Mt Stuart...4th of July 2009

This past 4th of July weekend had superb weather and was filled with all sorts of good times. We intended on running the PCT from Stevens pass to Snoqualmie pass...Glenn sent me this note on Thursday...

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Talked to the snoqualmie ranger station. still snow in some avalanche shoots. They went up to kendal catwalk and didn't go beyond because they didn't have their ice axes. the skykomish ranger said snow above 4k and there will be intermiten snow the whole way. If we do this we would need to bring ice axes and maybe katoolals and maybe my 6mm line that RVg has. Last weekend I met a guy up on stevens who had hiked down from canada and was continuing on south so there will have been at least one who has tried it.
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We opted out and chose to head East to Mt. Stuart on Friday and see if we could get up the mountain. Tell of the trail was 10 hours round trip from the car with 1.5 hours on the top. We traveled with crampons, Ice Axe, 30 meters of 6mm rope, helmets and the 10 essentials (lightweight version).

2009 July - Mt Stuart

Good times, Saturday I did a recover ride as my legs were hammered and Sunday JVG, Aaron and I rode Tiger and added on some bonus climbs as well as a new trail that punished me. My front brake went out while dropping into a very steep descent. I slid of the trail into the forest where I hit a downed tree and taco'ed my front wheel. After 20 minutes of Aaron and I jumping on my wheel to make it rideable we hiked back to the road and descended to the parking lot, with a mere flesh wound :-) We also paddled around Lake Samamish to round out the weekend and enjoy the sun. AWESOME weekend.

June 2009

Quick update...DART was going to send a last minute kick ass team of our 3 ladies and Glenn to the expedition race in Alberta Canada, The Best of the West, but had to pull the plug at the last moment. Looks like Jen will be joining me in Tahoe for an extended weekend of training and hanging out

The Yukon River Quest started today. Local superstars Eric Abraham and Robin Smith are racing in a tandem kayak, go gettum fellas!

Missy the missle found herself in trouble, bad news...hope it ends up all good.

Training on the I-90 corridor

Top of Mt Washington...in between the clouds

Trioba

Trioba CP (photo: Mike Bitton)

The Trioba Sprint has come and passed and was a success from a race directors standpoint. It was quite an experience from this side of the table and was very rewarding to see local teams of all caliber out there on a rugged and challenging course giving it their all! Props to everyone who toed the starting line. As well we need to thank our race sponsors with a special thanks to the Outdoor Adventure Center and Wave Trek for a great time on the river and at the post race party!

A couple of links to Stories and racer pics from the course:

-Mike Bitton's shots

-Jerry G's Shots

-Colin N's Shots

I'll post more as I get them... now on to updating the website with results.

The Michigan Expedition Race

The Michagin Expedition race is in Day two and nuun-Feed the Machine (DART) is in first place and all notes seem to be indicating that they look strong and are having a good race...Checkpoint Zero has good coverage and the Checkpoint Tracker is proving itself as a good way to deliver real time race news to the masses.

Last ime I checked the team comprised of: Mari Chandler, Matt hayes, Glenn Rogers and Brian Schmitz had cleared the O course and CP16 . The course is comprised of 26 Checkpoints...we might see a finish tomorrow. Go team go!

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Real late update...team crossed the finish line in First to snag the first victory for nuun-Feed the Machine on 2009. Well done team!

May Showers bring more May Showers

We are still caught up in the ice age known as Spring here in the Pacific Northwest...rain, rain and more rain. Desert Winds was a nice refuge from the cold temperatures and a great race. I made a slew of navigational errors that cost us heavily in the results department but overall we had a blast. The highlights for me was swimming in the canyons and being able to bike throughout the night in shorts and a jersey...simple pleasures. It was also nice that my ankle survived a 24 hour race without issues.

Here are the pics:

Desert Winds

Couple of other random thoughts:
Beast Race coming up tomorrow...get out there if you are not already planning on doing so.

Check out this awesome video Matt posted on his blog.

Vetted the Trioba 6-12 hour race course last weekend near Index...This race is going to be sweet.

heading to Norway next week to hike some Fjords and do some surfing ;-)

Thursday April 30th - AR in the Northwest

Here is a blurb from the Trioba newsletter that went out this week in case you are not privy to the presentation this Thursday at REI:

"Thursday April 30th- AR in the NorthwestDon’t forget our presentation this week at REI. We will be there with our partners and sponsors handing out free goodies and talking about upcoming Trioba events. Come see a sneak peak video of the sprint course and hear tips on how to get ready for the first race of the season. Also, Ryan VanGorder of Team nuun-Feed the Machine (DART) will share some of his experiences and strategies for success. This event is for those who are new to the sport, experienced racers and volunteers. "

Date: April 30th, 2009
Location: Seattle Downtown REI
Time: 6:30-9:00PM
Cost: Free - Info here