[RACE REPORT] The Tahoe Big Blue Adventure Race has become somewhat of a Bay Area adventure racing tradition. It’s been long standing and it’s always packed with adventure and excitement. A lot of that fun is born from the location. Lake Tahoe is an adventurers’ dream! This year’s race was sure to be exciting. The weather would be a key factor. The forecast that lead up to race day included snow and rain. And the same was predicted for race day! Race day for the Dirty Avocados (Mike Chastaine, Jon Masztakowski, Susan Bower, and Brian Schmitz) actually started the night before uneventfully with a clean and quick prep and feeding. And we held that bearing through the next morning to the start.   

Going into this race we had high expectations. Susan is a monster mountain biker and has raced on many excellent teams—most notably Thin Aire. Even though she had twins just over 8 months ago, she is already tearing up the trails. Brian has become an amazing biker and extremely strong when towing. Mike has also developed into super strong mountain biker and also had some success at past Tahoe Big Blues. Last year Jon and Mike finished this race in 2^nd over all. Jon doesn’t race a lot, but has done this race with Mike the last 4 years and they were division champions a couple of years ago.

We put great team on the course and we fully expected a good result. There were some very good teams present: DART, Dogs in Space, Bull Moose Extreme and BAARB. That said, we felt that we had the firepower to place very well.

The start was about a 2 mile run from Commons Beach to the Kings

As we pulled into the beach from which we started the rest of the field were already leisurely prepping their bike gear. It was already decided that the race would be restarted with the bike section. We later learned that we would get zero credit for the lead we had built. Our incredible paddle was all for not! 

When the race finally restarted with a mass bike start, it started to rain. We jumped out to a lead and tried to drive the pace. We went back and forth with Dogs in Space up the rather substantial climb to the first CP. We were allowed to get the CP’s in any order, including when to do the o-course that was set up at Sawmill Flats. We had considered going to the o-course first. We concluded that getting the bike CP’s first would be the fastest way. Apparently all the top placing teams choose the same basic route – a clockwise route through the bike CP’s then the o-course.

We got to the first CP directly behind Dogs in Space and just in front of DART, who had taken a slightly different route to get to this CP. BAARB was within a few minutes. At this point we began to see that Jon was not feeling well. Jon got altitude sickness and suffered more then anyone we have ever raced with. Despite his suffering, Jon hung in there and was towed and helped as much as possible.

The second CP we were seeking required riding up to the Tahoe Rim Trail, then down a very technical trail called Missing Link. When we reviewed the map, all we saw was a contour line at the check point. As a result, it appeared that we would need to ride down and then back up the hill. On the way to the second bike checkpoint we were not able to keep up with DART and Dogs in Space and fell back a bit. It was snowing and very cold at this point. Our fingers were so cold they hurt.

As we started down Missing Link, Mike’s crank fell off my bike. Yup (you read that right), Mike’s crank literally fell off. Mike had just had the bike serviced and apparently they had loosened the pinch-bolts. Fortunately this was not the first time this had happened to Mike. Mike knew how to fix it and got it back on in short order. Even though he was able to do the repair quickly, we were passed by a number of teams. At that point, based on the belief that we had to climb back out, we decided to leave the bikes, run down the trial and back up. When we got to the CP, it was obvious that there was a good dirt road at the location.  We looked at the map more closely and found the road, and also discovered that it would go directly to the next CP. We had made a big mistake. We did not have much of a choice, and ran back up and got back on the bikes. The route that we were now committed to added several miles and at least 1,000 extra vertical feet of climbing. We’re sure it cost us at least 30 to 40 minutes…maybe more.

Once we got back out to the Fiberboard Freeway, we decided that we should get the CP at the top of Mount Watson, the high-point of the race. It was snowing again as we climbed.  Jon was suffering but we kept pushing. We got to the summit just before DART who would have been a whole CP ahead of us. We got the check point and then quickly descended back down the snow covered road we had just climbed. As we went down we saw Dogs in Space coming up the hill. We knew they were also a CP ahead of us.  Beyond that we didn’t know what place we were in.

After Mt. Watson, we had to head to a single track trail that descended directly to the CP.  Although some of us had ridden down that trail last year, we got on the wrong trail that was a bit longer. We rode quickly down to this last bike check point and then hustled as fast as we could back up the hill and then down to the o-course.

We got to the o-course as the weather began to clear and it warmed up a bit.  We smoked the o-course in under an hour. According to the results, the only other team under an hour was DART (3 minutes faster then us.). We made up time on every other team, including BAARD, who we were able to get ahead of during the o-course.  Mike was zoning; being able to see the map well and hit the flags dead on. 

After completing the o-course, we quickly threw our bike shoes back on and dashed out of TA. As we were leaving, we saw BAARB just finishing the o-course. We need to head down the hill back to the bike/run TA. We motored down the hill, got on to Highway 28 and climbed Dollar Hill, before we got back to TA.  We moved quickly, dropped the bikes, changed shoes and headed out on the last run. As we left we were told that we were in 4^th behind DART, Dogs and a solo. The solo was 7 minutes ahead. We ran as fast as we could until Jon would have to walk for a few steps. Still we made good time.  Just before we got to the finish at Common’s Beach, I saw the solo walking in front of us.  He turned, saw us and dashed off to the finish beating us by less then a minute. We finished in 4^th place over all and 1^st in our division.

As soon as we finished Jon had the staff call the Paramedics to get some oxygen. He had all the classic symptoms of altitude sickness and needed to go to lower elevations. Jon was amazing in just hanging on. Brian towed Jon a great deal and was supper strong.  Susan biked and ran strongly and kept the pace up. Mike felt pretty strong and was generally happy with the navigation aside from the first error.

This was a very good effort by a team that had to overcome mechanical failure, an extremely sick team mate, a bad route choice and the horrid weather. Through it all, we moved quickly and effectively and came up with a top finish against a strong field.

[RACE REPORT] This year’s Mt Tam Triple Crown Hill Climb was the inaugural and included a small field of local riders and runners. The event comprised 3 stages over 3 days over Labor Day weekend 2007. And each stage started in Mill Valley and end at the top of Mt Tam. It started with a mountain bike race on day 1, followed by a road race on day 2, and concluded with a trail/road run on day 3. Below is short summary of each day’s event and my MotionBased GPS digest.

Day 1, MTB
MotionBased Digest

I finished 8th out of 22 riders. The field was mixed; but the good riders were very good! The interesting thing about this race was the variety of bikes. It was as much about one’s choice of a bike as much as your fitness. There were single speeds, 29er single speeds, fixed gear single speeds, fully rigid singles speeds, cyclo-cross bikes, traditional mountain bikes. The winner rode a fully rigid single speed.

Day 2, Road Ride
MotionBased Digest

I finished 8th.again! The field was mixed; but the good riders were still very good!

Day 3, Trail Run
MotionBased Digest

The sufferfest ended with a 2.5 mile hill climb, on foot, from Mill Valley to the summit of Mt Tam. I spent 43 minutes of heart-pounding, vomit-inducing running, climbing, and scrambling to finish that stage in 5th and finish the 3 stage Triple Crown in 8th.

(Day 3 was also part of the renowned 27 year-old Mt Tam Hill Climb foot race http://www.tamalparunners.org/html/hillclimbarticle.php)

Overall, the Triple Crown was such good times. I learned more about Marin’s cycling and especially running culture and history. Very interesting!! I’ll be back next year for more suffering.

My climbing season continues with the 47 year old Mt Tam Hill Climb pro and amateur road race; followed by the more laid-back Diablo Challenge; and in the meantime the weekly Low Key Hill Climbs around the Bay Area.

*** with inline comments by Adam for the second DA team racing Oakridge. ***

I came to Oakridge to do the 24 hour adventure race with the goal of having fun. I always enjoy racing an training with Melissa and was looking forward to racing with Mike. As I expected we worked well together and had a great time. I actually brought my family along and made a 9 day vacation out of the event.

Prior to the start we were driven about an hour up some dirt roads. This was a bummer because my family wouldn’t see the start of the race. We got out of the cars and were instantly swarmed with very hungry mosquitoes. The race started on time at 10:00am with a run from the start to June Lake where we were given maps and route instructions. I am no speedster on foot, nor is Melissa, and this type of start favors the fleet afoot. Melissa hooked up the tow line from my pack as soon as we started ascending. I was chugging along towing Melissa uphill with my calves screaming all the way to the lake. We were among the last teams to get there. We picked up the maps and route instructions. The route instructions made it clear that once we were on the “Middle Fork Trail” we had to remain on it until CP4 or face disqualification. We took the time to plot all the CPs we were given before we left because it is my belief that overall it was faster than spreading out the maps several times on the course. We left June Lake with only 2 or three teams behind us. We jogged back down the trail we’d run up. I contemplated a bushwhack down 200+ feet to the fire road along the way but passed up the opportunity without communicating it to my teammates. This was the first of several times in the race that I rushed nav decisions. I think we could have saved significant time there, a missed opportunity. I wasn’t on my “A” game the whole race. I also struggled with the 1: 63.360 scale map with mainly because the numbers labeling the trails were hard to interpret and sometimes obscured details. Anyway, we jogged/trekked back to the start and up to our bike to start the bike leg. We were probably about 20 minutes behind our DA compatriots at that point and I didn’t expect to see them again until after the bike leg because I’d heard Jen is a bad ass mountain biker and they all descend pretty well.

Mike and Melissa both crashed fairly early on the first bike leg, a 6 hour mostly downhill single track extravaganza. Mike landed hard on his ribs. His seat was broken and he had to MacGuiver it with some zip ties, and he also soon discovered that he couldn’t shift and was in a small cog. Melissa’s fall resulted in an small cut/scrape on the thigh which left a trail of blood…I think she did it to look tough. At CP2 Mike and I were trying to figure out why his bike wouldn’t shift. As we were following the cable back from the derailleur looking for damage a guy from the race staff asked if the cracked shifter was a problem….yep, that was it. Mike and I moved his derailleur so he was using a larger cog and he had a single speed rear end for the rest of the race. We hurried along our way when I became the next victim of the bike leg. As the trail skirted the banks of the Middle Fork Willamette River I ducked my head through some overhanging leaves and was struck across the bridge of my nose by an unseen fir branch. I noticed it was bleeding but didn’t think it was a problem until the blood started dripping all over my map board. We stopped to patch it up and Melissa fashioned what must have been the most ridiculous looking band aid ever. Soon after that we came upon the other DAs, much to my surprise.

*** Adam - Mark, Mike and Melissa came upon us as we were just off the trail trying to screw A-Bombs hub back together with an allen wrench. This would be an issue that would plague us until we reached our TA bins. ***

We rolled along together with them to CP3 where one person on each team had to swim in the river to climb a cargo net and read a number off of a suspended water bottle. I didn’t hesitate and went right down, got my instructions, and jumped in. The MTB Shoes got a little tangled in the net but overall it was quick, painless, and refreshing. I dripped back up to the bike, refolded the maps, and as soon as DP arrived both DA teams continued rolling together to CP4 where we arrived without notable incident.

*** Adam - At CP3 we noticed a team sitting on the curb, almost as if they were given a “time out”. Turns out they were caught and penalized for taking the road and not the Middle Fork Trail as the directions clearly stated and the race director reiterated at the start of the race. To my amazement, that same team seemed to have a problem following instructions and ended up taking the road again later in the race. Apparently they were supposed to be DQd, but don’t think that happened. ***

At CP4 we received the next set of CPs and race instructions that would get us through a short trek, the paddle, and main trek of the race. Across the top of these route instructions was written, “Travel on Roads is Prohibited”. We were also told that several teams had missed CP5

CP5 was at the downstream tip of an island in the river just upstream from Hills Creek Reservoir. Both DA teams and another 2 person Coed team quickly found it together then hiked cross country to the start of the kayak leg.

*** Adam - We had to cross a couple waist high streams to access the point and the route to the TA. ***

Here we had access to our gear box for the first time in the race, seven hours or so from when we started. I also found a note of encouragement from my kids in the pocket of my kayak skirt. We got into the water a little ahead of the other DA’s and paddled to the optional kayak portage.

*** Adam - Thank god for kayak wheels! We used the wheels to roll our beasts of boats down to the river edge. We contemplated putting the boats in early to avoid the portage to the further point we could on big, cumbersome rocks and boulders. Mark and his team decided to enter the water early but it looked very shallow. We decided to wait a few minutes to see if they made it through and follow their line. They made I and we followed in suit. ***

Here is where our interpretation of the phrase “Travel on Roads is Prohibited” backfired on us. Portaging the kayaks here would have been a huge effort and was not feasible. There were scattered kayaks all along the banks of the lake. We hopped out and crossed a road. CP6a was .94 miles up stream of the high water mark of the reservoir along Packard Creek. We wrongly assumed that we could not travel on the gravel road paralleling Packard Creek and began traveling on the steep exposed banks below the high water mark.

After about 20 to 30 minutes we were wondering about our interpretation of the rules. We were hiking with a solo racer named Gary but there were no other foot prints and we didn’t see any other racers. It was incredibly difficult to travel on the steep, loose, rocky, sandy banks and we were getting nowhere fast. Melissa was in front of me as we scrambled across the loose footing when she tripped and fell hard on her face….literally! After she hit she just held on to the ground and didn’t move or say anything, and Mike and I knew right away that she was hurt. I moved her quickly to a stable rock to sit on because she’d dislodged a rock and disturbed an ant colony with her head. We did our best to patch her up with Mike’s minimalist first aid kit. Note: Minimalist first aid kits don’t seem to be enough when racing with Melissa. She was dizzy and nauseous but was soon ready to get under way. We decided to cut up to the road which involved plowing through some poison oak along the high water mark. Melissa was not a happy camper because the following weekend she was attending a wedding in Poland and was looking forward wearing her new short dress. Now she had a mild abrasion on the cheek, an abrasion and contusion on her forehead, a potential black eye, and she knew her legs would be covered in PO too.

We reached the road and were trekking along still assessing Melissa’s condition when we realized that we had left the map where Melissa had fallen. We hiked back and mike scampered down the banks to retrieve the map. On the gravel road we passed several teams returning from the CP. I was cruising up the trail and not counting passing landmarks. It was getting dark. I noticed an overgrown road grade leading down to the creek and figured it was there for a reason and we followed it to the creek. I hesitated here and stopped a couple times to confirm that we were traveling the right direction. If I’d been paying closer attention along the gravel road I would have known where we were. Footing long the creek was tricky and we had travel through the water. I slipped on the rocky bottom and fell twice in shallow water. To get to the CP we had to wade in water almost waste deep. We found CP6a and moved back up to the road.

*** Adam - Ouch! That sucks Mark! We did take the road right out of our kayaks. I had the point plotted exactly, however we could not make out the road on the map which was directly across from the CP due to the extremely dark shading on the map designating private or government land etc… Because if this we walked right past the point we needed to bushwhack and ended up about 1/2 too far up the road. When we reached a bridge I knew we went to far. There were a few other teams scampering around looking lost as can be. We quickly regrouped and took off back the way we came to try and loose them hopelessly lost teams. We took a directly perpendicular bearing from the road that we didn’t see on the map the first time and popped out 10 feet from the CP. ***

We got back to our kayaks just as the other DAs were launching their boats…I’m kind of curious about what took them so long. We eventually got under way again.

It was now dark and we enjoyed a surreal and beautiful night time paddle. The partial moon had set and the stars and Milky Way were displayed in their full glory. We even saw several shooting stars. We paddled to the other end of the lake. Adam D and I had both plotted the CP to be at a boat ramp. We searched for the boat ramp and finally located it. It was gravel and did not reach all the way to the water due to lower than usual rainfall. We landed the kayak and got out the rules and passport. The instructions were to read the graffiti and on the bridge and complete the phrase…Andreana _____________. Well, there was obviously no bridge here, but there was one on the map just a little way farther. If I’d compared the CP as I’d plotted it with the clue on the sheet we could have saved 15 - 20 minutes. We got to the bridge and found the other DA team in their kayaks trying to launch downstream between the rocks. Melissa and I were entertained by the show while Mike found the answer for the CP. We were quickly under way again and passed the other DA team. At the kayak take out we had to drag the boats up a steep rocky bank. I think Mike’s tandem kayak was probably the heaviest kayak in the race and even with portage wheels it was a struggle to drag it up the hill.

*** Adam - The bridge CP frustrated me as well. Like Mark said below, I wasn’t on my A game either. Not paying attention that we were looking for a bridge was definitely a rookie mistake. ***

At this transition we had access to our gear boxes again. I failed to find my dry lightweight base layer top and dry socks in the box. I left in a mid weight fleece top and wet shoes and wet Smartwool socks. The trek was pretty straight forward on the first part. We followed the Larsen Creek Trail all the way until it met a forest road. We gained plenty of elevation on the way as it was all uphill. At the road we found several other teams looking for CP7 which was a “Bearing Tree” where we were supposed to find the bearing written on the “bearing box”. There were three or four teams there when we arrived and all were searching for a bearing tree. Mike and I searched the surrounding area for something on the trunk of a tree but never found it. We ended up measuring the direction that a trails sign arrow was pointed.

*** Adam - This should have been good enough to prove to race officials that we had infact visited the point. But apparently a bearing tree is something else. To this date I still don’t know what the heck a bearing tree is! ***

The next part of the trek was off of the 1:24,000 map and on the 1:63,360 map which made it hard to determine how far we’d traveled. We were with the other DA team and a three person all male team along this section. I found several unique features that would tell us where to leave the road. The map had a trail drawn by the race director that would take us up the hill. We arrived at the area where the trail should be and began to look for the hand drawn trail. We quickly found some flagging that continued and led us up the hill. From there we trekked along a forest road to the next CP.

*** Adam - We parted ways with Mark, Mike and Melissa here and looking forward to seeing them on the trail. However our cadence from the TA up to the Deception Bute trail was unexpectedly fast. A-bomb lended me a tow a few times other than that we hauled but to the trail head and never looking back. We did have a couple of other teams hovering around us throughout this leg. We’d loose them pretty fast, but the they’d come back like a pesty mosquito when ever we stopped to check maps or trails. ***

Here we received race instructions and CP information for the rest of the race. We were directed to bike to a point we plotted as Deception Butte and follow the single track trail almost all the way to the finish line. We received plenty of warning to be cautious as we’d be on some steep and dangerous trails. We almost missed a turn on the fast gravel roads leading to Deception Butte. Looking at the 100 foot contours on the map indicated that there’d be a wickedly steep hike a bike about 300+ feet up to the top of Deception Butte…we got more that we expected. We hiked without bikes on our shoulders over almost straight up over slippery terrain to the top. The trail down was steep and narrow with plenty of exposure. Melissa was in front and walking most of the trail. Mike was in front of me. I was actually riding more of the trail than Mike and Melissa. They’d both fallen hard early in the race and it wasn’t unreasonable that they were both pretty cautious.

*** Adam - the decent from Deception Bute frustrated me so much that by the time we finally made it to the bottom something came over me that I don’t think DP or A-bomb had witnessed before. I knew there were a few teams in front of us that were reachable. I also knew one of them had a broken derailer. We hit highway 58 and then the frontage road. Like a horse that knows he’s almost home, I starting kicking it in and putting all I had left into picking off those teams and getting to the finish. We passed one then two teams. We’d been riding so fast and so hard I never had a chance to flip the map. But I knew we were almost there. However I was going mostly by instinct. Well after a while of riding my instinct told me we gone too far. We tuned off on a low maintained road and ended up at the gravel pits. I looked don’t he map and saw we were just west of the finish. As we headed back to the main road the teams we’d passed backpedaled and followed us. We flew past them and continued on. We caught up to another team but made a huge error again and followed them into the sewage treatment plant. I knew instantly that was a mistake and should have stuck to my instinct to go straight but DP and A-Bomb were already a bit ahead. Again we peeled out then dropping the team we followed in and further up the road saw the finish flags through the trees across the river. We found a bridge and circled back to the finish like with zero left in my tank! ***

There was some minor rerouting of the trail near the bottom but we pretty much cruised to the finish. I called my family and told them I was close to finishing. They’d been hanging out near the finish since about 7am and it was almost eleven. We finished in about 25 1/2 hours to the cheers of my wife Kyle, and our three kids.

The other DAs were there and had already changed out of their race clothes. The cold beverages were gone and some teams had packed up and left. I’m glad my family was there because otherwise it was a pretty anti-climactic finish.

Overall I had a good time. Racing was fun and challenging. Melissa and Mike are great teammates. It was good times traveling with the other DA’s. I think I let the easy “follow the trail for six hours” navigation early in the race lulled me into navigating lazily later in the race. I estimate that if between the time lost on our decision to avoid the gravel road along Packard Creek, the missed opportunity to travel cross country on the first trek, and the inaccurate plotting of CP6b, Mike’s broken shifter, and a few other minor issues we should have been 90 minutes to two hours faster. Throughout the race we seemed to move faster than the teams around us but would be caught at TAs and while stopped on the trail.

Sometime I still need to race with Brian, Jen, Aja, Will, and Adam A.

Raid the North Extreme was the first real expedition race for this Dirty Avocados adventure racing team. Leading up to race day, we had never been so excited for one race. We had trained together, raced together, planned together, played together and now…finally…we arrived in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada to race RTNX together.

The four of us—Melissa Griffiths, Mike Chastaine, Will Gilmore and I, Brian Schmitz—arrived in Rupert to find a wonderland of lush and wet forest, expansive mountains, and limitless waterways. We were all amazed at the prospect of racing in a place that contrasts our northern California stomping grounds; which normally includes rugged and tall mountains, but mostly dry and open.

The race actually would start off the coast of Rupert on the Queen Charlotte Islands. This was a major change to the original plans and a major opportunity. Normally, the Charlottes are off limits. Kudos to the race staff for selling us in!

The start was early on a sun-drenched Monday morning and began with a sweet 4-hour paddle down the Skidgate Channel. The paddle was calm and uneventful…except for a few verses of the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song from Melissa and Mike. “Are you ready kids? Aye-aye Captain…” No offense; but I’ll be happy if I never hear that song again!

We arrived at CP1 and quickly transitioned to the first mountain trek. The transition was relatively quick. As we trotted off towards the mountain that held CP2, we were spurred along by the excitement of finally getting on our feet for what we expected would be a challenging but reasonable jaunt up to a peak and then over a saddle and finally an arrival at CP3…all before dark. Little did we know.

After nice jog with some other teams along the last trail we’d see for a long while, we pealed off and headed up via a stream. This is where we would soon be served our first—and certainly not our last—dose of BC bushwhacking. After walking up the stream for a while, the terrain turned up and we were soon face to face with a major waterfall. Yikes! Do we climb up along side that or turn back and head up one of the more forgiving hillsides? After a vain attempt at the falls, we turned back and hit the hillside bush.

This is where route finding would become ever challenging, as the 100-foot contours on our 50,000-topo maps hid soooo many portly, impassable, and sometimes-fatal cliffs and other obstacles. This, again, would be a constant throughout the race. This aspect caused a slow and painful exercise of going forward, backward, and around. And this made pinpointing our location very difficult. We finally penetrated the tree line and we could see the mountaintop we were in the hunt for.

At that point, though, we could also hear an unfamiliar sound. Thump, thump, thump! It was the sound of helicopter closing in fast! Soon we could make out what would be the Canadian Coast Guard’s Search and Rescue. They had arrived for team Supplier Pipeline, after one of their teammates took a serious fall on the scree above.

We continued up and were a little surprised to see CP2 a little farther, higher, and more precarious than we expected. We continued on and finally tagged CP2. We also met a team Expedition Canada along the way down and decided to team up for some of the trek to the saddle that would take us to CP3.

We then, again, heard a now familiar sound. Thump, thump, thump! It was the sound of another helicopter. The mountain had take yet another racer; one from team Running Free.

At this point, night had arrived and we were well below the treeline and back in some serious bush. The bushwhacking continued to be slow and frustrating. We finally decided to sleep off what was left of the night and take on the bush during the day.

Finding a route up to the ridge that held the saddle we were seeking continued to prove extremely challenging. The terrain continued to be thick and slow going and the fog was starting to fill in any relieving gaps. By the afternoon, we had fallen way off schedule and now we were out of food. We had remembered that this trek was supposed to take about half of 1 day. We were now on day 2.

We finally reached the ridge areas; but with the thick fog and wet snow continued to thwart our progress. We eventually reached a point where we needed help. We held out long enough and finally decided to radio the race staff, as we needed to be safely pointed in the right direction. We had already crossed way too many sections that exposed us to some potentially fatal outcomes.

We were instructed to change course, head to a gully that would take us down to 2,000 feet, and we’d then see an approachable forest and some deer trails that would lead us to the saddle we were looking for.

We continued through the snow and fog and found what we thought was the gulley. One problem, though. We couldn’t see past the opening (because of the fog) and we could hear what sounded like a serious waterfall. Do we step through the fog and hope there is something on the other side besides a drop or waterfall? We had no choice but to move forward.

We stepped through and saw a very steep and narrow snow and ice filled gulley with very little relief. A controlled glissade was our only option. As we each carefully moved downward, Melissa slipped and started soaring down toward Mike. She hit Mike and the two of them spun downward until they could arrest and stop. Whew!! Though, before we knew it, I was now off my feet and skidding downward. I couldn’t arrest before I flew into the wall and dropped down into a crevasse. Lucky it was a soft landing and not very deep. I climbed out and we all proceed down to the 2,000-foot mark. We thought this was end of the menace. Little did we know.

We followed some deer trails to find…yet another cliff. Cliffed out again! We decided at that point to make a camp. It was late and we had been way out of food and we were drenched (did I mention it had been raining) and soon the night’s chill would set in. We made a makeshift shelter and nursed a damp fire until we finally puppy-piled ourselves to sleep. Though, it was more like mixed levels of dozing.

The next day (day 3!) we decided to head back up to the ridge, as that was were we ultimately needed to be to get to the saddle. We radioed our status to the race staff and were instructed to meet some race staff on the ridge, where we’d be met with food and a way down. We finally did so (after yet more super sketchy and exposed situations). The jaunt down was incredible, as we followed the course designer, legendary Lawrence Foster and others. They essentially put on a clinic in rugged terrain route finding. That was awesome!

We finally arrived at CP3; 57 hours after we started. Wow! That section alone was longer than any race I had done to date. (The help we received on the mountain didn’t disqualify us due to the amount of help that was dished out to so many other teams.)

At this point, most every team’s race had drastically changed due to the first trek’s unexpected outcome. We made our way to the next transition and were moved to a shorter course. After a rapid recovery and nap, we set out on a short night paddle and followed that with a short trek. The trek progressed well early; but we struggled to finish it as the injuries and damage we had sustained during the first trek lingered. We missed a cutoff and we were pushed past that section’s mountain peak and onto the bikes. We decided to short the bike to allow our injuries to heal some, as we had a ferry ride back to Rupert that night and thought that’d allow us to be stronger during the remainder of the race.

The remainder of the race started with a short jog through Rupert to a paddle. The paddle started calmly but turned wet and windy. We finally ended the first half of the paddle and prepared for a demanding portage. Will created a nifty system of backpacking the deflated boats. Will and I were the privileged two that humped the boats…on our backs. These things were the size of TVs and weighed as much. Ugh! Plus the trail we started on quickly widdled down to something only the “force” (and Will) could distinguish. We met team Dancing Pandas along the way and decided to partner. They were a lot of help and a ton of fun!

We all finally decided to peel off down toward the water. The bushwhacking was again treacherous. It was as thick and taxing as ever. And now we had boats on our backs. We had to climb up and down small loose cliffs and sloppy hillsides. And down and across rugged streams. After 8 FREAKIN’ hours of this, we finally found the water.

We completed the paddled after 3 more hours. We then not so quickly transitioned to the bikes for a night ride that was mostly road and mostly…uninteresting.

We then transitioned to yet another paddle and ended that with a sunrise and…another portage!! (I now hate that word.) After humping our boats (inflated this time) again, we transitioned to the last leg, a trek up a small mountain overlooking Rupert and the finish.

The way up was straightforward. However, we got a little twisted at the top of the mountain. After a quick recovery, we bushwhacked some and then discovered a clear trail across a saddle and up the last section. We finally tagged the top and proceeded down a raw road. It was painful due to some of our foot and leg problems that continued to build. The final minutes of the race was run through town and finally the FINISH!

Officially we finished in 5 and a half days in 15th place out of 23 teams. More important than the outcome was the effect of what we had just accomplished. We became a quintessential team. We each filled key roles, banded together in the face of adversity and danger (too many times to count), and grew and matured as racers. Plus we had TONS of fun!

I want to thank my teammates for supporting the team and me. Melissa’s toughness when dealing with some painful injuries late in the race was balls out! And her enthusiasm and spirit is unmatched. Mike’s leadership and experience proved to save our lives during the first trek and was invaluable throughout the entire race. I’ll never forget it. And Will’s navigation and creative thinking was awesome in the face of some of the most challenging terrain and conditions we had ever faced.

*** Sunday update ***

This just in from Brian…

Were on our way home. We all survived, but have lots of bumps bruises and things that linger.

The race was truely exteme! There was more danger and excitement than we or even some the staff had ever seen. Tons of details and pics to follow.

-Brian

*** Wednesday update ***

Still waiting for the leader board to update with the Avocados status and rank. Looks as if they are still on the trek. With all the rerouting and weather and course changes, it is likely they are stuck in limbo. Weather calls for more light rain for next couple days.

-A

*** Monday update ***

Thanks for your support while were at Raid The North. If you’re here to check on our teams race status and latest news, you’ve come to the right spot. However due to a glitch on the SleepMonsters.ca website our team seems to be “invisible”! As of today you wont see them on the Leader Board or the Send Message to a Team tool, but rest assured our teammates state-side are on it and doing what they can to contact SleepMonsters to get it cleared up. I’ve attempted to contact them multiple times but alais, no reply. You also wont find a race status or leader-board on the Raid The North website either. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a black hole. Bear with us while we try to obtain race updates as soon and as much as possible.

-Adam (The only avocado still in California?????)

Check out our mention in SleepMonsters.ca race coverage.

Leader board. Allthough were not listed yet!

Race central on Sleepmonsters.ca.

Raid the North website latest news.

With no cell service and one Internet cafe here in Rupert, we’ve felt a bit out of touch. Now with less than 24hrs before the start I’ve finally had a spare moment to check email. Here’s the skinny…

The race will be epic! Simply epic! We’re going to be exploring the Queen Charlotte Islands as well as the coastal mountains outside of Rupert. The visit to the Charlotte Islands is a privilege in itself. We’ll be going to places on these islands few have seen. Overall, it’s going to be a paddle heavy race. The trekking will be awesome, as we’ll hit two of the highest peaks on the islands along with some coasteering on some remote beaches. The biking will be sweet too. We’ll be covering some major distance on our rigs in order to get through all what’s in store.

The planning continues to be the most we’ve ever done for any event (AR or not) in our lives! Wish us luck that we have everything correctly sorted.

Gotta run. And this will be the last you hear from us until we’re finished. Check sleepmonsters.com for race updates. Talk to you next wkd!

Ripe for racing!!!!!!

Fourteen more days until the biggest adventure race some of the DAs and I will have ever done. It’s the Raid the North Extreme. It’ll be on British Columbia’s North Coast. And it’ll be epic! In fact, it already is. Over the last few days, floodwaters there have risen to heights most have never seen before! Below is an excerpt from a local paper describing what’s waiting for us. We can’t wait!!

Closed roads and possible power blackouts have sparked food hoarding in Prince Rupert and Smithers, where flood waters have risen to their highest levels in 80 years. The worst of the flooding may have passed for the Lower Mainland, thanks to lower-than-expected rainfall. But the danger remains high in the northwest, where 70 per cent of this year’s record snowpack remains on the mountains, ready to flow when warm weather strikes.

Bring it.

This years Sea Otter was a first for the adventure racing community. With the assistance of Todd Jackson (Big Blue AR Series) the first annual Thule - Sea Otter Adventure Race was held at the Laguna Secca venue. We were excited about this race because of the long standing Sea Otter MTB and Road biking tradition, the expo booths and the networking with other great riders. It’s not often in AR that we get the same fan-faire that is seen at Sea Otter. We mooched a camp space off of our teammates friend’s team, The Breakouts (thanks guys!).

The course was a bit shorter than what were used to. We really don’t get warmed up until the 6th or 8th hour. But because of that, it was to be a fast race! We started off with a run to our kayaks and a paddle up the shore a few miles around a bouy and back again. Nothing too crazy.

Once back on the beach we had to dead-lift our boats back t0 the parking lot. For me, the most difficult part of the race! We hoped on our bikes and after a quick map check we were off down the bike path north along the shore.

Around Dunes State Park we headed under the highway and towards the old military base. Once on the backside of the base we finally reached the fire roads and single track. I think Adam and Donato were happy because all the road riding on MTB can be annoying. But hey, this is AR, we could be carrying them! For the next couple hours we zig zagged around the Fort Ord trails. We were allowed to pick up the checkpoints in this section in any order. We had a pretty good path and were making smart navigation decisions.

There were other riders practicing for the XC race to be held the following day all over the course. Because there are no set routes in AR, many times we opted to cut trail, go up when most riders were going down, swim against stream, what ever it took to get us to the CP. I think they may have been annoyed with us. But here today was our race!

The approach to the transition area at Laguna Seca was uplifting. Tons of people visiting the expo cheering us oin as we pulled in and transitioned to our running gear and then we bounced off for what looked to be a short run/trek.

Thats exactly what it turned out to be. A very short navigation with some running and trekking. We finished that in about an hour and a half. The on home to the finish.

THURSDAY MARCH 29 11:25AM PST
-by Adam

No update for the last 24 hours. Guess the race organizers and crews are deep in isolation away from phone and internet access. I will post an update just as soon as I can reach the crew.

******************

WENESDAY MARCH 28 1:05PM PST
- by Adam

I just got off the phone with the crew for Mark, DP and Melissa. Things are going great. We are currently in 5th place with Will and RWG only about an hour back in 6th place. Looks like once the nightmare kayak was over they are gaining some ground on the other teams even picking up a few places.

So far they have completed the kayak, a mountain bike and a trekking leg. They took about an hour nap this morning before heading out on the second bike leg. Apparently on the first bike leg Melissa went down and got a bit banged up and Mark’s rim had to be replaced. Looks like a bit of sketchy tired riding out there I’m sure. After all of that, the crew said that they arrived to the TA in good spirits.

The weather has cleared up and it’s warming up with dry conditions.

So far no foot or medical problems. They are taking extra care of their feet apparently. (That’s good!)

Sounds like all in all they ar playing a smart, safe and well calculated race!

I griped to Karen and Paul for the lack of mention and coverage in their race reports about the Dirt Avocados. They were mentioning ALL other teams except for the DAs for some reason. I guess this got back to Donato at th elast TA and he had this to say; “You know we’ll get more coverage when we’re leading the race!”

The crew was passing through Encinada when they called me and were about to head inland towards the mountains so they weren’t sure what cell coverage would be like. I will try calling them tonight and will post another update when I can get one from the horse mouth.

*************

MONDAY MARCH 26 9:44PM PST
- by Adam

I just got off the phone with Mark, Donato and Melissa while they were out for their last supper at a local Italian joint. Spirits are high. When asked if they were nervous, mark said not so much nervous but anxious.

A storm is headed their way and they were warned by race organizers to be prepared for swells and cold weather while out on the kayak and over the higher passes.

The canyoneering segment is supposed to be epic Mark said. Earlier tonight during the race briefing they were presented with a jaw dropping slide show of the canyoneering course. Good think Mark packed his waterproof camera.

They also had the slight upper hand on other teams during map preparation because while crew-less teams scrambled to organize their bins, Donato, Mark and Melissa got to focus on maps and relax.

Race starts at 8am PST tomorrow (Tuesday). I will be checking in with their crew every night to posting updates here.

*************

SUNDAY MARCH 25

We spent most of sat without doing much except hanging out with all the teams here lots of fast experienced racers everywhere. Sunady we packed our gear up and heahded up for the mandatory gear checks. Then on to ropes certifications then to our ocean kayak cert. All went smooth except for the kayak tetst. We were to paddle out from the beach, flip our boau upside down and get back in ready to paddle. Once we flipped we had a 5min requirement to be back inside the baot in 5min’s. Then paddle back to shore. All went smooth except our paddle back in. We were hit by a small wave and b/c we didn’t pump the water out of our baots (we were lazy) the small wave turned us and as we tried to brace it. We flipped over right in the surf zone 20 seconds later the next big set of waves rolled in by the end of that 7 wave set. We were on the beach but not inside our boats. Opps we made a big rookie mistake there. We were forced to go back into the surf. Paul romero wanted us to go oiut and “play” a littlr bit in the surf zone. We did just that bracing to our right for one set then to our lleft for the next set. After that we paddled out past the surf zone and wited for the lull between the sets and then belined it for shore. This time we came in like we knew what we were doing. Karen/Paul thanks for making go back out that did a lot for our morale. We were confident again. Now it turns out we will need that confidence as the water will be tough for the race as a storm fronts is passing through while/when we start the first 58km kayak leg. 5-9 foot seas are expexted with a small craft advisory. Yes even our Seatrek three perrson kakak at 27+ feet is a small craft

***********

FRIDAY MARCH 23

Ok we get to mark richardsons house. Mark has us go through all of our gear. We have it all plus extra everything (and as it will become clear later we will need it). But wait a minute. We are missing a tub my food (dp). I had it organized in 12hour bags for the whole race and I left it in my garage with all 4 of my camelback bladders. So we leave for san diego. Make the long 6-8 hour drive without incedent and get to bed at a reasonable hour. The next am we are off to mexico (encinada). But first we stop at safeway and rei to restock my food and bladders. Almost 400 dollars later I’m ready to race for 4-5 days again. The drive to encinada was smooth and only took us 3 hous door to door.

**************

FRIDAY MARCH 23

Thursday night before we leave for Baja I agree to go to dinner with two girlfriends from back in my college days. End up out till almost 2am with them. Get home and have to finish making the 3 t-shirts for the race and 3 for the team + 2 for our crew guys and 1 for will. Shit now its past 4 am I have 1-2 hours to organize my gear into tubs and leave Petaluma to pick up Melissa in San Carlos. I just cram everything into my bins and in the car head to my local coffee shop and am off to Melissa’s house. Rush our traffic to/through and S of SF. Melissa and I barely fit our gear in my small car. Off the Oakdale to marks to reload into his pickup with Chris and tony (our crew). To be cont…

*****
FRIDAY MARCH 23

Hi Gang, wanted to get a blog entry started this morning as we are currently in San Diego and heading to Ensinada next to the start of the race which will begin on Tuesday the 27. Tomorrow and Monday we have Certifications and gear checks.

This Race actually started months ago for each of us. But, let me cut to the chase and just start with the leadup to leaving for Baja. Our Goal was to meet in Oakdale Friday March 24th (Mark’s House) and use his truck. Mark has two friends who have agreed to crew for us. Chris and Tony. They have no idea what they are in for…but they soon will.

I had a rough work week leading up to my departure early Friday morning. Got to get alot done before you take 7+ business days off from work for the 3rd time in 3 months.

Thursday march 23 i pick up our 3 person kayak from Sea Trek. It’s 27′ long and quite a bit too big for the rack on my little SAAB. I drove this thing back to my house and tried to figure out how to get it to Oakdale 120 miles away the next morning in Rush hour with two bikes. I know that would fun…

************

The above posts are from Donato, Mark and Melissa as they make their way down to Ensenada and the start of the Baja Travesia.

Donato will be sending in daily updates as they progress in their travels and pass through certifications and finally the race start. Hopefully we here at home base in the Bay Area will be able to maintain communications with the crew so that we can continue to post more accurate and timely updates here on dirtyavocados.com.

I will be posing these updates on Donato’s behalf and the thread below will be updated with the most recent post last.

Good luck team!

*************

Donato Polignone and Will Gilmore
Dirty Avocados
2007 Big Blue Winter Blue
Race Report

The following race report is intended for new people considering adventure racing. While this report focuses on a winter race you can imagine that the same team work, strategy and fun are enjoyed racing anytime of the year. More info on the racers at dirtyavocados.com

We started the race of on the right foot by showing up to the race briefing late. As we entered the door to the race briefing room we saw a bunch of great adventure racers amongst some seasoned locals and very few novices. This had us a little concerned, but we had made the metal choice to win there that day. The race director stopped his talk and welcomed the two of us as we strolled in after half the race briefing in which we missed hearing about the course, rules and other race good information.

The method of travel choice we had for this winter race was to use snowshoes or backcountry skis (cross country, Telemark, or Randonee skis). We chose snowshoes because that is all Will could afford. We could see that some strong teams that chose Tele Skis so Donato, more knowledgeable about snow travel started second guessing our decision, Will did not understand he just thought he was there to win.

The Race Director, Todd Jackson created a race map had the rules of travel and a passport printed on the back. This was very nice for a short race given we are often asked to carry a map, a passport and a separate sheet of rules. Usually one of the three is lost. The race was divided into two areas of the Northstar Resort area. Each area had 3 checkpoints (CPs) including one that we had to plot using compass bearing from an existing checkpoint that was already plotted on our map. [Checkpoint ‘CP’ def. a place we had to visit as part of a course in a standard adventure race].

Given we were late; we plotted the first CP and then had to run to the gondola to get to the start on the other side of Northstar. This is where the race began as we ran to the Gondola and dove into a car.

Our course to the start took us up the Gondola, then up the a ski lift called Arrow Express, then up another ski lift called Comstock Express to the top of Mt. Pluto, then on down the Backside Express chairlift to the back of the mountain.

It was mid-forties at the start and we stripped down to tights and our Dirty Avocados tri-shorts on top. We both wore Under Armour long sleeve shirt and then just our Dirty Avocados jersey on top.

This race would be like two small races. It would start with everyone going after 4 cps in any order then transferring with a 30minute minimum transit time. Then there was another 1-3 hour race for 4 more CPs including the finish. However, we knew we had a break in between two death runs.

We looked at the snow and Donato had noticed the day before that on some of the hard pack trails we could run without snowshoes. So, we strapped our snowshoes to our backpacks.

The 3 CPs in the first section and the second section were ‘do any order you like.’ They were also laid out almost equidistance from the start at different angles like a circle with the start/transition point.

We had two obvious choices this first section: clockwise and counter-clockwise.

Clock-wise was what Race Director Todd Jackson assumed would win. It consisted of a steady open up hill to the backside then some orienteering to CP 1. Then you could follow the ridgeline to CP 3 which was at one of the highest points and very easy to see. After CP 3 you could do one or two things:
1. Back track to the ski slope down the ridge you came (1.75miles)
2. Go down a 1,200 to 1,600 foot drop to a small valley and then a slight 100-150 foot up to CP 2 which was plotted off of CP 3 and then down a gradual groomed snow trail to the transition (CP 4).

The counter-clockwise choice was to go for CP 2, a CP we had to plot off of CP 3 an easy to see high point in the valley. We plotted it and from the start it looked like the counter-clockwise path was a slight uphill on some groomed back area trails to a hill that CP2 was located. From there we would need to ascend 1,200 to 1,400 feet on a steep grade to CP3. Note we area at elevations ranging possibly from of 6,200 to a top of 7,860?feet. Then the obvious choice was to proceed along a ridgeline to CP 1 with very little chance of error and then down a ski slope to the start/transition.

It is good to warm up in a race and not just physically, but mentally - like going for an easy CP. The counter-clockwise route offered a nice warm up and an easy point to rip away from everyone on just our shoes. So, I mention the preferred route for easy navigation to Donato. We then took the traditional photo of all the starters of the adventure race.

The race director blew the start whistle and we were off. Will just started blazing down the cat track that we planned on following along the ridgeline under Lookout Mountain to our 1st CP. After about 5 minutes of running along the cat/snowmobile track Donato had to pee a second time. The Red Bull was getting to him. So to make sure we did not lose any time Donato raced ahead of Will at full speed for about 2 minutes and just pee’d off the side of the trail. Donato as he was relieving himself realized that there were 3 teams of very strong AR/cross country skiers that were all women behind us. He thought they were all going come screaming around the trail on the Tele Skis and see him pissing on the side of the trail. Oh well, he thought they all think Donato’s a pig already so who cares!

Five minutes later we got to an intersection. Donato thought we should stay right and go a little farther. Will checked the map, looks around and says we go left and up the hill in front of us where the CP is. Donato looked at Will and with no time to disagree, said, “you know what you doing with the maps and navigation let’s go Will.” As we approached the bottom of the hill Donato notice some Atlas snowshoe marks. Before the race started we also noticed the Atlas snow shoes on the guy going to that CP. So we simply followed him up to where he was sitting “manning” the CP.

We said “Hi, what’s up, nice to see you again. Did anyone get here yet?” He responded, “Nope; you are the first ones.” Donato known for talking continued in conversation and that is when Will said, “We are going, now.”

From the top of the CP 2, we could clearly see the CP 3 way up above us, across the valley. It would be the highest CP of the day. Unfortunately, we had to go down low into the valley before starting an ascent up.

We donned our snowshoes and headed down into the valley. The area had no clear trail and many trees and wooded brush that we had to weave in and out of. Before we got to the other side we ran into a small creek in our path. Donato looked 30 yards up and 30 down and found what looked to be the safest spot to cross with his snowshoes on. Will watched Donato get stuck crossing the creek. Donato was balancing on a rock in the creek and holding onto a downed tree branch, but not able to get a good foot hold on the other side of the creek. So with hindsight knowledge, Will found a better place to cross and came over and by grabbing a small tree trunk and then asking Donato to extend his ski pole to him, Will pulled Donato up the three-foot embankment in one swift move.

We worked our way on up the ridgeline staying in the shade and north facing Slopes. It’s been 60F in Tahoe and temp was already close to 55 going to 65 for the high this day. Donato knew that the north facing slopes are more shaded and don’t melt as much.

With a good foundation in mountaineering Will gave some pointers to Donato and we both ended up leading and breaking ground for each other. As we made a direct route going straight up to the top of the mountain we were at maximum sustainable heart rates, at least that was according to Will’s Polar Heart Rate Monitor.

As we neared the summit at 7,860 feet, which was about 1,400 feet above the creek below we knew we needed to hit the south peak first, a rock outcropping. Donato started up a steep area and then said “this is steep and sun exposed and I’m not sure about this idea!” Donato was sinking to his waist and not making much forward progress. We had to back out. We stayed on the north side for another 100 vertical feet until the next rock outcropping where it wasn’t quite so steep.

There below the rock we had a choice to make we could go left on a much shorter route that was in very soft snow and steep section or we could go the longer way, but on harder pack snow to the right. Will thought to himself, “where would Warren Miller film us?” The left option, “may be steep and soft, but it will be fast because we can just imagine we are being filmed doing an incredibly radical run!” This is when Will turned to Donato and just said, “Donato, this way is faster…we are going this way.”
We were fast crawling to the top, diving our hands into the snow in front of us to help pull up. We made it around into the saddle of the outcropping and the peak above where CP 3 was. We got up to the CP and asked the people manning it, “Hi, who’s been here already?” The two guys with tele-skis manning the CP responded, “No One.” Donato responded and Will agreed nodding, “that’s impossible…but sweet, we must be going fast.” We then looked at the maps. Donato was able to see the point out were the next CP was Will could not and said what are you talking about. Then, Will took a bearing and realized that he could not see what Donato was correctly pointing at because there was a tree branch at his height. So, off we went wondering “where is everyone else?”
Donato then spotted a team of two guys hauling in our direction on skis. It was obvious that these guys, two locals would just hit the next CP where we were just at and then ski down 1,400 feet and a short up to hit the first CP before we could get far.

Being courteous we stepped our pace up and ran as we passed them smiling and saying hi, nice day. It was the least we could do: make them think we blow up that hill no problem. We then passed Linda Lindsey and Ken White and a race observer/volunteer Jonathan Owens (all three racers we respect). We then knew that we need to haul to have the slightest chance of winning.

From the CP 3, Donato had pointed out to the next CP really well so we had an easy traverse of the ridge that the others were coming up the opposite way clockwise did not. We used the tracks the first skiers made to go faster on a harder surface. Soon we deviated from the tracks decreasing their wide sweeping arc into our straight b-line for a road and shortened our distance traveled greatly. The last section of our run included this road, one that pointed and ended just 100 yards from the CP.

Will was cautious going in slowly to find the CP. Luckily, Donato spotted the CP and we ran the last 80 yards.

Only 6 teams had been through the checkpoint, so several had gone past us and we did not see them.

Donato lead us back into the woods and to a ski run he could see through the trees. Will then yelled to Donato to pop his snowshoes off for safety and jump on his rear to slide down the steep part of the hill. This is referred to as “glissading”, and is usually most often done safely with an ice axe to slow oneself down.

We glissaded what seemed long, but was likely only 200 yards total distance. From there we popped up on our feet and ran down a slippery icy slope getting lots of looks from skiers as we slid around turns and kicked up snow. We found the transition/CP 4 and began transit to the next section 4.5 miles away on ski lifts.
At CP 4 we actually uploaded the Backside lift to the top of MT Pluto. Every team had 30 Minutes to make it from CP4 to CP5 at the Cross Country Ski Center, Mid Mountain on the front. We were only allowed to use Chair lifts to get to the next starting point at the cross country center. As we rode up the lift to the top of Mt. Pluto Donato noticed that he was already out of water. With eight minutes up on the backside lift and another fifteen minutes down the next two lifts; we had to time to stop for a Gatorade. Donato knew a little spot next to the lifts set up out side for snacks and food. We got to the top sprinted to the small stand in the snow and threw down our gear and started searching for our money while we told the snack bar operators ”hey were in a race and we need liquids like Gatorade or water.” They stared at the two of us and must have been thinking these guys are nuts. Then just gave us the drinks for free. Again we approached the lift and told the lift-op “hey were in a race and we are downloading, don’t slow it down for us, thanks!” Off we went, lots of stairs from the lift line as we hit the ground running to the last download. From there it was straight to the Cross Country Center which was CP 5. Are snowshoes are off at this point, strapped to the back of our mostly empty packs. At CP 5 now three plus hours into the race we find out that we only have to get CP6 and return as the 1st section took longer than expected as the snow conditions were not “fast.” Uh, yeah, we knew that after post-holing more than we wanted to in the soft “mush” snow. Yes, they call it Sierra Cement for a reason!
We left CP5 for the now out and back to CP 6 at about 1:05PM. We looked at the Map and yes, Donato may have done too many big blues or mountain biked at Northstar too many times but, CP 6 was the now infamous Caboose were Todd stages his O-course for the “normal” Tahoe big blue races. Will checked the maps and Donato just told him put the maps down he knew where we had to go. Off we go…
Donato wanted to take some path called Sawmill Flats, but it did not start where we were. We had the option of taking “Flower” something that was an easy flat meander to the CP or one called “Thor’s Hammer” an uphill that cut almost straight to Sawmill Flat Trail (shorter, but with elevation gain). It was obvious that we had to take Thor’s Hammer because the skiers time on the flat Flower trail would kill us even though we were running without the impediment of snowshoes. We had to take the chance and go where we had an advantage and no matter the pain and struggle run it out full-bore at this point.

Up Thor’s Hammer we beat the track and then continued up a gradual slope of Sawmill Flat. Donato and Will hooked up on tow for the last half mile to the caboose. We were told that there was someone manning the checkpoint there and so when we did not see them Will wondered if we were in the right spot. Will also could not line the trail map up very well with the location of where we were and where the CP was located. Donato having been there was certain we had to be in the right spot, given the clue was “how many wheels on the thing out there and what color is it?” Donato had taken us to this Caboose thinking this was the CP and he was 100% sure.

Donato counted the number of wheels, and noted the color paint and we took off. This time we had sprint to the finish to have any chance of placing in the top five given the skiers could get there first easily and we were not sure if they had passed us by taking the alternate “Flower” route. So, Will said something about not leaving anything on the course and we ran side by side down the trail back to find Thor’s Hammer and then the finish.
This is where Will poured Donato’s Gatorade, his only liquid mind you, because he felt Donato didn’t need it until after they finished. Even after Donato told Will that his pack was light and he still felt strong; Will poured out the Gatorade because excess weight is excess. We did this entire section in our running shoes as the cross country trails we took were groomed and were firm enough to run on with shoes. We hammered across the sawmill flat to the top of Thor’s Hammer and sprinted down to the finish line. Will slide into the table where race organizer, Todd Jackson was diligently working collecting progress reports of other teams.
We had to tell the race organizers that we had finished as they just had not expected it that quickly. This is when we found that no other teams had made it to CP4 yet. We then knew we had possibly won the race before we got to CP5 but this was about a decisive victory of in fact over an hour on the two guys behind us. Todd short coursed those two guys behind us and the rest of the field.
The race event included a catered lunch on the slopes with our fellow racers, which included many friends that we have met while racing. Finally, the day concluded with a raffle for prizes that Big Blue held, which consisted of great swag.
Epilogue
We thought that skis would win. They should have. If they had done a semi-circle instead of a full circle going into the valley where the creek was they would have been faster. In other words they could have gone for one cp and then went the opposite way up the ski slope. At least his is how we do it next year…..
Many thanks to race organizers Big Blue and especially Todd Jackson: we know they do not make much if anything off of holding this race, but even so they went at it as though this was a grand undertaking showing enthusiastic attention to detail, safety and hospitality.

To view the Map of our route for the race check out our National Geographic Topo Race Profile Image created with TOPO Software from National Geographic. With assistance from our Trusty Garmin 305 GPS/training watches and Motion Based.

For Info on TOPO Maps.
Gamin Fitness Products.
Motion Based.

A first timer to the infamous BAARD BRAWL, all I can say is holy wetness! Never before have I in endured such wet and windy conditions, if I didn’t love the guys on my team I would have told them to get lost. Shopping for purses would have been a way better alternative. Just kidding guys! As a matter of fact I had a great time and for the most part, the weather did not bother me until around the ninth hour when I realized that I was soaked completely through three all three of layers.

Our rainy day started out in the small town of Point Reyes. Most teams that were present were obviously prepping for their first race of the season. From a bystanders perspective, we must have looked like a herd of deer, all caught in the headlights. After a quick briefing all teams were sent off into the wettest race of the season.

Within minutes the Avocado’s had broken a kayak paddle and lost a new pair of sunglasses, it was not a solid start. The good thing was the sea loins that were present, at least we knew there we no Great White’s around. Despite the rocky start we rocked smiles and shared laughs to our first bite of land travel.

We landed in a cove off of Tomales Bay that had a more than a faint smell of decomposing sea life mixed with the smell of the most sulfuric hot spring. The smell was horrible, and there was nothing we could do to get around walking through the two foot deep mud pit. Through the mud and up the ridge, the Avocados quickly moved through the super fast coasteering section.

[DOTI] All other teems opted to travel counter clockwise, which had them take on the coasteering section first then return via the ridgeline down to the TA. We opted for the reverse psychology and try for the ridge line first thus giving us the advantage of spotting other teams down on the beach and access and entry points along the way. In the end, it probably only saved us a few minutes.

Through our travels we raced up hills, sprinted down hill’s, breezed by herds of elk, collected shells and rocks (Well maybe just me. I couldn’t help it; it was like a long field trip. I loved field trips when I was in school), saw hundreds of beautiful starfish, bouldered across ocean cliffs, crossed beaches that spit two foot streams of water into the air (Don’t ask me how this was possible, it just happened. I swear!), and finished up with yet another pleasant crossing of the muddy trenches.

Our ATTEMPT to paddle back to the put in the kayaks was a joke! A-Bomb and I struggled through torrential downpours, as white capped waves poured over into the boat, and freezing winds felt as if they pushed us backwards faster than we could struggle to paddle forward. I actually never looked up from my skirt, it was too maddening. Every time I looked up I realized we had not moved forward and I knew we had so far to go. My arms burned and my stomach was nauseated from the waves, and all I could think about was sitting in Karen’s hot tub. While lost in hot tub thought, I heard A-Bomb yell from the rear, “You remember how to get out of the boat if we flip over right?” I didn’t want to reply. Up to that point, I had completely avoided the thought of THEM, them being the Great Whites. I wanted nothing to do with swimming in the shark infested waters. Instead I kept saying over and over again, “Hot tub, hot tub, hot tub,” until the sound of my own voice created a cadence for me to paddle to.

The hot tub thoughts quickly pushed us ahead of DP and Adam, actually disturbingly far, they were obviously having problems keeping up. But there was nothing we could do. It took us nearly an hour to progress forward thirty feet of shore line. If we stopped then, we would surely loose an hours worth of paddling in a matter of minutes.

[DOTI] Yup, we were lagging alright. The cold/flu I had been battling for the last few weeks made me even weaker which led to a mild case of hypothermia. I don’t recall the last 30 minutes of the paddle. I lost most feeling in my fingers and had a hard time gripping or releasing my grip from the paddle. DP got up back apparently and me to my truck, helped me undress and get inside with the heat on. I think about 10 minutes later I started to mentally recall where I was!

Several grueling hours of paddling in the kayak brought us back to the put in. There was no sign of the Avocado Pits, and the site of DP and Adam was merely a speck down the turbulent shoreline. With rain still pouring out of the sky, A-Bomb and I switched out of our wet clothes and quickly loaded the kayak gear into the car. We had thirty minutes to get to bike start, a leg of the race that would we would come to learn would be wetter than our little kayak adventure.

The bike leg start was out of the Olema Campground. The Skins regrouped to find themselves about 45 minutes behind the Pits. It was then we found out that our navigator would no longer be leading us through the course. Doti had been suffering from the flu bug all week and the disgustingly trying kayak adventure put a massive toll on his body. With Doti gone we decided to join up with the threesome that called themselves the Venomous Ducks. The six of us headed off into the woods for some more wet fun.

We headed up Sir Francis Drake to the base of Bills Trail, where we would find ourselves peddling for hours up a single track that we should have been kayaking instead. Talk about up a creek without a paddle! Once we reached the summit we found ourselves being pounded with golf ball size rain drops that were traveling at what felt to be at 30 mph. It was then we decided to get back into the tree line, out of the rain, and head back to the bike finish. Not finishing the bike leg was ok with the group given the sense of accomplishment felt making it as far as we did in the treacherous weather conditions. Besides, it was DP’s birthday and we needed to do shots!!

It was a group decision to stop off at the bar in Olema right before last call was made for tequila shot; tequila, a great excuse for warming the frozen body. After we covered the bar floor with globs of mud and puddles water that dripped out of our clothes we decided to head back to the cars to change into clean, DRY, clothes.

The BAARD BRAWL would turn out to be another disturbingly difficult event that only the insane would finish. But in the end we walked away with smiles, pruning bodies, and relatively