They say misery loves company. We read a lot of race reports, but ever read a report that was nothing but the racers low points? Recently I asked my teammates to describe what they felt was their lowest point during the recent Baja Travesia Expedition race and how they rose up to overcome it. A couple days after returning home my wife caught me staring off into the space for no apparent reason. When I finally realized I was being watched, I asked “what?”. She said “You look like you’ve been through alot. You look like you’ve seen a lot… maybe too much.”

Adam Doti - My low point was in the last canyon at Agua Caliente – wear I saw voices and lights coming from the sky. I could not comprehend how the lights and voices could come from the dark sky like that. We became completely turned around and could not figure out which way the river was flowing and which way west was. Later we realized it was Antonio(?) marking our arrival at the WP and allowing us to pass. Didn’t really overcome it. Freaked out rest of the race till the TA. To get us out of running in circles Jen recommended we just get right into the water and start walking downstream in knee high water. Thats what we did and we said bye-bye to Agua Caliente.

Adam (A-Bomb) - Worst moment… I’d have to say in the final canyon from Agua Caliente to that next TA. First, because Stiffy (Adam) completely lost his mind and could not comprehend the directions coming from the sky. I’ll admit it was pretty comical, but then again, very sobering when you realize the guy with the map has gone bananas. Also, our sleep strategy, which to this point was working great, went bad. We took a few small cat naps that barely charged our batteries, and at one point, we woke up and had no idea where we were headed before we fell asleep. At this point, I was extremely tired and had a constant charley horse in left hip. Every step I took with my left leg felt like I was taking a direct hit to my left ass. If it wasn’t for my magic legs (hiking poles) I would have been crawling. Fortunately, I caught an adrenaline rush that carried me through to the end of the race, but it was unfortunate that it was at the expense of Riggs, who took a tumble into a cactus bush.

Jen - My worst moment was getting up close and personal with the cacti. A-bomb and Eddy (Adam) did a good job of describing our mental state leading up to the incident….we were all pretty much delirious and my feet were in a world of pain (I’m still missing a silver-dollar sized chunk of my left inner heel). For a couple of hours I was literally dreaming while walking because I was convinced I was trekking not with A-bomb and Eddy but instead with my brother and one of my old neighbors. Then Eddy said something out loud and I thought he sounded like the actor Zach Braff so then I said to myself “oh right…that’s not my brother, that’s Zach Braff…I’m trekking with my old neighbor and Zach Braff.” It made perfect sense at the time. Then I scrambled up onto a rock, slipped, and was blasted straight out of my state of delirium by hundreds of cactus spines as they found new homes in my left hand and leg. I was tired, I was hurt, I was angry at myself for making such a dumb mistake, and I was scared. I just sat there and cried while my teammates tweezed as many needles as possible out of my leg (not sounding so tough now, huh!!). That rock absorbed a lot of Rigs-snot and tears. Once I was back up and had confidence I could still walk and finish the race I felt a lot stronger, and it was probably only 10 more minutes until we saw graffiti on the rocks and knew we must be approaching the hot springs at which point my attitude improved at least 2X. A bit more tweezing at the TA and DA1 were on our way to the finish line with smiles on our faces.

Mark - I was my most physically tired on the last 3 miles of trekking into the TA in the Nat Park after the canyons. Route-finding and bushwhacking took it’s toll. We slept alot…probably too much so I never had any real bad mental meltdowns. After our nap at the sand slog Adrian got onto cow trails in the brush and we rode most of the sand section on semi firm but very narrow singletrack.

Melissa - My lowest point was in the final canyon. My ankle gave way and I fell up to my waist in skanky cold water. I had poison oak all over me, an infection that needed antibiotics and ankles like my grandmother. I guess it’s funny to think about it now but at the time it was blimmin’ miserable! If it hadn’t been for Mark pulling me up I think I’d still be sat in the water feeling sorry for myself.

Brian - The trek across the tundra after CP 8 on day 2. I’ve learned that during expeditions, Day 2 sucks ass for me, no matter the circumstances. And I’ve also learned that if I push through that, Day 3 and beyond gets better (aside from the typical/occasional foot problem(s)). My body seems to adjust by Day 3 and I ride that state to the end.

Mike - My low point was on the second trek. After taking 24 hours to do the 1st bike due to the unmarked trail, etc, we did the bike in the heat of the day and got dehydrated. After less then a 2 hour sleep (we were trying to make up time) we headed off looking for the entrance to Canyon Colorado. In short I couldn’t find it and we wondered around the desert for hours. Finally I got to the point where I had no idea where we were and couldn’t read the map at all. At that point we build a fire and did a lay down waiting for the sun to come up. When it did we easily found our way and continued on. However, at that point, I knew we were never going to make up the time that we lost which as very disappointing.

Will (our lonely home base teammate) - My low point was Day One when I realized I was still at work and not there for the fun. That whole week then turned into a blur of day and night and night and day as I stayed half awake hitting the refresh button on the browser tabs for bajatravesia.com and sleepmonsters.com. You kids can complain all you want about your foot blisters, cankles, and PO, but what about my poor index finger clicking the mouse button. You may have gone 250 miles and climbed many feet, but I clicked refresh approximately 832 times and this was just in the first paddleboard section imagine how that felt in the dry office air conditioning, staring blurry-eyed hard at one of my four screens telling my co-workers to go away while waiting, waiting for the damn screen to refresh. Absolute hell on earth, I am so done with watching adventure races.

Hey when’s the next race?

(some photos copyright Jacqueline Windh www.windhphotos.com )

Billabong, Buckwheat Crunchies, and La Sportiva are 3 of our sponsors and over the last few months I’ve tried their products. I’ve tried their products in various situations: training, racing, and casually. In all situations, all 3 products performed superbly!

Billabong’s Revolution is a top notch suit. It’s light, it’s thin, and its WARM. The neck has a system that seals nicely. Plus the design is super cool. Also, it packs down better than any suit I’ve had or seen. I wore this in American River practicing swift water rescue in Febuary and I was plently warm. I wore this suit in the Pacific on a sit-on-top kayak while doing surf entries in March and was plenty warm. And I plan to wear this suit at PQ in Montana’s rushing rivers for the riverboarding sections and I’m confident I’ll be toasty!

Buckwheat Crunchies–just the name is cool! This stuff is made by Kia Foods, a local organic food-maker here in San Francisco. The stuff rocks! It’s all natural, so it goes down and comes out very nicely, while leaving you feelingly clean and charged! No sugar crashes and no mess. The stuff is also great for snacking. In fact, I think I’ve had more at my desk than I’ve had on the trails.

La Sportiva’s Excum Ridge is a running shoe and approach shoe, with adventure racing and multi-purpose bells and whistles. Its basically several bad-ass shoes in one! Basically the front looks grips like a climbing shoe and the rear runs and supports like a trail running shoe. Plus its durable. It’ll stand up to any race situation you throw at it.

As I test and try more products, I’ll share more.

Race and train hard!

The 2008 Baja Travesia was memorable is sooo many ways for all involved. But for the Dirty Avocados Too crew (Karen Bosko and Jeannine Freeman), it was more than memorable. It was unbelievable, remarkable, and emotional just to start! The following are highlights recapped by the best crew to ever walk the AR earth!

• Driving thru US/MEX border crossing with all passports ready/ in hand only to not even have someone at the crossing, yes we’re dorks!
• Pre – race: Coming across a vehicle versus quad accident. First vehicle on scene not directly involved in accident. With Ski Patrol and pre-med nurse in car, before our vehicle was stopped, they leaped out of car to provide assistance. Other team mate directed traffic (injured quad rider – helmetless, shirtless, 20-yr old American, laying in road, we noted he was very bloody, with a broken leg, broken wrist/arm, messed up face, and knocked out teeth). Raced back to rented house to get first aid kit, luckily for everyone, ambulance arrived just before our first aid kit.
• Pre-race: Driving to Race Bonfire. Crossed over median to make it to dirt road turn, bike rack fails and bike ends up horizontal to ground. Note to self: Do not drive off road with bike rack which holds bike by front tire.
• Driving on way to TA2, stopped at Chloe’s to fill up water bottles from backyard garden hose (we were promised that the water was OK.)
• Driving back from TA2 on long dirt road at night, hearing noise on roof, stopping car to see wheel missing from roof rack, stopping oncoming traffic (other DA truck) in fear that they might have driven over it. Fortunately they saw the wheel bounce into the bushes. Not telling Susan about mishap until after race! (after we determined there was no damage to the wheel.)
• Not being able to open the back window on Brian’s truck at the first military checkpoint we went through. We finally got it open, but I don’t think the federales were too happy with us. Blonde female crew can have its benefits!
• Taking over six hours to drive the 36-mile “short-cut” that was supposed to be a two-hour trip. This road is part of the Baja 500 race course. It’s a narrow, technical 4WD road over a 4,000 foot pass, along steep cliffs.
• Almost sliding off the road at a precarious turn on the cut-off road, and finding out later that another truck almost did the same thing and they broke their running board.
• Being escorted by a herd of cattle and almost being charged by one of them (why do the girl cows in Mexico have horns??) And laughing our asses off when the cows did the same thing to the other DA crew right behind us
• Laughing at the crazy rabbits that zigged and zagged in front of the truck, but wouldn’t hop off to the side of the road.
• Pulling the other DA crew out of a ditch at 4am in the morning in the dark in under an hour and a half, using only a screw driver, bike pump and old climbing rope. (Damn I feel like MacGyver!) Worried because we couldn’t open the back window on Brian’s truck again.
• Driving up the Sierra San Pedro Martir mountain range and being able to see it in daylight was such a treat!
• Drinking tequila at 9am, at the park gate, to celebrate finally arriving at the park. And discovering Mike’s wheel was warped from the flexion of the bike rack – bummer.
• Losing the other DA crew again, and finding out they had to zip-tie the bumper guard back onto their truck
• Setting up TA4, and getting the back window unstuck, getting a loaner wheel from Donato for Mike to use, and getting a short nap. Then seeing our team come in looking happy and strong.
• Driving out of the park that evening and finding two lost teams riding back from outside the park, and thinking our team was pulling ahead due to the other teams’ navigational errors. (Who knew there would be no trail where there was supposed to be, and the slow teams would get the benefit of course marking.)
• Driving out of the park back to Hwy 1, having Jeannine wake up asking what the weird popping sounds are under the car. Karen having to explain that she has been driving over field mice for the last 20 miles. YUK!
• Bypassing the cut-off road and taking the long way back to Valle de la Trinidad via Ensenada. 200 miles further, but a faster drive. Crazy Mexican roads!! Good thing we were carbon neutral. (and getting hi-beamed by EVERY oncoming truck, as they thought we were on hi-beams too. We weren’t!)
• Getting stopped at another military checkpoint and flirting with the federales – this time they didn’t need to inspect the truck.
• Returning to Valle de la Trinidad, and following our “super” crew directions to get ourselves lost again. We found what we thought would be TA5, only to find a small blue BT sign telling us to drive another 10K into the wilderness. After driving over 8 miles on creepy back roads in the middle of the night (Mexican distances again), and still not finding TA5 we started to get a little concerned. At a few possible intersections, umping out of car to “examine” the tire tracks of the options (choosing the most traveled route each time – good job Karen!) Just as we were about to give up and find a place to turn around we came upon a couple of tiny lights . . . TA5!!! Whew! We almost cried with relief.
• Setting up at TA5, affectionately known as cow-poop meadow and waiting for our team to arrive, getting worried when so many teams started to come through and we heard reports of our gang getting lost.
• Learning from Cordell, the volunteer at TA5, which maps the locals use, and how to modify a CB radio to work almost anywhere. Gotta love hangin’ with the retired guys. Plus they fed us fresh BBQ’d shrimp with bacon. Yum!
• Crewing for the other DA team and getting them ready when their crew was 3 hours late. We were very happy to be there for you!
• Almost crying again with relief when our team finally made it to the TA, getting them sorted out, letting them nap and then sending them off in the dark again.
• Hanging out at TA6 in the dusty village of Heroes de la Independencia and watching the “traffic jam” - a heard of goats move through town.
• Jeannine having a major panic attack – thinking she’d lost a set of maps. After letting my brain settle, I realized we had two map sets for three legs of travel. Didn’t know how I would have explained that one to the team.
• Crewing for the local kids (the next Mexican adventure racing team – I hope!) and trying to explain in sign language what clip-in bike shoes are.
• Adopting “Taco” the little puppy, who seemed to take a liking to Brian. At least you met one nice dog in Mexico, Brian!!
• Getting directions to the “best” (meaning only) local gasolina in town - drive down dirt road until you find handmade “gasolina” sign. Stopping to get gasolina from the barrel. Well actually gas wasn’t in a barrel, it was in old milk jugs. Laughing at how Brian would have a fit when he sees the photos of Jeannine assisting the elderly lady pour the gasoline from the jugs, into a funnel, into the truck. Brian, you might want to get your engine cleaned.
• Taking a sunset hike through the meadows at TA7 and enjoying the beautiful wildflowers. And then trying to keep gear dry as the damp and misty fog rolled in. Even the photos showed droplets from the mist.
• Driving to TA8 – again with sketchy directions, to the hot springs (with various names, none of which matched our directions.) Followed concrete wall to end of the road. Lots of abandoned farming vehicles. Karen emphatically says, we are out of here, this can NOT be right! Back to main road, try instructions again from main highway, ended up in a rancher’s yard with barking dogs at 3am, and wondering if we’d be shot at. Go back try another route. Find the cement company road. No not the right road – dead ends. Retracing our steps and driving to the country club and finally going back to the first road and realizing the unmarked fork in the road was where we wanted to go. There were no signs, of course. Our instructions told us to drive 5.5 miles through 6 water crossings. 10+ miles and 12 water crossings later, we found the TA. Gotta love the directions the crew received. Next year I know what maps I need to buy.
• Seeing Susan come running through the TA and thinking something was wrong, only to find out they were in “race mode” racing another team into transition. Woo hoo!! Loving that this was the fastest transition ever and happy they were so motivated this late into the race.
• Watching our team ride through water crossings – very cool (oh, did I mention there were 12 and not 6?)
• Being able to escort our team on Hwy 1, this had no shoulder and crazy, scary traffic. It felt great to protect them from the traffic.
• Arriving at the final TA and leisurely helping them get ready for the last leg of the race, while they waited for Suburban Rush to arrive. The last leg consisting of a 5k run along the beach and a 2k paddle.
• Impressed that our team decided to wait for Suburban Rush to finish together with them, that’s why we love them!!
• Playing with the foal along the side of the road, who wanted to get into the truck with us . . . sorry Brian, we let a horse in your truck. ?
• Ordering 3 “hamburgers for babies” at the local McDonalds. I’m sure they thought I was crazy until they figured out I wanted three Happy Meals.
• Seeing our team finish in good health and good spirits and “awarding” them with their Happy Meals – because they were the happiest team out there.
• Driving back to US. Spending 3 hours at the border crossing, being sold everything possible from the vendors wandering between the vehicles (tables, puppies, clothing, food, magazines). Watching episodes of the office on Brian’s IPOD.
• Joking about needing smokes and Playboys to assist in going thru the border! Note to self: One should never joke at a border crossing.
• Very nice agent asks us to open top rocketbox. He checks and almost lets us pass then a supervisor arrives telling him to send us to the full inspection. On our way to full inspection, see Karen and Paul’s vehicle pulled over. Stop to say a few words then went into inspection area. Jeannine receives phone call on cell from other DA vehicle. Reprimanded by border agent for being on the phone. Jeannine falls into hysterical laughter and the rest of us wonder when we are going to be sent to jail.
• Border becomes another TA as Jeannine and Karen empty most of the gear and boxes out of the back of the truck and then reload in record time. Border agent goes thru most of the bins, seemed to find the most smelly ones of course. Border agent seems satisfied but sends us off with a warning. Get out of here quickly before something comes up and you get stuck in the inspection area. Not really sure what he means but high tail it away. Good to be back on US soil.
• Stop over in San Diego to pick up teammate’s vehicle and spend the night. Upon unloading the truck, find that the entire roof rack system’s screws had worked themselves loose and were barely hanging on. Note to self: check all gear and racks prior to race, not just gear.
• All in all, a fun way to spend a vacation!! When can we do it again???