Bitter Pill Results

Everyone makes mistakes, and no amount of training and preparation will change that. I made mine in the first leg of the Bitter Pill which caused us to go for a 2hr run at the very start of the race. We only had about two minutes with our maps before we hit the road to the swim so instead of paying enough attention to the scale I was worrying about keeping the map dry. When we got out of the water I was confident about our next moves, along the way south I felt like the land related to the map. Unfortunately, I was wrong and instead of admitting total defeat and going back to start, we kept trying to round the corners... for hours. When we finally realized the scale of the map ("see that big pond in the map, that's that little ditch of water over there") our chances of finishing where we could have were gone.

The trick is to come back after your mistake and do everything in your power to make it right. After our gaffe, we pushed to get some good split times and at least try to be exhausted after the race. My orienteering was almost spot on for the rest of the race (or we never would have finished!), we made some good tactical decisions, and passed some teams. This was the shortest race I've done in years and I'm surprised at how different it was. Next time, I'll be sure to slow down enough to avoid the mental mistakes instead of forcing my body to make up for them.

Otherwise, the course was great for new racers. The checkpoints were very close together, the elevation gain on trail was minimal (where most beginners tend to curve downhill when approaching across an incline), and the weather was great. The GMARA volunteers were professional and full of positive support which is par for the course.

Stay tuned, we'll unpack, hose down our stuff, and recap how our new gear performed.
- Drew

Sequence S/S Duo Tee™

One of our most surprising new pieces of gear is the Outdoor Research Sequence S/S Duo Tee™. We usually race in nylon due to it being light weight and quick drying so I was skeptic about racing in wool (technically a Merino wool blend).

When I put on the tee, the first thing I thought about was taking a nap in it, not hitting the summit trail. In fact, the first day Michelle and I wore them we spent the evening at a VT Mozart concert at Shelburne Farms. They are classy enough for an outdoor wine & cheese event... at least when they are new. We are going to wear them for the Bitter Pill with the rest of our OR gear so check back to see how well everything survives.
- Drew

MVP Health Care Bitter Pill

Four days and counting until the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Assoc. puts on their annual 12 hour Bitter Pill adventure race. Many thanks go out to MVP Health Care for their help in supporting the event. I've been racing GMARA races before they had a name and I can vouch that the courses are well designed and the support crew is top notch.

This year they are going a bit further north than they have in the past so I'm excited to see what that area has to offer. Last year I did a training race in that area and it had a high moose rating (more moose 'evidence' per mile means better back country). The field is 50 teams strong (their cap) with a good set of new teams to compete against (and best of all, more post race stories!). We are definitely excited for this weekend.
- Drew

New Gear!

The moment we've been waiting for.. the arrival of our new Outdoor Research gear. We have the privilege of racing the 2009 GMARA Bitter Pill adventure race as Team Outdoor Research.

If you've ever done an adventure race, or really any endurance sport, you'll understand how important good gear is. In many ways it can make or break a race and with all the training you've done, the last thing you want to do is drop out because your gear made an early exit.

So, thanks to the people at Outdoor Research we'll be hitting the trail, bike, and canoe with our new gear. We'll be reviewing this gear top to bottom so stay tuned, you're apt to learn something even if you own some yourself!

Untamed NE Results

Its official. After 57 hours of racing, one dip in class 2 rapids, less than an hour sleep, and enough blisters to retread my feet we're done. Except for the last few hours, the weather couldn't have been better.

The course featured some great bike legs which were made much more interesting due to the three weeks of rain prior to the race. That same rain caused the canoe legs to become more of an exercise in tip-avoidance than paddling endurance. I learned a few good lessons (which I'll share later when I have time).

We finished up at 18th out of 46 teams where only 23 teams finished the course. The course this year was obviously much tougher than last year when only 4 teams were left un-ranked. The wet conditions were rough on the feet and that first night of rough water was enough to force a few teams into submission.
- Drew

New shoes

I've been able to put a good 100 hours in my new Vasque Velocity VST trail runners (can I still call them new?) so I figure its a good time to provide some feedback. I've been racing the Vasque Velocity shoe for a few years now but this is my first VST. I like the Velocity due to its rugged format, light weight, and forgiving footbed. The one thing I didn't like about the Velocity is how long it took to dry out. During some longer stretches with wet feet I would often wish I had a shoe with a more breathable upper. The great thing about the VST is that its both lighter (14.4oz vs 1lb 12oz) and has much more mesh in the upper for faster drying.

The footbed of the two shoes are very similar. The only obvious difference is the plate and the VST seems to have a bit larger tread. Both do a great job of saving your feet from hours of rocky trails. The weight difference is obvious in the hand and I'm sure after a good dip in a creek the reduction of material in the upper would make this difference even more significant. One less obvious feature of these shoes is the toe box. Besides being comfortable on the steep downhills the rubber does a very good job of saving those toes!
- Drew

Bike Build

Since my bike came to me in a number of boxes it was time to get the thing built. Now, I'm no slouch when it comes to working with my hands but it's less than a month away from my race and I don't have any time to learn the hard way. I also don't want to damage one of my new components due to my own ignorance... too expensive to replace and, with all the trouble Paul over at Ellsworth bikes went through battling back-orders just to get me parts in the first place, I figure I should enlist a pro to do the build. So I did. The guys over at Belgen Cycles (a.k.a Village Bicycle of Richmond) took great care of me. They worry about the stuff that matters and you don't need to worry about their prices.

In fact, I had scheduled the build for earlier in the week but due to my fork and brakes still being in transit, I called Gene and said I needed to cancel. He replied with a "don't worry about it, I'll keep you on the list.". A few days later my parts arrived and he fit me in the next day. How can you argue with that?
- Drew

Ellsworth Bikes

In a lot of ways, a bike is like a pair of shoes. The name, the price, the hype: they all color your expectations before you even try them on. Once you find one that fits, it's hard to let it go.

I've been riding the same bike longer than most wives will let their husbands hold on to their favorite pair of sneakers. So, when the guys over at Ellsworth bikes offered my adventure racing team a deal, I realized I had an offer too sweet to pass up. Not that it was an easy decision. There are not a lot of bike shops close to where we live in Vermont, let alone ones that have an Ellsworth built up.

I was working hard to compare bikes within my price range to the Ellsworth. The problem is that finding a built up Ellsworth to ride was not easy. Most of the time, I would find only the frame in a display (most likely to facilitate wiping the drool off) or they only had the beefier Moment or Epiphany built up on a large frame. Like trying on a pair of shoes too large, a bike too big on a different frame doesn't cut it. So, I demoed what I could, often a higher end Trek, Gary Fisher, Kona, or the like. The problem is trying to find comparisons online between these bikes and an Ellsworth. Let me save you some time: no one compares these bikes. Why? Its like comparing a Corvette with a Mazda Miata. The most common comparisons are made to Turner, Ibis, Santa Cruz, etc. so if you're looking to buy an Ellsworth skip to the chase and demo these bikes if you want to compare.
- Drew

Almost race time! Untamed New England

Drew will be racing the Untamed New England 70hr adventure race on July 10th as a member of Team GMARA. This race is an AR World Series event so the participants will be some of the premier teams in the world which will surely make each position harder to achieve in the leader board. Come to find out, this will be North America's only qualifier for the AR World Championships this year. We'll see how all those hours of Drew riding to Smugglers Notch with weight in his pack prepares him for this race!