I recently took a trip to Moab to participate in an adventure race with some brothers and friends. We got down there a couple days early to "warm-up" for the race. For the most part we got pretty lucky with the weather and were able to camp each night.
Thursday's activities consisted of setting up camp, watching a video about cryptobiotic soil, and then exploring around a trail that was new to me, Tower Arch.
Thursday's activities consisted of setting up camp, watching a video about cryptobiotic soil, and then exploring around a trail that was new to me, Tower Arch.
On our way out we took a detour and got a little lost. Our route also required some team effort in order for us all to get out safely with Matt lowering the girls to Mike, then from Mike to me, and then from there they pretended to be on a slippery slide down to where Devon would catch them. Classic!
The next morning we met up with Greg, Kellie, and Ayla for rock climbing on Wall Street- on the exact route that me and Greg started on about 8 years ago.
Our afternoon activity found us at Slick Rock to make sure our bikes and legs were sufficiently warm/worn for the race the next day...that trail never gets old to me!
The Weather Channel told us there was a 60% chance of rain during our race...and we started that morning with blue skies and a warm sun! What I didn't even consider was the relentless wind...less than an hour in and that's exactly what we got - it was sooooo hard to paddle against! Greg's fingers were frozen, Parker got hypothermia, Devon is jumping out of the kayak just to reach shore, and we saw several kayaks being blown backwards! We got through it and started the bike. I left our passport in the transition area and had to ride an extra 6 miles for the mistake. Greg and I ended up riding with Mike and Matt to try and create a peloton of sorts to deal with the heavy head wind. We were excited to finally see some dirt trails, but didn't expect it to be so technically difficult. The race website described the bike sections difficulty with a 2 out of 5 stars- should have been closer to a 4! It is an amazing trail, don't get me wrong, but too difficult for our group and time constraints. We missed the cutoff for the rappel and had to head back after our decent. In all it took us over 8 hours and at one point I hit a wall and really needed some energy/water - very draining! But we survived and had an adventure...which is what it's all about I suppose! Below is a video of some footage I've put together to summarize the race. A special thank you to Jennifer for making sure I had everything I needed, making me those amazing breakfast burritos, and otherwise supporting my addictive/expensive habit of racing with my brothers - I missed you the WHOLE time!
The next morning we met up with Greg, Kellie, and Ayla for rock climbing on Wall Street- on the exact route that me and Greg started on about 8 years ago.
Our afternoon activity found us at Slick Rock to make sure our bikes and legs were sufficiently warm/worn for the race the next day...that trail never gets old to me!
The Weather Channel told us there was a 60% chance of rain during our race...and we started that morning with blue skies and a warm sun! What I didn't even consider was the relentless wind...less than an hour in and that's exactly what we got - it was sooooo hard to paddle against! Greg's fingers were frozen, Parker got hypothermia, Devon is jumping out of the kayak just to reach shore, and we saw several kayaks being blown backwards! We got through it and started the bike. I left our passport in the transition area and had to ride an extra 6 miles for the mistake. Greg and I ended up riding with Mike and Matt to try and create a peloton of sorts to deal with the heavy head wind. We were excited to finally see some dirt trails, but didn't expect it to be so technically difficult. The race website described the bike sections difficulty with a 2 out of 5 stars- should have been closer to a 4! It is an amazing trail, don't get me wrong, but too difficult for our group and time constraints. We missed the cutoff for the rappel and had to head back after our decent. In all it took us over 8 hours and at one point I hit a wall and really needed some energy/water - very draining! But we survived and had an adventure...which is what it's all about I suppose! Below is a video of some footage I've put together to summarize the race. A special thank you to Jennifer for making sure I had everything I needed, making me those amazing breakfast burritos, and otherwise supporting my addictive/expensive habit of racing with my brothers - I missed you the WHOLE time!
