Modesto Bee reporter Eve Hightower will make a high-altitude hike up Mount Williamson in the Inyo National Forest July 14-16, and you can follow along. At 14,389 feet, Mount Williamson is the second-highest peak in California (after Mount Whitney) and sixth-highest peak in the contiguous United States. Hightower will carry a global positioning system that allows anyone with Internet access to follow her and her crew. Watch their progress by clicking on a link at modbee.com/travel. This was made possibly by TrackMe360.com, which is providing the GPS tracking gear and online mapping solution to Hightower’s hike. TrackMe360.com specializes in providing “affordable GPS Tracking solutions to individuals, groups and events”. TrackMe360.com offers affordable short-term rentals of GPS trackers (SPOT personal trackers) starting at $29.95. Here is an example of what a tracking map looks like:

We just got word from the Yuba River Ranger district. Bowman Lake Rd re-opened, and none of the fires affected the area where the courses are - the terrain will be just as pristine and beautiful as it was prior to the fires. Course will be open through July. Come and get it! To register, click here.

Before the fires put a temporary halt on the fun up at 100 Lakes, team Concrete Sloth went up and did the short course on June 27th. Despite a couple of d-tours at CPs 4 and 10, they moved swiftly and completed the course in 6:56:11. That puts them in the lead at the moment. For full results, check sleepmonsters. As the Yuba fires now show 95% contained, we expect the course to re-open soon. Stay tuned on that.

The 30 hour supported Adventure Rage comes back for its seventh year as one of the longest running races in the country. The Rage is the toughest event of the Infiterra Sports Adventure Race Series and the toughest event in Michigan in 2008. We are excited about returning to Caberfae Peaks Resort and the great terrain in the area. The 2008 running of the Rage will again have a big race feel with lots of navigation and route choices.

Teams will be tracked in real time using the TrackMe360 Multi-sport Tracking system, based on the revolutionary SPOT GPS tracking device, last seen at the Montana Primal Quest 2008.  Check out the race coverage on July 11th and after here.

Race in Desolation Wilderness??? Yeah, right! Using the unique format of the TrackMe360 Training Race, you can now race against others in the months of July and August in an area where a traditional race format could never be permitted. Read more here. Find yourself here at Checkpoint #5:

Registration is open! To register your team, click here.

Event Sponsors: TBD and SleepMonsters

July 1, 2008 - Folsom, California. TrackMe360 today announced the third Mountain-O event in its quasi-series of “virtual races”. The first events took place at Mount Diablo and near Yuba Gap on the western slopes of the Sierra. In the third installment, we are taking you to a magnificent, alpine area - The Desolation Wilderness. This is an an area where you could never, ever, put on a traditional race - permits are limited to groups of 12 - no exceptions. But because of our unique race format, YOU WILL be able to race there with TrackMe360.

What is a TrackMe360 Training Race anyway?

Consider it an opportunity for a fun and challenging work-out in an amazingly scenic place – a place where you’d normally never get a permit approved for a race. The course will bring out the best this area has to offer. It’s a race, but not in the traditional sense. The main difference is teams don’t race simultaneously, and that’s what allows us to race without permits, but a nice side benefit is that people can decide when they want to race (within the race month), to fit their busy schedules. CP markers will be minimal, just a small piece of flagging. No pre-race meeting, no finish banner - just you and the mountain. Could it be any more authentic?

How it works

• -Register for the “race” online at TrackMe360.com
• -Receive the map and a GPS recording device before your chosen “race day”. For safety and redundancy in CP marking, you also get a SPOT satellite tracker.
• -Receive CP coordinates by 5 PM the day before “race day” via e-mail – plot your map.
• -On race day, go race, and the GPS device records your route.
• -Next day, mail back the GPS device and SPOT to TrackMe360.com
• -As soon as the GPS device is received, your results will be posted on the SleepMonsters leader board, “ladder style”, meaning as other people race, the leader board will reflect the order from fastest to slowest teams.
• -After the last day the race is “active”, the winning team is crowned, and all teams’ routes will be posted online in Google Maps, for “post race analysis”.
• -This is all done under the “honor system”, and is considered a training race “with benefits”.

Race #3: Desolation Mountain-O

Our third TrackMe360 Training Race takes place in the Desolation Wilderness, near Wrights Lake, off Hwy50 between Placerville and South Lake Tahoe. Two courses of varying degrees of challenge (short and long) have been designed to showcase the best the area has to offer, with moderate vertical gain and some cross country travel. The navigational challenge is partly about route choice but more about cross country navigation and efficient route finding across complicated terrain. The venue is nothing short of spectacular. The courses takes you through coniferous forest lands, through sparsely tree covered granite slab slopes onto steeper, rockier alpine terrain. On the long course, a little snow remains up high, and can be used to the racers advantage. Many streams and lakes are encountered on the course- water is plentiful. The long course also features an optional CP (for time bonus) at the summit of Mt. Price, a spectacular, exposed peak in the Crystal Range.

-General Location: Desolation Wilderness, near Wrights Lake, off Hwy50 between Placerville and South Lake Tahoe, CA
-Race is active: Months of July and August, 2008
-Disciplines: Foot only. Some trail, some cross country, minor snow fields, some exposed rock scrambling at optional CP on the long course
-Topo navigation on tear and water proof MyTopo maps - 1:24,000
-Approximate distance: 10 mi. (short course) and 16 mi. (long course)
-Approximate duration: 3.5-7.0 hrs (short course) and 6.0-12.0 hrs (long course)
-Approximate vertical gain: 2,400 ft. (short course) and 4,600 ft. (long course)
-Course designed and pre-run by: Mats Jansson (Aquan/RWG)
-Divisions: Mixed open (any combination of gender and age), team size 1-4
-Registration: $49/team ($39/team if you have your own SPOT)
-Prize: Post race raffle among all “finishers”: TBD (approximately $100 value)

A couple of pictures from the course:

To register your team, click here. If you have any questions, please e-mail mats@trackme360.com

As of Wednesday July 2nd, 2008, the iRule 100 Lakes TM360 Training Race is closed, because there is no way of getting to and from the START/FINISH at Carr Lake. The Yuba River Complex fires have closed Bowman Lake Road, and the air most likely wouldn’t be great for racing either. Let’s hope this beautiful country isn’t scarred too badly by the fires up where the course is. It remains to be seen when the course can re-open.

Denali, Alaska - At 6:59 PM on Thursday June 19th 2008, Jordan Romero of Big Bear Lake, California, summited one of the most difficult peaks in the world at the age of 11. He is one of only two 11 year-olds to have ever summited the mountain. Due to its northern latitudes, it ranks as one of the longest and most arduous climbs, weather often putting teams on hold for days and weeks at a time. Team Jordan Romero did the climb in record time. We are still awaiting details of the amazing feat.

TrackMe360.com provided GPS safety and tracking gear to the expedition, and via periodic location messages sent via satellite, fans, family and friends all over the globe could follow Jordan’s adventure in real time at www.jordanromero.com.

A team of recreational (plus!) cyclists from Valley Presbyterian Church in Portola Valley, CA finished the gruelling RAAM 2008 on Thursday evening June 19th at 8 :15 PM, after over 3,000 miles of riding from San Diego, CA to Annapolis, MD.  TrackMe360.com provided GPS tracking for the team so that fans, friends and family could follow their journey online in real time.  Every 10 minutes, our satellite beacon would send the team’s location coordinates to an online tracking map, courtesy of TrackMe360.com.  Detailed team results are here, and the team’s web site is here.

A four-person team of everyday folks from Valley Presbyterian Church will ride in what is known as the “world’s toughest bike race.” They hope the drama generated by the coast-to-coast race and their own relative inexperience in the event will draw attention to a worthy cause: Peninsula Habitat for Humanity. The “ultra-distance” riders hope that their endurance will raise $50,000 for an eight-unit family complex on Lincoln Avenue in Redwood City. This project will provide affordable ownership homes for eight low income families.  Team web site is here.

Coast to coast in nine days from June 11-20, 2008, Race Across America’s 3,000-mile route begins in Oceanside, CA, and concludes in Annapolis, MD. Unlike a stage race, riders pedal twenty-four hours a day in a relay format that keeps one team member on the road while the others rest. None of the Team H4 riders are professional cyclists. The ultra marathon will test them physically and spiritually and serve as a two-wheeled vehicle for generating funds and awareness for Peninsula Habitat.

TrackMe360 is providing real-time tracking of this team along its journey.  Check out the live map at: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?&glId=020phDI4p7QU3OyJdQelyRgTVzMJGh7cV