Today, 50 international adventure racing teams will break away on mountain bikes over Snowmass' summertime slopes for the North American debut of Salomon's X-adventure World Cup. Threading through wildflowers and dodging wildlife, the teams' first leg is a 19-mile ride across the mountain and back down again, only to about face and head up another canyon toward the breathtaking Maroon Bells.

As regulations dictate, organizers revealed the course on the eve of the race. At the 6pm race meeting, competitors huddled at tables, eyes over the map. Heads in hands. Who races which section? Where will we gain momentum? What's going to be our greatest team obstacle?

Patience — it's an adventure racer's virtue. At best, it's a thoughtful chaos.

"I already know which leg I'm sitting out," comments firefighter Robyn Benincasa, who's a formidable racer and a former Raid Gauloises champion. "No, not the skating. That will be easy. One of the mountain biking sections."

Benincasa will be racing for Team Salomon Eco-Internet, along with Ian Adamson, Mike Kloser and Isaac Wilson. Benincasa, along with the female dominated team, consisting of Adamson, Rebecca Rusch (racing last-minute in Aspen X-Adventure with Team Argentina) and Cathy Sassin, was the first US team to cross the finish line in the 1999 Argentina Eco-Challenge.

"It's a bit confusing for first-timers," says Ian Adamson, one of the world's foremost adventure racers, when asked how newcomers might fare. "But, fun. Lots of short, fast sections. Super fast, super short. Ballistic every leg. No resting."

It's a 230km race, which, to the metrically-challenged, equals about 143 miles of power charged in-line skating, mountain biking, rappelling, trekking, orienteering, whitewater canoeing and horseback riding. Teams who arrive in time, will camp in Ruedi Reservoir Saturday night (PS - The July 21 Aspen Times reports that the mosquitoes aren't the only wildlife seen frequenting the site - four or five bears have also been seen in the last week). And, to keep things in perspective: To a professional adventure racer, this distance is the equivalent of a mere sprint to a marathoner.

"We're going to be suffering, I think," noted Wilson (Team Eco-Internet), after learning the course. "But it will be a good suffering. It's a gorgeous, challenging course. While the longer courses (like Eco-Challenge) allow you to spread out the pace more and take in your surroundings — which I enjoy — these allow pacers like Mike Kloser to shine. He's an anaerobic animal. He's a machine."

And like other X-adventure races, explained the X-adventure producers SAGA d'Aventures, each race location is chosen in part for being recognizable and characteristic of that region. In the Spain/France race, one of those factors was the Mediterranean Sea. In Aspen, it's the world famous Rockies and the miles of altitude that go along with them.

In short, X-adventure packs a punch. Check back for more information on flatland teams like X-adventure Austria/Germany winners X-Act from Finland, and of course, Team Salomon Extreme, the unofficial Salomon X-adventure World Cup series leaders to date, placing 1st in Spain and 2nd in Austria/Germany.