Bend Racing (Yoga Slackers) - 6 Hour Training Race

Bend Racing (Yoga Slackers) – 6 Hour Training Race

Sunday, March 15^th 2015

Team: Robbie & Lauren

Bend Racing decided to put on a “mock adventure race” last weekend in an effort to connect people in Bend and get everyone ready for the 2015 AR season. We were happy to see a handful of people show up and Chelsey & Jason Magness’s house for the start. In total about 6 teams of 3’s and 4’s participated.

Upon arrival Chelsey, Jason & Daniel of Team Yoga Slackers handed out our maps. We didn’t have a whole lot of time to prep, which proved to make the race all the more interesting. We started with a quick 4-checkpoint “trek” (aka: SPRINT!!!). 

We left our packs at the TA and collected all 4 points with ease. We got back to the TA and got on our bikes for the first bike leg. It didn’t take long for us to arrive on single-track, which we traveled on for the majority of the race.  The first bike leg took us down some railroad tracks, across a golf course (oops) and we eventually arrived at Horse Butte, a popular local area for riding, hiking, spelunking and horseback riding.

The next few hours were spent pushing against a super strong headwind as we navigated into oncoming weather. We collected all the checkpoints along the way. At one checkpoint we abandoned our bikes and explored through a small cave system. This part was SUPER cool. We were very impressed and pleased with the race directors’ help, presence and support throughout the race as they traveled along side the teams and met us at important TA’s along the racecourse.

Once we navigated the cave, we jumped back on some sweet single-track and eventually arrived at Bessie Butte. At this point the weather was really rolling in. We quickly transitioned into our trekking gear and headed up to the summit where a checkpoint was cleverly placed. On our way up Lauren literally got knocked over by the ~50mph winds whistling over the top of the butte. We felt like we were on the on the summit of something MUCH larger. It was a cool experience.

We looked at our maps and saw a checkpoint on the west-most base of the butte, so in Robbie-like fashion, we decided to bushwhack DIRECTLY down the west side of the butte. This proved to be more challenging than we expected. Lesson learned, if there’s a trail – take the trail.

At this point, we decided to skip out on the rest of the orienteering checkpoints. We wanted to make sure we made the finish in time. We had about a 45-minute ride back to civilization.  Along the way we picked up the final two checkpoints and made our way to the finish, which was a popular local brewery. One of the hardest parts of the race proved to be finding the damn brewery. The maps we had didn’t detail the local streets whatsoever, so we rode around in circles until we eventually hooked up with another team and found the brewery together. At this point we were cold and tired.

The highlight of the race was hanging out afterwards with the other racers sharing stories and getting to know our local AR community. Getting to know Jason, Chelsey and Daniel of Team Yogaslackers was both inspiring and humbling. They’re all amazing racers, a super strong team, and fantastic race directors. Most of all, they’re great people helping to bring more races to Bend, provide coaching, resources and motivation to get involved in the sport of Adventure Racing. A huge thanks goes out to each of them. We’re looking forward to competing in more of their races in the very near future!

For this race, we tried out some new gear. Here are our thoughts:

1.     Out There MS-1 packs

a.     Transitions were seamless because we were able to organize and stow our gear so easily.

b.     Fitting our helmets and shoes on the outside of our packs was a breeze.

c.      Tons of accessible pockets for nutrition – which we loved.

d.     Lauren has had a tough time finding a pack with enough space that also fits her long torso. This one is great because of its adjustability, specifically on the chest strap.

e.     The padding on the back and shoulder straps really helped to keep the pack comfortable, hour after hour.

2.     Source Hydration Bladders:

a.     They’re super comfortable

b.     No magnets, which is a no-no for adventure racing (they throw off your compass)

c.      Easy closure system – we like that you don’t have to “screw” on a cap, and potentially put a bladder in your pack that isn’t closed all the way. Side Note: there is a learning curve on proper filling technique. We’re still trying to perfect how to fill these up quickly on the fly without getting at least 1 hand soaking wet from holding the bladder open at the top.