Adventure Racing can be analyzed in several ways. I start with duration. How long is the event: sprint, endurance, 24 hours, or multi-day? For me, 6 hours or less feels like a workout rather than an event. Since I need experience, and workouts, then it is worth my time to enter these events, particularly, local ones. Yet, endurance events, 8-12 hours hold my interest just now. The tipping point for me on 24, and multi-day events is knowledge I’m not that good at orienteering or a bike repair and I have no experience to make decisions about, or during such an event, so for now they are out of reach.
That introduces another way to analyze the event: skills. It is not a clean distinction between what AR folks call “disciplines” and “skills”, but, for someone starting out it is worth the effort to keep them separate. Skills needed: orienteering/navigation, first aid, bike repair, and ropes. The issue is not can you do these in your cellar, or in the classroom. Rather, can you do them at night, in the rain, when you are exhausted? My honest answer to that is not reliably, not yet. In particular I know nothing about ropes. I know a little about the other skills, more perhaps than the average Joe, but, not enough to call myself competent to face a 24 hour event.
Returning to “disciplines” these are: trekking, mountain biking, and boating. A lot more can be extracted from these categories trekking for example might include swimming, cross country skiing, or obviously cross-country running; boating, includes kayaks, canoes, and rafts. I have enough experience with these to understand, that an above average level of fitness, and regular practice, is enough to manage an endurance event. But, that does introduce the matter of “mettle”. We are all capable of far more than we know but our lack of mettle prevents us more than our physical fitness in discovering these real outer boundaries. The difference in physical fitness required to run a 24 hour event as opposed to a multi-day event, is, probably imperceptible, the notable difference is in ones mental fitness.
Another element, is team, or no team? The sport privileges coed teams, and I really admire that. The sport also honors “Master” teams and that intrigues me too. Both team and solo offer advantages and disadvantages that must be weighed, but, in the end practice like you play, make a commitment and stick with it. Training with a partner and then running an event solo, is, a real strain on ones mettle, for example, and that will impact ones physical performance.
Costs are another element that one has to take seriously: education, equipment, travel, entry fees, and use of vacation time are all limiting factors. There is a semi-professional aspect to this sport, but that is really not even worth speculating about for most of us. Rather, most folks will have to make budgets and compromises. That isn’t all bad, indeed that is where the art, and the super-human are displayed. When a competitor on a $500 dollar bike finishes on skill, exertion, and mettle, ahead of better equipped teams, well that is subtle, beautiful, and to my mind what these events are about.
So, duration, skills, disciplines, team/solo, and cost are my starting point, first, in my decision to play, and for making a training plan.
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