I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. Following this race is hard work. I keep hoping that if I click the GPS tracking map over and over again all day long, our team will go faster.
Anyway, Team Buff Thermo Cool has reached the halfway point of the race, where they have a mandatory six-hour rest and get a hot meal. Impressively, Sari found a computer and managed to send this message:
“Super wet and muddy everywhere. Teammates are awesome. Tired, super sore knees but otherwise all is well.”
Buff is six-hours behind the lead teams, Seagate and Silva. They are “carrying a 2-hour penalty” because apparently one teammate lost their required race jersey somewhere along the way. With the penalty time factored in, they are in ninth place overall. There is still a long way to go, including a 65km trek along the coast, followed by a 150km mountain bike leg. Team Buff is healthy and strong and they still have a great shot at the podium. Thanks for following along and supporting Sari!
Howdy. Sari’s slower, lazier half here – reporting from the comfort of my couch. Here’s the latest on the race in Tasmania (from what I can glean online, half a world away).
So far Team Buff Thermo Cool has:
-paddled 17km
-trekked 20km through the Tassie bush (do I sound like a local?)
-shot at clay pigeons and missed, resulting in a 10 minute penalty
-navigated through a series of caves
-mountain biked 50K
-trekked 60k
From there, teams were supposed to do a waterfall rappel, but it sounds like that section was cancelled. Then, the course gets really strange. Apparently each four-person team has to squeeze into one, two-person inflatable kayak for an 8km paddle. Why, I don’t know. After that unnecessary bonding experience, the teams have a 20km paddle in their own plastic kayaks to a transition area at the end of Lake Mackintosh.
If you’ve been watching the GPS tracking or the leaderboard, you’ve noticed that Team Seagate took a commanding lead early in the race. Seagate is made up of a bunch of legends in the adventure racing world so it’s no surprise they’re in front. Team Buff fell back to 10th place after their shooting penalty, but the latest GPS data has them in fourth place less than two hours behind the leaders.
The top three teams (Seagate, Silva and Blackheart) will all be tough to beat, but keep in mind the race is less than half over. After this paddling leg, teams have a 105km mountain bike, followed by mandatory six-hour rest zone. Then there’s a 65k trek, a 150km mountain bike and a 75km paddle. The race is still anyone’s game.
Hey there race fans! Ok, more than likely you’re a Sari fan. And if like me, you prefer enjoying a 6-day, 450-mile adventure race from the comfort of your couch/desk/smartphone, I’m here to help. For the next few days, I’m going to hijack my lovely wife’s website and attempt to provide somewhat regular updates on the race in Tasmania.
To wit:
Sari and her teammates from Buff Thermo Cool will be racing over 450 miles in a big loop around Tasmania, starting and finishing in the city of Burnie
The race includes trekking, mountain biking, sea kayaking, rafting, caving, abseiling, navigation and more.
The race director predicts it will take the top teams six days to finish (Monday morning local Tasmania time).
Sari’s teammates are the reigning world champions hailing from Spain and France. Here’s their Facebook page.
Here’s a very cool Google Earth overview of the course:
And here’s a blow by blow description of the course.
The race started today, or tomorrow at 9am if you live in the Australia Western Time Zone. I’m not sure it’s fair, but somehow those Aussies/Kiwis get to live their lives a full day and a half before us. But I digress. The race began on Wednesday morning local time with a 17km sea kayak leg followed by a clay pigeon shooting challenge, where one teammate had to hit one of five targets. I’ve seen Sari shoot an air rifle and she couldn’t hit a chipmunk if it were gnawing on her foot. Unfortunately, it seems her teammates are as bad a shot as she is and they failed the challenged, which resulted in a 10-minute penalty. No big deal in a race this long. The team is now off on a trek, followed by a mountain bike ride and then a caving adventure(!?).
I suspect the top teams will stick pretty close together in these first few days and the race won’t really start to shake out until day 3 or 4 when sleep deprivation and fatigue really set in.
From what I can tell, the favorites in the race are Team Silva (#9), Team Seagate (#2) and Team Blackheart (#3). But, this is adventure racing and mechanicals, injuries and sickness can slow down even the fastest, best prepared teams.
I’ll try to post updates daily here, but if you want to follow along with the race and join me in yelling at your computer screen when our team takes a wrong turn or is moving slow, here are some options.
This afternoon I’m leaving for Tasmania to race in the XPD Adventure Racing World Championships. I got the call to race as part of Team Buff Thermocool when their regular female teammate had to bow out because of an injury. With a little more than a month’s notice, I’ve been training hard and I feel pretty well prepared.
Packing for an expedition race like this is practically a race in and of itself. My gear list is below. Somehow, I managed to fit it all in one huge duffel bag, one bike box and one carry-on backpack.
Custom bike box courtesy of Mike Kloser
Thankfully I didn’t have to pack Hank the dog
-4 Black Diamond headlamps (we have to have one on us at all times)
-1 set AyUp! handlebar and helmet lights
-1 pair Black Diamond folding carbon fiber Z poles
-3 pairs of La Sportiva trail running shoes
-1 pair SOLE Sport Flip flops
-custom made Polartec Neoshell anorak
-Out There! AS-1 pack designed by Mike Kloser
-ultralight sleeping bag from Macpac
-2 down jackets
-1 Polartec super secret prototype insulating mid-layer
-1 pair custom made Polartec Power Shield Pro pants
-1 pair of Westcomb Polartec stretch woven pants
-4 Polartec wool shirts (3 LS, 1 SS)
-3 LS Polartec high efficiency polyester mid-layer shirts
-lightweight windpants
-3 pairs of bike shorts
-2 bike jerseys
-3 pair of bike gloves (different weights to wear paddling and hiking as well)
-2 pair of Black Diamond insulated gloves
-2 Polartec knit hats
-1 SmartWool knit hat
-1 skull cap
-knee warmers
-leg warmers
-arm warmers
-1 pair of bike shoe booties
-1 pair Outdoor Research gaiters
-2 cases of Honey Stinger Chews, waffles & protein bars
-extra batteries
-candy corn (I’m missing Halloween here)
-snacks (gorp, gummy bears, yogurt pretzels, wasabi peas)
-Trek Superfly 100 29″ hardtail with Stan’s ZTR Race Gold wheels
-4 spare tubes
-2 extra Maxxis tires
-Bontrager bike helmet
-3 hydration bladders (1 for the bike, 1 for the PFD)
-5 water bottles
-electrolyte tablets
-Gu2O electrolyte drink mix
-extra Crank Brothers eggbeater pedals
-bike multitool
-Epic breakdown carbon fiber wing paddle
-Coleman bug head net
-emergency blanket & whistle
-2 pairs of sunglasses
-waterproof camera
-sunscreen
-lip balm
-Specialized S-Works MTB shoes with a Boa Closure System
-4 pair SmartWool PHD cycling socks
-1 pair SmartWool Compression socks
-2 pair running shorts
-PFD
-wetsuit
-Westone True Fit 3 earbuds (best headphones I’ve ever used)
-Water shoes
-Sportslick
-Chamois Butter
-first aid kit
-prescriptions for Cipro, Ambien, Bactrim (antibiotic)
-toiletries-
-bag of wet wipes
-glowsticks
-Gerber knife
-ipod Nano
-American flag
-Silva shin guards (for bushwhacking)
-bikini (for relaxing after the race)
-4 pair of underwear
-1laptop
-3 books
My awesome new Polartec Neoshell jacket that weighs less than 5 ounces (also, apparently it can be really buggy in Tasmania..and dark).
Ian is going to try and update this site with whatever race reports he can find online. Wish me luck and thanks for all your support!
I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. Following this race is hard work. I keep hoping that if I click the GPS tracking map over and over again all day long, our team will go faster.
