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

• New England Race Registrations and Kudos to TrackMe360

  I'm feeling recharged after a quick visit to Rome with my wife's family.  Traveling gives me such a valuable perspective on things, and traveling to Rome is a huge dose of "perspective" since it's the city with probably the most accessible layers of history on the planet.  We've really only begun to explore Europe despite living here for almost a year.  I might jump at the chance to do that race in Turkey this summer, after all . . . even if I'd have to do some swim training to get comfortable with that element of the race.   Anyway, I've been preoccupied with traveling and working so this blog has been neglected.  I still have Patagonia posts to finish but this just isn't the proper time -- maybe I'll just never get around to those?    Now that I'm reconnecting with my "real world" responsibilities I'm glad to find registrations spiked for the Untamed New England race next month.  It's been a while since an event of mine hasn't filled up well in advance, so this crunch of teams in the final few weeks is both welcomed and nerve-wracking.  We hustled to scale back our expenses when it looked like we'd have a 12 team race back in March . . . and now we're double that March figure so it's been a seesaw.  I don't have much experience with the last-minute race registration scene, but I suspect we should hold registration open as late as we can to allow for as many participants to get in the race as we can handle. This is just part of establishing a new multi-day race in a new region.    There are certain economies of scale, though, so we need to be careful.  For example, if we need 1 UHaul to move gear bins for 25 teams . . . but 26 teams necessitates a 2nd UHaul, that makes the 26th team a very expensive addition to the race.  If, after allowing a 26th team, another 5 teams sign up then the cost of that 2nd UHaul is spread across those additional teams and the extra participants becomes more viable.  This is the juggling/guessing game we're engaged in right now and a lot depends on how the registration volume looks.  I suspect there will be a tapering off soon as we get too close to the race date for teams to make arrangements to get to New England and compete . . . we may reach this point as soon as next week, in which case we'll close the registration and just work with our fixed budget and teams.    Another salient point from the email inbox hell I returned to from Rome: GPS Tracking is the big thing right now for events.  I think I've seen 10 press releases or email blasts about GPS tracking for races in the past couple weeks; SleepMonsters announces one thing, then CheckpointZero announces another.  It's a cold war of "live tracking."  The funny fact is that all these folks are using the same solution: GPS data gathered by SPOTs sourced from TrackMe360.com.  Unless I'm mistaken, they all use data from the SPOT website.  I don't know that we'll do a press release or our own email blast (although, it's probably good marketing to do it . . . I just feel like people get so much useless AR crap in their inboxes that I err on the side of restraint), but we'll have live GPS tracking for Untamed New England leveraging the same online race infrastructure that we tested with our Swiss event.      My hat truly goes off to TrackMe360 for balancing all the organizations and getting these various parties on board; it's no easy task when SleepMonsters and CheckpointZero are like the Hatfields and McCoys in the world of adventure race media.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the home page for TrackMe360, you'll see both the Hatfield and McCoy logos which might be the first time they've occupied the same web space without an explosion!  I think if we tucked a USARA logo on there we might create a worm hole to a new dimension or something.  I've found the leadership behind TrackMe360 to be pleasant, respectful, and considerate to work with; I'm sure some diplomacy was involved in pulling it all together but there's no denying that making GPS data accessible to races (no matter what series, media affiliate, or whatever) is a good force in the sport.  Way to go!   Now, I'm not 100% sold on the effectiveness of the SPOT devices -- compared to the devices we made from scratch last year, the SPOT GPS Tracking offers only a couple data points every hour so it's not like you can track fine orienteering decisions.  I got spoiled by our home-made devices from last year that gave data by the minute -- but our devices were too expensive to enable for New England and it'll be good to have a 3rd party provider (TrackMe360) source the devices for us, it lets us focus on the racers and the course instead of the electronics in the waterproof casing.  I'm sure SPOT will improve the technology as they go, or Iridium may enter the market and take advantage of their stronger satellite infrastructure.  We're just starting to see the dawn of the affordable GPS tracking wave and soon having tracking with a race will be as normal as having race numbers and liability waivers.    OK, that's enough rambling from me for today.  It's back to the email inbox hell and "real work" for me . . .     Posted May 09 2008, 05:42 AM by gkillian with 4 comment(s)

• Inspiration and Motivation for Spring

  Man, Spring is in full effect here and it's been great to get out and exercise in short sleeves again!  After the Patagonia race, I've been easing off with my training -- the Swiss event was three very tough days, but besides that I've been going pretty easy (10-12 hours per week).  That's changing now that the weather is really cooperating, and I'm feeling sufficiently recharged after the long Patagonia experience.   Getting back into training also means I'll get back to the running track; it's by far my least favorite training day, but I also think it may be my most effective because the 5 sets of 5 x 200 meter sprints (5,000 m total) taxes my cardio and muscles in ways I don't get during a long bike/run/paddle.  I can feel my metabolism charged for a full day after one of these stints at the running track!  I dread doing the workout, though, and I rely on my IPod to keep me motivated and pushing hard through the intervals.  If you don't push hard on the sprints, you're not going to get the benefit   Speaking of IPod, I've been hearing more buzz around why you shouldn't wear headphones when running -- even at the track.  This little write-up touches on it, and there's links to other related stories at the bottom of the article.  I'm not preachy on this topic, myself, as I enjoy training with and without headphones and I don't see why people are all worked up about it.  When I was logging those long training sessions in advance of Patagonia, for example, I relied on my IPod and a steady flow of This American Life episodes to keep me going.  With 4 and 5 hours on the trails, having a bit of audio companionship was nice!     Posted May 01 2008, 05:31 AM by gkillian with no comments

• 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

• 3 Weeks to Untamed Switzerland

  We've got a bit more for you to salivate over for the Untamed Revolution in April; we've only got a few weeks to go so it's high time we ramped up the online angle to this 3 day event. Pictures, maps, check it out.   We never really opened registration for this event to the public . . . I sent an email around to some friends last year and there was sufficient response from them that we elected to try this new race concept out on them instead of just anybody.  So, we've got a good bunch of friends coming over from the US for this as well as some local Swiss friends in the mix.  There are benefits to trying this experimental race concept out on just friends, instead of paying "customers."  For instance, we can test some new GPS tracking technology as well as our website infrastructure for video updates from the field.  We also don't mind throwing our friends into mountains of snow if that's what the Spring Alps deliver!  We're lucky to have some willing guinea pigs!   Like I said, this whole thing is an experiment and we're not sure what to expect.  Will people really red-line with intensity for 3 days through the Alps, or will they stop and drink a beer and eat strudel on the summit of Rigi while the clock keeps ticking?  I suspect it will be a combination.  One of the other things I'm excited about with this event is I get to actually get out on the course; I'm going to hang with some of my friends on each day, since the CPs are all unmanned and the best way to stay close to the action is to be in the action, right? Let's see, another goodie I can toss out here is an elevation profile for one way (about the shortest way) for Stage 1 around the Mythens.  Note that elevation is in Meters.  For all those people who arrive at a race checkpoint, point their finger at me, and then say, "I'd like to see you do that" you can rest assured I'll be sweating with the rest of you at this event.  For all our events, in truth, I end up beating myself up way more than racers do in arriving at a workable course.  This Swiss event is no exception, but this time I get the pleasure of running the course too.  Nice!  It's probably time I fire up some Prodigy and go get a workout in . . .   Posted Mar 27 2008, 06:59 AM by gkillian with 1 comment(s)

• Snow and Bells (and Whistles)

  We were out in Schwyz this past weekend, and the snow was outrageous.  I got a bit of video from the town square in Schwyz (where the Swiss nation was born); this is also where the Untamed event in April will start from.  I hope to get some good video throughout the event. Here's a photo of us (I talked Jill into coming along for the snowfest):  I'll link to a few other pictures from the day if you're curious (these were all taken from on the course -- we hope to see significant snow melt between now and then!).   So, yeah, we're looking at snow shoes and goretex for the event -- it's barely more than 3 weeks away and the snow isn't going anywhere fast!  This is one of those places where it'll be sunny and warm at the base, but cold and brutal up on top -- or, I've seen it foggy and rainy at the base and clear and divine up high.  The weather is unpredictable so our group will have to just be prepared.   It's looking likely that we'll have some live tracking for the Untamed Switzerland event, too.  We have to nail down the details, and I'll have a bit more computer nerd-work to finish, but it will be a great test run of the new hardware and be really fun to see how it all comes together.  Ample distraction for those of you having to work April 18-20th!       Posted Mar 25 2008, 09:44 AM by gkillian with 3 comment(s)

• Publicity

  BreatheMag.ca highlights the Untamed New England race . . . pretty cool.  Long time participants in our events will get a kick out of the author credit to Johnny Utah.   Speaking of news, there was a near-factual article in the VA Pilot about our team in Patagonia last month.  I say "near factual" because there are quite a few amusing inaccuracies, but any publicity is good publicity, right?   Too busy to write more, maybe tomorrow . . .      Posted Mar 17 2008, 02:38 PM by gkillian with 1 comment(s)

• Untamed Virginia 2008 Opens Registration

  We had time to come down from the mountains and wire up the registration for Untamed VA 2008.  The details are on the Registration page.  We're excited to have the support of Blue Ridge Mountain Sports again and we'll have more announcements regarding this race later this Spring.   I'm really excited about this course as it uses lots of areas I've either trained or scouted in advance of some past races, going way back to Sproute 2006 and -gasp- earlier.  I actually got really lost a few times in some of these areas, I have to admit!  The time of year, September, is ideal to be out in the Virginia wilderness and it's going to be a fun time!     Posted Mar 13 2008, 07:44 AM by gkillian with no comments