6:00 am rolled around very quickly as Ryan was up and getting ready for his race. We took off in the blistering cold to dump off kayak gear at one of the transition areas and sped through the canyons to the start area. It was a cool atmosphere to be in as people were showing up checking their gear and mentally preparing for the race.

gear dropoff

Ryan and his teammates seemed prepared, but questioned how many layers to wear to start the race. Once again the temperature was in the 30’s this morning so the race started off chilly. They took off of to the start line, which was under the big, red Adventure Xtreme arch, and off they went!

what to wear?

They begin on mountain bikes, then run, repel, followed by mountain biking again to the Colorado River to kayak. There are very few transition areas for me to actually see them during the race, so I am hanging out in Moab making a list of things to do because the reality of school is finally hitting me. (Very sad!)

The rest of yesterday was filled with packing, map reading and meeting new people. Ryan spent most of the afternoon packing up gear, and as I had mentioned, was in “race mode” – which totally cracked me up because he was so anxious and had a very “go go go get things done” mentality. We sped over to registration and Ryan introduced me to a ton of new people. It appeared to me that the Adventure Racing community is very friendly – people were very nice to one another and conversational. I personally loved meeting these people and hearing their stories and histories. Around 7pm or so we met up with Ryan’s teammates at Pasta Jay’s. It was great to finally meet up with new people for a night out. We had such great conversation and a yummy dinner.

Rocky Mountain Adventure Racing

Ryan had purchased a pair of cross tires to put on his mountain bike for the race. The reason for doing so is that much of the course is on a paved bike path and the other dirt roads did not seem too loose or sandy, therefore Ryan felt he could go faster with the new tires. We switched tires up, I learned for like the third time (and I still forget what I am doing!) how to do this and took it out for a test ride. Ryan felt pretty confident about this choice so I am interested to hear how they work for him. Let’s stay positive and predict that they made him much faster!

But I am off to the next transition point. Ryan’s mom recommended to arrive a bit early  so I am going to take her word for it. I know they have more experience in following these races than I do! Hope you all are having a great Saturday !