Team GearJunkie jumped back into the sport of adventure racing this year, competing in a National Championship event that required 30 hours of wilderness navigation and a kit of specialized gear.
It’s a few minutes after dawn, and teams huddle over maps at the edge of Lake Namekagon. My headlamp beam highlights topo lines and tiny features on an orienteering map, a swath of green ink signifying the deep Wisconsin woods in which we’ll soon be immersed.
“Forty minutes to race start!” a voice booms over the crowd. The United States Adventure Racing Association (USARA) National Championships has pulled competitors from around the country, 55 teams in all. Over the next 30 hours, we will navigate to dozens of checkpoints via bike, canoe, and trail running shoes, more than 100 miles to the end.
Adventure Race Championships
I took up adventure racing in the early aughts, the sport catching my attention as an ultimate test for both physical performance and gear. No other pursuit combined wilderness navigation, team strategy, and a fast-and-light ethos that required the best equipment across multiple disciplines outdoors.
This year, after a hiatus since 2013, I jumped back into AR. It started with a solo race in June, including 28 hours alone in the woods where I only occasionally saw another team. (I had a blast!)
Then, as the summer progressed, I teamed up with another GearJunkie employee, Kyle Nossaman, and a biking friend, Ryan Braski, to get official and form a squad aiming for the National Championship race.
Over two months we trained, raced, and dialed in a kit of gear for the event. We tested packs, trail shoes, and mountain bikes. But we also leaned into the weird gear that comes with this sport, including thumb compasses, map cases, and orienteering tights.
Glow sticks were mandatory gear (for on-water illumination in a canoe). And I showed the team a blister-preventing salve called Bag Balm, which I’d used on my feet for years while racing around the world.