My first long distance road trip was a complete failure. I had been riding for years, so I felt assured I could manage a multi- day trip for a couple thousand miles. It was early June in Colorado, and about 5 hours into the ride it started snowing, which turned into a white out. It was wet, heavy and cold and I was not prepared. It was in the high 70’s when I left home, so I was wearing a half helmet, fingerless gloves and a leather jacket. After waiting out the storm on the side of the road and giving time for the snow to melt, I continued, freezing, until I made it to a gas station. I consumed large amounts of hot coffee and chocolate attempting a warm up. The only clothing options available to try to keep dry on the road were bright yellow dishwashing gloves and a shower cap. I planned to be Wyatt from Easy Rider, but I looked like Scuba Steve and I felt miserable. I was so embarrassed I couldn’t even look at the other riders when I finished that days ride.
I’ve learned a number of lessons on my rides throughout the years. To save your ego and get you safely to your next destination, I’ve put together some helpful hints from my years on the road.
Halloween is the perfect time to embrace all the feels of fall, bring out the decorations, connect with neighbors, and binge a little (or a lot) on sugar. This year, let Nite Ize help you keep the kids seen and safe as they haunt around the neighborhood. Here are a few of our pro tips for having the most spectacular, spookiest, and safest Halloween night of all.
There are two types of people in this world: ‘Happy Holidays’ people and ‘Happy Haunting’ people. I am one of those spooky folks. The most wonderful time of year in my book is right now, at the cusp of spooky season. If you’re anything like me, you’re looking forward to pumpkin picking, cider drinking, costume planning, and scary movies galore for the next month. And to top it all off? A killer Halloween get-together with friends and family on All Hallow’s Eve.
If you have skele-tons of ideas for your wicked gathering but aren’t sure where to start, keep reading…if you dare.
I live in an area that has the potential for fires and floods. Last year the fires were so bad, we had our first experience with evacuations. It was an incredibly intense experience and not the best time to be making decisions. If you are under a mandatory evacuation order, there is no time to waste.
If you’re familiar with the world of hunting, you might recognize our friend (and Field Team member) Willi Schmidt from his show Pure Hunting on The Sportsman Channel. Willi has been bow hunting for nearly 30 years, and enjoys sharing his expertise with the world. When Willi isn’t hunting or filming his series, he loves to play golf, work out in his home gym, spend time with his family and dogs, and explore the great outdoors around where he resides in Bozeman, Montana. We asked Willi to share his go-to gear he uses for hunting, as well as his favorite products for other areas of his active lifestyle.
There is something magical about flying discs. The way they effortlessly float through the air and can almost seem to hover as you run them down to catch one make them so much fun to play with. For most, the fun often stops with this basic game. I’m here to tell you that there are many other games you could be playing with your flying disc besides catch or Ultimate. Below are my five favorite flying disc games that are just as easy, but way more fun.
National Preparedness Month is here again, and it is a great reminder that if you still haven’t built or updated your emergency kit, there’s no time like the present. A Go Bag (also referred to as a Bug-out Bag) is a pre-packed kit that will be your lifeline in case of an emergency evacuation situation. Some disaster scenarios don’t leave time for thorough planning in the moment. Fires, for example, move fast – so should you. In these instances, you aren’t going to be able to take your time to gather up everything you want to from home. A Go Bag is about making sure you have what you need and getting away quickly and safely. After working in the survival and medical industries over the last two decades and experiencing my own fire evacuation due to living in California, I have compiled a list of items that I have tested and strongly recommend.
Before you start compiling your kit, here are a few helpful considerations:
Build it out for the number of people in your household (including your pets). My bag (pictured above) is built for five: two adults, two small children, and one dog for 24 hours.
Consider the type of disaster you are most likely to encounter where you live. For us, it’s likely grass fires or floods, so we should be able to reach a friend’s home or red cross shelter in 24 hours or less on foot. If you live in earthquake or hurricane territories, you should pack enough supplies for 72 hours as those disasters can take out a much larger area of infrastructure at once.
Determine where you’re going to keep your kit and communicate exactly what it’s for to all members of your household (you can even label it as an extra reminder). I recommend putting it in a place that you would pass on your fastest way out of the house, like a coat closet or hook near the front door.
It’s no secret that we love dogs here at Nite Ize and if you’re lucky enough to visit our headquarters in Boulder, chances are pretty good that you’ll get to meet some of our furry friends. Just like our crew, the dogs of Nite Ize love gear and with the dog days of summer waning, we thought it would be fun to discover what gear has been keeping them energized this year. From toys to leashes and collar lights, here are some of the things that our pack think are doggone great.
Having a reliable recall is arguably the most important skill you can teach your dog. You have the expectation they will always respond. This is especially true for working dogs like the Fox Red Labrador who can often have a mind of their own because of their independent nature. Every time you call your dog, you are essentially asking them to immediately stop what they are doing and turn away from engaging smells and food, among other things. In order to convince them to do this, you have to make yourself more interesting and fun than whatever they’re doing!
As professional adventure racers and race directors my husband Jason and I love big endurance training trips. But as new parents of Max (4) and Revel (1.5) it has been a fascination to look for ways to incorporate more adventure, play and training into our family life. One of our most favorite ways to check all of these boxes is to go on family bike-packing trips. When we had just one kid, it was much easier to go on backpacking trips (one person carried the kid, the other the camping gear), but once we added little brother Revel to the mix, we quickly turned to looking for other alternatives that allowed for us to manage even more gear and weight.
We just got back from our fourth bike packing trip through Central Oregon and it was amazing. We took 4 days (3 nights) to do 120 miles, most of it on dirt roads with lots of play stops along the way. Every night we ended at a different lake or river to ensure easy water access and lots of water, dirt and sand play (a kid’s dream). On average, we rode hard for about 2-3 hours before our first stop and tried to do a second push in the early to late afternoon after the kids had worn themselves out. A few days into the trip, we hit a small town, which proved to be a fun stop for the kids and enabled us to carry less weight in food and water knowing that we could refill during the trip.
