Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
MooseJaw.com is doing 20% off any one item.
Use promo code “200” during check out. The promo is good through August 24th. Click here to go to their site.
Happy shopping. Get some Patagonia gear for me.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
In this month’s issue of Outside Magazine there’s a great article on my favorite non-profit Project Rwanda. The article is about a trip the author took with Tom Ritchey in the fall of 07′ to Rwanda and highlights my good buddy Doug Grant (co-founder of 50 Mile Ride). The article revolves around the Wooden Bike Classic that Tom hosts. The magazine is worth picking up for this article alone.
Web extras on the article can be found at the link below. Check out the photo gallery.
http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200809/rwanda-cycling-video-photos.html
Another great article on their website called “The World’s Toughest Bike Race Is Not in France”. I read it in the July issue and loved it, great read. Click here to check it out.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
It was more of a little walkabout than a hike. The sort you take when the falling sun is cooling the air and making the hills a shade of gold not available to the jeweler. It was on a little uphill trail in San Clemente which neatly divides that city’s suburban sprawl and the neighboring Rancho Mission Viejo Land Conservancy. I had the dog, a few waters, plus Miles Davis, who, even through the headphones makes me think of polar bears and dolphins sliding around a deep, ancient blue cave.
We have called the dog Plato since he was just over eight weeks old, which I suppose makes him a philosopher in name only. Though I often look at him and think of Emerson:
“For all our soul-destroying slavery to habit, it is not to be doubted, that all men have sublime thoughts; that all men value the few real hours of life”
Perhaps he meant all creatures. Looking out over the land I missed the tall, yellow tipped weeds that filled the hills in the first flush of spring. Long and thin, whole masses of them would sway in the wind giving the landscape a shifting emerald shimmer. Now it was just chaff. I saw a coyote on this trail once. It was at dawn, foggy, the coyote held my eyes for a long beat until scampering off into the bush. I always look for him here, remembering fondly that unexpected intrusion of the sublime into an otherwise mundane morning. Plato has forgotten the incident, or so it seems. Stink bugs, the scientific name of which escapes me, spotted the dirt every few strides, their bodies giving off a perfect black sheen like the wet fin of an orca. A great oak is stuck nearly horizontally to the hillside that slopes down on my right. To the eye whose day is starved of nature there seems to be a whole forest in its fragrant, gnarled branches.
An irregular beat begins to punctuate the slow strains of jazz trumpet, which swirl around like rings of smoke in my ears. I remove my headphones to hear big booms and staccato machine gun fire in the air. There’s a marine base just south of these hills. They must be conducting exercises with a great range of weaponry, so varied are the sonic traces of explosions, of metal striking metal. With the headphones back on I could only hear the low bass of artillery fire, the thump of which made Plato jerk just slightly on his leash.
The path to the summit, as we amuse ourselves by calling it, winds around a water tower and brings me eye level with the sun. I keep my eyes down, both to protect my retinas and to watch the ground, making sure its dead twigs do not suddenly become animated, for more than a few times I have spotted rattlesnakes on this section. We kick up dust and gravel, tiny components of which hang in wisps and spirals in the amber air, suspended by these last minutes of direct light.
The top of this hill is cold, even in summer; I put my back to suburbia and look out at this small stretch of wilderness, fenced in barb wire. Little yellow signs appear everywhere warning of mountain lions. The setting sun has drained a lot of the detail visible just minutes ago, but still the view is worth a deep sigh, a smiling glance at the dog. I ask him, the dog, if he’s thirsty. He licks his jowls and takes a step towards my backpack, which I have slipped off my shoulder. I uncap a bottle, and hold it just loose enough so that the laps of his tongue can seesaw it up and down, sending little splashes into, and all over, his mouth. I adjust the angle as the bottle grows empty, and he satisfied.
With some alarm I notice the horizon is now empty of its fiery ball; it will be dark before I return to the trailhead. Indeed it is not long before the sky begins to glow a purple blue, like candlelit amethyst. Trees just twenty and thirty yards away, where before I could make out bough-hopping birds, have begun to assume indistinguishable forms in the descending gloom. We quicken our pace. The dog’s fatigue has made his face into a permanent, panting smile. Soon it would grow dark enough to see visible traces of the growing orchestra of detonations beyond these hills. From time to time, I caught the flash of rabbit eyes aside the trail, followed always by their hasty, crunchy retreat through the underbrush.
We were only just a hundred yards or so to the trailhead when I saw the owl silhouetted atop the fencepost. I thought at once that it was a large bird, though it stood frozen as I moved closer, shedding doubt upon this hypothesis. It was backlit by the hidden explosions, which sent irregular pulsations into the dark above, a kind of flickering, militaristic aurora borealis. Time passed and it seemed as though we were looking at a statue, like mice fooled by plastic bird figurines put up by farmers. At last I saw its inimitable clock face swivel and wheel around towards us, the fire of its eyes catching a little light, its body and wings still immobile. I had imagined the great bird and I to be face to face, and yet it had been like us, watching the war games play out against the sky. Man must seem so absurd to the animals, blowing things apart in the deep twilight. The dog and I watched the owl watching us for a long time that night, staying as still as we could until at last he spooked and flew away. Over the clatter of guns in the distance you could just hear the beat of its white feathered wings.
Ross Andersen
outsideallday.com Contributor
Friday, August 15th, 2008
From: Cyclocross Magazine
This is Part I of a three-part bike diet series by weight weenie Jeremy Burlingame and was published in our premier issue of Cyclocross Magazine. Part II was published in Issue 2, and Part III was published online in July ‘08.
Is Your Bike This Fat? photo by Radcarper on flickr. If there was ever a good reason to be fanatical about shedding pounds off of your bike, it has got to be the sport of cyclocross. With the sport’s repeated bike lifting and shouldering, as well as its constant accelerations, “needing” a lighter bike is easily justified…everyone wants to go faster. The thoughts of winning your local cyclocross race, districts, or heck, even just so you’re not last place in the C race might be driving you. You might not be as obsessed with a lightweight cyclocross bike as I am (yet), but hopefully this column will demonstrate that it’s not hard to lighten your bike. In this issue, I’ll focus on three steps to shed a few pounds off your rig.
Read the full article at Cyclocross Magazine
-DSheek
Thanks to the guys at CX Mag for keeping it fun…
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
Rich Smith from Fluid Recovery is driving the SAG Wagon for Team Ride Clean during the Tour of Utah. They are helping the team in all areas of the race. Rich just emailed me the race report from day two written by the team director of Ride Clean.
————————————————
Stage 2, with over 10,000 ft. of climbing, at the Tour of Utah took its toll on RIDECLEAN.
Although the team was active early in the race (click here to read the VeloNews.com article) some paid heavily for their efforts which resulted in Jon Chodroff, DNF’ing.
Next to slip away, at the base of the climb, was an eight-rider group, which split on the steep early slopes. Leading the way up the climb were Garmin’s Caldwell and Peter Stetina, joined by BMC’s Scott Nydam. Following behind were Ted King (Bissell), Jonathan Chodroff (RideClean), Chris Jones (Team Type 1), Mike Creed (Rock Racing) and points leader Brad White (Successful Living), who spent stage 1 off the front with Donald and Sheldon Deeny (Fan Sports Network composite team).
Drew Miller, one of the nation’s top climbers over nearly two decades with wins at the Tour of Gila on three occasions, had a rough day, ultimately taking a wrong turn riding behind the race and missing the time cut.
Both Ryan Trebon and U-23 rider Kiel Reijnen finished in the top 35, with Kiel staying within striking range (currently in 3rd place) of the best young rider - trailing Garmin Chipotle’s Peter Stetina by 1:19 in that competition, respectively. The other three RIDECLEAN members of Jake Rubelt, Brian Forbes and Kyle Colavito, although losing time, are weathering what has been called “America’s Toughest Stage Race” well.
So the team is down to 5 with a 60 minute Salt Lake City evening criterium in store for tomorrow which will hopefully offer some respite before Saturday’s queen stage of climbing galore.
Stay tuned for further updates and thank you for your continued support!
————————————————
Good for Fluid for supporting cycling like this.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
Ok, so I have to admit, I freakin love Rock Racing. They bring a fresh edge to cycling that is needed if we want to see the sport we love expanded to new audiences. I would hope to see them in the 2010 Tour de France. I’m callin it now. TripleCrankset.com has landed an exclusive interview with team owner Michael Ball.
CRANKSET Exclusive: An Interview With Michael Ball
By Triplerankset.com
August 13, 2008
Whether you would like to admit it or not, Rock Racing has turned the very traditional sport of cycling on its proverbial ear. From their overwhelming presence at races replete with Cadillac Escalades, buses, trailers and a 35 foot rig, to their multiple designed, multi-colored kits, Rock Racing has brought style and sex appeal to the generally reserved sport of cycling. At the epicenter of it all is Michael Ball, CEO and Creative Director of Rock & Republic. The outspoken leader of Rock Racing has brought panache and a no holds bar mentality that has often ruffled the feathers of the cycling community as he tries to shape the sport in his image.
Click here to read the rest of this article.
I’m not cool but I like cool things.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
Our peeps over at AmateurEndurance.com are cooking up some super fun content. Race reports, course previews, nutrition and just awesome.
Spend some time over there and tell them OAD.com said hello,
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
Amazon.com just delivered my new book:
I’ll start it after I finish:
Then finally moving to:
I’ll pass this last book onto Old Man Sellers once I’m done with it. He needs it more than I do.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
Tonight we welcome Mike Lawson to OutsideAllDay. Mike has a day job like the rest of us so I am sure we will all enjoy his perspective of sneaking workouts as Lincoln watches on. M Smart.
“Wait, you’re from Southern California? Why in the world are you living in DC?”
I get this question quite often from the people I meet in the DC Metro Area. Honestly, I ask myself this same question at least a few times a week. Two years ago I moved from Orange County to Washington D.C. I left the golden sands and gentle surf of Newport Beach, the rugged trails and scenic cliffs of the PV Peninsula, and more importantly the mild winters that allow one to pick and choose when they wish to be cold and when they don’t (i.e. a day trip to Big Bear vs. a day at the beach in mid January). Yes, I left this land of milk and honey to try my luck at the uncertainties of life on the east coast. Little did I know that I would find just as much beauty and activity here as exists anywhere in the world, but just in a different form than I was used to.
From the stillness and tranquility of the Shenandoah Mountains to the vast and bustling Rock Creek Park – from playing kickball on the national mall to kayaking down the mighty Potomac, DC is as much a place of adventure as it is a hot bed of political ideas. The recent selection of DC by Outside Magazine as the best “town” (I take issue with it being called a “town”, but that’s a different point) to live in only supports this assertion. When you add in the fact that I have now finished four races in my lifetime, and consider that they have all occurred this year, that should be proof enough that DC is an outside enthusiast’s playground.
With this dispatch I hope to bring a taste of what the east has to offer – adventure, culture, diversity (of several varieties), and life in the center of US politics.
Mike Lawson
District of Columbia
outsideallday contributor
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
Hyped up on the Olympics I found myself doing laps at the plunge yesterday morning with the masters. At the top of the hour I was toast and my buddies weren’t even up yet. It was a feeling I had not felt since I was doing double-days at Costa ten-years ago. The Olympics have a funny effect on me. I found myself watching the races trying to find the similarities between them and me. We buy the same Swedish goggles from Malmsten. During lunch I registered for the Tinley MTB extreme tri (less than two months to go) and was reminded of how easy they make it on you to register. My wife and I headed down to the Hermosa Pier for the 6:30 PM Nike Run. I don’t wear your shoes but I am grateful for your support of the local running community (and post dinner run). Driving down to meet Andy B this morning I caught myself daydreaming about how fast my wife was running last night. Her next race will be awesome. Andy and I spent 1:38 racing to and from Arby’s on Portola and Bake. My legs were feeling super bad but I was just off the back of Andy B’s tire until a guy sporting a 24 hours of adrenaline jersey passed us. And with that Andy B was gone. The sand pit is improving. Off to sleep, Tinley is calling and I need my masters. The Urho Sarri Pool opens early.
M Smart
outsideallday
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
In my past life (5 months ago), I was a triathlete. I still love the sport but due to injury was forced into running retirement. This week I’ve knocked 2 hours of running and probably 3 hours of riding. Its my first week of running. Tonight was the first double work out in many many moons. I rode with Matt Smart at 6am with 2 strong laps through Whiting Ranch. After work I topped off the day with a 60 minute run lap through Whiting. I’m pleased.
The goals are simple:
1. Lose 6 pounds.
2. Put Old Man Sellers from Motor Tabs in difficulty every time we ride.
#2 is a no brainer, it basically happens already, but #1 will be a stretch.
Ok, back to the original reason for my post. Two of the biggest, baddest triathlons are coming up in the next few months. Look for them on your DVR and hit the record button.
Ford Ironman World Championship - Big Island
October 11, 2008, 6:45 am start
www.ironman.com/worldchampionship
Xterra Offroad Triathlon World Championship - Maui
October 26, 2008, 9:00 am start
www.xterraplanet.com
I need a trip to Hawaii!
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
Soo tired. Tried to ride from my house (Costa Mesa, CA) up to the top of the Main Divide trail on Santiago Mountain today on my cyclocross bike with my friend Dave. Got shut down by Forest Service at the end of Silverado Canyon Rd. because of area closure due to fires. Ended up riding back to Santiago Canyon Rd. and up to the backside of Whiting Ranch. Did some dirt trails there and then back home. 65 miles total with max elevation gain 2000ft. Was thinking about Tanner every time I started to slow down. I’ll sell my bike if that kid ever beats me up a hill. Was a pretty fun day. Its amazing how much slower cyclocross tires are than road tires. Even with 50 psi in them. The day was hot as hell too. Wore just my tri shorts. Felt free. ha!
link to GMAP: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2169436
Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deanlihou/sets/72157606712353418/
Dean Lihou
Outside All Day Contributor
Dean and I had a blast as painful as this ride was. Dean is a water freak and paddles more than most guides so take a look in his pictures past the rides to see some recent footage from Montana, Northern CA, and other rivers…
-DSheek
I am tired!
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
Rich from Fluid Recovery Products sent me over an article that he recently wrote for AmateurEndurance.com. It’s a solid piece on proper recovery.
Recovery Nutrition 101
By Rich Smith, Fluid Recovery Products
June 30, 2008
Every now and then major scientific discoveries are made in the realm of athletic health and performance. Recovery nutrition is without a doubt one of the most recent and unbelievable advancements in sports science, but it is often neglected and misunderstood.
Click here to read the rest of this article.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
Bmoe shot this article over. Glad to see he cares about the site again.
Mountain-biking pirates rule trails
By David Whiting, Columnist The Orange County Register
August 11, 2008
When one mountain-biking pirate shows up at some trailhead parking lot, you just might think, “Well, OK.” But how about a gang of three dozen? All riding mountain bikes? Think “Pirates of the Caribbean” in 3-D. But better. You’re in the middle of the action. Oh, yeah. One more thing. Wenches. That was the scene Saturday afternoon in Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park as the SoCal Trail Riders launched one of its legendary “pirate rides.”
Click here to read the rest of this article.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
NBC is averaging a 17.1/30 national rating through Monday night for its prime-time Olympic coverage, up 16.3 percent from the same period at the 2004 Athens Games. The rating marks the best prime-time rating through the first four nights of a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the 1992 Barcelona Games.
NBCOlympics.com has seen 13.5 million video streams, 16.9 million unique users and 291.1 million page views.
Matt Smart
Outside All Day
Monday, August 11th, 2008
It’s time for the annual Summer Sale; a great time to get great back to school deals on outdoor gear and apparel. Here are the details on the Summer Sale:
- Summer Sale runs from August 12th - 21st
- Products include the Summer Selection at 40 - 60% off
- Great selection of men’s, women’s, and kids’ outdoor apparel and luggage.
- They have also introduced the fall product, so it’s a great time to check out the new product!
My mom agreed to give me my birthday present a little early so happy shopping for me tomorrow evening. Last year Julie took my Christmas gift card and got a sweet fleece. I wasn’t super pleased about that.
Andy B
outsideallday.com
Monday, August 11th, 2008
On Friday after work I headed down to Marine Street without my watch or running shoes. I put in a soft sand/hard pack run down to the Hermosa Pier through the middle of the US Lifeguarding Association National Championships. It was a run for fun and for Tinley’s Extreme Tri which is held in October. Back at Marine I grabbed my Jacobs and paddled into the warm summer surf. Small summer surf. Very small summer surf.
Without waves to occupy my mind I started thinking about an article I had just read. It appeared in a popular pub and was about a surfboard shaper here in California. The article was well written and I am not going to cancel my subscription but it gave a lot of credit to a guy who doesn’t hold a candle, in my opinion, to numerous guys shaping today - most notably Matt Calvani of Bing and Jacobs surfboard fame.
I maybe biased because I ride the boards he shapes for Bing Surf and Jacobs Surf (bias report - I am counted as a team rider) but I am sure there are a legion of guys and girls across the world that would agree. This guy who got the magazine article has an amazing company behind him and has surrounded himself with greatness. But it doesn’t extend to the those things that float and you can ride breakers on. So this is an invitation to meet a true surf legend - Bing Copeland at his book signing for “Bing Surfboards — Fifty Years of Craftsmanship and Innovation”.
Bing Surfboards is one of the longest-running and most progressive labels in the surfing world and its boards are still exclusively handcrafted in California. Its founder, Bing Copeland, played a major role in making surfing and the surfboard industry what they are today. At 13, he started helping out at pioneer surfboard maker Dale Velzy’s workshop in Manhattan Beach. During the mid-1950s he surfed the big waves of Oahu’s North Shore and Makaha in Hawaii in-front of the camera of Bruce Brown. In 1958 he sailed across the Pacific and introduced modern surfboards to New Zealand. By 1959, back in Southern California, he began making surfboards commercially. Bing has written his own book about, the business he built, the colorful cast of craftsmen he employed and the visionary surfboards they made and continue to make to this day.
August 23 4-8pm: Surfing Heritage Museum (San Clemente, CA) *Tickets required*
August 25 5-7pm: Bob’s Mission Surf Shop (Mission Beach, CA)
August 28 5-7pm: Foam, Fins and Fiberglass (Ventura, CA)
August 29 4-7 pm: Mollusk Surf Shop (Venice, CA)
August 30 4-7pm: Just Longboards (Hermosa Beach, CA)
September 4 4-6pm: Mitch’s Surf Shop (Solana Beach, CA)
September 4-5 10am-12pm/2-4pm: ASR Tradeshow (San Diego Convention Center, CA) *Passes required*
September 7 (TBD): Icons of Surf (San Clemente, CA)
Matt Smart
OutsideAllDay
Monday, August 11th, 2008
Trails.com has updated their site. You now can access more than 43,000 trails and unbelievably every USGS Topo map. That’s right - every Topo map on trails.com. The site has lots of tools to make your time Outside fantastic including weather and driving information. Check it out.
Matt Smart
OutsideAllDay
Monday, August 11th, 2008
Matt Walls at Body Glove supplied the following to recap the Molokai race. Many thanks and Congrats to Matt from OutsideAllDay.
As you probably know by now we all finished the 2008 Molokai race and we all had a blast. Here is my recap of our trip.
Roebee, Iggy, Jon Loren, Kyle Daniels, and I all rented this killer house in Hawaii Kai right next to the finish of the race. We had a dock off of the back of the house so we could paddle right up to the house. Most of us got to the house Monday July 21st. We spent the next few days driving Roebee to Starbucks every few hours, picking up paddle boards at the docks, picking up people at the airport, and trying to tie up the final loose ends before the race.
The Hawaiian Paddling community welcomed us with open arms. Everyone over there was so nice and helpful to us. Keoni Watson and Mike Cote were insane. Keoni spent hours with us going over charts, tides and race strategies. Mike Cote spent tons of time helping us with anything we needed. He put together two separate groups of people for us to paddle with. The first group, which was made up of his son, Mikey and his friends, showed us the fast way through the last 5 miles of the course. Mikey went on to win the stock class of the race. He is so fast in the bump. The second group was made up of legendary watermen from that side of the island. They showed us their favorite down wind run that they do all the time. Mike also hooked me up with my escort boat and crew. I can not thank Mike enough.
There it is 6 hours 37minutes. 32 miles. 3rd place 40+ Stock. 2 years of training. 6 friends. Tons of laughs and enough memories to last a life time. Thanks guys for an amazing trip. Thanks Joe Bark for the great board for the race. Thanks Body Glove for giving me the time off to train and race. And most of all thank you to my family for all of the love and support they give me so I chase my dreams.
Monday, August 11th, 2008
William Fotheringham of the Guardian in Beijing wrote the following article. It’s a great writeup.
Spain’s incredible sporting summer took another surprising step when Samuel Sanchez added the Olympic road race gold medal to the country’s trophy cabinet, already overflowing after Carlos Sastre’s Tour de France victory, Alberto Contador’s win in the Giro d’Italia, Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon and the European title for their football players.
A solid rather than spectacular talent, Sanchez has played second fiddle to Alejandro Valverde in recent years, and the national champion was expected to be Spain’s leader here. However, Valverde did not figure in the decisive attack on the final lap, and instead it was the 30-year-old from the Asturian town of Oviedo who crossed the finish line in the shadow of the Great Wall ahead of five men who came together only in the final metres.
Sanchez had the pedigree of a man just waiting for a truly major win: seventh overall in this year’s Tour de France, a raft of stage wins in the Vuelta a Espana, and a significant one-day victory in the Championship of Zurich in 2006. His impressive win cannot, however, overcome the suspicions that have surrounded Spanish cycling in recent years. Sanchez has not been linked to any scandals, but like the rest of his country’s road race team he had been tested eight times since his arrival here, although the IOC president Jacques Rogge said last Thursday that there were no particular suspicions about the Spanish.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Matt Smart
OutsideAllDay
Copyright © Outside All Day || We Have To Be Outside | Powered by WP 2.6. | Tree by Headsetoptions and MandarinMusing a minimal theme based on HyperBallad
