Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Finally, a casual technical tee

Yeah yeah, another technical t-shirt. Do we really need another wicking, breathable tee? If it’s from Sport Science ($22), the answer is yes. And here’s why. While this shirt does a fine job of pulling sweat off the skin to keep you cool but not clammy, that’s not what makes it special. No, what we [...]

The dream becomes reality

How many watch geeks have dreamed of starting a watch company? Well, for two guys from Minneapolis, the dream has become reality. Last year, we told you about a new dive watch micro-brand, RedSea. At that time, they only had ideas, some computer-generated mockups and a pile of credit card debt. Now they’ve got a [...]

You'll hate getting it dirty, but love every minute of it.

The arcane sport of cyclocross is a mix of mountain biking and steeplechase that was developed in the mid-twentieth century by European road bicycle racers looking for a way to stay in shape in the cold off-season. They would fit knobby tires on their road bikes and race them around muddy, or often snowy, tracks [...]

Location: 12°15'00"N, 68°28'01"W

If there’s one piece of advice I can give first-time visitors to Bonaire, it’s to skip the iguana stew. Maybe it was all the diving I’d done, but feeling adventurous, I ordered the local specialty at Rosie’s Inn in the small town of Rincon. Rosie’s is a café along the dusty, windy road in the [...]

For the weight weenie who has (almost) everything

Consider the humble straw. Jabbed into a juice box or fast food beverage, discarded without a thought, it is a useful but overlooked tool. How else would you get that last bit of chocolate malt out of the bottom of your glass? But plastic is a four-letter word these days and straws suddenly seem wasteful. [...]

Explaining the Basics, Debunking the Myths

It is ironic that, while watch companies are turning out more capable dive watches – helium release valves, absurd water resistance, innovative bezels – fewer and fewer SCUBA divers are wearing watches at all. Go on any dive boat and you’re lucky to find one person wearing anything besides a dive computer on his wrist. [...]

Pucker up

This summer, ditch the tech shirts and shorts in favor of nature’s original microfiber: cotton. Breathable and airy, cotton performs well on steamy days and looks a helluva lot better than your outdoorsy running togs. Seersucker is cotton fabric woven in such a way that it puckers to stand away from the skin for maximum [...]

It IS about the bike.

The great Belgian cycling champion, Eddy Merckx, once said, “If you want to ride faster, don’t ride upgrades. Ride up grades.” It must have been well-known to The Cannibal, even in his day, that cyclists love to make excuses. “I’ve strained my IT band.” “I’m waiting until fall to peak.” “I can’t afford a lighter [...]

The water bottle comes full circle

Water bottles have come a long way in the past hundred years. After hauling hydration in animal skins and glass for centuries, men started using steel canteens in the two World Wars –- sturdy but heavy, they were a reliable way to schlep your water around the battlefield. Metal bottles, first steel, then aluminum, were [...]

When Jack Daniel’s invites you to Las Vegas to try their latest whiskey, you don’t say no. Other than Lynchburg, Tennessee, we can’t think of a more appropriate venue for the launch of a new variety of America’s most iconic spirit. So this intrepid reporter, camera in tow, showed up at the MGM Grand megaplex [...]

Wool for the road

It was only a matter of time before Icebreaker, the New Zealand-based maker of fine merino wool clothing, got into cycling gear. After all, merino is a perfect material for cycling – breathable, stink-free and warm or cool when it needs to be. The new GT Cycling line was worth the wait. We recently put [...]

There’s an app for that

It’s no secret that the iPhone has changed the way we work, play and communicate. The plethora of apps is staggering and this smartphone can now do anything from find your car to perform surgery (not quite). Given its capabilities, it was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to turn an [...]

From whence this bag came

Two hours north of Minneapolis, up Interstate 35, after driving through farm and forest, you crest a high hill and the view explodes in your windshield. 1,000 feet below you sits the city of Duluth at the southwest corner of the largest lake in the world, Lake Superior. Its natural harbor is at the mouth [...]

The name says it all

Energy bars are a staple for endurance athletes, outdoor adventurers and people too busy to stop for a proper meal. But even though they’ve been around for over twenty years, most still taste like cardboard and are sticky enough to be used to patch a rusted muffler in a pinch. Why can’t they taste like [...]

57° Water. 1.5 Miles. No turning back.

Bobbing in the middle of San Francisco Bay I panted as I treaded water. My arms were turning to rubber and the wetsuit was chafing my neck. I needed to stop for a rest. My friend and kayak pilot, Kevin, paddled over and said, “Good job, you’re almost a third of the way done.” Really? [...]