{"id":5271,"date":"2019-04-14T11:00:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T18:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christofteuscher.com\/aagaa\/?p=5271"},"modified":"2022-12-13T18:14:13","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T02:14:13","slug":"report-new-unsupported-joshua-tree-double-traverse-fkt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christofteuscher.com\/aagaa\/report-new-unsupported-joshua-tree-double-traverse-fkt\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: New Unsupported Joshua Tree Double Traverse FKT"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

After my initial unsupported double traverse from Mar 2016<\/a>, I was entirely sure I would never ever do it again. That was then. But as time passes, you forget the bad and what you remember are selected idealized memories: gorgeous desert views, amazing night skies, smooth trails.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Who wouldn’t want to run here?<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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As I was looking for some good, long, and tough training opportunities and an excuse to go to the Californian desert, I figured I might as well go back and see if I could perhaps improve my own time (19:23:37<\/a>), and perhaps even beat Jason Hardrath’s impressive time (18:17:16)<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Preparation<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Once I pick a challenge, I tend to get obsessed about it. So I went back to all my collected data from all the single and double Joshua Tree traverses I ever did. I fed that into a new spreadsheet and spent a few hours analyzing the data to see if and where there was room for improvement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Of course there almost always is. So I came up with an improved plan for another unsupported double traverse, where I would carry all my water, calories, and gear.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The basic idea was simple: go lighter, with less water, and thus go faster. It’s ultimately about trade-offs and about how much risk you are willing to take. Also, how much you are willing to suffer<\/a>. In addition, I carefully looked at the day and night temps and picked a 5pm start so that I could benefit as much as possible from cooler temps.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I started with:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n