"Our heritage is rooted in building gear for people who live and thrive in the mountains, and that includes our own team. Many of us ride; our athletes ride. Mountain biking is part of our culture," Ashley Anson, VP Design at Arc'teryx, said.
While the lake spares this area much of the bitter cold, temperatures regularly drop well below zero at night. We have weeks where daily highs are in the single digits Fahrenheit. If that sounds miserable to you its because you don't have the clothes to deal with it. In order to get outside and do anything in these conditions you need good gear.
The TiLink is a 24-in-1 titanium bracelet that doubles as a watch strap, creating this interesting yin-yang of capabilities. Compatibility spans across all watches with lug widths between 18-26mm, which means the TiLink can attach to the Apple Watch as well as Garmin, Samsung, Google Pixel, and analog watches. One side tracks your biometrics and messages, the other has screwdrivers, wrenches, a magnifier, and a fire starter machined from aerospace-grade titanium.
This latest iteration offers more cushioning and protection than ever, with an outsole that looks like it could be tread on a small bulldozer. Its generous 43-millimeter stack height at the heel and 35 millimeters under the forefoot for women, with 2 millimeters more on the men's side, and actual weight of 11.1 ounces (314 grams) for a U.S. men's 9 make it anything but svelte, yet the ride is surprisingly forgiving - absorbing impact without feeling sluggish.
However, each individual watch has its own unique selling point - and for the Flint (as its name rightfully suggests), it's the waterproof flint-rod that's integrated into the watch's body. Unscrew it when you want to start a fire, scrape on the rod using a pocket knife, and sparks immediately shoot off, igniting any form of tinder, creating a tiny fire that can then be harnessed to light a campfire, an old-fashioned torch, or an emergency signal in a time of distress.
'Polypropylene fibres are stretched and aligned for extreme tensile strength, then woven and heat-fused into a single composite sheet. No glues, no resins, no weak points,' Mous explained. 'This self-reinforced structure lets the shell flex under pressure instead of cracking, dispersing impact energy and rebounding to shape. 'It stays tough across extreme temperatures, resisting brittleness in the cold and softening in the heat.'
There's something oddly satisfying about watching outdoor gear shed its bulk. We've seen tents collapse into impossibly small pouches and sleeping bags compress into cylinders the size of water bottles. Now, Camprit is applying that same minimalist philosophy to camp stoves with their TiStove, and the results are kind of brilliant. The concept is deceptively simple. Take five titanium pieces (two foldable legs and three cooking panels), make them pack completely flat, and keep the whole setup under 1.5 pounds.
Shaped like a seat bag, the monstrous new Old Man Mountain 12L Atlas Rack Pack gives you more capacity with a more stable design...and still leaves room for a saddle bag above it. Well, there's room for one if you have a lot of seatpost extension, but it's also shaped for room to drop your saddle if you're using a dropper post, too. And if this is all you need, it keeps your center of gravity lower and your load more stable.
New Year, new helmet: Lazer is expanding its KinetiCore lineup with the addition of the Sphere KinetiCore, an all-new, versatile road helmet. The new lid from the Belgian helmet manufacturer is a lightweight, multipurpose road helmet. The design is for riders who want one affordable lid that performs just as well on fast group rides as on everyday training miles.
