In an ironic Amazing Race-like finish, our fate was decided in the last 36 seconds along Crissy Field’s Mason St. in a taxi! Yup, you heard me, a taxi. Read on I’ll explain.

For the next installment of pain, I hooked up with Donato and Aja to participate in the second annual San Francisco Oyster Urban Adventure Race. I personally really enjoy urban adventure races. I may actually be the only one on t he team that truly likes them and seeks them out. Donato will do , well, just about anything to get his adrenaline fuelled race fix, so he was a shoe in. And Aja was itchin to get some racing in before the close of the season after having put some time in organizing races for the Tahoe Big Blue folks.

So with the required “race fees” paid, which were actually donations in the amount of $300 we needed to collect as a team, we were registered in the traditional co-ed division where we expecting some stuff competition.

Race morning I got up way too early in order to be at the staging area by 6am from all the way out at my new home in the sticks. Race packet said start/finish was at Chrissy Field. So I naturally assumed Chrissy Field parking lot. After waiting there for 45 minutes and no sign of any race organizers i decided to head out and look to see what was going on. I found the real start/finish way down at the west end of Chrissy Field! Not a good start to the day.

I rendezvous with DP who arrived with Gulnur who would be our support crew for the day and Aja arrived shortly after. A-Bomb was also racing with a couple friends form his track club called the “Dirty Cheetahs” appropriately. And making an appearance the day after his successful 50 mile trail run, Brian would also crew for us!

After settling into our transition area and messin’ with our gear we had the pre-race meeting and received out first of 6 sets of passports. The passports were a laminated card that contained photos and instructions on how to complete the given leg of the race. I actually thought the passport was cool idea and can see how it would be useful in other 24 hour and remote races. Its a nice handy source to have rules of travel, emergency contact info, leg goals, destination information etc…

The race started at about 8:15am with teams running east down Mason St. towards our targets; The Palace of Fine Arts and Fort Mason. We started off pretty hard bouncing between second and third place down to the end of Crissy Field and along the Marina Green. Some teams went for The Palace first and some went to Fort Mason first. We opted for Fort mason because our target, the statue of Phillip Burton we new its location. The plaque of BF Modglin we weren’t so sure and figured wed see some teams leaving that location on our return.

We took the team photo in from of the statue and made our way to the Palace. Teams started quickly stacking up at the statue as we were leaving. This was going to be a fast race! We lucky found the plaque without wasting too much time, snapped another photo and made out way back to the finish line, but not without first filling our third requirement; finding a local with a cup of coffee from Starbucks and taking another photo!

The next leg of the race would require the three of us to split up and each take a different mode of transportation. Because Aja’s ankle was bothering her, she took the bike out to the Legion of Honor. DP scrappy and quick on his feet as he is took off on foot to the sand stairs at Baker Beach. I was the lucky SOB to get the scooter and make my way to the a Luna Inn and the City Car Share located there.

We were hooked up by local legend and inventor of the Dirt Diggler; Rob, with 3 Dirt Dawg off road scooters for this race. Thanks Rob! Check out http://www.digglerstore.com/ One small problem though. We were riding the kids versions and therefore had much smaller tires that our competitions scooters. So this equaled tiring out quickly and often. But fun ride regardless.

I was the first to return to the TA, but Aja and DP were right behind me and almost no time was wasted.

Finally time to get on our bikes as a team. We blasted down the Marina Green, AGAIN, and onto the Embarcadero sidewalk. Dodging a bazillion tourists along the way we made out way toward City kayak, but not before dropping Aja off at Gordon Biersch where her task was too “our the perfect pint”. Aja, having been a bartender in a previous life was probably done before DP and I even got into our kayaks.

Dp and I were issued a sit on top Cobra Kayak. Shivers and flashbacks of the 2000 Fog Dog race in Malibu and our 3 person sit on top in the Pacific Ocean started to come to me. Our goal was to paddle out under the Bay Bridge, around a buoy an d back again. At this point we were in 3rd place, but very close to the second place team which was an all male team.

We paddled back to City kayak and met u with Aja and flew back down the Embarcadero and back down Crissy Fields Mason St. AGAIN to the TA.

For our next leg we were to go to the China Town gate and find a ginger root. This is where we could have done a bit better. In the Oyster, in certain legs you are allowed to take public transportation. And even sometimes cabs. We opted to start running and then run down bus lines that would take us close to the gates. But a bus never came and we ended up running the entire way to China Town! hey we earned it! On the way back we hoped on a trolley and after a few blocks the trolley operation discovered us a kicked us off because apparently it was a private charter. No amount of money would persuade him! We eventually took a bus down Columbus and back to Fort Mason. Then we ran the stretch back down Mason St. to Crissy Field.. AGAIN. (notice a trend here?).

We lost a bit of time on this leg because a lot of teams opted for busses earlier than we did.

Now for the most painful leg of the race. The scooter leg. I was convinced having a kick bike for this race would give us the upper hand on the roller blades. I had assumed we’d be going into the interior of the city more than we did. However all of our legs and especially this scooter leg, was only along the shore and completely level ground. So we were no match for the inline skaters. Every 10 kicks on the scooter you had to switch legs and go another 10 kicks, etc… My legs became tired very fast! We completed the scooter leg after tieing a special knot at the Hyde St. Pier.

This is where it gets nuts. For the final leg we had to visit REI on Brannen St. as well as do some shopping for local goods at Whole Foods on 4th and Harrison. Again, public transportation was in play. Also we heard form our crew that cabs were also legit! So after a confusing moment in front of the port-a-potties and strategizing on what we’d do, I spotted a cab coming down towards us on Mason St. mere feet in front of the TA! What were the odds! DP quickly flagged it down and Aja barreled out of the john and we were on our way to our check point in our cab.

I heard later alot of teams had to run clear up to Lombard to flag a cab. We dropped Aja off at Whole Foods to do the shopping for 3 local foods and DP and I went to REI where DP had to filter water form one bin to another up to a black line. Once completing both tasks we were on our way back to the finish.. in a cab

As we relaxed and enjoyed the leisurely ride back to the finish and approached Crissy Field, our cab driver, Mohammad looks in his rear view mirror and mentions that he thinks there might be another team behind us. He says that since Lombard St. this other cab has been trying to get around him and driving kinda crazy! Mohammad decides to turn right to go under the highway and then left onto Mason St. The other team who we identify at Andy Tubbs Team goes straight then make a right and left blowing a stop sign and cutting of another car! We were in first, now in second! The final approach to the finish there was no way around the SLOW car we were stuck behind. Andy’s team was a lock. Mohammad wasn’t exactly the most “aggressive” driver either

We pulled up and crossed the line 36 seconds after Andy’s team and biter with defeat… but high fives, hugs and stores for everybody.

The race was fun and the transition was excellent. Stocked with plenty to drink, and eat and fun for spectators to watch the race unfold. However the location and the route to the checkpoint had us repeating the run down Mason St. in Crissy Field before and after every leg of the race. The route became tedious and boring. It would have been nice to have been routed into the interior of the city more. Other than the China Town leg, all of our checkpoints were along the embarcadero or shoreline.

Greta race SF Oyster gang. Looking forward to next year!

Photos: Gulnur’s photos.
Photos: Brian’s photos.
Link: Race website.
Link: Race Results.

Adventure racers have long had an affinity for off-road triathlons as a way to lengthen their race season and build up individual event skills. Off-road triathlons such as the nationally recognized XTERRA series offer adventure racers an opportunity to cross train with challenging events when not participating in adventure races.

Off-road triathlons and adventure races are sort of the fraternal twins of multi-sport racing; they don’t look exactly alike, but they share a lot of the same traits. In both types of events racers mountain bike and run on a variety of rugged terrain, take to the water for at least one leg and transition between events rapidly.

On the other hand, there are some major differences between the two events. Most adventure races are run by two, three, or four-person teams, as opposed to the solo format of off-road triathlons. In most adventure races (AR’s), team members must always stay in sight of each other or risk being penalized. Additionally, every team member must complete every section of the course. This means that any team is only as fast as its most challenged team member.

In another departure, AR requires teams to navigate using maps and compasses. Teams typically appoint a captain and a navigator and those team members are responsible for making sure that the team knows where it’s going and is prepared to get there. A wrong decision can seriously erode a team’s confidence and performance. With off-road tris, however, the course is pre-marked and solo racers are only responsible for themselves. There is no getting lost in an off-road tri.

The sheer variety of necessary gear in an AR indicates that adventure racers must be skilled in other activities besides navigation. Adventure racers typically must also be able to ascend ropes, rappel, perform well on a ROPES course and solve puzzles, among other skills. Since off-road triathlons don’t involve navigation, team dynamics and extra skills, racers can concentrate on perfecting their running, biking, and water skills.

Racing in off-road terrain is challenging but a lot of fun. Mountain bikers and trail runners looking to experience their first off-road race, yet who aren’t ready for the added stress of team dynamics, comprehensive gear requirements, and tricky navigation found in adventure races, should consider signing up for an XTERRA race or similar event. Of course, the added challenges found in an AR are all part of the fun for those wanting to take it to the next level.

To find out more about off-road triathlons and to see event listings, visit

• www.BigBlueAdventure.com
• www.xterraplanet.com

By Aja Cook and Todd Jackson • Photos by Rich Cruse/XTERRA

Aja Cook is a member of the Dirty Avocados Adventure Racing Team and an Xterra competitor. Todd Jackson is director of the Big Blue Adventure Race Series.

http://www.adventuresportsjournal.com/html/Articles/38/38_offRoadTriathletes.htm

Folsom Sprint – A race typically completed with two members was run this season by three Dirty Avocados, Aja Cook, Adam Armijo, and Mike Chastain. The race started with a half mile run from what once was the water bank of the Folsom Lake to the new water line of the Folsom Pond. The three of us took off at the count down in an attempt to sprint to the water line, to Mike and Adam’s dismay they found an initial challenge of trying to run with two inflatable kayaks in 20 mile an hour winds. I had sprinted ahead unaware that the two men were having such problems. When Mike and Adam finally arrived at the waters edge we found ourselves near to last place.

During the quick paddle across the pond, we were able to paddle ourselves into fifth position just before the run leg. The three of us took off down the sandy waters edge for a short 2 or so mile run. Trucking past teams we quickly placed ourselves in third position. From the run we got back in our boats for a short paddle north up the lake to a round about that would head us back to the start/finish line. Mike had an idea of cutting time by pulling boats onto shore and running over the finger that was standing between us and the alcove where we had started the race. This choice was extremely effective, putting us in first for a few short minutes before the teams in second and third caught on.

Quickly over the finger and back into the water we were passed again by the team who had originally held first place. Once we arrived at the start finish line we found ourselves back in third place.

We quickly transitioned from the kayak onto our bikes. With minimal gear that was needed we quickly left the transition area in second place. I believe we were in the TA for no more than a minute. We rallied the single track trails of the Folsom Lake area for no more than an hour and a total of ten miles. During the bike leg we passed no one, but were passed by one super fast coed team that ended up taking second overall, Tahoe Surgery Center

The second transition came where we dumped our bikes in the same transition and ran back down to the waters edge where we found ourselves faced with an obstacle of sorts. One team member was to use a small one gallon bucket to take water from the lake, run the bucket to the partner, who was holding a 4” PVC pipe that had 11 to 13 holes drilled into the side. The one member retrieved water from the lake, poured it into the pipe, while the other teammate attempted to plug the holes with various body parts in order to hold the water inside. There was a small ping pong ball inside the pipe and the object was to get the ping pong ball out without touching the ball, or tipping the pipe. On average it was taking the teams five minutes to complete this activity.

Once we completed the task teams were to sprint back up from the water line to the finish, which for some was a grueling task since several of the sections were 5” deep sand traps. The Dirty Avocados ended up taking forth and fifth overall, since we were supposed to be teams of two, with an elapsed time of two hours and 4 minutes.

Folsom Sprint – A race typically completed with two members was run this season by three Dirty Avocados, Aja Cook, Adam Armijo, and Mike Chastain. The race started with a half mile run from what once was the water bank of the Folsom Lake to the new water line of the Folsom Pond. The three of us took off at the count down in an attempt to sprint to the water line, to Mike and Adam’s dismay they found an initial challenge of trying to run with two inflatable kayaks in 20 mile an hour winds. I had sprinted ahead unaware that the two men were having such problems. When Mike and Adam finally arrived at the waters edge we found ourselves near to last place.

During the quick paddle across the pond, we were able to paddle ourselves into fifth position just before the run leg. The three of us took off down the sandy waters edge for a short 2 or so mile run. Trucking past teams we quickly placed ourselves in third position. From the run we got back in our boats for a short paddle north up the lake to a round about that would head us back to the start/finish line. Mike had an idea of cutting time by pulling boats onto shore and running over the finger that was standing between us and the alcove where we had started the race. This choice was extremely effective, putting us in first for a few short minutes before the teams in second and third caught on.

Quickly over the finger and back into the water we were passed again by the team who had originally held first place. Once we arrived at the start finish line we found ourselves back in third place.

We quickly transitioned from the kayak onto our bikes. With minimal gear that was needed we quickly left the transition area in second place. I believe we were in the TA for no more than a minute. We rallied the single track trails of the Folsom Lake area for no more than an hour and a total of ten miles. During the bike leg we passed no one, but were passed by one super fast coed team that ended up taking second overall, Tahoe Surgery Center

The second transition came where we dumped our bikes in the same transition and ran back down to the waters edge where we found ourselves faced with an obstacle of sorts. One team member was to use a small one gallon bucket to take water from the lake, run the bucket to the partner, who was holding a 4” PVC pipe that had 11 to 13 holes drilled into the side. The one member retrieved water from the lake, poured it into the pipe, while the other teammate attempted to plug the holes with various body parts in order to hold the water inside. There was a small ping pong ball inside the pipe and the object was to get the ping pong ball out without touching the ball, or tipping the pipe. On average it was taking the teams five minutes to complete this activity.

Once we completed the task teams were to sprint back up from the water line to the finish, which for some was a grueling task since several of the sections were 5” deep sand traps. The Dirty Avocados ended up taking forth and fifth overall, since we were supposed to be teams of two, with an elapsed time of two hours and 4 minutes.

Join me in welcoming Susan Bower as our newest Dirty Avocado. Susan will be joining Will Gilmore, Brian Schmitz and Mike Chastaine during Primal Quest. For those of you who don’t know Susan, she is an amazing mountain biker and runner and over all stud adventure racer. She has raced with Team Subaru but most of her recent racing has been with Thin Aire. Two years ago she and her Thin Aire teammates won the over-all Big Blue Championship narrowing beating out a then very fast Silly Rabbit team. After taking a year off to have twins, Susan is back in the game. She was a major factor in our outstanding division win and 4^th place over all finish at Tahoe Big Blue. The next weekend she wiped out the woman’s field in the amateur X-terra race in Tahoe – her first ever tri.Susan is a very enthusiastic and fun person and we are very pleased that she is going to join us. Please join me in welcoming her.

Dirty Avocados Adventure Racing is raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Sacramento and Northeastern California. The Dirty Avocados will be sending two four-person teams to July 2008’s Primal Quest Expedition Adventure race and will use Primal Quest as a platform to raise money to grant a special wish for a local child.

Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) October 11, 2007 — Dirty Avocados Adventure Racing is raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Sacramento and Northeastern California. The Dirty Avocados will be sending two four-person teams to July 2008’s Primal Quest Expedition Adventure race and will use Primal Quest as a platform to raise money to grant a special wish for a local child.

Primal Quest, deemed the “world’s most challenging human endurance competition”, is a perfect fit for an effort to help a child that is enduring a life-threatening medical condition.

According to Adam Doti, one team’s captain and a father of two young boys, “We are so blessed to have our health and to be able to participate in adventure racing. We are living our dream. We just believe that we should use this forum to help kids achieve their dreams.”

Several of the Dirty Avocados have young children. “We are so fortunate to have healthy children and to be able to provide for them. Not all kids are so lucky. We just want to help” said Mike Chastaine, father of three girls, and the captain of the second Dirty Avocados team.

While Primal Quest is still nine months away, the Dirty Avocados are well into their fundraising and training. A component of the fundraising will be raffles for outdoor and sports gear and services donated generously by local companies. For more information on the raffle, the fundraising, the training and preparation for Primal Quest visit DirtyAvocados.com.

ABOUT THE SACRAMENTO MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION–The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. The Foundation, founded in 1983, is now one of the largest chapters nationwide, and has granted 3,000 wishes and grants over 230 wishes per year. While the Foundation follows the policies and guidelines of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, the Sacramento and NE area chapter operates as a separate 501(c)3 organization. All funds raised by the Foundation are used to fulfill it’s mission in the 24 counties it serves. For more information about the Sacramento Make-A-Wish Foundation, visit makeawish-sacto.org.

ABOUT DIRTY AVOCADOS ADVENTURE RACING–Dirty Avocados Adventure Racing is made up of every-day athletes from Northern California’s Bay Area and Central Valley. We are guys and gals with mixed backgrounds and vocations, including fire-fighting, teaching, high-technology, and finance. As teams and individuals, we compete in local, regional, national, and international adventure races along with various other endurance sports and expeditions. Dirty Avocados is sponsored proudly by MotionBased.com (MotionBased.com), La Sportiva (sportiva.com), Red Bull (redbull.com), Chapman University (Chapman.edu) and National Geographic (maps.nationalgeographic.com). For more information about Dirty Avocados Adventure Racing, visit DirtyAvocados.com.

ABOUT PRIMAL QUEST EXPEDITION ADVENTURE RACE–Primal Quest Expedition Adventure Race is widely considered to be the most difficult and arduous challenge in endurance sports. Primal Quest is the world’s premier Expedition Adventure Race, attracting the best adventure athletes around the globe. The 10-day, non-stop event is held in a remote region of the world each year. In July 2008, Primal Quest will take place in the United States’ western mountain states. Visit ecoprimalquest.com for additional information.

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Moab Xstream Expedition Race Report – Team Big Bear Adventure Racing
September 27-30th, 2007

Somehow I was asked to race with team Big Bear Adventure Racing, after their 4th teammate suffered a severe, well let’s just say sports related injury. Paul Romero and Karen Lundgren from Team Sole would be to blame or thank for this arrangement. Hum, no surprise there Karen and Paul seem to be responsible for most of us (every member, myself included) to getting involved in AR in the first place. My first thought was no way I can keep up with Teddy “the Tow Truck” and his now wife and team mate Heather Salzer-Divito. As for their third Team Mate David Burks I was even scared to ask who he was. Oh, and when you see the picture of us all with our shirts off at the end of the race…you will be scared of Dave too! Although I have to give credit where the credit is due, Dave not only looks tough - he is. He trained for only three months with Ted and Heather for this expedition race - his 1st expedition and 4th AR race, if I’m not mistaken. At 48 years old and two teenage daughters at home he showed up with 7% body fat, pretty impressive I must say.

Needless to say after a quick drive (11 hours each way) to Big Bear Lake and a 12-hour workout with the team, we seemed as good of a fit to race together as you can determine. We did get to watch the firemen work on putting the fires out that were going in the area that Sunday (very cool).

I was happy to see the race start Thursday at noon and not 3am or some other ungodly hour. Our race strategy was a simple start at a comfortable pace and to keep going, always keep going.

Stage 1: Kayaking in rubber kayaks on the Colorado River from the Red Cliffs lodge south past Moab. The Rapids were class II at best and were fun, wet, and cold (50F water temps). For some reason me and Ted who seemed to be paddling harder than Dave and Heather, were constantly lagging behind our teammates. I found this odd as I had the “tow-truck” paddling with me and it’s like having a motor on board.” The fact that our butts were dragging below the boat never dawned on us. Ted had us hammering 10 hard/fast paddle strokes every 3 minutes just to keep our boat moving with Dave and Heather’s. My shoulders are still sore from this today, 4 days after the race ended! As we pulled out boats from the water one of the race staff told Ted and I “sorry you guys got a boat with “no air or a leak” as we looked at our sagging boat we realized what our problem was in the water. Oh well, luck of the draw as they say. We did decide to check our boats for air for the next paddle. J

Stage 2: We did a quick transition to our trek to the ropes section of the race with a 200-250 ft rappel. This stage went well: the views were incredible and the ropes section was fun though, we did run into one problem. At the bottom of the fixed lines, Ted removed his pack and bib (not sure why he removed his bib yet…don’t think he knows either). Heather and Dave head up the fixed lines first and we notice that Ted’s bib is missing. He and I both knew he had it 5 minutes earlier during the trek over to the fixed lines. We search both of our packs and try to say something to Heather and Dave. They are too far up and we now have one team in between us going up the ropes. Regrouping with the team at the top, Dave and Heather check their packs, we are all still a little dumbfounded until Heather realized that she was wearing two bibs. Yep, she saw Ted’s race bib on the ground and put it on. With a good laugh we moved on to the rappel and back to the TA. Once overhanging the Arch we rappelled off, I stopped for about 3 seconds to try and take in the beautiful scene, hey we were racing I shouldn’t have even stopped but couldn’t help it the view was too nice!

We knew the next bike leg would be long and tough. Still daylight on Day 1 when we got to the TA. We leave the TA for our first of three mountain bike legs. This would be a long tough ride through the night. We moved on the slick rock trails which were fun to ride even at night, except for the sections of sand which became a nuisance. The most difficult part of the stage was just trying to follow the trails. Since the area is mostly rock the jeep trails are marked not by trail signs but by small paints marks directly on the rocks. This made trail finding and following an entire team job throughout the night. We found ourselves backtracking many times once we lost the scent of our trail…opps I meant sight of our painted trail markings. Seeing bike lights buzzing around all the hillsides in the area as we rode was impressive to say the least. We hit the TA (bike to kayak-trek-kayak-trek) just before dawn.

The next stage required some planning as we would paddle to a remote location, drop our boats, continue on an 8-10 hour trek and then paddle again to final 7 mile trek with all of our paddling gear sans boats back to the TA. Yep, that meant we carried all our paddling gear, wetsuits, PFD’s, paddles for 7 miles back to the TA… Don’t you just love demented and deranged race directors. We had a good paddle to the Trek start, which we decided to do in a counter clockwise direction. Seems most teams choose the clockwise direction.

Now, this is where I made my first mistake. I decided not to use a paddling shoe and just wear a big warm sock in my trekking shoes to paddle. Then change to a dry pair of socks I had in a zip lock bag at the start of the trek. I hate being cold more than suffering up a 5,000ft climb. Being somewhat cranially deficient, which may be related to my hair loss. J I forgot to change my socks. I did the entire paddle/trek/paddle with the same wet damp thick socks. Never having foot/blister problems before I wasn’t/wouldn’t be too worried about that myself. More on that next. First, we moved quickly through the trek. Ted, nailed the Nav. One highlight besides the amazing vista’s was the waste deep muddy creek crossing put in our way by our beloved/demented Race Director to ensure our feet would stay wet and we would suffer. My feet were already wet, I didn’t care about more water…I should have.

Dave was suffering from the heat and a possible electrolyte imbalance. He was hurting for the last part of the trek. With 45-30 min. left in the trek he threw-up three times. After a short break we continued on and he took some e-caps and tried to drink as much water as he could. Dave sucked it up and we made it back to the kayak’s. Small change in strategy here. With only a one mile down current paddle. Ted paddled with Dave and let him rest a bit, even get a short 10-15 nap in, while Heather and I leisurely paddled fast enough to make sure Ted was working hard enough paddling by himself. So for at least a 15 minute period of the race we made Ted work hard and suffer. Once on shore Dave perked up and was already feeling better. Amazing what a cat nap can do for an Adventure Racer.

Back to shore. The start of the 7 mile trek to the TA and, oh yea, my feet. We got out of the kayaks and my feet hurt. I took my shoes and socks off. My feet looked like I had been soaking them for months under water, completely pruned. Their film crew got some footage of the bottoms of my feet before the trek. That will be interesting to see when the DVD comes out. I did change my socks at this point, albeit too late. By the end of the 7-mile trek to the TA, my feet had split open around the balls of my feet and heels. My first real foot issue during a race…gotta say that sucked…sucked real bad! I would like to blame myself for this but I can’t. I have to blame Paul Romero for teaching/beating into me the “go fast, take chances” attitude. Why carry an extra pair of dry shoes for the trek if I had to carry them around. Extra weight I didn’t want to deal with. My lesson learned here. Head the warning signs and do something about it when they start…don’t just think…oh, it’s no big deal…because it will be! One last personal note. I wasn’t wearing my La Sportiva Mountain running shoes, (www.mountainrunningteam.com) with my Sole Custom Footbeds, (www2.yoursole.com) this stage. Had I done that I’m sure my foot problems wouldn’t have been as bad or may have been avoided. With that combo I’ve never had any foot problems. My mistake!

Back at the TA my feet were a mess. We decided that the team would do a slow TA, eat some good food, our Crew John and Pam made some incredible chili. This would allow my feet to dry out so we could duct-tape them and be on our way. We left the TA for our 2nd night of mountain biking which would take us from 5,000ft up to 8,000ft at the foot of the La Salle’s to the start of the mountain Rogaine section of the race. After a quick, well somewhat quick stop at the local Moab grocery store on our way out of town for some needed supplies. I needed ChapStick and Aleve and we got some Red Bull and Vivarin for the team. Note the team had yet to sleep going into the 2nd night. About 20 minutes after downing the Aleve, Vivarin, and Red Bull the team was riding like a bunch of crack addicts. We had a great time making our way up hill to the TA. Telling each other crazy stories and laughing most of the way. Dave by this stage had fully recovered and hammered his way up to big climbs, as if he had wings…could it have been the Red Bull?

Only problem was it was cold and we missed a turn somewhere and added an extra 2 hours to our bike leg and at least and an extra 1,000 vertical ft of climbing. It felt like the never ending stage. OK, I lied, we had one other problem. I brought my 20lb hard tail race bike (with and 80mm front fork) and not my full suspension bike to race in Moab. Once again my “go fast take chances” attitude…and again thanks Paul! Actually, I managed to ride with my hard-tail no problem on the trails. But, we found my bike had a broken spoke from the previous nights ride. At the beginning of the ride during one of our stops and map checks the team noticed my spoke daggling. We tried to fix it but it had snapped at the nipple. These were Easton Rims and double nipple spokes. We were forced to break it off I was to continue with a slightly taco’d wheel. There’s a reason right there to have disk brakes. Actually the only real worry at this point was me descending too fast or hitting a big bump or rut and rendering the wheel truly unusable [pun intended.J] or killing myself in a high speed crash downhill if the wheel self-destructed.

Now, I did feel bad about the wheel because a few days before the race my local bike shop, Sonoma Bike Company in Petaluma, CA was converting my bike to tubeless tires and managed to Taco my rear wheel, a brand new Easton SC One wheel set. Being the great shop that they are and not having time to get a new wheel from Easton before I left for Moab the next day, Jeff gave me his wheel from his personal MTN Bike. I knew this was a mistake but didn’t have a choice I had to pack the bike into a bike box and get to my flight the next morning. Jeff, sorry man I hope Easton repays you in some way…and of course you have a fine 6-pack of beer coming your way.

When we finally got into the TA we were cold and hungry. At this point we decided that a 1 hour sleep would do the team well. I should have eaten before taking my nap, but for some reason I thought it best to climb in the warm crew truck and sleep first…my second bone-head move of the race. Yes, you guessed it when we woke up we quickly got ready for our Rogaine in the La Salle’s, it was now just before sunrise and COLD. I started our first trek without eating any food or water at the TA. My feet hurt with every step. Of course I mentioned the pain. Heather just looked at me, she had duct-tape on her feet to, and said. “DP, deal with it!” She was obviously tougher than me and had dealt with foot aliments many more times than I had. My response was something like, mumbling, “er..ah..yeah…sure..no problem.”

On our way from 8,000ft up to over 11,000ft to the our 2nd CP called grand view. I started suffering from the altitude and the lack of fuel in my body. Once we passed 9,000ft I told the team. I was really dizzy and felt drunk. They gave me a set of trekking poles and we slowed the pace down just a bit. I drank all of my water, took 3 e-caps, and ate like 1,000 calories of my food. Half the way to the 3rd CP I finally recovered from my slump. I knew this because my feet hurt again. I never thought I would welcome the foot pain, but I knew it was a sign I had regained conciseness! We bouldered our way up a 2000-ft spur to our 3rd CP. This was a very fun part of the Rogaine. We weren’t just trekking it was a little more technical…I love-d that stuff… The team did as well. From there we made our way to the Mandatory CP, our 4th.

At that CP we bumped into Lou and Melissa (she raced with Mark Richardson and me at Baja Travesia in March). They looked good and I was impressed that they were toughing it out as a two person team, after losing two teammates to illness earlier in the race. Up to this point we only had to deal with my altitude/nutrition related issues which lasted about 3 hours or so. Oh, and the bitter cold and wind which I have failed to mention yet. That all changed as we headed down to our last a 5th CP on the way down and back to the TA. First we found ourselves at about 10,000ft coming out of the 4th CP on the top of a spur/plateau when the weather changed for the worse with higher winds, darker clouds and lightning. As I stopped to water a bush (i.e., to pee) on that said plateau, lightning struck about a mile away and the hail started to fall fast and hard. We basically were like “OK, we need to get out of here fast.” Kicked it into high gear and ran down the single track trail to the 5th CP at the intersection of the Kokopelli trail and the road to the TA. Hoping that the hail wouldn’t make the trail slippery. We or perhaps I should say I, were not dressed for those cold conditions…so running was really my only option. Yes, “go fast, take chances,” thanks Paul! Now I’m freezing cold running downhill from the lightning and through the hail storm.

We got down to the TA just before sundown. We were cold and tired. We had really only slept 1 hour up to this point. Now going into the third night of mountain biking. I never once got to ride Moab during the day. Now, I have to go back and ride some of those awesome trails during the day! Our awesome crew, during our trek, managed to drive 1.5 hours each way down to Moab and get me a replacement wheel for my bike. As no one in town could fix my new fangled double nippled spoke, they heard comments like this wheel doesn’t even have a high enough spoke count to ride out here. Yeah, I knew that, but I’m not hard on my bikes…that is of course my opinion and open to much debate and speculation from my local bike shop. John/Pam, I can’t thank you enough for finding a way for me to keep rollin’ instead of wobbling.

We looked at the Maps and realized while it was snowing/hailing/and sleeting that the ride was huge, big descents and climbs in the absolutely hideous weather. We knew it would be a big big effort and even with all of our clothes and gear on - we were going to FREEZE! Knowing that we had a dark zone before we could get in the kayaks the next morning, we, I would like to say smartly, but it was really luck, decided to take our second rest/nap of the race to make sure we were alert for the big ride to come. Perhaps it was the cold and the break in the storm that lead many other teams to rush out of the TA onto their bikes…they are the ones that really suffered in the cold out on the course. Look for other Race Reports. So basically by the time we woke up we found out the mountain bike section was canceled and we were to take the road. Next in performing our slowest TA, not even looking forward to a freezing cold downhill decent via road with a dark zone in front of us. We wasted yet another hour in the TA, only to find that the ENTIRE BIKE section had become so dangerous, was now canceled and we had to go with our crew via car to the kayak put in, while the race directors tried to fetch the rest of the teams from the mountain bike course. The Curse of the Moab Expedition Adventure Xstream had struck again!

It took the 4 of us at least 1.5 hours to help our two crew (Pam and John) to load the vehicles. All the while we wondered how in the world the two of them had been doing that all race long? We once again tipped our caps to our crew. We knew what a tough job crewing was but now we got a fist hand taste of it.

We made it down to the dark zone, kayak put in at 12:30am, Sunday. We were told to meet at 8AM ready to paddle the last 18 miles to the finish line in the morning. “Get warm and get some sleep.” The team got a good 6 hours of sleep before the restart of the last kayak leg of the race. We all felt very good the next morning. Knowing that the last paddle would end up making no difference in the outcome of the race for anyone. We decided to allow everyone into the water in front of us to avoid the mayhem and begin our paddle in the back of the pack. We really weren’t racing this stage, we were enjoying the beautiful morning paddle down the Colorado River back to the Red Cliff’s Lodge and to the finish line. We enjoyed the final paddle and treated it as the final Sunday’s ride in “La Tour” we just didn’t get our Champaign until we actually crossed the finish line almost 3 hours later.

After all of that racing, turns out we may (race results are still preliminary as of this writing) have placed 6th in the 4 person Coed division, just 30 minutes behind Team Adventure Racing Concepts. If we knew that in the last mountain bike TA we would have left early and frozen our butts off trying to catch them, of course it would have been for not as the entire 3rd mountain bike stage was canceled. Dennis Paprocki, Tara Paprocki, Jim Holmes, Jane Larkindale from team AR Concepts…we were hunting for you. Great job guys!

A few shout outs now. It was great to see so many Nor Cal teams at the race. Yep, there were a few more teams from Nor Cal than with Racing with Giants, Racing with Giants 2, and Racing with Giants 3. John how many teams did you actually bring to Moab? Mark Henderson, constantly kept popping up on the course, I think I see Mark in the middle of more races than any other racer I’ve raced against. Oh, and Mark if I were a little taller I would steal your mountain bike! J Melissa and Lou great to see the two of you pushing on, great effort! Team Lucky, have I mentioned yet that I love that team. Moab was their first Expedition race and they kicked some butt! Jeremy Olson, Mila Olson, Bob Lapanja, Johnny Ryan you guys constantly prove how tough and competitive you are out on the race course. Looking forward to racing with/against you again. Oh and Mila and Jeremy, don’t think I forgot about my Quick Blade paddle. I’m coming to Santa Cruz to collect if from you guys! J True Grit, sorry to hear about your problems, I don’t know what happened yet. But, you guys were crushing it. Kent Ryhorchuck and Bryce Armstrong raced as Dogs in space and seeing them out on the race course helped know were going fast. If you have done more than one AR race and don’t know Kent it can only be because he finished the race, packed up his gear and went home before you got off the course.

One last thing I need to point out. Team Big Bear AR is sponsored by Champion Nutrition and the makers or Revenge Pro (www.champion-nutrition.com). I’m a new convert to that secret stuff. They claim it’s “Rocket fuel for any intense activity!” They are right I love the stuff and will be putting an order in for a 55 gallon drum of the stuff for next season! If you have yet to hear of Champion Nutrition I highly advise you check them out. Oh, and my Wing Nut Pack was the bomb during this race. I used it for every stage, big and small. The pack rocks and I’ll be using it all next season, exclusively (www.wingnutgear.com).

Ok, really the last thing here. If you really really want to be faster and healthier. Check out Ted and Heathers www.powermyhealth.com site. They are personal trainers, nutritionists, etc, and all around awesome athletes. So if you want to be faster talk to them.

I had a great time racing with Team Big Bear. Heather, Ted and Dave are incredible fit, fast, and just all around fun to race with! So, Paul and Karen I guess at this point I will thank you instead of blaming you. Oh, yes, I will continue to “Go Fast and Take Chances!”

Racing with Team Big Bear AR: www.bigbearadventureracing.com

Donato’s Flickr Photostream

[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.