Calleva Patagonia Racing team is back from the first big training in Canaan Valey, West Virginia. Mark, Val, Dima and Sara closed 110 km biking loop around Canaan Valey, hiked 20 km in Dolly Sods Wilderness, and got 3 hours sleep, testing the new sleeping bags and tent. Conditions were perfect as 5 out of 9 inches of the last week snow melted down.It was muddy, slippery and cold enough to simulate the Patagonia
conditions. We also tested our seat post racks and new
ultra light map holder. Everything survived the toughest technical ride and bushwalk of the highest valley on the east coast. All photos from the training are on the Mark's facebook. The map of the bike loop is here.
The next training will be in December. We will work out our paddling and ropes skills. Many of the Calleva folks also registered for the Odyssey Rogaine in two weeks.
Posts
Dima, good luck with your Patagonia preparations. I get pumped up just thinking about PER! Email me if you want to chat, as we learned a lot of hard lessons in the 2008 edition of the PER.
ReplyDeleteJust two pointers off the top of my head: bring wood chips soaked in kerosene or some other method guaranteed to start a fire (think wind, rain, etc); even though the race org states that no fires are permitted by teams, every team I saw had a fire going a couple of times because it gets that cold out there.
2nd point - train a lot of bushwhacking as there are NO trails in Tierra del Fuego. I don't know where your course will go, but we had multiday trekking legs where there wasn't a trail to be followed anywhere. It was fantastic, but brutal on the footware, clothes, etc. To train, find a stream or shallow river and hike up and down it for several hours!