08 YEAR IN REVIEW

I've spent more than a few hours wasting away on airplanes in the past couple weeks, during which I started a post I titled "Year in Review". In it, I went in depth on our races for the year and how we fared in each. It was long and boring to say the least. Don't get me wrong; the year has been successful but going over details of every race seemed a bit too much for some unsuspecting reader who might wander into this blog. I chose not to post it and gave the idea a little time to gestate.

I was just reading Mike Eglinski's blog and he recently posed two questions to assess the year. The questions and my answers are as follow:

What went well in 2008?

The last two years have been transitional for Off Road Fixation with some of our top teammates moving away with work and military service or out with illness. The team raced eight AR events for 2007 including Nationals but besides a 2nd place finish at the Ozark Challenge (one I did with team Inertia)and the resulting berth at Nationals, the team showed poorly for the remaining races.

2008 rolled around and the remaining team members started recruiting some new players and we came out pretty good if you look at the results. John and Amanda did the Bonk Chill and placed 4th. John and I did Sunflower 24 and took 2nd. John and Amanda placed third at the Dirty Duo while we added my son Matt and I for a four person coed that took 3rd at Dusk 2 Dawn. Justin Montgomery was a new add as well and he rocked his first duathlon, taking 1st place at the Berryman Adventure Duathlon. The Berryman Adventure 36 Hour race has always been our nemesis but John, Michelle and I were able to finally finish the race after four years trying. I teamed up with Nancy and Ryan of Inertia for the Milford race and took 1st overall. We finished out the season with the Castlewood AR. Adding Krista Patterson, we took 1st in the two person coed while John, Amanda, Justin and another ORF newbie, Maggie, finished 9 minutes ahead for a 7th place finish in four person coed.

In short, I think what went well was that the new teammates gelled and fit right in while the core guys stepped up to try and fill the temporary void as Captains and Navigators. While we did well in 08 I can't wait till everyone is back home and feeling well.

The following results are truly impressive.

Bonk Hard Chill (8) - Feb 2008 - 4th
Sunflower 24 - Mar 2008 - 2nd
Dirty Duo - Jun 2008 - 3rd
Dusk to Dawn - Jul 2008 - 3rd
Berryman Adventure Duathlon - Aug 2008 - 1st
Berryman Adventure (36) Sep 2008 - 14th of 24
Milford Challenge - Oct 2008 - 1st
Castlewood - Dec 2008 - 1st


What did you learn in 2008?

-Carry enough waterproof matches to start a fire for you and the seven other boats that might capsize in freezing water.
-It is a long way to KC on the Kaw River if you miss the take-out.
-Always check your bike light after you charge it before a race.
-The stars are really bright near VanBuren, MO when your bike light doesn't work.
-Never start a race with a hole in your shin.
-You will never, ever, ever be able to convince Michelle she shouldn't race with a hole in her shin.
-There are places that one should never bike whack.
-Stan's No Tube tire sealant does not last forever.
-Bike chains should be replaced before they break.
-Krista likes to take dirt naps beside the mountain bike trails.
-Ryan and Nancy are not human. I'm thinking they may be terminators or something.

Congrats on a wonderful year. Can't wait to see what next year brings.

Marathon Training

I've decided to add a marathon to my schedule early next year. The Eisenhower Marathon in Abilene, KS is a small Boston qualifier with a hometown feel. I doubt I'll be able to run a 3:20 but I can always dream on this one. It will be fun to see how I do in such a short time. Anyway, I'm adding organized training runs to my usual lifting routine. I'm going to jump into about week 4 of Hal Higdon's Advanced I routine and see how I do.

CASTLEWOOD PICTURES

Jason has the Castlewood pictures up.

Click here for more.

RESULTS

The official Castlewood 08 results are posted.

John, Amanda, Maggie and Justin placed 7th in the four person coed division and 14th overall with 45 of 49 CPs and a finish time of 9:31. Krista and I placed first in the two person coed and 15th overall with 45 CP's only eight minutes behind ORF 1 at 9:39.

Check out the image below for the top 30 overall with split info.

CASTLEWOOD PICTURE

Here are a few pictures from the Castlewood race.

The first is the canoe put in at the start. Krista was actually running with this canoe. Unbelievable. The next two show us just after nearly capsizing in freezing cold water. You can't see it, but I am in a butt pucker factor 10. We got completely sideways lodged against two submerged rocks. We eventually dislodged ourselves and came out backwards. The second picture is just after we spun it back around.

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.