Salomon/Crested Butte
presented by Salomon USA

What a great experience. Well caffieinated & still heavily jet lagged the team has landed back in Crested Butte where we've got near record snow fall amounts on the ground (more on that in another blog).

Abu Dhabi delivered everything it promised; challenge, beauty, heat and true adventure! The team had a goal going into the race of a top 5 result with one of the most elite fields of the year. In the end we missed our goal by a little bit but feel fortunate to have raced there. Had the camel hiking day's results not been neutralized by the race organization our goal could have been achieved. All the teams were nervous about having a "wild beast" determine your fate (we've seen it in other races before and the jury is still out on wild animals in AR...), its a total luck of the draw. Needless to say we had a descent experience with our camel, but it was still like getting your teeth pulled, with the bloody beast!

The first two days encompassed 120km+ of paddling in the Persian Gulf where we suffered as our paddling skills are still developing. After the 2nd day of paddling we were taking into the Liwa Oasis (think massive sand dunes) where we got a taste of what was to come....an over the top experience put forth by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority. Great food, ambiance like you expect from a hookah lounge, basically a sanctuary where you were allowed for a little bit to forget about the days hard work. The United Arab Emerites (UAE) army provided all logistics setting up the massive canvas tents, food, and facilities at each camp along the way.

The next two days of racing (84km & 40km) were all about sand dunes, and foot management with the ridiculous amounts of sand in your shoes. The second of these two days was with the camel (40km) and the results as I mentioned were wiped away by the race organizers.

The fifth days was a 54km bike with lots of .....push the bike through 8-10" of sandy stretches in mid 90's temps. Never a place to hide from the sun the shorter distance this day really turned up the heat on teams as racing was fast and furious!

From there it was another bus ride to the final camp and the 6th and final day of racing near the only mountain in Abu Dhabi, rising nearly 2000 ft. off the desert floor. This night we camped on grass (yeah!) and had another great dinner provided by the organization. The next morning we raced up and over this razor back ridge of a mountain for 24km, with a spectacular ropes section thrown in along the way. This lasted for about 8 hours and then finished up with what amounted to a 20km group road ride to a 5km trail run to the ultimate finish line!

The awards party was over the top as well, with great food, ambiance, and leaders of the country. Its obvious Abu Dhabi laid out the red carpet for the athletes as this country is setting on a pile of money. Its rumored they will try again next year to pull this race off. Put this one on your calendar for next year, its that good!

Time to Ski!