Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Ski Utah - Vacation

We flew out on Christmas Day, on Delta - anyone keeping track of the news knows that is the same day someone on a Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit tried to blow themselves up. The next day we met my buddy Dean for some tubing at Gorgoza Park. This little park is a great place for fun, a lot less expensive than skiing, and you don't really need any skills other than hanging on to the tubes. Highly recommended ($20 for 2 hours of tubing) - but go early as it gets real crowded.



Day 2 we headed over to Canyons Ski  Resort. We had a lot of fun on most of the slopes, but Anna took a nasty spill on Doc's Run - a blue slope but with a couple of pretty challenging sections especially with the thin snow cover (they only had about 23" base).  The Canyon's is huge with a lot of runs, though most of the runs cater to more experienced skiers. I did not like the fact that you needed to take a Gondola ride to get to the main ski area - if you have non-skiers in the group, they'll miss out on most of the action, and the place is so huge that it is hard to get the family back together.

Day 3 was Solitude Ski Resort. We had planned on going to Brighton, but the parking lot was full and they were turning everyone away. So us (and a lot of other cars) headed to Solitude. Great setup for day skiing. Nice lift service on the Moonbeam Express right from the lodge and a wonderfully easy beginners slope. The main ski area at top of Moonbeam is massively open - just going from one side to another is a decent run. The green slopes I thought were borderline blue, but the blue slopes are fantastic, wide, with steep areas and rollouts. This is a great place for intermediate skiers. True beginner skiers are confined to one lift that had very long lines all day long (Link duo). If you ski this, ski right from Moonbeam list to the Apex lift and stay on Apex and Sunrise lifts - no lines and great runs. As a plus the drive up and down the canyon is quite scenic.



Day 4 we took the ski bus to Brighton. It may be the holidays - but the bus was packed ($3.50 per person each way) going both up and back from the resort. The bus has convenient pickups to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon from the base. I enrolled Anna is ski school (the locals recommended it highly). I headed up the main lift (Majestic) and was rewarded with incredible blue and green runs, a terrain park, lots of cuts, carves, trees to ski through - and generally great skiing. The green slopes were nice and easy, the blue slopes were relatively easy blue with nice open areas to bail across the slope of you lost control. The half-pipe and terrain park are below the lift line - so you get entertainment on the way up the lift. Anna progressed wonderfully in ski school. Here is some of the Green terrain in the video.




Day 5 - Since Catherine was still not feeling like skiing and Anna was tired - we decided to hit Park City Resort. This is the best place to go if you have skiers and non-skiers as there is a lot to do there besides ski. The girls went ice skating while I decided to see if I could do every lift on the mountain in just half a day. I finally decided to bail on my quest - though I was only 3 lifts shy (Eagle and First Time which go from the base were 2 that I missed). I hit Payday blue run over and over and really enjoyed the view and the run as it had a high speed lift and it was a challenging enough blue to give me a real workout.







I left the slopes tired and feeling pretty good. Park City is really the premiere resort (expensive though). The number of runs and quality of all the runs is very good. My recommendation is that if you have a mix of skiers and non-skiers, go here and let the non-skiers explore all the other things in the resort and in Park City while you ski your heart out.



Day 6 - The plan for today was to hit Brighton again and the snow ski school. Anna was switching to board to take classes with Catherine. We headed out around 10:30 and quickly realized from the traffic that every resort was going to be packed (Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, and Brighton). A mile outside of Brighton that traffic came to a complete stop and we realized we were not going to be able to ski at the resorts. We turned around and found a really cool camping area and sledding hill along the mountain (with plenty of others). We hiked and did "poor man skiing" basically walking up the hill and boarding/skiing down.



After the playing in the Wasatch woods we headed downtown. One of the highlights was Temple Square. There were (besides other things) Nativity scenes from different countries.













Day 7- Back to Brighton - We finally made it up to Brighton for a final full day of skiing. I put everyone (including myself) in lessons. My instructor - Brian was awesome. I was able to correct my posture, cure putting my arms behind my body, and improve my hip motion. Black runs that I used to find intimidating became fun. I found myself seeking steeper terrain. Linda, Catherine, and Anna also all enjoyed their runs. Also the views from the top of the mountains in Brighton are incredible.

Day 8 - We drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon to see Alta Ski Resort and Snowbird. As always a beautiful drive and hopefully we'll get a chance to ski them on the next trip. After that it was to the Museum of Natural History at University of Utah where we got to see scientists and technicians working on excavations of a new uncategorized dinosaur ( a cool looking Triceratops looking dinosaur)  and tour the museum - which is a pretty awesome museum. 

Friday, December 04, 2009

Beginners Guide to the 24-36 Hour Racing


This guide is designed to help teams and individual get through all the questions necessary to successfully complete a 24-36 hour expedition style adventure race. It is recognized that most beginners to this style of racing will be pushing well past their comfort zone and the information here is to help them feel more comfortable and have a successful race and a memorable and enjoyable experience.


Training


            While top teams and competitors will be spending long hours months before the race in hard training sessions – these are not really necessary to complete the race. That is not to say you can walk into an expedition race with not training and complete it successfully. You will want to spend some serious time training for the major disciplines; trekking, biking, and paddling. Here are some tips to get more out of your training;

  1. Designate long training days and incrementally build up your endurance. A long day should be just that a full day of training. The full day can include a mixture of jogging/walking, biking, arm-work (rowing), and other stuff. The real idea is to keep your heart rate up. A long day of yard work is an excellent preparation for racing.
  2. Strengthen your weaknesses.  In the 2001 Coastal Assault most teams spent nearly 10-12 hours paddling. This was not hard paddling – but required strong endurance in a single event to continue. There is no way to tell before-hand what discipline will have long hours, so it is good to work hard on your weaknesses. A strong biker/runner/paddler will normally be able to easily ride 2-3 times their normal workout distance – it is how they do on the disciplines that they are not so good at that will help their success.
  3. Select endurance over speed. Only the elite teams are going to be pushing themselves at their utmost endurance limits. Many top teams do not finish races simply because they are pushing against these limits from the race start. The average adventure racer should never feel uncomfortable with the pace – if you are, slow down. Prepare to go at speeds that are less than what you would compete at for shorter distances.
  4. Go to training days and train with your team. This is a team sport and all teams have weaknesses and strengths (both as a team and in their individual members). All team members should know these limits of the other team members. Training together helps you learn how each member reacts to different stresses (heat, pace, dehydration, etc…)
  5. Train with your pack and gear. It simply makes good sense to do some training with you pack and clothes you plan to use in the race. Make sure that you simulate as best you can the weight conditions of the race.
  6. Train at Night. Any expedition race is going to have night segments. Training in the dark is a different world from the light of day. Some racers absolutely love it (I do), it is cooler and you see things that you don’t normally see during the day (especially on the water). It helps if the team is comfortable with night training.

Selecting a Team


            When deciding to do an expedition race – first decide your goals. A team working towards a top 5 finish is going to have completely different dynamics than the weekend warrior out for fun and adventure. Getting the right team-mates can make the race very enjoyable, the wrong team mates can lead to frustration, and your team mates should all have the same goal. If 2 team mates are out do 100% and 2 team mates are out for fun – the formula is frustration for all.

  1. Pick physically compatible team-mates.  Since all team members complete all disciplines, it is advisable to have at a minimum similar trek/run and bike abilities. Because paddling is typically 2 to a boat; 2 strong and 2 weak paddlers are often compatible as team mates (make sure you have the 2 strong paddlers in different boats).
  2. Pick team-mates with similar goals. You will simply have a better race if you do this.
  3. Pick a team leader. Many teams work by consensus, but all teams still should have one person who is responsible for making decisions – or at a minimum getting the team to make decisions. The team leader should be comfortable with making hard decisions for the team; deciding which strong team mate carries a pack for a hurting team mate, pushing or slowing the pace, ensuring all team members eat and hydrate well.


Adventure Racing Gear


            Gear is not a mystery and when split among team members is usually not that expensive. First use the required gear list and decide who will carry what pieces of required gear. All team members do not need to have each piece of gear – this is a common mistake. All 4 team members are carrying the required bike pump and tube. After that pack has been on your back for 20 hours those extra pounds do feel a lot heavier – split it up. Outside of required gear – here are some recommendations.

  1. Lightweight pack with hydration. You will normally not be more than 6 hours from TA to TA, so you will need to be able to carry required gear and enough fluids and food for that amount of time. Camelback (I use the Cloudwalker for 24-48 hour races, Transalp for longer), Golite, and Moletracks are all packs that I have tried and can vouch as comfortable. I also often use a fanny pack turned towards the front, this gives me quick and easy access to food.
  2. Comfortable Shoes and Socks. -  I personally keep 3 extra pairs of shoes (and socks) with my gear box at the transitions. If I feel any hot spots on my feet I change shoes. Smartwool is probably the best you can do with socks. Also it is effective to lubricate your feet, there are specific lubricants for skin available – but Vaseline is quite effective.
  3. Comfortable Shirt and Shorts. – I wear standard running shorts and either Royal Robbins or Railriders expedition shirts (White or very light colored). I carry an extra pair of lightweight nylon pants for when I need to do any bushwhacking or if the insects get too hungry. Most expedition shirts are long sleeved, but you can easily roll up the sleeves.
  4. Sun-hat or Buff. Keeping the sun off your head can be quite important. I usually wear a Buff (like on Survivor), most racers swear by different types of full coverage racing headwear. Either way make sure you are protected from the sun – by clothes, sunscreen, and headwear. Nothing can make your race miserable like a little bit of sunburn.
  5. Sunglasses – I don’t wear them, other racers do.
  6. Other Gear – Besides the required gear, here is some extra gear that always seems to come in handy; bottle of  highly concentrated DEET spray, extra pack of sunscreen, 12 foot length of webbing, 1 credit card and $20 bill in plastic pouch, lip balm, roll of easyglide or other lubricant.
  7. Required Gear – All races have a required gear list, make sure someone is always responsible for ensuring that the team has this gear. It is quite common to have gear checks at checkpoints in a race and time penalties are normally levied on teams that do not have this gear.
  8. My favorite gear items – Surefire G2 Nitrolon Flashlight (indispensably at night), Camelback Cloudwalker – This is my pack of choice for all but 48+ hr races, Tow rope – mine is an 8 foot length of tubing with carabeaners.

Food and Fluids


            The most common mistake made by teams and team members is not drinking enough fluids. The second most common is not eating enough. This is understandable as it is very easy to get caught up in the race and simply forget to eat. Designate a team member to ensure that the team is eating and drinking. Have them set up regular time intervals (I use 15 minutes for fluids, 30 minutes for food) to have the team eat something. Make the food easily accessible, carry it in a front pack, a shirt pocket of some place where it is easy to get to.

  1. What to eat? – Most beginners worry about this way too much. As long as the food does not cause cramps or allergic reactions, it is going to work. Consider 2 things, do you like the food (will you eat it) and is it easy to carry? My personal favorites are fig Newtons, Quaker oats breakfast bars, peanut M&M’s (unfortunately they melt!),  PBJ Sandwiches, Honey flavored granola bars, and Go-gurts (squeeze tube yogurt). I also usually look forward to grapes, cheese cubes, apples, and other fruit at the transition areas.
  2. What to drink? – Of course water is crucial, beyond that any sports drink will work just fine – you do not need the latest electrolyte carb-balanced hypo recovery energy drink. Some beverages that racers go for are Gatorade/Powerade, Endurox, Accelerade, Endurolyte, and there are scores of others. What you really get out of these is calories and hydration. I like to have a nice variety of Gatorade flavors with me on the race, I look forward to my sips of fluids.
  3. Before the Race – Eating before the race is also crucial. My advice is 2 days before the race – pig out. Basically bank some calories and maximize you store of Glycogen. You will burn it. As far as what to eat – well what do you like?


Sleep


            Every first time racer is going to worry about sleep deprivation. If you are racing in a 24 hour race – don’t worry. You will be very unlikely to even want to sleep – your adrenaline and your body motion will carry you very far. In longer races sleep does become a factor, sleeping becomes a team decision and if the team is sleepy they will have no trouble nodding off. You will also be amazed at how refreshing the short sleep will feel. In longer races and after 2 days without sleep it is often amazing at how amusing the hallucinations can be. The team can often keep itself quite entertained by sharing these.


The Day Before the Race



            The race really starts with the pre-race meeting. Here you normally get your maps and course instructions. Once you have these maps it is now time to get together with the crew and plan out the race strategy – first step for me is to mark the maps. I use highlighters and colored pens to mark out each mile (I place a highlighted dash at one mile intervals along each segment of the course). These markers allow me to estimate travel times from segment to segment with a window for different course conditions. For example many teams will travel a trek section in flat woods at 5 mph average pace. You should have a rough idea of your pacing from your training By knowing where you expect to be and when – you can verify pace using landmarks and the map marks. I make notes on the maps and highlight and annotate course notes directly onto the map. When you are tired and on the course these can be quite handy.

            The other side of pre-race is having the crew prepared. Good teams are in and out of the transition zones in less than ten minutes. This requires good preparation – the crew should be familiar with the bikes, boats, food, and other gear used by the team. It is normal to have all gear and food that you might want laid out and ready to go. You simply go into the TA – grab your gear and food – and go out of the TA. Also be sure to thank your crew for a job well done. In some TA’s where the crew has been waiting for hours for the team to show, and you drag in tired and hurting, grunt a few words and leave – it is possible to have hurt feelings. If you don’t thank them during the race, thank them afterwards.

            Also realize that is really hard to sleep the night before a big race. It will not matter – what matters is the days leading up to the race that you are well rested.

The week before the Race

            My rule of thumb on training. No hard workouts the week before any race (Sprint or Expedition). I take 2-3 days FULL rest (no workouts) before any longer race and 1-2 days full rest before any Sprint (< 8 hrs) race. I will have some light workouts early in the week with lots of stretching to keep my body limber and loose. I also start eating lots of food in the week prior to a race. In most races you will operate at a calorie deficit during the race (unless you have lots of experience). One of the perks of training at the level required for this type of racing is that you can pretty much eat whatever you want – take advantage of that!

During the Race


            Common Mistake #1 – Going out too fast. I have never seen a long race in Florida where the teams are within 15 minutes at the end, so 5 minutes gained running hard to the first TA is not going to get you anything but tired.
           
            Common Mistake #2 – Not paying attention to your map and passport. If you are not sure about what you are doing or whether you are going in the correct direction, stop and read your passport out loud to the entire team – word for word. Use all maps available. 5 – 10 minutes spent here can save you hours.

            Common Mistake #3 – Not eating enough. Racing is a food-fest. Eat as much as you comfortable can – you will burn over 20,000 calories in a 24 hour race. I personally eat as much as I want of anything I can get my hands on (and yes I do eat Vienna Sausages and beer in a race)

            Common Mistake #4 – Athletic Pride. If you are hurting, tell your team-mates. Even a 5 minute tow can bring you back to life. My nemesis is heat and I will have my team-mates wait while I jump in a body of water to cool off. It may seem like you are losing time, but it is better than a complete bonk.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Turkey Burn 2009


It was cold at 2 AM in the morning when we checked in and got the maps. Probably 45 to 50 degrees, but it was that Florida cold with 100% humidity – and everything was wet, covered in a fine misty dew. The race really starts for the navigator when the maps are given out. There was only one Checkpoint to plot, but the distances need to be measured and the routes chosen – bike, run. Paddle, run, bike. I was able to finish in about an hour and went over the course with my team-mates Courtney and Rod by the fire. Courtney was in peak marathon season – at the height of running training. Rod had just come off a victory at the Yukon Challenge – a 1000 mile canoe race in Canada and Alaska (http://yukon1000.com/ ).

The race started with a simple 1 ½ mile bike loop that was to be performed by one team member. We would be carrying shoes for the trek, and paddles for the paddle section on the first bike leg. Since I had put all the gear on my bike Courtney did the loop and after the loop we all took off on the course. Many times adventure racing is about overcoming adversity and it did not take long to encounter our first problem. About 1 mile into the course I hit a stick (probably the only on the dirt road at this location) and snapped my derailleur clean off. It took us about 45 minutes to break the chain and re-attach it in the cold, dropping my bike to a single speed. If you are considering AR – you need to know how to repair almost everything on your bike and have the tools with you to do it – in this case a chain tool (which we had). For breaking and repairing a chain here are some things to remember (1) Do not push the pin all the way through (you’ll never get it back in if you do), (2) Make sure the pin sticks out on the side you do NOT have to thread through the derailleur, (3) Pick a good gear ratio – you’ll be living with it the rest of the race.




Despite our problems we made it to the Transition about 50 minutes back of the lead team (in dead last). We switched here to trek and begin a long trek to our boats. We passed our first team about 10 minutes into the trek. They were looking for CP3 in the wrong swamp, and I was kind enough to point that out – “hey your’e in the wwrong swamp”. We dropped into a medium speed jog and starting picking off the CP’s on our way to the water – making one navigation error along the way that cost us another 15 minutes. The broken derailleur had thrown off my groove and I was having a hard time getting my focus onto the race. Still we chatted, told jokes, and enjoyed ourselves immensely on this leg.

With an experienced and top level paddler like Rod in the boat we knew we would move well through the long paddle leg. We had heard many teams had been flipping their boats (not fun when it is 50 degrees). The 3 person teams were given special 3 person canoes – and they we short and slow. We however paddled hard and made quick work of all the well hidden Checkpoints along the water. The many submerged trees and logs gave us a few scares, but we managed to keep our boat upright.  In a few places we had to backtrack due to large clogs of sea lettuce in the channels – just part of the paddling. We made one good choice when we went after CP13 by water (it was a control that had both a land or water possible attack). The clue said West Bank East of Trail – which led me to believe it would be easier to get by water – and it was. I even whistled a couple of teams that were searching for it from the land route to the control knowing that swamp whacking along the edge of the river had to have been pretty tough on them.

After the paddle it was on to the climbing wall. Under normal conditions a climbing wall is pretty easy stuff (for me and my team). After 7 hours of racing, cold and a solid 3 hours of arm burning paddling, it can be a challenge. In a couple spots I felt that sensation of falling – but clung to the wall and we all finished and headed off on the next trek. This was another long trek that would be followed by a long bike. Rod was having real problems with his IT band in his right leg which was swollen and seizing up – so we were reduced to a slow jog/fast walk pace. To aggravate things I completely brain dumped on the first control (CP18), not paying attention to the scale on the aerial map we were given and we overshot it and spent a lot of time looking for it in a totally wrong location. Lesson learned (this time and many other times) – if you are not sure of your location, go back to the attack point, look at all the clues (map scale, etc…) and re-attack the point. After that we did nail every other control – including one control that required an incredibly thick 500 meters out and back bushwhack (CP20) on the end of a penisula.




We finally hobbled into the TA with 2 hours left on the race clock. The race was Rogaine style – so we needed to finish by 4 AM. My strategy was to pick up all but 3 of the bike controls so that we would be able to finish in time. We blew our strategy on the fist control (CP27) that we went after. My bike odometer had stopped working at the TA, and I did not stop to fix it. The control looked relatively easy to find – but I overshot a trail turn and ended up on a parallel trail about 200 meters away from the correct trail). We wasted about 15 minutes looking. After coming out we decided to bail on the CP and head back the way we came – this time seeing the correct trail. It was an out and back so we did get CP27 but it had cost us precious time. I quickly moved my wheel magnet around and got my odometer working again – no more of those types of problems!

It looked like we would still beat the clock and get all the controls we wanted to visit – but it would be close. Our plan was to do a loop backwards that would leave us near a road that went back to the Start/Finish. All the CP’s were easy on the loop and when we exited onto the main paved road I switched maps to realize there was a large red box in the middle of my chosen route – meaning Illegal Route! We would not be able to go that way. I did not have much time to calculate an alternative route – there were 2 possibilities – one shorter, but very sandy and hard riding, the other longer, but we would be able to ride the entire way without pushing through sandy trails.




Unless we rode VERY hard we would not be able to make it back in time. I pulled out my tow rope – Courtney had been getting side stitches and we had the need for speed now – with a long route home. It was going to be close. Heads down we pushed hard, too hard. I was keeping track of our location, but looking at my compass at one point I noted we were heading west (we wanted to be heading north). I had missed a turn, luckily it was only about 3-4 minutes of backtrack and we were back on the course home. Courtney was on the tow rope. For all adventure racers – never be too proud to take a tow, and never be too tired to offer one. Remember you are working as a team, not a group of individuals. We still finished about 15 minutes late, which means penalty – but we finished happy and made a nice entrance as all the teams were sitting back waiting for the awards to start.

The Turkey Burn is a great race, and has been a great race every year. The navigation is challenging, and the terrain always contains just the right mix of bushwhack and trail. Team Green Paw Adventure Racing cleared the course in just over 9 hours to win.

A Little Help with Terms

Checkpoint – A location the teams must visit. Usually marked with an orienteering flag with a coded punch to prove you visited it.

Rogaine Style – A course that is based on time. All teams get as many checkpoints as possible within a time limit.

Attack Point – A known location that can be used to find (or attack) a checkpoint.

 For more information visit http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/



Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Now Add a Map to Your Bike

The last post showed a rig for adding lights fairly inexpensively. Here is a bit more - I am going to take an old map board that I used before I broke the mount and then remount it.


Note that I've taken the previous designed and flipped it so the lights are now above the handle bars. I've also added a singe L-Bracket with a bolt to one of the lights.



Here is a view from the top. You should be able to see the L-Bracket. I only bolted the top hole of the bracket. It is my intention that the map board will pivot backwards and forwards.



Now I've bolted the old map board to the L-Bracket. Any flat hard surface with a hole in the center would work here. I've got a spot of velcro I use to hold my compass in place. I also prefer to hold the maps down with a couple of stretch cords. Tent stake holders work great and I also had a few of those lying around.



Here is the rig from underneath. The 2 Innova Bolt lights add some serious lighting to the CatEye. The CatEye give long life - it runs about 100 hours, but is relatively dim. The Bolt lights put out some serious lighting - but only last about 2-3 hours. Still with a couple of battery changes you have an all night rig that really works for less than $100.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Lights

OK - I've neglected the Adventure posts for too long, so here is a post that will be useful to all adventure racers. I have been struggling with the best way to mount bike lights - actually I like to use high intensity flashlights to save the cost of all those expensive bike lights.

Well- inspiration struck. I think the pictures will explain it all, but I used two conduit clamps (per light) - a 1/4 stove bolt and a washer to hold the conduit clamps together. Total cost for 2 mounts $4. You can get all the parts at Home Depot. And it works better than any clamping system I've ever tried.

See for yourself - or check them out when I am at the Pangea AR Turkey Burn on November 28.  Front VIew and Rear View of the light mounting is included.

Monday, October 12, 2009

King's Superhero

I did not get to race in this one - though I did get the pleasure of vetting the course the week before the race and adding a couple of nice spots for the elite racers. My favorite was biking through the huge pine trees in one section (though I did get a flat there). The Sport Race was one of the largest adventure races in Florida - and Greg made sure everybody stayed wet (thankful in the hot weather). Great video footage;

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Nocturnal August 8-9 2009

This would be my first time racing with May-Li, who is by all accounts an incredible athlete (and also great motivator, especially late in the race. The race started at 1:30 PM with a 1.5 K run out and back to spread out the pack before starting into the trek/paddle/trek section. This little jaunt in the full Florida sun would essentially start the process of 90+ degree heat slowly sapping the strength of even the strongest teams.

CP1 was a simple control and we chose to go straight across the field from CP1 - CP2 (I marked our route in purple) as it was pretty much wide open. Once arriving at the boats, we learned quickly the paddle section would be a push/paddle/swim as the copious deadfalls made the race a game of bumper canoes. May-Li and I were pushing pretty hard at this point and the hopping, pushing, lifting of the boat was taking its toll on our bodies in the heat (as we would find out later). We chose to drop the boat at the TA after CP5 and run/swim to CP6 which proved to be a great strategy. Since we did not have to return to the Boat TA, we punched east out to the field where we spotted the fenceline along the township range line - we were able to travel due east to the trail south of CP7 and follow that trail directly in (marked in purple). Because of the heat we were electing not to run and to conserve our energy for the night portions of the race. From CP7 we headed to the road, and back to the TA, and were still first in, even with our low pace strategy.


The bike legs in this race looked and were quite long, though they did not appear to be a huge navigation challenge. We picked off CP8, CP9, CP10, and CP11 easily on our way to the Tiple N ranch TA. All were near distinct feaures and pretty easy to find - but the biking in the heat was causing some pain.

The next section (trek) was the most challenging. We left the TA with Team SAL Miami, heading in opposite directions. We elected to go after CP12 first as it appeared to be the most challenging and we had a good bit of light left. It was strightforward, simply continue west as the Orange Blaze trail headed south. As we headed for CP13 - we realized the trail along the creek was quite the challenge to follow - so we punched out to the open field and were able to follow game trails using the small road to guide us to the attack point (creek/trail intersection) for CP13. We crossed paths with Team SAL Miami heading out from CP13 - they had opted to go in reverse order, they were moving fast (we weren't). CP13 was a challenging find in the dark as you had to get pretty much on top of it to locate it. CP14 was straightforward, and we chose to use the open field bushwhack again (instead of the trail). Leaving 14 I elected to take us due north to the road (we were stumbling a lot - and figured we could move well on the road) - and then dropped down to CP15 which was straightforward. As we headed for CP15 we ran across Team Miami again heading out on bikes - they had flown through this section, we were still not moving too fast - but the cooler night air was helping bring us back around.

The next few were pretty easy, though we overshot the bearing CP18 - and ended up in some really thick nasty stuff - (I'm not a real fan of CP's that are not on some actual feature). As we got to CP20 - we realized the bike back across to Florida Forever and the TA would be a leg burner.CP20 to CP21 was a real slog, CP21 to CP22 was worse (with some waist deep wading). We chose to bike back around to CP23 and attack from the trail to the south. Fatigue clouded my navigation at this point and I shot us way too far west. We came to another trail, realized our mistake, determined where we were - and then took a due east from the trail bends (as shown in purple) and nailed it - though the slow walk through that section cost us some real time (30 minutes). From CP23 (we were seeing lots of Sport teams wandering around on bikes in the darkness - since by this time they were well into their race) we punched back to the TA on slow but rideable trails.

At the TA - we headed to the zip line, we were still in kind of a zombie state, but zippig through the cool night air was a great rest and a lot of fun. This zip line was probably the best I have done - they really have a great system with the 2 towers and you can get some real speed on it.




We then decided to do the Sport run (walk mostly for us) - and that was a really fun course with a couple creek crossings (it was still hot so the water was nice). As we came off ECP5 on the Sport trek - we decided to jog back and hope we had time for one more control on the bike course. We hit the TA at 7 AM and decided to snag CP6 (paddle control) - which we were able to bike to. My legs really did not want to pound through the muddy trail down to Sport Control CP6 (about 1.5K) - May-Li had gotten a second wind and was charging, so I sucked it up and pushed hard. It only took us 8 minutes to reach the control and another 8 back - so we finisehd with time to spare (though not much).




In the end Team Shake A Leg Miami took first, May-Li and I took second (team Off the Map), and Katie and crew (Mim's the Word) took third. I met a lot of new racers - and there were quite a few first timers in both events (Sport and Elite). Hopefully we'll see them all return. A lot of them looked tired and beat. I always get a kick out of talking to Ironman triathletes - who after completing their first long AR, and being asked how they compare usually respond "Holy S***". There is a great satisfaction in pushing yourself hard, applying your wits, and navigation skills, and challenging nature that you get from this sport.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Upcoming Adventure

My next race is the Nocturnal - I've been training my running hard to be able to keep up with my race partner May-li. After that I'm looking forward to a trip to Ecuador where Mickey and I will be flying out of Shell, Ecuador


View Larger Map

to Pavacachi


View Larger Map

and then paddling to Cononaco on the Peruvian border.


View Larger Map

Here is a little closer look - yes, those 2 structures are the village of Cononaco. This is a pretty isolated stretch of the Amazon rain forest.



View Larger Map

also check out

http://www.amazon-indians.org/

Monday, July 20, 2009

Death Race

Well - I couldn't make it to the death race this year. If you have not heard of the death race, you should check it out.

Death Race

I've got a lot of things going on, August 8 I'll be racing in the Nocturnal ( http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/race.php?r=29 ) with May-li (and possibly a 3rd person) as team Off the Map. I'll have a full race report and pretty much figure she'll be dragging me all through the swamp while I stare at the maps. I have upped my running training a bit to get ready. At the end of August I'll be heading to Ecuador to help Mickey set up some fun activities in the Rain Forest for Eco-Xtreme adventures.

I am also in the early planning stages for an awesome bike race - the race will be 106 miles and will trace one of the early historic routes of Florida history.

Monday, June 22, 2009

SCAR 2009

OK - so it was going to be a hot day. 105 heat index. At 8 AM the elite teams lined up and headed for a nice wet and muddy trek to the boats. Picking up a few CP's they paddled a few miles over to another wet and muddy trek section for a little orienteering, and then a paddle back.

Meanwhile the sport course racers were lining up at 11 Am for their start. They went to the same CP that the elite team's went for and then onto the hidden path and the mudwalk. I was proud to see my girls (Team Daddy's Girls) as the second team to come off the mudwalk - woo-hoo. I also saw some elite teams (Bill Jacksons and Shake-a-Leg Miami) in the mudwalk.

Both groups headed out for a little single track biking. Unfortuntely this was where my daughter won best blood - hitting a submerged barrel and giving herself a few stitches (video of that coming later). The remainder of Dadyy's Girls forged on to finish the race.

The top 2 elite teams Bill Jacksons and SAL Miami made a real race of it.

Highlights of the race, Single track biking, the mudwalk, a really cool paddle section, and a pretty shady course protecting racers from the gueling heat. Good job to all who finished in the race. Youngest racer today was - 7 years old - awesome. Anyway enjoy the little movie I put together as see you out there later. Make sure you check out the photos at

http://www.teamracephotos.com/



Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Radiator Cat

I somehow seem to be a magnet for bizarre occurrences. Today (Thursday 6/11) while biking to work - heard a loud yowling noise. It disappeared and I thought it was a bird. As I approached one of the stop lights on the UCF campus I heard it again, but still could not figure out where it was coming from. As the light turned green I heard the sound go by me and this time it registered that it was coming from the front of a Hyundai Santa Fe that was driving by.

My next action was kind of funny. I first hauled butt to catch up to the Hyundai - passing it, and then getting between it and the car in front of it. I idenitifed the sound as a cat yowling from the front of the car, so I motioned fractically to get the lady in the car to pull over. She did and she had a small tabby kitten caught between the grill and the car radiator.

Three parking services teams later we were able to safely extract the kitten - which seemed frightened and relieved. We were also able to find the kitten a home ( a few phone calls) and it was off in a box with one of the parking guys. I think they should name it "Lucky"

Bizarre Story Before

It was only about a month before this story that my bike ride home was interrupted by a screech of brakes, as a car just 100 yard in front of me hit a duck. The duck was near dead by the time I arrived, I had to finish it off. The duck had an an entire cadre of about 3 day old ducklings. A few others came to help me catch the ducklings. I was able to catch 5 of them (some folks stayed to try and catch the remaining 3 ducks that had moved into some thick palmettos where I was unable to flush them out).

I put the 5 ducks in my backpack and headed home. The ucks ended up living for 4 weeks in our bathroom, doubling in size about every week. We finally took them to an animal rescue where they are doing very well.

We now (wife and kids) volunteer regularly at the animal rescue feeding the menagerie of animals there. We get to see our rescued ducks too.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Impossible Panther

Impossible Panther 24 Hour

This looked to be a fun and challenging race held in Troy NC (a manageable ride), a couple of teams from Florida (Shake A Leg Miami, and Mims the Word) were racing. I was racing with Katie and Dave from Mims the Word. Here is the race summary.



The race actually started at 8 AM with an orienteering prelude, a little 45 minute jog - even though we were in bike shoes, we headed out. I held the team up a bit with my bad ankle, but good navigation had us 3rd in and we headed out quickly on bikes. We ended up back in the pack at CP2 as the plethora of trails in the area made the navigation challenging. This challenge would follow us to the next CP (CP3) which would see a lot of teams head up a ridge in the wrong direction - luckily this only fooled us for a while and we found it while a lot of the other teams were still searching. CP1 was the first big climb, though we dropped bikes and hit this on foot - though we took non-trail route, the woods were open.



We next headed for the river crossing at CP4, Katie slipped here - the river was about waist deep and the rocks were very slick. Luckily she caught her bike before it headed downstream and we moved quickly to CP5. From CP5 it got a it confusing, simply because of the multitude of trails here. We did not find CP6 on the way down, but ran into Team SAL and headed for CP8 , CP10, and CP7 with them. CP7 was pretty challenging - but we found it and decided to skip CP11 and CP9 and head straight back to the TA.


We caught back up to SAL at the TA, they had gotten CP11 ad CP9, we marked maps and headed out just a few minutes in front of SAL. The trek was enjoyable - it was about 5:45 AM as we left and we made it quickly through the points - making one mistake between CP14 and CP16. CP16 had Katie hanging by her pack over a bridge trying to reach it. A short jog to manned CP19 and then a jog to the TA had us in our boats.


The river section was a blast. A swift current with a little whitewater made it a lot of fun. The first CP 21 cost us some time as we followed the original clue into a creek, for some reason the conrol had been moved to the river bank - but I hada good time exploring the creek. The water eventually became calm as we approached the PeeDee River - which was flowing swiftly. We crossed and stared the orienteering course.


The orienteering course was a highlight of the race for me. Though it was challenging and long - we were using a real orienteering map (sorry - I cannot find it - but you can see it at http://www.teamrocgear.com/w/2009_Impossible_Panther ) and I'm very comfortable on those maps. We beat the time estimate and finished in 3 1/2 hours. The one challenging control (CP27) hidden in the Rodendendron at the top of Sugarloaf mountain was challenging - but the rest were pretty easy.

When we arrived back at the TA - we had some points to plot. The Dam had opened the gates and the river was now "unpaddle-able" - so our choice was to portage the boat to the dam. This turned out to be very challenging with our heavy boat and the steep slopes up and around the dam. At one point it was humorous as Dave literally lowered the boat to me over a 20 foot cliff. Luckily the 16 foot boat was something we could do this with.

We paddled to the rappel and sent Katie out (since they were only letting one team member rappel). The River and the open gates on the Badin dam made the other 2 points north of the rappel difficult and dangerous so we got the one south of the TA and headed in for one more portage up the side of a mountain.

Dave had a flat at the TA (hey - best place to have one). We decided to take the road back as we only had one hour to get back. We were able to get one control on the way back (we even saw SAL Miami) and still finish with 20 minutes to spare.



For those teams who want challenging navigation - and for us - unfamiliar terrain, this is a good race. It was tough. The 24 hour Rogaine format lets you push yourself as hard as you want. I had great team-mates and we really meshed well as a team. In the end we finished 4th overall (see http://www.gobushwhack.com/IPAR09_results_summary_24.pdf )

More information on the race is at http://www.teamrocgear.com/w/2009_Impossible_Panther

Saturday, May 09, 2009

My Soccer Team

Here are my girls soccer team - they are pretty awesome. I really enjoy coaching them and just as they learn a lot from me - I also learn a lot from them. I

ACC Video

Watch out for Giant Crabs



Awesome Pictures thanks to Mark at TeamRacePhotos.com

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Maps for ACC

Here is a race synopsis (race partners Rod Price and Alan McDonald as team Eco-Choice). If anyone wants a detailed how I got to any control or found any of them - just leave a comment - I'll add it. Yes, I can remember my attacks and approach to every control.

- The race started at 8 AM with a choice between run or bike start. We chose run, which was about a 90 minute orienteering run for CP 1 through CP5 as shown on the map. This was pretty straightforward as was the first bike leg.I had one nav error on the bike leg (about 5 minutes) turning on a parallel dirt road about 75 meters from the correct one - but I figured out the mistake very quickly and we found all controls and the top 5-6 teams all arrived at the TA after the run and bike within 5 minutes of each other.

- The next leg was a paddle to Stoke's Landing with a lot of CP's to find - nearly all of which required a significant detour off the river. We skipped CP11 till the way back to better use the tide. The rest were spot on - but still required some solid marine navigation. The big boats on the IntraCoastal also made paddling our small canoe pretty exciting. At Stoke's Landing we did a foot nav (CP 18 - CP 21) and had a major issue with CP21. After 2 false tries - we finally looped around to the 2 small lakes NNE of the control and bushwhacked to the CP - this worked, but the control had cost us a solid extra 50-60 minutes (and a lot of energy). We made some of that back by going due north from the landing to the river with a very short portage.

- The real race really starts at night. We had a lot of bike controls (CP23 - CP39) Bike nav is also pretty exciting at night. We had minor problems with a few controls, none of which were more than 10 minutes extra time - except for CP30. There were at least 5 teams searching for this when we arrived - and I got into group mentality (I was tired) and instead of using my wits to find a good attack point - I instead ended up following other teams. Bottom line was 2+ hours later we still had no control and we ended up giving up and heading for CP33 (which we found very quickly). In retrospect the best approach for this would have been to bushwhack due south from CP 29 - the terrain along the river was open and the landing (Cook's Landing was very evident even in the dark). The rest of the controls were not too bad, we worked with a few other teams and helped them out before arriving at the TA for the final trek a little before 6 AM.

- The final trek (CP41-CP45) ended up being wonderful (though long at 3+ hours). The wildlife was stirring as we moved through wonderful open forestland. Rod got to be towed by Alan and repayed us by giving up some nice home-made cookies from his food stash. We finished the trek along with some other teams, hit our bikes and pedaled hard back to the main TA to finish a little after 10 AM. Congratulations go out to Team Miami SAL - they had solid navigation and a good pace and truly earned their USARA qualifier jackets. Tim and Anna - you better watch out those jackets were pretty nice, so I'm going to be heavily motivated at the next race ! Of course I'll need to get a coed team ... and all of my female partners are injured, hmm....

Navigation Attack Points - in order
CP2 (Trek) - After passing visible marsh west of trail (below 5 on 54) we angled off trail along contour and spotted pond and control.
CP3 (trek) No problems
CP4 (Trek) - from the trail intersection we went north 75 meters to minimize bushwhack distance and went due east to control, we left south via marsh.
CP5 (Trek) - Took small trail towards lake and handrailed lakeshore.
CP1 (Trek) easy find.
CP6 - CP10 (Bike) - Easy nav, did them in order.
CP12 (Paddle) - Easily saw feature after passing marked Daybeacon.
CP13 (Paddle) - Cook's Landing was readily apparent from the river, not so at night on bike.
CP15 (Paddle) -Turned east at second channel, spotted CP34 along eastern shore, ran north to CP15.
CP22 (Paddle) After leaving CP15, went across and easily found channel and paddled to control.
CP16 (Paddle) Cutacross was open, though shallow - got into channel and went easily to tower which was visible from river.
CP17 (Paddle) Feature was very visible, easy find.
TA1 (Paddle) - Entered Stoke's Creek at main channel (saw Team Miami leaving) and paddled to TA. Leaving we headed due north and entered main river (after short portage) east of Little Pine Island.
CP 11( Return Paddle) - Angled in at channel marker 5 directly to control, left south and then due west - was able to paddle directly to channel.
CP23 (Bike) - Dropped bikes at intersection and headed due east, flag was actually a
bit north of the due east bearing.
CP25 (Bike) - All trails no problem.
CP24 (Bike) - No problems, headed south from 24 on eastern trail. Road took us out to major road, went south.
CP27 (Bike) - Tried at first to bushwhack straight across, abandoned effort after a few minutes and went south and then back up NNE trail to control.
CP26 - Measured 600 meters from intersection to firebreak, took wrong firebreak about 50 meters shy, but were able to go north on unmapped firebreak to control.
CP29 (Bike) - Measured 600 meters from trail bend, found quickly, led many teams to control. Headed north and back around after finding - which was slower as Punch Junkies were there and took the southern route which was faster. (towards CP28)
CP28 (Bike) - Simply measured distaance from exit of CP29, turned west and followed to control.
CP30 (Bike) - Weaved through unmapped trails east and south of control. Ended up south of Island. Lost all navigation sense here and spent 2+ hours searching before giving up.
CP33 (Bike) - Took main trail south, turned west on trail that "felt right" ended up right on the control.
CP31 (Bike) - Measured north on main N-S trail to attack point, found easily.
CP32 (Bike) - Entered woods too far north, though woods were open and flag was easy.
CP34 (Bike) - Followed second trail to control
CP35 (Bike) - Came out a little north on lake after measuring south from intersection, followed shoreline until control was visible.
CP37 (Bike) - Easily found tower.
CP36 (Bike) - Backtracked from tower using distance
CP38 (Bike) - Somehow missed entrance and had to backtrack 200 meters.
CP39 (Bike) - Followed fence easily to control.
CP40 - CP 45 (Trek) - All easy finds












Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Lighting recommendations

This is a recommendation I gave on lighting for overnight racing;

There is quite a bit, the most important being lights. You will need at least 3 flashlights (per person) - and these will be used on bike and foot. This is the light you want

http://www.botachtactical.com/inbo4ledfl.html

Don't bother purchasing cheap lights - they cannot handle the rigors of adventure racing, this light will. You will also need batteries, for that get a 20 pack of C123A (the batteries these lights take)

http://www.botachtactical.com/rarl3liba10.html

You will also need a headlamp - I use this one

http://www.botachtactical.com/pemyoxphe.html

I was able to find this with a C123A battery option, but no longer can find this (instead you use Lithium AA's). The last part you'll need is the ability to mount lights to your bike and helmet. The best mounts (and only) I have found are at

https://www.fenix-store.com/index.php?cPath=92

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Squiggy Classic 2009

This was going to be a fun race for me and it was on a Sunday, so all the usual Saturday conflicts were not a problem. Greg and his son Drew (14 years old) picked me up at 4 AM and we headed over to Tampa. The race started with a short bus trip to the start and an awesome orienteering course. The first flag (FP1) was missing and after I was positive this was the case I yelled for all racers that it was missing and we should move on. It was kind of like restarting the race at CP1 – so if a flag is going to be missing the first one is the best one. We moved fast through the O course and nailed pretty much each one then jumped on our bikes for the next leg of the race. We had one soloist (Frankie) traveling with us, and we only made one mistake, turning short on a dirt road between bike points 4 and 5. At that point Team Shake-A-Leg Miami passed us.

We had one team-mate hurting a bit, and there was not much chance even perfectly healthy to catch up to SAL Miami, but we were still moving OK. We were drawing out a lead on the other teams – so it looked like a 2 team race. I was enjoying the single track, and the navigation was not that tough. We made it to the boats, finished the Funnelator – hitting Greg with a water balloon on the second try. Drew was nauseous on the paddle, but I was feeling pretty strong, so was able to hammer the paddle. We did see SAL Miami returning from CP3 as we were leaving CP5 – which meant they had at least a 20 minute lead at this point. We were able to see the positions of all the other team as we returned from CP3.

After we returned we got the final special test reserved for the front team. We were going to bike the dash run, which turned out to really be a hike-a-bike. The terrain was basically cypress knees for the first mile. After that it was ride-able. I ended up with a flat with just under a mile to go, so I ran the bike and did a pump/ride combo. We had one last thing to do at the end, the obstacle course, which was really a chance for me to get covered in dirt. It was a bit backed up, but there was no threat of another team catching us, so that was no problem.

In the end we finished in second – a great showing for Team Pangea. I really recommend this race, Michael Moule and Kip Koelsch know how to design a course to be challenging but at the same time fun. The park is absolutely gorgeous – lots of interesting terrain and wildlife.

Monday, March 16, 2009

The PQ Video - MUST WATCH

The previews for the TV Special on PQ Montana are out - they are at

http://www.ecoprimalquest.com/media/videos/pq-montana-video-promos.php

pretty great filming..... I'll have race report on The Squiggy Classic - which was so much fun soon!

Monday, March 02, 2009

BOAR - Pangea Adventure Race



I almost did not get a chance to make this race. As it was having cross country with the kids in the morning and a soccer match in the late afternoon - nearly kept me from racing, but i was able to come and do the sport course. Even though I was racing solo I did race most of the race with other teams, and I only broke away when I had to so I could get to my car by 2:30 (which left me enough time to go home, shower, change and get to soccer by 4 PM). The highlight was the paddle (which was really a long portage). It was so much fun I went out the next day and picked up the controls with Greg and we trekked the entire paddle leg. I also stepped on an alligator by accident during the flag pickup (he was little and not too happy about being stepped on). Here is a GPS of our flag pickup including my picking up some of the bike controls.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

UCF Super AR

This was my first year of watching, not setting this race. The students did a great job of putting together a great race with many awesome puzzles. Here is a little video







You can also see it directly on Youtube at



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtNsaB0dqxU

Monday, January 19, 2009

Resolution Adventure Race

A picture is worth a thousand words - and I'll save you all the words and simply give you the video of the Resolution Adventure Race. This was Pangea Adventure Racing at its best. http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com

Link for the video directly from Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H39PR9DFdao