Oh Brothers...

Last weekend I scooted up the Brother Mountains (South Peak) on the Olympic Peninsula with Glenn and Mac . It could have been the hottest day in the Pacific Northwest in 2008 as far as I am concerned, wow it was a scorcher. We started the day off early in Seattle and headed down to Tacoma to pick up Glenn. Down to Olympia and up 101 just past Hoodsport to FS 25 where we drove to the Lena Lake trail head.

The First three miles to Lena Lake flew by as we carried a pretty brisk pace, running the flats and fast hiking the climbs...lots of climbing the entire time. We were surrounded by old growth forest and different shades of green coming off of everything. When you adventure out in the Olympic Peninsula you enter the forest, and you know it. This place is truly amazing.

After Lena Lake we kept moving along on the Brothers Trail until the first split in the creek that it follows on and off. We passed many campers and we got a kick out of Glenn making sure that all the hungover campers were woken up with his rowdy stories and occasional clapping. Once we headed West the trail dissipates and starts to really work its way up. We entered an area that had been burnt out from a fire last year and the trail ends and route finding begins. Not very difficult, we jumped in a dry creek bed and followed that up until the top becomes visible.

Somebody turned the heat up on us and I started to sweat profusely. Just in time to run into some snow melt and an underground spring that filled our waterhole on the way up and the way down. After that it was heads down one foot in front of the next on our way up. We reached the peak at around 3pm and soaked in the views for a while. There was a bit of haze in the air but I was still able to make out Rainier and Downtown Seattle from the top. As well we started filling our to do list with more peaks...Constance, Ellanor, Jupiter, Washington, Bretherton (sp?)

The slog back to the car was pretty uneventful, except for the refreshing swim in Lena Lake and a small break for our legs. We spent most of our time talking about what we were going to eat on our way home...we settled for the double T in Hoodsport at some bar with a human size picture of a cheeseburger on the outside...it was scrumptious!

Successful trip, looking forward to many more in the area.

Mid August...down time

If you haven't noticed I've been taking some time off. I figure what better way to blog time off than not blog.?.? Anyways there is still a lot going on with the team and its members, as well as friends of DART-nuun. What do you do with your down time??? Here's a picture of my friend chugging syrup in his downtime...ever seen super troopers?






The team just registered for the Upstate Adventure Race. That will be one day after my birthday and a good way to celebrate. Here are the specs:

• Upstate of South Carolina
• October 25th, 2008
• 30 Hours
• 60 Teams
• 100 Miles
• Trekking, Biking, Paddling, Orienteering

It is the last race in the checkpoint tracker series and we are pumped about racing. I've never been to South Carolina and am looking forward to racing it with Glenn and Mari...kick ass.

Got a message today from DARTer Matt Hart, who just finished running the first leg of the Appalachain trail with Karl Meltzer who is attempting the speed record...check out the details of the herculean endeavor HERE. Matt ran with Karl through the state of Maine and mentioned that he should have good weather to get him over Mt. Washington (nastiest place weather wise in the US) and then it will be off to the races after the White Mountains. Exciting stuff...

Just read an awesome report on Gary's blog about crushing his first 100 miler...very impressive to say the least.

Over and out.

AR News

Trioba has been reseructed and we are excited about bringing it back. Look for races in the Pacific Northwest in 2009...again more on this later.

DART-nuun's captain Cyril Jay-Rayon interviewed and highlighted in the Gregory blog(Click Here) about DART's adventures at Primal Quest.

Mikey Bitton's coverage of the Mountain X Race was great and it was a fun event to follow.

Saw this sad article on Gary's blog about a random death in a race in canada...bad news.

Gorge Games 2008

The Gorge Games have come and gone and they lived up to the hype and expectations. DART-nuun took home the victory in a well fought battle between Mergeo, Yoga Slackers and Wedali was up there too. The race was in a rogaine fashion and yielded a spider web of of racers heading in all directions at all times.

The first leg of the race was the paddle section, which was canceled due to high winds and 6 foot standing waves out in the mighty columbia river. Thankfully the race director, Shane Gibson, had a back up plan. We were able to paddle ~2.5K loops near the shore to an Island and back. Though this was not very scenic, after the first 4 loops, it was still exciting in that you got to see your competition and gage your pace against others. We were able to lap the field and put in 12 laps, each worth 200 points.

The next leg started at 9pm and was a 3 hour leg on our bikes. We would climb nearly 4000 feet up to the next TA and we decided to try and clean the course. We knew this would be tough but wanted to go for it. After cleaning the course we ended up in the TA with 30 seconds before penalties would be assessed. Oddly enough we were the second team in the TA behind Mergeo, who had mis-interpreted the rules and thought they had to be in by 11:30. We all remember Shane specifically stating that the end for each section was the beginning of the next. This seemed to be a point of contention for Mergeo as it affected their decisions on course as to what CPs they could get. It seemed like ever team but DART-nuun and Mergeo would have penalties, not sure it played out that way. Oh well, on to the trek and 10 hours of foot travel.

Glenn navigated while on foot, Mari navigated the paddling and I navigated the biking sections, and after warming up on CP 181 Glenn was dead on. We crossed paths with Mergeo shortly after we headed out, doing the same clockwise loop that we had designed, and got spun around at 1:30am looking for CP181. We abandoned ship and moved on deciding we had wasted an hour looking for and not finding 181. As the trek moved on we made good time and ran all downhills and flats and moved briskly on the uphills. We had a decision to make with 4 CP's left and 1.5 hours until the cut off. Do we go back to 181 (worth 181 points) or get 3 closer and easier checkpoints whose value add up to less than 181. We went for the big one and Glenn nailed it with enough time for us to round up the remaining CP's, clear the course and get back in time to prepare for the final bike.

The final bike course had us heading up Mt. Defiance (again, we did it in the trek too) and working hard until the end. There were far too many CP's to clear this course but we biked and got check points until 4:55pm and we able to best the field.

Overall we loved the terrain and good use of it. I've spent some good time in Post Canyon where the race was but had not seen a lot of where we raced. We spent a lot of time travelling near or on trails we had been on for different sections, but were still kept on our toes (and tows) by having to constantly navigate and pay attention. Nice race everyone!

Here's my favorite part of the race...the finish line and party! Thanks for the picture Colin Ness of Peak Physique.

Results top 5 points for Co-Ed Teams of 4:

DART-nuun: 12,452
Mergeo: 11,324
Yoga Slackers: 10,963
WEDALI: 9286
Our Angel Nicole: 7,693


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Lots going on right now with the Mountain X Race in France and a Trioba news release out, more on this later.

Seegs heads to Badwater

Jen Segger, Dart-nuun team mate and good friend, is currently 14 hours into her run at badwater...135 miles of pure madness, or in her eyes pure running pleasure. Jen stopped in on her way down South and was in great spirits and seemed very ready to run her heart out.

I honestly did not know much about badwater until recently...135 miles of running on the pavement from the lowest point on North America to Mt Whitney, some of the runners continue up the 14,000 foo peak. It gets so hot that the runners shoe soles melt off. Urban myth, I dont think so.

The VanGorder household are sending all our good vibes and cool thoughts to Jen and her attempt at crushing badwater...go Seegs go!

Seegs getting ready for war at the start line...

Cream Puff 2008

Well the cream puff has come and gone, and I completed my first goal of surviving the race and not falling victim to heat exhaustion and also rode hard. The results were emailed out and I finished in 12:13 and placed 36th.



Now for the details... I came out of the gates blazing and was in a chase pack of 6 riders that followed the top 10 riders up the first 4000 foot climb over 12 miles. I swapped bottles at the aid station and blazed on through. I passed 4 riders on the next 20 miles of single track and got passed by 1 single speed rider. We are talking fast and furious single track...I hugged behind the single speeder, Chris, for the remainder of the single track and moved faster than I would have if he was not there. I enjoyed his company for most of the climb and we talked about FSA and whether or not we were going to drop the Uber tech stump on the second lap (we both walked it the first time and subsequntly the second time as well).

The second big climb went well until my tubeless front tire failed when I got a slash from a sharp rock or glass. 3 minutes later I was covered in Slime and riding with a tube in the front. I blasted through the second, third and fourth aid stations. After mile 65 some one turned up the heat while I was on the third climb. I kicked it down a notch and began to think about conserving a little and not blowing up. At the 6th aid station there was a tub of cold water directly from the near by creek, I dunked the head and enjoyed some shade.

After mile 80 there was one more monster climb left. This bad boy was in the heat of the day and had lots of sun exposure. I told myself that if I saw a good looking piece of shade I would take advantage and lay down for a small rest. There it was, staring me in the face as if I was in day 4 of an adventure race. I set the alarm on my watch and laid down for a nappy nap. 25 minutes laterI was far from fresh, but ready to knock the climb out. The Alpine trail took me down into the finish line where Scott Taylor gave me my finisher hat and officially classified me as a bad ass.

This race is a class act. The best run aid stations and support personell that I have ever been a part of. The entire race I carried very minimal supplies and ate like a king. If you have not done this race then put it on your list...I will be back.

PQ Updates from the field

While the team is racing I am lucky enough to get an occasional call from Ryan Fleming for team updates. I will post them and any other updates I receive along the way here as I get them...not sure how many more I will get.
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I'm officially signing off for a couple of days....headed down to Oakridge, OR for the Cascade Cream Puff. Go team go!!!!


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Friday-June 27
(called 5:10pm) Support personell are in Bozeman, just got done doing laundry for the team and restocking. In the last TA Aaron and Aaron were very strong and suggested that they might try and get one more hour of sleep 2 TA's from here and then go for the big push. Cyril is feeling better and they left very rested.

Ryan did not know who had tendonitis on Peakadventure, he said Travelcountry left and came back as one of their team mates has bronchitis and needs to rest up, that are going to continue.

(called at 10:00am):
The team slept in teh field on the bike last night a little bit and are in transition now. They plan on sleeping 3 hours. Bones left before they got there and MOAT was in the transition. Overall they are doing OK and hopefully the sleep will get them back to moving at top speed.


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Thursday-June 26 (called at 8:10pm):
At 7:00pm Montana time the team got back on their bikes after a long night and day through the Crazy Mountains and a lengthy transition. Evidently Cyril had a very rough night and was not able to eat much. Matzke's ankle seems to be doing ok, he came into transition without the brace on, not sure if that was because he could not fit into it or not. Rinn and Mari are doing good. Fleming pumped the team with lots of food and liquids, Cyril slept for 45 minutes and then support got the team back on their way before the gap between DART-nuun and Bones got too big. They are in route to CP 19 right now....go gettum gang!

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Wednesday-June 25:
Just got this photo and a couple more from Mike Bitton on scene in Montana... click on the picture to see a couple of shots from TA#3.

Photo compliments of photographer extraordinaire and DART-nuun friend Mike Bitton

(June 25) Day 3: The team was in transition for ~2.5-3 hours after CP13, Ryan called and let me know that the team was sleeping for over 2 hours. The overall sleep strategy will be to sleep a lot up front and mostly in transition because the sleep is much better and temperatures are extremely low at night, which makes it hard to sleep. The team will most likely push through this bike (CP16) and the next trek, which Ryan thinks will be one of the tougher sections of the race, before they sleep again.

Matzke rolled an ankle on this trek and it has been wrapped/taped. Hopefully the time on the bike will help a bit.

Overall the team is happy and knows that there is a lot of racing left. They want to be pushing through the end and have good positive attitudes right now.

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June (24) Day 2: Riverboarding was absolutely insane. Rinn got sucked into a hole and held under water for quite some time. He lost his board and the team spent 1-1.5 hours on the bank recovering his gear and getting back into the swing of things. Still positive they transitioned fast and moved out