Anyone going to the 2009 Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon (http://www.mttaylorquad.org)?
I moved to ABQ, NM last year and set this as a goal before I move in March. I’m not sure what I’m getting myself into, but am committed to doing the solo race.
-cm
I’m not sure what I’m getting myself into,
you’ll probably wonder that somewhere going up a very steep hill on x-c skis. or–coming down same. i’m not doing it this year, but did it in 2000, just becuase it seemed like a fun thing to do once. i’d probably be into doing it regularly if i lived closer…maybe not.
the organization and small town cheerfulness is terrific. i loved it. i had the heady knowledge (before the race) that i was the only one in my age group, so i took a fanny pack with a camera and took pictures from the top----you can see about 90 miles away.
the one thing i did that made me very happy was to have neoprene gloves for the descent on the bike, late afternoon. it’s plenty cold.
i hope you have a great time. i thought it a fun, feel-good, event that was very challenging.
peggy
I’ve done it twice. Great event. One of my favorites.
One year weather was great–beautiful and sunny.
The next…over 100 degree change from top to bottom fo the mtn.
Have fun!
Uh… skate ski?
Lemmon?
I think this is one helluva cool race.
pmcdc: I’m with ya. I have no idea what to expect. I hope survival. The guys at work have been calling me crazy to solo, but what the hell, I can do anything once (or twice in this case).
seebritri: As someone who has done it more than once, any suggestions for a first timer. There really isn’t much information out there.
just fyi… you replied to me. 
Think of the first ski (the uphill ski) as a hike with long boards on your feet. Bring skins.
Think of the second ski (the downhill ski) as a series of brushes with death interspersed with times of pushing yourself with the poles like a cyclist on skis. There’s not much actual “skiing”. At least not for me!
Lemmon’s not good for training for this–we rode it last weekend in short sleeves. I did the Quad when I was living in CO. I’ll go back though.
Rented Skins - check.
Brushes with death - noted.
Haha, this sounds exciting. X-country skiing will be, um, new to me. I sure hope the weather cooperates, cold and miserable while racing just sucks all the fun out of it.
I too have done the Quad.
I used short (150) skis with skins and basically ran up the ski. I also had direct mount snowshoes with my racing flats already on for the snowshoe.
The downhill run will DESTROY the quads. I went to swing my legs out of bed the next AM in Santa Fe and my feet did not drop to the floor…
Have fun.
Kurt
First off, it is a fantastic race. The volunteers are awesome and the course is a great challenge. I’ve done it 4 times, my wife has done it 5 times.
The things to prepare for are the duration, the lack of nutrition on the course (although i did get gummy bears on the way down last year), and the possibility for any weather condition.
The main thing is to pace well on the way up as you do need plenty of energy on the way down. Typically about 2/3rd of the time is for the way up, 1/3rd for the way down. It is very heavy on running strength as the run up, the ski up, the snowshoe up, the snowshoe down and the run down are all essentially running. If you finish in five hours, that means about three were spent running (or walking).
On the way up, each leg get steeper near the end (standing required for most folks at the end of the bike, power-hike at the end of the run, surviving Heartbreak Hill on the ski, and fighting the last section on the snowshoe to the top). The way down is tough as you may need to snowplow a lot on the ski, the run starts with the steep downhill and end with rollers and flat sections, and the bike usually has headwinds.
There is water and oranges at the transitions and halfway through the run and snowshoe (along with J.D.), but otherwise you are on your own for the most part for calories. Take them even if you don’t feel like it while running uphill, etc.
The weather is totally unpredictable. We had snow in the morning last year, but pretty warm conditions the rest of the day. A few years ago was a white out at the top, but not too cold. Pack your bags so the things you think you will need are on the top, but throw in an extra jacket and hat at the bottom of the bag. Count on it being a headwind on the bike down and feel fortunate if it isn’t.
I could keep going, but work calls.
Good Luck.
Grumpy, Thanks for all the great advice!
Sounds like preparation will be key, calories and an extra layer. Where I was still close to the fence before, I’m definitely committed now.
Am I interpreting your acronym about the snowshoe transition correctly? Something to warm you up on the way back down. 
on self-help and food, i treated it like a century training ride. i had a camelback with gatorade, and ensure in bottles on my bike. having the backpack with my snowshoes (which you’ll have during the ski portion) didn’t bother the camelback situation at all.
i read the post with a vivid description of the ski down. believe this person!
peggy
Thanks for all the great advice guys! Here’s the race report I wrote up (a few weeks ago)
cm
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So if you didn’t know, nothing in New Mexico is really very normal, at least compared to the rest of the US. Just driving through the state’s largest city of Albuquerque (half the population is here, less than a million) you see nothing but neon colored clothes, Jorts, and big hair. It’s like going through a time machine. I can’t imagine what it’s like outside of this cutting edge metropolis. On this note, New Mexico just didn’t know how to hold a normal triathlon; I think part of this was due to the lack of water here as well. Whatever the case may be, New Mexico is home to a Quadrathlon. 4 sports? Holy mackerel, Batman!
Bike, Run, X-country Ski, Snowshoe. In that order… kind of. An excerpt from the website:
“Bike:
Racers begin with a 13 mile road race through the streets of Grants and begin the 1,800 foot climb from desert cactus to ponderosa pine.
Run:
At the end of the paved road, bikes are parked and racers must run the next five miles on gravel roads. The road generally starts out dry but usually turns to snow pack. This part of the course will climb 1,200 feet in elevation.
Cross County Ski:
Runners then turn to cross-country skis to challenge the next 1,200 foot climb of the mountaineering ski course that covers two miles.
Snowshoe:
The remaining one mile climb on snowshoes gains 600 feet to reach the 11,301 foot summit of Mt. Taylor where a person can see for over one hundred miles on a clear day.
And then…
The race is only half over. You must reverse the four events and race the 22 miles back to the Start/Finish line.”
The Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon has a few different options. Most people join a team of 4 and perform their specific event. Others choose to do it in pairs and split the bike-run and XC-SS portions. The last few people remaining opt to solo all four events are generally adventure racing junkies or the overly confident. I am the latter. Race to the top of an 11.5k ft mountain, yes please.
This past Saturday it was 45 degrees and 115 solo racers were lined up at the starting line. It was a pretty mixed crowd, ages 20-70(yes there was a 70 yr old!) The guys who concerned me most were the pack of 8 Air Force Academy Triathletes, all in my age group. I hope y’all look as intimidating as they did rolling up with their team trailer. Needless to say, I was the only guy in an A&M jersey. At 9am we were off. The first 13 miles was a bit of an eye opener for me. I have become so used to normal bike racing tactics that I had forgotten I was racing with a bunch of Solo athletes. No team tactics, no warming up to the road, the gun went off and the group was in shambles. Some were on mountain bikes, poor souls, others sprinting down the road, I was in the middle. My game plan for the race was to hit the bike portion hard and survive everything else. The race was already not going to plan. Knowing this was the only place I would be able to put some time on the group, I flagged a few of the Air Force Academy triathletes and put together a pace line. We quickly spread the group thin, and spent the next few miles trying to close on the guys that broke off the front early.
The first half of the bike portion was rollers and false flats. The pace line was working well, as most everyone was pulling their weight or slowly dropping off the back. The second half of the ride was a whole 'nother story. When the grade started to increase, two of us decided it was time to attack the group. The group broke apart and we continued to churn up the mountain. We leapfrogged each other a few times as we were feeling good or bad, but mostly stayed close. Somehow I knew this guy was going to be the one who was going to give me a run for the age group spots, so I attacked the last mile and put a minute between us. 50:11 - bike
At the bike-run transition, Abby was there helping out. She’s quite the trooper. She confirmed that I was the 8th to cross overall and 1st for the age groupers. Running shoes on. Lose the jacket. Off again. The run seemed relatively uneventful. The first half-mile my toes were numb from the cold ride. The USAFA guy passed me about 2 and a half miles in and continued on past. Portions of this run were steep enough that I was doing more of a power hike up the mountain. Imagine those crazy-fast power walkers with their hips and ankles going everywhere. Yeah, I figure that’s what I looked like. 52:35 - run up
Now for the moment of truth, winter sports. Up until this point I had felt decently prepared. I mean, back in the day I used to race road bikes, more recently I have been taking the mountain bike out fairly regularly. I have been preparing for the running portion for the past couple of months. The XC ski, well, I have been classically trained by Google’s top trainer, YouTube. Yep, I have been watching tutorials in my boxers and socks after work. Getting to the transition zone, my REI rental skis already had the boots attached. I laced the left one up while a volunteer laced me into my right boot. We had to carry our snowshoes to the next transition so the night before I had lashed them to a backpack with a CamelBack inside. Going up in XC skis was a breeze; I had rented ‘skins’ so they had a ton of traction. Think 4 wheel drive low for skiing. I’d compare it to a steep hike with awkward shoes on. Now the fun part, my camelback had frozen solid in the previous two hours since getting bussed to the transition zone. It’s completely useless to me. Granted, the temperature outside was now 20 degrees. The temperature continued to drop as I was heading up the mountain. Before I had arrived at the next transition zone the sweat in my hair had frozen my sunglasses to my head and I had icicles bouncing around up there. The last 200 yards was known as ‘heartbreak hill’ and was nothing to write home about. I think this is where the delirium began. 39:30 - XC Ski up
Someone handed me a small cup of water at this transition zone. He called it water, but based on the huge ice cube I had to spit out, I didn’t get much water out of the cup. I found out that the water couldn’t sit more than about a minute before it had started to freeze. 2 minutes and it was solid. The next volunteer I see says bluntly, “Open your mouth” I did as I was told and had a huge handful of gummy bears crammed in there. Holy moly, that guy made my day. I mean, really, who doesn’t like frozen gummy bears. With the snowshoes I felt like I wasted far too much energy trying to run in them rather than power walking. On top of that when I ran in the snowshoes, I sprayed snow EVERYWHERE! It was going in my boots, over my head, over other racers, just craziness. I know the altitude was affecting me here because I found it hilarious as to the amount of snow that was going all over the place. Half a mile in, around a corner, this hilarity was cut short. ‘Heartbreak hill’ was nothing compared to this. Turning the corner, out of the trees, exposed something that I imagine would be seen on planet Pluto. (New Mexico is the only state that still recognizes it as a planet; therefore I can call it a planet, for another 3 weeks.) To paint this picture, imagine a 55-degree slope, previously windblown, leaving only an icy crust to walk on. Now sprinkle a little 10-degree air and an additional 40 mph wind on top of that. I trudged along hoping only to truly survive the climb to the top. Tucking my hands in my armpits to stay warm and keeping my chin in my chest, I climbed, and climbed, and climbed. Reaching the summit was the best part of the race. 24:42 - Snowshoe up 2:46:58 - Total up
Reaching the summit meant the race was half over and that it was all down hill from here! I had a huge adrenaline rush after reaching the top; let’s call it a 3rd or 4th wind. Snowshoeing down was a lot of fun. One big step, slide, another step, slide. The only tactic here was to not trip myself and roll down the mountain. Coming in to an aid station a volunteer asked “water or J.D.?” J.D.? What is he talking about? “or Tequila?” Oh my!! Frozen Ice Water, Jack Daniels or Tequila? So many choices… I opt for the shot of Tequila. “Chaser?” I point and say, “This is my game face. No chaser necessary.” He laughs, we talk a few minutes, he has a son whose class of '11. Off again. The Tequila, adrenaline, altitude delirium allows me to run the entire SS portion. Only at this point have I regained some of the feeling in my hands and ears. 11:27 Snowshoe down
My cross-country ski instructor spent a lot of time covering the basics of going up hill. During the race I regretted this. Mr. YouTube should have concentrated on how to control yourself with two skis that are barely attached to your feet while going much faster than one’s comfort zone would normally allow. The downhill XC ski was absolutely the hardest portion, and all I had to do was hold on. The conditions were probably considered perfect for anyone else on these skis, but my inexperience could be spotted a mile away. (I’m sure it was, people laughed as they passed… jerks) I felt decently comfortable going straight, those turns though… SHEESH. My first crash could only be described as ‘Epic’. The course took a gnarly hairpin turn to the left that my body had managed to maneuver well for, but my skis continued straight. The result was a pseudo barrel roll. Lying in two feet of snow, with snowshoes and skis everywhere I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. I did sign up for a race where I had never attempted 25% of the necessary pre-req’s. 26:55 XC Ski down
“Almost there, almost there…” I repeated this a few times, going into the run. I was fearful of this portion, knowing how painful running down hill can be. Putting on running shoes after spending the last hour and a half in ski boots was a welcome change. Not ten feet into the run. Wham! I hit the ground again. The snow pack on the run had become very icy and I had hit it like it was dry asphalt. My mistake. Spread eagle on the ground, a volunteer ran over and asked if I was hurt. Only my pride. Getting my feet back under me, the first two miles of the downhill section went by quickly. I was letting my momentum do most of the work and just going for the ride. “Almost there, almost there…” Mile three, I was reminded why this was called a quad, not so much for the number of sports involved, but for the major muscle group that will decide to stop working at any point during the race. It was that time. I felt great mentally, felt I had reserved enough energy to finish, but my legs were just mush. The remainder of the run was done in half-mile increments, walking a minute or so in between. 44:19 Run down
What a relief to finally get back to my trusty steed. Abby was here again to give me a few final words of encouragement. Only one USAFA guy ahead of me and fairly positive that the rest are pretty far back, I wasn’t rushing to break any time records on the bike ride back into town. Speed records on the other hand, were definitely in my sights. I had a 3-mile decent before the course returned to rollers with a headwind. Since it was a windy road with one actual switchback, I opened up the big ring to everything it had. Topping out at 60.4 mph, eyes watering, bike screaming, my PR had been reached. The headwind into town was the only appropriate way to finish the race. They wanted to make sure that every last bit of energy left was used and each racer crossed the finish line with an empty tank. I was on empty. 44:46 Bike down 2:07:27 - Total Down 4:54:24 - Total Time
Altogether it was a great race, I was 2nd in my age group and 21st overall. Would I do it again? Probably.
Now there was some irony, I recommended that you bring a jacket and hat for the top and then I was the one feeling sorry for you as I passed you one snowshoe on the way up as you looked like you were freezing to death.
At least you survived and finished. Good race.
That is a great race report! Far more interesting than another IM report. After attempting cross-country skiing (unsuccessfully and with a living instructor, not youtube) for the first time this weekend, I can say that you are officially hardcore for doing a race like that without knowing how to ski. I can’t even imagine being able to do that.