With all the upcoming local races, like the Upstate AR, Overmountain Extreme, and USARA Nationals, we've been taking the time to hit the woods and do a little scouting. I'm not sure that we'll actually predict where any of these races are headed, but sure makes for good training and we get to find some beautiful views. I'd like to see this again, but I have a feeling we won't be so lucky.

It's no secret that here at Checkpoint Zero / Inov-8 we love the Inov-8 Roclite 295 shoe.

Quite possibly the perfect lightweight sprint adventure racing shoe, it's got tons of grip, drains quickly, and provides just the right amount of cushioning for those short fast races.

To top it all off, it is a great looking shoe. I'm not sure if they intended the color scheme to match wild Maine blue berries, but as you can see, it fits in great.

For many adventure racers, the paddling is the most neglected of disciplines. Boats are expensive, navigable rivers or lakes are few and far between, and the time required to get there makes it difficult. I'm excited to no longer be a member of that club with the addition of a beautiful Jensen C-1 canoe to my stable of AR equipment. It'll still be another couple weeks before I actually get to pick it up and paddle it, so until then I'll be dreaming of kevlar.

-Peter