It's been so nice in Virginia the past month, I'm starting to wonder if Winter will ever come. I'm not complaining, as this is some of the best training weather around, but I've got
a race in March in Georgia coming up that is likely to bring some cold conditions. The
same two people I raced the Yellow Jacket Extreme with this past August have convinced me, against my better judgement, to head back to northern Georgia for another go at a 30 hour race. I say "against my better judgement" because
we came back from our last race down that way short a GMC Yukon and a Wenonah Sundowner canoe! Of course, that was in early February of 2006 and this new race on my schedule will be in late March, so the odds are a bit more in my favor when it comes to weather.
If you look at my 2006 race calendar, it's a rough record. Here's a rundown:
-Feb 2006:
Odyssey One Day Extreme (30-hours in northern GA); racing with my regular HRAdventure crew we were awarded 3rd place after the race was cancelled 24 hours in. Cancellation due to a severe blizzard that flipped one of our support vehicles (car was totalled along with the canoe on the roof).
May 2006:
A 36 hour adventure race in Maine was
cancelled about 2 months in advance; the race organizers switched jobs and relocated, abandoning the race.
-July 2006:
A 2 day race, Raid The North in Quebec Canada, was
cancelled about 3 weeks in advance; the race organizers thought turn-out was too low and cited organizational problems.
-July 2006:
Odyssey One Day (24-hours in Roanoke VA); racing with a ragtag fugitive coalition of friends, we DNF'd. The weather was great, though!
-Aug 2006:
Yellow Jacket Extreme 12-hour race. Race was held as scheduled, weather wasn't insane, a fine day of racing. We raced slow, but error free, and had a good time. Scott's first "real" race and Beth's first AR ever; they did really well!
-Oct 2006: Back with the regular HRAdventure team at
the Moab XStream Expedition 3-4 day race . . . Moab gets the most rain it's ever recorded while the race is going on. We raced cold, soaking wet, through the
desert for a day and a half before they cancel the race. The course had been flooded out and literally washed away in places.
By mid October, I start considering other interests like brewing beer or bobsledding . . . I seem to have the market cornered on signing up for races that are cancelled or take place in disastrous conditions.
So, you can maybe guess at where I'm heading with this post. The sooner the weather gets nasty, the sooner I can really start preparing for whatever north Georgia can throw at Beth, Scott, and I. I'm fairly cold tolerant, but I think it's partly because I insist on training through whatever mother nature brews up. There is no better way to test waterproof shoes, rain shells, base layers, gloves, and
the big piece of gear: yourself, than to actually get out in the mess and see what works.
Now that I've got a cool and rugged digital camera (thanks you guys!), I'll have to start documenting some of the episodes . . . I've let too many precious photo moments slip past.