Apparently moab got more rain these past few days than they had in long time. Some were calling it the storm of the century here.

Outside of that it was a tough and sometimes brutal course. And Moab and the La Salle Mountains are amazing! We ran through some canyonlands, ran and biked the La Salle Mountain peaks and paddled the Colorado River! And the crowning moment was a 150 ft rappel off a desert arch… with a waterfall in the background and hundreds of miles of sanstone meccas in the foreground!

The race was cut short due to the extreme weather. It was stopped on Saturday morning.

The final results are unconfirmed but it looks like we did well!

Race report to follow.
-Brian

Race Day!

[Adam] This just in via phone from Brian Schmitz…

Yesterday (Wednesday) we went on a ride to a well known local area called Slick Rock. Brian had a few mechanical problems and needed to replace his derailer and middle chain ring! Luckily this happened before the race and not during!

In addition to his mechanical problems Brian had clothing issues. His AXIS team shorts blew out in the butt! Apparently Will was following Brian and spotted the gaping rip around the shammy. Unfortunately Brian did not have a spare and needed to purchase another pair of shorts along with his above bike parts. Boy, its turning out to be an expensive race so far!

To exasperate the issues, Brian succumbed to a mild case of food poisoning last night. He thinks it was either the vegetable lasagna or the spring water he drank on the Slick Rock trail.

The weather is mildly overcast with threatening storms. They are located very near the Colorado River at the Red Cliffs Lodge.

They have spotted a few teams around town, but not many. They suspect most will be arriving today from nearby rest stops enroute to the race briefing and start tonight.

1pm PST is check in and 3pm PST are pictures and 7pm PST is race start.

This will be the last Blog from the Dirty Avocados Pits before the race start tonight at 7pm PST. Please check in with www.checkpointtracker.com for further details.

Good luck!!!!!
-A

The Pits have arrived in Moab!!

As we approach Moab the sight that hits us first and hardest is the La Salle Mountain Range. Wow!!

Miles of snow capped peaks, one toping out at 12k! Intimidating to think about considering well be trekking through that fun stuff soon. The surrounding canyon lands and high desert is also an amazing sight!

The weather is not bad. 70s and overcast with chances of t-storms through Friday. This should make for not so hot conditions. The nights will likely be cold. But at there’ll be a full moon. Nice!

More to come later.
Good times!
- Brian

Pits Tag Salt Lake!

It’s 10 pm on Tuesday and were approaching Salt Lake City. This is where well crash for the night. Given our good time today, tomorrows drive will be an easy one to moab.

Once we get to Moab well kill some time before Thursday nights start with some riding, running and relaxing.

More to come on Wednesday!

- Brian

The pits hit the road!

It’s noon and were loaded up and on the road. It’s the four of us and no crew! Were doing this unsupported. This means we need to get everything including water into our gear boxes.

So we’ve got 4 boxes 4 bikes and a bunch of random bags packs and things. Not bad for 72 hours of racing!

8 or so hours of driving ahead of us. More to come later!

- Brian

Pits are ripe for Moab!!

The Pits are ripe and ready to race at next week’s Adventure Xstream Expedition race!!

The start is at 7pm Thursday, October 5 and ends the following Sunday night. You can track our progress at http://www.checkpointtracker.com/. Check out that site now, as there is already some cool info on the race and the teams.

You can also get more details on the race at http://www.gravityplay.com/expedition/index.htm.

I’ll be blogging from the road starting Tuesday, when Will, Jen, Mike and I leave for Moab. I’ll blog up to the start and then following our finish. Check out our blog at http://www.dirtyavocados.com.

Wish us luck. We’re ready to represent BIG TIME!!!

Brian

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