Fall Beast This Weekend!

So, it's almost winter, the snow is starting to come down into the valleys and there isn't too much going on in terms of off season races. Well, if you want to get off your ass and hit up an awesome race this weekend, you can!

The Fall Beast runs this coming Sunday December 2nd and takes place just south of Seattle Washington. Because the race is on Sunday morning, you can travel down on Saturday, race Sunday morning, and then make the return trip all in the weekend without taking off a work day. The event is put on by Eric Bone and the crew of Team Mergeo.com members.
Check out their website at http://www.beastrace.com/
For a mere $60 US (that's only $59.74 CA) you can sign up and have a blast.

The race length is similar to a MOMAR with a time ranging from 4 to 7 hours. Disciplines include running, bushwacking and mountain biking. Of course, there will be lots of navigation with little or no marked sections of the course. There is no kayak stage in the race.

So, if you want to get on the ball and get in some practice before the 2008 MOMARs, this is the race to do. Hope to see you there!

Doug Doyle is The Master!

Sometimes I think that I'd better get training hard and doing all the big races now because once I hit the mid thirty's, it's all going to be downhill from there. While I don't mean that I won't be able to do anything after that point, it's just that I have this feeling that my performance will just start to suffer. Then I went riding with Doug Doyle.

After the Victoria 'Pushing the Limits' presentation on Sunday night, Doug and I decided to take the afternoon off work and hook up with Gary Robbins before he headed back to Squamish for some good old mountain biking. I didn't have any particular route planned out but was able to show both of them lots of new trails that they had never ridden before. Lots of sweet singletrack was had by all. It was a pretty cold start but once we got the blood flowing, everything was good. With a pace that made me wonder if we were racing at times, I ended up taking a small bail that seemed like nothing at the time but made me stop and catch my breath minutes later to slow down the adrenaline. It wasn't until I arrived home and took off my tights that I found some deep chainring gouges in my right calf. This was far from stopping our ride though.

Several more climbs and flowing technical trails later, the rain picked up and turned to snow on the mountain. It was pretty special riding some of the best trails Vic has to offer with some big chunky flakes falling. As we decended, the snow turned to rain and soon enough, we wound up at the main Hartland parking lot with two hours of solid riding behind us.

After some quick "I'm freezing... gotta go" goodbyes, we parted ways and Gary and I loaded the bikes and headed down the mountain.

"Man, Doug's super fast eh? I mean, he was with us the whole time"

"Yeah, Doug is super impressive. He must be almost 50 by now. I only hope that I'm as good as he is when I reach that age."

"Yeah, when I grow up, I want to be as fast as Doug" :)

A BIG THANKS

Thank you to everyone who came out and attended the 'Pushing the Limits' presentation put on by Gary Robbins and myself. It was really nice to revisit the big races of the season and try to inspire others to either get out and do some bigger races, or to simply follow their own passions whatever that may be. Thanks to everyone as well for the great feedback on the show that will allow us to put on an even bigger and better show in the future. A big thanks to Marc Campbell of Helly Hansen and to Bryan Tasaka of Mind Over Mountain Event Co (MOMEC) with whom the shows could not have been possible. A big thanks to all our sponsors as well for letting us use some of the best gear around: Helly Hansen, Nuun, Princeton Tec, Carbo-Pro and Kinesys.
Looking forward to 2008!!!

Paddle to D'Arcy Island

Last Sunday, Kim and I decided that it was time to get out for a nice relaxing paddle. We stayed up pretty late the night before and slept in so we were both eager to get out of the house and into the gorgeous day that was unfolding. It was still a little cool out but the sky was blue with some wispy clouds. We packed the boats and headed down to our put-in on Cordova Bay.

The water was glass.

We would do a small 7km paddle out to D'Arcy Island, relax and explore, and paddle back. It was such a relaxing paddle with tons of diving ducks, harlequins and bald eagles to be heard and seen.

D'Arcy Island is part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve and has seven campsites with limited facilities. It was once a leper colony from 1894 to 1924 and the remains of buildings and farming areas can still be seen. It is a pretty neat little island with beautiful coves, large Arbutus stands, and lots of wildlife. There is a little trail that runs most of the islands circumference and allows for a nice run or stroll. While the west side is mostly bedrock, the island does offer some gravel and smooth cobble beaches with lots of weathered driftwood.

The only other people at the island were a couple on their pleasure craft anchored in a bay leisurely reading on their deck. It was a nice day.

Team Helly Hansen / MOMAR Multimedia Presentation

* CLICK ON AD TO ENLARGE *

Mind Over Mountain is proud to sponsor Pushing the Limits -- a multimedia slide show featuring Team Helly Hansen / MOMAR's adventure filled year of expedition racing.
Join us as team captain, Gary Robbins, and navigator, Todd Nowack, takes on a compelling journey through the Baja, Queen Charlotte Islands, and Austrailia.
Show dates are on Wednesday, November 21st, in Vancouver, or on Sunday, November 25th, in Victoria. The Vancovuer show will be held at the new Helly Hansen store and they are offering everyone 15% off everything in the store. Frontrunners (Langford) will be hosting the Victoria show -- Mark and Nick will be offering everyone 20% off so come ready to buy some new shoes.
We'll be going to the pub after for drinks so plan on staying out a bit later for a casual beer and more good times.

Admission is by donation with all proceeds go to the Team's racing funds for 2008. Please book your seat by simply emailing info@mindovermountain.com or by calling 604.999.3331. Please spread the word!

Gear Review - Montrail Hardrocks

Product Features and Impressions:
The Hardrocks are probably the first real full off-trail shoe I have ever tried. I say off-trail as that's what they really excel at. While there are barely any shoes that I would really call 'off-trail', these shoes definitely fit the bill. These shoes are stiff, have great lateral support, have tough uppers, and have protection plates in the midsole. While all of these features come with the cost of increased weight, it is well worth it when travelling off the beaten path. These are absoutely bomber shoes. Sharp rocks? Don't even think twice about powering through them in these babies.

While I really like these shoes, I find the fit is a little off for me. I have a long, standard width foot with a pronounced heel. So, I do find there is some heal slip even when I have the shoe tighened up well. This review is for the 2006 grey and red model. Unfortunately, I bought the black and red model (shown above) and this shoe did not work for me. The fit was suddenly way too tight for the same shoe size and I got blisters from the heel plate in the back of the shoe. I have recently switched to the Montrail Continental Divides which I'm absolutely loving. I'll review these once I've logged some good miles on them.

Weaknesses:
Overall, I would have to say none for the intended use other than the fit of the shoe which is very personal. The downside of the shoes durability is you'll want to continue to wear these shoes even after their worn-out as the uppers and soles will still look decent.

Overall Impression:
This is an awesome shoe for anything from off-road ultras, to good hikes through rough terrain. When going to adventure races, rogaines or regular orienteering meets, you'll see a lot of people with these shoes. If you talk to most of them, you'll probably get the same answer; these shoes are the best! These are not for everyone though. Weight weenies no need to apply.

Try not to get the black and red version shown above though. I guess there has been fit problems with this 2007 model. Other 2007 colours seem to be fine though. Go figure.

Gear Reviews

Here's a bunch of older gear reviews on some Helly Hansen and Princeton Tec Gear. I recently figured out how to add labels to my posts and then be able to navigate to them from the link list. Should work well in the long term. The Mars jacket is probably still my favourite :)

TNO

Gear Review - Princeton Tec Yukon Bike Light

Product Features and Impressions:
My first impression of this light was good as the lighting seemed fair and I liked the ability to switch from Xenon to LED lighting. After I installed the light though, I was a concerned with the handlebar mount and the inability to adequately adjust the light bezel.

Weaknesses:
My main issue with this light was the bezel mount and lack of adjustment. Instead of being infinitely adjustable, the bezel only adjusted in large, set increments. As I have a map holder and other items on my handlebars, the light mount had to be installed offset; because of this, I could not set the light to look straight ahead. The beam was either to far to the left or right of centre. Also, the up and down angle was limited and could not be easily adjusted. For the bezel mount, it would be easier if it installed with a quick release.

Overall Impression:
This is a adequate backup bike light which works ok for long climbs but is not bright enough to be comfortable taking on speed in a downhill section. While burn time is decent, the beam is too narrow to see immediate trail features and the bezel movement is too limited.

Gear Review - Princeton Tec Quad Headlamp

Product Features and Impressions:
This was a solid proximity light. While racing, I was only going to use this light as a backup to the APEX but found that it was especially useful as a map reading light during night cycling. A normal high intensity bike light is just too bright for map reading as it creates glare off of the map and causes temporary blindness when looking away. The Quad was easy to attach to my helmet with the supplied helmet mount strap and the bezel tilt always stayed where I wanted it to. Off the bike, I ended up using the QUAD when I ran out of batteries for the APEX and found that it performed just as it should; bright enough for scrambling down rocks and avoiding some nasty cactus thorns. Operation was easy and intuitive even with gloved hands. I even ended up dropping this light out of my pack into a pool of water with no issues. This light rocks!

Weaknesses:
None for the intended use.

Overall Impression:
This is a great proximity and backup headlamp that is durable, easy to use, versatile, and completely waterproof. Great product.

Gear Review - Princeton Tec APEX Headlamp

Product Features and Impressions:
To give context for review, I have never used an LED lighting system that has been able to match the power of a halogen setup. I've tried LED's from other companies but have always found that they did not deliver and left me wanting more light to see the trail or to navigate well through the dark bush. That was until I used the APEX. This light delivers.

The single long range Maxbright LED is impressive and allowed our team to navigate down a steep canyon by spotting out the best route from 50 meters or more away. The light is even and the width is adequate for long range viewing. I was especially impressed with the quad short range Ultrabright LEDs used for proximity lighting. When not navigating up front, I would always switch to the quad setup and was amazed at how well and comfortable I found myself moving through the terrain. I was a little concerned with the weight of the battery pack on my head as I'm fond of battery packs that can be stowed remotely. However, the four AA's never bothered me as the strap set-up held the light firmly in place with little to no movement while moving fast. Lighting operation was easy even with thick leather repelling gloves and I never found the lighting bezel to tilt inadvertently. The light generally withstood continuous abuse and the light had no problems after being submerged during short night-time water crossings.

Weaknesses:
For durability, the main weakness of the light appears to be the small plastic head strap holder on the battery pack which broke off on my team mates light. While the light continued to function with no problems, the battery pack was not held as securely. My main negative feedback would be the burn time of the light. My team found that batteries had to be changed after approximately 4-6 hours of use due to a significant dimming of the light after this time. This is in contrast to the claimed 72 hours of use for the Maxbright High setting. Batteries used by our team included high output single-use alkalines and high output NMHD rechargables with no significant burn time difference being noted.

Overall Impression:
Even with the significantly lower than claimed burn time, I still feel that this is an awesome light that can deliver race after race.

Gear Review - Helly Hansen Zone Jacket

Product Features and Impressions:
My first impression of this jacket was how light it was for a waterproof-breathable and how stylish it is. I have had many comments on how good this jacket looks. It works as it should and is very functional either in the bush or on the street. Durability has been steller.

Weaknesses:
The front zipper close to the collar can get stuck and did not function well intially; this has eased up with use. I also find I get some chaffing on my neck from the zipper even though it has a small fleece chin liner. The underarm zips are not waterproof and use fabric flaps to keep the water out. Some nice waterproof zips would not only make the jacket look better, but would also drop a bit of weight on an already light jacket.

Overall Impression:
This is a great lightweight, durable, waterproof-breathable jacket that is both stylish and fully functional.

Gear Review - Helly Hansen Lifa Base

Product Features and Impressions:
I have been using the Lifa Base layers for a couple of years now and can't say enough for this awesome product. I am a big guy and typically sweat a lot in the heat. These tops allow me to stay drier by keeping the sun off my skin and wick away sweat. I find they work so well that I feel drier and more comfortable compared to any short sleeve top or even wearing nothing at all. I still have people ask me that I must be really hot with a long sleeve on as they sweat in their heavy short sleeve polyester tops. For durability, I use these tops anywhere from a daily commute to full on orienteering and see very little wear. Other than some bike crash scuffs, my tops look virtually new.

Weaknesses:
Like all synthetics, the fabric can get pulls.

Overall Impression:
The Lifa base layer is the best top I have every used. Period. It keeps me drier than anything else, keeps the sun off my upper body, is very light and durable, and fits like a glove. Why would I use anything else?

Gear Review - Helly Hansen Mars Jacket

Product Features and Impressions:
I had some reservations about taking one of the world's lightest jacket into the one of the world's most thorny environments in Baja, Mexico. For durability, this was the ultimate test. The result? No tears, rips or abrasions of any kind. Was I ever impressed!

I have used this jacket extensively on my daily running and cycling commutes along with some long training sessions and have been continually impressed by the amount of warmth that the thin fabric provides. This jacket does not insulate; if you put your arm on something cold, you will feel it like you don't have anything on at all. What it does do though is cut the wind and traps air so that you stay warmer. Because the fabric doesn't really breathe, it does wet-out especially if your doing high output activities. For long endurance exercise though, this jacket is the shit. This jacket is so light and small that when I go on rides, I can pack it in my little frame mounted beno box along with several bars! When I need it, it's there. One feature that would make this product even better would be a small underarm zip to allow airflow through; this would be especially useful on the bike since your jacket becomes a sail if you unzip the front at all. This would add a small amount of extra weight to the jacket but it would be worth it.

Weaknesses:
Not very breathable. I would say durable but the thing still looks brand new.

Overall Impression:
This jacket is easily one of my favourite pieces of clothing. I bring this thing everywhere now. It's so light and small, I don't even know it's there. Awesome product.