Discussion: Rev3 Cowboy Tough

The 2nd annual 4 day Cowboy Tough 'stage' race starts Thursday near Lander, Wyoming and finishes on Sunday in Casper, Wyoming. In typical Rev3 fashion each day's distances by discipline have been announced revealing a long day 1 in the Wind Rivers via bike and foot that may prove to be difficult to clear by any team. Cowboy Tough uses a unique format that makes it part expedition race / part stage race. There is an 'End of Day Camp' that all teams need to reach at the end of everyday by a certain time as well as a time all teams need to be starting the next day. Teams need to balance their route selection to collect mandatory and optional checkpoints with the time that they need to be at the end of day camp. The winner is the one with the most optional checkpoints. The faster you collect them the more rest you get. I am not entirely sure for 2014, but in 2013 the time you spent in the 'End of Day Camp' was only credited back to you if your team had collected all CPs so far in the race. If this is indeed the case for this year and indeed Day 1's Checkpoints are not all collected by any team, we could have an interesting 6 hour day-4 with top teams racing hard neck and neck to the final finish line as everybody is released at the same time on Sunday with no regard to a teams' time spent in camp. Of course this heated sprint race after 3 18-24 hour periods of racing will only happen if there are teams with the same number of CP's.

There are only 11 teams in the premiere category. There are some folks heading to Rocky's there just raced in Maine at the Untamed New England Adventure Race, but I am guessing that ARWS race put a big dent on entrants to Cowboy Tough.

Here are my top 4 picks for Cowboy Tough (in no particular order). There are some really interesting mash-ups on all of these teams that will make things quite interesting to follow.

TECNU ADVENTURE RACING
Peter, Kyle - I wouldn't say I'm in 'off the couch' fitness, but I have not had a solid build up for this race since recovering from Expedition Africa the first 1/2 of June, and knowing that I will be starting my training for ARWC soon after finishing Cowboy Tough. Strava tells me I am fit though.
Broughton, Abby - After recovering from breaking her clavicle while racing with Tecnu for the first time in March, she put in a very focused training effort on being ready for CT. From the looks of it she has turned her weaknesses into strengths, and is more than prepared for Wyoming. I look forward to racing with her.
Popilsky, Jason - He is one of those quiet, humble strong dudes that does all the grunt work w/o much recognition. No doubt Jason is ready to carry the team's weight and be the first to offer a tow in Wyoming. He also is very familiar with the area we will be racing in for day 1 and will act as a 2nd navigator.
Chandler, Mari - Mari gets stronger the more she races. After a strong Expedition Africa and 2 weeks later another strong race at UNE, Mari is feeling good and ready to step up and fill in for Garret Bean who is nursing an injured shoulder and focusing his time on AWRC preparation.

Columbia / Vidaraid
Amselem, Marco - With 2 new teammates for Columbia, Marco is going to have to step up in the leadership department without Barbara or Jon Anders, but he is more than ready after having a phenomenal past 4 years of racing on both Tecnu and Columbia. Marco is fresh off a win at UNE...is he ready for more punishment?
Fernando, Mindy - She has big shoes to fill for Barbara, but again, Mindy is ready to rise to the occasion after the past couple years racing with Tecnu and most recently with the very experienced Untamed team at UNE. But also is she recovered and ready to push again?
Iglesias, Urtzi - One of the best AR navigators in the sport. I believe he has never been beaten at ANY rogaine in the coed division EVER!! He is not going to want Tecnu's 'backup' navigator to be in front of him. Is he too recovered from UNE?
Karstrom, Charlie - Newbie to AR. Marco told me he is an amateur age group xterra national champion. And he is Australian. She he will be fast and up for an adventure, but no experience. Will be a big wild card. He doesn't paddle, but that won't be a major factor as I calculated about 7 hours of paddle time (with 2-3 of that being whitewater rafting).

WABAR
Garrison, Michael – Top Midwest AR racer and navigator from team Bushwhackers
Furman, Rachel – Top Midwest racer from team Bushwhackers
Karpov, Andrei – Strong racer for Wedali’s ‘second’ team. He can navigate very well, but I am not sure he has ever raced for more than 30 hours.
Korsch, Emily – Emily has been the key to Alpine Shop’s increased success over the past couple years. She is dedicated to the sport, and very strong. I got a chance to race with here in March where she really impressed me with her technical skills. It is her first race multi-day race though. Her Alpine Shop teammates and her have pretty much won every race that they have showed up at over the past 2 years. Another plus is that her gear and bike are already packed and in transit to Wyoming so she can spend the next couple days relaxing while I stay up all night tonight cleaning, organizing, packing.

Yoga Slackers
Staudigel, Daniel – Has been a mainstay on the YS for years, but is stepping up to a leadership role as well as main (only?) navigator.
Carter, Adam – I don’t know who this guys is, but the YS have strong networking skills to find the young up and comers like Erik last year
Sanders, Erik – Erik is a beast, but the particulars of expedition racing were hard for him to grasp at last year’s CT. He soaked up all he could at CT and the ARWS Gold Rush Mother Lode and put that knowledge to use at the ARWC in Costa Rica and proved to be a solid racer. He has been in Europe for the past few months, we will see where is fitness is at, but my guess is tops!
VanGorder, Jen – A borrow from DART. Jen is an experienced racer than can add more to this team than just fulfilling the female requirement. Always smiling and positive. She is just coming back from some injuries, so hopefully she will feel great out there.

thanks KP for the nice words. I very much liked racing with you too! Here's a little more about WABAR:

Garrison, Mike (Garrison on AP) - Top Midwest AR racer and navigator from Bushwhacker (and previously Indy Rootstock). Previous expedition race experience is Untamed 2012 where he raced with Rachel as a 2-person team and finished 12th overall. Mike is one of those people who can suffer like no other, and laugh at himself at the same time. He is the rare combination navigator who can fly on an orienteering map but also extrapolate/guesstimate sketchy info on a USGS map. He also prefers his maps to be folded with precisely 90* corners.

Furman, Rachel (rocky33 on AP) - Top Midwest AR racer from Bushwhacker. Previous expedition race experience is Untamed 2012 where she raced with Mike as a 2-person team and finished 12th overall. Ever since she crushed a 25k trek at Bonk Hard's LBL Challenge in bike shoes without complaining, teams (including me!) have been scared of her toughness. She moved to Little Rock, AR this year and made an immediate impact on the bike racing scene, netting several podium finishes in the technical singletrack and hilly gravel. Rachel is an intense racer and keeps team speed high, earning her the nickname "this-is-runnable-Rachel".

Karpov, Andrei (Space Monkey on AP) - Top Midwest AR racer and navigator from GearJunkie/WEDALI in his first expedition race. Excellent navigator, especially on trekking sections. Tirelessly works to keep teammates happy and moving forward, even if it requires making jokes about dead hookers. Andrei and I teamed up for several races before I joined Alpine Shop and I am so happy to race with him in Wyoming.

Korsch, Emily (silkychrome on AP) - Hey that's me! Yes it's my first expedition race, and I have all of the usual first-timer fears, mostly involving sleep deprivation and foot care. But I'm excited to experience the beauty of Wyoming with my beautiful teammates.

WABAR in general - stands for WEDALI-Alpine Shop-Bushwhacker Adventure Racing. We held a "mini-camp" on Memorial Day where we went 40hrs with 1hr of sleep in a parking lot, and recently won Stubborn Mule 30hr in Wisconsin. Normally our three teams beat each other to a pulp at the Midwestern ARs, so we decided it would be nice to race WITH each other for once. Our strength is definitely navigation/route choice which will be helpful if we have to start dropping Optional CPs. Our weakness is lack of altitude/mountain exposure and training. We're looking to have a great time out there and hang out with a bunch of cool adventure racers - party on!

This is Mindy Fernando racing with Columbia / Vidaraid. KP you got that spot on...HUGE shoes to (try) fill. I was fully aware when I decided to fill in. I have to say I appreciate the racing I did with Tecnu in the last 2 years and racing with UNE/MadAthlete.com. JayXC helped me a TON getting ready for untamed and I learned quite a bit from him. Very thankful for his expertise and his patience with my dumb questions at times :) The only person I have raced with on this team is Marco in a very short race last year. Looking forward to seeing how we work together and a new adventure. Always thankful and a blessing to toe the start line with amazing athletes, push our bodies to the max and finish. Hope its there post UNE! Good luck to everyone racing!!!!

Thanks for the insight KP and Silkychrome - sounds like some great competition. Thanks to your info, it will be even more interesting to follow along. Good luck to everyone!

Be sure to post the live coverage links for us here so we can cheer!

Looking forward to following you guys this year from home. The race is set up nicely and the area is gorgeous.

I will be at the race doing mostly semi-live reports. I am planning videos,photos, and alot of audio. The plan is to talk on course with the racers. I will post links when I have them all figured out. You can also search "legendaryrandy" on Goggle and find everything.

Tracking for the event will be here (corrected):

http://www.rev3adventure.com/ccttracking/

That's cool for us observers...the CP's are already on the map on the website. Maybe all of them, including optionals?

Race has started. Tecnu and Vivaraid seem to be surfing off the coast of Africa in a tropical depression at the moment. Hopefully that gets sorted out soon.

CP01 is located in the old mill where gold was crushed inside a huge steel drum full of giant ball bearings. Inside the mill teams will find their way through the building, deal with the intense noise of the machinery, and collect a genuine mine core sample. At CP02, located at the general store, they must exchange the core sample for race supplies.

Having just worked at a race HQ, my first thought is that this is not the ideal kind of start to get all the teams' trackers working properly!

I know Tecnu and Vivaraid are fast...but wow. ;) Hope it gets sorted out soon.

Looks like they have quite a climb on bike to an optional O-course then a short ride to the End of Day1 TA next to Middle Popo Agie River, which hopefully has some H2O in it.

Day 1 was to include-
15-40 miles trekking
20-30 miles single track biking
10-15 miles road biking
40-60 miles fire road biking

I don't see where all the biking is based on the plotted CPs. If the TA rules are the same as last year teams cannot leave the TA prior to 6am and have to be out by 8am.

Twitter feed indicates Tecnu leading with Vidaraid right behind them.

JayXC, for the fast teams, like yours last year, couldn't the teams who complete the full course for the day, as long as they have obtained all CPs up to that time, leave earlier under certain conditions?

I have got audio and video on the FB page.
https://www.facebook.com/Rev3Adventure?ref=hl&...

Thanks Randy! We all appreciate your efforts and contributions to the sport with your podcasts, dvds, and on scene coverage. Hope you enjoy your time in Wyoming and look out for our friends racing.

Checking facebook, Tecnu got into the last TA at 9:46 and Columbia Vidaraid was in an hour later. Smoking! That will give them lots of sleep tonight.

@afsheen- We weren't allowed to leave early but the time in the TA was off the clock for us since there weren't anymore points left on that days course for us to get. 9:46pm seems kind of early even for the first team, hopefully the rest of the course isn't so short. They didn't even race for 12 hours yesterday.

If, in a leg, you don't clear the course for that day, then you don't get a time credit for time spent in the dark zone for any of the days after that.

Day 2-

10-15 miles fire road biking
30-45 miles road biking
12-20 miles trekking
15-20 miles flat paddle
ropes
Tecnu is leading Vidaraid by a few minutes and they're just about to drop the canoes for the optional trekking points. Yogaslackers just got on the water and WABAR is about 10k from the put-in. From the optional trek points its a relatively short paddle (1.5 hrs) to the TA. Could be an early day into the TA again for the lead teams. I hope they brought cards or something.

I wonder if the faster expedition racers will appreciate this year's staged racing. They may need to wake up at 3 am and run around in the dark bumping into things just to feel like they are really experiencing a multi-day adventure race. I hope they brought enough food. With all that time, one might eat more than usual too.