Lead up to the Mother Lode

Lupus Extreme has arrived at Checkpoint 14 and are in a good mood. They say climbing and doing the ropes in the dark was a bit scary but are otherwise doing well. Right now they are catching a few hours of rest. They have the same number of optional checkpoints as the leaders.

Team Gearjunkie - YogaSlackers arrived at checkpoint 14 feeling good after taking in 3 hours of sleep on the trailside. They also limited their trek to picking up a single optional checkpoint along the trek so all of the leading teams are essentially even.

Team Dart Nuun, Tecnu Extreme, Gearjunkie - YogaSlackers all left all in one big group at 4:15am.

Team Nuun arrived at Checkpoint 14/ACP3 at 12:43am after completing checkpoints 1-13 and optional checkpoint 13A opting to skip checkpoints 13B-13E. Team Tecnu arrived at 1:43am and also chose to skip most of the optional checkpoints.

Team Yogaslackers appears to be extremely close as well, We'll shuffle the standings as soon as they come in and we sort out how many optional CPs they collected.

The rankings on the Leaderboard have been updated with our best estimate of current rankings based on SPOT reporting and checkins at manned checkpoints. This is current as of 11pm. The checkpoint data on the Leaderboard is still behind but the rankings are current. Expect more frequent Leaderboard updates tomorrow AM.

Leaderboard

Just wanted to mention that the leaderboard is pretty inaccurate at the moment. We are going to get it updated as soon as possible with reasonably current standings.

Teams Nuun, Tecnu, Lupus Extreme, and Yoga Slackers are close together near the rope section with Slackers in the lead and Nuun reported to be close behind. Perdidos and Team Breakouts are both nearing the ropes. Team Cygolite is in Hammil Canyon near or passing checkpoint 11.

Teams Adventure Seek and Mojo are both last SPOTTED coming off of Eagle Peak and are likely in Hammil Canyon (which seems to block the SPOT signal). Racing with Giants was reported at Eagle Peak far more recently and Outdoor Mindset are still climbing to the peak (Likely an hour to 90 minutes out).

Dirty Avocados are about halfway up to Eagle Peak in Eagle meadow.

I'll post another update on the teams which haven't made ACP2 shortly.

If you've been following the race on the tracker you might have noticed Yoga Slackers SPOT stopped sending updates. We haven't fixed that yet but they were spotted in the lead ahead of Team Nuun and nearing the ropes section. They are most likely on the ropes by now. Nuun is about 15 minutes behind and Tecnu about 15 minutes behind them.

Team Mojo also lost their spot coverage, they are reported as being at Dardanelle but they've moved on since then.

Team Breakout is just taking pictures and heading out from ACP 2.

Team Giants is heading out from ACP right now (12:55pm Friday) and feeling good. They seem to be in good spirits and are looking forward to some more of the rugged terrain the Sierra backcountry offers.

Reno Incline Village -  Sorry about the SPOT tracker not working.  We got it working now.

Dave says "Rebecca, Kira, and Jen, I'm having fun and so far so good - Love Dad"

Scott says "Christy,  I love you! Thanks for letting me race."

Love to Kathy and Ellie!!

Love to Cindy and the kids from Bill!!

Tecnu left at 9:07, Yoga Slackers left after a short break at 9:27, and Perdidios cruised in at 9:45.

1   Dart-NUUN

2   Lupus Extreme

3   Yoga Slackers - Gear Junkie

4   Tecnu Extreme - Staphaseptic

5   Cygolite

6   Perdidos

7   Breakouts

8   Team Seek Adventure

9   Racing with Giants

10   Outdoor Mindset

11   Team Mojo

12   CITO

13   Dirty Avocados

14   Fire Starters

15   And Loving It

16   CaliCO

8:45am and Team Technu Extreme arrived at ACP2. It has been a long cold night as teams cycled up and over the 10,000 ft Sonora Pass. The morning sun is warming thngs back up but the downhill section into ACPs is still very cold for the riders.

Dart-NUUN arrived at ACP2/CP 9 at just before 6 am.  They slept for 1 1/2 hours and still no other team has reached this point.

We are waiting in the brisk chill of early morning for the first teams to arrive at ACP 2/CP 9.

Registration is complete. 16 teams are now at work plotting the route and strategy onto the 11 sheets of maps. They now know it is run, bike, swim, hike, bke, hike, ropes, hike, bike paddle and bike to reach the finish line in Columbia, CA.  After the 8am start and a run therough Bridgeport, teasm will head to Twin Lakes. Team Outdoor Mindset  is up late trying to plan their gear logistics.

Teams are arriving in Bridgeport and the town is buzzing with excitement about the upcoming race. The swag bags are ready and teams will have to have some space because these are the biggest swag bags ever seen.