Mount Bachelor Party

A delayed blog on the (not so) recent PPP race in Bend......

This last weekend was a chance to take part in a pretty unique relay, the Pole, Pedal, Paddle relay race in Bend, Oregon. Bend is great little town 3 hours from Portland, at 1200m and a running, biking destination. A sort of low key Boulder!

The PPP race is a logistical challenge with snowboarding, skiing, biking, running and paddling legs. Starting near the summit of Mount Bachelor, the team makes its way down the mountain via snowboard, ski, bike, run legs and paddles!

The team doing their stuff

I was part of a team from Square 1, our digital agency. We were in the business category, the last to start (I guess so we didn't get in the way of the 'proper' athletes) at 11,30am. Our snowboarder started first and realised that there were some serious teams when some of the boarders started the 50m run to their boards in bare feet to cut down any wasted time clipping in boots! He slid down the mountain to the hardest leg, cross country skiing, on a hilly course. Many expletives later Emily handed over to Scott who had a 22 mile downhill road bike section. Seemed a bit unfair. Then I was off on the riverside (and therefore reasonably flat) 5 mile run. We scythed our way through the field to hand over to our two paddlers for a 3 mile paddle along the Deschutes river. Lastly an 800m sprint to the finish.

The serious.....

Like most business teams our abilities were pretty mixed despite trying to tailor the leg to the athlete. Out of 900 teams (which included singles, pairs, trips and 6 person team) we finished 512th. Not bad for minimal training, borrowed equipment and a non-serious approach to the race.

...and the not so serious

Square 1 are a great example of a young, motivated agency who work hard, work with rather than for their clients, and also involve their clients in their fun activities. It creates a bond, a friendship and I'm sure a more productive working relationship. We had fun, but we also had a chance to feel their culture and them ours.

Back to the race, and I was a little disappointed to run 30,30 for the 5 miles, but even 1200m seems to effect me on hills, however small. I've intentionally shortened my runs the last few weeks to try and get back some feeling of enjoying the daily runs. Portland weather has returned to type after a couple of glorious weekends, so the shorts and t-shirts are back in the drawer. For now.

With 5 months of the year gone, the score is 3 x 50kms, 2 x 21km PB's, a 10k PB, 2nd at the multiday stage race African X and race figures of 2, 8, 12, 17, 78, 5, 2, 10, 13, 4, DNF, 3. A couple of bad races, but mainly some real fun racing.