“In 1998, there were 11 adventure races staged in the United States; in 2009, 194 races were held, according to the U.S. Adventure Racing Association. It sanctions events such as Grizzlyman, a 10-hour race across mountains in western Montana…”

Thank you Justin and Collin for your work on this project!  What a great way to remember GMAR 2010!

-Joshua

Project Link

Old man winter is trying to fool us, I think.  The Lubrecht SNOTEL site reports 4 inches of new snow.  However, I look at the weather forecast and am trying to remember what 65 degrees feels like!  It looks like we’ll get the chance to find out…if the forecast holds true.  I think this new snow will melt off….if not, oh well.  We’ll have a blast anyway.

Take a look below and see if you can figure out which day we’ll be out setting checkpoints.     Be forewarned though, we don’t want to see any racers out at Lubrecht after Wednesday, April 13th!  Fine to float the river, but you need to stay out of Lubrecht (except the camp area) so as to not find any checkpoints and inadvertently gain knowledge of the course.  Thanks for your cooperation!

If you are racing in the GMAR or Black Bear Challenge, be sure you have with you the required equipment listed HERE! You will probably be checked at some point during the race. There will be penalties if you are not in compliance.

If you are racing in the GrizzlyMan, in addition to the required equipment, please be sure to read the water specific gear requirements outlined HERE. Specific clothing requirements for the river portion are outlined HERE.  We will ask you again at gear drop-off on Friday if you have all of the required gear. On race day you will be checked BEFORE you are allowed into the water! If you are not in compliance, you will not get into the water. Consider yourself forewarned, folks. If everyone comes prepared, there will be little reason for a let down and you will more than likely have a great time.

Racer check-in and gear drop-off will begin at 2pm on Friday, April 16th at the Wilderness Outpost. It will run until 6:30pm.

You will receive your checkpoint coordinates at the Pre-Race Briefing held at the Wilderness Outpost at The Resort at Paws Up at 7pm after you have dropped off your gear. BE THERE!

Directions to the Wilderness Outpost.

We had our last planning meeting last night and it looks like we’re all set. We have an unbelievable line up of prizes thanks to our generous sponsors! We received all of our maps from MyTopo.com and they look perfect. Again, they are 18″x24″ color printed on tear-proof/water-proof paper. MyTopo does a top notch job! Dave at Exact Image has received our shirt design and has begun printing. New this year, we’ll have cap sleeved women’s specific shirts. Dave does a great job for us!

That’s right!  Tim will be back this year riding the Kona King Kikapu donated by Missoula Bicycle Works.

Remember, this generosity is in support of YOU, the racers!  Be sure to show your support and stop by the shop at 708 S. Higgins Ave.

Thank you Missoula Bicycle Works!

Clinic #2 saw good attendance and great questions.  If you’d like to see what we covered, follow the link below to down load the slides we used.

Click HERE for the PowerPoint slides from Clinic #2!

-Joshua

Anyway, I have the outline that the clinic followed for you to download and review.  Also, the PowerPoint slide show that we used.  I hope this helps.

In the clinic, we did a couple of exercises with plotting coordinates on last year’s race map.  Those that attended did not get to take the race map home, but they got to keep the UTM grid readers that we passed out.

Let me know if you have any questions.

-Joshua

In December of ’08, while skiing with friends, I found myself inspecting the 3D map of the local topography in the Visitor Center at Lolo Pass.  A certain route just seemed to jump out at me:  Start in Missoula and bike to Elk Summit, ID.  Then, run across the Selway-Bitterroot to the Blodgett trail head (west of Hamilton, MT).  Those present at the time agreed that it seemed like a good idea.  One of the logistical hurdles would be arranging a shuttle for bikes as we set out from Elk Summit on foot.  After months of planning (and training) the outing came to fruition on September 19th, 2009.  Kyle Balke, Lewis Kogan, Aaron Baldwin, and Matt Henderson joined me for the big day.  (You may remember that Kyle and Lewis are integral members of the GMAR planning committee.)  I had emphasized the point that anyone could participate in as much of the M.E.S.S.S. (Missoula-Elk Summit-$#it Show) as they wanted to.  This proved to be a great way to get friends to join in the adventure.  Lewis and Kyle joined me for the departure from my house at 4:10am.  (I should interject that Lewis showed up early in order to get a plate of my homemade biscuits and gravy!)  We set off and after 3 flats, we were running about an hour behind schedule.  Our luck got better though; the sun rose as we headed up Highway 12 and over Lolo Pass down into Idaho.  Matt began riding out in front of us at Lolo Hot Springs and Aaron jumped in at the turn off for Elk Summit where we took a break and replenished our supplies of Perpetuem (near the Lochsa Lodge).  Lewis transitioned to a mountain bike and Kyle and I continued on our road bikes (which proved to be a difficult option considering the 3 miles of 10-12% grade on the rocky, dusty road up to Elk Summit).  That climb up Savage Ridge is one of the most sustained climbs around!  It climbs roughly 3000’ in less than 6 miles.  We all made it to Elk Summit though and I began wondering if my legs would hold up.  Matt, Aaron and I continued on foot for the 25 mile run/trek to the Blodgett trail head.  As we headed into the wilderness, be began taking endurolytes; 3 every 45 minutes.  I carried a Camelbak full of water and two bottles with Caffé Latte Perpetuem in them.  We refilled our water in streams along the way.  The route begins with a downhill until you reach Big Sand Lake.  We saw a bull moose at the lake and as we headed up Blodgett Pass we heard elk bugling.  At the top of the pass we took another break.  I ate my last Raw Revolution bar and my legs were definitely feeling the miles.  The weather couldn’t have been better as we headed downhill, back into Montana.  The 25 miles took us 6 hours, but we made the trail head before dark.  Noel met us with growlers of beer, sandwiches, chips, cookies, apples, bananas, and Recoverite mix!  A big thank you to Noel who drove over 250 miles in sagging/shuttling/supporting this adventure!  It truly would have been a mess without her support!  By the end of the day I had ridden 53 miles of road, 20 miles of dirt/gravel, and ran/trekked 25 miles of single track through some of the most beautiful and remote wilderness in the state….and all with the best of companions.  None of us ever cramped up nor reported  being overly sore in the following days .  Total elapsed time = 15 hours 41 minutes.  Thanks you guys, and great work!  I can’t wait ‘till next year!

To see more photos of this adventure click HERE!

Thanks to Hammer Nutrition and Raw Revolution, racers can look for Recoverite, Enduolytes, and Raw Revolution bar samples in their race day SWAG bags!

Hillsound Trail Crampon

Last Saturday I recruited Bill Martin (overall winner of the 2007 GMAR) to demo the Hillsound Trail Crampons with me.  Hillsound is a generous sponsor of the GrizzlyMan Adventure Race and several of our top placing racers received these crampons as prizes last year.  Bill and I found the “M” trail on Mt. Sentinel in perfect shape for the demo.  It was solid ice!  We threw on the crampons and started running up the trail.  As other folks timidly shuffled their way up the trail, we sprinted up with reckless abandon.  The grip was so good, we just kept going up.  Shortly after passing the “M”, the trail went from ice to packed snow.  The crampons offered great traction in the snow as well.  After a few minutes on the summit, we headed down for the true test:  running down hill on solid ice!  It was incredible how the crampons stuck to the trail.  Despite running at top speed on the iciest part of the trail, I never slipped.  My initial fear was that the longer teeth on the crampons would cause me to trip.  I didn’t trip and I didn’t even feel the need to modify my stride to avoid it.  These crampons are lightweight and easy to put on and take off.  This winter we’ve seen extremely icy conditions.  With these trail crampons, you don’t have to let the conditions keep you from getting out!  Thanks for the great design, Hillsound!

Be sure to watch the short video of this demo HERE!