CASTLEWOOD 08

Full results are not in but both teams did well. Krista and I took first place two person coed. John, Amanda, Maggie and Justin finished ahead of us overall by about 30 minutes but they were in the much stronger four person coed division. Great job team!

I'll post more later but here are the maps and clue sheets.

Bike Mounted Map/Compass Holder

I mounted up my homemade map/compass holder to my bike last night. I stole this idea, somewhat, from David Frei's unique pie server design. I figure the spatula gets the map a bit further out of the way. The clamp allows me to rotate my standard map case any direction I want without adding a huge amount of weight. The compass is nice as long as you aren't moving which means it is useless. Too much vibration and the needle is all over the place. I thought about replacing it with one of those windshield mounted compass balls after it's inaugeral run at D2D this year but I epoxied the baseplate compass to the spatula and I would have to start from scratch. I'd hate to throw away a perfectly good $3 spatula with optional stationary compass.

All I need to do now is tape on a couple of cut out milk jugs to keep the wind off my hands and I'll have one sweet ride.

PACKING UP

I'm just putting the final touches on my packing for the Castlewood Adventure Race. I actually did the majority of the deed last night. I set up the bikes, got the pack and required gear checked out. I'm good. I'm sitting here typing at 10:00 PM and I'm ready to go and that was even taking time to watch Grey's Anatomy with the wifey. Surprising since I am normally running around frantically searching for my lost spandex something or other about this time. Feels good to be good. See you all in St. Louis.

ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!

I just registered our second team for the upcoming Castlewood Adventure in St. Louis next weekend. Teams will be as follows:

Four Person Coed

John Clausen
Amanda Clausen
Justin Montgomery
Maggie Conley


Two Person Coed

Kelly Sumner
Krista Patterson

There is some tough competition all around for this race but there is a large field of newbies as well. I look forward to showing them what this game is all about.

Castlewood Update 11/30/08 - 91 Teams are currently listed for next weeks race. Wahoo. Should be a bit dodgy at the start. I'm hoping they have put a little more thought into spreading teams out off the starting line than they did last year.

JOHNNY BE GOOD!

I just happened upon a photo of our own Johnny Woodward laying it down in the 2008 Vets Run back in November.

JERRY TABB ROAD TRIP

We had a good showing at the Jerry Tabb Road Trip this year. We added a few twists with an optional adventure duathlon but not many people bit. We had one team and a solo try the the duo, and both were teammates. John and Amanda got the official win with Ryan actually taking first place time wise but finishing second because he couldn't complete the team mystery challenges by himself. He was a great sport about it, knowing he had kicked every ones arse.

Attendance overall was a little down this year. A bright spot for the year was that we had a huge turnout for the boy scouts this year. In fact, boy scouts ended up beating out a two time national orienteering champion for the win, as Mike Eglinski opted to try the team event and was required to try his hand at a couple of non-orienteering skills such as a washer toss and a fun little game that required you to settle three tennis balls in some holes in a piece of plywood, something Mike hadn't practiced I'm sure.

I think the highlight of the event was when Ryan decided to shortcut a route to a checkpoint, a choice that probably saved him 100 yards at most, by busting across a small inlet of water to reach a sliver of land that held a lone checkpoint. Upon reaching the CP, he must have seen the well established trail that lead to it but still opted to swim back across the 15 feet of water to reach shore. Volunteers on shore weren't sure what to think of this guy crashing out of the water and brush. I guess it worked.

CASTLEWOOD VIDEO

I just did a new video from pictures taken by Karen Holtman during the 2007 Castlewood Adventure Race. Karen and Todd Holtman will be filling race director duties during this years race. Hope to see you all out there. Enjoy!