Q  I'm sitting here on my couch, totally dazed from watching Eco-Challenge, and I'm ready to be an adventure racer. Can you tell me how to get started??

 A  It's an annual occurrence. People see the broadcast of the Eco-Challenge and get all fired up about adventure racing. We're going to tell you how to get your feet off the ground, but the rest is up to you.

1. Join NYARA or an organization similar to it.
• NYARA has formal and informal training clinics throughout the year. It has several races to help develop your skills and it is a group of like-minded people interested in the sport.
• Your universe of potential training and racing partners will grow dramatically.
• www.nyara.org has tons of useful information for people just starting out in the sport. Other sites for organizations closer to home, if you're not in our region, are also helpful. Racing Ahead, Inc.'s site is one particularly good one. Join the several adventure-racing devoted Yahoo groups or list servs like ARA.


2. Decide what length of race you want to do: sprint races like the Balance Bar Adventure Sprints, one- or two-day races like the Odyssey Endorphin Fix or the big mammas like Eco-Challenge and the like. You may want to do all types.



3. Assess your interest level, fitness level, lifestyle, disposable income, etc. to figure out how much time and energy you want/can devote to becoming a racer. You may really want to do a Southern Traverse, but you're married, have three kids, have a job that requires long hours and can't train more than five hours a week. You need to have some semblance of a match between your goal and what you can do to reach that goal. Also, are you looking to do one or two races a year with some friends to just have fun or do you want to try to break the top 10 in every race? The answers to these questions will help guide you the rest of the way through this process.



4. Common sense would suggest doing shorter, more manageable races before doing a 10-day body/spirit killer. Many people take several years of consistent, smart training and racing to build up to longer races. On the other hand, you shouldn't feel dissuaded from doing a race just because you may not have trained long enough. Some times you just have to carpe diem!



5. Use the racing community in your area to your advantage. Try to go out with more experienced racers and pick their brains for all their worth. A bunch of hours with a "player" could save a beginner months/years of trial and error.



6. We know you want to hear the practical stuff, so here it goes: This is where it is hard for us. Your answers to point 3 above will determine how much you will follow the suggestions below. We are going to take the viewpoint that you're interested in having a great time, but also are looking to do well in the races.
• Aerobic Training:
• Adventure races are like off-road triathlons, so you may want to consider picking up a triathlon-training book.
• The more training, the better (assuming you don't hurt yourself and overtrain). Some knowledgeable racers said that around 10 hours/week is good for a sprint race, 10-20 hours for a one- to two-day race and 20+ hours/week for the longer races. Your training time is what it is. So train when you can and do whatever length race you want. Just make sure you adjust your expectations accordingly.
• You should try to work on riding, running and paddling. Work on your weaknesses.
• Sports-specific training pays huge dividends in this sport. You're asking, what the hell do you mean? Well, running on flat roads will leave you ill-prepared to trek/hike with a pack up and down rocky mountain trails, for example. Never riding your mountain bike with a race-weight pack will leave you (and your ass) unprepared to go 14 hours in the saddle over bumpy fire roads. You need to replicate as closely as possible what you'll be doing in your race in your training.
• Accurately knowing your maximum heart rate, and more importantly, your anaerobic threshold heart rate would be helpful. If you're spending all those hours training, why not do it at the appropriate intensity levels? Having said that, most people don't have a good handle on those numbers and still manage to humiliate those of us who do train knowing those numbers. Some times too much info isn't good.


• Gear:
• The gear needs for a sprint race are significantly different from the longer races. The differences between a 48-hour race and an 8-day race gear list are not that big.
• www.nyara.org has sample gear lists for both sprint and longer races.
• Talk to other experienced racers about what they use.
• Always test out your gear, clothing, food, fluid, etc. before you use it in a race. You don't want to look like the newbie knucklehead who is taking his brand new trail-running shoes out of the box and putting them on his feet 15 minutes before a 2-day race.
• Test your stuff in real situations, like the cold or in the rain, etc.


• Skill Development:
• The two main skills to be developed in the sport are navigation and paddling. These are usually most racers' weaknesses because they're not widely practiced.
• Start by reading up on both subjects (check out www.nyara.org's book suggestions).
• Find your local orienteering club and kayaking groups and go to the meets and classes.
• Spend lots of time in the woods and in the water.
• Other skills to learn include ascending and descending fixed ropes and horseback riding for the longer races.


7. Everyone who is serious about this sport would love to get sponsored by some generous company. But the odds are stacked against you in a big way. The bottom line is even the best teams in the world have to work at getting money and most of the time there is very little. Top teams usually don't have to pay for entry fee and sometimes the flights to the race. But its not like they each get a "salary" of $100,000 per year and just train and race. Now that we've burst your bubble, here are some things you can do:
• You need to write up a short and sweet sponsorship proposal that tells the reader what you want and also says what the potential sponsor will get in return.
• Come up with a list of companies to send the proposal to. You shouldn't bother asking the likely gear and apparel companies for money because they get a million of these a month and it's highly unlikely they will fork over any dough. You should ask them for a pro deal on equipment. However, if your next-door neighbor is the head of promotion at Patagonia, then you may want to use that contact.
• Ask all your family, friends and business buddies to look through their address books to see if they know of anybody who could be a potential sponsor.
• See if your employer would give you some money.
• Call your local newspaper and see if they would be interested in writing a story about you and your team. Leverage that for PR purposes.

Well, that's about it. You now know all the secrets. Just remember to say that you learned everything you know from NYARA when you are collecting your winner's check!

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