The Race starts at Walden

Our analyst Pete Dobos looks ahead to the bike section and when the race might really begin.

The race for the North American Championship starts at the Walden Mountain Bike Park. The first two legs were fairly tame by Wilderness Traverse standards. I think this was a deliberate decision, designed to allow the maximum number of teams to complete those two legs before getting short coursed. The difficulty in this course is very much towards the end, during the bike and the final trek. Those are the legs that will decide the podium.

This means that teams in front can never relax, and teams chasing should never give up. Things can and have changed dramatically at the very end of WT races.This will be the first really challenging bit of navigation for three reasons:

1. it’s at night

2. it’s on a trail map with no topographical information

3. adventure races very rarely go onto dedicated single track mountain bike trails.

This will be a full-on bike-orienteering section and the first chance for teams to gain or lose significant time. It also might offer a sneaky little shortcut...See those orange lines at the bottom left of the trail map? That might be a way for teams to cross the railway lines and get5 into the trails very close to CP9.

Here’s a look at it from “outside” on their 50k topo map:As far as I know that is a legit route option which will save close to 3kms of riding. Wonder if anyone will try it...