by Jess Evans
June 29, 2018

I am on the fence about team challenges during an adventure race.  Some challenges I have done have been great – others not so great.

My favorite team challenges are the ones where the team is doing something positive for the community or the environment (I know, I am so predictable.)  During the Breakdown 24 Hour AR in 2016, each team had to spend time cleaning graffiti and picking up trash around a very popular rock shelter in Kentucky.  I opted to pick-up trash while my teammates scrubbed away at the graffiti on the rocks.  That was so rewarding to me.  I was so delighted that Shawn and Dallas included that aspect of the race.  In the East Fork Challenge 12 Hour AR, put on by Topo Adventures, there was the challenge of picking up trash during the race throughout the lake.  Trash was everywhere. My teammate and I decided our main focus would be trash and picking up checkpoints would be secondary.  We brought in a boat load of trash and went out for more during the race!  It was so much fun, and that lake was filthy.

There have been some team challenges during races that are not so fun too. POCAR usually has at least one team challenge during their very cold January race.  I have had to guide a blindfolded teammate through an obstacle course by verbally giving him instructions, I swung on a rope swing for another challenge, and solved a checkpoint riddle (which was not done successfully).  Really, they were not too bad, but doing these challenges in the middle of a January night when you just want to keep moving, can be tough.  I think I even had to do a challenge once where I removed the front wheel of my bike, ran to a dock with it, answered a question about my bike, and then ran back to the bike and re-attached the wheel.  With the quick release front wheel, that was no problem.

I won’t complain too much about challenges during races, because I used to be in charge of the teambuilding events for a company I worked for, and I am sure I made my colleagues do some pretty ridiculous things that I called “teambuilding”.  I will say that team challenges can be challenging in more than one aspect during an adventure race.

by Jess Evans
June 22, 2018

I started racing with 361° Adventures Chickpoints in 2017.  I had never raced on an all female team, but I knew this was going to be a successful experiment.  In my Good Teammates blog from February 2018,  I discuss the differences I noticed from racing on an all female team vs. a Co-Ed team.)

361° Adventures Chickpoints had earned a spot to the USARA National Championship race in Pennsylvania for 2017, but their third female racer could not race with them.  Karen and Casey asked me if I would be interested, and I jumped at the chance.  I did not know Casey well, but I knew Karen, and had always wanted an opportunity to race with her.

We decided we should do at least one race together to make sure we did not have any personality conflicts.  If you know Karen and Casey, you know that personality conflicts were extremely unlikely.  During 2017 I raced with 361° Adventures Chickpoints in one of the Unbridled Series Races where Myra and Becka joined us too.  It was so much fun getting to know the entire Chickpoints team.  Later that year, they included Tracy in their ranks.  By the time, Karen, Casey, and I went to the 2017 USARA National Championship race, we knew we had a solid team.  We had such a great time together, and we raced in the spirit of a true “team” recognizing each of our strengths and weaknesses and supporting each other through the race.  We came in first in the All Female Team category.

To learn more about 361° Adventures Chickpoints, check out their Facebook page.  They participate in a lot of the races in Kentucky and Indiana each year.  They have great stories and photos.  Also, follow us on Facebook as we go back to the USARA National Championship Race in 2018 and defend our title!  We have enough women on the Chickpoints team now that two teams could qualify for the USARA National Championship Race – maybe in 2019.

by Jess Evans
June 19, 2018

It is always a thrill to be moseying along at my typical race pace and be passed by one of the top teams during a leg.  I get to whisper, “oh look who just passed us?” and sometimes I ask “where are they going?”  I think that is yet another reason why adventure racing is so great.  Often the courses are designed in such a way that slower teams get to travel intermittently with the elite teams.  All levels of teams will be criss-crossing on the course as they make their way to the finish.

I had the opportunity to race the AR World Championship in 2017 on the 361° Adventures team.  Adventure Enablers held the ARWS Championship race in Casper, Wyoming.  This was my first time racing among international teams that were “old pros” at the AR World Series.  These teams had done races around the world, and they clearly demonstrated their hard won knowledge through their gear and ease at the race start.  When my team and I were at the pre-race gathering to prep and deliver all our gear and bins, it was quite a site to see teams and gear everywhere.  I was not intimidated by these “professional” teams, but I was in awe and giddy.  I could have gawked at them all day.

Once the race started, I was sure we would never see those teams again.  However, we had the luck of being short coursed and were jumped ahead of many teams that were still trudging through the second trekking leg.  This put us back in the fray with teams who were going to complete the entire race course.  It was fun for me to see them.  They were covering more ground at a faster pace than us, but we were rolling right along with them for a while. I marveled at their speed and drive even as day three was ending, and we still had 3 more days to go.

In a well-planned adventure race, teams go through the course together and often finish close together no matter what their experience and fitness level.  Only the number of checkpoints punched and the miles traveled to get those checkpoints separates them, but everyone is together supporting and congratulating each other all the way through to the finish.

by Jess Evans
June 16, 2018

This past week (June 11 to 13) I helped Journey Racing with the 48-Hour NOMAD race.  They had 20 teams excited about conquering the Colorado mountains.  It started north of Bueno Vista, Colorado on the Arkansas River.  The racers rafted down the Arkansas river, biked on the Colorado Trail, and crossed the Continental Divide twice to finish at Mt Princeton Hot Springs Resort. It was amazing to watch the teams push through the heat during the day and brave the cold nights and snow up high to complete the race.

This race is not for the faint of heart.  There was a 35-mile rafting trip through Class III rapids.  Then the racers biked on the Colorado Trail which can get pretty technical in places.  To top it off, they crossed the Continental Divide at least twice which required some climbing over rocks with their bike.  It was a slow trudge at high altitudes with and without bikes during the night for most teams.  These teams had weather, terrain, high elevation, and fatigue to overcome.

In the end, everyone ended with big smiles on their faces.  The volunteers had a great time supporting the teams throughout the 48 hours.  The racers appreciated the care they received from the race staff and volunteers.

Athena Adventures is looking forward to helping with this race more in the future.

by Jess Evans
June 9, 2018

In the summer of 2016, I was riding my bike from Butte, Montana to somewhere in Colorado – wherever I could get in 14 days.  One afternoon, after a long slog through Routt National Forest in northern Colorado, I stopped for lunch on this dusty road near Steamboat Lake State Park.  I had heard of Steamboat Springs, but the state park was never on my radar.

I put my bike down and began to dig in my bike bags for some tasty snacks to silence my growling stomach before sitting down to admire the view.  Stretched out in front of me was a mountain lake reflecting all the majestic peaks that surrounded it.  The forest was so lush and green beyond the lake and people were boating and fishing on the beautiful summer day.  It was a perfect day to sit on the ground next to my Cannondale Lefty and eat my (now thawed) frozen burrito.

Once I moved back to Colorado and decided to join the 361 Adventure brothers in a Western AR experiment, I began to think of places I would like to have an adventure race.  Steamboat Lake State Park popped into my head.  Thus, August 18, I will be holding a 4-hour fun adventure race for families, and a 12-hour adventure race, just a tiny bit more challenging than the 4-hour.  These races are known as the Bears Ears Adventure Races.  Keep that date in mind when you are doing your summer planning.  Registration is open.