Posts filed under 'Site News'
This post has little relevance to the outdoor sports world, and little relevance to this website. But it’s something interesting… to me anyway.
I was purchasing a car this weekend and finally narrowed my decision down to the Pontiac Vibe… made by Toyota… yeah, don’t ask me. I picked it for its fuel efficiency, utility, features, etc. Now the hard part, picking the color. With choices like “Midnight Black”, “Caribbean Blue”, and “Pine Green”… what to choose??? Well “Outdoorzy Orange” of course!
This is a stock photo, not an actual picture. I only wish my house was that colorful…
July 23rd, 2007
Well as you may have seen…. we’ve been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice Award. If you could, would you just click this link and vote for us??? 
It is really quick, you just have to put your name, an email, and password in from what I remember. We THANK YOU. And let us know if there is anything you’d like to see more of on the Outdoorzy Blog.
July 18th, 2007
Yep, the Outdoorzy Classifieds are finally up. I’ve uploaded two listings so far, and I have to say Lynn has done an excellent job creating this new section. There aren’t many sites out there that have outdoor gear classifieds. One thing we tried to do while building the classifieds section was to leave the categories broad enough that we could accomodate things other than outdoor gear.
So, don’t be shy, upload your old gear so you can clean out the closet and make room for new stuff! It only takes a few minutes. I uploaded two items, some REI boots and a sleeping bag, and it took me a total of 15 minutes… that’s taking the pictures and everything!! The design of our classifieds comes from Listifieds.com, which is now no longer around, but was an extremely well designed site done by a guy named Kevin Cox.
So, let’s get the ball rolling. List some gear, some real estate, a job, or whatever you have to sell. Try it tonight, and be on you way to saving for that cool new piece of gear you want!
July 16th, 2007
One of our newest members, Eco-Runner, has an interesting idea that is pretty basic in concept and makes sense. He calls it “eco running”. Basically, when you trail or road run, take a trash bag and pick up the junk along the way. Leave it better than you found it. That sounds like a great idea to me. I’m already thinking of how I can rig up a “holster” type device for a trash bag. Or maybe this is a good excuse for me to take a 
breather…. yep, here I am at mile 4… conveniently at a dump site…. guess I’ll have to stand here for 10 minutes and pick up trash…. not that I’m being lazy…
Well Eco-Runner doesn’t sound lazy. He’s already planning to organize eco-running events around the country. Check out his blog at http://eco-runner.blogspot.com/.
July 3rd, 2007
Now that Outdoorzy is gaining some trail cred here in the outdoor industry we’re going to start providing the readers here at the blog with detailed gear tests from time to time. We have started searching for companies that will provide us gear to test here on the blog. The first company to step up is Leki.
I contacted Leki recently and they agreed to send us two sets of trekking poles to test for you guys. One set for a male backpacker, and one set for a female. The poles were put to the test in Mammoth Cave National Park in south central Ky. The trails are moderate with quite a bit of elevation gain and loss. It rained HEAVILY when we were testing these poles, so they got a real workout on the slick uphills.
Leki Super Makalu Ergometric AS - $139.95/pair
Specs
- Series - Mountain Trek
- Shaft Aluminum 3-section
- 21.7 oz. per pr.
- Strap Auto Comfort Strap
- Grip Ergometric
- Finish Anondized
- Baskets Performance Trek Basket
- Sizes Adjusts from 71-140cm
- Lifetime Warranty Against Shaft Breakage
- Carbide Flex Tip
- Interchangeable basket system
- LS Locking System
- SAS Antishock System
- Positive Angle Grip
The Low Down
I liked these poles quite a bit. My previous poles were Leki Makalu so I had high expectations. One key difference I notice in this series as opposed to my old poles is that the material on the grips has changed. My old poles were a rubbery type material and these poles have a foamy type material. I really like the new foamy material. I thought it might soak up my sweat and get slick or smelly, but neither happened. The sweat does soak up a bit into the grip, but not enough to cause a problem. The sweat seems to evaporate from the grip before becoming saturated.
The poles fit my 6′ 1″ frame well, and I didn’t have to extend them all the way. I had at least 20-30 more centimeters left to extend. The poles do come in a “long” size to accommodate taller people. The Super Makalu Ergometric AS were light too. They are aluminum poles, and the poles tested by our female tester were titanium. There was a noticeable difference in weight, but not enough to be an issue. The weight difference is only a few ounces. I liked the anti-shock on the poles, but didn’t feel them coil unless I really hammered down on them stepping up or down from rocks. The straps are adjustable, which is nice and the poles come with a clip that holds them together when traveling. A novelty Leki carabiner also comes with the poles. Leki provides a lifetime warranty against breakage, so you won’t have to worry about that. The final verdict on these poles is that they are a bit pricey if you are looking for your first set of trekking poles. But, if you are an avid backpacker, or you are considering some serious peak bagging and you want reliability and durability, you need to go with a pole you can trust. And these trekking poles are definitely in that category. Check out Hit The Trail, from our business directory, or Leki.com for more information on these great poles.
Tune in tomorrow when our female reviewer will review the Leki Ultralite Ti Ergometric poles.
June 26th, 2007
I’m starting to get the feeling you only like us because we have so many chances to win cool stuff… that’s okay we like the attention. On top of the Optima Ultimate Adventure Trip give-away, and the Best Trip Report Contest, we now have the I Am Wolverine give-away.
Wolverine is our newest sponsor, and they have a sweet contest going as well. If you go to Iamwolverine.com you can write a quick blurb about who you are and what you love to do to be eligible to win…
- $100 gift certificate for Wolverine products - hint: you can enter to win this one multiple times, just click on the Wolverine ads on our site and it will allow you to vote over again each day, registering you to win again! And they’re cool with that
- A Wolverine Prize Pack including clothing, boots, gloves, etc.
- $500 and a featured spot in a national ad… You be the hero!
So, hop on over to Wolverine and register. And don’t forget to click on their ads on Outdoorzy over the next month while this contest is going on, and you can vote for yourself to win over and over
For those of you who don’t know. Wolverine has a full line of quality hiking boots. I checked them out at Bass Pro Shops about a month ago, and they look durable and stylish. We haven’t tested them yet, but if the quality on their hiking line is as good as their work boots and hunting boots, they should be top notch.
June 13th, 2007
As you guys know, things in this crazy world of ours aren’t free… except your Outdoorzy membership But we here at Outdoorzy have to pay bills, so to do so we put ads up on the site. The beauty is, alot of these companies have great outdoor products and gear!
Our most recent supporter is Optima Batteries. They sell batteries for boats, off-road use, and high performance cars. Most of us HAVE to have a vehicle, and these batteries last twice as long as the other leading brands. They are the best battery on the market, hands down. So, please click on the Optima Battery ads you see here on the site and check out their products. Optima is sponsoring Outdoorzy and helping us help you. So, give them a look for us when you have a spare minute.
They’re also running a killer give-away that is free to enter. Win an Adventure!
Thanks!
Wade
June 1st, 2007
You may already know him from the numerous newspapers and websites his gear reviews and columns appear in. If not, you definitely should check out his site. He is one of the top industry experts for outdoor gear. And we’re proud to welcome him to Outdoorzy.
The Gear Junkie will have regular gear reviews featured here on Outdoorzy and will be providing his detailed explanations on the pros and cons of all the new gear out there. The Gear Junkie will be reviewing everything from bikes to belay devices. We’ve already got his new Gear Review for Gorilla Tape up, so check it out.
May 23rd, 2007
You know how sometimes you need a haircut, and you just let it grow and grow and finally you say, “enough”! Well the homepage kept getting more and more stuff on it and it was time for a haircut. We kept the same basic style, but here’s an overview of the new “do”.
- Shrunk the hiking image down and added a “join” button at the top to make it easier for new members to see how to join us.
- Took the newest members images and made them larger and rotated them to a horizontal configuration. The members are the most important thing here anyway
- Listing only the top two trip reports and enlarged the pics on those
- Added a section for the newest Outdoorzy Businesses at the bottom
- Included the latest three blog headlines in the upper right-hand corner
- Added RSS to the Gear Reveiws, Gear Lists, and latest Members… Now you can click that button and you will easily see when a new member, trip report, or gear item shows up on the site!
And that’s it. Hopefully it doesn’t confuse you when you show up to find the latest Outdoorzy goodies. Let us know what you think. And as always, keep the suggestions coming in, we love to hear them and consider every one. Have a great weekend!
And thanks Lynn for working so hard on this.
May 18th, 2007
Well we’ve finally made it. We’re in Outside Magazine. We got a quick mention in the June
issue and we’re stoked. We’ve received plenty of good press online, but now we’re getting mentioned in ink. Yay!
My new goal is to make their Best Jobs List for 2008.
May 16th, 2007
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