In my quest to hopefully get a few endurance races in, I worked hard to get the Dart-Nuun endurance adventure racing team under the Michelin sponsorship.  Ever since I helped to broker this deal, they certainly have not let us down.  The team has racked up another win in the preparation for the Primal Quest race coming up in June.  Every time I get their Team updates, I wish I was out there doing battle with them..

I didn’t ride today and it was almost perfect conditions, 50ish degrees and a slight wind. Not sure why I didn’t ride though. I was in quite the pissy mood when I left work so I just took the dog for a long walk.

Today I drove through one of the notches and got some great views of Mt Washington. Too bad I didn’t have the camera with me. Either way, it got me thinking, I need some sort of adventure and I need it soon. Riding a bike is great, but it doesn’t always fit the bill. I need to get out there and get a good 5 hour hike or something of that nature in. I live in this beautiful valley, the Mt Washington valley that is, and I have yet to take advantage of all of the spectacular trails that it has to offer. I think that is the one thing that I really miss and liked about Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. Sure, I road 6 days a week or so, but I always had some time for some hikes and always had some great adventure planned. Seems as if I need to get on that again. I’m not sick of the bike, but I am sick of crappy conditions. I have always been able to hike in the worst conditions. Snowing, sure, windy, sure, raining, sure, bring it all on. Not on a bike though. I have all the gear, but mentally, I have a hard time doing some of that stuff…..I think it is time to dig out some maps and get me an adventure going…because I am starting to go crazy. Last night while complaining about things to Kelly, she said simply, “it’s because you aren’t outside doing something or riding your bike”. I think she is right..now is the time..

On that note, I think that is something that has always made me think that I want to give adventure racing a shot. I get to ride the bike, I get to hike, I get to run, I get to paddle….all kinds of things, never letting my mind get too bored with one thing. Too bad most events are team events and a lot of them are on the west coast. Seems like I need to start doing some research on it..

Dart-Nuun is one kick a$$ adventure racing team that we (Michelin and I) sponsor.  I keep fighting here at Michelin (its not really a fight, we all love them here at Michelin) to keep them on our tires and I am glad they are riding for us.  Anyway, they got themselves another podium spot at the USARA National Championship.  You can read a full race report over here.

Holy a lot of running Batman. To even enter the race, you must prove you raced some 100 miles and some 50 miles. It just isn’t an entry fee of $1000, but you need to send in a resume as well as just to be considered.  Seems as if I need to do some fund raising and produce a fake resume to get in this sucker.

Yeah, like I could run that far in one week.

I did nothing today and for some strange reason, I am ok with that.  OK, its not that I did nothing, I just didn’t run.  I came home from work, did a little cleaning up around the house and started the build on my cross bike for this weekend.  I am not 100% done with it because first I had to tear down my old cross bike, clean the parts and then start the build.  Of course, I don’t have all the parts I need, but I do have 3 days until my race to get it all sorted out.  Something makes me think that I will be building back up the Trek to run this weekend.  How wonderful.

I did want to run today, but I had a wicked headache.  I guess that is the difference between me riding the bike and running.  Even with a headache, I would have gone for a ride if I didn’t have things to do.  I just couldn’t get myself out to run for 4 miles.  I think it is almost a lack of motivation.  I have been in this program for 4 weeks and I am a tad less excited about it than I was when I started.  Running a half marathon just for “doing it” sometimes isn’t as good motivation as beating someone as I am running a half marathon.  I need some sort of race to put on my schedule to get me in the right frame set for this.

On that note, I am looking at The Frigid Infliction adventure race. Somethings I need to work out first is 1)at least one partner for the race (which I believe I have but we must first work out the details) and 2)I need to clear things on my schedule first before I drop XX amount of money on a race for me not to attend.  This adventure race would be a good starting point for me to try others.  I looked into doing it last year, but things just didn’t work out with it.  Seems very interesting.  The starting gun goes off at 5:18am and the average race time is 10 hours.  That seems like one heck of a day to me….

The Transrockies Run…goodness gracious.  5 stages, 5 days, 125 miles, with racing altitudes reaching over 12,000 feet in some of Colorado’s most beautiful mountains.  Today is day 5 and I have been following the race reports for all 4 days so far.  Quite the race I must say.  Give me a couple years of training and some free time to be able to do it and I will see you there.  Now, I just have to line up a partner just as crazy to run it with me..

I just got this email from one of my sponsored athletes/team.  It is about the Dart-Nuun Adventure Racing Team.  It was a race report from their recent race down in Australia.  Check out the version posted on their site.  Pretty incredible stuff.  They got 33 flats between 4 people in 400k of racing through 6 days and still managed to get 4th place.  Doing a little snorkeling, riding, trail running, kayaking and doing it all with just a map and compass…yeah, sign me up.  However, I think I would need to try the beginner course first.