Primal Quest
reporting presented by Inov-8

OK, admit I'm stirrin' the pot a bit here, but do this for me. Point your browser over to YouTube.com and enter these words in the search field:

primal quest nbc montana

The video you want is titled "Primal Quest 2008: NBC Montana Coverage 2." In my opinion, these two guys from Butte/Bozeman NBC affiliate KTVM have provided the best coverage of PQ Montana. Their names are Jeff Friedman, who is the station's sports director, and Jake Zivin, a reporter. I blogged about them here a few days ago.

Jeff and Jake's "Coverage 2" video is two minutes and 18 seconds long (2:18). Let the whole thing load, it may take a while on a slow connection.

One minute and 11 seconds into the video (1:11), Jason Quinn of team Bones is seen talking to a driver in a car about a piece of paper the driver is holding. The clip of Jason and the driver ends at one minute and 16 seconds (1:16).

Does that clip show team Bones asking directions from a driver, or does it show Jason Quinn of Bones giving directions to the driver? It's one of those things that make you go Hmm.

Labels: adventure race, bones, bozeman, directions, jake zivin, jason quinn, jeff friedman, nbc montana, primal quest

Montana businesses have stepped up to provide all the goods and services Primal Quest teams and their support crews have needed. Talk about great customer service! Case in point, I heard today from the support crew of team BaseCamp that one Bozeman retailer in particular, Roundhouse Ski & Sports Center, has been especially awesome.

Not just once, but twice, staff at Roundhouse dropped what they were doing to solve pressing problems for team BaseCamp. Earlier this week, the team needed a very specific spoke for a high-end mountain bike wheel. Roundhouse came through. And yesterday, BaseCamp needed a high-end shifter for another of its mountain bikes. Again, Roundhouse staff delivered.

We appreciate your extra effort to keep Primal Quest teams on the course! Thank you Roundhouse!

Labels: adventure race, basecamp, bozeman, customer service, montana, primal quest, roundhouse ski and sports center, shifter, spoke

As adventure racing teams competing in Primal Quest Montana arrive at Transition Area 11, the East Gallatin Recreation Area in Bozeman, they're likely to see this flock of geese. The group had at least four goslings I could see. Springtime in the Rockies sure is pretty!

Labels: adventure race, bozeman, east gallatin recreation area, montana, primal quest

Here's a shot of team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure on Friday as they approached TA 11 in Bozeman, Montana. The team spent the night high on the ridge of Montana's Bridger Range, gaining and losing elevation by hundreds of feet, over and over again.

Rick Baraff, who raced in Primal Quest Utah two years ago with team Silly Rabbits, is on the television camera crew here in Montana. Rick made the entire Bridger Ridge trek with Merrell/Zanfell Adventure. "It's pretty sketchy up there," Rick said. Translation: One false step on the wrong spot during this sky-high trek, and you could find yourself a thousand feet lower than you were when you took that false step.

Labels: adventure race, bozeman, bridger range, merrell, montana, primal quest, rick baraff, zanfel

If you land in a town completely green and have questions, there are always two places with people who know the answers, or at least they know where to send you to get the answers. The first is the public library. The second is a mom-and-pop book store. When I hit Bozeman, I was looking for both, and found Llama Llama Books on Main Street. I parked and went in. After I got the info I needed -- tips on where to find wireless Internet access -- I walked back out to my car, and guess what I saw directly across the street? The Bozeman Public Library. What a great town. I'll never be lost for long here!

Labels: bozeman, llama llama books, montana, primal quest