Story and photos by Brendan McAleer
Sundance, Utah – A fierce, scorching wind is whipping plumes of fine white dust away from the wheels of the lead vehicle as our impromptu three-car convoy barrels across scrubby Utah desert in search of tarmac and behind the clock. Mostly straight, the road – well, a trail really – alternates between soft red powder and corrugated washboard gravel that briefly blurs vision as our CX-9 crabs sideways.
    2013 Mazda Adventure Rally. Click image to enlarge |
It’s sneaky, this dry wash, and likes to throw hidden crests and bends at you in an effort to catch out the inattentive driver. We’re creeping up on the lead car when suddenly the wind turns dead aft, plunging us into a sudden total whiteout. Whoops – no way to check the proximity of the CX-5 that was hot on our tail as our own dust storm is obscuring vision to the rear. The navigation system is showing a turn coming up – although it’s been far from accurate in this remote location. Tapping the brake pedal and hoping the blink of our taillights penetrates the murk, we slow our breakneck pace, watching the tufts of vegetation on the verge for the upcoming twist of the road. There!
Putting the right-most wheels in the shallow ditch, we slingshot through the turn as if Colin McRae were at the wheel (well, Colin Mochrie, anyway – any heroics are down to the traction control and all-wheel drive). Trust Mazda to put the “rally” into an Amazing Race–style scavenger hunt: their 2013 Adventure Rally.
Held over two days in Colorado and Utah, this long-distance driving event isn’t actually intended to be a speed course. Rather, two-person teams are given a series of puzzles to solve, pictures to take, and GPS-based feats to perform in an effort to score the most points. Grand prize? Bragging rights, of course, as well as a whopping $10,000 prize to the winner’s charity of choice; second and third place also receive cash donations.
What’s more, a little extra publicity for the charities that each team has selected – and they’re a varied lot, from the Canadian Cancer Society to literacy programs – is surely no bad thing. There are 10 teams vying for the podium, and each has both their publication and their charity proudly emblazoned on the flanks of their Mazda steed.
Better yet, Mazda is really taking the reins off on this one. When presented with the list of the first day’s challenges, more than a few faces looked somewhat alarmed. What do you mean there’s no planned route? You want us to climb up how high? Are you suggesting there might be *horrified gasp* math involved?
They were. First challenge involved trying to string together as many Rocky Mountain passes as we could within a strict time frame, leaving from our Boulder, CO starting point. Not a bother – just fire up the navigation, right?
Not so fast – Mazda’s vehicles for the event were a 50/50 mix of seven-seat CX-9s and 2.5L-powered CX-5s, both in trim levels that provided all-wheel-drive and a few amenities, but no cheaty navigation systems. Doing some back of the page calculations, we determined that turning to our old friend Google Maps would be the best move for our team.
Oh yeah, our team. Given an open seat by our illustrious editor, I decided to bring my brother along. He’s an excellent photographer, he’s good with computers, and it’s been a long time since we spent all day hitting each other with sticks of various sizes. We hit the road at 8 AM.
Let this be a lesson to you – don’t always trust the computer. We knew we were in trouble the moment our Google-derived directions started taking us southwards as everyone else sailed off to the West. Soon we were snarled up in Denver rush-hour traffic as the minutes ticked past. Time to get back to basics: sketching out a quick route with the paper maps provided, we backtracked through the route and headed for our first goal, Loveland pass.
   2013 Mazda Adventure Rally. Click image to enlarge |
Getting up here involved flogging our CX-5 up an extremely steep series of switchbacks and, lest you think I’m talking about hooning around at extra-legal speeds, I’m not. With altitudes of 2,400–2,700 m (8,000–9,000 ft) above sea level, the naturally aspirated Mazda engines were suffering the effects of oxygen deprivation, down on power by around 20 percent. At the peak of Loveland, our CX-5 was down about 60 hp and was struggling.
So were our brains. Running down the clock we only managed to string together four peaks (another team managed six), and made another boneheaded move on the second stage that would eventually earn us the tongue-in-cheek “Longest Shortcut Award”.
This involved another mountain-pass-based challenge, but one based around the GPS transmitters each car was fitted with. Teams were to be awarded points based on the gap between maximum and minimum elevations recorded. We struggled up the hill to Cottonwood Pass, jammed up behind a Westfalia whose motor, according to some quick elevation-deduction math, was actually absorbing horsepower from the surrounding environment rather than producing any.
Hitting the crest, I had the bright idea of running the detachable transmitter further up the hill on a hiking trail. I say “running” – oozing is probably a more apt description. At 3,600+ m (12,000+ ft), the air was thin enough to give my sea-level-acclimatized head spinning. But hey, we got an extra hundred feet out of it.
Despite making the mistake of back-tracking on tarmac rather than tackling the winding gravel road that led down the far side of Cottonwood pass (we got caught in road construction) we did manage to max our score here. As the next stage involved a choice of mild, medium or spicy-level roads, we decided not to chicken out again and went for the full Southwestern muy caliente.
I can’t believe Mazda let a bunch of auto writers do this in soft-roaders with zero modifications and street tires. Heading up Ophir (rhymes with “fear”) Pass, we bumped into another team and then watched, alarmed, as their CX-9 did a full tripod routine, sliding over the loose shale, each razor-edged, bowling-ball-sized rock a tire-puncturing menace.
  2013 Mazda Adventure Rally. Click image to enlarge |
Having survived (just barely), we pulled into the Telluride ski resort at a little past seven, having spent eleven hours behind the wheel and eating on the road. Our machines were coated with dirt, the air was still thin and headache-inducing and tomorrow were going to do it all over again. Preliminary scores were in and team Autos.ca (aka Ginger Ninjas) was in fourth place. Bring it.
This time, forward planning was the name of the game. Arising at 3 AM, I pored over the maps until I figured out each of the next sections.
A series of unexplained five-digit numbers as destinations? Those were postal codes, and could be photographed at the local post office of each of a chain of towns.
Random movie-still backgrounds to be captured with photos taken on supplied iPads? I staked each one out using IMDB.
A shortest-distance run that had to pass through a series of Utah’s counties in a specific order? Route highlighted and cross-referenced against the county boundary map. We were ready.
As expected, the first stage was a cake-walk, but there was a problem. Looks like the other teams were up early as well, and after jostling for a shot at the third post office, we decided we might as well travel together. The single problem we had was the switch to the CX-9 – the bigger machine dominated the highway sections and the sweeping canyon roads, but got seriously bent out of shape when the road twisted upwards in un-guarded hairpin turns.
   2013 Mazda Adventure Rally. Click image to enlarge |
Even though there was a time-limit to hit here too, I had to mentally dial it back a bit after the first decreasing-radius turn. Nobody wants to be the guy who plunged off a cliff, Thelma and Louise style, with a cry of, “I did it for charityyyy….”
Speaking of Thelma and Louise, our next challenge was another choice of three pre-determined routes, where this time we would be snagging famous movie scenes. Hollywood loves to use Colorado scenery as a stand-in for the Grand Canyon, and we soon found ourselves threading between red-rocked sheer walls. Say, wasn’t I here last week?
   2013 Mazda Adventure Rally. Click image to enlarge |
The tarmac ended but the GPS urged us onwards. We passed a potash evaporation mine, weirdly blue in the red-painted desert, we crawled over challenging rocky terrain again (here the longer-wheelbase CX-9 proved cushier than the smaller CX-5), tip-toed along the cliff edges and through soft, sandy creek beds until – Road Closed.
Unexpectedly, the Rangers had shut the intended trail, and we had to backtrack alongside the three amigos we’d been convoying with since the morning. Along the way, we stopped repeatedly to turn other teams around, finally coming across the support team who offered us the choice of either taking the easy road back along the highway, or taking on the aptly named Pucker Pass. Well, duh.
Minutes later our CX-9 and a competitor team’s CX-5 were stuck behind a Jeep tour group that was slowly crawling up the steep gravelly trail. By this time, I’d become a bit blasé about this sort of trekking, so I’d unpacked my lunchbox. As the Jeeps finally pulled over to let the Mazdas roar on up the narrow path, buried up to our axles in sandy ruts, I saluted them with the ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ half of a ham-sandwich I was holding, one hand on the wheel. The tour group operator, doubtless having charged hundreds for a “gen-you-wine off-road experience”, was most assuredly Not Impressed.
Up on top of the plateau, we briefly stopped at the beautiful Dead Horse Pass, which is much nicer than the somewhat-morbid name would suggest (Great views! No flogging!), and then hurried down the highway to Arches National Park. Again, wasn’t I here just last week?
As it turns out, no I wasn’t. While my previous trip had hit the usual tourist circle, our GPS route took us off the beaten path and then some. With the re-direct from the road-closure putting us under the gun, we found ourselves hustling across the flat Utah desert, in convoy, blinded by dust.
Eventually though, the pounding would end, and we’d loop our way through the mileage-challenge up on to Sundance, coasting in around 7 PM. again to find that we were the third team back. We’d gathered pretty much the maximum points for the day and, even better, when preliminary results came back we’d moved up in the standings – tied for third place.
    2013 Mazda Adventure Rally. Click image to enlarge |
Sadly, ’twas not to be. A miscalculation meant that the standings were readjusted and we finished in fourth, just out of the trophies. However, Mazda felt bad about snatching away our temporary laurels, and pulled me aside with the good news that they’d be donating $1,000 to our charity after all. I imagine they felt sympathetic to our apparent difficulty with going in the right direction.
All’s well that ends well, and the event was properly both an Adventure and a Rally. Moreover, I came away doubly impressed with the off-road capabilities of both the CX-9 and CX-5; I can’t see a new owner actually doing this sort of heavy-duty usage with their shiny new crossover, but both CUVs soaked up the punishment and asked for more.
Not me though – I’m ready for a few lungfuls of hearty sea-level air, a tasty beverage, and a deck-chair. A little bit of Sky and a whole lotta’ Activ goes a long way.
About our chosen charity:
The Vancouver Foundation is a local philanthropic organization that’s near and dear to my heart – they manage a fund set up in memory of my sister-in-law that provides funds to help young teachers in poorer areas give their students experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have: money for field trips, art and science supplies, and large-scale school projects. This is just one of a wide variety of charitable acts the non-profit coordinates, from housing the homeless to managing community gardens to literacy programs. It’s the largest community foundation in Canada, and one of the biggest in North America. You can find out more at: Vancouver Foundation.
Pricing:
2014 Mazda CX-5 GS AWD
Base Price: $22,995
Base Price (GS AWD): $30,650
Freight: $1,895
A/C Tax: $100
Price as tested: $32,645
2014 Mazda CX-9 GS AWD
Base Price: $33,995
Base Price (GS AWD): $36,995
Freight: $1,895
A/C Tax: $100
Price as tested: $38,990
Crash Test Results:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
