No Holds Barred

Sorry RV. 115 pictures. Every damn one of them at least a little bit embarrassing. Good stuff. Enjoy folks.

Be Smart Or Be Expensive

I normally try not to comment on the brands I work with too much. I'm inspired though, so stay with me.

I've been kinda enamored with innovation lately. In all honesty I'm kind of fascinated with a few things going on right now. One of those being the new Arc'Teryx gloves that are coming out this fall. Go Here.

They're beautiful gloves, no? Pinnacle of innovation, really. If only it weren't for the fact that Mountain Hardwear already offers a better product for less money and a simpler construction.

So here's the deal. Gloves have been manufactured the same way for years and years. You have a shell and a waterproof "bootie". The bootie is HUGE. Think Mickey Mouse gloves. That gets stuffed into the shell and sewn down. In the process you create a bulky glove that wets out and freezes since the waterproof layer isn't right up against the shell. It's a terrible way to make gloves but that's how it's been done for 25 years. Waterproof boots and shoes are made in an identical fashion.

So what Mountain Hardwear did was contact an Italian company named OutDry. OutDry makes custom sized waterproof liners that have full 4 way stretch and then welds them to the outer layer of gloves and boots. By doing this they can't wet out/freeze AND you have better dexterity. It's amazing really. On top of that Mountain Hardwear kept their prices the same.

These debuted last year and are rather amazing.

Now. OutDry did something else very well. They registered incredibly smart patents. So smart that everyone else couldn't really get around them.

So then at last years OR show we started hearing rumors of Arc'teryx having these amazing new gloves that were going to revolutionize the market.

What they had to do in order to get around the patents was cut each individual piece of the glove and weld a 3l piece of gore to it. When I say each piece I mean each finger/palm/backhand/wrist. Wherever you see a seam they had to painstakingly cut a new piece and individually weld it.

In short they made a Glove that is constructed like a Jacket. They're very good gloves. They're also $275. Our most expensive glove is $130 and thats spendy for most folks.

What blows me away with this is that they're touting this as THE innovation of the century. They're promoting it as the greatest thing to happen to gloves...ever. Never mind that another company used a simpler, easier, less costly and less wasteful process to do the exact same thing.......a full year earlier.

Moral of the story here is that you can either be smart and think of your own innovation or you can just copy someone else and make it really fucking expensive.

Dear RV,

What can I say other than I'm gonna miss you and Sofie. I know it's not a permanent move but still, it's a move and I'll miss you guys. You're my best friend and it's rare that a day goes by where I don't at least send a note to you to remind you that I flashed that Red plastic problem in the gym and you didn't.

You were my best man and I'll forever be grateful to you for making the absolutely hellish trip back to the states for a single day. It meant the absolute world to Katie and I. It really did. I don't know anyone else that would have done that.

I know we'll see the both of you often but it's not the big trips I'll miss. It's the flash games and all the stupid trips to the gym when we're way too tired to do anything at all. The far too often 'That's what she said.....or he said...'. It's knowing that there is always someone willing to drive to the lake just to make sure that everything is soaked.

Very slim chance that it's also the extra big pad. Very slim.

Just know that everyone here in Madison is going to miss all the hating. By the end of today Madison will be just a little nicer......and that's really too bad.

Love,
Katie and Steve

P.S. Sofie, be sure to tell Pierre hi for us!!!!!

Sweat The Suck Out

As all of my faithful here know I've been running. Ran 3.5 yesterday and 2 more today. Really tiny mileage compared to pretty much everyone out there. 10-15 miles a week for the past couple of weeks has been my mojo and to be honest, that's plenty for me.

I seem to work in a world full of world class athletes and it continually blows me away the distances some of the Montrail athletes run. 50 miles without a blink. A marathon is a warmup for most of them and it's just sort of mindblowing to me. One of their athletes, Geoff Roes, has run seven 100 mile races and has won every single one of them. Absurd.

Our good buddy John 'Frisbee Disc' Dobbe just ran a 50K this past weekend. Fucking insane dude.

I maintain my stance that running tends to suck and that I truly enjoy climbing because of the sheer enjoyment of it. That and the fact that you can get ice cream on the ferry.

I was talking to my coworker Pete and we chatted for a bit about how running doesn't really ever get easy for the sole reason that you're always pushing yourself. It tends to always be this drawn out battle of sorts.

It rarely gets fun.......it just sucks less each time you do it.

I've tried a number of different sports over the years. Soccer for a decade and a half. Hockey for a solid 10 years. Baseball for another 10 or so. I've casually ridden bikes and VERY rarely have I actually run any sort of distance at all. For two years I feigned curling in sort of a haze of booze and gigantic bruises.

Those first three all seemed to end when I started to climb. The others have been a weak attempt of mine to see if I could hold any sort of interest other than rock climbing.

All of these other sports have all but left my life. Soccer got boring and in all honesty I'm much too small for Hockey no matter how good I was or how much I liked it. Oddly enough Baseball started hurting too much. Riding bikes was a quick fascination that I now relegate to the occasional commute and Curling, while fun, just took too much time away from climbing. Plus....it's Curling. I can't even begin to estimate how often I fell on my ass.

And up until now Running has been the furthest thing from my mind. Currently I see it as a means to an end.

I want to climb better. I'll climb better if I'm lighter. Voila!

How long will it last?? Who knows. What I do know is that now I'm feeling just a bit better and just a bit lighter. I feel stronger and have more motivation. Katie and I have trips coming up and it gives us an excuse to get fit.

It's often said that motivation comes in waves. Last year was one huge wave that came and went. This year has been a different story. It's not necessarily a bad thing but rather something that I think we've all noticed.

People come and go, as does the motivation to try hard. I feel my motivation slowly coming back.......It's gonna be a good fall.