Race Across Oregon
David Holt
I would like to encourage everyone to consider racing the Race Across Oregon this year either solo or as a team. It’s still two months away. If you have achieved good fitness through the spring events and training, increasing your training volume a little for the next 6-8 could leave you in good shape for solo. And, of course, just maintaining the fitness you’ve achieved this spring would leave you in great shape for a 2 or 4 person team effort.
Furnace Creek will no doubt sell out this year once again—and deservedly so. I’ve done FC for the last three years, so obviously I had good experiences there and can vouch for how well it is run. And I think the new PlanetUltra 500-mile event in September is going to be very successful. But you really, really ought to consider doing RAO. Maybe your target event this year is FC. RAO would be a great opportunity to get in some serious training with a team.
The race course is very beautiful, very remote, and very challenging. In many of the sections, you can go for a very long while and never meet an on-coming vehicle. Last year, during the Sunday morning twilight, on a 2% downhill grade, a mountain lion raced along the road just in front of me for about 200 yards.
Oregon is perhaps a little out of the way for a lot of people. I’m from Southern California, so it was definitely a long drive for me when I did the race last year. But in a way that just made it more fun. Oregon is vast and beautiful. There are many things you can do in addition to the race. Of course, flying into Portland with your bikes and renting a minivan is also an option. I’m sure the race organizers would be happy to help you out with the logistics.
Speaking of the race organizers—George Thomas and Terri Gooch are wonderful people who represent the best in our sport. They will go out of there way to help you out in terms of planning for the event and answering your questions and concerns.
Personally, I’m really happy I had the opportunity to race RAO last year. You never know how long you can continue in this sport. If you don’t do RAO at least once, I assure you, you will have missed one of the great experiences the sport of long distance racing has to offer. So, do RAO this year if you can fit it in. If not this year, then soon!
David Holt
Disclaimer: For the record, I have no business affiliation with the Race Across Oregon and its organizers. The comments above were unsolicited. I did, however, donate approximately a ton of sweat and a million kjoules of energy to that majestic race course.