Long way to Patagonia...

Three and half month till the start of thePatagonia Expedition Race.  We just got our tickets to travel half of the globe to get there. We will visit capitals of 4 countries on the way to our destination at the end of the world: Washington, DC; Panama City, Panama; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile. The final destination is Punto Arenas, the southernmost city on Earth. Click the map to see details. This weekend will be the first big training of the Calleva Patagonia team. We'll try to get tired in the first 24 hours in order to test our new ultra light sleeping bags and tent. The tent is a little small: "We better learn to get close fellas...."

Little-Big Adventure and Markoff’s Haunted Forest weekend.

Noelle Grosso put another great event in our area: 2008 Seneca Creek State Park Little-Big Adventure Race. About 100 parent-child teams started the race Saturday morning. It was the most competitive running kids event and the most technical one. For the fist time we had a single trail mountain bike. That’s where we gained the most advantage and passed at least 20 teams. Team Calleva was presented by Dmitri and Shon Kaganovich and finished 6^th overall and 3^rd in the age group.

Unfortunately we had no team uniforms for this event, because the only small size t-shirt we had, was never returned by the former team member. We are going to order a new set for 2009 season.

Friday and Saturday were BIG nights at the Haunted Forest – the home of Calleva Adventure race. On the photo are members of the AR team Calleva Vlad, Oleg and Dima ready to pump blood out of human bodies. Oleg scares people with his flash and puts pictures online. We will be back next weekend that includes “Calleva Night” of 10/25. This year on October 25th, we are offering a $5 discount to all calleva patrons that wear something "Calleva".  Calleva race or volunteer t-shirt, - any official calleva gear will get you into the Washington Area's greatest scare at a discount! Don’t miss this great opportunity. The 16th annual Markoff's Haunted Forest will haunt you for years!

Is it really October?

This time last year in Dolly Sods, WV was very cold and windy. This weekend was better than perfect. Unique time of the year when cranberry and blubbery are all around, when sky are clear blue and water in small creeks is so warm you want to stay there forever. On the photo my son and his friend building a dam in Fisher Creek. There are no other "beavers" this year.

And few good words for Cateye Tora. I sent my old light back to 

Cateye service center and in 4 days got a new light. It lasts for 40 hours in the brightest mode! I will put full review when install external power supply.

Odyssey Rogain! COOL !

Must do it event:
The AR Ogaine will be an adventurous Rogaine held at Douthat State Park near Clifton Forge, VA. The event will have 2 formats- 8 hour and 24 hour, each with teams of 1 to four people per team. Get out and EXPERIENCE ADVENTURE!!!
Registration will be available SOON

Time and Place: Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 4:00pm
End Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 4:00pm
Location: Douthat State Park, VA (Millboro, VA)

Also Little-Big Adventure Race is the next weekend and for the first time in Maryland, just 20 minutes away.

Also 2009 race calendar and 2008 race results are published. Click the links on the top menu to get there. 

And Finally... We set the dates for the second annual Calleva adventure race. News are coming! 

Cateye Tora and Inov-8 Race 30

Last race I tested these two items and here are the results.

Cateye started headlamp business based on its famous Optocube technology. I bought Tora headlamp directly from Cateye for $45 + shipping. The specifications claimed that the brightest 1 Watt mode will last for 45 hours on 3 AAA batteries. The first thing I did was measurement of the current in this mode. I got close to 160 mA at 4.5 V that really gives about 0.75 W, but also means that even lithium batteries will last only for 4-5 hours. I prepared 2 sets of batteries for the race and it was hardly enough for the night. Another problem was the electronics of the magnetic switch that had not enough power to turn the light off at low batteries. The main advantages of the light are very compact size, very low weight (~100 g with batteries) and very bright beam. Tora can be used as a spare light for long races or for transition areas. For the main light I would recommend 3W Brunton L3 or 6 Volts version of Petzl Myo-3 with an external power pack. Both are almost 3 times heavier than Tora, but so far are the best lights I tested.

I got the Inov-8 Race 30 backpack as a trophy for the 1^st place at Odyssey One Day race this year. 26 hours of “The Shag” race were the first real test for this unusual pack. Fortunately the weather was in comfortable 70 F and 2 liters horizontal bladder in combination with external bottle has been enough to keep me hydrated between water sources. The idea of horizontal bladder looks interesting, but after 15 hours in the race I realized that the center of gravity of the pack is too low and my lower back got too much load and no opportunity to rest, especially on bike. I also didn’t like the time I spent to refuel the bladder and install it back into the belt of the pack. The bottom line, I gave this backpack to Karen to test a theory of low center of gravity for women. I kept the bottle holder that I am going to install onto my Lafuma Active 30 - the best backpack ever created for adventure races.

Why you don't want to calculate results...

...immediately after the race? Because you are going to make mistakes. We did it after Calleva race and NYARA guys did it after "The Shag" ranking us in front of Berlin Bikes. Today the final results are published. We are 4th in prime division and no national qualifier for us. The only slot we have now is with Sara. But we are going to keep Zanfel we got for the "3rd place".

Today was the Markoff Haunted Forest training and opening day. It's much bigger this year. Come visit us, we're doing belay. That's a good opportunity to test Calleva race challenges. On the photo is very busy Calleva director Alex Markoff.

And finally Calleva team page is on. Click the link on the top of the page to see our racers for this and next season.