2010 wasn’t a total bust for me personally.  I finally returned to running, and despite a miserable July, trained enough to finish the 11 mile StumpJump in Chattanooga.  It was the training for the SJ 50K a number of years ago that I injured my knee which put me on the shelf for a few years.  It felt good to return to trail running and despite a late and rushed start, I finished and had a good time.  I’m looking to return again in 2011 and perform better.  My biking and camping were next to nothing, but I did have enough time to build a bar and put together my man cave in our basement.  Just a few finishing touches remain and I can put the man cave project to rest.

So what does that leave for 2011?  Unfortunately I don’t believe any Checkpoint Adventures events will happen in 2011.  I’ve had a web project in mind for several years and my resolution for 2011 is to finally get it off the ground and launch it.  I’m looking to begin shortly and launch it sometime in mid/late 2011.

I’ll have some news regarding Checkpoint Adventures in the first few months of 2011.  Stay tuned.

I hope everyone had a safe and adventurous 2010. See you in 2011!

-Kevin

We haven’t made any decision on the UOG going forward, so don’t rule out a 2010 edition.

Thank you to all those who emailed us about the UOG. Patrick and I couldn’t be more proud that you all enjoy the event so much.

See you on the trails,

Kevin and Patrick

Short Answer
At this time I just can’t say if the UOG will happen this year. I should know by the end of January however.

Long Answer
As some of you know, Patrick Bair and I have been putting on the UOG for the last 3 years. The concept of the event was Patrick’s and much of the drive to put it together came from him. I enjoyed the low stress of the event compared to directing an Adventure Race and also liked hanging out with Patrick (and his girl friend Colleen) while we set the course and during other meetings about the event. Patrick took care of many of the course design and race day documents while I took care of the website, registration, and some of the back-end stuff. We consulted each other on anything we had questions about, be it course related, websites stuff, etc. Neither of us really liked doing sponsorship work so we just said forget it and instead focused our energies on bringing you, the racers, the best experience we could.

Due to a new job, Patrick won’t be able to help out with the event as much this year. Prior to the new job, Patrick and I were discussing the 2009 race and possible new locations. With the changes in his job, much of the course design and duties Patrick was performing would fall to me. Patrick will still be able to design the event map and consult on course design, so the end result will mostly be transparent.

I can’t direct the event by myself, so I’ve asked another experienced RD to help me out. I should know sometime this week if he’s able to be the co-race director with me.

There is one last possible hiccup that could derail the 2009 UOG. My wife and I have been talking about doing an extension on our home for the last year or so. If we proceed, there is a pretty real chance we’ll have to move out of our home while the work is going on. If this happens, I don’t think I’ll have time to devote to the UOG. I should know in the next 2-3 weeks if we are going to proceed with the home extension.

If the event does take place, the event weekend may change. The date really depends on how fast we can get a permit approved however. If you have a preferred time of year other than when the event usually takes place (mid May – mid June), please let us know. You can leave a comment in this post below.

I’d like to say a big “Thank You” to everyone that has contacted us about the 2009 UOG. It really means a lot to both Patrick and I that you all enjoy the event so much.

Hopefully we’ll see you in 2009,

Kevin

Lance Armstrong finished just short of 2 minutes behind the winner of the Leadville 100 mountain bike race today.  Six-time defending champion Dave Wiens finished in 6 hours, 45 minutes, 45 seconds; 1 minute and 56 seconds in front of Armstrong.

[Via SI.com]

CPA staff Cathi Cannon also raced Leadville today.  She finished in 12:46.  Way to go Cathi!

This new law hits pretty close to home as a friend of Checkpoint Adventures, Jim Kelleher, was recently hit by a car while cycling in South Carolina. Fortunately for Jim, he seemed to come out of the accident relatively unhurt. The same can’t be said for his bike though.

While I’m very excited to see some of our neighbors increase bicycling laws, when will we see similar improvements in the roads we travel? My recent experience in Europe really highlighted how pour the Atlanta biking infrastructure really is. I just hope it will improve sometime in my lifetime. I’m not holding my breath though.

If you’re like me and stuck at work while the Tour de France is live, at least you can listen online. Just head on over to Eurosport’s Tour de France page. Go down the page about half way and click the button on the right side of the page labeled “Live audio”.

I find the flat stages a little boring to listen to, but the mountains provide lots of action. My top three TDF GC contenders (in no particular order): Evans, Sastre, Valverde.

You can follow the race live at the Primal Quest website.  Checkpoint Zero also is also providing PQ coverage.

If you’re curious about past PQ’s you can search this blog.  I volunteered for both the 2003 and 2004 events.  I didn’t care to travel to Utah to volunteer, but I would have liked to have volunteered for this years race if I had the vacation time.

I had problems loading the kmz file in Google Earth on my Mac (tested fine on Windows). If you’re a Mac user and got it to work, let me know the version you’re using in the comments.

See you in May!

Kevin and Patrick