Check out this short training clip of Kyle Peter and Marco Amselem from Team Tecnu Adventure Racing as they prepare for the Costa Rica Adventure Race!

LBL Adventure Challenge – 24 Hours

Sunday, March 25, 2012
By: Garret Bean

Tecnu Adventure Racing arrived in Nashville at 11:00pm on Thursday night for the Bonk Hard Race Series – 24 Hour LBL Adventure Challenge. The team consisted of Kyle Peters and Garret Bean from northern California, Ryan Ognibene from Boulder, CO, and Mindy Fernando from Michigan. This was to be the first time these four had EVER raced together before, and it was the be the first race of the 2012 season for Tecnu’s new domestic squad, and expectations were high.

On Friday afternoon, after another quick stop at the Waffle House, the boys met up with Mindy, the new Queen of the Machine, at the Paris Landing Inn. The stage was set in a room overlooking the lakes and it was time to unpack and get the gear ready. The bikes came out of the bike boxes and after a quick rebuild it was evident that the airport had done damage and the pulley on my derailleur was broken in transit and Kyle’s brakes that were recently serviced weren’t grabbing like they should. Rather than risk broken parts on the trail and losing control on the bike, it was time to do some shopping. I headed into town and found a bike shop that got me a pulley and worked on Kyle’s brakes for about 2.5 hours. Meantime the rest of the team was assembling gear, sleeping, and eating.

We reconvened at 7 PM that night, got our gear wrapped up, and headed to the pre-race briefing. As expected, everyone there knew Kyle from his two years at the helm as Captain of Tecnu. Mindy, Ryan, and I were relatively unknowns and some thought we were brought over from the Tough Mudder series. It was great seeing the teams that we knew about, the ones that we have raced against in the past and a lot of new faces for some of us. The course had been set; it was a trek, to bike, to paddle, to orienteering course, to bike, to paddle, to trek, to bike. A lot of transitions that would make organization and planning a key part in the race. Earring Doug Judson, Tecnu Team Manager, was tracking all of this from Nor-Cal and relaying the briefings to the friends and sponsors of team Tecnu.

At 7:25 am saturday morning, there were 120 adventure racers singing the national anthem, although I’m sure the campers in the nearby State Park were not appreciative of our early morning revelry. We lined up at the gate and bolted out at the proverbial gun, some racers yelled go. The teams were off and Tecnu bolted to the front. We went up and a little off trail and down a mountain. Within the first five minutes we had lost our passport… whoops. Well so much for the blistering start. We doubled back and went searching, contemplating whether or not to get a new one from headquarters. After some searching on the hillside, we found it; the passport was never put in the cursed pocket again. We reset and it was time to catch up, from first to last, argh!. Shortly we came across the walking racers in the back; yes we were dead last and passed by all. Then we started chipping away, I followed Mindy as she took charge, parting the sea of people and led us past about 70 % of the field. The first checkpoint (CP) was in a re-entrant and by this time we had caught up to Alpine Shop, one of the best known teams in the field that day. We grabbed it quickly and set off to knock out the next couple CPs. We bush whacked and attacked each CP with precision, by the time we got to the bikes we had traveled about 10 km, and reset the rankings and found ourselves in 3rd place out of 51 teams.
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The ultimate women’s mountain bike retreat is coming to Big Bear Lake May 25-28, 2012. Leading the retreat is the queen of everything adventure, ultra endurance mountain bike racer and 7 Summits mountaineer, Karen (Super K) Lundgren. This long anticipated retreat is geared to satisfy riders of all levels.

“We want this to be a safe learning environment for women who may be new to the sport or are looking to increase their confidence set on a mountain bike in a supportive atmosphere,” said Lundgren. “This will be a great opportunity for ladies to build confidence while learning new skills for a more enjoyable experience.”

“Big Bear Lake offers some world class mountain biking and is a unique backdrop for such a great event,” added Lundgren, 46, winner of countless mountain bike endurance and adventure races around the world.

Complimenting some stunning trail riding, participants will enjoy the right amount of pampering with yoga/body, alignment/stretch clinics and the opportunity to Stand Up Paddleboard (S.U.P.). Clinics will include bike fit and nutrition workshops along with a complete video analysis of skills/rides. Also available (optional) will be body composition evaluation, blood analysis and vo2/lactate threshold testing.

Retreat participants will find themselves pushing the limits of their own physical expectations during the day and relaxing and spoiling themselves afterwards with comfortable accommodations, delectable meals and wine tasting to round out the day. This will be unlike any other outdoor event you have ever experienced.

About 4 Seasons Wellness
4 Seasons Wellness, based in Big Bear Lake, is a comprehensive platform offering clients Goals, Training, Testing and Analysis, Complete Customized Supplement/Fuel Package, Retreats and International Guiding. Co-owners, Paul Romero and Karen Lundgren can assist you in reaching your physical and athletic goals and can take you to extreme locations around the world. www.4seasonscoaching.com

About Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake is a mountain resort community located about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles and surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest. Situated at approximately 6800 feet above sea level, the area receives over 300 days of sunshine annually and is an adventurer’s destination with four seasons worth of activities. www.bigbear.com

January proved to be far crazier than expected (among other developments, our race sold out 50 team entries by the end of the month, exceeding our expectations and capacity to field all the questions, etc).  Let me get back on track with training insights for anyone preparing for Untamed New England, or any big race on their calendar, with the assumption that we’re at least 4 months out from race day.  If you need to catch up, here is our October, November, and December pieces in this same series.

As in the previous installments, I’ll include notes on a non-physical, physical, and *Untamed* area to focus on for this month.

Non-physical – I stressed in a previous segment that first aid training is important for anyone competing in a big adventure race.  Likewise, “first aid” for your race gear can be critical — and the most complicated piece of gear we race with (besides our human bodies!) is a mountain bike.  Learn to make adjustments and minor repairs to your mountain bike, either through a class — many local bike shops offer these periodically — , book, or some other resource.  Knowing how to do more than just fix a flat tire will surely save your adventure race at some point; I know I’ve done fixes to everything from brakes, chains, cables, spokes, and many others in the course of some of my race experiences.  These field repairs are often far from perfect, but if they keep you moving forward then they’re getting the job done.

So for the non-physical training for this month how about you commit to learning more about your mountain bike and how to best care for — and repair — it.  It’s a skill that could keep you racing after an unlucky bike mechanical failure, and will surely make you a more valuable teammate!

Physical – My physical training suggestion for this winter month comes easy: train through the cold and wet at this time of year to ensure you’re comfortable in the worst of conditions.  At 1 AM on night #3 at Untamed New England 2009, a nasty storm rolled in that sent temperatures spiraling down and the rain pouring from the sky; even though it was mid-Summer, the wind was frigid and at high elevations teams struggled against the cold.  Many teams dropped out of the race at that point, including some teams competitive for the race podium.  Nobody wants to drop out at that juncture of a race, and that’s why training through these cold days is so important.  You’ll learn what combination of layers, waterproof gear, hats, etc is necessary to keep you moving and competent when the conditions are challenging.  More than that, you’ll have the confidence to know that you can persevere and make progress despite foul weather.  You might be surprised at how much heat your body generates under a waterproof shell, or find that mittens are far warmer than fingered-gloves; these facts are different for each person, and cold February conditions are a golden opportunity to increase your personal cold weather racing IQ.

Untamed Aspect - The third segment of my training advice is always something Untamed in the sense that it might not apply to every race, but certainly pertains to the upcoming Untamed New England adventure race.  For this month, I want to talk about ropes and how to prepare for the rope challenges we include in the Untamed New England.  Every racer will need to rappel and ascend (jumar) at the race this June, and for most people the easiest way to get comfortable at this sort of thing is to head to your local climbing gym and explain what you’re up to.  Get some proper instruction.  You probably need to arrange for a private lesson or two, but the dedicated attention of somebody who really knows their way around a rock face will take you from novice to rope-competent-adventure-racer in the quickest time possible.

What I like to do, if time allows, is to bike or run to the rock gym and then complete my lesson; then bike or run home.  You could also just bike/run a loop from the gym if that’s more feasible, but the point is to complete your rappeling/ascending work after you’re fatigued.  For the bike home, you’re sure to feel your forearms, shoulder, and back muscles in ways that you haven’t before!

Another measure I’ve been known to take (and sure to be a conversation topic at your family meals!): keep your climbing gear in a bag, the same way you would pack it into your race backpack, and put that bag by your bed when you go to sleep.  When you wake up, before you do anything else, unpack the gear and put your climbing harness on.  Yes, you’re sleepy and disoriented (the same way you might be in an adventure race!) but it’s a phenomenal opportunity to practice and get to know your gear.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve seen teams take 45 minutes or longer to get into their climbing gear at some race rope sites; people are tired, distracted, and there are lots of ways to tangle up your harness or attach carabiners to the wrong spots.  This morning wake-up practice builds familiarity with your gear and develops your confidence in how to efficiently work with your climbing setup.

You don’t need to log too many hours in the rock gym, but a few lessons to cover the basics of rappelling/ascending will give you the foundation to complete the rope activities at Untamed New England.  Combine workouts with the rock gym practice to make the most of your training time, and you’ll be in fine shape when it comes to those rope sections at the race.  Rest assured that whatever else we include in a rope site at Untamed New England will be something you can handle, like a tension traverse or zip line, so long as you have the basics down of a rappel/ascent.

We work with rope professionals to rig and operate all these sites and they doublecheck your harnesses and safety equipment; of course, you don’t want to be dependent on them for your well-being . . . come to the race prepared to demonstrate your competence with a rope site, race day is never the time to do something for the first time!  You will have much more fun if you can enjoy the challenge of the rope site, and not be petrified with uncertainty, so take time to practice in these months before the race.

Now you’re set with some training objectives for February!  I’ll be back in a month with more…

Only four months after opening registration, the Untamed New England Adventure Race is sold out with its final spot going to a team from Quebec, Canada.

This is the third straight sellout for the expedition adventure race that has established itself as THE destination adventure race in the Eastern US if not all of North America.

“There are teams from all corners of the continent: California, Alberta (Canada), Florida, and all points between,” stated Clay Abney, Marketing Director for Untamed New England. “The race continues to attract international teams from as far away as Ecuador, Sweden and Denmark.”

With over four months to go until the racing begins, this marks the fastest the race has ever reached capacity.

The record setting sellout can be attributed to 3 main reasons, explained Race Director Grant Killian: “It’s a testimony to our ability as an organization to deliver an authentic adventure race with emphasis on a real back-country experience; we’ve been organizing great races since 2004 and word has spread about the Untamed New England Adventure Race. It’s also validation by our racers who can’t wait to explore the wilds of our course in Maine, based from Northern Outdoors Lodge. Finally, it’s a statement that the sport of adventure racing is vibrant and capturing the hearts of endurance athletes who are bold enough to give it a try.”

Forty-five of the teams racing in Untamed New England are listed at www.UntamedNE.com/Teams.aspx — but the full race roster will not be announced until March, as a few teams are finishing payments and formalities surrounding their registration.

Teams still interested in participating can join the waiting list, and there are still teams looking to add a teammate or two. Visit www.UntamedNE.com for more information.

About Untamed New England Adventure Race
Untamed New England is a 4-day expedition adventure race that is a qualifier for the Adventure Racing World Championship. The race includes mountain biking, canoe and kayak paddling, trail running, off-trail trekking, orienteering and fixed ropes. The 2012 edition will take place in the Maine wilderness. www.untamedne.com

Ty Stevens

In the words of Todd Branham, Swank 65 race director ”it’s the most laid back, serious MTB race in the Southeast”. Well, I guess so, if you consider 40 miles of gnarly downhills, fast twisty single track, long steep climbs and sheer rock drops, all within the backdrop of epically scenic Pisgah National Forest, a fun way to spend a day. I sure did.

Todd founded Blue Ridge Adventures in 1998 as a bicycle guide and race promotion company. His company now comprises of 3 premiere and highly respected mountain bike races in Western North Carolina. As well, his company represents the Carolina Youth Mountain Bike League, or CYMBL, a series of low cost races for kids held throughout the Summer. Each event is coupled with an educational clinic to teach kids about nutrition, trail etiquette, bike maintenance, and stretching.

Swank 65, considered by its participants to be a truly authentic mountain bike race experience, has been bringing riders to tears and to Western North Carolina for 13 years. This race dishes up some of the best and most iconic riding Pisgah has to offer. Riders can expect mixed terrain single track sections, multiple creek crossings, lengthy fire road climbs and unpredictable downhills – some technical, some sudden with rock gardens and ledges, some flowy and FAST. It’s not uncommon to expect a good deal of hike and bike at certain times through the race. And you will get dirty.

“The key to being successful at Swank is the ability to flow” says Todd, “the course is designed to flow, if you’re not flowing, you’re not having a good day out there”.

Whether you are flowing or not, it’s you against the elements in effort to pedal your way through and earn a spot amidst the Pisgah mountain biking gods and godesses, so to speak. In the end, the reward; cold brew, fresh off the grill burgers, some of the most beautiful scenery in all of Western North Carolina.. and of course, serious bragging rights. I’d consider Swank, or any of Blue Ridge Adventure’s hair raising mountain bike races, a right of passage of sorts.
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December is here and if you followed either of the previous posts (the first one or the second one) on training for a big adventure race, such as Untamed New England, you’ll know that I owe you one non-physical, one physical, and one “Untamed Aspect” training suggestion for the new month.  My aim, as I mentioned in the previous material, is for you to arrive to the race start as prepared as possible and ready to make the most of your race experience.  I would consider this December material in tandem with the previous suggestions, as these monthly installments will create a cumulative body of knowledge that can help you to make the most of your time preparing for the race.

First up: a non-physical step you can take to prepare. Safety on the race course is your first responsibility, and a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) class will give you specific training for handling emergencies in the wild.  Everyone hopes they never need to use the skills developed through a First Aid class, but it isn’t a cliché to say that this measure can be a life-saver!  If you hang around adventure racing long enough, you’re bound to find yourself in situations where you, your team, or another team you encounter on the course has a need for your Wilderness First Aid training.  It’s only a matter of time.  Let’s hope it never happens, but you owe it to yourself to be prepared.  Typical WFA classes take 2 full days, and if you want to take backcountry safety training to a higher level you can do the 5-day Wilderness First Responder (WFR) class.  Truly, any medical training can be an advantage in a race, but these WFA and WFR classes are all about improvised care with the limited resources of a wilderness setting. Continue Reading

The APEX Race, (Alpine Expedition Adventure Race) returns to Berner Oberland for the second edition of “the most beautiful adventure race in the world”.

The beautiful Swiss Alpine region of Berner Oberland will once again host the Swiss World Series Adventure Race, the APEX Race. Host venue will be the town of Interlaken, known as the “Adventure Capital of Europe”, situated beautifully at the foot of the Alps and right in between the Lakes of Brienz and Thun.

Dates for the 2012 edition have moved forward a couple of weeks and are set for June 5th – 10th, which will again ensure adventurous experiences from different seasonal conditions.

The race in 2011 was set up to be one of the most beautiful and scenic races in the world and afterwards many teams would also regard it as one of the toughest and most challenging.

30 teams representing 17 different nations took part in the event and all greatly contributed to the positive, and friendly atmosphere that also came to characterize the event. Continue Reading

GearJunkie.com, a top publication on outdoors adventure, is proud to announce a partnership with Minnesota-based Team WEDALI. Beginning in January, the champion squad will be renamed ‘Team GearJunkie/WEDALI’ for the 2012 adventure racing season.

For the past year, captained by veteran racer Justin Bakken, WEDALI dominated the domestic AR scene, including a first-place finish in the 2011 Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Championship. In 2010, WEDALI was also crowned the nation’s No. 1 team, winning the United States Adventure Racing National Championship event by beating the best teams in the country in a tough 24-hour race.

“WEDALI has been a top team in the United States for years,” said Stephen Regenold, editor and founder of GearJunkie.com. “We are psyched to sponsor this world-class squad and have WEDALI on the ‘Team GJ’ roster.”

GearJunkie/WEDALI joins GearJunkie/YogaSlackers underneath the publication’s “Team GearJunkie” umbrella. Each squad will have its own roster (and potentially even race against each other in events next year!) but the squads will remain distinct on the GearJunkie Team micro-site at www.GearJunkie.com/Team.

“WEDALI is thrilled to be joining forces with our friends at GearJunkie,” said Justin Bakken, who co-founded WEDALI in 2003 and now serves as captain. “We appreciate GJ’s enthusiasm for adventure racing and the commitment to bringing our sport to the masses.” Continue Reading

The first annual Winter Teva® Mountain Games presented by Eddie Bauer (WTMG) will award $60,000 in cash prizes to the top pro and amateurs competing in a dozen human-powered adventure sport competitions. This on-snow version of the decade-old summer Teva Mountain Games will be held February 10 – 12, 2012, in Vail, Colorado.

“In partnership with Teva, Eddie Bauer and Vail, we’ve built upon the success and great reputation of the summer Teva Mountain Games with a complimentary event that celebrates winter adventure sports, music and the mountain lifestyle,” says Mike Imhof of the Vail Valley Foundation, organizers of the event.

On-snow bike events include the Teva Dual Slalom Bike, Teva On-Snow Bike Crit and on Saturday evening, the Teva Best Trick presented by Thule, boasting a $10,000 prize purse. In this unique event, freeride mountain bikers huck themselves off a massive snow feature, scoring points for big air, trick difficulty and distinctive style. Making this a dual-action event, the Teva Best Trick Bike competition will be run simultaneously with the Thule Telemark Big Air presented by Chipotle at Golden Peak.

The Eddie Bauer Ski Mountaineering (skimo) competition, an extreme uphill and downhill tour of Vail Mountain, boasts a $5,000 prize purse, the largest ever presented at a U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association-sanctioned race. “Keeping in line with Vail’s reputation as a world-renowned ski destination, we designed a challenging course with the kind of distance, vertical, ski terrain and prize money that rival the prestigious European skimo races,” says Pete Swenson, director of the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association and Specialist for the Mountain Games. Continue Reading

When thinking of world class cycling races, European locales such as Spain, France, and Italy come to mind. The last spot one might imagine as a candidate for a pro cycling battle royale is a subtropical  island in the south Pacific known for manufacturing. Nonetheless, that’s just where I traveled to race and mingle with some very well known cycling teams recently.

To westerners, Taiwan could be easily lumped into that group of  “Made in …” countries we see on all our clothing labels and stamped on the bottom of most everything we buy at the almighty Wal Mart. But, as I’ve discovered, Taiwan is working on their image and making a convincing case as a contender for serious road racing. Dramatic emerald-colored mountains dropping swiftly to the sea, deep gorges draped in smooth marble, and sweeping valley vistas create a phenomenal backdrop for a one day classic race. Continue Reading

On Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, Montrail athlete Dakota Jones set a new record for the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim run, also known as the Double Crossing. Jones ran from the South Rim to the North Rim to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on the North and South Kaibab Trails in 6 hours, 53 minutes and 38 seconds, breaking the old record by six minutes. This was the second time Jones completed the 42.5-mile run with 10,500 vertical feet of climbing – he first ran it two years ago in 8 hours and 40 minutes.

For more about Dakota, check out his blog.

We have been juggling the idea of a team ranking for a few years and have finally decided to pull the trigger. Our panel has based our inaugural rankings based on an informed opinion of team’s performances at key races in the US (and a few international ones where relevant). This will be a monthly addition to the site so race hard and perhaps you will see your team’s name on the list (if not already) moving forward.

AR Power Rankings:

1. Tecnu Extreme/Staphaseptic—Strong showing at both CPT and USARA Championships (2nd at both), winners at Gold Rush, 12th at the AR World Championships in Tasmania (top North American team there), strong showing at APEX Switzerland race, 6th at RTNX — Kyle Peter is poised to be the first big AR star of a new generation of athletes, in our humble opinion
2. Dart-Nuun-SportMulti—1st American team at APEX in the Swiss Alps, 3rd overall at Gold Rush and 3d overall at RTNX — Tecnu beat them head-to-head at Gold Rush in Sept and that’s good enough for us to place them under Tecnu
3. Wedali—Won the CPT Nationals race, 3rd at USARA Nats (behind hybrid of Tecnu/SOG teams); 9th at RTNX; overall body of work for 2011 too impressive to bump them out of our top 3
4. Team Bones—3rd at Expedition Idaho (1st American team), 16th at the AR World Championships (2nd American team) has them in our 4th spot. They rarely race the shorter events, but for the big epic races you can count on Team Bones powering through the course
5. GearJunkie/YogaSlackers—Despite a 6th place finish at CPT, they took 2nd at Gold Rush, 4th at Exped Idaho (2nd American team), and 5th at RTNX (2nd American team). Perhaps the best performance by this team was their 2nd place finish this year at what may be the hardest race on the planet, the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. The longer and tougher the race, the more money I’d put on these guys. I have no problem slotting them in at #5.
6. Team SOG—They won USARA Nationals and took 2nd (on a hybrid team) at CPT Nationals — so maybe they should be ranked higher, but their inconsistency in race personnel made us uncomfortable placing them above this 5th spot. Their 6th place finishing Expedition Idaho team, for example, was vastly different than their USARA Nationals team. Still, 6th place on this list is pretty darn good!
7. Odyssey Adventure Racing/ ImONPoint.org—They won the USARA Nationals Masters division (finished 4th overall) and took 3rd at CPT Nationals. No expedition race results of note for this bunch in 2011 (although Mark Lattanzi has had a great race at the World Championships in Tasmania on the “Dancing Pandas” team) Continue Reading

It was action and upsets aplenty at today’s Anaconda Adventure Race National Series held at Augusta, in Western Australia, with the Kiwi contingent taking its first ever win in the Trans Tasman Trophy, an annual grudge adventure match-up between New Zealand and Australia.

The Kiwis conquered the reigning Australian team by 30 minutes and 17 seconds, the Trans Tasman winner decided by the cumulative times of each of the three individual racers representing their countries.

World Multisport Champion Richard Ussher won outright to give his team a healthy early showing, crossing the line in 3 hours 55 minutes and 5 seconds. The win also returns Ussher to being the overall leader of the Anaconda Adventure Race National Series with only one round remaining.

West Australian elite athlete, Sean O’Neill came home second to restore some adventure racing pride for the Aussies with a time of 4 hours and 37 seconds.

Third place was snatched by a New Zealander, however Braden Currie was not a member of the Kiwi team racing for Trans Tasman honours. His first place in the previous Anaconda Adventure Race outing at the Gold Coast in September came too late for selection.

Rounding out the dominance of the New Zealanders were Trevor Voyce in fourth and Fleur Lattimore, who won the overall female category in her first ever Anaconda Adventure Race in a time of 4 hours 43 minutes and 31 seconds.
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Check out this cool video of Team DART-nuun-SportMulti from the folks at 1iOpen Productions. Though the video spotlights the team, it is a great promo for the sport of adventure racing. If you are not enticed and engaged by this clip…you may be on the wrong site! Enjoy!

Team DART-Nuun-SportMulti: Ultra Endurance Racing from 1iOpen Productions on Vimeo.

By Cyril Jay-Rayon

After completing an expedition length adventure race, you find yourself reliving parts of the race for weeks following such an intense experience. The journey you go through is so profound that memories percolate at random times after returning to normal life. You might be engaged in such a mundane activity as grocery shopping when a vivid memory pops into your mind. Sometimes you don’t know why the memory surfaces while other times you see the connection. The simple sight of an eggplant might trigger the memory of the purple bruise on your teammate’s leg after an unwelcome crash or the hallucination you had one night that eggplants were hanging from trees (I’ve had stranger hallucinations). The vivid memories that inhabit your mind bring back all sorts of emotions and feelings you experienced during the race. Joy, awe, satisfaction, exhilaration, camaraderie, disappointment, frustration, and pain are only some of the sensations that weave themselves into a tapestry of emotional ebbs and flows. During these long races on little sleep, it is not uncommon to experience emotional extremes in a matter of just a few hours.

The Gold Rush Mother Lode World Championship Qualifier was no exception in the sense that it brought about strong emotions. What was different though, for me, is that after the first day, only three emotions permeated my world and these were at the less enjoyable end of the spectrum, misery, frustration, and disappointment. I felt miserable because halfway through the race, I could no longer take full breaths, my throat was on fire, and coughing sent pain throughout my weakened body. I felt frustrated because my mind was still clear but my body produced no power, and I felt disappointment because I ruined my team’s chances of winning the race after leading it early on.
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Team “HT-18” from Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHTEEN (HT-18), from Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Fla., were named the 2011 All-Military Wilderness Challenge champions, October 8, with a winning overall time of 7:30:47. Team “Motor City Racing” from Coast Guard Medical Clinic in Detroit, Mich., came in second with a time of 7:34:08 and Team “Paradoxical Trinity” from Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., was third with a time of 7:40:17.

The challenge was sponsored by Mid-Atlantic Region, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Department, Naval Weapons Station (WPNSTA) Yorktown and ACE Adventure Resort, West Virginia’s largest outdoor outfitter. More than 100 military personnel representing all five branches of the armed forces competed in a series of five outdoor adventure races over two days in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains and on the New and the Gauley Rivers in West Virginia.

“We wanted to finish first,” said Cmdr. John Quillinan, U.S. Navy, HT-18 Team Captain. “At the end of the first day we were up by three minutes, so we started thinking we can do this. On day two, we pushed ourselves hard to get to the finish.”

Teams participating in the Wilderness Challenge competed in an 8K mountain run, a 10-mile mountain bike race, a 15-mile forced hike through the mountains, a 14-mile whitewater raft race on the Gauley River and a 7-mile kayak race on the New River…more than 50 miles covered in two days.
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By Paul Cox

The first annual Kawnivore lived up to its billing

Those of us who rush to paddle our local rivers after work and every other chance we get do so, I’m guessing, because we enjoy the rhythm of the paddling motion. The sensation of propelling yourself through the water as quickly as you can by channeling your effort in the most efficient manner is energizing. The sound of the paddle jabbing the water, the blade slicing toward and away from you as you rotate in the seat and pull, and the clean swishing sound the water makes as it slides off your paddle as you lift is joy. Repeat. Repeat. It’s a good feeling … but, unfortunately, there would be very little of that during the first annual Kawnivore paddle race July 22-23. At least there wouldn’t be much of that in succession.

The temperature in Manhattan, KS, according to the digital sign at a local bank, hit 105 degrees a few hours before the start of the race. God knows what the heat index was. I was too scared to find out. Even though we’d race through the night, I knew there would be enough time for the heat to melt my will to paddle in the incredibly shallow water of the Kaw River.

Because the Missouri River has been at flood stage for so long, the faucets essentially had been turned off in those rivers that feed it. The Kaw River (the Native American name for the West-to-East ribbon of water that now is named the Kansas River) dumps into the Missouri, so paddlers knew this race would be no float trip. We were going to have to earn every one of the 94 miles.

Still, more than 124 boats had registered for the race. Paddlers lined up for the start in the Blue River maybe 100 meters from its confluence with the Kaw in Manhattan. The race would end in Lawrence, KS. The multi-person and solo female boats began at 5:30 p.m. The solo males — my group — took to the line at 5:45 p.m. and sat in our boats waiting for the 6 p.m. start. I figured those in my group would burst off the line in an all-out sprint to catch a ride on the wake offered by the fast tandems that had a 30-minute head start. I prepared to suffer. Then, as nervous energy built, I began tightening and tinkering around with my rigging, lighting, GPS, etc. Bad idea. The start was just a few minutes away when I snapped my bow light clean off! Good Lord!! I couldn’t possibly miss the start! I paddled my kayak to the shore where, thanks to the generosity of another racer who happened to be stowing a full roll of duct tape in his cockpit, I was able to tape down my light just good enough so it didn’t drag in the water. Good for now, I thought.
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By Grant Killian

So I didn’t scare you away with this previous piece and you’ve now got a big race on your calendar. It’s time to get serious about your preparations.

I’m going to use the Untamed New England Adventure Race as the model in this material, but really most any good adventure race would suffice as a goal. I’m fond of saying that if you’re not at least a little bit scared at the starting line, you need to find a different race . . . so be sure to have an event in your sights that’s a challenge.

Untamed New England features trail running/trekking, mountain biking, paddling, ropes, orienteering, packrafting, and whitewater rafting. It makes sense to tackle each of these disciplines, but I also want to touch on safety, nutrition, packing, sleep strategy, and all the other facets to expedition adventure racing. In the months to come, I will target specific steps you could take to prepare in each of these areas, and throw in some other training thoughts along the way. I’ll try to cover as much as I can!

I will assume you’re reasonably fit; by this, I mean you could go run a 1/2 marathon this weekend without injuring yourself or needing to walk — your pace isn’t a concern as much as your overall fitness level and ability to exercise continuously for at least a couple hours. I presume you’ve got a good base of endurance and aren’t a couch potato. If this sounds like an unreasonable assumption for you, you should consider volunteering at the Untamed New England race to see first-hand what’s involved. Gradually build up your exercise level over the next year or so until that 1/2 marathon threshhold is a comfortable distance.

With that lone assumption out there, let’s look at specific steps you could take this November to better prepare for the Untamed New England race next June. I’ve organized tasks into 3 groups: 1 is Non-physical, one is Physical, and a third section I’m calling the “Untamed Aspect” where I go into detail on some really Untamed New England specific material.
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A new venue served as a fitting place to crown new XTERRA world champions.

The 16th XTERRA World Championship turned into a sweet celebration for Michael Weiss, Lesley Paterson and Kapalua, Maui.

Weiss and Paterson earned their first XTERRA world titles on a new course that was described as both beautiful and brutal. After 15 previous years at Makena, the XTERRA World Championship off-road triathlon moved to the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua this year. A total of 675 athletes representing 28 countries and 42 states participated in the event, which featured a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 30-kilometer mountain bike and a 10-kilometer trail run.

INSPIRING BIKE SURGE LEADS WEISS TO WIN
Weiss was the overall winner, completing the course in 2 hours, 27 minutes, including an astonishing bike split of 1:19:32. No other competitor finished with a bike time under 1:21:03. It was a breakthrough win for the 30-year-old Weiss, who had finished second at the 2008 XTERRA Worlds, and then third in 2009 and 2010.

“It’s amazing,” said Weiss, who is from Vienna, Austria. “I still cannot believe it. A big dream came true, and it was a really tough course.”

Weiss was in the middle of the pack after the swim, but made his remarkable move to the front on the bike. By midway through the bike course, Weiss and South Africa’s Dan Hugo were riding next to each other in second place.

The only rider in front of them was the legendary seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who was competing in the XTERRA World Championship for the first time.

Weiss and Hugo actually talked about working together so that they could conserve energy in their pursuit of Armstrong.

“That was a critical moment for me, about three-quarters of the way through the bike and I was with Weiss, and we said let’s work together, but (Weiss) was one notch stronger and he kind of took off from me and he bridged to Armstrong,” said Hugo.
Shortly after breaking away from Hugo, Weiss closed in on Armstrong, and said it gave him an adrenaline rush that pushed him all the way to the finish line.

“It felt amazing,” Weiss said. “I had goose bumps. It’s something very special to catch Lance on a climb. It was an amazing feeling, and even motivated me more.”

Weiss used that motivation to do the unthinkable – he passed Armstrong on an uphill bike climb.
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The Untamed New England Adventure Race has opened registration for their June 2012 edition; the race website has been updated with the relevant details, but let’s run down some highlights:

1) It’s a 4-day race, one day longer than previous versions (for some background on this decision, read Breathe Magazine’s write-up on a conversation with race leadership)

2) It’s based from Northern Outdoors at The Forks, Maine — the same venue that worked with Eco-Challenge 16 years ago when it was run in Maine as part of the X-Games.  This is the only locale to ever host an Eco-Challenge East of the Mississippi, so it’s a special kind of place.

3) Race disciplines will have the usual mountain biking, paddling, trekking and for this year pack-rafting has been included, along with whitewater rafting.  Back-country navigation is a signature element of Untamed New England, and this year will be no different.  Expect lots of strategic route choices.  The rope(s) sections advertise rappelling, ascending, and a tyrolean traverse.

4) The race is once again a Qualifier for the AR World Championships; in 2012 this will be in the French Alps in late September, so teams looking to compete on the highest of international levels have this race to circle on their calendar.

The ExploreCompeteLive website is going to start running a regular segment on preparing for the Untamed New England, targeting teams newer to multi-day racing.  A good place to start is on the UntamedNE.com website, with a piece titled “So you’re thinking about Untamed New England…”.

The Untamed race slogan is “more an adventure than a race” and participants need to be ready for what Untamed New England can throw at them . . . that means serious wilderness, with real navigation, and handling the consequences of your race decisions . . . our goal is to help you arrive at the starting line as prepared as possible.  But you’ll never be prepared enough.

Finally, here’s a nice video clip Breathe Magazine did on the Untamed New England.  Let’s get pumped for those Fall races and workouts — and start thinking about June 2012!

For those of us experiencing the fringes of fall weather right now,  conditions are ideal for road biking. Slipping through the curvy backroads enjoying smooth surfaces and cool temps is something I long for all summer. But the reality of the daily grind can hamper those jaunts into the country when daylight is running short. For city dwellers, the thought of packing the bike up into the car, adding air to the tires, changing clothes, and then fighting traffic to get to the “good” pavement is often too much. It’s easier to take a quick cruise around the neighborhood or through the urban jungle. For the urban road rider, who doesn’t own a cyclocross bike, the best option is to get a slightly beefier tire to avoid the pitfalls of punctures.

I recently wore out my second set of tires in the past year (I’ve been putting the miles down). I was on the market for something a bit grippier and fairly puncture resistant, all while maintaining the stylistic theme of my bike – I’m “one of  those guys” with the bike that has the matching tires and handlebar grip tape. I found what I was looking for in the Michelin Orium.  Continue Reading