Book and Podcast recommendations for Volunteers – May
2024 VOLUNTEERS – APRIL UPDATE Summit Attendees, Volunteers, and Presenters, It was mentioned several times at the summit, but it’s worth saying again… We are here to be a resource for developing resilient youth, and we need YOU to help us do it. Therefore, helping you is as important as helping the kids because you deliver the messages to them. To that end, I wanted to share some resources. You’ll find links to two books. I highly recommend them. Junger and Haidt are two of my favorite writers. TRIBE is an incredible book that reinforces our desire and need for community. Anxious Generation is a call to action. I hope you enjoy them both. Additionally, I shared a couple of podcasts. Huberman Lab and Jocko Podcast are two of my favorites. Both of the episodes I shared with you speak to our mission. The third podcast is actually a podcast in which I was the guest, and Julie Cunningham was one of the hosts. TRIBE We have a strong instinct to belong to small groups defined by clear purpose and understanding–“tribes.” This tribal connection has been largely lost in modern society, but regaining it may be the key to our psychological survival.Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians-but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational pull on Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason lies deep in our evolutionary past as a communal species. The most recent example of that attraction is combat veterans who come home to find themselves missing the incredibly intimate bonds of platoon life. The loss of closeness that comes at the end of deployment may explain the high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by military veterans today. Combining history, psychology, and anthropology, TRIBE explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning. It explains the irony that-for many veterans as well as civilians-war feels better than peace, adversity can turn out to be a blessing, and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. TRIBE explains why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today’s divided world. Anxious Generation THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind, an essential investigation into the collapse of youth mental health-and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood. After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on most measures. Why? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the *play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies. Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood. Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes-communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children-and ourselvesfrom the psychological damage of a phone-based life. https://youtu.be/etEJrznE-c0?feature=shared HUBERMAN LAB Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the department of neurobiology, and by courtesy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning. https://youtu.be/fQPj5Xww5UY?feature=shared JOCKO PODCAST JOCKO WILLINK is a decorated retired Navy SEAL officer, author of the book Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, and co-founder of Echelon Front, where he is a leadership instructor, speaker, and executive coach. Jocko spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams, starting as an enlisted SEAL and rising through the ranks to become a SEAL officer. As commander of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser during the battle of Ramadi, he orchestrated SEAL operations that helped the “Ready First” Brigade of the US Army’s First Armored Division bring stability to the violent, war-torn city.Task Unit Bruiser became the most highly decorated Special Operations Unit of the Iraq War. Jocko returned from Iraq to serve as Officer-in-Charge of training for all West Coast SEAL Teams. There, he spearheaded the development of leadership training and personally instructed and mentored the next generation of SEAL leaders who have continued to perform with great success on the battlefield. TEACH WONDER We know that powerful things are happening in education and that those powerful things often go unnoticed or are siloed (within a community). We’ve built a space to share those powerful things, where we aren’t constrained by distance and scheduling. We’ll combine our 35 years of K – 12 teaching experience with the unique perspectives of our guests
POLAR ROLL PHOTOS – RESULTS, GEAR STORE AND MORE
SAVE THE DATE MS EVENTS 2025: FEBRUARY 15, 2025ULTRA EVENT 2025: FEBRUARY 17, 2025 GEAR STORE CLOSES 2.25.2024 VISIT STORE MS EVENT RESULTS view results PR-ULTRA RESULTS MS EVENT PHOTOS RYAN STEPHENS PHOTOGRAPHY Rob Meendering Photography Fresh coast exposures PR-ULTRA PHOTOS rob meendering PHOTOGRAPHY Fresh Coast Exposures
Happy Valentine’s Day, Polar Rollers
TEN THINGS BEFORE WE ROLL 1. MTB? NO. 3.8” OR LARGER. 2. SNOWSHOES REQUIRED? YES. 3. SHOULD I RUN STUDS? YES. 4. IS GPS REQUIRED? YES. 5. CAN I USE MY MTB? NO. 6. SHOULD I RUN STUDS? YES. 7. PACKET PICKUP? READ DA FIELD MANUAL. 8. RACE STARTS WHEN? READ DA FIELD MANUAL. 9. READ DA FIELD MANUAL! 10. POM HATS + COOKIES? IF YOU FINISH. VIEW THE MAP GEAR STORE OPEN NOW
IT’S TIME TO ROLL
IT’S TIME TO ROLL. This update is broken into two parts: Polar Roll-MS and PR-Ultra. If you don’t know what that means it might be safer to stay home. POLAR ROLL-MS This field manual provides the basic doctrinal framework of Polar Roll. Content discussions include fundamentals, culture, logistics, routes, maps, event partners, the mission, and more. The topics, gear recommendations, community code of conduct, rules, and logistics apply to all Polar Roll formats: Mass Start (MS), Expedition (EX), and Polar Roll – Ultra. The primary audience for this manual are Polar Roll participants, support crews, friends and family, partners and sponsors, and 906 Adventure Team staff and volunteers. Polar Roll is a winter event. Winter events are generally more dangerous. The stakes are much higher. Mistakes carry larger consequences. You signed up for this. Your understanding of the event and you preparation for it are your responsibility. If you are not completely confident in your ability to handle the rigors of this event you should stay home FIELD MANUAL GPX FILES LIVE TIMING GEAR STORE OPEN TILL THE 25TH HUGS + BACON SINCE 2015 PR-ULTRA This field manual provides the basic doctrinal framework of Polar Roll. Content discussions include fundamentals, culture, logistics, routes, maps, event partners, the mission, and more. The topics, gear recommendations, community code of conduct, rules, and logistics apply to all Polar Roll formats: Mass Start (MS), Expedition (EX), and Polar Roll – Ultra. The primary audience for this manual are Polar Roll participants, support crews, friends and family, partners and sponsors, and 906 Adventure Team staff and volunteers. Polar Roll is a winter event. Winter events are generally more dangerous. The stakes are much higher. Mistakes carry larger consequences. You signed up for this. Your understanding of the event and you preparationfor it are your responsibility. If you are not completely confident in your ability to handle the rigors of this event you should stay home. FIELD MANUAL GPX FILES DOT WATCHING STARTS 2.19.2024 GEAR STORE OPEN TILL THE 25TH
Ten more years for Tara
We started 2024 excited to celebrate our ten-year anniversary, but life had other plans. On January 19, 2024, an automobile accident claimed the life of our Adventure Coordinator, Tara Gluski. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her family, friends, and everyone who knew her. When we lose someone we love, it’s normal to ask what we could have done. I did it for a couple days and decided I (we) must do something different. We must move forward and dedicate our energy not to what we could have done but to what we can do – honor Tara, and ensure her memory, and impact lives on. To that end, I want you to know our team is ready to dig in and continue her work. Here’s a list of people stepping up, what they will be doing, and a way to contact them if you have questions or need help. Youth Adventure Teams/Communication/Questions (Volunteers, Families)Julie Cunningham julie@906adventureteam.com Sponsorships, Grants, DonationsLeslie Phillipsleslie@906adventureteam.com Accounts Payable – Bookkeeping Questionsadmin@906adventureteam.com Gear Store Questions store@906adventureteam.com Questions regarding Events (Polar Roll, The Crusher, Marji Gesick), New Adventure Teams, Organizational Inquiries Todd Poquette todd@906adventureteam.com Submitting EX event results: Send event results to this email Nicky Bates events@906adventureteam.com I sat down with Elizabeth Peterson on the TV6 Morning Show. We talked about Tara’s impact on our community, how we plan to move forward, and what’s planned for this year. You can check it out here. One last thing. At some point in the near future, we will look to bring another employee into the team to support our growth, not to replace Tara, but rather to carry on the mission with us. Adventure Coordinator, the title Tara held for five years, will be retired. There will never be another Tara, and therefore, there will never be another Adventure Coordinator. Todd PoquetteDirector of Adventure Ten more years for Tara… I want everyone to understand we’re gonna honor Tara forever, not just ten years. I want us to look forward instead of looking back. Let’s look at what we can do instead of what we could have done. Let’s lead by example. That’s what she always did. That’s what she would do if it had been one of us.
EX KICKOFF – MS UPDATE
2024 Polar Roll: Here’s where things stand When I sat down to write this update we were supposed to get 3-10” of snow. it went south of us. As it sits today, the trail orgs have not had enough snow to groom. That should change. I just don’t know when. We’re supposed to get hit by a system this weekend. We’ll see what happens. Expect conditions to be enhanced (the way we like it). The goal is to give ya some new looks this year and change up the routes, but so far, at least, the weather has given us a big FU. We’ll open with EX routes on NTN. When we have enough snow, we’ll add a couple of routes in RAMBAland. There is a new EX15 on NTN. It’s a miniature version of the long. A lil’ bit of FU and a whole lot of fun. The EX30 might look the same, but it’s not. It’s going in the opposite direction, and we adjusted the route. It’s a great ride. Updates will be provided weekly via blog posts and in the group on Facebook. EX: What it is. What to expect. EX events are intended to be done solo or in small groups. You have the flexibility of picking who you do it with and when. Unlike the mass start routes that are groomed for a specific date the EX is open for 60 days. Conditions will vary. Be prepared. Expect some hike-a-bike. We’ve come up with our share of bad ideas over the last ten years, but the EX format ain’t one of them. Mass Start events aren’t for everyone. This format offers those folks an alternative. It’s another way for us to get more people off the couch and “into the game”. Not to mention, it’s a helluva lot easier to do events that flex with your schedule, and there’s something special about going out alone and doing hard stuff. Also, when you do hard shit (like 906AT events), it inspires others to do the same, and you’re supporting eleven youth Adventure Teams around the Midwest. Refer to the “recommended gear” in the PR24-MOD Field Manual (see below). GET THEM GPX: Where to get them. How to read them. GPX is required for all Polar Roll events (Yes, MS too). EX events do not offer course signage. MS events do, but “signs fall down, bears eat them, and people move them”. You are responsible for your navigation. PR24-EX15-109… It’s not just a bunch of numbers. PR24 = Polar Roll 2024EX15 = EX route, 15 miles109 = January 9th, the creation date It’s pretty straightforward once you get used to using em’ for a while. All mass start routes will begin with MS. The ultra file will have “ultra” in the extension. On that note, if you go to RIDEWITHGPS right now, you’ll see the file we uploaded is called “PR23-ULTRA2132023”. That is last year’s route. We uploaded it as a reference until the final route is complete for 2024. FIELD MANUAL: You need to read it. Here’s why. Excerpt from PR24-MOD1:This field manual provides the basic doctrinal framework of Polar Roll. Content discussions include fundamentals, culture, logistics, routes, maps, event partners, the mission, and more. The topics, gear recommendations, community code of conduct, rules, and logistics apply to all Polar Roll formats: Mass Start (MS), Expedition (EX), and Polar Roll – Ultra. The primary audience for this manual are Polar Roll participants, support crews, friends and family, partners and sponsors, and 906 Adventure Team staff. Polar Roll is a winter event. Winter events are generally more dangerous. The stakes are much higher. Mistakes carry larger consequences. You signed up for this. Your understanding of the event and you preparation for it are your responsibility. If you are not completely confident in your ability to handle the rigors of this event you should stay home. Listen, we’re here to have a good time just like you, but we can’t ignore the facts. All of this stuff is dangerous, and if we’re honest, that’s kinda why we like to do it, but each of us needs to own the decision to show up. No one is gonna be out there to save you, for EX or MS events. The Field Manual has everything you need to know. It’s your responsibility to read it. You are responsible for your choices, preparation, and outcomes. DOWNLOAD Complete the Endurance Trilogy The Triple Crown consists of three of the toughest events on bike or foot. From the grueling singletrack of Marji Gesick, the relentless wilderness of The Crusher, or the unpredictable weather of The Polar Roll, 906 Adventure Team events are no walk in the park. Athletes that complete one from each of these three events below are granted lifetime entry into our Hall of Pain and are eligible to attend our annual “secret event.” You do not have to complete all three challenges in the same year, you just have to complete one of each sometime in your lifetime. When we came up with the idea for the “Hall of Pain” back in 2019 we thought we’d be lucky to get 50 people to do it. We were wrong. Today, there are almost 240 people who have completed the “Trilogy”. That’s f$%*&@! crazy. You can too, and if you manage to do all three before October, you’ll be able to join us for the first “Secret Event”. Good Luck. You’ll need it. 2014-2024 TEN YEARS OF DOING HARD THINGS Some people dabble in testing themselves. They like to do something hard, check it off the list, and talk about it for the next twenty years. Other people commit to living outside their comfort zone, for life. They constantly look for new challenges. They don’t rest on what they did in the past. Every day is a new opportunity to prove themself, and inspire others. Here’s to the next ten years and the challenges ahead. One day at a time. One
Polar Roll 2024
REGISTRATION OPENS NOVEMBER 5TH AT 9:06 AM Days Hours Minutes Seconds Register Now POLAR ROLL X. NEW ROUTES. LIMITED SPOTS. GET SOME. Register HERE MS EVENT 02.17.24 Read More EX EVENT 1.13.24 – 3.17.24 Read More ULTRA140 EVENT 2.19.24 Read More POLAR ROLL – MS (LIMITED TO 400 SPOTS) Date: 2.17.24 Why: You love groomed trails, large community gatherings, and playing outside in the snow. Who: Anyone signed up for the Polar Roll-MS, their support crews, friends and family, and our sponsors. What: 15 or 30 miles of machine groomed singletrack, by bike or on foot. When: February 17, 2024 Where: All events start and end at Ishpeming High School. Indoor seating and an aid station are available inside the school cafeteria. 319 East Division Street, Ishpeming, Michigan 49855 Routes: Will not be released until the week of the event. GPS is required! If you do not use GPS, go off course, or cut the course, you will be disqualified. Event start times: MS-30 TBD (Bike/Hike) MS-15 TBD (Bike/Hike) Event Cut-offs: 12 hours for all event lengths. Timing company: https://www.superiortiming.com/ 2024 Field Manual: Coming Soon. POLAR ROLL – EX Date: 1.13.24 – 3.17.24 Why: You enjoy rolling groomed singletrack alone, or with a small group of friends, and the flexibility of doing it when it works into your schedule. Note: EX courses are not the same courses used during the Mass Start, and trail conditions will vary. Consider this a more “enhanced” way to enjoy the Polar Roll. Who: Anyone signed up for the Polar Roll-EX. What: EX15, EX30, Duathlon for Dummies, IQ Test. When: January 13 – March 17, 2024 Where: TBD Routes: EX routes will be available one week prior to the opening of the EX window. Start Times: Whenever the hell you want. Event Cut-offs: 24 Hours, All events. Timing company: Refer to the Field Manual for details. Again, this page covers only who, what, when, where, and why. Polar Roll Field Manuals provide a much deeper dive into the nuance and fundamentals of each event. 2024 Field Manual: Coming Soon. POLAR ROLL ULTRA (LIMITED TO 75 SPOTS) Date: 2.19.24 We’re not looking for race resumes, but we do need some info if you wanna do the Ultra. You need to Email Todd. Include the following: Winter racing experience. Endurance racing experience. Triple Crown status – have you completed it? An acknowledgement of understanding the rigors and danger associated with this event, i.e. potential extreme frostbite or death. Acknowledgement you agree to carry at all times everything on the required gear list. Why: Because you have been dreaming of a winter ultra that offers a ton of groomed bike specific singletrack, and we have it. Read on. Who: This event is capped and will be limited to participants whom we allow to register for it. What: PR-Ultra (140 miles) When: February 19, 2024 Where: Otter Lake Campground, E7609 Buckhorn Rd, Munising, MI 49862 Route: In 2024 we intend to use the same course used in 2023, but until we release the GPX, we reserve the right to make changes. Start Time: 5:00 AM Event Cut-off: 48 hours Timing company: https://trackleaders.com/ Again, this page covers only who, what, when, where, and why. Polar Roll Field Manuals provide a much deeper dive into the nuance and fundamentals of each event. In compliance with MCL 324.51113 of the Commercial Forest Act, none of the funds raised for this event will be used as payment or compensation for use of any part of the event that traverses property enrolled in the Commercial Forest Program. 2024 Field Manual: Coming Soon. TRIPLE CROWN INFORMATION TRIPLE CROWN INFORMATION COMPLETE YOUR TRIPLE CROWN IN 2024. JOIN THE HALL OF PAIN. GET INVITED TO THE SECRET EVENT 10.10.2024