by Jess Evans
March 20, 2018
To date, I have only done 2 expedition races – both in 2017. For years I was certain that expedition racing was way out of my league and only for those who really like to suffer. Well, I have changed my mind. Either I like to suffer, or they are totally awesome! I think I would not have tried it if 361° Adventures had not made their 2017 Breakdown into a 4-day expedition race. Racing with a company I was familiar and comfortable with made all the difference. They also held a little question and answer session about expedition races to give us novices some perspective.
I raced with “Only MOSTLY Lost” at the Breakdown EXP (Jason, Owen, and Robert). I found I had great camaraderie with my teammates and that the pace was very doable. As in all races, you have your tough times and your good times. The lake paddling in a two-person pack raft on a cold morning was not fun and very cold. Having someone from another team jump out and scare me in the middle of the night was not fun. (I think my teammates were trying very hard not to laugh once they saw the startled and annoyed expression on my face.) Then there were the conversations, the laughs, and the end of race excitement as we found out we were near the top of the pack. It was a very good first expedition race experience.
My experience at the 6-day Cowboy Tough race was equally enjoyable. I raced with the 361° Adventures team (Jim, Doug, and Shawn). My teammates were THE BEST! We were very detailed in our pre-race planning meetings making sure we were ready for all conditions. I am not sure how many times we went back and forth on carrying a sleeping bag. I am certainly glad we carried them. Having 3 hours of good sleep a night really helped my morale. There were certainly those miserable moments too – riding my bike against a stiff Wyoming headwind while I could see my teammates could have easily upped the pace if I was not so slow, was mentally tough. But we finished in good spirits and with a lot of great memories.
If you have a chance to do an expedition race, you should do it, but I think you should make sure you are racing with people who share your goals on the race. In neither race were we out there to win it all. We were out there to enjoy it, remain friends, and finish.
