I enjoyed reading Jeff Hendersons most recent column. I am not sure if the type of race he is talking about still exists. Forces both good and bad, have made races conform to a certain standard.
Jeff is likly too young to remember, but the type of race that he envisioned, was what we got 15 - 20 years ago. The transition area was a patch of grass where everyone laid their bikes right on the ground. The swim was out and back to some distant buoy, that you could barely see( of unknown distance away). The bike was always an adventure with many an un-marshalled and/or unmarked intersection. You always breathed a sigh of releif when you saw the transition area again because you knew you had gone the right way(or maybe not!!)The run headed out "That-a-way" and came back "This-a-way", again, of some unkown distance - " About 10K", They would say.( The bike leg was often the only close to accurate distance because that could be measured with a car odometer).
I recall more than a few instances of being completely lost on race courses, sometimes while leading the race, on the bike or the run and kind of making the course up to get back to transition or the finish line. Isn't this what it is like in adventure racing? Once I actually got into an argument with a cop and the lead vehicle whilst leading a race as to the course. In the end none of us were right!! Ahhh. The good old days.
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
Jeff is likly too young to remember, but the type of race that he envisioned, was what we got 15 - 20 years ago. The transition area was a patch of grass where everyone laid their bikes right on the ground. The swim was out and back to some distant buoy, that you could barely see( of unknown distance away). The bike was always an adventure with many an un-marshalled and/or unmarked intersection. You always breathed a sigh of releif when you saw the transition area again because you knew you had gone the right way(or maybe not!!)The run headed out "That-a-way" and came back "This-a-way", again, of some unkown distance - " About 10K", They would say.( The bike leg was often the only close to accurate distance because that could be measured with a car odometer).
I recall more than a few instances of being completely lost on race courses, sometimes while leading the race, on the bike or the run and kind of making the course up to get back to transition or the finish line. Isn't this what it is like in adventure racing? Once I actually got into an argument with a cop and the lead vehicle whilst leading a race as to the course. In the end none of us were right!! Ahhh. The good old days.
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog