1Day Roanoke Adventure Race

If one of the races I have done describes all facets of Adventure Racing, this is it! Our team experienced the lowest low and the highest high in 24 hours. Nothing of this race could be described as easy and nothing was predictable, which made the race an interesting challenge.

The 1 day Odyssey Adventure Race started on Saturday, July 23rd at 12pm and went until Sunday 12pm. It was about 96 degrees at the start time, no question that the heat was a determining factor how well teams will do. 41 teams signed up for the race taking the challenge to survive heat, 100mi racing, and an elevation change of 25,000 feet.

After we got the maps at 8:30am on Saturday, we planned our race. The race looked like the following: 2 miles running prologue, 40 miles mountain biking, 27 mi trekking, 15 mi paddling, 19 mi biking, orienteering. The numbers are estimated because as I will describe later, we never made it to the paddling section! The race director gave us a cut-off time for the first mountain bike part. We had to be done with the first section at 2am; that meant 14 hours to bike 40 miles. We thought that was plenty of time to bike 40 miles. But we learnt soon enough that a lot of team struggled with that cut off.

Our team started with the prologue running the 2 miles and we finished as one of the first teams. We put our biking gear on and started our 40 mile bike leg around 12:30pm on Saturday. We estimated to be done in around six hours. As it turned out, it took us ten solid hours to complete 40 miles of biking.

The mountain bike section started with a half an hour steep climb up a mountain followed by a two hours not-so-steep uphill part. If I recall correctly, basically we climbed the entire time, I do not really remember downhill…maybe because they lasted only 30 seconds while the climbing part took us forever.

We made a very good time in the first three hours and were third or fourth place that time. Unfortunately, the heat cooked us and one of my teammates started cramping (quadriceps)…so badly that he couldn’t even do a pedal stroke anymore. That meant walking for him. Despite massage efforts and rest times, his leg did not cooperate. However, he kept a cool attitude and we kept on moving…though slow.

Realizing that we were losing a lot of time, we doubted we could finish the race. We felt the heat and our slow progress challenged our high spirits. The terrain was rough…jeep trails with very rocky parts that made it impossible to tow someone. Our goal was to finish the mountain bike part before dark. That didn’t happen. We made it to a check point that was located at a lookout. We reached the lookout right at sunset so we had a great view when the sun went down. However, that also meant that we had to keep going in the dark. After two hours riding in the dark we finally made it to the transition area…at 10pm after 10 hours ride and hike-a-bike.

Ahead of us were 20 miles of trekking. At the transition area, we changed into our trekking gear and got water from a creek. We all ate good portions of our food. I realized that I had too little food with me so I had to plan carefully how much I ate the next hours. We still had 14 hours left to race. We left in high spirits and were able to set a fast pace the first five miles. I was celebrating that we got one fourth of the trekking section done when our navigator recounted the miles on the map realizing that it was actually 27 miles instead of 20. This would take longer than we thought. Moreover, our pace slowed down because the paths were overgrown and we had to bushwhack.

The next checkpoint was six miles away. With an average speed of 2-3 mi/hr we would take at least 2-3 hours. I think it actually took us 4 or 5 hours because the navigation was tricky to get there. We did not see any team until we actually got close to the next check point. We were wondering what other teams were doing because it became obvious that the race course was way too long for 24 hours. We knew that we were in the front somewhere so we were wondering if other teams even made the 2am cutoff for the first bike section.

Having finally arrived at the checkpoint, our goal was to get to the next manned checkpoint as quick as possible so we can get out of the woods at 12pm. We knew we will never finish the trek section or any part after that. It was about 5am when we were heading about 2 miles to the next checkpoint which took us again longer than expected. The following checkpoint was not easy as well and the sun came up.

At about 7am we arrived at the last checkpoint before we saw volunteers who could transport us out of the woods. It took us another hour or so to find finally the volunteers in a driveway. I was anticipating a van transporting us to the finish line and real food waiting for us. However, the volunteers told us that the van will drive us to our bikes which we have to take for 19miles to the finish line. Ok, not really what I expected. We barely slept during the night. I fell asleep for two or three minutes when navigational choices were discussed but that was it.

One of the volunteers drove us to our bikes where we saw another team leaving the transition area. Being exhausted we did not try to speed up to catch them. We took our time to mentally prepare for another 19 miles. We left around 9:15am and had 2:45h to make 19 miles. No problem, one would think. Not if the first miles was basically bushwhacking through brushes….with bikes. This killed my mood.

However, after that arduous mile we could ride on a paved road. But it was 10:30am and we still had 14miles to go. We sped up and made good time. At the last mile, we suddenly saw the team which left the transition area when we arrived two hours ago. Both of us sped up the pace and raced to the finish line. After 23.5 hours racing basically a time trial pace was quite a challenge. We arrived about five seconds before the other team and thought we won.

What we completely forgot was that we could get points in the orienteering section because we still had 20 minutes left until the race would be done. So, we quickly plotted the points and left to do the orienteering. The other team seemed to do the same. After we found the first checkpoint we called it a race and headed back and we found the other team hanging out at the finish line never having left to orienteer. That meant we got more points than them.

Since no other team has arrived at the finish (out of 41 teams) we waited until 12pm with the hope no other team would arrive because that would mean we would win. At 12pm, sure of our victory we went to get food when another team pulled in. They were originally ahead of us during the trek part and apparently received time credit for being ahead of us, which we didn’t know. So they were declared as winners. After 40 minutes the team, which was ahead of everyone arrived. Despite their time credit they came in late and were disqualified.

We ended up being second place which is incredible considering what we went through. 12 hours before, we were considering pulling out of the race and now we got second. We were told that more than half of the field gave up in the first 12 hours and even more pulled out as time went on. I don’t know what happened to those who are still walking in the woods trying to find a manned checkpoint.

It was a tough race, mentally as well as physically but that is what adventure racing is about, you never know where you are until you finish.

900 mi drive, 20 mi hike, 77 mi road bike ride in 42 hours

As preparation for Untamed New England, a 3 day adventure race and qualifier for the Adventure Race World Championships, my teammates and I planned to drive up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire to train in the terrain, where the race will take place. The training involved 20mi hiking across the White Mountains with about 15,000ft of climbing. We planned on climbing eight peaks of the so-called Presidential Traverse. After this estimated 12 hours hike, we would jump on our road bikes and cover another 77mi hilly road. To make this possible, I sped up a car purchase on Thursday so I was able to drive up to Connecticut. I planned on leaving on Friday 6am to arrive at 1pm in Connecticut where my three teammates live.

The execution of the plan looked a little different since the NYC traffic delayed my arrival time by three hours. Having finally arrived in CT at 4pm, Ernie, Ben, Fritz and I drove with two cars up to the White Mountains, which took another four hours. At around 8pm we left one car at one side of the mountain range, where we would arrive after our hike. After another 50min drive to our starting point, we started our hike at 10pm. The first part of the hike involved climbing up 5,367 ft to Mt. Madison, followed by Mt. Adams (5,774 feet), Mt. Jefferson (5,712 ft), Mt. Washington (6,288 ft). We arrived at Mt. Washington at about 5am or 6am and enjoyed our breakfast (soaked wraps with unidentifiable stuff in it) on a small bench.

We definitely couldn’t complain about heat (Washington, DC had 100 degrees) because it was around 40 degrees up there. We were already behind schedule and I take full credit for this. I hardly would define the paths on this mountain range as trails but more like as clustered rock formation, which asks for sprained ankles. After ten falls I stopped counting and I again proved to myself that balance is not high on my skill set list. After Mt. Washington, we headed towards Mt. Monroe (5,372 ft) realizing that this hike endeavor would take longer than anticipated. On Mt. Eisenhower (4,780 ft) we unanimously agreed to head directly back to the lodge since the prospect of breakfast at the camp lodge was threatened. Breakfast closed at 10am and we had about 1.5 hours to make the cutoff. So we took the fastest way down the mountain.

Finally, at about 9:30am we arrived at the parking lot and made our way to breakfast. After having taken advantage of all-you-can-eat breakfast, we got ready for the 77mi road bike ride, which was known not to be flat. I was actually looking forward to the road ride because I would consider biking my strength in adventure racing. However, after 10 minutes into the ride, having not slept for 30 hours and being physically exhausted, I revised my feeling of enjoyment and decided that misery would describe the bike ride better. The road ride course was basically a square. The first 20mi was easy, primarily downhill, which we smoked in 20 minutes. The second section was the worst because it was mainly everything uphill, which we went downhill before.

Since I was mentally in a different world, I have no clue how long it took. The third section was rolling hills, which could be described as pleasant again…not sure though. I stuck to the wheel of my teammate and we made a good time. We made some stops on the way. I felt increasingly better because my legs actually started working again so the last 17mi were fun. We spent the last two hours of our ride in the rain but we finally made it back to the car at 4:30pm. After a dinner at a local restaurant, we drove back to CT….very sleepy. I volunteered to drive for an hour until I saw everything double. After 42 hours non-stop action, we finally arrived in CT. The training weekend served its purpose: We were able to train as a team at the race venue. I am excited for August 12th! Check out the race at http://www.untamedne.com/

50 hours Adventure Race - E Fix 2010 Race Report

For the 2-day adventure race challenge Endorphin Fix in Hinton, West Virginia, I joined up with Team Berlin Bike. As a relative newbie to adventure racing, I was delighted to be part of a team that was National Champion in 2007.On Thursday, March 25th 2010, I was picked up by my three future teammates, Ben, Ernie, and Rafael, as well as Rafael’s father. The five hours drive to WV helped a lot to get to know each other, and after the drive I was pretty sure it would be a good race.

Team Berlin Bike before the race start: Monika, Rafael, Ben, ErnieOn Friday at 9:30am we got the maps and Ernie and Ben mapped out our course. (I don’t know how long each of these sections ended up taking, but you can safely assume each was long) First, we started with a bike prologue followed by a trekking section (12mi), canoe section (3mi), trekking (10mi?), biking (long), trekking (ok long), biking (nightmare), canoe (relaxing), biking (nightmare again), and canoe (sprint to the finish!).The bike prologue started out really well for me because I was able to impress my new teammates by falling into the creek, soaking my gloves and pants right from the start. Because 50 hours otherwise would be just way too easy, right?

The following trek section almost killed me because Ernie set a speed that I would not even do in a 12 hours race. Also, the weight of my backpack felt like carrying my own weight. The ultimate icing of the cake was the snow, which reminded me of Snowmageddon just two months ago in DC. (Here is a video of us trekking in the snow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b_UuxXyKxY) Lucky me, that I got towed by Rafael for the first trekking part.Nevertheless, after the four hour trek, I knew what to take (a mix of ibuprofen, caffeine pills, electrolytes, more ibuprofen, more caffeine pills and a 5-energy-shot would do the trick). The next leg was paddling. Usually, I am not the biggest fan of any paddling in a race, but this time I was looking forward to an upper body workout and a rest for my legs.

We had to take our bikes apart and strap them tightly to the canoe so we wouldn’t have to fish for the parts if the boat capsized. After about two hours of paddling, we realized that our speed must have been 1-2mi/hours, so we exited our boat and resumed our way on foot. The orienteering part began. Up to that time (it was maybe 10pm and 8 hours into the race), our team was very focused on getting from point to point, but I warned them I can be very chatty. On the walk to the orienteering section I looked for a victim who could entertain me…and I found one.Now it was time to find a checkpoint on a hill side, so we bushwhacked into the woods.

After half an hour of not finding the checkpoint, we circled back and tried to find it from a different side. The thicket of briars made the walk not so walkable but eventually we found that checkpoint realizing we kind of aimed in the wrong direction.The navigation of the next couple of checkpoints by foot hit the spot. We skipped some optional checkpoints because the ‘energy output: point’ ratio did not convince us to get them. We made our way back to the canoe to cross the river to find the next checkpoints. Mud up to our knees made our progress out of the water slower. The advantage of the mud was that it insulated our shoes (always trying to look for the bright side). Ben nailed the navigation for the next few points, so we made excellent progress on foot. The next checkpoint was supposed to be on a hillside but having arrived at the site, we determined the “hillside” was more like a cliff.

We concluded that Ronny, the race director, would never put the checkpoint on a cliff like that and we left without success. Talking later to other teams, we found out that the checkpoint was actually on the cliff. Conclusion: Never underestimate the evilness of the race director. The next checkpoint was on the intersection of two boundaries on a hill side. Not knowing how the boundary was marked, we were looking for something that was out of place in the woods. After an eternity of searching, Ernie finally found a little plate on the other side of a tree (not visible for walkers on the trail) so we could follow the imaginary line of this plate to the checkpoint.

The following checkpoint tested my patience because our team decided (not unanimously because I did not participate in the decision making) to find one checkpoint by climbing three times down the same ravine (at least it felt like that) just to climb up that immense ridge again. I was borderline bitchy and then happy when we finally continued without another try. At that point it was daybreak (17 hours into the race) and we had to refill our water. We used the nearby spring to do that. That was the first time I disinfected water during a race and I was surprised it actually tasted better than the chloride stuff from the faucet in my house.We made our way back to the bikes and found ourselves hammering the mud away from the bikes, which froze over the past hours.

On the bikes, my favorite part of the race started: biking up the hills. This fun ended when one of my teammates, Rafael, a 230lb muscleman, broke his chain – four times. The break was caused by Rafael’s immense torque and so I volunteered to tow him up some hills to decrease the strain on his chain. Since there was a weight difference of 100 lbs, we had to watch out that we did not come to a dead stop otherwise he would have taken me right back to the bottom of the hill.After an arduous bike section, we arrived in the park for the start of the orienteering section.

It was around 11:30am and 21.5 hours into the race. We had four hours to get the checkpoints to beat the cut off time – we did it in three hours. The sun was shining and it was a great day to do some walking through the woods.Back on the bikes, we had to return to the canoes. Our goal was to sit in the canoes before dawn. After a long downhill section (yes, there is downhill too), we had to cross a river. As any of my past teammates can confirm, Monika and river crossings are not a good combination. And of course, I was able to live up to reputation for clumsiness. Before we crossed the river, we took our shoes off so they would not get wet…or at least that was the plan.

In my case one of them got wet because I lost my grip and dropped it in. After a panicked “F&@%, I lost my shoe”, Rafael performed a life threatening move in the water to save my shoe. (Ok, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but nevertheless, it took some energy to get that damn shoe back.)Up next was a true hill climb. The elevation gain of the entire race was about 32,000 feet or 10km. It took us at least solid two hours to hike up the mountain/hill; it was steep and long. Finally at the peak, we were looking for a remote cemetery (strangely, a lot of checkpoints were on the cemetery) and were coasting the ridge with a beautiful view over West Virginia. At long last and still in sunlight, we made it to the canoes. The first 30 hours had passed. Up to this point in the race, I knew what to expect from myself since I have done several 30 hours races previously. The next 20 hours would become the interesting test.Back in the canoe with our disassembled bikes, we made our way seven miles down the river to a dam. Arriving at the transition area, we had to fight serious mud (see picture) and struggled to get our boats out of the water.


After a gear check and two minutes at the bonfire, we hopped back on the bikes and headed to a checkpoint in another park. It was around 10:30pm and we only had 4.5 hours to get the next checkpoint to beat the cut-off time. In high spirits, we started riding with the goal to get there before 4am; however, the demanding hill climbs slowed us down so much that we had to accept we would not make the cut off.With 36 hours into the race, I became increasingly tired and the seemingly endless hills did not help. Still progressing towards the next checkpoint, we saw a lot of teams in their space blanket sleeping on the side of the road. One team apparently managed to sleep in a house.

However, my teammates did not seem to be tired at all and so I tried to fight my sleepiness. Eventually, we arrived at the campground, an hour too late for the cut-off. I was so exhausted that I asked my team to sleep for 5 min. Request was granted and I fell to the ground. While I was dreaming of more sleep, my teammates refilled our water bladders and got us ready to go. Because we missed the cutoff, we had to take the same way back. We were still in the race but were not allowed to try for maximum points. Later on, we were told that there was only one team that managed to beat all of the cutoff times.

Despite the sleep and better mood, I was not looking forward to climbing the same mountains again. The first hill was so long (maybe an hour) that any benefit from my five minutes of sleep quickly wore off. The sleep monsters crept in and I managed to fall asleep while riding. Cracks in the streets became tree logs and I immensely slowed down, worried that I would hit anything on the street. Of course, my brain was playing games with me. Because I could not keep my eyes open any more, I made a deal with one of my teammates that when we arrived at the top of the hill, I was allowed to sleep for five minutes. The deal was accepted and I sprinted up that mountain hoping that I might gain six minutes out of it.


When I woke up, two of my other teammates had apparently been tempted by the comfy grass on the side of the road and were taking a nap as well. I felt better with five minutes rest, but once again the benefit was short lived. After half an hour, I was a wreck again and I repeatedly fell asleep for four seconds at a time not even realizing that I fell asleep. This happened about 20 times. Since some of the sections we were riding were downhill and the side of the road was very steep, my teammates were increasingly worried that I would find an even faster way down the mountain– the steep hillside off the side of the road. Trying to keep me awake, they asked me all kinds of questions. I was just in my own little world, trying to figure out how I can get some sleep. In my head I was plotting to come up with a way to get my teammates to stop so I could sleep. But I never got to put the plan in to action because the sun started to come up and the light helped to keep me awake.





What I did not know was the return route had more elevation loss than the way to the campground. So after four hours, we were already back at the canoes. It was around 9am and we only had to make our way back to the finish line. That meant all we had left was two miles of paddling and then to portage the canoe up the hill. Paddling in the canoe would not normally be a big deal….for someone who is awake. However, I fell asleep again. There was a risk I might capsize the boat so Ernie engaged me in a conversation and we safely hit the ground after two hours.

The portage up the hill seemed like a piece of cake and we arrived at 11:30am at the finish. It was a great race and it made it even better when we heard that we placed 3rd in the 4-person-coed category and 7th place overall.Racing with Berlin Bike was a great experience. They are a lot of fun. Adventure Racing is all about personality and these guys have great personalities. I also gained experience with sleep deprivation and know now better how to prepare for it. I cant wait for the next race!