tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114024272008-09-10T23:44:25.565-07:00Syndicated columnist Stephen Regenold dishes out the latest dirt on outdoor gear...Staffnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1133389263823880762005-11-30T14:19:00.000-08:002006-02-20T12:58:04.033-08:00

Art Eggertsen worked as a congressional lobbyist representing nutrition-education interests before switching to a career in energy foods. As founder of ProBar LLC, a small company based in Park City, Utah, Eggertsen leaned on his knowledge of health and nutrition to create a unique new energy-bar product. The ProBar (www.theprobar.com) comes in two flavors, Original Blend and Whole Berry Blast,

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1122504316013820972005-07-27T15:43:00.000-07:002005-08-21T19:55:03.866-07:00

The thumb compass is a funny little esoteric piece of gear that's slowly earned my respect over the past few months. I was first introduced to the concept by an orienteering acquaintance who could run through the woods like a deer, jumping logs, dodging branches, skirting swamps, all while reading a detailed map and taking quick glances at the small thumb-mounted dial. Developed for the

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1121721732835064732005-07-18T14:20:00.000-07:002005-07-18T16:19:39.456-07:00

NOTE: This is the second column in a two-part series on the Gear Junkie's trip in early July to the Ispo Summer 05 industry trade show in Munich, Germany. As one of the world's largest outdoors and fitness-sports exhibitions, the Ispo trade show brings together a diverse group of international companies to provide a peek at worldwide recreational trends. Indeed, at this year's summer show, held

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1121199067086729452005-07-12T13:09:00.000-07:002005-07-12T14:34:47.906-07:00

Last week, I hopped the big pond to attend Ispo, a major sports and outdoors-equipment trade show held twice each year in Munich, Germany. A highlight of this show is always the exhibition of new products bestowed with the prestigious Ispo BrandNew Award, which is a recognition of innovative products from new and upcoming outdoors, sports and fitness companies. Here's what caught my eye from the

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1118935426871455672005-06-16T08:22:00.000-07:002005-06-16T08:23:46.876-07:00

Until the early 1990s, Styrofoam cups and food containers were the norm in the restaurant business. Now, recycled paper products dominate, being pushed into popular use by consumer demand for corporate environmental responsibility. Jason Finnis, president and founder of Hemptown Clothing Inc., foresees a similar paradigm shift coming in the apparel industry. A bonafide hemp evangelist, Finnis

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1117828510740271142005-06-03T12:54:00.000-07:002005-06-09T10:49:54.916-07:00

Whether it is the requisite summit shot on top of a mountain or a picture of an amazing sunrise over the ocean, photography has become a default part of any big adventure for me. When going fast and light, I carry a small Pentax Optio digital camera with 3-megapixel resolution. It fits in a pouch no larger than a cigarette pack and does a fine job for photo album snapshots. On trips where

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1117031919557133732005-05-25T07:38:00.000-07:002005-05-26T16:45:26.940-07:00

In the early '90s, Shane Cooper brought together the unlikely bedfellows of bike racing and sock knitting to create Defeet International. Cooper, who was a semi-pro cyclist at the time, grew up fascinated with his father's knitting machine parts distributor business, and he decided to try a hand at making a better bike sock. The result was an innovative mesh-weave sock design that used advanced

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1116257964616111602005-05-16T08:35:00.000-07:002005-05-16T10:15:15.196-07:00

Talk to any group of well-traveled people and the stories of surreptitiously lifted purses, picked pockets and swiped backpacks will eventually start to infiltrate the conversation. Passports, cash, credit cards, plane tickets, camera and hotel key can be lifted quiet and clean in an instant, forcing a woebegone trek to the American Embassy for identity reclamation, phone calls and money wired in

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1115660647446474032005-05-09T10:43:00.000-07:002005-05-09T10:44:07.453-07:00

My feet may never forgive me for the past two years. Three marathons, ten adventure races, a triathlon, several mountain climbs and hundreds of hours of training have left my dogs beat up, ragged and just plain ugly. But it looks like I'll be able to save the three or four toenails I have left. After so much carnage, I've learned how to take care of my feet. It's a formula that starts with good

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1115660605830093032005-05-09T10:42:00.000-07:002005-05-09T10:43:25.836-07:00

The unmentionable and embarrassing bodily effects of repetitious exercise -- chafed thighs, armpit rash, butt burn -- traditionally have been managed with greasy lubricants. Petroleum-based salves or sport-specific rub-on products help eliminate the painful skin-against-skin chafing and chapping common in running, cycling, hiking and other outdoor sports. Squeaky Cheeks' namesake product is a

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1114633497122083342005-04-27T13:23:00.000-07:002005-05-01T17:18:16.416-07:00

Despite a dependency on corrective lenses, I'd never considered sports-oriented prescription glasses to be germane for the active genre of outdoor sports I favor. When people mentioned "performance" eyewear, the one thing that came to mind were the thick-framed plastic goggles seemingly favored by high-school wrestling teams. Oakley frames... In reality, eyewear companies have been developing

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1114122859313971892005-04-21T15:28:00.000-07:002005-04-21T15:34:19.316-07:00

On the very periphery of the outdoors genus, there exists a group of bike heads and gear junkies who will not think twice about putting down $500 on a high-power bike light system. Granted, the light cannons manufactured by companies like NiteRider and Light & Motion -- which create virtual windows of daylight blasted off a bike handlebar -- do allow the serious cyclist to ride technical

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1113486693115357502005-04-14T06:50:00.000-07:002005-04-14T14:39:01.556-07:00

Brunton has taken the decades-old concept of canned heat and added a couple crucial modern twists. The company's new line of GreenHeat fuel canisters, which are being marketed to backpackers, climbers and anyone else who needs to pack as light as possible, are filled with a special concoction of gelled and highly-flammable vegetable oil. The concept is bone simple: Pop off the can top, throw in

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1112971973337033882005-04-08T07:46:00.000-07:002005-04-12T13:13:58.646-07:00

In a former life, Greg Adelman designed optical instrumentation for Scripps Institution of Oceanography and worked on engineering projects for the U.S. military and NATO. Now, he's dabbling in writing utensils. "I want to do to pens what Leatherman did to pliers," says Adelman, who is president and founder of the Boulder, Colo.-based Inka Corp. The company's namesake product -- the Inka pen -

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1112313670040410822005-03-31T15:59:00.000-08:002005-04-01T14:28:19.450-08:00

There is a trend in the mountain-biking community of training on a skimmed-down, single-speed bike and then racing on your regular, supped-up mountain bike. This lets you push it hard with one gear, straining yourself on the uphills and being as efficient as possible on the downhills and flats. The theory goes that once you jump back on the geared bike you'll be a better rider. With the help of

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402427.post-1110845530934859312005-03-14T15:38:00.000-08:002005-03-14T16:12:10.940-08:00

DEAR BLOG READERS, GEAR CONNOISSEURS, AND OUTDOORS AFICIONADOS: Despite the title of my newspaper column and this ancillary blog, I am not a materialistic buffoon. I love outdoors gear, but not in and of itself. The shoes, ropes, crampons, packs, base layers, bikes, headlamps, camp stoves, tents, knives, canoes, bivy sacks and avalanche probes I write about and keep in my basement gear vault do

Stephen Regenoldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03405495906806896894noreply@blogger.com13