Intro:
It was this past weekend (a full week after our adventures in North Dakota transpired) while sorting through still wet & nasty, that I was able to reflect on how truly epic that course was and how blessed I am to have been in the position to compete at that level.
2014 has been a year of change and growth for me, starting with a semi-impromptu move to Salt Lake for a new job that separated me briefly from my biggest supporters, my family. While the time away was trying on everyone, it did allow for an uptick in training volume and difficultly (Mountains!). I also met one of my teammates through the local orienteering club.
One consistent goal was to be ready to compete on the world stage again at the Gold Rush Mother Lode expedition, this time for a podium spot with my new team, Journey Racing. This added pressure to prove myself to new teammates (I have a spotted AR career - bringing new racers to the sport) somehow landed me in a series of Ultras… 3 50ks in 4 weeks to be exact! Something about long journeys into the wilderness was appealing, but that overload in training and the news that GRML had to be cancelled, left me deflated.
That’s when team Captain, Chelsea Luttrall, called me up said she wanted me to lead a team to the North American Adventure Race Series (NAARS) Championships. It had been over 2 years since I had raced in a 24-30hr race, so the speed had me apprehensive, especially when the team shook out to include former World Champion, Danelle Ballengee and Ex Navy Seal, Ian Hoag. Just Keep Up was the new motto!
In an act of seemingly divine intervention, I ended up purchasing a new bike about six weeks prior to the race. It had become obvious from my first ride on the trails of Utah that my trusty old stead was on its final legs, so after replacing brakes, and a good portion of the drivetrain it has been relegated to a commuter and trail bike for the wife. My new Scott Spark 29er played a huge part in my performance at the NAARS Champs given my somewhat low volume of bike training. Only three 40 mile rides prior to what we learn less than a week out was to be 100+ miles of bike racing…
Needless to say, I was not on my best physical or mental game getting ready to leave.
It was this past weekend (a full week after our adventures in North Dakota transpired) while sorting through still wet & nasty, that I was able to reflect on how truly epic that course was and how blessed I am to have been in the position to compete at that level.
2014 has been a year of change and growth for me, starting with a semi-impromptu move to Salt Lake for a new job that separated me briefly from my biggest supporters, my family. While the time away was trying on everyone, it did allow for an uptick in training volume and difficultly (Mountains!). I also met one of my teammates through the local orienteering club.
One consistent goal was to be ready to compete on the world stage again at the Gold Rush Mother Lode expedition, this time for a podium spot with my new team, Journey Racing. This added pressure to prove myself to new teammates (I have a spotted AR career - bringing new racers to the sport) somehow landed me in a series of Ultras… 3 50ks in 4 weeks to be exact! Something about long journeys into the wilderness was appealing, but that overload in training and the news that GRML had to be cancelled, left me deflated.
That’s when team Captain, Chelsea Luttrall, called me up said she wanted me to lead a team to the North American Adventure Race Series (NAARS) Championships. It had been over 2 years since I had raced in a 24-30hr race, so the speed had me apprehensive, especially when the team shook out to include former World Champion, Danelle Ballengee and Ex Navy Seal, Ian Hoag. Just Keep Up was the new motto!
In an act of seemingly divine intervention, I ended up purchasing a new bike about six weeks prior to the race. It had become obvious from my first ride on the trails of Utah that my trusty old stead was on its final legs, so after replacing brakes, and a good portion of the drivetrain it has been relegated to a commuter and trail bike for the wife. My new Scott Spark 29er played a huge part in my performance at the NAARS Champs given my somewhat low volume of bike training. Only three 40 mile rides prior to what we learn less than a week out was to be 100+ miles of bike racing…
Needless to say, I was not on my best physical or mental game getting ready to leave.
The Drive:
Ian and I packed the van of all our gear (and some of Danelle’s that had been shipped up from Moab) earlier in the week, and departed right after work on Thursday evening. We knew the drive would be long and exhausting, so breaking it into two manageable chunks meant we’d be fresher for course planning and race prep. We kept ourselves entertained through a long running NastyAss Honey Badger/Adventure Racer impersonation and discussions of all the taboo topics of religion, politics, and parenting. Our night was spent camping on the beach of the Almosa Reservoir, outside of Casper. Friday’s drive was a blur… race mode.
Ian and I packed the van of all our gear (and some of Danelle’s that had been shipped up from Moab) earlier in the week, and departed right after work on Thursday evening. We knew the drive would be long and exhausting, so breaking it into two manageable chunks meant we’d be fresher for course planning and race prep. We kept ourselves entertained through a long running NastyAss Honey Badger/Adventure Racer impersonation and discussions of all the taboo topics of religion, politics, and parenting. Our night was spent camping on the beach of the Almosa Reservoir, outside of Casper. Friday’s drive was a blur… race mode.
Prerace:
We met Danelle at the motel to unload and begin packing the gear bin. Her demeanor was immediately disarming, and I knew we were going to have a strong and solid race. We then joined the other teams at check-in to get maps, swag, and any other pertinent info before returning to our room to plot, pack, and plan race route and strategy. Part of our plan was to minimize transition time by having preloaded secondary packs for the big orienteering course, which made our bin full and heavy! After “dinner” we rejoined the teams that stayed for the Documentary Screening of last years championship, for the racer meeting (a few additional notes & thanks). We then jettisoned back to our gear for a final sweep, set some alarms and got to bed before 10.
We met Danelle at the motel to unload and begin packing the gear bin. Her demeanor was immediately disarming, and I knew we were going to have a strong and solid race. We then joined the other teams at check-in to get maps, swag, and any other pertinent info before returning to our room to plot, pack, and plan race route and strategy. Part of our plan was to minimize transition time by having preloaded secondary packs for the big orienteering course, which made our bin full and heavy! After “dinner” we rejoined the teams that stayed for the Documentary Screening of last years championship, for the racer meeting (a few additional notes & thanks). We then jettisoned back to our gear for a final sweep, set some alarms and got to bed before 10.
Go time!!!
-Start:
Wake up call at 4:20am, dressed/packed/checked-out of hotel by 5. Loading bins and bikes on the trailers by 5:30. Departed by bus to race start before 6. What happens when you’ve got a bus full of overly hydrated and caffeinated racers in 35-degree weather? A side-of-the-road toilet break, of course! Oil truckers must have gotten a kick out of our urinary exodus…
Fifteen minutes later we arrived at the Magpie campground and had a couple moments to gather bikes & nerves before the horn blared for our 7:30 start.
Wake up call at 4:20am, dressed/packed/checked-out of hotel by 5. Loading bins and bikes on the trailers by 5:30. Departed by bus to race start before 6. What happens when you’ve got a bus full of overly hydrated and caffeinated racers in 35-degree weather? A side-of-the-road toilet break, of course! Oil truckers must have gotten a kick out of our urinary exodus…
Fifteen minutes later we arrived at the Magpie campground and had a couple moments to gather bikes & nerves before the horn blared for our 7:30 start.
-Maah Daah Hey:
The first 35 miles of this race was a rugged and beautiful single-track MTB trail through grasslands and a large quantity of ravine and flat-topped butte climbs. We quickly joined the lead pack in what we thought was a moderate pace that didn’t actually feel like racing. The pace continued to increase throughout in only a slightly noticeable amount like cooking a frog by turning the heat up slowly. It only became noticeable when it was obvious that the top three teams (NYARA, REV3, and us – Journey) were the only ones in sight. Our goal at that point was to just make sure we kept the others in view, because we felt must more confident about our foot navigation. Through little nav errors, mechanicals, and delayering in the growing warmth of the day, we continued to leapfrog with the other 2 teams all the way to TA1 with us rolling in less than a minute in front.
The first 35 miles of this race was a rugged and beautiful single-track MTB trail through grasslands and a large quantity of ravine and flat-topped butte climbs. We quickly joined the lead pack in what we thought was a moderate pace that didn’t actually feel like racing. The pace continued to increase throughout in only a slightly noticeable amount like cooking a frog by turning the heat up slowly. It only became noticeable when it was obvious that the top three teams (NYARA, REV3, and us – Journey) were the only ones in sight. Our goal at that point was to just make sure we kept the others in view, because we felt must more confident about our foot navigation. Through little nav errors, mechanicals, and delayering in the growing warmth of the day, we continued to leapfrog with the other 2 teams all the way to TA1 with us rolling in less than a minute in front.
-Summit ‘O’ Sprint
Despite our tiny lead into the transition, NYARA beat up into the ‘O’ by a minute or two. But between Ian’s spot on navigation and my surprisingly accurate pace counting through the varied terrain and speed, we caught NYARA who was taking the same loop through the Rogaine style section. The sandstone and crystalized dirt spurs, ridgelines, and 300ft tall reentrants that we climbed were both sketchy and fun! It quickly became a game of speed/strength vs. accuracy/experience, and after a few cps, we decided to work together, rather than fight for another one-minute lead. This section was perhaps also, when a slight fear of our pajama clad teammate Danelle Ballengee was first realized when sharing past AR experiences and Eco Fiji came up…
About three quarters of the way through, we past Rev3 heading the opposite way through the ‘o’ course and realized that we had greatly extend our lead over third. In fact what was supposed to be 2-5 hour course depending on skill, took our teams roughly an hour and half!
Despite our tiny lead into the transition, NYARA beat up into the ‘O’ by a minute or two. But between Ian’s spot on navigation and my surprisingly accurate pace counting through the varied terrain and speed, we caught NYARA who was taking the same loop through the Rogaine style section. The sandstone and crystalized dirt spurs, ridgelines, and 300ft tall reentrants that we climbed were both sketchy and fun! It quickly became a game of speed/strength vs. accuracy/experience, and after a few cps, we decided to work together, rather than fight for another one-minute lead. This section was perhaps also, when a slight fear of our pajama clad teammate Danelle Ballengee was first realized when sharing past AR experiences and Eco Fiji came up…
About three quarters of the way through, we past Rev3 heading the opposite way through the ‘o’ course and realized that we had greatly extend our lead over third. In fact what was supposed to be 2-5 hour course depending on skill, took our teams roughly an hour and half!
-Grasslands Journey:
According to the RD, this was supposed to be a fast and straightforward dirt/gravel road ride… Reality (at least the first 15 miles) was a winding a convoluted network of double track throughout the National Grasslands. It became known as Maah Daah Hey extra wide. We continued the cat and mouse game with NYARA, them leading us anywhere from 5 seconds to 10 minutes, as we were the little AR team that could and kept popping out of nowhere on them. Apparently they kept joking that we had a teleportation device that kept delivering us back to them in times of trouble. I think we ended up rolling into TA2 about eight minutes back.
According to the RD, this was supposed to be a fast and straightforward dirt/gravel road ride… Reality (at least the first 15 miles) was a winding a convoluted network of double track throughout the National Grasslands. It became known as Maah Daah Hey extra wide. We continued the cat and mouse game with NYARA, them leading us anywhere from 5 seconds to 10 minutes, as we were the little AR team that could and kept popping out of nowhere on them. Apparently they kept joking that we had a teleportation device that kept delivering us back to them in times of trouble. I think we ended up rolling into TA2 about eight minutes back.
-LMSP Night Adventure:
This was the crux of the race and both teams knew it, and let it get to them mentally. We lost another 5 minutes to NYARA in the prepping food and gear, but within a few minutes of trekking/running we had once again caught our foes. We both spent a vastly frustrating amount of time searching for the first CP (#12 I think). We found it and moved off quickly, but at a conservative route that wouldn’t have us climbing right up the steep face to the next CP. During this time NYARA grabbed #12 and took a direct/physical route to the CP, gapped us and were gone. Somehow we caught them again, at least in sight and began pursuit. The most unfortunately thing about this section and probably one of the deciding race factors, was we were once again taking relatively the same route through the Rogaine…
We moved stealthily and smartly through most of the ‘O’ course once we got our bearing, and leap frogged NYARA once again…until CP4. This one was the most dangerous (and mis-plotted) I’ve seen in my recent AR history. Through GPS/erosion discrepancies, it was placed significantly higher on the ridge from the saddle. And we had a near vertical climb up to it. NYARA found us, and by association the CP and were right on our heels. We attacked the second to last CP directly, climbed/landed on the trail higher than we realized, and made the most costly navigational error of our race – running up the trail (wrong direction) for CP13 instead of down and around. By the time we had realized the mistake, NYARA who had taken the more conservative approach this time, had grabbed the CP and were climbing to the final CP and TA (still manically thinking they were chasing us). Their youth, physicality, and desperation to catch our phantom lead paid dividends through the final physical climbs of the trek and they put a 17-minute lead on us going into the ‘dark zone.’
We arrived a little disappointed in how much time we’d lost in a section we had hoped would have given us the edge. We prepped and packed off the clock for one final push when the dark-zone lifted. We knew we would have to have a solid paddle and superhuman bike (or another NYARA mechanical) to close the time gap, but we were determined to try. And after a 1-2hr sleep in down jackets on picnic tables, we got our chance.
This was the crux of the race and both teams knew it, and let it get to them mentally. We lost another 5 minutes to NYARA in the prepping food and gear, but within a few minutes of trekking/running we had once again caught our foes. We both spent a vastly frustrating amount of time searching for the first CP (#12 I think). We found it and moved off quickly, but at a conservative route that wouldn’t have us climbing right up the steep face to the next CP. During this time NYARA grabbed #12 and took a direct/physical route to the CP, gapped us and were gone. Somehow we caught them again, at least in sight and began pursuit. The most unfortunately thing about this section and probably one of the deciding race factors, was we were once again taking relatively the same route through the Rogaine…
We moved stealthily and smartly through most of the ‘O’ course once we got our bearing, and leap frogged NYARA once again…until CP4. This one was the most dangerous (and mis-plotted) I’ve seen in my recent AR history. Through GPS/erosion discrepancies, it was placed significantly higher on the ridge from the saddle. And we had a near vertical climb up to it. NYARA found us, and by association the CP and were right on our heels. We attacked the second to last CP directly, climbed/landed on the trail higher than we realized, and made the most costly navigational error of our race – running up the trail (wrong direction) for CP13 instead of down and around. By the time we had realized the mistake, NYARA who had taken the more conservative approach this time, had grabbed the CP and were climbing to the final CP and TA (still manically thinking they were chasing us). Their youth, physicality, and desperation to catch our phantom lead paid dividends through the final physical climbs of the trek and they put a 17-minute lead on us going into the ‘dark zone.’
We arrived a little disappointed in how much time we’d lost in a section we had hoped would have given us the edge. We prepped and packed off the clock for one final push when the dark-zone lifted. We knew we would have to have a solid paddle and superhuman bike (or another NYARA mechanical) to close the time gap, but we were determined to try. And after a 1-2hr sleep in down jackets on picnic tables, we got our chance.
-Paddle in a Tub:
During the final prep before the start the RD informed us that for safety reasons, we would all ride the five-mile highway section to the boat put in a moderate peloton, but confusion of when we were leaving and the distractions of the race photographer found us back again from NYARA again… not a great start to a comeback!
Next, as we were struggling to get the only 3 person canoe to the water, the bite value of my bladder fell off in the dark, leaving me searching while getting wet in the dark. This 3 person boat was, of course, the only plastic one and its heft and girth should have been an indicator to us that it would only slightly better than a bathtub, but between not being able to bring our third seat (without having to bike it all the way back to the finish) and the sleep deprivation keeping us from the sitting on a pack solution, we opted for comfort over speed (aluminum). So it was rub-a-dub-dub all the way through the torturously slow eighteen-mile paddle except for a brief final exchange with NYARA during the quick trek up to the final CP. It wasn’t the last time we saw them, but it was the last time up close. During the second half of the paddle and the final bike they extended their lead another ~20 minutes.
During the final prep before the start the RD informed us that for safety reasons, we would all ride the five-mile highway section to the boat put in a moderate peloton, but confusion of when we were leaving and the distractions of the race photographer found us back again from NYARA again… not a great start to a comeback!
Next, as we were struggling to get the only 3 person canoe to the water, the bite value of my bladder fell off in the dark, leaving me searching while getting wet in the dark. This 3 person boat was, of course, the only plastic one and its heft and girth should have been an indicator to us that it would only slightly better than a bathtub, but between not being able to bring our third seat (without having to bike it all the way back to the finish) and the sleep deprivation keeping us from the sitting on a pack solution, we opted for comfort over speed (aluminum). So it was rub-a-dub-dub all the way through the torturously slow eighteen-mile paddle except for a brief final exchange with NYARA during the quick trek up to the final CP. It wasn’t the last time we saw them, but it was the last time up close. During the second half of the paddle and the final bike they extended their lead another ~20 minutes.
-Smooth & Sore Ride Home:
We banked, did what was required of us with the boat, and saddled for one final crazed climb to catch first place, knowing full well that NYARA would need to break a derailleur or arm to throw this race. It was there’s to lose, but we gave everything we had for another 15 miles of the final 20ish. With no other teams insight in either direction the final half hour of the ride/race was pure agony. The lack of long training rides and a slow drip from my water bladder during the previous nights’ trek had left my nether regions raw and burning and without the motivation of a win to hold me to my seat, I spent a lot of time standing and coasting.
We gathered together and crossed the finish with exhausted smiles, photos, and congrats that were closely followed with Burgers and Fries!
We went back to the hotel for a shower, sleep, and pack up before the awards dinner. More food, stories – even a brief video, and some nice watches for our effort was a great finish to the event.
The long drive home was actually the most difficult section of the race, but even that was worth it for such a great adventure in North Dakota!
We banked, did what was required of us with the boat, and saddled for one final crazed climb to catch first place, knowing full well that NYARA would need to break a derailleur or arm to throw this race. It was there’s to lose, but we gave everything we had for another 15 miles of the final 20ish. With no other teams insight in either direction the final half hour of the ride/race was pure agony. The lack of long training rides and a slow drip from my water bladder during the previous nights’ trek had left my nether regions raw and burning and without the motivation of a win to hold me to my seat, I spent a lot of time standing and coasting.
We gathered together and crossed the finish with exhausted smiles, photos, and congrats that were closely followed with Burgers and Fries!
We went back to the hotel for a shower, sleep, and pack up before the awards dinner. More food, stories – even a brief video, and some nice watches for our effort was a great finish to the event.
The long drive home was actually the most difficult section of the race, but even that was worth it for such a great adventure in North Dakota!
Thanks:
I’d like to say special thanks to the RD, Andy Magness for one of the best 30 hour races I’ve ever had the pleasure of competing in, to NAARS and the team of producers, volunteers, and RDs that are raising the North American AR bar, to Journey Racing for believing in me and helping send/organize this team of elite athletes, to my teammates Ian & Danelle for your faith and dedication to seeing us excel, to my workplace (Infinite Scale) for cheering me on, Randy Ericksen for the photography and most importantly to my family (Patty, Turner, Reece and Mom & Dad) for your love & support. Performances like this cannot be realized without the help of others and I can’t wait to see what 2015 has to bring!
I’d like to say special thanks to the RD, Andy Magness for one of the best 30 hour races I’ve ever had the pleasure of competing in, to NAARS and the team of producers, volunteers, and RDs that are raising the North American AR bar, to Journey Racing for believing in me and helping send/organize this team of elite athletes, to my teammates Ian & Danelle for your faith and dedication to seeing us excel, to my workplace (Infinite Scale) for cheering me on, Randy Ericksen for the photography and most importantly to my family (Patty, Turner, Reece and Mom & Dad) for your love & support. Performances like this cannot be realized without the help of others and I can’t wait to see what 2015 has to bring!