The Big Hurt – Race Report

Over half a lifetime ago I heard about this event called the Big Hurt. I wasn’t even sure of the elements but I knew I wanted to go for it: a 16-mile mountain bike, 3-mile kayak, 30-mile road bike, and followed 10k run. Right as I was getting ready to race it in college they ended up wrapping up the race and it was no longer an event for almost 20 years. A few years ago race director Lorrie Mitmann started the race back up and this year I was able to add it back to the schedule.

In 2020, of course pretty much all organized events on the Olympic Peninsula have been cancelled and the Big Hurt was no exception. This gave me and my good friend and training partner Gay Hunter the opportunity to do the race as a virtual underground event and make a few modifications to fit our specific athletic bents.

The mountain bike ride is usually about a 6-7 mile loop on some of the technical terrain in the hills followed by the rest of the mileage driving down the backroads into the transition area in town. We opted because of the rainy conditions and slick trail to head out on the Olympic Adventure Trail and went from the start of the dirt section out some rolling hills to past what we call the dinner table where there is an incredible view from a handmade bench. We made it out past the 7-mile mark and took a left on the road up to the private property closure on the road. This was my first time bringing the InReach that I borrowed from Marshall Urlich. It went well up to that point but apparently, I didn’t have it charged very much so it quickly turned off mid-way through the ride. Riding the adventure trail was just beautiful and reminded my how pristine this area of Washington is and I’m so grateful to be surrounded by greenery and good friends. For the most part there was hardly anyone on the trail until we were almost back to the car and then we ran into, Larry Little and Jon Palmer on their bikes and Jessica, Katherine, and Mo running the trails. After about two hours on my borrowed Gary Fischer Mountain bike from my friend Doug Ahmann we were back at the car and loading up to head back to the transition zone near Bar Hop in downtown Port Angeles.

Stage 2 was the stand up paddle board (SUP) for me and the kayak for Gay. I had never done a distance SUP ride so this was a big unknown for me. We both got into the water and made it most of the way to the end of Ediz Hook about a mile from where we started. We then headed left toward the paper mill for another diagonal followed by the turn back to shoreline. We circled around a tanker in the middle which was a notable experience. After just under an hour I had covered 3.1 miles on the SUP and Gay had covered a wider loop and beat me back to the landing beach. I’m pretty sure that a kayak is at least 50% faster than a SUP, but I held my own for the most part and was pleasantly surprised how quickly we finished the route. Another major highlight was not falling into the water where I did see a couple large jellyfish, some seals, and a marginal amount of seaweed and floating logs.

Stage 3 was right up my alley with the road bike. I decided to take the recumbent and Gay was on her triathlon bike. We navigated out on the Olympic Discovery trail for seven miles, then looped back and did another trek out to the end of Ediz hook before returning to the trail and making the final out and back to Four Seasons Ranch about six miles from the transition zone heading east out of town. In just under two in a half hours we were ready for our final transition to the run.

Stage 4 was the 10k run. Gay had a hip replacement this past year so she’s walking for at least the next few years. That doesn’t stop her from plugging away at about a 14-minute mile with a fair amount of ease. I paced with her for the first mile and then headed out on my own. The next few miles were right around nine minute pace and then on the way back I realized I could still get the 10K under an hour so I dropped down to just under 8:30 mile pace and managed to finish out the loop in 59:55 seconds to end an incredible day of adventure.

So thankful for this event and this community and really looking forward to doing it with others in the future. For now having my last major event before Uberman out of the way feels awesome.