skiing now

Been seeing the sports chiro for a few weeks with more mixed results. Mostly bad news for the knee. The exercises he's given me haven't been able to compensate for the damage that's already been done in there and the cortisone shot only provided temporary respite. At least it helped us know better what we're dealing with. Now, he's sending me to an ortho here in Denver and we'll do another MRI and go from there. Looks like some kind of procedure is inevitable. More on that later...



=






Lately, I've been able to get in some skiing. Nothing crazy, just some fun alpine style in different conditions. I don't do moguls or jumps so it's ok on the knee. My first time out to Vail with Lee 2 weeks ago was awesome. The parking situation is pretty inconvenient, but the slopes were great and we were there while it was snowing and they already had about 10 inches of fresh powder on top of packed stuff. Very nice indeed. I'm loving my new skis.















Saturday, I went to Arapahoe Basin by myself and enjoyed a couple of hours. It's not as big as Vail, but there's a good bit of terrain to choose from and it's much closer than most other places. Plus, it's VERY convenient because you can park RIGHT beside the lifts. I literally skied back to my car when I was done. No resort there to complicate things.
















Pretty soon, the resorts will have most if not all of their terrain open and skiing will be much more fun (and crowded) since I like to find routes less traveled. With limited terrain open, it's hard to make your own tracks. Thinking of heading out to Breckenridge again this week. We'll see how the knee is feeling.
Lately, since I haven't been able to run or bike, I've been going to the gym and have been hitting the weights for the first time in a long time. The initial soreness felt great, but now I'm getting back into it and forgot how quickly I bulk up. I really need the cardio to keep the lean muscle mass and to burn off the layer(s) of fat that are building up. :-(

Michael Parkes

I'm not much of an art lover or critic, but I love this guy's work. I own the one titled Cargoyles. To see more, check out his site. http://www.theworldofmichaelparkes.com/html/artists.asp

going crazy

My knee hasn't been doing too well lately. I've been going to see Dr. Jeremy Rodgers of the Colorado Chiropractic institute for a little over a month now and I'm not sure what to report. The patella tendinitis isn't as bad (pain) as it was before, but as a result of the exercises my knee is pretty sloppy now.





Initially, Dr. Rodgers told me to take off 3 weeks of running while we strengthened some supporting muscles since I've been running over my 5th toe on my right foot and he wanted to get some abductor muscles stronger to pull my knee inwards a little to have my knee over my second toe when I started running.
The exercises combined with some taping has made my patella pretty unstable. It's not staying put at all. When I walk up or down stairs (i live in a 2 story home with a basement) it pops with every step because it's tracking mostly to the left of the groove it SHOULD be in. It's not like a knuckle popping that's loud, it's more like the sound of a dislocated bone sliding back into place with every step. This in itself doesn't hurt, but it leads to more inflammation and subsequent swelling.
He's sending me over to an Orthopedic that he works wtih for some Cortisone shots to try to get the swelling under control and if that doesn't help get us back on track with his program, then he's going to recommend 2 different surgeries. :-(
We've been trying to avoid surgery at all costs, but it's possible that there's just too much damage to allow the body to heal itself or compensate effectively. We'll see. I'm not going to put it off any longer once they say that's what they want to do. I'm going to get everything done at once and hopefully, be back on my feet healthy and training again next year.
This is very frustrating for me because running and biking are my stress relievers. I live in Colorado where it is beautiful, I have so many wonderful trails close by to explore and it's FALL! The best time of year for running and I can't enjoy it. I've had a few dreams lately about running and they've all been bouldering downhill after running some smooth single track with leaves crunching under my feet. Those dreams have been torturing me. I can't even bike anymore after last Sunday because of the instability and the swelling and pain afterwards.














So now I'm home icing it 2 to 3 times per day and will be getting the cortisone shots soon and then we'll see if it improves enough to resume the therapy program.
Maybe I'll at least get to get in some skiing this season. Since I don't' do moguls or jumps, skiing shouldn't be too hard on it. Just the easy stuff. Groomed or powder on smooth rolling terrain. If I can't even do that, I might just have to stop into a pawn shop for a good deal on a full auto cause I'm going to go postal!

Catching up and political rant.

Lately, I've had plenty to blog about, but just haven't had any motivation to do to. Here's an attempt to try to catch up.

About a month ago, I did a race with Adventures Xstream out near Vail. Although I was not anywhere NEAR being in race shape, I wanted to see how I'd do and wanted to see the scenery and test the AR skills.
Navigation was pretty basic with a couple of surprises and the distances weren't too crazy, but the terrain and the paddle gave me more of a challenge than I expected.
Race Breakdown:
The night before, we were given the course map and passport. We had to plot out our checkpoints and route based on the instructions.
The race started at 7:30 am in 30 degrees with an 8 mile bike ride to checkpoint #1.
At CP1 we received coordinates for CPs 2-4 to be reached on foot and we decided the best way to reach those in whichever order we chose. I was in the first transition about 2/3 of the way back in the pack, but was second out of the TA going into the navigation.
CPs 2-4 and the final run down to CP5 was ~ 5-7 miles and my knee and energy levels were still good.
I was still in second place beginning the first kayak leg and was still losing ground on first place, but still gaining ground on the rest of the soloists behind me.
I'm not a strong paddler and did not have a good boat so the class 2 river paddle wore me out for the first 6 mile segment. This leg of the race took us back to the transition area which we biked to at CP1 earlier. CP1 was now CP6 and after refilling the Camelback, I mounted the bike again in search for CP7 & 8. This part of the race took us up a LONG climb on a dirt road up the back side of some mountains. We climbed over 3000 feet in 10 miles and then had a decision to make about the route to take getting to CP8. The whole bike section was scenic, but grinding except for the downhill. The climb up took me 2 and a half hours (with a flat tire fix in the middle of it) and only 30 minutes to do the descent with a stop along the way for CP8. Getting back to what was originally CP1 & 6, I got back in the kayak for the final paddle down river to the start/finish. This last leg was more class 2 with a short section of class 3 and it was exhausting.
Surprisingly, I finished still in 2nd place and was 1 of the 4 or 5 soloists to finish the entire course. Many of the others couldn't complete it due to time cut-offs.

A week later, Ben Holmes (a.k.a. Bad Ben) and his wife Vicky came from KC to visit us. I had the privilege of seeing them in Leadville a few weeks earlier in August during the Leadville 100 mile trail run where they were supporting some fellow trail nerds who were running it. It was fun to also get to help out and watch that action unfold.
While Ben and Vicky visited, Ben and I got in a short but fun run in on the trails near my place.
Over the past few 3 months, I've been running about 6 or 7 times, biking about 3 times that, and the knee has been getting worse. I knew I had to do something about it soon.

Ski season is coming up soon and I now have my own set of skiis and have the Colorado Pass so I really hope to be able to take full advantage of it this winter. The way my knee has been feeling, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do that.
SO, I decided to put out a request for recommendations from the Boulder trail Runners mailing list. After receiving several recommendations, I decided to go with Dr. Jeremy Rodgers with Colorado Sports Chiropractic Center and go with his recommendation if I needed to see an orthopedic for anything. Many of the recommendations I received from the BTR list are below.

1. Dr. Voss of Boulder Orthopedics and Bob Cranny [Altitude Physical Therapy] (both x3)
2. Dr Stephen Paul (x3)
3. Lori Faulkerson (x2)
4. Dan Ocel (x1)
5. Jeremy Rodgers Sports Chiro (x3)

My visit with Dr. Rogers last Thursday was very positive and I'm enthusiastic about doing treatment with him. Hopefully, we can get my knee healthy and back in shape in time for ski season, but more importantly to me, in time for next year's running and adventure racing.
Of course the previous statement will be heavily dependent on the knee as well as my ability to race with whatever resources are available and those are dwindling with the economy taking such a downturn.

ON THAT NOTE...
I'm sick of the political ads, the negative commercials, the lies, and the blatant ignorance of the general public. For those of you who want to go along with the mass media's interpretation of what's at the root of the economic problems, you might want to get your facts first.

And for those who don't really believe that there's a democratic/liberal bias to CNN, I was trying to post comments with some facts in response to some political and economic articles and NONE of them were posted by the moderator. However, most of the comments that WERE posted were slamming Bush or Republicans in general and the slams had nothing to do with the articles. Why weren't my comments posted? There were nothing inflamatory there, nothing obscene, and no advertisements in my comments.

Here's some info for those of you who wish to know a little brief history leading to our current economic situation.

This is in case you were wondering how the housing crisis happened, which in turn has affected the stock market…as well as all financing in general.

During the Clinton administration all credit requirements for loans were lowered. This (combined with the dot com boom) helped caused an economic boom we all hear about during the Clinton Administration. Initially the lower standards were for low-income individuals. The middle class and the rich all took advantage of the same relaxed standards in order to buy investment homes. Everyone bought houses they couldn’t afford with no money down. Eventually, all of these mortgages were bundled and sold as investments on the stock market. Finally the bubble burst and now we are in a bad economic situation.

Clinton’s involvement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

This is from the New York Times in 1999

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&&scp=1&sq=Fannie%20Mae%20Eases%20Credit&st=cse

Good quotes:

· “Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.”

· “the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.”

· “In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.”

In the early Bush years (2003-2005) republicans attempted to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was fought by the democrats and no regulations passed. We don’t know why they didn’t pass, what we do know is that the largest campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been to Democrats. Obama receiving the second most of any Democrat. I am not sure if there is a tie, but it is interesting. In any case, Pelosi should get her facts straight before she speaks and blames the crash of the stock market and the housing market on President Bush and the republican party.

Actual congressional hearings when the republicans were trying to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but the democrats were against it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

McCain trying to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2006

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16&bill=s109-190#sMonofilemx003Ammx002Fmmx002Fmmx002Fmhomemx002Fmgovtrackmx002Fmdatamx002Fmusmx002Fm109mx002Fmcrmx002Fms20060525-16.xmlElementm0m0m0m

Maybe we need to hear it in basic language (with an angry guy explaining the crisis.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYKk-uHTcks&feature=user (btw-I love this guy)

Although we know the war (that both parties voted on) is a large part of our national debt. The collapse in the financial market driven by the mortgage lending market and bundled products on the stock market are the cause of our economic downturn.

Check out this fascinating ppt:

http://www.slideshare.net/eldon/sequoia-capital-on-startups-and-the-economic-downturn-presentation?type=powerpoint

Sequoia called in all their startups to tell them how to survive the downturn.

Just in case you continue to hear Democrats blaming the Republican Party for the economic situation, you now have the facts!

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying vote Republican or Democrat or Independent. I'm saying the same thing I've always said which is my motto in life. Know what you believe, but more importantly, know WHY you believe it. Bottom line is THINK FOR YOURSELF and don't believe everything you hear. Especially on TV.

I'm no fan of President Bush, because Republicans have traditionally advocated LESS government and more personal responsibility, but under his tenure, the Federal Government has grown tremendously and I don't believe we're approaching "the war on terror" the right way. Anyone who thinks or says that "Bush's tax cuts" were for "the rich" obviously doesn't understand how our tax system works and is guilty of perpetuating ignorance.

Anyone who believes that Obama's tax plan which will result in 45% of the US population NOT PAYING ANY TAXES AT ALL yet still receiving a rebate is good for the country is being lulled into socialism. But that's delving into a topic that I don't have the time to explain right now.

Ok, enough of the rant.

Currently, we're all in Orlando for my work. I'm here for 2 weeks of training and we're catching up with old friends and will get to see family as well. Pictures will be forthcoming soon.

Enjoying the Colorado Summer!

I've been slower with the updates on the posts lately due to some fun time with more friends visiting. Here's a few highlights...














Here, Sean and I stand at 14,063 feet on top of Mt. Bierstadt.



















In the above picture, we are beginning to make our way across the sawtooth over to Mt. Evans. This was a little scary and precarious in places, but definitely doable without ropes. Just takes a lot of nerve.














Above is me perched on one part of the sawtooth. Below is a weasel that was curious about us. Cute little guy that followed us for a minute. Probably wanted to see if we had any food.

















Below is a view from atop Mt. Evans. In the bottom of the picture, you can see the parking lot for the folks who like to take an easier route up to 14000 feet. The peak of this one is at 14,264 feet above sea level.














Below, you can see one of the few animals able to survive in the tundra climate of the upper Rocky Mountain peaks. The Rocky Mountain Goat. This guy was a little shy and didn't want us coming too close. It's amazing how agile they are on the side of the mountain.


















Sean and I made the ~10 mile trip in about 9 hours. We had thought we would be faster than that, but it seems we underestimated the conditions. That being said, we were just happy to be done safely. During the trip, we were snowed and sleeted on a couple of times by an approaching storm front that closed the road to Mt. Evans on Friday. The day after we were there, it snowed over half a foot on both mountains. Looks like our timing was just right.

Recent photos

This is from when Shane and I climed Mt. Bierstadt after biking.














We also got to visit Lee and Monique and Connor while they were camping outside of Georgetown.















After hanging around the campfire for a while, we decided to go for a hike near Mt. Bierstadt.















Isabella had fun and stayed awake the whole time.

Slacking

Yeah I've been a slacker lately on the updates. A lot has been going on and I haven't been very good about having the camera at the ready to capture all the fun moments.
My sister came to visit as a last minute trip courtesy of a birthday present from my Mom and Grandmother. During her visit, we also had a visit from our friends the Jones family from KC. That visit was a little last minute as well, but we were glad to see them again and to get to spend some time with them. See more about those visits on Isabella's blog here.
During their visits, I wanted to help them explore and enjoy the wonders of living in CO as much as possible and since that means getting outdoors, I was able to get in some good training. My knee is now paying the price for all that activity with the tendonitis on the right knee and the ongoing LCL issues on the left knee. A doctor's visit is in the near future for me!
Here's a summary of recent activities since the Firecracker 50 race:
Biked a little over 230 miles on trails
Ran with my sister on local trails














Climbed/ran Mt. Bierstadt <-- yes actually made it to the summit!
Went to a Police concert.




























Hiked part of Mt Bierstadt and Deer Creek Canyon twice with Isabella in the backpack.

Gotta figure something out

This past weekend, was fun, but it was also an eye-opener for me.

I need to pick something and do it whole-heartedly. No more of this dabbling in this and that and trying to be above average at everything. This goes for most aspects of my life and it's becoming more and more dis-satisfying. I have the ambition to be really good at most things I apply myself to, but since I try to do so many things, I'm not as good as I know I can be at anything.

Last week, we learned that Allison's Grandfather Smith had passed away at his home during the night. This meant we needed to get a last minute ticket back to NC for the funeral. While in the midst of planning, I wasn't sure I'd be able to go due to work obligations and upcoming changes. (more on that later) Our friends Brian and Nicole helped us get a buddy pass (Nicole works for Delta) which got Allison to Atlanta for free based on standby availability. Once in Atlanta, she caught a ride with her cousin Eric on his way to NC. At the last minute at Allison's request, I got a ticket to NC through priceline that left Denver 1 hour later than the flight she and Isabella were able to get on. Mine went all the way to NC so I beat them there by a day.
Once there, everything went smoothly and I returned home on Sunday afternoon while Allison stayed behind for a few more days. Her return trip to Denver was supposed to be on Wed afternoon so instead of driving back to ATL from Fayetteville, her sister Amy bought her a ticket from Raleigh to ATL stopping over in Charlotte. However, once in Atlanta, she was unable to make it on any of the overbooked flights and kept getting bumped. She and Isabella were both exhausted from the trips and we had no idea when she would be able to come back. Frustrated with the whole mess, I just bought them a ticket from ATL to DEN for the next afternoon and put them in a hotel so they could both get a good nights sleep and be home at a definite time on Thursday.
On Thursday, I picked up Allison, Isabella, Mark Koester, and his girlfriend Katie at the airport and brought them all home. Later that afternoon, Mark, Katie and I went to the Rockies game losing 1 extra ticket we'd purchased for Allison because she was too tired to go and we didn't want to add any more confusion to Isabella's already crazy world now that she was finally home.
We had a good time at the game. It went extra innings against the FL Marlins, but the Rockies were able to win it at the bottom of the 12th.
THEN we were dazzled with a very cool fireworks display at the stadium.














While at the game, Chris Locke and Eric Tiffany arrived at the house. They had been driving from KC all day and were staying with us since we all were doing the Firecracker 50 mountain bike race in Breckenridge on Friday July 4th.

We got up early (5:30) and hit the road around 7 am for the 1.5-2 hour drive over to Breckenridge for the race. This was the National Marathon MTB Championship race so we knew it would be a packed race full of talent. We had read the course description, but I don't think it really sank in with either of us just how much climbing there would be.














The race consisted of 2x25 mile loops. The course was BRUTAL and very technical on some of the descents. There was ~1000 racers that started and I have no idea how many finished, but the finish rate was MUCH lower than the start total. Of the 45 pro riders, only 32 of them finished. Many dropped out during the first lap from exhaustion and/or mechanical failures.

My age group started several minutes behind the elites and the beginning was a lot of fun. The bike race was the kick off to the parade in the middle of town and we were part of it. We had to ride an enforced 10 mph behind a course marshal until we were outside the outskirts of town at which time the marshal peeled off to the left and we began racing in earnest.
The first 6.5 miles was all uphill and seemed more like one of the mountain stages in the Tour De France than a mtb race.














Several of the downhill sections were very steep and technical and many riders experienced multiple flats and some race ending crashes. During the first big decent, the rebound adjustment valve on my Fox 32 F80RL front shock blew off due to the rough terrain and this left the inside of my shock wide open. This was not a good thing as dirt can get in and all of the oil was getting out. And every time the fork would compress, it would shoot oil all over the right side of my body. I had shock oil from my helmet all the way down my right leg pooling in my shoe. This was a yucky situation made worse by the super dry conditions which caused all the dust to stick to the oily part of me. The busted front shock also meant that I had to ride more carefully through the rough stuff (couldn't ride race pace) because it was destroying my bike.

I completed the loop more tired and beat up than I should have been due to the mechanical issue, but it also made me realize how much fitness I've lost with my lack of focused training.














The next day (Saturday July 5) we rode part of the Colorado trail and then did the trails close by my house. Chris and Eric were both tired too, but they wanted to get in as much Colorado biking as they could. Great training weekend for me. Now I need to pick a race to train for and apply myself.

muddling along and learning the hard way

The last few weeks, I've really missed running. My mileage has dropped off and am only running MAYBE once a week. The knee pain is my current reason/excuse, but it hasn't kept me from biking. In fact, Chris Locke and I are considering doing the Firecracker 50 mtn bike race in Breckenridge on July 5th.
I'm considering changing jobs again. I have an opportunity to stay with the company and change positions again to something that I think I'll like better, but am not sure. I've been in telecom so long that I think I'm getting burned out on it. Although I still love technology, it might be a good thing to change industries completely. We'll see.
Got a call late last night that Allison's Grandfather passed away. Her Grandmother (his wife) died February of 07 and he has been getting weaker ever since. Still, no one thought it was his time just yet.
A couple of weeks ago, Lee and I tried to summit Mt Bierstadt. It's one of the 14ers out here and I thought it would be a good one to try first.














really didn't think that climbing a 14er in the summer would be much of a big deal. We hike up there, struggle with a little breathlessness and then hike back down in a couple of hours and then say we did it. Not that easy at all.



















We made it within 500 feet of the summit, but had to turn back due to weather and me being very unprepared. The weather forecast that day was for a high of 45 and sunny so I had three shirts on and compression shorts under hiking shorts. Other than a numb face, I was fine until my foot punched through the snow and got wet and subsequently numb. The higher we went, the colder it was and with the wind at a constant ~30-50 mph, and snow blowing, we decided to turn back instead of pushing it to the danger limit.















The video was taken somewhere around 12,800 to 13000 feet.


We'll be going back VERY soon to do it again and will be successful next time.

Tag, I'm it!

I've been tagged by Bad Ben.

1- How would you describe your running 10 years ago?

Most of my running was for triathlons or adventure races and training for them was done on pavement! YUCK! Even though the adventure races running events were on trails, I still trained on the roads. Most of my runs were 6 miles or less and usually no more than 3 days per week.

2-What is your best and worst run/race experience?

Sorry, but I don't feel like sharing my worst run experience in a public forum such as this. If you really want to know, ask me in person. Needless to say, it ain't pretty! There are several runs that stand out in my mind as being memorable in a positive way. A few of them involve races, but most of them are long runs with good friends.

3- Why do you run?

Stress relief, fitness, because "Fat Ben" is constantly chasing me, and I like to push/test my limits.

4- What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?

The best advice I've been given is to listen to your body. A strong mind can push the body to previously unthought of levels sometimes, but it takes experience to know when to listen to the body's pleas for mercy.

5- Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

I was a paratrooper and an intelligence analyst in the Army for a few years and in my spare time, I troll online forums on philosophy.

Now I'm supposed to tag some other people so these are the people whose answers I'd really like to read:

Chris Locke

Matt Hart

Jamie Donaldson

Here are the rules guidelines:
If you have been tagged, you will find your name at the end of this post. You should then, copy the rules (or your version of them), and the set of questions onto your blog post, provide your own answers, and then tag 5 new people.

Just to be sure that everyone tagged knows they have been invited to play, go to their blogs and leave them a special comment letting them know, and refer them to your blog for details.

One more thing, once they've answered the questions on their own blog, they should come back to yours to tell you.

Biking the Colorado Trail

Since I've run part of this first section of the CO trail, Ive been wanting to do the whole first section of it. It would be nice if I could incorporate it into my running routine, but work has put a HUGE dent in the training. Last week I was in Dallas, next week I'm in NJ and the week after that I'll be back in Dallas again.














Just before I began all this traveling for work, I was able to get in a good long ride on the aforementioned first leg of the CO Trail. It was fantastic! A bit more climbing than I thought and parts weren't ridable, but it was all definitely worth doing. In all, it was a little over 30 miles round trip and just over 5200 feet of climbing.














Along the way, I encountered one runner training for the Leadville 100 and two riders (guy and girl) from the Czech Republic beginning their attempt to do the whole Trail system one weekend at a time! They'll have to hike parts of it and they're figuring out the logistics along the way. Good luck with that. An admirable undertaking for sure, but a bit ambitious to try to wing it.

Lots of wildlife along the way. There were Elk, lots of deer, Bighorn Sheep and several other critters making sounds in the woods. Most of the snow had melted off, but there were still patches here and there.




























In retrospect, I think I would have felt safer doing this with someone else, but I didn't have anyone willing to do this ride with me just yet.

lately...

We just got back from a short trip to NC. The family got to meet Isabella and I was able to spend some time with my Mom and my 95 year old Grandmother who flew up from Pensacola.

































The day before we left CO, it snowed about 7 inches, but was 78 degrees the day before. During the winter, the snow was pretty cool and seasonably aesthetic. Snow during Spring just looks strange.














I'm hoping to be able to start running again. Haven't done much since the race. Travelling, the new job, and lack of motivation have all conspired against me. I've been on the bike a couple of times and the bike legs are still feeling good. I love my Giant Anthem! Although out here, I often wish I had about 100 mm of travel instead of the 80 on my current setup.

AXS Moab

The short version is we DNF. My first in an Adventure Race.
Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about that.



















The race was divided into classes and each was given a separate stagger start time. The 4-person Co-ed teams began at 7:30. Our division (4-person open/single gender) began at 7:45 am. The rest of the course started 15 and 30 minutes after we did. The race began at a river campground with a 7 mile kayak leg. We were still scrambling to get our PFDs, hydration packs, and happy to be starting this adventure in such a beautiful place. We had paddles together when the start was issued. We were second to last in the frigid water, but discussed potentially lashing the boats together if they didn't track well, but we soon got into a rhythm and were able to keep them straight without having to tie them together. The Colorado River was higher than normal from a larger than normal snow pack melting in the Rockies to the East. The current was swift and helped make the paddle cold, but quick. We did a little over 7 miles in about and hour and 15 or 20 minutes. Once out of the water, we headed over to our transition area where we shed some wet clothes and changed into bike shoes, gloves, and grabbed the gear we would have to carry for the remainder of the race.
Transitions have never been my strong point, but I guess that experience has taught me that time wasted in a TA is hard to make up if you're going to be pushing yourself through the rest of the race.
Once on the bikes, we had a short 3 mile stretch on the paved road before heading into a LONG climb up a canyon on a technical 4x4 road. I figured that while on the pavement, we could hammer a little to get the legs warmed up and try to make up some lost time. My teammates didn't subscribe to this idea. We started off in the back of the pack and kept falling even further back for the rest of the course.




























During the climb, we caught up to several teams unable to ride the steep terrain. Many were walking their bikes up the canyon climb and we soon joined them. We were also caught and passed by many of the remaining teams that started after us. Once at the top of the canyon, we were on a more gradual uphill climb on an easy dirt road which led to another 4 mile stretch of paved road. Much of the paved portion was downhill and we were able to rest the legs and coast down. Then it was a right turn onto another 4x4 road leading to the next phase of the race. This bike leg was ~25 miles with the last 5 miles consisting mostly of deep sand that had to be pushed through.
Once to the bottom of a canyon, we dropped our bikes, put on our running/trekking shoes and began the ascent back up the 5 miles of sand we had just pushed our bikes through on the way there. This led us up to the top of Gemini Bridges where we were to rappel down 300 vertical feet to the bottom of the canyon which is where our bikes were stashed. After a 2 hour hike uphill to the rappel, we were told that we were past the cut-off time to continue the race officially. We begged and pleaded our case and although declared officially a DNF at that point, we were the last team allowed to do the rappel back down to our equipment since it was faster than walking back around again. It was a fun rappel that I'm sure tested the nerves of a few people.


































From here, our race was over and I guess I let my disappointment take control of me. We had to get back up the canyon to the race course officials who would determine if we could continue unofficially or if we would have to hitch a ride back to the start/finish line. I never said much to the rest of the team, but instead, just rode up by myself. I had plenty of energy and was still feeling fresh and wanted to finish even though it was starting to get cold and dark and we didn't bring lights. The race officials said that I couldn't go by myself so I waited for an hour and 20 minutes for my teammates to arrive. Eventually, I just caught a ride back to the start so I could put Allison's anxious mind at ease. She always worries about me if I'm not in within 2 hours of when I estimate I'll finish. We were WAY overdue and I knew she would be worried.
I didn't start out biking that last time with the intent of leaving my teammates behind. While alone with my thoughts and too much energy, it just sort of happened. Apparently, this denotes a lack of commitment to the team, but the race was over and they all had food and water and were only 5 miles away from the race course officials who eventually came to pick them up anyway. I don't know if it was my competitiveness that took over or my desire to just finish that led me away. Logistically, I knew I had to hurry if I was to make it back to the long canyon for the fast downhill (which we'd struggled up earlier) by dark. Once I reached the course officials, I found out that this would not be possible and I was now not ONLY a DNF officially, but wouldn't be allowed to finish UNofficially either.
My teammates were pissed. Rightfully so. I had acted selfishly. It was demoralizing and rude to them and after some internalizing, I decided to apologize sincerely to each of them separately and then to them all as a whole. Two of them graciously accepted my apology and the third decided that holding a grudge and giving me the silent treatment was the best way for him to deal with his anger and frustration towards me. That's fine.
Lessons learned all around. I made many mistakes before and during this race.
In a race this long (~12 hours) it is necessary to have a "go go go!" type mentality just to make the safety based cut-off times. My teammates had no such sense of urgency.
Warning flags were all over the place, but I dismissed them as minor issues that wouldn't be a problem. Some of the warning signs were as follows:
- Teammates had limited experience in Adventure Racing. (usually not a big deal as everyone has to start somewhere/sprint races are better suited for first timers)
- Teammates not making concerted effort to make training together a priority.
- Teammates' lack of enthusiasm for the pending adventure. (maybe I'm reading too much into this, but they just didn't seem very pumped up about it)
- Teammates wanting to carry enough food for several days out in the wilderness. This is not a good strategy for speed.
- Teammates not having a sense of urgency for getting set up in TA and getting to start line on time for race start.
Yes, it seems that I'm pointing the finger completely at my teammates when the problem was (is?) MY expectations, attitude, and choices. I should have done this race solo or chosen teammates with similar goals in mind for a race. As it is, there are now 3 guys who think I'm a hyper-competitive, insensitive jerk.
But as I contemplate the root cause of this negative human interaction, I can't help but continue in a certain (selfish?) line of thought. I volunteer for certain programs and organizations that benefit others. I put my own time and money into helping others for no tangible gain in return. Adventure racing is what I do FOR ME. It's what I have to myself as a positive, healthy outlet for stress which encompasses several different things that I love about outdoor activities.
In this situation, I think I just chose poorly in teammates who had different goals and motivations. It's not that they are bad athletes or poor competitors, but they have different personalities and experience levels and thus, had different objectives than I did this time.
Hopefully, I haven't made any enemies for life. I like for all personal interactions with other people to be a positive experience overall.