Looking to build an Expedition Adventure Race Team

Having relocated to Durango, Colorado I'm super excited to reignite my Adventure Race Passion... put my feelers out and see if I can find a few willing adrenaline junkies to go racing with. 

Natalie, me, Karen, Paul GRML 2012

Wild Racers Video

My goal is to build a Competitive Expedition Adventure Race Team of dedicated, willing racers for the 2014 season, and hopefully further.  The team is comprised of 4 racers and at least one of which has to be female.  If you have participated in some form of multi-hour/day team sports then you probably understand when I say how important it is that we are more than friends...we are a family.  Race families plain and simple share everything and move as a whole we are not racing for ourselves but for the team.  It would be best if we all lived closed by for training and travel purposes but this is not a requirement.

The disciplines, skills and challenges of AR are vast some quick examples are... 
trekking, paddling (open, flat and rapids), mtn biking, cycling, nutrition, food plan, running, orienteering, maps, first aide, trekking, bush whacking, ropes, sleep, hike-a-bike, gear, preparation, terrain, language, luck, cultural barriers, travel, navigation.

 ...but the concept needs to always be the same...work together...move together...plan together...finish together… team, team, team.  There are no points given when you leave a teammate behind.  So your personality that you portray when your hungry, dehydrated, sleep deprived, lost, wet and cold are what I'm interested in.  

Helping out a teammate by giving them a tow.

• Team of 4 full-time racers with the option of 2 alternates (1 female, 1 male).  I understand people have families and work schedules that will supersede AR and I want to realistic not everyone can do this schedule.  

• Idea is to have the team carry the name, and integrity of the team throughout the season.

• Gather points towards USARA http://www.usara.com/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f and one day ARWS http://www.arworldseries.com/ so we can travel and get financial support.

• 4 Expedition events per year

• 3 to 4 Team training camps

So if you've read this far then maybe your interested in being apart of the team.  Shoot me an email with a quick bio on yourself as it pertains to AR.  Social Media links are great.  Thanks for checking it out and I hope to see you out there.

Aaron Boatman 

Team SOG, Idaho Expedition 2011

GRML 2011

Links:
http://www.usara.com/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f - US National AR Series
http://www.arworldseries.com/  - World AR Series
http://www.checkpointtracker.com/  - US National AR Series
http://www.sleepmonsters.com/v2_index.php  - Forum website for AR

2013 Arizona Trail Recap.

Well it's been awhile so I thought I'd share some recent news.

The line up of AZT 750 Racers at the US/Mexico Border

Arizona Trail was cut short from the planned full route 750 to just the 300 mile race this year.  It wasn't because of mechanical, dehydration, pain or any of the normal dropping reasons.  I dropped out cause I got bored. Many people will read this and not understand, but I wasn't having any fun racing all by myself.  I understand that this is a solo sport and company isn't found in the form of much more than beautiful sceneries and personal memories.  I couldn't help but remember how fun it was last year to run in to different faces and listen to there stories.

Heres the short version of how the race went for me...

Big thanks to the guys at Sun N Spokes in Sierra Vista, AZ for driving 8 of us the border.  Got there about 30 minutes early and froze til the start.

Gear was on point.  Having raced last year I knew exactly what to bring and what to leave out.  No complaints in this department.

The race started and off I went.  Had a rare occurrence and broke my chain masterlink about 8 miles in.  I have personally have never broke one of those before but switched it out and got back rolling in less than ten minutes.  Pushed hard with a rider from TN named Jason Murell.  He was a rookie and we teamed up til he got a stomach bug about 11PM about 20 miles outside of Cave JX on the first day.  Ended up making it to Rincon Valley which was my Day 1 goal at about 2AM with Pete and Ester who were racing the 300.  Made bed on the porch with hopes of refueling and moving on at sunrise.

Picture of Jason and I taken by Scott just before West Canales.

Woke up to the PIMA County Sheriff Department at about 530AM.  LOL.  Pushed up the hill and never saw anyone on the trail til, just before Antelope Peak a day later, I saw 3 girls on their own bikepacking adventure.  They were riding the trail North to South from Picketpost TH in Superior to Oracle.  No easy feet for sure.  Here I cant even get one of my friends to join me on these types of trips and here are 3 girls rocking it in the middle of the desert.  You go girls.

The rest of the race went smooth.  I hit the heat and my water plans worked great.  No snake encounters a few Gila Monsters but nothing to shaky.  I made it to the turn off towards Picketpost away from the Gila at about sun down and it took me about 3 hours longer than expected but no drama.

Made bed at the Picketpost TH and waited for some other racers to roll in.  Hoping for some company to continue on but never made a connection.

Next years plan...who knows.

AB

2013 Arizona Trail Race

To all my fellow supporters, friends and family,

Lets start off with an intro video made by my Brazilian friend Maurício Cervenka about the Arizona Trail, hope he doesn't get mad I shared it.  He does awesome work video work.  Password is mauricio123

As many of you may know last year I competed in the 2012 Arizona Trail Race event.  It is a 750 mile mountain bike race south to north across the state.  In short I was disqualified for hitch hiking to get food just South of Mormon Lake outside of Flagstaff some 40 Miles.  Even though I didn't move forward on the race course I did use outside assistance which for this particular BikePacking Race is against the rules.  On the "Divide Race" which is how I learned about this race it is legal to use transportation of course as long as you continue back to the place where you left the course...for more info on that story click this blog entry

So this year I’m back to give it my best.  I greatly appreciated all the social media support many of you gave me last year.  I hope you can continue to support me this year and maybe even ride your bike while I’m on mine.

The race starts this Friday April 19^th at 630AM.  Ill be wearing a GPS tracking device and will check my phone once a day if I can, but love hearing from everyone it REALLY HELPS.  Facebook is the best for that.  Below are some helpful websites and links to follow my progress.  Please try to fix up and ride your bike while I'm gone.  I promise it won't hurt you.

http://trackleaders.com/aztr13

This is the official tracking software of the event. You can use it best from a home computer and track distance along the route and lots of other data information.

http://app.bluedot.mobi/app-pc.html

This is a mobe app that doesn’t require a download just go to from your phone and click on the Arizona Trail Race.

http://www.facebook.com/boatmana

Ill post updates as best I can on here.

AB

This ain't that...

Tough Mudder Mesa, AZ 2013...

from the Tough Mudder website... "Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, 700,000 inspiring participants worldwide to date, and more than $5 million raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world."

Clinton Jackson does an awesome job getting the mudders pumped.

     I know everyone has heard about these mud, obstacle run challenges that are popping up all over the globe.  I remember doing the Camp Pendleton Mud Run as a team of 5 back in 2003 and having a really good time, thanks again Ed for the invite.  It took us just under an hour and we covered 10K and all the proceeds went to Camp Pendleton and the Marines so I was stoked.
   
     Since then I've personally stayed away from these due to there high entry fees, super crowds, usually short distances and sense of desiring more when I was done.  But one recently caught my eye.  It is called the Tough Mudder World Championships.

In this event you cover the same 11 mile course for 24 hours, non stop, winner take all $15,000.  So here's the catch you have to qualify by participating in one of there sanctioned Tough Mudder races.

OK I'll bite.  $160 dollars later I'm registered for the first one in my state.  Mesa, AZ 2/24/13.  This race has some 20 or so obstacles that extend over 11 miles.  Tough Mudder brands this event as a "challenge" not a "competition."  There is a lot of emphasis on Teamwork, and working together to help your fellow mudder.  They don't endorse it as a timed event, but in order to qualify for "Worlds" you have to be in the top 5% of your day.  I don't really know what that means because if you put people in front of me its a race, if you do a count down start its a race, As long as there is a start and finish line its a race.  This is just how I think..

Fast forward here I am the day after racing mountain bikes in Sierra Vista for nearly 4 hours its roughly 8:45AM in Mesa, AZ the temps are about 40-low 50's (at best) strong wind out of the North around 30mph and there are a ton of everyday people in running attire with sharpie numbers on there forehead like below.

Example of dressed up Mudders

I started at the back of the pack in the first wave of bought 150 mudders and had decided that I was going to have a blast, I love being cold but not freezing and I love obstacles.  By the 2nd obstacle,"Artic Enema" as seen below, I was in the top 15.

Artic Enema Ice Bath, sorry no pics of me.  This obstacle was no joke.
Froze my ass off for the next 2 miles

The race moved on I pushed and pushed to the top, the competition was on point and I was wondering if I would catch the leader.  There were a few of the front guys that got turned around on the course and missed a few obstacles so it worked out to my advantage, although this is technically not a competition you do have to complete the obstacle in order and at least attempt them.  By mile 6 I hit my Gel Pack and FRS chew and moved on.  I picked someone off every mile and by mile 9 I could see the leader about 1 minute ahead.

Electric eel.  I DON'T LIKE ELECTRICITY... Very unpredictable when its going to zap you.

Up the big wall

 

The finish line and again the electricity is not my favorite.  It's like being knocked out.
I had no body control and just fell over the hay bail.

I crossed the line in 1hour 41minutes and completed all obstacles.  First for my wave.  Let's see what happens in November at World's.

Thanks for reading.