Musing and Errata on the world of Adventure Racing from the Yak
presented by MPGear.com

No time to chat...too much to do, but an update is in order. You've noticed the changes...here's some dirt:

• I've FINALLY gotten the new calendar working properly, but I'm WAY behind on updating it. My condolences to the families of all of you that have been sending in your events and died of old age waiting on them to be added. The truth is our old calendar was weak in several ways and by my way of thinking it was better to focus on enhancing the functionality which will pay off over time than to just keep feeding data to a bad app. With that done I am now diving into updates. I'll be adding events as fast as I can type for the next couple days. This will include specifying the promoter and series to power the new search/filter tools.



• I slapped on a new coat of paint...I like the new colors better. I hope you do too...if not, what can I say...it's my website :-)



• Props to our new sponsors. You've seen their banners. In addition to MPGear.com, Gravity Play and The Raid we've also just brought Geocentric Adventure Racing into the family circle and will be announcing a couple more in the next week or two. I'd like to thank all of these companies for investing in what we do here and I would encourage you to pay them some attention. Your consideration of their products, services and events is the sugar in their morning coffee.



• Team Checkpointzero.com is racing this weekend in the Save the World Adventure Race in McCormick, SC and I'll be at the Mountain Sports Festival Adventure Race in Asheville, NC.

Please join me in welcoming (click on their sexy banners) our latest sponsor, Gravity Play Sports Marketing. They produce and promote some of the best races in the Rocky Mountains region (and the country for that matter) including the AdventureXstream Series and Expedition Race as well a vacation style adventure racing training camp called AdventureXscapes.

Owners Will and Jenny Newcomer have been at this for a good while and they don't screw around. Their events are managed to a level of professionalism that is sometimes lacking in the AR world and it shows. We like that and that's why we're not only assisting them in promoting their events here on our little website, but we're also sponsoring them. Next time you pass under their start/finish line look up...you'll see our logo.

Some of you may remember that we worked with Will and Jenny last year on their Expedition race. They ran a leaderboard on their site and we carried all of their race reports. Stay tuned for expanded coverage this year.

Note: That bit about how much we like the way they do business and that we're sponsoring their events...that's not just a bunch of bunk. This site is a business with operating costs and so we need to make money, but there are a couple ways to make money. One is to work with any company that comes along. The other is to choose who you work with selectively, for the sake of building mutually beneficial, long-term relationships that pay off in spades over time. We like the later approach and that's why we're working with Gravity Play. They've got moxy and we see great things in their future.

Odyssey has just announced the addition of a 2-person category for the upcoming Mt. Snowshoe Stage Adventure Race. According to race director and new owner of Odyssey, Ronny Angell, everyone who doesn't come in first has to buy the winners a beer. That's a lot of beer.

www.OAREvents.com

The first leg of the 2005 Raid World Cup is going down in Australia next weekend. We'll have reports and photos from this qualifier and those in Sweden and the principality of Andorra courtesy of the good folks at Saga. I'll be at the US leg in Bend in June and you can look forward to more great reporting from Lisa de Speville at the Raid World Championship in Europe in September (she's covered Primal Quest and Patagonia for us in the past).

So I'm sitting at my desk yesterday...minding my own business...working away...and my buddy decides he's gonna huck (new england term) a CD across the room frisbee style.

Murphy being who he is intervened and time slowed down...and the CD made a graceful arc across the sky (room)...and cracked the LCD on my NEW 12" G4 Apple PowerBook with a sickening "snap" that I can still hear reverberating in my brain.

Keep in mind this laptop was a replacement for the one that was stolen out of my car by a vagrant in Florida at the Swamp Stomp in March. I just can't catch a break.

The bad news is my AppleCare extended warranty won't cover it. The really bad news is that Apple shamefully quoted my $1400 to replace it (they should be embarrassed). The good news is MacResQ will do it in 24 hours by mail for a flat rate of $550.

MSNBC is carrying an article about a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on a condition known as hyponatremia. In a nutshell drinking too much water during endurance events can dilute the level of salt in your body. A woman actually died from this after the 2002 Boston Marathon.

EnduranceRadio.com talks to Eric Sullivan of Team Crested Butte and Will Newcomer, race director and owner of Gravity Play Sports.

So no Eco in 2005 and no commitment on 2006. New today from the "what's the deal with Eco Challenge" desk...changes afoot with the website (ok the site's been down for a few weeks).

What "Please check back later" means is anyone's guess.

If I were a betting man I'd say Burnett won't even consider another Eco until he experiences his first reality flop. If The Contender or the pending Martha melodrama don't pan out he may look to Eco to retain his grip on A-List status.

If you haven't read Barry Siff's interview with Mark in the last issue of ASM you really should. It spells out as clearly as can be exactly how he views adventure racing and why those of us involved with the sport are the only ones that ever considered Eco to be an adventure race...Burnett certainly never did.

To say adventure racing is "gear intensive" is like saying George Bush "leans to the right". To help take the sting out of getting what you need we've partnered with MPGear.com to offer an exceptional value for those of you new to the sport who are staring at a long list of mandatory gear for your first race...and those veterans who have already broken your trowel, lost your compass and only survived that trip over the handle bars by using most of what was in your first aid kit.

The Sprint Package includes:

• 100oz CamelBak HAWG or GoLite 24 (with a 100oz CamelBak bladder)


• Silva Guide or Ranger compass


• PrincetonTec Aurora or EOS headlamp


• whistle


• emergency blanket


• 2 green glowsticks


• trowel


• AMK Ultralight Medical Kit

This is a great way to save money on top-of-the-line gear that you simply need and/or need to replace...or soon will. To sweeten the deal and show their support for both the sport of adventure racing and our efforts to report on it, Brian and Erik at MPGear.com are offering a 15% discount off the regular price when you use the coupon code "CPZERO".

This package is normally priced between $200 and $240 so you can save up to $36 depending on which pack, headlamp and compass you choose. There are a limited number available and the coupon expires May 15th. If you're in the market you ought to act fast.

Heavy snow (yes snow not rain) combined with winds gusting to 50+ mph forced Raceday to stop the show at about 7pm Saturday night. The decision was made out of concern for the safety of the teams that hadn't dropped out by that point...not many.

Those teams incuded the three leaders who had already departed TA2 (bike to trek) and a few others that had not yet reached TA2 and had not called for their support crews to pick them up. All teams were informed of the decision at manned checkpoints or by radio and immediately began working their way off the course, but one team...Team Layers (#29) remained unaccounted for.

Layers were still on their bikes far behind the leaders, heading towards TA2 and had not been in contact with race management or staff since 9am that morning. By about 9pm search and rescue efforts were underway. The team was eventually able to radio HQ to report that they were in fact very lost. They launched a flare which was observed by a member of the search team on an ATV who then located the racers and got them off the mountain. All team members are ok and outside of enduring several hours biting cold and blowing snow, were unscathed.

I'm editing photos this afternoon (no HD crash or stolen gear this time) and will start uploading tonight. With the race cut short the decision was made that teams would be ranked in the order they reached CP17. ASM took third as they had not made it to CP17 when the race was called.

1. Hooked
2. Subaru
3. ASM

UPDATE: My early reporting as is sometimes the case with 2nd, 3rd or 4th hand information has turned out to include some inaccuracies. Fortunately, Mac of Team Layers has been in touch and provided more details on the events that led to their snowbound tribulations.

The team was never actually lost. In fact they knew where they were from start to finish. They chose to continue through the worsening weather when most/all other teams dropped out and remained within striking distance of the top ten for most of the race. After all it's April in NC...how bad could it get?

Pretty bad. When they realized Mother Nature had their number the team immediately began working their way to a location where they could be retrieved. This required them to carry their ice encrusted bikes for 2km along the ridgeline between CP12 and CP13 through 2' snow drifts in 50 mph winds.

When the team finally reached a spot accesible by vehicles they were able to make radio contact. They did fire a flare to mark their location, but the search team was not able to see it in the near white out conditions. It was Dave's directions to their precise location that ultimately got the team off the mountain.

Thanks Mac, for setting the record straight. All I can say is that in the face of such inclement weather it's a good thing you guys were wearing your...Layers :-)

Registration opened today for an adventure race unlike anything I've seen or heard of before. Aptly named Cruisin' for a Brusin' (I assume the guy responsible for misspelling what should be bruisin' will be made to walk the plank) this very unique race/vacation is made up of four stages, each based at a different port of call. The best part...there is a $20,000 prize purse including $10,000 in cash. What other cruise offers you a chance to cover the tab by Jungle Trekking, Swimming, Mountain Biking and Kayaking?

The 7 day Caribbean cruise/race departs from Miami, FL. Registration closes April 18th so move fast if you're interested. For more information visit their site at http://www.crusinforabrusin.com.

The first race I photographed was the Midnight Rush last year. Went ok though I really knew nothing about photography. The next race I shot was the North Georgia Adventure Race and the hard drive on my laptop failed and I lost 2/3 of my pics. My third attempt was the Swamp Stomp last month and my car got broken into and my laptop was stolen.

So far I'm averaging 33% as an aspiring amateur photojournalist.

This weekend marks my fourth attempt. I'm leaving in about 40 minutes to drive to Cullowhee, NC to shoot the Smoky Mountains Adventure Race and as of right now it's looking like rain mixed with rain compounded by soaking rain.

I've re-equipped and I've got all the gear I need...including my bitchin' new 12" PowerBook. Statistically I'm overdue for a run of good luck. Keep your fingers crossed. If I don't make it back in one piece with photos and all my gear I'm selling the site on eBay :-)