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Team Dirty Avocados is a Northern California adventure racing phenomenon, part semi-elite racing squad and part slapstick revue. In a world where too many adventure racers take themselves – and the sport – too seriously, the Dirty As keep it real. They are a team in a very real sense – comprising of a revolving cast of at least 11 members who train hard and race harder. With such a large squad, there is a bit of good-natured competition among the members, but over the past three years, they have notched impressive podium finishes in races ranging from Raid the North Extreme and Baja Travesia to the Tahoe Big Blue and the Gold Rush 24 Hour Adventure Race.

The Dirty Avocados have, for the first time, two teams entered in this summer’s Primal Quest, and I was able to catch up with three key team members at a pub recently. Unfortunately, what started out as an interview turned into something out of a Hunter S. Thompson manuscript, replete with large quantities of beer, displays of manly love, and complaints about Primal Quest’s onerous certification program.

The team was founded, with fairly disastrous results, in 2005, in my driveway. But that’s for later on in the story. First, meet some Dirty Avocados:

Gordon Wright (GW): So where does everyone live, anyway?

Adam Armijo (AA): “North Beach (San Francisco). Where the action is. At least when I’m in town.”

(Editor’s note: Adam “A-Bomb” Armijo is 34, is EMT certified, does consulting work for BearingPoint and looks like your typical lantern-jawed California surf dude. Yes, he’s single. Some of the time.)

Adam Doti (AD): “I’m a Web artiste.”

GW: [Puzzled look]

AD: “Just say that I’m a user experience architect.”

(Editor’s note: We’re not sure what that means, either, but AD is 34 and is no doubt instrumental to the development of one of adventure racing’s best websites, www.dirtyavocados.com).

Donato Polignone (DP): “I’m a migrant farmer. Just kidding! I just started my own business to pay for adventure racing, a specialty chemical company called NuGenTec. Which, weirdly, is one of our sponsors.”

(Editor’s note: Both Polignone and Doti live in Petaluma, California. DP is wiry, intense and 40, and looks it).

AD (as he’s unloading onto our table eight maps, three river guides and two books – all of which feature the Big Sky region of Montana): “He’s single too, but he has a girlfriend. Who is NOT happy with adventure racing. His Google Calendar is blocked out with massive hours for AR training and racing. She is NOT pleased.”

GW: And how old is Jen (Rigoni, the last member of Team Dirty Avocados for PQ)?

DP: “We’re not saying. Call it 29.”

GW: Alright, let’s start with the name: how did you come to be called “Dirty Avocados?”

AA: “It depends on who you talk to.”

AD: “It’s a love/hate thing. Dirty fruits from San Francisco? Not great for the sponsorship chase. But really, Will Gilmore, Brian Schmitz and Mark Richardson went for a birthday ride together, and they wanted to put a local team together with a California-centric name. They threw out all kinds of different produce names, and descriptors for adventure racing.”

AA: “Moist Avocados was in the running there for a while.”

DP: “It just works. Doesn’t it?”

GW: Your first race was the 2005 BAAR Brawl that started at my house.

AD: “Yeah, that was the one where Brian broke his collarbone early in the race.”

(Editor’s note: In a foreshadow of how well this team works together, the DA team refused to read any race reports or scout the course, regrouped once Schmitz’s shoulder healed, then did the entire race course from start to finish months later.)

GW: Most AR teams certainly aren’t as large as the DAs. Or if they are, it’s more of a club. How did you get to be this size? What were you thinking?”

AD: “We don’t want to be a club, we’re a team. We don’t really recruit, we cherry pick. Though if you’re a female and breathing, you’re in. Kidding of course… sorta. We don’t want to grow, but if we have to grow, we might, but we don’t add for the sake of growth. (Editor’s note: Clearly, the beers are kicking in). That’s what clubs are for. It does make presence at races easier, because we can all race together well and gear up for, say, series that have season-long points standings.”

GW: And how does the team operate? Via email?

AD: “Yeah, we have a mailing list.”

DP: “We get 100 emails a day.”

GW: [Puzzled, incredulous look}

AD: “He’s not kidding. For real, we get at least 10-35 emails a day, more before a big race. It’s amazing how much detail there is: mandatory gear, travel, certifications, food, products, sponsors.”

DP: “BSchmitz is on every AR and endurance list in the US, and forwards everything.”

GW: So let’s have the total run-down, who’s on the team?

AD: “We have 11 total members. The three of us will be racing PQ with Jennifer Rigoni. The other PQ team (#56) is Susan Bower, Mike Chastaine, Will Gillmore and Brian Schmitz. The other members are Aja Cook, Mark Richardson and Melissa Griffiths.”

GW: And how is the team structured?

AD, AA, DP: [Puzzled looks]

DP, cryptically: “To those who give, much is given.”

(Editor’s Note: At this point, we’re well into our second or third pints, and the interview goes from free-form to incoherent.)

AD: “We basically have two squads. There is some merit and reward based on time commitment. We all help with organization and helping.”

GW: Have you found that the certification program for PQ helpful?

AA, cryptically: “It’s as serious as the team takes it.”
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AD: “Most of it (was helpful). My swim form improved.”

AA: “The strainer drill (in the swift-water certification) was valuable.”

DP: “I started AR not to swim. Then I had to swim a mile.”

GW: How much time do you spend weekly training? Hey, you chew Copenhagen?

DP: [Puzzled stare]

(Editor’s note: Donato paused between beers to pack a wad of Cope in his lower lip. A long, discursive conversation ensued between GW and DP as to the adventure racing merits of Copenhagen Long Cut while AA and AD ordered more beer.)

DP, spitting: “Between five and thirty. It depends on if I’m racing, and I like to race.”

AD: “Between three and ten.”

AA: “10-12”

GW: AD, you have a three-and-a-half year-old and a 5-month-old. How did you get the hall pass to do this race?

AD: “Good question.”

DP: “You should ask (Doti’s wife) Brenda.”

(Editor’s note: at this point, Doti punches up his home number on his cell phone and his wife answers)

AD: “Honey, we’re sitting with Gordon Wright. He’s interviewing us and wants to know how I talked you into letting me do PQ.”

Brenda Doti, sighing: “I ask myself that every day.”

(Editor’s note: Doti rings off after some contrite apologies)

AD: “She’s awesome. Basically I kept ordering Montana maps and tacking them up on our kitchen walls. I think I just wore her down.”

GW: What about the financial commitment of the race? How’s that going down?

DP: “My girlfriends keep breaking up with me about this”

AD: “Our sponsors have helped us greatly in providing us with gear and support.

GW: You may now give them a shout-out.

AD: “La Sportiva provides us with shoes, Billabong provides us with wetsuits, Carlson Designs supplies us with River Boards, Red Bull of course fuels us with energy drinks, National Geographic provides us with maps for doing recon, CRKT hooked us up with knives and tools, SOLE hooked us up with footbeds and kaia foods has also fuled us with all natural granola. CAMP and Liberty Mountain also provide support to help make the truckload of mandatory gear we need to purchase feasible.”

GW: So what’s the team strategy for PQ?

AA: “Just finish.”

DP: “Finish without being short-coursed.”

AD: “We want to finish intact. The people on my team are worth more than any particular race.”

GW: What are the team’s weaknesses?

All: “Transition areas.”

GW: How has your training for the Primal Quest been different from past races?

DP: “It’s a lifestyle. You can’t go on a bike ride and make it into an ‘AR ride.’ The only thing that’s different is the certifications.”

AA: “The training is a little more intense. More of it is mental.”

AD: “We’re diligent because of our teammates. We don’t want to let them down.”

DP: “My preparation isn’t any different; it’s still like driving nails into my nail beds. Maybe more long, slow workouts.”

AD: “I’m doing more spin classes.”

(Editor’s note: Donato proceeds to launch into a detailed, almost loving reverie on Adam Doti’s increased strength on the bike, while GW looks at his watch and is alarmed).

GW: Well, guys, I think I have everything I need.

AD: “Don’t you want to ask us more questions?”

(Editor’s note: Doti is referring to the list of 22 additional questions that he had helpfully provided prior to the interview.)

GW: “No, I think 1,500 words will just about do it.”

Watch for Teams #62 and #56 at this year’s Primal Quest. They’ll be the ones near the front, representing NorCal and having a blast.

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Gordon Wright is a contributing editor to Competitor NorCal and the former Media Director of Primal Quest. His own adventure racing team used to beat the Dirty Avocados.

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Up next… certification recaps!

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The road to Primal Quest is a long one. Hours on the bike, on your feet and in the kayak. Many weekends away from home working on skills, and technique. Learning to work as a team while improving one’s own-fitness. On top of it all we have to complete various certifications that are required by the Primal Quest organization.

The Dirty Avocados started early. On December 2, 2007 both DA teams traveled to Las Trampas Regional Wildness for navigational instruction, map reading and plotting. As a final exam we did a full on orienteering course/race. The team navigators, of course, breezed through while everyone else picked up some tips and increased their skills. It was a beautiful day and everyone learned a great deal. The DA’s took the top three spots on the Orange course with Adam Doti taking 1st, Susan Bower 2nd and Brian Schmitz 3rd.

The next week, on December 9th, the DA’s met in Marin to work on their climbing certification. Under the learned guidance of Jon Bosworth, the DA’s repelled and ascended the rock working on valuable techniques and skills to allow them to tackle the ropes section in Montana. It was another beautiful day and everyone enjoyed working together.

On January 12th and 13th the group headed to Coloma for the White Water Kayaking training. This two day course was expertly taught by Jason Gates and Gigi Mcbee. The river was cold and the air temp colder as the DA’s learned how to read the river and negotiate the various obstacles found in Class II and III water. Although chilled to the bone, everyone enjoyed the class and learned a great deal.

On February 23, 2008 it was back to the water. The swim certification only required a mile swim and 10 minutes of treading water. However, the DA’s wanted to be fully prepared so they also took a swift water safety class. They learned how to swim through rapids, swim up river, eddy to eddy and how to deal with strainers. We rode River boards and practiced rescues. We all left with a renewed appreciation of the power of the river and the skills to deal with many of the issues that we hoped never arise.

Our final certification was first aid. On March 1 Jon Masztakowski did an excellent job taking a great deal of information and breaking it down into a very practical application. We were all given the tools to help us make the important decisions that sometime arise.

Now that the DA’s have completed all of the required certifications, we can focus on preparing for PQ Montana. But first – Baja.

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