This race wasn't put on by a big company with plans to sell the TV rights. Island Quest Adventure Race is put on by Quest Races on San Juan Island. (Yeah. That San Juan Island.)

Frequent hiking buddy Matt has done these races before and conned me into it. No, I don't ride my bike much, but that shouldn't dissuade me, he said. No, I don't run (except when chased), but that shouldn't get in the way. This was going to be a relaxed wander around the island looking for flags.

Lies.

We and a handful of other teams started by running up a hill. WHAT? Then we had to run down the hill and get on our bikes and go BACK UP THE HILL. So much fun. Pedal, pedal, pedal. Huff, puff, gasp. What kept me on the bike? Not wanting to get passed by the other competitors. Pretty soon the field spread out and we stopped seeing other teams. The biking wasn't terrible, but I won't pretend I didn't have to push up at least one hill and may have cried a little flying downhill too fast.

Back at the TA (that's what us adventure athletes call the Transition Area), we dumped our bikes and took off for the trekking portion. At least I was on my feet where I'm slightly more capable. The course was compact, but in an old quarry. Sure, it seemed like you could draw a straight line between checkpoints (where we had to go to gain points), but no. Cliffs meant we were frequently going way out of our way, but that just made it more fun.

Don't forget, this was a race with winners and losers. We ran sections we could and walked sections we couldn't. Some checkpoints were worth more points than others so our route was carefully chosen to maximize our points, but still get back to the TA before the course closed. (For each minute we were late, we lost a point!) We made it back with three minutes to spare having gotten all but one of our planned checkpoints.

How'd we do? Third place. Not bad. Had we been a few minutes faster we would have been in second place. I don't mean to be mean, but we totally crushed all those family teams with kids under 10! BOOM! Take that you little rippers!

The real question, though, is whether we'll do it again? Um... yeah. And maybe we'll even go for the longer course that includes kayaks. Who knows? Maybe I'll even find more like minded idiots (I'm looking at you, boy) to join us next time. But not in Patagonia.

(Wondering about that sweet yellow pack? It's a Deuter Flyt 20 biking pack (affiliate link). It's specially designed for bikers and includes back protection for when I inevitably bite it hard. And the bike and helmet? Same ones I had in high school.)