nomad adventures

Photos: Lainioälven paddle expedition

emma-o-scott — Mon, 2 Aug 2010 05:07:00 GMT

A disappointing climax to our 2 month adventure...

emma-o-scott — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:53:00 GMT

Sitting aboard our 747 from LA to London, it's finally time to reflect on "Coast to Coast 2010". The experience was like nothing we could have imagined, or stressed about, during our 10 weeks in NZ. Well … at least not until 7 pm the night before. That's when we got word that a rare weather pattern expected to dump torrential rain had forced the race director to take the unusual step of putting Plan B into action 12 hours before the race even started. The alternative course still retained the unique "coast to coast" format, but took racers on a much less dramatic route.

In short, we ended up running (twice) and biking (three times) on 230 km of asphalt roads. To ensure it retained a "multi"sport feel, a token 15 km paddle on an urban stream was tacked on for good measure just before the finish (calling this a 'river' would be a bit generous). While producing great pictures and providing great memories, the weeks we spent training on this challening course provided us little benefit on race day. In fact, our ankle-strengthening trail runs over Goat Pass and our mental energy spent trying to memorize the quickest routes up the river bed probably did us more harm than good. In short, we trained for course A, but found ourselves standing at the starting line of course B, at 5.45 am Saturday morning, under a pitch black sky, taking cover in trash bags against a tropical gusty wind and horizontal rain. But, of course, so did everybody else.

We fought hard but came up short of our goals. Scott finished 41st overall (rather than the top 20 he was hoping for) and Emma was cut short from crossing the finish line due to a frustrating last-minute change by race directors. Here's our summary ….

The starting line chaos quickly thinned out during the 3 km uphill run to our bikes. Full of nervous energy, we ran like sprinters to be first on the bike, ignoring the dramatic downpour of rain. Scott, along with the other Swede Martin Flinta, made the first bunch of 20 riders. The reward was a steady spray of pure NZ rain in our faces, as we hung on to the back wheel of the rider in front of us (we knew we were being dropped when we felt water from above, instead of below!). Caught up in the excitement, Scott found himself giving a 110% effort on the ride. A great rush of early adreanline that amounted to a less-than-sustainable race strategy.

The problem with having a really strong race start is that it greatly increases the chance of things getting worse, rather than better :) After an emergency stop in the port-a-potty, Scott found himself totally alone on the asphalt run, having lost the first bunch of racers, but still comfortably ahead of the second bunch, 10 minutes behind. From there, things steadily got worse. The pounding 30 km run took just under 3 hours and, after a quick transition, he began a painful 160 km bike ride. Out of energy, he watched several groups of riders catch up -- and fly by -- without being able to muster the energy to "jump on the train." The boredom was broken by the final 20 minute high speed ride through Christchurch to the kayak transition. The police stopped traffic at every intersection (over 15 of them!) to ensure we could race through without stopping. On the kayak, his energy levels continued to sink and his streak of "getting passed, rather than passing" continued. The final sprint to the finish line resulted in a can of Speights Beer (the main sponsor) and an end to the misery.

Emma also found a group of riders on the first bike ride and her patience paid off. She conserved her energy in the tailwind and driving rain. She transitioned to the long asphalt run feeling good, but with some anxiety: her total run training on asphalt had never been longer than 5 km (like Scott, she prefers forest over pavement!). She braved her way through the 16% uphill grade on the road to Arthurs Pass. An abrupt change from cold rain to hot sun was dramatic as she ran over the divide and started the long downhill run alongside trucks, busses and other tourist cars. Throughout the years, Emma has had a lot of problems with her knees, but never has the pain been greater than during this miserable asphalt run. At the transition, the sun was blazing a hot 25 degrees C (80 F). When asking her support what she should do if her knees didn't keep together, the answer was "just keep biking!" And that's what she did. The knees did OK once on the bike. Riding more or less alone, but still passing some guys, she was well on her way to a respectable finish before nightfall, and well before the midnight cut-off ...

… Or was she? In what seems to be poor race organization, a new cut-off time was created late in the day, which meant that everybody had to be in their kayaks before 5.45 pm to prevent paddling in the dark (sidenote: locals paddle this river all the time in the dark, it's only 1 meter deep and 20 meters across!). The decision was made around 3 pm and none of the racers or support crew were told about it when they started the long 160 km bike ride. While battling a headwind on the way into Christchurch, Emma had no idea what was awaiting her at the transition. Arriving at approx. 6.30 (45 min late) she was not allowed to get into her kayak for the short, final paddle to the finish. But she was not alone. A total of about 40 racers were cut off like this. After completing more than 90% of the course, they were not even allowed to bike the last 15 km as an alternative. They essentially went "coast to coast" but missed out on the incredible feeling of crossing the finish line (and also the free beer!).

We wish we had a more exciting tale to tell, but tune in again in a couple of years. We may just need to take a second crack at this race ...

One the way home we stopped in Sydney Australia for 12 hours and Southern California for 24 hours to see Scott's family, before finally arriving back in Umeå with the night train on Sunday morning. We were greated with a mountain of snow under which lay our car... Enjoy that last pic!

Till next time, happy adventuring!

Emma and Scott

Photos: New Zealand Final!

emma-o-scott — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:56:00 GMT

Photos: New Zealand 5

emma-o-scott — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:16:00 GMT

Countdown to race start!

emma-o-scott — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:06:00 GMT

Only one day until start! Right now we are at Kumara Beach, where the race starts, and have just done the registration and received all the stickers that we need to put on all our equipment. Holy cow! What we have been thinking about, training for and planning for, for months, is finally happening!

Besides race preparations, we have also managed to do some whitewater rafting and kayaking since our last update. Went on a heli rafting trip on the Whataroa river. We were flown in by helicopter and dropped 20 km into the wilderness, and then we rafted out. It took more or less all day. Really pretty river with narrow gorges and green water! And some fun class 3 and 4 rapids!

In Murchison we rented som whitewater kayaks and did our own kayaking on the Buller River. Class 3 rapids with some huge standing waves and tricky corners. FUN!!! It has been quite a while since we last paddled a whitewater kayak -- we have only been paddling our multisport kayaks lately. So it took a while getting used to having no rudder and not being able to go faster than the current. So fun to just bounce along in these short little plastic boats, not worrying about hitting rocks and damaging the kayak :)

The rest of the time has been spent preparing for the race, and doing some light training. And carbo-loading! It is a full-time job preparing for a race like this. Don´t know how the locals manage to prepare for the race and work at the same time -- maybe they take a week off work just to prepare?

For those that don't know what it's about (or missed our first update), here comes a race description. It is 237 km long, from Kumara on the west coast, to Christchurch on the east coast. It is the world championship in solo multisport. Starts off with a 3 km run from the beach up to the bikes, then 55 km of biking (on road bikes with aero bars), followed by a 33 km mountain run up and over Goat Pass (next to Arthur´s Pass). Then a 15 km bike ride to the kayaks and the 67 km paddle. Last comes a 70 km bike ride all the way in to Sumner Beach in Christchurch. Winning time for men is approx 12 hours and for women 14 hours. You´ve only got 18 hours to finish the race, then the finish line closes. About 200 men and 30 women will stand on the starting line at 6 am saturday morning.

We have designed, fitted, tested, re-fitted and tested again different drinking systems for the kayaks. Since it is a five hour paddle -- and we want to avoid stopping and using our hands to eat -- we're going to get our carbs in liquid form. We are drinking a smoothie (with creamed rice, bananas and canned boysenberries), sports drink and water. Smoothie in a bottle on our life jacket, sports drink in a bladder in the boat, and water in the other bladder (there is a hole in the boat for the hoses to come out and attach to our life jacket). So that makes three hoses attached to our life jacket -- all connected to different water/carb sources -- we look pretty funny :)

Emma has also developed an intricate drinking system for her road bike. She wants to stay down on her aero bars the whole time, and not have to sit up to drink. Using the same types of hoses-- from the bottles up to the opening between the aerobars -- she can just suck up the liquids and keep biking.

For the run we just drink straight out of the stream at all the stream crossings, so no intricate drinking system required :)

We know that many of you are wondering what we eat during a race like this. Well, as described above it´s only liquid carbs on the paddling. We count on a minimum of 1g of carbs per kg bodyweight per hour of racing. On the run and the bike it is a lot of gel, energy bars and this new thing we "invented": mashed banana with honey in a ziploc - you just rip a hole with your teeth when you want to eat it and suck it all down! In the TA´s (transition area - where you change from one sport to another) we'll be eating slices of pizza and cubes of cheese (you get so tired of that sweet stuff so you´ve got to have some salty food). Of course some Coke and Red Bull to keep your mind alert too.

The race is logistically very challenging. You need a minumum of two support crew per racer. We are lucky and have three support each. There is another Swede also doing the race, Martin Flinta. Among the three of us we have nine support crew, of which two are swedish (Emma´s multisport friends Jörgen and Caroline who are over here to travel for a month and helping us out). As "head of support" we have Aaron Scott. He is this great Kiwi guy that contacted us when he saw two competitors from Sweden on the start list. He is coming to Sweden this summer for three months and, among other things, doing the Åre Extreme Challenge (Sweden's solo multisport race). He has been helping us out so much. We have stayed at his house many nights, he is lending Emma his road bike, he helped rebuild Scott´s rudder for the kayak, he is pulling all his friends together to be support for us, and he is the inventer of the smoothie that we are gonna be sipping on while paddling! Hopefully we can return some of the favors in Sweden this summer!

There has been a lot of media coverage even before the race has even started. And believe it or not, both our names have shown up in several newspapers and magazines around NZ. We are tipped to do pretty well and give all the locals some competition. Emma is even predicted to finish 5th by race director Robert Judkins!! Emma thinks this is really hilarious because she does not belive she can do nearly that well, and is gonna be happy as long as she crosses the finish line, and very happy if she makes top 20 !

What we are the most worried about now is the weather. After four weeks of glorious sunshine, there is a big storm coming that is supposed to hit on saturday morning. If it rains too much, the rivers on the mountain run can rise fast and after just a few hours of rain they can be un-passable. That means that they might re-route the race, so that we have to run 30 km on the asphalt road instead. What a nightmare!! In 2004 they had to helicopter out over 100 racers from the top because the river rose so fast that runners couldn't cross them -- they don't want that to happen again! Keep your fingers crossed that we only have light rain ….

If you want to follow us during the race, have a look at www.coasttocoast.co.nz They are supposed to have live coverage of the race. The race will start at 6 pm friday night in Sweden, and 12 noon New York time on friday. Read the pre-race reports on www.multisport.se or http://www.sleepmonsters.co.uk . The real name of the race is "Speight's Coast to Coast" Scott has number 161 and Emma has 143.

Now it's time for bed… Next update will follow after the race.

Photos: New Zealand 4

emma-o-scott — Sun, 7 Feb 2010 08:22:00 GMT

C2C training at Arthur's Pass

emma-o-scott — Sun, 7 Feb 2010 08:17:00 GMT

What have we been up to lately? Well, a lot of the time has been spent in really remote places where there is no cell phone reception or internet. So therefore the late update… Sorry!

We got our car fixed after two days in Te Anua. It´s still running really well, so we hope that it will for another 12 days before we leave the country…

While waiting for the car we paddled the Waiau River, connecting Lake Te Anua and Lake Manapouri. It was flowing at 300 cubic meters per second, so there was LOTS of fast-moving water! Great fun! The end of the paddle across Lake Manapouri was like a mirror, surrounded by huge green mountains and a bluish grey sky. It was surreal!

With the car fixed we headed off to do the Roteburn track over two days. The plan was to return off track via Emily Pass, but the rain clouds were so low that we couldn´t see the pass, so we ended up having to back track, the same way we came in. It was still a really pretty track, with views of the ocean that we had paddled in a few days before.

After that we headed back towards Queenstown/Wanaka to do a 45 km down river paddle race on the Clutha, organized by our friend Tim Person and the local multisport club. The Clutha is a really pretty, green fast-flowing class 2 river, but with the gnarliest head wind ever, it became quite a suffer fest! In Sweden we are both pretty good paddlers, but we´ve got nothing to put up against the Kiwi´s. They are so freaking strong!! The best multisport paddlers in the world. So we got totally smoked in the race!

Spent a few days driving up along the rugged and beautiful West Coast, from Haast to Kumara. Did a few side trips, for example up to Fox Glacier that comes down to just 300 meters above sea level. And to Lake Matheson, a picture-perfect lake that reflects the Fox Glacier and the peaks of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. Had a relaxing evening in the glacier hotpools as well.

Then started five days of hard Coast to Coast training. Stayed with Martin Flinta (swedish multisporter also doing the race) at Arthur´s Pass. Paddled the river twice, with a bunch of strong kiwi paddlers. Also did the run twice, and the first bike ride. Great training, about 25 hours in 5 days! Feel like we know the course pretty well now. The paddle is absolutely beautiful! Turqoiuse water, steep cliffs in the gorge, and great views. Takes a lot of practice to learn how to read the river and pick the right channels (it is braided, so some channels just dead end - very important to pick the right one to find the fastest route). The run is also really great! Lots of boulder-hopping and stream crossings, in total untracked wilderness. It´s gonna be such a great, and HARD race!

So everything is going well and we are still having a really great trip. But once again we have done something really stupid - this time we both win the SMRT-award (see previous update if you don´t know what that means). We have lost our new, waterproof camera with lots of pics on it!!! Think we must have forgotten it at a beach we stopped at for breakfast, but it wasn´t there when we went back. Someone must have taken it, so we are still hoping that someone will be nice enough to turn it in to the police…. Keep your fingers crossed, or hold your thumbs as we would say in swedish. :-)

Still got quite a few pics you can enjoy, since we also brought our old camera. Take a look at gallery "NZ 4".

Till next time!

Emma and Scott

Photos: New Zealand 3

emma-o-scott — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:38:00 GMT

Sun, glaciers and an exploded radiator

emma-o-scott — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:30:00 GMT

Finally the sun is shining on us (most of the time, at least …), with only the occasional down pour.

We ran the Dart-Rees trail, with a side trip up to the Cascade Saddle, covering 100 km in 3 days. Lots of sun and incredible high alpine glacial scenery. To make it more multisporty, we paddled the last 35 km back to civilization on the Dart River (class 2 rapids), then biked back to get our car. The paddle was delayed by 12 hours due to wind (surprise!). The late afternoon wind nearly blew us out of our boats. This led to a 10 minute downriver paddle, followed by a 1 hour portage back to the car (tramping through a braided river, a grassland, a creek and finally a swamp (Björn -- if you think swamp running is good training, try lifting a kayak through one …). So we jumped in our boat at 7 am the next morning and had a nice calm paddle…

Then we made the long-drive to Milford Sound. We ran the beautiful milford track on a hot summer afternoon, after trying to paddle the fjord, but as usual, it was too windy!! So we got up early the next morning to paddle through glassy waters surrounded by the majestic peaks out to a beautiful waterfall. Even Norway's fjords aren't this overwhelming (or maybe they are…) (Beth - we made the same tour 12 years ago !).

Then the unexpected … while climbing steeply out of Milford Sound in our van, our radiator exploded -- literally exploded. Rusty-colored water shooting out the hood and lots of smoke: a spectacular road-side attraction for all the passing tour buses. We hitched a ride to the highway satelite phone (no cell reception out there) and called our auto insurance place. They showed up with a tow truck in a few hours and towed us back to town for free (joining the NZ AA club was worth every penny !). Now we're waiting to see what a new radiator will cost… Involontary but very nice rest day by Lake Te Anau!

Speaking of smoke coming out of our car … We somehow neglected to share this story: About three weeks ago we pulled over in a panic when we saw white smoke pouring out of our hood. Scott threw open the hood and found a flaming roll of toilet paper on the engine block -- yep, the same toilet paper he had used to check the oil 3 days earlier. Miraculously, it took 300 km of driving before it ignited :)

We have not yet grown tired of our oatmeal (breakfast), peanut butter & jelly or tuna & egg (lunch), and pasta (dinner) … well, not too tired of it. Oh, and not to forget - a lot of really yummy kiwis and apricots straight from the fields.

We've driven over 3,000 km so far, sharing the road with sheep, cows and even the occasional fallen tree (see picture). Luckily the NZ farmers have good control over all of the above.

So … we have collect our best pictures to illustrate -- instead of describe -- what we've been doing. Click on the link "New Zealand 3"

Till next time....

Scott and Emma

Photos: New Zealand 2

emma-o-scott — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:32:00 GMT

Windy and cold in NZ!

emma-o-scott — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:27:00 GMT

Time for a new update from our NZ tour and Coast to Coast Race prep …. don't forget the pics, see gallery "NZ 2".

While uploading our last update, Emma's stomach started flipping and flopping. Following a doctor's visit, the culprit turned out to be Giardia. For those who don't know, it's a little bug that lives in the streams/lakes here, but prefers to set up camp in your stomach, where it can cause all kinds of discomforts. Luckily, after 3 lost training days, and a heavy dose of antibiotics, Emma seemed to be back on track.

In Christchurch, we met up with Aaron Scott, a Kiwi that is keen to become a Swede. He contacted us when he found out we were doing the Coast to Coast. He's a veteran of the race and will be spending 3 months in Sweden this summer. In exchange for us helping him polish his Swedish (he's studying hard!), he gave us a place to stay and offered to help Jörgen and Caroline as our support crew (we will need his sage advice in February!). Oh, he also helped fix up Scott's kayak and offered his road bike to Emma for the race (I think we got the better deal here, Aaron !)

After CHCH we headed to the Bank's Penninsula to swim with dolphins. The Hector dolphin is the world's smallest and rarest dolphin, about the size of a 5 year old child. They only exist in NZ. We found 5 of them that were thrilled to play with us for a while! A very cool experience ! Then we jumped on our bikes for some scenic cycling but, for the first of many times in the coming week, we literally got blown off our bikes! Emma (weighing considerably less than Scott), was forced to walk to avoid rolling down the adjacent steep cliffs! But finally, the wind was at our back and Emma got down into the aerobars and started cruisin' !

Next, to Fairlee to see the founder of iRULE, a maker of multisport clothing (and former sponsor to Team Nomad). Great fo finally meet Daryl and his wife Wilhelmina after many years of email and skype. We were treated to a BBQ, with fresh veggies straight out of their garden (and even a bag of veggies to take on the road!). Many thanks for the Kiwi hospitality (Yes, Daryl, we know -- you're Australian, not Kiwi …)

Next stop, Clyde to see Tim and Sally Pearson. Tim, making his 2nd appearance in our NZ travels, gave us a bed in his spectacular house (which he designed and built himself) and took us paddling on the Matukituki River (go ahead, say it again, it's fun: Ma - tuk-e-tuk-e). Sally even lent her Eclipse kayak to Emma to train in, and use, for the race. (the Sharp was a little too tippy down the rapids…)

Finally, to the adventure capital of NZ: Queenstown. Yes, it's touristy, but for good reason. Even in the rain (and snow!), this place is just beautiful! in addition to some great training, we met up with Sam Thompson, who has been our multi-sport coach on and off for the last few years. Once again, we put a face to the Skype voice and emails, when he showed us some of the great single track in the area. He even became our local tour guide when we cancelled our bike ride one day (5 degrees, 40 mph winds and rain -- no thanks !). We rode his 4WD down into Skippers Canyon and learned all about the booms and bust of the gold mining and bungy jump industries (for a while, the 100 meter bridge was the world's higheset bungy, but business died almost overnight when a 140 meter jump was set up by a nearby competitor).

Just when everything was going well (except the rainy and snowy weather) we got busted by the harbor police, and narrowly escaped a $1,000 fine. Not kidding. Here's what happened … We paddled the class II Shotover River, just outside Queenstown. On Sam's recommendation, we contacted the two jetboat companies operating on the river to let them know that we would be on the river between 10 and noon. One company didn't really care and the other was a bit surprised. In any event, we put in and paddled away. Halfway down, Scott got sucked into a willow tree that had grown out into the river. Doing his best monkey impression, he grabbed a branch with one hand, the exit handle on the skirt with the other, and hauled himself out of the boat. Hanging in the tree, he watched as his boat got crushed under the tree trunk. After some fancy footwork, he worked the boat out from under the tree and out into the current where Emma skillfully captured it and brought it to safety. Surprinsingly (for Scott anyway), his boat was NOT destroyed. It was bent and cracked, but didn't break. But back to the police story … After a quick lunch stop (where we watched in horror as a gust of wind blew our kayaks across the sandy beach!), we paddled on without further incident. Upon cycling back to our car where we started, a harbor police man was waiting for us. Rather aggressively, he broke out a copy of Queenstown Regulation 104.5687.c.ii (or something like that) and told us we weren't allowed to paddle past this sign. He pointed to a sign that was about 100 meters from where we started -- that is, we paddled "illegally" for about 10 seconds of our two and a half hour paddle. He said this required him to fine us $500 each. Before we could even object, he pointed up to a camera on the cliff above us and said, "Don't try to argue - we have you on camera!" It wasn't looking particularly good at that point …

But to shorten this story, we eventually convinced him that we were just some innocent multi-sport paddlers from Sweden trying to get some training in before our race. Before long, his demeanor changed and he was breaking out a map and showing us all these other great places to paddle. Within five minutes, he was back in his car and wishing us luck. (Wonder if it would've turned out differently if Scott said he was American ?)

To top off the past week, Sam gave us the best present of all -- a free pass to the spa where he works. We reckoned a rest day was in order anyway :) Thanks Sam.

Till next time, train hard and try to stay warm back in Europe ! Now we are off on a 6 day backcontry, trail run and paddle adventure in Mt Aspiring NP.

Scott and Emma

Photos: New Zealand 1

emma-o-scott — Sun, 3 Jan 2010 09:20:00 GMT

Happy New Years from down under!

emma-o-scott — Sun, 3 Jan 2010 09:14:00 GMT

We made a promise to do updates every ten days or so, but after 20 days on our NZ trip you know nothing about our whereabouts. But as the expression goes "no news is good news" -- we've just been too busy to write !

To set the scene for those of you back in snowy Sweden, here's where we are: Sitting under a shady tree in a beautiful green meadow filled with wild flowers, on a bluff above the Waimak River (site of the Coast to Coast paddling stage), typing away on our MacBook.

Here a little update on what we've been doing …

* We left Sweden on Dec 11 and flew to Los Angeles for a few days. We celebrated an early xmas with Scott's family and Hanukah (pick your spelling) with the Tinter family, visited In-N-Out burger, REI, and the other regular US sites. Before moving on to NZ, we both got some terrible stomach virus that knocked us down for 24 hours. Luckily Emma recovered just in time to find the strength to check us in for our 14 hr flight, but Scott wasn't so lucky. He slept in the airport chair and tried not to vomit -- lucky for him (and the passenger beside him), he was passed out for most of the flight.

* We had a 12 hr layover in Brisbane, Australia, so we rode the train out to Surfer's Paradise and body-surfed some waves, ate a smoothie on the beach, and severely burned our backs (Scott promises to apply more sunblock to Emma's back next time, which bubbled into weird designs, then peeled off, in the ensuring 5 days. Ouch !)

* Arrival in Auckland brought a number of necessary "chores" before we could get on our way. While NZ may have a beautiful country, its cities suck. Auckland is a disaster of strip malls, highways, and red-lights, but luckily this also included a number of used-car places. We bought a 1996 diesel Mitubishi van with a home-made "loft" to sleep on. Plenty of room underneath for our gear, plus left over space for our two mountain bikes … and a roof rack to support our soon-to-be-purchased kayaks. We connected with Andy Warner and Sue Henaghan who welcomed us into their home and helped us "launch" our adventure. Among other things, they gave us sheets for our futon, fold out chairs, thule kayak racks, a cooler, and of course a shower and great BBQ meal -- Thanks to Andy and Sue !

* Next stop: Rotorua. A mecca for mountain biking, we spent two days on the fantastic single track (Scott claims it was better than Moab. Shibby, you need to come here). A fantastic dinner with Dan and Donna Tartaglia -- Dr. Dan even showed Emma around the hospital with other med students, just in case we may return here on a more permanent basis … Brent Edwards of Team Orion Health treated us to a great trail run, BBQ (and a much needed shower). He even lent us his kayaks for the day-- a Sharp 6.5 and a JKK U2.

* Christmas eve was a fantastic warm evening at the hot springs in Taupo, with our beer, cheese, and crackers. We soaked where the cold river and hot water mixed -- perfectly "lagom" -- and watched the sky slowly turn orange and then finally dark after 10 pm.

* Now it was time for some trail run training. We ran the four-day Tongariro Circuit Trek in 8 hours ( 4 per day) with light packs, running across lava fields, scaling a volcano, taking a dip in a turquoise "crater" lake, and jogging through a beautiful Beech forest. To save weight we stayed at a hut, shared a toothbrush, and ate plain pasta and oatmeal -- but it was worth it! Light and fast is the way to go!

* A little over 10 days was too much time on the North Island, so we took the 3 hour car ferry to the more adventurous South Island. Of course, the other reason was that we had purchased a kayak that was sitting in Jeff Mitchell's garage in Christchurch and we wanted to pick it up ! At Jeff's house we received another taste of Kiwi hospitality ! As a top adventure racer and expert on the Coast to Coast, we drilled him with questions about how to prepare for race day (Feb 13, 2010). The next day he took us on the running stage -- a 33 km mostly unmarked river bed over Goat Pass. For those of you who don't know, this run is the crux of the race and international competitors are usually at a disadvantage because they don't know the course as well as locals. We were lucky to have Jeff -- he knows this run better than anyone in NZ !

* Coast to Coast training continued a few days later when we got to paddle the 70 km down river paddle, through mostly class II rapids. This time we had Tim Pearson -- another top kiwi athlete and Coast to Coast expert -- show us the fastest way through, around, or over the rapids. As our support adn driver we had John Morrisson, also a kiwi multisporter, that we had bought a Sharp 6 kayak from. Those Kiwis are just so nice and helpful! What an incredibly beautiful river ! Turquoise water, steep gorges, and a maze of braided channels to pick from -- which is where Tim's advice came in handy :) We will paddle this several more times before the race, but it will be a joy rather than "training."

Ok, that's enough. More in about a week (or two, or three…)

One last note: While we do have a few pics (see gallery "NZ 1), we managed to delete the first 12 days of photos accidently. Scott claims the "SMRT" award on this one (ask Grant Sisler if you want an explanation on this - gsisler@hotmail.com). Among other things, this means you will have to "imagine" how beautiful that Tongoriro volcano was … or rely on Google Images. Sorry to Emma and to all our readers !

Heading to New Zealand and Coast to Coast!!! :-)

emma-o-scott — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:48:00 GMT

We are off! Two months in New Zealand, and the worlds thoughest and oldest multisport solo race awaits us- the legendary Coast to Coast

We left Umeå on the night of the 10th, flying to Los Angeles on the 11th, and spending some days there with Scott’s family. On the 14th we fly to Auckland via a 12 hour stop in Brisbane, Australia.

Once in NZ we are hoping to find a cheap car to buy, and then resell when we leave. Same with two kayaks (most likely we will spend more money on those than on the car :-) We are bringing our mtb´s with us. And the tent of course! As usual, we plan to spend 0 money on accommodation. Tent and hospitable Kiwis will be our lodging. We actually know quite a few people down under; multisporters, friends of friends, relatives of friends and so on. And they have all welcomed us to stay with them!

The race then: for those of you that haven’t heard about it, it is the oldest solo multisport race in the world. It’s also considered the world championships in solo multisport. This is the 28th year that it will take place. It starts on the west coast of the South Island, and finishes on the east coast – therefore called ”Coast to Coast”. The course goes like this: 3 km running, 55 km cycling, 33 km running (over Arthur’s Pass), 15 km cycling, 67 km paddling (class 2 river), 70 km biking. A total of 243 km. Men’s winning time is about 11-12 hours (depending on the wind) and women’s is about 13-14 hours. About 30 % of the competitors does not cross the finish line – so it’s quite a tough race. Oh boy, will it hurt! But it will also be really fun! (as long as we cross the finish line…)

The race is the 13th of February. Until then we are going to train for the race, do fun adventures, see as much of the country as we can, enjoy the beautiful nature, and HAVE FUN! Hopefully we will find some local races to compete in along the way. We return to Sweden on the 20th of February.

Hope you will follow us along!

Cheers!

Emma and Scott

Photos: Hawaii Honeymoon - Big Island

emma-o-scott — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 08:08:00 GMT

Photos: Hawaii Honeymoon - Molokai

emma-o-scott — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 07:58:00 GMT

Photos: Hawaii Honeymoon - Maui

emma-o-scott — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 07:38:00 GMT

Photos: Hawaii Honeymoon - Lanai

emma-o-scott — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 07:20:00 GMT

Back home from Hawaii

emma-o-scott — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 07:11:00 GMT

Hey all !

We’re back from our honeymoon and wanted to share a few stories and pictures. Thanks again to all of you who traveled to Åre to be with us during that weekend. It was so cool to have all of our friends from different parts of life assembled together in one place! We are also grateful to everybody’s generosity and kindness in sharing such great presents with us.

Lanai

· Thanks to Scott´s sister and her husband, we cashed in a great wedding present: two nights at a super luxury hotel on Lanai. Couldn’t think of a better way to spend the first couple of days – after 65 hours of travel – than to sit by the pool and drink a few cocktails J

· However, we did get off our butts to do some snorkeling and a little hiking. Even better, we were out when a pod of dolphins came into the bay. We spent 30 minutes swimming around among 40 curious dolphins and their babies – it was so cool! They were not scared, and we could hear them talking to each other. Unfortunately we didn’t have our camera for this!

Maui

· Maui is famous for a lot of things, but Haleakala National Park is one of its gems: an inactive volcano with a huge crater that you can hike through. We had arranged for a 3 day volunteer trip in the crater where we helped pull out invasive weeds, and got to stay in one of the really cool cabins in the crater (at 8,000 feet, it was a bit cold). The sunsets from inside the crater were incredible and the Haleakala silversword plant must be one of the most beautiful and unique plants we have ever seen. It grows slowly for 15-30 years, blooms once, and then dies.

· We rented two surfboards (which were each twice as long as Emma!) and gave it a shot. We watched a local surfer and tried to imitate her. Our results were not as impressive, but it was fun trying J

· A few mornings we joined a local paddling club for an early morning training session in an outrigger canoe. The outrigger is a special canoe designed to remain stable and fast in the open ocean, where huge swells would swamp a normal kayak. We got to paddle a traditional 6-person canoe on a calm morning, where we raced alongside curious sea turtles in the turquoise water.

· No Hawaii trip is complete without a Lu´au, best described as a Hawaiian smörgåsbord with hula dancing. A large pig was cooked underground and was part of an all-you-can-eat-and-drink feast that must have been an economic loss for the restaurant, thanks to our appetites. :-)

Molokai

· Molokai is known as the friendly and quiet isle. It has only 8000 people and very few tourists. We rented some mountain bikes from the local bike shop (where the owner also offered his F150 pick-up truck so we could explore the island). We camped for free several nights on a 2 mile long sandy beach without seeing more than a handful of people. We biked up the island’s high point and took in some amazing views.

· We also hiked through the rainforest and gorged ourselves on coconuts and passion fruit (all over the trail!), before having lunch at a picture perfect waterfall.

· Rented a cabin at an organic farm for a few nights, were we cooked some amazing meals with veggies, fruits and meat that we bought fresh right from the field.

The Big Island

· Not only is this the biggest island (hence the name), it’s also the fastest growing, as it adds land every hour thanks to an erupting volcano. We got to view the hot red lava at night as it poured into the sea and sent red hot fireworks into the sky.

· One of the old volcano craters (there are lots in Hawaii) last erupted in 1950 and today it is all black lava, which makes for unique terrain. We did some trail running through some of the most diverse landscapes we had ever seen: everything from a green and flowery rainforest to a black landscape without any sign of life (except the steaming vents that felt like a Swedish sauna if you dared get close enough). Running on the razor-sharp lava rock may not be good for your shoes, but it was an inspiring place to explore.

· The island has two peaks that are over 13,000 feet (4,000 m), one of which we tried to hike in an afternoon… it was perhaps a bit too ambitious. Despite some views that we thought were only possible from heaven itself, the hike didn’t turn out to be the “highlight” we had hoped. We didn’t account for the effect of the altitude and had to turn back a few hundred meters from the top, not only because of the extreme cold (the wind made it feel colder than a December day in Umeå !), but cause of our headaches, fatigue, diahrea and even puking (poor Emma threw-up 3 times as we tried to scamper back downhill to the car as fast as we could !)

Back to Maui

· To finish our trip, we rented road bikes and pedaled the famous Road to Hana, where a 15 MPH speed limit, steep cliffs, and single-lane bridges were the norm. The slow pace of traffic gave us plenty of time to (literally) soak in the rainforest. Halfway there we stopped at an organic farm where we were treated to three of the most fantastic meals on our trip (paid for in sweat labor, as we helped them clear the rainforest the next day). We slept in a large tent with mosquito netting and listened to the rain fall all night. We had a fantastic time chatting with our hosts – Zeoc and Jenn – about sustainability and their journey to build a community on their 5 acres.

· The next day, we pedaled to ”the end of the road” and there stood paradise: the town of Heavenly Hana. We checked in to a fantastic hotel to enjoy the last few days and reflect upon our journey. We joked it was our ”honeymoon” from our honeymoon. J

We were overwhelmed by the fantastic food and abundant fruit: mangos, papayas and passion fruits that were just perfectly sweet and ripe. Of course, now we’re back home and enjoying our Swedish potatoes :)

Thanks again to all who made our wedding weekend so fantastic !

Love Emma and Scott

We have crossed the finish line!

emma-o-scott — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:31:00 GMT

hey again!

Just as summer is coming to an end, so has our adventure :-( … But what a great ending :-)

Since August 12, we have cycled 90 % (350 km) of the length of Vancouver Island and hiked the other 10 % (75 km) on the West Coast Trail. Then we crossed the Juan de Fuca Strait into the US aboard the 10th ferry of the trip and rode the last 160 km to our finish line at Scott’s sister’s house outside Seattle (on Vashon Island) on the 24th of August. We were welcomed home with Corona Beers with freshly squeezed limes – what a great finish to an awesome adventure!

Here are a few highlights of the final week – including the well-known (and technical!) West Coast Trail – a 5 and half day backpacking trip:

* Surprisingly, we had nothing but sunshine and warmth … well, for the first 3 days any way. Then, we actually had to brave rain during the hiking, at least some every day. Imagine that, for the first time in 7 weeks, we had to deal with rain in British Columbia! (yes, we did sacrificed several reindeer to the weather gods before leaving)

* The best part of cycling Vancouver Island was what was missing: logging trucks. As if our weather luck wasn’t good enough, we happened to time our trip to coincide with a logging strike that made the roads and highways quiet and the shoulders free of wood chunks. We met some loggers at a road-side camp fire roasting marshmallows and displaying signs about their refusal to work. Interestingly, when we asked them about their strike, they didn’t really know why. (If I were giving up my paycheck for a cause, I’d want to know why !). We finally spoke to an articulate local a week later who explained their unhappiness about working irregular shifts, including night shifts, to keep the machines going nonstop. Anyway, no loggers is a biker’s dream!

* So, the hike … the trail was fantastic, with lots of vertical ladders, washed out sections, wet river crossings, two person rope trolleys to pull yourself across steep canyons, unbelievable mud, slippery roots, sandy beaches, sea caves, and best of all: lots of Chanterelle mushrooms ! (Yes, yes, we know “take only photographs and leave only footprints” in National Parks, but how could we let that yellow gold rot in the forest ?!). Some sections of trails were so filled with blown down trees and mud that we could barely make 2 km/hr walking at full speed – a very technical trail (On a side note, we heard that some guy the previous week had run the 75km trail plus the 50 km Juan de Fuca Trail in 24 hrs. That’s pretty incredible…)

* So our first real challenge presented itself on the day we were supposed to start hiking. We were renting backpacks from the same company that transported our bikes around to the end of the trail. But they forgot to drop them off at the trail head!! So we stood there at the trail head, at 5 pm without backpacks. It’s quite hard to hike for 5-6 days carrying our pannier bags (cykelvaskor for the Swedes). But once again, we lucked out. The ranger called her friend who came by with two packs. They were old and a little broken, but at least they had shoulder straps :-) So after some dinner on the beach, we finally started our hike at 8 pm. One hour of light, and then it got pitch dark. We hiked the first 12 km mostly in the dark, with our tiny little headlamps. Singing on top of our lungs the whole time to scare of the cougars (bergslejon)! They are most active in the evening, and there are plenty of them. We tripped and fell a few times in the mud, and at 11.30 pm we arrived to our first campsite. It was so good to crawl into the tent!

* Oh, almost forgot. Emma almost scared the hell out of Scott at one point. She slipped in the mud, did a summersault, and went down the steep edge right next to the trail. Scotts heart skipped several beats as she disappeared over the edge …. Two seconds later he heard a giggling laugh. Luckily there was a little ledge two meters down with some soft bushes, and there was Emma, totally fine and about to laugh her head off! She dragged herself up and we pushed on through the mud with Emma looking like a big mud cake. :-)

* We also celebrated our 3rd anniversary (3 years ago Emma got on a plane to Seattle to meet a guy she barely knew…) during the hike with a bag of “just-add-water” risotto, freshly picked wild mushrooms, and a plastic bottle of wine. We landed a protected little campsite on a white sandy beach, built a campfire from driftwood and watched an amazing sunset. We even managed to get a little drunk off our rationed wine supply :-)

* 2700 km on bike, 120 km on foot, 230 km in a kayak, 20 kg pasta, 8 kg rice, 12 kg oatmeal and 8 kg granola later, we are now in Portland/Seattle, spending some time with Scott’s family before we head back to Sweden.

* As we neared the end of the journey, we couldn’t help but feel mixed emotions: There was excitement to end a successful trip and the desire for a shower, a cold beer, and a non-pasta dinner… but there was also sorrow that the falling leaves and shorter days were not only the end of summer, but the end of an adventure we had been planning for the last 18 months. But it was an obvious consolation that we had seen such incredible landscapes and reached so many of our goals in “only” 8 weeks.

We really appreciate your support and interest in our adventure. It’s been great reading your comments and emails, and we hope that, perhaps, you might be jealous enough to start planning your own adventure :-) We have already started dreaming about our next one…

Scott and Emma