24-Hour Endurance Challenge: Epic Adventure Race Exploring Wild California

As the race director of the Bay Area Adventure Racing Club BRAWL event this year, I recently embarked on a dry run of the upcoming training race that I'm organizing in Northern California. With my teammate Jade, we took on the grueling 24-hour challenge and put ourselves to the test on the course to work out any kinks and also get to know each other better as teammates.
The adventure racing course format is designed to have teams of four or less navigate through rugged, beautiful terrain to find checkpoints using only a map and compass, no GPS. The race consists of paddling/kayaking, mountain biking, and trekking, and is open to about 80 athletes of all levels of experience. This is a free event our club puts on every year to gear us up for the season ahead. It's turned into a wonderful tradition to challenge ourselves, get the community together, and bring some new folks to the sport. The race offers various course lengths to suit different levels of experience and time constraints. There's 12-hour course and shorter 6-hour course options available for those who are new to adventure racing or don't have the time for the full pull.
Jade flew in from L.A. that same night; however, his flight was delayed due to bad weather so by the time we started with the kayak leg it was after 2am. This was two hours past our targeted starting time because we needed to time the tides of Tamales Bay. If you end up out there too long and try to paddle back during low tide, you'll get stuck in the mud... But we stuck to our plan to do as much as we could in the time we had. Navigating the dense fog coming off the water, we could barely see anything since our headlamps reflected right back at us. It rained on and off but it was usually light enough to not be miserable. In fact, it was quite pretty when the sun broke over the morning horizon and the rain muddled the reflection of the water, sky and hills surrounding us. We saw all kinds of birds including bald eagle, cormorant, heron, goose, and a massive flock of ducks that we scared in the night which sounded like thunder as they took flight, wings flapping against the water. Moon jellyfish pulsated below our paddle strokes.
As day broke and the sun peered through the clouds, we hiked through Point Reyes National Seashore witnessing the stunning beauty of the coastal cliffs and Almere Falls as it poured into the ocean. I pulled two ticks crawling on me after weaving through some bushes for a checkpoint. I freakin HATE those things, ah! But the quail, deer, elk and banana slug sightings made up for it.
We switched to our mountain bikes and rode the tough and grueling fire roads of Bolinas Ridge and San Geronimo Ridge to get into the Mount Tamalpais watershed. Along the top, we caught a beautiful sunset dipping over the hills. We ran into a funny family of black cows that paced us up the rutted climbs. We spotted a coyote, ears perked in a hunt for a rabbit or vole.
As we were guided by our bright lights through the forest, we were then rewarded with the Tamorancho single track and flow trail. At this point, Jade was melting from sleep deprivation. Since we began the course in the middle of the night, that meant that we had already been awake for 14 hours before we'd even started! Knowing the rest of the course ahead, I made a decision to have us take a short cut on the road hoping Jade would rally and find some more energy. It didn't work. The road hill was a massive climb and by the time we got to the top, Jade wasn't even able to form a sentence. He laid down on the cold ground and took a solid 30 minute nap, snoring as the wild coyotes howled at the crescent moon and the frogs gulped in the grasses.
Unfortunately, Jade was completely cooked making it impossible for us to complete the orienteering course or the final mountain bike section. I created a bail-out option for us to get back, but it was still another 18 miles and 1,000ft of climbing. We paced ourselves well and made it back to the car in one piece, famished and whooped.
Despite this setback, we were still able to experience the adventure and challenge of the race. Overall, the course covers over 100 miles with 10,000 vertical feet in elevation gain. We got to about 80 of it and still managed to climb 9,800 feet. This course is tough, but you will grow as a person as you dig through some of the deepest parts of your body and mind, not to mention showcasing some of the most remarkable and breathtaking places on this planet.
Soundtrack: @soundslikewatr
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