This was an interesting race.  Added to the schedule because I basically wanted to run every race in DFW, I was excited that this one was at the same place as Warrior Dash 2010. As the mud run phenomenon continues to grow, everyone is putting on a run it seems.  The guys who let WD come in and use their property last year obviously saw the close to 15k people come and decided there was some money to be made so they created their own race: The Survival Race.

I am pretty sure this was the first ever race organized by these guys and it showed.  At the time of the run, they appeared to have several more events planned in other parts of the country later in the year. But this was definitely the first.

Okay to the nitty gritty, my review. I ran the first wave as our DFW Mud Crew pledged we would do from now on, so being in the first wave, 8:00 am, it always comes with its consequences I have learned. The biggest being that no one was even on the course. My big critiques are, there was no one manning the obstacles for safety, the water stations were not ready when we came through (if we wanted water we had to stop and get it ourselves) and the professional photographers were not on the course except for the finish line.  For this race I think I will just go through some of the basics as compared to some of the other events.

Mud Crawling!

Course: I was expecting an awesome course since they were basically copy catting the WD, but to no avail. Some of the course was not marked or mowed down and I think we actually ran through some poison ivy, there was barely any mud, and I think except for the water crossing and the finish, barely any mud.  To me this was just a cross-country track meet with a few cheaply designed obstacles thrown in. At one point we actually had to run single file through two lines of oil drums in an S-pattern. Course was really easy.

Registration: I expect some hiccups due to the fact that it was the first race or them, but they told us to arrive an hour before hand for packet pickup, and they were not even set up. Since I was early, it was no big deal, but for those of you who were late, people missed the first wave due to standing in long lines waiting to pick up their packets.

Atmosphere: The after run event was okay, they played some music and had food, but the setting was not in the open field like WD and I think because of the rain, it put a damper on hanging out too long.  I stayed only a short time after to catch up with some of the crew from other waves.

So my overall impression of the Survival Race? It needs a lot of work, it wasn’t very difficult and the obstacles were nothing to write home about. It will be interesting to see if they improve on the other races or become a fly by night one and done event. Hopefully year two will come with improvements because the property itself is awesome!

Here are my results:

The Finish!

Time: 26:14    

Distance: 2.96    

Finish: 19th of 741

~

Catch you down the road ~ Blydawg

Last year I traveled down to Forney, TX for my first ever Warrior Dash. You can read about that race here.  This year, after meeting a new group of fellow mud junkies, we call ourselves the DFW Mudcrew I was once again ready for the Warrior Dash. This year the race was being held at the DFW Adventure Park, the same exact place as where Run the Jailbreak held it’s fall DFW run.  So this was going to be interesting to see how they would modify the course, or just use the same one.

Two things I have learned about the WD, a lot of people show up (14k) and the atmosphere afterwards is a big ole party.

This year I am not going to go through each obstacle and rate it or tell you about it. Because in reality, they were all really easy.  The course was less than a 5k, only about 2.78 miles.  The most difficult part of the race was actually the Cargo Net and only because we caught up to the group from the previous wave (this was the last time we ran in the middle of day, first waves only from here on out).

So here are a list of the obstacles I remember being in the race, they may not be in true order, but they are pretty close.

1. Lake crossing
2. Trailer
3. Tires and cars
4. High wall low wall
5. Rope wall
6. Balance beam
7. Tangled wires
8. Tunnel crawl
9. Rope roll
10. Hay bales
11. Cargo net
12. Water log roll
13. Fire
14. Mud pit

So my thoughts on the WD – this is a great race if you are a beginner to the world of mud runs or you are looking to just have a good time.  The course is relatively easy, most of the running is done on the 4-wheeler trails and the obstacles are in the middle of the trail. I was surprised at how fast the course was and how they used the same basic layout as Jailbreak. There really was not much mud, just crossed one pond, the log rolls and the mud pit at the end.  The other fun part is this is one of the few races that as a group, we actually all dressed up in costumes.  Our group all wore Tutu’s!

But I can tell you that it was during this race that a switch turned on inside of me and I decided to take training for these to the next level. I totally want to win, win my heats, win my age groups and not be so tired.  I spent the whole race trying to catch Mr. Shanks (but to no avail). So here is how I finished up this years WD:

~

Time: 27:09

Distance: 2.79

Finish: 413 of 14,195

~

So if you are just looking to have a good time afterwards, see outrageous costumes, drink a lot of beer and listen to good music, then this is definitely the event for you.  I plan on doing it again just for the entertainment factor alone!

Catch you on the flip side ~ Blydawg

I was a very last minute replacement for this event (Super Spartan), as I originally thought I was going to have to eat my entrance fee due to a business trip which took priority (sucks owning your own company!) I have a group of friends who call ourselves the DFW Mudcrew, our group has evolved this year into a group of people who travel from mudrun to mudrun in an attempt to find the perfect one! So one of our members was getting a group together to participate in the Hurricane Heat and had an opening, of course I would do it, I love this stuff.  So I start out looking up the information online and here is the official paragraph:

The Hurricane Heat (a.k.a. HH) is a special Spartan Fun Run opportunity with Spartan Founders that we offer at some of our events throughout the season.  The Hurricane Heat gives runners the chance to meet and run with the Founders and staff of Spartan Race in a unique and memorable way. Held sometimes early Saturday morning or Friday night (Head lamps and glow sticks required!)  it will take you through the course in groups with the goal of just finishing the course. No chips, no clock, just a fun run Spartan-style that represents what our company and our athletes are about… getting up when you’re knocked down and finishing what you start.

Imagine my excitement to know I am going to be running with the founders and staff of Spartan! Well, this event fell short, actually way short of all expectations from the moment I arrived until after midnight when I left.  Here are my thoughts on the 2011 Texas HH.

FAIL #1 – No founders or staff of Spartan to be found other than those yelling at us.  I didn’t meet any founders and no one introduced themselves except for one or two who were talking on the mega phone.

With an odd list of required items to bring including, glow sticks, a bandana, a brick, lighter, green apple, banana, and an 8” piece of rope (what can you do with only 8”?) I was really looking forward to this event.  I really didn’t mind that I had to drive almost 2-hours from Dallas to get to the event, no worries I like driving, but I also like events to start on time. (We used none of these items and I later asked the Goruck guy why we needed them, and his response was, “I have no idea, we never asked you to bring those items”)

FAIL #2 – Failure to start on time. With an expected time of 5:15pm to start our adventure, and being that it was 50* and raining, starting over an hour later was not my idea of fun. I also get the whole Spartan philosophy of the “Burpee” but making us to them just because you are waiting for an organizer to get there is just ridiculous.

FAIL #3 – Failure of defined leadership and direction. While standing in the rain waiting to find out what the heck is going on, the so called leaders huddle up to discuss a plan.  Then after 15 minutes ten people stand up and start yelling email addresses at the same time.  Really? Do you really think 120 people can hear ten people all yelling at the same time? I think the worst part was they didn’t have names, they were yelling off email addresses!  Then the Goruck yells as us and says we are wasting time by not getting in our groups fast enough.  So the second part of this failure is our so called “Team Leader” who was basically an empty shirt, had no clue what he was doing and didn’t know how to operate the GPS, handed it off to another person. So off we went with no idea what we were doing just following the GPS.

I was determined to not let this cluster beginning ruin my time, I was ready to see what this was all about.  I wondered in the beginning why everyone else was walking down the road and we decided to walk in the field, the wet field.  I still can’t figure out why 12 people also cannot walk together.  This is a mystery to me, we are a team, a group but yet we can’t walk at the same pace?  Yes I said walking, not jogging, running or skipping, we were walking and could not stay together and had to continuously stop and wait.

Fast forward two-hours. We walked in circles up hills, down hills, over three barbed wire fences and faithfully followed our GPS reader for two wet hours. We were completely lost and ready to give up. Now we had two other teams not only following us because they claimed their GPS was not working, but our fearless leader thought it would be a good idea to merge the three teams into one team and then he conceited his leadership role. This soon became a session of who is Alpha.

I will be honest; I couldn’t take the incompetence any longer.  I tried to be a follower, but that is just not my nature I can’t watch inferior people attempt to lead and not do it correctly.  As a former law enforcement officer, I could never be second fiddle, I was always the leader.  So I took over, I taught myself to read the GPS (which at this point was deemed broken) and started following the path it set. With the 40 people just standing around and complaining on what to do next, I attempted to tell them my GPS was in fact working and I found the trail and in the end, I led them to the fire (yes the GPS worked fine).  But I was met with resistance, which I thought was funny, the guys drinking beer the whole time and who wanted to take us all back to the beginning (claiming to want to start over) so he could quit. I couldn’t quit.

We reached the check point, the bon fire and right there we had several quit. No worries for me I was all ready for my first mission.  It was funny that one of the teams who claimed the GPS was not working, had it looked at and it worked fine…again I think operator error.

We get our first mission and I was asked to lead us, so I took the GPS and led us straight to the point, found our object and back again. Our group had turned into 21 people at this point since we merged groups and once again I am amazed at the lack of enthusiasm by the participants. It is cold and rainy, no one wants to jog to get the blood pumping, no one wants to do anything other than bitch about how cold and wet they are.  Did we carry the big rock we were asked to get? No, no we broke it into a very small rock which had enough red paint on it to verify it was once the correct rock.

After completing the first mission, we were asked to wait, which we did for 45 minutes, they say so that the other teams could come back, well they never did, they quit and went to the lodge. The event was then cancelled and we were given our medals and t-shirts. They then had the gall to ask us to carry wood for them, break down the tent, pick up trash and take it all back to the lodge.  So I rounded up my faithful mud crew members that stayed with me and we headed back, so much for a three hour tour (where have I heard that before?)

I got to my car after midnight, by the time I got to my hotel, showered and got in bed it was after 1:00am. I was tired, hungry and exhausted; I imagine we walked for a good 8 miles or so. All I had to eat was subway at 2:00pm, I went to bed hungry.  I set my wake up call for 5:30am; I have the Super Spartan the 8am wave by the way.

Well, this is my second effort at the DFW Mudrun along the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas.  Last year I lead a team of five (5), well I followed actually, but none the less, competed in last years race.  We finished 21st out of 128 teams with a time of 1:40:49.  Not bad for our first ever mudrun and a 10k at that!

This year with only 2-original members returning (due to injuries and lack of training) we once again set out to compete in the DFW MUDRUN.  I re-booted the team and the Mud Junkies were once again ready to run this 10k course full of mud! The team consisted of my new found group of friends in the “DFW Mud Crew” and consisted of Mike Shanks, Gustavo Arteaga (original member), Kelly Fristoe, Lauren Zotz & myself.  This year we were able to secure a whole media team of photographers and video techs.  We were sure to capture the awesomeness of this race.  So we strapped on our boots, put on our BDU’s & our orange Mud Junkies shirts and started the race.

Normally when I review the races, I go over each obstacle and give my critique of each one.  But this race has actually too many to list.  So I decided to just tell you about my favorites. My first favorite was the RIVER CROSS – This was not your typical water crossing, we actually had to swim across the river.  Luckily they had two ropes we could use to help cross with, funny thing was that most of the people didn’t use them right.  I basically used a swimming technique head down and went hand over hand.  I only almost drowned once, due to looking back over my shoulder to make sure my partners were doing okay. But I was able to get back into a groove and make it across.

My second favorite obstacle was the GORILLA ROPE MONKEY BARS – I am sure many found this hard, as I just watch most of my team members just jump in the mud pit after I failed. But, I thought it was awesome, it was hard and I was just 2-rungs shy of completing it! Great obstacle. (One of the only obstacles the photography crew couldn’t get to)

My third favorite obstacle was the PLATFORM JUMP, we had to climb up onto a platform and jump about 15-feet down into a mud pit.  Being the group that we were, we all jumped at the same time. Nothing to hard, but a fun jump and crawling out was a blast.

My last top obstacle was the ROPE CROSSING – where you have to cross a good size mud pit by walking over a rope and using a top rope to guide you for balance.  This is the only mudrun I have competed in that has an obstacle like this. One of my most favorites!

The race didn’t seem that difficult this year even though it ended up being 6.6 miles total distance.  We were able to keep a decent pace, even though one member ended up pulling a hammy and slowed up towards the end.  But since we had to finish as a group, we left no man behind. Our official finish time was 1:51:09 which was good for an 8th place finish in our co-ed group.  I added in the uniform services and Corp. team groups and we ended up in 13th place out of 51 teams. I think we could have given them a run for their money, the top teams finished a good 20 min ahead of us, but we ran slow towards the end.

Enjoy my video of our awesome Mud Junkies team!

2011 is soon going to be a year to remember! My first race of the season and I traveled all the way down to Smithville, Texas.  The home of where Hope Floats was filmed (or at least that is what they claim).  I wanted to do the Spartan Race this year, well simply because it looked fun! So here is my review of the Spartan Race.

The draw to the Spartan Race was that everyone was dressed like a Spartan.  Since I had just finished watching the season of Spartacus on Starz, I couldn’t resist the temptation to dress up for this run.  I normally do not wear costumes but I figured what the heck. So I went out and got my Spartan uniform and went to Smithville!

I have to say that unlike some of the other races (Warrior Dash) there were not many crazy costumes.  I was expecting a ton of Spartans, sadly, while I was there, there were not many.  A little over 1500 people ran the race, I happened to be at the 12pm wave (see what procrastination gets you) and I mostly saw a huge population of military guys with no shirts on.  I have to say that while some of the other venue’s keep tweeting about a 58% female sign up, there were only 30% females at this race.  I think there were more employees in costume than runners.  But I donned my gear, I wore a Spartan helmet, shin guards, forearm guards and a Spartan skirt. Sadly, I did not run in the helmet, I ditched it right after the start; it was too light and would not stay on. I am so glad I did, because I was sure I would not have survived the course with that thing on. Okay, so here is my review for the Spartan Race!

With the pre-race photo’s out of the way, it was time to get my game face on, no one could really see my game face because I was in full Spartan mode! I had my helmet on, although I never intended to run in it, it kept coming off and I was afraid of losing it (I want it for future races!).  So having stretched out, ran in place, jumping jacks, I was ready! The gun went off and here we go, I was close to the front, but behind the Cedar Park football team, I figured I would let them go first and I would catch them later. We received our instructions on the race, our “How to” on the burpees (up/down/pushup/up jump) which we were required to do if we could not complete an obstacle. The smoke started, the cannon blew and we were off! My first issue with the race begins here…the chip timing company, I was not happy that our official time started when the gun went off and not when we cross the start line.  So I lost like 15 seconds getting to the line. Grrr…

Right away we hit OBSTACLE 1, the fire jump and mud pit – interesting obstacle, you jump over the fire grate and you are instantly hit with the fire hose! Good thing the pressure was not that high! Once you ran through the hose, you were greeted with a shin deep mud pit.  I was able to run through this without many problems, just deep enough to get a little wet, mostly your shoes.

So from here you run and run and run. I was very thankful we went through some water right off the bat, made our shoes and socks nice and heavy for the mile plus run until OBSTACLE 2. This was the fun one, we had to go over a 6 Ft. wall, then an identical wall was behind it except the bottom board was missing, we had to crawl under it.  After that was the car tires hanging in mid air you had to go through. Rinse and repeat and you were off to running.  I kind of felt bad for some of the bigger contestants; they obviously were not fitting through the tire or crawling under the wall.  I made it through the first set no problem, the second set I got caught in the tire, had to turn around and back out.  I also lost my first shin guard here.  One of the straps broke when it got caught on the tire.  I ripped it off and donated it near the pile of race bibs that were collecting due to the tires ripping them off. Back to trail running!

Now we entered into the hardest part of the course, the hills.  There were three or four of them, I can’t remember for sure but they were steep and full of fist sized rocks (loose) that made it difficult to run up.  Needless to say, I needed to have trained for hills, since I did not, my legs felt real heavy and I was sucking wind half way up the first one.  Then i took my Que from the rest of the group…walking up the hills is easier.  Trotting down the back side and walking up the hills. Mentally I was pissed at myself for walking, but what could I do? I was sucking air bad and the hills were tough to walk up much less run (did I mention first run of the year and not in shape yet?)

Coming out of the hills, we ran some more and then came upon OBSTACLE 3- the balance beam.  Good job here SR, the 2×4 layout of L shaped forms was tough.  Even more tough since I was breathing hard, it made concentrating and going slow difficult.  I made it to the first intersection (barely) way out of control; I tried to catch my breath, but not having much luck at that.  Continuing on to the second intersection, getting better at balancing, about half way there and boom, fell off…rushing and losing my mental control.  Time for my burpees 1-30 .  Nice hard gravel to do pushups on, that was a great touch.   Oh yeah, the lady counting the burpees, trying to be funny by telling me I lost a shin guard…not so much! I ripped off the other one and donated it to SR.

OBSTACLE 4 – Immediately after the burpees, was to drag this cement ball attached to a large rope, go down and back.  I optioned for a fast walk on this versus running, not hard, but not a piece of cake either.

So we are back off to running through the woods.  I encountered a guy with no shoes, he told me he lost them at the first mud pit, wow I thought, the rocks must have hurt!  So we come upon OBSTACLE 5 – the barbwire crawl.  I was surprised that they actually had real barbed wire and it was real low. I wouldn’t be surprised if some people couldn’t make it under and had to do the burpees.  I saw the first photographer here, go a good picture crawling! By the way the ground here was extremely hard, no mud, just hard rock-like dirt!  Off to running again!

So coming out of the woods we encounter OBSTACLE 6 a cargo net. Followed by OBSTACLE 7 which was this mini lake had to wade through it to the other side and then crawl up a muddy hill inside a tunnel.  Then off to OBSTACLE 8 which was an 8 ft wall. I really had no problem here even though my hands were full of mud, up and over!

OBSTACLE 9 – Another lake, this time we had our Lowe’s 5-gallon buckets and had to keep those horizontal as we walked a circle around the perimeter then walk up hill on wet tires.  Not as hard as some people make it out to be, if you walked on the tires, it was easy, if you tried to step in the middle, it was slippery and muddy.

Coming out of that was a short run to OBSTACLE 10 – another cargo net.  Easy peasy. Even when I am dog tired these obstacles are still pretty easy. A short jaunt and I reached the wall.  They created a 10 ft or so wall with blocks on them simulating a rock climbing wall, only you went sideways. OBSTACLE 11 – The wall was not as hard as you would think by looking at it, as a matter of fact, if you go slow and take your time, it was easy.  I just happened to look away to see where my photography crew was and my foot slipped off and I touched the ground on the last block! Just so happened to be right in front of the obstacle official…burpees 31-60! Grrr…these were not easy and I was already sucking wind.

A short walk later (yes I was done running) was OBSTACLE 12 – The spear throw.  I lost precious time here because they were backed up on all three lanes at first. As usual I always pick the slow line.  After changing lines a few times I get one where there is no one throwing and the obstacle ref decides to walk down the firing line picking up spears, knowing I am not very accurate I was waiting on him to move…which he took his sweet ass time.  So I moved lanes again and threw. My spear hit the bale of hay and didn’t stick…Burpees 61-90! Arrrggghhh, I am starting to hate these things!

Exhausted from burpees I lingered over to the last OBSTACLE 13 – the incline wall, with a giant rope to pull yourself up.  Oh yeah they are pouring water down the wall just for fun.  This was actually pretty easy, except I about fell off the top going over the wall, yes I went to grab the ledge and missed and started falling, but I was on the edge so this giant pole caught me long enough to stand back up and climb down.

Off to the finish, and dead tired, this course definitely took a lot out of me. So approaching the FINISH LINE, there are these two guys with pugil sticks.  Watching them earlier they were kicking the crap out of people and making them flip and crash all over.  So I decided to take the fight to them and I was going to knock them down.  So I went towards the little one! I ran right into him, pushed off, did a spin move and they never hit me! I finished! Yay me!

So my stats for this race were not great in my opinion, although the total miles were close to 3.8 my overall time was 56:02.  Here is the breakdown:

58th out of 198 for Wave 7

77th out of 285 – Men 30-39

427th out of 1,548 Spartan Runners

]]> http://blydawg.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/spartan-race-texas-2011-smithville/feed/ 3 blydawg 100_7980 Big wall 100_8079 http://blydawg.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/superbowl-xlv-commercial-roundup/ http://blydawg.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/superbowl-xlv-commercial-roundup/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:15:46 +0000 Travis Blythe http://blydawg.wordpress.com/?p=776 ]]> As seen through the marketing eyes of Travis:

Every year I look forward to the SuperBowl and especially if my team is not playing, I can’t wait to see the commercials. For as long as I can remember the commercials have been what everyone talks about the day after the SuperBowl. Our office was no different, we barely talked about any of the great plays, but rather how companies portrayed their brands and what our favorite ones were. Shockingly, I was surprised we all were of the same opinion; we were let down this year.

Maybe it was due to the economy; actually I am hoping it was. I hope with all the bailouts of big business the last few years, all the layoffs and unemployment, many companies refused to advertise and pay the outrageous prices. It seemed to me that this was the Doritos, PepsiMaxx and Budweiser advertising campaigns in-between the football game. So I pose a few riveting thought-provoking insights, my takes on the advertisements and whether they succeeded in my mind.

So the overall consensus was that Volkswagen was a unanimous winner for “The Force” commercial. While yes it went viral and it was so talked about and everyone loved the little “Darth Vader”, I polled several people who actually had no clue what that commercial Brand was. I had responses from, “The car would be too obvious, I’m not sure who it was” to a flat-out I have no idea but I loved it! So was this spot really an epic fail if no one remembers the brand?

The other commercial that had failure of epic proportions was Best Buy. Everyone watching at our SuperBowl Party was clueless on who we were being marketed by. Our conversation ranged from “how old is Ozzy nowadays” (Yes we even googled it) to “what kind of meds is he on? We can actually understand him!” to everyone wanting to punch Bieber in the face. Best Buy was totally lost on us and in the end we were also asking what is 6G network?

Okay now for my “I can’t believe you did that commercial” at first I was in love with the Doritos “Pug Attack” commercial, then I thought about it. Really the intention on the spot was for the pug to crash full speed into a plate-glass door. That is kind of cruel don’t you think? As cute as the Pug was running, I just sat speechless afterwards thinking about how cruel that really was. Do any of my dog loving readers agree?

Also, what is up with HomeAway with the smashed baby in the “Test Baby” ad? Did they really think that was a good idea? I had to look up who ran the ad, again a Brand that was lost on me once the baby smashed against the window. I see that they have since pulled the spots, I wonder why?
Here are some of my honorable mention, bad commercials:

1. Groupon – the dark humor was not missed, but I thought 2 of the 3 were offensive.
2. GoDaddy.com – I’m just tired of the same theme…go online to see what you missed and when you do, there I nothing there. How about a new concept? And also, Danica seemed to be #2 on the importance factor, and I thought she was the face of GoDaddy.com…hmmm
3. Sketchers – Even Kim Kardashian couldn’t save this one. I mean really, even after several Dr’s and trainers have come forward talking about how bad these shoes are for your posture and how they actually don’t help your booty.

After it was all said and done, I think it was safe to say we all lost interest in the commercials right around the end of the third quarter and nothing really caught my attention. PepsiMaxx was too busy throwing cans at people in just about every ad; Bud Light to me was not very memorable probably because they had so many ads. So my top three favorite commercials ended up being probably the least talked about.

So here they are:

1. Telaflora – Come on it was Faith Hill! Besides with Valentines Day just around the corner, it really hit home, we all want to say that on a card, from the heart!
2. Chrysler – Eminem’s Detroit, being from Michigan it kind of hit home knowing how bad off that whole state is. “Imported from Detroit” I loved it!
3. Volkswagen – Mini Vader, although no one remembers who it was for, I loved it for the reason I should, it played with my heartstrings for the generation I am in, I’m a Star Wars Junkie so of course I loved it! (okay this one was talked about A-LOT)

A Couple Honorable Mentions:

1. Volkswagen – Black Beetle was actually a great spot. Watching a beetle race around like a car, we were guessing VW even before the commercial ended.
2. Budweiser – Wild West, who doesn’t like singing cowboys? Especially when they flex their golden pipes to Elton John!
3. Movie Trailers – Pretty much all of them! Since the majority of them were for some up and coming action flicks, most of which I would see, I was down for watching them, some were better than the dribble that was out there.

I didn’t intend this to be a likes versus dislikes post, but when all is said and done, remembering your Brand and increasing visibility for said brand should be the most important thing when you are spending over 2-million dollars. Here is an idea, how about a salary cap for commercials? Every spot costs the same and we lower the price tag in these economic times so that more people don’t get disgusted about being laid off then see your old company run a SuperBowl commercial. We know how tough it can be being one of 300 people laid off before Christmas due to economic difficulties only to see a commercial air. After all we are not just a bunch of monkeys going to work everyday.

Disagree with me? Check out these guys:
Andrew Billmann
Advertising Age
Mashable
The Lint Screen

This year I embarked on a mission to challenge myself physically as well as mentally. So I set off to actually do what most people pledge they are going to do.  One of the items was to compete in events like this.  This was my third of the year, I had already completed the DFW Mudrun and the Warrior Dash.  This one was called “Run the Jailbreak” a pretty simple theme to it, run like you just broke out of jail and get away.  I actually thought most of the time like I was the fugitive!

Going off what the website says the obstacles are, below are all of the obstacles and what my opinions of them are.

Is it possible, could there be such a thing? With all of the other type of rehabs becoming so popular these days, I.E. celebrity rehab, sex rehab (ala Tiger Woods) and video game rehab, is Social Media rehab far behind?  I know most of you missed that last statement because you are still thinking about video game rehab.  But that one is actually serious, in a story I heard on sports talk radio last week, a former pro football player Quinn Pitcock quit football with the Indianapolis Colts because he was depressed and was addicted to video games.  I think I won’t be going to work either because my PS3 is calling me 24/7!

Social media is all the rage now days, you may not even know or be aware that you are caught up in it but it started years ago with Myspace and now Facebook and Twitter have seized control of our lives.  Does anyone remember when the only thing on our phone was a phone? I may be dating myself here but does anyone remember having to wait to get home to check an answering machine? Well our phones have it all now a days and if it doesn’t, then there is an app for that.

With that being said, we seem to spend every living minute on our phones doing something, either checking email, sending texts, checking Facebook, sending tweets, watching videos, Etc.  When are we going to find time to actually enjoy real life?  They didn’t call it a “crackberry” for nothing you know.  Social Media rehab is coming to a town near you soon.  I am not sure what is sadder, that as adults we cannot put down the cell phone because we just have to play our “words with friends” or that we are actually putting these devices in the hands of 10-11 years old children.  Really what does a 10 year old need an iPhone for? Did you take away the PS3 and substitute it with a smart phone or are they utilizing them both at the same time?  If you try to tell me that a child at that age needs a phone to have for emergencies then you are ridiculous in my opinion.  We both know the child is going to be texting and playing games on that phone. Whatever happened to the pay phone that I had to use to call my dad to get me from practice?

Sorry, got a little off topic there for a second, but really those kids are going to need social media rehab by the time they are 18!  So tell me if this is your daily life.  You roll up to Best Buy and before you are out of the car you check in on Foursquare, send a tweet, and post to Facebook all at the same time.  Then some of you even go to Gowalla, Loopt, or Whrrl and do the same.  You leave the store and run over to Chipotle to grab a burrito bowl and you do the whole process over again.  This time you even add a comment on Yelp to tell the world about how yummy it is.  The whole time you are doing this, you are walking extremely slow and your significant other is yelling at you to “put that phone away” or “hurry up!”  I know you have all been there too.  Now we also have texting and driving, hell I bet some of you tweet, check Facebook, and email while you drive as well.  And here I thought the woman putting on makeup while driving was dangerous. I watched a couple the other night at dinner and they never spoke to each other.  They had to be around 21 or 22, and all they did was sit there, eat, drink and text.  How is that fun? I wondered if they were texting each other?

I can understand if it is your job to sit in front of your computer all day and work in social media, but for those of you who utilize hootsuite or tweetdeck, have all of your social media outlets loaded up and just monitor it all day commenting on everything, don’t you have a job? If your blocked at work from facebook, don’t you think there is a reason? No it is not so that you can just do it on your phone. Maybe they actually want you to be productive!

Yes it is soon going to be time for all of us to head off to Social Media rehab.  A place where they take away your phone, your iPad and your laptop.  They make you actually have to communicate to live real people and do an activity without the technology guiding you.  You have to actually play Foursquare with a real ball, read a real book or write an actual letter with a pencil and paper.  Oh my gosh, imagine that?

Yes I am guilty of all of the above; it is difficult but I am trying to put my phone down after 7pm at night and on the weekends.  I did stop tweeting on the weekends (mostly) but now it is September and fantasy football is beginning. So now I can watch football, text, tweet, FB, and play interactive fantasy football on Sundays, oh man that just sounded like I need help.

What a crazy world we are living in, all this technology to stay social and keep up constantly with what everyone is doing.  Yes rehab is just around the corner, even if it is just a holiday weekend!

By: Brett “Bubba” Blythe

My infatuation for all things motorcycle all started when I received my first dirt bike at age 10.  The Honda 50cc dirt bike, small in size large in fun.  We would take many dirt bike trips as a family that lamented my love for the two wheeled machine.  Fast forward to age 16, I received my cycle endorsement and my first road trip as a driver to Sturgis.  This trip sealed the deal for as the best way to take a vacation and see America.  We have taken vacations, small trips, big trips, pulled trailers filled with clothes and dirt bikes.  All of these trips have led the following account of my trip to Texas to ride the Three Sisters with my dad and older brother.

This trip was the first time the three of us have taken a trip together.  I live in Michigan and I flew down to Dallas to where my dad and brother live.  This was sure to be a trip for the bucket list, I was sure even before the plane left Grand Rapids that this was going to a great trip.

I have ridden some beautiful highways and byways in my day, from the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway in North Carolina to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  I was sure that Texas being as big and beautiful as she is that she also had some great scenery to offer, and boy was I right.

The route that my brother had planned for us had us stopping at many great landmark destinations on our way to ride the Three Sisters. We saw the original Dr. Pepper plant, the Enchanted Rocks, a Castle, and many food stops recommended by the Thunder Roads magazines top 10 burger joints.  I will have to say that while the landmarks were cool the real crowd pleaser had to be the roads and views.

The Three Sisters did not disappoint with their twisty turns and their great expanses.  I can honestly say that the views and wide open spaces that are Texas are truly gorgeous.  It was a weekend of many emotions for me.  The beauty of the landscape, the excitement and thrill of challenging roads and laughter and bliss that time spent with my father and brother.

Although we had a few rainy patches that led to mocking and digital evidence that indeed I do not have great rain gear, it was truly a trip to remember.   I am glad that I had the opportunity to not only ride some great roads, see some outstanding landscapes but more importantly spend some time with my dad and brother.

Thank you Texas a great weekend and a lifetime of memories.

EAVB_VYBQYFUENL

Ever since I can remember, from the very first time I sat on the back of my father’s motorcycle as a young child, one of my favorite things was waving at the other motorcycles. At first I had no idea why we were waving at random people driving by us.  My father always told me we “just do” and so we just did!

The first thing I noticed was that the “Harley” riders never waved back at us, or rarely waved back I should say. Since at the time we were a Honda family, we were met with waves from every other brand except the Harley.  As the years progressed this remained the same everywhere I went.  I however wave to everyone, even if they don’t wave back, I still throw out my wave.

Fast forward to 2002, when I purchased my first Harley.  Now I was accepted into the fraternity so to speak.  But one thing I have always remained true to myself was that I wave to everyone.  It seemed that magically over night, all of the bikes that used to never wave, now did, like my cloak of invisibility had worn off.  But I do wave to everyone, my motto is as long as it is on two wheels, then I will say hello.

Now I know that some car brands do the wave also like some secret society, yes I am talking to you Mr. Corvette driver and you Ms. BMW and I have heard that even the Jeep drivers do a wave.  That makes me chuckle some, because then every car brand should wave at each other or hell, lets just all wave at everyone and be a waving society! No, you cage drivers can not have a wave, you will never be as cool as us no matter how many “members only” jackets you have or even when you wear your “driving gloves” which make you look like a dork.  We wear gloves for totally different reasons.

Sorry to get of topic for a minute there.  Back to he biker wave…I came across many blogs and articles on this topic recently and I decided early on I was not going to tell you the “types of waves” or even the “wave etiquette” but what I don’t get are he rules for waving. If you read the above article, the following rules for waving were listed for NOT waving: 1)interstate; unnecessary, 2) in a curve; unnecessary 3) in the rain or at night; unnecessary 4) on a mellow two lane; proper. 5) a highway with little traffic; proper 6) A rally, unnecessary and 7) in traffic, unnecessary.

I have a problem with some of these and let me give you my thoughts:

1. Interstate: While I understand we are cruising at this point traveling anywhere from 70-80 MPH, this is actually the easiest wave to pull off a wave is it not? I mean you are just rolling down the road.  On many a trip across the country, I find it awesome to wave across the median at fellow road warriors. So I veto this and change it to a PROPER!  I further question the divided median.  I know this was not mentioned, but why is it okay to not wave just because there is a center divder? I mean you can still see the bike and it’s rider, it is not like there is a 10-ft wall you can’t see over.  So I also say PROPER to wave when you have a divided road.

2. Curve: If you read that article then you saw there were a ton of variations of the wave.  If you are that scared to take your hand off the grip or handle bar, then use the “left handed forward wave”or the crotch rocket wave, where you lift your fingers off the grip.  I have ridden in many switchback type roads in my time and I have never found it difficult to give a full on wave to some in mid corner or turn.  If you know how to ride at all, you can still follow the turn with one hand. I will not ignore my fellow brethren just because we are at 10,000 feet spiraling down the mountain! I veto this and make it PROPER, if you don’t wave it is just a little rude.

3. Rain/Night: Well, I really do not see what a little H2O has to do with anything.  Most of us if we are riding in the rain are prepared for it so we have our gear on. Unless you get caught in a terenchal  downpour and you are in shorts and a t-shirt with no helmet on, then you better wave at your fellow biker. PROPER! Now at night, that is somewhat tricky because you really can not see the other person. I don’t ride much at night, but if it is a well lite area, I would wave away if you can.

6. A Rally: while there are usually thousands of bikers everywhere at a rally, this seems to be the most accepted rule of thumb I do come across.  Sometimes you would be waving and just keep your arm up if you did.  I think that you need to be safe, but you should at least do your best.  I don’t know about you, but I like being waved at and acknowledged.

7. Traffic: Here I have to say, while yes sometimes you can not take your hand off the clutch, the head nod works just fine and is an acceptable substitute for a wave.  The other person can usually see you need that clutch hand, so PROPER in my book, I do it all the time at stop lights and what not.

So all in all, as you can see I wave at everyone and yes even though I own a Harley, I still get snubbed by my fellow American motorcycle owners for some of the “rules” above, but I don’t care.  Should you encounter me, I will wave and I will always wave to my fellow 2-wheel modern knights. Yes I did the research and from what I could find, the wave started with the knights on horseback when they greeted each other in passing. I wonder if they had rules on waving? (all the smart-ass thoughts I am thinking of writing about horse riding)

If you wonder why some people don’t wave back at you, here are some top 10 lists I found on both Harley and Goldwing riders, enjoy:

Top Ten Reasons Why Harley Riders Don’t Wave Back

1. They’re afraid it will invalidate their factory warranty.
2. Leather and studs make it too hard to raise their arm.
3. They refuse to wave to anyone whose bike is already paid for.
4. They won’t let go of handlebars because they might vibrate off.
5. The rushing wind could blow the scabs off their new tattoos.
6. They’re angry over the second mortgage needed to pay for the new Harley.
7. They just discovered the fine print in their owner’s manual revealing that The Motor Company is partially owned by rice-burner manufacturers.
8. They can’t tell if other riders are actually waving or just reaching up to cover their ears, like everyone else.
9. If they wave back, they risk being impaled on their spiked helmet.
10. They’re upset that after spending $30,000, they still don’t own a bike that’s as comfortable as a Goldwing.

To be totally fair, let it be noted that sometimes Goldwing riders don’t wave back, either. Again, to facilitate a better understanding….

Top Ten Reasons Why Goldwing Riders Don’t Wave Back

1. They aren’t sure whether the other rider is waving or making an obscene gesture.
2. They risk getting frostbite if they take their hand off the heated grip.
3. They have arthritis and it is difficult to raise their arm.
4. The reflection from the etched windshield was momentarily blinding.
5. The on-board espresso machine had just finished.
6. They were asleep when other rider waved.
7. They were involved in a three-way conference call with their stock broker and accessories dealer.
8. They were distracted by an oddly shaped blip on their radar screen.
9. They were simultaneously adjusting the air suspension, seat height, programmable CD player, seat temperature and satellite navigation system.
10. They couldn’t find the “auto wave-back” button on their dashboard.

Until next time, keep the rubber side down!

My name is Travis and I talk to Strangers!