Check out the Greenland video!!!!

Watch the 6 minute video of the Arctic Team Challenge 5 day adventure race I did in Greenland in July 2006.

Hank ~ AKA "Hanky Panky"

I went home for Thanksgiving and was able to spend some time with Hank. He used to be so happy and excited to see me that he would thrust his 80 pound body at me and I'd just about fall over. Now he was old, had arthritis and was moving slowly. I knew it would soon be time for him to leave us and only hoped that he would not suffer for too much longer. Before I left, we hung out for a while and I said goodbye. He passed away on November 30. He was a friend, a guardian, and part of our family for over 12 years.

Princesa turned Queen?

Last April I began a quest to become the "Mountain Bike Queen of Orange County." Honestly I had no idea what I was getting myself into and being consumed with adventure racing, I wasn't sure if I'd have the time or the desire to compete in all 4 races of the Warriors Society Championship Series. But I thoroughly enjoyed competing in their events so I decided to give them a try.

All 4 races were held at the Flying B Ranch on a 5.6 mile course with 1253 feet of elevation gain. In April, despite a gnarly acrobatic flight over the handlebars of my bike, I managed to pull off a 2nd place finish at the Spring XC race. But three laps around that course was nothing compared to my next challenge at the 24 Hours of OC. In the sweltering heat of June, I rode 16 laps around the brutal course and won a very hard-fought 1st place. With two more races to go, I had a narrow lead in the points race against the Warriors' own Mary Huth. Mary was a strong rider who always pushed me to ride as hard as I could. One month before the 6 Hours of OC, I joined team Sho-Air/Rock N Road and I focused on my training and set my sight on finishing the series on top. Unfortunately I had a mental collapse at the 6 Hours race in October that caused me to settle for a less than stellar result. I was still leading the series but Mary was close and there would be no room to falter at the final XC event.

For the next month, I worked on my physical and mental game and I was ready for that final race of the series. The XC format was not really my strength, but I was able to ride hard and come from behind for a very satisfactory 3rd place finish. With that, I clinched the series victory and my title of "Mountain Bike Queen of Orange County."

How does it feel to be Queen you ask? Well, whereas Elizabeth might be forced to take a limo to Buckingham, I had the pleasure of driving the Element back to my Costamesacastle. She may sport the Imperial State Crown and the Sceptre, but I can now flaunt a few open wounds, bruises, and permanent scars. And five years of riding, eight months of solid training, 34 hours of riding circles around the Flying B and countless hours of mental preparation were fully compensated by a giant posterboard check for $250! Aaaaahh, life is good as Queen!


I would like to acknowledge Mary Huth for being such a fierce and gracious competitor. She was always so strong and never gave up. She made me work hard for every single point and taught me some valuable lessons along the way.
Also many thanks to...
Chris, Sherry, Suzanne, Jason, volunteers and members of the Warriors Society for building the trails and organizing the races.
Scott of Sho-Air and Matt of Rock N Road for the team.
Coach Lynda for showing me the way.
Super Mario for advising me, encouraging me, training with me, pushing me, and expecting everything out of me.
Tim for taking care of Fiona and making her ride smoothly on her final race.
Greg, Miss Gilly, Erin, Caroline, and Curt for believing in me and supporting me.
Eron, Jonathan and Josh for motivating me and training with me.

Click HERE for the official race report.

12 Hours of Temecula ~ Team Sho-Air/Rock N' Road ~ 2nd Place Two Person Co-Ed

My Sho-Air teammate and great friend Josh Smith and I paired up for the 12 Hours of Temecula on November 11. We arrived on Friday evening and pre-rode the course. Jason, the RD, changed it up from previous races and made it a good mixture of singletrack, ridgeline rollercoasters, and technical climbs. There were a couple of steep, extremely sandy downhills where I knew I'd have to take caution but mostly it was a fast, fun course with only one dreaded climb dubbed "The Dam(n) Hill."

Josh packed up the Element well!

The race started with a 1/2 mile prologue to spread the field. Josh sprinted his way through the first lap and came through in fourth position--even against all the 4 and 5 man teams! We'd planned that he would take the first two laps and then we'd alternate, however, I had a feeling that I should be ready to ride...just in case.

Josh focusing on his start.

Thank God I was ready because as soon as he came through he signaled for me to go because he was having problems with his shifting. So I took off and rode hard. I was trying to win the $50 for the "Fastest Female Lap" but I guess I will have to work on my speed quite a bit more. Chrissy Bono, the Pro rider for the 2 person Co-Ed Spinergy team beat me by 6 minutes.

Bern smiles for the camera. (Stop posing and maybe you'll ride faster!)

My first two laps went smoothly. I made it down both steep, sandy sections with no mishaps. I was feeling good and making sure to fuel in between laps. Buuuuutttt, oops! I think I over fueled. After my second lap, I downed an entire bottle of Recoverite, a whole banana, a flask of Perpetuem, and 2 salty potato chips. As soon as I started riding, my tummy was NOT happy! I battled excruciating stomach cramps all the way up The Dam(n) Hill and through most of the lap. Then when I reached the first steep, sandy down, I lost control and fell hard right on my bottom. OUCH! It hurt. But I got up and kept riding. When I finally reached the transition to tag Josh, he knew something was wrong. But I just said I had a bad tummy and I'd be fine when he got back. I took some time to visit the medical guys and they were more than happy to tend to the giant gash on my left butt cheek. They asked if I had crashed over the fence into the ditch. "What fence? What ditch," I asked. "Nope, I just went down on the trail." So they asked if I was going back out to ride again. I thought: What? Is there an option? Hmmmm......Could I talk Josh into riding 8 more laps? Ha, ha! Nope, I wouldn't do such a thing. "Of course I'm going back out."

Josh powering up The Dam(n) Hill.

My fourth lap was going smoothly until I reached that darn sandy, steep section again. I was cautious and I made it down. Then I got cocky because I was almost in the clear...ALMOST in the clear. I then proceeded to run right through THE fence and into THE ditch. Luckily the RD, Jason, had set down a piece of plywood as a makeshift bridge just in case someone went over the edge. (He must have known I was racing.) So I managed to grab on to the edge of the plywood as my entire body dangled down towards the bottom of the 20 foot ravine. A nice young man stopped, picked up my bike, and helped me out of that mess and I kept on riding. I was too embarrassed to make yet another trip to the med tent so I tended to my own cuts and bruises. My 5th and final lap was slow, easy, and I decided to walk that DAM (no N) sandy, steep drop. I figured that 5 open wounds and 9 bruises (that I could see) were enough for one race.

Josh and I completed 11 laps and finished in 2nd place behind the Pro riders of Team Spinergy. We raced hard, had fun, and made a great team. We motivated each other and communicated with each other by leaving notes. We anticipated each other's needs and took care of each other throughout the race. Once again, great teamwork prevailed and made for a successful race for Team Sho-Air/Rock N' Road.

Bern's Movie Review - The Departed

Holy moly! Wow, what a freakin' crazy flick! Not at all what I expected. It's a crime drama set in South Boston. Good cops, bad cops, organized crime, mob snitches, undercovers, lies, guns, and murder. Guys, this is a MUST SEE for you! But only take your gal if she doesn't mind some blood, smokin' hot Leo DiCaprio, violence, sexy man Matt Damon, murder, and "Let's see those CKs" Mark Wahlberg. I had to shield my eyes from the violence a few times but overall ladies, Leo, Matt, and Mark were well worth it!

"Braking" in my new ride!

Thanks to Scott at Sho-Air International, Matt, Travis, Tracie, Terry, Eric, Manny, and Charles at Rock N' Road Cyclery, and Specialized for placing me on the EPIC MARATHON CARBON. I took her on her maiden voyage this morning and broke her in. I had not ever used disc brakes before and I also wasn't comfortable with the tires or the suspension yet so on the very first downhill, I crashed. But not to worry, she and I both survived and thank God I was the only one scratched! So now Fiona, Bianca, and Lilly-pie have a new (yet to be named) sister in the garage.

6 Hours of OC Race Report

Well all didn't go as planned at the 6 hours of OC. Unfortunately I had some crazy mental collapse early in the race and all went down hill from there...except the course,,,that was all up hill! It was the first time I went into a mountain bike race with a plan and for some reason I didn't stick to it. I found out that the mental strength I thrive on to motivate me through days and days of adventure racing can just as easily work against me when reversed. Coach Lynda says sometimes you need a complete failure so you can learn from it, revise your plan, and make the necessary adjustments. So here it was - a terrible performance that taught me some valuable lessons.

Somehow I still managed to make it to the podium along with most of my Sho-Air teammates including Mario, Manny, Lou, George, Terry, Scott, Jason, Josh, Fuzzy, Craig, and Eric. But the best part of the day was sharing my gigantic "Motherlode" birthday cake with my best friend Miss Gilly, my great friend Eron, my Sho-Air teammates and all the rest of the racers.

I must thank Gilly and Caroline for feeding and watering me. And thanks also to Chris, Sherry, Tim, Suzanne, Jason and all the volunteers for organizing the race. And of course thanks to my Sho-Air family for the support, encouragement, and friendship.

Friends around the world...

Thanks to God that I have been able to compete in adventure sports and meet the most wonderful people from all over the world. I will post them a few at a time. I'm lucky to have them in my life...


Benoit Turcotte; Vancouver, BC, Canada

Ben and I met while sweating our butts off in 100+ degree heat at the Nuevo Leon Outdoor Challenge (Mexico) in June 2005. He is working on his Master's Degree at the University of BC. He enjoys traveling to Mexico to train with his AR team and plans to race the Nuevo Leon Outdoor Challenge in November. This photo is from his first ever Half Iron Man Triathlon earlier this year.



Claudio Saa; La Serena, Chile

Claudio was on staff at the Patagonia Expedition Race when I was there in February 2006. He was very helpful and even gave us some much needed food when we were heading off on our 5 day trekking section. He is an adventure racer and an architect in Chile. He recently presented a big project to his advisors.





Bill McBlaine; Los Angeles, California, USA

I met Bill at Primal Quest 2003 Telluride, Colorado where he was a volunteer. He became one of Team FRED's biggest fans and has become one of my best friends! He just did his first triathlon and now I'm one of HIS biggest fans...

Bill's note:
Thank you to everyone who helped out with my fundraising and sent me support. It was a fantastic season and the race was a lot of fun. Race day was really nice, cool temps for the swim and bike and it didn’t get warm till the run. The one mile swim for this race takes place through part of a kelp bed, with the unique swim skill called the “kelp crawl” coming in handy. I had been pretty apprehensive about the swim but it went quite well and I finished faster than I had anticipated. All the training really paid off on that leg. The bike was along a beautiful road passing by the Monterey shoreline. Aside from a broken spoke (!) that kept my wheel rubbing on the brakes most of the ride, it went smoothly though a bit slower than planned. The run was a fairly flat course that I ran faster than I had hoped for. That was really a surprise since I had been off running so much due to injuries. All in all a great experience, thanks to the TnT coaches, Mentors and Staff.

Although my event is over, my fundraising continues. I still have a bit to go to complete my fundraising. Team in Training fielded a team of over 200 racers in the Pacific Grove Triathlon and together we raised OVER 1.2 MILLION dollars. I’m proud to be part of this team and I encourage you to continue to donate to this great cause. Last February I learned that a friend’s co-worker was diagnosed with Leukemia. He immediately began treatments and ultimately had a stem cell transplant. As of a few weeks ago he is in remission, back with his family, back at work and back doing the things that he loves. He benefited from the research conducted by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the patient services that the Society provides. Please consider making a donation to extend the work of this worthwhile and needed organization.

You may donate online by heading to ;

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgla/tntglaBMcBlai

You may also send a check made out to LLS, mail it to me at
Bill McBlaine
3521 Lomita Blvd, #100
Torrance, CA 90505
All donations are 100% tax deductible. You will automatically receive a receipt.
I’m now planning my next triathlon….see you at the races.

Bill McBlaine

Bern's Movie Review: The Illusionist

The trick was on me,,,literally! I was bamboozled by The Illusionist! For some reason I thought I was going to see the movie The Prestige with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman--which has not even been released yet! So when it turned out to be this movie, I was very dissapointed. Don't get me wrong, Ed Norton is one of my favorite actors, but this flick didn't do him justice. I guess I was looking for more drama, magic, action, twists, and turns! Instead I got too much gushy, mushy love story. Anyhow, now's a great time for a "Guest Review" from the one, the only, mountain biker & Galaga extraordinaire Super Mario!

Review by Mario Correa

Eisenheim (Edward Norton) is a magician in early 1900's Vienna, who falls in love with a woman well above his social standing. When she becomes engaged to a Crown Prince, Eisenheim uses his powers to win her back and undermine the stability of the royal house of Vienna.

The love story/murder mistery with a bit of the supernatural leaves the ending open to two interpretations, depending on a person's view of the supernatural. The scientific world in which the royal officials believe does not allow for such magical things to be real. And Eisenheim sets up the entire "magic" production as an elaborate ruse for him to win back his woman.

On the otherhand, being open to the idea of the supernatural could lead to a different interpretation. It could be that Eisenheim's love did die but he could still communicate with her. End of story. However, in order to get the ever inquisitive inspector "off his back" and not pester him with questions, Eisenheim HAD to give him a simple mechanical, rational explanation of how the orange trick worked. Having a rational answer for that, then everything else is rational (the unexplained was just a good slight of hand) and no more inspector to deal with ever.

In one case it's a happy ending, unlike Romeo and Juliet, but in the other it's a tragedy as all the illusionist has are conjered up images of his lost love. I liked the intertwining of illusion and the supernatural and I like that the ending was essentially left up to the viewer. The Eisenhiem character reminded me of another occultish type figure: Rasputin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin

Too bad it was only 24 hours...

Congratulations to SUPER MARIO!!! He was the overall solo winner with 21 laps at the 24 Hours of Adrenalin at Hurkey Creek! That's incredible!

Quote of the year: "Too bad it was only 24 hours. I could have kept riding!" Super Mario after riding almost 200 miles in 24 hours!

24 Hours of DMS

I decided not to race this one but I still had my own version of the 24 Hours of Adrenalin! I DMS'd the members of Team Sho-Air through the night!

Bern DMSing at 1:30am.

Thanks to Terry for keeping me company. He's also a Sho-Air rider but this time he was the 24 hour bike mechanic!

My DMS and Terry's mechanics must have worked! The Sho-Air teams were great! The 4 man team won 1st place with 29 laps and the 5 man team won 4th place!

Ich moeschte schokolade

I was invited to be a journalist at The Raid World Championships of adventure racing in Quebec, Canada from September 9-15, 2006. You can find my race reports on checkpointzero.com.

It was quite interesting seeing a race from a journalist's point of view as opposed to a racer's. But I must admit that for now, I would prefer racing. I have a greater appreciation for what the journalists do during a race. It's definitely not all fun, games and a free trip. It is work. And I appreciate them for promoting the sport I love.

I was so lucky to have met some wonderful people to share the experience with. We spent an entire 7 days together in a van, on the course, in hotels; waiting, writing, eating, practicing German, waiting, eating, laughing, writing...it was great!

The family... Sascha Jurek: German writing for www.funsporting.de ; Bernice: American racer/journalist writing for checkpointzero.com; Susan McKenzie: Canadian writing for sleepmonsters.com and reporting for Canadian radio; Arnd Hemmersbach German photographer

Although it was work, we did have some time for fun...


I took my very first helicopter ride on the first day of the race. They flew us over the racers while they were kayaking down river. It was absolutely incredible!

Sascha Jurek and Bern ready to take flight.

The organization also sent us whale watching! We saw a bunch of fin whales, humpbacks, and belugas. The tour operator said we were lucky to have such a great day with lots of whales.

Watching the finish of The Raid and listening to Isaac Wilson of Team GoLite give an interview reminded me why I love adventure racing...but don't ask me to explain!

Bern on the ferry leaving the Saguenay region of Quebec, Canada.

Bernice Joins Team Sho-Air

I'm fortunate enough to be the latest addition to the mountain bike Team Sho-Air. My inaugural race as a Sho-Air rider will be the 6 Hours of Orange County on October 21. This will be the third of the 4 race series where I'm currently the overall points leader. Looks like I'm going to have to spend more time on the bike!

Bern's Movie Review: Invincible

For the first time ever (and probably never again), this life long Dallas Cowboys fan was actually rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles! Ssshhhh, don't tell my family!

Although this film was sacked just short of the goal line in comparison to Rocky or Rudy, it was still a great story. Vince Papale, played by Mark Wahlberg was the underdog who used the negativity of others as motivation to attempt playing football in the NFL.

It's a real guy's movie. No deep thought necessary...it's just football, beer drinking, rooting for the underdog, more beer, and more football. Gals, Marky Mark has come a long way since the Funky Bunch...and who could ever forget the Calvin Klein underwear ad??? And he's still got it! So if you are a sports fan, grab your man and take him to the show. He'll thank you for it. But if the pigskin doesn't interest you at all...send your man with his buddies while you check out Little Miss Sunshine.

Bern's Movie Review: Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is an endearing movie of a typical American family and their struggle to stay positive and reach their goals. The film was very well done and they certainly chose the perfect actors. I truly enjoyed every character but I think Alan Arkin stole the show with his role as "Grandpa." I must also mention that, although I immensely enjoy Steve Carell's humor, it was good to see him play a serious role.

The film really captured all my emotions but most importantly one scene made me laugh so hard that I cried. I hadn't laughed that hard during a movie since the "hair gel" incident on Something About Mary.

I think all ladies will enjoy the film. As for you men, well...hmmm. It depends. Are you a family man? Do you have at least two ounces of sensitivity? Can you appreciate a film for its message of faith and hope? Do you openly admit to your woman that you have a sensitive side even if you do your best to hide it on the mountain bike trail or at the bar? If so, then you'll enjoy this movie. But for those guys who watch a flick for the fast cars, hot chicks, pirates, or frat house binge drinking parties--leave your date in her seat, tell her you are going to get her more popcorn, then sneek into Beerfest next door!

Arctic Team Challenge, East Greenland July 2006

The 6th edition of the Arctic Team Challenge in East Greenland provided eight teams from six different countries the opportunity to compete through the rocky mountains, iceberg-filled fjords, and massive glaciers of an unspoiled territory. Team Eastgreenland.com was comprised of four very experienced, talented, and lovely gentlemen from England. They are well known in the European adventure community and were at the ATC to claim their 3rd consecutive win. The four Danish men of Team Pharmanord sported strong physiques that have helped them finish 2nd and 3rd place in the last two ATC races. This year they returned in an attempt to steal the title from the British gentlemen. A super nice and happy group of Icelandic men formed Team Intersport Iceland. They too had previously raced the ATC but were unable to finish last year due to an illness. This year they were back to complete the race as a fully ranked team and improve their times. The very spirited and boisterous French men were new to the ATC this year. They were all great athletes with a spice for life that only the French could exhibit. Those men were in Greenland to race hard, race fast, and to cheer and chant for all the teams, the food, the drinks, and the mosquitoes. The local Tasiilaq team was 3rd in last year’s ATC and was keen on improving on its placing. They were the local sports heroes who were very nice and welcoming to all of us foreigners. The all female team, aptly named The Arctic Ladies, was comprised of very strong mountaineers and a professional adventure racer. Two of the ladies had previously competed in the ATC and they stacked their team with some talented new faces that would allow them to compete with the men and finish strong. The ladies met while crossing the Greenland Ice Cap--talk about some tough women! The four Danish men and one woman of Team Pihl were a true inspiration. They were a corporate team whose company sent them to the event for a “team building” experience. They were chosen out of many applicants from their company and were put together in the last couple of months to take on the challenge of the ATC. I have nothing but respect for the members of Team Pihl for their courage to take on such a challenge, having never done an adventure race and having only met each other upon arrival of the race.

And then there was us, the Americans. Team Feed the Machine (FTM) who once again joined forces to experience a new adventure. In the 6 years of the Arctic Team Challenge there had never been an American team to complete the course fully ranked, so there was a heavy burden on our shoulders. We had first raced together only 9 months ago in October of 2005 for 5 ½ days at the Ecomotion in Brazil. Although it was our first experience together, Christian, Jayson, Jon, and I enjoyed the race and each other’s company so much that we decided to stick together as a team for future races. Four months later, we traveled to Patagonia and endured the brutally long but epic 11 ½ days in the wilds of Southern Chile. It was a very mentally challenging adventure of survival. We were forced to reach deep into ourselves and encourage each other through the pain, the hunger, and the mental and physical fatigue. And once again, our teamwork prevailed as we fought through the difficult times and finished the race as a complete unit. After considering taking a break from racing, I was asked to join a sponsored team for the “world’s most prestigious” race, the Primal Quest. But I wasn’t very excited to do it. That’s when I got wind of the ATC and I was very intrigued and forwarded the website to my FTM teammates. They immediately became enthralled and they were ready to commit. FTM forfeited its PQ entry and signed up for the ATC. Unfortunately Jon was unable to join us for the trip to Greenland but we were happy to recruit Neal Radford (a Kiwi who lives in Atlanta).


Left to Right: Comedian & Heavy Pack Operator Neal Radford; Media & Public Relations Bernice Pierson AKA Princesa B-LO, Bartender & Director of Entertainment Jayson Brown, and Captain-Maps and Uniform Design Christian Burke. Kong Oskar’s Havn (King Oscar’s Bay) in the background. The highest peak above Jay’s head is Polheim’s Mtn.--the peak we climbed on day 1.

Upon arrival to the international airport in Iceland, the teams made their way to the domestic airport to catch the flight to Greenland. Neal and I met up with Jayson and Christian and immediately began our team bonding. We also started making friends and getting the inside scoop on the race while we waited to board the plane. The Icelandic guys told us that their teammate fell into a crevasse last year. “Okay then. Maybe we should practice our rescue skills a little more,” I said as we nervously eyed and smiled at each other. On the plane, I sat with Morgan of the British team and we had a nice chat. A little later I fell asleep and when I awoke, I looked out the window and saw the pack ice in the ocean below. It was an extraordinary sight! As we descended, we were all filled with excitement and amazement at the beauty of the royal blue ocean with the bright white sculptures of ice.


View from the airplane upon arrival to Kulusuk, East Greenland

From the airport harbor, we were transported by speed boats to the village of Tasiilaq on Ammassalik Island. We sped past the icebergs feeling like we were in an IMAX movie! As we neared Tasiilaq, Carsten of Pharmanord pointed out Polheim’s Mountain and said we would summit that peak for sure. Now every once in a while, when I arrive to a foreign location for a race, I become relaxed and excited to see new things and meet new people. But then there’s always that gut check that reminds me why I’m there. Seeing Polheim’s was a direct blow to the kidney. It was an intimidating sight: tall, narrow, and very exposed, especially the final ridge to the peak -- a reminder that I was not in “LA LA” land anymore.

The weather was beautiful in Greenland. Four out of the 5 days of racing were sunny and about 55-60 degrees. The sun does not completely set in this region during the summer months so during the four “daylight” midnight hours, the temperature would only drop to about 45 degrees.

The pre-race activities took place as normal. Each team settled into our own classroom at the local school and we had an opening dinner where the staff and teams were introduced. We ate a lovely meal that our own ATC chef prepared and we had a private concert by a popular Icelandic singer named Hera. I took that opportunity to hand out the pins I had brought for each athlete. The pins were adorned with the US flag alongside the flag of the country from which each athlete had come.

The first day of the race, we suited up in some super fancy and “fast” red, white, and black FTM uniforms. At least we looked like we knew what we were doing! As we inflated our canoes at the historic museum that overlooked the harbor, the Frenchies were already chanting, cheering and getting everyone fired up. The veteran racers were kind enough to warn us Yanks of the deafening cannon that would signal the commencement of the race. And so we plugged our ears, the cannon fired, and we began running down to the harbor, with our canoe in hand. About 200 curious Tasiilaq locals were keen to get a glimpse of an overeager team hastily jump into their canoe, overshoot, and fall overboard into the icy waters (the Tasiilaq version of watching NASCAR for the crashes). But we did not oblige them as all the teams made it safely into the boats and began navigating around the icebergs across Kong Oskars Havn (Danish for King Oscar’s Bay) towards the beach below Polheim’s Mountain. Upon reaching the beach, we quickly transitioned out of our wetsuits and began the trek, ahead of the Arctic Ladies and Intersport Iceland. However, while we were busy navigating, they quickly passed us on their familiar route up to Polheim’s. At the mountain perch of CP3 the race clock was suspended so that the teams would slowly and cautiously make their way up the narrow and steep ridgeline to the peak. With the help of a ladder and some safety ropes all the teams reached the summit and were able to take their time enjoying the view. There are no words to describe the feeling of sitting 3500 feet high on a precarious peak towering above icebergs with a view of the Greenland Ice Cap to the north and the pack ice of the great blue Arctic Ocean to the south. You can see for miles and cleaner air is not to be found! I actually shed a few tears of joy. (Well, okay maybe 1.112% of the tears were from fear, but we won’t tell my guys.)

We retreated back to the perch and shared a Viking beer that Jayson had toted up the mountain unbeknownst to us. We toasted to our decision to participate in this race and we relished every last drop of the Icelandic libation.


Jay carefully climbing to the summit of Polheim’s Mountain on Day 1

We trekked back down the steep and rocky mountain to the canoe and were informed that the icebergs had shifted and we were to take an alternate route back to Tasiilaq. At the start of the canoe, each team was issued a safety boat which would stay near in case of an emergency. But for about 20 minutes, our safety boat was forced to leave our side to drive around the collection of icebergs through which we carefully navigated our canoe. Trying not to think about the potential danger of being without our boat, I focused on the surrealism of the situation. Was I really not in “LA LA” land anymore? Besides the fact that if someone were to fall out of the canoe he would literally have only 2 minutes before the icy waters would inhibit his ability to self rescue, it felt like a ride through a maze of icebergs at Disneyland! We even reached out to touch the bergs, being careful not tip the canoe. We exited the maze, regained our safety boat and made it safely to the finish line after almost 8 hours of travel. We went back to our school for a shower, change of clothes, and a delicious meal from our chef. We mingled with the teams, shared race stores, and began preparations for the next day’s events.

The second day of the competition started with a very hilly 5 mile mountain bike loop which we had to ride 5 times. The course was great fun! Many of the veteran ATC racers dreaded the mountain bike sections but we loved them. Unfortunately, the mountain bike legs were not long enough to give us a sufficient lead over the extraordinary mountain trekking teams.


Bernice enjoying the ride through the Valley of the Flowers.

Following the bike portion each team split up into two pairs. Christian (X) and I made our way to B1, while Neal and Jay went to B2. After traversing the mountainside, X and I started climbing up some steep boulders and scree when we saw Anna and Pitsi of the Arctic Ladies trotting up the ridge. We reached B1 just after them and traveled with them back down the mountain. Anna decided it would be a good idea to glissade down a steep snow field so she sat on her bum, used her ice axe as a brake, and took off. Pitsi followed, then X went down, while I stood there hesitating. I had just enough time to shout out to X, “Hey do you really think we should…?” before I slipped, fell on my butt, and slid down the mountain. As I feared for my life at a high rate of speed, I thought of ways I could kill X for taking that route. But we all reached the bottom safely and quickly so I let him live. As we neared the peak where we were to meet Neal and Jay, we had to dodge loose rocks while watching Anna and Pitsi solve the boulder problem on their way to the summit. We followed them up and after a little more precarious ledge shuffling, we finally reached B3. Before we began descending, Jay and Neal were very attentive to my nervousness and helped me regain my composure after those frightening moments. We continued to our first glacier trekking section and were able to follow the tracks of the other teams. This was a relatively small glacier that was very benign and it only took a couple of hours to cross it. Leaving the glacier, we made it to the road and ran to the finish line. After 13 hours, we returned to the school where I knocked on our neighbors’ door to let them know we had arrived. Our next door neighbors, the Frenchmen, were ecstatic to see us. Pierre was so happy that he ran out of his room, through the hallway, and into our room wearing nothing but his “banana hammock” thong undies and his sleeping eye covers on his forehead. My guys really appreciated the gesture and invited him back anytime!

I woke up on Day 3 of the competition with severe nausea and I didn’t understand why I felt that way. I had slept, I had eaten, and I was hydrated, so I didn’t consider those to be the problem. The race so far was not any longer or more physically demanding than some other things I had done. So I ended up diagnosing myself with anxiety. Anxiety is a common emotion along with fear and happiness, and it has a very important function in relation to survival. Emotionally, anxiety causes a sense of dread or panic and can physically cause nausea. Due to the technical aspects of the course, I had dealt with some very extreme moments of fright (as well as euphoria) in the last couple of days and my body was merely reacting to the sensory overload. (Can you tell I’ve studied the physical reaction to the brain?) Anyway, that is how I decided to define my temporary illness. So after some breakfast, a few more dry heaves, and some tears while hiding in the WC (restroom for all you Americans), I went on with the process of preparing for a long Day 3.

The third stage began with an out and back mountain bike relay. Jayson and X rode first while Neal and I waited at the start line. I was still trying to recover from my terrible morning but once I sat on my bike, all was good again. Neal was prepared to tow me, but that was not necessary. I was in my comfort zone and I felt like a 12 year old kid again! Now if only I could have done the rest of the course on my bike, I would have been stoked!


Bern happy to be on the bike. Photo by Erwin.

Once again we finished the mountain bike ahead of the Arctic Ladies, but with their super bionic trekking powers they quickly caught us and we traveled together for most of the day. It was fun hanging out with another team, especially the Ladies. I may not show it all the time but I do have a limit on the amount of “testosterone humor” I can handle. Therefore, some lovely conversation with some incredible ladies was a welcome change. And I know my guys really enjoyed their unusual status as the minority on the trail.

The trek was long, extremely steep and covered with lots of loose rocks but always came complete with astounding scenery. One particularly precarious section was marked so that we would take the safest route, and we had to be cautious not to kick rocks on the racers below. At the bottom, we skirted the coast and passed an icy, snow patch when Pia called out, “ice bear.” As my mental status was somewhat cloudy I thought, “Ice bear? Ice cold beer?...yum. An iceberg that resembled a bear? POLAR BEAR? (Uh, oh! Return of the anxiety driven dry heaves…no, wait!) “Uh Anna, what did she say?” Anna pointed out the giant polar bear track in the snow. Not sure how to feel about that I replied, “Oh okay, just a polar bear track. Cool. Guys, take a picture.” I believe that is where I picked up the pace and stayed near the local girls all the way up to the glacier.


Jayson pointing to the ice bear print in the snow.

We all reached CP 5 together but the Ladies continued immediately. We took some time to refuel, re-hydrate, and mentally prepare for the massive “frozen reservoir” ahead. Seeing the 20 square mile Mittivakkat Glacier in front of us was breathtaking and frightening. Crevasse zones are ever present on the entire glacier surface and the race instructions read, “The glacier trekking is beautiful but there are lots of crevasses and some of them are BIG so be careful!” We outfitted ourselves with our helmets, crampons, ice axes, and rope, and proceeded to the peak at 3050 feet. Unfortunately, my anxiety returned and with that, the dry heaves. But I did not want to stop moving. I took a few steps, dry heaved, and the guys stopped. I pleaded with them to just ignore me and keep moving. We kept walking, I dry heaved more, and they stopped to see if I was okay. “Guys, really, just keep moving. It’s not going to help me to stop and think about it. I can move and heave at the same time. I’ll be fine.” I said half smiling. We reached the peak and of course it was a magnificent view. We chatted with the CP folks, snapped a few photos, and started back down the glacier. Down, down, down the glacier we traveled to its end at 525 feet above the sea.


FTM glacier trekking.

Locations above 60 degrees latitude and south of the Arctic Circle experience midnight twilight. The sun is just below the horizon so daytime activities, such as reading, are still possible without resorting to artificial light. Experiencing the midnight sun on a glacier with the fog rolling in was eerily daunting. For hours we traveled on the glacier, paying close attention to every single step; always mindful of the danger of falling into a crevasse; always prepared to rescue if the need arose. The sounds of the living glacier below us were unnerving: the crackling of the ice, the rivers running underneath our feet, the slush, and then the groan of my teammate when his foot broke through the ice into the freezing water.

Ablation is the erosive process by which the glacier is reduced. Towards the very bottom of the glacier is the ablation area and it was very apparent that we were there. We were jumping crevasses every few feet. After about 5 hours on the glacier we reached its outlet at the lake icefall. Being that the glacier ended right in front of us and dropped about 500 feet into the lake, we decided we had to travel further south to reach the rocky valley that would lead us to the ocean and to the base camp. As we skirted the edge of the glacier, I turned back to see the massive drop into the lake and it was incredibly surreal. I felt like a tiny piece of matter on this enormous monster created by mother-nature.

We were about a quarter mile from the camp when we heard Jesper and Jesper (the media guys) cheering for us. But of course this 18 hour day wouldn’t be complete without one final test (as if I hadn’t been tested enough already). We had to cross a waist high freezing river. “It’s good for the legs,” Neal said. I mumbled under my breath, “Yes, yes, I know, cold water, good for the joints, good for the legs, good to reduce swelling, this is a good thing, this a mother %#@ing!, @$%&#%, #^@%ing good thing!” We crossed the finish line at 3am, greeted Anders and Hans Christian, and asked them if we should just go ahead and start the expedition section right then.

We were relieved to hear that we weren’t the only ones late for the party. The race organizers regretted the fact that every team had taken longer than expected to complete the 3rd stage. The base camp night was meant to be a time for the teams to relax, enjoy Hera’s music, and eat barbequed seal and whale. But the course provided some extra challenges that made everyone take a bit longer and so it was decided that the expedition stage would start later in the morning and that it would be somewhat reduced in length.

After changing, eating, and preparing our sleeping arrangements, I got in my sleeping bag and shivered. I covered up with an emergency bivy to get more warmth, and after about an hour I finally stopped shivering. But the aches and pains from having stopped were giving me such agony that I had to get up and take some medicine. I couldn’t find my “magic pills” so I had to settle for an 800mg Ibuprofen. Back in my sleeping bag, I listened to Neal, Jay, Ben, Morgan, Andrew, and Jim snoring while I tossed and turned. Funny how when I started adventure racing I thought my biggest problem would be falling asleep on the course. I never thought I’d have so much trouble winding down quickly enough to get some sleep when I had the window of opportunity. But there I was, counting sheep, counting crevasses, and counting snores. After about 1 ½ hours of actual sleep I was back up and preparing for the 2 day expedition stage of the race.


Base camp. Photo by Erwin.

On Tuesday at noon we began the expedition stage traveling with the Arctic Ladies and the Frenchies. One of the guys from the French team had a broken foot but they persevered together and continued the race. Traveling in groups during races is unique. You instantly become the best of friends with strangers who are from different parts of the world. You help each other physically and mentally, you share food, share life stories, and share experiences that can rarely be duplicated in the “real world.” After several hours of trekking and canoeing together, the teams had different issues to handle and we all split up.

At the transition from canoeing to trekking, Neal played team medic and tended to Jay’s trashed feet while I “cooked” Alpine Aire food and gathered our trail snacks. Then we left the ocean and immediately began climbing up the steep cliffs toward the next glacier. Early that evening we reached the glacier and began outfitting ourselves when Neal realized that he didn’t have his crampons. In the confusion of the gear bags, food bags, eating lunch, and fixing feet, we had made a critical mistake. But Jay was happy to give up his own crampons to Neal because they had been gnawing at his feet. So we decided to put Jay in the 3rd position on the rope so that X and I could test the slickness of the glacier before Jay stepped on it. Luckily most of our path on this relatively short glacier crossing was not too terribly icy and Jay had little trouble staying upright. Back on the rocks and heading up to another glacier, we arrived at the next patch of ice late at night. But no headlamps were necessary as the midnight sun still shone brightly enough to reflect illumination from the pristine white glacier. We searched for the tracks of the teams who had passed before us, but there were none to be found. Up until then we had always followed the footprints on the glaciers so that our chance of falling in a crevasse was minimized. However, this time we decided to move forward and make our own tracks. X bravely went first. Neal, Jay, and I braced ourselves on the rocks as X made his first steps on to the ice. I was up next, then Jay, then Neal. Soon we were on our way across, completely attentive to each other and to the glacier, ready to jump on our ice axes just in case. Once again the eerie feeling of being a tiny spec of matter on this massive, living ice dinosaur was enhanced by the midnight sun, the fog, and the sprinkling rain. At some point on this glacier we went from Tuesday PM to Wednesday AM. We reached the CP and judging by the map, we couldn’t tell if the shorter but steeper route down was safe. So we made the decision to head back down the same way we had come. Towards the bottom of the glacier we encountered an unstable snow bridge. X passed without incident. I carefully made my way over it. Then, as Jay stepped, the ice broke and swallowed his leg. We braced ourselves, ready for a fall, but Jay was able to rescue himself. We all moved forward and waited for Neal to maneuver himself around the crevasse, but it broke open and swallowed him up to his chest. I held my breath as Neal forced his way up and out of the hole and we moved on. Finally done with making our own tracks, we reached solid ground and took a long walk through a valley of rocks and rivers. We passed a couple of incredibly intimidating glaciers and spectacular waterfalls. Any time my feet started hurting, I would just walk through an icy stream to keep them numb then admire the beauty all around me.

We reached the transition to the canoe at Sammileq and opted to rest for a couple of hours. We had heard that last year someone fell asleep while paddling and fell out of the canoe into the frigid water. In the past 50 hours I had about 1.5 hours of sleep so I was looking forward to a little shut eye. But as usual, as soon as I stopped moving, the aches and pains flared up and I was forced to take some pain medicine to get an hour’s nap.


Canoeing around icebergs. Photo by Erwin.

Back on course and moving steadily in our canoe, we started singing songs. There’s nothing like a little Jimmy Buffet, Aretha Franklin, and Def Leppard while canoeing amongst impressive icebergs with views of majestic glaciers. Next was another gorgeous trek to the final glacier of the event and we could sense the finish line getting closer.

Beholding the endless expanse of Greenland’s environment, we treasured every last moment of glacier travel. Once we were off the ice, it was downhill all the way to the final canoe. On our way down I thought I was hallucinating when I saw a man come running towards us. It was “The Erwinator,” the race photographer, who met us with coffee and sandwiches. We took some time to stop, have a snack and take some photos before descending to the canoes.

We ran, scrambled, and slid down snow patches on our butts like kids playing on a winter day. Okay, maybe we shuffled, hobbled, and slipped our way down but we made it to the canoes and paddled to Tasiilaq.

Just before midnight on Wednesday, we pulled our canoe out of the water and ran up hill a ¼ mile to the finish line. The other teams, race staff, and some locals gathered around cheering for us and the cannon fired signifying the end of the Arctic Team Challenge. We were the final team to complete the course in a race where, for the first time in 6 years, every team finished fully ranked. And we were proud to be the very first ever American team to do so.

The Arctic Team Challenge was one of the best race experiences I have had. The course was very technical and required not only physical fitness, but skill, and mental and emotional stability. Racing hard all day, returning to lovely meals, and resting comfortably at night was the perfect format. The people involved made it all that much nicer. We were surrounded by incredible athletes from all over Europe and a brilliant, organized, and wonderful staff. And Greenland’s magical rugged peaks, massive glaciers and delicately sculptured icebergs provided the perfect setting.

There are moments in life when we are tested physically, mentally, or emotionally but this event tested me to the extreme on all levels at once. And when I thought I couldn’t handle it anymore, I looked myself in the eyes and reminded myself that I had chosen this path. I had chosen this race and I had chosen to experience it with these three incredible men. Christian, Jayson, and Neal were my heroes. They were my incentives to participate in this race and they were my motivation to persevere through the hard times. They were the reasons I crossed the finish line of this extremely demanding and beautiful race.


People ask what I get for doing this. Here it is: a medal, a certificate, and priceless memories.

Bern's Movie Review: Talladega Nights

August 2006

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Let the guy choose the flick and I end up watching Talladaga Nights with Will Ferrell. Oh well, sometimes a lady has to compromise. The first 10 minutes were pretty funny and I thought, "Hey, I could get into this." But then it just got too dumb. I guess there were enough funny moments to keep me mildly entertained through the entire movie, but overall the best part of my theater experience was the video arcade after the show! Ladies I'd recommend you wait for one of those days when you have nothing to do and you just want to sit on the couch and watch some brainless humor for free on HBO. Gentlemen, it's brainless humor, there are fast cars, and Will Ferrell becomes a big NASCAR star with lots of money and a "trophy wife." I bet you'll like it. Just make sure you invite an "easily entertained" woman, promise her all the popcorn she wants, and take her to play Galaga and Ms. Pacman afterwards!

Mountain Bike Action Article

See the photos and read all about the 24 Hours of Orange County Mountain Bike Race.

Click Here

My First 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike Race

Mention that you are doing the 24 hours of OC and most people would think you are going to sit on your couch and watch back-to-back-to-back episodes of The OC for 24 hours. Can you imagine that? Sitting on your couch watching TV for all those hours with no sleep? How about walking your dog around a park for 24 hours non-stop? What about sitting at your computer surfing the net for 1,440 sleepless minutes? It's hard to imagine doing any one thing for one entire day and night.

So why did I do a solo 24 hour mountain bike race? Well, I know it's cliché, but I did it just to see if I could. I'm relatively new to the endurance mountain bike scene, but I've heard of many of these races in which a competitor rides around a set course of about 5-10 miles and the one who completes the most laps in 24 hours wins. The competitor can rest and sleep whenever she wants, but the time does not stop.

Being that it was my first 24 hour race, I was not sure what to expect. About a week and half out, I really had no plan. I was not so much concerned with my physical ability to complete the race since I've completed many 24 hour adventure races consisting of mountain biking, kayaking, and trekking. I was not even worried about staying awake the entire time. My true fear was my mental strength. Could I keep myself motivated to continue riding the same brutal course lap after lap, so many times?

That's when "Super" Mario Correa came in handy. Mario is an incredible mountain biker and a highly achieved endurance rider, as well as my friend. So when I called him frantically asking how I should be preparing for this race, he quickly began coaching me. He gave me guidelines for my physical and mental preparation for the week before the race and a nutritional guide and support crew info for during the race. He also scheduled himself to be there to assist me. Without the advice and mental support from Mario, I would have gone in to the race blind.

The most important thing I learned about preparing for a 24 hour mountain bike race is that I must always have a plan; a pre-race and a race day plan. Execution is key, so I must be sure that my support crew keeps me as close to that plan as possible. And of course, I must plan for success!

The Rock-n-Road, Sho-Air, Specialized 24 Hours of OC is organized by the Warriors Society and is held at the Flying B Ranch. The course may very well be the toughest 24 hour race course in all of California. It is 5.6 miles long with 1253 feet of elevation gain. The very technical singletrack up and down is exposed with very little shade from the sun in the canyons.

The weather cleared nicely in SoCal for all the beach lovers, but for those of us riding our bikes through the canyons, the clear skies and scorching sun brought brutally hot temperatures into the mix. The race started at noon on Saturday and for the first six hours, racers suffered through the heat.

My goal for this race was to ride my best and finish as well as I could no matter what the other girls did. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was well aware that my biggest competition, Mary Huth, would be racing and that she was a talented and strong rider. But my goal was to do my best whether it meant first place or last place. I even told my crew not to tell me how my competition was doing. But as the race progressed and I grew tired, I sought that info so that I could calculate my break times accordingly and still remain competitive.

Competing solo in a 24 hour mountain bike race is very different from my usual four person team adventure races. In a 24 hour adventure race, I am always moving with my teammates. I can depend on the guys to physically and mentally pull me through my difficult times on the course. I can always look forward to a new discipline. When my back and bottom start hurting on the bike, I know that soon I will change to trekking or kayaking. And usually I can look forward to moving faster so that our team can finish the race in less than 24 hours.

On the other hand, in a 24 hour mountain bike race I must keep myself motivated. I can not reach for a tow from one of the guys when I get too tired to climb a hill. I can not chat with my teammates about the meaning of life to keep my mind off the pain. I can not look forward to moving from the bike to the kayak. And I know that no matter how fast I ride, I will still have to go for 24 hours.

For my first 24 hour mountain bike race, I planned for success and success is what I achieved. I was the first place solo female finisher with 16 laps which translates into 89.6 miles with 20,048 feet of elevation gain. I'm always amazed at what my mind and body can do and I satisfied my question about my mental ability to complete the race.

But none of this could have been possible without the other folks involved. Mary Huth and Shannon Simm were out there giving it their all and with incredible endurance and strength, they also made the podium. Chris, Sherry, Suzanne, Jason, Tim and all of the Warriors Society built an incredible course. Rock-n-Road, Sho-Air and Specialized sponsored the event. Dr. Shane from Core Chiropractic worked on my body with the DMS. And Mario, Gilly, Erin, Greg, Curt, Christie, and my riding buddy Eron supported me through it all.

Speaking Engagements

Hire Bernice to speak at your next event!

She will motivate and inspire you through her tales and photos of adventure racing, mountain biking, and travels around the world.

Contact her at bernicepierson@hotmail.com for more information.

Fun Reading

Sean Verret ~ AR
Rebecca Rusch ~ mtb/AR
Mountain Climbing
Canyoneering in Mexico
Ladies Track Cycling
My aunt quilts!
Jeff & Elizabeth back in Alaska!
Lisa Jung's Baby Steps
Dave & Lynda ~ mtb
Coach Lynda ~ mtb
Super Mario~ mtb
La Ruta Lou~ mtb
Brad Mullen ~ mtb
Slower than Snot~ mtb
Fuzzy John~ mtb
Jeff Kerkove ~ mtb
MTB Stuff ~ Ride 424
Matt Hart ~ AR
Bear Grylls ~ Discovery
Graham in Scotland ~ AR
German sports news by Sascha
Pua ~ mtb
Sarah Kaufmann ~ mtb
Mary Metcalf ~ mtb
Danielle Musto ~ mtb
Namrita O-dea ~ mtb
Ernesto Merenchin ~ mtb
Kevin Cadieux ~ AR/mtb
Jen Segger-Gigg ~ AR
Dirt Rag Mag Blog ~ mtb
Sean Clancy ~ AR
C-Rog ~ Soccer
Kellie & Cody ~ Alaska Experiment Fan
Shawn Hauser ~ mtb
My friends in Denmark ~ film makers
Joy ~ mtb
Allison ~ mtb

Patagonia Expedition Race, Southern Chile, February 2006

Team Feed The Machine/Ibex Cast of Characters
Christian Burke; AKA—X; Los Angeles, California
Jayson Brown; AKA—Chainsaw; Orlando, Florida
Jon Bonwick; AKA—Ladies Man; San Francisco, California (ENGLAND)
Bernice Pierson; AKA—Princesa; Orange County, California (TEXAS) Most Chileans knew my Texas flag since it is so similar to their country’s flag.



Quotes of the race:

“I don’t know what I’m doing, but I sure am having fun!”
X when leading us through the enchanted forest at 2:30am on day 10.

“Green bogs good, red bogs rough.”
Jay describing the peat bogs we became so familiar with.

“I should be at home baking pies and making babies; not out here doing this shit!!!!”
Bern after cry #4 on day 8.

“At least you don’t have to worry about shrinkage.”
Jon to Bern after she fell in the icy river.

Pre-Race Feb 8-11

I met Jon and X (Christian) at LAX on Wed, Feb 8. It’s always quite a spectacle to check in to a flight with an oversized bike box, huge gear bag, extra heavy carry-on bag and a full carry-on backpack (AKA my purse; for flight purposes). We did however manage to make it through without any big hassles and without having to pay extra fees. (All extra fees ended up catching up with us in Santiago.)

We flew LAN Chile Airlines from LA to Santiago. We met Jay in Santiago on Thurs, Feb 9 where we completed the last leg of our flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas. After over 24 hours of travel, we arrived in Punta Arenas where Mane (mah-ne), one of the race photographers and writers for Sleepmonsters.com was there to pick us up. He immediately took our head shots, we loaded up the trailer, and drove 20 minutes to our accommodations. They gave us two rooms at the Hostel Bustamantes which was a small but comfortable hostel overseen by a lovely woman named Gloria who gave us access to the entire downstairs hallway and dining area to spread out.
The organizers had a house, which served as their office, within a few blocks of our hostel. And all the other teams were in hostels nearby. We gathered in a hotel for the opening ceremony of the race. Stephan, the race director, gave us an insight into what we would face in the days ahead and each team captain introduced his teammates. We were surprised to find out that there were only 5 teams in attendance. Which I now think was probably a good thing as more teams just add to the confusion and difficulty of transport during troubleshooting. We were introduced to everyone involved with the race including the officers of the Chilean Navy who would later dry my wet and dirty clothes in the engine room of their ship and help me make pasta for my guys. J We were treated to a video, snacks, and the national drink called a Pisco Sour. (similar to a margarita….only BETTER!) We mingled and took photos with the other teams before retiring to our hostel to further organize our gear.

On Fri, Feb 10 we were up early for the van ride to the skills tests and gear check location. We rappelled from the rafters of an old warehouse and then we demonstrated wet entry/exit on our double kayaks in the Straight of Magellan. Turned out the ropes section of the race was canceled so we never saw our ropes gear again. We passed the tests with no problem and we proceeded to be the pranksters of the race. X brought hundreds of bright red “Feed The Machine” stickers for us to hand out to our adoring fans. So the guys began to slap these stickers on the backs of unsuspecting racers and staff. And for the next couple of weeks you would also find our stickers on the vans, trailers, taxis, hostels, and Chilean children within 100 meters of Jay and X.

Our grocery shopping excursion out weighed our last one in Brazil. We probably should have had it a little better planned, but we didn’t. We went in, grabbed all kinds of goodies, and about $250 later, we left with two of the carry-out kids carrying our groceries back to our hostel. Jay and I were in charge of preparing the food bags while Jon and X went to the captain’s meeting. We spread out the food we bought, plus the food and supplements we brought from the US, all over the tables in the hostel dining room. Jay did a great job calculating the number of calories in all of our food and the number of calories we would need to sustain 4 people for 11 days of racing. Needless to say, we didn’t have enough food. When Jon and X returned from the meeting with the maps and the news, we all went for one last nice dinner. La Luna was the place. Jon and X told us of the epic kayak, followed by the long ass bike ride, followed by the unreal 2-3 day trek, followed by another epic kayak, followed by….WHAT???? A 5 DAY TREK!!!!!,,,then another kayak, and a bike to finish. This is when I started doubting my decision to participate in this event. So, uh,,,,”Garcon, can you bring more food please?” J X seemed to have lost his appetite, but I was fattening myself up for my final days.

Jay and I finished packing the food bags, X sewed on all our patches, and Jon studied the maps and directions. One of the greatest things about this team is that we each had a job to do all the time, and we pretty much always fell into place doing exactly what we needed to do to get to the finish line. I must add here that according to Jay’s caloric calculations, several of the food bags were full to capacity and we still needed to buy more food. Well me, being the most experienced on our team, took it upon myself to divvy up the food a bit more and decided we had enough….or maybe not enough,,,but as much as we could carry. This decision would come to haunt me later when our stomachs growled louder than Jay snored. And believe me, that’s LOUD!

On Sat, Feb 11 we sent all our bags with the organization (praying we would meet them again in the appropriate places). The organization had a special lunch planned for us so they drove us all to a ranch were the hosts presented us with an incredible spread of meats, salads, drinks, and desserts. The hosts were a very cute couple in their early 60s who demonstrated a special Chilean dance. Then they chose some people from the audience to dance with them. We volunteered Dan from the Canadian team to dance with the lady and he was magnificent! Wow, what great moves Dan! Then the hosts showed us a video about the settlement of the Chilean/Patagonian region. Unfortunately I was so tired and sleepy that I wasn’t able to pay complete attention to the video. However, I distinctly remember a very scary male voice that kept shouting “Magellanes!, Magellanes!” (mahg-u-yanes!) Later throughout the race, many of the teams would shout this word in vain when cursing the land, the race director, the bushwacking, the logs, the peat bogs, and the bitter cold.

The captains were then given the emergency satellite phones and GPS units that were tightly sealed and only to be used in case of extreme emergency. And we learned that due to the very windy weather forecasts, we would skip the initial 60km (37mi) kayak leg and begin the race with a 233km (145mi) bike ride. After returning from the luncheon, we rearranged our gear for a bike start, checked out of our hostel and the van picked us up. After a few ceremonial photos in the town square, we were on our way to another hostel near the race start. A couple of hours later we arrived and we were assigned one room per team. All five teams were on the same floor mingling, checking out each other’s rooms, each other’s gear, and each other’s nerves. They treated us to a pasta dinner and then we prepped our gear for the race start and went to bed.

The wind howled loudly all night long and I was already awake when the 4am wake up call came. We had a quick breakfast of bread and coffee and then hopped on the vans to the race start. The weather was actually quite pleasant. Not bitterly cold, no rain, but the wind was picking up and the wind chill was getting colder.

Race Legs 1,2, and Stranded awaiting rescue

Sun, Feb 12: The vans dropped us at our bikes on the side of a dirt road at the makeshift starting line. We made our final bike inspections and then lined up for photos. After a few words from Stephan, the race started a little after 6am as the sun was rising. The Spanish (Team Buff), the Canadians (Alberta AR), and us took off ahead of the South Africans (Mad Scientists) and the Chileans (DAP Antarctica). After less than an hour, we passed Canada who we thought was fixing a flat. A few minutes later we passed Spain and I remember wondering why they were stopped. The winds immediately picked up and soon we were riding against 40-50mph winds that seemed to be coming in from all sides…except of course from behind. I tried drafting off of Jon as much as possible. I would ride right behind him, then the wind would shift and I’d ride behind and to his left, then the wind would shift and I would ride behind and to his right. This went on for hours. At times we were moving only 4mph! We managed to get a pace line going and we took turns leading with Jon taking the longest pulls because he was the strongest. And I did manage a few good pulls myself! Once, however, I was riding just behind and to the left of Jon when the wind shifted and blew me right into Jon’s tow rig. My handlebars got caught and I lost control of the bike and crashed. With a bloody knee and a cut on the bridge of my nose, the guys picked me up and put me back on my bike. We made it to the water stop where we met up with the organization. They informed us that the ride had been shortened from 233km (145mi) to 166km (103mi) due to the winds. It was taking us all too long to ride this section that they had estimated at 16 hours. Turns out we did 166km (103mi) in 15 hours! It felt as if the entire ride was a never ending up hill battle. Even on the slight downhill sections we were forced to pedal against the wind. We needed water again and we happened by an old house where we found the owner inside. He was an old man of about 70 years and we asked him for some water. He put on the kettle and proceeded to prepare us some hot water for tea. When I saw what was happening I thanked him, but asked if we could have some cold water. He gave us water from his well, we gave him a little money for his trouble, and we continued. About 84mi into the 103mi ride, Spain caught us and passed us and they ended up finishing about 45 minutes ahead of us. Lisa de Speville, the Checkpointzero.com journalist, was dropped off to run back with us for the last 5km of our ride. She told us of Spain’s little navigational detour and of Canada’s mechanical followed by their navigational detour which caused them to be picked up and driven to the end of the bike ride and given a 10 hour penalty. Turns out South Africa and Chile were so exhausted from the winds that they stopped on the side of the road to sleep for a while and let the winds die down. The highlight of the ride for me was seeing the wildlife. Little did I know that this was one of the few times I’d see any animals during this race. We saw guanacos (related to camels and lamas), some ostrich like birds (which I’m not sure what they were), some pink flamingos, a grey fox, lots of sheep, and wild horses.

As we prepared to transition from the 166km (103mi) bike to the 63km (40mi) trek, we got into our food bags and changed clothes. Canada arrived in a van and proceeded to tell us about their adventure. Turns out their penalty put them only 10 minutes behind us in the race. The organization drove Spain and us to the start of the next trek and would return for Canada soon after. Spain started out first and we were forced to wait 10 minutes later. It was around 11pm on Sunday, Feb 12 when we started the trek that was estimated to take us around 10 hours. At the pre-race meeting we were given a set of satellite maps that were 1/100,000 scale with a few clouds blocking the view. We were also provided with translated (from Spanish) written directions to supplement the maps in our navigation. We would come to heavily rely on these directions as the maps were of very little help.


Because the trek went through the night, it seems that I’ve forgotten most of it. I believe that many times I just put myself on “automatic pilot” and I end up just following my teammates with moments of waking up to see what’s going on and maybe add a little to the discussion. J We followed the race directions which ended up being wrong due to a translation error or a typo and we lost about an hour. We rested a few times and napped as we were pretty drained from that very difficult ride. My stomach was in a bit of gastric distress for most of the trek so I didn’t move as quickly as I would have liked. It was a relatively mild night. Not too cold, windy or rainy but daylight was a welcome sight as I awoke from my “walking zombie” state. We were following a fence line up and over valleys, through the woods, then eventually we got to some fire roads. We got our first look at peat bogs, but honestly, the woods, the peat bogs, and this entire trek was a “walk in the park” compared to what we would face later on the course. Jayson was already dealing with blisters and had to stop a couple of times to take care of his feet. Towards mid day on Mon, Feb 13, we could see the body of water we were trying to reach. I was happy to see it, but boy was it still quite a ways away! We had all been out of drinking water for a few hours when we happened across a bunk house for construction workers. One man was there and he let us in, gave us water and allowed us to use his tables to spread out our remaining food and have a snack. A couple of Honey Stinger gels, a Pro Bar, a slice of salami and then we continued on and finally reached CP 3, 18 hours later around 5:30pm.


We were informed that Spain and Canada had already arrived ahead of us. They must have taken a different route because we never did see them or any signs of their presence. Once again the kayak leg was to be skipped due to the winds. Spain and Canada had been taken by catamaran to the next trek start and we were to be picked up in a couple of hours. South Africa and Chile were still on the course and due to arrive at the CP soon. We took advantage of the break to set up a tarp on the ground and cook some food. Thank goodness for Jayson and his MRE’s. He made us delicious, gourmet, Army style hot meals. X fired up our camp stove and warmed up some raviolis and hot water for the Alpine Aire Food. Jon passed out the cookies and Pringles and I sat there, rested my sore feet, and happily drank some Coca-Cola!

Then the race volunteers that were manning CP 3, Susana, Elena the medic, and Diego the photographer, informed us that the catamaran would have to return for us tomorrow because the weather was too bad for it to be on the water. So we were allowed to seek refuge in an old house nearby. The house appeared to be the quarters for the hands that worked the ranch. There was one old man of about 65 years who was in charge of the house while everyone else was away. He welcomed us into his home which had no running water and no electricity. We found a bedroom with a few dirty old mattresses and we made that our room. We settled in, pulled out our sleeping bags and slept. We heard the South Africans arrive around midnight. Tues, Feb 14 we woke up in the morning and we found that the Chileans were just arriving. They had fallen asleep about 5km from the CP and had spent a few hours out there. So now we had 3 teams and 3 staff people occupying this house. South Africa had their own room with only a couple of mattresses. Chile had the empty “living room” area with no mattresses. The kitchen served as the heart of the house where there was a wood burning stove that kept the first two rooms a bit warmer than the rest. We all had our shoes under the stove and our wet clothes hanging above the stove to dry out. Our water source was the nearby river that flowed into the ocean. The boys would take turns filling up the water barrel so that we could cook and drink. They also had to fill up the toilet water barrel so we could manually flush the toilet out by pouring buckets of water down it. Another water source was a barrel that caught the rain water. And being that it was raining so much in the last few days, the barrel was full. We never treated our water while in Patagonia. (We are still waiting to see if that was a good idea.) Buffy was a little black puppy that had followed the Spanish to the CP from about 10km away. He ended up being the CP 3 mascot. Everyone loved on him and he stuck around until we left.

As news traveled from the staff to the racers, we were getting conflicting reports. “The catamaran has left its port and it will be here in a couple of hours. No, it’s not coming until later this afternoon. No, the weather is too bad and it’s not coming until tomorrow.” I didn’t worry about it too much. I was more worried about eating and soaking my feet in the ice cold water so that they wouldn’t start swelling too much. Nearby, there was a small bridge over the river that flowed into the ocean. It was blocked from the wind so I sat there in the sunshine and soaked my sore feet. With a gorgeous view of Patagonia in front of me, and a tiny red fishing boat docked nearby, I felt like I was in the middle of some sort of gorgeous outdoor painting. For the rest of the day, all three teams were doing the same things; resting, fixing blisters, eating, and wondering what was ahead. We finally began to intermingle and we got to know the South Africans, the Chileans, and the staff really well. We gathered in the kitchen where we fashioned a central light out of a few headlamps and we lit candles and broke glow sticks to light up the place. We played the game “Who am I” and it was quite amusing trying to come up with people that we all knew. Every team offered their humor, especially my boys. Jayson entertained the crowd by constantly guessing Santa Clause. Jon from South Africa told us of the “lethal” mouthwash he had tried earlier that day. And Christian was “triple dog dared” to try the lethal mouthwash… so he did, and we laughed. He didn’t feel his tongue again until after the race ended. We sang songs, shared food, and shared stories. I was particularly moved when I asked Susana and the Chileans if they knew the song “El Rey.” They did and so we sang it. Then I told them how my grandpa had just passed the week before and that was his favorite song. A nice memory.



I must add in here my teammate X’s accounts of what happened during this time:
“ My first interaction was with the South Africans, namely Michael Graz (the team captain). You know, you meet interesting worldly people in this sport and then there are people like Michael who take it to a new level. We’re sitting in the kitchen having a mindless chat that quickly turns mindful. I had met him at the opening ceremonies days ago drinking a Pisco Sour, the national drink. Well, he wasn’t, I was. He can’t because he’s got cancer. This guy’s 36 years old or something like that, German born, South Africa is his permanent home, Chile is his temporary home. Get this, THREE PhDs, THREE bouts with cancer, a few ribs removed out of his shoulder, a few removed muscles out of his shoulder. A top Adventure Racer. The guy doesn’t skip a beat. His current bout is cancer on top of one of his lungs discovered not three months ago. We’re talking about his Chilean fishery where he his currently the CEO.
A course worker Susana comes in. I love Susana. She is the inventor of joy. Always a smile, loves to sing out loud, just here to bring people happiness. Jayson walks in at the same time and sarcastically quips me a happy Valentines Day. A light turns on in my head. I spot Susana’s satellite phone. “Susana, it’s Valentine’s Day. What would it take to call my daughter on that phone?” “Oh no no no no”, she says. I’m thinking “oh well”. I go back to my conversation with Michael, riveted by the breeding habits of the Abalone. Susana comes in ten minutes later. In her broken, but good, English “OK, I leave in ten minutes. I leave the phone here.” Duhhhhhhh, OH I GET IT! “I jump up, “OK I use the phone for two minutes!!!” I go outside and frantically figure out how to dial the damn thing. Oh my god it’s ringing. Damn, voicemail. Hmmmm. Try again. It’s ringing, “Dawn, I’m in Chile in the race, a course worker let me use her sat phone, where’s Halle???” And then I got my two minutes of peace. Maybe my best Valentines ever.
The rest of the day was hanging out with the rest of the people, Jonathon, Wessel (pronounced Vessel), Heather who is Michael’s wife. What an incredible woman. I hope to meet someone as strong and fragile at the same time…the Chileans, just great people. I wish there was time to talk about each and every one of them. They all have such great stories and are all celebrated athletes in their specialties. The day, after multiple delays in getting a boat to pick us all up, culminated in our makeshift pizza party in the kitchen around 8PM. It started with us all hanging out in there looking for something to do. Jonathon starts telling me how he can’t feel his tongue from the mouthwash he tried just a little while ago. I balked, “come on, how bad could it be?!?” Famous last words. Have you ever seen twelve adults crying and laughing at the expense of one poor sucker. That sucker was me…tears streaming down my face as I tried to maintain my composure long enough to casually exit the house and hurl the remains on the wet frozen ground outside. I return to bodies strewn about the floor in laughter. Some things are funny in every country and break all language barriers, this was one. A few of the people made a makeshift pizza with what remnants we had while I constantly tuned in this old transistor radio to whatever distant station of musical output it could produce. Great times, great conversation, great people. I won’t soon forget. “
As the teams ran out of food, the race volunteers shared theirs. Susana, Elena, and Diego made homemade pizzas out of anything we could muster up. It was amusing watching them make the dough from scratch with flour, yeast, and a little oil. They used a bottle to roll out the dough, they added some spaghetti sauce, and whatever else the teams could find in their food boxes. They were able to round up enough ingredients to make 4 pizzas and we were all so happy! They even had some wine, so we all passed around a couple of tin cups and shared the wine. Someone mentioned that it was Valentine’s Day! So we ate, drank, and toasted to St. Valentine for giving us this wonderful evening amongst our new friends. As people started retiring to bed, Jayson and I stayed up with the Chileans and the staff and talked until late in the night. Although we were in the middle of an 11 day race and we were stopped and stranded in this house with no idea when we’d be rescued, it was an incredible experience that I’m sure we will all remember forever.


The Race Continues; Leg 3
Two days after we arrived to CP3, we were rescued by the catamaran at 10 am on Wed, Feb 15. We enjoyed a scenic hour and a half catamaran ride to a port in which a van picked us up and took us into a small town. We had a twenty minute stop to use the toilet and buy some groceries. The guys ran into the store for some empanadas, cokes, and snacks. I ran to the nearest pizza joint and bought us some fresh, hot pizzas which we shared with the South Africans. Back on the vans, a ferry ride across to another island, a 4X4 truck ride on a sketchy dirt road and we were at the start of our 2-3 day trek. X was being told of the race situations, standings, etc. Turns out that Spain and Canada started this trek earlier that morning. By this time I’m thinking that this event is all jacked up and that this is no longer an adventure race. The weather, the course, the conditions of Patagonia dictate what happens here and now we are no longer racing against the other teams, but we are only racing to conquer the course and survive the harsh conditions of Patagonia. I think at this point we all accepted that to be the case and we knew that we were on our own, racing to survive and conquer.
We dug into our food bag and loaded our packs. As the rain started coming down we began hiking around 7pm. With daylight quickly ending, we hurried to make our way as far as we could. We could see the bushwacking we had to face on our way up and over the saddle and it did not look good. In fact, it looked really, really bad. The forest was thick with trees, dead logs, and thorny bushes. Bushwacking became our main means of travel through this trekking leg. We met the Calafate bush which provided us with an edible blue berry but also left us with hundreds of tiny thorns all over our bodies. These tiny thorns pierced right through our gloves and all our clothing into our skin. And in a few days the thorns that were left in our bodies would form painful, pussy, pimple-like bumps all over us.
Through the night, we made our way up to the saddle and a few times we had to go down and back up some steep ravines. Jon, being an experienced climber, was down and up the ravines with no problem and X was right behind him. Once, Jon had to set up our mandatory rope so that I could get up the steep ravine. For me, this was extremely physically exhausting and a bit scary. Jayson was usually behind me giving me encouragement and support. We traversed many more steep ravines and I think it was a good thing that I couldn’t see how far down and how steep they really were. I just kept my head down and paid attention to every step I took. I was really scared. We finally reached the top and went over the saddle and back down the other side. We found a stream we could follow down the valley and we were forced to walk through the frigid water as it was a little less bushwacking than walking on the sides. Once my feet were numb from the 40 degree water then it wasn’t so bad walking in it and we continued through it for about 8-10 hours. Jon was up ahead of us and I heard him fall in the water. Then I heard, FU**!, FU**!, FU**, lots and lots of times over and over. At first I thought he was swearing because he fell in, but the more he swore, the more I thought maybe he was really hurt. A little later, I caught up to him, shined my light in his face and saw a huge goose egg under a laceration on his forehead. Yikes, that had to have hurt!

It was now Thurs, Feb 16 and we followed another stream down and found a beaver pond. Walking through knee deep mud and cold water, we skirted the beaver haven and finally reached the lake we were looking for. We spent a couple of hours bushwacking around the lake when I finally asked Jon where it was we were headed. He pointed across the lake to a saddle and said we were going there. Boy was I sorry I had asked. It was a really, really long way! And at the pace we were going, I thought it was going to take us 3 days to get to the other side of the lake! So I took matters into my own hands and I stepped into the lake and began coasteering. Again the 40 degree water was not pleasant, but I didn’t care. We were moving two to three times faster than we were in the bush so I was happy. We skirted the lake at knee deep and sometimes thigh deep water and I picked and ate Calafate berries to keep my mind off the cold. The guys were following behind and cracking jokes about my advancement in the water. “Hey Princesa! What’s going on? Wait for us, we don’t want to get our skirts wet!” Ha, ha, they thought I was being smart and tough but I just wanted to get the hell out of that bushwacking and get it over with!
This is what X wrote:“ OK, the lake has water and super thick forest next to it...and nothing else. Thinking we might try for dry, we attempt the forest along the shoreline. Pointless, but we keep trying. We try the shoreline, but we are just wet. Back into the forest, pointless. This is going to take days. Then Bernice takes matters into her own hands and in a defining moment of the race just steps into the water and pounds away. She simply pretends that the water does not exist, moving her way through the water around trees branches and bushes protruding into the water and makes good progress. The three guys just stare at her in awe, start a little hooting and hollering and chase her down. She single handedly figured it out. This is what they wanted us to do. It's known as coasteering, us guys just couldn't get our pink laced panties adjusted in the right direction to figure it out. And away we went for the next ten hours.”
We continued to coasteer and we made good progress around the lake. A few times we were able to walk out of the water on some short beach lengths and we saw Spanish and Canadian footprints. After about 10 hours of coasteering, we reached the point in which we were to leave the lake. There were a couple of camera men camped there and they wanted to follow us for a while. But it was cold and raining and I don’t think they were anxious to leave the warmth of their tent. So we continued on. We thought that it was another 8-10 hours to the CP. The camera men said it was at least 15. It took us 28 more hours!
We headed up and looked for the stream that we were to follow up to the saddle. Darkness fell and we were once again going down and up steep ravines looking for the correct drainage. Jon was leading the way, X had entered his zombie state, I was using every last bit of energy to get up those steep ravines, and Jayson was babysitting me and X. Jon had to break out the rope again to get us up a super steep section. It was getting a bit hairy and we were all pretty tired so around 2:00am we finally decided to set up our tent and wait for daylight. With fatigue setting in and darkness diminishing our navigation abilities, setting up the tent was the right thing to do.
Now in adventure racing, there is fine line between carrying the lightest tent and sleeping bag possible that will “pass” the gear check-- and carrying a functional tent and sleeping bag that will actually really protect you from the elements. Unfortunately we leaned towards the “light and fast” option. The four of us barely fit in the tent. We had to carefully get into the tent one at a time and we had to lie sideways and spoon each other very tightly in order to fit. Jon was the only one who brought a winter sleeping bag. The other three of us brought small and light bags and not one of us brought a sleeping pad. Bad, bad moves!
This was the first test our “air pumped” tent would get. We were forced to set it up on a slant, we left our wet outer layer of clothes outside, and the four of us piled into the tent. I took a very strong (I won’t say what) pain pill so that I could fall asleep and not feel the aches and pains I was sure to start having since we stopped moving. The pill must have worked because I did manage to get about 2.5 hours of sleep. Except for the one interruption;… because we were on a slant, Jon, Jayson and I slid down on top of X. We all had to get out of the tent, set it back upright correctly and get back in. Now that doesn’t sound too difficult, but when it’s 37 degrees outside, and its raining, and the clothes you are wearing are wet, and your feet are sore and swollen, believe me…it is difficult,,,painful even! So we get back in, sleep until daylight, then proceed with the ritual that ends up being one of the hardest components of the entire race! ……GETTING OUT OF THE TENT AND PUTTING OUR COLD, WET CLOTHES BACK ON! This is what I hated the most.
With the help of daylight, we are able to find our drainage and continue up, over and then down the valley. More bushwacking, some peat bogs, logs to climb over, river crossings, bushwacking, Calafate thorns, peat bogs, bushwacking, river, bushwacking, Calafate thorns….did I mention bushwacking? We ran out of food around 5pm and still had a ways to the CP. I was popping all the E-Caps vitamins I had just to get some sort of nutrition in my body. We happened to run into a logging road that was headed in the right direction and it was clear of trees and bushes. We hadn’t seen a true road, not even the slightest of paths, the entire trek so I thought it was too good to be true. But we followed it for a while and then finally found a fire road and took it in towards the CP. The road was long and my feet hurt so much from the pounding. My Injinji socks cradle my feet so nicely that they actually felt really good through then, with no complaints of blisters. They were just really sore from the pounding on the road. Around 11pm, 52 hours after we started, we hit the beach and found an old abandoned farm house that served as the CP. The staff was there waiting for us with our food bag and some information.
We were in last place. Spain and Canada had passed through which was no surprise. But we were very surprised to hear that Chile and South Africa had passed through as well. Turns out Chile and South Africa took an alternate route that was a bit longer but was on fire roads. They did not bushwack through the forest or coasteer the lake like we did and that allowed them to make up about 12 hours on us. Now I believe this to be the fault of the organization. They highly recommended that the teams follow the directions they gave us. However, it was not MANDATORY to follow those directions. So, therefore, the Chileans used their local knowledge and the South Africans used their brains and tagged along with the Chileans along the faster route. Who could blame them? Oh well. Right after that trek, the Chilean woman and the South African woman both ended up pulling out of the race so we were in third place anyway.
Of course this house had no electricity and no running water so we ate and ate by light of our headlamps and the camp stove. We ate ravioli with Chilean Pringles, crackers with mac and cheese, “cat food,” cookies, and Coke. Yes, I said “cat food.” During our grocery shopping, Jayson and I found some pop-top cans of assorted meats in tomato sauce and for some reason, during the race, they had no labels. So we had no idea what we were eating but these very tasty meals became affectionately known as “cat food.” I think it was Jon’s favorite as he always lit up with a sparkle in his eye whenever we opened up a can. We settled into an empty room and Jon was snoring away in his cozy sleeping bag. Jayson was fixing his very blistered feet. They looked so bad that I wished so much that I could help him. Having had feet like that during my first PQ, I knew how badly he was hurting but all I could do was watch him perform surgery and offer him Ibuprofen. X and I were hovering over our camping stove. I took another “magic pill” and was able to sleep on the hard floor for about 6 hours with only a little pain in my hip flexors and feet.
Now I never mentioned this to the boys, but at this point I did not want to do the 5 day trek. The last 2 day trek was enough for me. I had seen more peat bogs, more thorny bushes, more trees, more logs, and more icy rivers then I ever wanted to see in Patagonia. And I was so over it! I was not having fun. I was truly looking forward to a long kayak so that I could sit in a boat for a very, very long time. I wanted to be forced to sit in a boat for so long that in fact I would beg to do a 5 day trek. That was the only way I thought that I would be able to do the trek. But I didn’t say a word. I went into automatic pilot again and I continued with the business of preparing for the next leg. I guess this is one time when experience really did help me continue.
5 Day Trek into the wild with no signs of human presence
Sat, Feb 18: The staff woke us up around 8am and said that the Chilean Navy would be there shortly to take us to the next trek. Once again there would be no kayak. No time to sit in a boat and let our feet rest. No time to sit on our butts for hours and hours and wish that we could be back on our feet. Nope, no kayak. We would immediately be taken to the 5 DAY TREK! As we put on our dirty, nasty clothes and gathered our gear and food, I notice a bunch of groceries in one of the other rooms. I inquired about it and Claudio (race staff) said it was his and that I could take as much as I wanted. Well, I was not shy! Having run out of food on the 2 day trek, I did not want to run out on a 5 day trek so I took 2 full grocery bags full of his food. (Muchisimas gracias Claudio!) We boarded the Navy ship for the 2.5 hour trip.
The Navy guys were so helpful. They immediately took my dirty, wet clothes to their engine room to hang and dry. Then they gave us full access to their galley with the stove and dishes. I proceeded to cook us some pasta, while Jayson fixed his feet, and X and Jon made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the trek. We ate and then we meticulously prepared 5 days worth of food for the trek. We divided all of our groceries on the table into categories; gels, bars, meats, candies, cookies, crackers, Alpine Aire, MREs, supplement powders, “shampoo nuts”, etc. (My shampoo leaked all over my Ziploc bags of peanuts and gave them a “clean” taste). We prepared 5 separate food bags which we’d allow ourselves to eat each day and we would not steal from the other days’ bags. So we prayed that the trek would not take us longer than 5 days. We were each assigned a bag (Jon had two) to carry and distribute. Needless to say, our Gregory packs were heavier than ever!
The Navy guys transferred us from their ship to the Zodiac boat that dropped us on the shore of the Brunswick Peninsula. They left us on the beach, said “Bye, good luck,” and then they were gone. So there we were; the 4 of us, with no one and nothing but the Patagonian wilderness in sight. We went around the corner and saw an old, abandoned cabin so we went to see if anyone was there waiting for us. Maybe the staff was there to provide us with additional safety information? Maybe they were there with extra food in case we didn’t have enough? Maybe they were there to see us off and wish us well? NOPE! Nobody was there. The Navy guys were the last people we saw and this cabin was the last sign of human presence we would encounter for 5 days!
We filled our water bladders with Hammer Heed and water from the river and started trekking. We decided that we would trek for about 16 hours each day and then put up the tent and sleep at night. It was so cold and hard to navigate at night that this seemed like the right decision. We also had an eating and resting regimen in place. I was in charge of scheduling our 5 minute snack breaks and our 15 minute lunch breaks. I decided we would stop every 2.5 to 3 hours for a break. So every time we carried on, I would announce our next break time. For me this trek was no longer a countdown of days, but a countdown of hours between breaks. These breaks became my immediate goals. On the first day of this long trek I remember telling myself out loud, “just make it to 5 o’clock, just make it to 5 o’clock” because that was our next break and I was very much looking forward to my ration of 12 “shampoo nuts” and 4 cookies. And then I would announce our next break at 7:45 and I would make it my goal to reach my next ration of 2.5 slices of salami and 4 Sharkies (gummy bears). Yes, that’s how it went for 5 days. Trek,,, stop for a snack that was rationed into 4 parts, take a 3 minute nap. Trek,,, stop for lunch, a bag of Alpine Aire dehydrated food made with cold river water, nap for 8 minutes. And so on and so on. We found that Alpine Aire foods were perfect for this race. They were light, easy to carry, full of calories, and there was no need for hot water. Thirty minutes before it was time for lunch, Jayson would fill the bag with river water and let it sit and moisten until it was time to eat. Then we’d each take two spoonfuls and pass the bag around. If there was any left, we’d take another spoonful each, and if there was any left, we’d take a half a spoonful each, and if there was any residue left in the bag, someone would finish every last bit! Jayson’s MREs were also a big hit. Although they were a bit heavy to carry, they were a very welcome HOT meal. Again, Jayson used the river water to initiate the heating component that would warm the food and 20 minutes later we had a hot meal. But I must admit that the best things I ate in those eleven days were 2 spoonfuls of plain peanut butter and a half a bag of very salty olives. And I don’t even like olives!
We started the 5 day trek with about 15km (9 miles) of peat bog before we hit the forest. The peat bog was not nice. Imagine walking on soaking wet, fluffy pillows for miles and miles. It was like doing a million knee high stair steps with the occasional bog that sucked your entire leg down into it. A bog or two sucked me down like quick sand. I could imagine the news back to my family when I did not return. “Uuuhhh, Bernice didn’t make it back because she was swallowed whole by Peat the Bog and he just wouldn’t spit her back out!” (The things you have time to imagine when you’re alone with your thoughts for 11 days.)
After only 5 hours into the 5 days, we reached the beginning of the bushwacking forest. We stopped for a snack break and a “heart to heart.” Jon and X were moving quite well, but Jayson and I were a bit slower and we were all concerned that at our pace, we might not make it in 5 days. I had to speak up and let my true feelings be known.
“Guys, I’m going to just let it all out. I hate this! I’m not having fun. This really sucks! I’ve trekked for 18 hours and another 52 and I have seen more peat bogs and more bushy, thorny forests than I ever hoped to see in Patagonia! I don’t want to continue. I’d rather take a tour and see some penguins and whales from a warm boat. I’ve got nothing to prove to anyone and I don’t care about finishing this race! ……How do you feel?”
Well, each guy had his turn to speak and they all said the same thing. They agreed that it was hard, that we were moving slowly, that they hated the bogs and bush as much as I did, that we might run out of food, that it would be cold, and that we would be miserable. However, they all came here to complete this race and they were not going to quit now! Aaarrrrggghh!!! Why didn’t one of them flinch? Oh, yes, I remember now why I came here with these guys. It was because I knew not one of them would quit. It was because I trusted them with my life. I knew that no matter what, they would always take care of me and each other. And they would do whatever it took to finish this race. Oh yeah, that’s right. That’s why I’m here with them. That’s why they didn’t flinch.
OK then. Here was my response.
“Fine. Then I want you to know that I will not quit. I came here with the commitment to you that I would finish this race and that’s what I will do. But I’m only doing this for you three guys! I’m not doing this for me or for anyone else! Only for you! And I’ve never cried in front of you before, but you need to be prepared to see me cry because I hate this!!! OK?”
So like perfect gentlemen, they picked me up and shoved me ahead with the understanding that I was allowed to cry all I wanted. J
Cry number one (of four) came just a few hours later. (Sorry guys!) I was dragging behind and just not feeling well at all. I think I was not only physically but also mentally exhausted. And the thought of 5 days of this was weighing heavily on my mind. So I shamefully asked the guys if they would take some of the weight out of my pack. I cried because I felt badly for asking them to take my stuff. They were already carrying heavy packs and I didn’t want to make them carry more. But I just couldn’t keep up. X took my food bag and Jon took some of my clothes and that really helped a lot. I was re-energized and able to keep up a little better.
Around 10pm, X and Jon set up our tent on relatively flat but soggy ground while Jayson cooked up some MREs. We huddled together, had a delightful dinner, left our wet clothes outside and squeezed into the tent. While Jon snored away in his warm sleeping bag, Jayson, X, and I took turns holding the camp stove to keep warm. With our thin bags and the condensation in the tent forming puddles, we were cold, wet and miserable all night long. As the sun rose, Jon awoke from his pleasant slumber and proclaimed that he had barely gotten any sleep. We were appalled! We explained to him how he snored for hours and hours while we jealously shivered by the tiny stove! We exited the tent and endured the agonizing ritual of putting on our cold and wet clothes.


Day two of this trek was to be the hardest. We had to climb up and over several mountain passes. We could see the passes but unfortunately they were pretty far from each other and there were some very steep valleys to be traversed in between. Once again Jon and X had little problems going down and then back up the steep valleys. I studied their steps and tried to follow them but at times I just couldn’t reach. One particularly hazardous climb, I was scrambling up and the rocks became loose under my feet and I started sliding down. I finally stopped, held my breath and waited for Jayson to come from behind and help me up. He did, I made it out, and then I cried (cry number two for those keeping track).
We were up and over two of the three passes when it began to hail on us. We decided to descend one pass sooner than the race directions advised because it was getting dark and we didn’t want to be stuck up on the mountain with the storm coming through. We hurried down but had to retreat back up a little because we were cliffed out. We managed to get down most of the way when the sun set and I was getting really, really cold. We had paused for a bit while Jon and X discussed our route and I was shivering like crazy. But then I stopped shivering and then I felt warm. I knew this was not a good thing. (Cry number three!) So I said to Jayson, “Jay, it’s bad when I’m so cold that I feel warm, right?” Then Jay turned to the guys and said, “Hey we need to do something now. Either get moving or put up the tent, but we need to get her warm.” They knew we were about to cross a river so they decided it would be better if we set up the tent and wait to do the river crossing in the morning. They started setting up the tent as I shivered and cried. The crying actually made me feel a lot better and a little bit warmer. So I cried harder. J Then, when things couldn’t possibly get worse, our tent popped!!! We had a tent that didn’t use poles; instead it used two inflatable tubes and one of the tubes popped! Jayson took out the camp stove so that I could hover over it while they fixed the tent. They got it fixed, helped me take off my wet layers and put me in the tent with the stove. I warmed up and felt better. Then we returned to our nightly pattern. Jon snored away while Jay, X, and I used the stove to keep warm and tried not to burn ourselves or the tent. But X did fall asleep and singed his eyelashes. Jay burned his fingers as he held them over the fire and I had to pass the stove off when I caught myself dropping it.
Morning finally came and once again the torturous ritual. This was my final and most dramatic cry. As it snowed outside, I crawled out of the tent and put on my clothes. I whimpered loudly as I put each leg through my freaking freezing, wet pants. And I didn’t care how loud or how dramatic my crying and whimpering was. It literally hurt to put my clothes, socks, and shoes on. It hurt so much that I whimpered and cried louder and louder because it helped me to get it done. When the torture was over we headed down towards the river, I composed myself and stopped the outrageous girly behavior. A little later X admitted that if he wasn’t a dude, he’d have been crying too. That made me smile.

Hallucinations come in many forms and since day two of this entire race, I’d been hearing music. It’s happened before and I’ve come to expect it. I hear choirs chanting, Elvis rocking, kids singing “Old McDonald had a farm,” and many other songs. Sometimes these songs stay with me for hours and hours and I get tired of them so I sing my own. X, Jay, and Jon have had to endure my musical renditions of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Hotel California, Billy Ray was a Preacher’s Son, Paul Revere, El Rey,” a couple of other Spanish songs, some country, and the entire soundtrack to “Grease.” But just like food, entertainment on the trail is scarce so you take what you can get. We all had a healthy supply of caffeine pills to keep us awake when the sleepmonsters attacked, but the hallucinations didn’t retreat. Many times I felt like there were people walking with us. For quite some time I felt sure that there was a woman walking with me. I couldn’t tell if it was my mother or someone else, but there she was beside me.
We trekked through the day and once again nightfall hit as we were about to do a river crossing. We were on a “field of soggy dreams” when we set up camp. I was feeling good because the night was clear, the stars were shining brightly and there appeared to be no rain in the forecast. Jon and X put up the tent while Jay and I searched for firewood. Jay was intent upon starting a fire and I had my heart set on it too. He meticulously put together the driest pieces of ember he could find, used the Dermatone sunscreen to ignite it, and built us a cozy little fire under the gorgeous, star filled Patagonian sky. He was my hero! I stood by the fire for quite sometime trying to dry my pants, dry my socks, and dry my sleeping bag. It was getting colder and we were running out of firewood but neither of us wanted to leave the heat. After drying our three wimpy sleeping bags, we retreated to another night in the ice box; Jay, X, and I with the stove, freezing our butts off, while Jon snored away. It was my turn to hold the stove while X slept for a little while. I had to find a way to stay awake so I let Jay provide me with the entertainment. He spoke gibberish. I’d ask him questions and he’d respond with some very off the wall answers. Sometimes I understood his words although they were entirely out of context. And sometimes he’d just speak in some unknown tongue. I was amused for a while but then woke X up for his turn to hold the stove. Daylight came with the dreaded ritual and this time I just had to laugh. Because there was no rain that night, I had hung my clothes and backpack to dry in the trees. But the clear, crisp night produced a freeze and now my clothes and shoes were frozen solid. I literally had to break the ice to get my pants on. My shoes wouldn’t even go on my feet until I walked on them for a while and let the ice melt.
The day went by like the rest. Through the forest, down the valley, through the cold river, up the valley, search for our field of dreams, and make it to our next snack break. Later that evening we finally saw the Straight of Magellan ahead of us! We could see the other side of the peninsula and we were excited. It was still a ways, but we could see it and that was enough to put a pep in my step. Amazingly, my feet were still doing fine with no major blisters to speak of. Jay’s feet, on the other hand, were toast! I honestly don’t know how he was walking. But I did what I could to help him. I handed him my trekking pole to use when we crossed the peat bogs and then took it out of his way when we got tangled up with bushwacking. I told him stories to keep his mind off his feet and I gave him a few of my “magic” pills. Jon and X were carrying heavy loads and despite their aches and pains, were still moving strong. Jay was mentally strong to keep going and all three of them provided constant entertainment in some fashion.
The last night of our 5 day journey, we pushed through without setting up the tent. We knew that we needed to make up some ground and none of us cared to spend another frozen, sleepless night in the tent. We bushwacked and went over and under so many moss covered logs. I knew this was going to be a long night and I just wanted to tune it out. So I did. I was about to switch to automatic pilot when one of the guys asked me a question. I responded with, “Guys, please don’t pay attention to me. I’m switching to automatic pilot so I’m just going to keep quiet and follow you. I’m not observing, I’m not thinking, I’m only moving forward. Just keep an eye on me and make sure I’m still following. See you in the morning.” And that was it. I followed miserably for hours and hours through the cold, wet night. I did get awakened twice, however. The first time, I heard a little dog barking. It was a curious little bark and when I awoke from my zombie state I assumed that I must have been hallucinating. But then I heard the bark again and it was coming from up above in the tree. It was a gorgeous white owl; just perched up in the tree about 5 feet over my head. He stared at me and blinked with his giant eyes. I took a moment to admire him and then I switched back to automatic pilot. The next time I was awakened was when X stopped, turned towards us, and proclaimed, “Dude, I don’t know what I’m doing but I sure am having fun!” Jayson was right behind him and he said, “Yeah, me too!” Now two things bothered me about this situation. First of all, X was leading us and I was a bit concerned to hear that he had no idea what he was doing. Were we even headed in the right direction? Secondly, how the hell where both Jay and X having fun??? This sucked! The giant logs we crawled over and under were full of moss, we were completely soaked and it was so cold! We hadn’t slept for days, we didn’t have enough food to stop my stomach from growling every 20 minutes and my freaking feet were getting raw. Oops, wait a minute! Stop the inner turmoil and turn on the automatic pilot. And so I did, and on I went, without a word; me and the lady right next to me.
As it neared morning, we all willed the sun to come out so that we could find our way out of this messy forest and back to our field of dreams. We weren’t quite out of the mess yet when I had to stop because of blisters. This was the first time my feet screamed for help and I was glad that we were nearing the end. I covered them with duct tape, we ate a little breakfast and then continued on towards a clearing in the forest.
This last day of trekking was my most painful. My automatic pilot setting seemed to have taken a toll on my feet and now I was walking like Jayson. We both hobbled through the day. But finally, around 4:00pm, we made it to the Straight of Magellan! We were on the beach with an incredible view of the island and the snow capped peak across the fiord. We found the first trail we had seen in 5 days. We followed it for about 4km (3mi) up the coast until we reached the first “real” people we had seen since the Chilean Navy dropped us off on the other side of the peninsula. The two staff guys were camped on the beach waiting for us for several days. They had no idea when we’d be there and they were very happy to see us. They shared some food with us and radioed to headquarters that we had arrived. We still had 20km to finish this trek, but we were thrilled to be out of the forest and on the beach. After stuffing my face with pasta, cookies and Chilean carmel butter spread, I fell asleep with my face in the sand. The guys woke me up to some good news. The staff notified us that we would only trek for 10km (6mi) more to the lighthouse hostel. We would rest there for the night, wake up and kayak 10km to the final bike leg. Jayson and I were more than relieved to hear that we only had to subject our feet to torture for 10 more kilometers. We gathered our gear and started up the beach.


By now we had realized that NOTHING was easy in Patagonia. The so called “easy walk” on the beach to the hostel was severely painful. The babyhead rocky beach caused Jay and I more pain then the peat bogs. We carefully took each step as we slowly moved forward towards the end of our journey. We all took in the magnificent views, saw the dolphins playing in the water nearby, and picked up some beautiful shells. Daylight once again turned to night as we neared the lighthouse. We were very low on food with still a couple of hours to go. I was sleepwalking again and Jon was watching out for me. X was also out of it and Jay was staying with him. I heard X grunt and groan at one point, but I just kept walking in my zombie state. Later I found that he had taken a nasty fall and almost broke his jaw on a rock. But luckily we all made it in one piece to the base of the lighthouse hill. The trail led up to the lighthouse and Jon followed it. I followed another trail towards a big shaggy dog. I have no idea why I went towards him as he was scary and had crazy eyes! But there I went until Jon came back to get me and he led me up the hill. We reached the lighthouse and found no one. X and I stayed seated at the front door and continued knocking while Jon and Jay investigated around the building. There was no one there. Soon after, the dog came up the trail and was staring at us. Jon said, “I think he wants us to follow him.” So we did and he led us down the hill and on the other trail. When shaggy dog knew we were going the right way, he turned around and disappeared. Around midnight we found a very nice brand new building that looked like a hostel but there were no lights and no signs of presence. We looked around but found no one. We knocked and knocked and no one came out. I was becoming disillusioned. Then we heard something and there they were. The staff was inside the building with their headlamps, sleeping bags, and a nice fireplace. WE MADE IT! We finished that freaking long, hard, cold, insane, five day trek of survival across the peninsula. And now we could rest inside a building.
OK, so we were inside a building but there were no beds, no lights, no heater. The staff fired up their camp stoves and made us some pasta. We ate and ate and then we got out of our wet layers and sat by the fireplace. I was drying my sleeping bag so close to the fire that I thought I had burned it a couple of times. Jayson cleaned up his feet and then sat in his bag, dozing off by the fire. X kept eating and Jon fell asleep. Jay, X and I were positioned by the fire and we were not going away from it. Jay and I did manage to get away to gather some firewood because there was no way we were going to let that fire die through the night. I was eyeing some of the old mattresses and sleeping pads that the staff had, but there were no extras and they were all sleeping too far from the fire so I didn’t even bother trying to squeeze in next to them. As the sun rose, I noticed one of the staff was up and off his mattress. When he returned, he saw me eyeing it and he gave it to me. I positioned it right in front of the fire place and Jay, X and I squeezed on to this single mattress. It was the best 30 minutes of sleep I had in 10 days!
Our gear bags arrived around 9am. We finally got out of the Ibex clothes we wore for 5 days and we got the opportunity to use our new NRS and Sealskinz kayak clothing. We paddled on the Straight of Magellan for about 2 hours and the camera crews took lots of photos. We witnessed some magnificent views and enjoyed the penguins playing in the water around us. We arrived at the bike transition and dove into our food bag. This would be our last meal of ravioli, crackers, cookies, coke, Hammer gels, Pro Bars, ding dongs, and “cat food.” We mounted our bikes and rode the last 3.5 hours to the finish line.


The ride was relatively easy. But remember, nothing is easy in Patagonia, so we made it more difficult by falling asleep on our bikes. We had to stop for a pee, snack, and caffeine pill break just to make it through. As we entered the town of Punta Arenas, motorcycle cops cleared our path. We circled the town square and reached “LA META!” The goal, the finish! The entire race staff, the other teams, and some curious Chileans were cheering for us. The champagne flowed, the cameras clicked, the interviews started, and the hugs of congratulations flourished. We finished in 3rd place in the longest race in PER history. 11 days and 11 hours after we started this adventure, we had finished; but more importantly--we survived.
In summary, the Patagonia Expedition Race was the most physically and mentally taxing thing I have ever done. I thought that I had reached my limit and I was ready to quit. But my teammates kept me going. We entrusted each other with our lives and took care of each other along the way. We made new friends and shared experiences that will never be duplicated. We faced each challenge head on and we conquered them one at a time. I am so happy to have had this experience and if I were to die right now, you can be assured that I have really lived.
FINALLY…..THE END.