Well after the anticipation of two big races and four weeks straight of traveling it is finally time for a weekend of rest and relaxation and sleeping in my own bed here in Gunnison, CO.  Time always goes much faster when you are not at home and the last month has seemed like 2 weeks.   I must say I had forgotten how great the mountain air is after the heat and humidity of St. Croix, St. George UT, and Orlando FL.

Week(s) in Review:

I guess I have been chasing the Ironman dream now as I have been bitten by the triathlon bug and Kona is all I can think about lately. It all started April 28^th when I flew into St. Croix, Virgin Islands to race the ½ Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile road bike, 13.1 mile run) for a chance to win a slot into the Ironman World Championships in October.  However, the island gods thought better of my goals and after hitting something on the bike and totally ruining my tire I was forced to drop out and call it a day.  So after a week on the island I flew to St. George UT for almost ten days and stayed with my dad to get in some more heat training, open water swimming, and preparing for the Orlando Ironman 70.3 on May 17^th.

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After waiting most of the winter, we have finally received some much-needed snow in the Colorado Front Range.  Wet, heavy, and perfect for snowballs, this stuff has turned the trails to mush.  I competed in the Adventure Xstream 12-Hr at Moab last weekend-where Will and Jenny Newcomer did an excellent job with the race, as usual-and have since been spending most of my training time running and paddling.

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Well, another Elk Mountain Grand Traverse has come and gone.  This backcountry ski race requires teams of two to traverse 40 miles and 8,0000′ vertical from Crested Butte to Aspen.  The race started at midnight on Friday night.  Once again, the course proved as heinous as ever with 0 degree temperatures and 50 m.p.h. winds on top of Star and Taylor passes.  Faces and fingers were frozen, eating and speaking nearly impossible.

My partner, Bryan “Wick” Wickenhauser, and I ended up 4^th place after 9 hours 35 minutes of racing.  Jon Brown and Brian Smith ended up 7^th and Jari Kirkland and Tucker brought home 2^nd in the co-ed division.  Mike Kloser and Jay Henry won the race.  It was a decent showing for Team Salomon/Crested Butte in one of the toughest races we do all year.  Teammate Travis Macy opted for a summer option and won the solo division at the 12-Hour Adventure Xstream Moab race.

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Hello PQ Community,

We are pleased to announce the team will be racing Primal Quest Badlands!  PQ is our marquee race for the year, and we look forward to giving it our best shot.  To that end, we’ll update this blog weekly with postings from the team about training, preparation, and other races we compete in along the way.

We began our journey into adventure racing about six years ago when most of the team raced as Team Crested Butte and Travis Macy was their rival on Team Salomon USA.  Since then, we’ve been lucky enough to do well in a number of domestic and international races and finished fifth in our last PQ in Moab.  Travis, who finished second at PQ Montana, joined the team this year.

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Robyn Benincasa, captain of Team Merrell Zanfel, returns this week with more adventure racing tips for Primal Quest success. Her last installment focused on teamwork, and this time out we’ll take a look at the all important skill of navigation, a discipline that is often overlooked, but can determine a team’s ultimate success or failure. 

Adventure Racing Navigation Tips

If you are a good navigator, you can write your own ticket in the sport of Adventure Racing.  Your race calendar will be full before you know it, with invites from some pretty solid teams.  But navigation is a mix of art and science that needs to be practiced continually, so your best bet is to hook up with a local orienteering team (most of the sport’s best navigators have a competitive orienteering background) and see how good you can get!  Plus, learning to navigate is just darn fun. 

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Robyn Benincasa is the captain of Team Merrell Zanfel and one of the most experienced adventure racers in the world. She has written numerous articles on the sport and what it takes to be successful both as an individual and as a team. Robyn has generously granted us permission to share some of those tips, and over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a few of her articles here. 

This first entry is on Teamwork, something that Robyn focuses on in her motivational speaking and on her website WorldClassTeams.com. Read on for her insights on the subject.

Teamwork

Adventure Racing is one of the only sports in which you actually have to have your teammates with you, doing exactly what you’re doing, glued to your side at all times.  That’s why Adventure Racing is just as much an interpersonal journey as a physical one.   In the best of times, you will experience moments that will bond you to your teammates in a very special way for life; In the worst of times, you will walk away having experienced the worst aspects of human nature and be left to pick up the pieces of your shattered hopes.   In my experience, a lack of teamwork skills is responsible for at least 40-50% of the DNF’s in Adventure Racing, and it is far too important a factor to overlook in any discussion about the sport.  So here’s my two cents. 

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