[intensebeet]

Anyone in here ever do any adventure races or familiar with this series of races?<br><br><a href="http://www.goalsara.org/" target="_blank">http://www.goalsara.org/</a><br><br>
I'm thinking of doing the first one in April with some friends, and am looking for some advice or input from anyone who's done one before we commit to this race.

 

[Tithers]

I've always wanted to do the eco challenge. I bet Thor and Sheldawg and a bunch of others would be good teammates.<br><br>
I can just imagine it...sheldon yelling at me to pee and poop my shorts b/c he wants to win.<br><br>
Thor will be shouting "inspirational stuff at us"<br><br>
We should have Team Kick!<br><br>
We have a local guy-I refer to him as "Death Spin" that also trains adventure racers!

 

[Stitcher]

I know of someone who did one...did several, in GA, too.<br>
She is WAY WAY in shape......<br>
Did IMFL a few years ago. But, then had some ITBS issues, and I haven't seen her at the pool in awhile.<br><br>
Do you have to sleep in nature?<br>
lol<br>
I'd love to do it, except for the sleeping in nature part.

 

[RunningForT3]

The idea sounds interesting for me, but I don't have a mountain bike, and rather than investing in a decent one I would buy upgrades for my current bike... I have a friend who wants to get me into this, but the closest I could get to adventure racing would be the SOS race in the Gunks. For this, I have to get qualifying times at my HIM and win their admission lottery.<br><br>
Stitch, there are adventure races that take 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours... or days. Probably you wouldn't start with the multi-days one. My friend did one that took him 24 hours and several times fell asleep on the side of the road, involuntarily. Once, he says he even fell asleep upright on his bike, leaning against a tall vertical cliffside.

 

[Tithers]

LMAO...is Muddy Buddy the first step towards adventure racing?

 

[intensebeet]

No sleeping in nature for this one at least, we're looking at a sprint race, 20 miles total ~ 6 hour cutoff time. I run, they don't, though they are avid hikers, we're all decent in canoes/kayaks, I used to mountain bike but haven't done much recently, so that's the part that has me the most worried.

 

[intensebeet]

yikes! <img alt="uhoh2.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/uhoh2.gif"><br><br>
I know I'm not that hardcore yet, but I guess it's something to aspire to!

 

[kylemcm]

My training buddy does several adventure races every year, the "sprint" kind. He keeps asking me to join his team. I think I would really enjoy doing them. But, my focus is on Tri's right now. I told him that once Ironman is done I may do some races with him next year.<br><br>
I'm also afraid of getting injured. During his last race, he tripped on a root, fell and broke two ribs.

 

[intensebeet]

I figure that's a hazard of any trail running and I'd pretty much always rather be running on a trail than the road. I'd like to do a tri someday, but right now, I'd rather kayak than swim and mountain bike than road bike (road bikes always make me feel like I'm going to fall off).<br><br>
I'm curious whether the 5 miles of "running, trekking, orienteering" will be tough on people who don't run or if people who've done this before have trained with their partners or if they just all trained separately. I've always been into solo sports, this will be something different to really have to work with others.

 

[melistic]

Do it! Do it! Do it!<br><br>
I love them but haven't done the serious ones. There is quite a difference between levels of difficulty.<br><br>
KJ did a couple of the more orienteering type. But I think she got lost alot. lol. military training and all.<br><br>
Like I said level of difficulty plays a big factor so just be looking at how hard they rate the course. Usually they will say something to the effect of all level mountain bikers or serious skills required. Same goes for kayak skills.<br><br><b>I'm curious whether the 5 miles of "running, trekking, orienteering" will be tough on people who don't run</b><br><br>
like Tithers said, you wouldn't want to be running w/ the big boys if you can't keep up. But if it's something you & friends want to do for fun... and you have a few months to work on whoevers weak spots...<br>
I tried a sprint distance with some hard core from work and they were all "go, go" it was no fun. I did a sprint distance city type with the gym rats. Beer came out of somebody's backback and we had the best time.<br>
They are really hard to find in my area but Tribob sent me a great link I used last year (I lost it when we upgraded the comp.)

 

[jkaiser20]

I did one single day event. It was ok, but not cool enough to want to another one, unless it was a super long, super rough, etc.. For me, the navigation was not challenging enough. I have a lot of background taking walks in the woods, so my baseline is a bit different. Also, I wasn't a big fan of the AR culture. Nothing really specific, just something there that didn't sit right with me. Maybe they just acted like they were too cool. I don't know, to each his own.<br><br>
With the right team, it can be fun. One tip: There can be but one navigator. We took 3rd in that event, based largely on the fact that I was the navigator. My teammates had no experience with navigation, and had zero interest in trying it out on race-day. They were perfect lemmings. It has to be that way. I wasn't always perfect, not even close, but they never complained, just kept pushing on. Another team that we really wanted to beat because of some history, didn't even make the time cut-off. After talking with one of them, they spent a lot of time arguing over routes. Of course, everyone on the team should be following along with the navigation in case of total meltdown, but let the leader lead. If he walks you through a briarpatch over and over, so be it.<br><br>
Jim

 

[RunningForT3]

Jim brings up an interesting issue... the AR culture. I got th general feeling that, like roadies, they're a bit full of themselves, and arrogant towards the other.<br><br>
For example, I was with a friend in Washington for the MCM Marathon, and he met a few AR friends of his... and they were like "wtf, are you gonna waste your time (and money!!??) running 26 miles on a road?".<br><br>
I figured that the AR guys measure everything in $/hour. Paying $100 for 4h is insane to them, since they can pay $500 for 24h, and a trail $1 is worth triple a road $1.

 

[intensebeet]

KJ and you talking about them last year is what piqued my interest in the first place. <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif"> As for the degree of difficulty, it says that its a good introductory race for those who have never done an AR before. If you happen to come across that link again let me know, I'd be interested in taking a look.<br><br>
jkaiser: That's good advice on the leadership point, we've managed to get ourselves lost on various excursions before because we couldn't agree on the right trail or route, definitely something for us to figure out ahead of time.

 

[RandMart]

By that logic, a marathon is a bargain: $25/hr vs. $62.50/hr. <i>[or is it the other way around?]</i><br><br>
Either way, I'd rather do a 24-hr MTB race than have to ride in a kayak.

 

[runninirish]

I've done 2...they are lots of fun....with the right team. My first one was a 10 hr event, my team won the open division but still lost to a kick ass co-ed team that traveled all around the country racing...it was funny though because the race got good newspaper coverage and they made it sound like we won overall...I really enjoyed them, but just haven't got back into it as my life and other training has picked up...

 

[melistic]

Rachel did a version too I think. She was talking about riding her bike thru waist deep mud. Do you know what happened to her when we got LIT?

 

[RunningForT3]

RandMart, I meant it the other way around... meaning a road $1 is worthless compared to a trail $1.

 

[intensebeet]

Until you showed up here, I hadn't seen anyone from our group in a while. I thought about sending a pm to guide them over here, but never got around to it...<br><br>
As for the cost comparisons, I've never really thought about how much it costs me per hour, I'm more interested in how much fun I'm going to get for my money.

 

[RandMart]

after I did the math, I figured that's what you meant.

 

[melistic]

hm. Linds tends to dissapear. Mel E! is going through some things last I heard from her. KJ disappeared into basic training or wherever they shipped her.<br>
Haven't seen Mag. although she prob. changed her username. Haven't seen Rachel either.<br>
I hate getting LIT . stupid Active<br><br>
I'm glad you found me here(MS). Hobey has a saying that escapes me at the moment..something about this group sucking you in. She says it much better. So I just tied my life raft to LRR and let him pull me wherever they went.