We are leaving town this morning on route to Grants, NM for the Mt. Taylor Quadrathon. Over the past couple of days we spent numerous hours searching, finding and packing up all of the gear that we would need for this race. Jackets, gloves, booties, hats, bike, ski's, snowshoes, running shoes, ski boots, (can't forget the orthotics that go in each footwear), food etc..
Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon. is a race that consists of 4 events, bike/run/ski/snowshoe. We start in the little town of Grants, NM and work our way to the top of Mt. Taylor and then back down again.
We start off with a 13 mile road bike ride,with 1200 feet of climbing. At the 1st transition we drop the bike, put on running shoes and run 5 miles on a dirt road with the occasional snow and ice... climbing 1100 feet. At the 2nd transition, we switch from running shoes to ski's with skins on the bottom of them so we can climb the next 2 miles, gaining another 1000 feet....oh yeah, we are carrying our snowshoes on our backs so when we get to the 3rd transition we can drop off the ski's, put the snowshoes on and run up the final 1 mile and 800 feet of climbing. Then the fun begins, we get to do it all over again in reverse!
Doing this race is so much fun but logistically it can be a nightmare as you try to guess what the weather is going to be and what you might possibly want at each section of the course. So, in each of my gear bags I put a hat/gloves/ glove covers/food/one or two jackets a light one and rainproof one...depending on if I think it might rain or snow. Then I have to figure out exactly what "outfit" I will wear for the entire 5 plus hours going from warm weather, to cold, to blowing snow, back to possibly warm, possibly cold and usually windy.
We left Evergreen about 7:45am and drove straight thru to Grants. We arrived at 4:45pm, exactly 8 hours of driving. The roads were pretty good once we got out of the Evergreen/Conifer area.
Once in Grant's we drove straight to check-in to drop off our 2 transition bags, along with the running shoes, ski's, and snowshoes. We duct tape our 2nd transition bag/ski's/snowshoes together and that gets put on a truck and sent to the mtn. first thing in the morning. Then the numerous volunteers un-duct tape everything and have it all ready for us in numbered racks so it's easy for us to find when we get there. The first transtion bag just has our running shoes (extra hat/gloves/jacket) in it and that is much easier to pack up. EVERYTHING gets labeled with our names and our numbers, especially if you want to see it again. The transitions can get pretty hectic and stuff just gets left out and so we hope that the volunteers put everything back into the rightful owners bag!
After having this stressful part of the race over with, we checked into the hotel and then headed back for the free Carbo Load Dinner that the town was putting on for the racers. Grants is not very big, in fact, not alot is going on this town but everyone seems to be involved some way or another in the biggest event of the year. The High School students were the ones serving the pasta dinner and they were great, a nice group of kids.
We were back to the hotel by 7:00 and watched the weather channel nonstop for the next couple of hours, still trying to figure out what to wear in the morning!
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