September 20, 2008 the Dirty Avocados toed the starting line at the Northstar village along with about 40 other adventure racing teams to begin the season finale  of the 2008 Big Blue series.   By the end of the day, the Dirty Avocados’ had won a hard fought victory.

I have race the Tahoe Big Blue adventure race for the past 5 years.  This is always one of my favorite races of the year.  The Tahoe area is especially beautiful in September. The crowds have gone away and normally the weather is perfect.  While I always want to place well, this race in particular is one that I covet.   I have had the good fortunate to have finished 2^nd in 2006 and 4^th in 2007. This year, I really felt was our opportunity to take the overall title.

We had a very strong team.  Brian Schmitz is one of my favorite people to race with. He is fast, strong and tough.  We specifically recruited an extremely fast woman – Rhonda Figone.  She is very fast on the bike, has a great attitude and I knew would push us.  To polish off our bid to win this race, we brought along a very fast triple kayak.   This turned out to be a very good move.

Unlike previous years, this year the race started in the new and updated Northstar village.  This is a great venue.  However, it meant that we would start with a tough and lung burning uphill bike ride through Sawmill flat and then down to the lake.  Like the other Big Blue races this year, this was going to be run in a modified rogaine style.  We were required to bike to the lake, do an 8 mile paddle on Lake Tahoe then bike to an orienteering course.  We would have 2 hours to get a minimum 65 points on the O course and then had to get at least 3 out of 6 check points on the bike before crossing the finish line.  All of this had to be done in 8 hours.  There were very harsh penalties for missing the deadlines – losing 3 points per minute.  This is a tough penalty when the check points are only worth between 5 and 25 points.  Having done the Kit Carson 24 hour race the week before, I understood the importance of staying within the time lines. 

I was a little concerned about my fitness level for this race.  I had raced hard the 2 pervious weekends – doing the Tahoe-Sierra 100 mile bike race 2 weeks prior (along with Rhonda) and the Kit Carson 24 hour AR the weekend before.  I guess I had recovered well by sitting on the couch because I felt strong and the legs had some juice left.

At the starting guy we immediately jumped out to the lead.  We rode quickly up to Sawmill flat and started down the otherside.  I immediately noticed that the route to the lake was marked for the sprint course so didn’t have to worry about navigating the many fire roads that weaved through this area.  We just followed the signs and were dropped out about 100 meters from the boats.  We quickly threw on spray jackets and jumped in the triple.  We were well on our way before anyone else arrived at the TA. 

The lake was very rough with a strong wind coming out of the southwest.  Being in a huge triple kayak we didn’t have any trouble with the surging lake but other, smaller boats did.  Several flipped and a few people had to be rescued.  Being dumped in Lake Tahoe, even this time of year is very cold.

The wind and waves did make for slow going.  The paddle took us much longer (about 20 minutes) then I expected.  We also took a round about way miscalculating where the take out was and heading toward shore way to early.  This allowed some other teams to make up some time on us.

Never the less, we were the first out of the boats, jumped on the bike and started hammering down highway 28 toward the O course – about 3 miles away.  I got a little confused in some of the side streets and over shot the O course a bit.  Then it happened.  2 bolts dropped out of my front crank.  When I shifted down to the middle ring I bent it and all of a sudden I had no lower gears.  We gave it a quick look and realized I would just have to muscle through it the rest of the way.  We got to the O course and were told we had 2 hours to get 65 points.  There were a total of 120 points available.  I looked the map over and thought we could get them all.  We took off running. This was a tough O course, much harder then the typical “orange” course you normally find in these types of races.  The controls were all off trail and you had significant distances to cover between each one.   We traveled in a generally counter clockwise direction. With Rhonda’s eagle eyes we found the first few controls with out much difficulty. In fact we moved through the woods quickly and efficiently and I though we might just nab all the points.  With 5 controls left I was getting concerned about our timing.  There was one that I think was misplaced and took up about 5-10 minutes longer to find that it should have.  Time was running short and with a 3 point per minute penalty it wasn’t worth being late.  In an attempt to hurry through we took a wrong turn that took us too far down the hill and required up to do an unnecessary climb.  At that point, with 100 points under our belt we headed directly back to the TA. We finished with only a couple of minutes to spare making it a good move.  We finished the O course at 1:10.  We had to finish the race by 4pm.  I knew it was going to be tight.

Giving the map a quick look I knew that there were 2 check points we would not have time to get.    Still I thought we could pick up 4 of the 6.    The  first CP from the O course was CP 3.  It was a slight up hill along a new single track trail that headed west toward the Fiberboard freeway.    I was a bit uncertain that we were on the right trial but it felt right.  The clue indicated that it was 100 feet northwest of the bridge.  We hit a bridge and spent a good 15 minutes looking around for the control.  We realized that we must be in the wrong place.  Sure enough a ¼ mile up the trail was another bridge and we found the CP easily.  Up the trial a bit more and we popped out on the fiberboard freeway.  Riding up the hill in the big gear was challenging but not too bad.  The next CP was at painted rock.  This was off a fun single track.  We powered up the hill and passed two guys running down the trail.  I was certain we would be able to make up some time when we rode down.  Rhonda quickly punched the control and we quickly headed back down to the Fiberboard. 

By the time we got the CP at painted Rock it was close to 3 pm.  I was pretty sure we couldn’t get the CP on the top of Mount Pluto and get to the finish by 4.  We had to settle for getting one last CP just off the fiberboard and then hammer down to the finish.  This CP was between the Fiberboard and a single track.  We found the other teams bikes, dropped ours and ran into the woods.  We found this 2 man team called Bad News - looking for the CP.  They were heading west but I was sure it was east of our direction.  I was right.  We tagged it and ran up to the bikes.  It as a couple of miles downhill to Sawmill flat then about 2 miles to the finish with 2 little climbs.  I had a feeling a team was catching up.  Sure enough just as we got to Sawmill flat the “Bad news” flew by.  It was on.

We chased them down the hill with Rhonda leading the charge.  Through the zig zags we found a “short cut” and gained the lead.  They caught up again and all 5 of us charged down the gravelly road full of water bars.  They were scaring the heck out of me as we flew over them.  At the very end we were required to get off of our bikes and run the bikes around the transition area, drop the bikes and run about 50 meters to the finish.  Bad news got to the  TA first and we were running right behind them.  The sprint was epic with Bad News crossing the line seconds in front of us.

Luckly, we had gathered 35 more points on the O course giving us the overall win.

 Only 3 teams finished under the 8 hours cut off, with most teams winding up with negative points.  The water conditions, the length of the O course and the general toughness of the course was just too much for most of the teams to cover in under 8 hours.  The after race party was fun and the venue at Northstar was outstanding.

The following is a write-up by the Sierra Sun’s David Bunker. He recaps his race and the Dirty Avocados first OVERALL win at the recent Tahoe Big Blue Adventure Race. —  “My teammate Paul Raymore was hunched over his handlebars like some insane French road cyclist, a hump of gear strapped to his back.I pointed my own inadequate mountain bike toward the finish line — and the race was on.Blocking out the roaring hum of rubber on the Fibreboard Freeway, the only thing on our minds was the unlikely goal of passing the Dirty Avocados on the downhill, gravely finish to the Big Blue Adventure Race.Risking injury, dismemberment and humiliating yard-sale-style crashes on squirelly fire roads, we desperately overtook the three-member Dirty Avocado team several hundred yards from the finish … and then promptly lost our lead by taking a wrong turn.The Dirty Avocados, acting more like lightning quick Mongeese (this is a word that I assume is the plural form of Mongoose), passed us as we swerved back onto the right road.Miraculously, we make one final pass on the last leg of the descent, and after crossing the finish line with the three avocados nipping at our heels — we were awarded second place.Turns out we were completely outclassed by the Dirty Avocados on the points portion of the orienteering course four hours earlier, and the adrenaline-filled finale meant absolutely nothing. But, I have to say, it was a heck of a lot of fun.Before the finish, Big Blue competitors had climbed up the ridge between the Village at Northstar and Lake Tahoe, dropped down some singletrack to Carnelian Bay and endured a blustery 8-mile-or-more kayak on Lake Tahoe.Like he does every year, race organizer Todd Jackson put together a course that offered stunning vistas of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Crest — and doled out as much physical exertion as one could handle (the course had eight checkpoints, five of which had to be completed for competitors to be official finishers).Lake Tahoe acted more like an angry ocean Saturday, and a couple kayaks ended up belly-up before the end of the traverse from Carnelian Bay to Crystal Bay.Then adventure racers cycled over to Tahoe City for some orienteering in Burton Creek State Park, before climbing up to Painted Rock, Watson Lake, or even Mount Pluto (given your individual choice of which checkpoints to hit) and dropping back over to the Village at Northstar.At the finish line, with weary quads and an ice-cold beer in hand, Paul and I laughed about the tight finish and congratulated the Dirty Avocados.I walked around the finish noting that my bike was worth about as much as most other competitors’ derailers, and then, hopped up on pale ale and endorphins, Paul and I started talking about entering the 24-hour Big Blue Adventure Race next year.Intoxicated with optimism, our sloppy paddling, ham-fisted orienteering and sluggish cycling skills momentarily slipped our minds.”David Bunker is the editor of the Sierra Sun. He may be reached at dbunker@sierrasun.com. Here’s a video recap of the race…http://bigblueadventure.com/video/tahoe_big_blue.wmv 

Jeffrey, age 9, was surprised when wish volunteers came to his home and said Make-A-Wish would grant him one wish. But it didn’t take him long to decide he wanted a trip to Disney World with his parents and grandmother and stay at the Nickelodeon Hotel in Orlando.  Jeffrey loves water parks and really wanted “mom and dad slimed!”  Jeffrey, who has chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy-a neurological disorder characterized by progressive weakness and impaired sensory in the legs and arms- is still taking about how much he loved his magical trip.

The Dirty Avocados are proud to have been able to make Jeffrey’s trip possible.  Thanks to everyone who contributed!

The adventure racing community recently lost a friend and racer when David Boyd died in a fall while trekking in the Colorado mountains.  David was with team MOAT, a super team that recently finished 5th overall at Primal Quest Montana.  Our hearts and thoughts go out to David’s family, friends and teammates. 

September 6 the Sierra-Tahoe 100 mile Mountain Bike race was held in the French Meadows area on the Western slopes of the Sierra in the Lake Tahoe area.  This race had 216 solos and some of the best in the world including multiple world champion Chris Eatough (of 24Solo fame).  The course was brutal with some where around 12,000 feet of climbing in long stretches.  We had two 5 mile long climbs and another that was around 10 miles.  It was relentless.

I was not too excited about this race.  I’m still a bit sluggesh from PQ and just wasn’t too motivated.  I had agreed to do it with my buddy Jon and didn’t want to back out. At the last minute I took my single speed rather then my geared bike - big mistake.  My gearing was all wrong - way to big.  I ran a 33 X 19 on my 29er.  Most everyone else who rode single speed ran a 32 X 20.  Those few extra teeth make a big difference.

In short this was a huge sufferfest for me.  I really struggled on both the climbs and downhills (thanks to the hard tail and rocky terrain.)

I went out pretty strong and did the 1st 5 mile climb in pretty good shape coming by the 10 mile mark around 1:05.  Then a big downhill.  I had a lot of trouble seeing with all the dust and the way the sunlight would cut through the trees.  I got passed by a lot of folks but would catch back up on the climbs.  The 2nd significant climb was about 2 miles long with lots of loose rocky dirt.  I walked a lot of this.  I was less then 20 miles in and didn’t want to get too burned out too early.    I got to the aid station at 21 miles and as was the case all day, passed a ton of people who were just hanging out. (That AR training does coming in handy.)  A big dusty downhill then turned back up the 5 mile climb.   I came by 30 miles right at 3 hours. The second time this climb was much tougher and took me 50 minutes.  I was chasing other riders but just couldn’t make up any ground.  The next aid station was at Robinson Flat.  The ride from the top of the climb to Robinson was a series of rollers and I knew would be tough on the way back.

At Robinson Flat I had a bag with stuff that I might need including lights if I needed them later in the race.  The aid stations were well stocked with tons of food and drink.  I got in and out.  From Robinson we had a huge downhill leading to a long flat section.  While normally flat is bad for single speed I was able to recover by just riding at a easy steady cadence.  I was pretty wasted at Robinson but by the time I got to the aid station at 69 miles I felt much better.  In fact I felt so good that I stormed out  and was climbing at a very good rate.  I was catching and passing people everywhere.  This lasted for a hour or so.  Then I just started cramping.  I was eating E-caps by the handful.  I would have to walk the steeper climbs.  Sometimes, I would just have to get off the bike and walk abit to calm the cramps.  I have never cramped that bad before.  I just kept thinking - get to the next aid station and then see what happens.  Turn this monster into bite size pieces.

I finally got to the aid station at 79 miles after 10 miles of climbing.  I was hurting but better then some of the guys sitting around.  There was one guy puking his guts out and several just sitting there unable to move.

I took less then 10 minutes then forced my way back on the bike.  It was 6 miles to Robinson with a couple very steep climbs.  I knew if I got to Robinson I’d make it.   As I was riding along a truck drove my with a guy in the bed throwing up.  I was pretty sure I was in better shape then he was so I just kept moving. My AR hike-a-biking came in very handy as I actually passed people walking my bike.  Finally I got to Robinson Flat.  Thomas Bastis was there and agreed to ride back with me while I entertained him with near-death stories.

I had to walk most of the uphills now but just keep moving.  As long as you keep moving you can cover ground.  Finally we got to the top of the 5 mile climb and got to ride down it.  Normally I would enjoy this but my feet where killing me and my arms were toast.  Finally I got down and Thomas and I finished it off coming in in 11:10:13.  (For results go to http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pIh6QJpLLS434Z_nZasSVUg )

In the end I finished 6th in the masters division and 86th overall.  My time was 11:10:13 - 4+ hours behind Eatough.  I just don’t know how guys can ride that fast.

We had a pretty good turn out from the AR community with Matts Jannsen taking 4th in masters (10:01), and Thomas Bastis finishing with me.  Rhonda Figone, who is racing with Brian and I at Tahoe Big Blue in 2 weeks finished 6th in the women’s division.  She passed me on the way back from Robinson, kicking my ass in10:48

My good friend and former world champion Linda Ekhart won the single speed woman’s divison in an amazing 9:46 (2nd overall for the women).  Jon Maz had a good showing finishing 11th in Masters in 11:49.

167 people finished.  They had a band and BBQ.  The camping was good fun.  Overall, it was a great time.   Certainly a very tough mountain bike race in a great location. Don’t miss it next year.

The Dirty Avocados are racing what’s called The San Francisco Oyster!

What is the San Francisco Oyster? It is an urban adventure race where teams race throughout San Francisco on bike, foot, in-line skates, rafts and other modes of transportation. The race is on September 28^th.

The race will be a blast and a great opportunity to raise needed funds for Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC) (http://www.transcoalition.org/).

OK, so this is where you come in. We’re counting on you to make a pledge to support my team. Your contribution will go to benefit TALC. We’re hoping to raise $300 and would appreciate a pledge on your behalf of $10 (although any amount is appreciated). Your donation is tax deductible…to the fullest extent of the law. And your pledge will support the mission of TALC.

Giving is easy!  Just…

1. Go to: https://www.tppevents.com/Home/donate.aspx

2. Select San Francisco as the city.

3. Select Dirty Avocados as the team.

4. Enter your name and billing info.

Thanks for the help! TALC is counting on us to support their athletes. Let’s help ‘em out!