Frigid Infliction Podium Finish(es)

Bolton Valley, VERMONT -- For the second consecutive year, acidotic RACING sent teams to the GMARA's Frigid Infliction Winter Adventure Race and came home with podium finishes. In fact, all three teams finished on the podium with two of our teams claiming division titles! acidotic RACING 2 (Sarah S. & Mike S.) captured a hard fought 2nd place finish in the 2-person co-ed division. Mike, in his first adventure race, showed incredible navigation skill and instinct. Several times during the race his calm analytical approach saved the three teams valuable time. Sarah once again displayed her unmatched backcountry skills and fitness in all four winter disciplines (snowshoeing, nordic skiing, post-holing, and tyrolean). She was easily one of the strongest competitors in the field. Ri & Jay M., our 2-person male entry, were by far the strongest and fastest acidotic RACING team. While the three teams worked together for the first few hours of the race, Ri & Jay pulled away after an efficient tyrolean traverse and never looked back. They gapped the other 2-male teams en route to a division title. Jay M., racing in his first adventure race, showed that his extensive background in endurance sports and his recent success in snowshoe racing were significant assets in the sport of winter AR. Ri, the ultimate multi-sport endurance machine, raced with a purpose from the jump and helped to drive all three teams forward to an early Top 10 position before he and Jay pulled away from the other acidotic entries to bid for an overall podium spot. Finally, our 3-male team consisting of veterans Jay & myself along with rookie Austin S. battled a host (well, one other) division entry to claim the first place prize. For his first adventure race, Austin didn't disappoint. We expected his alpine background would serve him well...and it did. He consistently led us during the skiing discipline and routinely put in additional km's by running to punch the passport. He was also incredibly strong throughout the entire event and displayed great teamwork by pulling without gapping even during the technical sections. Jay & I logged yet another adventure race together (perhaps our 10th or so...I should keep track but I don't). Team success is the ultimate determination of adventure racing performance. Based all of our podiums and expected Top 10 finishes we collectively represented as well as can be imagined. I could not have asked for a better group of individuals to wear our colors yesterday. I'm very proud of all of them. The smiles on everyone's faces at the finish was worth every moment of effort. On a personal note I was very pleased with my own performance. I had none of the health issues that have recently dogged me (cramping & achilles tendonitis). I felt as though my nutrition was very consistent. I drank close to 140 ounces in 10 hours and ate as much as I've ever eaten in a race of that length. My fitness was not a limiting factor and at times I felt as though I could have pushed harder. Looking ahead, there are 13 weeks before the Longest Day & Night Adventure Race. This will be our first 24 hour race. I'll use the 12-Hour AR at Pawtuckaway State Park in the middle of May as a tune up prior to the event.

As of this morning the overall results are not posted. I'll update the blog with the link when they're ready. I do have pictures up and they can be viewed on our Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cobblemountain/sets/72157614968331488/. Below is a video clip from yesterday along with links to two others.

You Tube videos from the 2009 Frigid Infliction Winter Adventure Race:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dU_3OxnsQs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfZPEQlrXgg

Photo credits:

Jay M. on tyrolean (photo by Jim Dunn)

Austin, Jay D., & Chris at backcountry ski TA (photo by Jim Dunn)

Austin, Chris, Sarah, Jay D., & Mike at finish (photo by Jim Dunn)

Gear Check

Adventure racing is a gear intensive sport. Perhaps that's part of the reason I enjoy it so much? I really love everything about gear...collecting it, organizing it, checking it, double checking it, talking about it. You get the idea. The Frigid Infliction Winter Adventure Race is now less than 72 hours away and I am well within the "gear check" window. As far as everyone else in the family is concerned, the living room is not the ideal location for me to lay out my gear for this weekend. I am therefore relegated to the basement and my workbench. Two weeks ago you'd have been hard pressed to guess that's what was in fact buried underneath the mountainous collection of cardboard boxes, beer making equipment, and all other matter of the "miscellaneous" parts of my life that haphazardly collect there. Since the snowshoe racing season wrapped up and the adventure racing season was quickly approaching I found the motivation necessary to get things squared away on the old workbench/brewery. Above is a picture of some of the gear I'll bring with me this weekend. Not pictured is a duffel bag full of the clothes I'll use on race day. Over the past ten years of adventure racing we may not have gotten much faster, but we have figured out how to determine what we'll need to pack and what might be better left behind. My philosophy is to bring more than I'll need to the race, and then pack my bag the night before with those things that I absolutely can't live without. Generally, we'll pack the mandatory gear first and then systematically go through our individual "luxury" items and begin to take things out. The name of the game is to travel as lightly as possible without sacrificing fluids and nutrition. Tomorrow night will be the final run through gear check with Jay. [Dwight & I pictured at the 2008 Frigid Infliction]