Adventure Racing is Dead.

Got ya with the headline, didn’t I. But the thing is, am I so wrong? It seems like everyone is saying it behind closed doors and no one’s being public about it. But you have to. If you love it, this conversation needs to be had.

This last year, our sprint races had half the participants as last year. It was the first year in the nine years of our May race that we lost significant money on it. The 12-hour race had a big field, and we’re grateful for that, but more and more race directors are reporting dwindling numbers.

Things people are trying to do: teach people how to adventure race by holding clinics and forming clubs; creating points series to encourage participation at more events; simply having more races on a smaller budget to make up for the lack of participation (but this also limits the possibilities of the experience). But none of it is really working.

The Outdoor Retailer market report said that AR had grown by 20% in the last year, but you know what AR they’re talking about? Mud runs.

To Adventure Race purists, this is nothing. In fact, while we have the highest attended race series on the west coast, it’s our Mud Run that we had last year that paid the bills and enabled us to sustain another event season. We put it together in two months and it was the highest attended event we’ve ever had.

People like mud. And they like running. But we just can’t seem to get them to love real AR.

Why do you suppose? I have my theories:

1. Multisport is scary. There are some multisport athletes, but not like there are single-sport ones. When people write in for advice on how to train, we’re speechless. Just be able to ride a bike, hike, and the paddling, well, no one is good at that anyway.

But having put on enough races and been on course, I am coming to the conclusion that most people really can’t ride a bike. And if you can’t ride and we put you on amazing singletrack, you aren’t having fun.

2. People that are attracted to AR don’t race. As someone who does multisport (climbing, biking, hiking, running, kayaking, etc), I’m also not the type to race. I just do stuff because it sounds good. If I’m on vacation and I have my bike, I’ll use it to get to cool stuff. There’s no motivation to beat someone else at something I know I can do and not pay for.

3. Too much commitment. Tough Mudder – it’s running, in a small area, no navigation, nothing awful. You get tired, you give up. No one has to rescue you. Mud Runs – cool obstacles, short time period.

4. Lack of festival atmosphere. We tried, but when you’ve spent the morning running around in the fog, you kind of just want to go home, not party with a beer.

Am I wrong? Is AR dead because we’re not easy enough? If you were us, what would you do? Change up the traditional approach to go with the trends, or hold on to the purity and just suck it up and wait for people to get tired of mud runs? What do you think?

Epic Rescue–What We Did On Our Summer Break

So, it’s a few weeks out from the events for the spring, and Yishai and I decided to go on a mini vacation by driving all around Northern California: Arcata to Whiskeytown Lake to Lassen National Park to Downieville with some stops in between. If you haven’t been to this area, you should make sure you do. We were so inspired by the trees, the jagged mountains, the pot-smoking hippies, and the awesome ability for RVs to get just about everywhere.

We ended up going to Downieville kind of on a lark. We were driving out of Lassen and the truck is feeling . . . wobbly. We pull over and Yishai looks and sees nothing is wrong, so we keep going. And now we have a choice – we can go to Downieville, or we can go to the Bay Area for the weekend. After hemming and hawing, we decide that we should go to Downieville and then – BLAM:

The tire peels apart and literally attacks the entire back of the truck. Very, very sad pandas for us. In case you were wondering, event production, at our size and scope, doesn’t pay too much. This hurts. A lot.

We end up in Chico, getting a new spare tire, and then it’s a question of . . . the sun will be setting soon. What do we do? Stay in Chico? Give up on Downieville? No. We should go.

So we go. And we get lost. But then we get un-lost. And as the sun is beginning to set, we pull into the most idyllic town ever and the second hotel we stop at (enough of camping, we want comfort in this cute town) has one vacancy due to a car malfunction and we are saving that party from having to pay for the night anyway. Meant to be.

The hotel is cute, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the owner of the Riverside Inn – if you ever make it there, say hi.  

Anyway, we decide that I will shuttle Yishai to the start of the dirt road so he can “cross country” the approach to the famous Downieville Downhill. The Downieville Outfitters told us it averages people four hours to do the downhill, and knowing Yishai’s fitness, I figure it will take him four hours to ride up to the start and do it.

But he is sore from running on the beach without shoes a few days before. And it’s hot. Very hot. And he has very little water and food.

But whatever, he’s good.

So the dogs and I go down to the river for the day (thanks to the fact I’m still recovering from shoulder surgery), playing around, talking to locals and feeling the general Downieville good feeling.

Dogs at the gallows – don’t worry, it was only used once.

So four hours later, I go to our rally point – the truck in the parking lot. And wait. And wait. And wait.

Two hours later, I am starting to worry so I truck on over to the Downieville Outfitters again and ask if there’s been any epic reports. To my surprise, they are really, really involved in trying to help me – she tells me she’ll have the number forward to her home if I need to call her and I find out where he comes out so I can hike up and find him as it gets dark. But, this is a well trafficked trail. Maybe he’s just walking down from too many flats? People would say something happened as they passed.

So, about two hours late, and six hours into this, here’s how he shows up:

Stoked and covered in blood. So I am not too worried about him, but the story unfolds . . .

So he is riding up the dirt road, eight miles of slogging in full sun which he will never.do.again. and does not recommend – but it is pretty:

There are lovely things to see along the way, he takes photos for me so I can see:

After building bridges for the Ancient Peaks Classic, we approve of really nice mountain bike bridges.

And he’s not being passed by anyone, in fact, he passes people that were dropped off long ago by the bike outfitters. He tells me later that this was a trail that I could definitely do, and enjoy, and that all these people with armor and hardcore downhill bikes are definitely not in need of that for the ride.

So he’s thirteen miles into the ride, about to finish in only three and a half hours from drop off at the dirt road to the truck, when he comes across a guy lying on the side, moaning, unable to move.

Yishai no longer has his certifications, but he has Wilderness First Responder and EMT training, and he loves using it. So he casts his bike aside and checks on the guy. He’s helpless. Can’t move his leg. The pain is excruciating. He does the formal checks and determines he’s got a huge 4” laceration that’s very deep above his hip, and extreme pain on palpation. He’s also bleeding – a lot. Huge clumps of clotting blood plop out as he examines.

So Yishai cleans out the wound with his Lezyne water pack, packs the wound and puts pressure on it. And then, in time, they decide they can move him. There’s no cell phone reception, so it’s going to have to be a carry.

By now, more San Luis Obispo people show up (we find it funny that they have Wheelmen and Foothill jerseys – represent) to help. Yishai, along with two other guys, try a chair-carry, but it’s not working, so “Ox” – a huge guy, 6’3” and 220lb + suggests piggy backing, and Yishai holds him from behind because he can’t cling with his legs. They start down the trail.

And then a guy comes riding toward them, yelling, “YOU’RE IN THE WAY!” and rides up on the side . . . which is jerky in the first place. But more jerky is that as he rides on the side of the trail, he rams a wasp nest, unleashing thousands of angry stingers!

The guys are helpless, they have to set the injured guy down, fighting the bees, throwing water on them, wondering if they should drag him out of the way or what. The end up telling him to just lay there and not move so they will calm down.

And then, when that happens, they climb on down the hill.

His friend is there with his new pickup with leather seats – “I am going to ruin it with this guy’s blood!” Bah! Help your friend- you can wash your truck!

Anyway, he get loaded, they drive off, and Yishai shows up.

I tell him I need to go to the Outfitters to tell them we found him and they are so stoked at the heroics of the three guys that they hand out socks.

Awww. The guy ended up with a broken pelvis, but is going to be okay. Three cheers for being there when he needed it!

That’s a wrap–the Ancient Peaks Classic

Photo by Chris Bersbach

First, I want to start this post with gratitude. Events don’t happen when it’s a two-person show without a lot of support. Huge thanks to SIDI for deciding to support us early on and defraying half the costs of developing the course and putting on the event. To Josh Cohen and Foothill Cyclery for the enthusiasm, the man power, driving shuttles, and being our other title sponsor.

Photo by Chris Bersbach

Thanks to Karl Wittstrom, Doug Filliponi, and Ron Rossi for allowing us to take their beautiful ranch and show it to our event attendants. There is so much interesting stuff out there to find out about! And where elsewould you be able to take a ranch and turn it into an event mountain bike course?

Photo by Chris Bersbach

Huge thanks to the crew that not only pretty much devoted the last few months to helping us finish the trails, but run the event: Todd (of ToddBuilt construction – let us know if you have general contracting needs!), Mitch, Eddie, Ryan, and Mimo (Demitri). And for his toys, enthusiasm, and man power: Josh Machado at Mac2 Build. Huge thanks to Jim of Central Coast Brewing for beers and donating half the proceeds to our event to defray costs. Thanks to the rest of our friends for showing up and filling out the venue – Lezyne, Smartwash, Fluid, Elemental Herbs, Voler (supplier of the prize jerseys), SLO County Search and Rescue, CalStar, Ira’s Bike shop, and CBO.

Photo by Chris Bersbach

Thanks to all of you who came out to support us, take photos, race, ride, or spread the word. Thank you so much to the volunteers that came when they said they would, spread the stoke, and kept everyone safe!

Photo by Brandon Sampson

Out all day, home at dark, dinner at 11 pm – that was the last few months. If there wasn’t computer work to be done, there was driving. There was sunburns. There was soreness. There was so much poison oak that my car gives it to me when I drive it.

Photo by Brandon Sampson

But, honestly, while we were terrified we wouldn’t be able to break even this year, the amount of commitment to the dream from the people that were supporting us kept us going. I loved watching Nate talk about his work, hearing feedback from his friends who were testing the course, and the thrill of the community of Santa Margarita (which, if you haven’t spent time there, you should – the Range is the best restaurant in SLO County, and that’s saying a lot!).

Photo by Lloyd Baggs

The weather was perfect, if a little windy, everyone was super cool, and we had no major injuries. Yishai kept reminding me that “WE COULD KILL SOMEONE.” Of course, I wasn’t too worried about the cross country course – you might fall into a pile of poison oak or into a creek, but mostly it was just rolling grassy hills. I had resigned myself to a couple helicopter rides after hearing about how Parkfield usually goes, and I was totally thrilled when the last Pro went down the hill and the med supplies went mostly unused. Huge props to Nate for creating a downhill course that was not only badass, but safe. 

Photo by Scott McDowell – Sweet digger, but he/she survived!

There were only a few problems (most out of our control), and I ended the weekend a pretty solid almost-semi-truck driver – but overall, this may have been the best event we’ve ever done and it comes down to this: support of the community, of the racers, of the companies we’re promoting, and the huge payoff of seeing almost a year’s worth of work come to an end.

Photo by Scott McDowell

Now, to continue lying on the couch in recovery.

SmartWasher–For You Cyclists Out There!

We asked our newest Ancient Peaks sponsor to tell us about themselves, and here’s what they sent.

But to cut to the chase, come check him out – he says he can get a muddy bike that hasn’t been cleaned in a season dry in fifteen minutes. Who care’s about science!

SW423 SMARTWASHER INTRODUCED TO THE BIKE INDUSTRY

http://www.chemfree.com/

ChemFree Corporation’s bioremediating parts washing system, the SW-423, receives rave reviews from the bike community for its cleaning performance and  its commitment to a clean environment.

The SW-423 SmartWasher, a bioremediating parts washing system, can keep your bike looking and performing like new. Although the SmartWasher parts washing systems have a long track record in the automotive and industrial markets, it is brand new to the bicycle service industry and is already getting rave reviews. With special accessories for washing bicycles along with award winning SW4 OzzyJuice and a microbe impregnated filter, called an OzzyMat, the SmartWasher system will outperform any previously available bike wash product with zero impact to the
environment and no danger to users. Don’t let dirt and grime diminish your investment; a clean bike works better and lasts longer.

Founded in 1993, and located in Norcross, GA, ChemFree corporation is a subsidiary of Intelligent Systems Corporation, a publicly traded corporation (AMEX symbol: INS). Manufacturing the patented SmartWasher® Bioremediating Parts Washing System, ChemFree Corporation provides an alternative method to cleaning vehicle and maintenance parts without harming humans or the environment. The SmartWasher® system consists of the SmartWasher parts washer equipment, OzzyJuice® Degreasing Solutions and OzzyMats™which are microbe impregnated filters. The combination of these products, “the system”, allows the user to eliminate or dramatically reduce waste streams, the expense of hazardous waste removal, the associated liabilities of generating waste, and the hassles of regulatory compliance. Uniting superior performance and environmental responsibility, the ChemFree product line is sold in more than 40 countries worldwide. ChemFree holds 27 patents—11 in the United States and 16 in other countries.

“More than ever, organizations are looking for innovations that allow them to operate
more responsibly. But innovations are not practical if they are expensive or hard to
use. The products that we develop merge environmental responsibility with the things
that businesses have always sought like cost effectiveness, safety, durability and most
importantly, a product that works,” said Tom McNally, ChemFree’s Vice President.

ChemFree manufactures a wide range of SmartWashers that are used for degreasing parts. Bioremediation allows the user to eliminate or dramatically reduce waste streams, eliminating the expense of hazardous waste removal contracts and associated liabilities.

If you would like more information about this topic, the ChemFree product line, or to schedule an interviewplease contact Melissa Page-Hale at 770-564-5589 or mpage@chemfree.com (www.chemfree.com)

Letter to Bike Shop Owners

Maybe you’ll be getting one soon!

Dear awesome bike shop owner:

At the beginning of the year, we were given the opportunity have full access to a privately held ranch offering 14,000 acres of rolling hills, canopied forest, and rugged peaks. Though no mountain bike trails yet existed, its owners let us onto their property with the vision of developing world-class mountain bike trails that would put their ranch and winery on the map.

Six months later, we’re proud to announce the first Annual Ancient Peaks Classic, held just north of San Luis Obispo at the Santa Margarita Ranch. With the help of local pros and amateurs, we worked to create what our pre-riders are reporting as epic, world-class trails to be opened to riders on July 23 and 24^th.

Our cross country trail features up to fifteen miles of single track and fire road riding, bridge crossing, epic burms, rolling hills, and sweeping vistas. The trail’s been hailed as possibly the best place to ride in all of Southern California, which is saying a lot, considering the quality of nearby trails in San Luis Obispo county.

The downhill portion is a 1,300 foot drop in three miles of super fast lines. A unique combination of natural and constructed track, it has been compared to some of the west coast’s best riding by competitors such as Ryan Tarver, Jeff Bowers, and course designer, Nate Lewis.

Videos and photos are viewable at our website: www.ancientpeaksclassic.com. Please take the time to check it out and help us generate buzz about the event. We hope to have the event follow the Sea Otter Classic next year, and give visiting riders a real show of what California riding and the central Coast has to offer.

Please consider posting the enclosed posters and setting out the brochures somewhere prominent. We are doing this for the love of the sport, but proceeds will also go to support WaterRun, a 501 c3 non-profit dedicated to helping build wells in African communities.

Thanks, and hope to see you out here!

Yishai Horowitz

Race Director and Course Developer

A Narrative of the Downhill Course for the Ancient Peaks Classic

Still working on actual video, sit down, relax, and enjoy as designer Nate Lewis describes the ride, blow by blow.

The Importance of Bike Fit!

By guest writer Josh Cohen of Foothill Cyclery

First off let me say congratulations to all of the Morro Bay Tri finshers. You all did a great job out there on a gloomy day that could have been a lot worse. One of the things I happened to observe on the road while driving support for the bike leg is that there are many of you guys and gals out there on poorly fit bikes. Granted this is just a casual observation but it seemed that the majority of the riders out there on the road could have had free speed and more comfort just by having their bikes fitted correctly. With that being said I know some of you are saying to yourselves, I got fitted when I bought my bike, I’m good. I say to you, ask yourself, did I really get fitted well? Do my shoulders feel sore after my ride? Do my knees track straight up and down or do they flail out sideways? Do my feet feel sore after I ride or even during? Do my hands or fingers go numb during my rides? Is my back sore? Do I have pressure on the front of my seat that makes me want to tilt the saddle way down? Is my bike really comfortable for 2 plus hours or does it make me want to get a massage the next day?

I’m sure most of you have asked your bike shop something along these lines and gotten the “You’ll get used to it” response. I can not stress enough that this is a horrible answer. Your bike shouldn’t hurt or make you sore except for your legs after a killer ride. I’m going to go out on a limb and outline the advanced fit we do at Foothill Cyclery so you can see what a fit should really consist of. Please note this is our advanced fit we offer in the aftermarket.

First step is to get to know you. We want to know if you have injuries or other factors which would change the way you fit on the bike. We also want to know what you want to do with the bike whether you are touring, racing, stunt riding, etc.

Second is to get you warmed up and look at your current set up and problems you are having with it. Even small things like sore shoulders hours after you ride. We are looking for all the things that contribute to your performance.

Third thing we do is get some basic measurements off of you. This includes inseam and shoulder width as well as foot varus and valgus (tilt). At this point we are also looking at your shoes and feet as well as how you walk and what your feet tend to do.

After that we make the first basic adjustments to the bike. Saddle height is based off the inseam measurement and set. With the seat height adjusted, we have the rider actually ride on the trainer, check saddle height and fore aft with a goniometer (measures body angles) and a laser. Then we look at the ride straight on with the laser and make adjustments to allow the knee to track as straight as possible. Once that is done, we go again to the saddle height and fore aft and readjust as needed.

The next steps involve rider flexibility. Post warm up we look at how flexible you are in the mid section primarily at your hips. This will determine how much drop and reach we can achieve from the saddle to the bars. The rest is in the details, fine tuning the shifter placement, looking at bar tape wrap options and so on.

These fits take roughly 1.5 – 3 hours and come with a 30 day comfort guarantee. We know that sometimes other little issues can come up post fit so within the first 30 days you can come back for a refit, and adjustments, including swapping out anything fit related that you bought during the bike fit.

That’s our overview of what we think a proper fit should be. I’m not saying that it’s the end all be all of bike fitting, but it’s a great place to start and more than enough for all but the most elite athletes. With that said we have worked on some of the fastest riders in the country, including Jr National Road Race Champion Evan Huffman, and Subaru Trek Pro mountain biker Sam Schultz.

If you haven’t been fitted at this level and would like to know how much more comfortable your bike can be, just call Foothill Cyclery at 805 541 4101 ask for Josh and schedule a fit appointment.