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.

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?

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.

Some of North America's best adventure racers will take on the sandy wilds of Abu Dhabi next month, where they'll compete in the second annual Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

So far, American teams include Nike of Colorado and Idaho; DART-nuun of Washington state; and Crested Butte of Colorado.

Two more U.S. athletes were slated to compete on foreign teams, according to the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge website. Jay Henry will race with team Desert Islands of New Zealand. Julia Townsend, who was to compete with team Emerson of the United Arab Emirates, tells Checkpoint Zero she's unable to race due to injury, but will be on site to cheer for her team.