Commanding Heights: Hawks Nest Overlook in West Virginia (courtesy, WV Tourism)
If you're looking to get into the sport, you should head to Utah or West Virginia for your very own adventure-racing boot camp. The folks at Odyssey Adventure Racing (757-645-3397, www.oarevents.com), who organize an instructional academy each summer at West Virginia's New River Gorge, know that it takes much more than great fitness to complete a race. They offer a six-day camp that teaches beginners everything from proper nutrition to how to move through terrain using maps and compasses, the nuts-and-bolts of river travel, rope skills, and ways to improve your mountain biking. At the end of the course you'll get a chance to put your new skills to the test in a real race environment. All-inclusive cost is $1,725.
The stark terrain around Moab, Utah, is another great place to learn the ropes. AdventureXscapes (970-259-7771, www.gravityplay.com/xscapes) offers a four-day clinic in March ($995 per person) designed to teach potential racers everything from how to rappel and take care of your body during the arduous hours of a race, to warm-up Yoga exercises and how to use a kayak. Let's not forget instruction takes place in some of the country's most scenic areas, too: Castle Rock, the Fisher Towers, along the Colorado River. Which brings up probably one of the main reasons adventure racing has caught on so well—races can be excuses to get out and test every adventure sport an area has to offer.
