Meet Team ope
siblings, a strongman, and a skier band together
Team Ope, now available in plaid.
Sneaking in just minutes before the 18-hour cutoff, Team Ope made the most of their experience at the Rib Mountain Adventure Challenge. “Throughout the race our navigation was on point, we just needed to be faster,” reflects Brittney. Although they cursed a few large hills on the road, they had a blast through the single track bike trails. “We had a great time at the event and found new motivation to improve our speed and endurance for more races,” said Brittney. “More than once we marveled at the sheer amount of coordination required to bring something like this together. It was a great event and we were very happy to participate. “
“We had a great time at the event and found new motivation to improve our speed and endurance for more races.”
Origins
The origin of Team Ope stems from Brittney watching “World’s Toughest Race” during the pandemic. Leading to the natural conclusion that a 30-hour race would be a good introduction to multi-day races. She gathered a team of some unsuspecting coworkers who didn’t know each other well, creating “The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies” (FBRD).
Anyone at the Stubborn Mule in 2021 might remember them as that insane team mountain biking with gravel bikes. “But armed with a print out of 100+ puns and a good attitude, we made it through and not in last,” said Brittney.
Brittney and Luke (of FBRD) reached out to Ryan and Alicia to explain how fun adventure racing was. It took little convincing for them to wholeheartedly agree in its amazingness. Together, they found a race in the San Juan Islands in Washington. Two Wisconsinites, a Michigander, and a Minnesotan racing in Washington lead to the formation of “Team Ope” (like “Ope Sorry” - if you need a lesson from Charlie Berens check out his School of Ope video here). Out in Washington, we were often referred to as Team Oh-pee.
We decided to join the Rib Mountain Adventure Challenge to bring Brittney and Ryan (siblings) back to their home turf in Wisconsin for a weekend of fun.
Meet Team Ope
Brittney - captain
Brittney is the captain for her various adventure race teams. Special skills include: convincing people to participate in crazy activities.
Brittney leading Ryan and Alicia off the main trail at Storm King Mountain (photo credit Alicia Blake)
Luke - lead navigator
When Luke was joining FBRD, his exact words were “Races, I like races. What’s the race?” signing himself up to join before even learning the details. Luke has often been nicknamed “the machine”. He’s your casual “I’m bored, I’m going to go run a half marathon today” kind of guy. His main sport is skiing where he’s been an elite class skier in the Birkie and travels internationally to compete.
Luke canoeing in the Boundary Waters (photo credit: Brittney Kline)
Ryan - resident videographer and morale booster
Before competing in the first Team Ope adventure, Ryan just had one small thing to take care of - a strong man competition. In August 2021, Ryan picked heavy things up and set them down competitively before switching gears to do a 12-hour endurance race in October of the same year. What a badass.
Ryan competing in a strong man competition in August 2021 (photo credit: Alicia Blake)
Alicia - adventure extraordinaire
Speaking of badasses, Alicia was the quickest to pick up on all things adventure racing. She started mountain biking in 2021, grabbed her first compass shortly after and now serves as captain and navigator of her own teams in Washington. She’s up for any adventure and has the wits to compete with the best.
Alicia Blake mountain biking with her pup Emery (photo credit: Ryan Hebert)
Team Ope finished minutes from the 18-hour cutoff. Photo credit: Ann Ilagan Photography