Fatality At Race The Rockies

I just got word of the fact that there has been a fatality at this weekends Race The Rockies adventure race in Golden B.C. Details are scare and no official news has been released. My thoughts go out to all involved. Update:Marty Lund from White City, Sask was in fact found unresposive by two additional racers on the first trekking leg. A helicopter was on the scene very quickly, but to no avail.
He was racing solo. I will not comment further because it is not my place and I know no further facts.
All I can say is that my heart goes out to his family during this tragic time.

GR

BCBR, Day 4 (60k), Day 5 (65k)

I went to bed at the end of day three feeling a thousand times better that I thought I would after all I'd been through in a few hundred km of riding. Todd had been sharing a tent with Kim and amazingly we never even spent a single night in the same tent together! As the sun was setting I was going over my body with 'The Stick' and waiting for the temperature to drop enough to be comfortable inside an actual tent.

I crawled in around 10pm knowing that the earliest day of the entire race awaited us in the morning. A 4:30am wake up call would have us on our first bus for 5:15am, our first ferry for 6am, then a second bus ride, a second ferry ride and eventually an 11am starting time!

I fell asleep easily and did not toss and turn at all. I guess I should also mention that since my stage two bike crash I was forced to sleep on my left side and in a bit of a fetal position to allow sleep to find me.



At 2am I was ripped from my slumber with the most intense pain I had felt in a very, very long time. While in la la land I had decided to straighten out my body and twist around in my sleeping bag, and as I was unconsciously trying to right myself I tweaked my lower right abdominal muscle. I lay paralyzed in my sleeping bag with tears streaming down my face. I was afraid to move at all for it felt like my abdominal muscle had completely ruptured. The pain was much like taking a lighter to one of the most sensitive areas of your entire body.

In the days following my crash I could not quite figure out why my hip hurt whenever I coughed or sneezed. Now I realized that it wasn't my hip that had been receiving the pain signals, it was my abdominal muscle just inside my hip bone. It was subtle enough that I could not distinguish it at all, and until that exact moment I was positive that I would get through BCBR.

After a few minutes I was able to align my body in the fetal position again and get back to sleep for about another hour before our wake up call. When I awoke I found that I could not engage my mid section whatsoever and I was forced to utilize my hands to move my core and effectively roll out of my tent. I limped past some people I had seen shortly before going to bed the previous night, when I felt fine, and they looked at me like I was striving to overplay an injury I had suffered and that I was dying for attention. I was dying to make it to the bathroom, and the hill that stood in my way very nearly cost me a pair of dry clothes!

I struggled to get onto the bus and Todd ended up grabbing my bag for me and asking me what had happened.

"Oh you know, the classic screw yourself up while sleeping injury! Happens all the time, nothing to worry about!"

By the time we boarded our first ferry my cough was becoming semi-regular. I could not hide the fact that I had to entirely compress the right side of my body while I coughed, for it felt as though I'd be leaving my intestines on the floor of the boat otherwise. A few times a cough caught me off guard and I'd end up grabbing my right leg into my chest as hard as I could while simultaneously falling against a wall.



After a second bus ride we arrived at our second ferry terminal. I could no longer walk without a complete limp and after struggling to depart the bus under my own power I simply looked at Todd and waved my hand across my neck. I was done. It was over.



I have suffered through a lot of pain and injuries to make finish lines over the last few years, but this pain was by far the worst I had ever experienced. It was not that it was more intense than anything I had felt before. It was that for the very first time, I had an injury with the very real potential to sideline me for a very long time if I chose to fight through it. At that moment, the risk and reward seemed severely imbalanced. I was not willing to throw away the rest of my season for this one finish line. I had never experienced those thoughts before in my life.

Todd and I made our way down to the main ferry loading area and I approached Justin's girlfriend Carey Sather to ask if I could accompany her in her 'support vehicle' for the day. I'll never forget what happened next. Justin, appearing to be half asleep in the driver seat, jumped into action. I mean he very literally jumped out of the car.

"WHAT! You can't quit, your rubber man, you bounce back from everything!!"

And with that he was off and running gathering medical staff to asses my injury more thoroughly. After three separate people checked me out I was told the following.

"It does not appear to be a life threatening injury, but we can not be 100% sure. I believe you can race if you choose to, however...who's your partner?"

I called Todd over.

"Ok, if he (me) experiences any of the following out there today..."

He turned back towards me and asked if I was going to race?

"I think so, if I'm clear I might as well give it a go."

"Ok, if he experiences any of the following, severe pain beyond what you feel now, a spike in temperature, lack of sweating, acting stupid and lethargic (beyond my normal state), etc, etc, then you both have a life and death situation on your hands. You (Todd) have to bike faster than you ever have in your life to the closest aid station and radio for a helicopter. You (me), try not to move and not to breath too heavy."

My response, "Alrighty then, shall we Todd?"

We confirmed numerous times that what had just been discussed was somewhere in the region of a 1%-5% possibility, boarded the ferry, and got ready to line up for our 11am start.

Todd was an amazing teammate during every single stage of this race, and once he realized that my mind was made up he continuously checked in on me while we were suffering away out there.

Amazingly once upon the bike the pain pretty much disappeared. My leg seemed to be compressed just enough in a biking position to mask the severity of the injury itself.

We had another decent day, pairing up with Aaron and his teammate again a few times, however once again when we hit the singletrack I was all over the trail and could find absolutely zero flow. We hit the line a shade under 4hr, which would leave us in 21st place. Justin and Jeff were finally recovering from their early race issues and had notched a top ten finish, over 25 minutes ahead of us.

Oh and I should also mention Kristenn Magnusson and Lisa Ludwig, also of team Helly Hansen, were riding incredibly strong throughout the entire race and after four days were solidly sitting in 3rd amongst team of two female!

Again I crossed the finish line disappointed in myself and how I was racing. In hindsight I don't remember really smiling at the line on any day, which is kinda sad! I wasn't upset with how I was fighting through things, but my singletrack riding was throwing time away on us and that was burning me up inside!

Jackie had joined a few friends and surprised us out on course, which was a nice boost, along with seeing my dog Roxy for the first time in four days!

Jackie was able to deliver the med sized bike to me and I dropped it off with James of Obsession Bikes, who were taking care of all the mechanical issues people faced over the 550km course! From there we were off for a mini get away. She was staying at a friends place which just happened to be located right on the beach. I wish I had taken more pics, but Jackie did snap one of me coming out of the ocean and into the wood fire heated hot tub on the beach!! It was a little slice of heaven and great mental break from everything I had been dealing with over the first four stages. I even forgot about my injuries for a few hours...until we went to sleep for the night.



Again, I was awaken numerous times by the pain in my abdomen and the alarm sounded all too early. I was saying bye to Jackie and Roxy, and back to racing before I knew what had happened!

Stage 5, 65km:

The stage started with about 7km of road and then we went into some seriously challenging undulating terrain. I happened to see Justin pulling off to the side of the pelaton and yelling at Jeff before we even hit the trails and was hoping it was nothing serious.

Here's what I remember about this stage, wishing I were anywhere else in the entire world. I would have chosen Antarctica naked and alone over another damn day of hammering it out on my bike! I was a completely shattered and drained individual and it was all I had left in my very existence to simply try to hold Todd's wheel.

Again on a singletrack section we faltered, even on my now size med bike frame. Someone called to pass and as we gave way J&J came flying by. We tried to follow but they seemed to vanish into thin air! They managed to power out a 6th place overall finish on the day and we would later learn that Justin had a bike issue that forced them to start the actual trail riding at the very back of the pack. I respected these guys before BCBR, but after their stage five performance they jumped up an entire chapter in my books. They're the real deal on their bikes and it was a pleasure to watch them rally from a tough first few days to some truly inspiring riding as the race progressed.

Todd and I had sustained ourselves right around our current overall standing in the pack. We were somewhere in the 20th spot amongst teams, when a blind dip threw Todd from his saddle. He yelled but I did not hear in time and before I knew it I was off my own bike and screaming in pain. I don't remember the fall itself being terribly bad, but what I vividly remember is that I fell toward the right, and my leg struggled to release from my pedal as I was going down. It did not make it out and the entire force of the crash was absorbed through my lower right abdominal muscle. There was a camera crew right in front of us and they captured every second of it, including the tears, again, streaming from my face and Todd carrying me to a downed tree to try and recuperate.

The camera crew notified us that the aid station was less than a few km away. I was sick of having my pain filmed for posterity and promptly grabbed my bike and started to ride. Todd kept asking me how I was feeling and I kept telling him that I'd let him know in 2km. We reached the aid station in a few minutes, the problem this time however was that there was still over 20km to the finish line. We took some time to eat and assess our, well my situation. After a few minutes I was growing very cold and when I asked Todd if he were chilled at all he made the call for me,

"Gary, I'm not going to tell you to stop racing because I know you can finish this thing...but at what cost? I just don't think it's worth it and I don't think you should continue."

I knew Todd was right, but I also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could fight it out to finish the damn race. His words echoed in my head though, "at what cost". Doug Doyle had said the same thing to me the day prior.

"Todd if you go right now I think you can catch up to Aaron and those guys."

"Are you sure?"

The medical staff had already overheard us and were standing right there.

"We'll ensure he gets back to the finish area."

And with that my BCBR experience came crashing down around me. I watched Todd bike away and then got rid of the rest of the tears I'd been storing inside.

Less than an hour later I was back at the finish area. I limped into the shower and headed straight for the ferry back to North VAn. I saw the lead two teams come in and then got the hell outta there. I didn't want to see anyone involved with the race at all. I put my head down, tried to sneak out of there and once back on North Van hopped onto a bus and went home for two days. It was one of the worst feelings of my entire racing 'career'. I had a ton of emotions to deal with, and a handful...body full of injuries to deal with.

I headed to the hospital to get properly checked out, and then promptly slept for ten hours. Todd managed to pair up with Jay Latiff our of Nanaimo and continued to race strong. I would head up to Whistler for the final stage and after party.

GR (one small section to go)

BC Bike Race, Day 3 (80k)

(This was taken about an hour after the end of stage two. I am trying to convince myself, and everyone around me that I'm not really hurt!)

(This was our camp site and finish area for day two)

I slept like crap that night, as did many others. There was a generator powering large spotlights over our campers village and even with my ear plugs in I could hear it humming away. I tossed and turned all night and got up in the morning feeling like a resurrected corpse. A corpse who was about to ride...mind you race, another 80km on my mountain bike...I couldn't wait!

After searching out the medics to get a donut wrap over the blister on my hand, I tried to stretch out the legs a bit, but the race start was upon us in no time.

We rolled out along the track we were camping inside of and then onto a road section which would eventually filter us into some singletrack. On day one we were told that it would be an all our sprint for the singletrack to gain a good position for the rest of the race. We all out sprinted and in the end it meant very little as there were plenty of open spots to pass. Well, this was indeed the stage where we should have been all out sprinting for the front, because as soon as we hit the singletrack we ended up walking numerous sections as the pack ahead continuously backed up into itself. Teams towards the front were off and running and putting time into everyone early.

Todd and I were unsure of how my body would hold up out there. I had already had two questionable days of riding and I certainly hadn't ended the previous day on a high note. As soon as we cleared the tight singletrack we were presented with the largest climbs the race had yet to throw at us. I eased into them and could tell early that my climbing legs were back, well for the most part at least. We went to work passing teams and trying to catch those fortunate soles who had positioned themselves well early in the race.

Once we hit an open section of logging road we paired off with another team and took turns 'pulling' at the front. BCBR was truly a daily education for me on how to properly approach a mtn bike race, how to race strong, how to stay strong, and primarily how to race smart. I had only done three mtn bike specific races in my life before BCBR. It was starting to feel like initiation by fire!

After working with this team for about 30m we decided it time to drop them and pursue the next pack of riders. I was having my strongest day so far and was finally able to pull at the front myself and give Todd a break from time to time. We eventually caught up to another pack and were moving along quite nicely, then I noticed that Todd's rear tire was looking pretty low. After arguing for a few minutes he finally realized that he had indeed lost air on his tubeless set up and we had to stop to re-inflate. This cost us precious time and before we knew it a pack of riders from behind had passed and gapped us. We were once again caught out in no mans land, and in a race such at BCBR, that was a very bad thing.

Todd was still the stronger rider and he set off to try and catch the teams in front of us, I was yet again relegated to a rear wheel staring purgatory of suffering. I have no idea what the terrain we were covering at that point looked like at all!

The stage was somewhat broken up by a large river crossing. We arrived just in time to be caught at the very back of a 'log jam' of riders. Those damn teams who placed themselves in the singletrack early were once again getting a free time credit on the rest of us. The upside was that the frigid river water felt like heave on my destroyed legs!




Once up the following embankment we found ourselves along side Aaron Vanderwhal (I know that's spelled wrong!) and his teammate, of team Mergeo Adventure Racing out of Seattle. We know Aaron quite well through racing circles and immediately paired off with these guys and went to work on a few hours of pure hammering on logging roads. Aaron and his teammate were pulling super strong at the front, as was Todd, and whenever my turn rolled around I just tried to make it look like I didn't want to stop everyone and ask them why it is we do what we do?

"C'mon guys, seriously, are you enjoying yourselves right now? Wouldn't you rather be laying in the sun worked on our tans? It's a beautiful day out here, chics dig tanned bodies!"

I was DYING holding onto the back, but I knew I could continue to do so if I simply concentrated on the damn wheel in front of me. Again, I did not dare look up for over an hour. We passed and dropped numerous teams and I know Todd was happy that we were finally 'racing' as we had anticipated being able to do from day one.

The next thing I remember is the heat, it had turned into yet another scorcher and eventually Aaron and his partner dropped off of our pace. I dared not loose Todd's wheel and let him go to work trying to track down another team. We eventually caught up to and paired up with a Team Kona out of Denmark. A couple of young road riders who were loving the forest service roads that so many others were growing tired of.

With about 15k to go we came into a fully exposed section of the road and up ahead we caught side of Justin and Jeff. The Kona team managed to drop us...well me on this climb, as all I could do was vocalize a painful "ahhhhhhh" as I fell off the back for the first time all day.

I still held it together though and we headed into the final 10km of single track that would take us into Cumberland, with J&J just up ahead of us. As soon as we hit the S.T. it was a different story though. Todd disappeared on me and I was left scrambling over terrain that I would normally eat up and love. I was growing ever frustrated as I could see that Todd was effortlessly loosing me and wondering why I was slowing us down so much.

I could go on forever about the situation with my current bike. In a few words, it's too damn big for me and I was sized improperly by someone I trusted. I am on a large frame Specialized Epic. Most people hear this and laugh, in fact I did not meet a single person in BCBR that could understand why in God's name I was riding a large frame bike. I've been on this bike since March, and complaining about it being too big since three days after I purchased it brand new. I tried selling it before BCBR but was unwilling to take a huge loss on something that was practically brand new. Just one day before the race began I managed to find a Crank Brother's Joplin, dropping seat post, as I knew I would need such an item to make it through BCBR. The Joplin saved me on numerous occasions, but during that singletrack leading into Cumberland, I was struggling to handle a mountain bike that was simply beyond my control. I hit trees, fell this way and that, got more and more frustrated and ended up finishing in a seriously bad mood. J&J had put over 5min into us on that singletrack section alone! I must go on record and say that these guys are so fluid on this stuff that they would have put a bit of time into us anyways, but 5min in 10k was just damn stupid!



I immediately went to work on trying to find a size Medium bike, of any make, that I could borrow for the rest of the race. Amazingly, a friend of a friend, whom I had never met, offered up a med sized Epic! Sweet, I was excited once again! Jackie was coming over from Vancouver the following day to meet up with us in the ocean front town of Sechelt and she was able to transport the bike for me. So I only had to make it through one more day and I thought I'd be home free!

GR

BC Bike Race, Days Zero - Two (215km)

Ok, enough messing around, time to get down to business here! I haven't purposely been avoiding this race report, I've just been amazingly busy since the end of the race and I honestly can't believe it's been almost two weeks since the race ended already!

On another note, I have indeed decided to give the Shawnigan MOMAR a miss next weekend. I LOVE the MOMAR races, and more for the total experience then just the race itself. I'm sure that I could show up next weekend and be competitive, but in all honesty, I still have absolutely zero desire to race anything right now. I'm taking that as a cue from my body that it's not really ready to race again just yet and although I will be thinking about the MOMAR all weekend long, I will also be catching up on some well needed R&R, which will include logging as many running miles as possible and drinking some nice cold beers...which is kinda like racing the MOMAR but without the heart attack! This of course means that Todd will finally get his well deserved shot at his first overall SOLO victory...gonna be exciting to see how it all unfolds out there, but I know big T will rock it out and drop everyone on the nav sections! Apparently he's recovered quite nicely from BCBR as he is competing in The Gorge Games 24hr Adventure Race in Hood River this weekend! I'm uber jealous as we were looking at this race months ago but could not put it all together. Team Mergeo out of Seattle shot us an e-mail and asked if one of us would join them, so I let them BORROW Todd...just for the weekend though!!

Anyways, BCBR:



I was fortunate enough to have my good friend Melissa Pace spot me a whale watching tour to make my way to Vancouver Island. Before the race even began I was having an epic time! We did spot a Winky, or a Blinky or something...it rhymed with Stinky and only crested a small portion of it's fin over and over again, so was quite boring to watch. They had spotted Orca's 28 out of the last 30 days...make that 31! We did get a solid off the bow of the boat performance by some porpoise that the crew assured us was the best they'd ever seen!



Todd picked my up at the ferry and we were off to Shawnigan Lake (site of next weekends MOMAR race...Bryan, can I still have a shirt...I live for those shirts!) for the check in process. Todd and I were instantly blown away by three things. The race organization, in just it's second year, looked and performed like it had been around for a decade! The race swag was incredible. A set of handle bars, a Dakine roller bag, Ryders sun glasses, Crank Bros multi tool, subscription to Pedal magazine and on and on! The Shawnigan School grounds. A private school that was straight out of your typical Hollywood movie, which is to say it was the nicest school grounds I had ever seen!




Todd and I decided to return to Victoria (35 min) to avoid at least one night in the tent together and instead decided cuddle in his bed! Well, not really, Kim was in his bed and I got the hide a bed in the living room.

Day 1: Slept great, got there early, got all set up, managed to get ourselves a solid starting position and then tried to calm down as the energy around the start was truly electric! You could cut the nervous excitement with a knife and when the gun went off everyone went balls to the wall! We had to do two laps around the school grounds and part of this included cutting through a farm field. The farmer had decided to plow his field sometime after 12pm the previous day, because what the race organization thought we were biking through and what we ended up riding through were two different stories! The field grass was now two feet high and awaiting any derailler it could latch onto. At the end of the field everyone was forced to stop and remove the grass from their bikes to prevent the gunk from snapping anything. Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky and numerous people, including some of the top racer's in the competition ended up with snapped deraillers and a lengthy wait to change them out and get going again.

Todd and I hammered through this section and were quite far up in the pack. We were riding decently well, although it became clear early that I did not have my top end gear and Todd started setting the pace.

The day was getting hotter by the second and seeing as how it was the first serious heat we had seen all year people started to crack, including myself. At about 25-30k, just over a few hours into our 90k day, I cramped up in a big way! I tried to slow it down and recover, but we were just approaching our biggest climb of the day, which would go for 8-10km! SHIT!!

I managed to find a steady, yet rediculously slow pace that I could sustain without cramping on the climb. Teams caught and passed us but eventually Todd and I found ourselves alone for quite some time. Justin and Jeff of Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island caught and dropped us near the top. I was relieved to make the top aid station and immediately downed over 2 liters of fluids...this was followed by an intensely unsettled stomach,

"Todd! We have to go now, before I puke!"

Back on the bike with a few hundred meters of climbing to go and my cramping actually got worse. It came to the point that I could not even bend my legs to get them onto the pedals of the bike! The grade was just slight enough that I could actually kick my bike along like one of those kids rides that have no pedals on them!! Todd asked if I wanted to stop and elevate my legs or something?

"F#$K no, I just have to make the top of the climb man!"

We both knew that a 10-15k descent awaited us from the top and as we started to crest the top I was able to straighten my legs out behind me on the bike while leaning forward and into the descent. I could hear Todd laughing a somewhat uncomfortable laugh while he watched this all unfold.

Within a few minutes of zero leg usage the cramps subsided and I was able to click in again and properly guide myself down the forest service road. I remember seeing my odo hit 66km and hour...it felt awesome!!

We managed to catch and pass Justin and Jeff on the road down and could see that Justin was suffering even more than I was. Apparently he even stopped sweating, which is a VERY, VERY bad sign!

At the bottom of the road we cut back into the forest and were supposed to ride over three or four rollers on singletrack trails. I very literally fell off of my bike as I tried to propel it up and over these very small lumps of dirt!

"Todd, SHIT, wait up!"

From here it was 20-25km of completely flat double track to the finish line. My inner quad was what had cramped on me and for some reason it did not allow me to climb whatsoever, but I could hold a decent pace on flat terrain and Todd and I were able to ride at about 75% of what we could normally hold. We were caught by one team...a team of two female...damn strong women! Turns out one of them was US National single speed champion! That brings me back to something here, the field was laced with top notch competitors and way more competitive that it's first year, which goes without saying. I'm telling you right now that in a few more years this race will sell out the day after it ends for the following year and the field of racers will only get stronger each and every time!!

We crossed the finish line in 5h15m for 25th on the day. Nowhere near what we were hoping for, but glad we had survived the day and minimized our losses. Todd had actually consumed ten, yes TEN bottles of fluid on the day, and I ran dry on three bottles early and then suffered to the aid station. It was so hot that the aid station actually ran out of water for back of the pack racers as they had not budgeted so much water consumption. They held the riders there until they could get water to them and immediately went to work on revising their entire water strategy for the rest of the race. The forecast was for much of the same, not a cloud in the sky and over 30 degrees each day!

Day 2: When you go into that deep cramping zone it really hinders your recovery, and I knew it would be all I had in me to hold on for day two and hope that my body would get stronger as the race progressed. Day two would end up being 125km, 122 of which were forest service road! Due to numerous factors they had to unveil their third course option for this stage. Todd and I managed to sustain ourselves in the main peloton and the ride was actually quite enjoyable...from time to time at least!



The leaders made a few moves from time to time but everyone always responded. At one point I got caught sleeping and by the time I responded Todd was ten riders ahead of me. I happened to look over my shoulder to see where I was in the peloton and was literally shocked into complete fear as I was staring back at a few kilometers of barren gravel road...I was the last rider in the pack!! If I fell off the back we were screwed! I hoped up and started jumping on my pedals to catch back up to Todd. He was clearly out pacing me on the day but we continued to work well as a team.

At about 50k on the day I started to feel a blister forming in the palm of my right hand. I was not about to stop and check it out, and I had tape over the glove to keep my broken finger from shifting around anyways, but I knew it was gonna get bad. As the km's ticked away I could very clearly visualize what my hand was starting to look like, then I promptly felt it pop as the pain became even more intense. I've dealt with enough blisters over the years and have fought through my fair share of pain while racing. I knew that I had to ignore this as best I could for about twenty minutes. That's what I have found to be my personal 'pain window' for most things. Within twenty minutes, if ignored, the pain will lessen and eventually become quite bearable. If you take the time to pay attention to these things, and baby them, they can very easily get the best of you. A visual confirmation of what is causing your pain usually does nothing but make it hurt even more. So with all this in mind I told myself I had to do it. I kept shifting around trying to alleviate the pure burning sensation in the palm of my hand, but I knew only one thing would help. I clamped down on the handle bars with an even greater force than I normally would and sucked it up. Sure enough, almost right on time, twenty minutes later the pain started to subside, and my body simply added one more item to the 'to be fixed at a later date' list!

At 80km there was one decent climb. It was where we expected the race to really start, yet I could do nothing but stare at the pack of riders disappearing in front of me. I know Todd was disappointed as he could have held on for sure, but we've raced together through some pretty tough courses and situations and he did nothing but try to help me as much as he could. I suffered to the top of the climb as my legs were still hurting on the climbs from the previous days issues. Once we topped out I was able to up the pace a bit and Todd went to work on setting the pace.

My entire world became Todd's rear wheel. My whole universe consisted of 15 inches of dirt between two rolling pieces of rubber. If I took my eyes off off Todd's wheel for even a fraction of a second I fell right off the back. It was like his tire had a gravitational pull all it's own, but it was slight and you had to be wihtin 15 inches for it to grab a hold of you!! I didn't look up for almost an hour. I thought I would puke a few times, but figured that I could do so while riding if it came to that.

Todd's girlfriend Kim was the ultimate support team as she was able to follow us along The Vancouver Island stages. She has a dirt bike and would ride ahead, stop, yell gap times at us, and repeat! She told us that there was a good size pack less than a minute ahead of us, but unfortunately there was simply no way that one rider pulling another could close such a gap. Todd worked his ass off and I was thankful to have such a strong and caring teammate out there with me.

As we rolled along we did manage to pick off a few other teams who had been dropped by the pack, including one guy who was quite literally kilometers from his teammate! We later came across his teammate waiting at a trail junction...it's a team race and you are not allowed to be more than 2min away at any time. It seemed there were plenty of teams that were made up of two individuals, rather than one cohesive unit. If Todd were riding like this I'd still be out there on that damn exposed logging road!

We finally hit the 3k singletrack to the finish and I could not have been happier as I was truly dying in the heat and was amazed I had not yet puked. Todd lead it out and I followed closely behind. As we dropping into the forest the lighting went from overwhelming to shaded and dark. I reached for my sunglasses but could not find a section of trail that would allow me to remove them. Shortly after this, the fate of our entire race was sealed. We were coming into a 'rock garden' with speed. I could clearly distinguish that the trail was rough, but could see nothing in terms of picking a safe line though it all.

I remember being in mid air and clearly thinking, 'Man, this is gonna f#$king suck so bad!'

Then BOOM, I landed hard on the right side of my body and somehow rolled onto my left side. Normally bounce up from crashes, even if they're bad. I try to use the adrenaline to get me moving again before the pain sets in, but this one was different. I could not physically engage my own body enough to move from the position I had landed in. Two teams caught up behind us and stopped, asking if they could help. Todd had stopped just up ahead, and was clearly awaiting my 'pop up' to get riding again. All I could do was moan a few times.

Todd quickly made his way back to me and stared somewhat in disbelief at what had unfolded for us. I had landed on my quad...that same quad I had contused during The Test Of Metal and worked so hard to heal in time for BCBR. It was the first pain I really paid attention to, until Todd tried to help me up.

"DON'T TOUCH MY ARM, GRAB ME BY MY ARM PIT!"

I told the two teams behind us to get going.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"It's a race! Get going already!!"

I didn't know what to think. I had but one thought, that being that we were less than 3km to the finish and either way I was gonna have to get there under my own steam. I screamed some cuss words, climbed back on and started riding. Todd didn't move!

I looked back at him and told him to get his ass moving. As he pulled up along side of me he asked if I was alright?

"I'll let ya know in 3km"

We actually managed to catch and pass the teams who had just passed us, and rode into the finish line quite strong...man I love adrenaline!!



Once across the line it was a different story though. The entire right side of my body seemed to have seized up and I hobbled into the shade and started icing various wounds. I don't remember ever feeling so beat down before in my life. I had gone from suffering in the heat, and feeling like I would puke for hours, to smashing up the entire right side of my body and riding the adrenaline of it all to the finish line.

The adrenaline wore off, the pain started to set in, the dehydration overwhelmed me and all I could do was sit there and freakin cry! I don't know why I felt like I needed to do this, and it only lasted a few seconds...I SWEAR...but I was definitely a low point for me and something that made me feel like I really had to rally myself mentally to get my shit back together and start preparing for the following days ride.

We had finished in 4h50m, which brought us up to 19th overall. My quad was our biggest concern and after icing it for thirty minutes I was sure it would not slow me down. My arm was swollen, and my hip was absolutely killing me, but again, nothing seemed too bad to ride through and Todd and I went about our business as usual for the evening. Clean bike, tune bike, shower, grab tent, grab gear bag, set up sleep stuff, grab dinner, stretch, try to sleep.

We had ambitions of working our way back up into the top 15...only five more days to go!

GR

Quick Update

Ok, after funny boy Tom Craik throws down a comment like 'you complete me', I realize it's definitely time to get off my ass and change the last posting on my blog!!

First and foremost, thanks to everyone who checks out this blog and to everyone who took the time to throw down a comment, minus Tom and Duncan, as per usual!

It seems like five days is my absolute limit for sitting still and on Monday I forced myself through a very, ridiculously slow, 2hr hike/run. I was worried about the abdominal pain more than anything, but I did not feel it at all. I could certainly feel my hip, but it has also been steadily improving, so I think I will be able to cross that injury off the list by the end of this week, or so I hope. More than anything it felt amazing to be back on my feet again...it's been a full month since I've run anything...sacrilege to say the least! Even Roxy was in shock when she noticed me grabbing my trail runners. I followed up that run with another 2hr on Tues up Lynn Peak and a third, still painfully slow, 2hr effort tonight out to Norvan Falls..side note, forgetting to tape nipples is a rookie mistake...forgetting to tape for three straight days is just plain stupid!

(Roxy posing in front of the remains of some old growth)

Anyways, I'm definitely feeling way better than I was after pulling out of the race last week and am hoping to slowly start building up my running miles again. I could've swore that right after I called it a race, one week ago, I mumbled some crap about taking a full month off to rest and recover...then I started processing the actual possibility of missing out on my first 100 mile ultra run, right up the street in Squamish, on August 9th (Stormy). I've got three weeks to get my legs back in shape, and that means no tapering for this guy!

I intended to start in on my post mortem tonight but was gleefully surprised to find that Todd had posted his own race report, and this should garner me at least another two days of blog slacking!

(Couple of pics from tonights 'run'. I don't know that I've ever come across an owl like this while out on the trails in the daytime, and there were three of them!)





GR

I Laughed, I Cried...I Hematoma'ed My Hip

Well, here I sit, the day following the final stage of the 2008 BC Bike Race, and I'm still trying to come to terms with all that transpired in the last week. The short version is to follow right now, with a daily breakdown coming in time...which is exactly what I'll be taking right now, time.
Time to heal, time to deal, time to appreciate, time to relax, and time to find that fire again. It's been a tough season so far.

Here is my best, in hindsight, explanation of what lead to the premature ending of my BC Bike Race experience.

-My broken finger lead to an inability to properly grasp my right hand grip
-This in turn lead to an intense blister right in the palm of my hand
-This forced me into an altered handling position to try and alleviate the pain
-This was one contributing factor to my fall from my bike into a pile of rocks
-The fall lead to a hematoma of my hip and a strained abdominal muscle.



This all happened on day two, with just 3km to go in the stage. We were just over 200km into the event, with an additional 350 to go.

(This pic has been taken one full week after the initial fall)

I managed to make it to day five before officially calling it a race. The abdominal pains kept me up at night and would bring me to tears on numerous occasions. To cough or sneeze meant I had to completely compress the entire right side of my body, as it felt as though my lower right abdominal muscles would erupt from within me otherwise.

(This pic was actually taken just a few hundred meters after my aforementioned bike crash)

I can certainly take away a ton of positive experiences from this event, but for now, I just need to clear my head of any and all racing/training thoughts, ambitions and goals. I just need a bit of time to mentally relax and to physically recover. I feel completely destroyed on so many levels right now.

Todd should be posting blog reports in the coming days as well.

Thanks so much to everyone who made this race possible for us, Bryan Tasaka - Mind Over Mountain Adventure Racing, Marc Campbell - Helly Hansen, and Dean Payne - BC Bike Race. You guys all rock, and the race was a phenomenal experience, even with the issues I faced and the fact that I did not finish the entire course...357 days and counting...

GR

Suffer Fest!

Daily updates through the MOMAR blog

Gotta run...err ride!

GR

The Things That Go Unsaid

So here I am, on my way to BC Bike Race, finally!!

I don't know if I can fully put into words how stressful things have been since my crash at The Test Of Metal. What looked like a decent scratch to my leg and a broken pinkie finger ended up being worse, much worse.

No matter how close you zoom in on this pic, you can not make it look like a significant leg injury...trust me, I've tried!


In fact I doubted it's validity so much that I went for a 45min road ride the day after the test, and again on the Monday. My range of motion was limited, and it was pretty damn painful, but I told myself that it was simply a bit swollen and that I was doing myself some good by getting out there and spinning it out.

Well, come Tuesday the 17th it was very evident that this was in fact a bad idea on my part, and that my injury was far worse than it appeared on the surface.

Something...or someone, I have not yet included in my blog posts is my current girlfriend Jackie Muir. We have been together a few months now and I kinda eluded to her in a kayak post about a month ago. She is a physiotherapist...it's not how we met, but we both knew that if things did indeed work out for us that at some point she might end up as my personal physio. Neither of us thought it would be this soon or this severe. Jackie is herself a well rounded endurance runner and athlete and is currently training for her third Knee Knacker 50k on July 12th. I can now state beyond a shadow of a doubt that without her professional assessments and treatments over the last ten days, I would simply not be doing this race!

We knew my leg had taken a turn for the worse when it started waking me up at night. If I shifted in my sleep whatsoever I was left groaning and awaiting a dull pain to subside before falling back asleep again. In fact if I stood up and walked at all I was overwhelmed with a pain above my knee that demanded I stop moving for a few seconds until it subsided. This started mid week and continued up until this past Monday night. My leg was not showing any signs of improvement and Jackie went to work on the acupuncture, deep tissue massage, and stretching routines on an almost daily basis.

By this past Monday night, the 23rd, she had decided that it was time to add in ultrasound treatments twice daily. She did not say it, but her reaction could not hide it. She did not think that I was going to recover in time to line up for BC Bike Race. I called up Todd and asked him to find an alternate partner in case I had to pull out of the event all together. It was not as if I doubted my ability to suffer through a day, two days, or even three days, but seven days of racing hard on the bike just did not sound probable to me. Even a day did not sound probable to Jackie, but she refused to vocalize it. She later commented that the reason she did not go into sport specific physio is because she could not find the heart to tell an athlete that they were in fact too injured to pursue a racing goal...a racing dream. YES, BC Bike Race is definitely a dream race for me!! "The Ultimate Singletrack Experience"...need I say more!

Throughout all of this I still tried my best to get out on my bike and test out the leg, but fate had other plans it seemed. My ride still needed to be tuned up after its thrashing during The Test, and on Wed the 18th I was to learn the hard way that North Vancouver bike shops get busy...ridiculously f#$king busy!

"Did you make an appointment?"

"Umm, no, sorry."

"Can you leave it for a week?"

"Umm, no, sorry."

I managed to find a shop in downtown Vancouver as I was over there picking up my latest Princeton Tec bike light, 'The Swerve' which is a very well thought out rear red light for biking at night or in traffic. Super easy set up and ridiculously bright, an instant hit in my books!

Right next door was SnowCovers, specializing in bikes during the summers, owned by good friend Christine Cogger out of Whistler, and the bike shop I purchased my first and only road bike through! I strolled on in, was told it would be ready in the morning and was off again.

Thursday morning (19th), on my mountain bike, leg not feeling so good but I don't really care, I make it all of two hundred meters before my derailleur literally swings backwards and seizes up my entire drive train...SHIT!

Bike back to shop on Friday (20th), fixed on the spot, was an unseen issue from my crash. Off to work for the day.

Saturday the 21st, finally, ready to ride! In the car, off to the trail head, Roxy freaking out as she hasn't really been digging the 'walks' so much lately. Three pedal strokes, yes three, I counted, SNAP, broken chain!
"SHIT, are you freaking kidding me!"
Back in car, back home, off to work for the day. Roxy glared at me as I told her to get right back into the car,
"You have GOT to be kidding me! I HATE you!!"

After all this I fully realized that my leg was messed up and I shouldn't have even been attempting to ride anyways. I didn't even fix or replace the chain, just left the bike in the corner and sulked for a few days.

When you are addicted to those little endorphins that coarse through your veins after endurance activities, you start tripping out when your body is denied access to them! I was not happy, not fun, not pleasant, and putting on a fake smile for anyone blind enough to believe it all. I could not run, could not ride, could not paddle due to my broken finger, and even walking the dog on hilly terrain reminded me of exactly why I was sidelined from everything to begin with...life kinda sucked! AND, Roxy wasn't helping AT ALL, as she was freaking out even more than I was!!

Where am I now? Sunday? Sunday sucked too!!

Monday the 23rd...Monday was the day where I think my body realized that it was now or never. I needed some form of improvement so that I could at least test out my body before Saturday morning's race start. Another acupuncture session and off to bed hoping for the best.

I awoke Tuesday morning and headed to the bathroom for my morning pee. I was midstream before I woke up enough to realize it,

"MY LEG, IT DOESN'T HURT!!"

"JACKIE, MY LEG, MY LEG, MY LEG!!"

After I calmed down we both realized that I was far from 100%, BUT, I was WAY better than I had been all week and the major stumbling block we were facing seemed to have been removed.

That brings us to Wednesday the 25th...which will forever be known as 'The Best Day Ever'!!

Sunshine, oh beautiful sunshine! Twenty five degrees and absolutely gorgeous outside. I was off to get my chain replaced and test out the bike, the body, and the lungs. Roxy was doing back flips in the back seat of the car as she was anticipating what lay ahead. I decided that with only three days until the start of the event, I had better get in a good ride and really see where I was in terms of recovery. I decided to do the 'Bridle Path' to 'Neds' loop which was just under a few hours of riding. This trail is a great mix of climbing, descending, and technical, so all in all I figured I'd get a good gage of what I was looking at in terms of pain and fitness.

The first twenty minutes really hurt, but it was more along the lines of having not ridden or done any physical activity for almost two full weeks kinda hurt. Once this worked its way out of my legs I started to feel pretty good. I could not feel any specific leg pain and as my ride progressed I continued to up the pace. 'Neds' is rated as a 'black diamond' downhill, but it is one of the more tame black diamonds out there. I lowered my seat and bombed down the trail, loving the fact that I was back to riding again, and enjoying a perfect day out on the trails, and away from work (my one day off before BC Bike Race)!

The only issue I faced was after one steep section that slammed my bike down a bit harder than I anticipated. I jammed my finger a bit and was forced to pull over and allow my hand to recover before continuing. It sucked, but I'm pretty sure that 'Neds' would be pushing the upper limits of what we might tackle during our ~550km of riding during BC Bike Race, so bring it on baby!

Thursday the 26th, noon start at work, back on the bike in the AM to try and get a bit more saddle time before Saturday's start. If I was 80% on Wed, I was 70% on Thursday. My leg quickly reminded me that it was still going to take a few days to fully recover, and after a decently paced first 30 minutes I was able to ride a medium pace for an additional hour to total a whopping 90 minutes on the day!

And that puts me at today, thanks to great friend and BC Bike Race Exec Melissa Pace, I am taking the scenic route to Victoria...via a whale watching tour through Prince Of Whales Tours!! Yeah baby, now we're talking, let's see some blubber!!

25 hours and counting, follow along, BC Bike Race. I've been told that with this years is much more competitive than 07 and a top ten placing would be very solid, so that's what we're shooting for, that, and an incredible seven days of riding BC's best mountain bike trails!!

GR

P.S. Thanks Jackie, couldn't have done it without ya!

Primal Quest Is Not...Cancelled That Is

The other big race that is normally scheduled for this time of year is Primal Quest.

PQ Utah 06, the last edition of this race, was my first ever expedition and an incredible experience from start to finish. This years teams are a few days in and it's just as exciting as ever to pull up the leaderboard and the GPS tracking.

Our good friends from just down the coast, Team Dart-Nuun are right in the thick of things and battling it out with some of the top teams in the world right now! My personal pick for the win, and I swear this is not just a patriotic choice, are Team Peak Adventure.com, which is formerly Supplier Pipeline and then Yukon Wild. This is Bob Miller's team out of Ontario, with Denise and Greg McHale hailing from The Yukon, and Scott Ford also from Ontario. How do those flat landers get so damn fast? They have been right in the thick of every major race they've attended over the last few years, including a sprint finish for 4th place at PQ Utah. I think they're ready for this one, and I know they have managed to out pace team Nike in a few races over the last year, so we'll see how it all plays out over the next few days.

Another team I'm rooting for is 'Dancing Pandas' our good friends from Southern California. They are currently in 20th, but I can virtually guarantee they will end up as a top ten team but the time they cross the finish line, as they have a ton of experience, rarely make mistakes, and follow a solid race plan from start to finish.

Good luck everyone, we're cheering ya on from the comfort of our couches at home!

GR

Western Is Cancelled!!!

The Western States 100 Mile Endurance run is the premier 100 miler in North America. It is virtually impossible to even get into the event as it is so oversubscribed that it goes to a lottery system each year, with more applicants applying annually. It is my dream to somehow 'win the lottery' and be able to run this race in the future, hopefully in 09 although that seems even less likely after this devastating news.



2008 was shaping up to be the most competitive Western to date with top names from across North America training specifically for this event all year long.

My good buddy Wade Repta trained his freakin ass off this year and is already down there spending some vacation time with his family before the race was officially supposed to begin on Sat morning. I feel for him, and the hundreds of other runner's who put in months of pain, sweat, and sacrifices to make this race happen for them. Whether they were heading down there to try and win, or to simply try and finish, my heart goes out to them. Something tells me there'll be upwards of 400 drunken ultra runner's taking to the streets of Squaw Valley, California tonight!

Here is the official announcement:

35th Western States Endurance Run has been Cancelled.
Dear Western States Runners,

It is with deep regret that we announce today that the 35th running of the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run has been cancelled, due to the unprecedented amount of wildfires that have struck northern California in recent days and the health risks that have been associated with these wildfires. The Board of Trustees of the Western States Endurance Run has consulted with many of our local and state race partners, including the U.S. Forest Service and the Placer County Air Pollution Control District, in coming to this decision. We apologize to our runners for any inconvenience this decision has created.

Since the beginning of more than 840 wildfires statewide, 312 wildfires in northern California and more than 3,200 lightning strikes in the Tahoe National Forest alone on June 21, the race's organizers have worked closely with a variety local, county and state agencies in determining the best course of action for our race. It has become apparent that given our race's paramount concern - the safety or our runners - holding this year's race would pose too great a risk to our runners, to our aid station personnel and to our volunteers. Given the close proximity of at least two fires that are within two miles of our race course and a critical access road, as well as the deteriorating air quality stretching from our start in Squaw Valley to Auburn, Calif., the board has determined that cancellation, rather than postponement or the use of an alternative course, represents the safest and most prudent decision for our 2008 event.

Our decision was based on three factors: Click here for the rest

Sincerely,

Tim Twietmeyer
Western States Board President

Greg Soderlund
Race Director

BC Bike Race, A Closer Look...

Here is the stage by stage breakdown of what we have gotten ourselves into...


2008 STAGE 1 SNAPSHOT

Course Director: Team SLS - Matthuw Ronald-Jones & Nigel Mayes
Distance: approx 89km
Start Time: 9am
Start Line: Shawnigan Lake School
Aid Station 1 Distance: approx 25km
Aid Station 2 Distance: approx 47km
Finish Line: Town of Lake Cowichan
Base Camp: Cowichan Lake Recreation Centre 309 South Shore Road, Cowichan Lake

2008 STAGE 2 SNAPSHOT

Course Director: Brent Chan
Distance: approx 125k
Start Time: 9am
Start Line: Lake Cowichan
Aid Station 1 Distance: approx 49km
Aid Station 2 Distance: approx 95km
Finish Line: Port Alberni Multiplex
Base Camp: Port Alberni Multiplex @ 3737 Roger St

2008 STAGE 3 SNAPSHOT

Course Director: Jeremy Grasby
Distance: approx 80km
Start Time: 8am
Start Line: Port Alberni Multiplex
Aid Station 1 Distance: approx 31km
Aid Station 2 Distance: approx 62km
Finish Line: Village Park, Cumberland
Base Camp: Village Park @ 6th St and Dunsmuir Ave, Cumberland

2008 STAGE 4 SNAPSHOT

Course Director: Rod Camposano
Distance: approx 60km
Ferry Transfers: Little River-Powell River & Saltery Bay-Earls Cove
Start Time: 11am
Start Line: Earl's Cove Ferry Terminal
Aid Station 1 Distance: approx 23km
Aid Station 2 Distance: approx 44km
Finish Line: Village of Sechelt
Base Camp: Kinnikinnik Elementary School 6030 Lighthouse Avenue, Sechelt

2008 STAGE 5 SNAPSHOT

Course Director: Rod Camposano
Distance: approx 65km
Ferry Transfer: Langdale-Horseshoe Bay
Start Time: 8am
Start Line: Sechelt
Aid Station 1 Distance: approx 25km
Aid Station 2 Distance: approx 45km
Finish Line: Langdale Ferry Terminal
Base Camp: Brennan Park 1009 Centennial Way, Squamish

2008 STAGE 6 SNAPSHOT

Course Director: Team Corsa - Dave Heisler & Sandra Brull
Distance: approx 65km
Start Time: 9am
Start Line: Garibaldi Highlands, Squamish
Aid Station 1 Distance: approx 32km
Aid Station 2 Distance: approx 43km
Finish Line: Squamish Civic Centre

2008 STAGE 7 SNAPSHOT

Course Director: Grant Lamont
Distance: approx 47km
Start Time: 10am
Start Line: Whistler Creekside
Aid Station 1 Distance: approx 25km
Aid Station 2 Distance: approx 42km
Finish Line: Spruce Grove Park, Whistler

YEEEEE HAAAWWWW!!!!!

GR

B.C. Bike Race...The Countdown Is On!!

HOOOLY, just five days until Todd and I, of team Helly Hansen-MOMAR, toe the line at the second annual B.C. Bike Race! It's taken me some time to get my head around the fact that as of this coming Saturday, I'm off on a week long journey through some of the sweetest mountain bike trails in the world!



We'll cover just under 600km of terrain in a seven day stage race, with a camper's village type set up in a different town at the end of each day...SWEET! After trying to rip each others lungs out for 4-6hr we get to sit down and enjoy some eats and treats with our fellow racers, compliments of the race organization. In fact they truly take care of everything, from transport between towns, to breakfasts, dinners and a campers village, it's all included in the race fee! They also have mechanics and massage on hand after each day, for a nominal fee. Rumor has it that our racer packages have been spiced up by the big name sponsors, and last I heard a set of branded BCBR handlebars, bike tool, and sunglasses were just a few of the items we are to expect! I LOVE free shit!



It should be an incredible event with over 400 riders from around the globe signed up and ready to go. Although Todd and I didn't fare so well two weekends ago at The Test Of Metal, he has since resolved his bike issues and my injuries are healing up decently well. The finger should not be an issue, but the quad was much worse than any of us first realized. I've since had three acupuncture sessions, with a fourth scheduled for tomorrow evening, and I am also getting ultrasound treatment over the next five days to help loosen up the remaining tightness and bruising that remains. I haven't been able to ride since The Test, but I think the rest and recovery has done me good and hopefully come Saturday Todd and I will have all of our bike issues for the season behind us in one fell swoop from our previous race.




Bring on "The ultimate singletrack experience!" Even if you are never intending to partake in an event like this, you should hit up the B.C. Bike Race website and check it all out, it's pretty incredible. Just scroll through these pics from last year!!








GR

Photos From Luke's 100 Miler

Sometimes I think I race too much and don't have enough time to properly reflect back on great experiences. Such is the case here, where I have not been able to fully recap my incredible weekend of running, visiting old friends, and making new friends, while down in Wisconsin two weekend's ago. Here is my photo montage, Luke is currently working on his own blog report, and I'll be sure to get my recap on here before next weekend...cause then I'm off to race B.C. Bike Race for seven straight days!!

BC Bike race is only one of the coolest mountain bike stage races on the planet right now. In only its second season they have long since sold out the 200+ slots for teams of two, which means each day will begin with over 400 riders toeing the line, ready to rip each others lungs out!

This will be a super sweet, dreamy singletrack experience, and I will go into more detail about how incredible this event is and how damn excited I am to be a part of it, in the coming days. For now, here's that slide show from Wisconsin...



GR

PQ, Latest Update (making more sense of the GPS controversy)

Primal Quest and the Use of GPS
Posted on 06/17/08 11:24 PM| by Kraig

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the decision by the PQ Management Team to allow the use of GPS devices in this year’s race. The decision was not one that was made lightly or without careful consideration. The PQ Staff understand that navigation is an integral part of what puts “adventure” into the race. But above all else, the safety and security of competitors remains paramount at all times.

When the 2008 course was designed, it was expected there would be much less snow in the area at the time of the race. These projections were based on historical data. However, record snowfall over the past two weeks has left 4 - 10 ten feet of snow covering many of the higher elevation areas on the course. The excessive snowfall has increased avalanche and snow slide hazards in the remote wilderness, causing serious concern for teams who may veer off-course or who may not recognize these dangerous areas. Considering that all but approximately 10 miles of this year’s course is in the deep back-country, there is a lot of potentially treacherous ground to cover.

While time trialing sections of the course, we found that most of the roads, trails, and many of the natural landmarks above 6000′ were covered by 4 - 10 feet of snow. PQ Director Don Mann, Course Director Chris Caul, and Course Designer George Rice were forced to use a GPS device to pinpoint their location on numerous occasions. This was the only way they were able to positively identify their location and not venture into potentially hazardous areas. It was for this reason, and with the safety of teams in mind, that the decision was made to allow racers to carry a GPS during the race. This decision has been accepted by some athletes, disputed by others, and misunderstood by some. However, nearly all respondents recognize the safety concerns expressed by race management.

As stated in our message dated 7/16: “Primal Quest Race Management has made the decision NOT to prohibit the use of GPS units in PQ Montana. This decision was made due to the fact that the course still has a great deal of snow covering trail and road markings, and we need to ensure that competitors do not wander into avalanche and cornice hazard areas.”

Since this decision was made, the snow melt has been dramatic and the immediate forecast calls for continued warm weather with a chance of rain. As conditions are rapidly improving, the following guidelines regarding the use of a GPS device have been established.

• All teams are highly encouraged to bring a GPS unit.

• All GPS units will be sealed in a specially designed, tamper-proof bag by race staff. Re-opening the bag leaves physical evidence that the device has been used. Once sealed inside this bag, it will be up to the team to decide when, or even if, they will use their GPS.

• Any team electing to use the device will be charged a time penalty at the end of the race. The decision to take this approach allows teams to still rely on their navigational skills, but have the safety of a GPS should they feel the need to use it.

• If conditions continue to improve throughout the remainder of the week as expected, the use of a GPS will be limited to only specified areas of the course, or maybe not at all. The PQ Management team believes it is better to err on the side of caution and allow GPS units as a back-up safety device for all teams. As already stated, safety is our utmost priority.

• For teams who do not have a GPS unit and are having difficulty in obtaining one, they are available in Bozeman, MT and we will be happy to assist you in locating a local retailer.

Primal Quest, Controversial Call

"Primal Quest Race Management has made the decision NOT to prohibit the use of GPS units in PQ Montana. This decision was made due to the fact that the course still has a great deal of snow covering trail and road markings, and we need to ensure that competitors do not wander into avalanche and cornice hazard areas."

My personal opinion? I don't believe this is best solution to the safety issues they are facing and I am thankful that my team did not drop $12,000.00 to do an event that will essentially end up as a glorified, off road triathlon. This is not to take away from the sport of triathlon, or the incredible efforts it will take each team to complete PQ Montana. This is simply not in line with what the sport of Adventure Racing was founded on and I truly hope we do not see any future events trying to mimic what PQ has decided to go with this year. I feel bad for many of my friends who are competing in this event, as they have just had their advantages of time tested experience and map expertise ripped out from under them. The GPS tracking will certainly loose some luster as everyone follows the exact same line of travel for 800km!

GR

DNF, All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!!

This will be brief and to the point, even though i would like to tell a somewhat detailed story i am currently having troubles typing.

TEST OF METAL race report, best year the course has seen in quite some time, dry fast conditions, with a sun cloud mix that allowed for many PR's on the day, in fact the course record fell by almost ten full minutes!

I was battling crazy karma issues from the second i woke up until the second my race came to an early end. Even as i was in the line to start the race i found that my bottle holder had snapped and would not hold an actual bottle, hence i ended up with my water bottle in my jersey pocket. Not a huge issue, but when coupled with the race not having me registered for the event, my new bike shoes having not arrived, still riding a frame size that is too big, etc, etc, i was really starting to wonder if i was supposed to be there at all!

After the first large climb that starts the race i was beginning to find my groove, and right around 'the corners' area of the event i couldn't help but notice that the race seemed to be unfolding almost exactly as it did for me in 07. Last year i finished in 3h14m00s for 29th overall. My goal this year was something sub 3h05m (ideally sub 3hr) and top twenty overall. I felt that i was on pace for this as i seemed to be higher in the pack then i was one year prior and with a new electrolyte system on my bike that allowed for easier intake i was confident that i would not cramp this year as i have in my two previous TOM experiences. As i was accelerating down the double track section known as 'Mashiter', i called out for the track,

"On your left"

Three riders peeled to the right and i opened it up even further to overtake them. At this moment the one rider who was already on the right started to peel left.

"ON YOUR LEFT!"

He kept drifting,

"ON YOUR LEFTTTTTT!"

Before i had a chance to brake or react he hit the front half of my bike! I was easily doing 35-40km an hour and the next thing i knew i was doing cartwheels off the left side of the trail. For anyone who knows this area, it is NOT where you want to be tumbling out of control.

The rider who took me out simply kept on trucking, while one of the guys i had just passed stopped to ensure i was alright. He shouted at me from above and i thanked him but told him to get moving. Shortly after this, as i was climbing back up to the trail, my AR teammate Todd rode passed and shouted at me,

I responded with, "Some F#$KER cut me off!!"

With that he knew i was alive and was off on his own racing adventure. I stumbled back onto the trail and hopped onto my bike but the chain was off. I could not simply shift it back on as it was off on the over side, so i hopped off, fixed it, then climbed back on and went to ride...except my right leg would not seem to function properly. I tried to pedal and practically fell off of my bike. My leg was bruised, swollen and bleeding. My race was over before it even got started.

I had a walk of about 200 meters to the intersection before 'Roller Coaster' where i knew there would be volunteers on hand. As i stumbled on in, two people i know from the running community where there to greet me. Jim and Catherine sat me down, put a jacket over me and fed me some fluids. Within a few minutes, as upset as i was, i was making lame jokes. Jim commented that when i arrived i was completely white in the face and looked as though i was in shock, he followed that up with,

"Ya know Gary, maybe running is more your thing!"

They live in the Highlands area of Squamish, which was right around the corner from where i fell, and they graciously offered to walk me back to their place and drive me back to the start finish. I was insistent on making it back down there in time to see the top finishers. I peeled my bike gloves off, noticed a bit of blood, but did not think much about it. By the time we reached the finishing chute i had to have my hand splinted and later that evening, while at the Lion's Gate Hospital, i had it x-rayed and casted with a removable brace as i had in fact broken my right pinkie finger. My leg seems to have suffered nothing worse than a deep charlie horse, and many friends were in agreeance that i managed to escape my crash in pretty much the best case scenario.

From here i awaited the arrival of my good friend Dwayne Kress, who had been training his ass off all year and was poised to have his best finish ever. Last i heard he was up in 7th place and on pace for a sub 2h50m! He never showed up, and i would later learn that he ripped a hole in his tire and was forced to drop. I watched Helly Hansen rider Jeff Reimer come in in about 2h55m and Justin Mark at just over 3hr. I figured Todd had to be right around the corner, and also Team Mergeo adventure racer Aaron VanderWaal who Todd and i were riding with down the 'Bob Mac' trail shortly before my race came to an end.

I stood at the finish area, camera ready to go, for almost a full hour. At 3h50m i knew that even if Todd or A.V. had run half the course they would have been in. Aaron had to drop due to health reasons as i believe he nearly collapsed from exhaustion, and Todd's bike frame snapped in half!! Hit up his blog for his full story.

Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island, two solid finishes.

Team Helly Hansen - MOMAR, two solid DNF's

B.C. Bike Race, two weeks and counting, redemption to be had, and hopefully our biking issues are behind us!


GR

The Rains In Wisconsin

I just uploaded a short 20 second video of the torrential rains we faced during the Kettle Moraine 100 Mile Endurance Run this past weekend. Check this out!! It was only 5:30pm, not later as the lack of daylight would suggest, and you can see competitors calling it a day.
Full results here, race report n stuff to follow.

GR

Kettle Moraine 100 Miler Quick Cap

With 123 starters, and just 37 finishers, this race had one of the most blatant attrition rates that I've ever seen! The race started out with temps that stabilized at over 90 degrees and 100% humidity, which ripped apart the field within the first 30 miles alone.

Working support with Luke's wife Emily, 10 month old son Spencer, and best friend Doug, who just happens to be one of the top acupuncturists in the entire country, I sat idly by as the field continued to shrink with every passing mile. At the 31 mile aid station we watched over twenty runner's call it a day due to the heat and humidity. Then came our boy Luke, who's new nick name is Mr. Consistent, trucking along and looking strong.

Shortly after this point the skies opened up like I've never witnessed in North America before! I had seen truly torrential downpours in Central America, but nothing compared or prepared me for what was about to unfold. Within minutes roads were flooding, lightning was flashing and thunder was a crashing. We had 'one count' thunder as we awaited the arrival of our runner at the 47 mile aid station. Again we watched as runner after runner arrived, checked in, and then jumped in their car and simply drove away!

Luke never gave serious consideration to quiting, but after running with a pack of people who had spent the last hour talking about dropping, and then followed that up by doing just that, he wasn't sure what was safe, and what he fully intended to do. We were just under an hour away from the official allowed starting time for a pacer, of 6:30pm, and I asked permission to jump in there early and to start playing in the puddles. We got the ok, and before I was even changed into my own running gear Laga was gone, saying he knew I'd catch up to him pretty quickly.

What ensued was just over 13hr of actual run time and 53 miles of crazy ass weather. Every time we thought we were clear, like the time we started singing,
"Here comes the sun, da, da, da, da..."

CRASH, WHOOSH, instant downpour!

The race director said these were the worst race conditions he's ever been a part of, and my boy Luke Laga, in his first ever 100 miler, and just his second ultra race, crossed that line in 27hr16m07s to finish 24th overall!

Bar none, one of the greatest running moments of my life. Pics, vids, and stories to follow, assuming this rain lets up at some point and that my flight home tomorrow isn't canceled as apparently Milwaukee is pretty much completely under water right now!

Time for beers, food and some serious celebrating of an amazing accomplishment!!

GR

Wisconsin Here I Come!

First a quick cap of the last week of training, in which I did indeed hit my scheduled 20hr.

Mon: Work 8hr, day off of training
Tue: Day off work, 1hr run, 3hr mtn bike as mentioned earlier...severed...45min run, 1h15min kayak race, dinner and drinks
Wed: Day off work, Road Bike 1h15m to start day. Was intending to head to SQ to race the local 'toonie mtn bike race'. Stuck on hwy, turn around and ride my wind trainer while watching the NHL playoffs on t.v. 2h15m
Thur: Road ride 90km, 3hr15m, nasty headwind, work 12-8pm
Fri: Mtn bike with Roxy, 2h30m, work 12-8
Sat: Road Bike 1hr, solid pace, 30km, work 10-6, again hit up wind trainer for NHL game, only last 1h15m though. House warming party for a friend
Sun: Knee Knacker training run, 8:30am 25km 2h45min, work 12-5, dinner with a few friends, capping off a solid fun filled week!

Hours:
Biking- 14.5hr
Running- 4.5hr
Kayaking- 1.25hr
TOTAL: 20h15m

WISCONSIN, the countdown is on until I see two of my closest and dearest friends Luke and Emily Laga, and their relatively new addition to the world Spencer Gary Laga...ok, maybe, just maybe, his middle name ain't Gary...but maybe it is, you don't know the difference so I'm sticking with it!

I originally met Luke and Em while working on my P.A.D.I. Dive Master certification down in Honduras in 2003. Luke was doing customized dive videos and Em was teaching English. We hit it off immediately, and got to know each other incredibly well over the next four months. Since then we have kept close contact and in 2005, although i knew they were intending to visit, they surprised me at the finish line of the 50k Knee Knacker Trail Run. My finisher photo is one of my all time favorite pics as I am 1/2 celebrating my race and 1/2 completely shocked that they appeared out of nowhere to cheer me on! The next two weeks were jam packed with incredible experiences.

We enjoyed a road trip to the Washington Coast to do a hike-camping trip in Olympia National Park for three days, and then along with my girlfriend at the time, we competed as a team of four in the 05 Sechelt Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race. It was the first adventure race for the three of them and we spent more time collectively working on our outfits than actually training for the event...refer to pics. There was a mid course cut off time of 6hr and we were the last official team to make it, by just two and a half minutes! They all toughed it out to the finish line from there and at over 8hr we were the last people to cross the line as a ranked team. We walked away like bandits though, claiming the 'team in most need of a beer award' (a dozen beer and four t-shirts), the 'team spirit' award (a sea kayaking trip for two), and we even snagged a few draw prizes to round out the whole experience! It still stands as one of the greatest racing experiences of my life.

(Luke in Yellow, Em in Red)

Anyways, this weekend Mr. Luke Laga, always trying to one up me, will be competing in his first ever 100 mile endurance run, the Kettle Moraine 100. Hundred mile running events allow people to acquire a 'pacer' after the first 100km of running. This serves many purposes from a safety stand point on up to helping to push the competitor to the finish line as quickly as possible. Laga's goal is to finish, and I'm confident we're gonna make that happen this weekend. I am so excited to catch up with close friends, meet their son, run on some new terrain, and help punish my good buddy as he tackles 160km of non-stop running! This is one of the most exciting weekends of the entire year for me and I can't wait till I fly out tomorrow night, for the overnight flight of course. Hell, I figure if Luke is gonna run for 24+hr non stop, the least I can do is stay awake on an airplane overnight so as to maximize our time together.


I will obviously post a run report early next week. Right now I should get my ass to bed so as to concentrate on my own training hours tomorrow morning.

GR

Deals, Deals, Deals!!

Spring 2008 Mountain Hardwear Sample Sale.

When: Thursday June 19th from 4:00 PM to 8:30 PM.

Where: Best Western Capilano Inn and Suites in the Boardroom building on the North East corner of their property, 1634 Capilano Road North Vancouver.

What: All Spring and Fall Clothing, Tents, Sleeping Bags, and Backpack samples 50 to 70% off.

Please remember that ALL SALES ARE FINAL!!!!

Cash Only! No Credit or Debit Cards!

ENJOY!!!

GR