Running in to checkpoint four of the desert trek, Mari Chandler of team DART-nuun was excited to share photos she'd just shot of camels in the desert.

"I saw my first camels!" she said, pulling out her camer to show me the images. "Glenn promised me camels. Now my trip is complete!"

Well, not quite. Still miles to go on the desert trek, and one final day of running, ropes and biking before the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge comes to an end.

Chandler was undeterred. The Michigan native's eyes were still wide open to the wonders around her. "We have sand dunes in Michigan, but they're nothing like these." I concur.

Most teams that arrived at this remote checkpoint in between the dunes of Abu Dhabi's Empty Quarter looked like they could use a good night's rest. Not so the members of team Nike. Athletes Mike Kloser, Michael Tobin, Sari Anderson and Chris Forne appeared ready to hit the trail. Instead, they took a few minutes rest in the shade of a Jeep. They ate and drank, bantering happily, and soon left. Several other teams decided to see if they could keep pace with Nike, and left at the same time. Nike's commitment to perpetual motion has worked well for the team in the past. Will they be able to hold the lead during the desert trek? We'll know more when the sun comes up tomorrow.

SOLE arrived at a remote checkpoint between dunes during the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge and wanted two things. First, water. Second, a doctor.

One journalist started up a conversation with SOLE co-captain Karen Lundgren, asking her if the desert trek was what she expected.

"Sun and sand," Karen said. "It was exactly what we expected."

What wasn't expected was an increasingly painful muscle injury suffered by co-captian Paul Romero. He said he tweaked his right quadricep while running in the sand. With a little TLC from the doctor on site, and a lot of tape from her medical kit, Romero was soon on his way.

Day four of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge sent teams on a punsihing trek through sand dunes the size of small mountains. Team Salomon/Crested Butte's strategy of marching through checkpoints looked great on paper, but the reality of the massive undertaking slowly unraveled the plan.

"We went out with everybody at the front of the pack from the very start," team member Jon Brown said. "At the first checkpoint, we just blew right through to stay in front of the pack. Some teams stopped for 15 minutes to rest and drink water. They ended up making a smarter decision."

The revised strategy? Rest wherever they find water and shade.

I'm starting to think Paul Romero of SOLE is just messing with me.

First he told me he saw dolphins while paddling during day one. That same day, he claims to have run over a cat during the bike section of the course. Day two supposedly saw Romero nearly running down a smallish large game animal.

Now Romero claims he encountered a massive sea snake on day three's lengthy paddle on the Arabian Gulf! I'm gonna start demanding evidence. In the shot I got of SOLE paddling on day three, there were no sea snakes in site. Just four blissed-out athletes.

Eric "Sully" Sullivan of team Salomon/Crested Butte is a scrappy looking guy, but that didn't deter a foot-long fish from taking a shot at him during day three's long kayak leg.

"Fish were jumping around the boat all day long, but one jumped up and hit me in the PFD and in the chin. It scared me!"

Aside from the fish incident, Sully said the paddling was placid. "It was like paddling on a lake all day long," he said. "You didn't even need a spray skirt."

Sometimes it's the little things that make for a great day of adventure racing. Mike Tobin of team Nike gave me the lowdown on the desert island camp and the following day's paddle.

"We were on a tiny little island with all the other teams, enjoying a beautiful sunset. We hat lots of food."

And the next day: "We had a light breeze at our back all day long. No big swells on the Gulf. And a nice temperature."

The team's certainly had worse! They may come away from Abu Dhabi wondering if they'd been in an adventure race, or something of a race/vacation hybrid!

While DART-nuun struggled on day two of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, it rallied on day three, which required lots of time in kayaks.

The team spent nine hours in the boats, and teammate Mary Chandler was accounted for the entire time.

"Today we were the DART I know and love," Chandler said at the takeout in Mirfa. "We were the DART that works togehter, the DART that helps each other. It's good to be back where we belong."

So how long was the paddle? Teammate Glen Rogers put it in perspective for fellow Seattle residents: "This was like paddling around Bainbridge Island, twice." That's a lot of paddling! But it could have been worse for Rogers, he said.

"We were so dialed in today," he said. "Think about drafting off the back of Ryan (VanGorder's) boat for eight or nine hours.  It was incredible."

The previous night, all teams camped on a remote desert island. Teams soon found themselves bartering for what they wanted or needed. DART-nuun's Chandler had her eye on some of team Sole's Coca-Cola. Sole had its eyes on the stove DART brought to boil water. An arrangement was made, Chandler got her Coke, and Sole got its hot water.

I was chatting with team Nike after today's bike section, getting details from Sari Anderson on the ride ("I didn't suffer that much at all, so it was good"), and from Mike Kloser on the upcoming 30K paddle leg in the Arabian Gulf ("Looks like it's going to be a bit choppy. I hope we can get a good tail wind and just sail away into the sunset."). Suddenly Mike Tobin says, "Make sure we have some Cokes. I'm gonna have one for breakfast." So my friends, the secret is out! Coca-Cola Classic is the breakfast of champions! Ore at least one champion.

Crested Butte was relaxed and happy when I caught up with them at the finish line of today's mountain bike section around Sir Bani Yas Island.

"The teams were really fast on the pavement, but spread out immediately when the route turned to dirt."

Salomon/Crested Butte was among the teams that pulled away from the pack. Yari Kirkland's mind was already planning for the next leg of the team's journey, a 30 kilometer paddle on the Arabian Sea. Teams are to camp there tonight, and begin racing again tomorrow.

"We need to take all our sleeping gear, water for the paddle, all our food and all our mandatory gear," Kirkland said. That will make for heavy boats, which could help in the swells seen on the water today.

Day two of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge saw team SOLE speeding along with the front of the peleton. Though athlete Paul Romero managed not to hit any animals today, he came close when a pack of wild game animals here on Sir Bani Yas Island shot across the road in front of the front-of-the-pack teams. In the end, the animals were to fast for the mountain bike riders.

The pace of today's bike ride was unusually fast for an adventure race, team member Karen Lundgren said. "I was riding as fast as I could go the entire time," she added. Well, maybe not the entire time. At one point, when she was on tow behind teammte Andre Gie, the tow line snapped off her bike and was instantly swallowed up by Gie's rear sprocket set.

Some time was lost as Gie extracted remnants of the destroyed tow line from his bike, but the team was soon at it again, fast and furious to the finish.

As the sun rose over Sir Bani Yas Island on day two of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, DART-nuun team member Mari Chandler pedaled her mountain bike up a dusty hill. "Great teammates I have, huh?" she shouted to me as she climbed.

"They're ahead of you, Mari," I tried to console her, "but they think you're ahead of them!"

DART-nuun had been in the front pack of mountain bikers, where nuances of the paved and unpaved roads here require occasional separation from teammates to keep the peleton rolling along. Mari had fallen back a bit, but the boys, including Glenn Rogers, Ryan VanGorder and Matt Hayes, thought she'd turned on the afterburners and pulled ahead.

The result? The boys riding all-out, thinking they really had to reconnect with Mari. At the same time, Mari knew the boys were ahead of her, was riding as hard and fast as she could to catch up.

I never saw tempers flare over the mistake, but they came close. At the finish line, VanGorder offered something of a coach's half-time inspiritonal message: "That was some pretty fouled up stuff, DART," he said. "We'll get 'em next time. Sorry Mary. We won't let it happen again."

"Not if you want me on your team," Mari told Ryan.

And then it got really quiet. Because these boys really do want Mari on their team.

During the first day of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, team Salomon/Crested Butte's physical strength and speed kept the clan near the front of the pack. But a slow transition from paddling to a desert run cost them time they say they just don't have in a fast-paced venue like this.

"We were right with Orion pulling in to the island for the run," said Crested Butte's Jon Brown. But confusion over what to take or not take on the 10K trail run around an island in Abu Dhabi harbor caused delay.

The pretty sails on the kayaks may turn out to be another time waster, according to the team. If the wind isn't at your back, sails can be more trouble than they're worth. Race organizers had asked teams to use the sails for the first 100 meters, giving a uniform look to photographers covering the event. Most teams simply left the sails in place after the 100 meter mark.

DART-nuun is known to take chances, and they did so today during the kayaking portion of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

Instead of paddling around the tip of an island, they figured it would be faster to portage around the end, lopping off some distance, thus saving time.

FAIL

"The jetty was full of tank traps," said Ryan "RVG" VanGorder.

Tank traps? That doesn't sound good.

I don't have a shot of DART carrying its boats along the jetty in question, but I do have a shot of another team paddling around it, which is what DART eventually decided to do. It shows those nasty old tank traps in living color. I wouldn't want to try to climb over those things, with or without a boat!

Aside from the tank traps portage failure, it was a good day to be a member of DART-nuun. The sun was out, the winds were calm, the the mood on Abu Dhabi's Corniche was very laid back indeed.

It takes a lot to slow down team Nike. Today, that whole lot of something came twice. First when the rudder controls of Chris Forne's kayak broke, and again almost immediately, when Forne accidentially lost his paddle while trying to reattach the broken foot peg.

In the front of the boat was Sari Anderson, who had to paddle the large kayak by herself to chase down Forne's paddle.

"The whole process probalby cost us five to eight minutes," Anderson said at the finish line, still too tired from the day's race to see any humor in the situation.

Teammate Mike Kloser summed up the experience: "Today was a very frustrating day."

Nike will have more chances to have non-frustrating days on the water, as tomorrow and the next day include sizable paddles on the Persian Gulf.

Paul Romero, co-captain of team SOLE, hit a cat during the bike portion of the first day of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. From my notes:

"We're at about kilometer seven or eight, in a big old pace line, cruising along at 40 K per hour, and I'm in the front of the line. My hands are on my stem, I'm in race mode. A huge white house cat jumps out of nowhere, and I hit it! I run right over its stomach! It would have been so easy to crash, but by some miracle, I stayed upright."

Aside from that drama, of which Paul has no photographic proof, but plenty of witnesses, the day was a breeze for SOLE, Paul said. "We are so happy with Andre and Chad."

Andre is Andre Gie, and Chad is Chad Ulansky, two South African athletes who've joined SOLE for the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

Nathan Peterson (far right) has taken the place of team Salomon/Crested Butte's Bryan "Wick" Wickenhauser at the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. Nathan's been active in New Zealand's multisport scene for years. He recently raced in the Adrenaline Rush, and in Ecomotion in Brazil. Like many Kiwis, Nathan's a strong paddler. Those skills will come in handy here, especially on days two and three, when team Solomon/Crested Butte will paddle the Persian Gulf.

Adventure racing team Nike from the United States is making its way through gear check here in Abu Dhabi. Here's a shot of athlete Sari Anderson signing her waiver for the event. Sari and teammates Mike Kloser, Michael Tobin and Chris Forne look healthy, happy and ready to take on the desert.

Sari, who rolled an ankle early on while racing this event last year, said she's more ready this time around. "Last year I'd just had a baby," Sari said. "I was in good shape then, but I wasn't as ready as I'd liked to have been for the heat and the pure exhaustion."

This year's format is similar to that of last year, according to organizers. Best of luck, Sari! Keep those ankles healthy!

One of the least glamorous taskes in adventure racing, gear check, takes place before the start. At multi-day races like this Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, it takes place the day before the start. I've been to gear checks in parking lots, pop-up shelters, lodges and hotel ballrooms. But never in my life have I caught a scene like this at gear check. In the photo, a team makes its way out of the back entrance of the Armed Forces Officers Club, on its way for gear check out front. Sheesh! What a place!

Karen Lundgren and Paul Romero, longtime co-captains of California-based adventure racing team SOLE, weren't on the list of registered teams for the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, but I saw them in the lobby of the hotel last night. They came to race!

While Karen and Paul are the core members of team SOLE, it has been their custom to race with athletes whose skillsets match the requirements of each race. Here in Abu Dhabi, sea kayaking will be one of the disciplines that separate top teams from the rest of the field.

SOLE looked to South Africa, home to some of the paddling world's most iconic paddling events, like the Dusi, the Berg Marathon and the P.E. to East London. What SOLE found were two ringers ready to compete on the Persian Gulf. They are Chad Ulansky of Capetown, South Africa; annd Andre Gie from Knysna, South Africa.

Chad, who works for a natural resources company, travels frequently in the Middle East. His main project is in Northwest Yemen. Chad has raced with SOLE before, at both the Extreme Adventure Hidalgo in Mexico, and at the Wulong Outdoor Quest in China.

Gie, a medical doctor at the hosptial in his hometown of Knysna, has yet to race with SOLE, but he's certainly raced against them. Most recently he battled SOLE at the Ecomotion adventure race in Brazil.

SOLE's sudden arrival has caused a bit of a stir, at least among American teams. SOLE is known to be fast, and its presence here could well bump other US teams down in the final rankings.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority Awards made it possible for several teams with little international racing experience to be here for the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. They include the following:

Sleepmonsters/FGS of Great Britain

DART/nuun of the United States

Sweco Adventure Team of Sweden

Slovenia ADV 2008 of Slovenia

Team www.ar.co.za of South Africa

Some of the media covering the race are already talking about the "race within the race" among these five teams. Who do you think will win this race among the international newbies?

Hmm...I'd heard rumors about the sketchy safety of the Persian Gulf before my trip here to cover the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, but I gotta say, I was surprised to see this sign near the water's edge.

Yep, that's the Persian Gulf in the background. And in not just one language, but two, crystal clear warnings. Danger truly lurks out there. For cars that is. The sign was to warn cars not to drive on the beach, cuz it's all muddy and stuff. Wouldn't want to get stuck and have to call ADAA, would you?

Here at the Armed Forces Officers Club, all the teams and media attending the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge are staying in the West Wing.

No, not that West Wing!

This West Wing is about the size of a suburban shopping mall, complete with four stories. And guess what. There's an East Wing that's just as big, and I think there aren't any guests in that side of the hotel at all!

Toyota Land Cruisers are everywhere in Abu Dhabi!

I got this shot of a pair of 'em in the parking lot of our hotel.

Hey, just got my first Internet access in Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates. So here's my first post from the Persian Gulf!

I wasn't the only one on the JFK to Abu Dhabi flight headed to the Emirate for this big race. Sam (a female Sam, and she's unforgettable), a television producer for Jeep World of Adventure Sports, was on the jet with elements of her crew. They're covering this race for Jeep World of Adventure Sports on NBC. Her one-hour show about the July 2008 Mountain X Race in the French Alps recently ran on Discovery Channel HD, but I missed it. Any of you see the show?

Three of DART-nuun's four competing athletes were on the flight as well; Glenn Rogers, Matt Hayes and Mari Chambers.  Not yet in NYC for the big flight to the Middle East was Ryan VanGorder, more commonly known as "RVG," who's going to be a day behind us. While at JFK we also met up with Colorado's Jay Henry, who is racing here with Richard and Elina Usher's New Zealand team, Desert Islands.

I'm afraid the jet lag is going to be tough on me. Abu Dhabi is exactly 12 hours ahead of Portland, Ore., where I'm from. So even though my watch tells me it's 7:45 at night, my body tells me it's actually 7:45 in the morning, and hey, dummy, you didn't sleep a wink last night! What were you thinking? I'll try to be in bed by 10 p.m. local time so I'll be ready to post like a madman tomorrow.