Darren Steinbach: Blog

2018 Patagonia Expedition Race Project Day 3/4

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 22:01:13 GMT

I’m sitting here in my apartment next to my packed bags listening to the wind gust and I’m nervous. Should we have rented a car? Why didn’t we think about sending food ahead with the gear bins sooner? Why didn’t we think about food in general sooner. We’ve had time to make plans and prepare, and we’ve taken advantage of that time. Was it enough? The media team is talking about spending the first night on a summit in the snow. I expected to be out in the cold, but laying around in the snow in Patagonia at night? Am I ready for THAT type of cold? We are hoping the race team will pass that point before the sun sets, but predicting the future during an adventure race is harder than predicting the weather here at the southern end of the world. My bag is already pretty heavy, do I have enough gear? Too much? This is my first adventure race outside of the states and my first media job so far away as well. Normally I have my van to fall back on, if I forget something I just need to find my way back to where my home-on-wheels is parked and find whatever it is I missed. This time I have a backpack and a duffel bag. Once we leave Punta Arenas tonight (at midnight) we won’t see another city again for at least a day and a half, there is no going back for a thicker jacket.

These feelings aren’t unusual, in fact I’m surprised it took until the last 12 hours before the race for them to grow so strong. Maybe I’m getting better at this. More confident, less imposter syndrome. Or maybe having the support of two other members of the media team and a race team that I’m pretty close to has helped keep me calm. I get this feeling before I compete in races too, but the remoteness of this race is something I’m still not accustom to.

Despite my nerves starting to get to me I’m actually excited to get started. This race is so long that even if things fall apart for the first 3 days there is still time find our stride, rally, and finish the last 4-8 days strong. I’ll have to try to remind myself of that. We are a strong team, we are in a beautiful place, and we have a lot of people supporting us both here and at home. Time for an adventure!

2018 Patagonia Expedition Race Project Day 2/3

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 15:24:14 GMT

All the travel!

I left my tiny house accommodations in Portland Thursday morning about an hour after the house awoke. In the 24 hour since I rolled off the couch/bed I’ve been in the process of making my way to the southern tip of Chile. I met with fellow member of the Bend Racing media team, Scott Almendinger, at the Portland airport, he and I are on all the same flights on our way down. We made it on to our flight to Huston, we found our way to our flight to Santiago, stumbled through Chilean customs, and back through security into the local departure terminal. As long as we can figure out which terminal we are supposed to be at and understand when we are called to board (Neither of us are fluent in Spanish) we should make it to our destination in 7 hours. It was a long night on our flight over the gulf of Mexico, I’m excited to sleep in a more horizontal position this evening.

2018 Patagonia Expedition Race Project Day 1

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 15:00:00 GMT

How to prep in 10 easy steps:

1. Feel stressed about flying out of the country with minimal plans.

2. Be behind on work for your primary client.

3. Break a fan belt on your van, make sure it is a fancy Mercedes van so parts are impossible to find in your small town.

4. Be behind on packing, make sure none of your nice wool socks come in matching sets.

5. Rally the day before flying out.

6. Finish packing.

7. Remember you have friends, get a ride into town.

8. Accidentally delete all the files you were going to work on during your 26 hours of travel time.

9. Fuck it, face masks with friends.

10. You’re going to be fine.