SOAR Blog

The outdoor industry is abuzz on Twitter, contributing comments, queries and suggestions to all participating manufacturers, buyers, retailers, media and advocacy groups in the 2010 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market through the show’s aggregate feed, ORWinter. Since SOAR launched Outdoor Retailer into the Twittersphere for the 2009 Winter Market, the outdoor industry has channeled much of its conversation through the platforms the show has provided. Attendees and exhibitors getting ready to travel to Salt Lake are using #ORWinter in their Tweets about the show to create dialogues and relationships before they even step foot into the Salt Palace. They can also follow ORShowLive to keep up with OR-specific event announcements that will help them make the most of their time at the show.

The ORWinter conversation will continue throughout the show as attendees Tweet about the new products they’re seeing, the people they’re meeting  and the industry events they’re enjoying. Outdoor Retailer sponsor Channel Signal will display these conversations, too, on four 50-inch screens strategically placed around the show.

They’ll toggle between the ORWinter Twitter feed and the top five mentioned exhibiting OR brands. Look for them while you’re there. It will be convincing visual evidence of how social media permeates even the outdoor industry and a reflection of how fast the conversation can shift, especially when there are thousands of people participating.

Next to the monitors will be a directory of 200 exhibitors on Twitter.

If you’re interested in attending the show, January 21-24, please register at outdoorretailer.com. See you there!

SOAR Communications is in no danger of being overtaken by a tsunami, with thousands of miles east and 4,000 feet above the California coast. Still, in this world of unpredictable weather patterns, knowing how to survive a tsunami could be an important life skill. Here are some tips I’ve summarized from Beverly Goodman, PhD., geoarchaeologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer. Damon Tabor used her as one of his sources in his National Geographic Adventurer article on tsunami preparedness.

• If you live less than 25 feet above sea level or within one mile of the shore, map out an evacuation plan.
• Sign up for early alerts text messaging from the national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s tsunami warning center.
• Make a “grab-n-go” survival kit readily available.
• Quickly make your way inland to high ground if you see the ocean water dramatically recede.
• Find shelter in a concrete building no less than 10 feet tall.
• If you get caught in the wave, swim hard, keep your legs up and get out of the water asap.

You can read Tabor’s article on tsunami preparedness in the August/September issue of National Geographic Adventurer or find it at adventurer.nationalgeographic.com.

I contributed an article about cycling in SLC to Momentum Magazine’s September issue. Interested in reading it? You can find it here:

http://www.momentumplanet.com/cities/cycling-salt-lake-city

Mayor Ralph Becker at the 2008 Bike Bonanza

Slovenian wears its MTB-friendliness on its flag of independence and on the Pohorje Mountains in Maribor, Slovenia, the host city of last-weekend’s MTB World Cup race.

You can check out footage of the Maribor event on YouTube. If you love Slovenia like I do, you won’t be able to help but cheer when you see the clip of the Slovenian flag.

A recent Mountain Bike Action article called Maribor “one of the friendliest and most intimate stops” for the Mountain Bike World Cup. The Cup’s two-year hiatus from Maribor didn’t stop passionate and rowdy Slovenes from turning out to cheer on the riders racing down “the sunny side of the Alps” June 20 and 21.

Slovenia and its people somewhat embody the hardcore spirit of mountain biking. Being a small country (population 2 million) at a geographical and cultural crossroads has made Slovenia susceptible foreign occupation multiple times in the past several centuries. Still, Slovenes are strong and proud people with a very distinct cultural heritage- a heritage worth fighting for. And they did fight for it, gaining their political independence from the Soviet Union 18 years ago tomorrow, June 25.

Vse Dan Državnosti, lepa Slovenija! Na Zdravje (Cheers)!

Goblin Valley with castle formation in the distance.

Standing in Goblin Valley is a bit eerie. If you get there before 9 a.m., it is easy to feel that you are the only non-petrified person around for a hundred miles. You feel even more alone at standing edge of the valley’s precipitous cliff staring into the flat desert land ahead that starkly contrasts the enormous and stout goblin formations surrounding you. I had a lot of fun maneuvering my way through the maze of goblins last weekend. I suggest you include it in your trip itinerary if you’re headed to Moab or Lake Powell.

“My bikes goes hard, don’t need no car” says the scraper bikers of the San Francisco Bay Area hyphy movement.

The scraper bike movement that originated in Oakland, Calif. is now sweeping the world. “Scrapers” in the hip-hop world are huge cars with rims so big they scrape the inside of the wheel well. According to a NRP story aired last year, Tyrone Stevenson Jr. (better known as “Scraper Bike King”) first thought to apply the aesthetic of the scraper car by fitting large wheels on small bike frames and painting the frames to match the rims, accenting them with colorful foil wrappers from food like Oreos, Doritos and Lemonhead. I saw several scraper bikes on display at the Oakland Airport on a recent trip to my hometown in the South Bay. They’re works of art as much as they are vehicles.

Stevenson made his first scraper bike because he couldn’t afford the car version. Now he makes a living designing them, while giving teenagers in his community creative and healthy ways to channel their energy.

Click here to watch the YouTube rap music video that started the now world-wide scraper bike phenomenon.

Me (the one who looks excited), a crew member and my King Mackerel

Though I’m not exactly new to the SOAR Blog, (having been featured and/or mentioned here, here, here and here), I’ve never actually written a post–hence me thinking a small introduction is warranted. I’m the lone Canuck on staff at SOAR communications, actually working for Politis Communications–sister agencies–but working on a few of SOAR’s accounts, from time to time. I grew up immersed in sports and athletics, but mostly enjoyed swimming and playing soccer and rugby, which I played for my high school, and pick up games of basketball till the wee hours of the morning (at least in the summer). That said, I’ve dabbled in everything from winter skiing to water skiing and canoe trips to snowshoeing.

Well, enough about me and onto the purpose of this post. It’s been a few months now, but back in November I went deep sea fishing off the coast of Miami for one of my best friends bachelor party. About 20 of us jumped on one of the Reward Fishing Fleet’s largest boats and set off for four hours of fishing fun. It was my first fishing major fishing adventure in an ocean (Poppa P showed me the ropes of small lake fishing last year!)

About 20 minutes into our voyage the skipper yelled, “they’re biting!” Within minutes beers were exchanged for fishing poles, and lines were dropped into the Atlantic as we trolled across a school of dolphin-fish (also known as mahi mahi, dorado, calitos, maverikos, or lampuki). Within about 45 minutes 90 percent of the guys had caught their first fish. Several had caught a few, including some sharks (catch and release) that were hanging out trying to get some food themselves.

Matt, the bachelor, and his first Mahi Mahi

It was an experience of a lifetime and one I will not soon forget… specially since today I received my way-too-expensive mounted fish (for those wondering and who may not know, they don’t stuff the real fish anymore. Nowadays, they send you a fiberglass replica of the fish to hang on your wall.). Sure, I was also lucky enough to catch a red snapper and a king mackerel before the day was done, but none will look as cool on my wall as the 34 inch mahi mahi I was able to haul in!

If you’ve never been deep sea fishing I highly recommend it. And if you’re looking for a company to take you, out of the hundreds available, I’ll gladly recommend the crew at Reward Fishing Fleet (not a paid client or endorsement–this one is from the heart!). The rates are very reasonable and they’ll work their butts off to see that you and your group have a great time. Happy fishing!

The trophy has arrived!

There’s a fascinating story out on the wires written by John Branch of the New York Times that suggests that belies old adage about winning basketball teams make their free throws.

Time lapse photo of basketball going into a hoop

In fact, Branch points out that only one team currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 ranking (the North Carolina Tar Heels, presently ranked #2) is also in the top ranks for free throw percentages.

The average percentage, NCAA-wide, for made free throws is about 69 percent year after year. It’s a bit

higher in the National Basketball Association, but not much, coming in at around 75 percent.

Again, a very interesting article for any B-Ball junkies out there.

Here’s the link to “For Free Throws, 50 Years of Practice Is No Help.”

Life is too short to be taken seriously all the time.

In that regards, major kudos to Sean Sullivan, the 215-pound senior wrestler from Wasatch High School in Heber, Utah, who strode into the spotlight on Saturday prior to the finals match at the state wrestling championship tournament held at Utah Valley University wearing a luchador mask. (And yes, Sullivan won, pinning Delta High School’s Spencer Nielson in the first period to win the title for the second year in a row.)

According to Dictionary.com, luchador is the Spanish word for a wrestler, and it takes its name from the spanish term “lucha libre,” which means, literally “free wrestling.” Lucha libre defines the high-flying form of professional wrestling made popular in Mexico and parodied in the 2006 Jack Black film Nacho Libre.

Thanks to award-winning photographer Trent Nelson for sending me a copy of this photo to use in this blog post. Trent works for the Salt Lake Tribune, and more of his work can be on the SLTribune’s photo blog here. You can also check out Trent’s Fly on the Wall blog here or The Click, Trent’s personal blog about photography here.

So from one wrestler to another (105s and 115s in 1972 and 1973 at San Carlos High School in California), congrats Sean. 

No - you really can’t make this kind of stuff up.

At approximately 8:15 a.m. (PST) today, Lance Armstrong wrote the following microblog post on Twitter (see www.twitter.com/lancearmstrong),

Whoa!! They just came to my room and said our truck was broken into and someone stole my time trial bike! Wtf?!? APB out to the twitterati.

Here’s a picture of the stolen bike:

Moment’s later, @lancearmstrong tweeted that thieves had also stolen three other bikes from his race team’s truck.

The fact that this happened hours before today’s time trial is nuts.

The fact that the stolen bike is a one-of-a-kind that belongs to Lance Armstrong makes this stop-the-presses, front page, lead the newscast, type of news.

Crazy. Just. Crazy.