There we were, a team of four Americans in a sea of European adventure racers in the center of the ritzy, upscale town of Kitzbuhel, Austria. The pre-dawn start of the Austria/Germany stage of the Salomon X-Adventure had us up at 4:20 a.m., throwing down calories, getting our gear together and ourselves to the starting line.

The sky was still dark and the town still asleep as we rechecked maps and made final adjustments before the start of what was mapped out to be 245.5 kilometers of mountain biking, hiking/running/mountaineering, canoeing, abseiling, canyoneering and inline skating over 7,642 meters of elevation gain in the Tyrolean Alps of Austria.

Three men and myself were racing as Team Salomon California; we had qualified for the trip by placing 5th among American teams at the last stage of the X-Adventure Raid Series held in Kirkwood, California in August.

Here in Austria, we were one of two American teams competing against the 50 French, Swiss, and Spanish teams who race this two-day stage circuit professionally. Competing in many races around the US, we thought we took racing seriously, but even before the starting gun sounded, I could tell by the atmosphere of elitism — and the monstrous mountains surrounding us — that we were in for an uphill battle.

Like a stage on the Tour de France, the starting gun ignited a mad dash from the starting line as racers on bikes charged through the cobblestone streets of the village, following a race van that led the peleton toward the trailhead at the base of the Kitzbuheler Horn. This first section was a 45.6k mountain bike ride that climbed the grueling Horn, which stands ominous at almost 2500 meters, before sending us down a fast and freezing-cold descent toward the first of many lush, green valleys sprinkled with tiny Austrian villages.

Strategy plays a key role in this series as only three teammates can race at a time while the fourth rests and waits to be subbed in at various sections. The woman of the team can only sit out three of the 15 sections. You must play to your strengths. Cut-off times are extremely tight, and if a team misses a cut-off for the last "departure" from one section, they leapfrog ahead and start the next, taking a penalty of the slowest time for the section, plus one hour.

The Europeans seem to have this race format dialed, while we, on the other hand, were constantly calculating a complex formula of time/distance/speed/cut-off/woman-in-or-out, etc. We completed the first-section ride toward the back of the pack, and I was relieved to be sitting out the next section, an 18.3k hike up and over a range of rocky, craggy, steep and sketchy mountains that I had eyed as I approached on bike. I helped get the boys ready and sent them on their way, drove to the next transition area, and took a nap.

Pushing the 2:45 p.m. cut-off time for departing on the next leg, the boys came running down the valley around 2:20 and we barely made it to our inflatable canoe in time. By then, we were a couple of hours off the lead times set by Swiss Team Allianz Salomon which was being chased by the French Team Intersport.

This first canoe section sent us down a Class I river, glacier-melt water that meandered through the valley floor. At the take out, we were faced with our first major disappointment — we missed the cut-off for the canyoneering section. This may have been a blessing in disguise as we later found out that two racers had broken their legs jumping into the water off the 25-foot canyon cliffs. A French official both encouraged and warned racers by yelling from across the canyon, "Allez, Allez! Don't forget to bend your legs! The water is not so deep!"

We quickly jumped back in our canoe for the next 9k paddle down Class II to Class III rapids and took a swim toward the end of it as the whitewater turned our boat upside-down. The glacier water was quite refreshing and we had no problem retrieving our paddles, righting our boat and getting back in, but I was glad we were near the take out. Avoiding hypothermia was important.

We then headed off on a 12.8k mountain bike leg, again climbing the green mountains of the Alps, passing by Tyrolean houses with windowsills that overflowed with brightly colored flowers. When the sun ducked behind one of these massive mountains, temperatures dropped quickly, motivating us to ride as hard as we could. Due to confusion, slow transitions and more confusion, we missed the next two sections. We were not alone, as about 10 teams were turned away by a race official at the start of the mountain bike leg, having missed the departure cut-off by minutes.

We turned our disappointment into focus on the next two legs, a 14k mountain hike/run and a 35k mountain bike ride to finish Day 1 and get as much sleep as possible before the 6 a.m. start of Day 2.

We ran and rode through the night, joining forces with a team from Quebec, keeping each other awake as we rode in a pace line through villages and on bike paths, both smooth pavement and dirt. The rain started falling around 2 a.m. and we finally pulled into the campground just after 4 a.m., grabbing less than two hours of sleep before waking for Day 2.

The rain ensued and, for safety reasons, the downhill inline skate section was cancelled. All teams then leapfrogged to the next departure point and headed out on an 11k hike. I sat out this section and my three teammates returned to the transition area four-and-a-half hours later. I was relieved when they finally appeared, shaken, saying, "That was the scariest thing I've ever done." Apparently, they were bouldering up and down sections of steep, slippery rock with thousand-foot drop-offs.

The hammering rain turned to hail, then eventually snow, and their frozen hands sometimes refused to cooperate holding on to rocks and cables on the trail. I did a little dance of relief.

We were behind schedule again, and skipped the next two sections in order to start the last leg on time because missing it would have meant instant disqualification.

The final leg was a 23.2k mountain bike ride, climbing 685 meters before tearing down a valley and along a small river. We felt strong on this leg and even passed some teams, but realized this was likely because we were fresh from skipping sections. Regardless, riding strong felt great as we reached the finish line at a Biathlon stadium in the town of Rupholding. We even made it there before the race officials had packed up and gone home, mumbling "silly Americans" under their breath. We were proud.

In the end, French Team Intersport passed the first day's leaders, Team Allianz Salomon, to take the stage, confirming its status as the overall tour leader after four stages of five. The final X-Adventure Raid Series will take place in Grenada, Spain on October 12-13.

We are tempted to redeem ourselves in Spain, but will have to come up with enough American dollars and European racing sense to really be able to compete with some of the world's best.

—Lisa Jhung, MountainZone.com Correspondent
Author Lisa Jhung has been racing and writing about adventure racing since 1998, when she made Eco-Challenge Morocco her first experience in the sport. She has since covered and raced roughly 20 events, including the Discovery Channel World Championships in Switzerland, Expedition BVI in the British Virgin Islands, and numerous 24- to 36-hour races around the country. When not on the road schlepping gear boxes and a laptop, she works from home in Boulder, Colorado, writing for Trail Runner Magazine, Shape Magazine, Inside Triathlon, and Triathlete, among others.