When Adam and I swam here we jumped in at the parking lot, swam upstream 1 or 2 hours, then turned around and swam back with the current. Swimming downstream you travel at 4x the speed, so it’s a quick trip.

View Schuylkill swimming spot in a larger map

Rudy Project continues their recession-busting sales promotions.  This year has been a huge year for them, and they’ve proven their resolve time and time again to avoid the normal pitfalls that traditionally hit the industry in the down years of an economic cycle.  Click on the link above to take advantage.

We are extremely excited to have these folks on board.  Rudy Project has long been a leading manufacturer of sunglasses for athletes and more recently has entered the world of helmets.  They are now our exclusive helmet and sunglass sponsor!

This company does not tread silently.  They have been making a huge industry splash lately, garnering Outside Magazine’s coveted “Gear of the Year” awards and “Killer Value” awards for both sunglasses and helmets.  Additionally in the last year they’ve been featured in dozens of publications from triathlon to golf to eyecare.

We have more exciting product news from Rudy Project that we will be featuring in the coming days. 

In other news, Adam’s wife Amy is having a baby in August 2009! Ga ga go go! He is taking name suggestions, send him a note here. Currently he is considering “Neal” if it is a boy, and “Adam” if it is girl.

Stats:

• 14,264 evelevation at the summit. 4,000 feet vertical gain
• 8 mph on the way up. 50 mph on the way down.
• 40F at the base. 0F at the summit
• Team: Adam, Adam, Neal

Here are a couple web links from others on the ride that we did:

• http://www.takemytrip.com/colo/01a.htm
• http://www.eskimo.com/~milan/colorado/mount_evans05july21/index.html
• http://www.subbu.org/blog/2007/06/mt-evans-ride

Pictures and Videos from our ride:

Congratulations to a few good friends of ours who competed in the Nashville Country Music Marathon and ½ Marathon this weekend.  This year’s race reportedly had over 30,600 finishers, the largest total in the race’s 10 year history.  Take a look below at the starting line from this weekend.

½ Marathon:
Suzy Demirjian                       2:28:28

Full Marathon:
Brian Sewell                            4:07:07
Chris Bove                              4:18:08

Through word of mouth, we’ve heard that number more of you also raced this weekend.  Shoot us an email and we’ll get your name on the website.  Congratulations to all of you who finished.  What an awesome accomplishment! The folks who put on the Rock & Roll Marathon series do a phenomenal job.  They place live bands all over the course.  It makes for a fun experience and definitely lifts your spirits in the doldrums of miles 20-26.  If you’re thinking about your first marathon or 1/2 marathon, you should definitely look into one of these events.

Rock & Roll Marathon Series

• Phoenix (full & ½ Marathon)
• Nashville (full & ½ Marathon)
• San Diego (full marathon)
• Seattle (full & ½ Marathon) – Inaugural event June 2009
• Virginia Beach (½ Marathon)
• San Jose (½ Marathon)
• Chicago (½ Marathon)
• San Antonio (full & ½ Marathon)
• Las Vegas (full & ½ Marathon) – Inaugural event December 2009

Oh, how quickly I leave the protection of the city. Just a few miles off shore and I am totally cutoff. I see the sky scrapers and houses, but could not scream to them if I capsize. No one can help me out here, I am self-reliant. This feeling of self-reliance is really healthy, I think, to put life into perspective. So much of life has safety nets, it’s nice to feel the pressure of pure objective danger. And it’s nice when I dock the boat and that danger vanishes. If only life were as simple as rowing.

Technically speaking the shoe is an innovation. The new fabric, named Flywire, has high-tensile Vectran threads (stronger than Kevlar) which cut down on weight and add stability. The technique also adds an original graphic look to the shoe.

We are going to test for vapor breathability, insulative ability, and wear. We’re going to climb stuff, get sweaty feet and hope these kicks look and feel great after thousands of feet of vertical gain and 50 pound packs.  We’ll be putting the kicks  through the paces on a few of Colorado’s 14ers in the near future. We’ll report back, stay tuned.

I took the new Suunto X10 on a trip to Portalón, Costa Rica. The trip was one one-part real estate recon and one-part adventure travel. The watch was useful for both. For the adventure travel part of the trip, I traveled on horseback through the rain forest near Manuel Antonio National Park. It was the perfect place to run the watch through the paces. What follows is a review of this watch with pictures of the Google Earth integration. This Fall Suunto debuted their new flagship GPS product – the X10. The X10 is the replacement for the X9i.  This is proo positive that GPS technology has come a long way in a short time. It is now commonplace in the lives of so many people, and Suunto is leading the way in the GPS watch segment. Just a few years ago, the GPS watches that were out there were expensive and the quality was poor.

Suunto X10 Specs:

1. GPS Route Planning
2. 50 Routes, 500 Waypoints
3. Syncs with powerful Suunto Trek Manager Software as well as Google Earth
4. Altimeter, Barometer, Compass

TEST 1: Accuracy
Could it acquire and maintain a good satellite connection? Would this connection be compromised by the dense cover in the rainforest? I must tell you, it did not disappoint.  I was able to maintain a good connection throughout my entire ride.  There are three modes that determine how often the watch seeks a GPS satellite signal: Manual, 1 minute, and 1 second. Battery life is reduced correspondingly. The owner’s manual estimates a battery life of 16 hours, and 6 hours for 10 minutes and 1 minute respectively. I operated in both modes repeatedly and battery life exceeded these limits by 20% or more in all cases.

TEST 2: Interoperability
My favorite feature, by far, is the interconnection with Google Earth. The process was a super-easy, plug-and-play interface. With the press of a button, my entire trip was uploaded from the watch into Google Earth. See below. Aside from the map data, the watch also maintained time series data on speed, elevation change, distance traveled, etc. Any feasible data relating to my trip was captured and available through the Suunto Trek Manager software. This is, by far, Suunto’s best attempt at software design.

SYNOPSIS: Useful
A GPS wrist top computer has traditionally been a tool used by mountaineers. The X 10 has taken a large technological leap that brings it well within the realm of the casual fan of any outdoor activity: cyclists, trail runners, kayakers…the list goes on. The Google Earth interface makes it extremely easy to share via email, facebook, or your own personal blog or website. User-populated sites such as Mapmyhike/mapmyride/mapmyrun etc. are the perfect venue for these new Google Earth files. Information such as topographical data as well as distance, and elevation gain becomes easy and fun to share with others. Ohh, and don’t just take our word for it, this watch won the Gear of the Year Award by  National Geographic Adventure.

OTHER REVIEWS

Check out the pictures below for GPS maps of the trek — pretty cool!

I’ve always thought that Antarctica will be the most physically difficult expedition of all our 7 10DL expeditions. Until now I never had a structured way of thinking about how to measure “difficulty”. From a energy expenditure perspective, Antarctica will be the hardest. Here’s how I performed my calculations. 

1. The first step is to breakdown the activities of 10DL. The 10 Degrees Latitude is an expedition series that consists of 5 sports. Those being:

• Cycling 
• Open water swimming
• Kite assisted skiing cross country
• Hiking cross country
• Kayaking

2. The second step is to assume that calorie count is a proxy for “effort”. It’s possible to make a caloric estimate for each expedition assuming the athlete is 190 pounds and that each activity consumes a predictable amount of calories per hour at high exertion. Using this method we can figure out which of the 10DL expeditions is “hardest”, by virtue of the caloric expenditure required to complete it. The source for the calorie count information is here.

3. The third and last step is to type all this into Excel. The results show that the caloric expenditure ranges from the lowest of 57,500 calories in 10DL Australia to 138,000 calories in 10DL Antarctica. It’s not surprising that Antarctica is one of the hardest, and that calorie estimate doesn’t even take into the account the cold temperature, which will consume even more calories as our bodies try to keep warm. Below is the model I used.

The mental side of the “difficulty” equation is much more difficult to measure. I don’t have a measure for that.

I formerly served for Navy EOD. EOD stands for Explosive Ordinance Disposal. Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. The emails I’ve gotten from old friends and the questions I’ve gotten from new friends has gotten me thinking about the seven years I spent with some of the bravest, toughest, kindest, and most loyal men to honor our country with their service.

Here are a few videos from YouTube to better answer the questions that have come my way. The first 3 are from a Military Channel special, and they feature several men I worked very closely with. The fourth video is just a fun compilation.

Enjoy!

Rob and his partner, James Hooper were recently honored by National Geographic for their 14-month expedition that took them from the North Pole to the South Pole.

I will not attempt to eulogize Rob here.  Instead I will point you to several inspiring websites that paint a picture of his life, his death, and a few of his adventures.

Rob’s Website

Rob and James’ Site

National Geo Adventurers of the Year

1/12/09 News Article

Wikipedia

The video is from my friends in Jackson Hole at Mountain Athlete. Thanks to Pere for sending this video our way. Keep it up guys!

The first question that people ask us when they find out we’re training to traverse 10 Degrees Latitude is, “how far is 10 degrees latitude”?

Quick answer: 

1 degree latitude = approximately 69 miles (111 kilometers) of north-south distance.
10 degrees latitude = approximately 690 miles (1110 kilometers).  

Complete answer:

The distance varies (due to the earth’s slightly ellipsoid shape) from 68.7 miles at the equator to 69.4 at the poles. This is convenient since each minute (1/60th of a degree) is approximately one mile (source). Here is a neat graphic to show the variation in distance from the poles to the equater. As you can see the distance at the equater is shorter by 0.7 mile.

So according to the experts, the greatest moements in open water swimming history, in chronological, are:

1875: Matthew Webb (English Channel)
1896: Alfred Hajos (Athens Olympics)
1916: La Jolla Rough Water Swim (USA)
1926: Gertrude Ederle (English Channel)
1927: Channel Swimming Association
1927: George Young (Catalina Channel)
1927: Ernst Vierkotter (Canada)
1928: Mercedes Gleitze (Gibraltar Strait)
1947: Tom Blower (Irish Channel)
1950: Vansbrosimningen (Sweden)
1954: Traversata dello Stretto (Italy)
1956: Rottnest Channel Swim
1961: Antonio Abertondo (Channel)
1961: Keo Nakama (Molokai Channel)
1962: Barry Devonport (Cook Strait)
1963: Abo-Heif (Lake Michigan)
1967: Stewart Evan (Farallons)
1974: John Kinsella (WPMSF)
1978: Penny Dean (English Channel)
1985: FINA Long Distance Commission
1987: Lynne Cox (Bering Strait)
1991: Shelley Taylor-Smith (IMSA)
1986: Claudio Plit (Lac St-Jean)
2004: Midmar Mile (South Africa)
2005: IOC (Beijing Olympic 10K)
2006: Agua (Santa Fe-Coronda)
2007: Lewis Pugh (North Pole)
2007: Petar Stoychev (English Channel)
2008: Natalie du Toit (Olympic 10K)
2008: Grant Hackett & David Davies
2008: Larisa Ilchenko (Olympic 10K)
2008: Maarten van der Weijden
2008: Britain’s Olympic 10K Team
2008: Hong Kong Clean Half

Below is are a couple of fun and innovative things you can do with your champagne corks tonight. This idea is in the category of “Recycling is good, reuse is better!”.

We think this mashup i’s a great example of how “pictures speak a thousand words”. Or if you prefer… “the medium is the medium”.

Below is a miniature version. The larger version is on the Expeditions page.

Hulk Hogan encourages 10 Degrees Latitude from Neal Mueller on Vimeo.

Typically I’m a swimmer, and pilot boats protect me. Today I had the opportunity to switch roles. I piloted a swim with 25 swimmers. There were 5 other pilot boats including me.

Role of the pilot boat during an open water swim:

• Protect swimmer from boaters and wildlife
• Guide the swim path
• Feed and motivate the swimmer during swims lasting more than 1 hour

What I learned. First of all I learned what a pilot boat does (see above). I also learned what a powerful affect the tidal current has on a swimmer. From the vantage point of our pilot boat Reuben and I saw several swimmers get swept by a swift tidal current. The current was faster than they were and caused them to literally swim in place. A good pilot can help a swimmers navigate currents and win the race!

Pilots from the Dolphin Club use plastic kayaks, motorized zodiacs, fiberglass paddle boards, and wooden Whitehall rowboats. The Whitehall rowboats at the Dolphin Club are pretty awesome, and most of over 100 years old. During the swim walkie-talkies are used to coordinate maneuvers. Two or more pilot boats lead the front swimmer and sweep the rear swimmer. Other pilot boats serve as course markers and guide points for the swimmers along the course.

Some stats about today’s swim.

• 52F … water temp
• 1:3 … ratio of swimmers to pilot boats
• 1.5 miles … course distance
• 1897 … year that my wooden rowboat was built
• 3 … donuts/bagels consumed pre & post (yummy!)

And of course, photography from today.

Here is a video from Bicycling Magazine by Executive Editor Bill Strickland.