Checkpoint Zero/Inov-8 Team Blog
presented by MPGear.com

Yep, that's snow.

I asked an outfitter in Canada to send me a picture of the kayak Allen and I will be paddling in the Yukon River Quest so we can figure out how to outfit it for the race. Specifically, I wanted to know what the seats were like since we'll be in the saddle for about 460 miles. "Good gawd," I thought when opening the images (seat pictured at right). "There's snow in the boat!"

Thankfully, Marie at Up North Adventures assured me the snow is gone now. Allen and I really are looking forward to the trip up north to see how the gold rush adventurers traveled.

This slideshow prepared by the race organizers and this video on You Tube offer a glimpse of what the race will be like.

Allen and I will be paddling like fools from now until we leave for the Yukon in late June. And we'll be shopping for such necessities as a hood ornament for our kayak (perhaps this one if we can figure out to get the lights to work) and some waterproof speakers for my iPod so we can crank up some Skynyrd (at Allen's request) as we paddle through the Canadian wilderness.

Join us at the Hooch sometime during the next month!

- Paul C.

Oompf! Dat's a lot of cheese. Those were the word posted on a convenience store sign on the trip up to beautiful West Virginia. All we can say is Oompf! Dat's a lot of elevation - 42,000 feet no less. We rolled to the starting line of the 2008 Endorphin Fix knowing that the next 3 days would treat us to beautiful scenery, lots of climbing, and no doubt some pain and suffering.

They say getting there is half the fun, but I'm not so sure as we found out as we tried to get to the Planet Adventure Race. We had originally set up a team to race in Indiana, but three weeks before the race, I got a call that one teammate was out with a knee injury. That's fair enough. Luckily Hunter Orvis had just goined up with us and volunteered to take the spot. Then, less than a week before the race, we had another member realize that he had scheduled two races on top of each other. Luckily Hunter was able to make a few calls and find another last minute stand in, Mark Harris.

Sounds good right? Well, the day before the race I get another call and now our girl has the flu and probably won't make it. That's 3 for 3 on team mates now, but once again we got lucky and Marks teammate is able to fill in with less than 24 hours notice. So much for advanced planning.

So, with the issues of assembling a team behind us, we set out to see what damage the course would inflict on us. The course opened with a short bushwack to our bikes, where we picked them up and rode some great single track in the Hoosier national forest. By the end of the first section, we had about a minute lead on EMS. We later found out that they had been having bike issues, as usually they are very strong riders. Next up was a unique orienteering section, in which we were told that we could get in any order, but to throw in a twist, we could skip a single point. This was difficult to do on the fly, as we didn't have a long time to figure out any strategy. In the end, we chose a roughly CCW route, skipping one point early on. I don't know that our route was optimal, but it was good enough to be one of the faster times through the course.

Completing the rogain, we made our way to the paddle portion of the race. Now this was not any ordinary paddle by any means. The water level was was about 14 feet over normal, and the reservoir was backed up miles and miles. This meant the paddle wasn't on a river, but on a flood plain, floating through the forest and the trees, literally! We were lucky enough to make it through the section before dark, but many teams didn't, and several were forced to the bank to made camp for the night.

With a quick transition to the last trek section, we made our way and finally got onto our bikes for a 20 mile ride to the finish. We had going back and forth with GOALS for 3rd place at this point, knowing there was little chance of riding down EMS or Alpine Shop. As we made our way onto the first section of single track I heard a little yell but didn't think much of it. After proceeding down the trail a little further I finally realized that there was no one behind me. Turning around I quickly found the reason. That little yell was because of a fall, and that fall turned out to be a race ender. Somehow the rear derailleur had gotten forced into the wheel, which by some stroke of unfortunate luck resulted in the in the rear skewer breaking. I'd never seen that, and couldn't think of a fix. We decided to throw in the towel then and there.

It turned out to be a little disappointing result, but I am glad that we went. The Planet Adventure race was an excellent event, well run, and in a beautiful part of the country. It'll certainly be on my list to hit up next year.

This year, Henry and I decided to do more than simply support the team and volunteer at checkpoints while Paul is having fun in the woods. Henry, 7, wanted to have something of his own to do, something worthwhile, something to help people. So with a little research and a little direction from Jessica Koelsch of WeCeFAR, we found the Nike Reuse a Shoe Program. Nike accepts old athletic shoes at any of their retail stores. The shoes are sorted and recycled and used for playground, and court surfaces. Not only are the shoes being put to good use, but they are not filling up a landfill.

This has worked out well for us. When Paul signs up to do a race, we contact the RD and ask permission to collect shoes at registration and then simply find a Nike store near the race course to drop off the shoes. So far we have collected 35 pair at Swamp Stomp and 43 pair at CPO race. We will be in Blue Ridge this weekend. So look for Henry's homemade Nike ReUse a Shoe sign and bring us your old, tired worn out shoes.

-Lisa Cox

Most of the time, when an adventure racer talks about a "sprint" event, they think about 4-6 hour long races that make up the bread and butter of many racers schedule. Doing something as short as 1.5-2 hours, well, that's just a warm up, right?

This past Saturday I got a chance to do the inaugural Blankets Creek Dirty Duathlon which was held to raise money for the trail system at Blankets Creek. It consisted of a 5 mile run followed by a 12 mile bike ride, which makes it the kind of event that takes you to your anaerobic threshold, and you keep it there as long as you can while trying to puke your guts out or cramp up. I managed not to puke my guts up, but I didn't avoid the cramping. Thankfully, it was a short race and it was over in a flash and I didn't have to suffer for too long. When the dust settled, local racer James Wiant had destroyed the field and won by over 4 minutes.

The best part of the day however, was not finishing, it was the post race festivities. These included a clown bike race for a chance to win a real bike from one of the races main sponsors, Outspokin Bicycles. It was quite comical to watch grown men be beaten (by a wide margin I might add) by a child who's diminutive stature allowed expert speed and agility on the micro sized bike.

For all those that chose to stick around for the prize ceremony, I'm sure each was rewarded with something, as the event organizers were making reasons up to let people pick items out as they had to distribute the contents of two huge tables overflowing with donated items. This well organized and attended event showed just how much work race director Lisa Randall put into this event, and how much support local businesses give back to the community. Many thanks to all of them, as together we raised over $7500 for new trails this weekend!

The team was out on the course this weekend doing some final scouting. I snapped a few photos you can find here (but didn't want to give away too much). It's a beautiful and rugged race course. And, you'll be happy to know that we carried machetes and cleared away all the Rhododendron ;-)

For y'all coming from parts far away ... the southeastern chapter of the Rhododendron Society welcomes you. You may not want to join after this weekend.

Nice socks, Peter ...

- Paul

No, it was not a mandatory "special test" given by the Auburn Marines at the Amphibious Warrior Adventure Race last weekend. Instead, Ron Sanders, Rob Lord, and Jennifer Rinderle voluntarily swam the chilly waters to save a few miles of coasteering on foot. The last checkpoint was climbing up a tower that was in sight, so we took the plunge. Swimming sure gets you moving faster on foot once you get out of the water and it's a balmy 50 degrees outside! The swim paid off as we crossed the finish line 3rd overall and 1st in the coed division! (NOTE: Your doctor may advise against this behavior.)