Left Coast Low Down
Adventure Racing in the land of fruits and nuts

Gawd, it's been forever since I've blogged here; mainly because I haven't done anything interesting. Check that - I've done some interesting stuff (the GORE-TEX TransRockies Run, Interbike), but they've left me too tired to write.

But Sunday, I laced up the Invo-8 Flyrocs and drove three towns over to Kentfield, California for the fourth-annual Dipsea Boy Invitational Cross-Country Run. The name is rife with misrepresentations.

It's not a true invitational, though it is self-selecting to attract only the sickest runners Marin County can offer, and that's saying a fair amount. It has nothing to do with the Dipsea, but rather is named for its founder, Dipsea Boy - who is not only a great runner, a perennial threat to "Black Shirt" (top 35 placer) in the Dipsea, and an erudite delight - but also a man who has a mile-wide streak of anti-authoritarianism.

Dipsea Boy's goal, way back in 2004, was seemingly to recapture the truly anarchic spirit that formed much of the legacy of the original Dipsea race, where the open course meant finding creative shortcuts and bombing up and down the hills of Mt. Tam in the fastest route possible.

So this thing attracts only about 35 of the stoutest runners around. Multiple winners of ultras, those kind of lithe cats who destroy adventure racers. This iteration started from the Woodlands Market and finished there. Using any route and heading in any direction, we needed to hit two checkpoints on either side of Mt. Tam - at the Lake Lagunitas parking lot and at the Mountain Home Inn above Mill Valley. The entry fee was $1.00 and if we had permission to do this from land managers it wasn't apparent. If any of you have heard of the BAAR Brawl, you know I love this stuff.

Dipsea Boy gave us 25 seconds of instruction, then shouted "GO!" - whereupon we were visited by the spirit of the Keystone Kops. A solid plurality - including me - headed north toward Ross, hoping for a reasonable warm-up before climbing to Lake Lagunitas. Others, including Roy Rivers (who not only won the Double Dipsea, but has top three placings in the Quad Dipsea, Dipsea AND was present at the formation of mountain biking...nice palmares), went south and west to hit Mountain Home Inn first.

The pace was manageable, and convivial. Folks peeled off at random intervals to pursue previously-scouted short-cuts, which didn't seem to give them that much advantage. By the time we were on public land and facing the climb up Fish Grade (623 vertical feet/mile), I was in a group with Brad Rippe, Jed Tuckman and Geoff Vaughn. Great company, but this was the last I'd see them. As they spit me out the back on the climb, I settled into an AR hike, hit the first checkpoint in 39 minutes, and headed around Lake Lagunitas to climb Colier Trail - a sick bit of ascending. By this time, I had hooked up with my new friend Troy - a mt. bike race and trail runner from San Jose who was doing this as a lark on the recommendation of a particularly sadistic "friend."

We ground up Colier right on the edge of anaerobia and near the top saw Roy, 2007 Dipsea winner Jamie Burns and Greg Nacco heading down. They weren't even breathing hard.

We crossed over the spine of Mt. Tam near the summit and started descending a trail made largely of ancient, serpentine rock stairs. Troy and I shared some water, and some woe, before hitting the second checkpoint one hour after leaving the last.

In all honesty, I felt terrific. I was 1:39 in and had a big spring in my step, so I bailed on poor Troy, which may have led to my subsequent demise less than a quarter mile later.

Seems that my running limit is 1:45, because a half-ton pickup truck landed on my back and I shuffled the entire way back to the S/F line, walking a couple of times, feeling the heat and even enjoying my one pratfall on the trail - because it meant I could lay down for a while feeling sorry for myself.

I only passed one person on the descent; he stepped aside and I saw with alarm that both his legs were quivering like a wet dog's; at least I wasn't the only one suffering. It took me one full hour to go the 6+ miles back, where I drank a quart of lemonade and some bonhomie before staggering off to my car.

Any adventure racer in the Bay Area who hasn't done the Dipsea Boy, ought to. Just get used to the thought of getting your butt kicked by some ultrarunners...