UltraRob's Adventures

Update: 2009 24 Hours of Moab Day 1 Photos

This weekend is the 15th annual 24 Hours of Moab. This year it is the USA Cycling 24 Hour National Championships. This should bring out a lot of the top riders both in the solo and team categories. Chris Eatough will be there but has announced he is retiring after this last race.

I've always done better and longer races but the 24 Hours of Moab in 1997 was my first ultra endurance bike race. I showed up and had never intentionally ridden at night except commuting on the bike path in college. The only bike light I had was barely bright enough to avoid sticks and junk on the bike path.

Fortunately Schwinn loaned me a set of good lights for my first 24 hour race. I was in 3rd after 12 hours. I had been sick earlier in the week and was still congested.

Soon after midnight it started snowing. With the cold, I got even more congested and had to stop riding for 7 hours. I was so congested I had to stay sitting up to breathe. Even then I'd start choking if I feel asleep. Once it warmed up, I went out and rode another 2 laps to finish 8th.

Since then I've raced the 24 Hours of Moab 3 more times solo. Like last year, I'll be back this year but shooting photos instead of racing. Depending on the internet access I can get out in the desert, I'll be posting updates here and/or to twitter.

- UltraRob

Related Links

• 2008 24 Hours of Moab Photos
• 2008 24 Hours of Moab Day 1
• 2008 24 Hours of Moab Day 2

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Labels: 24 Hours of Moab, endurance racing, mountain biking, Utah

This morning I was driving in to Moab from were I spent the night along Kane Creek Road. There were a couple guys standing along the road looking up at the cliffs above them.

I stopped to see what was going on and noticed a parachute laying beside one of the guys. I asked him if he had base jumped. He said yes and that there was one more guy getting ready. I waited and got to see the guy jump. It was very cool! Here are some photos I snapped of him jumping.

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Labels: Moab, outdoors, Utah

Yesterday I rode what has become one of my favorite Moab rides after a few readers recommended it last year when I asked for favorite Moab rides. I make a loop that includes Gold Bar Rim and then over to the Portal Trail and down.

I started from downtown Moab and rode out the old highway to the Gemini Bridges parking lot. From there I headed up the road until the Gold Bar Rim jeep road split off to the left.

Once the Gold Bar Rim jeep road makes it to the rim, there's a very technical singletrack that follows right along the rim edge. Sometimes it is literally on the rim edge. This year there was fresh blue paint marking the singletrack and it was much easier to follow. I had to get off several times because of drops. It was well worth it for the views and the fun trying to ride what I could. I was thinking though a freeride bike would have been better than my hard tail.

A storm was coming in and before I got to the Portal Trail, the clouds started moving in. I thought I saw rain in the distance so I tried to keep moving at a good pace. About the time I got back into Moab, I discovered it was a giant dust cloud instead of rain.

The Portal Trail is not a trail for people that are scared of heights. The upper part of the trail crosses close to the edge and a few people have fallen off. It really isn't that bad as long as you get off and walk and pay attention. Once across the narrow section, it's a very technical descent to the Potash road but it isn't on the edge.

I have the Moab Gold Bar Rim - Portal Trail GPS track uploaded. It also has small photos placed on it. I also have photos of the ride on Flickr.

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Labels: Moab, mountain biking, Utah

The Slickrock trail is one of Moab's most popular mountain biking trails. It is one of the most unique trails around. I've ridden small amounts of slickrock in other places but I don't of anywhere else where you're surrounded by miles of rock.

I've ridden Slickrock several times over the years but it had been a while since I had done it. Yesterday I decided it was time to revisit it and rode up there. It's not a steady endurance ride but instead an interval workout. You go all out to get up a steep section of slickrock and then recover and get ready to go hard again.

Although there were clouds, it was nice and warm. The views were incredible and I had a lot of fun riding around on the rock.

Because it's sandstone, you get amazing traction and if you have the leg strength, you can ride up some very steep sections. One tip is to use a tire without a lot of tread to increase the contact area. Leg strength and balance though will generally limited you more than traction.

I was riding up a steep section yesterday and was running out of power. I hit a bump and stopped going forward. I started rolling backward and couldn't get off gracefully. I slammed my knee into the headset. I got a nasty bruise and some soreness but thankfully it doesn't seem like a serious injury.

I started with the Practice Loop since practice is always good. I got in 18.2 miles, 2908 feet of climbing in 3:14.

I have the Moab Slickrock GPS track uploaded. It also has small photos placed on it. I also have photos of the ride on Flickr.

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Labels: Moab, mountain biking, Utah

After spinning the legs out Friday afternoon in St. George, it was time for more mountain biking fun on Saturday. My plan was to basically do the first part of Day 1 of Camp Lynda from last year and then turn around.

I skipped the first part because it wasn't obvious on my map. I Drove up Cottonwood Road and started with the Powerline trail. My asthma was bothering so the first hour and a half was a slow crawl but then I started breathing better.

When the Powerline Trail curved, I cut over to the Mill Creek Road. I bombed down the road nearly back to civilization and then turned and climbed up to the Dino Cliffs trailhead. On the drop into the first wash, I was sand surfing but then it wasn't so sandy.

I really liked the Moab looking red rocks along the Dino Cliffs. The rocks were also pretty along the Church Rock Trail. The Church Rock Trail was after Dino Cliffs except for using a short bit of Grapevine to connect.

Next up was the Prospector Trail. This was a fun piece of singletrack that was easy to get into a rhythm.

I had been lazy in the morning and had a few things to take care of. I didn't start riding until a little after noon. Along with my asthma at the start of the ride, I didn't make it all the way to Silver Reef before needing to head back. I ended up turning around a bit after the trailhead along I-15.

It was a fun few hours of mountain biking and I hope to get back to St. George again to do some more riding.

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Labels: mountain biking, Utah

I left way latter than planned on Wednesday for a road trip. I made it to Green River Utah and then drove on to St. George, Utah yesterday.

I had hoped to get to St. George in time to do a few hours of riding. Instead I only had about 2 hours before dark by the time I got on the bike. I had stopped by Red Rocks Bicycle to get a trail map. The directions to the Barrel Roll Trail sounded straight forward.

It turns out the directions on the map aren't right. The directions at UtahMountainBiking for Barrel Roll are the right ones.

Since the directions didn't match what I was seeing, I parked just across the Santa Clara River and started riding. After wandering around on some dirt roads for a little while I did find the trailhead for Barrel Roll.

Barrel Roll is a nice 6 mile singletrack that is non-technical except for a tiny bit up on the ridge. There are some great views of the area from the trail. It wasn't a long ride but it was good to spin the legs out after driving 700 miles. See below for more photos from the ride.

Today the plan is to do an out and back on the first part of Day 1 of Camp Lynda last year. My planned purchase of a Garmin Edge 705 got put on hold when I got laid off from my job so hopefully I'll find my way. I'm just out to have fun so if I wander around a bit I don't mind.

Related Post: More Mountain Bike Fun in St. George, UT

Pronghorn Just Outside Green River, UT

Pronghorn Just Outside Green River, UT

San Rafael Reef

San Rafael Reef

San Rafael Reef

View of Santa Clara from Barrel Roll Trail

View Along Ridge on Barrel Roll Trail

View Along Ridge on Barrel Roll Trail

View from Barrel Roll Trail

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Labels: mountain biking, Utah

Remains of the Historic Dewey Bridge (click to see larger photo)

When I came back from the 24 Hours of Moab a few weeks ago, I saw the Dewey Bridge for the first time since it burned last spring. It's a landmark I've seen on many trips to Moab. It was so sad to see it destroyed.



The following photos of the Dewey Bridge are from when I rode the Kokopelli Trail from Fruita to Moab last year.

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Labels: Moab, mountain biking, Utah

The 24 Hours of Moab has long been the party at end of the mountain bike race season. A lot of the the teams are there just to have fun and the race is secondary. A few teams like the winning Pro Men Monavie/Cannondale team and the winning Coed Pro/Am PRO CYCLING team are serious about racing. Solo riders are either serious or don't know what they got into.

One year when I was racing solo there was a team close to my pit that had a portable hot tub surrounded by pink flamingos and Christmas lights. Middle of the night, I so wanted to take a soak instead of heading back out into the dark.

Saturday I walked around camp looking for the most fun camps. Sadly I didn't find any interesting ones. I don't think it was because the fun has been lost but because of the wind. Saturday morning tent poles were snapping and tops had blown off Easy-Ups.

I think everyone was just trying to keep everything from blowing away. I did spot a disco ball lying under a camp table but I didn't make it back later to see if they put it to use.

Even though the wind caused some problems, it didn't keep people from having fun.

The Flawless Penguins always rode with a penguin on the top of their helmet.

Turns out the Flawless Penguins really weren't flawless.

The French froggies looked like they were having fun whether it was day or ...

night.

Spencer Powlison of team Dicey seemed to still be having fun in spite of his wardrobe malfunction. Maybe the wind was blowing his wedding dress around too much.



Konrad Binder was all about business while he was having fun.

John Woodruff of CRUISER BIKE DISASTER felt racers chose a bike that didn't look like fun on a rocky course but he looked like he was having fun.

I think this tall bike was only for riding around the venue.

Want to see more of the fun at the 24 Hours of Moab? Take a look at many more photos I took at the 2008 24 Hours of Moab.

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Labels: 24 Hours of Moab, Moab, mountain biking, Utah

The first day of the 24 Hours of Moab has been very windy but the wind starting calming a little before dark.   At the end of the 1st lap, 4 of the top 10 were solo riders.  Josh Tostado was the 3rd rider to finish lap one.  He has continued to build his lead in the solo race with Chris Eatough and Tinker Juarez chasing.

Here are a few of the photos I've taken so far. I have plenty more to upload but it will probably take a few days after I get back.

Update 10/27: I've created a page for my 2008 24 Hours of Moab photos.

Update 10/23: I uploaded over 1,100 pictures to Photrade but then decided Photrade wasn't ready for prime time yet. I am working on uploaded them to my SmugMug account now.

Update 10/14: I think I took over 2,000 pictures at the 24 Hours of Moab. I still haven't downloaded the ones I took on Sunday. I've uploaded a few photos from Saturday evening to Photrade. It's in beta and could use some improvements on upload but I plan to keep uploading as I find time. It has a way to share photos on your blog or website. If you'd rather not use their sharing, let me know and I'll send you one as long as you link back.

 

Night Before Race

Camp Area

Ergon Tent. The Table Had Been Clean an Hour Before

Racer Meeting

Bikes Lined up for the Lemans Start

Waiting for the Start

Granny

And They Are Off

Josh Tostada at the End of Lap 1

Watch the Sandy Spots

The La Sals

Chris Eatough and Tinker Juarez

Surfing in the Sand

Camp from the Ridge

Tinker Juarez

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Labels: 24 Hours of Moab, Moab, mountain biking, Utah

Bicycling has put together a good preview of the 24 Hours of Moab with Cullen Barker. I've raced with Cullen since the early '90s. This will be his 5th time racing the 24 Hours of Moab solo.

The video gives a bit of an idea of how sandy some of the sections are. There are a couple downhill sections were it's feels like you're surfing on your bike. It's hard to capture Nose Dive and it's really looks bigger when you're riding up to it. It can be intimidating for less experienced riders.

With so many riders the good lines keep shifting during the race. Generally there is wind and that also keeps the sand shifting around. As a solo rider, I've noticed fair change between laps. The change is much bigger for team riders that will only see each section about every 5 hours.

Team riders will generally be doing their 2nd lap in the dark so they don't always know the lines where there a drops. I've generally been on my 5th lap when it's gotten dark so I already knew the good lines pretty well.

Bicycling has a Google map of the Moab course with the location of the videos segments marked. The video of each section are also longer.

Related Link: Headed to 24 Hours of Moab

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Labels: 24 Hours of Moab, Moab, mountain biking, Utah

The 24 Hours of Moab is this weekend. I've raced there solo 4 times. This time I'm just going to hang out and ride around. I also have a new camera to play with and hopefully I'll get some great shots.

Of course I'm most interested in the solo racers. Both Tinker Juarez and Chris Eatough are registered. It should be an interesting race between them.

Josh Tostado from Colorado is another guy that could do well. Pete Basinger who holds the Iditarod Trail Invitational record should also do well. My guess is the race is a little short for him but I still could see him in the top 3. I raced with him in 2003 at the Fireweed 400.

I don't know if I'll be able to get internet access out at the race course. If I can't I'll try going in to town Saturday night to upload at least a few photos. Granny Gear will also have a webcast during the race. The race standings are generally updated very often so you can so how the race is going.

The 24 Hours of Moab is where I first raced at night when I raced solo in 1997. Little did I know the path it would lead me down. I didn't even have a light system. I was racing on the Schwinn/Grand West grassroots team and the team manager arranged for me to use one a demo unit of a new Schwinn dual light system.

It turned out the lights worked great. Unfortunately my lungs didn't. A couple days before I was laying on the couch with fever, aches and chills. I was feeling better for the race but I was still very congested.

The race went really well for me for the first 12 hours and I was in 3rd place. During the night it started snowing and I got to the point I could barely breath. I ended up sitting in the back of my truck for 7 hours. If I laid down I couldn't breathe. Even when I fell asleep sitting up, I'd start choking.

Once it the sun came up and it warmed up a bit, my crew convinced my to head out for one more lap. I felt good on that lap and had time for one more. I ended up with 10 laps and finished 8th out of 16.

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Labels: 24 Hours of Moab, Moab, mountain biking, Utah

Photo from Planet Ultra

The Hoodoo 500 is taking place this weekend in a beautiful part of Utah. It is 519 miles with about 30,000 feet of climbing. I had hoped to race it this year but have stayed too busy with projects around the house to be able to train much.

This year it is a RAAM qualifier since the Furnace Creek 508 isn't. RAAM doesn't allow qualifiers to be less than a month apart if there closer than 1,000 miles.

One of the cool things at the Hoodoo is the solo riders are split between those doing it with RAAM style support and racers doing it self supported. 18 riders are doing it supported and 12 are doing it unsupported.

Unsupported riders can still qualify for RAAM but the qualifying time is based on the fastest solo rider not already qualified for RAAM. The solo riders will be lumped together for purposes of RAAM qualifying. Unsupported riders will be at a big disadvantage if they're trying to qualify for RAAM.

Planet Ultra will be updating their web cast during the race as they can find internet access. Alex Isaly is racing solo and his wife is going to try to post updates on Twitter during the race. David McColgan is racing on a 4 man team. He also is a Twitter user but doesn't say whether he'll be updating during the race.

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Labels: cycling, Hoodoo 500, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling, Utah

The Kokopelli Trail Race happened a week and a half ago. The 142 mile race through the desert between Moab, UT and Fruita, CO is one of growing number of unsupported endurance mountain bike races. Even getting water from campers on the trail is enough for disqualification.

In the case of the KTR, there is no entry fee and no real organizer. It's just several people that decide to meet and race. The last few years it had gotten quite big. Unfortunately the BLM thought that a permit was required. Last year they showed up and fined Adam Lisonbee $275 since he was the one that proposed the date on MTBR.

This year the plans for the race were kept quiet to keep the BLM from interfering. It also meant that a lot smaller group race it. It also went from Moab to Fruita instead of the opposite direction like last year. The race started and midnight Friday night

Kenny won this year's race. He ran out of water and was suffering but still managed to win. His time was 14 hours and 56 minutes. Chris, who hiked Pikes Peak by moonlight with me in February, finished 2nd even after not being able to stay awake and taking naps along the way. I believe Pete Basinger from Alaska was third and another Alaskan Geoff Roes was 4th.

Related Links 2007 Kokopelli Trail Race |Adam Lisonbee 2008 race report

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Labels: Colorado, Kokopelli Trail Race, mountain biking, Utah

It's hard to believe it's been over a month since I was mountain biking in Moab. This post has just been sitting partially written.

The final ride I did in Moab was the Kane Creek/Harrah Pass/Amasa Back Loop. This loop was the first ride I ever did in Moab. I had never been to Moab and went out to race the Tour of Canyonlands. My friend was working the evening before the race so we left late. We got to Moab about 3 AM and I got a few hours of sleep before showing up for the race. Over the years since then, I've ridden the loop several times both in racing and just riding.

The last time I had tried riding this loop was in 2004 when the Tour of Canyonlands last used this course. I had gotten sick with aches and chills on the way out a couple days before the race. The day before the race, I felt well enough to ride up Amasa Back but was still weak.

I figured I'd start the race and see how I felt. Even when I haven't been sick, I often don't feel good before a race starts. How I feel before a race is never a good indication of how well I'll race.

Within a couple miles, it was clear I'd be struggling just to finish. I considered just riding it easy but was concerned I'd do my body more harm than good. There had been a big rain a couple days before and the first water crossing that was normally a trickle was flowing pretty good. I hung out with some other people and watched some vehicles get stuck and unstuck.

While I was watching, emergency vehicles went by. Then we started hearing that there had been a bad accident with the racers. I would later find out that "Ben" Hall had been killed in a collision with a truck. Although I often saw him at the races and we'd be back and forth sometimes, I never really got to know him. It truly was a sad day in the mountain bike race community.

Although it has been 4 years since the accident, it was on my mind as I set out on my ride. The Kane Creek road is actually pretty boring but makes for a nice warm up. Right about where I thought the accident had happened from what one of my teammates that saw had told me, I saw a simple cross with a chain ring on it.

I always enjoy the views while riding up Harrah Pass. It's also an enjoyable climb for me since it's not too steep and I can power up it. I took a short break at the top before the fun, fast descent down the back side.

It always seems like it's farther than I remember from the bottom of Harrah Pass over to Jackson Hole and the base of Jacob's Ladder. I actually enjoy being back there so it's not that I'm not having fun. Less sand would be nice but it's not all that bad.

Even though I did a lot of work on my bike the first day in Moab, I didn't change my chain because I didn't have a new cassette. I also didn't think my chain had that much wear on it. I was wrong and my chain broke. I carry the Crank Brothers Multi 17 Tool and I really like it because it's small and has almost everything you could need on the trail. I do find that the chain tool can be bit difficult to use but it's still much better than not having one. I had trouble fixing the chain and apparently didn't get it right. About 15 minutes later it broke a 2nd time. That time fixing it went smoothly and it didn't break again.

The first time I raced on this course I had no idea what Jacob's Ladder was. Before the race I kept hearing people talking about it. I asked my teammate that had raced the course before what it was like. He pointed to some high cliffs and said, "It's pretty much like those cliffs except there's a broken section you scramble up."

I only half believed him and thought he was just messing with me. I would find out soon enough that his description was pretty accurate. Unlike most of the other racers, I always liked Jacob's Ladder because I always made up quite a few places on it. It's no harder than doing the Manitou Incline except that you're carrying a bike on your back. It's much easier than doing Gray's Peak in Montezuma's Revenge.

Once at the top of Jacob's Ladder, it's just a quick descent down Amasa Back. The short steep section back up to the Kane Creek road always seem brutal after descending.

Related Links: 7 Mountain Biking Confidence Killers | Saltwash and Sovereign Singletracks | Gold Bar Rim and Portal Trail

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Labels: Moab, mountain biking, Utah

A 7-year-old boy playing with matches ignited a brush fire yesterday that destroyed the Old Dewey Bridge that is part of the Kokopelli Trail from Fruita to Moab. The suspension bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1916 and was the state's longest bridge without supports in the waterway it crossed.

The Dewey Bridge was within sight of the new bridge on Utah Highway 128 so it won't keep mountain bikers from riding the trail. It's still a big bummer since it was a cool bridge and part of riding the Kokopelli Trail. I've driven by it many times and rode across it when I did the Kokopelli Trail lat year. I just saw it when I was to Moab a couple weeks ago.

Labels: Moab, mountain biking, Utah

Today I rode Gold Bar Rim and the Portal Trail. I rode Gold Bar Rim once before and really wasn't struck with it. When I asked for readers favorite Moab rides, 3 readers mentioned it so I decided to give it another try.

The other time I did Gold Bar Rim, several of us had started from our camp at Sand Flats. We took the road over to Poison Spider. We then did Poison Spider, Golden Spike, Gold Bar Rim, back to town, and up to Sand Flats.

I was fit and ready for race season so the distance wasn't bad. The issue was that we had a couple slower riders that we spent a lot of time waiting for. We all ran out of food and water. It wasn't pretty. I was also headed home that day and was very late picking my wife up in Grand Junction. She brought it up again Sunday when we discussed when I'd be picking her up tomorrow.

Today was nothing like that day. I had felt really tired yesterday after just doing Saltwash and Sovereign singletracks. I decided I'd go part way up Gold Bar Rim and then turn around.

I hadn't realized that there was singletrack that followed the rim instead of going up and down like the jeep trail. I copied the directions from my route book on finding the singletrack. Of course I forgot and left them in the vehicle when I started riding. They may not have done much good since I don't have a bike computer or GPS on my mountain bike. The key thing I remembered was always go left and up if you end up back on the jeep trail.

The singletrack was easier to find and follow than I expected based on what the book said. There were a fair number of cairns and blue paint lines. Still I lost the trail several times but always found it again pretty soon. Still there are several places you have to carry your bike so if you don't like getting off a lot, it's probably not a good trail for you.

I got to where I could see Poison Spider Mesa and the rock dome where the Portal Trail drops down. I was having way too much fun to turn around so I just kept going. Of course that was about when it seemed like the rock dome wasn't getting any closer.

The Portal Trail has a lot of exposure. It's not for people that are scared of heights. I have a rule that even if the trail is easily rideable I get off and walk if falling most likely would mean death. I did some walking on the narrow sections of the Portal Trail. It's not something to take lightly because people really have fallen off there and died.

Once I got past the narrow sections, the descent down was fun and I was at the road. I hadn't been looking forward to the ride back to the Gemini Bridges parking lot. It ended up seeming shorter than I had expected. Another fun day of ridng in Moab and I get to ride a part day tomorrow before heading back.

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Labels: Moab, mountain biking, Utah

Today I spent more time working on my bike than riding it. It made the the riding I did much more enjoyable though. My bike is now working better than it has in over a year.

When I asked a few days ago for suggestions on where to ride around Moab, I got a few replies for the Sovereign singletrack. I also got a reply for the new singletrack north of town. It might have been for Sovereign but there is a new singletrack that opened very recently.

The new singletrack is called Saltwash. It starts very close to Sovereign and crosses it a couple times with a few other connectors.

I like coming to Moab because of the scenery. I love the red cliffs and big drops. I also like the weather this time of year. The thing I haven't liked has been the lack of singletrack. To be honest, Fruita has better riding and the weather is almost as warm and dry.

Out where Sovereign and Saltwash are there aren't the big cliffs but the riding didn't disappoint. Saltwash is so new it's obvious it hasn't been ridden much and there are some soft spots. It's also still very narrow. There are a bunch of fun sections on it.

The recommended way is to go out on Saltwash so that's what I did. I then came back on Sovereign. I'll definitely be riding them again when I came out in the future.

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Labels: Moab, mountain biking, Utah

I'm going to be in Moab for a couple days the beginning of next week. I often end up doing the same rides when I go there. Some of my favorites are SlickRock, Porcupine Rim, Harrah Pass/Amasa Back loop and Poison Spider/Portal Trail.

They are all great rides but I know there are other ones I should give a try. What are your favorite trails that I didn't list?

I don't even have good base fitness right now but my endurance is always good. I can ride for several hours but just at a slow pace. Oh and I hurt more after the ride.

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Labels: Moab, mountain biking, Utah

Picture from Planet Ultra

The first Hoodoo 500 is going on this weekend. It's 519 miles in Utah with about 30,000 feet of climbing. When it was first announced, I was thinking of doing it. It's closer for me than a lot of the ultra road races and there's some great scenery. Of course I never got in shape this year and it's all I can do to make it through easy 100 mile rides.

The solo racers without a crew started at 5 AM this morning and racers with a crew started at 7 AM. Teams started at 11 AM. The standings are being updated regularly. The standings page also has links to pictures that are being updated throughout the event.

The course is of the caliber for Race Across America qualifiers. Planet Ultra told me that they had wanted it to be a RAAM qualifier but isn't because it was scheduled too close to the Furnace Creek 508. The UMCA has a rule stating

The UMCA will sanction one qualifier per section of the country / continent in a given season. No new qualifier will be sanctioned that would take place within approximately 1000 miles and two months of an existing qualifier.

I can understand the rule for all the other RAAM qualifiers. Most of them have 10 or fewer racers but the 508 has reached it's field limit the few years. I can't see that the 508 would be affected much by the Hoodoo 500 being a RAAM qualifier.

One thing that the Hoodoo 500 has done different from the RAAM qualfiers is to have a separate category for solo riders without a crew. The only RAAM qualifier that doesn't DQ somebody for riding during the night without a follow vehicle is the Adirondack 540. It is also this weekend. They don't have a separate category for riders without crews. When I did it in 2005, I know some riders doing less than the 4 lap RAAM qualifier were doing it without a crew but I think everyone doing the RAAM qualifier had a crew.

Although I think a race like this is doable without a crew, you certainly can't be as fast without a crew. I also haven't studied this race well enough to know how much water you'd need to get between places to get water. I know on some courses such as the 508 you would need to carry a lot of water at times.

I know people have mentioned to me that they would like to do something like a RAAM qualifier but either thought they couldn't get a crew together or couldn't afford a crew. It is expected that the rider will pay all crew expenses. By the time you pay for a hotel the night before and after the race plus travel expenses, even for a 3 person crew the costs can add up. I think it's great that Planet Ultra decided to give racers the option of doing it without a crew.

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Labels: cycling, Hoodoo 500, ultra cycling, Utah

Yesterday's Gazette had an article from the AP about Dave Buschow who died last July while taking a survival training course in Utah. For some reason I couldn't find the Gazette online version but I found it on another website.

When it happened last summer, I never could find many details on it. Even with what I could find it seemed like the course instructors had pushed Dave too far. I generally believe that people are responsible for what happens to them. There are a lot of risks in life whether you're in the backcountry or not. Sometimes bad things happen and they aren't someone elses fault. In some cases it's because someone made a bad decision but they thought it was the right decision when they made it. I've certainly done that.

There was a post on out there last July about who's responsible for risks in various outdoor activities. The article was in response to Dave's death. On it I commented

In the case of the guy asking for water and not being given it, I don't know all the details but that seems like a bad thing on the part of the instructor. I can see limiting food but water isn't something you can survive long without. I could be convinced that in this case the instructor and the school are at fault.

After reading the article, I was more than convinced the instructors were at fault. I was outraged at their actions. The temperature was around 100 degrees. The group found water around 8:30 in the morning. They drank from the water but weren't allowed to put any in bottles to carry with them. The idea was they could only drink when they found water. Although they tried to find water throughout the day, they never found any.

Dave got to the point of falling down and the others in the group had trouble getting him back to his feet. At one point he mistook a tree for a person. His tongue was swollen. He would hurry off in the wrong direction. Finally around 7 PM over 10 hours after last drinking water, the group got to a cave with a pool of water. Dave fell again less than a 100 yards from the water. He said he couldn't continue but the instructor with him kept telling him he could make it. Dave quit breathing and the group was unable to revive him. It turns out the instructor had emergency water in his pack.

I just can't imagine going that long without drinking even in cool conditions let alone in that kind of heat. It's one thing to push people to exhaustion from long days of hiking or from lack of food but not from lack of water. It was also the 2nd day of a 28 day course. It takes time to acclimate to the dry desert air and the heat. Dave was from New Jersey so I'm sure he wasn't used to the dryness. Before I've done long bike races in the desert, I've done heat training in my bathroom.

I've done up to week long backpacking trips by myself in the Superstition Mountains and the Grand Canyon. I've almost been out of water when I've found more. Only once was I out of water for a couple hours before finding more. The temperature was only around 60 degrees. I was making a loop and I knew I could cut to where I had gotten water a couple days before. That would have probably meant 6-7 hours without water. For the couple hours before I found water, finding water was about the only thing I thought about. I can't imagine what I would have been thinking after over 10 hours without water in 100 degree weather.

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Labels: hiking, Utah

Planet Ultra has announced a new ultra cycling race called the Hoodoo 500. It is scheduled for September 15-17, 2007 and will start and finish in St. George, UT. It sounds like a great route with great scenery. It will 512 miles with about 30,000 feet of climbing.

Unfortunately the UMCA has denied their request to be a RAAM qualifier. I don't know why but I'd guess it may have something to do with it being the same weekend as the Adirondack 540. The two races are on nearly opposite sides of the country so I don't think there would be that much of a conflict. It would only be a 10 hour drive for me and would be closer than any of the other RAAM qualifiers.

Labels: Planet Ultra, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling, Utah