The Thaw 2026: Revenge, Respect, and a Stowaway

Three months after The Frigid took its pound of flesh (and field-tested my landing gear, twice), KC and I pointed the car back at Kentucky. The Thaw at Cumberland Falls - round two of 361's series, with revenge and respect at the top of the shopping list.

Then the roster grew. Fern had been home sick all week with strep, and on the Friday we were leaving she talked her mom into one more day off school - to come race in Kentucky with us. Her pitch: 'I've never done a race outside of Michigan, plllllllease!' My translation: 'I do not want to face school on Friday after skipping all week, so let me go do literally anything else, even walk around the woods for five hours - hey, does the hotel have a pool and a heated hot tub?' Mom caved. Roster of three.

And here's the thing: the eleven-year-old fresh off a week of strep then raced the entire five hours with us. No complaints, no bottleneck, not once - not at the climbs, not at the miles, not at her navigator's route choices.

Thirty controls out there, and we worked our line to 10th of 14 coed and 34th of 51 overall. Respect: partially collected. Revenge: down payment made. The series isn't done with us, and we are definitely not done with it.

Somewhere in those five hours, Kentucky stopped being unfinished business and started being the place where a kid who just wanted to skip Friday classes out-raced half the field. We'll be back for the rest of the respect. Fern's already asking about the hotel.