AdventureCORPS News, March 12, 2008

Greetings, fellow athlete-adventurers!

In this Issue:
• Quote for the Day
• Cyclists Killed in Bay Area
• RAAM Threatens Deaf-Mute Cycling Blogger with Lawsuit
• Get Well Soon, Mike Berry
• LA Area Cyclists: Take this Survey!
• Death Valley Lost and Found
• Thoughts on Weight Gain and Hyponatremia
• The Road to Badwater: David Goggins
• The Road to Badwater: Vito Bialla

QUOTE FOR THE DAY
"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
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MATT PETERSON, 1978-2008

Matt Peterson of San Francisco participated in the 2005 Death Valley Double Century. He and fellow cyclist Kristy Gough of the Roaring Mouse Cycles and Third Pillar Racing Team were both killed when a sheriff's deputy swerved his patrol car into them while cycling last weekend.

Here is a blog with information and comments:
http://rememberingmatt.blogspot.com/

Here is an article about the accident:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/15548177/detail.html

And another article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/09/MN6QVH1LD.DTL

We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to all of Matt and Kristy's families, friends, and teammates.
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THIS IS NOT A JOKE:
RAAM ORGANIZERS THREATEN DEAF-MUTE CYCLING BLOGGER WITH A LAWSUIT IN AN ATTEMPT TO SILENCE HER AND ALL THE UMCARAAM CRITICS

Mavis Irwin is a Furnace Creek 508 veteran, a 27-year-old, female graduate student, and a passionate cyclist and cycling advocate. Mavis can not speak, nor hear, but she has compiled a very thorough blog which documents the numerous and troubling questions and issues involving the purchase of the Race Across AMerica (RAAM) by the UMCA, the so-called governing body of the sport of ultracycling, as well as other related issues.

On February 23rd, she received a letter from RAAM's attorney, essentially telling her to take her entire blog off-line. This kind of threat is known as SLAPP suit. That was followed up with a nasty, threatening, and extremely condescending email from the RAAM CEO. We find these actions despicable and we wonder how the long the Board of Directors of the UMCA will allow this sport-destroying nonsense to continue. You can read the relevant, disgusting documents here:
http://ultracycling-us.blogspot.com/2007/11/raam-llc-threatening-to-sue-umca.html

Here is the SAVE THE UMCA blog's front page:
http://ultracycling-us.blogspot.com

Here is Mavis' time splits and bio page on The 508 website:
http://dbase.adventurecorps.com/individualTd.php?e=121

Here is Mavis and her support crew at the finish of the 2007 508:
http://www.the508.com/2007web/shows/show20/pages/DSC03089.html
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GET WELL SOON, MIKE BERRY

Mike Berry is a San Diego cyclist who was struck by an inattentive motorist on Friday. He suffered five broken ribs and a dislocated knee. Mike runs the San Diego Randonneurs, a cycling club which organizes brevets and other types of long distance rides and events throughout San Diego County. He's also a veteran of the Death Valley Century and was on the race staff at the 2007 Furnace Creek 508. He’s a heck of a good guy and, like me, spends far more time organizing cycling events and supporting riders than he does actually cycling. So it's a real shame that yet another inattentive motorist has knocked him off his bike, literally, for a few months. Here's the website for Mike’s club, which has the headline which describes Mike perfectly: "Dedicated to the Adventure and Camaraderie of Long Distance Cycling":
http://www.sandiegorandonneurs.com/

Here is Mike in better days:
http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathvalley/2006/2006dvfallshow2/pages/DSC00908.html
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BICYCLE MASTER PLAN SURVEY FOR LOS ANGELES

Public participation is essential to helping develop the best possible Bicycle Master Plan for the City of Los Angeles. Here are five easy ways that you can participate:
http://www.altaplanning.com/labikeplan/English/Public_Involvement.html
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THOUGHTS ON WEIGHT GAIN AND HYPONATREMIA IN ULTRAUNNING

Keeping your electolytes and fluids balanced is one of the trickiest and most important parts of ultra-running. Carey Smith has posted comments on her blog "Going the Distance!" by Dr. Lisa Bliss about the causes of weight gain, hyponatremia and how to keep your bodies in balance during ultramarathons. Lisa was the women's champion of the 2007 Badwater Ultramarathon and has also been the medical director for some of the world's toughest ultras.
http://carey-goingthedistance.blogspot.com/2008/03/weight-gain-and-hyponatremia-thoughts.html

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THE ROAD TO BADWATER: DAVID GOGGINS

A Navy SEAL shows you how he lost 100 pounds while maintaining his core strength for long-distance running

Excerpt from Strong to the Core: My Workout
By David Goggins, Best Life Magazine, March 2008

"I've been a Navy SEAL for seven years, and I was a fitness fanatic long before that, but the first time I heard about Badwater - a 135-mile footrace through the Mojave Desert in July, in 120-degree heat - I remember thinking, That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Then, in 2005, several SEALs I knew died in Afghanistan, leaving their wives and children behind. I wanted to raise money so that their kids could someday attend college, and finding people to sponsor me to run Badwater popped into my head. The only problem was that I weighed 280 pounds from years of power lifting. I somehow managed to run 100 miles in a qualifying race the next week, but I gave myself stress fractures and shin splints, and I broke all the small bones in my feet. My legs and feet simply weren’t prepared to deal with that much pressure. If I was going to keep running, I needed to slim down."

Full story:
http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/my-workout-works/Strong_to_the_Core.shtml
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THE ROAD TO BADWATER: VITO BIALLA

Click here to read about Vito Bialla of Tiburon, CA, the Badwater Ultramarathon veteran who will compete again this July in the world's toughest foot race:
http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_8465884

Thanks for your support, everyone, and for taking the time to care and act upon about some or all of the issues and people brought up in this newsletter.

Yours in sport,
Chris Kostman
Chief Adventure Officer and Race Director
http://www.adventurecorps.com
http://www.the508.com
http://www.badwater.com

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