Bitter Pill 2016 live updates
If things go as planned, this post will automatically publish when the race starts, and you’ll see:
- A brief course description!
- General details about where and how to be a spectator!
Here’s our twitter feed. For much of the day, we’re out of cell range, but we’ll try to get things updated here and on instagram. Tweet @gmara_org if you have something good to share. More race-day details below…
Basic details on the course:
Teams drop their bikes at Bolton Valley lodge and we bus them to the race start, at Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury.
They’ll grab canoes/kayaks at 5am and have a short ~1k portage to the Winooski River.
They’ll paddle ~7k, grab a couple checkpoints and reach the Bolton Dam (Map) for a second portage.
After that portage, it’s another ~13k paddle to TA1 at the Beeken Rivershore Preserve parking area. (Map)
We expect teams to take from 3-5 hours to get to TA1 because the water level is so low. Some might be faster, some slower.
From TA1, they bike up a couple big hills, grabbing checkpoints all the way, and eventually land at TA2, the “Sugar Shack” about two miles up the Bolton Valley access road. We expect teams to arrive here anytime after 9:30. (Map)
At TA2, they drop bikes and head off on foot to find a bunch of CPs near Bone Mountain. Lots of fun terrain in the woods there!
They return to the Sugar Shack after hiking, and pick up their bikes again for the final climb up to the Bolton Valley resort, and finish on the back deck.
If you want to catch some of the action, your best bet is to start early and watch for teams on the river – the Long Trail footbridge might be nice viewing, or really any spot where you can see downriver. Once they hit bikes there’s not a great spot to find them, but if you head up to the Sugar Shack and hike into the woods from there, teams should pass you eventually.
There will be volunteers with more information at both transition areas – TA1 and TA2 – so you can also head directly there and ask what they know!
OGE Frigid Infliction 2016 Results
This year’s Frigid was co-directed by El Niño. The warmest February on record meant that for the first time in its eleven years, skis weren’t on the mandatory gear list!
With snow depths ranging from “frozen mud” at lower elevations to a staggering four inches in the Bolton Valley backcountry, it was clear that this race would be an infliction of a different sort.
The t-shirt says it all:
Frigid Infliction 2016
Commemorative Snow Globe
Snow Not Included
Racers were in good spirits though, with our largest winter crowd ever (100 racers!) ready to go at 4:30 Saturday morning. After maps were handed out, teams took advantage of a brief warm, well-lit period to study their maps and decide on strategy.
With a group that big, some creativity was needed to split the teams up and avoid a snowshoe conga-line, so the first leg of the race was “choose-your-own-adventure”. Five checkpoints, each with its own value – teams could pick any set where the values added up to 10, and then return to the Nordic Center. One high checkpoint was worth 10 points all by itself, while the other choices meant locating two or three flags to get the proper value. Check out the map & choose your own route.
The race started at 5:01 and teams snowshoed off in many different directions.
Routes were fairly well-balanced, but just over half the teams decided they’d like an extra challenge, running uphill first thing in the morning to search for the single 10-point CP.
It wasn’t a bad strategy – some found it and were back to TA1 in 90 minutes, but more than one team changed plans after circling the hilltop for an hour or more, coming downhill to choose alternate points.
One team toughed it out for nearly five hours before finding it!
No matter which route they chose, racers returned to the Nordic Center and TA1 where they transitioned to their imaginary skis, AKA snowshoes.
In one case, the snowshoes had already transitioned into pieces of disconnected plastic.
The next leg was intended to be skied, so all 7 CPs were on or near the Bolton Valley trails.
They say adventure racing is a mental exercise, but pretending to ski might be taking that a bit too far. Next year, more snow.
At TA2, racers paused for the first real transition, from snowshoes to postholing.
There couldn’t have been more difference between last year’s waist-deep posthole and this year’s crusty ice run, but we didn’t hear any complaints.
Just look at the depth of those postholes. What a slog.
Thanks to Bolton Valley for having awesome terrain even when the weather doesn’t cooperate!
Teams quickly made it to everyone’s favorite TA, where volunteers served up Garuka Bars and VT Smoke & Cure Bacon!
After snacks, there was a bit more effort required at TA3 – no big deal though, just haul yourself and all your gear across a huge ravine on a rope – and that’s after 3-8 hours of exercise beforehand. Something you do every day, probably.
It’s hard to capture the scale of the traverse.
For anyone who paused to look down, this year’s frozen waterfalls were pretty impressive.
A huge thanks to Tim and the crew from Petra Cliffs for rigging the lines nice & high this year. One of our faster tyroleans, to be sure.
Pro tip for our repeat racers: bring an extra carabiner and a few feet of cord, and you can make things (slightly) easier on your arms.
After the tyrolean, it was back on snowshoes for the last five CPs… although there was a mandatory transition back to imaginary skis in the middle of that.
We heard from a few racers that the view from CP20 was worth the 1500′ climb.
To be fair, we heard other things about that particular climb, too.
For a few teams, there was an opportunity at the end of the race to run other loops from Leg #1 for bonus time. Seven teams took advantage of the option, and two teams (NH Trail Vets and Tee Ma Naim) actually repeated the section three times, completing all available options.
Most were ready for a different kind of bonus: not being forced to snowshoe uphill again, and eventually free beer from Zero Gravity Brewing.
Congratulations to our top 3-person coed team, “Many Bothans” led by long-time racer and volunteer Bert Johnson.
The race results are posted if you want all the details.
Thanks for having a good time out there! As always, we’re doing this because it’s the best way to get an awesome group of people together.
Keep bringing your friends, and we’ll keep throwing painful 8-12 hour parties. Photos are up in the usual spot, please share!
A huge thanks to all the volunteers!
If you’re looking for an excuse to hang out in the woods watching semi-lost people change their footwear, you know where to find us.
If you’ve got photos, videos, blog posts, GPS tracks or stories from the trail, please send a note to shawn@gmara.org with details and we’ll get them up here. Here’s what we’ve got so far:
- A strava track from the NH Trail Vets.
- Fascinating strava tracks for multiple racers.
- The writeup from the NH Trail Vets.
If you need more adventure this summer, new friends Cliff and Kate from team Strong Machine are putting on their first east-coast summer race up in Maine on July 23rd.
If things work out, you’ll be able to join Chris, Shawn, and maybe other GMARA volunteers who haven’t raced in years… it should be a great time.
If you’re looking for something a little later in the summer (and a bit more challenging) our friends to the north at Endurance Aventure might still have spots open at the Raid International Gaspésie!
Lastly, watch your email for an invite – the OGE Bitter Pill is coming on August 6th!
Next year, more snow!
– The GMARA Crew
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Frigid Infliction 2016 – Important News!
This message was mailed to all racers on Feb 25th – if you didn’t get it, please let us know!
One week left until the OGE Frigid Infliction 2016! Here in Vermont it’s around 50 degrees, last night it poured for hours, and Bolton Valley actually closed the mountain today.
This uncooperative weather forces some decisions, and rather than keep you waiting until the last minute, we’re going to make a tough call now: Skis are off the mandatory gear list.
Now we know, nothing says adventure like a mountain too dangerous to allow skiing. We also know that a lot of you are renting gear, and if you spend money on rentals and then show up to a race that doesn’t use them, that’s disappointing and wasteful. Even if there’s skiable terrain at higher elevation, Bolton has let us know that they won’t rent gear if the groomed trails aren’t safe. We can understand, they don’t want their rental gear damaged and they don’t want anyone getting hurt.
We’ve thought long and hard about how to allow a ski leg for anyone that owns skis, if the weather somehow cooperates, but we haven’t found a compromise that’s fair to all racers. We’re going to keep trying, and if you own skis you might as well toss them in the car, but it doesn’t look good. I’ve attached a few photos from Bolton today – familiar locations for anyone who’s raced the Frigid before. It’s icy and treacherous, even crossing the parking lot required skillful navigation.
Now, there is snow in the forecast, anywhere from 3 to 12 inches depending who you believe. If we get a ton of snow, you have skis available, and you’re more interested in the adventure than the race, we might offer an alternate course which lets you ski for fun – but the official USARA qualifier course will be snowshoes, postholing, and ropes only. It’s still going to be a good time in the woods – it’s actually really awesome out there – but maybe more of an infliction than some years.
We’ll still require all the rest of your cold-weather gear – snow or not, it’s frigid when the wind picks up – and you’ll need poles even if you don’t have skis.
In other news:
– We’ve worked out details with the caterer – if you’re bringing guests, it will be $25 apiece. If you need to adjust your count, search your email for that note from staff@gmara.org or ask us for another link. Make your decisions by this weekend, please!
– The caterer isn’t providing a separate vegetarian buffet item, they’ll be doing plated entrees for vegetarians. If you want a vegetarian entree (and you didn’t say so on the form), you’ll have to let us know now – again, using the link you were given before.
– We have to cancel the Wintry Wander… it’s just not wintry enough. If you’re traveling with family members and they want to get in the woods, let us know now, we can make something fun happen.
– A few of you still need to fill out your birthday, address, and waivers – please look for an email from staff@gmara.org and fill out the forms as indicated!
Sharpen up those microspikes,
Shawn, Chris & the GMARA crew
OGE Bitter Pill 2015 – Results
The Outdoor Gear Exchange Bitter Pill returned to Bolton Valley this year for the first time since 2009. We love spending time at Bolton in the summer – great views, great trails, and great amounts of elevation gain!
Wait, something’s missing here… the pleasant sunrise didn’t happen until later in the morning.
This was one of our tighter paddling segments – lots of competition on the water as teams jockeyed for position.
At the first Transition Area, racers carried boats a short distance – just enough to be thankful it wasn’t a portage – and then headed into the woods on foot for a trek up the back side of Bolton.
Observant racers followed a segment of the Woodward Mountain backcountry ski trail – not well-marked, but it did open up a bit in places. Some of these glades could use another visit in a few months…
Near the top of the trek, one of the points was hung on the far side of Goose Pond. Most teams went around the mud, some did not.
Mmmm that’s adventurous.
After all that climbing, it’s only right that you get treated to a view like this one.
Racers were treated to post-race watermelon donated by longtime racers “The Donner Party” as well as pints of Conehead IPA from Zero Gravity Brewing.
Two of our youngest racers ever (10 and 15) competed this summer (both with a parent) and they showed amazing endurance and competitive spirit!
We hear from racers that they don’t often stick around at other races, but with GMARA the post-race story-swapping is one of the best parts of the day. We can’t imagine it any other way!
Thanks again to all the volunteers – planning, scouting, marketing, flagging, testing, setting, photographing, cleaning, and bacon-frying, it’s a huge effort that can’t happen without help. Anytime that you can’t race but still want some adventure, let us know.
The next generation of GMARA members!
All the photos we’ve collected are are at photos.gmara.org as usual. Enjoy and give a shout out to GMARA if you’re sharing!
Thanks again to The Outdoor Gear Exchange for making the Bitter Pill possible!
See you in March, when these hillsides will be slightly more frosty.
– The GMARA Crew
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Bitter Pill 2015 Live Updates
This year we’re trying something new during the Bitter Pill – if things go as planned this post will automatically publish when the race starts, and you’ll see:
- Maps!
- A brief course description!
- General details about where and how to be a spectator!
Basic details on the course:
Teams drop their bikes at Bolton Valley lodge and we bus them to the race start, at Waterbury Reservoir. There will be a short swim, then they’ll paddle to one checkpoint then on to the first transition area (TA 1).
At that transition, they’ll leave their boats behind and trek up the ridge to six more checkpoints. From the last CP near goose pond, racers will find their way back to the Bolton Valley lodge and the second transition.
From the lodge, they’ll grab bikes and head out to collect 7 more checkpoints and 3 optional bonus points on nordic and alpine ski trails. After they get all the points (or run out of time) they’ll head back to the lodge for the finish.
If you want to catch some of the action, your best bet is to come to Bolton sometime after 10 am. Be prepared to wait a bit – it could take a few hours for the first teams to arrive. If you’re up early, you could head towards the Little River State Park – TA 2 is near the boat access ramp. We think most teams will arrive there between 6 & 8 that morning.
Bitter Pill 2015 Pre-race Notes
This email went to racers earlier this morning:
Less than a week until you’re lost in the Green Mountains! Quick critical reminders first, then some fun stuff at the end.
– Registration + gear check is Friday night from 5:30-9 in the Bolton main lodge. You need to bring all your gear (including bikes) to Bolton for review. Couldn’t hurt to re-check the mandatory gear list today: www.gmara.org/races/bitter/#documents
– Saturday morning you’ll need to be at Bolton by 4:00. Bikes unloaded, bathroom visited, 100% ready to go by 4:05. Yes, it’s very early. Plan ahead!
– Test your water purification ahead of time. Think of it as a likely mid-race measure, and if you can’t stand the taste of iodine, find an alternative now. We’ll provide clean water somewhere, but it’s entirely possible that you’ll need a refill sooner. It has been warm, lately.
– Cell phones are totally legal to carry with you. Seal them up in a dry bag and don’t take them out unless you need to communicate for safety/emergency reasons.
– GPS track recorders are also allowed – encouraged, even, because we love to see your tracks too – but they definitely need to be tucked away in a pack, not worn on a wrist. Read the policy: www.gmara.org/races/rules/#electronicspolicy
– Stinging nettles! If you don’t know what they are, look them up – GMARA races are famous for these, and course testers said that there’s a big unavoidable patch during the trek. This is one of the reasons that we have long pants or tights on the gear list…
On to the fun stuff:
– OGE is providing a discount to GMARA racers – If you didn’t see it in your email, get in touch with shawn@gmara.org to get 15% off any full-price gear in-store or at gearx.com – perfect opportunity to fill out that mandatory gear list.
– Zero Gravity Brewing is sponsoring the race again – beer drinkers can look forward to a complimentary pint of their Conehead IPA at the post-race party: www.zerogravitybeer.com/conehead/
– We’re bad at social media because we’re always in the woods, but there is a facebook event that you should join to show your support & make connections with other awesome people – now with a great shot of volunteer legs after hiking through nettles, and a glance at some of the prizes we’ve lined up: www.facebook.com/events/354098911453057/
– We had one team drop this morning which means there’s a boat on the truck with nobody to paddle it. If you’ve got spontaneous friends, kick them into gear and put them in touch with me – there’s a race waiting!
That’s it for today – rest up, check your gear, and see you soon!
Shawn & the GMARA crew
Bitter Pill 2015 Shirts & More
Our deadline to order shirts & maps is coming up next Monday. Here’s a few optional items for you to consider this week:
- Did you pick the right shirt size / cut during registration?
- Do you want an extra shirt for yourself or anyone else?
- Do you want an extra race map (afterwards)?
- Are you bringing any spectators or dinner guests?
For the standard shirt, we’re going with the Hanes “Adult Cool-Dri Performance T” that we’ve used in the recent past. Racers and volunteers seem happy with the fit, it seems to be what everyone expects (size, cut, etc) from a unisex wicking T.
For a women’s cut, we’re sticking with the Badger “Ladies’ Solid Cap Sleeve Jersey with V-neck”. It’s a longer shirt than the Hanes, and we’ve had positive feedback over the years about the fit. It’s fairly snug, though, so if you don’t want a form-fitting shirt, order up a size or get the Hanes.
We’re not sure about colors, yet.
Currently selected shirt sizes will be indicated in the table below, with S M L XL indicating men’s shirts, and WS WM WL WXL indicating women’s shirts.
We’re happy to order any shirt for anybody – some women want shirts cut to fit, and some have told us they prefer the style of the men’s shirt. Some people have plenty of race shirts already, and want to pick something up for a spouse or a child. If you want an extra shirt, let us know that too – extras of either shirt will be $15.
On the other topics: If you want an extra “clean” map (delivered after the race) that’ll be $15 each. If you’re bringing a dinner guest, we’ll ask for $20 to help offset costs. If you just have spectators who want to see some of the course but won’t join us for dinner, we can work with that too. For all of the above (shirts, maps, dinners, viewers) please contact shawn@gmara.org directly to get things updated. If you have spectators, make sure to send contact info – email & cell is best – and we’ll send them some info on race day about where to hang out to catch some of the action.
Bitter Pill 2015 early entry raffle
We love it when teams sign up early – it’s much easier to make a race happen when we hit critical mass. To make that early commitment more appealing, any team who registers for the OGE Bitter Pill through Sunday, May 17th will be entered into a raffle. The winner will get their full sign-up fee back as a gift certificate to OGE / GearX.com.
That’s right: sign up a team of three, maybe win $339 to spend on shiny new gear at your favorite Burlington gear exchange. Sounds like a good deal to us, we hope you feel the same!
Fine print is what you’d expect:
- You’ll need to pay us promptly. We’ll give you some time if you’re mailing a check.
- We’ll email a single big gift certificate to the team captain (or really, whoever pays the race entry fees). You decide how to share.
- If you’re a volunteer racing with a discount, you’ll only get a gift cert for what you’ve paid, not the full fee.
- Nobody on the GMARA board can win.
- USARA membership fees aren’t included.
We could add more detail, but we hope the general idea is clear. Let us know if you have questions, but Sign Up Today.
OGE Frigid Infliction 2015 Results
Ten years! You keep coming back, even when it’s so cold you can’t remember your fingers. This year’s Outdoor Gear Exchange Frigid Infliction was a challenge, to be sure – but teams new and old jumped into the ice bath headfirst.
For round ten, it seemed only right that we mix things up a bit – so we completely changed the ropes element, inflicted temperatures lower than ever before, and handed out Nordic maps with no checkpoints at the start.
With the mercury hovering 5-10 below zero, racers were given instructions:
Piles of gear on their backs, looking like a Vermont-style cross-country rave, the scramble began!
It’s hard to operate a compass when you can’t take off your mittens, though.
The next race segment was on snowshoes while carrying skis.
Five checkpoints in any order: up hills, across streams, and even in a “cave” that long-time racers might recall from 2008.
After the snowshoe (at the second transition area) racers developed a growing sense of dread before the longest posthole leg we’ve ever done.
That doesn’t look so bad, it’s only a little bit above their knees, and it’s pretty flat.
Ohhh wait, maybe it does go uphill after all. Maybe it’s 700 feet of elevation gain through snow up to your armpits.
Thanks to Goose Adventure Racing for this short gopro clip showing just how fun a posthole can be.
He made it though, and so did the racers!
Special shout-out to Mammut for helping to outfit core volunteers with awesome insulation. We really appreciate the assist, especially this year!
After CP12 it was a quick downhill (sometimes too quick!) with the faint smell of Vermont Smoke & Cure bacon drawing racers to the high ropes course.
Racers took their time at this transition area. I wonder why?
Along with the party atmosphere, there was a challenging high ropes course to complete between TA4 and TA5. Each team member had to cross a different element of the course in relay fashion.
Some racers said they preferred the usual tyrolean, but some were thrilled to be moving horizontally instead of pulling uphill.
Everyone who attempted the high ropes made it up, across, and down safely. Staff from Petra Cliffs were fabulous as always!
One last piece of Bacon before hitting the trail…
After that, teams were off on the final choose-your-own-adventure. Ski or snowshoe, but lug all of your gear uphill with you!
Two teams even snagged a bonus point at the top of the Catamount Trail.
Exhausted and happy, teams arrived at the finish mid-afternoon.
For finishing times, check the full results table or the simple results.
The biggest cheers came when we raffled off beef sticks from Vermont Smoke & Cure. New gear will be appreciated for years to come, but beef sticks really speak to the post-race brain.
If you’re thinking “Ooh, I’ve never had mild frostbite, where do I sign up?” you know where to find us. We do this for fun!
All the photos we’ve collected are are at photos.gmara.org as usual. Click the thumbs-up below anything you like, and we’ll create a best-of collection.
If you’re viewing the race results, click any TA time to jump into the collection near that time & possibly find pics of yourself at that TA.
If you’ve got photos, videos, blog posts, GPS tracks or stories from the trail, please send a note to shawn@gmara.org with details and we’ll get them up here.
- Another video from Goose Adventure Racing.
- A strava track from the NH Trail Vets.
- The excellent-as-always writeup from the NH Trail Vets.
Lastly, watch your email for an invite – the OGE Bitter Pill is returning to the Bolton Valley area on August 1st… and Graham already has course ideas for next year’s Frigid Infliction!
Stay Frigid!
– The GMARA Crew
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Frigid 2015 Updates
Less than three weeks until the 2015 OGE Frigid Infliction! Some critical updates for you:
1. You no longer need to bring a climbing harness and biners! Petra has agreed to have their rental harnesses available on race day. You’re welcome to bring your own for speed or comfort, but you’ll be carrying it through the whole race.
2. You will definitely want some traction! Some of you do the entire race in hard-soled xc ski boots. During this year’s ropes section, xc boots will not be sufficient or safe – think of normal hiking boots (or maybe even something like trail runners, if your feet can handle the cold).
3. You will definitely be carrying your skis! The FAQ suggests that you prepare for the possibility, but this year it’s a confirmed requirement – you will be carrying all of your gear for a significant portion (possibly all) of this year’s race. Skis, poles, boots, and snowshoes – it’s worth practicing.
4. We’ve clarified our GPS policy for those of you who want to track yourself after the fact. In short: tell us ahead of time, and keep all GPS-enabled devices in your pack. Check out the Electronics Policy and let us know if you have questions.
If you have questions about those updates, please comment below and we’ll get answers published and communicated as soon as possible.