Category: racing

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Gear Junkies in Patagonia

What is it like to be truly remote and pushed to your physical and emotional limits in the wilderness?

This video, culled from clips taken by our race team on the go in remote Chile during the 2012 Patagonian Expedition Race, gives a solid glimpse into that question. …

read more – Gear Junkie

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… the team managed a third-place finish …

… . . Coming into CP17, we were four hours behind the Japanese team, and we decided to gamble on a straight-line bushwhack through a valley in the night with only two hours of tent-less sleep. In the predawn light, just before the glacier pass at CP18, we came upon the Japanese. They were clearly surprised [they had been ahead for a while] and yet they greeted us warmly, forming a line with each one of them shaking each one of our hands, smiling, and saying “Good to see you.” It was surreal. They then shared a look and bolted. [Note: Team Eastwind, from Japan, ended up beating Team GearJunkie/YogaSlackers by about 30 minutes in the 10-day race.] …

High Insanity: Patagonian Exped Race

(via The Adventure Blog)

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Waterton Triple Crown 56.2km, 16.5hr

Jill sent me a link to a site I did not know, the Experience Waterton! blog. (I’m now subscribed.)

As I’m thinking of heading down to Waterton this weekend, I was super excited to read this amazing trip report:

… On August 22nd, Shawn Elford and 2 of his friends completed the impressive and noteworthy task of hiking the entirety of the Triple Crown in one whole day! Starting at Crypt Lake, moving on to Akamina Ridge and finishing at Alderson-Carthew …


Note the link to the Triple Crown in the right hand navigation. They are a sponsor of the Best Hike blog.

6am – Crypt:

Akamina Ridge:

6pm – starting Carthew-Alderson:

Completing Triple Crown in Under 24 Hours Straight!

They recommend climbing up to the ridge from Forum Lake, descending via Bennett Pass.

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Expedition Idaho Race wrap-up

by site editor Rick McCharles

Race Director Dave Adlard impressed one and all with his passion and tireless effort to make the inaugural ExpID a success.

Check out his wrap-up post for results and highlights – Expedition Idaho: The FINAL Update!.

The top teams transported themselves over 500mi of rugged north Idaho and Montana. Here’s a vastly simplified map of the route.

Mostly on foot, mountain bike and paddle, Dave added dozens of other challenges. Personally I liked “build a raft” and “light a fire” (without matches).

It’s hard on the body. My friends took significant damage moving constantly for 6 days.

Andy Tucker
Jeni McNeal

… but talk about a life altering experience. Expedition Adventure Racing makes Ironman look trivial.

Winners Thule from Europe just might be the team to beat at Worlds in Tasmania.

I was responsible for the race blog and social media:

» Team Photos | Photos | Videos | Twitter

Though I’m personally not a fan of Twitter, it was our best mode of communication during this race. Multiple people logged in to our account to update from the mountains by mobile phone.

The SPOT devices were almost more trouble than they were worth, working semi-reasonably perhaps 30% of the time. Multiple points of failure: human error, SPOT failure, battery failure, weather interference. The satellite network is unreliable too, it seems.

The one time we really needed SPOT to work, it didn’t. The team needed to climb to elevation to use a mobile phone to call 911 for air evacuation after a bike fall.

My $9.50 Trakfone was far more reliable in the wild than SPOT.

Here’s my favourite photo from the week, nighttime navigation – Team Bones.

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adventure race – Expedition Idaho 2011

I’m one of the volunteers helping to organize this brand new event hosted at Silver Mountain Ski Resort.

600+K, 7 days, an experience of a lifetime.

August 14 – 20, 2011
Coeur d’ Alene

Organizer Dave Adlard has launched a blog. And updated the official website.

Facebook event.

… As of February 13, we have 25 teams committed or who have expressed serious, positive interest …

We’re now wanting to get the word out. Share if you can. 🙂

related – T.C. WORLEY – Patagonian Race Final Report:

… Expedition racing breaks or makes a person. Seeds of doubt on the course can sprout quickly in the fertile soils of pain and fatigue. Allow them to set roots and your race is over. Push back at the agonizing pain, those demoralizing chills and defeating weather, and you are rewarded with a warrior mindset. You can do anything! …

GearJunkie finishing Patagonia
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GoLite Tarahumara Sandal Shoe

Tarahumara Sandal Shoe — GoLite Footwear’s Tara Lite running shoe is said to have been inspired by the Tarahumara tribes of Mexico, a native group known for their distance running skills who wear minimal thong-style sandals.

What makes the GoLite shoe unique is its flat, “zero-drop” heel, flexible sole, and a soft upper. The kicker: Inside the shoe, separating your big toe from the rest, there’s an internal sandal post that keeps your foot from moving too much and helps the flexible shoe fit snug.

The Tara Lite will come in men’s and women’s models for $115.

Gear Junkie

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Out There AS-1 Backpack

The Gear Junkie:

Mike Kloser, a Vail, Colo., athlete and a former world-champion mountain biker, is something of a god in the sport of adventure racing. As the captain of Team Nike, Kloser dominated AR for years, including multiple world-champ titles and victories at banner events like the Eco Challenge and Primal Quest under his belt.

Last year, Kloser launched a gear company, Out There USA, and he designed a backpack. After years of racing — as well as living a consummate outdoors existence working and training in Colorado — Kloser put his knowledge toward making his company’s AS-1 Pack something of an ultimate multi-sport tool. …

Out There USA’s AS-1 Pack

details – Ultimate AR Backpack

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Expedition Idaho Race 2011

Website is now live.

From Dave Adlard of Adventure Sports Week, a NEW expedition race: coed teams of four racing 600km (372 miles) out of the gorgeous and rugged northern Idaho panhandle.

… The new website has more information about the format of the race, how volunteers can get involved, a preliminary schedule of events, and much more. The registration form is also in place, as well as a description of what your entry includes.

There is also an early bird registration process that lasts until 12 teams sign-up or January 1st, which ever comes first. During that period there is a discounted rate for competing. 

via The Adventure Blog

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Expedition Idaho 2011 AR

My buddy Dave Adlard, of Adventure Sports Week, is hosting his first ever expedition length race, 600km (372 miles).

Expedition Idaho 2011 (website coming soon!) will … take place from August 14 – 20. The new dates avoid conflicts with both the Raid The North Extreme race, which takes place July 23 – 31 in the West Kootenays of British Columbia and the Gold Rush Adventure Race that ill go down on the West Coast from September 8-11.

The Adventure Blog

Website coming soon.

Retired AR legend Mike Kloser has joined the organizing team.

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Desert Winds Expedition Adventure Race

Sept. 19-24th, 2010

… after a full year of training for this event, Dave Adlard will be captaining “Team Adventure Sports Week” in the Elite category of the “Desert Winds Expedition Adventure Race” beginning September 19.

Dave and his three female teammates; Dr. Jeni McNeal from Eastern Washington University, Soledad Cristiano from Argentina, and Cynthia Miranda of Carlsbad California, will be traversing nearly 300 non-stop miles across the brutal Mojave desert on foot, mountain bike, canoe, rappeling/climbing, pack rafts and orienteering, carrying their own gear, food and water in what could be the most challenging and demanding event on earth this year… 50% of the teams are expected to not finish the race, which is expected to take the teams between 90 and 120 hours to complete.

Team Adventure Sports Week

Good luck!

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