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Will's Worldwide Adventure - The Final Chapter

The Triple 6 was coming to a close. The final race was upon me as I ran to the airport and sadly left Japan. If it wasn’t for the stories of the course that lay ahead of me in beautiful British Columbia, I would have stayed in the land of the rising sun for another week.  The hosts, the food, the people, were all so amazing, so I reluctantly said my goodbyes and hopped on a plane for my long journey across the international date line to the final event on this transcontinental voyage in Whistler.

I had hoped to go out with a bang at XTERRA Canada. I was thinking that bang would be the sound of the high fives I'd give the other guys on the podium as I stepped up, but instead it ended up with me banging on the door of the hospital to let me in just hours before the race start. Luck had been on my side for the last 5 weeks, but it finally ran out Sunday morning at 1am when food poisoning left me sidelined while my competitors toed the line for one of the most technical courses on the XTERRA World Tour.

Leading up to Saturday, things were transpiring as usual. Each pre-ride of the course had me more and more excited for race day. Everyone was talking about the challenges of the course and how epic the race was going to be. The excitement grew and grew. The thrills weren’t just limited to the course either. The concierge at the athlete’s village tipped us off to the local hang out with 3 gnarly rope swings. No better way to enter the water for a pre-race swim, than hucking yourself 20 feet into the air and splashing down in frigid water giving yourself a speedo wedgy. While on one of our pre runs, we found a suspension bridge and rocked it up and down scaring the crap out of each other. On his pre-ride of the bike course, Conrad Stoltz, spotted a bear which had all the athletes asking “What should we do if we run into a bear mid race?” Stories like these make for everlasting memories to share with friends for years to come. I love this stuff!

Come race morning, it was a slightly comforting thought to know that my race was not the only one to end before it even started. Shonny Vanlandingham couldn’t even attend the race due to her mangled thumb (and just recently torn ACL), while Conrad struggled with a massive bruise from crashing the day prior to the gun firing while attempting to find just the right line.

One of the disappointing things about not being able to race this race was that fact that I always rant about how I wish there were more technical courses. Well this was it, and I didn’t get to put my money where my mouth is. The course, similar to how Conrad described Japan, was a jungle gym and I wanted to show off my monkey skills again. Tight technical riding on trails named A River Runs Through It, Whip Me Snip Me, Get Over It, and Mel’s Delemma were the perfect single trail for a hardcore mountain biker. Danimal, Stone Bridge, and 99er had jumps, hills, drops, and a plethora of other challenges on a 9.8k run that yielded times similar to a 12k. If there was any North American course that was the ultimate hard core off road triathlon challenge, this was it.

Well I didn’t race. In fact I didn’t get back out of bed upon returning from the hospital until around noon that day. It gave me a bit of time to sleep and to think.

The events of the last few days of the Triple 6 reminded me exactly of what I had just been through over the last month and a half. Jet lag from changing countless time zones, aching legs from thousands of miles of travel, gut wrenching food poisoning, and so many cuts and scrapes that it looks like I got in a fight with a lawn mower (and lost), all hit me this last week. Every once and a while I think its good to get a reminder that we’re only human, and this was mine. All of that said, the desire to race, challenge myself, and have fun with new and old friends leading up to and post race didn’t falter one bit.

I’m already re-charged, re-energized, and re-ady to splash, crash, and dash my way through the USA Championships in a few weeks in Ogden, UT. Even sounds like there will be some charismatic new competitors up for the challenge as well! Just remember guys, LIVE MORE!