by Jess Evans
January, 1 2019

Before Shawn had his exciting encounter with a mountain lion on Dec 22, I was thinking of writing about my encounters with animals during my outdoor adventures. Thank you for the perfect introduction to this subject, Shawn! Throughout my adventure racing and bike touring career, I have had the pleasure (or not) of encountering animals along my many routes. The encounters ranged from cool, to funny, to even a little scary.

Deep in the national forest south of Lincoln, Montana, a small chipmunk decided to join us as we ate our afternoon meal. This little guy was extremely brave. He stood on my frame bag searching for a way to access the tasty food stored inside. He was so cute, and surprisingly unconcerned of the three humans watching him with huge smiles on our faces.

I have seen a Grizzly Bear and Black Bear, but only from a distance. In Canada, we were riding on a trail that followed the contours of a mountainside above a lake. As we came around a corner, we saw the large cinnamon colored butt of a Grizzly Bear running on the trail away from us. Luckily, he heard us and scooted out of sight quickly. The Black Bear was spotted north of Ovando, MT. It was nearly a half mile away, sauntering down the forest service road without a care in the world. He gradually moved off the road into the woods. We hopped on our bikes and headed that direction, figuring he would be long gone by the time we reached the spot.

In the last year, I have encountered moose and moose tracks several times. Usually they are standing around looking at me while they munch grass or leaves. However, a few years ago in Canada, a moose jumped out of the woods onto the trail we were traveling down, ran away from us, and then jumped back into the woods a little ways down. It happened so fast, we stopped our bikes and looked at each other with questioning eyes, “was that a moose?”

My scariest and most worrisome encounters have been with domestic animals. Dogs always give me constant worry as I travel past homes or in sheep herding areas. I have seen sheep dogs from a distance and have had them howl at me while I zipped down a mountain road, but I have not had a stand-off with them… yet. I have been knocked down twice by dogs while riding my bike. Unfortunately, I get pretty nervous around them if I am on my bike. But cattle have given me my scariest moments. I was chased by a small herd in Wyoming. Luckily cows are not endurance athletes. On that same trip, I scared up a huge herd one afternoon in Montana. The road was flanked by a fence on either side so they had no where to go and neither did I. I started riding past them and then the entire herd was on the move. They could not get rid of me, and I could not pass them. I swear I was riding with a running herd for nearly a mile. I was just as scared as they were, I’m sure. There was also that time two friends and I were caught between a bull and the cow he was interested in. Tracy has a great write-up of that story on her Facebook page somewhere. When she started throwing rocks at the bull to get him out of our way, I was looking for the nearest tree to climb.

While my animal encounters have not been as exciting as a mountain lion… they have given my reason to always be on the look out.

by Jess Evans
December 17, 2018

After Shawn, Dallas, Alicia, and I worked out the details of setting up Athena Adventures (A2) as a partner of 361° Adventures, Alicia and I began to formulate what kind of company we wanted A2 to be. Of course, it is an adventure racing company, but due to our love of nature and the outdoors, we wanted to give back to non-profit organizations and communities that also love nature and the outdoors.

Earlier in 2018, we put on an adventure race fundraiser for Little Miami Watershed Network in Bellbrook, Ohio. It was an adventure race style event, but also allowed participants to learn about the watershed at each checkpoint they visited. Families could spend quality time in the outdoors while learning about the Little Miami watershed. We are planning to have a similar fundraiser in 2019 for this non-profit.

In early summer of 2019, we are going to have the Quarry Mt Quest, an adventure race fundraiser for the Routt County Search and Rescue. Routt County is in northern Colorado along the Continental Divide with the Yampa River, the only free flowing river in Colorado, flowing west through the county. The Search and Rescue volunteers are dedicated to assisting and rescuing recreantionalists in the mountains year round. This fundraiser will bring in funds to help them train their volunteers and maintain their equipment.

Additionally, we are talking to some friends of ours in British Columbia, Canada who are working towards helping their rural community live sustainably. They have begun to take the first steps and as their efforts evolve, we want to help them showcase what they have done. We are now tossing around the idea of using the adventure race format to allow community members and anyone from outside the community see their progress through a race, giving participants a chance to see the beautiful wilderness around this community as well.

As Athena Adventures grows, we are learning that the sky is the limit. Through these techniques of working with non-profits and communities bringing awareness to their goals, we hope to expand the awareness of adventure racing and give back to the many great non-profits and communities we interact with.

by Jess Evans
December 11, 2018

As the cooler weather moves in for winter, I find myself constantly assessing what I should wear for my various outdoor activities. The fear of being too cold or getting sweaty and then cold keeps me second guessing on my attire. Winter dressing is such a chore.

First I have to know what I have. Tights of various thickness. Pant shell layers. Gloves of various thickness. Knit hats and buffs. Light jackets to heavier jackets. Long sleeve to sleeveless shirts. Wool socks… well, I always wear wool socks no matter the temperature unless it is super hot. I can pull all these clothes out and toss them on the floor for a true analysis of my attire needs.

Once I have a good idea of the range of clothes I may choose from, then the temperature plus wind chill must be reviewed for the appropriate attire. Breezy to windy days require wind breakers to reduce the chilling of the sweat on my skin as much as possible. Recently I ran on a sunny 32 degree day with a cold wind, wind chill unknown. I found that my clothing choice was not quite right. My ears hurt from the cold wind blowing into them, and my arms were chilled. Wind can be particularly troublesome at finding the right combination of clothes to stay warm enough, but not too warm.

Additionally, I must consider what type of activity I am engaging in. If I am running, less thick clothes are required than biking. If I am walking, piling on the clothes is a good idea. How various parts of my body respond as I begin to warm up in my exercise is important to note. My hands often get too hot while running, but biking I need to cover them when it is cold. In hot weather, I do not like to wear bike gloves. My feet always sweat, so wool socks seem to do the trick year round. My lower back can get really hot too, while my arms get cold. Arm warmers may be helpful for this problem where I can layer more on my arms while keeping my torso lightly clothed, although I have not tried this technique yet.

So much to consider, and often I must utilize the “trial and error” technique because the weather conditions rarely stay the same day to day. Unfortunately, it may take nearly an hour to determine what to wear and then put it on, second guess, take something off, and put another item on. Donning the right clothes for outdoor exercising should not be this time consuming.

by Jess Evans
December 3, 2018

So far this winter has produced more snow in Colorado than last winter. This means that the traditional training methods of running and biking are a little more difficult – unless you do most of your training in a gym. Of course, there are abundant opportunities to downhill ski and crosscountry ski here., but another training method I plan to engage in this winter is snowshoeing.

Since returning to Colorado, I have discovered the joy of snowshoeing. There is so much public land in Colorado with trails and roads, that it is easy to get to those places and get lost (figuratively) in the valleys and hillsides of the mountains in neck deep snow. It seems like I am the only person in the world, except for all the snowshoe, snowmobile, and ski tracks all around me. Snowshoeing is also a great exercise that takes different muscle groups and some coordination. I have done my fair share of tripping over my own shoes. Luckily, as I said, there is no one in sight to see me tumble in the snow head first.

Yet another fun aspect of snowshoeing are the numerous animal tracks in the snow. It is fun to guess what else has traveled along my route. Rabbits are easy to ID. Some dog like tracks may be coyote or fox. Raccoon tracks are among the fray. I have followed moose tracks in the snow with the hope I did not catch up to one. Then there will be tracks that cause me to stop and ponder. When I see tracks that appear and then disappear after only 4 feet, I guess this to be a bird, perhaps a hawk or

owl landing to grab a morsel and then leaping into the air again. Another puzzling animal track is one that was large and sunk deep into the snow. While most animals (including myself with my nifty snowshoes), stay on top of the deep snow, this large animal did not. Perhaps they were bear tracks or mountain lion? The tracks were not clear enough for me to decipher, so I looked around cautiously in the hopes I did not see something large looking at me. Whatever was out there in the woods, I was happy to be getting excellent exercise, enjoying the outdoors, and engaging in some nature observation while making tracks of my own.

Enjoy your winter training!

by Jess Evans
November 20, 2018

Reading Squiggly Lines by Mark Lattanzi will give you a good basis for how to navigate. I learned to navigate many years prior to Mark’s helpful book. My first exposure to reading topographic maps and locating locations on the ground from a map came from taking several archaeology classes in college. Never did I dream that my archaeology skills would help me later in life. I should have known my skills were developed for a higher purpose.

Unfortunately, I am certain how I navigate is not the most efficient and effective way. I have been told that while navigating you should rotate your map so that the direction you are facing is at the top of the map. This just confuses me so much. I have to keep north at the top. Sometimes I need to rotate the map to try to match up features I see around me, but usually I imagine myself as a dot on the map moving along, sort of like how google maps works. I keep my directions straight only if north is at the top.

Staying connected to the map is further advice I try to adhere to. However, it is a hindrance rather than a help to some degree. I try to keep my eye on the map in relation to where I am following along as I move. I feel like I am checking the map every 5 seconds to keep my exact spot on the map which causes me to slow down significantly. I also feel I cannot see the map clearly if I am jogging. The map jiggles around too much, and I can’t focus on the lines.

I check my compass often too. While I have teammates to keep track of that for me, I feel like I need all the information all at once to keep my head in the right spot and not get completely confused as to where I am on the map. I am very fearful of losing my spot on the map. When I look at a map and am not sure where I am, the anxiety rises and I get flustered.

Pace counting is another technique I use when I am on foot. I measure the distance on the map and then pace count while keeping an eye on the compass and the map. Clearly I am moving way too slow. I suspect if I wanted to improve, I would take myself out into the woods with a map and practice memorizing the map, pace counting, and keeping an eye on the compass while going at a faster pace or jogging. I need to multi-task effectively!

The best thing about navigating is when I find myself again after being lost. The relief is overwhelming and the satisfaction at knowing I can actually do this navigating thing is quite amazing. I have plenty of room for improvement, and I know I need to practice more, but just maybe I will get better as I design/direct races and do more races.