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DAVE SCHEIBERClearwater's Shawn Dietrich thrives in the next sporting craze, adventure racing.
FORT DE SOTO - At daybreak, the November air is cool and still, with pink clouds streaking the pale blue sky over Tampa Bay.
The only sounds at the North Beach parking lot are from the wind rustling the palms - and Shawn Dietrich, an adventure racer extraordinaire, dealing with a minor adventure that comes with the territory.
"Flat tire," he said, examining the front wheel of his sturdy yellow mountain bike. "It happens in races all the time."
Rather than get sidetracked repairing it, Dietrich wants to stick to his tight training schedule. So he lifts the bike back into his white minivan, all the bench seats removed to accommodate a clutter of racing gear. And in moments, he disappears down the beach for a 3-mile run.
He looks like a guy dressed for a day on the trail, wearing a long-sleeve top, shorts, special footwear that's a hybrid of running shoes and hiking boots, and a small backpack filled with a power drink, first-aid kit, whistle and other essentials.
It's not exactly the attire of a guy getting set for, say, a triathlon. Then again, in the world of adventure racing, where courses can cover 100 miles over five days, triathlons rate as mere warmups to top competitors such as Dietrich of Clearwater and husband-wife duo Kip and Jessica Koelsch of St. Petersburg.
Some people have called adventure racing the triathlon of the new millennium, an extreme mental and physical challenge that encompasses at least four components in the wild. A typical race might involve trail-running, some kind of paddling in a kayak or canoe, mountain biking and - a defining element of the sport - orienteering.
Think of it as being lost in the woods, with nothing but a map and the instincts of the team members. The goal is simple: locate an array of hidden checkpoints as quickly as possible in the midst of thick foliage and tough terrain, not unlike the rigors of Eco-Challenge, the pre-Survivor TV hit by reality show producer Mark Burnett.
Of course, that's just why adventure racing will probably never be as big as the triathlon. Unless it's edited for TV consumption, the ultimate endurance test is hardly an ideal spectator sport, considering the course is a well-kept secret until the race and the participants are hidden from view much of the time.
"Plus, I don't think a lot of people like the idea of "I have to find my way,' " said Dietrich, 45, after returning from his early morning run.
"But for people who do this, it's all about the adventure, the adventure of racing. It's not knowing what the course is going to be. Before you go, you don't know how far you're going to go, or what you're going to do. It's not like going into an Ironman Triathlon and being able to go three months in advance and prepare for the whole course.
"You can't do that. So the unknown, being able to deal with and solve issues on the fly as a team, is what adventure racers enjoy."
The sport, which originated about 15 years ago with the French military, now has a national governing body, the U.S. Adventure Racing Association (usara.com), which sponsors many races, including a national championship. Two years ago, Dietrich, then a newcomer, finished seventh with the Koelsches in the USARA Nationals in North Carolina. This year, they took first in the Atlantic Coast Conquest.
They are passionate about the sport and have founded a group, WeCeFAR - short for the West Central Florida Adventure Racing Club (wecefar.com). The Koelsches have more experience and accomplishments than Dietrich. But he has become an adventure racing guru, helping spread the gospel and encouraging anyone to give it a try, regardless of fitness or skill levels.
He helps members train and learn the techniques to compete, and encourages participation in short-form "sprints" that last several hours to 24-hour challenges and beyond. The group also is staging an adventure race Feb. 19-20, Swamp Stomp 2005, a 24- to 36-hour event to be held in Hernando County. The race is designated as "unsupported," which means teams cannot be aided by support crews.
So why would anyone want to subject themselves to the grueling demands and uncertainty of the sport?
"My parallel is I can't understand why a fisherman would want to go sit on a pier for 12 hours with a fishing line, but they certainly understand it, and all the people who do it understand it," Dietrich said. "It's no slighting of either one of us. They do it because they love it. We do it because we love it."
For Dietrich, adventure racing is a natural fit. He works as a computer consultant for Siemens, traveling for several days each week to Washington to coordinate computers for the Department of Homeland Security. Dietrich thrives on the quick-thinking, problem-solving aspect of the work, just as he does in adventure racing.
He had been an avid swimmer as a youth in Indiana and became a member of Purdue University's diving team. Twenty years ago, he met his wife, Eve, on the way to Spain, where they were performing during the summer as professional high divers. They would compete in tandem "cliff-diving" contests off 75-foot high towers at fairs and amusement parks around the country.
It was a good way for Dietrich to earn money over the summer, when he wasn't teaching upper-level math and science at a private high school in Ohio and later at Pinellas Park High.
"We always had a healthy respect for it," he said. "There was a pool in front of you, and if you didn't dive correctly, you could land out of the pool."
They phased out of the diving when their daughter, Leah, was born 19 years ago. To keep in shape, they ran, eventually joined by Leah.
When Eve decided to compete four years ago in a 50-mile run in Brooksville, her husband went along and met the other competitors. He decided he wanted to take on an ultra-distance challenge, too. Dietrich trained intensely, and ran a 100-mile race in 2000, the Old Dominion 100 in Shenandoah, Va.
"I remember I was totally by myself in the middle of the Shenandoah Mountains at 2 a.m., having run about 80 miles over 20 hours," he said. "You're wondering what you do to keep going. But it was a great experience, 'cause it's not about what your body can do, but what your mind can. I surprised myself in how well I did."
Dietrich posted the fastest time ever for any Floridian in the race and was 12th overall. He liked pushing himself, and moved next to triathlon competitions, where some friends urged him to try adventure racing. Dietrich competed with a team in the 2002 Toyota Tundra Series in Jupiter Beach and finished third. He was hooked.
Today, Dietrich devotes countless hours of training with his team partners, though he still travels for several days each week to Washington. He loves the camaraderie of adventure racing, which values teamwork over individual glory. In fact, all team members must be within 100 feet of each other during a race, a rule enforced by course monitors.
His wife, a physical trainer, comes along to the events to help manage the team. When he's not competing in the sport - such as his recent first-place Masters team finish in the nationals - he's trying to promote it.
"I'm looking out for all the different kinds of racers, the slowest and the fastest, because I've been part of both those worlds," he said. "I'm looking at how can this sport grow. We love it, and we think other people would love it, too."
If they're up for an adventure.