The first question that people ask us when they find out we’re training to traverse 10 Degrees Latitude is, “how far is 10 degrees latitude”?

Quick answer: 

1 degree latitude = approximately 69 miles (111 kilometers) of north-south distance.
10 degrees latitude = approximately 690 miles (1110 kilometers).  

Complete answer:

The distance varies (due to the earth’s slightly ellipsoid shape) from 68.7 miles at the equator to 69.4 at the poles. This is convenient since each minute (1/60th of a degree) is approximately one mile (source). Here is a neat graphic to show the variation in distance from the poles to the equater. As you can see the distance at the equater is shorter by 0.7 mile.

So according to the experts, the greatest moements in open water swimming history, in chronological, are:

1875: Matthew Webb (English Channel)
1896: Alfred Hajos (Athens Olympics)
1916: La Jolla Rough Water Swim (USA)
1926: Gertrude Ederle (English Channel)
1927: Channel Swimming Association
1927: George Young (Catalina Channel)
1927: Ernst Vierkotter (Canada)
1928: Mercedes Gleitze (Gibraltar Strait)
1947: Tom Blower (Irish Channel)
1950: Vansbrosimningen (Sweden)
1954: Traversata dello Stretto (Italy)
1956: Rottnest Channel Swim
1961: Antonio Abertondo (Channel)
1961: Keo Nakama (Molokai Channel)
1962: Barry Devonport (Cook Strait)
1963: Abo-Heif (Lake Michigan)
1967: Stewart Evan (Farallons)
1974: John Kinsella (WPMSF)
1978: Penny Dean (English Channel)
1985: FINA Long Distance Commission
1987: Lynne Cox (Bering Strait)
1991: Shelley Taylor-Smith (IMSA)
1986: Claudio Plit (Lac St-Jean)
2004: Midmar Mile (South Africa)
2005: IOC (Beijing Olympic 10K)
2006: Agua (Santa Fe-Coronda)
2007: Lewis Pugh (North Pole)
2007: Petar Stoychev (English Channel)
2008: Natalie du Toit (Olympic 10K)
2008: Grant Hackett & David Davies
2008: Larisa Ilchenko (Olympic 10K)
2008: Maarten van der Weijden
2008: Britain’s Olympic 10K Team
2008: Hong Kong Clean Half

Below is are a couple of fun and innovative things you can do with your champagne corks tonight. This idea is in the category of “Recycling is good, reuse is better!”.

We think this mashup i’s a great example of how “pictures speak a thousand words”. Or if you prefer… “the medium is the medium”.

Below is a miniature version. The larger version is on the Expeditions page.

Hulk Hogan encourages 10 Degrees Latitude from Neal Mueller on Vimeo.

Typically I’m a swimmer, and pilot boats protect me. Today I had the opportunity to switch roles. I piloted a swim with 25 swimmers. There were 5 other pilot boats including me.

Role of the pilot boat during an open water swim:

• Protect swimmer from boaters and wildlife
• Guide the swim path
• Feed and motivate the swimmer during swims lasting more than 1 hour

What I learned. First of all I learned what a pilot boat does (see above). I also learned what a powerful affect the tidal current has on a swimmer. From the vantage point of our pilot boat Reuben and I saw several swimmers get swept by a swift tidal current. The current was faster than they were and caused them to literally swim in place. A good pilot can help a swimmers navigate currents and win the race!

Pilots from the Dolphin Club use plastic kayaks, motorized zodiacs, fiberglass paddle boards, and wooden Whitehall rowboats. The Whitehall rowboats at the Dolphin Club are pretty awesome, and most of over 100 years old. During the swim walkie-talkies are used to coordinate maneuvers. Two or more pilot boats lead the front swimmer and sweep the rear swimmer. Other pilot boats serve as course markers and guide points for the swimmers along the course.

One quick shout-out. The lead swimmer in this event today was my roommate Laurin. Yay her! She blogs here. 

Some stats about today’s swim.

• 52F … water temp
• 1:3 … ratio of swimmers to pilot boats
• 1.5 miles … course distance
• 1897 … year that my wooden rowboat was built
• 3 … donuts/bagels consumed pre & post (yummy!)

And of course, photography from today.

Here is a video from Bicycling Magazine by Executive Editor Bill Strickland.

Neal and I took a break last weekend from all the current economic chaos to relax and refocus. 

What better way to recapture this perspective than to climb to the top of the second highest peak in the Continental United States?  Mt. Elbert (14,440 ft.) is 65 feet shorter than the tallest peak in the continental US, California’s Mt. Whitney (14,505 ft.).

It was an amazing weekend mountain climb.  We arrived at the trailhead at around 10 AM on Saturday morning.  Neal had planned the route on his Garmin and in our Suunto watches, so we were set to go.  The sky was total bluebird and it was unseasonably warm (45F).  We started out in base layers and packed 2 extra layers in our 30-pound packs.

We hit the tree line around noon and ran into a solo climber who had summited and was making his way back down.  He gave a very positive report of the terrain and weather as well as what turned out to be an overly optimistic estimate on our time to summit.  He guessed we were about 2 hours from the summit.  It turned out to be 4!

As someone who has climbed the 7 Summits and made a living as a climber, Neal was very patient with the skinny kid from Ohio who was making his first summit.  We reached the summit shoulder to shoulder.  It was amazing to stand at the top and absorb the 360 degrees of panoramic beauty.  That being said, there wasn’t much time to absorb it.  Wind speeds were 20-40 mph on the summit, and wind chill temps were in the single digits.

Special thanks to Suunto, Gu Nutrition, Eider Apparel, Deuter Backpacks and dear mother nature!

Here are the details:

• Mount Elbert
• Elevation 14,440, tallest mountain in Colorado, 2nd tallest in continental US
• Hiking Distance From Trail head: 9.5 miles round trip
• Elevation Gain: 4,700 feet
• Latitude/Longitude: 39.11780 N / 106.4447 W

…Wouldn’t you like to get away?  Some times you wanna go…

Jennifer Figge, a 56-year-old endurance athlete from Aspen, Colorado, plans to swim 2,100 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa to Barbados, between Puerto Rico and Venezuela. She will swim behind a sailboat in a giant shark cage for 6-8 hours per day, hoping to finish in 60 days. She swim will begin December 1st. 

More on 10kswimmer.com.

• 212F Water Boils
• 95F Hot Bath/Shower
• 80F Swimming Pool
• 63F San Francisco Bay Water Temperature (Summer)
• 47F San Francisco Bay Water Temperature (Winter)
• 32F Water Freezes

When folks ask me why I swim in cold water without a wetsuit I answer like this.

5 Reasons Not to Wear a Wetsuit

1. Because we can’t… Swim competitions and Official channel crossings forbid wetsuits because they add buoyancy and give an unfair advantage compared to swimmers who swam prior to the existance of wetsuit technology.
2. Because we don’t want to… Wetsuits are constricting and uncomfortable to wear.
3. Wetsuits are a drag to put on a take off.
4. Sauna feels better the colder we get.
5. When you gotta go, you gotta go, but not in a wetsuit.

  

  

A shout-out to my high school friend Michelle Macy who posted a similar post on her blog.

  

  

5 Reasons To Train in the San Francisco Bay

1. The Bay is clean and has less chemicals than the pool.
2. Swimming allows me the feel the strength of my body.
3. Time with the people at the Dolphin Club makes me a better person.
4. Being among the ocean creatures puts me in touch with nature.
5. The colder the water the better the sauna feels at the end.

5 Reasons to Train

1. Test of my body and mind.
2. Feeling of tangible accomplishment.
3. Body feels better when I do.
4. Quality time with friends before and after.
5. Puts hardship and ego in proper perspective.

In 1998 I caused a nearly fatal motorcycle accident. I broke the largest bone in my body in two places and bled half to death. My hemoglobin count was 7; contrast this to a normal hemoglobin count of 14. The orthopedist who saved my life did not expect me to walk again. He and I are glad that I exceeded his diagnostic expectations.

After two months of being confined to a wheelchair I began to walk with a cane. After four months with a cane I began to walk on my own. Two years later I took my first running stride. And I’ve been skipping since, thankful to be breathing the air and to have my leg. Since 1998 my legs have stood me shakily upright as my sister married, climbed me aloft to the top of the tallest mountain in the world, and propelled me 10 degrees across Europe with Adam.

Each morning I thank the Fates as I rise out of bed to stand on my two legs. We should be thankful. If you need motivation to understand just how much more challenging life can be, watch this video. Watching these patients toil and overcome reminded me of my hardship to the tenth power.

[UPDATE] For you wordpress geeks, to get this working you will need this to automatically create the tags from your content and this to build the tag cloud.

Last night I swam in black glass, as my friend Laurin calls it. We jumped into the San Francisco Bay ocean water after dark. It was so darn peaceful as the light of the Ghirardelli Chocholate Factory shone across the black glassy water. These are the nights that can make any workday worth living. It was a wonderful cold water training swim. My buddy Dave joined us for the apres-swim sauna then we all went back to a French place and talked about adventures past and adventures future. These are the days worth remembering.

Adam has been training these days too in Denver, where the temperatures have dropped down at night to the 40s, so I suspect most of his training has been on the Wilier cycles (shameless plug, sorry, but we love these guys).

Hope everyone’s training is going awesome. Take care.

Gianmarco Cilli, who operates Wilier US, was calmly pleased to tell us that the “Cento Uno” (101) will be the bike of Alessandro Ballan in 2009. This is a new frame from Wilier that represents the leading thinking in bicycle innovation today. We were impressed with what we saw.

According to Harry Ault of Wilier, “the frame has become quite a spectacle at this year’s Interbike.” We can see why, the curved top tube carries through to a continuous curve around the seatstays and the beefy chainstays. This is elegant and carries the stresses better. The 101 uses “46Ton” carbon, the world’s strongest, most resilient fiber.

The frame integrates several elements to create stiff parsimony and reduce weight.

• The rear triangle is now more fully integrated. Chainstays and seatstays are unified as a single (monocoque) unit. They are asymmetrical, with the drive side chainstay lowered to prevent chain slap. Instead of conventional joining of the chain and seatstays at a sharp angle, the angle has been “softened” to dampen and dissipate road surface impacts and vibrations. The drive side chainstay also has a textured alloy sleeve for protection.
• Taking the integration one step further, the 101 includes a new integrated bottom bracket shell. Bearings are now installed directly into the frame. This design does away with the need for externally-mounted bearing cups and integrates seamlessly with the most popular cranksets.

The Cento Uno is sold as a frame, fork and headset package for $4300. Six sizes from XS to XXL are available and the bike will come in 5 color schemes. 2 years of crash replacement are included with the frame.

Like I said, we were impressed.

The Wilier Cento Uno "101"

• Wilier - Cento Uno
• Bellwether - Brilliant new line for 2009
• Cervelo - P4
• Gu - Roctane!
• Giro - New 2009 Helmets
• LAS - New 2009 Helmets
• Colagno - CX-1 Frame
• Garmin - 705 (officially launches in January)
• Wilier - Cento Crono Tri Bike (officially launched June ‘08)
• Cytomax - Functional Beverages such as MuscleMilk
• Zipp - 404’s/808’s/1080’s redesigned for 2009 (even FASTER!

Interbike was a great success this year. For those of you who aren’t aware of the event, Interbike is the largest bicycle trade event in North America. It is one of the most important events of the year for retailers, manufacturers, and and other industry folks. Over 1,000 brands are represented and 85% of all business within the cycling industry happens over these three days.

We were there for a couple of reasons. Our first objective was to personally thank all of those who took a risk and supported us last year. We’ve built great relationships with each of our sponsors, and it was great to see them for the first time since returning from Europe.

Special thanks to:

• Wilier - Gianmarco
• Bellwether/Profile Design - Barry
• Gu - Holly
• Cadence - Matt/Mike
• Suunto - Martin

Our second objective was to foster new relationships for the future. We met some great people this year, and we’re really excited about the future. Stay tuned for new sponsor news.

There is lots of advice out there on how to build a logo. One of the best blog posts I’ve read on the subject is on David Airey’s blog. 

To help kick off this logo I decided to have some fun with the images below. Thought it might make you all chuckle. If you want to do this to your own images I recommend checking out Dumpr.

The concept that we call “10 Degrees of Latitude” is one year old today. Hard to believe that one year ago Adam and I brainstormed this idea. The untold story about 10DL is that it was actually Adam’s wife (Amy Hazlett) who came up with the actual name. Adam came up with the idea to do the channel, I wrapped the bike ride around it, and Amy coined the 10 Degrees Latitude idea. My hat is off to Amy, and it’s also off for everyone that has helped us along the way. There are almost too many names to mention…

A rambunctious and awesome shout-out to a few special people:

• Maria from Best Western
• Matt from Cadence Cycling & Multisport
• Darren from Front of the Pack
• Kin-Joe at Vetta
• Barry at Bellwether and Profile Design 
• Greg at ZIPP
• Gianmarco at Wilier
• Martin at Suunto
• Holly at Gu Nutrition
• Rick at Barracuda
• LAS Helmets
• SRAM Components
• Karen at Bodyglide 

Another monstrous shout-out to the crew of 10DL Europe. Without whom we would have done nothing:

• Flora/Laura
• Amy/Joshua/Andrew
• Bob/Michelle
• Tricia/Eva

Looking forward to another great year of 10DL! (our brand is so popular now that it now has an acronym!)

Gu Nutrition, makers of Roctane Ultra Endurance Energy Gel, did a funny little write-up on us today. They sent Adam and I a list of provocative questions and asked us to respond. I hope you have as much fun reading it as we had writing it.

Here’s an excerpt.

- - -

What’s the most creative way you’ve ever carried your GU?
Neal: In my Speedo.
Adam: In my Speedo.

Funny racing/training story?
Adam: While training for Ironman Florida, I was on a long run in the backwoods of Virginia, miles from home, and miles from civilization. When nature called, I found the nearest tree. Long-story short…poison-ivy everywhere (yes everywhere). Two weeks before race day!

- - -

On September 26 Adam and Neal will be at the Interbike Trade Show in Las Vegas. With over 1,000 of the top brands and nearly 23,000 attendees from over 60 countries, Interbike is the largest bicycle trade show in the world. We’ll be there to deepen relationships with existing sponsors and establish new relationships with innovative companies that are interested in getting involved in our adventure race.

Exciting announcement: We’ve had a wave of interest from old friends and new friends that read about our adventure in the press. Some people are interested to learn more and some people have already committed fully to joining us in 2009! We couldn’t be happier, and are excited to have so many people wanting to join us.

10 Degrees Latitude is an event to traverse 10 Degrees of Latitude on every continent. In 2008 we traversed Europe. In 2009 we will traverse the North American continent. This adventure race will be heavy on the biking, with swimming or kayaking mixed in depending on the preference of the participants.

Click here to join us in 2009.