Tim and I teamed up for a little night orienteering practice in the Dawson Forest near the Etowah River last weekend. We joined Jon, Jennifer Rinderle and Allen -- one of the three Checkpoint Zero teams racing at this weekend's USARA National Championship Race -- for a brief time while Peter did his own thing.

The darkness, cool fog and coyotes howling in the night completed a scene reminding me of the classic creep flick American Werewolf in London. I partly expected my English teammate Tim, with darts in hand, to warn me to "Stay on the road. Keep clear of the moors." We didn't see any werewolves, but I nearly jumped out of my skin when a fellow racer's dog jogged up to say "hello." Really, I'm not scared of the dark.

Navigation takes on a whole extra level of difficulty when the darkness falls, and it becomes extra important to work as a team to track distance, watch for obvious terrain features you can see on trails and roads you're traveling on, and keep your place on the map. Hopefully, the practice together will do us all some good when we take on a stacked field of teams this weekend in Missouri.

Tim and I will be racing with Suz, while Peter will be joining up with Chip Whitworth and Michele. Wish us luck!

- Paul

Well, I finally followed through on a plan I've been mulling for a long time: riding my bike to work. It took me a bit more than two hours -- including a few wrong turns and weaving through some traffic downtown -- to get from my home near downtown Atlanta to my job in the suburbs, but I did it!

And I'll do it again.

Here's what I learned -- there ARE drivers who're friendly to bikers, Mt. Vernon Road has "Mt" in its name for a reason, rich folks drive pickups to fancy parties with valets too, it's absolutely NOT possible to look anything but stupid walking through the fancy atrium of your office building wearing bike shorts with dress shoes, and there are lots more bike lanes out there than I thought.

For those of you considering commuting on your bike, take heart that it's not always scary out there (nothing like this). It could be a pretty good way to fit in a few extra hours of training per week, especially for those of you who have to fit training in with family time. I'm hoping it pays off at race time.

- Paul

As we drive back to Denver, we are finally getting a chance to reflect on the epic called the Adventure Extream Expedition Race. Just as advertised, we were literally blown away by the 75+ mph gales on the summits of the La Sal mountain range and the postcard quality 360 degree panoramas of the Utah Canyonlands. Preliminary results indicate we were one of only two elite co-ed teams to acquire all of the orienteering controls. Thanks to Will and company for an incomparably run competition. Thanks also to our sponsors, and congratulations to Jake Bennett from Numa Tactical for completing his first adventure race with 42,000 ft. of vertical climbing, 96 degree desert temperatures, lightning, snow, sleet and ice...

Allen