The G-Rant : Grant's Rants on Adventure Racing

April 2008 - Posts

• Tidewater Traverse 2005 Course Map

  Got an email from a friend about an old TT course from 2005; nostalgia took over and I quickly put this into a live map as an overview of the course.  I've not messed around with Microsoft's Live Maps before but I hope the "Share" feature works and the link above works . . . here it is if you want the whole URL mess:   http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=37.355422~-76.826019&style=r&lvl=11&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&cid=C326822CD984C1FE!103&encType=1   That 2005 race really stands out as a turning point in my memory; it was point-to-point and such a big scale compared to what we'd organized prior to then.  This was the first event of it's kind in the region, at 12-hours, and started me down the thinking "big" road.  It really was a well put together course; like a Greek tragedy, however, one CP was misplaced in YRSP by 400 meters and it wreaked havoc with the final standings.  The guys from Walter, Donny, and the Dude scrambled into first place and I think they've been riding that wave of adventure racing jubiliation ever since!   After that race, we started having our course testers verify the course booklet UTMs with GPS coordinates and we've never had an off CP since (this was the only one in our history!) . . . but it still scars my memory of this event.  Hard lessons learned!         Posted Apr 29 2008, 03:37 AM by gkillian with 1 comment(s)

• Race Stage 2 Photos

  We now have all the pictures from both Stage 1 and Stage 2 available in the Untamed Adventure Media area.  Use "Rev1" as the Gallery Code for Stage 1, and "Rev2" as the Gallery Code for Stage 2.  With the Swiss event completed we're finally starting to catch up!   A few of the better Stage 2 pics . . .     Posted Apr 28 2008, 03:05 AM by gkillian with no comments

• Tidewater Traverse on the Radar

  Back in the days of organizing Hampton Roads Adventure races, I always loved the Tidewater Traverse.  It was an event in my backyard, the Tidewater peninsula, and the options for biking, paddling, and orienteering were always so fun to pick and choose from.  Mike and Pam have had the helm of HRAdventure for a year now and they're doing a great job and . . . with June just around the corner . . . it means it's time for another Tidewater Traverse race.  It's another night race this year, starting at 9 PM, and they've added an awesome ropes course to the equation so this TT could be the best ever!  I know registration is now open (visit their web page for full details) and spots are filling up quickly so sign up your team and have at it!   I had visions of racing the TT myself this year, but I doubt my schedule will allow it.  Never say never, and I will be in VA for some time this summer working on the Untamed VA event and trying to collect as many ticks as possible, but chances are slim that I can manage the New England race in mid-June and compete in the Tidewater Traverse all in the same month.  It looks like there will be a Team Untamed Adventure presence at the TT, regardless, as Sherry, Joel, and Jason will put on the mocha jerseys and represent even in my absence.       Posted Apr 25 2008, 09:19 AM by gkillian with no comments

• Wild Turkey this Summer

  In catching up on emails, I found an entertaining one from the Turkish team that was down in Patagonia with us.  They're organizing a race of their own this Summer (end of July or early August).  3 days long and teams of two.  Their website is www.touaregturk.net but it's all Turkish so good luck with that.  It sounds like I can wiggle free race entries for an American team or two, including accommodation and meals.  Just get your butt to Turkey!  According to the email, the race is focussed around "Wild Turkey and the Black Sea region" and will include mtn biking, trekking, sea kayaking, ropes, mule riding, and other surprises.  I don't think he knows that "Wild Turkey" in America has a slightly nuanced meaning -- or maybe he means exactly that.  The Turkish team was a hoot in South America so you never know.   I doubt I can race this event, but I've always wanted to visit Turkey; friends of mine visited years ago and were offered camels in exchange for their blond female companions, so I'm thinking Sherry could be a very valuable commodity over there!       Posted Apr 25 2008, 07:24 AM by gkillian with no comments

• Untamed Switzerland

  The Untamed Revolution in Switzerland has officially wrapped-up; we hope everyone is recovered (or at least recovering) and back home by now.  I, for one, am looking forward to getting some miles on the bike and kayak after all those days on my feet!  We did have an amazing 3 days of scenery, though!  We have several hundred photos to go over for the 2nd and 3rd stages, but we have the photos from the 1st stage posted in our Media area (link is www.UntamedAdventure.com/Media.aspx).  You need to enter "Rev1" as the Code to enter the Photo Gallery for the first stage in Switzerland.  Page 1 may display blank for you (I'm not sure why), but all the pics are on pages 2 through 14 and some are fantastic, including . . .     We've watermarked the images to ensure the event gets credit if people start plucking from the images for their own uses  . . . but if you want a high-res or non-watermarked version just drop me an email and I'll send it along.  I'm pretty sure we'll have a photo calendar for 2009 based on these photos!   I've gotten a few questions about a 2nd edition of the Untamed Revolution and here is some of our thinking right now . . . -The event was really fun; just an amazing 3 days of physical challenge through gorgeous territory.  It'd be a shame not to organize another installment. -We should target Spring Break 2009 week for the event (is it April 9, 10, & 11?), maybe going Thurs, Fri, Sat instead of Fri, Sat, Sun.  This is a couple weeks earlier than this year and would mean more snow up high.  Oh boooy. -We need to emphasize the need for snowshoes, since every participant who didn't bring their own snowshoes ended up renting them after the first day.  The event is really trekking, orienteering, and snowshoeing, while we presented it as just trekking/orienteering this first go around. -We need to ensure participants are competent navigators and have some endurance background, or else they're in for a world of hurt and could be a nightmare for us; we should have potential participants complete a basic application process to ensure we have only qualified participants.  We can't open this sort of thing up to novices. -We might change the name to just Untamed Switzerland to remain consistent with our other events.  Untamed Revolution is a fun name, however, and much better than "Grant's mountain orienteering experiment". -Part of what made this event really neat was the ability for friends/family of participants to meet up with the participants along the route.  Val's family, for example, met her at both summits and even hiked part of the ridge on day 2 with her.  -We'll probably charge a fee of a couple hundred $ to offset our hotel and recon expenses; this time was free but we ended up investing a lot of our own coin into the operation and it's not something we'd want to do over and over again. -I think we'll get glowing reviews from every participant from the 2008 edition; those personal testimonials will be good to promote the event down the road. -I don't know how much we'll change the course from this year; on the one hand, these mountains were great choices and keeping it consistent for a second year allows us to compare "course records" between previous years etc.  There are really cool options in Ticino or the Glarner Alps (my favorite mountains for alpine solitude) if we want to move the hub to a different region of Switzerland.  We've also got a connection to do some caving which could be a fun twist to include.  Luzern, though, sure has a lot to offer. -As far as adventure travel goes, we could run a stripped down version of these 3 stages any time of year and it would be a slam dunk.  It's just a question of whether to try and market it to a more general audience and if I want to invest the time.  My experience is that being a computer nerd pays a lot better than a tour guide, but it might be fun to run a few tours each year.   I have some hilarious stories and videos to share, but that will have to wait while I dig out from under the emails and other work I've put on the back-burner this last week or so.  I hope to have the other stage photos online in the next few days and will update this blog when it happens.   In the meantime, if you have any thoughts on the issue of a 2009 Swiss event or anything else, please let me know.        Posted Apr 25 2008, 02:55 AM by gkillian with no comments

• Update from the Swiss stages

  It's been a whirlwind here for this Swiss event; so many stunning photos (check some links from the News section on the main page, or the specific galleries for the two stages so far: Gallery for Mythens or the Gallery for Rigi).  We've got hundreds of photos so these galleries are just a sampling so far . . . much more to come, along with videos too.   Tom and Deb O'Donnell have built a sizable lead going into the final stage today.  We'll post updates to the main News section and, hopefully, this blog as soon as things conclude tonight but there will be celebrating to do first.  The weather is looking fabulous for this 3rd stage up and down the mighty Mt. Pilatus and all teams have either rented or brought their own snowshoes since the snow is still waist high or more in the upper mountain valleys.   You should really view some of the photos if you have time: I've been working my tail off with that camera and there are some good ones!     Posted Apr 20 2008, 12:37 AM by gkillian with no comments

• Untamed Revolution: Switzerland LIVE!

  We've got the live course maps online and you can see the checkpoints now; the link is http://www.UntamedAdventure.com/RevCourse.aspx.  We've been warned of a spotty internet connection at the host hotel in Luzern, so we'll see how it goes with updating pictures, commentary, etc but the map should give you an idea for the stages and -- once the stages start -- you'll be able to track the teams as they progress.   We're treating this as an experiment in terms of technology so we'll see how it all works out . . . Posted Apr 17 2008, 12:33 AM by gkillian with no comments

• Swiss Profiles

  I've been too busy to do much on this blog (again).  With our Swiss event going off in a couple days, it's no surprise.  If you want to look over the elevation profiles for the three days of Alpine stage racing we've got planned, check out our Stage Details page and click on the "Stage Profile" links for each day.  That Pilatus one shows a sheer 600 meter drop that is actually a cable car from the tippy top of the mountain.  Otherwise, everything else will be covered on foot by the participants (but they will have freedom of route choice so their % grade might be less or more aggressive). I think it's going to be a challenging 3 days; each one of these stages on their own is a good day of training for me, so combining 3 of them back-to-back-to-back will make things . . . interesting.       Posted Apr 14 2008, 03:34 PM by gkillian with no comments

• All Work And No Play

  It's been a lot of work lately . . . but it will make the play even more fun when the outcome is some web elements such as: -Dynamic photo gallery (we'll be able to automagically update this after each stage of the Untamed Revolution event): http://www.untamedadventure.com/revgallery.aspx -Live mapping (assuming the units ever make it here . . . they're currently in lost-luggage limbo so this test data is just from a northern California paddle and run): http://www.untamedadventure.com/concept.aspx I *hope* to have time to integrate it all together into a unified spectator experience for the Swiss event but with every day jam-packed between now and then it may just be a few links from the main Revolution page.  Let's see, we've got some very exciting sponsor news coming around the bend but there is more work to be done before that can be announced. Posted Apr 08 2008, 01:43 AM by gkillian with no comments