httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzdThCaAr_o&list=PL34695342B698FC80&feature=share
The holidays are over, but the joy of Christmas lives on as our friends at Signal Snowboards recently showed in their latest Every Third Thursday segment.
Category: Sustainable
Primal Gives Back
This week cycling apparel maker Primal announced that it had donated more than a million dollars to the cycling community last year. The Denver, Colorado-based company said this is part of its ongoing commitment to the progression cycling and cause-related organizations. Through its dedication to sponsoring events and organizations that benefit people’s lives, Primal contributed more than $300,000 in cash and over $800,000 in product last year alone.
Primal has been a long standing supporter of organizations that include the League of American Bicyclists, Bike MS, NICA, IMBA, Tour de Cure, Bicycle Colorado, People for Bikes, US Military Endurance Sports, Rails to Trails, the Alliance for Biking and Walking and Trips for Kids, among many more.
“Giving back is a part of our culture here at Primal,” said Dave Edwards, founder and president of Primal, “and as we’ve grown we have been able to drastically increase our commitments and support of organizations that make a difference in the cycling community and around the world.”
A major part of Primal’s contributions come through the Primal Gives Back Program, which is open to all teams who participate in a charitable cycling event. For 2014 Primal has already announced several new and continuing sponsorships that will include partnerships with NICA, Bike MS, Tour de Cure, the National Bike Summit, Colorado Bicycle Summit, Sea Otter Classic and the Bicycle Leadership Conference.
Rig in the New Year
Get in the big ring with the Big Rig pedal desk. We’ve seen a variety of other desks that have melded bicycles to work, but this one is designed to meet the demands of getting a spin and getting work done.
Andy Wekin and his team are now looking at ways to harness cycling power – which they claim is already 97 percent efficient – and utilize it as a practical method of providing power as well as helping burn calories. Many of the workout desks with treadmills need to be plugged in, and the pedal power of many workout desks with bicycles just goes to waste. The concept with Big Rig is one where the energy created from pedaling could power a device!
The team is now looking to a Kickstarter campaign to get this one rolling. Video after the jump
OneStreet Launches Blog to Defy Poverty
Our friends at OneStreet have announced that the bicycle advocacy group has launched a new blog to further the discussion about bicycles and poverty. This has grown out of the publication Defying Poverty with Bicycles by Sue Knaup, the group’s executive director.
Knaup hopes to discuss a number of issues including:
- Can bike programs thrive if they are run by outsiders?
- Is there a way to make volunteer-led programs sustainable?
- What are the benefits and pitfalls of volunteer-led programs?
- What are the various problems with giving away bikes?
- How to move from giving away bikes to selling them?
- How to realize the value and expertise of people living in or near poverty?
Join the discussion.
Recyclable Hydration Pack
A hydration pack can come in quite handy, but what if you really only need one for occasional use? We also know what happens when you put sports drinks in a traditional reservoir – it never really gets clean again.
The Cenote hydration system offers a solution to both problems, as it is a recyclable bladder and it won’t set you back a C-note either. AT just $14.99 for the three liter system, and a dollar less for the two liter version, it can be used a few times and then recycled.
Weekend Reading List (11.09.2013): Lance Comes Clean, Student Board, Race Circuit
Lance Comes Clean
From Cycling News: Lance Armstrong exclusive interview: Part 1
A year on from USADA’s Reasoned Decision, Lance Armstrong swivels in his desk chair as he talks at length about the last 12 months and many aspects of his career starting from when he turned professional back in 1992. The now disgraced Texan has agreed to sit down with Cyclingnews Editor Daniel Benson for a face-to-face interview in his new temporary home in a sleepy suburban district of Austin. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (11.09.2013): Lance Comes Clean, Student Board, Race Circuit
Prison Bound – or Not
You might look prison bound with the SZ-55 Selvage Prison Denim Jacket, but these vintage pieces are now ready for the daily commute. Reportedly made in 1955 as an everyday uniforms for those who fought the law (and the law one) these are now available from Makers Riders, and will keep you warm while looking cool on the ride to work.
Biodegradable Board
Surfboards hit the waves, but if a board breaks or pieces chip off those can remain at sea for years and years. However, designers from Netherlands – not exactly a region thought of for surfing – has created the Bióm, the world’s first certified 100 percent biodegradable and 99 percent biodegradable bio-based surfboard foam. The material is produced via locally abundant sugarcane biomass that is polymerized and expanded into rigid foam, while the foam further boasts the ultra-eco use of benign CO2 as the sole blowing agent in the expansion process.
This foam will be used in stand up paddleboards, wakeboards, skimboards, kiteboards, and other types of watercraft.
Bióm Official Website
[Via Surfer Today: The world’s first 100% biodegradable surfboard foam]
Lane to Change
PeopleForBikes – formerly Bikes Belong – has announced the Green Lane Project has entered phase 2.0.This month it began accepting applications from U.S. cities hoping to be amongst the next six selected to lead the way in building protected bike lanes.
Launched in 2012, the Project has worked closely with six major U.S. cities –Austin, TX; Chicago, IL; Memphis, TN; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, DC. This project has sped up the installation of protected bikes lanes around the country.
Applications are open from October 18, 2013 through January 2014. Cities should file a letter of intent to apply by November 15, 2013. The six new cities will be announced in Spring 2014. Video after the jump
Trashin’ Deck
While skateboarders may like to “thrash” one skateboard company is instead looking to trash. Bureo Skateboards has picked up on the old adage that one man’s trash is another’s treasure and the company is looking to reduced the plastic pollution along Chile’s coastline while at the same time producing new skateboards.
The company is among 85 businesses that were accepted out of 1,300 applicants into Start-Up Chile, a government-sponsored accelerator program that provides these start-ups with $40,000 to get rolling. Bureo Skateboards was reportedly the only non-technology based company accepted into the program but clearly its message struck a nerve with someone.
North¬eastern alumnus Ben Kneppers is the company’s co-founder, and he previously received $10,000 in gap funding from IDEA, the Northeastern student-run venture accelerator. Thanks to this Bureo team has made it their mission to make a difference and contribute to the fight against plastic pollution in the oceans, while providing innovative skateboards on lane.
Bureo Skateboards
[Via news@Northestern: From plastic pollution to sustainable skateboards]
Made in America: Magic Mushroom
We’ve seen a lot of efforts to make surfboards a whole lot greener, and this has included boards made of recycled and reclaimed materials, but the guys at Mushroom Surfboards are growing boards – via mushrooms. In other words Mushroom Surfboards by Ecovative Design isn’t just a clever name, it is actually what the boards are made from!
The company has created a Myco Foam technology that was first developed in 2007 and uses shroom-based materials for its structure. This means the surfboard “blanks” are entirely biodegradable but also produced from what would otherwise be agricultural waste, such as plant stalks and seed husks, and mycelium. Video after the jump
Made in America: Back to Nature
Go old school with the Natural Log Skateboards, which are hand crafted in San Diego from either vertical grain bamboo or recycled oak with two internal layers of tri-axial fiberglass for added strength. An Entropy Resins Super Sap epoxy will provide protection for the deck and add some bounce.
While these look vintage these boards should endure the test of time.
Weekend Reading List (09.21.2013): Concussion Crisis, Used Patagonia, Wet Run
Concussion Crisis
From Sport Techie: The NFL Should Adopt This NeuroTracking Technology Immediately to Help Solve the Concussion Crisis
In the NFL, the risk of concussion is far greater than for almost any other sport. While continued improvements to helmet design and stronger regulations against dangerous play may help limit such risk, one serious issue has yet to be resolved—the return to play. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (09.21.2013): Concussion Crisis, Used Patagonia, Wet Run