I was an adventure racer for many years and raced all over the eastern side of the country.
There were always many obstacles we faced and had to overcome during every race.
Some of them were anticipated, but the nature of AR meant that many challenges we faced were completely unexpected.
Every racer I ever knew was a compulsive planner, a compulsive trainer and (the week of the race) a compulsive weather watcher.
Sometimes the forecast held, but many times it didn't.
In April of 2006 I was doing a race in the Smoky Mountains.
The race was scheduled to begin at 10pm and even during that day leading up to the race start, the forecast had promised temperatures in the 40's.
The race began with a road ride to the canoe put-in, and by the time we hit the water it was windy with freezing rain.
An hour into the paddle one of my team-mates made the observation that he hoped we didn't capsize, because we would all be in big trouble.
The water was very choppy, it was windy and the freezing rain continued, but even in those conditions I thought that my team-mate was overstating his case.
Within a few hours I learned to have the same concern that he had.
Throughout the night (as we continued to pick up checkpoints on the water) the weather continued to deteriorate, and by the time we made it back to the race start at 6am the next morning we were all hypothermic.
A couple of hours later we had warmed up, rested, consumed hot food and drink, and had changed into dry and warm clothes.
Clicking into already frozen pedals on our bikes, we headed on gravel roads up into the mountains.
Freezing rain turned to light snow turned to heavy snow, as we continued to climb through the morning and into the afternoon.
I was still using brake pads on my bike at that time (as opposed to the disc brakes I eventually upgraded to) and the combination of snow, mud, ice and gravel had eaten away at them over the rough hours of climbing in horrendous conditions. I had front brakes but no back brakes. One of my team-mates had back brakes but no front. My other team-mate had no brakes at all.
We were looking for a checkpoint using very old and outdated topo maps, and began to realize that we had likely missed it and blown right by it in the snow.
Eventually we came to a steep downhill, and I had to concentrate very hard to keep my bike upright with failing brakes.
I got down to the bottom of the hill, realized that I had used up the last of my braking ability, and slid into the snow covered road before being able to put my feet down to stop.
I turned to look at my team-mates (who I had skidded right by) and said "that's it - my brakes are totally gone", and then I looked around me to see where we were.
Heavy snow was blowing in sideways and the world was entirely and absolutely white.
The road wasn't on the map. We had obviously blown by the checkpoint. There was no form of shelter anywhere around us. Our brakes had failed or were failing. We were in windy and total white out conditions in the mountains.
Reluctantly we broke open our emergency radios. Our race was done.
While we waited for race volunteers to come pick us up, we reached into our packs and dug out our space blankets.
A space blanket was always part of the mandatory gear racers had to carry with them throughout every race, and I was carrying the cheapest one I could find.
It was cheap. It was lightweight. It was compact. I had no idea whether or not it was actually a useful item. All I knew was that race rules required a space blanket, and the cheap one from Wal-mart was accepted by those inspecting my gear.
I never actually thought that such a cheap piece of tinfoil would work.
Fighting against the strong winds in the mountains, I broke open the blanket package and wrapped it around me. My team-mates did the same thing.
We had to wait for quite a while before race volunteers showed up, and that stupid piece of "tinfoil" we were all carrying, saved our bacon.
It was the first time I had ever used a space blanket, and on that day I became a believer.
Over the years I have used space blankets during races more times than I could count, in many cold and wet races, and for its weight it is one of those pieces of gear that I do not ever leave home without.
Here in Cody Wyoming the weather last week was sunny with temperatures around 60 degrees. For the last couple of days we have had snow, cold and wind. By the end of this week it is supposed to be warm and sunny again.
There are compelling reasons why everybody who heads out into the hills or mountains around this area should carry a space blanket with them:
1. The mountains (to quote that great movie) "makes its own weather". No matter what time of year it is, and no matter how warm and sunny it is when you head out, the weather can change on a dime and unexpectedly become very cold with yes.......even snow in summer.
2. You never know what you will run into in the mountains - a river you fall into, an injury that unexpectedly keeps you up in the mountains overnight, misjudging how far you travel on a day hike which causes you to get off trail after the sun goes down, getting hopelessly lost for a couple of days before rescue arrives. You just never know.
Sometimes the distance between "Life is good. Who's got the next joke?" and a potentially catastrophic emergency in the mountains can be very short., and with space blankets being so compact, lightweight and cheap, there is just no good reason not to carry one with you at all times.
I begrudgingly carried one every race until that first time I needed one.
Now I would never think of heading out in the wilds without one.
A Youtube video on different uses for a blanket:
A couple of REI space blanket options:
But even the Wal-mart variety will do the trick. Toss it down into your pack and just leave it there for the time when you'll need it. If you spend enough time in the woods or in the mountains you WILL need it eventually:
EPILOGUE: After we called in on our emergency radios and were picked up, we heard team after team over the radio calling in to race Head Quarters, asking to be pulled out of the mountains.
A couple of hours after we were picked up, the race was called off.
It took all night for race volunteers, race staff, and emergency services personnel from five surrounding counties to find all the racers who were stranded in the mountains................
Pictures snapped the other day of some of the great gear we currently have at OAR:
