I love trying to get ultra-light gear, or cutting things off my gear to make it ultra-light.

I have a personal gear list which is for basic races and then a mandatory gear list for each race. For instance Primal Quest will have an extensive gear list on their site in addition to what we normally bring.

From helmets, to ascenders, to shoes- gear is a lot of fun and for many a personal preference. I used to look at what the professionals were wearing. That does not work. My feet are wide and therefore I cannot wear Salomon Shoes as a lot of people wear. I actually used to wear them, but my feet have gotten wider! I now wear Merrells.

I also like to drink my calories. I used to copy what others were eating. I had a teammate that ate 2 MRE’s a day at the Michigan Expedition Race. This worked for him, but that does not work for me. It is very important to figure out what works for you!

I also search out the very best gear I can find; then I shop around for that exact product. I look for great gear deals and then pass on the stores to other racers. People laugh, but when you are carrying 16 different items and you have saved one extra ounce per item, you are carrying one pound less…a significant difference.

A sprint is usually a two to six hour race. It is more like an off-road triathlon. It is very fast paced. It has minimal navigation and sometimes has team building games or special tests.

12-Hour

A six to twelve hour race usually has more navigation and really starts to test your level of endurance and love for the sport. The winning teams will run all the trekking sections and bike very hard.

24-Hour

A race lasting between 24-48 hours has UTM-based (Universal Transverse Mercator) navigation. Sometimes there is basic rope work, usually a rappel. Sometimes you will need a support crew for these races. This is a great test of you ability to go through the night.

On my first 24 hour race, I was so afraid I would not be able to stay up all night. I had coffee beans and all kinds of snack foods ready to keep me awake. It ended up being pretty easy to stay awake. This is mostly because it was cold and we were lost in the Ozarks!

Multi-day

Races can last 36 hours to 48 hours. There is always advanced navigation and route choice. Sleep deprivation becomes a significant factor. Deciding when to sleep or if you will sleep is key.

Expedition

Three to 11 day races involve all the challenges of a multi-day race, but often with additional disciplines (e.g., horse-back riding, mountaineering, white water paddling and advanced rope work).

Sleep, teamwork and sheer determination are a key to winning and just finishing these races. This becomes a scenario where just finishing makes you feel like a winner.

I went from a 48 hour race to racing 6 days at Primal Quest. The level of training, demand on your body, and determination is incredible. It was the best and worst times physically of my life. I love it and couldn’t wait to go back and race Primal Quest Montana 2008! The Montana race was incredible with 100,000 foot of elevation gain. I had great stories of Primal Quest Montana and made some great friends.

One of the enjoyable things about expedition races is re-hashing and embellishing the stories. Reading the extreme race stories is a favorite past time of mine. One exciting thing for me was reading about all these people and then lining up beside them at the starting line of Primal Quest.

People debate the origin of adventure racing. The oldest race people point too is the two-day Karrimor International Mountain Marathon. The Karrimor Marathon was two-person teams who traversed the mountains while carrying their supplies. It was the length of two marathons.

1980

Alpine Ironman was held in New Zealand. Athletes ran, paddled and skied. The Alpine Ironman’s creator, Robin Judkins, launched the Coast to Coast race the same year. This race used many of the same disciplines as todays adventure races.

trail running

cycling

paddling

1982

The Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic involved six days of unsupported wilderness racing. The course was 150 miles.

1989

Gerald Fusil’s launched the Raid Gauloises in New Zealand. The race included the staples of today’s adventure racing. It had co-ed teams competing in a multi-day 400+ mile race.

1991

The inaugural Southern Traverse was held in 1991.

1995

Mark Burnett after seeing the Raid wanted to promote the race as a major televised sporting event.

He purchased the rights from Gerald Fusil. He then launched the first “Eco-Challenge” race.

Burnett brought the world adventure racing. He promoted his event with Emmy-award winning films (the last taping was last held in 2002).

Eco-Challenge first coined the term “adventure race”. Many people still hope this ground-breaking race will come back, including myself! It seems with the success of so many other shows, by Mark Burnett, Eco-Challenge will not be back.

2002

Primal Quest is now the Olympics of extreme racing. It is run by Don Mann and a fantastic staff that has taken adventure racing back to the grass roots.

2008

Primal Quest is still the biggest race this year. Watch our team as we take on Primal Quest Montana. I thought Primal Quest was an epic race. I still enjoy watching Primal Quest Utah and Primal Quest San Juan as I train each morning.

An expedition event can span ten days or more while sprints can be completed in a matter of hours.

There are “dark periods” during races– the choice when (and if) to rest or sleep is left to the competitors. This can be a big conflict between athletes and is one of the biggest strategy players. Team Nike (the number one team in the world) likes to bank sleep early. Team Merell (a team that rivals Nike often) at Primal Quest Utah led much of the way on no sleep.
Adventure racing normally has teams of 4, but nationals are teams of 3. To be in the ranking your team needs to be co-ed.

Typically the teams are 3 men and 1 woman, but at Primal Quest 2006, I raced with 3 women. We were the only 3 person women’s team of the 90 teams.

My teammates were stronger than many of the men with whom I’ve raced. This is not to take anything away from the men, these women were just that strong! Jenny went on to race with Nike. Elizabeth could have easily been the one whom they called, as she is just as strong.

Primal Quest is the “Olympics” of adventure racing, now that eco-challenge is gone. It is a race that is over 415 miles long and lasting up to 10 days.

The main problem most new comers to the sport have is not physical or related to fitness – you will be able to climb and your strength and fitness will increase as you try harder climbs.

The major hurdle for most new climbers is mental you will need the ability to be able to concentrate for long periods of time and be able to overcome any fears or phobias you may have about the void below you or placing your life in your climbing partner’s hands.

When I did my first ascent the rope was up against a rock ledge. I was not experienced enough to know how to remove my ascenders or self-rescue and I had no footholds to push myself away from the wall.

I hung in the air for about 20 minutes, spinning around…looking around…getting jittery- while I waited for help. It was very nerve-racking, but after each rappel and climb it became easier. I use a lot of mental techniques to aid my fear of heights.

Another skill you’ll need to master is tying knots. This can easily be accomplished by practicing at night during your down time, while watching tv.

They also do Dirt Jumping, which is riding over dirt tracks or soil that gives them the terrain to work with.

Downhill is another form of mountain biking, which simply means finding hills or mountains and going down them.

There is also Freeride mountain biking, which pretty much allows the riders to do anything they’d like. Trials include all of the above, but also hopping and jumping their bikes over obstacles. Most mountain bike enthusiasts participate in all of the types of mountain biking.

The first piece of rock climbing equipment most people think of is rope; ropes are used both as a safety device and also by some climbers with the aid of an ascender to climb. Ascenders are pieces of mechanical equipment that a climber uses to climb up a rope. Ascending is very popular in adventure racing.

Helmets are probably the next piece of equipment that the average person would think of when considering rock climbing equipment.

Carabineers, quickdraws, belay devices, rappel devices, and harnesses are all devices that are used with or on the climbing rope.

Carabineers are used as connectors and there are several different types of carabineers each used for different connections. Quick draws are devices that the climbing rope runs through with minimal friction and are used to attach the ropes to anchors or other protection.

Belay and rappel devices are both devices that are used on climbing ropes for the purposes they name. Harnesses are also self explanatory – it is the piece of safety equipment that connects the climber to the climbing rope.

Climbers also use protection devices – devices that are secured into the rock face onto which the climbing rope is attached. There are three main types of protection devices or pro’s nuts, hexcentrics and spring loaded camming devices (SLCD’s).

Rock climbing encompasses many styles these are: indoor climbing, bouldering, traditional rock climbing, free rock climbing, aid climbing, solo climbing, alpine climbing and ice climbing. Each of these individual specialties has their own basic skills and levels of experience necessary.

It is highly recommended that you should get proper and appropriate training in the basic skills of rock climbing from a reputable club or training association.

Rock Climbing History is enticing. Since man first met the rock, there have been rock climbers. This sounds simplistic but it is the truth! Rock climbing has been a necessity for people traversing mountainous regions throughout history.

Ancient civilizations have lived and built their homes on or in cliffs and rock ledges as a form of protection. There is pictorial evidence of men climbing rocks in Chinese watercolors from 400 B.C.

Rock climbing techniques have been employed by several conquering armies throughout history to not only traverse mountainous regions to invade areas, but also to siege castles and other fortresses and breach the walls and defenses of these structures.

In rock climbing history we see techniques were also used to gather food in medieval times; there are numerous reports of climbers (with the aid of just a length of rope if they were lucky) whose job it was to collect sea bird eggs from English cliff faces to sell as food.

Rock climbing as a sport rather than as a means of getting from A to B has existed since the late 1800’s.

The Victorian era is well known as a period in time when nature and the study and exploration of the natural world was extremely fashionable.

This interest lead to rock climbing taking off as a sport in its own right during this period. Prior to the 1880’s rock climbing was perceived as being a component of mountaineering and not a standalone sport.

Walter Parry Haskett Smith was a solo climber who completed the first ascent of the Napes Needle in the late 1880’s and this climb is traditionally seen as the birth of rock climbing as a sport.

This climb was extremely well publicized at the time and as a result of this publicity over 60 climbers at a time would meet to climb this natural peak.

Emilio Comici is regarded by many as the father of modern rock climbing. He was a climber in the 1930’s and was the inventor of many climbing aids such as the solid belays, hanging bivouacs and the use of the trail/tag line. Comici is famed as being the originator of big wall climbing and the techniques involved.

The general public (those people outside of the sports of both mountaineering and rock climbing) still thought of rock climbing as a component of mountain climbing and not a separate sport for many years to come. Looking back at rock climbing history, it was not until the 1950’s that the general public began to perceive rock climbing as being a sport of its own.

Up until the 1950’s, rock climbing was perceived as having two functions. It was seen as a component of mountain climbing and as a necessary part of traversing some mountains, a means of obtaining the summit.

Rock climbing was also seen as a training activity- a way for mountain climbers to achieve fitness and hone their skills for the “real” challenge of mountain climbing!

Mountain biking history is just plain cool. Mountain biking takes place off road, and often takes place over rough terrain. Mountain biking takes place either on mountain bikes that have been specially equipped to be ridden on the trail, or on hybrid road bikes, that have been modified to work under these conditions.

The mountain bikes themselves are ready for the rough trail, with tires that are wide and knobby, and a frame tubing that is large and round. The bikes usually have a front fork or dual suspension, and often come with shock absorbers. The bikes are heavy, but work well under their riding conditions.

I say the bikes are heavy. I actually ride a 21 pound bike which is quite light for mountain bikes. It is a hard-tail so it is not as heavy as a full suspension. It is important to get the right sized bike for your sport.

Mountain biking can be quite exhilarating. I used to fall all the time. It is a strange sensation as you don’t think of falling off your bike as an adult.

I had my first crash at age 8. I rode down a huge hill. I wanted to see if I could brake when I got to the driveway and still stop before hitting the garage. Well I could not. I bent my brand new frame, as I crashed into the garage!

In adventure racing, mountain biking is one of the most fun things we do. There is often a steep climb, but the reward is flying down the mountain. It is always nice to be off your feet for a while.

EIJ, Extreme Ironing Japan, takes great pride in the sport of Extreme Ironing, which currently consists of 5 different styles of extreme ironing at this time: Freestyle, Urban, Rocky, Forest, and Water.

Inspirational…!

See below for more Extreme Ironing in action!