The web site Adventure-Race-Reports.com has listed a Team Santa Fe race report as 'Editors Choice' for Best Race Reports'. http://www.zdap.com/racereports/viewtopic.php?t=299

Tour de Doughnut
November 7, 2004
Katy, Texas
Lisa Carr-Broome and George Broome
By: Lisa Carr-Broome

Sun and Ski Sports 1st annual Tour de Doughnut was a 28 mile (Krispy Kreme) doughnut eating race or a 55 mile MS-150 training ride. We chose to ride the 55 mile course which was relatively flat with a few rolling hills. The ride started at Katy Mills Mall which is around 30 miles west of Houston. The course weaved its way through many small towns in Fort Bend County crossing the Brazos River. It was a perfect day for a ride...sunny with a 0800 starting temperature of 55 and a finishing temperature of 80 with very little humidity. At the 4 well stocked rest stops we drooled over doughnuts and fueled on fruit. We had a great ride, finishing the 55 mile course averaging 18.91 mph.

Sponsors of the ride were Sun and Ski Sports, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Pepsi and Go Xplor. The entry fee of $25 per rider (over 2000 riders participated) will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. A terrific ride for a great cause! We want to thank our Team Santa Fe sponsors for such wonderful gear...CW-X biking jerseys and sports bra, Terry saddles, CamelBak hydration packs, Suunto wrist computer with Polar HRM, SofSole insoles and Bolle sunglasses.

New Mexico Orienteers November Meet
November 14, 2004
Los Alamos, NM
Kim Bear, Jan Bear and Hugh Driscoll
http://www.nmorienteers.org
By: Jan Bear

This was the first time I had seen Hugh in quite some time. Hugh was a member of the 1995 Eco-Challenge team from New Mexico; Team New Mexico. We decided to get together for a little orienteering in the snow. The location that the New Mexico Orienteer’s chose for this event was Rendija Canyon West.

The weather had been cold and snowy the last couple days but today was only cold and overcast with 1-3 inches of snow on the ground depending on where on the course you were. We chose the Red course which had 14 control points and was about 8 km long; we were told that it would be very difficult because of the snow. After getting our maps and clue sheet we headed to Starbucks to plan our course and get warm. After a quit planning session we were back to the cemetery where the courses began, here we met Steve Pritchett from the New Mexico Adventure Racing Club in Albuquerque. Well we couldn’t delay any more so it was time to start. The route we planned went well and we quickly made our way from CP1 thru CP4 bushwhacking, then on to CP 5 thru 9 where we were able to use a fire road to help link the points although there was still a lot of bushwhacking in the snow, with all the downed trees from the forest fires it was a little treacherous. For CP 10 thru 14 we used the trail system in the area to move quickly and we finished the course in about 2 hours and 34 minutes, in first place for the red course. We had a great time and enjoyed the outing; it was especially fun to do the event with Hugh.

Sponsor gear used from, Bolle, Suunto, CamelBak, CW-x, Montrail, ThorLo, Outdoor Research, Leki and Golite.

New Times 10K
November 14, 2004
Phoenix, AZ
Barb Dutrow 44:41 1/89 F45-50 252/2369 overall
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/10k/2004/
By Barb Dutrow

The 29th annual New Times 10K is run on a flat and fast course through downtown Phoenix. With several venues for running, a 5K, 10K, team relay, and elite division with money, race organizers proudly announced that there were over 10,000 participants. I ran in the "Citizen's 10K".

Race start was under high overcast, about 50F, with breezy conditions; good for running, bad for standing around. With the streets blocked off for nearly 0.75 miles in all directions, one needed to leave their warm-ups early. Anticipating large crowds, race organizers hung huge pace per mile markers and asked runners to line up according to expected pace. There I ran into several friends from my previous runs in Phoenix. At 9am the 10K was off, the 5K left at 8am. The course had only eight turns and was even flatter than Louisiana. In addition, the traffic control was incredible with policemen at each intersection and runners had several wide lanes to use to their advantage. Aid stations at about 1.5 mile intervals kept one from desiccating.

The race provided some speed work to intersperse with my long and slow training runs. I finished in 44:41 (7:12/mile) for 1st in my age group and 252 overall of 2369 finishers in the Citizen's 10K. After the race was a large party with numerous vendors and great good and giveaways.

Thanks to Polar Heart Rate systems for keeping me going and to Thorlo for padding my feet.

Balance Bar 24 hours Adventure Race
November 19-20, 2004
Santa Monica, California
Team Santa Fe – Kim and Jan Bear with Ries Robinson
2nd Masters Division, 24:32
http://www.balancebaradventure.com/24hour/results.cfm?year=2004
By Kim Bear

The race began on mountain bikes at 3:30 am on Saturday morning. We had spent all of Friday getting to Los Angeles preparing for the 95-mile race; we knew we were in for a lot of climbing in all venues excepting paddling. Even the Tyrolean traverse would be more ascending then gliding quickly as we had to climb up the rope to the other side of a canyon.

The 80 some teams were bussed from the beach to the mountain preserves at 1:30 am Saturday morning to the starting line. The mountain bikes had been boxed up, so all the teams had to locate and build their bikes into riding order before the start. After the National anthem, we begin an ascent on bikes as the gun went off right around 3:30 am. The 24-hour adventure began with intensity. We were doing pretty well, as we could see all the lights of riders behind us as we summited each mountaintop. We reached CP 1 getting slightly split up. Many teams passed us as we experienced a dreaded “fatal” mechanical problem. Jan’s back tire was free spinning; the free wheel was broken so that he could only coast down slopes. He had no power in his pedal stroke and would have to run his bike up anything that had any elevation. Even on the flats, Ries and Kim took turns pushing him along. We began to talk about going unranked. There was no way we could complete the 40+ miles of mountain biking using this technique. Ries convinced us to just hang in there and we would just try to make the cut offs. We immediately began asking anyone and everyone for mechanical help, to no avail. After several hours of this, Jan had a good fall while coasting down a steep section. It was still dark and he caught a rock on some single track. He got back on his bike and the back wheel was WORKING! We held our breath as we got back in the race.

After finishing the first bike leg; 30 miles, we were at the beach getting ready for the 14-mile paddle. It was around 8 am. It was a challenge to get the 3-man kayak through the surf, but once we got going it was a continuous “grinding” paddle. We had one checkpoint on the water. The boat kept taking on water, so Kim had to keep using our bilge pump to keep the water out. Finally, we made it through the surf to the beach for the next section of the race a 5-mile up hill trek. The three of us agreed that paddling was not our favorite portion and were very happy to have that behind us. Did I mention how sore our rears were! The trekking was fast as we shuffled along. Jan towed Kim; the sun came out and dried everything out.

The next transition had us back on mountain bikes mainly on Muholland drive. It was quite a climb with spectacular scenery, gorgeous houses and motorcycles racing up and down the curves of the road. We finally reached the next transition to the long 18 mile trek. About 2 miles into the trek was the Tyrolean Traverse. Usually Tyrolean traverses allow you to quickly glide down the rope over a river, valley etc. but the course designers thought we should have to work so for the traverse it was really slightly up so you had to pull your way across, there was no gliding. This section was backed up as you can imagine and we probably waited an hour to get on the ropes. Jan went first and then pulled Kim and Ries over. From there, the trek led us all over the backbone ridges of Santa Monica Mountains. The night was fine until about midnight and it began to rain lightly and then began to pour. Mud caked on our shoes as we slid down the rest of the mountain into the bike transition.

We jumped back on our bikes and headed down single track that eventually turned into Roy Rogers State Park. From there we headed through Santa Monica and onto the beach and came in at 4 am with a finish time of 24 hours and 32 minutes giving us a second place in the Masters Division.

We had gone 30 miles on a mountain bike, 14 miles paddling on the ocean, then a 5 mile trek, followed by a 13 mile bike on Muholland drive, 18 mile trek, and lastly a 15 mile bike to finish line.

Special thanks to all of our sponsors: CW-X, Bolle, Litespeed, CamelBak, Montrail, Dermatone, SofSole, SealSkinz, BTI, Golite, ThorLo, Suunto, Outdoor Research, Lowe Alpine, Polar, Boulder Bar and Princeton Tec.