Category: Bikes and biking
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The importance of bikes Outside
There was a time, within the last decade, when Outside Magazine was the bastion of quality in outdoor writing and journalism. They published a wide range of writers, on a wide range of subjects, notably giving Steven Rinella his start well before hunting was anything close to mainstream, and publishing Sebastian Junger well before “perfect…
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Rab Windveil, windshirt evolution
I’ve written a lot about windshirts over the years, because they’re the most versatile piece of outdoor clothing. When it comes to the range and frequency of appropriateness, nothing else comes close. Until waterproof breathable laminates make vast strides in breathability, this will remain the case. The only question is which windshirt will suit you…
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20 months
What have we learned in the last 20 months? That when Little Bear is outside most of each day, every day, life is pretty simple. His appetite for motion is insatiable, and the world of streets and four walls doesn’t frame that very easily. That people are even more ready to snap judge others parenting…
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Backpack problems, and answers
In the last few months I’ve had impetus from several directions to hit the reset button on backpacks as completely as possible. Shake off and re-examine as many assumptions as possible before I put them into practice. This bag, and this post, are only a first step towards that end. Problem 1: Seams are the…
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A diversion for nostalgia
There was a brief time, which some will remember, when I was at least ok at mountain biking. That time ended when we moved to Montana and I discovered that while that state has fantastic riding, it has even better a lot of other things. Western Colorado does have good riding, and in the last…
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Patagonia Sun Stretch shirt review
As I mentioned last week, there are some, stifling hot, occasions when even the lightest knit baselayers aren’t up to the task. The latest light (100 grams/meter or less) poly baselayers dry fast, but there’s something about the wicking process upon which modern poly shirts depend that just doesn’t get the job done in serious…
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NAHBS 2017; bikes and components
It’s Sklar, not Skylar. According to Adam himself a common mistake. Thankfully his last name isn’t Smith, but rather the name of some Finnish metal band. So if you see any outlets with the above photo and the later name, talking about how he won best mountain bike, you know they didn’t go and are…
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NAHBS 2017; bikepacking bags
Towards the end of 2011, when I was putting this series together, there were only three established bike bag makers: Carousel Design Works, Revelate (then Epic) Designs, and Porcelain Rocket. (Bedrock, and likely a few others I overlooked, were getting off the ground.) Carousel, who invented the category as we know it, is no more. …
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NAHBS 2017; postscript and introduction
Last and first; it would be peculiar to attend the North American Handmade Bicycle Show and be anything less than awed by the passion and experience laid out in physical objects, under one roof. And it would be downright eerie to witness all that, all those beautiful yet (in most cases) equally pragmatic tools, and…
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The Blackfoot-Clearwater Question
The Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project, an organization founded to steer the future of public lands long the southwestern edge of the Bob Marshall Complex, has reached its goal. Senator Tester introduced the Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Act the other week, and for fans of the area or folks just interested in what public lands advocacy and law might…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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