The G-Rant : Grant's Rants on Adventure Racing

February 2007 - Posts

• Support Crew Required Part Deux

  So the verdict is in and the resounding calls for "no support crew required" have taken the day; besides the comments to the post, I got a few emails along the same lines.  It's no surprise when you consider the responses all come from racers, and why would a racer want a support crew if given the option?  Unless you're very local to a race, finding a support crew is too often a hassle that prevents racers from racing. How about an adventure race that makes support crew optional?  We've done this a few times in the past and pulled it off thanks to some careful planning and very reliable volunteers.  My question is, is it fair to group teams with no support crew into the same race category as teams with a crew?  Out in Moab last year, the poor souls who raced unsupported nearly all gave up when they ran out of dry clothes to change into (that was the race where the Moab desert saw more cold and rain than Seattle); our support crew distributed left over hot pizza to a few unsupported teams . . . needless to say, they were overjoyed to have the tasty and hot calories! Bare in mind that I'm the guy who groups teams of 3 people (coed) into the same race category as teams of 4 people (coed), so my inclination is to group everyone together into the same race category.  Sometimes 3 is better than 4, sometimes not; regardless, lumping them together makes life easier for a race organization and makes for some fun race strategy. Would people feel differently if they were racing for a cash prize of $2,000?  Does that change the answer to any of the above questions?  In the end, it's our race and we can make the rules . . . but I'm interested to hear some other opinions. Posted Feb 27 2007, 04:55 PM by gkillian with 6 comment(s)

• Floyd Fever Resurgence -- the discount is back baby!

  I hope Martin Dugard is right about there being a conspiracy to damage the tour (and, as it so happens, Floyd Landis).  That would make Landis innocent, justify all the jubilation and Floyd-Fever in the summer of 2006 (you can never forget Floyd's solo breakway to victory -- the greatest bit of racing I've ever seen!), and let us in good conscience re-instate Floyd's lifetime discount card entitling him to a 10% discount on HRAdventure and -- now -- Untamed Adventure events.  I might even bump that up to 15% for Untamed events, but we'll see how the finances go! In a nutshell, Martin posits that the evidence is shaping up like we have a party seeking to discredit the Tour de France in general, not Floyd in particular, and that whomever won the Tour would have had their sample test positive.  The discrepancies are really piling up. Now, I'm excited that Floyd would be innocent . . . but that still leaves an evil cabal out there tampering with drug tests and undermining the Tour.   The plot thickens . .  . Posted Feb 23 2007, 01:19 PM by gkillian with 3 comment(s)

• Support Crew Required ?

  I have a feeling I know the answer to this question, but I'm indulging some of the other parties involved with our future plans to pose this question: Have you ever not done a race because there was a support crew required? To me, the answer is clear, but I'm putting it out there in case there's an angle I'm missing.  If you don't want to comment online to this post, just shoot an email to info @ UntamedAdventure . com Let me know what you think.  Thanks! Posted Feb 19 2007, 06:09 PM by gkillian with 13 comment(s)

• Home - O - Phobia

  No it's not what you think.  Home-o-phobia is like homophobia only in that the two terms sound the same.  Jill has started accusing me of being home-o-phobic, meaning I'm afraid of being at home, with all the excursions I've been making to Central Virginia these past few months.  Lots of map time and extended training outings are my "secret" to building a great race course, and the only way to do it is to log many hours in the saddle, trekking shoes, or boats all over the race area.  I also like to explore areas that aren't part of the race course because you never know when a last minute change might crop up or what might fit into the race in a totally unexpected way.  It's vital to really know an area before you an operate an event through it!  A race course that hasn't been well-tested sticks out like a sore thumb, and part of my testing process is going over an area multiple times and, hopefully, in different types of conditions.  I'll never forget this race from a few years ago (a long way from us here in Virginia) where the course was estimated by race staff to be "finished in 20 hours by the top teams."  Well, top teams budgeted 21 hours of food, gear, and other items only to discover that the course was way way long and lead teams were barely over the 1/2 way mark after 20 hours of racing.  Many DNFs ensued, some due to the extreme cold, but some because teams planned around estimates provided by the race organization.  For the record, we were certainly not a "top" team at the event and still had a great time playing in the woods, and, regrettably, still DNFd . . . but I left the event being unimpressed with the poor attention to detail shown by the race organization.  I think it disrepects the racers to throw an absurdly long course at them and claim, "Well, teams weren't as athletically fit or as strong on the nav as they should've been."  That's crap, especially when some of the top teams in the nation are there, and I made up my mind at that point to not serve crap to racers.  At least not that type of crap . . . But I digress.  The point is that the only way to ensure a quality course is to invest quality time on it. Getting out on the course is also a ton of fun, or else I wouldn't have come this far with things at HRAdventure and I wouldn't be taking on new concepts in the development of Untamed Adventure (in places beyond Virginia . . . but more on this another time).  The fact my wife thinks I'm a bit home-o-phobic tells me I need to devote a bit more time to balancing the "fun in the woods" with the "fun around the homestead."  I know everybody wrestles with it, and finding a balance isn't easy, but having the support of your family is critical.  That's why when family says your "home-o-phobia" is getting out of hand, it's time to dial things back a bit.  I'm lucky we can joke about it at my house . . . having a gentle way for them to communicate hey, have you been at home in the last week? is good all round.  Posted Feb 19 2007, 12:11 PM by gkillian with no comments

• 2007 SPROUTE Sells Out

  I got word from Pike that the Sproute Adventure Race is sold out.  60 teams or more, from what I'm told, and at least 1/3 of them are made up of entirely new adventure racers.  That's right . . . fresh meat!   It's always cool to see new faces drinking the AR kool-aid.  Of course, if there are 20 totally new teams I can predict the following (based on a few years of careful analysis): - 2 of 20 will realize they are in over their heads and may not come close to finishing the course.  This may be the first and last "adventure race" these folks do. - 5 of 20 will have a pretty good time and end the day with smiles on their faces and mud on their gear.  Not everyone on these 5 teams will be stoked about the sport once the day is done, however, as these 5 teams could fall victim to the "bad team dynamics" scenario, the "I'm not a good mountain biker/paddler/runner" scenario, or any other number of things.  Out of the people on these 5 teams, like a phoenix from the ashes, I've seen great race teams rise up to take on future events; these 5 teams are a lot like the free agent pool in professional football (or like the crop of freshmen females at my college during the first few weeks of school).  Some experienced teams will be hoping for a bumper crop of dispossessed adventure racers after the Sproute on March 3. - 13 of the 20 will have a really really good time and be hooked.  This doesn't mean they drop what they're doing and start adventure racing every week, but it does mean they enjoyed the experience enough to keep their eyes out for future races and -- possibly -- consider moving onto a 12 hour race etc. This is mostly just idle ramblings, but there is some truth to it.  Each year, I see the same pattern play out.  Of course, this year will be different for me personally as Pike are at the helm of the HRAdventure ship; my involvement with Sproute has been neglible, testing the course a few months ago and that's about it (my focus has been on other things, and I'll have big news to share about that later).  I'm certain the sold out field of Sproute racers are in for a great start to the 2007 adventure racing season in Hampton Roads! Posted Feb 16 2007, 01:59 PM by gkillian with 1 comment(s)

• California Touring

  Is it just me, or does the list of pro cyclists for the upcoming Tour of California look pretty darn impressive?!  We're talking Basso, Hincapie, Leipheimer and not just Discovery guys and, better still, not just Americans: the rosters include familiar foreign names such as Stuart O'Grady, Jens Voigt, Michael Rasmussen, and Kim Kurchen.  Very cool.  The Tour of California starts this Sunday and I might have something (besides hockey) to watch on the TV for a week or so! Jill and I have aspirations to catch some of the Tour de France live and in person this summer, by the way, so I have even more reason to start following the pro cycling tour more closely! Posted Feb 15 2007, 03:11 PM by gkillian with 3 comment(s)

• Sentimental Over Outdoor Gear?

  I'm not sentimental. My wife, for example, has to constantly remind me why we keep certain family heirlooms in our house . . . because of the sentiment behind them. I'm much more of a utilitarian; I'm often making grand statements like, "I'm giving away all the clothes that I haven't worn in the last year." I'll admit to keeping a few special things around from my family, like the Bible my parents signed and gave me when I graduated high school. Yes, by the way, I did graduate high school. My lack of a "sentimental side" breaks down when it comes to outdoor gear and, specifically, space in our garage. I think having multiple bikes and multiple kayaks and multiple kayak paddles and multiple bike helmets and multiple backpacks . . . and . . . and . . . is great! Each piece of gear has a certain functional appeal, a slight variation that might make it useful out in the woods at some point in the future. Not to mention being able to oufit your friends when they come to visit, or convince the home owners association that you're running a gear store from inside your house. Sentiment has nothing to do with it.  I bring this up because today is Valentines Day, the most sentimental of holidays, and I'm putting my V-Day plan together for this evening. Of course, I've had this plan in mind for weeks now . . . I'm just now getting around to executing the plan . . . right. Since we're close to putting our house on the market I've had to clean up our garage and sort through all the gear I've collected over the years.  I figured, as part of my Valentines gift to my wife, I could apply the same minimalist mindset to my outdoor gear and identify the most useful items and discard the rest. I'd do a real bang up job on that garage! She'd be thrilled to be able to park a car in our two-car garage. Better still, when realtors begin showing our house next month, people won't think we're a satellite campus for Outward Bound. It's just not that easy. Having 4 HID lights can be very handy, although I've actually never had a chance to use them all together and reap the rewards of all that storing, charging, testing, and re-charging of the HID lights. HID lights don't occupy much space. It's nice to have so many. Just in case. I can't really part with them. Repeat the above logic for shoes, packs, and just about everything else and I find that I can hardly part with anything if I consider it "outdoor gear."  I did give away an old school road bike to Morgan, who intends to make it a fixed gear and donate it to a poor bikeless bastard, but I've had trouble parting with just about anything else. I even have old tubs of Perpetuem in the garage, for goodness sake!   So, I didn't make much Valentines Day progress on the garage and I'll be paying a visit to our local florist and the wine and cheese shop instead.  Come to think of it, I better get on the road! I hope your V-Day plans, whether you're sentimental or not, go a bit more according to plan. Posted Feb 14 2007, 02:35 PM by gkillian with 3 comment(s)

• A Fun Weekend Despite My Bladder Problems

  I just returned from a fun weekend up at Wintergreen Resort.  It's funny, coming from Colorado, to see all the people passionately hitting the ski slopes on what would pass for a foothill back home; yes, I'm a ski resort snob growing up about 1 hour from Breckenridge, Vail, Copper Mtn, etc.  Buy hey, you have to take advantage of what you've got and so to all the skiers at Wintergreen I say: "Give 'em hell!"  Wintergreen has a giant snow making system, so as long as it's cold enough, they'll have ski on those slopes.  The resort and lodge seem nice enough, so I really shouldn't be too judgmental. Some friends joined us for the weekend and I coerced them into exploring some parts of the Untamed Virginia course with me.  I'm certain we were the only cars loaded with mountain bikes and trekking gear at the ski resort; we got a few remarks from the skiers, in fact!  The verdict, straight from my friends' mouths: "Dude: how do you find these places?" and "Now this is the sort of race I would really like!  I wish I wasn't on the course with you now so I could actually DO the race." It was certainly cold and our faces, hands, and particularly feet were numbed from the low temperatures and wind; like an idiot, I left a lot of cold gear at home thinking I wouldn't need it.  Neoprene booties?  Left at home.  Balaclava?  Left at home.  Arm warmers?  Left at home. Better still, as soon as I hopped on my bike I discovered a leak in my hydration bladder (I have a whole hydration bladder saga to share some day, truly) and had to leave the bladder behind -- having a water bladder leak through your pack and clothes on a cold day could be really bad.  Instead, I did the entire 5+ hours with a meager 8 oz water bottle.  Of course, my friends had water I could've drank in a pinch, but I wanted to take the opportunity to see how much water I could conserve.  In a real race, it's good to have explored these sorts of personal limits because you never know.  I'm sure the cold weather helped me, so I didn't sweat too much, and I ended up OK with just the 8 oz of water.   I was ready for a drink by the end, though, let me tell you. When we finished, we descended on a convenience store like vultures to a corpse (or should I say orienteers to an obvious attack point?).  I hit the fluids pretty hard, and we all were craving salt.  They were out of my favorite salt-indulgence, so I settled on the Cape Cod Jalapeno Cheddar chips instead.  Those things are darn tasty, and proof positive that I can eat nearly anything after a good workout.  Posted Feb 12 2007, 10:17 AM by gkillian with 2 comment(s)

• Jonesing for New England Topo Maps

  I've been very patient, but I can't contain myself any longer: where is the multi-day racing up in New England?  We raced a 24 hour event in New Hampshire a couple years ago and the terrain was amazing; there is such a rich park system up there, great rivers, and spider webs of trails and roads, and -of course- serious elevation to blow those quads out. Scott "Lactic Acid" Pleban maintains the Appalachian Extreme race was one of the truly great races.  The App Extreme was 72 hours of rugged wilderness, but the race organization (RacingAhead -- one of the great old school race organizations that changed ownership a few years ago) now only offers a single 24-hour event in 2007.  I hear stories from racers who did the App Extreme (race reports and some photos from those races), and it makes me dream of a multi-day New England event. We're looking for multi-day races to compete in and, honestly, it looks like we'll have to head back to Moab, Utah this Fall to get a good multi-day (60 hours+) race through some amazing terrain.  While Moab is a gorgeous venue, I'd prefer to race somewhere new this Summer/Fall!  Isn't there a race organization in Mass, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine that can make it happen?  I'm not calling out individual organizations . . . I know it's tough and they should realize I have a full understanding of what race organizing entails.  Consider this just a gentle nudge from a mid-Atlantic racer jonesing for New England topo maps!  A couple teams from down here are chomping at the bit! Fair warning: we recently acquired the domain name Untamed Adventure which frees us from geographic constraints, so if next year I combine two Untamed VAs into a single long weekend and move things about 500 miles North . . . Posted Feb 06 2007, 08:41 AM by gkillian with 1 comment(s)

• Hill Categories, Jarmans Gap, and some Sinatra music

  Jarmans Gap Rd is a pretty sweet climb just west of Charlottesville.  It's well known for it's 3 miles of up . . . up . . . up.  1500 ft of up, in fact, which makes it about a 9.5% grade when you do the math (15,800 ft of distance to 1,500 ft of elevation).  Jarman's was the focal point of a fun day this past weekend; a couple C'villeans, Mojo, and I cooked up a plan to ride up Jarmans and into the Shenandoah National Forest for some trekking, then a very quick ride back down.  A few brief hours of intense work. A couple photos will spice this up . . . The ride up Jarman's Gap was a  long, slow spin.  Not quite the full granny gear, but getting pretty close.  Mojo, unfortunately, turned back before the fun really started with nausea and a killer sinus infection.   That sucked, but the three of us carried on in his absence. The trek up Turk Mountain was short -- we shortened our day in light of Mojo laying sick on the couch back in Charlottesville.  It wasn't as cold as we thought it might be, and lil' Timmy Sinatra (yes, that's his real last name) was inspired at the summit to belt out a tune.  Maybe Sinatra will sing for the Untamed Va participants in June? I paused for a picture on Turk Mountain with the Shenandoah Valley as my backdrop.  Ever the daredevil, Steve took the more technical route along Skyline Drive.  I wouldn't suggest doing this unless you're under some serious peer pressure from Tim and Steve. Don't want to leave Mojo out of the photo-diary, so here's one of him and his burrito when we met back up after the riding and trekking.  He'll be feeling better in no time, I'm sure.  We got a bit philosophical about the workout over lunch.  Compared with Sherando, Jarmans is a much much shorter ride but Jarmans is also steeper over the shorter distance; my opinion is that Sherando is a great training ride if you want a long day in the saddle and are up for the solitude of being miles and miles away from other people (and assistance -- so bring your tools and maybe some extra bike parts!).  Jarmans, on the other hand, is at least 30 minutes closer to Hampton Roads by car and there are residences along the road and, at the top, there is a steady trickle of traffic along Skyline Drive . . .  fundamentally a different experience than Sherando and each has it's attractive elements. If you want to get analytical, and being a bit of a nerd I do, you can crunch the numbers as follows: -Jarmans Gap is 3 miles with 1,500 ft of climb for a 9.5% grade, mostly on hardpacked gravel road with some washboard sections and a bit of pavement tossed in. -Sherando Jeep Road (from Coal Road to the pseudo-summit on the border with St. Mary's Wilderness) is 3.25 miles with 1,100 ft of climb for a 6.4% grade. -I should comment that the gravel road at Sherando is relentlessly tricky and ups the ante considerably! -Just for comparison, Lance Armstrong's 2004 Time Trial on the Alpe d'Huez was up an 8% gradient for about 9 miles in distance.  Before you start thinking, hey that's just like 3 Sherandos or 3 Jarmans you should factor in the brutal pace he rode up the mountain . . . I'm pretty sure there's no granny gearing it to fly up in 40 minutes flat!  I think it took us over 60 minutes to ascend Jarmans just one time this weekend, for example. Posted Feb 04 2007, 06:21 PM by gkillian with 4 comment(s)

• Winter comes to Newport News

  And I thought it just might never come this year!  Winter arrived this past week in the form of some light snow and colder temperatures.  This photo is from my run along the Nolan Trail in Newport News; the snow really started coming down about half way around: Part of the fun on this run was my wife and dog came along, but did an alternate "short course" route.  Our dog really enjoyed the Mariner's Museum:  Before you ask, yes, I picked the poop up; plastic bags are mandatory gear when taking our dog on walks! I also got to enjoy some of the cold, but sunny, weather out in the Shenandoahs this weekend.  More on that shortly . . .   Posted Feb 04 2007, 04:18 PM by gkillian with no comments