MBlog

Gearing up for the Olympic Trials!

A little over a year ago a local (Turlock, CA) elite distance runner, Miguel Nuci, contacted us about a sponsorship.  We hooked him up with a Forerunner 305 and an account and just let him run.  And run he has!  He's run so far, and run so fast that he'll be toeing the line at the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials set for 3 November 2007 in New York city. 

Born in Ahuiran, Mexico, Miguel was raised in Salinas, CA and attended Cal State Stanislaus.  He recently became a US citizen.  He trains in the heat of the valley, running up to 140 miles per week.  Check out his Activity Digest in the coming weeks as he'll be uploading his altitude training from Mammoth Lakes; love2runnuci.motionbased.com.  And, in case you're a little curious Miguel boasts a Personal Record of 2:15:32 in the marathon.  He set that PR at the California International Marathon in December 2006.  His most recent marathon was Boston 2007, where he ran 2:20 (just 6 minutes behind the winner, not 14) and placed 15th in some of the worst conditions.  Check out some video of Miguel:

Tim Don at Hy-Vee

After securing his fourth Triathlon National Championship of Great Britain, Tim Don is coming State side for the ITU Hy-Vee World Cup Triathlon.  The Olympic distance course (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run) sets stage in Des Moines, Iowa this Sunday.  For those of you not familiar with the area, it’s pronounced Dee Moyn and the heat-index gets as cranky as the locals if you pronounce it wrong.  The average race day high is only 82 degrees Fahrenheit, but combine that with the 95% humidity and the heat-index hits the red zone.

With a purse of $700,000 at stake, The Don is focused on the podium.  So much so that he’s been simulating race conditions training indoors in a hot and humid environment.  Good for training, not so good for his MotionBased Digest or his mental health.  The Don looks forward to returning to outdoor training after Hy-Vee.

Check back next week to see his results and race on MotionBased.

Team MotionBased Highlights

Earlier this year, we Announced Team MotionBased, a place for elite MotionBased athletes to share stories and snippets from their competitive lives. The Team launched with a mountain bike team, and slowly grew with the addition of triathletes, runners, adventure racers, and the token swimmer Gary.

In case you’ve been missing the action at Team.MotionBased.com, here are a few highlights:

• What is Super-D?
• Gary completes 400^th swim off Alcatraz
• Even & Ben complete TransAlp Challenge 2006
• Downieville….see Downhill Dot Race at Declinemagazine.com
• Big Blue Golden Gate 2006

 We hope you enjoy hearing from the Team as much as we do.

MotionBased Stories

One of the beauties of working at MotionBased is that we get to see, hear and read about the different ways our customers use good ol' MB.

We're all different. We train for different reasons. We workout using different methods. We aspire to different goals. But, we all geek out the same thing -- MotionBased. A common thread that puts a smile on all of our faces.

Read how a few of our most dedicated customers use MotionBased.

Gary Emich - Tracking Escapes

Have you ever met someone that you know you’ll never forget? Someone with an inspiring story, someone you like to bring up in conversation. Well, Gary Emich is one of those someone’s. He’s an amazing individual who’s best know for his swim “escapes” off Alcatraz, like 358 of ‘em. Oh yeah, he doesn’t wear a wet suit either, just the essentials.   

Equipment list:
- swimsuit
- Really BIG goggles
- Neopreme swim cap
- GPS device

Gary began his journey in May 1993 with his comrade, Pedro Ordones. They’re friendly competition got the attention of the Guinness World Records when the duo swam their 100th crossing. With nobody in their wake, they’ve got locked up. Worst case, a Silver. 

I first met Gary at Tri California's open-water swim clinic. Once I heard his story, we immediately started talking GPS and MotionBased. We had a great conversation, but I really got his attention the next day. I returned with a print-out of five swimmers tracks on a single map-view. This really hit home. Gary has been swimming these waters for over ten years without any certain facts of what happens. He knows where he starts and ends, and that he’s cold, but everything in-between is vague.

This all changed in October, when Gary began tracking his “Escapes” with a Garmin Foretex 201 and MotionBased.

Gary says, “It's one thing to be in the water, taking mental notes of where you are in relation to landmarks and reading / trying to understand what the currents are doing but it raises the level of sophistication and accuracy an incalculable degree to actually have your movements tracked and then be able to play them back on the Map Player along with your actual speed as your swim is played out.”

Here’s a look at one of the 358 successful crossings. (A similar course as the infamous Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon)

And here’s what can go wrong, even after a couple hundred crossings.
“In the following two swims, my destination was the St. Francis Yacht Club (Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon Course).”

Gary’s comments: “If the bottom of the screen at any point on the course is considered 6 o'clock, then I was swimming towards 7 o'clock the ENTIRE swim both when it was ebbing (moving me west) and then again when that nasty and totally unexpected flood (moving me back east) kicked in.

Gary’s comments: “I was aiming almost directly at 6 o'clock, due south, and look how the current took me due west.  According to Map Player, even though I was aiming south, the current was hurtling me west at times at speeds in excess of 5 miles per hour.

While both of these swims were done during extreme current conditions (there are no races that are put on under these kinds of conditions - I'm simply pushing the edge to see what's possible out there), it still underscores why an Alcatraz swim is so much more than simply jumping in the water, aiming for the finish and having the strongest swimmer win.  Besides the cold, the chop, the wind and the unknown (as in what's lurking down there), you have to continuously be paying attention to what the currents are doing at any given time and make the necessary corrections.

I am having so much fun using the Garmin & MB system AND at the same time my level of knowledge is increasing exponentially.”

Thanks Gary! We’re thrilled and lucky to have great people like you using and pushing the limits of MB.

Read more about Gary’s feats and coaching services on our wiki.

Mike
madmax.motionbased.com

Road Rage

The inaugural Red Bull Road Rage descended on Malibu with a mixed bag of pro cyclists. Mountain - road, downhill - stage, enlisted – retired; all breads raced for a piece of the $10,000 purse. In usual Red Bull fashion, the downhill road event - was the first of a kind pushing the boundaries of sports. The stage was Tuna Canyon in Malibu, CA on 2.7 miles of windy pavement descending 1,600 feet flanking career-ending cliffs.

A time trial kicked things off. While competing for a slot in the pack race and claim as the fastest descender, the rider with the fastest speed through the trap picked up a side prize of $1,000. A couple MB athletes, Mark Weir and Erik Saunders, mach-ed the course to take 5th and 6th, with times of 4:36:1 (official results).Weir raced with an Edge prototype, and posted the below TT run. Saunders forgot to power-off his unit and woke up to a drained battery. I guess that’s what separates 5th from 6th. (Sorry Erik, I was hoping for Dot Race. Maybe Garmin will do an auto-off for ya)   

Check out Weir’s time trail. I’m guessing the speed trap was 2/3rds down where he hit 55.1 mph. Saunders put down an impressive 57 mph. Neither where enough to beat McCook’s 58 mph.

The pack races were boardercross-style 4 man heats. Like a Chinese downhill on pavement. Check out the video on the Road Rage home page, that’s gotta hurt. They only crowned one pack rider and haven’t listed complete results. If you know the pack results, please comment. 

The medley of riders and bikes was my favorite. With a hodgepodge of equipment; frames, pads, helmets, shoes, peddles, forks, it’s easy to see what side, mountain or road, riders came from. The only requirement was 700cc wheels and drop bars. Here’s a look at Weir’s machine. He wasn’t happy with the drop bars  – “It was bad ass until I put these *#!% bars on it.”

Check out Erik Saunders site for more pics and behind the scenes color. He's a character and posts some entertaining stuff.

Climbing with the Man

It takes a special kind of person to come up with a contest like the Hell Ride. A sinister spirit, love for climbing, and lactic acid pusher. Only Mark Weir would enjoy leading a days charge up countless mountaintops in the thin air of the Sierra’s.

For the second year, Weir and Santa Cruz Bicycles accepted applicants for Hell Ride 2. If you were lucky enough, "to get the wood", as Weir calls it, you’ll spend a day chasing him up 10,000 plus feet, over 65 miles. All on a new Santa Cruz, that’s yours if you survive the torcher test to Weir’s liking. Read the complete story with blow-by-blow details at Santa Cruz News.

It all went down in Downieville, CA, 60 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe. After an 8:30 start, they hammered out:

Miles                    68.41(mi)
Elevation Gain      14,497 (ft)
Total Time           10:55 (h:m)

 

We’re big Weir fans, and for good reason. Ever since Norcal got on MB, he quickly became a fixture at the top of the TrailNetwork > cycling > elevation gain report. (The TrailNetwork doesn’t reflect his complete Digest, since he often flies under the radar.) In a the Weir Dominates Downieville post, I mentioned his quest to climb 1-million vertical feet in a year. With two months and 100,000 feet to go, he’s on target to lay claim to the most vertical feet ascended on a bike in a year. More details to come…

Weir Dominates Downieville

As a 10-year pro mountain bike veteran, Mark Weir has made the Downieville Classic Downhill Race his life’s mission. With obsessive dedication and insane skills, Weir locked-up the title for another year when he shattered his course record by nearly a minute. He not only destroyed his record, but also the field, second place was nearly 2 minutes back. This isn't just another race to Weir, it's a way of life. Read more on Santa Cruz Bikes News. Congratulations Mark!!

The Downieville Classic Downhill Course is the longest of its kind. Stretching over 15 miles and descending almost 5,000 ft of the Sierra Nevada's. They claim it’s,“the most demanding course in the nation”, and we’re not going to argue that. See Weir’s record-breaking ride on MotionBased.

Weir has been training with MotionBased for nearly 9-months. He leads the TrailNetwork cycling-pack in elevation gain, and won’t be easy to catch. He’s on target to shatter another record when he climbs over 1-million feet in a year. An impressive feat, ever more impressive is that most of it was on a mountain bike, a BIG mountain bike. Stay tuned, we’ll keep you informed.

Keep on peddling Weir, we're all behind you...way behind...