Category: cycling

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Grizzly Man Adventure Race

Shout out to my Adventure Racing team, prepping for the Griz next weekend.

Good Luck Team Adventure Sports Week.

The GrizzlyMan Adventure Race is a USARA sanctioned sprint level adventure race that takes place every April in Western Montana.

In order to do well (or even finish), racers will need to be proficient in a variety of outdoor disciplines (i.e. mountain biking, trail running, paddling, map reading and navigation).

Racers will be given a map/passport for the course and will be required to travel to certain checkpoints plotted on the map. By using what will be supplied at each checkpoint, racers will mark a designated spot on their map/passport to prove that they visited each location. This map/passport will then be turned in to race officials upon completion of the course. Finish time as well as proper checkpoint completion will determine ranking and success. …

official website – Grizzly Man Race

What’s my excuse for not being there, this time?

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the thorny truth about Baja – goathead

This evil is cursed in many parts of the world, by many names: puncturevine, caltrop, cathead, yellow vine, goathead, burra gokharu and bindii.

Wikipedia – Tribulus terrestris

Here’s me before meeting goathead. Happy.

Rick cycling Loreto to Loreto Bay, Baja

And here’s my ride with at least a dozen thorns in each tire.

cycling Loreto to Loreto Bay, Baja - 2 FLAT TIRES

I was 16km out of Loreto, Baja on a coastal adventure. Happily, a taxi van was parked right where I punctured.

Cyclists hate these thorns. One guy recommends:

• thick tires with an anti-puncture strip.
• thorn resistant tire liners
• thorn resistant tubes
• slime

… I’m thinking I’ll drink beer by the pool.

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self-guided hiking in Europe

Last summer in Europe I met many hikers on “self-guided” trips. That concept is very popular there, not so much anywhere else.

Here’s how it works.

You hire a company to do all your logistics in advance: transportation, accommodation, some meals, etc.

They choose a “best” itinerary for you. No need to plan.

One example from Bredson Outdoor Adventures:

We will be offering a special one-time, 10 night/11 day, self-guided departure from July 18 – 28, 2010 that melds the best of our two existing French Pyrenees self-guided hiking itineraries with an opportunity to view two legs of the Tour de France as it passes through the Pyrenees. During this anniversary year of the Tour de France you’ll have an opportunity to see history in the making as the Tour celebrates its 100th year in the Pyrenees. This trip is rated moderate to strenuous. …

Ten nights, half board (breakfast and dinner).

Minimum two star hotels and likely one three star hotel, all with private bath; friendly, traditional accommodations in beautiful settings with very good food

Local transport and baggage shuttle included.

Price: $2,300 USD per person double occupancy. Minimum 2 people. No single rooms available. Price reductions available for more than two people.

Deposit of $500/person by the beginning of December in order to secure hotels.

details

TOUR DE FRANCE 16

This sounds ideal for someone who’s always wanted to hike the Pyrenees. AND who loves the Tour.

Check the cost, however. About $200/day plus extras. Not everything is covered in your package.

You could do a similar trip independently cheaper, … if you’ve got the gumption and language skillz.

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Baja Adventure

by site editor Rick McCharles

Have you seen the Baja Adventure Book?

The classic has not been updated since 1998, but it was a great inspiration for me. I recall reading it in a library many, many years ago.

I write from Loreto, Baja. Just arrived after a road trip of 3450km (2143mi) over 5 days. I’m here on holiday with my parents, but plan to get out for some serious hiking, biking and kayaking.

If you’ve got advice for me on the best Baja Adventures, please leave a comment.

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Biking Across the Alaska Range

An inspiring photo by Bill Hatcher for National Geographic.

(Photograph taken on assignment for, but not published in, “Biking Across the Alaska Range: A Wild Ride,” May 1997, National Geographic magazine)

The team of Carl Tobin, Paul Adkins, and Roman Dial completed a 775-mile (1250-kilometer) bike trip across the Alaska Range in seven weeks. Their aim was to travel light, with feather-light titanium bikes and less than 20 pounds (8 kilograms) each in food, clothing, and gear.

Photo of the Day

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XTERRA World Championships, Maui

by site editor Rick McCharles

I just happen to be in Maui …

As my Adventure Racing team is at U.S. Championships in Texas this weekend, perhaps I shoudl jump in with the best off-road triathletes on Earth.

… What do you think?

XTERRA

At 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 25th, a maxed-out field of 550 international racers will embrace the annual challenge of XTERRA’s most grueling course – and in the ensuing hours put their mental and physical toughness up against Mother Nature’s arsenal of sun, sand, water, kiawe, and lava. …

Athletes from more than 20 countries and 40 states will gather on Maui – the spiritual birthplace of XTERRA – having competed all season long for the right to be at the World Tour’s culminating event. …

$105,000 in pro prize money is up for grabs and for age groupers, the title of XTERRA World Champion. All the action will be filmed for a one-hour TV special, and on race day, friends, family and fans from around the globe can log-on to http://www.XTERRA.TV for live updates from Maui.

XTERRAplanet – Maui

Or, … maybe I’ll sign up only for the 10km fun run.

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cycling AROUND Vancouver Island

Endurance Athletes To Pedal Hi-tech Boat Around Vancouver Island

Oct. 15, 2009 – One week from now, endurance athletes Greg Kolodziejzyk of Calgary and Jordan Hanssen of Seattle, WA will attempt a nautical circumnavigation of Vancouver Island, piloting the custom-designed, pedal-powered boat Within on its first long-distance ocean voyage. Greg and Jordan will launch Within on Friday, Oct. 23 from Comox, BC and will travel clockwise around the Island. If successful, this voyage will be the first-ever circumnavigation of the Island in a pedal-powered boat. …

read more – Endurance Athletes To Pedal Hi-tech Boat Around Vancouver Island

bicycle-boat

I’m actually close to Comox, B.C. right now, visiting my parents.

Unfortunately I’ll depart before the launch.

Good luck guys!

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biking hiking Banded Peak, Alberta

by Besthike editor Rick McCharles

One of the best day hikes out of my home town, Calgary, is Banded Peak. But it’s a big day:

Something like 37 km return, a 1416m (4645ft) height gain.

Perhaps 27km on the bike and a 10km return hike/scree scramble to the 2,934m (9,626ft) summit.

Banded Peak from near the trailhead
Banded Peak from near the trailhead

Here’s the final deceptively easy looking approach.

summit
summit

Banded Peak, together with Mount Glasgow, Mount Cornwall, and Outlaw Peak, forms a small range which lies between the Little Elbow River to the north and the Elbow River to the south. …

PeakFinder

It’s become a tradition with the families of some of my hiking buddies to take their sons on this adventure as something of a rite of passage to manhood.

On Sept. 19th, 2009 we took three 13-yr-olds. They had to get to the top … or die trying.

Banded-Peak-trailhead

Rob Glaser, our leader, was far from certain that a group this big could finish. And finish in time before night fall.

Here we are on the summit. Everyone made it. Somehow.

triumph-on-Banded

It was extremely windy on top. I’d estimate 80km/hr (50MPH).

Other than that, the weather was great for this time of the year. We were lucky.

Our best fun was some of the scree runs on descent.

scree-run

Happily, we all made it back to the trailhead by 5:30PM.

Victory.

more photos from this adventure

Guidebooks:

  • Kananaskis Country Trail Guide – Vol. 2
  • Scrambles In the Canadian Rockies 3rd edition

    • related: Banded Peak Challenge for Easter Seals Camp Horizon

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    hiking Jungfrau, Switzerland – day 2

    Trip report by site editor Rick McCharles

    day 1 | 2 | 3

    Jungfrau hike – day 2

    By coincidence, I was in Grindelwald the same time as the annual Eiger Bike Challenge. In fact, I hung out at the main tent two days running.

    Hikers, the train and the cycle race all climbed from from the valley to Klein Scheidegg.

    train-Jungfrau

    cyclist-Jungfrau

    Most cyclists had to walk some sections. Fitness and ability level was mixed at this race. Certainly I would have been tempted to rent a bike and join in had I had arrived one day earlier.

    walking-the-bike

    My goal. The hotel at Kleine Scheidegg. I remembered the description well from reading The Eiger Sanction 20yrs before. I bought it as an audio download and enjoyed it again on my iPod during this hike.

    Kleine-Scheidegg

    The train from here to Jungfraujoch 3454m “TOP OF EUROPE” is super expensive. I asked several times if there was somehow I could hike up there instead. … Not without ice climbing equipment, unfortunately.

    The short climb up to the glacial moraine was as high as I got, sadly.

    There’s a feature there I’d never seen before. Benches in water where you can rinse your feet. It even has a bubbler.

    hikers-Jungfrau

    bench-in-water

    By nightfall I found a fantastic place to put up my tent, on a cliff edge overlooking the lovely, tranquil Lauterbrunnen valley.

    mountain-vista

    That evening when I was cooking supper an Italian hiker stopped by. He and his fiance were doing a long through hike through the Alps. Had been on the trail for a couple of months.

    see all my photos from day 2

    day 1 | 2 | 3