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June 30, 2006

Climb to Kaiser, report by Janet Martinez

Climb to Kaiser, The mountain, not the hospital. report by Janet Martinez

This is a great ride report by my Roadie coach and Death Ride Captain Janet, so I thought i would post it here...dp

I first heard of this ride out of Fresno about 7 years ago. Climbing in Fresno? Who would have thought? These days, the ride is billed as one of the 10 toughest rides in the US by Bicycling Magazine due to the 14,000 feet of climbing and the legendary Central Valley heat. I did this ride for the first time last year, and while it was indeed very challenging, I enjoyed the experience and riding with a relatively small and more competent than average group of about 300 cyclists. Conditions and temperatures were optimal. So, why not go for it again?

The forecast for 110 degree heat might have been a good reason to pass. The fact that I had a heat-induced 4-day hospitalization in 1997 might have been a factor to weigh. The events of the last week in which a friend was hospitalized due to a seizure after completing Terrible 2, then followed by a girlfriends crash in Marin definitely shook my confidence. After asking for prayers and arming myself with the advice of VSRT on how to combat the heat, I journeyed down with Rocco and a mutual friend. Ill compile all the tips I got in a separate e-mail and add my own, as I think there are some great pearls of wisdom.

The ride had its traditional mass start at the 5:30 AM with a motorcycle escort out of town. Even at that hour I was diligently sipping on my Camelback. After a flat 20 miles, the pack disintegrated as the climbing started.

The significant climbs for the day are as follows:

Climb	Start Mile	End Mile	Climb Distance	Average Grade	Worst 1/2 Mile Grade	Steepest Grade	Elevation Gain(ft)
Wildcat Grade	20.5	24.5	4	5%	12%	16%	900
Burrough Grade	28.5	31	2.5	5%	7%	10%	900
Tollhouse Grade	37	45	8	7%	13%	19%	2700
Pine Ridge Grade	45	49	4	6%	9%	11%	1400
Big Creek Grade	61.5	66	4.5	10%	15%	20%	2000
Kaiser Pass	72	79.5	7.5	7%	12%	18%	2300
Tamarack Ridge	87	96	9	5%	7%	8%	1300

In the beginning I hooked up with some riders from Bakersfield from the Simply Fit team and company, which included a 2-man tandem and some gents whose quads were the same diameters as their waists. I quickly ingratiated myself with the tandem, as I knew I would need their help later on to get across the valley in the final 50 miles.

Unfortunately, they wanted to blow through the 2nd rest stop, and I knew I had to keep eating and drinking in increments throughout the day or it was going to catch up to me later. So, I did a solo grind up to Shaver Lake, which was already feeling very hot and my stomach was in distress. If I was going to feel like this all day, it wasnt going to happen. The workers informed me that I was the first woman to the Shaver, to which I replied in a somewhat Private Benjamin-esque fashion – Why cant I be a normal gal – getting my nails done and shopping. This is lunacy!

The sustenance I received there, coupled with some shade and cooler temps at 5000 feet improved my disposition. By the time I reached the next rest stop outside of Big Creek. I knew the next climb awaiting me was going to be the toughest of the day, but the kindness of the volunteers, who hand-parked my bike, lifted my spirits. The also wrote my name on a little white board, informing all who would be passing through that I was the first woman at Big Creek at 10:20 AM. Okay, I was beginning to like the sound of this. And they also told me that I was much nicer than the first man there, who didnt have time to talk to them. So, I left with a smile on my face, fully prepared to tackle the next 7 miles with its exposed areas and 20% grade pitches in spots. I will not forsake my triple! I saw a few walkers on the climb; Im not sure of their gearing.

After lunch at Huntington Lake (PBJ with enough salt to choke a horse), I went on to tackle the rides namesake: Kaiser Pass. It was mercifully cool, and the road still lined with snow banks. Still, it was a haul and at an elevation of 9200 feet, my breathing was somewhat labored. My speedo had died at mile 70, so at this point; I was just riding by time, telling myself that this was like climbing Diablo and would be over in about an hour.

Once greeted by siren at the top (not for medical reasons:0, the climbing wasnt quite over, but it was close. Id have one more climb up Tamarack Ridge. I mixed myself some Sustained Energy to drink on the way down and braved the descent back into the heat, which would be shared with droves of motorcyclists who were on a fundraiser event called Rumble to the Summit.

The motorcyclists were fine. It was the heat turned out to be many peoples undoing. I returned to Shaver Lake, drank a soda, ate more salt and Tums, filled the Camelback and bottles with ice, and was reunited with my tandem friends. Sweet Jesus!

We descended into the 110-degree valley, with the wind blowing on us like a fiery furnace. The tandem riders were very paternal and kept an eye on me to make sure I wasnt dropped. But by the time we reached the final rest stop at Millerton Store at about mile 143, with only 12 miles remaining, Wayne, the captain was cramping and feeling horrible. He made a decision to sag in and exchange shoes with a teammate so that the tandem would finish the ride. I thanked them for all the work and decided to push on the final miles on my own. I made a wrong turn, which added maybe 4 miles, but made it back in one piece, with a time of 11 hours and 44 minutes. To my surprise, Wayne the captain got a second wind and was able to captain in the tandem. They finished just before I did, which I thought was perfect since they had done so much work.

When I arrived, I saw a few folks who only a few hours before were charging down Kaiser being swaddled in towels and looking pale and weak. Another fellow I had started the day with came in and sat on the floor with his eyes closed. He was trying without much success to drink water. Wow, he had several Furnace Creek 508 finishes and lived in Fresno and he was undone by the heat.

Out of some 275 registrants, 159 completed the ride.

So, would I do it again? When Fresno freezes over! If it werent for the heat, I would in a heartbeat. It is a nice, community event with great volunteers. I like the fact that it is small - what I imagine the Death Ride used to be about. Hopefully it stays that way.

The next day I reclaimed my female birthright by spending the day with girlfriends and a short trip to Stoneridge Mall :-) Peace.

Posted by donato at 01:36 PM

June 23, 2006

My Mt. Shasta Ascent

Smack! It felt like a 100 mile an hour pitch that hit me square in the thigh. I looked up the slope to see other ice rocks and debris rolling in my direction. I was in a game of Frogger!

This is the story of my recent solo ascent of Mt. Shasta. I decided to head up to Shasta at the last minute on Tuesday afternoon. I hit the road by 8pm and I was at the Bunny Flats parking lot by 12:30. I organized my pack and signed the appropriate summit permits before spreading out my sleeping bag in the back of my truck for a couple hours rest.

The parking lot had a decent number of cars. Not sure how many other were also sleeping but I did see a few people's headlamps vigoursly moving around getting ready in the dark. A few climbers heading out at 12:30 just after I arrived. I briefly thought about doing the same, but opted for a little rest first.

I woke at 3:30 to my phone alarm and ate a banana and drank some Gatorade before hitting the trail. It wasn’t very cold out and the moon was only about 1/3 full bit still lit the trail pretty well. I was the only one as far as I can tell that was heading out. No lights in front and none in back. I had never been to Shasta before so heading up a trail in the darkness not knowing what was in front of me, trail conditions, landmarks anything at all was a bit weird. I could however make out the glowing white silhouette of Mt.. Shasta in front of me as I climbed out of the Bunny Flats canyon.

At about 7am I reached Helen Lake. This is one of the locations climbers camp when making a summit attempt. Looking up the slope in front of me I saw what looked like a snow slope dotted with rocks, upon close inspection they were actually climbers! There must have been about 20 climbers all along the length of the slope. I began climbing still with my trekking poles but about an hour up became too steep to continue. I switched out my poles for my ice axe and put on my crampons then pushed on.

I passed a climber here and there. Groups of two or three mostly. Howdy! I think I said Howdy about 4 dozen times that day. About half 3/4 of the way up the main Avalanche Gulch from Helen Lake to Red Banks I stopped at a rock outcropping where a groups of about 6 others were resting as well. Turns out they were all from northern California and the Marin Sonoma areas as well. After a bit of chit chat I continued on. This is where the falling debris really started top get bad. I couldn’t tell if it was from the high winds or if climbers up ahead were dislodging ice and rock. Luckily I had my helmet on as I took a few decent rocks in the noggin. But the one that really left a mark literally came out of nowhere, no sound no warning and then SMACK! Square on my right thigh. Wow it smarted! Smarted like a slap or a punch. Nothing that would force me to stop or drop to the ground, but stung enough that I had to drop to one kneee to shake it off.. After swearing a bit, I pressed on, now keeping my head up slope most of the time. Once in a while I would see a piece of gear go flying by. Bottle parka, stuff sack, etc…

I reached an area called Red Banks and I rounded it to the right and then traversed to the base of Misery Hill. Up an over Misery hill which was like two slope segments, after climbing both you think (or at least wish) you were at the top. Once over Misery it was a flat crossing over I guess what was once the cone to the last climb up a small switch back to a collection of jagged rock spires and finally the summit! I reached the summit just before 11am PST where I signed the log book and another climber offered to take my photo. After he left I was the only one on the summit. I soaked it in for a minute or two and then started back.

Now I was looking forward to the descent because I was planning to glissade down the long steep slopes. Welp I tried that but as soon as I sat in one of the already established glissading chutes apparently from the previous days climbers I was off like a rocket! Way too fast to maintain control. So I scrambled to my feet again and put my crampons back on and painfully made my way back down to Helen Lake Camp. Once down I removed the crampons again and was able to glissade the rolling hills down to the camp at Horse Camp. At about 1pm the snow was very slushy and mash potato like it was tough to walk on. I was back at my car at 2pm.

View my MotionBased activity here.

Posted by adoti at 01:36 AM

June 20, 2006

Shooting Star Adventures Sprint #1

Event Details
Date:	Saturday June 17, 2006
Location:	Grant Ranch, CA (Google)
Disciplines:	Running/Biking/O Course
Time Length:	5 Hr. Sprint.
Format(s):	Mixed, Same Sex, 3, 2 and Solo.
Price:	$100.00 p/p
Web Site:	Shooting Star Adventures
SWAG:	Hat, croakie, buff, goo bottles, sore no more sample, bracelet, dry erase board.
Race Results:	http://home.earthlink.net/~ssa2006/id5.html
MotionBased.com Digest:	Click Here for MotionBased digest. Click here for Google Eath map of our route. (Recorded by Donato)
Reporting Racer(s):	by: Adam and Donato of the Dirty Avocados Skins

Race Report

Jackie cooks up some eats! Galen from baarbd unwinds. DP stuffs his face. Adam shows his support for ARNavSupplies.com by keeping them in business. Short recap of the Shooting Star Adventures SVS Sprint this past Saturday at Grant Ranch Park outside San Jose. This go around it would be just me (Adam) and Donato stepping up to the plate for the SVS Sprint in hot San Jose. We weren't hell bent on trying to put together a 3-4 person co-ed team due to the SVS #1 was not a regional qualifier for Nationals and due to our busy schedules we also did not have a lot of time to do recruiting for a third female that was available. Donato picked me up in Marin and we drove down together. At 7 am it was already hot! Bad sign of what was to come. Upon arrival we checked in and started seeing familiar faces. Bull Moose Extreme, Mark Manning from ARNavSupplies, Brian Ridgeway from Loose Screw and relative newbie to AR Galen from baarbd.org! Over all about 23 teams showed up that consisted of a mixed bag of solos, 2, 3 and coed configurations. We were given our swag and O maps right away. There was no official course map since it was a "marked" course. However we did pick up a freely available park map to supplement our route choices. We gave the course a look over but again since it was a marked (flagged) course to a from the O courses there was not much for us to do but get the general feel for the segments. Donato: In full support of Team NOMAD/AR NAV Supplies, I even bought and tested Marks very cool, simple and light Bike Map Holder and at $35 beans nothing beats it! It was getting quite hot by now and I was a bit nervous for what was to come. You see, heat is probably my biggest kryptonite. Once the sun sets, or we enter a dark shady canyon I'm a new man, but the heat will kill me and I know it. I tried to drink as much as I physically could anticipating mild dehydration setting in. Donato: Before the start we checked in with Galen to make sure he was OK with the course, the route and give him a little last minute encouragement. After all, this was his first AR Race and he was going it SOLO. He seemed fine and was ready to go! We lined up for last minute instructions and then we were off. Donato and I held a firm hold on the front of the pack fluctuating between 2-5th pace through the run. About 3/4 of the way to the start of the O course we came across a pretty large mud pit that spanned the trail. Donato seemed to walk on water over it taking a line mostly in the sun thus a little firmer ground. I however was not thinking on my toes literally and opted for the shaded side and got stuck half way across. My shoe came off and I had to scrape the goop out before I could even unlace and relace back up. We lost some time here. In a sprint race these minutes are crucial as we will discover later. Donato: Jonathan Owens took off from the start and was soon to not be seen again until after the finish line. Teams from 2nd to 6th position started together and would swap places most of the race. It was a nail biter right from the gate. Half way up the first climb on our trek (I mean trail RUN), I noticed Adam breathing too hard for the effort he was putting out. The heat and the pace we started off at were already getting to him. I just tried to make sure he started drinking fluids and not stop moving. He hung tough. We made our way down and to the start of the O course. We saw some teams making their way up the trail then making a 90 degree turn to head for the top of the knoll where the O point was in the middle of a group of trees. I decided since the terrain was easily passable we'd make a straight shot across the field up to the point We hit it dead on and were able to split the saddle and drop over the back side down a canyon following the ridge to the stream that popped us out right at the second O point. We then followed the stream down t to the south east to pick up 2 more points. On the way down we passed a few teams that opted to take the controls in the opposite order. On the way out of the stream and back up to the road we decided to hook up a tow because my legs were losing power. This helped us out a lot! I've been on a bike tow before but cant say I have done a decent run on a foot toe. Donato was a mule helping me up and over the hill and back down to the transition. We were able to gain a couple places due to this. Use the tow, don't be embarrassed! We all bonk! Donato: Adam’s NAV choices in the first O-course brought us from 6th place (maybe 7th) to 2nd. I wanted to try to hold this position, or as close to it as possible into the TA (swith to Bikes). Even though I knew that Adam might just puke at any minute as the heat was really killing him. I figured 2-3 miles back to the TA. I can tow him no problem. Well at sprint race speeds it’s a lot harder. I must have maxed my Heart Rate 10 times on the way back. Didn’t care, just kept telling myself, almost done running now. Soon we will both be on our bikes and I I won’t need my running muscles anymore today. I believed my own lie. We transitioned (quickly allowing enough time for Adam to drink as much gatoraide and hammer Heed as he could swallow) to the bikes and headed to the south-west end of the park and along a ridge line that had great views of the San Jose valley. We played leapfrog with a couple of solo racers and rode with Loose Screw for a bit before passing them due to a mechanical problem. Later we found out that they got a flat, on a rear tire. Again in a sprinttough, every small thing takes minutes you cant loose. in a 24 hour race that would have been nothing. Making sure they were ok, we pressed on. At times I was sliding down hill uncontrollably because I still had my semi-slick on from the previous weeks SF Night and Day Race! We pulled up to a intersection with a couple of teams mulling about the route choice. Seems that there was a yellow flag up a hill as well as yellow flags indicating a trail in another direction. Also a sign up the trail stating This is NOT a trail. TO me it was a no-brainer, but Donato went up to check it out with another racer (from BullMoose) and upon further inspection DP noticed the flag was not one of our Home Depot flags and we pressed on in the original direction of travel. Shortly we came to the bike drop for the second O course. We scrambled across a field and down into a ravine. We were now right along with Bullmoose Extreme once again for at least the 4th time today. We picked up the first and second points as a group. The water felt great however I started notice that I was pushing right through a lot of poison oak. Oh well too late for that now. I'll just have to take the Technu bath when we finish. We decided to scramble straight up the hillside instead of backtracking out of the canyon to the bike pickup. Bullmosse did the same but picked a slightly different angle thus popping them out down the trail about 100 yards closer than us. That was critical as this was the final push to the finish and they were right in front of us. We hoped on the bikes and rode our hearts out to the finish all the while seeing them just up ahead of us a few turns. They were fast, too fast for us to catch, but lucky we did press hard because right behind us by a few minutes was Loose Screw. We couldn’t see Mark Manning, but knew he was near by. Had to keep the pace up or these two teams would blow right past us. Donato: Got to say this was a cool O-Course, bouldering right up a stream to a small waterfall. The cold water was a welcome relief and it was the coolest part of the race…nothing like bouldering through a stream. The 2, 3, 4 and 5th place teams all finished within 10 minutes of each other. It was a pretty exciting final few minutes. Shortly afterward finished Galen from baarbd came across the finish line in 8th place! It was really good to see him do so well. Both as a first timer AND a solo he did fantastic! Official result put us in 1st for 2 person male category and 4th overall. After a bite to eat I took a Technu bath at the water spigot and then chatted with the other teams for a bit while we cheered the remaining teams across the finish. I have to say I think that was my favorite part of the day. Just relaxing, swapping stories and getting to know my fellow racers was well worth it. I hope we have the opportunity again. Wait, we do! This Friday night at 7:30 is the baarbd.org kickoff party. See you there! I tracked this race with the TrackStick as I did the Kernville and SF Night & Day. I got decent results but had some difficulty getting them uploaded into Motion Based. Seems some recent upgrades may be the cause of the upload issues... not sure. However after converting the CSV data to a GPX file with GPS Visualizer and then opening and saving the file in G7ToWin as a G7T file Motion Based finally took the data. I had the TrackStick on a 5 second ping vs. a 1 minute ping I had a Kernville. I also had the movement sensitivity way up to it's max. I figured since this is such a short race I would want very detailed data. The TrackStick was about 40% full on those setting for a 4 hours of data collecting. I tried a new plotting tool. Wayfaring.com. Pretty cool tool. You can view our course here. Or view one of our other formats below. .. ok maybe not such a short report.   Summary Data : MotionBased Digest (Donato): Open MotionBased Digest using TrackStick (Adam): Open Wayfaring Course Plot: Open Google Earth: Open Total Time (h:m:s) 4:39:14 13:03 pace Moving Time (h:m:s) 3:27:12 9:41 pace Distance (mi ) 21.38 Moving Speed (mph) 6.2 avg. 29.9 max. Elevation Gain (ft) +4,678 / -4,682 Temperature (°F) 84.2°F avg. 87.8°F high Wind Speed ( mph) NW 9.2 avg. NW 11.5 max. GPS Signal Quality Good MB Gravity Web Service   wayfaring data Ratings *Ratings are the usually the sole opinion of the reporting team member and in no way reflect the entire teams opinion on the race. Fun Factor Overall excitement and fun. Value Bang for the buck! Racer Relations Liaisonship, treatment and communications with racers. SWAG The good stuff! Scenic Race location and area traveled.     Overall Difficulty Skill Level Required Navigation Difficulty

Posted by adoti at 01:49 AM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2006

Parker's first O-Race

Ok so it wasn't quite is *first* solo race, but he did hold the map at times. Last Sunday Parker and I entered into the next installment of our newest addiction, Orienteering. It was held just down the street at China Camp State Park. The other Avocados each participated in other solo categories including the AR Long Orange course and Green courses.

Parker and I scrambling around the park hillsides reminded me of Yoda on Luke's back during his training on Dagobah.

You can see our route here: http://baoc.org/gadget/cgi/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=58&&kieli=en You may need to select "Yellow" and "Parker Doti" so see red course line.

Overall BAOC China Camp results.

Posted by adoti at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)

June 13, 2006

Race Report Donato Polignone BAOC, Long Orange Course, China Camp, Sunday June 11, 2006.

Race Report Donato Polignone BAOC, Long Orange Course, China Camp, Sunday June 11, 2006.

My First attempt at an Orienteering event as a solo, although I did my fist O-Race with the rest of the team on March 11, 2006. It was actually our first outing as the Dirty Avocado Skins. I think Adam did a race report on that already, so enough said about that O-race.

Starting they day sore after doing a killer, 70+ mile, road ride the day before with Brian Schmitz was just a small issue... one I thought wouldnt be as much of a problem as getting lost or should I say staying found? I got to China Camp, sat in on Will Gilmores Pac West AR/Orienteering Training session for a few minutes. While sitting there I realized I don’t know a lot about O-races. I thought,

I just might get lost today, oh well gotta learn the hard way.

By the way Will, thanks for the tips that I learned from you, especially the symbols on the map. I didnt realize that there were so many clues in the symbols to use while navigating. I thought the Navigation Instruction you were giving to the new guys was great. I even tried to use some of my new knowledge on the course.

NOTE: I tracked my race using my GPS device a Garmin Forerunner 305. This is posted on my activities page at www.MotionBased.com, or you can just go to http://donato.motionbased.com and look for the BAOC event on June 11th. I will attach a Google Earth file of the tracked results as well. Download file

PS: if anyone looks at my course and can tell me what I could have done better. Let me know. I might just buy you a beer... or whatever your beverage of choice is.

After checking in and even joining the BOAC I trudged up a 200-foot hill to the start of the Long Orange Course. I sign in and then 2 minutes later off I go to CP 1. Up a hill looking for a re-entrant. I had two choices here take the single track below the CP or stay on the fire road above it. I chose to stay high, probably not the wise choice as you couldn’t see (I couldn’t see the re-entrant) as I ran past it. Once, I got to the next trail (100 past the CP) I realized I had gone too far. Now, I bushwhacked down and across to try and locate CP one. [NOTE to Will Gilmore here: all of the sagely advice you gave me is now scrambling around in my head as I’m trying to bag CP1. Did you here me swearing your name at this point? � ]. Still can’t find the CP, where the hell is this re-entrant? Back up to top of hill to see where I am. At this point I decide to head again away from the Road and track back down the hill slightly towards the start again. Finally see what looks like a reentrant, run down and see the CP. Which looks like I would have seen it from the single track below. Oops! At this point I realize I haven’t started my GPS watch to track my travels. Start it and off to CP2.

CP2: here I decided to stay on the trails and run fast to try and avoid getting lost. Once down to the area just above CP 2 I decide to run the switch backs until I see the reentrant for this CP. After the 1st switch back I see the reentrant clear as day and bushwhack on down to it. CP2 bagged no problem. Confidence back I move on to CP 3. But, not quite yet have to stop to water a tree on the way. �

CP3: I’m my way to CP 3 I realize I’m not sure how far I have to run to get there. Not sure what the scale on the map is. Only a small problem at this point. I stay on trails here again until it gets me as close to the CP as possible. Wait a second the “Cheat-sheet� (or whatever the little piece of paper is that tells you hints on where each checkpoint is and what # etc.) I carried around had a X on it. I have no idea what that means. Hopefully the X is jump out at me. I get to the trail just west of CP3 and drop down the hill to where it is. And yes, CP3 jumped right out at me. Bagged that one. Grabbed a quick cup of water and off to CP4. Note: CP 3 was a water station, so we didn’t have to run with packs or water. Nice to be able to travel light (real light) sometimes. Don’t think it helped me today.

CP4: I had a good general idea where this CP was and once again decided to take trails there and run fast. I ran from CP 3 to the east side of Miwok Meadows, here the trail popped out near the road. So I decided to run down the shoulder of the road to the trail on the east side of Miwok Meadows and then run to a trail “Y� intersection just 50 yards east of CP4. This was for me a wise decision as I found the CP within one minute of getting to the trail junction. So far so good. Got a lot of the distance covered, so I thought! Off to CP 5.

CP5: this is where it started getting harder. CP 5 was in a clearing on the east side of a hill a couple hundred yards off the trail. At least in the direction I ran it. My problem here, what clearing. I found two or three. Before finding CP5 I found a “wrong CP� at a rock. Found the Rock on my map and re-found myself and took a bearing and just bushwhacked to the CP. I came into the clearing right in the middle. This time trusting myself ran to the east side of the cleaning and wa-la CP5. Off to CP 6 and my last chance for water on the course until the finish. I wasn’t carrying any pack or water today.

CP6: I decided to bushwhack the entire way to CP6 as it was about on my elevation on the tip of a ridge. So I headed out across the hillside trying not to lose more than 25 feet in elevation hope to run into the CP. It worked I ran straight into it. Bagged CP6, gobbled down a pack of GU, and washed it down with a cup of water. Off to CP 7.

CP7: This one was an easy one as well an intersection of two ditches and just under the big power lines to the west of a big dirt parking lot. I run through the parking lot down a fire road heading west under the power lines. Now, where were the ditches? Ah ha, right there to the south of me about 50-yards. CP7 bagged. Off to CP8 and thinking I was almost finished.

CP8: on top of a knoll to the west of a reentrant. I again followed the trails until I found the reentrant and then ran up the hill looking for the CP. Found it without too much trouble. Off to CP9 and were all my big problems began.

CP9: This was what really killed me on the o course. I lost more time looking for this CP than any other. Actually I ran right past it (20-yards to my right/west) and kept going up this hill looking for the infamous “X� CP. I must have run 15 minutes past it than 10 minutes back down to it. Then it just jumped out at me. At this point I was a little discouraged as I spent over 35 minutes going from CP8 to 9. I only lost about 3 minutes (each) looking for each previous CP. Almost done now. Off to CP9.

CP10: in a thicket at the bottom of a reentrant. Just so happens that I ran past this reentrant looking for CP9. So backtracking to that reentrant again and down to the ticket. What thicket. The whole damn area is one big thicket! I drop out of the so-called thicket and into a clearing and to my surprise there is CP10. Run over and bag it. Off to CP 11.

CP11: Bushwhacked most of the way to CP11, using a trail for about 100 yards perhaps. Looking for a CP on the top of a spur. Luckily for me I ran right into the CP because I never saw a spur in the area. Got it anyway. From CP11 you could see the finish line tent so a quick 30-second run to it and I actually finished my first O-race as a solo and survived. My time of 2 hours and 7 minutes wasn’t so hot and neither was my navigation. Got to work on that a bit. Did learn a lot lost out on the course.

Some Stats from my Garmin 305 watch for you geeks out there (with my corrections for not starting it until CP1):

Total Miles I ran: 8.2 (course setters optimal distance was 5.5km/3.4 miles. I went the long way I guess?)

Total Elevation Gain/Loss: 2,000 feet. (course setters optimal Climb was 225M/740 ft. Ouch, did I do some extra climbing?)

AVG heart rate: 133 bpm Max HR: 169 (steep hills and I ran up most of them).

Weather: 65F, 67% Rel humidity, 16MPH winds, partly cloudy skies. Oops this is California that should be partly sunny skies.

donato@dirtyavocados.com

Posted by donato at 07:12 PM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2006

San Francisco Night and Day 2006

Event Details
Date:	Saturday June 3-4, 2006
Location:	San Francisco California
Disciplines:	Running/Biking
Time Length:	16 Hr.
Format(s):	4 Person Co-Ed
Price:	$65.00 p/p
Web Site:	Night & Day Challenge
SWAG:	None. T-Shirts and Bandanas for sale.
Race Results:	http://www.nightanddaychallenge.com/results.asp
MotionBased.com Digest:	Click Here for MotionBased digest. Click here for Google Earth map of our route. (Recorded by Donato)
Reporting Racer(s):	by: Adam of the Dirty Avocados Skins.

Race Report

Linda, Adam D, Adam A and Donato planning their route during pre-race. Last month we were really bummed because we were going to be missing the second annual SF Night and Day metrogaine held in San Francisco due to a conflict with CalEco's 2 Day Staged race in Yosemite. Due to a last minute cancellation of the CalEco race by the apparent lack of racer interest, this left us with a big hole in our schedule. Our busy schedules were all locked in and by any means we were getting an event in! As karma would have it, this was the same weekend as the Night and Day! Sweet! This was a no brainier for us. Adam and I would be returning for our second year in the event, but taking it up a notch at entering the 16 hour Co-Ed duathlon category (also considered as the classic AR team and race format). Last year we won first in the 7 hour duathlon event. Joining us this year was Linda and Donato, the other half of our current DA team. During the pre race events we ran into Rich of Primal Quest fame. If I had known about his sweet feature in National Geographic Adventure Magazine I'd have congratulated him. We chatted s a bit about PQ and general state of AR affairs before partying ways to plan our routes. Avocados Skins with Rich Brazeau, Primal Quest CEO. How did he find the time?! We received our maps about an hour before the start. It wasn't a matter of what points we were going to get, but rather what order are we going to get them all. For us there was no doubt, leave no point behind! Points ranged from 20 points to 100 points. The goal is to get the most points within the strict time frame of 16 hours. 1/2 of the race was on foot the second half was on bike. Our plan was to grab the points around Noe Valley, Mission, Twin Peaks, downtown and a few in businesses that close at 5:30 P.M. first. We left a few on the southern part of Noe Valley and Mission for last in case we were ahead of schedule we could grab those or easily leave them for the bike ride out to Candlestick. That's Oliver of True Grit in the center with the white shirt. In hot pursuit! At the race start the field pretty much scattered instantly. I thought it would resemble the running of the bulls for at least a few blocks. But nope, were were on our own very quickly. For the next hour we would cross paths with a team here and there as we crossed streets of ducked behind a corner house. We caught up with Oliver and True Grit while crossing over Portolla/Market. That'd be the first and last time we'd see him. Skins cuttin' corners bombing down Twin Peaks. While in the Twin Peaks vicinity we made a game time decision to nab the top of Twin Peaks sooner than later. We'd planned on saving it for the bike but after popping out on a street that I knew was very close tot hr summit, we went for it. We opted for the much faster road route this year after learning last year the bush whack is not really worth it. Also you ay recall the skunk incident. We went up for another one of those! We bombed down twin peaks towards the Haight and grabbed a few more points and the last time sensitive point on Market Street. We then worked our way through upper Mission and across market and up Van Ness. At this point we have been running at a very fast clip. Faster than our average AR race. Maybe were getting stronger, maybe something about the urban environment? Somewhere on Van Ness and about Geary apparently a car drive by and yelled my name. I didn't hear it but A-Bomb swears they called out my name (Adam!) So if anybody is reading this and it was you... Hey back! At this point we were still ahead of our anticipated schedule so we decided to expand our radius and nab a few more points in the richmond and Palace Of Fine Arts. We made our way down Geary, then north over Pacific Heights and bisected Lucases new campus. Lots of new streams and bushes to run through! DP prayed to the angels while counting and we were on our way to the Fisherman's Wharf. About time for a little prayer... actually DP's counting the angels at Palace of Fine Arts. As we worked our way through Fisherman's Wharf this is where we got the most random comments. You can probably guess the drunken outbursts. Most were references the the Amazing Race.We worked our way through the heart of Fisherman's Wharf and down Columbus and the middle of North Beach, running right by Adams (A-Bombs) house! We found it a lot easier to actually ruin in the middle of the street due the the massive amount of people out on this nice day. We worked our way through Chinatown quickly and I just happened to glance into a Chinese restaurant and a backpack caught my eye. Of all the restaurants and people in the city today I happen to catch the one where ARNavSupply/NOMAD were preparing to chow down! I popped my head in to say hi and cheese! I was thinking how in the hell can you possibly eat Chinese food right now without it enacting revenge on you later?! Just up the block Donato was entertaining the crowd... Look closely. You'll see Donato jumping high in the middle of the intersection crowd of people. They thought it was funny. Then it was back to the Embarcadero and over to Pac Bell Park, I mean SBC Park, I mean AT&T Park, whatever.... Across Lefty' Bridge to grab another point. From here it was long slog down 3rd to Portero Hill. I started to feel it at this point. We'd been running for hours straight and no real rest. We slogged up Portero and then dropped down in the lower Mission. Its starts to get mildly sketchy now but not bad... but a good taste of what's to come later. All ad to the excitement ;) Jerry Garcia's childhood home. Crazy. Again because we were ahead of where we thought we'd be, we added on a few more points tot he foot segment. We headed southwest along Mission St. towards Daily City. This is the furthest point we'd go on foot south where we picked up a point at Jerry Garcia's childhood home. We then made our way over to City College and the Glen Park/Canyon area. By this points it's completely dark now. The scramble through Glen Park was interesting. Very reminiscent of an AR race in the Sierras. Totally didn't feel like an urban setting. Here was our first small mistake. I guess we got comfortable because we missed a right turn to take us northeast to the next point and wound up popping out into the neighborhood on the north side of the park. We quickly recovered and nabbed the point and then made our way back the the transition almost exactly at the time we wanted to at 11:40p.m. The bike leg would start at midnight exactly. We left the transition on bike about 7 minutes after midnight. The pan was to loop south east then south and then work clockwise around the city and the return back. We rode back down Mission St. towards Daly City then broke left and headed east through a park just north of Cow Palace and west of Candlestick Park. Donato and Adam mentioned something about seeing another team a block or two over heading in the same general direction. We'd not see another team until San Bruno Mountain. Heading into the park we received another round of random verbal attacks and even a car swerved at DP and A-Bomb while they adjusted their bikes. We QUICKLY bombed down the east side of the park and under the freeway towards Candle Stick. We rose fast fast fast out to the back side of Candlestick and through the peninsula park to the next CP. Barely putting the pen away we were already on our way toward the Cow Palace and up Carter St. Once up to the to the trail intersection on San Bruno Mountain we decided to take the radio town CPO first then the 2 on the north side on a trail loop. This would allow for us to drop out right into the neighborhood after the north westerly point. Seems like a lot of teams did the opposite and getting the radio tower last. But seems this would put them in a unfavorable position and more riding to get off the mountain a nd out of surrounding neighborhoods. We made out way through the southern portion of SF and over to my Alma Matta, San Francisco State. This next checkpoint was probably the one I already knew the answer to before we got there. 5 years on this campus and I know it like the back of my hand.. or so I thought. Ironically this would be the one point we'd only get 1/2 points for. When we arrived to the memorial grove in from of the Humanities building there were what seems to be 4 teams huddled in a big group chatting about is this it, or that it etc... The answers didn't quite match what we were seeing. I also knew about the Aids Grove memorial just over a bit towards the gym building. Depending on how you interpreted the question the Aids Memorial was a better fit for the date range given. We were also a bit swayed by the other teams and the confidence they exuded... big mistake. Anyway we marked the answer and rode out the back of SFSU and around Lake Merced to pick up a point by Fort Funston. DA's storming early morning Richmond neighborhood. We made out way up the coast to another CP where we ran into the large group again and ARGear/Nomad. We now had to make a long ride into the inner Sunset and UCSF area to pick up a few that in hindsight we probably should have gotten on foot. We looped around and entered the park and worked our way west again. After the Legion of Honor and the Presidio we had to pick up the one at Golden Gate Bridge. Small problem... the point was on the south tower east side. That side is closed to bikes after 6am (maybe it was 5). So that mean s we'd have to go on foot to the CP. That wasn't an option, so we option to play the stupid tourists and just ride through the gate and on to he path to the tower figuring if we'd get stopped it wouldn't be before we'd already got the point. We made it out and back without incident. We climbed out of the Presidio and through Sea Side to pick up another point. We had to make a quick out and back on Geary to get one we thought we might skip but had some spare time to collect. Waiting at the corner of Stanyon and Fulton I had one foot clipped in and lost ky balance. I fell on my left side, but somehow I got my right calf caught and cut by my front crank. I was pissed that I feel so stupidly, but the shocked by the size and depth of the gash. We quickly pulled ourselves to the side and applied a bandanna directly to the cut and another higher up my leg to ct as a tourniquet. Surprisingly it did not bleed much. We made out way through the Haight and then down to Market and up Castro tot he finish where we pulled in about 7:40a.m. We had actually hot all the checkpoints but were 40 points shy of a perfect score due to the SFSU mishap. That's ok we still finished 1st in our division a nd had a blast doing so. We moved fast during this race and we even reminisced that we were more sore then after Kernville! Maybe due to the pavement? The TrackStick GPS didn't perform very well during this race. Might be due to where I had it positioned on my body. Seems to work best in the top of may pack only. FOr this race I had it in my hip pack pocket. The batteries also ran out way too fast! I'm supposed to get 3 says of data, so why they bonked so fast is a mystery. Well continue to test in the field and provide reviews on our findings. Thanks, and look forward to next year! Some quotes heard by passerbys... "Hey! Amazing Race!" "Run mother F-er, Run!" Dirty Avocado - Skins Summary Data : Checkpoint order Foot: 12, 15, 56, 16, 35, 26, 53, 17, 46, 52, 33, 84, 67, 32, 106, 51, 64, 34, 62, 44, 83, 55, 54, 22, 23, 57, 45, 47, 102, 41, 11, 88, 14, TRANSITION Bike: 81, 104, 21, 107, 101, 87, 37, 86, 103, 82, 36, 85, 66, 31, 42, 25, 105, 27, 63, 43, 61, 48, 108, 58, 24, 65, 13, FINISH Well try to eventually update the below data nd map with the missing info... Total Time (h:m:s) 11:42:56 11:34 pace (incomplete data) Moving Time (h:m:s) 9:50:31 9:43 pace(incomplete data) Distance (mi ) 60.77(incomplete data) Moving Speed (mph) 6.2 avg. 77.5 max.(incomplete data) Elevation Gain (ft) +7,942 / -8,169 (incomplete data) Temperature (°F) 63.5°F avg. 71.1°F high Wind Speed ( mph) WNW 18.9 avg. WNW 32.2 max. GPS Signal Quality Fair MB Gravity Web Service *GPS Tracker ran out of batteries at Ocean Beach. Ratings *Ratings are the usually the sole opinion of the reporting team member and in no way reflect the entire teams opinion on the race. Fun Factor Overall excitement and fun. Value Bang for the buck! Racer Relations Liaisonship, treatment and communications with racers. SWAG The good stuff! Scenic Race location and area traveled.     Overall Difficulty Skill Level Required Navigation Difficulty

Posted by adoti at 02:12 AM | Comments (0)

An Avocado in Turkmenistan

**This just in from A-Bomb. He made it to Turkmenistan safely and even located an internet connection!**

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I'm in Ashgabat (location), and it's frikin hot! Arrived yesterday morning (Sat) about 5am (It's 12 hours ahead of PDT). Wish I could say the same for my luggage. I'm here with whatever I was able to fit in my Solomon race pack, which was mostly stuff that I brought for my sister. It sounds like I won't be seeing my stuff until next week at the earliest, if ever again. So, I have a 1 pair of sweats, 1 pair of undies, a Balance Bar AR t-shirt, socks and shoes to my name. I think I will understand the true meaning on "You Ripe?" by the end of this trip!

Needless to say, we hit the ground running... to the bazaars looking for clothes. We went to Talkouchka (sp?) in Ashgabat, which is aparently one of the top 10 things to do in life. It's a huge bazaar with tons of food, carpets, crafts, shoes, shirts, etc. Anything and everything you'd ever need. I've decided to pass on the traditional Turkmen atire and was lucky enough to find a Peace Corps voulnteer that's my size. So, I have a couple t's now and a pair of convertable pants to borrow. Nice!

Last night, we visited with my sisters host family in Abadan during her training. We gathered in a room where there was a huge spread of Turkmen food laid out on the floor. We sat on the ground to chat, and then they fed us, which was delicious, and we took a long nap. I must of looked tired bacause their son handed me a pillow and they all told me to sleep. I didn't argue...I was beat and full!

So we're here for one more day and leave tomorrow for my sisters hood in Balkanabat (otherwise known as Nebitdag) north west of here, about 4 hours away. It is government policy here that forigeners take guides in and out of the, Ashgabat, which is the capitol city. So, we have a guide to get us out of here, and through the road blocks and passanger searches, around noon tomorrow. It's supposed to be totally different up there compared to this city. Here it's clean and there are a lot of people around and large buildings. I'm looking forward to heading up north.

So, here's the breakdown of the rest of my time here:
Tomorrow (Monday) - To Balkanabat
Tuesday - Wednesday - going to sisters work in town, visiting lots of people
Friday - wood / carpet factory and making bread (suppoesd to be the best bread in town!)
Saturday - Talkouchka (in Balkanabat)
Sunday - Headed to the mountains to visit friends
Monday - Hang out in town
Tuesday - Friday - Going to Turkmenbashi on the Caspian Sea. Fun in the sun!
Friday - fly back to Ashgabat
Saturday - Head to Copenhagen (via Istambul)

Somewhere inthere I hope to be receiving my luggage. Otherwise, I hope it ends up in Denmark. Keep your fingers crossed for me. There will be no internet access after we leave tomorrow, and there is no cell phone signal here, so I'll try to get another update in from Denmark. Til then, keep training and hope you guys do well at the orienteering event at China Camp.

Later,
a-bomb

Posted by adoti at 12:52 AM | Comments (0)

June 09, 2006

Gold Rush Summer Challenge

The July 15 Gold Rush Summer Challenge 6 Hour Adventure Race is approaching quickly. I can't emphasize enough that this is a great introduction to adventure racing for first timers. It will also be a fun event and excellent training day for all who participate. The orienteering will be in rugged terrain where experienced racers with good navigation skills can gain a big advantage. The bike course is on paved and dirt roads so a triathlete or roadie can borrow a mountain bike and be fine, no technical skills required. The paddling course is designed such that it'd be very hard to get lost. The estimated winning time is 6 hours, slower racers can expect to finish in less than 9 hours.

Still not sure or can't find a teammate? Several experienced adventure racers from the Dirty Avocados Racing Team have volunteered to be teammates for first time adventure racers. Team Karma is already getting inquiries from people looking for teammates. Just e-mail info@teamkarma.com and let us know that you want to race but can't find a teammate and we'll do what we can to get you set up.

Perhaps you think that traveling and lodging are too expensive. Team Karma is offering free camping at the finish location the night before and the night after the race. I caught and released several smallmouth bass there a couple years ago. There will also be a BBQ after the race.

Got to www.teamkarma.com for more information and the entry form. While you're there also have a look at the Gold Rush 24 Hour Adventure Challenge, the second to last event in the 2006-2007 Explore the West series.

The greater the challenge the greater the satisfaction,

Mark Richardson

Posted by mrichardson at 11:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack