Red Bull X-Alps 2015 Athlete Diaries

So along with news on this blog, before and during the race I will be posting photos and videos to the Red Bull website.  I'll try to do different news on both so they are both interesting :)

Here's the link to my Diary:
http://www.redbullxalps.com/athletes/diary/dawn-westrum.html

And this will give updates for all the athletes:
http://www.redbullxalps.com/athletes/diary/

Red Bull X-Alps Section 1: Salzburg to the Dachstein

It's Day 1 of our route reconnaissance of the 2015 Red Bull X-Alps route.  We are in Salzburg, having spent a day in the city getting necessities and another SIM card to make our phones work in Austria.  The route starts in the city center of Salzburg, and then we have to hike up to our first launch on top of the Gaisberg.

We started from our campground hiking up rather than the city center.   But our camping spot was the official LZ of the Gaisberg, who knew...it worked out perfectly for Jim to land by the motorhome so he could chase me later.

Today the conditions were marginal, and most of the pilots who launched before me sunk out, but I was able to get up just a little bit, and let the thermals push me back.   The route on this first section is filled with little bumps of hills, which climb from about 1100 meters up to the Dachstein at 2,995 meters.   Somehow I kept bumping along from hill to hill, eventually going 40km and almost to the Dachstein!


I landed halfway up a ski hill to avoid sinking all the way down to the valley.   From there I hiked back up to the top of the ski run, getting up to a place where it looked like I could launch from either side.  Unfortunately the wind was opposite where I wanted to launch, and the trees looked a bit thick right below launch...a tail wind and sinking air would put me in a tree.  So I went off to the west instead, a forward launch off a snowfield.  It was late in the day by that point and I was only hoping to glide down to the valley to meet Jim in the motorhome.  Immediately I could see that if I didn't land back on ski hill, the valley below me was filled with trees.   So I landed, packed up again, and hiked back up to the top where I could fly down to the valley to the north.  Not where I would have gone in the race, but I really just needed to find the motorhome.  This is practice after all!

That's the trick of practicing for this race...I'll be taking off and landing in places where normal pilots don't go, so I need to be very careful to pick good launches with places to land below me...or even better, winds to let me climb out and keep flying!

Here was my route for the day (I didn't make it quite all the way):  http://xcplanner.appspot.com/?l=free&p=_vvbHyksnAuf@%7DpK%60%7B%60AglcBigw@dvtF%60l%60AxamGzdvFjcU%7Djp@bfmEnisA%60ldL%7C%60%5bd~yC_~Bpk%7CBvrxKc~fF%7ChCeyB&s=20.0&a=0

The whole route can be found here: XCPlanner.Appspot.com

A Germany Volksmarch Weekend

Cherry dessert, a 10k walk, and a bratwurst.    That's what we did both days this weekend in the middle of our whirlwind tour through Germany.   After landing in Munich, we needed to work our way up to Dusseldorf to pick up our motorhome, which will be our castle during race preparation and the Red Bull X-Alps.

Since I was in Germany, I took the opportunity to introduce Jim to my favorite activity when I lived here:  Volksmarching!   Wow, this really brings me back to in the past.   I used to do this every weekend the 3 years I lived here. and never got tired of it.  Basically a volksmarch is a walk around the German countryside, any distance from 5 kilometers up to 50 km.

On our way up to Dusseldorf, we stopped through Landstuhl, where I lived starting back in 2005.   We ate the best Doner Kebabs in Germany for lunch on our way through, and even though the New York Doner Kebab store had moved across the street, it was still the same kebab!


We also drove up the Rhein river and enjoyed all the castles, touring Burg Rheinfels and enjoying a sunny day along the river.

After picking up the motorhome (small but cozy) we started heading back to the Alps, stopping for a couple of volksmarches along the way.  One was near Bingen, and the other one, Stuttgart.   I worked seamlessly back into my habit of cherry dessert before the walk, and a bratwurst after :)   We had great weather for both walks, and really enjoyed the snapshot of the German trails we walked through....blooming yellow fields, deep forests, and immaculately kept village houses.

Actually we kept up a really fast pace and knocked off 10k about as fast as it's possible, passing our competition like they were standing still.  I am training for the X-Alps after all!   Hah!

Burg Rheinfels

Landstuhl and my favorite Doner Kebab

In a volksmarch even the dogs get their own water bowl!

My competition in the volksmarch....just kidding!

A crowded start hall filled with bratwurst eating folks

Our volksmarch prizes, which now are our coffee mugs in the motorhome

A very cool yard along a volksmarch

Training with an Altitude Mask

My latest training tool is an altitude mask.

http://www.trainingmask.com/about-elevation-training-mask/

The basic premise is that the mask controls the amount of incoming air you can breathe, by limiting volume, with adjustable valves so you can pretend you are cruising at 10,000 feet or even standing on top of Mt. Everest.  I've got mine set at 5,000 feet, but since I already live at 5,000 feet, the two are cumulative, and when it's on I should be breathing at 10,000 feet.  That's the theory, anyway.   In reality, I feel like I'm climbing the last ladder on Mt. Everest as I ignominiously gasp for air after doing a set of pushups.

Imagine it:  You could breathe like Darth Vader, scare little children, and confuse the heck out of dogs.  Who wouldn't want to wear one?  Seriously...walking outside with this mask on is weird and embarrassing x10...plus I can't explain to those random people who see me what it is, because my voice inside this thing can barely be heard.    I may breathe like Darth Vader, but I talk like I've been sucking in helium.

I thank my trainer, Jesse, for inflicting this particular injustice onto my training regimen, which allows he and Jim to make fun of me wearing it during our weight training sessions.   (They call it "the muzzle")  Of course I can't even reply without taking it off, so I'm at an acute disadvantage!?!

I try to wear it about an hour a day, either during an easy gym workout or on a flat-ish walk.   Believe me, you wouldn't want to wear this thing while hiking up a mountain, unless you want to go REALLY slow just to be able to breathe at all!

On the other hand, the benefits are supposed to be really good.   Increased lung capacity, better stamina, increased anaerobic thresholds, etc. etc.   I am hoping it helps increase my red blood cell count (increased altitude does that), but I do think it will help me breathe deeper so I use my full lung capacity.   I hope it's doing something to make up for the fact that I sometimes have to wear it out in public :)

Darth Vader goes for a walk.  

At least it keeps my face warm on a cold day!

The X-Alps Women: Article in Japanese Paragliding Magazine!

I know, I can't even read this, but I'm still excited!   Yvonne Dathe and I are featured in this months edition of the Japanese Paragliding Magazine.    As the two women in the Red Bull X-Alps 2015, and the first time in 10 years that women have been competing in this race, as you can guess we are getting a little extra media scrutiny.   I know we are both excited for the race to start, and training hard until then!

A Nice View of the Wasatch Mountains

Jim flying over Alpine on the way to the North Side

Spring flying in the Wasatch has been pretty good this year.   We are trying to sandwich some paragliding amid last minute packing, house guests, and all the details associated with leaving our house for the summer while we train in Europe for the Red Bull X-Alps.   But last week I was able to fly XC three days in a row, from 3 different launches!   The "V", Grandeur, and Inspo all turned out to be good for the day, and twice I was able to fly home and land in a park near my house.  I really like closing the circle like that in both my workouts and my flights.  There is nothing like being able to walk back to the house and save a long retrieve!

Grandeur is a hike up site, which I did alone.  It was my first time at that site, so it was good practice for me to simulate flying in the X-Alps.   Soon we will be heading to the Alps to do a lot more of that, but it was fun to make my way alone along the mountains, finally arriving super high over my house...I could see Jim moving around in the backyard!    

He came with me the next day to Inspo along with a few other friends, and we were able to fly together all the way home again, getting to 12,500 feet over the mountains (it was COLD).   

Jim trying out his Ozone Ozium for the first time at South Side

USA X-Alps Athletes are Collaborating!

With four athletes in the the 2015 Red Bull X-Alps, the USA is well represented this year!  While we are technically competing against each other, we realize that flying skills and physical strength will determine our ability to finish the race, and that is a solo effort.   Since we are all at a disadvantage because the Alps are a long way from where we live, we have decided to work together and share information to allow us to all go further in the race.  

With our busy schedules, it was amazing that all four athletes were able to find a way to get together for a whole weekend in Utah.   Honza Rejmanek, Gavin McClurg, Dave Turner and I all met for the first time, ready to share info and see just what we were getting into with this race.   Since it was raining and snowing all weekend, we weren't tempted to fly....!   We looked at maps, talked strategy, checkout the route in Google Earth, looked at maps again, and asked all the questions of Honza we could think of.  While Dave, Gavin and I are race rookies, this will be Honza's fifth time doing the X-Alps, so he could answer a lot of our questions easily.   I think we all felt we got some great info from each other and we look forward to meeting again in Salzburg!

The Foundation for Free Flight was having their annual meeting in SLC that weekend.  So along with race planning, we were able to thank the Foundation for their generous donation to each of us to cover our travel expenses for the X-Alps.  Thanks again to Tony Lang, Matt Beechinor, and the Foundation for Free Flight for their efforts to raise money for the USA Paragliding Team!