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

Merrell recently launched a new AR-focused shoe called the Overdrive. It was designed with the help of the pro racers of team Merrell-Wigwam and it shows.

I'm not even going to attempt to give you an in depth review given that I don't know squat about feet or shoes. What I will say is that I've been wearing them for about 6 weeks and I'm still wearing them.

The shoe has specific features and attributes that are clearly designed with the adventure racer in mind; they're light, dry quickly, have a slot in the sole for gaiters, come equipped with Merrell's Quick-Cinch Lace System and they even look pretty cool.

The only issue I've run into so far is that one of the Quick-Cinch laces seems to loosen over time as I walk around. I don't know if that's a problem with Merrell's specific hardware, an errant flaw in this particular one or a common problem with any and all quick draw style kevlar laces. Merrell offers a movie on how to dissassemble the Quick-Cinch which I assume is for the purpose of addressing this very issue so I don't view it as a significant problem. Regardless, you always have the option of standard laces which are included in the box with the shoes.

I'll be beating the crap out of my Overdrive's at Primal Quest next week and I'll report back here on how they perform.

Ya, it's Kaput. I apologize to all the RDs out there that have tried in vain to take advantage of it. It simply needs more work than I have time to put in right now. It will resurface after I am able to spend the time needed to implement it properly. That will be later this summer after Primal Quest or possibly not until fall with a focus on the 2007 season.

In an effort to accomodate as many racers as possible, Wisconsin Adventure racing has opened the upcoming Driftless Zone Adventure Race to 3-person teams (mixed or same sex) and added a 4-person same sex category. Details at wisconsinadventureracing.com.

It doesn't matter if you know what XML is or not. Trust me...you want some.

If you're using Yahoo, Google, AOL, Netvibes or any of the other myriad homepage type 'thingies' out there these days...or if you're using a desktop newsreader or blog aggregator...you'll be happy to hear that we've updated our Rss/XML page with links to the new crop of blogs that have popped up around here lately.

All you've got to do is click the button for your 'thingy' of choice and you're done. If you don't see a link for your 'thingy' then you might consider grabbing the Raw XML link and then checking to see about adding it the hard way (in most cases it's stupid easy).

Ya, I don't know...'thingy' just popped into my head.

The point is there are an ever increasing number of apps and gadgets out there that can consume content in raw XML format and display it all pretty. For instance I'm reading all these blogs on my new Moto Q lately.

It's kinda last minute, but it looks we're going to be able to bring you coverage of the winter edition of the Patagonia Expedition Race which kicks off on the 21st. In years past this event has yielded some of the most spectacular photography to grace our pages. Jose Jimenez will be reporting from Punta Arenas, Chile starting tomorrow.

So the site's been kinda slow to load the homepage the last week or so. I'm sure you've noticed.

The problem was the means by which we were syndicating links to all the new blogs. I've re-written that bit and now it SCREAMS. Sorry for the invonvenience.

You may return to reading AR news instead of working :-)

They took first, Snickers-Marathon nabbed second and Toccoa rounded out the top three. Lee and Brenda Simril each took first in their respective solo divisions (men's and women's).

The was a bit of wrinkle at the finish. ThoughtProcess.net/Alpine Shop was actually the second team to finish the race, but they were DQ'd after it was determined that they'd taken a prohibited route. No information if this was intentional or just a mistake. I would assume the latter.

As of 9pm there were 9 teams on the flat water section paddling towards the last leg of the race...a Rogaine that should take the faster teams about 2-3 hours. That puts the winning team at the Finish near midnight. The moon and stars are out and with no sun the temperature has dropped offering some well earned relief from the heat.

20 teams in 3 divisions (solo, 3-person and 4-person) left the start on foot this morning at 8am. Snickers-Marathon was the first into CP2/TA1 at 9:59am followed by three solo racers; Jim Farmer, Lee Simril and Brenda Simril. Hot on their heels were ThoughtProcess.net/Apline Shop and Enduraventure who racing just one week after a 3rd place finish at the Michigan Coast to Coast. Teams will bike approximately 2 hours from CP2/TA1 to the Hiwassee river where they will then transition to a white water paddle under a scorching sun. I suspect more than a few racers will opt for a quick dip to cool off. Check back later this afternoon and again the evening for updates from HQ.

Army of Zero operator Mike Bitton has done it again. He's just uploaded a gallery of spectacular photos from the recent Wicked Urban Sprint that went down this past Sunday in Portland Oregon.

While competing in the Wicked Urban adventure race June 4 in Portland, Ore., the four-person co-ed team of Mergeo.com was detained and nearly arrested by authorities.

According to team members, during the in-line skate/scooter/kick bike section of the race, their chosen path was blocked by a moving freight train. The train soon came to a stop and did not move for 20 minutes.

At the time of the delay, Mergeo was in second place in the four-person co-ed category behind DART-nuun. Mergeo's sense of urgency led to a bad decision -- the team climbed over the steps at the end of one of the rail cars so it could continue racing. Waiting for them on the other side was a police officer.

Mergeo was detained by the officer, who was so upset by the incident she wanted to arrest them, according to team members. In the end, the team was not arrested. Citations for the infraction were considered, but not written.

Army of Zero shooter Mike Bitton had uploaded a gallery of gorgeous shots from the recent Trioba Sprint in Ellensburg, WA. Thanks Mike.

They put on quite a performance taking the top slot in about 86 hours. See the leaderboard, photos, shouts of encouragement from fans and full race blog at checkpointtracker.com.

You are reading the first post to the Yak Blog sent by email from Yak's new Motorola Q Smartphone.

Why do you care? Because Verizon offers great service in the vicinity of the Primal Quest course. That means more frequent updates during the race ;-)