The Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge
Preparing to Race in Abu Dhabi (Part Two)
Andy Wilson (Team SleepMonsters/FGS) / 07.12.2008
I commented earlier on the endurance training aspect of our team preparations for the race in Abu Dhabi, particularly our team training weekends. The other area which is vital in all types of racing is information, it affects all aspects of your approach to a race. Arriving at any race having garnered as much information as you can and having used this to prepare thoroughly, should help you to avoid the many pitfalls, race to the best of your ability, and maximise your enjoyment of the event.
Everything about the Abu Dhabi race is so completely alien to our collective race experience that we were starting from a very low level, with a massive amount of race intelligence to gather. Without any previous participants to quiz, the first stop was the race website, and last year’s race reports and photos, which yielded plenty of useful information.
The organisers of ADAC provide bikes, kayaks, paddles and buoyancy aids to spare teams the expense of bringing their own. AR is one of the most kit intensive sports around, so transporting everything you need for a multi-day adventure race by plane to a foreign land, is a logistical nightmare and potentially ruinously expensive as well, so this generosity is very welcome.
Competitors are allowed to use their own bikes, and the bikes provided are probably of a lower spec than most racers would be used to, so there is certainly a competitive advantage to be had if you're willing to accept the cost of shipping bikes out. However, a balance needs to be struck, and as biking is such a small part of the race (probably just 10% of the total race time), we decided that we would use the bikes provided. We will however be taking our own pedals, tyres, puncture proofed with kevlar strips, saddles and seatposts, as well as the more normal accessories – map board, bike tows and bento boxes.
The other optional extras we have decided to take are carbon fibre paddles. This race has a massive amount of sea kayaking (probably close to 40% of the race time), which already puts us at a huge disadvantage due to our very limited paddling experience, so we wanted to make this as easy as possible for ourselves by using the lightest paddles available. Our hope is that the winds will be favourable, and that we can make full use of the sails fitted to the kayaks, and so nullify at least some of our weakness in this discipline, however last year the racers faced headwind only, which only exaggerated the expert paddlers advantage.
SleepMonsters
