Raid the North Extreme held in the Western Kootenay Mountains promised to be one of the best and most difficult expedition races of the year.  As a World Championship qualifier, there was a very good field.  As the course was disclosed, it was clear that there were going to be two large treks filled with huge and slow bushwhacks as well as long bike sections with steep hike a bike sections.

 This year I was fortunate  to be racing with the Dancing Panda’s.  We were a unique team in that we were far older then any other team competing with a combined age of 197 years.  We also had lots of  expedition experience under our belt - experience that would provide very useful over the six day race.

 The team was made up of Masha Glanville, our team leader and captain; Thor Egerton - from Australia - our navigator, Peter Spagnoli - from Long Island NY - our mule for carrying gear and towing me up the hill; and myself.

 From our prospective, we wanted to make sure that we got all four of us across the finish line.  Traditionally if you finish with your full team you are ranked.  You have to finish to in order to place.

 We all arrived in Nelson, Canada with little trouble and began the gear checks, and bike checks and general check in process.  Then we got the maps and were given 24 hours to plot and  determine our routes.

 From Nelson we were taken north to Kelso to spend the night.   Then in the morning it was off to Creek Meadow, just East of  Goat Range  Provincial Park.  The race started with a wicked 5000 foot climb on the mountain bike in 24 kilometers.  For me, in many ways this was the toughest part of the race.  It was warm and I wasn’t feeling well.  While my teammates were grinding along I was really struggling.    There were several sections that were too long and steep to ride (at least for me) so early in the race I was pushing a bike up a hill.  This would be come a very common theme.

 Peter recognized my suffering and put me on tow.  This made a huge difference and I’m sure we save 30 minutes or more just with Peter helping me along.  I remember thinking at the time that this was taking for ever, but in fact we hit the bike drop at little over 3 1/2 hours after the start.  Of course this was just a warm up.  After dropping the bikes we started the first long trek.  I had anticipated 18  hours for this trek.  What I didn’t appreciate was just how slow it is to move through slide alder and other thick brush.

From the bike drop we climbed at bit more up the fire road and in to the snow,  in search of a switch back trail that dropped from 7000 down to the river at around 3500 feet.  During the bike ride Thor told us that she was starting to get a migraine.  For her it effects her eyesight for a few hours. While many teams bushwhacked down, we stuck to the trail as long as we could in the hopes that it would increase our speed.  Also, Thor was essentially blind in one eye so trying to bushwhack wasn’t really an option at this time.  We kept moving and Thor started felling better as we desended.

Once we got to the end of the trail we turned south east and bushwhacked to the clearing that had a goat trial running along the hill side.  This eventually led to a fire road and to the turn off  to cross the river and head up Stony Creek.  This would split and we needed to then follow South Cooper Creek.  We were initially faced with a significant creek crossing.  The water was cold and very swift.  Wading through it was not a good option.  So crossing on fallen trees became one of the skills of the day.

 For periods of time there was a trail. Then it would end at the creek.  We had to cross the creek multiple times, always in search of the trail or at least a clear enough area to move with any speed.  We made reasonably good progress, although we got cliffed out a few times and spent a hour going up and down the hill looking for a way through.  At around 3 am we did a 1/2 hour lay down and got moving at first light.   We spent the entire night moving up the South Cooper Creek .  After the morning we really began to gain elevation and finally emerged from the forest.  From there you could see the Col we were heading to, a couple 1000 feet above us.  We were surrounded by beautiful peaks and we could see a small glacier high on one of them. It was going to be steep up but was mostly on scree.  But before we got to the real climb we had several long sections of Slide Alder.  At this point I was all scratched up and found the climbing through and in the alder exhausting.  Draining and difficult and frustrating is what slide Alder is all about.  You think you will never get through it.  However, we did.  Once we got through it was a easy hike (but very steep) up to the CP in the middle of the saddle.  We were with 3 teams as we go to the CP - all of the teams converging during the climb up through the scree and snow.  We were officially 23rd but we were within an hour of 5 or 6 teams.

 One of my big concerns going in to this race was my knees.  My left knee had been sore for a couple of weeks and my right IT band was achy and tight.  Down hills typically on very hard on my IT band and I was concern that this would be come a problem.  The good news was that even though from time to time the knee and IT band spoke to me they held up and after a while completely quieted down.

 The trip down from CP2 to the town of Relallack was relatively uneventful.  We glissaded down the top part of the mountain then followed the trail till it disappeared in the snow.  We followed the creek along with several other teams still we hit the road.  The maps were 1:50,0000. with 100 foot contours.  This means that there was very little detail so we had to really make route decisions on the fly.  Finally at around 3:30 (27 hours) we reached the TA at Retallack.  We took an hour transition getting some hot food and getting prepared for the first long bike ride.  And there was a storm rolling in.

 From Retallack we began climbing.  Our next CP, CP 4 was a warming hut.  At first it was sprinkling, then the rain got harder.  We didn’t put on our rain gear right away in the hopes that the rain would stop.  So we got our inter layers wet.  By the time we got to the hut in was raining pretty hard.  From the hut the map didn’t have any roads or trails on it.  It was not clear how to get to the way point at Recon pass.  We took off and tried a service road/trail that climbed a ways but ended in a clear cut of trees.   It was pouring rain as we stood there trying to determine the best course. We headed back down the hill and went to the hut.  it was here that we made a good decision.  We were wet and cold so we took advantage of the warm, dry hut and took a nap.  During our nap team 30 came into the hut. they had tried to get over the pass but couldn’t find it.  With this discouraging news we took yet another nap, in the hopes that the rain would stop.  around 3 am we got up, put on our now semi dry clothing and headed out.  We hoped to be able to time it so we hit the pass near daylight so we could get a visual.  As it turned out, we got on the correct service road and simply followed it all the way over the pass.  The road was very steep, some times a 25% to 30% grade.  We got to the top and began the long ride down to the town of Coby.  Being wet, it was very cold coming down.  For me it was very frustrating in that I had good winter gloves and booties in my gear bag.  why I didn’t bring them, I don’t know. 

 We know that hanging out in the warming hut was a good idea because several of the teams that were right in front of us and pushed on wound up dropping out.  I would guess from hypothermia or other related issues.

 We sped down the numerous switchbacks down the mountain and went through Coby and then the ghost town of Shelton to start the climb up Idaho peak.  At Shelton we meet up with a couple of teams and rode together for a while.  We left some behind and we were dropped by others.  We rode as much as we could with pushing the bike from time to time.  We got above the snow line and had to push through snow banks on the road.  We made pretty good time just by moving steadily.  We hit the CP and continued up to the parking lot.  Finally we reached the top and the beginning of the Wakefield trail.  This was a very narrow and technical trail that was carved in to the mountain side  with very big drop offs if you went over.  I lead the way down often with one foot unclipped to avoid any big fall.  Periodically, I was able to ride sections freely only to run up on a fallen tree.  We had a very scary, but short, snow crossing.  Masha got a flat which required a quick fix.  We worked our way down the mountain finally dropping on to a good fire road that allowed for some quick riding all the way in to Silverton.  Silverson, which is on the lake, boasts that it is in the middle of nowhere.  We found a coffee shop and  got a quick sandwich and a couple cups of coffee.  At the coffee shop were a couple of racers who had dropped out and someone from the race with a lap top.

 We were in the middle of the third day and over all every one was felling pretty good.  We had gotten some sleep (except Thor who had trouble sleeping the first few nights) and no one had any serious injuries.

 We took a little less then an hour and then made our way to the TA.  We had a quick transition since we had already eaten and got on the water pretty quick.  Thor and Peter were in one canoe and Masha and I in another.  This first paddle was pretty uneventful although I had some trouble keeping the boat straight.   Whether it was the wing paddle or just my poor technique, I struggled keeping that boat in a clean line.  No withstanding my crazy Evan paddling style, we finished the paddle in a few hours at the end of the Slocan Lake in the town of Slocan.  The last bit was moving water and a quick turn into the landing.  The boat directly in front of us (team 30) dumped the canoe but we managed to keep the boat up right. 

 When we got to the TA it was full of people.  There had to have been at least 4 or 5 teams there at the same time. 

 Because of travel costs of shipping regular gear boxes, the Dancing Panda made the decision to go with gear bags.  Pete and I had big North Face bags and the ladies had other large bags.  In short, this was a nightmare.  First and foremost the bags were not water tight so when left out in the rain, the bags leaked and most everything got wet.  There is nothing more discouraging then to only have wet gear to put on.  On top of that the organization in a bag is poor when all of your gear is black.  In short this was a lessoned learned to never do that again.  This made the transition more stressful for me as it just seemed that I could never find what I was looking for.

 As it was still afternoon, we transitioned as quickly as we could and headed out on the longest trek, into Valhalla Park.  We were a few hours ahead of the cut off where they would not allow teams to go forward on the trek.  We were within a 1/2 hour of at least 4 teams.  This trek was going to be the crux of the race.  In to Valhalla Provincial Park.  We followed a trail to Beatrice Lake then bushwhack  a long way into the high alpine country and over several passes.  We knew that this could take us at least 48 hours so we packed accordingly.  We brought the tent, extra clothing and lots of food.  We even brought the jet boil and mountain house food.

 The trail was very pretty with tremendously  powerful water running.  The snow pack was 150% of normal so the water was high, cold and strong.

 Our initial goal was to get to Beatrice, about 25 kilometers and 3000 feet of climbing.  We moved off at a steady pace.  The trail was good and steep at times.  It was raining lightly.  As darkness fell, the trail became a bit harder to follow and with the tree fall our progress was slowed at touch.  I was doing the route finding and moved with purpose.  I was tired and looking forward to a sleep at Beatice.  Around 2 am we finally hit the campground.  To my surprise there were at least 5 teams in the campground. There was a fire burning.  We quickly set up the tent and laid down.  I got some sleep and woke before the sun came up.  I cooked a couple of bags of mountain house and started packing.  Finally, Thor got some sleep and we let her sleep an extra 1/2 hour.

 We packed up and got ready to go.  The other teams started leaving and we left about 1/2 hour behind the 4 or 5 teams.

 We were told that the South side of the lake was the prefer and better way.  So we went on the south side.  We headed in to the bush.  The slide alder is brutal.  We went up and down and slowly moved forward.  We would bull through the bush and run into a series of cliffs.  Nothing showed up on the map.

 After about 3 hours we figured that we had travelled maybe 1 1/2 kilometers.  We stopped and talked about our concern that we wouldn’t be able to get through this trek and do anything else.  In other words, we were on day 4 and knew that if this trek took  60 or more hours, we would not have time to do any other parts of the course and certainly would not get to the finish line.  We had heard that it took the top teams over 20 hours to the Ice Lodge and well over 30 hours to complete the trek.  It was not unreasonable for us to expect it to take twice as long.

 We pulled out the radio and called the race director.  Amazingly enough we actually got him on the radio.  We explained that our concern was we would not have time to finished the race and wanted to know if we would stay ranked if we turned around and went back to the TA in Slocan.  He told us that we would just be on the modified short course and would remain ranked.

 After some discussion we all agreed that going back to the TA was the right choice if we wanted to complete the rest of the course.  Knowing what I know now, I still believe that it was the right decision.  Two of the teams that left Beatrice Lake that morning took 69 hours to complete the trek and we not allowed to do any other part of course.

 We bushwhacked for another 3 hours till we got back to the campground.  Then we proceeded on the long trek back to the TA.  Round trip the whole thing took us about 26 hours.  We got to the TA right at dusk.  We talked to MA and asked her if we had any deadline to get out of the TA.  She said that in order to stay ranked we had to leave by midnight.  And that we would have to bike to the TA at Upper Little Slocan Lake about 20 k away.  We (except Thor) got an hour of sleep, drying stuff as best we could in the heated room and got ourselves ready to go at midnight.  From the TA to Little Slocan was a gradual climb up the road.  We got to the TA and Thor really needed to get some more sleep.  So we took another lay down and all slept another hour.

 When we got up it was still dark.  We headed down the road about 8k to the zip line.  When we got there we had to wake up the rope crew.  It took about an hour to get us all across.  While it was a great photo op, the zip only took about 20 seconds to get across.

As we finished up team SOG caught up and started working across the line.

 We took off and started the climb up to CP 12.  Masha started having some mechanicals and I tried to fix the ghost shifting.  While I made it better, I didn’t get it completely fixed at that time. 

 After CP 12 we had missed the cut off the day before so we had to do the “short course” which would cut about 30k out of the paddle.  But the short course climbed from the CP at about 3000 feet to over 6000 feet at the top of the climb.  It was loose gravel and very steep.  We rode as much as we could but spent most of the time pushing the bike.  We kept expecting SOG to catch us and were surprised that we got over the top and they were not in sight.  It turns out that they took a road on the wrong side of the river and the road didn’t cross.  We had seen this on Goggle Earth and didn’t have that delay.

 After getting to the top we had a long and very fast down hill.  We would travel for several minutes and then make sure we gathered.  This was the type of down hill, where a crash would hurt.

 We got to the bottom at lake level and SOG finally caught up.  We had a bit of trouble finding the TA and tried getting directions for an unfriendly local who could not understand what we were doing on her property.  Finally we got to the TA and it was mid afternoon.  We made a hot meal and got our paddle stuff together. 

 The next leg was a 40K+ paddle with our bikes in the boats.  We had to paddle to a TA on the left side of the river, get our bike gear and then cross the river and start the bike ride.  Before we left we asked the race director if we need to take all of our bike gear.  He said no, they would have our gear bags at the next TA.  So we didn’t take bike shoes, helmets or lights.  And only took enough food for the paddle.  We started the paddle into a head wind.  I was concerned with the bikes in the boat.  If the boat flipped we would never be able to flip it back over in the water.  And the water was very cold.  After about an hour or so the wind began to pick up and we were starting to see white caps. This concerned me because once you get water in the canoe they become more and more unstable.  We found a place to pull over in the hopes of sleeping a bit and letting the wind die down.  We hated to burn day light but paddling into the wind  was going to be slow and take a lot of energy.  SOG who was just behind up also pulled up and took a lay down.  The plan worked perfectly.  We got some sleep and the wind had died down a great deal.  So off we went.  It was a long paddle in the moonless night.   The more tired that I got the harder it was to keep the canoe straight.  Masha was struggling to stay awake.  We pushed hard with the idea that would get to the TA, sleep till day break and have all day Friday, all night and into the morning to finish.

 Finally we pulled up to the boat ramp that was the TA.  When we got there, there were two other teams there - SOG and the French team.  The volunteer immediately let us know that our gear was not there and that they didn’t expected it till around 8:30 am.  It was 3:30 am at that point.  So we came ashore and  laid down near the fire.  At day break I got up and others awoke as the morning wore on.  There was no hurry as we weren’t going any where.  It never occurred to us to try to move forward without bike shoes, helmets and lights.  We later learned that DART went on  with boat shoes, not helmets and no backpack. 

 We waited for 13 hours for our gear.  The locals seemed less then pleased at our being camped out on their boat ramp and made their feelings well know.  At that point I had just about given up on being able to  finish.  We waited so long, I began to heal, which makes the muscles very sore.  The teams talked about finding a road route to try to get over to the seven summits. Ultimately we were told that we couldn’t ride the road and we had to stay on the original course.  Shortly after our gear showed other teams started paddling up.  They said that they had also been delayed about 8 hours waiting for gear.

 We quickly got in the boats and paddled across the river and to the little town of Renata.  Quickly through this town and started the long push up Bulldog mountain.  Again, the road was steep and loose and impossible to ride.  SOG and the French team rode by us and we didn’t expect to see them again.  We slogged up the mountain for a couple of thousand feet.  We topped out and then came down the sketchy decent.  The original course would have had us head south through a mile long train tunnel and to the TA to the last trek.  We had long missed that deadline.  We might have been able to make it if we had not been delayed so long, but with losing 1/2 a day we had missed the cutoff before we had even started.  The train grade was in great shape.  It was slightly down hill and a very nicely maintained road.  We sped down the grade to the last climb to CP19.  Masha had not been feeling well with stomach problems and her bike was still ghost shifting.   As we started the last 2000 foot climb we had to stop and work on Masha’s bike.  I finally got the bike working properly.  We continued moving steadily up the mountain.  We were caught and passed by CP tracker and WEDALI.  They looked like they were moving well and we couldn’t keep up with the pace.  By the time we got close to the TA, we were all falling asleep and really struggling.

 We pulled in to CP 19 just a few minutes before midnight and I thought we were all done.  .  We were told the cutoff to continue on the bike was 10:30pm.  However, we were told that they would provide a shuttle to move the many teams that were at CP19 to the trail head of the seven summits.  We were going to be on the 2nd shuttle so we had a little bit of time.  Masha laid down in the back of a truck and Thor found a place to sleep.  Pete and I had some Top Ramon and were getting ready to lay down when the shuttle pulled up and we had to load up.

 We had heard a lot about the seven summits trail.  It was suppose to be one of the best rides in the world.  We jumped on the trail and the very first part was like a ride in Disneyland.  Some downhill with smooth swoopy turns and climbs.  But after about 1/2 k it began to climb.  With smoked legs, all I could do was push the bike up the technical single track.  Masha was still not feeling well with her stomach jumping all around.  We pushed for a few hours.  Near the first summit at  Mount Lepsoe we did a 20 minute lay down.  After finally hitting the first summit the down hills were a hoot.  Fast and windy and very fun with some technical sections.  There was one section that was very exposed but most of the ride was fun and fast.  I was very concerned that we would not have enough time to get to the finish line, but to my great surprise, by early morning we had finally hit Red Mountain.  Now it was a long down hill on the cat tracks to cp 22 and then through Rossland and continue down to the finish in Trail.

 At this point we were riding with the French team, who was still on the course and doing very well.  From CP 22 at Red Mountain was pretty uneventful.  It was all downhill and fast.  At about 8:40 we crossed the finish line in Gross park in Trail.  The finish line was disappointing.  No fan fair, and the race director seemed confused as to how to deal with the teams that we coming across the finish line.

 To our great disappointment, we were not ranked.  We spoke to the race director and he denied telling us that we could remain ranked.  We were not the only teams that were DNF or unranked.   Tecnu and Yogaslackers both completed the entire course only to finish after the 10am finish cut off.  No allowance for the time delays that they suffered.

 After the race we learned that the website hadn’t worked and showed us as withdrawn for a while.  The website gave the impression that we had dropped out.  That certainly was never the case.

 Over all, this was an excellent course but the race was run very poorly.  It had the feel of someone who didn’t spend the money to do it right.  In my opinion there is no reason to have a complete team that crosses the finish line unranked.  An there are no excuses for making a team wait ½ a day for gear.  While we aren’t sponsored per say, we had lots of friends and family following the race.  Having us listed as withdrawn caused a great deal of concern because those that know us know we would not drop out unless someone was injured. 

 For our part, I’m very proud of how our team performed.  We made good decision for us and achieved the primary goal, to get everyone across the finish line.  Way to go Dancing Panda’s

 It’s unfortunate, but I doubt anyone will do this race again – I know I won’t.

XPD - the final trek

We got to the ski club at Lake Tinaroo around 4:30 - 5:00pm on the 7th day.  I was a mess and my feet were killing me.  We wanted to get on the lake as quick as possible.  However, I was moving slowly.  I had to work on my feet - get them cleaned and re taped.  I was hoping to let them rest during the paddle.  While I was taking care of my feet (with the assistance of one of TA members,) Brian and Karl were getting the boats blown up and Jen was packing the boxes.  I was just moving slowly.  I felt better then I did at the cafe but was still not in very good shape.  The rest of the team wanted to finish the paddle and head straight into the trek.  I just wasn’t going to be able to do that and insisted that we sleep some before the trek.

Several teams came into the TA and left before we were able to get on the lake.  Just before we left, I noticed we had 4 mountain house packages in the box.  I spoke to Karl about whether we should take it.  He thought we had some in the next TA box.  Why I would listen to some one so sleep deprived just shows how sleep deprived I was.  Anyway, I didn’t bring the food.

We got on the water right at sunset.  After being past by several teams in the TA we were out of the top 20.  The paddle was uneventful except that Brian and I did crazy Ivans down the lake.  I had a very tough time keeping the kayak going in a straight line.  Jen navigated us to the take out where there was a nice fire.

Sure enough, we had very little food in the TA box, and no mountain house.  I had to settle for a can of tuna fish before I laid down.  We agreed to hit the trial at midnight.

We got up, packed up our packs for the final trek and hit the road about 12:30 am.  The trek started on a good fire road the climbed up the ridge towards Caines.  I was feeling much better after that short sleep.  According to the map, after getting to the top of the ridge and rounding a bend there should have been a trial head leading north.  About 12 kilometers in, around 3am we got to the spot I thought the trail should have been, but couldn’t find it.  We were at the right elevation, the trial turned as indicated on the map but we couldn’t find anything that looked like a trail.  We went back and forth, up and down the trail, but no luck.  We went back up the ridge and found a trail head with a tent of another team that was taking a nap.  We tried heading up the trail but it was going the wrong way and I found it on the map leading to a peak we didn’t want to go.  Leeches were falling out of the trees and I got one attached on my lip.  We didn’t go up the trail too far before we turned back, quietly sneaking around the tent without waking it’s occupants.

We were at a loss, so we studied the map some more.  Further down the trail, there was a trail on the wrong side of the road that was marked “overgrown.”  I thought, maybe it crossed the road.  As we were heading down the trail we ran into an all male team that had been out there for hours.  They did not look like they were in very good shape. Sure enough, there was a solid trail with nice blaze markers.  We took off moving well.  I was feeling pretty good at this point. 

We were doing well until we crossed a stream.  We picked up what we thought was the right trail.  We followed it for a while and all of a sudden dropped onto the road.  We had found the original trail head we had been looking for before.  It was completely overgrown and required a climb up to it.  The sun was just coming up.  So we turned around and trekked back to the stream.  The first trail we followed had nice blazes.  The trail we were now on had only yellow ribbon marking the way.  At this point, I was pretty sure I knew where on the map we were and was able to follow it as we moved forward.  From that point on, we made good time. The trial was not very good, completely overgrown.  Every once in a while we would lose the trail.  One team member would stand at the last ribbon till we found the next one.  That worked well, especially when there was a lot of tree fall. We later found out that this section caused a lot of teams a great deal of trouble.

Youtube – last jungle trek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOCgWfkG_Ks  and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BToY1ZNt6c&feature=related

We had a very big climb up to a peak, then down along a ridge and finally came out to the intersection we were looking for.  This was the trail to the outlook where the next CP would be.  This was going to be a 2000 foot climb.

We got to this intersection around noon.  We took a quick 10 min lay down and then we were off.  There were two ways to the top - a shorter, steeper section, or a longer, more gradual path.  We picked the shorter path.  It was extremely steep.  Those Aussi’s are a tough breed, calling this a walking path. 

 A couple of hours of climbing and we were at the lookout.  It was a nice little clearing by a tower.  We got there around 3:00.  We took a bit of time to eat and work on our feet.  I was getting concerned that we were going to get stuck in the jungle in the dark. 

The next section was a 5 kilometer jungle bush whack.  I had been concerned about this section since I first saw it.  When we originally got the maps I had located a second route - one that was all on road, but was about 25 kilometers longer.

From the outlook CP (located at Kalphalim Rock) we dropped down into the jungle, attempting the bushwhack.  After 45 minutes, we hadn’t gotten anywhere and realized we were not on the ridge that we wanted to get on.  We got back up on the trail that lead us to the outlook.  We were looking for an entry to the correct ridge.  As we worked our way along the trail, looking for the ridge, we saw two teams show up.

At this point, given the lack of sunlight left, we started to talk about doing the longer “walk around” route.  Not only was I concerned about the slow going in the jungle, but I knew sleeping in the jungle with the leeches and other nasties would be very tough.  Also, given our physical state, I was concerned that someone might slip and get injured. We figured that the best we could do would be 1 kilometer an hour in the jungle, while we could do 5 kilometers an hour on the road.  We also figured that if it didn’t go well in the jungle we could be in the jungle for hours, while on the road, as long as we keep moving we would do fine.  So we agreed to take the longer route.   

The Kiwi girls and an all male team were with us at this point, but didn’t seem interested in working together.  They took off to somewhere, I don’t know where they went.  We headed down off the ridge back to the parking lot near the intersection we had been at several hours before.  We dropped down about 1700 feet and hit the parking lot just as the sun went down.  We did an hour lay down and got a little sleep before starting this long trek on the road.

The trek on the road was long and painful.  My feet were really hurting.  It appeared that everyone had bad feet and the trek was just a grind.  The road turned out to be much more hilly then I had expected.  Very steep up hills and steep down hills as we moved along.  Although it was painful we were making good time.  We headed West, then cut down some power lines north.  We found the main road heading East.  We were looking for the dam that crossed Lake Morris.  It seemed like it took us forever to get there.  As I was sleep walking (Brian was navigating) I kept thinking how could we miss a huge lake and dam.  As is always true in AR, you are never as far along as you think.  Finally, we got there and found the dam around 3 am.  We were beat so just laid down in the middle of the dam and slept for an hour.

It was a short walk from the dam to the turn off down to Crystal Cascade. The trail that dropped down to this very beautiful park was extremely steep and several hundred feet vertical - all switch backs.  We worked our way down and as the sun began to rise we were at the park. We walked past the CP marker in the dark and went all the way to the end of the park.  We cursed the race director and took a picture of the end of the gate thinking that some one may have stolen the flag.  As we were walking out of the park we saw the marker and gathered the CP. 

Now we were on the home stretch.  20 kilometers to the finish.  As we began to walk out of the park, a lady on a bike rode up to us.  She was very excited to see us and said she had come to the park hoping to find a team.  Like many of the locals, she had been following the race.   She, like many of the people, was very encouraging and urged us on.  During this last trek we had several cars pull over and the people get out and cheer us on.

Just before we left the park Karl jumped in one of the bathrooms and was greeted by a huge yellow spider, the size of his head.  Deeming that stall occupied he moved on.

Like horses smelling the barn, we were on a mission to the finish.  We had no idea if our walk around had changed our position, but we knew we were going to finish well in advance of the cut off ( a concern that I had had that entire leg.)

First we needed to trek east around a mountain range (we did have the option of climbing over the range; an option we soundly rejected.). We were trekking at a strong pace.  We cut though a neighborhood, through a sugarcane field and into a park.  We cut through a creek and around the end of the range.  At this point we had 10 kilometers of walking through the town.  For me this was the toughest section.  So close, yet such a long way on hot, hard pavement.  We stopped briefly at a gas station for ice cream and red bull.  We kept working our way to Carins.  I had misplaced the final map - the one of the city that showed the location of the final CP - on the north end of the Esplanade (about 5 minutes from the finish.) 

We had some trouble locating the CP.  The instructions said it was at a phone box but there was no phone box at the north end.  We found the closest phone box, got the number and took it to the finish line.

We found the finish at the pool at the Rydges.  We crossed the line at 11:30 am, just a few minutes shy of 8 full days after we started.    We were the 13th team overall and 11th in the Premier (Co-Ed) division.  In the last trek, between passing teams and drop outs, we moved up 7 position.  20 teams finished the full course fully ranked, 3 teams finished the full course unranked, 2 teams did a short course and 21 teams did not finish.

This was a great race for us.  For all of us it was the first time we had finished the long course of an expedition race fully ranking.  For me this was the hardest race, both physically and mentally, I have ever done.  The great support of my teammates got me through.

I came to his race hoping for an Eco-Challenge type expedition.  I got exactly what I was looking for.  It was hard, interesting, and exciting, with leeches and all. 

For more pictures see the gallery at www.Dirtyavocados.com.  For more video, go to youtube and search under Dirty Avocados

mid camp - day 3

Once we pulled into mid camp we were feeling pretty good about things.  We were all healthy, we were 1/2 way (as far as distance) and we were going to get a big sleep.  We were fed a nice hot meal, given the opportunity to clean up with a warm bucket of water and get some sleep.  This was the only real opportunity to look at the trail mail but there really wasn’t time to go on line to do that.  I spent a couple of minutes looking at it but really needed to get sleep.  We greatly appreciated the trail mail but didn’t get to look at it till the race was over.

The race management  provided a wake up call, for us it was 3 am.  I was hopeful that we would be on the road by 4:19 (our 6 hour point) but I was really moving slow and we were a little late.  Brian gathered up the kayak stuff and loaded the wheelbarrow.  I was struggling getting my bike taken apart and my gear put way.  Finally, about 4:40 we were off.

Being off meant pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with kayak gear down the road for 20 kilometers.  In the 1870’s Queensland had a gold rush (much like the one that occurred in California a few years before.) Many on the miners had no horses or wagons, so they transported all of their worldly possessions to the mines in wheelbarrows.  Midcamp was at a town called Dumbula - apparently the wheelbarrow race capital of the world.  It was from this transition that we pushing our nice green Kelso wheelbarrow.

It was very dark and foggy when we set off and I really had to rely on the bearing because we couldn’t see more then 50 feet.  We wanted to make sure that we got to the bridge to get across the Walsh river. Less then 1/2 a click down the road Jen realized she wasn’t wearing her mandatory vest.  She quickly ran back and got it and we were on our way.

We had agreed that we would alternate every 5 minutes and everyone would take there turn.  At first, it wasn’t too bad.  Our wheelbarrow was pretty nicely balanced and the weight wasn’t too bad.  As the hours rolled on the push became harder as we each in turn was glad when our 5 mins was up and we would have 15 mins of walking without pushing. 

As the sun came out and the fog cleared it got hotter.  We were clearly heading to the outback.  The narrow road we pushed Kelso had almost no vehicle traffic except photographers and one lady who scolded us for being on the wrong side of the road.

Finally, at a little before 8 am we got to the kayak put in.  It wasn’t much to see, just a spot by a very low river.  It because obvious that the rumors were true, the river was so low we would be doing a great deal of portaging of one kind or another, including just dragging the boats over the shallows.

For hours it was paddle a little, push and pull a lot.  The river bottom was very treacherous with large slick rocks making up the entire river bottom.  Walking along the bottom risked twisted ankles and banged up shins.  Also the consistent   jumping in and out of the rubber boats tore up the shins, especially as they got burn burned.

We “paddled” for hours.  Some times we would be in an open area where we could actually paddle then we would be looking for some small river off shoot were the river continued and flowed into another open area.  Jen quickly realized that we had to always follow the moving water and became our route finder. 

Around 5 pm (an hour before darkness) we located the bend in the river where the 1st CP on the river would be.  We beached the boats and Karl and I went looking for the  flag.  It appeared to be close and I thought I would just grab it quick. I must have over run it because soon I found my self heading up a creek bed and was too far.  I tried to circle back but must have missed it again.  Daylight was waning and I didn’t want to be out there without a light.  As we were heading back to the boats we ran into Latitude 19 and they had already gotten the CP.  They gave us a bearing and I walked right to it.  I had gone completely around it on my first go.

When I got back it was almost dark.    We changed into our night kayaking gear. The bad news was that all of my gear was soaking wet.  The good news was that it was not too cold so we were fine.  We got back in the boats and continued on.  Hour after hour paddling and pulling and following little shallow narrow water ways.  We saw some “freshies” (small fresh water crocs.) Finally around 1:30am we need some sleep so we pulled off on to a beach and build a fire.  We had seen Latitude 19 pulled up a few 100 meters before.

I wanted to sleep for a few hours but the general consensus was that we would only sleep for a hour.  After a very quick, but comfortable hour we were folding up camp and putting out our nice warm fire.

Our getting started early strategy didn’t work so well.  We paddled to the end of the water.  We didn’t see or hear the outlet.  I got out of the boat and looked around but did not do a very good job because I missed the water which was about 50 meters to the west.  I was relying of hearing the sound of moving water which was not happening at that location.  Soooo we paddled back up river running into the Kiwi girls.  We didn’t find any other way so we turned around again and paddled back to the end of the water.  This time, as the sun was starting to come up, we found the outlet that we were looking for.

We continued to paddle and pull boats over the rocks.  In this last half of the paddle there was actually longer stretches of real paddling.  We were with the Kiwi girls off and on.  There was one section where we were weaving in-between and through a groove of trees.  Watching the little yellow boats go back and forth between the trees reminding me of a ride at Disneyland.  Finally we were getting close the final kayak CP.  It was on a big bend in the river, where the river turns 180 degrees to go south.  The map also showed 2 creeks feeding the river with the CP at a hot springs in between the 2 creeks.  We over shot the CP by about a 100 meters but used our backstop (the bend in the river) to know where we were.  The river was so low the creeks were not apparent until we were out of the boats.  We made pretty quick work of finding the CP (there was a muddy bog with steam coming out of it). 

After the last CP we were approaching the rapids.  We were promised a set of rapids with specific instructions regarding how to approach them.  They were not very impressive and a lot of work to get the boat past the little waterfall to lead into the 30 meter stretch.

 Youtube of the rapids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJrnJCNOsY

After the “rapids” the paddling was pretty straight forward except a little strainer we got caught in that caused us to lose our Sun Screen and had me chasing Brian’s helmet down the river after it fell out of the boat.

Finally, 30 hours after starting we arrived at nine mile, the TA.  We came in just ahead of the kiwi girls.  We were told no team had been there for 6 or so hours.  Just after we arrived, however a whole parade of teams came in and soon the TA was very busy.  We had to deflate the boats, stow our paddle gear, try to dry stuff out, eat, and get ready for the most intimidating legs on the course - The Tigerland trek.  This trek was completely without trials, roads or any man made objects.  The navigation was going to be difficult. 

And we were starting just after sunset so we had to travel the early section in the dark.  We had agreed to team up with Latitude 19 again to tackle this section.  We all felt that we would move faster if we worked together.  While I contributed and was very active in the navigation Adrian from the Aussi team really did the lions share of the work.  His ability to concentrate hour after hour was pretty amazing.  There were certainly times when I just faded and was really glad for the help.

 youtube - 1st part of the Tigerland trek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysCUPjFG_-U&feature=related

By taking and maintaining accurate bearings we were able to cover the large distances to the first way point, a canyon heading in the main part of the area.  We did some serious climbing that night and were very glad to be doing it in the cool of the night.  We were very concerned about locating water.  We were told that there was water on this section, but seeing is believing.  Fortunately, there was water, as long as you kept to the many streams.  Not all of the water was that great, but we were able to locate enough to keep us going.

We moved well through the night and were getting pretty close to the sole CP on this leg.  However, around 2 am, everyone was tired from the paddle and trekking and we agreed to take a sleep with the understanding that we would be on the “trail” by daylight.  I found a relatively comfortable spot to lay down and was instantly asleep.  Our alarms woke us and by 1st light we were on our way.

By early morning we had located the CP and were pretty pleased with our progress.  We worked well together as we slogged along hour after hour through this hot, barren hostel terrain.  We were making good time as we were trekked along.  As we began climbing a pretty steep hill, I felt the tape on my right heel slip and an instant blister developed.  Up to that point my feet were doing ok, but all of a sudden, I was in a great deal of discomfort.  After a few steps, I had to stop to fix this.  I hated to stop like that but I was doing some real damage.  A few minutes of taping and I was good to go again.

As the trek went on my feet became more sore and various blisters started to pop up.  I taped them as best I could but the ground was so rough and uneven that the feet were taking a beating.

All day we trekked on.   It was hot and barren.  No human has any business in this place.  As the sun began to set we were climbing the last hill that would drop us on to the river that we had aiming for.  We were running low on water and figured this river would be our supply.  The river was dry.  The next part was a climb over another ridge to shortcut the bend in the river.  This was a very steep climb and an even steeper decent down into a creek bed.  After carefully descending into the creek bed we had about 3 kilometers of negotiating  the rocks and uneven ground.

It seemed like this creek bed went on for ever.  Finally we got to the river.  I was so tired I had to sleep.  We got to the river, which did have water, and I immediately laid down and went to sleep.  Latitude 19 went on.

We got up about an hour and half later.  It was still dark as we made our way, crossing the fingers of the river.  We started out pretty well but turned the wrong way on the river for a short while.  Just before sunrise, Karl climbed to a high point and we got ourselves back on track.  We were making good time as we were working our way towards a road that was on the map.  As we were crossing one of the river fingers, we ran into Latitude 19.  They had camped out, explaining that they had become so tired they had to stop.

Again, together, we soldiered on looking forward to finding the road and getting to the TA.  Of course, the road was not where it showed on the map.  So we continued to work our way along the river along the uneven and rocky terrain.  Finally we found something that use to be a road.  We followed this “road” until it slowly turned into a real dirt road.  Still we had several miles to go.  We slogged on till finally hitting the little oasis in the middle of this wasteland - in the shadow of Mount Mulligan - an old cattle station.

Youtube - coming out of the Tigerland trek  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu51p-kw4Mc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvMJxJQ3URs&feature=related

Again, when we pulled into to the TA we were told that no one had been there for several hours.  Shortly after we arrived a bunch of teams came in.  Again we were feeling the pressure of the teams behind us.  At the end of the trek we were in 18th place. It was around 3pm

We took the time to eat, rehydrate and rest.  The station had a shower, which felt great.  We decided to take 2 hours, to get past the heat of the day before we got back on the road.  We rested, got our bikes put together and loaded food in our packs.  We were told that the navigation was going to be tricky as there were many roads that were not on the maps.  This proved to be true.

We had talked to Latitude 19 about riding with them, but when the time came for us to leave they were not ready.  They were having some serious medical issues that ultimately caused one of the team members to have to be taken to the hospital.

Putting my bike shoes on was a very painful experience.  Walking in bike shoes was even worse.  Fortunately, riding the bike was not so bad and didn’t really hurt to much. 

The first CP was only a couple of miles north in a cemetery in a ghost town.  Then we would back track and head south towards a gold mine some 30+ kilometers down the road.  We took off about 5 and within 20 minutes were at the first CP.

As we were heading back past the TA, we saw several teams right on our tail.

We made good time down the road as darkness fell.  We rode along uneventfully and worked our way to the next CP at a gold mine.  The maps (being 30 years old) were not completely accurate but we were able to work our way to the home just above the mine.  The family that lived there was very nice and very excited about the race.  They said that they had been following our progress and gave some helpful local information.  They were also selling cokes which was very nice.  As we were drinking our cokes several teams came up, including the Yogi Bears, BMX bandits and Racing 4 Cancer.   After these many days you would think we could relax, but instead the pressure was still on.

We grabbed the CP 1st and took off.  We were riding well as a team.  The trail was very rocky and rutted and at times technical.  We rode together very well working the climbs and downhill well.  A few miles in I crashed and got a pitch flat.  We quickly fixed it.  A little while later Jen did an endo.  Fortunately she was ok.  Still we were making good time and appeared to be putting time on other teams.  We were told to follow the fence till we got to a gate.  It all came together and I was lulled into feeling like we were going to knock this ride off without any trouble.  Wrong. 

When we got to the gate there were two routes indicated on the map - a northern route and a southern route.  On the map the northern route looked shorter and easier.  However, we simply couldn’t find the right road.  Every road we took dead ended.  After an hour or two we went back to the gate.   The Yogi Bears were also there.  We tried to work with them, but they were not interested in working together.   As we sat there trying to determine what to do, we decided  that a little sleep would help.  There was a nice sandy area and we were able to get a few hours sleep.

When we woke up, we spread out the maps and after looking at everything, and based on Jen’s suggestion, tried the southern route.  I couldn’t find the roads that were on the map, but I figured that if we stayed on roads that went either south or east we would be fine.  We rode past a group of trailers that looked like a meth lab.  That lead to a road south.  We made pretty good time down the road.   It was very misty and foggy and the visibility was poor.  We found a main road and followed it for several kilometers.  We ran into a construction worker who gave us some good directions.

We were trying to find a canyon with a river running through it.  We peddled on and were going in the correct direction.  We went on and on and I couldn’t understand why we had not got through the canyon.  A little after sunrise, we came to an open area and I looked back.  As the fog lifted, there was the canyon.  We had ridden through it and didn’t know it.

A short while later we found the CP, which as on a hill top.

After the CP, we back tracked about a 1/2 kilometer to a “road” that, on the map should lead us to a main road and toward the long paved stretch to the TA.    This “road” was rutted and a real mess.  Slowly, it improved and was looking very promising.  We were moving along at a good rate, and except for some huge spiders, the going was good.  Then all of a sudden, the trail just ended.   We backtracked but could not find a better another way around.  I figured that we were within a kilometer of an actual road.  So the only real option was to bike whack.  As much as it hurt my feet to walk, that is what we did.  Pushing and carrying our bikes through the high grass, soon we could ride and then we were at some kind of farm.  After jumping a fence what did we see - two teams just ahead of us.  We cut through the farm and there we were, back with Yogi Bears and BMX.

Youtube - riding through the field - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHzG_BKT3U4&feature=related

We were out of water so we had to stop to fill up at a garden hose.  The other teams went on.  As we caught them, they were talking to a local who was giving some directions and clarifying where we were on the map.  The other two teams then stopped for water as we continued on.  From this point to the lake was going to be all paved roads.

We worked out a pace line as best we could.  We were making pretty good time and looking forward to getting off the bikes.  About 15 K into this part of the ride the BMX guys caught us and we rode to gather, more or less to the town of Tolga.  In Tolga, about 10 k from the TA at Lake Tinaroo, we hit a cafe for meat pies and drinks.  I was completely spent when we got there.  This was a real low for me.  I ate a pie and had a chocolate milk then promptly feel asleep on the patio.  A solid 20 minutes and I was feeling much better.

We started to the Lake for our TA, but followed the directions given by the ladies at the shop, instead of the map.  So a 1/2 hour later we corrected our mistake and were on our way. 

We got to the Kayak TA around 4:40pm still in 18th place.  While I was a mess, everyone else on the team seemed to be feeling pretty good.  They wanted to push on into the trek without sleeping.  I just couldn’t do it and told everyone that I had to have some sleep before the trek.  At the TA, I worked on my feet, cleaning and re-taping.  I was very concerned about the last trek and was trying to get my feet as ready as I could.

Everyone else packed the boxes, inflated the boats and generally got us ready.  While this was going on Yogi Bears came in to the TA and left before we were ready.   A couple of other teams - BMX and Race 4 Cancer came and left the TA before us.  We were out of the top 20 when we left on the kayak - just as the sun was setting.           

XPD race report.  This is part one of a multi-part race report. - 

 Pre-Race

             Australia, especially in the Queensland area, is the home of some of the most dangerous and nasty creatures and plants on the planet. Box Jellyfish, man eating crocs, poisonous spiders and snakes, and plants that sting, grab and tear at the flesh.  This was the site of the 2010 XPD.  A 10 day 700 kilometer expedition race following the general formate and course of the 1997 Eco challenge .  The Dirty Avocados arrived a few days early from San Francisco to match up with 47 4 person teams from around the world.  Jen Rigioni, Brian Schmitz, Karl Royer and Mike Chastaine set out to complete this highly difficult and demanding race that was deemed “As much as an adventure as a race.”

            After going through gear check and preparing our bike boxes, we had the race briefing.  The overall course case going to start relatively easy and get harder as the race went on.  While no single leg was actually easy, the early legs were clearly a warm up for what was to come.  It was strongly emphasized that two of the legs were so remote that the only way be rescued was by helicopter.  It was stated several times that one should not go out on those legs unless they were “highly” committed to making it out.

             The briefing went on to discuss the various hazards on the course - snakes - if your bit you need rescue, spiders - if you bit you need rescue - crocs, stinging tree, wait a while plants and all other manner of nasty stuff.

             It also became very clear that there were going to be lots of route choices and the navigation, especially in the second part of the race was going to be very hard.

             We were given our maps and a matrix of where we would see each box.  Some boxes we would see multiple times while other boxes we would see only once.  It was very important to have the right stuff in the right boxes.  While Karl and Mike worked on the maps and routes, Jen and Brian set forth getting the boxes in order.  Working like a well oiled machine we got out boxes and maps set up, waterproofed and down to the drop off at the appointed hour.

             The basic outline of the course was as follows:

Start at Dunk island with a 10k run around the island.  We would then paddle out to some snorkel locations and get 4 checkpoints, then paddle to the mainland - 25k in total of paddling.  100k bike ride to Tully gorge.  This would bring us to a dark zone.  9k hike to the start of the white water rafting and 10k guided white water.  47K jungle trek up the Misty Mountains followed by a 130k bike ride in the tablelands with a 10K orienteering course in the middle.  This would take us to mid camp where we had a mandatory 6 hour layover.  This was where the course started to really get hard.  The next leg was a 20k wheel barrel push with all of the kayak gear.  Next a 70k paddle in a river that was too low and would require a great deal of portage.  This would be followed by the 60K tiger trek.  This trek had only one CP and no trials or roads any where. 

             If you survived the Tigerland trek you got to do a 120k bike ride with more difficult navigation.  This ride ended at Tinaroo Lake and a 15k paddle and finish with a 60k jungle trek to the finish at Caines.

             After the boxes were delivered there was nothing to do but get a good meal and good night sleep.

 RACE DAY

             The race start was at a reasonable time. We boarded buses at 8am and drove south a couple of hours to Mission Beach and then a water taxi to Dunk island.  As the main boat had broken down it took a while to get everyone and the boats out to the island which delayed the start a bit.  But it was after 11:30 am before the race began with 200 excited adventure racers running along the beach. 

            We settled into a steady pace.  It was hot and humid and I was nursing a sore ankle so I was trying to avoid aggravating it any more.    We moved along well in the mid teens.  I was affected by the humidity and after an hour or so was feeling sluggish and dehydrated.  We finished the run, grabbed the kayak and started paddling towards the buoys for the snorkeling checkpoints.  The water was rough and we were paddling into the waves.  We had four people in the 2 person kayak.  This made the steering tricky but Karl did a great job keeping the kayak straight and on course.  We did well on the paddle and got out to the buoy to tie up the rope along with several other boats.  We donned our fins and jumped out looking for the buoys that were the CP’s.  Each CP had a letter that we had to remember.  As the water was pretty rough it was hard to find and the visibility was not very good.  It was disappointing as I’m sure the reef was very beautiful and there was lots of fish life.  Jen did see a stingray.  We swam as a group to each of the CP’s, got back to the boat jumped in and paddled to the 2nd tie up buoy.  This time the swim was longer but we got out the farthest CP to get the last letter.  The CP’s spelled out “nude.”

            After getting the final swim CP we had to paddle back to the island and then on to the mainland.  In Queensland in May there is only 12 hours of daylight and it gets dark at 6pm.  We were a little concerned that we wouldn’t get to land fall before sunset.  We paddled steadily and made really good time, getting to the shore well before the sun set.

             We had to deflate the boat, put away the paddle gear, built the bikes, load up on food and get ready for ride.  It was a 100k road ride on paved roads.    We took off just after dark and Brian really pushed the pace.  Aside from a wrong left turn which cost us a 1/2 hour, the ride was pretty uneventful.  Karl lost a brake pad and and I broke a chain which quickly repaired with a master link.  We passed several teams and made good time.  We were hoping to be in the top 12 as the white water rafts were going to go off in groups of 12.  Even though we rode well we were in the second group of 12.  The good news is we got to the TA around 11pm so had time to eat, and get some sleep.

 DAY 2

            After a good meal and a good nights sleep in our Nemo tent, we were off on the 9K trek up to the put in for the White water rafting.  Because we were in the second group we would not be hitting the river until close to 8 am. However, we had to be at the orientation at 7:30am.  We were told that if we weren’t there on time, we would be moved to the end of the line and go last.  So we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves plenty of time to make the trek.  We also didn’t want to use a lot of energy so we gave ourselves 2 hours to make the 6 mile hike.  We made the hike easily and hung out with the other teams waiting our turn.  We would be going down with a another boat occupied by Kiwi girls from Girls on Top.

             The White water rafting was fun and exciting.  Our raft guild Jessie was very experienced and knowledgeable and interesting to talk to.  This was the same river that the 97 Eco Challenge rafted down.  We took the ride without using too much energy.  We were not going make up or lose any real time on this leg so we figured there was no reason to work too hard.

            After we got off the river - just before 10 am we quickly got ready for the trek.  We left the TA just behind the Dancing Panda’s.  They took off running and quickly put several hours on us.  We moved along at a steady fast trekking pace.  The beginning of the trek was along a fire road.  After several miles we hit the trial head.  The trial head was nice looking with a little building and signs and promised to lead to a well maintained trail through a national park.  We had actually been told that this was a “proper trail.”  In fact this was incredibly overgrown and barely a trial at all.  It was muddy, covered with wait a while vines as well as other grabby, sticky thorns and  stinging tree.  The trail was hot, humid and steep.  The going was rough.  We trekked all day and just before  6 (sunset) we reached the lone CP on this trek.  We thought that the trail would improve but it only got worse and harder to follow.  There was much tree fall where the trail would appear to end and you would have to find you way around and pick up the trail again.  We learned that shortly after we came though they began rerouting teams because of all of the stinging tree.  Apparently this part of the course had not been pre run.  We were pretty lucky.  Only Karl got hit with the stinging tree. I felt bad for him as the treatment was as bad as the sting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZ8TJ7fzEc&NR=1  (youtube video of 1st jungle trek)

           We worked steadily through the bush going from Blaze to Blaze  (markers on the trees) to try to stay on the trail.  Finally, we got out of the jungle and on to the road.  A short hike down the ride and we were at Ravenshoe, Queensland’s highest town.  We hit the TA at 2:15 am haven taken 16 hours to get though these trek.  I got a shower, Karl got some treatment.  We ate and we had a sleep for a few hours. 

             When we got up we put together our bikes and headed out on the next leg, a 130 kilometer bike ride with a 10k O course in the middle.  We were very keen on getting to the O course before dark.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZO1oYoCH5U    (youtube video of bike ride)

            We took off just as the sun came up.  The ride started out with a 20k road ride slightly down high down the Kennedy Highway.  We made good time down the road as the day began to warm up.  We overshot the turn by a 1/4 mile and had to back track to the dirt road.  Soon we were back on track and road steadily along the various dirt roads though the Tablelands.  The road meandered along heading towards Misery Mountain.  As it turn it out it wasn’t that bad of a climb and soon we were at the top.  This was followed by a long steep down hill.  Karl had lost a front brake pad so he was riding with only the rear brakes.  The down hill caused my brakes to heat up so that you could smell them.

             The down hill lead to a little town of Irvinebank. This little town had a tavern where we got meat pies and chips (french fries) with gravy and ice cold cokes.  It really hit the spot.  After a quick brake we were back on the road and heading towards the Orienteering course.                      

          We got to the O course around 2, changed into running shoes and headed out on the course.  The course required locating 5 out of 6 checkpoints.  Most of the CP’s were located at or near abandon mines.  The Queenslands Tablelands were famous for goldmines.  These were the remains of those mines.

            We had a bit of trouble locating the first CP.  Once we got on track we hooked up with an Aussi team called Latitude 19.  We worked together efficiently and hit the remaining CP pretty quickly.  We completed the O course in just over 3 hours getting done just before dark. 

            At this point we  had two possible routes to mid camp.  The southern route which was a little longer and, on the map it looked like the road was less established.  The more popular route was the northern route.  This proved to take a bit longer because there was a fair amount of climbing and the down hills were very rutted and rocky.  There was some hike-a-bike as some of the hills were very steep.

             On one of the down hills I rolled the bead off my tubeless front tire.  It took me a while to repair this; ultimately I had to but a tube in.  Shortly after I affected my repair Karl did the same thing, rolling the bead and had to fix his flat.  This double flat cost us about 45 minutes.

             We got rolling again and were moving pretty well.  We were looking forward to getting to mid camp and a good sleep during the 6 hour layover.  The rocky terrain turned to sand and eventually we got to the highway.  On the highway we formed a nice pace line and really smoked down the highway.

             At about 10:19pm (after 20 hours including the O course) we arrived at mid camp. We were very happy to be at mid camp on day 3 and we’re feeling very good about how we were doing.  We were not concerned with our relative placement (we were in 21st place) because we knew that the race was just getting started and the hardest legs were coming up.

             At mid camp we got a nice hot meal, cleaned up and got some sleep.  The race was just beginning

The Dirty Avocados came to the Big Blue Folsom Lake Sprint Adventure Race expecting a super opportunity to work on some teamwork and have some fast fun. What resulted was a knockdown, dragout fight to the finish for a podium spot!

The Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge has drawn the best and fastest endurance athletes in the world.  With prize money down to 30th place, every  second counts.The DA’s (Brian, Mark, DP and Jen K) have been moving well through out the event.  They are in the hunt for a bit of cash.  They have gotten through the 2 day - 72 mile desert trek.  Next up, their strong suit - mountain biking.  Then on to the final day with ropes.  Look for a strong finish.Below are some photos of our guys.

### BEGIN RACE UPDATES ###

(most recent update on top) 

TIME: 08/14/2009 - 10:09am MDT

Race Clock: 4 hours 39 minutes

Spot has a good map of the race up.  Go to the north and look for the traveling blue icons.  Focus in using the tool to the top left corner of the map. Select the team number you are looking for.  Mark Richason and Melissa Griffins are team 15.  They are traveling so close to team 18 that team 18’s icon may be above theirs.  Team 18 is Team SOAR, good friends of ours from Shasta, California.  Here is the link (you can find this at the main ecoprimalquest.com race site by clicking the “Tracking” tab): http://race.findmespot.com/spot-racing-ui/pgmap.jsp

TIME: 08/14/2009 - 9:00am MDT

Race Clock: 3 hours 30 minutes

Teams started off in Rapid City, South Dakota this morning at 5:30am on a marathon (26.2 miles) of a 600+ mile race.  Organizers revealed the course last night to teams, a course that includes over 120,000 feet of elevation gain (the most ever for a Primal Quest Race).  Racers will running, caving, swimming, climbing rock spires, paddling rivers, biking over badlands, sight seeing at Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial before returning to the finish in Rapid City.

The Sioux Falls Newpaper, the Argus is reporting that the race will consist of the following:

A TEST OF MANY SKILLS: Here is a breakdown of miles by event discipline (estimated):

There is a video at the race site showing organizers traveling over the race course.  The video is actually a series of very short clips that appeals to anyone with attention deficit syndrome: http://www.ecoprimalquest.tv/index.php?video=401

TIME: 08/13/2009 - 2:00pm PST

Race Clock: 12 hours 30 minutes to race start (3:30am Mountain Time)

Mark wrote us that his team has completed their skills checks, gear checks and has had a nap. He wrote, “We’ll have the maps by 1730 local time (Mountain Time Zone).” he continued saying, “we start at 0530, 0430 in California.”

He says that they have a good idea what they are going to do to make it through this race.  The people that they are staying with know the area and have given them a little local knowledge of the challenges that they may face.  If Mark is good at one thing its listening and studying in detail where he’s going and how he will get his team successfully to the finish line. So, at 4:30 am PST here in California we should be able to watch them start at ecoprimalquest.com

TIME: 08/13/2009 - 11:00am PST

Race Clock: 15 hours 30 minutes to race start (3:30am Mountain Time Zone)

Tomorrow morning at 4:30am teams will begin a journey lasting days and possibly over a week across 600 miles in the Dakotas.  Our teammate Mark Richardson has joined Melissa Griffins, Charley Karsa and Jared Hanley.

 This will be Mark’s second Primal Quest having raced at Primal Quest San Jaun Islands.  We wish them all the best of luck as we all follow their progress.

The team will be wearing small satillite Spot(TM) messengers which will show intermittent progress of the team.  See this page for a map showing their progress: http://www.spotadventures.com/user/profile?user_id=45926

Picture of the Spot Messengers team will carry (these do not give the team GPS coordinates.  They send a  message to a satellite which is pushed to a map on a website):

Untamed New England – the view from the other team

Some times you just have to take chances.  In adventure racing, you can do a lot well, but one mistake can really cost you.  That turned out to be the story of the Dirty Avocados 2.

Dirty Avocados 2 was made up of Jen Rigoni, Donato Polignone and Mike Chastaine.  This three some had not raced together before but was very excited to be heading to New Hampshire for the AR World Championship Qualifier.

            Before heading out we had agreed on a “go fast and take chances” strategy.   We were going to sleep as little as possible, and go as hard as we could for as long as we could to see what would happen.

            The race was based out of a beautiful resort in northern New Hampshire called the Balsams.  An old fashioned resort that requires the gentlemen to wear jackets at night.  This was an outstanding venue for such as race.

            We were told very little about the order of the events and the lengths of each leg.  We were told that we would be significantly limited in the amount of gear we could bring in this unsupported race – 30 lbs per personal gear bag and one 40 lb team “paddling bag.”

            It wasn’t until the morning of the race that we were given maps and instructions and would be able to actually pack.  For me this was a very stressful situation, having to plot check points, devise an optimal route between each, and get the right gear in the right bag.  Fortunately, Jen really stepped up and made sure our bags were filled with the correct gear.  Still, I was way over the weight limit and was forced to take several pounds of gear and food out of my bag in the final minutes before race start.  I was  reduced to 1 pair of bike shorts, 1 pair of trekking shoes, 2 pair of trekking pants and a couple of jerseys, along with some rain proof gear and other mandatory gear.  I had what seems like way too little food.  Never the less, the weather looked like it would be good at least the first day and we could get food in the towns we passed through.

            The race started when the UTMs to the first 2 check points were handed out.  We quickly plotted those and took off.  We rode the first bike leg hard and were among the first teams to get to the paddle.  We had the option of using our own paddling gear or using the paddles the race provided.  The disadvantage to using your own gear was that we would have to carry it.  We had chosen to use the paddles provided.  This was a mistake.  Canoes are slow enough.  With canoe paddles, it seemed like we were barely moving.  Still, we keep the boats upright the entire paddle and were only passed but a couple of teams.

            In hindsight we actually had a pretty good paddle in that we didn’t flip the boats and were pretty skillful in keeping the water out of the boat after the first set of rapids.

            We completed the paddle and got changed to head out on the bike. We were about an hour 20 min behind the lead team.  We were feeling strong and took off at a quick pace.  The first part of the bike was on road ultimately leading to a conservation project.   We were around 15th place coming into the conservation project and feeling pretty good about our position as everyone was pretty close together.

            We worked hard at clearing our area, doing our part to mark the nature walk, grabbed a hamburger supplied by the locals and took off for the 2^nd part of this bike leg.  This part was much harder, with a spot where we had to get the bikes over a barbed wire fence.  It also had a long 900 vertical foot climb in the middle.

            Around 2 am we finished the ride at a coffee shop that was being used as the TA and stayed open all night just for the racers.  Here we got more CPs to plot for the up coming trek along with a large coffee.  We got out of there as quickly as possible and by the time the sun began to rise (about 4:30) we were well into the trek.  CP 1 of this trek proved to be difficult for many teams.  We ran into Trackme 360 who had been looking for the CP for several hours.  We were traveling with Technu at that time and we were able to locate the CP as a group.  At this point we had a discussion about whether we should try to achieve the bonus check points or limit ourselves to the 4 mandatory CPs.  Given the cut off later in the day, I felt it was better for us to skip the bonus CPs.  Still we had a tough time making our way to the 2^nd CP – on the top of Randolph Mountain.   We wasted about 2 hours going down the wrong trail before back tracking to the correct one. It was a long climb to the top of the mountain.  We made it and continued through the remainder of the trek through out the day.  We arrived at that TA at the Bed and Breakfast in Jefferson in the mid-afternoon on Friday.   We had lost some places but with various penalties and bonus it was difficult to determine ranking at this point. We were about 5 hours behind first and within a couple hours of most of the teams in front of us.  From there it was a quick 9 mile bike ride to the next paddle.

            We were over 24 hours into the race, had no sleep and were faced with an important decision.   We were given the option to do the paddle – a 25 mile up-stream paddle with at least one portage, or ride our bikes to the next TA to start the bushwhack trek.  Even good paddling teams were averaging 2 mph so this was going to take a while.  I was very concerned that if we paddled we would miss other cut offs that would ultimately DQ us.  After much discussion we agreed to head out on the bike.  This proved to be a wise decision.

            It was a quick road ride to the “town” of Stark whose most notable feature was a cool covered bridge.  We still had a fair amount of daylight so we changed to trekking gear and headed off.  Skipping the paddle put us toward the front of the group.  Again we were traveling with Technu with Merrill right behind us.  A long walk down the road lead us to the area where we would be looking for a trail to CP 22.  We had a great deal of difficultly with this CP.  Technu wanted to try to contour to the CP.  We made the mistake of following and once we were deep into the bushwhack we felt too committed to abandon the plan.  We spent hours looking for this CP.  Finally, through perseverance we did locate the CP that was a few hundred yards from a well-worn trail we should have spent more time locating instead of contouring. 

            The next CP was a full-on bushwhack up the side of a mountain to the summit.  All night long we powered through the bush, over the rocks, through the high weeds and around the trees.  Finally, we got to the summit to be greeted by some folks from Eastern Mountain Sports.  We were one of the first teams to arrive at this CP.  Even though we had skipped the paddle, this meant that we were in the lead group of the short course teams and I knew that many of the long course teams would be short coursed or quit later. They allowed us to share a Pepsi, have a hot dog and some chips.  It was a nice gesture.  Then we headed down.  Down proved as hard as up with a small cliff band that was pretty dicey down climbing.  It turned out that a member of another team fell off that cliff and had to be transported to the hospital.  Fortunately we got through it safely.

            Getting down to the road seemed to take forever.  Finally, as the sun was coming up we hit the road for a long (5miles +/-) march.  At that location we had the option of the road (longer) or bushwhacking over (shorter).  We agreed the road would be faster and safer.  Lack of sleep can do funny things, even on a road.  We turned off too early and put ourselves in a position where we had to do a short (15-20 minutes) bushwhack to get back to the road.  We lost over an hour from the summit to Drummer Pond.

            At the Drummer Pond TA we would be getting on our bikes and heading to the climbing site, which was some 30 miles away in Maine.  At this point we were over 40 hours into the race with no sleep.  I needed to plot some more of the course that I didn’t have time to complete at the race start.  While I did this Jen and DP took a catnap.  I found that I was really having trouble with the plotting and was not very confident about my points.  I slept for about 5 minutes and then we packed up and took off. 

            The first part of the ride was fine.   We stopped at a snack shack and got some food and coffee then were back on the road.  We had just a couple of little hiccups that were quickly corrected.  We got to Success Lake in fine shape with plenty of time to get to the climbing site well before the 4:00 cut off.  I saw 2 routes to the site – one was a road, the other a 4 wheel drive road that looked more direct and shorter.  I asked a local kid on an ATV about it and he said the 4 wheel drive road was in good shape and the way he would go.  If I ever see that kid again, he’s in trouble.  It was a good road, for a while.  But by the time it got to the ridge, it was a muddy un-rideable mess.  As a result we wound up pushing the bikes for several hours through the mud.  This was the low point in the race for me.  I was upset at myself for going this way and was afraid we would miss the cut off.  Further, fatigue was really catching up to me and I was having trouble getting my bearings.  Luckily Jen and DP kept it together and we finally made our way to the climbing site.  Although we got there just after 4 the cut off had been extended to 6. 

            We climbed up to Table Rock (a long a steep hike) and were told that only one of us had to do the climb.  I needed to sleep so Jen volunteered.  While DP and I got about 20 minutes of shut eye Jen repelled and then jumarred up about 150 feet.    As I expected, at this point the course was really taking it’s toll on teams –only  ½ actually made it to the climbing site in time to do the climb. We were in the middle of that 20-team group.

            It’s amazing what a few minutes of sleep will do.  We hurried back to the bikes.  Now I had to re-plot the up coming check points I’d attempted at the previous TA plus 2 new ones.  Jen slept for a few minutes while DP and I figured out where we were going.

            Just as it was starting to get dark we took off up the road on our bikes.  Shortly thereafter it started to rain.  Hard.  We rode along various dirt roads, mile after mile in the dark and rain.  There was absolutely nothing on the road.  No buildings of any kind.  However, I was “seeing” houses and barns and all manner of structures.  The hallucinations were quite interesting.

            We got through the first two CPS on the bike (32 and 33) with no trouble.  By then it had stopped raining and we were actually drying out.  We rode down to the river and then tackled a 5 mile uphill ride to CP 34 (located at a boat launch.)  At this point we were feeling strong and confident.  After 34 we would have only one last CP on the bike and then we would go back to the Balsam’s to complete what we figured would be a rather short trek to the finish line.  We had about a half hour of sleep under our belt but were feeling alert and had been knocking off the CPs easily.

            Just as we got to the boat launch area it started to rain again.  This time it was REALLY dumping.  There was thunder and lighting.  We were getting soaked.  At the boat launch there were 3 old row boats upside down on the ground.  We climbed under one, wrapped ourselves in a space blanket and got a short nap, hoping to sleep through the worst of the storm.   The gear we left behind to stay under the weight limit haunted us a bit here.  We were wearing every piece of clothing we had including space blankets and we were all still very cold and did not sleep well.  In less then an hour the rain had stopped and we were off.   Normally a short nap really helps.  But for some reason the lack of sleep really was catching up to me.  I had a tough time finding the right road out of the lake area to the trail I was looking for.  Once we found the trail we thought we were in good shape, traveling in the correct direction at the correct elevation.  But we missed a turn somewhere and were way to far south.  We searched around for a couple of hours and realized that we were in the wrong area and that we were running out of time to catch the checkpoint.  We agreed to skip it and head back to the Balsams.  Even with skipping CP 35 I was certain we were solidly in the top 10 so we were ok with this.   At that point, aside from the second paddle, we had obtained every mandatory checkpoint

We were on an ATV road that I was confident would get us to the highway and then it would be about 7 miles to the finish.  We were traveling along and came to an intersection.  One direction was east (the one I knew would get us to the highway) and the other going north.  There were lots of bike tire tracks going north and it was the general direction of the resort.  This is where sleep deprivation and bad decisions go hand in hand.  For reasons I will never be able to explain, we went north.  This turned into a logging road that circumnavigated the mountain but was never going to lead us to the highway.  We ran into two other teams and together we burned time looking for ways out.  Finally, around 9:30 when it was obvious that we were not going to make the final 10:00 cutoff we pulled out the Sat phone, got our location off the Spot tracker and after some messing around with race HQ agreed to head south all the way back to Drummer Pond to be picked up.

I was sorely disappointed as were the other three teams that got picked up with us (including RaceIt/Odyssey AR/ASR and GOALS ARA) but we simply had run out of time. We never gave up and with more time we would have ridden back the way we came till we found the road.

Still, we had put in a super effort, had great team dynamics, and discovered that, at least for us, an hour of sleep over 3 days is not enough when the navigation is difficult.  Certainly for me, the end of the race was much harder due to the lack of sleep and the confusion I suffered when roads and maps didn’t match.

Although the results will never show it, the Dirty Avocados 2 had an excellent race and I’m very proud of the effort that we put in.

Date: July 9th- 11th
Location: Dixville Notch, New Hampshire
Length: 214.93 miles
Team: Dirty Avocados
Racers: Adam Doti, Angel Garbarino, Brian Schmitz
Photos: Click here for Flickr photos
Route: Click here to load full route map
EveryTrail: Route and Photos

About the Race

The Untamed New England Adventure race was an AR World Series qualifier for the Adventure Race World Championship. The AR World Series is a circuit of 10 premiere adventure races creating a 12 month calendar of professional events around the world. As a qualifier the race’s toughness was to be ratcheted up a bit; each discipline was made a bit harder, and longer.  As Grant the race director said himself, the course was really a 5-6 day course. Teams had 3 days to complete the course, starting from noon on Thursday and finishing 10am Sunday morning.  Teams raced non-stop through the mountains, rivers, and forests of Untamed New England and traveled unsupported as as self sufficient teams.

Preparation: Not a lot of info and not a lot of time

Brian, Adam and I arrived at the Balsams Grand Resort Wednesday afternoon.  Shortly after our arrival we began assembling our bikes and organizing our gear.  However, little was known until right before the race about what discipline would be first and when, or how many times we would see our personal gear and paddle bags.  Per the race directors instructions each team member was allowed one personal gear bag that could weigh no more than 30lbs and the team was allowed one paddle bag that could weigh no more than 40lbs.  As a 3 day, unsupported race, these weight requirements would be challenging to meet.

We woke early Thursday, but by 8am a line had already begun to form outside the race packet stations where we would receive our SPOTs (GPS tracking and emergency locator devices), get our satellite phones checked, and finally get our maps and rules of travel.  In addition to the other California teams (Dirty Avocados 2, Team Technu, and Aquan), the well known team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure was there.  They seemed to have a large presence, standing out in their loud orange Merrell apparel.  Robyn Benincasa from Merrell/Zanfel, a friend of the Dirty Avocados, came over and exchange some kind words.  Team Merrell/Zanfel was clearly the favored team, but the race had attracted around 44 teams, and some tough competition.  It would not be an easy win.

It was around 9am when we received our maps, and began plotting all the points (37 checkpoints).  Stress levels during these next couple of hours were running high as teams worked quickly to plot and pack personal bags.  The race meeting started at 11:15am, and packing was made extra difficult because we learned through the rules of travel that it would be well into the race before we would see our personal gear bags.  Moreover, we would only see them twice.  During this time it became clear that some teams had not heeded the race directors rules about the bag weight limit; team Merrell/Zanfel came in to the check station with personal bags around 45lbs.  There was no budging on the 30lbs, if you were a 1lb over, you still had a 1lb to lose. Unfortunately the items that had to go out of our bags were more and more food bags. We just planned to buy food we needed in the towns we would pass through.

The Start:  We got muddy and wet fast

The race officially started a little after noon with the handing out of the coordinates for the first 3 checkpoints.  The first section was on mountain bikes.  Prior to start of the race, the area had seen about 40 days of consecutive rain fall, and the trails were muddy.  As the 44 teams jammed down muddy wet HOV trails, teams fought past one another in what seemed more like the beginning of a mountain bike race rather than a 3 day expedition race–adrenaline was making everyone push the pace.  Only 2 hours into the race and we were covered in mud and the bikes were trashed.

From the bike we rode to a paddle section.  Pulling up to the transition we noticed a large crowd formed on a bridge down river.  Foolishly we thought, how cool- the town’s people were interested in the race and had come to watch.  We should have know better; crowds gather where carnage occurs.  We had been warned about white water right before heading out, but took off only causally strapping our bags into the canoe.  Brian led the way in the kayak, while Adam and I discussed paddling white water in the canoe.  Adam hearing the rush of the approaching rapids, gave me a crash course on navigating rapids. Foreshadowing what was to come Adam yelled, “Have you had much white water experience; do you know what a tongue is; etc.?” My reply, “Um…not really.”  Seconds later we were in the white water, holding onto our flipped canoe which had quickly became submerged by a large crashing wave.  We floated out, reorganized, and paddled and portaged for the next 5 plus hours.  Thankfully our bags had stayed attached; wet, but attached.

Night 1:  Hot dogs and Coffee

From the canoe we transitioned onto our bikes.  It was now dark and we headed onto a bike leg that took us to a conservation project.  The conservation project is a trademark of the race.  It gives an opportunity for the race to give back to the community they sometimes appear to take over.  At the conservation project we were handed 1 saw, 1 pair of clippers and pointed to a 20×40 ft section of small bushes/shrubs and trees- it was our job to clear them.  After all the teams had cleared their sections, the area would be converted into a walking path for the community.  We pulled together our gardening skills and we left the conservation project after a little over an hour.  Before leaving, we filled up on hot dogs and fries provided by the race volunteers.

Back on our bikes we hit another biking section which weaved us around the towns dam, and fire roads following the river. There was some steep hill climbs and more hike-a-bike sections during this leg.  On the way to CP11 and 12 we passed our friends Team Aquan/Trackme 360 and Dirty Avocados 2, who were heading back the way we had come. From the bike we road to a coffee house which had stayed open just for the racers.  The coffee house was packed with teams; some already sleeping and other loading up on caffeinated beverages.  The race director wasn’t kidding when he said there would be plenty of opportunities to get food on the course- a likely reason he made the personal gear bag weight requirement so low.

We left our bikes at the coffee house and headed out on the first trek.  There were optional points available during this section, but only one team (the winning team) actually got two optionals here.  All the later optional points at different sections were skipped.  As the race went on, it became clear just finishing the required sections in the required time would be a challenge for every team, so CP’s were taken out, and cut off points extended.  It was during this trek that teams really began to split up based on navigation and route choice.  Navigation was large part of this race, and the thick brush made it difficult to identify geographical features.  Additionally because of the mud, it was easy to see where other teams had traveled before.  But this made it more confusing.  There were so many new trails created by previous teams that went in circles, but you felt obligated to explore them because others had been there.  Basically, the course was covered with trails everywhere that lead nowhere.  This first trek lasted several hours into the morning and proved for some frustrating moments.We joined up with Team Towanda to bag Randolph Peak and a couple more CPs before deciding to run a slow trot back to the TA.

Friday: Packing on the weight and the start of the Death Marches

After completing the first trek we hiked back into town to a bed and breakfast were the transition and our bikes were located.  Here we took sometime to clean off the bikes from the earlier mud fest, did some preventive maintenance on the feet, and grabbed some food at the local gas station.  From here we biked to the second paddle.  We arrived shortly before the 5pm cut off time.  We knew that the next paddle was UP stream and required a large section of portaging.  It had taken the fastest teams 6 hrs, which would mean if we went, we’d be paddling in the dark.  We would have had to complete the canoe by 5pm and would have been short coursed had we opted to do the paddle.  We were diverted to the short course and decided to then nap for a couple of hours.  Note: don’t nap at transitions; they’re loud and not conducive to good sleep.  It was at this transition we had access to our personal gear bags, and took with us all our climbing equipment and remaining food/gear that we would need for the majority of the rest of the race.  We wouldn’t see the gear bags again until the last section on the last day.  Needless to say, our packs were heavy!

We biked on the road into the dark until the next transition.  At this transition we tapped and strapped as much gear as we could to our bikes (climbing equipment, extra food, etc).  Our packs were heavy and we knew the next trek would be long.  We would see our bikes before the ropes and so took the risk of loosing gear that didn’t stay attached on the bikes while they were moved.  On a side note: many times during the race teams have to change clothes and take restroom breaks.  However, in adventure racing, normal rules of public nudity and restroom behavior tend to take a back seat   Stripping without concern for any of those around is acceptable behavior for AR as well as using the restroom in places most convenient.  However, I think this behavior may have taken some of the volunteers and locals by surprise.  Some stories are only meant for the trails, but lets just say when one is tired, and lost any concern for such actions in front of people, you create situations that will keep you laughing throughout the race.  Adam and Brian- you know what I talking about ;-).

Friday Night- Saturday:  Welcome to Bush Whacking 101

We had been told by the race director that the upcoming trek would take about 8 hrs.  About 15 hrs later we had finished what I consider the toughest section of the race.  The first CP was tough as roads and other features on the maps had proven harder to find.  Many teams became stuck at the first CP.  After searching for quite a bit of time and finally coming to a plan of attack we decided to take a quick 30 min nap before diving into what would be a long bushwhacking section.  We slept 3 against a stump, quickly passing out.  We then headed into the woods, following a blazed boundary trail and a river.  We came upon several teams searching for the same CP and tried to secretly grab the CP without notice, but were quickly discovered.  We organized again and headed out into what would become a 4+ hr bushwhack from hell.  We followed lots of logging trails, which were horrible on the joints/feet.  The logging trails were essentially piles of rotting logs, making it easy to step through and twist your ankle.  We slowly covered ground.  Bushwhacking in dense, rocky, marshy and hilly ground while being eaten alive by bugs in the heat of day, all while not being entirely sure you know where you are can test the will.  Adam suffering from navigating the race to this point was too exhausted to take lead nav. Brian took over and lead us up to a saddle which then allowed us to attack the summit and the CP. We eventually made it through and reunited with many teams we had traveled with earlier, including Towanda, a team we would continually run into.

After grabbing the CP atop the “false summit” sucking down a Pepsi and pringles left for us by race volunteers from Eastern Mountain Sports, we scrambled down a mountain side, where we learned later that another racer had fallen and had to be taken to a hospital- it was some steep downhill bushwhack.  We popped out onto a road, and moved onto a death march on a long fire road, exposed in the heat.  These hikes are the worst on the feet, especially after hours of muddy, wet and rocky bushwhack.

Saturday Night- Sunday:  Here comes the rain and hallucinations

We landed at the next transition around noon on Saturday.  Here we were informed that to make the ropes section we would have to be at the next transition by 7pm. This would be extremely hard given we had a mountain bike section to cover first and in an expedition 7hrs can be a very short period of time.  We pushed off, and headed out to grab the CPs as fast as we could.  But like the other sections, the navigation was tough and you could tell the weather was going to change.  We had all been thankful the rains had not come earlier, but that didn’t make their coming any more welcoming.  The mountain bike section required the all familiar hike-a-bike, mud and fire roads.  We again ran into Towanda and some other familiar teams.  CP28 would trip us up for a while. The trails on the map seemed to match the terrain perfectly, but still didnt get us to where we needed to be no matter how we approached it. Finally we decided to focus on a HOV trail that we had previously discounted. This would lead us right to the CP. We finished this section right before the third night fall and right before the clouds opened up.  We had missed the ropes section which meant we had a back-to-back bike section.  We were warned that the next mountain bike section was tough, and would only be harder in the now downpour of rain and dark.  We weren’t positive we could finish this next section in time to complete to mandatory orienteering point back at the Balsams Resort before the race cut off.  Us and a few other teams elected to divert to an alternate course which would skip the mountain bike section and require a 30 mile road ride back to the Balsams where we would then start the orienteering course.  We set off for a very rainy, long ride.  We had only 2.5 hours of sleep at this point (about 60 hrs into the race) and the hallucinations were starting to come out.  Brian was calling me Susan and I caught him falling asleep on the bike and nearly crashing into the side of a hill.  I had gone goofy and kept swerving my bike in and out of the pace line, while trying to tell myself that the snakes and lizards I kept seeing in the road did not exist.  Adam thankfully awake and alert, did his best to keep us together and awake.

Once climbing over the windy, steep Dixville Notch notch we got word that finding the orienteering points in the rain and dark proved nearly impossible.  Teams were coming in after having searched for hours with no luck.  In hindsight we should have just gone for the Trek CPs as the one mandatory point was not hard to find at all. Regardless, we decided to wait until day break to go out and search and took this opportunity to test our Nemo Elite racing tent.  Adam, who was a bit more together than I got the tent set up and us into bed.  At one point he caught me standing bear foot in the grass looking dumbfounded.  He ordered me to bed and in the tent.  Once there I was asleep, but well aware I was freezing.  Brian, keenly aware of my loud shivering while he tried to sleep, kindly backed his butt in my direction to keep me warm.  In his words, “I kept on having to back it in or you’d start shivering again.”  Meanwhile, Adam had the delight of my feet by his head.  I felt for him, at this point I was left with 3 toenails and would have scared any pedicurist away.

Sunday Morning: Finished strong and with smiles

We woke up at the crack of dawn, and forced ourselves out of the tent and into clothes for the orienteering course.  The race director, as we discovered early in the race, had an evil streak for death marches.  So once again, we death marched/ran down the cement road to the Notch.  We scuttled our way up some trails above the resort entrance. The route up to the top of the Notch was exposed and epic.  Very windy and steep at points.  Elements like this put the adventure in adventure racing!  We only had about 3 hours until the 10am race cut off and didn’t want to risk going for another orienteering point (which were scattered).  We picked up the pace and ran/trekked to the finish hoping to beat any teams at this point on time.
We finished at 7:57am on Sunday with smiles and were greeted with beers.  It was a great race.  Tough in many ways, and for my first expedition one that I am proud of.  My teammates were supportive and together we never stopped laughing.  We were a fun crew.

Final results are still being calculated but as of this writing, the winning team was ATP/Salomon, a solid team from Canada.  Only 2 teams finished the course without being short coursed, and only 1 team (team Salomon) achieved any bonus checkpoints.  23 teams officially finished, our team (Dirty Avocados) came in 15th overall and 6th in our division.  Team Merrell/Zanfel, the favored winner ran into some issues when they lost their rules of travel.  Without these even completing the course would have been extremely challenging.  They did well given the circumstances, and 6th overall and in their division.


Thanks to our Supporters
Finally we would like to thank the following sponsors and supporters. Without your assistance and encouragement this would not have been possible.

SOLE Custom Footbeds for helping to ease the pain on our tired aching feet.

Nemo for proving the shelter over our heads during the most wicked of thunder storms.

La Sportiva for the Ultranord GTX which kept feet dry well into trekking sections.

nuun for keeping us hydrated and on the move.

Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles that powered us through 150+ miles of road, single track, fie road and the gnarliest of off road conditions.

CAMP for the lightest weight climbing rig around.

Rudy Project for the coolest shades and helmets available.

National Geographic Maps for enabling us to analyize our post race rote and share it with the Adventure racing community.

Total Distances:
Bike: 24.40 mi
Paddling: 17.84 mi
Bike: 13.66 mi
Bike: 17.78 mi
Trekking: 19.57 mi
Bike: 25.45 mi
Trekking: 20.08 mi
Biking: 36.80 mi
Biking: 32.43 mi
Trekking: 6.92 mi

Total Bike: 150.52
Total Trek: 46.57
Total Paddling: 17.84 mi
Total: 214.93 Miles

Elevation Gain:
Bike: 1767 ft
Paddling: -108 ft
Bike: 211 ft
Bike: 1247 ft
Trekking: 2952 ft
Bike: 600 ft
Trekking: 2266 ft
Biking: 2625 ft
Biking: 2105 ft
Trekking: 893 ft

Total: 14,666 ft (note: EveryTrail repots vert gain is 23,886ft. Strange, looking into this.)

### BEGIN RACE UPDATES ###

(most recent update on top) 

TIME: 07/13/2009 - 8:30AM PST

Dirty Avocados finished Untamed New England Expedition Race stong sunday morning.  Tales from the trails to follow here at dirtyavocados.com.  Thanks for everyone’s support!

TIME: 07/12/2009 - 12:50AM PST

Race Clock: 2 days 12 hours 50 minutes

Dirty Avocados Team 1 Adam, Angel and Brian are at the final Checkpoints at the Balsams Lodge.  Dirty Avocados Team 2 is 10 miles as a crow flys from the final checkpoints around the lodge.  They look like they are looking for a checkpoint near a lake, from that location the easist way may be the heading to the Northeast to a road that leads to the lodge.

Given updates in the fieldnotes and leaderboard have been hampered by issues consider assuming that if a team goes to where Team Estoril Portugal XPD is located then they have likely finished the race and are at the lodge.  Team Estoril Portugal XPD finished the race a while ago and likely turned in their beacon at the lodge or left it running on their packs, which are likely at the lodge.  Team Estoril is just east of the last checkpoints and that looks like where the lodge is located.

Its easy to imagine all the adventures the team have experienced in the last 2 and a half days experiencing the wild side of New England.  We are looking forward to their coming in the finish safely in the hours or ahead.

TIME: 07/11/2009 - 5:35PM PST

Race Clock: 2 days 5 hours 35 minutes (less than 24 hours to go!)

The two Dirty Avocado Teams are within 1000 yards of each other near CP 30.  Its likely that if they see each other they may travel together forming one big muddy ameoba avocado.  Its raining, but their are very expereinced team mates on those teams helping eachother through the conditions.

TIME: 07/11/2009 - 8:10AM PST

Race Clock: 1 day 20 hours 10 minutes

The information coming from the race site is at this point lagging and intermittent given bad cell coverage and their likely focus on keep a long string of racers together.  Dirty Avocados II made it out of the bushwack last night and have riden their bikes to Maine toward Grafton Park for some climbing.  Dirty Avocados I are about to finish the bushwack likely having stopped for sleep last night.  Once on the ride watch our teams as they zip glad to be off their feet.

TIME: 07/10/2009 - 12 Midnight PST

Race Clock: 1 day 15 hours

Jen, Mike, and Donato are on foot and look about 2 miles from there next transition area CP 24 at Drummer Pond, however they may be still looking for CPs and are in an area that may be a challenge to navigate at night that has been well forested with likely many unmapped trails and forest roads.  It may take awhile to go the two miles.  Adam, Angel and Brian are behind them, but only by miles now.

TIME: 07/10/2009 - 3:40PM PST

Race Clock: 1 day 3 hours 40 minutes

It has been difficult to judge team progress now, but check the course map and select the teams from the drop down list.

Dirty Avocados Team 1 satellite beacon seems to be back on. 42 minutes ago they at CP 15 in the town of Lancaster, NH.  They may be sent ahead of the paddle, given race organizers do not seem to want racers on the water at night.

Dirty Avocados Team II is  near CP 19, the town of Stark, NH.  The track point being broadcast on the map is old from 2:14 PM EST.  By now they are likely past CP 19.

Briefly today, the teams may have crossed into Vermont, but it looks like they are back in New Hampshire and may head into Maine tonight or tomorrow for a ropes section.

TIME: 07/10/2009 - 12:00 Noon PST

Race Clock: 1 day finished, 2 more days to go!

We are expecting to hear that Dirty Avocados II made it off the trek in Jefferson, NH and that Dirty Avocados I is shorlty behind them.  Today should be a relief as the teams will be back on bike and then possibly into a slower river later (keep your fingers crossed).  Last night the teams bushwacked up a ridge near Mt. Crescent. ***********

View Larger Map************

 TIME: 07/10/2009 - 7:45 AM PST

Race Clock: 20 hours 15 minutes

The Avocados are rolling in the right direction according to field reports.

Dirty Avocados I satelitte transponder is not working, so for the time being refer to the leaderboard and field notes.

Currently, both Dirty Avocados I and Dirty Avocados II  are on a trek that race organizers describe here: http://www.untamedne.com/Live/Race/CPDetail.aspx?e=2&c=43 It sounds like some serious bushwaching, however the sun is up and that will greatly help them move faster in this section than teams during last night.

The Course Map is now revealing the rest of the main check points (”CPs”), which are transition areas (”TAs”) where teams will transition from one disipline to another.  These CP’s are marked in a white and orange icon on the course map. http://www.untamedne.com/Live/Race/Course.aspx

Weather in that area in New England should be better today than yesterday in the high 70’s.  This weekend the weather may turn. Here is the weather in Jefferson where CP 14 is located: http://www.wunderground.com/US/NH/Jefferson.html

 TIME: 07/09/2009 - 5:00 PM PST

Race Clock: 8 hours

After 17+ miles of paddling and possibly portaging parts of the Androscoggin River our Dirty Avocados seem to be pulling into a transition at the South end of the Pontook Reservoir to continue racing on land.

Notice a group of teams together in the Southwest part of the map near a large body of water slightly on land.  Focus on team TrackMe360 and if you focus in on the map you can see 4 other teams below them.  These markers are old.  When so many teams meet like that there is usually a big obstacle they are running into or there is a transition at that location and in this case teams are getting onto land out of their boats and change out of wet clothes.

This is the last T.A. probably before night fall so teams may be there a while in order to gather their lights and fuel up.  Smart teams will grab gear and food to do their best to keep going, its just too early in the race to stop especially in this short of an expedition race.

TIME: 07/09/2009 - 3:00PM PST

Race Clock: 6 hours

Teams have been on the first of 3 river sections.  According to the field notes on the race site many of the teams flipped in the rapids, however the rapids may only be class one and two.  if you focus in on the front teams and turn the map to “Map View” you may notice the front teams heading to the Southwest that they are on a road.  Teams possibly have opted to portage (walk their boats) versus stay in the river.  Given weather has been really bad there is likely a lot of water and debris like whole trees in the river and so teams may be playing cautious in order to stay safely in the race. Here is a shot of Dirty Avocados Team 1:

TIME: 07/09/2009 - 1:10PM PST

Race Clock: 4 hours 10 minutes

Teams are transitioning from bike to boat to paddle the Androscoggin River.  To easily find the river they will be paddling go to the race Course Map and switch the view from “Satellite” Photo View to “Map View” buttons near the top of the map to see the name of roads, rivers and Lakes the teams are traveling on: http://www.untamedne.com/Live/Race/Leaderboard.aspx

TIME: 07/09/2009 - 12:15PM PST

Race Clock: 3 hours 15 minutes

 We are just 3 hours and 15 minutes into this 3 day race and the satellite tracking devices show the teams on the course making good progress.  Due to the fact that the devices send a message every 10 minutes giving location information and also due to the fact that the transmissions may be blocked by thick Northeastern US tree canopies you cannot tell from the map who is in what place.  So, refer to the leaderboard at http://www.untamedne.com/Live/Race/Leaderboard.aspx.  As the race progress and the team spread out from one another the course map will show teams in their true order.  Give the race 18 hours for the quick little hares to fall off the front and other to take leads away.  The two favored teams are ATP/Salomon and Merrill/Zanfel, however, the entire field is pretty strong giving this race is the only US qualifier for the Adventure Race World Series Championships.  Dirty Avocados fielded two teams with multiple navigators per team, all deeply motivated teammates who are super fun to be around and some new killer gear that should give them an edge.

TIME: 07/09/2009 - 8:50AM PST

Race Clock: T minus 10  minutes to START of race 

The countdown to the race is on with 10 minutes to go.  There is no holding back now with 3 days to the finish over possibly 200 miles.  The teams will start on the lake.  Go to http://www.untamedne.com/Live/Race/default.aspx to see pictures of teams today as they plot their maps.  Also, the course page will show the entire map of the race shortly after the start http://www.untamedne.com/Live/Race/Course.aspx

TIME: 07/08/2009 - 9:45PM PST

Race Clock: T minus 14 hours 15  minutes to START of race 

Race will begin at tomorrow 12noon EST, 9AM PST 

The prerace meeting finished tonight and after preparing the team is asleep (hopefully).  They have sent their bikes ahead and will be starting near the lake at the resort they are staying at at the Balsams.

There are few pictures that were mailed to media and on the website, but this one had some familure faces:

TIME: 07/08/2009 - 2:00PM PST

Race Clock: T minus 20 hours to START of race

The teams safely arrived after two days of traveling.  Currently, they are busy packing their backpacks and tuning their bikes.  At 6:00PM EST (3:00PM PST) the course will be revealed to our racers in the pre-race meeting.  After that you can expect that they will be up much of tonight plotting maps, discussing their race strategies and making final adjustments to their gear and their packs.  Until that meeting tonight the adventure awaiting them is still unknown and this is the essence of a great adventure race.  All we know now is that the teams are going to be racing in New England by way of foot, canoe, bike, and ropes going possibly several hundred miles over 3 or more days non-stop without any aid whatsoever in weather has been not too great.

###

Looking for information on the Dirty Avocados participating in the Untamed New England? You’ve come to the right place!

We will be releasing race updates in a few ways:

1. Before the race we will twitter to our home page http://dirtyavocados.com
2. During the race Will Gilmore, Mark Richardson, Aja Cooke and Adam Armijo are going to be posting manual updates to our “Untamed New England Race Update” blog. The most current update will be posted at the top of the article, THIS article your reading now. Read above for most recent update.
3. In addition, you can check out the race web site to view a leader board. There Google maps pinpoint teams’ locations LIVE via GPS Satellite, you can read racer bios and more! Go to  http://www.untamedne.com/Live/Race/default.aspx    **Please, note that a GPS map location of the team that hasn’t moved in a while doesn’t mean anything is wrong with the team. Most likely it is poor satellite reception or we could also be sleeping!

As far as who is actually racing? It’s going to be a reunion of sorts in New Hampshire. We have 2 Dirty Avocado coed teams of 3 teammates each (6 people total).

Team “Dirty Avocados” consists of Adam Doti, Angel Garbarino and Brian Schmitz! Our second team is Team “Dirty Avocados II” consisting of Donato Polignone, Jen Rigoni and Mike Chastaine!

We would like to pay a very special thanks to our sponsors and supporters. Without them much of this wouldn’t be possible. Please, read all about them on our Sponsors Page or in the footer of this page.

Finally, leave us a note of encouragement in the comments area at the bottom of this post.  If you have questions email Will at willisnot (at) yahoo.com.

~ Godspeed!