October 26, 2021 | Stephen Regen Nord

This year, the GearJunkie team reinvested in adventure motorsports, participating in a national championship that required 30 hours of field navigation and a set of professional equipment.

A few minutes after dawn, the team huddled on the map by Lake Namekagon. My headlight beam highlights the terrain lines and tiny features on the orienteering map, and a touch of green ink symbolizes that we will soon be immersed in the deep woods of Wisconsin.

"Forty minutes before the start of the game!" A voice sounded from the crowd. The United States Adventure Racing Association (USARA) National Championship attracts participants from all over the country, with a total of 55 teams. In the next 30 hours, we will navigate to dozens of checkpoints with bicycles, canoes and trail running shoes, more than 100 miles from the finish line.

I started car racing at an early age, and this sport caught my attention as the ultimate test of physical performance and equipment. No other pursuit combines wilderness navigation, team strategy, and the spirit of quickness and lightness, requiring the best outdoor equipment across multiple disciplines.

This year, after the interruption in 2013, I jumped back to AR. It started as a single player in June and included 28 hours alone in the woods, where I only occasionally saw another team. (I had a great time!)

Then, as the summer progressed, I worked with another GearJunkie employee, Kyle Nossaman, and a biker friend, Ryan Braski, to formally form a team aimed at participating in the national championship.

For more than two months, we trained, competed and allocated a set of equipment for the event. We tested backpacks, cross-country shoes and mountain bikes. But we also used the weird equipment that came with this sport, including thumb compasses, map boxes and orienteering tights.

Glow sticks are mandatory equipment (used for canoe water lighting). I showed the team a waterproof foam ointment called Bag Balm, which I have used on my feet for many years in competitions all over the world.

USARA requires that the product list is always on site. This "mandatory equipment" is to ensure safety and efficiency in the woods and water. My team spent several weeks testing the equipment combination in training cycling and informal AR courses we established near our home.

Before we headed north in September, the final deployment of equipment, the explosive growth of cutting-edge and long-trusted equipment, was packed into trash cans and bags. Then we spent the day at the race headquarters for the final adjustments and headed to the starting line when the sun rose on Friday morning.

The game package left Namekagon Lake angrily in "Go!" We started to grab the map, suck water from the packaging hose, and sprint into the woods in multiple directions on the chosen route of your adventure according to the team strategy.

I got confused the next day. We fight the old-fashioned single-lane track on the famous CAMBA mountain bike trail. The orienteering part tested our map and compass skills. We took a canoe, paddled 25 miles of flat water in the waves and wind, and caught a checkpoint around a large lake.

The game lasted from dawn to dusk and then into the evening. No one sleeps. In fact, we barely stopped for more than a few minutes throughout the game.

The beam of our headlights opened a way in the long night. Every team is asked to unite together, in a dark night, with bright stars and a trace of the moon, to overcome lack of sleep.

Dawn came to an orienteering stage that lasted several hours. We were caught in the track system near Telemark Mountain and the famous Burke Baina Trail. When the first rays of sunlight hit the woods, I turned off my headlights.

We ended the event with cycling legs, stepped on Telemark for an hour, and then returned to the competition headquarters. This is a massively facilitated effort in map and compass navigation, and the hidden checkpoints-56 in total-prove that most teams are difficult to clear within the allotted 30-hour race time.

The winner, the WEDALI team, includes Justin Bakken, an alumnus of the GearJunkie team. They occupied all the checkpoints and crossed the finish line in 24 hours and 45 minutes to win the seat of the national championship team. My team managed 47 impressive checkpoints, ranking 13th overall.

Training and teamwork allowed us to start from the starting line, through the forest and the long night, and finally to the end of the race. The equipment we use (highlighted below) is also key. Without an effective tool kit, proper hydration, calculated nutrition, and equipment ready in the transition zone, we would not have crossed more than 100 miles of water and Wisconsin's woods.

We were finally defeated, with heavy eyes and broken legs. But our team is also very excited, and I am rejuvenated with AR. This is a unique sport, the ultimate test of various equipment.

Adventurous racing will destroy clothes, especially when making jungle blows among thorns and dense bushes. Therefore, we decided to try something unique for our team tops-T-shirts made of carbon fiber!

Vollebak is known for its amazing product ideas, and the carbon fiber T-shirt ($110) is in line with the company's "future of clothing" spirit. But the top is not a gimmick. After testing it for several weeks before the game, we wore it at the USARA event. In general, we are satisfied with the performance of the jersey.

According to the company, the shirt uses elastic fabrics, including elastic fibers and polyamide materials, as well as "over 120 meters of carbon fiber." The result is a sturdy shirt that feels almost like a rash guard-it is thicker and stronger than any ordinary T-shirt.

But it breathes and absorbs sweat like any good synthetic top. Carbon fiber strands are small and mixed into other fabrics, but when you walk through the woods, they add significant strength and abrasion resistance.

In addition to this shirt, I also wear pants (not shorts), thin running socks and GearJunkie hat. Most adventure racers do not change their clothes during the race, which means that team uniforms need to function in multiple disciplines and remain comfortable for a few hours.

Some racers wore bicycle bibs fitted with suede pads under their racing uniforms. I just wear pants with lightweight merino wool underwear; this is a comfortable setting and I can run, bike and paddle without any problems.

Eddie Bauer First Ascent's Guide Pro Pants ($80) is a good choice. I wore them for a few games this summer. Even in hot weather, lightweight nylon is very comfortable, but it protects my legs when doing jungle heavy blows for miles in the woods. With a sports version and multiple pockets, they are perfect for storing lipstick, compass, and necessities such as directions, clues or minimaps.

Finally, for the jacket, my team packed Pearl Izumi Monsoon WxB pants ($125) and jacket ($150). USARA requires that the waterproof layer is always carried during the National Championship. These shells are specially made for bicycles with hoods that can be attached to the helmet, and they fit very well. They are very light and small to fit, occupying only a small space in our backpack, but if the sky is open, they are ready to resist various elements.

I like fast and simple AR shoes. Kaptiva ($139) is lightweight, weighing about 9 ounces per foot, and has a very precise fit and feel. The shoes bend and grasp in the trails and woods. The sticky outsole rubber is formed by slim but effective lugs. From heel to toe, the shoe has dropped 6 mm. I appreciate its speed and comfort on roads or trails.

The company advertises the "protection, cushioning, stability and traction" of the shoes, and after wearing these shoes for more than 200 miles during competitions and training, I agree. Its knitted upper and close fit run very fast.

In other words, if your feet are wide, this is not a good pair of shoes. The form is narrower than average, so my teammates with wide feet chose the equally good Karacal model.

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This vest-style backpack is compact and stylish, designed for mountain running and climbing high mountains. But a distance of 15 ($150) is also a suitable choice for AR. This fabric is the same as the UHMWP (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) that the company uses for some of its quick-pull slings and other climbing hardware. It can withstand anything that adventure racers throw at it.

There is almost no weight (13.89 ounces) when empty. With a capacity of only 15 liters, we use this backpack to boost our advantage-it fits all the equipment we use at all stages of the game. The comfortable vest-style safety has pockets to store food, compass and other necessary quick-grab items. I packed up nuts, gels, honey stinger sticks and various high-energy foods for consumption during the trip.

The main pocket opens quickly through the hook eye on the lid. Inside is a drawstring closure and an open package body with a separator for the water bag. It is waterproof, which means that it is possible to soak the contents of the package only if it is completely immersed in water.

Bicycles used for AR need to be lightning fast and able to handle single-track and long double-tracks and roads between checkpoints and transition zones. In the past few years, for my mountain bikes, I defaulted to speeding on rugged trails. My racing horse is a feather-like XC machine that can travel for a long time on gravel roads at 20 mph or higher. When the rugged monorail part appears, I will only deal with it on the hardtail frame.

My bicycle Scalpel Carbon SE LTD this year, "balances the geometry and precision of off-road racing with the feel of off-road equipment," the brand touted. This summary is apt, because the 29er offers a full suspension and lightweight (24-pound L size) ride, which can move consistently and quickly in a variety of terrains.

Its cost is $8,300. For this, you will get a "World Cup Fast" bike, which can also handle all mountain trails. It turns out that the mountain bike during the Nationals race was tailor-made for this bike (and vice versa): the CAMBA system near Telemark was very difficult, bumpy, and bumpy. Some of the trails we passed were old-fashioned, slow, and winding, passing through boulders, loose rocks, and constant roots from deep woods in all directions.

Scalpel Carbon is like a magic carpet tour of this game. The SRAM X01 12-speed transmission system provides seamless gear shifting. The Lefty Ocho Carbon 120mm front fork and RockShox SIDLuxe Ultimate suspension absorb the bumps, allowing me to focus on speed and control.

This bike definitely has more features (hence the cost and weight) than my previous AR bikes-lifting seatposts, tool storage areas on the frame, wheel sensors connected to the app-but this formula is very suitable for USARA Championship courses.

We wore Gravel X ($250) and X-Alp Summit shoes ($150) from Pearl Izumi for training and competition. Both shoes have advantages. For racers who often get on and off on rugged roads, X-Alp may be a better choice.

X-Alp is made for the "all-day mountain biking adventure", so the sole-a nylon composite with Vibram rubber tread-works during pedaling and pinching, and is also used to propel the hiking bike part. Synthetic leather upper and BOA closure fit perfectly.

Gravel X is a faster shoe, lighter weight, with the basic form of a road bike shoe, but with SPD cleat compatibility for mountain bike pedals. These are Pearl Izumi's high-quality gravel cycling shoes. They are light and hard in nature and are very suitable for adventurous competitions, where the cycling section is usually located on two tracks and gravel roads.

I like the tight fit of Gravel X. Its carbon fiber sole provides efficient power transmission, and the knitted upper with BOA Fit System is simple and perfect. The rubber tread on the sole allows you to get out of the car and push the bike or run into the woods and grab the checkpoint. If you want an MTB shoe designed for speed, take a closer look at Gravel X.

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Hajker Pro 24 ($270) has a unique strap system that reduces the bounce of the backpack when running and cycling. A racer of the GearJunkie team used this backpack in a race in Wisconsin.

After adjusting the height of the torso, tightening the waist belt, and optimizing the position of the chest buckle, the patented seat belt technology began to show the corners of the head. Whether the backpack is mostly empty or full of equipment, it will remain intact for hours of trail running, mountain biking, and paddling.

After loading, the weight of the backpack is evenly distributed on the chest and hips through the integrated belt. The elastic band straddles the chest diagonally rather than vertically. During the 30-hour stretch of USARA, neither clavicle pain nor nipple abrasions occurred.

The bag comes with a detachable internal drying bag, and the main compartment is sealed with a roll top seal to make it waterproof. The belt has hip pockets for the bars and gels. Other small pockets, including the mesh water bottle pocket, allow you to easily access essentials such as maps and extra layers.

We have a doubt: Hajker Pro is a bit troublesome when you need to retrieve equipment from the main compartment-you need to lock and unlock the elastic band before unlocking the main opening, unfolding the backpack and accessing the equipment.

But in general, the USWE (pronounced "you-swii") package has proven to be very suitable for AR. It is very durable, after hours of training and competition, only surface scratches. The strange seat belt system worked-in the end, the backpack was almost forgotten, filled with mandatory equipment, and kept in place in various terrains over long distances.

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The 2021 USARA National Championship is the first adventure game approved to use Garmin's Adventure Race activity mode. The Adventure Race event is available in software version 19.10 or 19.20. It can save your GPS track and share real-time biometric data, time, altimeter and compass, while disabling features that may be beneficial to racers (and therefore prohibited), such as real-time GPS, Distance and speed.

Garmin's Adventure Race event is mainly suitable for GPS watches with long battery life. Although both the Fenix ​​6 series and MARQ may last a full 30 hours of adventure racing, the Garmin Enduro ($800) is the brand's longest lasting GPS watch (up to 80 hours of battery life in GPS mode).

One of the teammates wears an Enduro watch and uses the Adventure Race activity mode. Before the race starts, he customizes the activity data screen with his preferred data points: heart rate, timer, time of day, lap time, and battery percentage.

On the day of the game, after confirming with the official that we are using the adventure game mode, we started the activity. During the race, we found it helpful to track the lap time of each leg.

Once we crossed the finish line, after 30 hours of continuous exercise in the woods of Wisconsin, Enduro's battery life was displayed as "27 days remaining". This is surprising, especially considering that the Fenix ​​5 watch we tested previously only lasted about 12 hours in GPS mode.

After returning home, we synchronize the watch with the Garmin app so that we can analyze our navigation and speed and upload the activity to Strava or other websites. Read the full review of the watch and AR mode in our first smartwatch approved for adventure racing, released last month.

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In games that last all day and then all night, lighting is a major issue. In fact, we had about 12 hours of total darkness during the race. We rode bicycles, hiked in the jungle, and navigated to the precise checkpoint in the woods.

The GearJunkie team uses Black Diamond's Sprinter 500 headlight ($80) as our main light source. The thin lens unit and battery pack on the back make you hardly feel the design. In fact, the weight of the headlight is only 3.7 ounces.

But this little light can emit 500 lumens of light. This is enough to change a path from night to day. It is equipped with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, but AAA alkaline batteries can also be used. This is great for the game, you can bring spare batteries in case the rechargeable battery runs out.

Black Diamond touted the device's "smooth universal beam." The light bubble is clean, and when you run, it shows a large area in front and on both sides. However, for adventurous racing cars, it is usually necessary to focus a more tightly focused spotlight beam at night to stare at the woods in an attempt to see hillsides, ravines, hills, or other small features.

For me, headlights like Sprinter 500 are very suitable as my constant light. I run it on low or medium settings most of the time. In my hand or pocket, I carry a flashlight with a focused, condensing beam and 500 or more lumens. This flashlight is deployed when I need a sharp beam to look forward in an attempt to find a checkpoint sign hidden in the night.

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Stephen Regenold is the founder of GearJunkie, which he launched in 2002 as a column in a national joint newspaper. As a reporter and writer, Regenold has covered the outdoor industry for two decades, including as a reporter for the New York Times. As the father of five children, Regenold lives in Minneapolis with his wife.

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