WEDALI

Raid The North Extreme (RTNX)

2011-07-22T00:23:00.002-05:00

July 23-31, WEDALI will be competing in the Raid The North Extreme 6-Day Expedition Race in British Columbia's West Kootenay. Follow the race live at:

http://www.raidthenorth.com/RTNx/2011/livecoverage.php

LBL Challenge Great Start to 2011

2011-04-07T10:37:00.001-05:00

Jason, Scott, Molly, and Justin represented WEDALI during a recent trip to western Kentucky for Bonk Hard Racing's Land Between the Lakes Challenge. The 24-hour event, starting on April 2nd, drew a good batch of regional teams and was sure to provide a competitive event for everyone this early in the adventure racing season.
The action kicked off at 7am with a short O-section to split teams up, followed by a lot of classic LBL single-track riding - very doable, but scenic and twisty trails with a little bit of nav to keep everyone honest.
Three hours later we did a TA with several other teams including Bushwhacker, Alpine Shop, and CP0, with Technu and ImOnPoint right on our tails - This was going to be a close race for sure! We thought this trek would likely be the toughest part of the race - a challenging 19 mile O-section with 18 controls to obtain - so doing well here would certainly improve chances for a good finish later on.

Teams had to return to the TA within 7 hours, so getting all of the CPs was paramount to ranking well against the other squads. Not far into the course, we ran across this snake while trekking along with CP0. Thankfully it was busy sunning itself, so no worries on any bad encounters.

The trek had a lot of upper river reentrant type topography along with plenty of parallel features to mess up the navigation. Lots of small creek crossings made the trek scenic and enjoyable.

We tried to push hard on this big O-section, knowing this would likely be our chance to pull away from a few teams. We worked hard to run in areas where the vegetation wasn't too think, but keep a consistent pace in the woods as well.

The heat of the day started to wear on us, and a few of us started pulling water from creeks less than two hours into the trek. It was awesome to have a tube of Nuun on this section, not only to mask the iodine taste of the water, but to put back electrolytes that we were sweating off in the heat.

Being from Iowa and Minnesota, this was the first time we hard trained/raced all season in temps above 50 degrees, and the sunny skies were pushing the temps into the mid-70s on this trek. We stopped at a few creeks not only to fill our bottles, but dunk our heads in the refreshing spring water of LBL - Ahhh!

After a little over 5 hours of trekking, we emerged from the woods back to the TA. No other teams were in sight and the volunteers informed us that we were the first team back. This was good news and we tried to get out of the TA quick and onto the bike, even though our legs were drained from the effort.

We rode a variety of paved, gravel, and unmaintained roads on the next 28 mile bike leg.

We arrived at the next TA without any knowledge of how we were doing or how far behind any of the other teams were. When we left to run out on the next trek, Bushwhacker was riding into the TA, so our lead was confirmed at less than 10 minutes. We made a critical error at this TA however and forgot to punch our control card. Luckily we realized this about 5 minutes down the trail, and so we ran back to the TA that we had just left to punch. Our ~10 minute lead over Bushwhacker had been lost, but we were enormously happy to have realized it at that point as opposed to at the next CP, which would have cost us an hour....
After a brief 6-mile trek, we returned to the Start/Finish, which was also CP40. We needed to plot the paddle leg along with the trek and bike sections to return to the finish. Bushwhacker entered the TA shortly behind us, so we tried to get out quick again. Due to the heavy winds earlier in the day, the paddle had been shortened to 13 miles instead of 16, but this also added another 2 miles of trekking to the put in.
We arrived at the paddle just after dark, knowing that finding the CPs in the dark would be more challenging with so many parallel bay and inlet features. We paddled at a steady pace, seeing the glowsticks of Bushwhacker about 10 minutes back for most of the leg. We made a few minor nav errors, but nothing too major in the 3 hour endeavor.
After landing ashore, we TAed quick to a trek back to where we had dropped our bikes, a short 5-mile leg with 3 CPs. These were obtained without a hitch, save for a 5-minute visit to the Bermuda Triangle near the last unmanned CP. Not the best time to lose your bearings!
We got to our bikes and opted for a shorter, single-track biking route home over a lengthier, gravel road ride. The potential for a team to pass us without our knowledge was there, so we tried to keep the bike pace quick (for a 2am night ride) on the 6-mile leg. We finally came into the finish in 19 hours and 13 minutes. After a quick check of the CP card, we had locked in 1st place!

Not far behind, a scant 13 minutes in fact, Bushwhacker crossed the line in 2nd. They raced hard the entire day and had a great effort, pushing us from behind. Alpine Shop, Technu, Checkpoint Zero, ImOnPoint, and Midwest Mountaineering rounded out the top 7 coed teams, all finishing the tough event put together by BHR in good form.

2011 Season Begins!

2011-04-01T13:25:00.004-05:00

Follow WEDALI at the LBL Challenge 24-Hour race April 02, 2011 in Grand Rivers, KY

http://www.checkpointtracker.com/leaderboards/24/1

Jason Nielsen Makes Cover of Triathlete Magazine

2011-03-02T09:54:00.004-06:00

Good news from the WEDALI media department:
Jason Nielsen, teammate since 2005, was chosen for the cover of the April 2011 Triathlete magazine. Jason's profile is on page 26, and a great article on the ADAC is on pages 86 - 91, written by Yankee Scribes member Adam Chase.
The pic was taken by photographer Chris Radcliffe during the 2010 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

We can't think of anyone more fit for the cover of The Adventure Issue....

2010 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge

2010-12-29T18:43:00.004-06:00

WEDALI finished the 2010 adventure racing season with an unscheduled. Going toe-to-toe with some of the world's best endurance adventure athletes, Molly Moilanen, Justin Bakken, Scott Erlandson, and Jason Nielsen joined a competitive field of 49 other teams, represented by 18 different countries, for the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. Below is a race report from the December 10-15 event, written by teammate Jason Nielsen:
Talk about ending the 2010 race season with a bang?! How about a December race in the Desert? How about finding out 3 weeks before the race start that your team had the opportunity at: Race entry, Hotel, and Flight paid for, trip to the other side of the planet to race in ABU DHABI for the 2010 ABU DHABI ADVENTURE CHALLENGE (ADAC)? Thanks to a partnership between the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and our very own U.S. Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Series, WEDALI, was able to secure this year’s spot in the coveted race by winning the 2010 CPTracker Race Series.

With 3 weeks and 3 thousand things to prepare, organize, acquire, and test, there would be little time to train. Who needs training anyways? It can be very time consuming and highly overrated. Plus, trying to close out the final weeks of the construction season for me at work and another team member with a mysterious intestinal disorder what could go wrong? Oh, and I still don’t have my passport.
For anyone who doesn’t know, the ADAC is not the normal Adventure Race that we commonly do here in the States. For starters, where a GPS is always on the top of the list of banned items, a GPS is mandatory gear here. Where we get maps and have to plot checkpoints and determine our own routes at home, in the ADAC we still get maps, but the points are plotted and all routes highlighted to follow. Not only that, but as we would find out, the first two days of racing would have signs and markers along the way and anytime we were in traffic, police were there stopping cars and pointing us off in the right direction. It was definitely an Adventure Challenge, not Adventure Race.
The essence of the ADAC was this: A 6-day stage race consisting of an adventure triathlon, 3 mountain bike sections, 3 mountaineering sections, a 121-km desert trek, and a 121-km sea kayak. Placing in the top 30 even assures prize money. But with a sold out race and 50 teams coming to conquer, even placing in the top 30 could be and would prove to be a challenge.
It turns out that Giardia can easily be cured with the proper medications. What is not so easy about Giardia, apparently, is the diagnosis. For over 2 weeks, Erl was down for the count with no hope of recovery. Not a great feeling going into a race, much less a 6-day race. Luckily, with a week and a half before go-time things were calming down on the inside for him. Two weeks of training lost just before a killer race. I was hoping he had a really, really, really good BASE! And the passport came.
We arrived a few days before race start to do some sightseeing and to re-acclimatize to summer conditions. We found the buffet breakfast at the hotel fantastic (minus the turkey bacon and chicken sausages). Anymore days of that and we might eat our way right out of race shape. When ‘race types’ started showing up, we knew we were in the right place. It was a great atmosphere.
I got this picture during the gear check. Oh yeah!

Then the course is revealed at the pre-race meeting.

December 10
The race started on Corniche Beach in Abu Dhabi with little fanfare. Except that NBC was there videoing, a thousand photographers were there and 2 helicopters were there to film the event. The pace and conditions were frantic at the start with 100 inflatable canoes going in the water at the same place. It was bumper boat heaven. If I had to guess where we stood when we got back to the beach where we started after the approximately 0.75 mile paddle, I would guess 35th. This turns out be a reoccurring theme for us as we progress through the race.

We then run 2+ miles to the Emirates Palace for the swim. Swim, run back to where the race started, re-enter the canoes to paddle across the bay (while dealing with loose t-handles on the paddles, and loosing 1 handle altogether) to Lulu Island for a short, 2-CP trek. This is where we get our first taste of racing in the sand with their mini sand dunes here.

After having to use actual navigation skills for 2 of the 25 minutes we were on the island, we return to our inflatables for the return to Corniche Beach and the finish of the ‘Prologue’, Section A. Our time: 2h 52m. Good enough for 36th place. Fastest time: 2h 14m (Thule).
Excited with finishing such a short section we immediately board the bus for the next stage. Section B, MTB, Mountain Trek. After almost 2 hours on the bus we arrive at Al Ain at the base of Jebel Hafeet. We find teams already there and making the most of their transition time preparing their bikes for the beginning of the next stage, which will begin in 1 hour. We find our race supplied bikes and a small piece of shade to begin changing out pedals, attaching lights, reflective tape, and making fit adjustments. Also, the tires have about 15 psi, so we search out another team with a stand pump and after some searching, one of the Russian teams kindly lends us theirs. There is just enough time to change everything over as ‘the voice’ proclaims the next start time will be in 10 minutes. A quick spin down a walking path and we are good to go. We even arrive at the starting line with almost 2 minutes to spare. AMAZING! Well, I actually think they delayed the start a minute or two, so really we were right on time in classic WEDALI fashion.
A mountain bike peloton cruising down the flatter than flat streets of Al Ain was kind of interesting. Everyone in the lead pack was crazy. It seemed they would rather die than to be dropped off the back and for good reason. The next 15 miles was paved and flat. There is a HUGE advantage to sticking with the pack if you can keep up. Us? Not quite. We essentially lasted about 5 minutes in the group because Molly’s chain would shift off the big ring when she shifted up. Luckily, each of the 3 times it did, she was able to back it up and peddle it back on without stopping. A good deal to keep us rolling, but by that time the peloton was long gone and we were a team alone.

We made the best of it and put in a good pace line passing a few others that were not able to hang on to the back either. It was fun flying through the round-abouts like we were in the Tour de France, but it was not fun knowing the peloton had dropped us like a bad habit. The paving turned to a gravely road as we approached Jebel Hafeet.

A couple of miles of that and we drop our bikes and take off on foot. We can see in the distance our destination. We run a mile or so before we start going vertical.

3,000+ vertical feet later we can see the finish, Camp 1, on the flat below on the other side of Jebel Hafeet.

There is still a ways to go for us though, including a 150’ rappel that will drop us the final leg to the valley floor. Biz here on the rappel as I ‘fun’ my way down taking pictures and videos for posterity on our way to the finish for Section C.

Section B: MTB time: 57m 40sec, good for 33rdplace
Section C: MTN Trek time: 1h 17min, good for 37thplace.
Camp 1 is a wonderful retreat. Great food. Great atmosphere with racers from around the world.

December 11
Day 2 starts out with a sprint on the flat and then has us crossing the mountain to get back on our bikes. It may be hard to see that is the line of people ahead of us climbing over the marked trail.

The end of Section D: 49m 09sec, good for 36th place.
Beginning of Section E: MTB Bike. Basically; a hill climb. Except the hill is 3,000+ feet to the top and the average grade is 8%. Pretty uneventful but it was a beautiful road and would love to have one like that at home to train on. I understand during last years race they went DOWN this same road. How lucky! Alas, it was not meant to be but we did blast our way up and finished the climb in 1:20. Good enough for 31st place!

Next up was the Mountaineering section with lots, and LOTS of rope. This section would prove to be our demise and savior at the same time. We quickly transition out and are quickly making our way along the mountain top finding the mandatory checkpoints along the way.

It is down to a shallow valley and then back up to the top where we get clipped into the ropes for a via Feratta that will be a mind numbingly good time on the ropes for the next 5 plus hours.

Yes, I said over 4 hours on rope. No need to go into details when this can best be explained in pictures.

Going over the edge to start.

Notice the guy in the distance about half way up the rock. We traversed that face to where the picture was taken. The man in the photo is Liam from Sleepmonsters/Rogue.

Molly navigating a boulder.

Erl having the time of his life!

Up close and personal.

It was never ending. There was nothing that was overly technical and luckily we didn’t have any problems with bottlenecks considering the time we spent on the ropes. Amazing I know.
The downfall for us was what happened when we reached the rappel, or did NOT reach it in time rather. It felt really unusual to not make a cut-off. But there we were, once we reached the final checkpoint to get off the ropes, we were directed to the bottom to await further instructions. We were the 1st team not allowed to continue and it was not a great feeling. We were given no real options and felt lost.
Almost immediately though, race officials began to arrive and within 15 minutes we had the information we needed. Hike out three miles to the road where a bus will be waiting for you. The walk of shame!

Considering how bad things were, we tried to focus on the good of the deal. 1. We would not have to climb back UP the mountain and spend a likely 2-3 hours completing the course. 2. We could use this as a nice recovery and prepare for the 94km+121km bike and desert trek. 3. As far as we knew, the odd way penalties work here is that we might only be assessed the time of the last team to complete the stage +1 hour. Not too bad probably and we don’t have to kill ourselves for another 2+ hours. However, that also means that all teams directly behind us will pretty much get the same exact time as us. Like we have a choice.
Section F: With 2 hours of penalties, we end up with: 9h 56m
The bus ride out into the real desert is interesting. We make it to camp though, but it is already dark when we arrive and we are looking at getting some good food and a nice nap before the next mornings 4:00am start on bikes for Section G.
Dinner is great and we get to cozy up to Thule NZ as we eat. Mr. Usher and Mr. Fa’avae are great to chat with. They give us some pointers for the desert which is basically that this years general direction of travel will be much harder than last years. Great, we thought the tougher the better for us. Afterwards we retire to our camp. We get additional maps and the locations of the ‘optional’ checkpoints to plug into the GPS. The optional points don’t have coordinates, they are merely placed on the map so Biz does some studying and calculates a rough coordinate location so that can be GPS’d . Erl and I try to locate our bikes which is harder than it should be. Our excuse was that there are 180 bikes that are exactly the same.

December 12 & 13
Another amazing breakfast but where I was making fun of the elites earlier about their Coco Krispies , all of a sudden, this seems like an awesome addition to the other offerings.
The race begins on a sandy road and what seems to be the entrance to Rub’ al Khali (the Empty Quarter). Immediately there is trouble out of the gate in front of us. Again, the teams in the front get to avoid the delay and are off to the races as the teams in back sort things out. Again we are alone within the first two minutes of the stage. The road is broken up asphalt paving that is mostly good with a few areas that are so bad we detour around them. The going is good and an hour in we feel like we are doing quite well. The odd thing is there are individuals without teams here and there. Not sure why so many people seem to be on their own but we stick together and keep a tight line while the road is good because we expect that to end anytime. Two hours in and we hit the 1st CP. All is good and we recalculate our time for the section because it seems to be going so well. Well, that was the first third. The next third would be nothing like the first. The asphalt turned into what looked like a cement treated base, with drifts of sand here and there and EVERYWHERE. The road was rough when there was a road, and miserable when it was sand. I suspect we spent as much time off our bikes pushing as we did riding this part.

Grace came at the next CP and the end of the desert bike whack. From there it was smooth sailing for the last 20 miles when we would reach our transition to the desert trek.
SECTION G, Bike: 7h 00m. Good for 32nd place!

Now, after a nice 7 hour warm up on the bike the real fun is about to begin. Trekking 121km, (approx 72 miles) if we hit all the optional checkpoints. Only 70km if we just take the mandatory points. We spend almost 1 hour in transition stripping our bikes and preparing enough gear and food to last us the next 30 hours.
Then we head out of the desert oasis of Hamim.

There will be no race provided supper tonight. We are on our own until the 6pm cutoff the next evening. Rushing into the desert sands on foot is a refreshing break from the bike and is almost fun.

We quickly catch and pass a team in front of us on the way to the first checkpoint. Navigation? Erl gets in on the act and leads the way!

We arrive at the 3rd CP late in the afternoon and the temp is hot. Where it has been mostly moderate everywhere we’ve been so far, the UAE winter day temp in the desert was around 95°F. We choose to set up a brief camp as many others had already done and take a break from the day time heat to rest and plan our attack for the optional CP’s (8 hours of rest taken at two or less CPs was mandatory).

Thanks to our Mandatory Gear Puppy Piles, we saved considerable weight on our travels.

Only being a few hours into the desert, and still ‘on the edge’, we next proceeded to strategize our ultimate demise. With only taking two hours of our mandatory combined eight hour break at our first stop, we set up ourselves for torture. Heading out of camp at the same time the Yogaslackers went out, we both maintained a nice stiff pace for an hour or so and at which time the sun began to set. The footprints in the sand said go one way but we decided we might try a more direct route. After just a few minutes and the rumble of an emanating sand slide, we stopped in our tracks and retreated back to the path more traveled. By the time we got back on ‘trail’ we were all alone again. Our strategy was to go for the 1st two optional CPs (of four total) even though the 3rd optional looked to be the easiest and shortest to get. Our thoughts were to ‘go for it’ and skip 1 or both of the remaining 2 at the end if we had to. We didn’t want to look back and wish we would have gone for the earlier ones had time allowed. By the time we nearly reached the 1st of the optionals, we were already questioning our strategy and everyone was running the math in their heads with the time and distance left to see if it was possible. If it stayed the same, we were good. That was not the case though after we reached the 2nd of the optionals and by that time, it was too late to reconsider. From there we were going against the grain all the way to the next mandatory CP. Up the soft steep sides of all the dunes. No more free bounds down the soft sides. It was straight up. And it was tough. The fun was done and we were just trying to survive and get to the finish. As the fun was just beginning to end.

We staggered into the 2nd to last mandatory CP just before dawn. Biz and I were having a really hard time staying awake. Molly and Erl pulled us through. We decided to change our plans of resting at the last mandatory CP and break there. We had to. We rested/slept for approx 2 hours before getting up and eating a breakfast of cold instant soup. The first few bites were AWESOME. The last few were AWFUL. We made do and went to checkout. Based on our previous rate of travel, we seriously were in doubt of being able to make it the finish in the next 12 hours. After explaining our case to the race director his simple reply was “Go.” Apparently he knew something we didn’t or else we were still incoherent. Either way, with our shoe cover setup and not having had a chance to take them off our feet, it was going to be a fun 12 hour trek to the finish.

At this point teams were going off in all directions and none of it really made sense to us.

Apparently we were still in a fog but we trudged on. Soon we were climbing more dunes and the temp was getting hot, fast. Here we're getting our hurt on with the Yankee Scribes, a fellow US team.

Eventually we came across a road which offered a great relief for our feet. After 60+ miles in the sand we were ready for it to be done.

Arriving at the last mandatory CP was no cause to rejoice. It was hot, our feet were on the verge of going bad, and we still had about 10k to go to the finish. We never planned to get the last optional CP (because it even looked bad on the map) after this one and also had to skip the "short and easy" one on our way to the final mandatory CP. We were beat down pretty good at this point, and it came down to what gets us through so many of the long, mind numbing sections of races at home: Perseverance. It was almost a crawl from that point to the finish but we made it.

Not the hardest section I’ve ever been through physically, but mentally it might have been. The sand just does not end. Ever. In the end, we estimated we trekked approx. 75 miles. (add an extra 10 miles for the 2 steps forward 1 step back sand hill climbs)
Our time for SECTION H: 27h 47m. With a 12 hour penalty for 2 missed optional CP’s and 8.5 hours for not taking the mandatory ‘stop’ time, we finished with a total time of 48h 15m. Placing us in 29th for the day. Miraculously, there was food at the finish line. It truly was a blessing. I am not kidding!
Next up, a 3 hour bus ride to the coast!
When we arrive at our seaside camp of Mirfa it is already dark. Everyone is walking slow as we file off the busses. People are having troubles fitting their feet back into their shoes. I know we don’t even want to put our feet in them but we manage. We find our #13 bags in the giant pile of gear bags and find what looks like a great place to set up tents for the night. Right on the beach (this photo was taken the next day).

Before, during, and after the nights supper we and every other racer are visiting the results tube. We move around in placings from 23rd, 29th, 31st, before finally falling into 27th place, 8 minutes behind 26th as we finish our gear prep and turn in for the night. There were many revisions to the results as everyone’s time was tabulated and penalties calculated. We weren’t sure of anything except we were glad to be out of the desert sand and in the white beach sand preparing for the 121km paddle back to Abu Dhabi over the next 2 days.

December 14
3:42am.. I briefly awake to the sound of wind. Strong wind. I see a flash of light and in my dream state kind of think it might be lighting and as I drift back asleep I dream that it IS lighting and maybe we won’t have to get in the kayaks when morning comes. 4:20am and it is time to get up, pack up and get ready for our final stage. No lighting. What was I thinking? This is a DESERT! It certainly is windy but there is only 1 Adventure Race I’ve ever been in where the weather has altered the course and that was way back in 2003 with 40mph winds, snow, and a paddle on the Mississippi River in the dark. The only problem with this wind is we have mandatory sails on our $3,000 2-person kayaks and the thought of suffering for so many miles in a wind like this was not a great thought.

No one said it out-loud, but I’m sure many were thinking it. After breakfast and packing up some gear, ‘the voice’ comes on over the speaker system. “Due to the wind, the start of Section I, is being temporarily postponed until further notice.” No one knows what to say or what to do. I think most people quietly rejoice in the fact and hope for a little more rest time before starting the day. Within an hour the final verdict is revealed. “Today’s leg of the sea kayak will be cancelled and you will be bused the following day back to Abu Dhabi for a shortened, to be determined, stage for the finish.” This announcement comes with relief and sorrow for all. I don’t think anyone’s heart was broken that we have the day off but at the same time, this IS an adventure race (challenge) and cutting a huge part out feels like someone stole a piece of your soul. It is really hard to describe. There is an empty feeling in camp. No one knows what to do. I suppose we will live, but for all intensive purposes, the race is now over. So much for getting to paddle on the ocean. So much for getting to camp overnight on an island. So much for a grand arrival back in Abu Dhabi. Even now, many weeks and many miles removed, I still feel like we didn’t complete what we went there to do. Still empty.
We mull around for awhile, recheck the posted results before deciding we would try a little nap. Sounded good right? That was when being on the beach turned out to not be such a great idea. The sand came again. Nothing like lying in a closed up tent and having sand rain down you as you try to sleep. INSANE!

We got to miss the wind and sandstorm in the desert, which last years racers experienced, but we're getting a little taste of what it could be like right there in camp.
Enough was enough. We get up and team up with the Yankee Scribes and walk into town in search of food. Dreams of a restaurant or even a McDonalds dance in our heads. Once we make it to the main street area we go door to door in search of food. We find a restaurant, but the prices were crazy. We sample the offerings from 4 different grocery stores. Nothing crazy. Cheetos, potato chips, ice cream sandwich, and soda pop. The Gulf News on display had a shot of the Metrodome collapse from the snowstorm. Local news from home and we are TOTALLY in the middle of nowhere. Nice! (Not upset about missing that though)
We find a grassy area to eat and chat with new friends before heading back to camp. Time to move our tents off the beach! I am also able to phone home from camp this day. It was good, and hard, to hear the voice of Andrea. Taking a day off and not racing was harder emotionally than physically at this point. I had been away from home for 10 days now. Away from wife and kids. It was the longest I’d ever been away from them. Here we were in exotic Abu Dhabi and all I could think about was how can I make this time up to SDK? It wasn’t fair.
We camp for a second night in Mirfa before loading up again the next morning.

December 15
A 2-hour bus ride back to Abu Dhabi and we are back where it all started. Corniche Beach. The kayaks are lined up, but without their sails.

It is still windy so they choose to keep us in the bay and have us do three laps of 11km each. The wind is not bad in the protection of the bay and after we prep our kayaks, we line up for the start of what should only be 3-4 hours of paddling before the race is complete.
We race across the beach and load into our kayaks. So many boats in such a small area. Always fun considering the field spread out pretty fast and it is smooth paddling from here on out. Knowing that the Kiwi’s are the strongest paddlers in the world, we jokingly wonder if they will be able to lap us before we finish. As we approach the first island CP, they are paddling away and they look like machines. So much for the pleasantries as we cheer them on - No reply, they are ALL business. We paddle on and actually hope we can hold them off lest we DO get lapped.

We knew we only had to maintain and get through the day and would have a lock on 27th place. I think we were two hours ahead of the next team at the start of the day but only 8 minutes behind the team in front. We kept them in our sights, but as we were coming into a CP, they were always leaving just ahead of us. They seemed to know it too and they had an eye on us. After 2 laps though, there was no way to make up the 8 minutes unless something went really wrong for them. And it did not. We beach our boats back at Corniche and run up to ‘plug’ for the final time. It was a nice way to finish the race.

No real pressure, much like the final stage of the Tour de France. No real changes to the overall leader board but always a few battling for the stage win. We were not one of them. But we did finish.
Section I time: 4h 17min 37th place.
Good enough to land us in 27th place overall. Well, at least until the final numbers came in. Turns out they hadn’t quite calculated all of the penalties on the previously posted results. Our actual time placed us 29th overall and just 52 seconds ahead of 30th place. Talk about close.
In all, I think we were happy with where we finished. It was a great experience and a first class race all the way. Our hats go off to the ADTA for setting out to create a world class event. They certainly succeeded.
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Credit for additional pictures and the ones found on the CPTracker website goes to (awesome photographer) Chris Radcliffe.

Checkpoint Tracker National Championships

2010-11-11T19:40:00.000-06:00

On Friday, October 29, Jason, Andrea, Erl, and Biz competed in the inaugural Checkpoint Tracker National Championships in Moab, Utah. Jason & Andrea brought an entourage of gear, kids, and parents for a goal-oriented family vacation road trip, while Biz and Erl took the quick route via plane from Minnesota direct to Moab. Racing in the big southwest was a first for our crew, so we were excited just to be in that epic region of the United States.

It was great seeing some familiar AR faces and our team enjoyed the playful atmosphere. After a bit of pre-race hullabaloo we were hopeful to catch legendary AR rockstar Ian Adamson give a presentation, but the equipment requirements and remote TA preparation kept us busy most of the night. Even without a pre-race meeting (which saved us some time) we wanted to dial in our gear - checking, rechecking - and TA strategery before and we finally hit the hay.
Race morning came early, but we dressed for success - in a lot of equipment that we've never used in a race before! The first leg would be a river boarding section, something that had us all on edge.

Everything went according to plan however, and we completed the 30 minute "swim" through a few chilly rapids without incident.

We made the first TA with haste, ditching our boards for two-person white water kayaks to paddle 20+ miles down the Colorado River to the Gold Bar. The scenery was incredible, even from our low vantage point.

After the paddle, we tried to catch up with the leaders of the race during a not-so-quick TA from paddle to trek. Most everyone had to take care of boats, change clothes, plot CPs, and generally figure out which way to go to get to the next checkpoint - located high up on Poison Spider Mesa.
We made quick time up to the ropes and pushed with ImOnPoint to catch the leaders, arriving in the top 5 teams. The trail up the mesa was beautiful. Check out the video below to get a feel for the terrain (notice that it is rugged - especially for those who get motion sick easily....).

We were graced with the race course passing by Corona Arch.

On top of the mesa you can see the TA by the river below.

The run on slickrock was a great experience - we don't get anything like it the Midwest, that's for sure. Trekking sections are normally our strong suit, but the unfamiliar terrain, aerial photo map, and two critical mistakes on our part made this section the most challenging of the race. First, our initial route choice after CP3 was less than ideal, and second we lost time searching for a checkpoint that we mis-plotted (which we didn't realize until after the race, since we replotted incorrectly AGAIN in the field). We finally made our way to the ropes, and chose time penalties for missed CPs on the course rather than time penalties for missing the ropes cutoffs - it was a lose-lose situation. When we arrived at the ropes, a queue awaited us, and we were forced to wait our turn (in approximately 20th place) with many other teams before completing a huge traverse.

Jason took a great video of Andrea crossing the second half of the traverse. Check it out if you want a sense of what it's like to pull yourself across a 300 foot gap.

Running short on time, we quickly ran from the traverse to the rappel, arriving with less than 10 minutes to spare before the second ropes cutoff.

The rappel dropped us over the last dry falls en route to the TA where we started. We knew that we had just received 4 hours of penalties for two missed CPs, and it took the wind out of our sails. We still didn't know that we had mis-plotted CP6 and we looked for too long in the wrong spot after re-plotting (incorrectly). This did not leave us enough time to pursue CP5, and we realized that a top spot at the race was likely lost. Other teams had found the CP without any problems and we silently ran to the TA, arriving at dusk, wondering where we had gone wrong.
No answers to our questions came to us, but one thing did. A bit of passion for adventure racing? The competitive spirit? Maybe it was magic DUST....
We were in beautiful Moab to race, and 4-hour penalty or not, we were going to push as hard as we could.
We got on our bikes and hammered on the road toward Moab, through town, and up toward the fabled Slickrock mountain bike trails. Starting at the Slickrock Bike trail parking lot, we were given the option of obtaining CPs by foot, by bike, or via a combination of bike/hike by dropping our steeds and running loops. The Slickrock map is pasted below.

Our crew opted for the bike/hike combo, and we rode the challenging trails at night to the first few CPs, located near the Practice Loop. Our route included all of the main trails (in blue) on the map above, as well as the red loop to the northeast. Running the trails and cutting off corners was almost as fast as biking the technical trails at night, but had the added benefit of more efficient navigation and map contact. Our effort was solid and we made good time, emerging back at the TA within the top 5 teams. Unfortunately, with a score-O rogaine section so early in the race, it is hard to know who is ahead and who is behind in the rankings. In our case, we know we're behind due to penalties, but we fight for each spot, not knowing what the race course holds in the future.
The last section entailed a ride on gravel road and two-track up toward the La Sal mountain range, mostly on segments known as the Kokopelli Trail. CP23 is located almost 20 miles away, and it was all uphill. We climbed from an elevation of 4600ft to over 8300ft. We passed ImOnPoint earlier in the ride, but they stick within sight and we couldn't shake them. Nearing the top, we caught up to Team Gore-Tex and put on our coats at the same time for the descent back to Red Cliffs Lodge (also the start location).
We knew the descent back to the lodge would be mostly downhill, but none of us realized how much so. It was Tour-de-France-esque with sinuous, tight mountain roads and often a steep grade. We pushed the pace in the dark night by using our brakes as little as possible, but shivered from the cold 40-degree temps and the lack of effort to warm our bodies. We rode for 30+ minutes downhill, scantly peddling, save for one minor ascent and the flat 1.5 miles along the Colorado River back to the lodge.
Our efforts paid off, and we were the third team to cross the finish line at 21 hours & 15 minutes. Osprey Packs and Team Yogaslackers, leaders throughout most of the race, had a speedy effort and finished approximately 2 hours earlier. ImOnPoint finished 4 minutes behind us, then DART-nuun-SportMulti 6 minutes after that, passing Team Gore-Tex on the way to the finish, another 6 minutes back.
The teams that finished directly behind us would eventually become the top 3 teams in the race, in the order that they finished. Osprey Packs and the Yogaslackers unfortunately garnered 6-hour time penalties post-race for taking a route that was later deemed impermissible, and their rankings dropped with ours behind the final leaders.
After the fog lifted, WEDALI placed 9th in a very competitive field of teams. In retrospect, it is hard to know how the race would have turned out if we had not mis-plotted CP6. Then again, in some respects, the true spirit of WEDALI is likely at it's finest when pushing hard from the back of the pack to place 9th.

WEDALI Wins 2010 USARA National Championships

2010-10-20T22:58:00.007-05:00

WEDALI finished the 2010 United States Adventure Racing Association's (USARA) National Championships in 1st Place after almost 23 hours of racing, claiming victory to the top spot amongst a competitive field of 44 teams from throughout the U.S. The team mountain biked, orienteered, and paddled their way to victory near the town of Hidden Valley, nestled in the scenic Laurel Mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania. Below is a race report from the October 15 event, written by teammate Molly Moilanen:

WEDALI: WE DID IT!

2010 USARA Nationals Race Report

Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania

Over the past year WEDALI neglected its blog and failed to write a single race report. Between work, school, racing, training and traveling, our rehashing of each race’s highs and lows was done primarily on road rides and trail runs with teammates and training buddies. Snapshots of races can be found on our attackpoint logs, but to hear an in-depth account of a particular race, score-o section, pack rafting nightmare or mystery team challenge, you have to bike with us at Murphy or run the hills at Theo. OTNT (orienteering Tuesday night training) is where we swapped stories of our adventures and found inspiration to rally for next weekend’s race.

But if any race deserves a written race report, it’s the 2010 USARA National Championships in Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania. My 2010 AR season is over so instead of hitting the trails, tonight I’ll tell the story of one of the most memorable days of my entire life – the day WEDALI (We Eat Dust and Like It) won the USARA National Championships.

Background: WEDALI was born in the spring of 2003 when Justin (Biz) Bakken, Paul Bronkhorst and Scott (Erl) Erlandson met at a ropes clinic and a local orienteering meet. Ellen Farseth joined the team in 2004, followed by Scott (Scooter) Lund, Molly Moilanen (me) and Jason and Andrea Nielsen from Battle Creek, Iowa. Over the years, Amy Vroom, Darin Soukup, Andrew Kroese and Tom Puzak have also raced with WEDALI, making our team better (and taller). WEDALI is more than an AR team. To me, WEDALI is magic. WEDALI is inspiration. WEDALI is family.

October 14, 2010, 1:28 p.m.: I sit in a conference room somewhere in Minnesota country, watching the minutes tick by as my Board of Directors argues about the best ways to “measure success” as we kick-off our next strategic planning cycle. When the clock hits 1:30 p.m., I race out the door like Cinderella in a new pair of trail-runners. Miraculously, the next eight hours go as planned and at 9:30 p.m., I unite with my teammates – Biz and Erl – in Hidden Valley. The boys arrived around noon and spent the day prepping our team for the race. This is WEDALI’s twelfth race of 2010, so we have a good handle on our pre-race ritual. We crawl into bed before midnight and deposit some sleep hours in the bank, a rare commodity before a thirty-hour adventure race. Feeling confident about our pre-race preparations, we set our alarms for 6:20 a.m. and snooze until 6:30.

October 15, 2010, 6:55 a.m.: Erl heads up to headquarters (HQ) to collect maps and stake out a table for UTM plotting. Biz and I arrive shortly after 7:00 a.m., ready to plot and select our course. Before we start plotting, Biz copies forbidden routes from a set of master maps hanging on the wall. Tracing the maps is more tedious than expected and requires focus and precision. By the time we start plotting UTM coordinates, we’re behind. The team next to us – Team Granite, who won Nationals last year – is already working on their route selections. I remind myself to focus on OUR maps and OUR race. Finally, with all 15 of our UTMs plotted, Biz digs in. By triangulating information from three sets of maps, he determines the path we will chase for the next 23 hours.

7:55 a.m.: Erl makes his way to the start line to catch last-minute instructions and to represent our team for the national anthem and pre-race prayer. Biz and I hunch over the plotting station debating whether to take the shorter two-track or the longer paved road from checkpoint to checkpoint. Realizing the race is seconds from starting, I panic. “Biz, let’s go! You can finish this later. They’re starting!” Biz remains focused and assures me that taking a few extra minutes now to choose smart routes and organize our maps will pay off later. By the time we reach Erl at the start line, the race is underway. In the distance, two minutes and thirty seconds ahead of us, we see a mob of animated adventure racers in clean, multicolored jerseys making their way up the grassy green ski slope in pursuit of the first orienteering map. Filled with cinnamon raisin bagels and adrenaline, WEDALI kicks into high gear. We bound across the field and up the hill. Biz and Erl each take one of my hands and together we close the gap on the mob. Robyn Benincasa, the grandmother of adventure racing, had accompanied everyone at the start. When she spots us closing the gap, she bursts out laughing. “It’s WEDALI. What’s going on? Where have you been?” After failed attempts at sarcasm, we explain that we needed a little extra time on the maps but NOW we’re ready to go.

At the top of the hill, a volunteer hands Biz the map for the prologue – a nine-point micro-orienteering section within the immediate Hidden Valley vicinity. With Biz dialed on the map and Erl focused on punching the control flags, we tick off the checkpoints (CPs). We navigate to controls placed by building, parking lots, ponds, hillsides and gullies. Pushing the pace, we make it back to the HQ with the top teams.

With our rough morning and late start behind us, we change our shoes, throw on our helmets and bike out of the transition area (TA) with the leaders embarking on the first of many long and hilly bike legs. With bikes in “big ring 12,” teams fly out of HQ at 18mph but are quickly slowed by a mandatory route consisting of muddy, slippery, steep single-track. We ride as much as we can but get stuck pushing our bikes through some sections. Hitting CP1, we reunite with teams that selected a different allowed route. Looking discouraged, Biz claims that our route would have been faster if he wouldn’t have taken a few wrong turns on the maze of trails. “We’re all good, buddy,” Erl reassures Biz as we ratchet up the pace on the gravel road. We do our best to stick with the uber-bikers but resist the temptation to bury ourselves in the first hour of the race. Between CP1 and CP3 we bike with a number of teams, including some friends from the mighty Midwest – Proformance and Bushwhacker. We arrive at CP2, the top of a ski hill, alongside Trackers. On the way to CP3, Biz explains that once we get to the general area of the flag, we can ride a single-track trail or bike around on the road and bushwhack to the control. We survey the single-track trail and decide to go with option B – bike around and bushwhack.

Teams Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic and Bushwhacker opt for the single-track and we follow Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) around on the road. We leave our bikes and slip into the woods a few meters behind them. Feeling the need for some energy, I pull out a strawberry Uncrustable from my pack and enjoy the first sugary bites. Suddenly, I snap to attention. I hear the baritone voices of EMS’s male teammates in front of us yelling “Hey bear! Ho bear!” followed by the loud crunching and crashing of breaking branches. I freeze in my tracks with a half-eaten PB&J in my hand. A moment passes. I regain my breath and sprint toward the protection of my teammates. “Holy shit! Did you see the bear?” “I didn’t see it, but I heard it and I think it wants my Uncrustable.”

We are with two other teams on the hunt for CP3, and all of us expect the flag to be along the stream. Biz eventually spots the control on the top of the 12-foot riverbank. Using vines and rocks as hand and footholds, Erl climbs to the top of the riverbank to punch the CP. We bushwhack back to our bikes, keeping our eye out for bears, reconsidering our route choice.

We push the pace to CP4 and CP5. We enjoy mixing it up with two-time National Champions, iMOAT. They are an awesome team from Texas riding made-in-Minnesota Salsa bicycles. Sweet!

Four hours into the race, we look forward to the paddle and a break from our bikes. When our route to the reservoir dead-ends, we decide to ditch our bikes in the woods and bushwhack up the bluff to the reservoir. (Side note: we were required to bring a bike lock, so this must be our chance to use it!) Tecnu and Granite already stashed their bikes in the woods. Bushwhacker heads into the woods just in front of us and confirms that we are the lead four teams at CP6. Despite the odd location for a bike drop, I tell myself that this MUST be the right spot. All six team members from WEDALI and Bushwhacker ditch our bikes and change shoes. We scamper up the bluff, work our way over a gaping reentrant and ultimately climb down a steep drop-off to a concrete wall lining the giant spillway jetting out from the reservoir where we will pick up canoes. The spillway wall is 20 feet high, so falling would be disastrous. On the other hand, contouring above the concrete ledge looks equally dangerous. Stopped in our tracks, we scan our surroundings for the least dangerous option. We hear a voice from above: “Hey there! You have to bike around. There’s no way through here to the reservoir.” A race volunteer has heard about the teams’ route choice and came to find us. I’m filled with mixed emotions. I’m thankful that we won’t have to continue along the steep wall but confused about how WEDALI and three other lead teams all made the same time-consuming decision. Later in the day, we learn that race staff intended for us to take a pedestrian bridge to a park/campground where we would find a paved road to take us to the top of the reservoir. (Side note: I don’t know what happened but when the navigators from Tecnu [Kyle], Granite [Erik], Bushwhacker [Fredrik] and WEDALI [Biz] all take the same “misguided” route, I’d bet that the “correct” route was not as obvious as intended.)

When we arrive at the boat launch, teams are swarming in. Biz makes a beeline to the master map to copy down our paddling points. Non-navigators rush around selecting boats, securing middle seats and assembling paddles. The beach is chaotic but we manage a speedy transition and enter the water in good company with EMS, Bushwhacker, imONPoint and Tecnu. Teams ATP, Granite, iMOAT, Sog and a few others are ahead of us. Over the next few hours, my team doesn’t talk much. We focus, find our rhythm and work hard to keep our boat moving efficiently through the wind and chop. We break up the paddle legs with a few short portages across muddy peninsulas that formed because of low water conditions. The highlight of the paddle happens on our way back to the boat launch. After punching the last CP, we turn the boat around and head across the vast field of water straight into the chop, wind and rain. The rain stings my face and the cold rushes through my raincoat and signature, sexy shower cap. We spot the portage and are greeted by a clear and sunny blue sky and a wide and glittering rainbow on the other side. We launch into quoting the double-rainbow guy from YouTube providing some comic relief for our team as well as teams around us. “It’s a total complete double rainbow.” “What does it mean?” “It’s so vivid and bright.”

Back on shore, we ditch our boats and transition to bikes. Out of the TA, we are with Tecnu and imONPoint and slightly in front of EMS and Bushwhacker. Our next challenge is the “team time trial.” The team with the fastest time on this leg wins a special prize. Chomping at the bit, Tecnu quickly jumps ahead of us, and we begin a minute later alongside imONPoint. Looking closely at the map, Biz tells us not to kill ourselves because we are in for a long climb. He is right! The time trial consists of a FOUR-mile climb up a rocky two-track. We take over an hour to climb the 1600 feet. We bike a fair portion of the hill but resort to pushing our bikes when sections become too steep or rocky to stay on our bikes. We stick close to imONPoint and have fun joking around with them. “We’re totally drafting off you guys,” Biz exclaimed as all six of us push our bikes up and around a steep corner. “Let’s all get into aero and form a long draft line,” someone suggests as we shift into granny-granny trying to maintain 3mph up the rocky road.

I’m relieved when we finally reach the top. I know we haven’t set any records or won the leg, but it’s over and we made it. We continue biking for another mile on grassy trails to the next TA/CP10, a warming hut at Sugarloaf. Biz hustles to plot points for our next orienteering section. Erl and I deal with food, trash and miscellaneous gear. Robyn Benincasa is at the TA handing out jokes and pep talks.

We head out on the o-section with Tecnu and decide to trek to the top of Sugarloaf first. On the way up, I see one team member, Mari, surveying a trail map while another, Kyle, focuses on the topo map. I ask Mari where she got the trail map and she says that they were handed out while they were plotting at the hut. WEDALI never received a trail map – and I wonder if this slip will hose us. Mari shares the map with Biz, who seems unfazed, so I take a breath and focus on getting my butt to the top of the Sugarloaf. The o-section is fun and beautiful. The trees are just past their peak colors and the sun paints soft pastels across the sky as it sets.

We run the open trails and refuel on Coke and cold pizza hiking up the big climbs. Biz nails the controls and Erl keeps us moving with quick in & outs at each flag. We cross paths with ATP, iMOAT, Sog and Tecnu but are alone for most of this section until the last CP. The last flag sits in a huge reentrant lined with wet, slippery, shifty rocks. We pull out our headlamps and peck our way down, searching for handholds and stable footing. I slip, smashing my left shin into a pointed rock. Tears well up in my eyes and I manage a whimper. I breathe and think about the strong AR women who keep me going when I’m about to lose it (Ellen, Andrea, Rachel, Mari, Jen, Robyn and many more – thank you!). Like ants on a discarded apple core, I see the cluster of headlights buzzing around what must be the flag. Biz catches my eye and points back up the reentrant. On all fours, we crawl for most of the 600 feet back to the top, stopping for quick breathers and to help Erik from Team Granite who has slipped on a greasy rock and hit his head. This dude is tough as nails. Luckily he is only dazed and walks away with a one-inch cut over his eye.

When we pop out onto the gravel road, I thank the stars that everyone made it without injury. We run to the TA and concentrate on changing our shoes and getting back on our bikes for the long ride back to Hidden Valley, where we started over twelve hours ago. Biz grabs a couple of meals-ready-to-eat (MREs) of bacon and cheese sandwiches provided by the race organizers. He offers one to Erl and me but we refuse, sticking to our standby selections, Ritz cheese and crackers, Uncrustables, and Trail Mix MoJo Bars. Race staff informs us that Sog and ATP are ahead and we leave the TA within seconds of iMOAT, Tecnu and Granite. Tecnu and iMOAT pass us early in the leg and we eventually catch ATP and Sog.

Biz and Erl take turns towing me up the big grinders. Despite the interference of night-biking monsters named Rut, Darkness and Gravel, we try to limit use of our breaks on the huge descents, maximizing our momentum. We stop once with Granite and Sog to pull water from a roadside creek, and once again 30 minutes later to add Gatorade powder to our iodine-treated water. We gulp the metallic fruit punch, which actually tastes good since we’ve been out of liquids for a long time. When we reach CP1, a familiar five-way intersection, the race director Doug greets us from his cozy seat in his American Adventure Sports truck. We stop and Biz contemplates our options to take us back to the HQ. Talking out loud, he weighs the benefits of taking some single-track to a road or a longer two-track trail. Doug interrupts: “You’re almost back, and either way will get you there, but you’re just wasting time sitting here.”

Message received! We push the pace and arrive at HQ to discover that we are in second place. We’re stoked! We know a long trek is ahead of us but we relish long night orienteering sections. During races, long night o-sections are usually where we make up time or establish our lead. Biz works on maps and Erl and I deal with gear, ditching trash and paddles, swapping batteries, rearranging food and filling bladders in the warm chalet bathrooms. For some reason, we transition slowly. Thankfully ATP bursts into the chalet, motivating us to get our booties on the o-course. By the time we leave, Tecnu is 42 minutes ahead of us, ATP is 10 minutes behind us and we don’t know what happened to iMOAT, Granite or Sog – all fast teams in contention for the top spot.

The o-course consists of nine controls, of which CP1-CP8 can be obtained in any order; teams must visit CP9 last. We trek up the ski slope to a community of townhomes where the first CP is located. Set in an urban location, this CP should be easy but when we find the feature, a small pond, we can’t spot the flag. We run around the entire pond searching on trees and benches for a mini-control flag. Finally, Biz’s headlamp pings the orange and white flag in the middle of the pond. Just as Erl is about to dive into the pond and swim to the flag, we realize that the control is at the end of a narrow land bridge jetting into the middle of the pond. Erl runs around the pond and punches. Our first CP has not gone as planned but now it’s time to head into the woods where we thrive.

Over the next four hours, we trek along rocky trails bagging controls, running whenever we can and fast-hiking across the creeks and up the inclines. We stick mostly to trails, bushwhacking shortcuts when the brambles allow. We see only Team Sog, who has decided to run the controls in the opposite order as us. After our eighth control, we trek back to the main dirt road where the five-way intersection is located. Our spirits are up, our legs still willing to run and none of us struggle with sleep monsters. Making our way to CP9, we see teams biking to HQ and teams early in the trek . . . but no Tecnu. Where are they? They could be an hour in front of us or a minute behind us. Unlike a triathlon, during an adventure race, you rarely know your position in relation to other teams. Solid AR teams, including WEDALI, frequently blow huge leads by misinterpreting the map, missing a bend in the trail, or selecting the less ideal route when presented with seemingly equal options. On the other hand, in the blackness of night, teams frequently overtake each other without even crossing paths. This is why you can never concede and never stop pushing during an adventure race.

We dive into the woods and ascend the last big hill to CP9. Reaching the top, we asked the volunteers manning the final CP how many teams have been through this point. “One team ran through here but they didn’t punch.” “So WE are the first team to punch?” “Yep. You’re the first team to punch.” We shoot each other knowing glances, communicating the cacophony of emotions running through our heads. Without a word, we duck back into the woods and bound down the hill, madly swatting branches and spider webs out of our way. Almost to the bottom, we spot a set of three lights heading up the hill. Again, without saying much, we all know that those lights likely belong to Kyle, Sean and Mari of Team Tecnu. They biked the previous leg 30 minutes faster than us and could undoubtedly beat us in a head-to-head footrace if it came to that. The trek to the finish was only a mile and consisted of routes that we took earlier in the race, so we knew we had to push it to stay ahead of the ghost chasing us.

Running down the wet, grassy trail, we let our feet fly but pay careful attention to each step. We cannot afford a sprained ankle right now. When we hit the hill behind the townhomes, Erl and Biz each take a hand as they did during the first minutes of the race and the three of us make our way through the woods and over the road to the familiar ski slope. We float down the hill and soar under the USARA banner. Looking around, we’re not sure what to do. Someone tells us to run inside. Someone tells us to punch the finish. I think we do both but the next few minutes are a blur. I remember hearing the volunteer who checked our punch card say, “Looks good.” And hearing Biz let out a joyous, “YES! We did it!” I remember Biz’s wet jersey smashed on my check as the three of us grabbed each other hugging and crying. I cover my face with my hands, thinking, “I can’t believe it – this is not real.” I collapse on the ground overcome with fatigue and disbelief. Eyes closed I hear, “Here they come,” and a minute later Tecnu crosses under the banner. Six minutes separate our times. Six minutes over the course of 23 hours is nothing. I know they are disappointed but they are gracious and supportive competitors ready to toast a glass tonight and rematch tomorrow.

After more than 100 adventure races together and seven trips to USARA Nationals, WEDALI pulls it off. We raced our own race, staying true to our long-held philosophy of “smart and steady.” Take time to prepare and refuel when needed. Push when we can. Keep faith in each other. Never give up.

Our friends and family in Minnesota and around the Midwest have been incredible. We are humbled by your calls, emails and Facebook posts. Thank you for all your support and encouragement over the years. Thank you for pushing the pace on training rides, joining us in the middle of winter for night snow runs and teaching us how to read a map and use a compass. We share this victory with you and want you to know that you are a huge part of the dream-come-true that we call WEDALI.

-Molly Moilanen

City of Lakes Loppet - Ice Cycle

2010-02-10T12:02:00.000-06:00

On February 6, Biz took his bike to the ice by competing in the Penn Ice-Cycle Loppet - part of the City of Lakes Loppet weekend of events in Minneapolis, MN. Getting the low-down from Jay "Hollywood" Henderson about tires and screws, Justin made preparations for the race in the weeks leading up to the event. Biz finally finished his tires the day before the event and practiced on a local ice hockey rink to test out the new treads - EXCELLENT grip! Not knowing the level of competition in the event, Biz signed up for the Intermediate class to test the waters in the first of two heats. Pushing the pace early on, he stuck with the leaders through the first lap, and passed into the first place slot in the second lap. After 15 minutes, the heat was over and Biz had moved into the finals.An hour later, Justin was off on the 20-minute finals heat. Running in third after the first lap and a half, the two leaders bumped each other around an icy bend. With an opening in his sights, Biz accelerated into the first spot and hammered the pace to gap the chasers. After a few more laps, the distance was too great for the others to overcome, and Biz was assured of victory (assuming no mechanical mishaps). Thankfully his wheels stayed true throughout the course and Biz came away with a 1st place victory. Next winter season will hopefully involve more ice-cycle competition!Jay Henderson (1st - Advanced), Scott Cave (2nd - Advanced), and Kristy Henderson (3rd - Women) also came away with great finishes and solidified the dominance of the Hollywood Cycles crew.

POCAR-riffic!

2010-01-30T20:35:00.000-06:00

On January 16, Molly & Justin teamed up with 24Seven athletes Tom Puzak and Kelly Brinkman for another Rainbow Unicorn adventure weekend. Making the trip down to the Hoosier National Forest of southern Indiana, the Unicorns would tackle the 40+ mile beast that is the Purdue Outing Club Adventure Race (POCAR).
Despite its branding as an adventure race, POCAR is basically a long trekking section - no biking or paddling. The race was divided into three ROGAINE legs, each of which we would plot individually after the completion of the prior. The race started in 30 minute waves, and due to our late registration, we were seeded in the last of three waves, to start at 1pm.
The weather in Indiana felt very warm. The forecast called for about 45 degrees, and it felt like 55. T-shirts for all 4 of us - awesome! After Biz and Tom plotted the points, we started the first loop fast and knocked out the first 8 CP's in a counter-clockwise loop around the lake in about 3 hours, 20 minutes.The CP's on this loop were all placed perfectly - we found them without any problems and we were all feeling great.

After plotting the second leg of the race, we made haste to catch the team ahead of us, Team Midwest Mountaineering (Team MWM), a fellow Minnesota-based team who had started in the 12-noon slot ahead of us.

The second loop was not quite as good with respect to control locations. We were given a wrong UTM and were chased down by an SUV carrying the correct coordinate. We replotted and noticed the 2km difference, which definitely changed our strategy for CP order on this leg. We grabbed a different CP first and headed to the second as the sun was going down. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find that CP in the dark because it was placed a) 100M away and b) in a very deep and steep reentrant behind a tree. The CP was marked adjacent to a man-made pond on a hilltop, the only pond within a kilometer radius. We left the theoretical CP location, only to find out from CITGO/Gray Goat near the third CP that the second was in the aforementioned reentrant NE of the target.
We ran into Team MWM at this time, and they had missed the previous CP as well. We all decided that it was worth the extra 5km trek to go back and get it, so we traveled as a solid crew of 9 people. When we got back to the CP, Tom untied it and moved it up to the pond, upon Biz's suggestion. Biz doesn't take matters like this too lightly, but the nature of this race seemed to be fairly low-key and we felt that many of the later teams would struggle to find it in the prior (incorrect) location as well, especially in the dark. The round trip cost us just under an hour, but kept us in contention for the win with all CPs. The second loop ended with a cool team challenge involving teammates balancing on webbing that steadily got further apart.
After finishing the challenge, our team was ready for the 3rd and final leg of the race. But where were the third loop's UTM coordinates? The guy who had them left the TA! We were told that he was making a 2k trip to check the location of the 3rd CP (which we had also lost 20 minutes trying to find as it was 50M off and on the side of a reentrant in which it was marked at the low point). We weren't too upset about the opportunity to sit and eat, but waiting for organizational issues always extends the length of the race and allows other teams to gain distance.
After plotting the third loop with Team MWM and Citgo Gray Goat, we went off into the woods determined to finish this epic challenge. We found the first, second and third CP's without any trouble. They were a good distance apart though, and took approximately five hours worth of time. We had a bit of trouble with the 4th CP, likely going down the wrong reentrant and double guessing our route/location. We were never really lost, but we took a ton of time studying the map, always being very close but perhaps never exactly correct as to which part of a monster ridgeline we were on. We likely dropped another 20-30 minutes here, but with only one CP left, we knew we had to push the pace back home.
The final CP offered no problems and we did the final 4 miles or so back home on the road. We came into the finish in 1st with a race time of 18 hours and 5 minutes, with Team MWM finishing 23 minutes back (19:28) and Citgo/GrayGoat soon after.
The overall terrain of the Hoosier National Forest provided a great backdrop of big elevation (by MN standards), reentrants so deep and open they felt like slot canyons, and clear streams with gorgeous blue rock. The POCAR crew put on a decent event with lengthy distances between CPs, great route choice challenges, and sweet ropes challenges. Consistency in the future could definitely make this a premier orienteering adventure event.

2009 USARA National Championships - Yeehaw!

2009-10-31T18:21:00.000-05:00

On Friday, October 23, Scott (Erl), Molly, and Justin made the trip to Pilot Point, Texas to represent WEDALI in the 2009 United States Adventure Racing Association (USARA) National Championships. The pre-race briefing held a bit of a surprise, as much of the course had to be adjusted within the last three days due to the 5-inches of rain this area had recently received. Reports were that the reservoir in the area had raised several feet in a 24-hour period. Things sure looked to be a sloppy mess!
The race started with a 200 meter LeMans run to our bikes, then a road ride around the reservoir from Lantana Lodge to Ray Roberts Lake State Park. Lots of pace riding and a little bit of tire rubbing. Someone apparently dislocated their shoulder less than 1/4 mile from the start - that's a bad way to start a race.
We transitioned to a tough open water paddle on the reservoir. A fair bit of wind created a white-capped lake. We bypassed CP5 with Nuun and Bushwhacker, and got it on the way back (after doing a 1.5 mile portage, getting CP4, and another 1.5 mile portage - most sections were Score-O format). Steering the boat in these conditions was especially taxing. We brought 3 double bladed kayaks for this section, but Biz only ended up using half a kayak paddle on the same side of the boat for 90% of this section just to keep us going in the right direction. We didn't lose too many spots, but we were a bit worried about our earlier portage. In retrospect, it likely saved us a few miles of paddling, which felt better in the long run.
We then biked around a finger of the reservoir to complete a short trekking section. This orienteering leg was on a peninsula in Ray Roberts SP. We made some pretty good time and caught back up with the leaders despite the scratchy/thorny terrain.

Another road bike to a short O-section on a private property ranch. There was a barbed wire fence through a portion of the ranch that threw Biz off the nav for a few minutes, but other than that a pretty clean run with no noticeable time gained/lost. Click on the video below to see our shout out to the WEDALI Army going into this section.

Another decent road ride ensued to a one trek CP at some ruins on a peninsula. It got dark on the trek leg and so we took our bike lights with so as to not have to break out the emergency headlamps. Upon return, we hammered the night ride back to Lantana Lodge (the start/finish/TA). After a modest transition, bathroom break, and cheering/snacks from none other than AR superstar Robyn Benincasa, our crew hit the bikes again for a mix of mostly two-track and horse trails from Lantana Lodge to the southern part of Ray Roberts SP and the dam for the reservoir. We biked south along the outlet to I-380 and back, getting on and off the bike for a few short trekking CPs.

We completed one final three point O-section before heading back on our bikes to the finish. We ran into Granite Gear AR 1 & 2 (current race leaders) on this section at our 1st CP, their 3rd. Knowing that we were close gave us a bit of go-juice, but they warned us of some fairly significant vegetative problems ahead. Unfortunately, our crew had difficulty finding the 2nd control, circling the wrong location in thoroughly dense, gnarly, and prickly veg. The lack of visibility and undefined reservoir edge gave us some problems, and we lost about 30 minutes to most other teams. Pretty crazy for us to spend 4 hours on a 3-mile straightline trek, even if it was in the middle of the night.... We later found out that we were passed here by ImOnPoint.org and dropped from 3rd to 4th place.
Not knowing how close the next team behind us was, our bike back to Lantana Lodge/finish was done with haste despite the muddy conditions. We came into the line at ~6:40am, with a racing time of 23:40 for a very respectable 4th place of 67 teams.Good race for us overall, but the thick vegetation and tough paddle took it's toll. It was awesome to see a lot of other teams out there throughout the race, even if it wasn't under the best circumstances for either of us at any given time. Congrats to Granite AR for rocking the course.
We all agreed that it would have been fun to see what the course would have been like without the rain two days before the start - this course was understandably heavy on biking, with a total of 108 miles for us. Trekking sections will be remembered for the gnarly conditions and the open water paddle for the blowing wind. The stiff competition and Texas itself won't be something we'll "mess with" anytime soon, but we were happy to come away with a great experience. Thanks to all of those who followed us throughout the 2009 season!

SKMC Me Now?!

2009-10-16T12:06:00.012-05:00

Molly and Justin (MoBiz), once again under the guise of the Rainbow Unicorns, traveled to the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest (Southern Unit) in Wisconsin for the annual Southern Kettle Moraine Challenge adventure race on October 10. This 8-10 hour race, put on by Andy McCarthy of the Wisconsin Adventure Racing Society (WARS), drew a large field of over 100 racers.
The race started off on a black and white aerial photo orienteering section from the D.J. Mackie Picnic Area to Ottawa Lake. After arriving at the lake, racers paddled 5.5 laps Nasboat style - things always get interesting in the later laps with 40+ boats jockeying for position. Biz's last experience with this paddling format left him in the drink not once, but twice!We finished the paddle shortly after Ya Mule, and were able to keep up on the short road ride to the Emma Carlin mountain bike trails where we were instructed to complete the green loop. A decent lap completed, we found ourselves in 3rd place overall behind Ya Mule and hard-core bikers Elk Bones (who raced on speedy road slicks for the entire race, despite the 5-miles of greasy single track at Emma).
Racers then completed a 10-CP Score-O orienteering section on an enhanced USGS topo map at Stute Springs & Homestead Nature Trail. We put forward a strong effort, and came into the TA just as Ya Mule was leaving, gaining one spot in the process.
Competitors traveled on gravel and paved roads from Emma Carlin back to D.J. Mackie picnic area via Gus's Drive-in, located in East Troy, WI. This 27-mile bike section pushed us to the max as we persevered through the cold temps and blowing wind and snow in our faces, arriving at the TA less than a minute behind Ya Mule.
Transitioning fast was of the utmost importance, and we took to the last 4-CP aerial photo map with haste. Pushing the pace hard in the woods and making the road run back home with urgency, we didn't know how things would turn out. In the end, we came across the finish line in 6 hours and 3 minutes for 1st place overall.WARS puts on an awesome race and it's always a great time hanging out with the Wisconsin AR community post-event. A tough and challenging sprint race made fun by the competitive but friendly crowd.

Top 3 Overall:
Rainbow Unicorns - 6:03
Ya Mule - 6:09
Elk Bones - 6:14

Navigating the Berryman Adventure

2009-09-30T21:06:00.002-05:00

On September 25, WEDALI headed south to the Land of the Ozarks for the Berryman Adventure Race, an annual 36-hour sufferfest in the Mark Twain National Forest of Missouri. With a tough late-season race schedule taking it's toll, Andrea stepped in for Scooter five days before the race to join Erl, Mo, and Biz for this competitive event, put on by Bonk Hard Racing. Jason made the trip as well, and was a great help in finalizing team logistics. He also raced in the 12-hour as a last minute sub and volunteered for the Bonk Hard Racing crew.
To begin the event, racers were transported by bus from race headquarters in Big Spring Park to Round Spring, where the race was started at 11PM on Friday night. With the initial orienteering/trekking section, things were a bit crazy at the start, with teams crawling all over the woods. We took a few "interesting" route choices, and a few minutes here and there led to a confirmed 20-minute lag on the night O-section behind lead team Alpine Shop.

We made a decent transition onto the Current River and paddled from Round Spring to Powder Mill. The first hour or so was in the dark and we watched the sun burn off the fog throughout the trip. A couple small sets of rapids and a few wildlife sightings made things fun. Molly fought the sleep monsters a bit, and was entertained by a few impromptu songs by Justin.The recent rains and fast current made the paddle section go decently fast. It seemed like we lacked a bit of urgency to catch up here (or at least maintain our time loss) though, and Alpine Shop handed us another 17 minutes (total of 37 minutes) of time to make up.

After the paddle, we received a few bags of supplies that the race directors had transported to this stop. We refueled our supplies and waded across the Current River to avoid an additional one-mile run.

We then trekked from Powder Mill to Rocky Falls, again taking a few routes that in hindsight may have been iffy - lots of longer road routes around features instead of shorter/straighter bushwhacking routes. The CP at the top of Barnett Mountain had a great view of the Missouri countryside from the top, but most racers agreed that the gnats and logging slash were less than desirable. We pushed decently well on this section, but a couple of minutes searching for controls and a few minor 5-minute mistakes added up to an even larger time deficit behind Alpine Shop by the time we got to Rocky Falls.

The last 1/3 of the race was a hefty biking leg of 60+ miles. We completed a fair portion of the ride in the daytime, but definitely hit the more challenging portions (such as the single track on the Ozark Trail) at night and at the end of the race. It's a tough trail and we were forced to hike-a-bike a fair bit. A few additional navigation errors/stutters ruined our flow through the latter part of the course, but we finally came into the finish at 11:30pm, with a total race time of 24 hours and 27 minutes.

Alpine Shop had a fantastic showing and crushed the course in 22 hours and 20 minutes - awesome job by that crew to bring it home. Bushwhacker rounded out the top 3 in 32 hours, 8 minutes.

We had a decent race, but after back-to-back weekends of 24-hour+ length events, it will be key for us to rest up well (physically and mentally) before USARA National Championships in Texas next month. Thanks again to Bonk Hard Racing for another fantastic event!

Wild AR Fall 24-Hour

2009-09-24T13:01:00.002-05:00

On September 18, WEDALI teammates Scott, Scott, Molly, and Justin prepared for the last Wild AR of the 2009 season; a 24-hour near Carlton, MN. This was also a USARA Nationals qualifier and the last race in the 2009 Minnesota Adventure Race Series, so an important race in our schedule to say the least.
We took a bus to Nemadji State Forest for the 5pm start. Wild's race directors, wanting to get things off to a good start, began the race with a 17.5-mile trek on mostly gravel roads with a bit of sand, forest, and two-track paths. This was a tough go for our team, as the Gnome Hunters pushed the pace from the very start. We kept up despite the effort, not wanting to fall behind on the first leg of the race. We stuck together as a team, traded packs to whomever was feeling up to it, and pushed/pulled each other through the section in about 2 hours and 52 minutes.
We made a quick transition to our bikes for an off-road section of trails, mostly ATV and OHV. Doing this at night added to the technical element. Biz did an endo over his handle bars at one point, for which Scooter gave him a 10. We passed the Gnome Hunters on this section, but we knew they were hot on our tails. We then popped out onto the Gandy Dancer gravel trail, which took us northeast out onto pavement at Patzau.
The road ride from Patzau to the boat launch on the west side of New Duluth was fairly uneventful, taking County Road B to County Road W to State Highway 23. We tried to push the pace on this section to create a gap, but really had no idea how much faster we were going than the other teams. We arrived at the paddle TA in decent shape, but our TA was a little slow at about 20 minutes.
We then paddled from a boat launch west of New Duluth into St. Louis Bay. Our team ran into some problems on this section with leaky boats, stomach issues, and a 20-minute navigation error. This section wasn't our highpoint, and we lost a bit of time and effort.
We transitioned back to our bikes and rode from the boat launch at Smithville onto the Munger trail heading west.
After a short ride to the TA, we tended to some foot issues and made our way on foot to Ely's Peak for a bit of ropes fun. We hike up to a railroad grade and went east to a tunnel under Ely's Peak. After Molly reached the top of the ascent, The Beautiful People showed up and started to get their gear on. After Scooter was up, the Gnome Hunters had shown up as well. Ascending takes a fair bit of time, but having both of these teams catch up to us while Erl and Biz still needed to get up the ascent made things interesting.
We knew we had lost a bit of time on the paddle, but more so we realized that we would have to keep up a strong pace to finish well. We passed Orion on our way back to our bikes, further emphasizing the competitive nature of the top teams through the race thus far.
We rode on Munger trail west to Jay Cooke State Park, including a quick 1.5 mile loop on dirt trails along the way to pick up two other CPs and prepared for the final major leg of the race; a 12-point rogaine section set by members of the Minnesota Orienteering Club.
We knew we had probably a 30-minute lead over Gnome Hunters and the Beautiful People (since neither team had shown up at the rappel while we were on our way out), but we weren't moving too fast at this point and had no idea how far behind us the other teams were.
After getting the three O-points to the north, we caught up to Beautiful People since they had just headed out on the southern O-section less than 7 minutes ahead of us. That being said, we figured our lead was slightly under an hour over the next teams, as we knew the Gnome Hunters would be right behind BP and would be likely to do the O-section faster. With their strong navigation and faster run pace, we knew nothing was a given and had limited room for error. After clearing the orienteering section in a little under 4 hours, we were relieved to find that no other teams had come back to the TA. We hopped back onto our bikes and rode west from Jay Cooke back out to Munger Trail and State Highway 210, finishing at the Black Bear Casino Resort in a total time of 17 hours and 15 minutes.This race definitely pushed our limits, and it was a team effort to come out on top. We had a bunch of issues to deal with, but stayed tough and got 'er done. We were definitely impressed with the Minnesota teams that showed up to race - truly a competitive event. Hopefully more teams from out-of-state will join the mixer in the future. Rumor has it that this race will be part of the Checkpoint Tracker series in 2010....

Top 4:
WEDALI - 17:15
Gnome Hunters - 18:05
The Beautiful People - 19:11
Orion - 21:18

WEDALI takes 5th at Primal Quest - Badlands

2009-08-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

On August 21, 2009 WEDALI became the 5th team to complete Primal Quest - Badlands. Our epic journey is now complete, but our appreciation to everyone who has supported us over the past few months will continue. As we collect our thoughts and organize our photos over the next few weeks, we will post stories/race-reports here to share some of the details. We can't thank everyone enough for being our 5th teammate!

Odyssey One Day AR

2009-07-28T09:28:00.010-05:00

Thanks to a gracious photographer (and race director for Wild Adventure Race) named Jason Perreira, our team was able to garner a free slot into the Odyssey One Day adventure race on July 25. We submitted Jason's photo of Ellen sleeping on a tub, which was picked as 1 of 4 winning photos for the adventure racing stimulus bill contest, put on by Odyssey Adventure Racing and Checkpoint Zero.

With two weeks to go until the race, Molly, Justin, Scott, & Scott set out to organize a weekend soiree into the Blue Ridge Mountains near Roanoke, Virginia....

After flying from Minneapolis to Washington-Dulles on Friday morning, driving 4-hours into central Virginia, putting our bikes together, eating dinner, attending the pre-race briefing, driving back to our hotel, plotting UTM coordinates, deciding routes, and finalizing gear, we finally hit the beds at 12:15am. Just in time for our 3:15am wake up call to drive back to the host venue, Wilderness Adventure at Eagle Landing (WAEL), for the 4:30am start.

The race began with a 2-mile "prologue" trail run around WAEL. We returned to our bikes after about 20 minutes, and tried to make a quick TA into our biking gear. The first bike leg started off with a 1 hour, 30 minute (2300') climb up Bald Mountain on gravel roads and forest service two track. What a view with the sun almost rising! We then rode down the other side, through Lignite and Surber to the Hoop Hole parking area for a trekking section.
CPs on the mostly-trail trek from Hoop Hole parking area were located in a swimming hole on the Hipe Branch, Rich Knob (3704'), Roaring Run Falls, and Roaring Run Furnace (ruins from an iron furnace operated in pre-civil war days).

We ran back to the Hoop Hole parking area via road, stopping at a convenience store along the way to fill up on water and buying the last three Gatorades they had.
Returning to the TA, we passed a comprehensive gear check and transitioned back to bikes for a speedy pavement ride from Hoop Hole parking area to Eagle Rock public boat ramp, about 8.5 miles east.

We then loaded our bikes into our canoes and strapped them down for an 18-mile paddle from Eagle Rock to Horseshoe Bend public boat access and on to Springwood public boat access.

Erl and Scooter rocked Aquabound kayak paddles (that we carried with us the entire race) while Mo and Biz used the provided canoe paddles. Class 1 & 2 rapids made the trip exciting as we paddled during the hottest part of the day.

After getting off the water, we felt baked - wish we would have remembered to put on sunscreen at 4:30am! We hopped onto our bikes for a 24.5-mile ride back west on a mix of paved/gravel/two-track from Springwood to the intersection of FR5020 & FR184. The climb up to CP 12 and over the pass near the SW part of Price Mountain was straight out of the Tour de France (Twisty, +800'). We arrived at the Patterson Creek TA(Elev.1133') for the last trekking section about 30 minutes behind a solo racer, Triangle AR.

After finding the first two score-o CPs in daylight, night began to fall on the Patterson Creek area. A lightning storm passed overhead just as we were coming down off the top near CP K going to CPs E and A, which quickened our pace greatly. Biz was pretty sure that he has never navigated at night in such a downpour - visibility was seriously lacking at about 20 meters. Vegetation was also thick below thigh level along most "trails," which slowed the pace. Climbs to ridge tops at CPs K (2285') and G (2250') were "highlights." Erl and Biz also picked up 12 littered glass bottles at CP B and carried them through the rest of the race for a 12-minute time credit. Our team battled some stomach issues throughout the night, but was able to keep a steady pace late in the game. Here's us not looking too pretty...

We returned to the Patterson Creek TA about 8.5 hours later to find ourselves in basically the same position as when we left - 2nd place overall with a 40-minute gap behind solo racer Triangle AR.

We biked the final leg from Patterson Creek area back to WAEL pavilion, crossing a knee deep stream along the way (maybe that's why the directions to WAEL don't tell you to go the short way?).
We finished the race in 24 hours, 21 minutes, garnering 1st in 4-person coed (and 2nd overall). Our 12 bottles brought our official time down to 24:09, with all mandatory and optional CPs. Triangle AR finished about an hour ahead of us and was the only other "team" to obtain all CPs. This was a tough race that definitely pushed us to the limits. A great east coast event put on by Odyssey AR with lots of awesome views from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

WEDALI in the Star Tribune

2009-07-20T10:23:00.005-05:00

On July 19, WEDALI got a bit of press in the Star Tribune, the main newpaper in the Twin Cities area. The article, The anatomy of an adventure race, was written by local adventure racer (and nationally syndicated columnist) Stephen Regenold . Also known as The Gear Junkie, Regenold was named as one of Outside Magazine's Top Ten Adventure Twitters in April 2009.

MNOC Adventure-O-Rama

2009-07-14T14:49:00.010-05:00

On July 11, Scooter, Erl, Mo, and Biz raced in the 8th annual Adventure-O, hosted by the Minnesota Orienteering Club (MNOC). The race started in Minneopa State Park, southwest of Mankato, MN. In store for the racers over the next 7 hours was a challenging course with standard AR disciplines, and a few surprises....
After receiving maps and the UTM coordinates for three checkpoints 5 minutes before the start of the race, we were in hot pursuit of CP1 along with 30 other teams. Minneopa State Park has a mix of deciduous, grassland, and riverbluff/bottom vegetation - several erratic glacial features, including 2 meter boulders, also dot the landscape - which made precise navigation somewhat challenging over the 11-point O-section.
We arrived at the confluence of Minneopa Creek and the Minnesota River with a slim lead over the other teams, and were then directed to trek 1.5 miles upstream (instream) to CP 15, finding CPs 12-14 along the way.
We passed under a few bridges over head, then through a small tunnel for a road. Then we came to a huge tunnel that we couldn't see the other side of - it was completely pitch black. Maybe this is why the race directors had "recommended" that we bring a headlamp!
Holding tight to our make-shift "trekking" poles that we found on the way to the river, we precariously traversed the rocky, unknown ground, step by step, in total darkness. Sure Biz could have gotten that headlamp out of his pack before we got to the darkest part, but what fun would that have been? After a bend in the tunnel, we could finally see a small bit of light at the other end. We picked up our pace into the sunshine, and finished the creek trek at CP15 - the bottom of Minneopa Falls.
A short jaunt to the top and we transitioned to biking. We pushed the pace on the bikes a bit, as Andrew Kroese and Tom Puzak of Free Candy (24Seven) closed the gap from the O-section on the upstream trek. On the bike leg, we took a few different route choices, they had a flat tire (or two), and we made it to the paddle TA with a 5 minute lead.
We jumped into our inflatable kayaks and started paddling down the Le Sueur River. The water level was fairly low, around 200cfs, so we got caught on rocks and sandbars, and had to boat whack once or twice, emptying our "bathtubs" in the process. After about an hour and 40 minutes on the paddle, we exited river right to clean and rollup our inflatables and gear up for the next biking section.
We left the TA with a slim margin of 10 minutes over Free Candy, and we knew the next section, mountain biking at Mount Kato (a local ski hill), would suit their strengths. This score-o mountain bike leg had 9 controls that could be attained in any order, but had to be completed by staying on the trail and only going in the proper direction (no bike-whacking). A few of the black diamond trails were a bit sketchy and we were forced to hike-a-bike certain parts. After obtaining 8 of the CPs, we found ourselves at the bottom of the mountain with 1 CP to go. With only a 15 minute penalty for each missed CP, we decided that biking up and down Mount Kato for the last CP would take longer than 15 minutes. We cut our losses and biked back to Minneopa State Park in a hurry, not knowing if other teams had finished before us, or if others would be able to garner all the CPs and reach the finish less than 15 minutes after us.
We crossed the finish line in 6:16:02 and waited nervously as time ticked ever-so-slowly. Nobody had finished before us, so the wait was on. Ten minutes later, team GearJunkie.com came across the line, but they had skipped 4 CPs to our 1. Another minute later Tom and Andrew (24Seven) came across the line, finishing with all the CPs from Mount Kato.... With our 15 minute penalty for skipping a CP, we came short of the overall win by 4 minutes. It was an awesome race though - very competitive from the get-go with several Minnesota teams pushing us the whole time. We definitely enjoyed hanging out at the post-race picnic with the local AR community as well.
Top 4 Overall - After Penalties
1) Free Candy (24Seven) - 6:26:53 (2PO)
2) WEDALI - 6:31:02 (4PC)
3) Gnome Hunters - 7:22:34 (4PC)
4) Team GearJunkie.com - 7:26:05 (4PC)

City of Lakes Tri-Loppet

2009-07-01T18:16:00.000-05:00

Molly and Justin, sporting their Minnesota Orienteering Club jerseys, competed in the City of Lakes Tri-Loppet on June 27, 2009. This sprint triathlon, which consisted of an 8k paddle, 5.3k trail run, and 11k mountain bike, took place in the heart of Minneapolis on the chain of lakes and in Theodore Wirth park.

MoBiz, paddling together in a Wenonah Minnesota II and rocking their Aqua-Bound kayak paddles, began with a swift start near the front of the pack. Several hard-core paddlers enter this event, so it's always interesting to see what types of racing canoes and kayaks will show up (and smoke you) in the first leg of the race. After ~45 minutes as racing as a doubles team, we beached our boat on shore and each of us set out on the run, trying to catch up with the lead crowd.

The run in Theodore Wirth was a scenic tour up and down most of the larger hills on the southern end of the park. Molly and Biz both pushed hard, passed a few racers, and completed the run course in 28:53 and 25:00, respectively.

Onto the bikes to pick up more spots, the course had a wide range of terrain, from smooth paved to muddy single track. A few ups and downs were thrown in to keep the course interesting, including the high point of Minneapolis, located in Theodore Wirth Par 3 golf course. Molly finished the bike leg in a time of 34:13 and Justin in a time of 29:14.

After we had caught our breathe and consumed a bit of watermelon, Molly had posted the 4th fastest time for the women in a blistering 1:48:07. Justin had a solid effort and claimed the 8th fastest overall time in 1:39:15. It was a great day for us and the rest of the MNOC crowd, as several other members posted top spots and personal bests.

Iowa Games Adventure Race Victory

2009-06-25T16:24:00.002-05:00

Jason & Andrea, racing as SDK (the initials of their 3 children), traveled to Iowa State University in Ames, IA for the Iowa Games Adventure Race on June 14. With a few FEET of less rain for the 3rd annual AR (and one less broken toe), this year looked much better from the start.

In typical fashion, we showed up an hour before the race start and found out that the "surprise" pre-race task was plotting half of the 30 checkpoints, which made for good transition training. No fear though... Andrea and Jason made it to the start line with almost a whole minute to spare. No sense in standing around, right? So off to the races!

The first 13 checkpoints could be had in any order and it appeared that almost everyone figured that CP 2 was the way to go. With a 5-8 hour race forecast, it seemed like a lot of folks were ready for a sprint. We stuck with the man-teams for the first couple of CPs before heading north looking for CPs 3-7. Andrea loves the semi-urban aspect of this race (not so much), but whatever kept us out of the Ames area stinging nettles and poison ivy couldn’t be all bad (we still bear poison ivy scars from the 2007 race....).

Many teams ran into problems around the Ames Laboratory, which contained tricky terrain and a maze of chain link fences. Being a bit over-anxious ourselves, we ended up overshooting three CPs in a row before finally getting to the inner tube pickup and floating down the river.

At that point we were approximately ten minutes behind the leading 3-person man-team, floating down the river with Phil Nicolas and Adam Wheelock from Mantis. The water was quite chilly after the latest rains, but we were only on the water for 1.5 miles before getting out and doing the sprint to the climbing wall at the ISU recreation center.
This is where Andrea had made a great call.... We had decided to pack our own harnesses because the race directors stated that any team that did would have a dedicated rope once they got to this section. Arriving simultaneously with the 3-person team and Mantis, we slipped our harnesses on, climbed, and got out of there a good 2 minutes up.
After the ropes, we were on and off bikes for the remainder of the race - in and around the city of Ames and a stop at a shooting range for a little air gun target practice (which later proved to make the difference). Somewhere in there we met up with Bike Iowa and raced together pretty much for the last hour. However, one checkpoint before the finish we decided to split up, and it proved lucky for us, because we got to the last CP and Bike Iowa was nowhere to be seen.

We sprinted into the finish (well, Andrea sprinted and Jason did his best to keep up) and arrived approximately four minutes in front of Bike Iowa to finish first.

BUT, and it was a big "but," during this race, there was also a scavenger hunt to collect different items along the way. Collecting certain things gave you time bonuses and others merely kept you safe from time penalties. We collected about half of the items, so we knew our placing could go either way. The target from the shooting range was a time bonus for how close you got to the bulls eye and luckily Jason was inside the first ring from the center on the target. After everything was added and subtracted, we finished with a slim 5-minute advantage. Since Andrea had to sit out last year with the bum toe, this one made up for it!

Wild Spring Sprint is a Sprint to the Finish

2009-06-20T16:37:00.000-05:00

Scooter, Erl, Mo, and Biz, a week after their 34.5-hour soiree in Indiana, competed in Wild Adventure Race's Summer Sprint, a 6-hour adventure race out of William O'Brien State Park on June 13, 2009. Wild AR mixed up the format by trying a score-O for the entire event, including both mandatory and optional checkpoints, on each of three discipline sections - trek, bike, and paddle. Teams had the option to choose the order of events for their team and how much time to spend on each discipline. The kicker was that if you were late, even by one second, your team was disqualified. We decided to start off on the bike leg, an event that we figured would be fairly straight forward. After receiving the maps and heading out on the trail, Biz realized that there was no way that he could possibly organize a route to all of the points, both mandatory and optional, while biking.... We had been given six legal-sized sheets of paper that overlapped in several locations, so we laid out the maps and made sure that our route contained all of the CPs - our goal was to get all of them on this section, but every minute planning was a minute not biking.... After a brief hiatus, we were back on the bikes and able to complete the ~30-mile loop in good form, returning to the TA in roughly 2 hours.
We transitioned to paddle, to give our legs a rest, and the cool water provided a bit of relief to the warm temps that had been creeping upward. We paddled downstream first, obtained one optional CP, then turned north/upstream and collected the remaining mandatory CPs. Two optional CPs remained and we had been out ~1.5 hours on the paddle, so we went for the closest optional CP, less than half a mile upstream. Unfortunately, the round trip took us longer than we had hoped (~25 minutes for this CP only), time that would have been much better used on the trek. On the return trip, we decided to portage our boats a quarter mile to save about 2 miles of paddling, and this strategy paid off. All of us were pretty smoked after carrying the boats and our packs, but the choice appeared to save us at least 10 minutes, coming into the main TA at just over the 4-hour mark.

After our 10 minute mandatory boat cleaning, we headed out for the last leg of the race, an orienteering loop in William O'Brien State Park. We had about 1 hour and 45 minutes to gather all the CPs that we could, but we had to push the pace knowing that we had spent so much time on one paddling CP. Our nav was spot on and Scooter's extra energy was put to use, sprinting to each control. With 45 minutes to go, we decided to skip one outlier CP, a half mile dogleg out and back that we just didn't have time for. We figured that with our distance to go and the time we had remaining, we would be able to clean the rest of the course.
Continuing to push the pace in the heat of the day, we scrambled to locate the last 2 CPs on the course. CP A - located on a hilltop - was thought to be in a patch of thick woods, briars, and vegetation, and our team searched for about 10 minutes around the hilltop with no luck. Since this was an optional CP, we started talking about skipping it to make sure that we made it back before the cutoff. Biz hates giving up on CPs, so he begged us for just one more minute... and then one more again. With everyone starting to get pretty nervous, we agreed to let it go and proceeded to head down the hill to the final mandatory CP, located near a trail where we started our run home (we later found out that CP A was misplaced).
At this point, our time check had us at less than 10 minutes, and we still had a long distance to run to the finish - approximately 1.5 miles. We were cutting things a lot closer than any of us had hoped, and we all had to give eveything we had to even think about making it to the finish line in time. After almost 6 hours of racing and a solid effort in each of the disciplines, we were sprinting as fast as we could, holding hands to keep us all together to the finish. Cramping, stomach aches, and bonking were the norm 15 minutes ago, but in those final moments, we could only think about breathing and the general fuzzy feeling all over our bodies. Each one of us gave everything that we had left, and then found a bit more to pull us home.
We finished 8 seconds shy of the 6-hour DQ cutoff....
It was a painful and emotional finish that included some collapsing, some crying, some "I need a minute before I can talk to anyone," and a lot of relief. In the end, we finished with the most optional CPs, which gave us the 1st Place win, but we all felt a bit lucky to have escaped the DQ cutoff.
....
In related news, Dan Williams and Rebecca Lundberg, longtime race directors for Wild Adventure Race and Minnesota AR pioneers, announced at the end of the race that they will be passing off the torch to Jason & Gayle Perreira. We can't thank Dan and Rebecca enough for all of their hard work and leadership over the years. The new race directors for Wild AR will have big shoes to fill, and we wish them the best.

Planet Adventure "Old School" AR

2009-06-10T11:53:00.007-05:00

Erl, Scooter, Mo, and Biz represented WEDALI at the Planet Adventure "Old School" adventure race near Rusk, Indiana on June 6, 2009. The race directors warned racers that the course was a bit longer than they had expected (originally billed as a 24-hour), and everyone went into the event planning for 30+ hours of AR fun - and this race delivered!
After picking up Scoot at the Indianapolis airport Friday afternoon, we drove the rest of the way down to Rusk, checked in, did a short ropes skills check, and futzed with gear until the 9pm pre-race meeting where we would be given maps and instructions. We soon found out that the race would start at midnight, giving teams a little over two hours to plot points, choose a route, and finalize gear. Biz and Scooter focused on maps, while Erl and Mo worked hard to prepare food and mandatory gear for the team. Mo was able to catch a short 1-hour nap, Erl "rested" for 20 minutes, and Scooter and Biz would work on maps until ~15 minutes before the start.

The race started off at 12:07am with a short road trek to the bikes and a short ride (including a bike-whack) to a river crossing on foot for CP1. The water was pretty chilly and was an "adventurous" way to get things going before 1am on Saturday.
Another decent bike leg was followed by a tough night score-O section. With only a few minor mistakes, we made our way to the front of the pack and were the first to emerge at the swim section, which entailed another cold effort half a mile downstream. We trekked back to the bikes and then hopped on our steeds for a ride through Shirley Creek Nature Area and on to CP8. A trek to CPs 9-14 yielded an awesome ropes section: a zipline across a 100' deep sinkhole.
After the trek, we hit the paddle just before dark and hopped in for a ride downstream. The team was able to break up in 2s to obtain 2 additional CPs, so Scooter and Biz trekked while Erl and Mo paddled the canoes the long way around on the river. Before the end of the paddle, a 100-foot rappel awaited, just off the north side of the river. We finished the paddle (just after the 24-hour mark) and the race directors were nice enough to serve up a bit of warm soup.
Back on the bikes, we made our way into Martin County State Forest. A maze of trails greeted us, but we gradually made our way through to the TA, where we transitioned to another trek. After bobbling one of the CPs for over an hour during the witching hour before sunrise (and after two sleepless nights), we made our way to the TA with haste, not knowing where the other teams were at (since a supported 24-hour AR was being run concurrently). We arrived with news that all of the other Old School teams had been short-coursed around the trek that we had just finished - fantastic! As long as we would be able to make it to the finish before the cutoff, we would be the only team to complete the entire course. On the bike ride home, Molly rallied the troops as Scooter, Biz, and Erl struggled with sleep depravation and stomach issues. We made one stop on the way to the finish for an ascent up a 60-foot overhanging rock face, which was frosting on the cake.
We crossed the finish line at 10:32am on Sunday, 34 hours and 25 minutes after the start. It was a tough race, not only due to the course length, challenging terrain, and competitive teams, but also from the lack of sleep two nights in a row. We were all happy to pull off a 1st place finish.

Wild AR Spring 12-Hour

2009-05-12T14:38:00.002-05:00

Scooter, Erl, Mo, and Biz represented WEDALI at Wild Adventure Race's Spring 12-Hour on May 9, 2009 in Red Wing, MN. The race started in Colvill Park, just south of Barn Bluff along the Mississippi River.
Out of the gate, teams ran most of the way up Memorial Park Drive and back down into Red Wing via a foot trail.

An urban O-section routed teams to a few more hills and a bridge crossing into Wisconsin. A dash to the boats ensued after the hour-long run, with 24Seven less than a minute behind. WEDALI made a quick TA into the orange duckys and, with the help of their 4-piece Aquabound paddles carried during the trek, were able to put a small gap on the field during the ~7 mile paddle. After returning to Colvill Park, teams biked to Barn Bluff and completed a short trekking section that included two traverses and a sweet 50-foot rappel.

The course then took teams out on a 27-mile bike through the river bluffs of Wisconsin and back to Memorial Park in Red Wing, MN. A few trekking CPs later, WEDALI cruised back down Memorial Park Drive and into Colvill Park, finishing the race 1st overall in a time of 6 Hours, 55 Minutes. Less than three minutes separated 2nd and 3rd places, as The Beautiful People and Midwest Mountaineering finished in 7:18 and 7:21, respectively. 24Seven rouded out the top 4 in 7:34.
A BIG thanks to all of our "fans" that came out to see the race! We had an awesome time hanging out afterwards, sharing stories, and catching up with all the Minnesota (and non-MN) AR folks.

Psycowpath Success

2009-05-04T13:56:00.002-05:00

On May 2, Andrea rocked out at the Swanson River City Shootout, the second XC mountain bike race in the Nebraska Lottery Psycowpath Series. The race took place in Swanson Park, located near Bellevue, NE. Andrea pushed hard and pulled off a 3rd place finish in the Women's Cat 1 race, knocking off four laps in less than 2 hours.

Timber Doodle Adventure Race

2009-04-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

Molly and Justin (MoBiz), guised as the Rainbow Unicorns, traveled to Dexter County Park in Wisconsin for the Timber Doodle Adventure Race on April 25. This 10-hour race, put on by the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point Adventure Racing Club, was anything but your run-of-the-mill AR. The race's namesake, also known as the American Woodcock (Scolopax minor), live in brushy woods near rivers and streams and eat worms and insects that they catch by probing in the soil with their long bills. MoBiz embodied the life of a Timber Doodle during this AR - battling a dizzying series of bike/hike O-sections, gnarly marsh treks, several team challenges (including a river zipline), and unfavorable racing conditions (rainy and 40s) - to come away with a 1st place overall finish. If you see Molly, be sure to ask her about the blindfolded worm search - meep meep!

Racing Trifecta

2009-04-22T20:40:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, April 18, three WEDALI teammates challenged themselves in different athletic endeavors. Here's a quick breakdown:

Scooter traveled east to race in Infiterra Sports' Spring Fury, a 10-hour adventure race in Michigan. Combining forces with a few Michigan natives, Scoot paired up with John as team Jeep and raced along side Darrin and Ed as team Chrysler. Jeep (Scooter and John) sprinted for a photo finish, holding off Frog Stompers by under a minute for the overall win in 7 hours, 51 minutes. Chrysler (Darrin & Ed) finished in 3rd place with a time of 7 hours, 55 minutes.

Molly traveled north to Sand Dunes State Forest to compete in the Minnesota Orienteering Club's Adventure Racing Tune-up, a short 4-hour sprint adventure race. Teaming up with Tom Puzak of 24Seven, Molly pulled off an impressive 2nd place finish overall, coming in less than 10 minutes behind the lead team.

Biz traveled south to compete in the Ragnar ok 105, a 105-mile bike race on gravel and minimum maintenance roads around Red Wing, MN. Biking with four buddies (Chad, Grant, Dan, & Jesse), Justin was able to finish the punishing ride in 14th place (out of 65 riders) in a time of 7 hours, 13 minutes. Elevation gain for the ride topped 8000', an impressive amount considering the lack of "mountainous" topography in Minnesota.

LBL Challenge

2009-04-10T15:04:00.002-05:00

Jason, Erl, Molly, and Biz competed in Bonk Hard Racing's Land Between the Lakes Challenge near Grand Rivers, Kentucky on April 4-5, 2009. This 24-hour adventure race featured a strong lineup of teams from the Midwest, along with some east coast visitors.

A few thoughts about the race:
1) The first trek and bike were crazy - like herding cats - with all the different route choices team's had. We often wondered how we passed (or got passed by) other teams.
2) The trekking section from Cravens to Demumbers was stellar - we gained ~15 minutes to catch back up with the lead teams.
3) Paddling alongside EMS - Erl & Jason crushed this part, and pulled MoBiz for a ride. We were all ready to get off the water after this 15-mile leg.
4) Rogaine-style (Score-O) sections of ARs are the best from a navigating perspective - lots of route choice, tricky nav, good times*.
5) The bike back from the rogaine section pushed us to the limits. Molly biked her heart out and we knew we had to push the whole time with EMS right on our tails. We took a not-so-stellar short cut later on, which created a bike-whacking section towards the end of the race - our navigation got us there in the end, but probably not the best route choice.
6) Finishing 1st!
7) Placing 6th!

*Good times indeed, until we found out the next morning at the awards ceremony that we had unintentionally skipped a CP on this section.

Finishing "1st" and placing 6th are two entirely different things, and our team was crushed to realize our mistake. Even though things may not have turned out the best for us in the end, we had an awesome time and wouldn't give up the experience for anything.... Bonk Hard Racing put together a fantastic course - scenic, challenging, and well organized. We'll be looking forward to racing in Kentucky again next year!