Team Rookie Rampage
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Photo by Cristina Fillis
Rookie Rampage team members (from left) Lyle Kopnicky, Scott Markham, Mike Bitton, Kim Reinholdt and Ivan Arredondo, pose on one of many hilltops during their third and final loop at the Big Muddy Ranch Rogaine near Antelope, Ore.

Are you kidding me? We actually WON something?! That's so totally against the grain of what Rookie Rampage -- an all-newbie adventure racing team -- is supposed to be about! But it's true. When the Big Muddy Ranch Rogaine results were announced for the 12-in-24-hour "mixed" (read co-ed) division, team Checkpoint Zero-Rookie Rampage was called to the front of the room to receive its prize!

Scott Markham, Cristina Fillis, Kim Reinholdt and Mike Bitton, accepted their ribbon-clad Columbia River Orienteering Club (CROC) patches, smiled for the cameras, and still could not believe what had just happened. We won something!

Since we've got more than four folks who normally train with us, we also had more than four Rookie Rampagers at the Big Muddy. Ivan Arredondo and Lyle Kopnicky raced as a two-man team called Rookie Rampage Lite. For the most part, we all stayed together throughout the event, racing as one oversize team.

Strategies for nabbing as many control points as possible during the 24-hour event staged near Antelope, Ore., were as varied as the 80 participating teams. Some in the 8-hour division plotted mini-loops of an hour or two that brought them frequently back to headquarters, or the Hash House, as organizers called it. Others, in the 12-hour and 24-hour divisions, stayed our for six, eight or 10 hours at a time. Because we could be out for a total of 12 hours during the 24-hour race, we planned three loops.

First was a three-hour loop to the northeast of the Hash House. It featured some sketchy rock scaling, a nifty cave, and hundreds of painful grass seeds embedded in our shoes and socks. Next came a 7-hour loop to the northwest of the Hash House. It included what felt like several hours of uphill hiking, Lyle's first control point "kill," and the only missed control point of our entire race. On our final "morning after" loop, we grabbed two more checkpoints to the southwest of the Hash House before declaring ourselves done. That loop included lots of limping on sore ankles, knees and hips, as well as continuous bow-legged sauntering by my chafe-laden self.

We love the Big Muddy. Scott, Cris and I did the 8-hour event in 2006, and had a super fun time. This year, we were back with twice as many participants. Obviously, we'll be back in 2008. But how many friends will we bring? Will we double again, and make it 12? Tune in next spring to find out!

Photo by Mike Bitton
A competitor in the TRIOBA Sprint adventure race experiences a "hike-a-bike" section of the mountain bike course.

Ah, TRIOBA. The very name conjures images like the one you see above. Justin and Joel Yeager, the fiendish race directors at Washington state's TRIOBA adventure racing series, have been serving up their special blend of difficult and impossible for several years now. Rookie Rampage was supposed to race in the May 19 TRIOBA Sprint, but we missed the registration deadline and the race was already full, according to Justin. With considerable egg on my face, I offered to volunteer for the race, because it really is our neighborhood adventure racing series, and we gotta represent, right? Justin ended up using me in a familiar role -- that of photographer. You can see a gallery of my images here.

It was great to see familiar faces before, during and after the race. The next TRIOBA is a 12-hour event, scheduled for July 14 at Snoqualmie Pass, Wash. That's a venue Rookie Rampage has experienced before, at the 4th Dimension Adventure Racing winter race back in January. Wouldn't it be nice to see some of the same terrain? That sure would help make our navigation choices easier!

Photo by Mike Bitton
Rookie Rampage team members (from left) Jan Newport, Scott Markham, Kim Reinholdt and Ivan Arredondo, are very pleased indeed to be at the finish line of the MOMAR sprint adventure race in Squamish, B.C., Canada.

Rookie Rampage took its show of beginner adventure racing antics north of the border this weekend to race in the MOMAR sprint adventure race in Squamish, B.C., Canada. Disciplines included trekking, mountain biking and rappelling in what turns out to be a magnificent setting for adventure racing. When final results were shared on Saturday evening, we learned that Rookie Rampage finished dead last in all categories.

Some people would feel ashamed. We don't. We finished! Yeah, we were short-coursed twice by the race organization, and once we even short-coursed ourselves to make sure we wouldn't miss the rappell. But our goal has never been to "compete" in adventure races. We just want to show the world that adventure racing is a sport that is within everyone's reach. If you can imagine yourself out here, you can be out here!

Pre-race report by Scott Markham

O.K., so we are three days away from the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) in Squamish, B.C., our second "official" race as team Checkpoint Zero Rookie Rampage. This course is designed by the famous Jen Segger of expedition adventure racing team DART-nuun, and sprint adventure racing team Timberland (formerly team GoLite-Timberland).

Jan Newport, Kim Reinholdt, Ivan Arredondo, and I (Scott Markham) are getting all our mandatory gear ready for the race (uhh...what the heck is a bear bell?). Our media corps, which includes Cristina Fillis on camera and Mike Bitton on the words, are making sure their camera and laptop batteries are charged and ready to catch all the action as we fly by them during the race (hopefully by the time we make it to them we will still be flying).

Squamish is a great location for an adventure race. If we don't count the PDXAR Spring Fling mini-adventure race we did last month, this MOMAR will be Jan and Kim's first adventure race. We are proud to have them along for the fun. I am sure we will have two new members of the adventure racing community once this pair cross the finish line.

I must admit, bringing new people into the sport has been the best part of being on team Rookie Rampage. We have had some great training events. Perhaps the best one so far was our rappelling training. Seeing the smiles on all the faces as they learned something new was exciting. Just wait until race day and we are faced with a 100-foot rappel. I am sure everyone will be smiling when they complete that section of the race!

Like they say, getting to the race is half the fun. Running around at the last minute to make sure we have everything before we head north just increases the anticipation. So here we go. Rookie Rampage is ready to go racing!

Semis and manly pickups roared southbound along Interstate 5 about 20 yards from where I'd just gotten out of my wife's Honda Civic. I was not far from California's Castle Crags State Park, near sprawling Shasta Lake. It was hard to believe I was in the parking lot of one of the many trailheads along the Pacific Crest Trail, one of North America's thru-hikes made famous by the wilderness it crosses. This sensory experience was anything but serene, more akin to changing a flat tire along the shoulder of Southern California's notorious 405 Freeway.

I was six hours into a solo nine-hour drive from Portland, Ore., to Napa, Calif., and ready for a break. I remembered having seen a freeway exit sign for the Pacific Crest Trail during past trips to California. Taking time out for a run along the Pacific Crest Trail seemed ideal, so there I was, swapping out my bare feet and Timberland slides for my favorite pair of Bridgedale socks and the Merrell Overdrive adventure racing shoes I scored for working at Primal Quest last summer in Moab, Utah.

Up the trail I went, entering, sans the $5 parking fee, Castle Crags State Park. I figured I'd head in for 30 minutes, then turn around and get back to my long drive.

Like many trails, it started with lung-punishing elevation gain. That's the part of the "trail run" that I walked. But soon I was high enough above the freeway that the traffic noise faded out, and the terrain leveled out as well. I started to run and then walk in five-minute intervals. It felt absolutely wonderful to be out of the car, in the mottled sun and shade of pines, and temporarily free of all worry or care.

Eventually I came to a fork in the trail. Tempted by what claimed to be a View Point, I veered left off the PCT and eventually came to an asphalt parking lot full of SUVs. Yet another sign guided me to my scenic destination, where equally stunning views of Castle Crags and Mt. Shasta competed for my attention. I was already about 40 minutes into my "run," so I took in the view, turned around, and headed back to the car.

In all, I spent an hour and 15 minutes on the Pacific Crest Trail. It helped clear my mind during an all-day drive. I drew energy from the new sights I experienced. And, best of all, I got some training in so I can feel more prepared for Rookie Rampage's adventure racing season, which is about to really heat up.

Very few teams are fortunate enough to have a gear sponsor, but we members of Rookie Rampage are just plain lucky. When he heard about our all-rookie adventure racing team late last year, Mountains Plus President Erik Viafore was so stoked about the concept, he decided to kit us up for the 2007 season. Mountains Plus is an online gear shop (www.mpgear.com) that specializes in the "light and fast" approach to outdoor sports, and is a serious supporter of adventure racing.

Our first installment of adventure racing gear arrived today, and includes three things we desperately need:

1. Compasses by Silva (Guide) and Brunton (Adventure Racing Compass), since we've been known to get somewhat off course.

2. Princeton Tec lights for our bikes (Yukon HL) and our noggins (EOS headlamp), all the better to see the checkpoints with, my dear.

3. An Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight .7 first aid kit. Erik was going to send the .5, but he's been reading our blog and had a feeling we'll come to need the additional items found in the larger .7 kit.

Thanks, Erik! We'll get these goodies on the trail ASAP!