Wa Seventy48: Boogie Barge Beats, Midnight Pedals, and the Most Fun Race of the Season

Imagine this: It’s pitch black. You’re pedaling in a tight formation, except you’re not on pavement or on a trail—you’re on water watching the Seattle lights go by while you pedal to the beats and lyrics of Macklemore. Doesn't that just sound wild!? Well it was.

Some races test your limits and help you go way beyond what you thought possible. Some races change the way you think about adventure, your life and your relationships. And then, some races are just pure fun—start to finish, weird to wonderful. That’s what the WA 78 was for me this year. No expectations. No strategy sessions. No spreadsheets. Just an amazing and strange floating contraption with awesome people, a playlist, a mission to pedal, and the open water of beautiful Puget Sound.

And somehow, it stole the whole season.

A Brand New Kind of Race.... for me

Adventure racing is full of firsts. Every race is in a brand new area with different challenges and checkpoints. No course is the same and that is why I absolutely love it. But the WA 78 delivered something totally different for me. It wasn’t about route-finding, bushwhacking, or sleep deprivation— for me it was about syncing my cadence to the beat of a floating dance party in the middle of the night with a crew of people with one uniform goal - to make the podium and be the first pedal powered boat to the finish line.

My job? It was blissfully simple.

• Pedal hard

• Keep the 4 Hour Fuel flowing

• DJ from the Boogie Barge

• Keep the vibes positive and moving forward.

That’s it. Jason's job was to coach us all, to know when to push, when to ease off and when to give us caffeine. Blake and Josh had the harder jobs, they were the ones behind the creation of the machine that we were on. They built it and had been tinkering with it for years, changing it every year depending on who was going to ride and who was going to row. So when the propeller got seaweed on it, or the GPS robot rudder switched directions or the chain dropped 500 ft from the finish line in a sprint finish - it was their job to fix it.

Midnight Miles, Music and our Strategy

The Boogie Barge is a fully human-powered craft, it has 4 trainer bikes welded together, and all riders are on the same long chain and gear. On the sides are 2 rowers (for this mission we only had one rower) and it cruises along with every one contributing to it's forward motion as one. No back up gas motor. Just legs, lungs, and a little bit of madness.

The other 3 guys took turns riding in the front formation as if we were in a pro cycling race... except we were floating. And every hour, one of them would take a turn on the oars. Jason and I though- we just stayed put, pedaling non stop. In the beginning I was DJ-ing off of my made playlist and then by hour 8, we were doing bump sets where I would take two requests: one motivational favorite song for a sprint set and one chill song for a recovery session. You really haven’t lived until you’ve watched the sunrise over the water while Madonna fades into The White Stripes.

In the beginning of the race, we eased into our rhythm and kept it at a steady pace. After three hours, we started to push a little but eased off a bit and kept it fluid, steady and fun (with the help of caffeine!) during the night. When the sky started to lighten again, it was the perfect timing because the caffeine also started to wear off. That's when we started to alternate between threshold for 3-4 minutes and zone 2/ recovery mode for 2-3 minutes. After two hours, we had third place in sight and were gaining on them. We didn't know if we could do it, especially when our chain dropped just 500 ft from the finish line beach, but Josh leapt up and fixed it in less than a minute. After he was back on, we all zone 5 ed it while I turned it to "Eye of the Tiger" and we passed the 3rd place team in the last 300 ft with spirts and hollers a blazing. 3rd place had never felt so good.

Why It Was the Best

After reflecting on why it was one of the most fun race experiences this year, I realized that it was because there was absolutely no pressure on Jason and I. It truly felt like a vacation because we were wide open and free of any expectation. We were asked to show up with strong legs and stoke that could pedal us for up to 12 hours and that is exactly what we did. We were fully in it. Present, laughing, pedaling and taking it all in. It reminded me of why I love adventure, the unknown and —not just for the competition, but for the absurd, the beautiful, and the moments that sneak up and knock you over with joy.

It had been a long time since I had that kind of freedom from expectations in a race. It was a feeling I hope to recreate in more of my races. In these last couple weeks of chewing on it, I realized that on every start line, I am also a very different person from the last race. Even though I am an adult, I am constantly changing, growing and evolving (or at least that is what I am striving for). You just can't see it as good as when you are comparing yourself to your own kids- who literally grow and change over night! But, by changing my perspective, I am confident I can recreate this same free feeling. It will for sure take some time and I'll probably fail a few times, as I am constantly reminded by my favorite quote on failure:

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” - Denis Waitley

All in all, this experience taught me so much and gave me so much joy in the process. If you want to hear more - Jason breaks it all down on the BendRacing Podcast—from the Boogie Barge to the infamous “condom catheter situation” (you’ll just have to listen).