As some of you know I’ve been involved with the Trailblazers Adventure Racing Club for many years now. I reduced my role in the club after the MRAR last year but I’m still involved with the club operations, mainly the website. After noticing the site down for a while today I’ve learned that the segment of the network which the server is located was the target of a DOS attack this morning. Many of the servers are back up, but the TBARC site is still down. Rumor has it that the server that hosted the TBARC site was the target of the attack. Hope we weren’t the ones to blame! Which leads me to my lesson of the day: Make sure you have frequent backups of your website and databases! I’m off to do some backups to the Checkpoint Adventures site right now.

The Tour de Georgia started yesterday in Augusta, Georgia. I’ve missed it the last few years but I’m hoping to make it out to a stage this weekend. With Discovery, Phonak, and CSC this will be a very competitive race. I suspect Floyd Landis, Tom Danielson, and Dave Zabriskie are among the race favorites. Coverage can be found at VeloNews.

After April 16th, 2006 the prices for the Adventure24 AR go up $25. Register before April 16th to avoid the extra fees and to guarantee you get a swag item. Anyone registering after April 16th is not guaranteed to recieve a swag item. While we will order extras, they may not last for everyone. Current swag under consideration is a wicking visor or shirt.

What: Up to 24hrs of mountain biking, navigation, paddling, and trekking in beautiful Cherokee National Forest in Southeastern Tennessee.
When: June 9-11, 2006
Where: Benton, TN
Teams: Solos, 3, and 4

Solos (only 7 slots left as of today) and teams of 3 use up to two support crew members and teams of 4 use a revolving door system where 3 race and one supports while switching teammates in and out at any TA. The elite division is the coed team of 4. Cash purse of at least $1,000 for the elite division which goes up as the number of teams register. Sponsor prizes given to same sex and other division winners.

For 2006, the Adventure24 is a USARA National Championship Qualifier (elite division only)

Using the 4 person teams, this is a great event for someone to get their feet wet in AR or to try out a longer race without racing the entire time!

For more info, visit the race website at www.cpadventures.com/adventure24

Launched at the USARA National Championship race in November 2005, Checkpoint Tracker is an online application used for race management and bringing the race back to those at home. Before Checkpoint Tracker, only the big expedition races had online coverage. Checkpoint Tracker brings online event coverage to the grassroots level. Checkpoint Tracker uses an online database to drive the website which shows a leaderboard, blog entries, photos, local weather, and a race map.

Checkpoint Tracker, fresh off some updates since its launch at the USARA Championship race, was on display for the second time last weekend at the NGAR. I visited the website a few times and was definitely impressed by Checkpoint Tracker. I do have a few suggestions for improvement.

1) A legend on the race map so you know which discipline the route colors represent
2) A link back to the race website somewhere
3) If applicable, a link to participating team websites for those teams that have a website

Improvement number one is the only one I think is a must. The other two would just be nice to have but don’t really add much to the at home experience. All in all, Checkpoint Tracker is a great application that will help bring the AR experience to those family and friends who can’t be at the race. Checkpoint Tracker is a service of Checkpoint Zero.