Adventure Race Gear Shake Down

Two weeks until team "Appalachian Outdoors Adventures" competes in the Odyssey 24 hour adventure race in south western Virginia. The team consists of Gary Drum, Kristopher Hayne, Steve Lindsey and myself. Because Kris and Steve live and work in northern Virginia, training together on a regular basis has been difficult. The required gear list for the race is fairly extensive and we all realize the importance of making sure we show up prepared. A decision was made for the four of us to meet at our shop and head out to the George Washington National Forest for a night mountain bike ride. In addition to the night ride through rock gardens and across ridges, we would be checking our light systems (mine failed in the end!) and taking note of other items we may or may not want to bring. Our ride began while the sun was still up and we made pretty good time on the Massanutten trail, navigating our way through rocks and crossing the occasional creek. Three miles in the trail intersects with Peach Orchard Gap, where we pushed and carried our bikes a half mile uphill to the Duncan Knob trail. It's safe to say that the "least favorite" part of the ride was the uphill "hike a bike". No pain compares to whacking your shin on your clip-less pedal, while pushing the bike uphill, swatting gnats that are incessantly dive bombing your eyeballs and simultaneously removing thorny vines that reach out and grab at your flesh from the side of the trail. After the "barrel of laughs" we all had climbing up to Duncan Hollow, we made the pleasant side trip up to the top of Duncan Knob, where the breeze rapidly cooled our upper bodies, still clad in sweat soaked jerseys. After removing the wet jerseys and hanging them in various surrounding trees to dry out, we all relaxed on the warm rocks and entertained ourselves with stories that only four guys in the middle of a remote forest, on a mountain top, completely removed from polite company would have or even begin to appreciate. After the sun fell completely behind the distant ridges of West Virginia, we began our rock scramble descent back to the mountain bikes and mounted up. The majority of the ride back out is either flat or downhill, so we made great time through the darkness, bombing downhill at points and ultimately back to our starting point. The best part is that there were no injuries and no major gear malfunctions (other than my bike light). Time seems to be flying by and in less than two weeks we will be spending 24 hours together, testing our bodies, minds and equipment under less than optimal conditions. Nothing makes us happier! "Thrive Outside"