Laws of equilibrium will likely play themselves out in this turbulent time, and the sport will find a balance. Down the road (hopefully a long, windy, rutted, and, in places, impassable one) there will probably be a hierarchy of governing bodies, committees, sanctions and organizations controlling adventure racing, and racers will be able to compare split times and show each other their membership cards and talk about their podium finishes in their respective categories. It's not a day to look forward to.

Imagine a CAT V Pro-Elite Clydesdale in the Semi-Sprint One-Day Longcourse Expedition 24-Hours of Leptospirosis Adventure Race, and you get the picture.

If it comes to that, plenty of teams and individuals will retreat, going back to what started all of this in the first place: wandering around in the woods for a few days to see what you find, or what finds you.

— Buddy Levy, MountainZone.com Columnist