Odyssey One Day Adventure Race

The race we have been preparing for since early Spring came calling for us this past weekend. The 21st edition of the Odyssey 24 hour adventure race took place in Craig County, near New Castle, Virginia. The exceptionally rugged and unforgiving terrain of Jefferson National Forest was our constant companion and often times, our nemesis. Race director and Adventure Racer extraordinaire, Ronny Angell, described this particular course (which he set up) as "old school" Odyssey. That comment made me cringe a bit because Odyssey has long held a reputation for races that only the most elite and fit of teams could come close to completing. The last few years Odyssey had eased up a little and made the races more "doable". Go figure that we'd pick this one as our inaugural race together and Ronny would decide to go "old school" on us. Of the 36 teams who started the race, 3 finished in 24 hours or less. We were not one of those teams. Since there is so much information to cover about this race, I have decided to make two posts. My second post will cover the actual details of the race. Kris and Steve drove together from Northern Virginia and Gary and myself drove together from Luray. We caught up with them on I-81 and blazed a path together into base camp like a mini caravan, complete with bikes, gear, food, drink and copious amounts of testosterone. Record breaking heat was forecast for race day and the day before (our arrival day) was apparently on the prowl for it's own record. After a quick check in, we were off to set up our micro "tent city" and make final preparations for the next day. Kris broke out the Dutch Oven, cut up various vegetables, added some sirloin and kielbasa and proceeded to serve us up massive helpings of stew worthy of a King! As if that were not cool enough, he followed the meal with a blueberry cobbler that he also made in the Dutch Oven. Needless to say, he secured his place as the "team chef" for all future events. We washed all that gourmet food down with a couple beers and headed off to our tents for a good nights sleep. The sweat soaked details of the actual race will follow tomorrow.
"Thrive Outside"