Gore Bike Wear Xenon Sonic Lady Bibtights and Xenon Jersey

The Jersey and shorts are breathable and stay comfortable with exertion and sweat.

They are both thin, but not thin in important and personal locations. The jersey is thinnest when it overlaps the shorts, which is very nice. The jersey is fitted but not too tight or constricting. The material is stretchy. The 3 rear pockets are easy to reach, with a zippered pocket in the middle. It is easy to zip and unzip. I like this for a key.

I love these shorts! First of all, they are supportive in the thigh, not too tight. The leg grips are comfortable but not so tight to cause any dimpling in the thigh.

There are zippers that are easy to reach and allow a quick rest break for the woman who likes to wear bibs. After trying these, I can return to wearing bibs. I like the comfort and lack of restriction with bibs. All women’s bib shorts should have the zippered convenience!

There are many reflectors that will show up regardless of the biking position the cyclist is in. The colors are nice. Not too flashy and not a shiny black. The pad in the shorts is specifically padded to areas of need and not filled in between with bulky paddling. This is comfortable but is not bulky. Very nice fit.

Overall, I love this Gore Bicycling wear. My favorite is the comfort and wicking of the material for the jersey and shorts, the zippers on the bibs and the comfortable leg grippers on the shorts.
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By Rick Emerson

What a difference a day makes! Monday after the race it’s raining buckets while athletes were blessed with near ideal conditions for the Rogaine on Saturday and Sunday. It didn’t look like it was going to start that way though…

The Dakota Rogaining Championships was a USOF-sanctioned event organized by Peak Assurance, Inc. with course design by Rick Emerson. Rick was the Course Designer and Assistant Race Director for Primal Quest Badlands 2009. He shared that much of this terrain was slated for a good test of backcountry navigation in PQ, but was this removed when inclement weather slowed progress early in “The World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition”. Who better to experience this now than some of North America’s best orienteers?!?

60+ folks registered for this inaugural event with the vast majority of athletes entered in the 24-Hour Championship race. The Rogaine included three events: the 24-Hour Championship, a 12-in-24 Hour Race, and a 4-Hour Short Course. The event was held in Custer State Park – located in western South Dakota and one of the largest state parks in the United States. The host club was the Black Hills Orienteering Club. Participants came from 14 states and provinces and included multiple past US and North American champions.

A front swept through western South Dakota on Thursday – dropping three plus inches of snow in the South Hills and Custer State Park. Racers began wondering what they were in for, but nature cooperated with the Rogaine – sort of, that is… Participants experienced record lows on Friday night – 19 F to be exact. This only proved to be a morale tester as Saturday dawned clear and mostly sunny.
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The 4th Black Hills Fat Tire Festival will be May 28-31 this year. The Festival in Rapid City, South Dakota centers around the Hanson Larson Memorial Park in the center of town.

The Festival has something for everyone. Group rides, races, a film festival, picnic, and a pub crawl.

The Races all take place on M Hill in the center of Rapid City. There will be a downhill, Super D, Sprint hill climb, X-country, and the Rapids triathlon (kayaking, running, and mountain biking).

There will be a 2 day ride on the Mickelson Trail. A Rails to Trails ride and 2 days on the Centennial Trail, wonderful singletrack.

There is also a 10k trail run.

Locals will be taking riders out on some of their favorite trails. You also can bring your Garmin GPS and download DIY rides. There will be full days of Freeriding for the big hit riders.

The film festival Saturday features the best of local filmmakers and The Anthill film “Follow Me” Friday the Elks Theater will be showing “Women of Dirt”

I am Paulette Kirby. I was a member of Team Eddie Bauer and participated in the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race in February 2010. One of the concerns prior to the race was staying dry and warm with the potential extremes of weather in Patagonia. We needed to be prepared for a ‘large amount of weather with a small amount of clothing.’ I have listed ALL the clothing I brought and wore in the race below. Warmth, versatility and comfort day and night was never a problem.

The MOUNTAIN GUIDE PANT is a great low cut fit pant. These pants grow on you, especially if you wear them for 18 days. I wore them for travel in Chile and during the Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race. The weather was 40s with rain on and off and wind up to 70 mph. Trekking was through water and mud. I could sink into the mud, trek through the water, sometimes up to my thighs, continue trekking, and the pants would dry while I trekked. I was not cold. What was especially nice are how these pants held up to steep trekking and extreme bushwhacking. The best description of the steep trekking in Patagonia is ‘rock climbing using trees.’ There were no trails and these pants held up well during the bushwhacking. The stretch allowed flexibility. I wore these pants cycling, trekking and rock climbing during the race. These pants do not require another layer in these temperatures. After the race, I rinsed them and hung them overnight and they were dry in the morning. The functionality makes this pant a great choice for cool or cold weather adventure racing.

The RANIER STORM SHELL PANT is a great fit also. I wore these with a paradise and merino wool baselayer and stayed warm. The fit is loose but not too loose. Worn over the MOUNTAIN GUIDE PANT with snow and rain provided added warmth.

THE PARADISE BASELAYER CREW is stretchy, soft on the skin, a long cut so it stays tucked in. It really does resist odors. I think I ‘began to have odor’ before the shirt. It goes well with the Mountain Guide Pant. It dries quickly on or off the body.
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This is not your traditional orienteering A meet. The Dakota Rogaining Championships just went international with registrations from coast to coast and north of the border. They now have registrations from Maryland to California and Canada. A team from Cimislia, Moldova may even make the trek! Why the interest in an inaugural event? It seems the competition isn’t your traditional orienteering event. Rick Emerson shares the course will encompass 60 square miles of Custer State Park with 40+ CP’s and total 50+ miles. For those unfamiliar with Rick or western South Dakota, just ask the Primal Quest Badlands 2009 racers – his courses aren’t flat but they sure are pretty. Seems he is also adding some pomp and circumstance to the event – soliciting sponsors and booty, drumming up media, and even hosting an awards dinner. National sponsors to-date include AVIS, nuun, RoadID, SportMulti, and Zanfel. If you are looking for something challenging to do in May, check out the Dakota Rogaining Championships at www.peakassurance.net.

For the last 2 years everybody asks me “when are you going to race again?” I tell them it is more fun to train and film the races. I haven’t done a race since the Leadville Silver Rush, mountain bike 50 miles on Saturday and then run it on Sunday.

Last year I spent the year training and filming with my wife, Paulette Kirby, as she got ready to do Primal Quest Badlands. Two weeks before the race I was asked by Don Mann If I would film the race and produce the DVD. Now the DVD is done and I need to find another project.

Last week I was surfing the wed and found a new race, the 24 Hours of Leadville. That sounds interesting. Leadville has always been a destination for Paulette and me. We did the first 5 100 mile mountain bike races. Get this the first year there were 67 riders. Much more fun than the 1000 they get now. I have also done the marathon, and the 50 milers.

Then add in that 24-hour mountain bike races are my best distance. In 2003 in my 2nd 24 I went to Worlds and won the 45+ Championship, it seems time to try again.
It should make for an interesting summer. I have kept in good shape filming races but my mountain biking has suffered my technical skills are pretty bad right now. They do come back pretty fast once I start riding again so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Having enough time to get the fitness that I need may be a little harder. I hope to travel and film some more races this year and then there is all that everyday life stuff that comes along.

The plan is to get in shape and film and write about the process over the summer. I am also planning to film the race itself and show an 24 hour race from a different perspective.

More as it happens.
Randy

Here’s one for everybody that didn’t get enough of the Black Hills during Primal Quest last year. The Dakota Rogaine Championships will be held May 8-9 in Custer State Park. There will be a 24 hour championship along with a 12 hour intermediate and 4 hour beginner events. USOF sanctions are applied for. The events will be staggered so they all will finish Sunday at noon.

The course is designed by Rick Emerson,course designer for Primal Quest Badlands.

The host club is the Black Hills Orienteering Club http://www.blackhillsorienteeringclub.com/

At 71,000 acres Custer State Park it is one of the largest state parks in the United States. With terrain varying from prairie to pinnacles and from canyons to mountains, orienteers will be hard-pressed to find a more fitting challenge with such diversity.This was an area of “interesting” navigation during Primal Quest last year.
Teams can consist of 2-5 members. Men,Women and mixed teams. Age groups are Junior,Open,Vet, and Super vet.

For more info and to register please go to http://www.peakassurance.net/Rogaine.html

We hope to see you in May.

After a night of sleeping in the car and several hours of following Goggle Maps to the wrong spot over and over I managed to find the right spot on Lake Mead. 24 adventure racers unloading boats,getting bikes ready,and all those last minute “things” you need to do before a race . This is why I like filming and not racing. I don’t have that pre race nervous feeling. I always hated waiting to start. When I am filming I start the minute that I get out of the car. Plus I like to annoy people and how annoying is it for someone to stick a camera in your face while you try to put the wheels on your bike.

The race field wasn’t that large but they came from all over. There was the 3 person CITOO from Canada, Militant Hippies from Park City and Durango, plus Teams from Arizona, California, and Nevada.

There were 2 first timers on the Kayak Lake Mead team.

At precisely some where around 9 the race started with a half mile portage. The Racers had to paddle out around a point to find there race book/passport.

Leg 1 was a 10k paddle with 5 CPs.

I headed for the high ground. I went to the top of o 400 ft ridge and had a great view of the paddling course. When the first team headed back towards the TA I raced them to their takeout. Downhill on foot beats kayaking when the distances are the same as at Desert Winds and the kayaks don’t know they are racing you.

The Militant Hippies were the first out of the water followed by Kayak Lake Mead a few minutes later.

The first leg of the bike was transitional to the trekking leg. The Racers stashed the bikes in a culvert and plotted the route. This was the make or break section of the race. I ran with the Hippies to the first CP, then climbed up out of the canyon to wait for the next team. It is more of a challenge to film a race when you don’t have the checkpoints on your map and in a GPS. I had to parasite off the teams the firsy couple of CPs. Then I could wonder around just like them.
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It was somewhere over Lake Mead when reality started to kick in. Why was I headed to Sin City for an adventure race?

Isn’t an adventure in Vegas doubling down on 18, or making eye contact with one of the guys handing out escort cards.

Luckily for me I was headed to the desert to film the first race in the Desert Winds Adventure Race Series.

I met Robert Finlay, the Race Director, at Primal Quest Badlands last Summer. Through a long complicated  chain of events that some how worked out,He asked me to come to the desert film and produce DVDs for the racers. Two 12 hour,one 24, and a 5 day expidition race in September. Oh yeah, and my wife Paulette Kirby is going with Robert, his son Druce, and Val Chapa to Patagonia next month to race.

I haven’t been to any of the Desert Winds races but I have done my research and found a lot of positive buzz about them.Robert has the same kind of attitude that Paulette and I have, “I’m not sure where we are but it looks fun that way” this should make for an interesting course.

This is what I know so far. The paddle is 15 milesish on Lake Mead. There is a 15 mountain bike ride , and 10 miles on foot. I think you better be on your navigation game if you want to be competitive.

Now is the weird part, I fly into Vegas  and have some time to kill.  I make a lap of the Strip. But a couple of hours of that and  the Fear starts to creep in.  How many strange people can one town hold and how can so many of them be so out of shape that they can’t even climb one flight of stairs without stopping.I head for the desert.

The desert is calm and dark. Soon I will be in my sleeping bag in my rented Toyota. This is the difference between racing and documenting a race. I have no pre race jitters. Just a good night sleep and a day of sticking my camera in their face.

Tomorrow the race.

Words I here regularly around the house. My wife Paulette Kirby has joined up with Team Kayak Lake Mead for the February Patagonia Expedition Race. But we will have NO training at our house.

OK. I understand, but then what do you call last weekend?

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. That should be a nice no training day. Just the 4 F’s. Food, Family, Football, and Flopping on the couch. No. No training is a 9 mile run with full expedition pack. 3miles to set the signs for the Turkey Trot run, 3 before the start and then do the run.

OK. Black Friday.Perfect for no training. Go shopping and get Christmas done. Or, a 4 hour mountain bike ride in the Black Hills. I guess it’s not training since Paulette returned a borrowed light to some friends in Silver City.

Saturday,maybe a little training since it’s the weekend. NO TRAINING. Ok how about a little hike. We did 6 hours near Legion Lake and the Game Lodge in Custer State Park. Lots of map and compass and bushwhacking and 3500 ft of climbing,but thank God no training.

Sunday: the day of rest. A great day for no training. It’s an OK day outside upper 30s and breezy. You know what that means, kayaking on Pactola. Paulette loves winter on the lake. 4 hours of paddling with an entire lake to herself. But you can just float so I guess that’s not training either.

Next up. 4 days in Vegas not seeing Metallica and not kayaking on Lake Mead and not training in the desert.

How does 43 seconds of video + FaceBook=Patagonia Expedition Race?

Simple.

I posted 43 seconds of Val Chapa after Primal Quest Badlands talking about breaking his bike.At the end I had him spell his name for the video editor. I labeled it “Val Can Still Spell His Name”and posted it to Facebook.

Then there werea bunch of comments like,”good to see you” “how are you” “what do you have planned”. Some where in this mix somebody posts “we’re going to Patagonia”. Then smart ass me says ” need a videographer”? I get a reply from Robert Finley “mmm…Maybe’

Cut to a couple of days later. I get an email from Robert. Does Paulette want to go to Patagonia in February with them? Duh!!

Now a little back story. Paulette started Team South Dakota to do Primal Quest Badlands. For a lot of reasons She drop off the Team in June. Don Mann and Chris Caul said keep training, there is always a team that needs a last minute replacement. Since we live in the Black Hills she was the perfect person to be a replacement. We heard from 3 teams leading up to the race and they all found somebody before Paulette could say yes.It was a real roller coaster.

One week before the race we got an email from Team Semper Fi. They needed a women. Paulette said yes. She met the guys Tuesday before the race. They didn’t finish the race, but it was a good experience that left Paulette wanting more. So when She first started talking with Robert it was with the attitude this will be cool but…
It took one week of email and phone calls before Robert was sending the registration,looking for flights,everybody checking on what gear they have and what they need to get.

It seems to be just the right amount of time to get ready,long enough to get everything done, but short enough not to have to much worry time.

The focus of this Posting will be how the Team gets ready to do the race. They are spread out. Nevada,East Coast, South Dakota. The good news Paulette and I will be in Vegas twice. She will be able to train with Robert and Druce,and do one of the Desert Winds Series races before Patagonia.

No when it is all said and done I won’t be able to go. I will be shooting and producing the DVDs for Desert Winds and some video post of the team training.

What do you expect for 43 seconds?