Get Lost in Season 1: Trek and Trail

Master the endurance sports that make up off-road racing by learning what they are, how they work, and what makes them great.

What the heck is Get Lost Racing?

The Get Lost Racing Podcast, hosted by Kyle M. Bondo, is a podcast about defining off-road racing disciplines! Each episode takes a look at an off-road sport and explains what it is, how it works, and how you can experience it. How am I going to do that? By teaching you what they are, how they work, and how you can experience them. One discipline at a time.

Why one discipline at a time? Ask yourself, "What is off-road racing?" Some define it as a format of racing where various classes of specially modified vehicles compete in races through off-road environments. Where does a mountain bike fit into that definition? Isn’t a mountain bike race an off-road race?

Then you get someone to raise their hand and ask, "Don’t you mean endurance racing?" To which others define endurance racing as a form of motorsport racing which is meant to test the durability of equipment and endurance of participants. Motorsports again! Only this time its teams of multiple drivers attempt to cover a large distance in a single event. Sound like the motorsports rampage of the Baja 1000, not the mountain bike endurance race of the Whisky 50. Still, others might try to call it endurance sports.

So what is endurance sports?

Now, this is where it starts to get tricky. Endurance Sports is a relative description of just about any sport depending on the nature of the athlete in the sport. It could go on to describe any intense effort that lasts over 1 or more hours. A trail runner could consider a 5-mile run as an endurance sport, while an ultra-trail runner doing 100 miles would feel very differently from that definition. You could be overly scientific and determine that endurance sports are prolonged efforts in which you use your aerobic system more than your anaerobic system.

Or you could use my definition, which is an off-road sport (like a 12-hour adventure race) that starts off fun, but then at some point in the middle, you find yourself saying, "Why do I do this?" Only to come full-circle about 10-minutes after it's all over, loving what you just did and wanting to do it again.

The point is, off-road or endurance sports are very hard to define. No matter how you try to define it you'll always be left with someone pointing out that you forgot to consider one sport or another.

The Mission of Get Lost Racing

The Get Lost Racing Podcast is an attempt to explore each would-be off-road and endurance sport I can find, and find out what makes it tick. My plan is to select only sports that meet these three rules:

• #1 - It can’t have a motor
• #2 - It must take place in a rural, rugged, or non-paved environment, and
• #3 - It must look somewhat fun to race

If it meets those rules, it's on the list. So far, those rules create a very long list! But it also provides plenty of off-road and endurance sports to chose from as I go through each one. We’ll see if changes over time. And we’ll also see if I can find some definitions for off-road and endurance sports that can improve on what's out there now.

I Look Forward to you Listening

Meanwhile, I look forward to having you join me on this journey of sports mastery. My wish is that you find some of these off-road sports interesting, and maybe even try a few yourself.

Until then, I hope you Get Lost Racing!

Outdoor Reckoneering Links

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Thank You for Listening

Thank you so much for listening to Get Lost Racing Podcast. If you have questions or comments, please reach out to me @MerchantsofDirt on Twitter, by Email, or my Contact Form.

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