TEAM thebackpacker.com 77hr Adventure ra ce

“After nearly 6 months of training and preparation, team thebackpacker.com heads north for our 77 hour adventure race.

Tomorrow is check-in and gear checks. We will get maps and UTM points then await the 7 pm briefing. A long night of packing and planning will lead to an early thursday morn wakeup for a 7am start. By sunday we will have raced over 250 miles across the great state of Michigan.

For those interested click www.infiterrasports.com and click on the leader board to the center left for updates on ours and the others progress, we are team #15.

Thanks again to Matt for his help. A very detailed report with loads of pics will follow.”

“Good luck! I can't wait to get back home so maybe I can hook up with some of you guys. Sounds like you have some great adventures.

~BW”

“thanks BWMcTell, I am wound tighter than an 8 day clock right now!!!”

“woooo! good luck! wish i could be there to cheer you on.”

“Ditto! We'll be following you online.

Go Team theBackpacker.com!!”

“Good luck birch!”

“Give 'em hell birch! Have fun. Sounds like its gonna be intense.”

“Good luck, Team!!!!!!!”

“Good Luck guys!!
do you even say "good luck"?? or you do say "break a leg"???

have lots of fun!”

“Keep on truckin'.”

“good luck birch - and have lots of fun!”

“Good luck!”

“good luck, be safe!”

“Gemini you DO NOT say "Break a leg", lol.”

“okay...I won't!
i though you do...must've been some other sport then...

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!”

“That's for performing arts.”

“Be safe and...
Make us proud!!!”

“Thanks all! I am sure we'll have a blast. I am on the road in a few and cannot wait!!!

Just got back from my kiddos preschool party and was prolly more wound up then the kids....”

“Birch --

You go man!!!! 77 hours. Holy humungeous effort!!!!!

Wow.


Be safe. Have a good time!!!”

“LOL! Congrats Birch on all the hard work you and Dhutch and the rest of your team have put in for this event. We know you'll do great!”

“I'm very excited for y'all. Tear it up!!”

“I'm gettin' all packed up and ready to go! Now you told me UPlover wasn't coming right? Damn that dude creeps me out something terrible...






















:) Hey UPer! LOL!”

“lol, he's already in the car and headed north with Birch and Lenette, Nige.”

“And when you get here I ain't lettin ya in :p~~

Just a quick update....Birch, Lenette, and I arrived a let while ago to find the rest of the team....sans Nigal...and a HUGE pile of gear all over the condo! I hope this thing starts soon....we have a room full of VERY wound up racers! :)”

“we mde it up to our home for the next two nights, the gear i ready for the checkin tomorrow. Lots of excitement and anticiption...our view is an unobstructed view of lake michigans shorelin, amazing!!!”

“I just now got done packing. I'm loaded (mostly). I also got a pair of two way radios so me and UP can talk dirty trucker talk while drivin'...

"Hey Upper, how's about we find a choke and puke and throw some groceries down our necks?"”

“What's that? NIGAL WANTS TO GO SHOPPING WITH UPLUVER!!!!!”

“Now now now! That's not what I said. The Jerry Reed translation on the above says:

"Hey Joe, would you like to stop at a dinner and get some food to eat?". See, nothin' about going to the groceries store! LOL!”

“Best of luck with the race. Go get'em.”

“lol I knew what you meant Nige....leave it to a woman to ger it all messed up!!

And btw if we're going shopping it better be for GEAR!!!”

“We made it through all the mandatory gear checks and equipment issue. 10 gigantic maps are now being mulled over as the UTM points are plotted. A few hours of anxious down time till the final briefing and the mad house of final packing when the order of events is announced.It warming up into the lower 80's no rain thus far...

Cant wait cant wait...”

“Go team TT!”

“I talked to Birch a bit on the phone. They're thinking that the first check point is about a mile out into Lake Michigan. They're hoping they get to use canoes for the paddle and not the tiny little pack rafts they all had to have.
I hope the lake is calm tomorrow morning!”

“I was just thinking how nice it'll be for their race, weather wise. Just hope they remember and find time to slop on the sunscreen and keep hydrated!”

“Sunscreen.....I don't imagine they will. Hydration.....Birch sets his watch to beep every fifteen minutes so he'll remember to drink. It'll remind everyone else too.”

“You guys rock. I hope you have a blast!”

“Here's a few pics I thought you all might wanna see!”

“you guys are nuts!! hope you're having fun!”

“This is going to be so fun to track over the next couple of days!!!”

“Well, I got a call from Birch at 5:55am. He sounded calmer than he has in weeks, lol, which I think is a good sign.
The leader board isn't showing anything yet.
I'll post any info I get asap.
last edited: 6/02/05 7:25:01 AM”

“Nigal called and told me about the start of the race....

All the teams had to start with their feet in Lake Michigan! They ran through Frankfort like crazys and had to inflate their pack rafts and paddle about 1/2 mile across Frankfort Bay to the first CP.
Now they're riding sixty-five miles and will stop at transition point 1. There's a rope section in the bike leg. Then they will trwek 35 miles to Grayling, MI. They should be pulling in at Transition point #2 (Grayling) around 3am tomorrow.

I expect to get 1 or two more updates today.

The support Hos said they're in great spirits, looking good but are carrying alot more than usual due to mandatory gear.
last edited: 6/02/05 8:12:06 AM”

“My, what a surly looking bunch.

”

“Update from teh website:

8:00AM Thursday - Clear blue skies, 65 degrees and calm wind... what a beautiful way to start a race. Teams lined the shore of Lake Michigan with their feet in water at 7:00 a.m. From the start racers made a fast run down the main street of Frankfort to a pack raft put in on Lake Betsie. First teams out of the water and onto the bikes were Team Canadian Hardcorps, Absolute Endo and a suprise team, Four Cheese Explosion.”

“No news since this morning (if anyone cares, lol). I found a great course overview while looking for some updates at infiterra. Check it out, it's an outline of the entire race.

http://www.infiterrasports.com/prelims/course.html”

“Sass - We care. Just waiting for updates...

Thanks btw.”

“I've been checking periodically through the day. The lack of updates is a little frustrating. They've had to hit first couple checkpoints, right?”

“Through CP2, the team is in 24th place. Total time of 2 hours 48 minutes.”

“Guess I should check more frequently.

Through CP3 in 4:57.”

“Hey, they must've just put those times up!
They're back up to 15th place now. =)

I bet all racers must get through a CP before the times can be posted.”

“DOH! I just realized that's their team number, lmao.”