Team Mpgear.com

Morning commute

2009-11-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

Oh man, the morning commute was beautiful today and dry!

Dirty and Wet

2009-11-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend the MPGear team got wet and dirty at the 4th annual Green Seattle Day planting trees and clearing out invasive species in the St. Mark's Greenbelt up in the Capitol Hill area.

It was a wet one, but luckily I had my GoLite Gamut jacket on to keep me dry and my smiling girlfriend to keep me happy.

And although my Inov-8 X-Talon 212's didn't keep me dry they gave me good traction with those beefy lugs. Maybe I'll get a pair of the Inov-8 Roclite 390 Gortex Hiking boots for the next outing.

Shimano PD-6700 Pedals

2009-08-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

On Friday a a pair of Shimano PD-6700 Ultegra pedals arrived in the mail from Mountains Plus Outdoor Gear (mpgear.com)!!!!

The test ride begins Monday, I'll let you know what I think!!

UPDATE 1: So far so good, I rode to work (about 5.5 miles) and they feel pretty good compared to my mountain bike pedals I was using. Larger platform feels a little more supportive and there seems to be less play side to side.

UPDATE 2: Another 10.5 miles after work and I think I am really starting to get a feel for these Shimano road pedals. I am going to give it a couple more rides and hopefully a much longer one before I decide....but so far the pedals get a thumbs up, at least compared to mountain bike pedals.

Team Mpgear.com tackles Hurricane Ridge

2009-08-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

Team Mpgear ascends Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

Starting at Hollywood beach, literally at sea level, we climbed to over 5,200 feet over about 18 miles to the summit of Hurricane Ridge. It took us about 2.5 hours of climbing to reach the top then it was a nice and fast hour descent back down.

Here we are grabbing a pic on the way up.

Nearing the top!!!

Day 4 - Jackson Hole

2009-07-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

Jackson Hole hill climb

Day 1 - Bend, Oregon

2009-07-18T19:05:00.001-07:00

Day 1 biking in Bend, Oregon

We visited Pilot Butte which is where we took the picture here...more later its time for dinner and beer!!

Team Mountains Plus Bikes to Outdoor Retailer

2009-07-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

Team Mountains Plus will use thier human powered muscles to bike to this years Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City. They will be posting their journey on this blog so follow the journey all the way to Utah.

INOV 8 212 Shoes

2008-11-20T13:02:00.000-08:00

The new Inov 8 X-Talon 212 Trail Running Shoe is perhaps the ultimate orienteering shoe. I tried these out last weekend and they performed much better than I did. But I still loved them, they gripped mud and dirt like you would not believe. They also felt good on the foot and they are unbelievably light.

Super lightweight off road running shoe with low profile midsole. High levels of comfort, stability and performance with an aggressive sticky rubber outsole make this shoe ideal for X-Country to X-Mountain racers.

You can get them at Mountains Plus for only $95.00

Attackpoint

2008-10-27T18:39:00.001-07:00

Join Team Mpgear.com on Attackpoint.com!!
http://www.attackpoint.org/

This is a really cool website that lets you track all your workouts.
Check out Team Mountains Plus there is plenty of room for you to join our online training team and help us motivate each other.

Granite Mountain Lookout

2008-09-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Team Mpgear.com took a little hiking trip to the Cascade Mountains visiting Granite Mountain and the lookout. Here are some picks from the trip. As always we had our trusty Gregory Reactor Packs and Mountains Plus hats to keep the sun off.

Joel at the top flying the colors!

Justin

Joel during the final push to the top.

Six Degrees AR Champions!!

2008-08-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

Team MPGear.com participated in the Six Degrees Adventure Race last weekend and we won the short-course for the third straight year. Here is a link to the results! The race consisted of a orienteering section, mountain biking, special test, then a hike, and a river trek. It was really fun and it always feels good to win.

At the start

Joel on the trek

Justin on the trek

River trekking section

The finish line with my dog helping us across!!!

Gregory Stimulus Pack Review

2008-07-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is the ideal super sprint adventure racing pack. The Gregory Stimulus Pack is small, yet holds everything you need for a sprint race. It is comfortable on your back whether running or biking. I highly recommend this pack for anyone looking for a simple adventure racing pack or small day pack. I have used this race in multiple sprint type adventure races, including the Six Degrees AR last weekend and it is perfect!!

It can hold a 100 ounce or 70 ounce reservoir for all your water and the tube routes easily down either shoulder strap.

You can get it at mpgear.com here: Gregory Stimulus Pack for only $44.99

We Won!!!!!!

2008-07-26T22:35:00.001-07:00

Well we defended our title for the third straight year by winning the Six Degrees of Navigation!!! We will have some race pictures and more later.

More good AR gear

2008-07-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have thought of a couple of more items that we are going to be using this weekend that are nice to have. And you can pick up them up at Mpgear.com for a great deal, our favorite sponsor!!

The Princeton Tec Scout headlight is really light and small.

Of course a Camelbak hydration reservoir.

Training for Six Degrees AR

2008-07-21T16:31:00.001-07:00

This was the final weekend for Team MPGear.com to train for the Six Degrees AR in Washington.

We went out to the Teanaway area and mountain biked the 2007 course. We also scouted around looking for any new features that the race organizers might use this year.

Justin on some mellow single track

Joel checking the maps

Team MPGear.com

Last weekend to prepare

2008-07-18T07:24:00.001-07:00

This is the last weekend prior to the race and we plan on heading out to the Teanaway and mountain biking around. We will also be doing some final preparations and making sure everything is ready for the race. We will post some pictures from Team mpgear.com's training weekend on Sunday.

Preparing for Six Degrees AR

2008-07-15T12:39:00.001-07:00

We are closing in on the final weeks in preparation for the Six Degrees Adventure race. I think we are ready, well for the most part.

Here is some of the gear that we will be using at this years race.

All gear is available at Mountains Plus, our great sponsor!!!
Gregory Stimulus Pack
AMK Ultralight 0.5
Brunton Adventure Racing Compass
Nuun tablets

Well post some pics of our training soon too!!