Outdoors | Evolving Consumer

Cycling the World

Lee Fancourt is one of five endurance cyclists who are literally racing around the world. The group set off from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England last week and Fancourt is looking to compete the trip – including the necessary air travel – in about 90 days. The previous record for an endurance ride was 106 days, 10 hours and 33 minutes – and was set by Alan Bate in 2010.

The route will take him through Europe and Russia, then to India, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. He’ll head to North America and then to Portugal and finally back to London. In total this route will cover more than 18,000 miles – and Fancourt (and the others) will need to pedal as many as 225 miles a day!

We wish all five racers the best of luck and say happy riding!

[Via BikeRadar: Endurance rider aims to smash around-the-world cycling record]

The Zambulance Makes a Difference

At Interbike last year we heard about the Zambulance, a bicycle ambulance, developed by ZamBikes. The developers of this bike believe it can make a difference in the developing world. The president and co-founder, Dustin McBride recently shared a story on how much of a difference this can be.

A Letter From the Director:
I don’t cry often. And when I cry, it’s usually because of a tragic loss of a loved one or some other serious pain that is ‘close to home’. Last week I visited some villages in Kamuli, central Uganda to check on Zambulances that we’ve distributed in partnership with Plan Uganda a few months ago. We visited many patients and the stories were touching, powerful, and some very hard to hear.

One story we experienced was about a woman, Susan, who was pregnant with twins. She gave birth to the first twin at home in the village but because of complications was struggling to deliver the second baby. The Zambulance was able to transport her to the hospital where she had a C-section and safely gave birth to the second twin. In a way, the story seems beautiful and victorious. But the story doesn’t end there. Susan has mental disabilities and is HIV+. We assume she was raped since the dad is in hiding and Susan can’t identify him. Because of her mental state, her healthy, beautiful twins were sent to an orphanage in another town. Continue reading The Zambulance Makes a Difference

Spring Forward

It has been a long winter and we’re looking forward to spring riding and that could include a trek on the off-road bike tour of Idaho’s hot springs. The Adventure Cycling Association has released a set of maps and guides for a 518-mile off-pavement ride on this route, which includes singletrack options. The route passes by more than 50 hot springs, including some that are commercialized and others that are undeveloped.

The Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route is offered as a two-map set, with the first map section featuring the main, off-pavement route — a loop route that primarily follows dirt roads for 518 miles, with a few stretches of pavement in the mix. The second map set covers the four singletrack options, and some sections are expert-only riding or hike-a-biking for those who aren’t experts.

Adventure Cycling Association Official Website

Logical Lights

It is just logical to have a light when riding at night, and BioLogic has released the Argus LED, a pair of safety lights that offer 60 degrees of adjustability — vertically and horizontally — which allow riders to aim the light exactly where it is needed so that they can be seen.

Sold as a matched pair of white and red for front and rear use, the Argus LED include a flexible mounting strap allows placement on handlebars, seatposts, helmets, or bags. These lights feature a precision machined aluminum body with weatherproof seals, while flanges in the sides allow for visibility to side-coming traffic.

BioLogic Official Website

Muddy Bike

The “Rasputitsa” is the semiannual mud season when unpaved roads can become difficult to traverse in most of Eastern Europe. It isn’t a problem so much today, but it presented problems for those who ever tried to invade Russia and for centuries isolated the east from the west.

It is thus a fitting name for the limited edition all road endurance bike from Honey Bicycles. The Rasputitsa is built and painted to truly celebrate the mud season. It is also just one of 22 models from the bicycle company, which appears to be ready to get things in high gear.

From the look of it the Rasputitsa is ready to tackle mud, gravel and just about any condition on paved, semi-paved or even unpaved roads. We don’t think the mud season would stop this one.

Honey Bicycles Official Website
[Via BikeRumor: HONEY BICYCLES KICKS THINGS OFF (AGAIN, SORTA) W/ LIMITED EDITION RASPUTITSA ALL ROAD ENDURANCE BIKE]

Drive Time

Cartoonish Andy Singer has released a new book “Why We Drive,” which offers 160 pages of entertaining and provocative cartoons, facts, history and the politics of America’s car culture and how it adversely impacts our society. He offers a sampling of the book on his website, but as the above image shows the car has truly changed the country for better and worse.

AndySinger .com

Camo Pack

Camo truly is the new black as we’ve previously noted, so why take a boring black duffle bag on the road or your next adventure when the Filson Duffle Backpack offers so much more. It is made of rugged Cordura nylon that can stand up to abrasions while also offering some water resistance.

The bag’s top cinches with a leather strap and grommets, while a center-front zipper still allows for easy access to the contents inside. The padded shoulder straps are removable, while it also features RIRI zippers for smooth sliding. Its camouflage design will also help you stand out in a crowd but in a good way!

Filson Duffle Backpack

Little Fatty

Kids grow out of bikes pretty fast, so it is no wonder that many parents might head to retailers like Target or Walmart for bikes instead of a bike shop – and actually we’ve been impressed over the last couple of years at what Walmart has offered.

The latest find is a budget line of fat tire bikes that include the 20-inch Mongoose Boys’ Massif, which is available now for under $200. It features tires that are four inches wide, along with a 1×7 drivetrain, disc brakes and twist shifters.

20″ Mongoose Boys’ Massif at Walmart
[Via GearJunkie: ‘Fat Bike’ For Kids (made by Mongoose, sold at Wal-Mart)]

Rugged Notebook Ready for Extreme Environments

While it is designed for military, public safety and for other uses extreme environments the GammaTech DURABOOK R8300 is a notebook that could be ready for your next adventure. It is certified to stringent MIL-STD-810G and IP65 specifications, meaning it can withstand the abusive nature of extremely harsh environments, so it can handle shocks, drops, vibrations and extreme temperatures as well as water and dust.

It is also a serious machine. The DURABOOK R8300 notebook is powered by a Intel 3rd Generation i-Core LV /ULV CPU i-Core i7-3555LE or i-Core i5-3437U mobile processor, which provides optimum power consumption, weight, and performance. The unit also includes a mobile Intel QM77 Express Chipset that, among other features, provides integrated USB 3.0, Intel AMT 8.0 with enhanced manageability and security, Intel Rapid Storage Technology with RAID support for enhanced performance, power management, and data protection, Intel Smart Response Technology, and Intel Anti-Theft Technology that can disable a lost or stolen PC and reactivate it without compromise to the system or data. It includes the Windows 7 operating system.

The TFT touch-screen LCD display features direct-sunlight readability, while the Lithium-Ion battery provides eight hours worth of juice. The Durabook R8300 also features a mini card slot for Wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.0 class 1 combo card; a built-in antenna; one M2 card slot for the WWAN module (Type 3042-S3-B); a built in SIM card slot; a built in WWAN antenna; a GPS module with built-in GPS antenna; and an optional Intel Dual Band Wireless 6235 802.11AGN. System security is provided by both administrator and boot password protection; Absolute Computrace, which allows remote management for continual tracking and securing all endpoints within a single cloud-based console; TPM 1.2; and Kensington lock.

GammaTech Official Website

Fly It On

It seems everyone is creating wearable fitness trackers for the wrist. However, the designer of the Flyfit is now looking to have cyclists, runners and swimmers put in the ankles instead!

Designer Jimmy Leu, who has taken his concept to Kickstarter, believes that the wrists are not exactly the optimal place to track body movement while exercising. By placing a monitor on the ankle it can better track movement and even different kinds of leg activity. It can thus track cycling rotation and cadence, swim leg strokes and steps taken while running or jogging. It can then stream the data collected via Bluetooth to an Android or iOS device on the fly. Video after the jump

Extreme Binoculars

While there are plenty of low-end binoculars that will work just find isn’t having superior gear really the superior option? Optisan’s Pro PC Series 10×42 Binocular not only delivers the superior quality and performance that you’d expect when in the field, but these are built to last and handle the weather and rigors of rugged country others dare not tread.

These provide unparalleled quality with high image contrast in bright or low light conditions, and feature Optisan’s ETE+ Microlux Fully Multi-Coated glass, which is further enhanced by Optisan’s premium-index phase-coated BaK4 prism. The rugged design and legendary toughness of the Pro PC Series 10×42 Binocular comes in part from Optisan’s lightweight Semi-Aro Thermotech 98 housing, which features 98 percent of the properties of Magnesium alloy while being 20 percent lighter.

Even Mother Nature is no match for the Pro PC Series 10×42 Binocular thanks to the O-ring sealed, dry-lab nitrogen-filled housing to prevent moisture, dust and dirt from infiltrating the housing.

Optisan Official Website

Take Two for the Fēnix 2

Garmin has athletes covered with numerous GPS sports watches and for 2014 the fēnix 2 will ensure that wearers find their way again. This new updated model has more focus on fitness and is designed to be paired with the HRM-Run monitor that tracks heart rate, cadence, vertical oscillation and ground contact time. This can be used to help trail runners and those looking to cross train.

The watch can also estimate a user’s maximum oxygen consumption to evaluate fitness level and even calculate the recovery time post workout.

New training modes for various sports are included and this includes those hitting the pool or the slopes. The ski-board mode can track speed, distance and vertical drop; while in the pool it can track stroke count, interval distance, pace and time. This durable watch is scratch and water-resistant, and can withstand pressure up to 50 meters.

Other features include an altimeter, barometer and compass.

Garmin fēnix 2 Official Website

Protective Cap

In baseball the catcher is padded up, and the batter wears a helmet. However, the pitcher has generally been left with little protection. For the upcoming Major League Baseball season pitchers can wear a padded cap, which should provide increased protection from batted balls.

This cap will be optional however, so not every pitcher to take the mount will be wearing one.

The newly approved caps, manufactured by 4Licensing Corporation subsidiary isoBlox, have been made available to pitchers for the ongoing spring training. We’ll have to see if pitchers will sport them for next month’s opening day.

[Via MLB.com: MLB approves padded cap for pitchers]