Last week on the Interweb we got an urgent memo notifying us of the desperate cold expected in Quebec for the time period of the Coast Raid August 21-24. Water temperature is expected to be ~3C. Although weather prediction for the region is spotty, the weatherman guarantees this particular prediction by 100%. [Seems like hypothermia is on our agenda.] To take advantage of the high life I've been living for the past week in Alberta and British Columbia on a class geology field trip, I started training today for the challenge of bum-numbing cold.

The specific location for the training exercise, supervised by honk-happy truckers and snap-happy tourists, was the ice-covered Moose Lake in British Columbia off the Trans-Canada Highway. Snow-capped mountains bordered the lake on either side, which practically guaranteed the desired and dreaded single-digit water temperature. Much to the consternation of my geology professor, I gracefully removed my hikers, rock hammer, two-layer sock system, 5-day-dirty sports bra, and other fascinating clothing items in order to wrangle myself into my hot-pink bather and my pack. The pack was necessary in order to simulate racing conditions.

The training experience can be summarised in one exclamation: AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lesson learned: polar bear dip is for polar bears only.

salut.
tess

On April 20th, Team Salsa Jets tried out our summer adventure racing legs at the GOALS ARA-organised SAVAGE Adventure Sprint Race in Delaware’s Brandywine Creek State Park. [Fun trivia: Brandywine Creek was made famous in the classic text “Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology” by geomorphologists Leopold, Wolman, and Miller.] We met mad success at the SAVAGE, albeit separately, since we raced on different teams…who says competition can’t breed a little love? Disciplines included canoeing, trail running, mountain biking, litter-carrying, scooter-pushing, and knot-tying. Yes, I did just type scooter-pushing—and it was done blindfolded! Hurrah for bizarro team-challenges!

Andy shot like a silver bullet out of the starting gates (must be those shorts of his…) to be the first to nab a passport, while the rest of us clambered along the rough trail behind him and the rushing crowd of racers. I actually have no idea how his race went [Andy's note: full chronicle can be found here], beyond the fact that he probably had to restrain himself from outrunning his teammates, who were blinded by his glowing skin. James practised his “I-am-a-hardcore-adventure-racer” face throughout the day by posing for each photographer staged along the way. He’s got the look, but needs to work a bit on actually paddling forwards instead of backwards (see his team-bio photo). I think we’ll have that figured out by the time the Coast Raid arrives.

Team Tundra Terror/Aquatic Adventure (Tess + two roommates) conquered the winds of the mighty mighty Brandywine and some surly competition to claim the place of numero uno in the 3-person-all-female division, while Team Styrofoam Jackfruit (Denali + a very short friend) wrangled with stinging nettles and their mountain bikes to nab the silver in the 2-person-all-female division. Wahoo! The women went home with some badass hardware, free prize gear, and bragging rights.

Ok, I’ll admit it—our teams’ successes were kind of due to the tiny pool of all-female competition. But who cares? We are women…we are strong…we can race…and we can dominate! We now have an intense desire to spread the infectious (addictive?) love of adventure racing to the ENTIRE FEMALE SEX! Not quite sure yet how exactly we’ll go about convincing the women of the world to doff their jewellery and ballet flats and don protective eyewear and Camelbaks…but that’s a matter for another day.