Team Rookie Rampage
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Team Rookie Rampage is a collaboration between Checkpoint Zero and Mountains Plus. We're out to prove that adventure racing is not just for self-loathing sadists. With a little willpower, and the right gear (thanks Erik), anyone can do it. We hope you'll follow along as our handpicked team of newbies crawls off the couch and onto the race course. They'll be blogging about their experiences right here, all season long.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Bitton May Finally Make the Pages of National Geographic

Great news! Little old me, Mike Bitton, life-long photographer of all things adventurous, may finally make the pages of National Geographic magazine! But it's not my photos they're after. It's my stressed-out mug.

What?

Pittsburgh-based documentary photographer Lynn Johnson is working on a story about stress. She's already picked some families to follow through stress-filled days. As a sidebar, she wants to do a story about people who choose to do stressful things ON PURPOSE. She wants to explore the concept of people engaging in things that are tough to do as some twisted sort of relaxation. She found the right sport to tell her story!

She got the number of Gordon Wright of Outside PR in San Francisco (and former Primal Quest Media director), and he gave her my number. Gordon told Lynn to ask me about Rookie Rampage, the Portland-based, all-newbie adventure racing team. Doing stressful things when you're likely lousy at them has got to be DOUBLY stressful, right?

Lynn and I talked for about 10 minutes. As our conversation progressed, she was more and more sure she wanted to meet the team, and maybe even tag along on a training session. We even set a date during an upcoming West Coast trip she already had planned. So on Sunday, Nov. 11, Lynn Johnson is going to be here, in Portland, to hang with Rookie Rampage!

Obviously there's no guarantee we'll make the book, but how cool would that be? Adventure racers in National Geographic! And one of them would be ME! Yippee!

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