Deluge in the Desert

Filed in archive Adventure on October 9, 2006

Does a 300+ mile 3-4 day non-stop race through the Moab, Utah-area desert in October sound like fun to you? If you said yes, does it still sound like fun when you're biking, paddling, rappelling and trekking through more than 12 hours of continuous rain in a weather event so rare the desert dwellers are calling it a 100 Year Storm?

If by some bizarre chance, you still said yes, you must visit the account of GoLite/Timberland Sprint team Brad McLean, Jen Segger-Gigg, Keith Bushaw and Chris Boyd's attack of the AdventureXstream Expedition last week. Here's a taste:

The rain that began during the mountain bike up continued and intensified as the night grew older, peaking for us while on the ridgeline east of CP (check point) 8, accompanied by 60mph sustained winds with gusts in the 80s. So hard we were crawling on our hands and knees the last 800 vertical feet to the summit.

The writing's a bit sketchy at times - the author mentions the challenge of "sleep depravity" - but it's a colorful look at what some athletes will do for a good time.