In the Fishbowl

Part and parcel to doing an adventure race which requires going without sleep are the effects of this deprivation. The most commonly used description for what racers deal with in this regard is "sleep monsters" which I might add is kind of lame. But it is all we have had until now.

My teammate during PQ Montana, Steve, inadvertently coined a new term after his struggle with sleep deprivation. As we were riding on a 93 mile mountain bike ride, about 70 miles in at midnight, I looked over and Steve's head was hanging ever lower toward his handlebars. I asked him if he was okay and his sloooow, slurred response, "I'm kinda' sleepy," may have been the understatement of the year. He looked like a pasty corpse. My lame, Matt Foley motivational speaker, attempts at getting him out of his stupor did not work. I was trying to get him all pumped up. "COME ON STEVE! PEDAL THAT BIKE LIKE YOU MEAN IT. QUIT WIMPING OUT MAN! COME ON!" After about ten minutes of this Steve said it was working and he felt awake...until about a minute later when his head started sagging again. So we pulled off to the side of the road and slept. I didn't even have my pack off when I heard Steve snoring. About 15 minutes of sleep did it and we were off to finish the rest of our ride.

After we got going again Steve described his stupor so aptly. When we were talking to him and yelling at him he said he felt like he was "in a fishbowl." We were knocking on the glass and talking to him and he really couldn't hear us, just the muffled sounds as you could imagine. So the term was born. For the remainder of the race we tried our best to stay out of THE FISHBOWL!