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

“Without adventure, civilization is in full decay.” - Alfred North Whitehead

August 2008 - Posts

  • 6 Things To Like About the Zurich Bike Commute

    I have never commuted by bike before, not because I didn't want to, but because I'd be putting myself in harms way on the Virginia and Maryland roads.  If you know Hampton Roads, imagine biking down Jefferson Blvd or some other 4-lane road without a hint of a bike lane and a automobile culture that considers bicyclists as obstructions.

     

    With that said, here are the 6 things I like most about my bike commute in Zurich:

     

    1. -4 feet wide bike lanes -- well-marked and on both sides of the road
    2. -I can get through the city faster than an automobile.  They do have a few intersections that cause major back-ups for car drivers, but I can cruise by on my 2 wheels.
    3. -Trail systems, ridges, and mountains (small mountains . . . not the Matterhorn or anything) surrounding the city
    4. -A culture of respect for bicyclists; cars regularly pause at crosswalks and wave the bikers and pedestrians across.  If I get too used to this I'll be killed if we ever move back to the US!
    5. -My employer has special areas for storing and locking your bike, and very nice shower and locker room facilities
    6. -I'm sure you saw this coming: I can get some exercise going to/from work instead of sitting on my butt some more.  As I wrote in my retrospective on training for Patagonia, finding ways to integrate a more "active" existence into your regular day-to-day life is a great way to condition yourself for the rigors of a long race.  I consider anything that stops me from sitting down, even -gasp- yard work or running errands, to be a step in the right direction in terms of fitness.  Biking to work is perfect in this regard.

     

    So that's 6 positive things that come to mind . . . I have to mention 2 negatives . . .

     

    1. -After having a beer or two after work on a Friday, biking home can be more challenging.  Lucky for me, I don't work with the volunteers from 2008 Untamed New England Adventure Race (you know who you are guys!) . . . I'm sure my beer consumption, and poker playing, would spike!
    2. -It can be demoralizing (or, maybe I should say "inspiring") when somebody bikes passed you with their kid on their back.  Maybe they're on a road bike and you're on a fat-tire ride, but it definitely brings a smile to my face as I work to catch the bike-and-baby commuter so I can draft from them for a bit.  Maybe it's time for me to invest in a road bike . . .

     

     

  • An O-Map for the end of Summer

     I think this is the orienteering map with the highest elevation in Europe . . . pretty cool . . . and a perfect work distraction on one of these final Fridays in Summer:

     

     

     

     

  • Getting things done with a "real" job

    I've been really busy of late; I started a "real" job a month ago and so I have an actual office to go to 5 days a week!  It's been 2 or 3 years since that was the case, so it's quite an adjustment.  The steady income, however, is pretty darn nice so I'm not really complaining.  I'm just having to shift around how I get things done. 

     

    I'm doing my best to integrate training time into the job and it's going really well so far.  The Swiss are great about providing shower facilities and recognizing the value of giving staff time to exercise in the day.  It's working out really well.  I can bike into work more quickly than I could commute by train; my record is about 30 minutes from door to door.  There are great options for extending the morning ride, with trails and climbs at the beginning and end of my commute, so I can be flexible based on my schedule, the weather, how I'm feeling, etc.  The same goes for the ride home, too, so at a minimum I get 60-90 minutes of riding in each day.  Over lunch, I go for a run on the copious trail system on Zurich's West end

     

    A minor setback for me: I strained my groin muscle playing soccer (football as they call it here) over lunch a few weeks back and that's been keeping my lunch-time activity to around 45 minutes or less.  I'm slowly healing, though, and it won't be long before I can maybe log a 90 run over lunch each day.  I haven't played soccer in many years and it was fun to get out again -- I was just over zealous with my return, and, of course, tweaked a muscle in the process. 

     

    Maybe I'm just getting old?  A real 5-day a week job . . . a muscle strain while running around at lunch . . . what's next? 

     

     

  • Untamed Switzerland 2009

    I'm in talks with a few towns about hosting Untamed Switzerland 2009 and there is a leader emerging . . . I can't say for sure, but they're being very helpful in letting us put together an "economy" and a "luxury" package for our participants to choose from.  "Economy" will mean staying in dorms or facilities for sport teams (like the Swiss cross country ski team, for example); "Luxury" would be a bed and breakfast with private bath, etc.  Ultimately, we will have to rename "economy" and "luxury" to something less polarizing, but I'm all for "Luxury" after a full day of taking on a stage like this one from the 2008 event:

    Untamed Switzerland 2008 Stage 3 

     

    One thing is for certain, people love the concept (Swiss and non-Swiss alike) and if we can get an affordable plan together we'll build on the success from 2008 and have a blast in the process! 

     

     

  • Thursday Aug 7, 7 PM, at the Richmond Blue Ridge Mtn Sports

    From the BRMS Chesterfield (Richmond) webpage:

    From Patagonia to the VA Piedmont: Adventure Racing with Untamed Adventure Slide Show
    Join us for an evening of adventure scenes and stories. The slideshow will get you amped for the epic "Untamed VA Adventure Race".
    Coming to Richmond, VA the weekend of September 12th 2008, test yourself through 100+ miles of paddling, biking, running, orienteering, ropes, riverboarding and more! We have two races courses for you to choose from: if the 30-hour course is too much for you to tackle . . . try our 4-hour fun and beginner-friendly "Dash" course and compete in parallel with our Pro course teams for their final 4 hours of racing.

    The Slide show will be held @ 7pm @ the Chesterfield Towne Center location only!

     

    Sherry is going to be leading the show and I'm sure it will be entertaining so check it out if you're in Richmond tonight.

     

    In other news, less than a month until I hit Virginia soil again for Untamed VA 2008.  The 30-hour race has around 5 team spots left, so don't wait until too late if you're counting on racing the 30-hour event.  The 4-hour Dash course has plenty of space, still.

     

     

  • Monday Aug 4, 7:30 PM, at the Fairfax REI

    Just posting a reminder that this Monday at 7:30 PM, at the Fairfax REI, Tom and Deb O'Donnell (the Dynamo O'Donnells!) will be doing a presentation on their Untamed Switzerland experience and relating it to the upcoming Untamed Virginia adventure race.  I know the photo set Deb and Tom will share is amazing, and they're a very fun couple so I encourage you to make the trip and get inspired!

     

    For a more immediate bit of inspiration, here is Jill and I scoping out some options for a future Untamed Switzerland . . .
    Scouting Untamed Switzerland 2009

  • Seat Post Carrier Options (version 2)

    We pruned some old content from the Untamed Adventure website and, unfortunately, one of the casualties was my info about the seat post carrier I use and a buddy asked about it so let me post this here, on a  more durable server location, for the sake of posterity . . . .

     


    These pics from my Flickr site show the bike rack in action.  I use a Swiss made carrier but you can buy them in the US (http://www.thorusa.com/pletscher.htm), I think I have the  "System EasyFix" Master from Pletscher, or one of their other heavier duty models  -- it works well for my particular 29r bike and I can put a really heavy pack on there.  They have lighter ones you could experiment with, too.

     


    I know Sherry went to her local bike shop, with her loaded backpack, and worked with them on a specific rack and combination that would suit her bike frame and size.  If you've got a good shop nearby it'd be worth a visit.



    In a longer race, shifting the weight off my back and onto the bike rack is a nice change and -- if necessary -- you can put a teammate's pack on their or something else if you end up needing to bike and haul additional gear.  It's nice to have options when the race is long and the gear is copious!

     

     

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