Archive for September, 2009
New Books We Like
Posted by: RailRiders Gang in Adventure Dossier, General on September 23rd, 2009
Books Discussed: Iron Heart: The True Story of How I Came Back from the Dead.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.
On July 6, 2004, eighteen-year-old Brian Boyle was driving home from swim practice. He lived with his parents in Welcome, Maryland, a small town near the Eastern Shore. The roads are narrow and windy in this rural part of the state. At one intersection, a speeding dump truck plowed into his Camaro, totaling the vehicle and practically costing Boyle his life. He suffered massive internal damage and lost 60 percent of his blood. A helicopter whisked him to a local hospital with a state-of-the-art trauma unit. Doctors had to jumpstart his heart numerous times during surgery. To lessen his pain, the medical staff also put him in a chemical-induced coma that lasted two months. With his mother and father sitting vigil at his bedside, the prognosis looked grim for the former bodybuilder, discus thrower, and competitive swimmer who would end up losing 100 pounds. Read the rest of this entry »
Kissing the Hardrock
Posted by: RailRiders Gang in Adventure Dossier, General, Photo Gallery on September 16th, 2009
The Hardrock 100-
mile Endurance Run is not for the faint of heart, lungs, or limbs. Held each year in July since 1992, except for 1995 (too much snow) and 2002 (nearby forest fires).the race is held on a loop course on 4WD roads, dirt trails, steep scree slopes and cross country in Southern Colorado’s San JuanRange. The run starts and ends in Silverton, Colorado and travels through the towns of Telluride, Ouray, and the ghost town of Sherman, crossing thirteen major passes over 12,000-feet. The race is dedicated to the memory of the miners who lived and work in the region.Due to the extreme terrain (not to mention the fickle weather), the field is limited to 140 qualifying runners. The cut-off time for finishing the race is 48 hours. But instead of crossing a finish line, runners are required to “kiss the Hardrock” –a picture of a ram’s head painted on a large block of stone mining debris. Here’s a photo of Julian Jamison, a great friend of RailRiders and wearing a Speed-T, kissing the Hardrock. Way to go Julian!
Saving Leatherback Turtles in Trinidad
Posted by: RailRiders Gang in Adventure Dossier, General, Travel News and Tips on September 16th, 2009
Tom Bosché and his 16-year old daughter Shannon traveled to Trinidad where they patrolled the Matura Beach and helped with scientific research.
Despite its white sand and clear, blue water, Trinidad’s Matura Beach used to be known as a bloody graveyard for leatherback turtles. The huge, gentle sea creatures were hunted for their meat and fins, and also for their eggs, which people valued as an aphrodisiac. By the 1980s, nearly one in three turtles that nested on Matura Beach were killed by poachers with machetes. Distraught over the killings, a local villager by the name of Suzan Lakhan Baptiste decided to take action and protect the slow-moving, defenseless leatherbacks. She patrolled the beach every night of turtle nesting season. and fended off the aggressive poachers. Mocked by locals who called her “Crazy Turtle Woman,” Baptiste never gave up. Others soon joined her crusade, and in 1990, they started Nature Seekers, one of Trinidad’s first environmental groups. The group was able to convince the villagers that turtles for eco-tourism could create a more sustainable income. “I wanted to show that a turtle is [worth] so much more to us alive than dead,” Baptiste told CNN in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
Field & Stream’s Review of X-Treme Adventure Pants
Posted by: RailRiders Gang in Adventure Dossier, General on September 16th, 2009
“Okay, here’s a pair of pants from a company I’ve never heard of – RailRiders. A look at Railriders.com will tell you that the company was started 19 years ago (!), by one John d’Arbeloff, who was in a 24-hour yacht race off Martha’s Vineyard, got soaking wet in six-foot seas, and started wondering why he had to wear uncomfortable clothes that wouldn’t dry. Some sketches, designs, and plans ensued, and before he knew it, he had a company that was making technical wilderness clothing that adventurers the world over wanted.
I’m not a climber or trekker. I like to hunt and fish, and I have to tell you that the X-treme Adventure Pant that I tried was comfortable, had all the pockets I needed, and dried quickly when I got caught in a sudden Catskill Mountain rainstorm. A friend wore a pair striper-fishing two weeks ago, off Cape Cod, and raved about them as well. There’s a ton of cool-looking, functional clothing, at decent prices ($95 for the Adventure Pants). I also got a pair of Winter Weatherpants, for $84, and I’m taking those with me when I go duck hunting in Manitoba next month. I’ll give you a report.” – Jay Cassell
Lovin’ It in the Leadville 100
Posted by: RailRiders Gang in Love Letters, Photo Gallery on September 5th, 2009
Geoffrey Baker, a photographer and ultrarunner from Oella, Maryland, recently sent us this charming Love Letter: “I don’t usually write fan letters to clothing companies, but when a product works better than advertised I need to say ‘job well done!’ I recently completed the Leadville 100-Mile Trail Run. Leadville is a ultramarathon that is run at altitudes between 10,000 feet to 12,600 feet in the Colorado Rockies. On the day of the race there were record high temperatures, a rarity at altitude. The sun was like a blast furnace. I had to deal with extreme heat for 100 miles of running. I ran the entire race, nearly 30 hours, in your Equator-HT Top with Insect Shield. It worked beautifully. I was cool and happy. No sunscreen needed so my skin could breath which is critical for a endurance athlete. Other runners were asking me about the shirt as If as they wilted in the sun. Thanks for a great product. If you’d like to read my race report, go to http://www.oellaworks.com/.”
The Best Laptops, Netbook and Smartphones for Travel
Posted by: RailRiders Gang in General, Travel News and Tips on September 5th, 2009
In the mid-1800s when the two naturalists, Charles Darwin in England and Alfred Russel Wallace in Indonesia, were both independently arriving at the same conclusion regarding species adaptation and natural selection, they used to write letters to each other. Their correspondence would take months to arrive, traveling by ship. Communication has dramatically changed, or rather, evolved, since then. We can tweet, blog, upload, download, and text. Everyone on the planet is instantly connected through a global grid of cell towers, ISPs, and satellite communication.
Staying in touch has bever been easier. So what are the best laptops, netbooks and smartphones for travel? PC World recently investigated that tech-savvy question.
Its two favorite laptops were Lenovo’s ThinkPad X200 with 9 hour-battery running time and Apple’s MacBook Air that weighs only 3 pounds but short battery life (3 hours from a charge).
For netbooks, the $400 Toshiba NB205-312 and Samsung N120 with its grownup keyboard (97 percent full-sized keys) got the highest ratings.
For smartphones, PC World liked the new BlackBerry Tour ($200 with a two-year contract from Sprint or Verizon) if you do a lot of traveling abroad; but if you only like moving about in the U.S., go with the Apple iPhone 3GS. The 3-megapixel camera takes sharp photos and video; it also has a zillion apps for travelers. Only downside is the actual phone. Too many dropped calls and delayed connections on the ATT network.
Hills are Alive with the Sound of a RailRiders Fan…
Posted by: RailRiders Gang in Love Letters, Photo Gallery on September 4th, 2009
Rich Costello sent us this Love Letter and photo from Austria: “On a recent visit there for a sporting competition, I decided to take along nothing but RailRiders clothing for comfort, style, ease, and durability purposes. Each department mentioned above came through in flying colors and more. Not wanting to sound like a broken record but can I tell you just how awesome and amazing your stuff is. I absolutely love RailRiders clothing! This photo was taken in the municipality known as Heiligenblut, located in the foothills of the largest mountain in Austria,the Grossglockner.”