What makes a good wetsuit? Comfort, fit and warmth. On all counts, our new Billabong wetsuits scored big points.

On the day we were to do a swift water safety class in the Stanislaus River we broke out our new Billabong wetsuits. The water was about 50 degrees and we were going to spend several hours in and out of the river. After we completed our swimming certification – a 1 mile swim and a 10 minute treading water – we headed to the river.

I’ve been a surfer for many years so have worn many wetsuits. Our Billabong suit was extremely comfortable right away. It fit well, even in the shoulders where I normally find wetsuits to be too tight. Getting in the water, I found that the suit was extremely warm. We spent the day in and out of the river, swimming through rapids, up river through eddies and training to avoid strainers. We also rode river boards. All day long I was comfortable and as warm as one could hope given the cold water and February weather. Everyone on the team had the same experience and stayed warm throughout the day.

In summary, on all counts our Billabong wetsuits got excellent marks. As an added bonus, they also look great with cool graphics.

Finally a BAAR BRAWL that was completable.
This past Saturday organizers, whom shall remain anonymous to protect their identity, staged the infamous yearly “training event” outside San Francisco in Marin County, the Bay Area Adventure Racing BAAR BRAWL. The intent of this event is to be a 24-ish hour training adventure racing consisting of kayaking, mountain biking and running/trekking. In recent years teams have been pummeled by torrential downpours with sideways rain, punished by 12+ hour treks and on this team, even a broken collar bone. The BRAWL is widely considered to be unfinishiable, however this racer wants to note that in 2006 our team did actually “finish” after choosing to skip 3 pints on the return bike ride to the finish line after approx 28 hours of agony.

This years BRAWL would serve as a testing ground for a few GPS tracing devices we’ve often use; The TrackStick which historically has given us mixed and often frustrating usability results and worse customer service. The SPOT Satellite Tracker which the kind folks at SPOT flipped our way at the recent Outdoor Retailer Show in SLC. And our GPS tracker of choice, the Garmin Forerunner family of devices. In addition we tested the GoPro HERO camera and the Waterproof Pedometer by ARNavSupplies.com. I’ll have more details in my review of the above devices in a later post.

This race served as an opportunity for our team to gel and practice as we prepare for Primal Quest in later June. This year our Dirty Avocados squad consisted of Jen Rigoni, Adam Armijo, Donato Polignone and me, Adam Doti. Our fellow teammates Mike, Brian and Susan also raced to prepare for Primal Quest.

This event was a northern California “who’s who in AR” reunion. Those in attendance were (to protect identities I’ve used just first names. you know who you are) Rich, Gordon, Rick, Jon, Mark, Galen, Oliver, Mari, David, Mats and Jackie whom Mike and I raced with at Gold Rush last Fall and Team Lucky! These are all fellow racers I look up to and respect. I was more nervous racing the BRAWL than I have been in larger, more established races in the past

The start/finish and TA location was at Bucks Launching near China Camp in San Rafael. The location was absolutely perfect. Remote, safe and roomy, it allowed us to circle our vehicles and dump out all of our gear.

The event began with a rolling start because the launching area was rather small. Karen recorded our times as we left the dock. We chose to paddle the two Necky Kayaks we purchased from the Primal Quest organization a couple years ago. We nicknamed them the “albatrosses”, because of their incredibly heavy weight. Our boat choice defiantly handicapped us compared to the other racers’ faster boats. Even the rentals from Sea Trek probably weighed half as much as ours.

We started kayaking through the marsh channels towards highway 101. One advantage our team had in this years BRAWL was it was held about 1 mile from where I lived for 4 years. So I knew the marshes and trails like the back of my hand. We eventually made our way to the dock near McGinnis Park when we exited the boats and ran to the top of the hill behind the driving range. After nabbing the CP we were to complete a special test. Miniature golf! After completing the requisite 18 holes we tallied our score cards and ran back to our boats. We then paddled south along the sore to China Camp beach and spotted David Kelly. David advised us to make a b-line for the Richmond CP out by the lighthouse on the island before getting the point south of China Camp on another island due to the strong tides. So we took his advice and made for Richmond. Because of the tide we made it in no time!

This is where it gets out of hand. After completing the CP we continued clockwise around the island to make our way to the next CP back on the Marin side. When we did, DP and I found ourselves between 2 rocks/islands and the current whipping through this small channel built up such force that our kayak was pushed over towards the rocks. As the tide pulled out for a brief moment we could see about 5-8 feet down into a hole the ocean left! We started paddling like mad little dogs trying to get out of the pool! A-Bomb and Jen could only watch in horror before they realized they needed to paddle like mad as well to save themselves. DP and I inched our way out of that channel and ferried into the open water.

Slowly but surely we continued to fight the current and made it to the last kayak CP on the Marin side.We inched our albatross back to the TA just behind Rick most of the way.

Back at the TA we transitioned into our biking gear. The biking section would take us into Fairfax and Tamarancho as well as all over China Camp.

We decided to tackle Tamarancho first and make our way back to China Camp at night. We make quick business of the roads from CC to Fairfax and to the CP that was supposed to be on a sign above a bridge off of Scenic Rd. After searching with Jon and Rick we gave up, chalking it up to mis-plot. I would later find out while talking to Zen that it was in fact plotted about 80 feet too low.

We made it across Fairfax and up Alta Loma and then down to the bridge and up the new Whites Hill Trail and the backside of Tamarancho. After some debate on which way around Tamarancho would be quicker we decided to go counter clockwise.

It was around here where I had my encounter with the Terradactyl. While stopping for a brief moment to allow for my fellow teammates to regroup I heard a loud screech, or maybe more of a feeding call. As I looked up and out of the corner of my eye I saw probably the largest flying creature I have personally ever witnessed. In the twilight of the evening I could only see its silhouette. It’s wing span seemed to be as long as a VW bug and it moved in a slow motion like manner. By the time my teammates caught up it was long gone. Of course I exclaimed “did you hear and see that Terradactyl ?!” They just laughed and rolled on by down the hill into Fairfax. This Terradactyl would haunt me for the remainder of the race.

Around the back of Tamarancho and back down into Fairfax and back to San Rafael and the Dominican University Area. But not before stopping at 7-11 of course. We shoved Sun Chips, Hot Dogs and colas down our gullets to the horror of a couple kids riding their BMXs in the parking lot.

We climbed an unmarked dirt road overlooking 101 for a CP where I seem to startle a resident of the hill that was wondering what the “shiny A” was for. Then some single track on the south western side of CC eastward when we decided to take neighborhood streets to the next closest fire road to the CP. This would be faster than dinking around with the single track in the night.

We basically worked our way around China Camp counter clockwise popping in and out of China Camp to get the CPs. We came across a huge posse of racers headed in the opposite direction; our fellow DAs, Brian, Susan and Mike, We also saw Manning and his team as well as a few others. We finished up the bike leg with a ride along the shoreline trail back to the TA at Bucks Launching.

We then received our trekking maps and passport. The entire trek would be in China Camp. After dragging DP out of the bar at Buck’s we hit the pavement after a “liberal” TA.

Again we decided to tackle this counter clockwise. We headed down the road to 7-11 and an open space trail hidden behind the building that would take us up to an old mine for the first CP. We then took a bearing and scrambled up a very steep slope to the next CP on a small trail. It was a hideously steep climb up a muddy, loose, scree-like slope for what seemed like 1000 feet! Remember Shashank Redemption when Tim Robbins punched through the sewer pipe and pulled himself up out of the mud and yuck to freedom? … kinda like that.

I used “the force” and we popped out onto the trail only about 20 feet above the next CP!
We made our way up to the Howell Single Track trail on the back side of China Camp. We ran down the single track until we got to the intersection where ewe usually go stay left and make our way back up. We turned right and made our way for the next CP. After counting the pipes we headed back and came out on the fire road those winds up to the Nike missile site. We grabbed another CP on the way and it was somewhere around here at the top of China Camp that we ran into the other Avocados; Mike, Susan and Brian!

We continued on to the next few CPs together. There was a bonus CP, 5B, that we should have realized that if we continued down the ridge trail from CP8 that it would have taken us right to it. But earlier in the night we had decided to skip it because it wasn’t worth the 60 minute bonus.

The other DAs had completed all their CPs and we had one to go because they opted to acquire the CP1 right away while we opted for the CP2 behind 7-11. We parted ways and arrived back at the finish about 30 minutes behind them. We busted into the bar to find Ken sleeping in the floor in the bag next to the stove. It took some rousing but we finally awoke him so he could share our middle of the night misery

We finished about 4:45 am on Sunday after nearly 21 hours of racing. The parking lot still had alot of cars, guess China Camp had plenty of company tonight.

Seems that there has been a lot of creative interpretation of the race results ;) Depending on how you slice and dice it, we finished 6th, 2nd or 1st. Well, what do you expect for a “training event”! I’m calling it 2nd in the co-ed 3-4 person category, just minutes behind baarbd(again!) which is what is typically the elete category.

Before parting our ways north and south on 101, we regrouped at McDonalds and scarfed down some Egg McMuffins.

For more on how the SPOT, TrackStick and Garmin devices worked out, stay tuned for a follow up posting.

View Larger Map

Our SPOT data:
BAAR BRAWL 2008 (Using SPOT Data) at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

TrackStick Data: Click Here
Garmin Data: Click Here
SPOT Data: http://everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=12979

Melissa and I had a great weekend on Mt. Shasta with about 11 others including Grif and Adrian. The weather was incredible, not a cloud in the sky and hardly any wind. I did the climb wearing boots, crampons, tights, shell pants, a thin base layer top, lightweight gloves with lines, and two fleece shirts. I didn’t need a shell. It was so nice on top I stayed there almost an hour.

The road to Bunny Flat was closed at McBride campground @ 4900 ft. elevation. We had to start there Friday afternoon which added 2800 feet and three miles to our ascent. We camped about a mile form Horse Camp at 7100 feet the first night and on a col at about 9900 ft. elevation on Casaval Ridge overlooking Avalanche Gulch on the second night.

On summit day four people returned to the cars and brought them to Bunny Flat (the road opened at 10am Saturday). The rest of us left at 4:15am for the summit. We started with three teams of three roped together. Two teams each had one member struggling early. We gave those two people their own rope and the let them continue at their own pace. After that there were four teams: three teams of two and one team of three, and seven people summited. I was able to move much more quickly after we rearranged the teams. I felt strong the whole time with no headache and reached the top with my partner around 11;36. Melissa was also looking strong when her team reached the top at about 12:15. The view was amazing. Mt. Hood and all the snow capped Cascade range was shinning in the sun to the west and north and Mt Lassen towered above it’’s surroundings in to the south.

Several of the people at the summit were very tired and the Casaval Ridge route seemed like it would be harder to descend than it was to climb. As a group we chose to return to our camp at 9900 feet via the non technical Avalanche Gulch route. Some huge glissdaes and a tedious post-holing traverse took us back to camp. I could see that the last people to return were a least 45 minutes behind. We were just starting to break down the camp when Adrian reached us on the radio and suggested we wait. When the final people dragged themselves into camp at 4:30 the group consensus was to camp another night on the mountain and hike the short hike to Bunny Flat on Monday morning. We finally had a bit of wind kick up around 3am Monday morning and no one was up and about in camp until about 8am. Once we were off the ridge the wind stopped and we were HOT hiking down. We ate together in Mt. Shasta before everyone headed home.

Melissa and I had a great weekend on Mt. Shasta with about 11 others including Grif and Adrian. The weather was incredible, not a cloud in the sky and hardly any wind. I did the climb wearing boots, crampons, tights, shell pants, a thin base layer top, lightweight gloves with lines, and two fleece shirts. I didn’t need a shell. It was so nice on top I stayed there almost an hour.

The road to Bunny Flat was closed at McBride campground @ 4900 ft. elevation. We had to start there Friday afternoon which added 2800 feet and three miles to our ascent. We camped about a mile form Horse Camp at 7100 feet the first night and on a col at about 9900 ft. elevation on Casaval Ridge overlooking Avalanche Gulch on the second night.

On summit day four people returned to the cars and brought them to Bunny Flat (the road opened at 10am Saturday). The rest of us left at 4:15am for the summit. We started with three teams of three roped together. Two teams each had one member struggling early. We gave those two people their own rope and the let them continue at their own pace. After that there were four teams: three teams of two and one team of three, and seven people summited. I was able to move much more quickly after we rearranged the teams. I felt strong the whole time with no headache and reached the top with my partner around 11;36. Melissa was also looking strong when her team reached the top at about 12:15. The view was amazing. Mt. Hood and all the snow capped Cascade range was shinning in the sun to the west and north and Mt Lassen towered above it’’s surroundings in to the south.

Several of the people at the summit were very tired and the Casaval Ridge route seemed like it would be harder to descend than it was to climb. As a group we chose to return to our camp at 9900 feet via the non technical Avalanche Gulch route. Some huge glissdaes and a tedious post-holing traverse took us back to camp. I could see that the last people to return were a least 45 minutes behind. We were just starting to break down the camp when Adrian reached us on the radio and suggested we wait. When the final people dragged themselves into camp at 4:30 the group consensus was to camp another night on the mountain and hike the short hike to Bunny Flat on Monday morning. We finally had a bit of wind kick up around 3am Monday morning and no one was up and about in camp until about 8am. Once we were off the ridge the wind stopped and we were HOT hiking down. We ate together in Mt. Shasta before everyone headed home.

The folks over at CAMP have sent in their Primal Quest gear recommendations for the fixed rope, mountaineering and swim sections of the race. The following is the list of mandatory climbing gear and recommendations.

1 - Commercial and UIAA and/or CE approved climbing harness, non-modified

1 - Climbing helmet; UIAA, CE, or EN 12492 approved

2 - Lanyards 24-48” (60-120 cm)

Tip-to-tip laid flat in length (factory-sewn daisy chain or factory-sewn runners); No tied lanyards allowed; No adjustable daisy chains (with the integrated camming buckle) allowed; Must be 100% nylon – No Spectra daisy chains

Dyneema Slings

2 - Lanyards 24-36” (60-90 cm)

Tip-to-tip laid flat in length (Factory sewn daisy chain or factory sewn runners); No tied lanyards allowed; No adjustable daisy chains (with the integrated camming buckle) allowed; Must be nylon – No Spectra daisy chains

Dyneema Slings

1 - Full size figure 8 device

Figure Eight - 6082-T6

2 - Auto-Locking carabiners (UIAA or CE approved)

Base Twist Lock

Lightest auto-lock in the world!

Available mid-March

1 - Non-locking carabiner for use in hanging back pack.

Nano23

Lightest biner in the world!

1 - Commercially sewn climbing sling, 24” (60 cm) long when laid flat minimum length. Can be either nylon or Spectra.

Dyneema Slings

2 - 6 or 7 mm Prusik loop(s) tied with Double Overhand Bend ( aka Double Fisherman’s ) 76.2cm/30” in Loop Circumference after bend is tied (15” {38 cm} tip-to-tip when loop is pulled taut and measured)

Demo on how to tie a Double Fisherman’s Bend

Make your own!

2 - Mechanical Handled Ascenders

1 - Pair of full-fingered leather palmed rappelling gloves or sturdy synthetic gloves

Full Finger Synthetic Gloves

2 - Etrier(s) or Foot Stirrups to be attached to your ascenders

Petzl Footcord provided by ARGear.com

We would like to thank CAMP for all their support and advice.

 Grognard Bicycle Company has generously donated a custom bike frame as the GRAND PRIZE for the Make-A-Wish raffle being held by the Dirty Avocados.  Many other companies have also donated products to be awarded at the raffle as well. Great Shwag  from Sole Custom Footbeds, RedBull,  Kaia Foods, Motion Based, LaSportiva Shoes and many more will be awarded to the lucky winners.
Raffle tickets are $10.00 each

Grognard Bicycles are hand made by Sacramento’s David McCormick.  David builds steel bicycle frames custom fit and tuned to match your body, riding style and goals.  The frame can be designed to be either for a mountain bike, road bike or single speed.  The winner will contact David directly and set up a time to be fitted.  The frame will then be custom build to the winners specific needs.

The raffle will be held on June 1, 2008

Log on to DirtyAvocados.com/Wish for details how to obtain your tickets.