What is the Parks Tour you ask, well it’s my next adventure and it’s going to be my biggest yet. At over 5000 miles of pedaling alone it will surpass my west coast/PCT adventure from 2007.  It will be all cycling this go around, so no hiking unless we take a day off to explore.  This time I will not be alone, as I’m teaming up with my good friend Mike Fusaro. Together we will be pedaling through at least six states, one of which I have not been to, driving through three or four others, seeing over 10 National Parks and crossing the Rockies more times that I want to count.
I know I’m teasing you by not telling you where we’re going. Okay, here is the rough plan. Fly to Prudhoe Bay, AK on July 1st. Start pedaling through grizzly country to Fairbanks, where instead of heading east as most do we’re going west so we can go to Denali NP. Next up its Anchorage and then up to Tok, AK. Now we start SE to northern BC and the Cassiar Hwy route #37 but only after crossing through the Yukon. The Cassiar will take us to the Yellowhead Highway route #16, which leads to Prince George and points beyond.
From Prince George we continue east to Jasper NP, then south to Banff NP and Lake Louise. Continuing our southern heading like migrating birds we next hit the US/Canadian border some place in western Montana. We’ll make our way up and over the Rockies again as we ride through Glacier NP on the Road to the Sun. Heading south east once more we come to Yellowstone NP and just a day from there we’ll reach Teton NP.
South of here we have options but the rough thought is to head to Arches NP in Moab. Along the way we can stop in Dinosaur NM and the Colorado NM in Fruita or any other number of places in between.  We could also head more due south from the Tetons and go through eastern Utah as well.  We’ll see what happens when we get there.
Now that we’ll be in the southwest the tour focuses on the red rocks, arches, canyons and towers that make up the landscape. After Arches it’s Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion NP’s and finally the Grand Canyon. At this point we’ll see where we’re at for time, if we have it we’ll continue to the US/Mexico border just for good measure. This will be where our pedaling will stop and the driving will begin. We’ll rent a car and drive back to Seattle. Along the way we hope to stop at: Joshua Tree NP, the Salton Sea, Sequoia NF, Kings Canyon NP, Mono Lake, Yosemite NP, Lake Tahoe, Mt. Lassen and…?

I will be using the same cycling set up as I did in 2007 on my PCT trip.  This time I’m hoping it will be lighter as Mike and I can share the load.  I will have a gear list up soon, so check back or sign up for my newsletter.  Journal entries will be really tough in AK and Canada due to the lack cell phone service and the high cost of data roaming so if you don’t want to keep checking back to see if I posted something the newsletter is your best bet.  It will notify you when I do post anything.

It will look like this minus the hiking gear.

Personally I’m really looking forward to seeing my first grizzly bears, wolves, caribou, musk ox?, and more on this trip.  I also look forward to seeing the interior of both Alaska and Canada.  The mountains should be amazing.  I’ll be taking tons of pictures and video which will be available to see on my Flickr and YouTube accounts (when I find a computer to upload them).  I have made a Facebook page for our trip, Parks and Rec Cycling Tour.  Mike and I will also be carrying a Spot tracker.  If you’re not familiar with Spot it’s a device that transmits one’s location via satellite, which can be view online by others.  So look for a map on my homepage soon that you can follow our progress along the way.  I will also be keeping a journal once again.  I’ll warn you now that it might not be pretty for two reasons.  Number one being I’ll be writing my journal by hand and then taking a picture of the pages to upload into a post.  This will be much easier than carrying a laptop and a power source or typing on an Iphone.  Number two is that you’ll have to decipher my terrible spelling without spell and grammar check.

I will be leaving my job to do this trip, as they are unable to hold my position for me.  As my good friend Jill said, “You just received the keys to your shackles congrats!”  To understand her meaning you must know Jill.  She is a firm believer in living one’s life and that doesn’t mean just going to work M-F and maybe getting out on a weekend.  For her it’s about really living and following your dreams.  Since I am free to do whatever I want I plan to move to Colorado when I finish.  So if you know anyone in Colorado who can help me get a job PLEASE let me know.  The road signs have been pointing me towards Colorado for some time now and I’m finally going to listen.  Getting there is easy, finding work might not be.  Everyone knows it’s who you know when getting hired.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike and I are open to suggestions of things to see along our route, so if you have suggestions let’s hear them.  Please feel free to ask any questions and we’ll do our best to answer them all.

NOTE THIS POST WILL CHANGE SO BE SURE TO CHECK BACK (I’ll change the date in the title so you know when I’ve updated it)

We plan to be back in Seattle during the last week of September. At that point Mike and I will relax and attempt to integrate back into society. Mike more than me as I’ll be moving to Colorado. My roots will be torn up on July 1 and hopefully planted in the high alpine desert landscape of a small mountain town in southwest Colorado.

The basic route plan:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

StarCrossed 2012 returns to Marymoor Park for an Eight-Hour Enduro and Eliminator Shoot Out

Seattle, WA – May 11^th, 2012 – Low Pressure Promotions, LLC of Seattle, WA released the details for StarCrossed today, with an event date confirmed for Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 at Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA.   The 2012 edition of StarCrossed will take on two formats:  an eight-hour endurance cyclocross race (Enduro) for solo, three-person, and five-person teams, and a short-course, one-lap race (Eliminator) for singlespeed and geared bikes.  Registration opens July 2nd, 2012 on BikeReg.com.

“StarCrossed has always been about doing something different,” said Terry Buchanan, co-founder of StarCrossed.   “We’ve been offering high-level international, regional, and local racing opportunities at StarCrossed for the last 10 years.  This year, we want to create an event with a slightly different take on cyclocross racing by offering an enduro relay­–where all riders can race under the lights–and then a one-lap eliminator race to conclude the evening.”

StarCrossed will feature multiple rider formats for the eight-hour enduro race:  solo, three, and five-person teams.  Racing will begin at 11am and conclude at 7pm.   Beginning at 8pm, the 2^nd annual StarCrossed Eliminator Shoot-Out will begin for both singlespeed and geared racers.   As in usual format, the course for both the enduro and eliminator races will be centered around an in-field beer garden.

“StarCrossed 2012 combines a super-long and a super-short opportunity for racers to try cyclocross,” said Low Pressure Promotions co-founder Zac Daab.   We spend all season focusing on an intense 30-60 minute race.  StarCrossed will be different this year as we cater to nearly any rider’s race-duration preference, from a five minute, one-lap race to an eight-hour solo option.”

In addition to the adult racing categories, StarCrossed will now offer opportunity for junior racers to race under the lights, with both a middle school 5-person category and a high school 3-person category.  Both middle school and high school racing will be co-ed encouraged, but not required.

The tentative race day schedule for StarCrossed includes:

11:00 am:      StarCrossed Enduro:

                        Solo Men

                        Solo Women

                        3-person Men

                        3-person Women

                        5-person Mixed

                        Middle School (6, 7, and 8^th grade):  5-person team; co-ed encouraged, not required

                        High School (9, 10, 11, and 12^th grade):  3-person team; co-ed encouraged, not required

8:00 pm:        Singlespeed Eliminator Shootout

                        Geared Eliminator Shootout

For more information on StarCrossed:  www.starcrossedcx.com

Low Pressure Promotions Contact:

Zac Daab, Low Pressure Promotions

zac@mfgcyclocross.com

www.mfgcyclocross.com

Two Upcoming Social Events in May!

We all know the weather in Washington can be finicky this time of year, making it hard to get out on your bike and ride. But since the recent sunny days have got so many of thinking about mountain biking, we’ve decided to plan some fun, social events to help support your jonze. Both are in the evening and aren’t so weather dependant.

So if you’re looking for something mountain bike-related to do that doesn’t require you to get cold, wet and muddy – or bust out the night riding lights – mark your calendar to join us at one of these upcoming events.

Be sure to spread the word and bring your friends too. The more the merrier!

Seattle Premier of Anthill Films latest release:
“Strength in Numbers”

Sunday, May 27th at The Mountaineers. Doors open at 7:00.

There’s nothing like a good biking vid to get you in the riding mood. So join us for this special Seattle premier of Strength in Numbers. If you’re a fan of films from The Collective, you’re sure to like this!

 Tickets will be available through Brown Paper Tickets and Bicycles West shops. This is an all ages event! Look for complete details on our calendar coming soon.

See you there, or on the trails!

The Evergreen Team

Unless you’re blind, which would be a terrible thing, you probably noticed Adventures of Scatman (AOS) has a new look.  I have wanted to change the theme of my site for a while now.  So I give you, AOS 2.0.  The idea was to clean things up and make it easier for you, the visitor to find what it is you’re looking for.  (Unfortunately there are still a few small bugs to be worked out like broken links on some thumbnails, categories issues, and things like ‘ and ” coming out in code form.  Bare with me as I work through these issues.)   Here is a break down of what’s new:

Home Page:

Navigation bar (pink horizontal bar near top)

Trail Reports are now a sub category under Bike, and Hike. (note the picture above is not of the current site. Trail Reports is not above but it is on the actually Nav Bar on the site)

The category ‘The Adventures’ is now just called “Blog”. This is where I’l post my personal thoughts that don’ really pertain to the other categories.

There is a “RSS” button so you can subscribe to my site.  If you’re not familiar with RSS, it’s a way to sign up for updates.  When you sign up, you’ll receive an email whenever I update my site.  That way you don’t have to come to it only to find there’s nothing new.

You can also sign up for a Newsletter on the right hand side.  The newsletter is the same thing as signing up for an RSS feed.  You will receive and email any time I post something new.  It will show you what I posted and if you’re interested, just click on it in the email and you’ll be brought to the site.

Content Slider

This will contain the newest and any posts I want to highlight.

Categories

As I participate in many activities and not everyone wants to wade through posts to find ones that fall in line with their own interests, I have addressed the issue by having categories on the home page.  You’ll find categories for Bike, Hike, Reviews, Tech Tips, and Trail Reports.  Come winter Ski will be added.

Footer

The Footer now contains four items:  my Twitter feed, Recent Comments, Tags, and recent Flickr photos.  Twitter, Comments, and Flickr are self explanatory but Tags might not be.  One can use the Tags section to see what subjects I mention the most.  If you click on any of the words in this section you’ll get a list of every post that has been tagged with that word.  So it’s a useful way to find subject matter.

Please feel free to ask questions or make suggestions and of course thanks for reading.

Scatman

Get out there!

Jill is at the south rim as I write this.  She is about 100 miles away from being the first woman to ever finish the AZT 750 in history.  I have followed her for almost two weeks now like a worried mother.  She is carrying a Spot GPS tracker which records her location.  I sit in my chair spectating from 1000′s of miles away, nervously waiting, and wearing out the “F5″ key refreshing my screen in hopes of the latest update.  Twice now her Spot has stopped working and I felt completely lost, probably just like she felt.

Jill H. (photo courtesy of Katherine Wallace)

I have spoke with her many times during the race and heard her excitement and disappoint too.  I’ve sensed her urgency and fatigue.  I have felt her pain and discomfort but most of all I have seen her never ending passion continue to shine throughout the whole ordeal.  I have never met someone with so much passion to live life, a life of her choosing not others.  She is so alive and driven to achieve her goals, it’s infectious.  She is the type of person who makes you question yourself and your life.

When Jill finished the first 300 miles and was at Superior, AZ the finish of the AZT 300 she was met by her friend, Les, a fellow racer who had already finished.  Another racer took a picture of Les hugging Jill, and later spoke of Jill’s amazing attitude and just how full of life she was to be out there, (and to think she was still this passionate despite having heat exhaustion at the time.)  When I saw that photo and read those words I was jealous!  I wished I could have been there, so I could also experience Jill’s passion.  She is that amazing, even if she’s a bit intense at times (like myself).

Many times I had to remind Jill of what the goal was.  Being the competitor that she is, she wanted to beat as many of the guys as she could.  I kept telling her they weren’t her “rabbit” but Utah was.  Despite her swallow feet, sunburned face, face plants, cold/heat, getting lost, all the hike a bike (HAB) sections, running out of food/water multiple times and heat exhaustion, I don’t think Jill ever considered quitting.  She surely never mentioned it to me.  When I would ask how she was the answer was always the same.  I’m good.  Mentally I’m as driven as ever.  My body is just breaking down.  I’ll finish!

This girl loves to ride her bikes!

What amazes me about Jill is she just found her passion for mountain biking two years ago.  She is relatively an infant in her cycling career compare to myself but her passion is so much greater.  She dove in the deep end of mountain biking and never left.  I take the Blue Pill too often instead of the Red Pill and let things get in the way of that kind of passion.  When I speak to Jill from the AZT none of that passion is diminished despite the challenges she has faced.

Now that she is closing in on the finish I find myself wanting to jump on a plane to be there.  If you were to be there you’d see and meet one incredible woman.  Writing this post has been emotional to say the least.  Maybe it’s because I know Jill personally or because I myself plan to do this race next year.  I can only imagine what has been going through Jill’s head as at times she only managed 1 mph for hours and hours climbing over rocks and trees on what is supposed to be a trail.  She has told me horror stories and despite the stories, I still want to experience it for myself.  This is partly due to my own desires to push myself and test my limits but it’s also due to Jill’s passion.  As I said it’s infectious.  Jill always quotes Mary Oliver’s line “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”  I’m going to take the Red Pill and live mine my way.  What are you going to do…

Feed the Machine, hydrated by nuun, organized by GYST Concept, kept clean by Action Wipes, and built for life like Stanley.

Sponsored by

A long time ago Backpacker Magazine had a contest of the same name, the “Bag Night Challenge”.  I love the concept of the contest and thought I would do my own.  I waited ten years, that’s enough time, isn’t it?  The idea is simple, track the number of nights you spend outside in your sleeping bag (Jan 1. 2012 to Dec. 31, 2012 or the 21st if you believe the world is going to end).  The person at the end of the year with the most nights wins!

Grand Prizes

• Most bag nights – Your choice of either a down or synthetic sleeping bag (15 to 40 degree) from MontBell, Outdoor Research Alpine Bivy, a NeoAir Xlite from Thermarest, Action Wipes All in One Kit, and Meru Hat from Ibex
• Random winner -  Your choice of either a down or synthetic sleeping bag (15 to 40 degree) from MontBell and a 15 pack of Action Wipes.

Other Prizes from:

• Julbo – Dirt Sunglasses
• Princeton Tec – Custom Fuel Headlamp
• Thermarest – NeoAir Xlite
• OR – To be announce
• Stanley – 1 Handed Water Bottle, Camp Cook Set, BPA free Water Bottle, and Interlock BPA free Camp Mug
• Ibex – Woolies Crew
• Osprey Packs – Viper or Verve Pack
• Action Wipes – All in one Kit or 15 pack

(and possibly more!)

 To be fair here are a few rules to follow.

•  The idea is to encourage people to get out in the woods, exploring, and enjoying nature. (car camping is okay)  This is not about simply sleeping outdoors.  It’s about experiencing nature and learning about it and yourself.
• For the time being there will also be bi-monthly prizes for those who have logged the most bag nights in that time frame.  I will randomly select this winner.  To be fair you can only win the bi-monthly prize once.
• To be fair to my pocket book and our sponsors only those in North America are eligible to win.
• You must provide when, where, # of nights and possibly pics.
• The BNC has the right to question any entry, and ask for further details.
• The contest is based on the honesty so play fair.

BAG NIGHTS THAT DON’T COUNT

• Sleeping inside with the window open
• Those who are thru-hiking or doing some other type of multi week trip (anything under 14 days, so 13 nights)
• Those who choose willing or otherwise to live in a tent outside
• Your backyard or porch
• In an Army tent on base (in the field is okay)
• Bag nights that do not have data to back them up.

Jan. 1st to Feb. 29th – Outdoor Research & 15 pack of Action Wipes

Mar. 1st to Apr. 3oth – Stanley & a All in One Kit from Action Wipes

May 1st to Jun. 30th – Julbo & 15 pack of Action Wipes

Jul. 1st to Aug. 31st – Ibex a All in One Kit from Action Wipes

Sept. 1st to Oct. 31st – Osprey & 15 pack of Action Wipes

Nov. 1st to Dec. 31st – Princeton Tec a All in One Kit from Action Wipes

How to play:

• Go out and sleep in your bag, in the woods on an overnight trip.
• Photos are welcome and will be posted (email the to scatman at adventuresofscatman dot com)
• Bonus Points! will be awarded to those who follow AOS on Twitter and Facebook and any of the sponsors on both as well.
• Don’t worry you can enter retroactively by listing your nights you’ve spent outdoors already.

•  ENTER HERE

Sponsors on Twitter:

• Stanley
• Outdoor Research
• Ibex
• Julbo
• Princeton Tec
• Thermarest
• Action Wipes
• Osprey

Sponsor On Facebook

• Stanley
• Outdoor Research
• Ibex
• Julbo
• Princeton Tec
• Thermarest
• Action Wipes
• Osprey Packs

I will track everyone’s bag nights on a Goggle Doc and update the leader board which is located on the right side of my site.  So add up those nights you’ve already been outside and start planning the next trip and enter to win!

Photos of contestants

I’ve been riding bikes since I was four.  I’ve been a “cyclist” since I was 17.  You could say I’ve been around the block a few times during those years.  I have raced down hill when you rode a hardtail and only had 3” of front suspension.  It amazes me how as cycling has grown it’s become segregated.  I’m not talking in the sense of the types of cycling disciplines, which have also grown, but the types of cyclists.  You have the fixie, fair weather and club riders, hipsters, tri-sters, recumbants, commuters, racers, weekend warriors, and I think I’m a pro cyclists.  We all use the same roads but most days when I ride my bike to work I get the feeling I’m the only person on a bike on that road.  Are others simply too focused on not getting hit by fossil fuel death traps we call cars, too focused on looking for pot holes, visually impaired, can’t ride with one hand, or are them simply so disconnected from their fellow man they can’t be bothered to acknowledge me?  Are they still composing that email or Facebook post in their heads because they can’t disconnect?

The Wave is such a simple jester, yet it says so much.  It can say “Hi”, “I see you, and recognize you as a fellow cyclist”, “You look good”, or “Good for you, you got out here in the rain too” and so much more.  Harley riders do it; Jeep owners do it, truck drivers do it, why can’t we cyclists keep it alive?  Some might ask, why does it need saving.  I think it does to show we haven’t completely become robots just riding from point A to point B.  It’s a sign of recognition, a show or respect to your fellow cyclist.  If they take the time to recognize you, respect them and recognize them with a return wave.  Hopefully we all shared the same love for riding or bikes.  It’s that shared love that the Wave recognizes.

The Wave is much like the simple act of saying, “You all set?” to someone stopped on the side of the road or trail.  Three simple words and yet so many cyclist can’t udder them to their brethren.  It’s as their thinking “If I slow down my whole training schedule will be thrown off!”  Why is it so hard for the guy with the full carbon bike and $2000 carbon wheels to offer assistances to the person with a bike that costs as much as their seat?  The sad reality is some of those people on the full carbon bike were that other person just a year or two before.  Then they got the bug and went pro and that bug crawled up their ass.  Almost all of us started out on a junker and as our love for bike grew we upgraded our bikes.  Some of us can’t or don’t feel the need to do so but that doesn’t mean we don’t share the same love as the guy who has upgraded.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m as vain as they come when on my bike.  I don’t leave the house without a matching kit on.  It’s a running joke.  That said I don’t think it makes me faster or better than someone else, which is the impression I get from others who blindly ride as if their the only ones on the road.  Maybe all those others don’t either but make an effort people, it won’t kill you.  Now you’re probably thinking this is just a rant from another agro cyclist.  It’s not.  The point here is something much more important than my dislike of the “bike snob”.  My point being, there are so few of us compared to cars so we need to stick together and this is what this post is really about, sticking together.  We all know we get the short end of the stick whether it’s on the road or in the court house.  If we are to change that we need to be unified and solid as a group.

We also need to be unified in how we act on our bikes.  Motorists will never just give us respect or the use of the road unless we earn it.  I know the law says we shouldn’t need to earn it as it’s equally ours but we do, live with it.  I don’t see running stops signs or red lights doing anything but working against our cause.  Just because others do it doesn’t mean its right.  Be better than them, so when push comes to shove we can proudly say we obey the rules of the road.  As it is now you’re looked at as the outsider if you actually stop at lights, stop signs or cross walks.  I would love to see it the other way around.  Call out those who don’t, they are only making it harder for us to gain the respect we all know we deserve.  We only have ourselves to blame if we don’t.

Looking out for your fellow cyclist and recognizing them is a great way to help bring us together.  As our numbers grow the issues we face and amount of incidents with other users of our roads and trails will increase and we will need every voice we have to be heard.  Be part of that voice and Wave.

Links to bicycle safety and Laws in WA state.

Bike League

WSDOT

WA Bike Laws

Our destination was Black Diamond and the fifth round of the BuDu Racing West Side MTB Series.  Like any other weekend at Black Diamond we stopped at the gas station for a six pack for after the race.  When we got there we headed to registration and as I signed up I noted my racing age for 2012 was 40.  I have been joking about it for months now but having to write it was odd.  Then when I had to pick which category I was supposed to be in I was thrown for another loop.  For years I have been checking off either the 30-39 or the 35-39 category but today I had to check off the 40-49!  I went from the old guy in the category to the young one.  For someone who doesn’t give a shit about their age and believes it’s just another number it was a bit of a reality check, which was quickly forgotten once I was ripping down the trail like a kid.

We had time for a descent warm up, where we got about 3/4’s of a lap in.  Since we had ridden here about a dozen times so far this year we knew the rest of the course without seeing it.  I made my way to the start and proceeded to strip down, as I was way too over dressed for the pain I was about inflict on myself.  Earlier at the car Mike was saying he already had terrible race anxiety.  I did not but figured I would once I was on the start line.  I was happy to be wrong as I lined up without a care in the world.  I took up a sweet little spot in the back row and waited for the gun.

The gun sounded and I mashed on the pedals and off I went.  I made it about 30  feet before my chain decided it didn’t want to shift up to the bring ring, which I should have started in and even told myself at least twice as I wait for the start.  Then it proceeded to chain suck, not once but twice.  I was once again at the back of the pack.  As the 16 other guys in my class sped away I got my shit together and gave case.  By the time we hit the single track I was somewhere around 10^th place.  From now until almost the end of the first lap I was in traffic, fighting to make forward progress.  The trails at Black Diamond are narrow and you’d be hard pressed to find a straightaway longer than 50’.

PHOTOS

Lap two saw me about 200 yards off the wheels of two guys in my group I had been casing for the second half of lap one.  Due to more traffic from people who started before us I only managed to catch one of the two guys.  It was a mental victory since he was the only rider all day that passed me (only after I first passed him once before).  Early on I made him my “White Whale” for the day.  By this time I managed to catch and pass my Stanley teammate Zack Phillips racing in the Single Speed category.  He hazed me a bit and we shared a good laugh.

About ¾’s through the lap I started to make some small mistakes as I lost some focus.  None were too serious but just enough to piss me off that I wasn’t on my game, as I should have been.  As I was giving myself a mental ass kicking for not being 100% focused one of my pedals caught a root and the bike quickly stopped as I kept moving forward.  I did a half endo as I never completely left the bike.  I ended up on both hands and one knee, which I banged on something as it was now bleeding.  I picked myself up, cursed loudly and quickly did a cyclocross remount and took off again.  Luckily I didn’t lose much of what I gain over the White Whale (Bob Ludeman).

I was clearly in need of substances so on the long fire road I slammed a Gu and some water and regrouped mentally.  Lap three went well except the fact I didn’t drink shit for water the night before came back to bite me in the ass.  On one of the earlier climbs I felt my right calf starting to cramp.  Just then the rider in front of me went down.  I was forced off my bike and when I dismounted and straighten my leg it went into a full cramp.  I ran past my follow cyclists who laid tangled in his bike.  As I ran by I noticed he was rocking knee high tube socks like the ladies do in cross.  I ran through the pain and continued on as fast as the cramp would allow.  The cramp stuck with me for a few minutes but eventually went away.  At the top of a climb I grabbed some water even though I knew that if I was cramping I was already behind the eight ball on stopping it from happening again.

The rest of the lap went well and I kept the White Whale at bay.  I could see other racers in my group but because of the nature of the trail system it’s almost impossible to know if their in front of you or behind you.  It turns out the two racers I saw were in front of me and by less than two minutes.  I crossed the line with a time of 1:31 and surprisingly took home the bronze medal.  I was floored to see my name in third spot.  I had no idea I would do so well.  Turns out Mike got second in the Single Speed so all in all a good day for us both.  Once we had something to eat and drank some water we went for a “cool down ride”, which turned out to be only 15 minutes shorter than our race.  We were all pretty spent so we headed back to the cars to have some beer.  I would say it was a great day with wonderful weather, racing and friends.

Feed the Machine, hydrated by nuun, organized by GYST Concept, kept clean by Action Wipes, and built for life like Stanley.

Ryan D.

Ryan D.

Ted E. Canyon Lands

R. Davies at his Advanced Survival Test

Ryan D. in his OR Axiom Jacket for winning Round #1

Scott M.'s coldest night camping.

Round #1 winner Jill Hueckman sporting her new Outdoor Research Virtouso puffy jacket.  Jill spent 17 nights outside so far this year!

Alec M.

Pic: Caught in a blizzard above treeline in the Snowy Range of Wyoming, I set up my bivy in the alcove of an outhouse, and proceeded to get covered in spindrift.  Fun!

Alec M. bivoucing on the pooh shed porch.

Ryan D.

Ryan D.

Ryan D.

Ryan D. in Leatherwood Wilderness Area in Arkansas

Leatherwood Wilderness Area in Arkansas

Alec M. in Moab, UT

MOab, UT.

George L. winter bivy.

George L. Stow, VT.

George L. fireside

Ryan D. at Sand Stone Castle