge. The next place to see them was way down the Raquette River at Axton Landing, so Mary followed Jan and Tom to Blue Mountain Lake and Jan purchased the chairs. Three of the chairs fit in the Conroy car and three in Mary’s, and they all drove back to Kimpton with them, putting the ones in Mary’s car in the basement for storage. Tom and Jan then went to Axton Landing, which is down a dirt road at Corey’s, to see Jack and Bill go by. Axton Landing is about seven or eight miles from the finish line. They came by soon after Jan and Tom began seeing the first boats, and they were making great time. Tom and Jan then went to the finish at the Crusher and joined Mary. Jack and Bill had a very good day and finished in 5:45, a great time, the third fastest tandem time on Day Two in NCMC history. They all went back to Kimpton and Jan and Tom drove to Saranac Lake to pick up a fine beef stew dinner that Mary had ordered. At some point in the evening, Bill asked if they would still be doing the race if they couldn’t stay at the NCMC clubhouse on Kimpton. The answer is probably not. Kimpton offers good food and luxurious digs, and now has an outdoor shower.
On Sunday morning, they went to Fish Creek campground to see Jack and Bill go off on the last day. Jack and Bill accelerated nicely at the start of the race, as the video shows. Tom and Jan headed home at this point, leaving Mary to take care of the racers. Jack and Bill finished at Lake Flower in 4:00:01, getting delayed a bit trying to paddle a short cut on Oseetah Lake. As Jack related in a text:
“We took a bad shortcut out of Oseetah and had to get out of the boat and push it.
We mistook the usual short cut fell up to our knees in muck. But the muck was a badge of honor.”
You would think that Mac would have taken a couple of seconds off their time so they could have finished under 4:00! When Jack and Bill finished, Mac said something to the effect that they would be offering paddling lessons.
It was Jack’s 25th 90-Miler, for which he earned a pin in the shape of an Adirondack chair. It was Bill’s 21st race. With a time of 17:14 overall, despite the tough conditions on Day One, it is fair to say that Jack and Bill gave Father Time the finger in the 90-Miler! Tom was awarded an A+ for his pit crew duties, despite Jan telling him to shut up about telling Jack not to soap dishes before putting them in the dishwasher at Kimpton.
Bill drove back to Buffalo Sunday because he had to compete Monday in a golf tournament, at which he won $9.
The 90-Miler has evolved over the years to a race full of C-4s and kayaks. Despite being in a non-racing tandem canoe, and despite averaging 65.5 years of age, Jack and Bill finished 96th out of 255 boats! As best can be determined, in boats with two occupants that were not identified as kayakers or guide boat users, Jack and Bill finished 29th of 89 boats. Fun fact: Jack learned from Mac that the volunteers who operate the pit stop at the Raquette Falls portage on Day Two paddle to the spot the day before and camp. Also, when picking up the Jensen at the finish line on Day One, the NCMC team spoke with a guy who did the Cannonball (paddling the 90-Miler in one day straight through) this year with Mac. Jack should definitely do it sometime with Mac. That would no doubt produce some entertaining anecdotes.