Since we last checked in the Brute Double Cab has carried us across Arizona spending most of the time in the Flagstaff area. The Life Untucked Tour got great insight into the Arizona market from key retailers such as Babbitt’s Backcountry in Flagstaff. With summer heating up in Arizona people are getting excited about our newer lines of synthetic and lightweight blended shorts, pants, and sun protective tops. Mountain Khakis Life Untucked Tour was one of 140 exhibitors to participate in the 2013 Overland Expo taking place at Mormon Lake Arizona (just South East of Flagstaff). The Overland Expo is an international event that educates and inspires people to get out and explore the world, by bike and vehicle. Mountain Khakis made a huge splash at the Expo, equipping everyone  with quality apparel built for mountain life. The Expo was a great success boasting over 80 free clinics to attendees including off road motorcycle riding instruction sponsored by BMW, and  an on-site overland driving course staffed by a dozen of the top overland driving skills trainers in the world sponsored by Land Rover. We got to meet the entire AEV team (American Expedition Vehicles), including the gentleman who hand built our Brute Double Cab. The quality and excellence which AEV is known for is apparent in their teams passion and dedication to innovation. Mountain Khakis quality, fit, and style spread like wildfire through the thousands of attendees at Overland Expo. We caught up with dedicated customers and broke the ice with new fans, We can’t wait for the next Expo!

I know that the term for a skier who doesn’t have a clue what he is doing is a gaper, but what is the term for someone who doesn’t have a clue about fly fishing?  The fact that I don’t even know may automatically qualify me.  I want to learn how to fly fish.  Maybe I’ve watched A River Runs Through It a few too many times.  Unfortunately, I’ve only been fly fishing a few times and think it might be a myth that people catch fish this way.

The first thing I do is go to the local fly shop in Driggs, ID to get a fishing license.  Yes, I’ve lived in Teton Valley, a worldwide fly fishing destination, for the past 3 ½ years and never bothered to actually get a license.  Then, I ask the guy in the shop, who looks the part of a fishing guide, where I should go.  Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, South Fork of the Snake, the Teton River?  He suggests the Henry’s Fork and says they are biting on nymphs, then helps me pick out a few fly patterns.  I rush home and thumb through my book Fly Fishing for Trout in Streams.  How does one use these nymphs?  I know enough to know that nymphs are for subsurface fishing, so I look through that section.  Looks like I’m going to need some tippet material and indicators.  The weather turns bad, so I delay going out.  A week later, I’m back in the shop buying tippet material and indicators.  However this time, the same guy suggests the Warm River.  They a biting on caddies.  “Oh yeah, caddies.  Sounds good.”  I again rush home and look through my book to see what he means by caddies.  Got it, dry flies.  I look through my case of flys and see a few that look similar to caddies in the book.  I also need to look and see where exactly the Warm River is.  I find it’s up by Ashton, ID, and spills into the Henry’s Fork where I had originally decided to go.

I gather up all my gear and head up to the Warm River.  When I get there I am relieved to see no one else is around.  Is this because I want a little piece of solitude?  No, it’s because I don’t want anyone to see what kind of junk show I’m going to be.  I put my rod together, clumsily tie my fly on, don my fishing vest so at least I look somewhat legit, and head down to the river’s edge.  I let out some line and try remember how to cast.  A few false casts to let some more line out, and I let the fly go.  Not too bad for the first time.  The trout are rising all over the river like it’s a feeding frenzy.  Even I should be able to catch something with these conditions.  But wait!  After a few more casts I start to come forward with my cast but it’s stuck behind me.  Look back and yep, stuck in a bush.  I put the rod down and go retrieve my fly out of the bush.  I’m sure all that movement didn’t spook the trout at all.

After a few more casts I feel like I’m getting it down a little better and keeping my fly out of the bushes, for the most part.  I’m even getting the trout to come up and take a little nibble on my fly.  Just can’t get the timing right to actually hook any of them.  Maybe it’s that I’m so surprised that they are attracted to it, that by the time I realize I need to hook, they are gone.  I move down the river bank to try a different location.  I’m a little too amateurish at this stage of the game to actually purchase waders.  A few more casts at the new location, and I spy a trout rising towards my fly.  This time I’m ready.  Just as he goes for it, I flick my wrist slightly and feel him take hold.  Oh no, what do I do now?  I never got that far in my how-to book.  I instinctively start reeling in the slack, my fishing rod bent.  The trout leaps into the air.  I’m so excited!  This is just like in A River Runs Through It.  Pull back on my rod and snap, it’s all gone.  My beautiful trout and my fly have disappeared.  Now my trout is swimming around with a fly stuck in its mouth.  Even in my fly fishing ignorance I realize this is probably a major faux pas.

I tie another fly on and keep at it.  Another angler shows up and is watching me for a while.  Can he tell that I have no clue what I’m doing?  Luckily, he has the decency not to ask “caught anything?”  With all the fish rising in the water, he probably just assumes that I have.  With the sun dipping in the west, I’m about to call it a day but figure I should try a few more casts just for practice.  With every cast, I anticipate the rise of a trout.  Suddenly, one shoots up towards my fly, and I’m ready for him.  A flick of the wrist and he’s hooked.  I pull back on my rod and start reeling him in, praying I don’t lose this one.  I take a quick glance over to see if the other angler is watching, hoping he’s sees that I’ve landed one but he’s in mid cast.  I do remember reading about anglers playing a trout while reeling it in, but I will have none of that business.  I just want that fish in my hands.  I reel the bucking and kicking trout into shore, take a good look at him and release the hook.  I couldn’t even tell you what kind of trout it was or how big it was.  I will leave the trout identification lesson and the essential angler skill of lying about the size for another day.  For now, I’m satisfied with my first outing and decide to call it a day.  I pack up my gear and drive away leaving the lone angler out on the river casting away in solitude.

I am so excited to represent the USA Jr. Men’s Freestyle Kayak Team.  The team trials were lots of fun, but the hardest competition I’ve ever entered. The never ending rain created changing water levels continually changing the hole, and just the added pressure of knowing that you had to finish in top three spots to be on the team fueled every competitor to give it their all.  Taking the top three spots are Bennett Smith, Alec Voorhees, and myself.  I am so grateful to be going to the world championship with my two best friends! Training partners, fierce competitors, and best friends; we should be a strong force to bring the USA some medals!

The 2013 World Championship will be held September2-9 at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City, North Colorado.  I have the opportunity to train with my team members in Colorado and Canada this summer.  Going to pack my favorite SUP board shorts and MK short and long sleeve organic tees for the Colorado rivers.  Thanks MK for sponsoring and making my favorite paddling attire comfortable and stylish!  Looking forward to my out west and Canadian adventures!

Last year, I bought a house.  Certainly not the nicest house, as it needed quite a bit of work.  It’s on a busy street and it was pretty exposed to a high volume of traffic. So I built a privacy fence.  It was about 75 feet long, with one gate, all wood.  It took me less than a day to dig the posts, build the fence, and stain it.  I had a bit of help from my friends and family, but it was a pretty quick, easy project.

My friend asked me to help him with his.  He wanted to build a fence that bordered his entire lot, around 300 feet, with 6 gates due to easement access issues.  I figured it wouldn’t take more than a few days, especially with two people, and he had a bobcat with an auger, rather than the hand auger from the rental shop.  The first day, we got about 30 feet in, and he ran out of materials.  The next day, we got about 20 more in before something came up and we had to stop.  The next, we got the posts in for about 90 ft of fence in the back yard, but still needed to dig and set the posts for both sides of the house.  Since this was taking much longer than anticipated, mostly because my friend refuses to buy more than a few hours worth of materials, I had to go back to work.  He claims that if he bought everything at once, I’d work through the night to get it done, and he doesn’t like to work that long at once, understandably.  Luckily, he rounded up another friend to help with the fence for a while.  When I came back to help, he’d finally gotten a palate of cedar for the slats.  I put as many up as I could, until we ran out.  Because he bought the last of the cedar, we had to wait a few more days until more cedar came in.  I had to go back to work.  After a few weeks of this, we still have to rip a few slats for the ends of the fence, where the space is an inch or two smaller than the slap, and we have to stain it.  Not sure if either of these things will ever be done, but it’s good enough to keep the dogs in.

Now onto another project.

Blazing heat…beads of sweat rolling down my face…sounds of birds chirping as I paddle toward some
trash in the water right in front of me a alligator swims off.

My name is Gabriel Gray and that was a small bit of what I do in the sport of SUP. I was born and raised on a farm in
North Florida. I spent most of my childhood exploring the local rivers and lakes in the area. My teenage years were
influenced by the Wassica River and the Gulf of Mexico; fishing, hunting, tracking, surfing and rodeo were the norm
when not helping on the farm.

I developed a passion and respect for Mother Nature and the Ocean at an early age, learning to survive of the land
around me. This added to my success as a big game tracker in the Sierra Nevada’s. After riding bulls professionally for
a while I decided it was time to move home and rediscover my roots. Completing college I became a Firefighter/EMT
and USLA open water lifeguard and moved to Panama City Beach Florida. I added the sport of Stand up Paddleboarding
as one of my passions in life shortly after and became a WPA Level 2 instructor. Later my wife and I started a local
Paddleboard company, Walkin’ On Water Paddleboards providing ECO-tours and lessons. In 2012 I became a team
member of Mother Ocean.org offering my skills in mapping and logistics for the expedition paddles we do. We have
completed over 400 river and ocean miles and becoming the first paddleboarders to conquer multiple rivers like the
Apalachicola and Kissimmee Rivers.

I am proud to be a part of the MK family and can’t wait to share stories from our trips, gear reviews and introduce
people to the exploration side of SUP!

This was the 25th annual Grizzly Triathlon.  Somehow, the weather in April, in Montana is cold, rainy and cloudy, but on Grizzly Triathlon day, it’s sunny and beautiful.  This year, the forecast was abysmal, snow, rain, wind.  It threatened to rain several times in the morning, but it held off.  As always, the sun ended up coming out, but it was unusually windy.  Claims of 40 mile and hour gusts blew straight down the canyon where the bike portion took place.  This made for a screaming fast ride out, and a brutal struggle back.

This is the first year in 10 years I did not race.  After the Great Divide mountain bike attempt, I was left with a numb hand and numb feet for 4 months, and a somewhat numb motivation to train.  Skiing this winter helped quite a bit, since it was a good break from the same routine of swimming, biking and running, but I just can’t seem to get into the pool.  I love swimming in open water, and got a chance to train in Hawaii this winter, where the water is warm enough, one doesn’t need a wetsuit.  Until the river warms up enough to be tolerable to swim with a wetsuit, I’m focusing more on riding and running, and didn’t feel prepared enough to jump into a pool swim triathlon.  I will wait until later in the year, and find open water races.

This just means that this is the first time I’ve ever watched the Grizzly Triathlon. After racing triathlons and never watching them, I found that they are more boring that I thought.  But maybe I’m jaded because I have been lucky enough to compete in them, which is way more exciting than watching.  The transition area was the most exciting thing to watch, where racers jumped out of the water and onto their bikes, then off their bikes and onto the run.  I saw just how important practicing ones transitions is.  The potential winner hopped on his bike, looked down to put his foot in his shoe, swerved into an oncoming biker, and crashed.  He quickly got up, put his shoes on, then started off again, costing him about 20 seconds.  Sure enough, at the end of the race, he finished about 20 seconds behind the 1st place racer. It would have been a great finish if it wouldn’t have lost those 20 seconds.

I was honored to be able to hand out Mountain Khakis Gift cards to the overall and age group winners.  The racers were very excited about such a nice prize.  Attached are two photos of the MK banner at the transition zone, with the canyon that the racers run and ride down in the background.

A new comer to the world of Mountain Khaki, Team Tangent gets the knob to represent MK in one of the east coasts most prestigious regattas – Charleston Race Week. Coming off their win in Key West just a few months ago, the team was ready for the level of competition Charleston has always produced. Starting the weekend of racing with a few hours of practice on Thursday afternoon to shack down any would be hazards. The team felt confident in their ability to produce good results for owner Gerry Taylor. With expected weather conditions a little outside the range of “ideal racing conditions” for most boats. Tangent, a Cape Fear 38 felt right at home with the building breeze and lumpy seas.

The next three days of racing proved to be a great showing for our new friends at Mountain Khaki. Team Tangent not only secured the class win, but placed first in each race throughout the regatta thus developing the highly coveted “Picket Fence”.

Thank you Charleston Race Week officials and Race Committee members, because of your efforts Charleston Race Week continues to produce some the best racing any sailor would dream of.

When it came time for awards, each member of the team sported a MK Soul Patch Cap, MK Granite Creek Windshirt (Graphite), and MK Granite Creek Short (Mushroom) which attracted a lot of attention by fellow sailors in the crowd. Thank you Mountain Khakis for your support as the Official Apparel Sponsor of Team Tangent. We look forward to our next adventure!

I just got home from a two-week trip to the New River Gorge, WV.  We had some of the best weather for sport climbing that I can ever remember.  I was fortunate enough to be able to add a new line to the growing list of routes at Beauty Mtn.  The project to the left of Chunky Monkey went down mid trip…  Super psyched!  Felt pretty hard, not sure on a grade but I feel the crux on the project was harder to me than the crux on Mono Loco. Mikey Williams (bolted the route) from DPM magazine just so happened to be at the crag and snagged this send footage.

When the wind outside screams like acetylene flame and all hope for peaceful sleep has been let go, I begin to think about tomorrow. When the mountain rocks and rolls and the old wooden US Weather Station sign hanging out front reaches fever pitch – the just right vibration to send it slamming, clap, clap, shotgun boom, against one ceiling board to the next I know it is coming. I’m not apprehensive. I don’t dread the coming work. Instead I lie awake in anticipation of a day that I know will leave me contently obliterated.

When the sun rises all evidence of the tempest is gone from the sky. The big orange eye is peaking between the toothpick serrations of the eastern skyline which are the high rises of Charlotte 6,000 feet below and 100 miles away. The sky is now a sparkling clear lens.

Slim and I have been here before. We know what to expect and are giddy inside. Outward appearances would seem to others more matter-of-factly, shit to do, trails to clear, let’s go. We strap to our backs chainsaw and ax, fuel and oil, food and water. Pairs of things that make our task achievable.

We know what we want to do. What we have to do. Trails and roads are completely blocked by downed spruce and fir trees from some of the strongest winds ever recorded on the mountain. Some twisted in half midway up their broad trunks. Snapped and splintered like a number 2 pencil. Some toppled over fully intact succumbing to gale and gravity. A root ball the size of an elephant sticking up into the mountain air where the evergreen once towered. Root and limb exchanging homes until further notice.

Communication is mostly of the nonverbal variety. Words are not necessary today. Hike, saw, chop, drag, tug, roll, pour, chew, grunt, heave, repeat at next impoundment. Smile and laugh.

Eighteen miles later. Dark now. Can the saws wait until tomorrow to be cleaned and sharpened? This time yes. Tomorrow should be a good day with the forecast of cloudless and 60. Lots of hikers.

Opening The Account: Dana Point GP Report:

All season long out guys have been knocking on the door in the major NCC criteriums, and with a string of podium placings and good breakaway and sprint performances, we knew our first big win of the season wasn’t far off. Shane Kline proved it Sunday afternoon at the Dana Point GP in southern California when he came from 6th wheel to take the win from MRI’s Justin Williams by a few millimeters. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s pretty safe to say just about nobody passes 6 guys in the finishing straight of these major US crits. This point was not lost on anyone watching the race, and Shane’s star is on the rise, for sure.

How it unfolded, report direct from the team van: 

The Plan was to have 5 of us covering and killing breakaway attempts. Clay was to be more selective, and try to sneak into moves that could work for us. Then with 5 laps to go we were going to take over with 5 guys. The last two in line would be Clay and Shane.

How it played out:

For the first 55 minutes or so we covered absolutely everything. Travis and Curtis were probably there the most. Nothing got away. The biggest gaps would go to solo guys. We did so much, probably too much, that teams waited on us to do it. In those situations one of us would just ride the front until we got it close. Ben got in a few moves, Clay did too, and Curtis and Travis did a lot of covering.

With 8 laps to go, a dangerous-ish two man move got away containing one of our team alumni, Thom Soladay and someone else. Curtis hustled to the front, maybe too quickly, and shut the move down, despite a strong re-attack from Soladay. This was essentially the end of Curtis’s race, and he was stuffed after that point. Clay, Chaddock, Travis, and Shane, however, were ready. A lap later they took over the front and Chaddock did two really hard laps and dropped off Clay an Shane, a bit short staffed. They capitalized on MRI’s leadout, and settled in around 10th wheel. Clay moved Shane up and kept him out of the wind, then Travis took over from Clay and continued to keep Shane protected until 1.5 laps to go. Then MRI hit it for Justin Williams. Shane did the rest like a freaking boss. He jumped from sixth wheel and closed hard winning by inches but was going way faster than the other guys. Justin second, and Ken Hanson (Optum) 3rd.

In a crash-marred last lap, Clay held on for 7th, Travis hung in for 11th.

Sandy Springs Criterium, Speed Week Finale:

After an unusually cold and windy week in the southeast, Sandy Springs did not adhere to the stereotype of what the race has been in the past, which is hot and humid. Instead, like the rest of the week, it was wet and cold.  It definitely has not been typical.

On the van drive to Sandy Springs, everyone was weather watching.  Sunny skies greeted us upon our arrival, and we were cautiously optimistic that the weather would hold for our race.  Despite our hopes, a thunderstorm dampened the course prior to our start.

The race started slowly on the wet course as crashes were happening on every lap.  The field quickly was whittled down to a select group of riders.  Frank Travieso was not satisfied, and our man Frank The Tank repeatedly attacked violently.  He got away with Karl Menzies (UHC) and dangled off the front for 40 minutes.  With UHC and Team SmartStop satisfied with the situation, the race quickly developed into a not-crashing contest.

With about 35 laps remaining, another rain front passed through.  Gusts of wind flipped over tents and blew barriers into the road.  The temperature dropped 20 degrees, and people were literally getting blown off their bikes.  It was a true contest of bicycle handling skills, turning ability, and willingness to get extremely cold.

Despite the tough conditions, Frank and Menzies stayed off the front.  Menzies was not cooperating in the group and refusing to pull.  Frank took the bit between his teeth and pushed to the line.  In the end, Menzies pipped Frank for the win, but Frank owned the race, and everyone knew it.

Meanwhile back in the field, Thomas grabbed Isaac with one lap to go, and set up to lead him out. Thomas sprinted as hard as he could and took Isaac straight over the top of the UHC leadout train.  He continued the effort through the corkscrew turns on the backside of the course, barely making it around the corners.  In the end, no one came around Thomas, and he handily won the field sprint for 3rd place, while Isaac held on for fifth.