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Featured Article
"To the Head!" -- Background Info about Mysterious Tele-Ski & Safety Cult
February 01, 2012 - It was a global underground society. Called "Planetary Defense." Mark told me about it then gave me the proper apparel and told me about the salute: "To the head!" The group was dedicated to parades, telemark skiing, safety, and...and...I forget. Here's a link to a Summit County, CO, news story about the group, and its founder (maybe?) Phil Kopp...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Featured Products from OYB Press & Friends     See All Featured Products


"Wild Shot": New XC Ski Culture book!
$22.00 (inc. S/H)
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Nordic Ice Skates!
$42.00 (inc. S/H)
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UNLIMITED! --the only DVD of year-round sport!
$15.00 (inc. S/H)
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From OYB: "Momentum" by Pete Vordenberg, Only $7!
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OYB News...and a Few Handy Items World News, Stories & Links
What is OYB? --An HQ for Indie Outdoor Education
March 08, 2011 - OYB fans the indie outdoor flame. How can we do it? Mostly because 100% of the proceeds from your purchases goes to support the mission. What's the mission? It's two-pronged. Firstly, this website has 1500+ articles that show, from diverse angles, how the active indie world connects together, in so doing it also offers affordable advertising for indie businesses. Secondly, it's a catalog that make...  > Read Article

OYB has an eBay Store!
March 07, 2011 - I've launched an eBay store for OYB. I've had the Outyourbackdoor username there for a few years, which I've used to sell luggage, books, magazines and other goodies. Heck, Martha and I have been eBaying since it started and we together have 1000+ sales with a 100% rating since, like, 1994. But I've ramped things up there, with over 100 items...  > Read Article

Donate! Help the OYB cause...
March 06, 2011 - I've had several people recently ask how they can support the OYB cause. I've been relying on my offerings of great books'n'goodies that you can't hardly get anywhere else as being the best way. "Money for stuff" is the only way I can understand making a living. But I can accept that OYB *stuff* isn't right for everyone. Also, I don't want to ...  > Read Article

Forums
February 21, 2011 - We are currently in the process of finding a new secure forum system. Please check back later.  > Read Article

Let's See Your Comments!
December 01, 2010 - Each of our OYB articles is now followed by a brand new, easy to use "Reader Comments" section, hosted by the 3rd party provider, Disqus. If you have a reaction to the story or had a similar experience or a tip to pass on, please do! (No more tricky registering via my Forum.) The OYB Forum is probably disabled right now, but really you should fe...  > Read Article

OYB Wall Calendars?
November 30, 2010 - What if each year I started offering Wall Calendars in the various main OYB themes? That is, diverse, candid, indie presentations of... *outdoor activities (w/ XC ski come winter!) *DIY fun in Michigan *bike culture *traditional seasonal outdoor subsistence sport (hunt, fish, trap, bow, gun, dog, snare, atlatl, flint, osage, net) *XC ski ...  > Read Article

OYB 10---Print Window to Modern Folkways
September 02, 2010 - [$6 postpaid.] This biggest-ever issue of OYB is a great way to get a full-figured view of the OYB scene! (I thought I was out of stock, but I just found a couple dozen. What fun! First come, first served...) The OYB "catazeen" has to be the only magazine of authentic, informal, do-it-yourself, indy adventure and outdoor culture. It also gives d...
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Should OYB & Company go Non-Profit?
April 23, 2010 - That's what I'm wondering. This is an educational cause, after all. Sure, I sell some things, but that's to support the Indie Outdoor culture and heritage outreach. I've always thought to just keep the whole thing simple, but maybe going Non-Profit would make the OYB mission clearer to the public. ? I've always thought that folks knew when they bou...  > Read Article

The OYB "Dually": a Nukeproof Saddlebag/Pannier from Repurposed Mil-Spec
April 23, 2010 - [$39, mailed in the US.] Check out this dual-purpose bag! It's a big, tactical-tough bike saddlebag. It's also a pannier! (And if you add the $10 option, it's a Shoulderbag!) And it's repurposed from a thrifty, brand-new MOLLE-type of mil-spec bag. (You know I like the versatile stuff!) Made of polyester cordura-type material...
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Hey! It's OYB's *20th ANNIVERSARY!*
February 10, 2010 - An OYB reader just emailed me today and said he was just reading the paperback compilation of Issues 1-8 and was amazed that I'd been publishing OYB since 1990. Well...I am, too! I hadn't even thought of it! I kinda had 1991 in my brain for some reason, but I suppose Issue #1 says 1990 on it somewhere. So I guess I've been out and about promoti...  > Read Article

New OYB Luggage Patch!
October 20, 2009 - UPDATE 10/09: Here's my new LEATHER luggage patch. The stamp is done, the die is on the way. Patches in 2 weeks! The photo is what the stampmaker sent me, showing a sample stamped in a sheet of leather. It'll be die-cut into an oval then riveted to the luggage. The design image shows the shape and rivet locations. It'll also functio...  > Read Article

90's Flashback: OYB Ezines (Issues 7, 8, 9)
June 26, 2009 - Here's a link to the old Homepage for the OYB Ezine. It contains the stories that ran the print issues #7 & #8, circa 1996. Many of these are presented here and there on this new website but I think quite a few are missing as well. http://outyourbackdoor.com/OYB8/contentsnew.htm The above Contents page misses a fair amount of the nifty con...  > Read Article

OYB has 1500+ Stories! --HEY!
June 23, 2009 - According to my stats, a couple weeks ago OYB sailed past the FIFTEEN HUNDRED stories/links/blurbs mark! And, hey, I just checked the date of my first article posted to this particular incarnation of my website and it was in 2000. But this count only dates back to the start of my database-based website. OYB has been rockin' as a website since 1...  > Read Article

$5 each! Huge Sale on Fifthway Books!
May 09, 2009 - $5 each for any Fifthway Press book by Ron Puhek! We'll do what it takes to get folks to give these provocative titles a try. FWIW, the date of this sale article is 2009, but it's actually 5/2010 when I'm launching this new price-point.  > Read Article

Hanging out the How-to Shingle!
December 03, 2008 - If anyone relatively near Williamston would like to learn how to have more fun---no matter what their current level---with XC skis, bikes, canoes, kayaks (rolling!), inline skates or the shooting sports, lemme know! I bet I could help give some uplift. In short order. For cheap. $20/hour, say. Kids, too. I'm hanging up my shingle!  > Read Article

Free Sample OYB!
September 07, 2008 - OK, just to show you that the web isn't everything and that PAPER rocks, too, I'm offering a FREE SAMPLE issue of OYB to anyone who ... is willing to pay the postage. Just click the PayPal order button and it'll only bill you $2 which covers most of the postage. The freebie is big, tasty issue #8. All my back issues are still available. ...
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The OYB Gift Shop!
December 29, 2006 - Chock full of goodies in fresh demographic styles. Check it out! My favorite is the khaki hat with the "skate style" green'n'blue logo. Next would be the shoulderbag. These are great items! All items priced at cost. How many corporate iden...  > Read Article

OYB Anthology! ---Indy action galore
July 16, 2005 - [$15. $5 off $20 retail!] I've been pushing the OYB Anthology on the back-issues page but really it deserves its own attention. Darn, this thing is full of amazing stories and artwork. It's the first 8 issues of OYB bound together as a nice perfectbound paperback 8.5x11" book. 200+ pages. I'll see if I can find an index to the stories in it....
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OYB Back Issues: New to You!
July 10, 2005 - Back issues are available here on this page cheap! --- $2 to $5 ea (postpaid), depending on weight. Scroll down to see quicky-indexes below. Paper issues have tons of stories not at this website. (And verse vicea.) I must say, these are amazing zines. I had wonderful layout and editorial help over the years. To show what I mean, I scanned th...  > Read Article

Martha launches LazyGal!
March 06, 2005 - Martha's gift item studio is now a full-service website full of pillows, blankets, scarves, dresses, with dealers and shows coming up and creativity bursting out every which way. She had a huge Chicago art fest success this summer and is having a blast. She even hosted a quilt retreat up north for the ladies (wit...  > Read Article

Little Miss Lucy!
November 06, 2004 - Henry isn't the only pintsized artist around here. Lucy (4) is into DIY song and dance (with a foghorn voice and fiery temper). She's also sprung a few graphics surprises on us. She signs her name several cool ways. We find scary smiley faces around the house. And...  > Read Article

Jeff's Dreams
October 08, 2004 - Probably most folks think that other people's dreams is dumb. But ya never know. In case there are dream buffs here, here are some of my typical dreams. I recently had a doozy. It was too beautiful. Here goes: I'd found several areas in the total wasteland of a suburb that I now live in where people lived as actual humans. There was a scene with...  > Read Article

Homebrew vs. Hightech, The Training Plan Duel!
September 05, 2004 - Mike Muha is a local friend and ski racer. He runs a super XC ski racing website. We have agreed to take up the challenge of the Dueling Training Plans. He's using a fancy-schmancy coach and eensy-weensy-details training plan to reach his goal of improving his ski race results. I'm using willynilly Backyard Methods of reach my goal of losing 10 pou...  > Read Article

Henry's Spark, a Kick-scooter for Snow
February 05, 2004 - So I made time the other day to whip together a Xmas present for the kiddies. A Norwegian "spark" or kickscooter for use on snow and ice. I've seen quite a few drawings of them in things like the "Boy's Handy Book." And thanks to Dave Dermott on the XC ski Usenet newsgroup, I've discovered that there's a whole world of sparks out there, including m...  > Read Article

OYB Hits the Big League
February 05, 2004 - Over the next year or so, I'm gonna make zining into my new *anti*dayjob!!!! I have a very rare chance to give it a shot. I've sold off most of my worldly assets and greatly simplified life's undertakings, plus I've basically sold my job. It's my first big work change in 15 years! If you know of anyone else who is pulling off a stunt like t...  > Read Article

The Myth of the Natural
February 05, 2004 - It's amazing how people think you don't have to know how to do something to be able to do it. --At a somewhat high level, one that is satisfying anyway. I'm thinking of sports. But it seems to relate to education in general. The myth of the natural---someone who can be an expert in something without practice, coaching or training---puts down edu...  > Read Article

Postscript: Bluegrass Serendipity Up North
February 05, 2004 - An interesting postscript to our trip down south, where we got to meet Balder Saunders, is that a couple weeks after we got home, I got an email from Jack saying that his other boy, Owen, would be here in Detroit playing bluegrass the next day. I'd never met Owen, but I'd read about him in Jack's novels, just as I'd read about Balder. I read as ...  > Read Article

Our Down South Drive in 2003
February 05, 2004 - Well, I've been meaning to write this up for awhile now. I better do it while it's still fresh. I learned several interesting new things on this trip and met some amazing people and did a few nifty things, so here we go.... It's been several years since we went on a big roadtrip drive exploring new territory. It's been 4 years since we vi...  > Read Article

A Rant on Zines ... at the Big U
February 05, 2004 - I just got to give a speech all about zines and print media and how the Net has impacted them at MSU today for 300 kids in a class at the Journalism Dept! I haven't talked in public in 10 years, and never to a big auditorium, like, with a mic. An MSU professor heard that I did both books and websites and asked if I would give a talk. Since I wasn't...  > Read Article

Our Out-West In-Laws RV Road Trip Report
January 05, 2000 - Well, I'm back. We survived our 4200-mi road trip in our little RV. Me, my family and the in-laws! How bout that! We went from Mich > Ariz and back by way of Boulder, Colo, my old stomping grounds. I rode my bike every day after our driving. What a great way to explore and get fresh air. So here's the report: the US has become Bangla...  > Read Article

How About an American Drilling? (What's a Drilling, you ask?)
February 03, 2012 - "One gun to rule them all." A perennial hook'n'bullet campfire discussion is "If you could only have one gun..." I admit I'm happy to go there. And, like many, there are Swiss Army Knife influences on my gun interests. Versatility is something one can easily pine for. Most hunting is actually quite specialized, however; but the idea of a...  > Read Article

Hybrid Guns, Ahoy!
February 03, 2012 - Freak guns, ahoy! Weird gun hybrids are popping up a lot these days. Budget gunmakers Rossi, Taurus, and H&R seem to be leading the charge. What's up with those guys? Who's in charge? I sense wild characters at work. Some "car guys" have been given the keys to the factory and is cranking out some seriously creative firearms that are keeping the ...  > Read Article

Marbles Reissues Classic "Game Getter" Pack-Gun!
February 03, 2012 - I just found out that Marbles has re-issued their classic combi-gun, the Game-Getter. I've been posting and harping about this gun for years. I can't believe I missed this new item. Maybe I overlooked it because it's pricey and the barrel is too long, but whatever, it seems clearly like news. The Game-Getter has always been "illegal" in modern t...  > Read Article

Water Tribe Small Boat Everglades Challenge, March 3
February 03, 2012 - Mark it on your calendar to go to the site and follow the news and action online via the Spots and report-in's. 300 miles self-supported around the Florida peninsula by canoe, kayak, small sailboat. It seems to take the winners and hard-chargers a few days to a week. But then there was the year with the strong beam-reach wind when the c...  > Read Article | Go to Website

The Moveable Feast: Flexible Ski Events Go Where There's Snow
February 02, 2012 - It almost seems like the structured-event approach to skiing should change (to a degree). The answer seems to be for folks to just drive to where there's snow as need be. Any trail with snow on it, groomed or not, can handle hundreds of fun-hogs. Like, we have no snow in SE MI, but I heard Marquette was just pounded. So let's just head north and ca...  > Read Article

Skiing Outside the Box: Learn from Mt-biking?
February 02, 2012 - I just got the new issue of Dirt Rag and read the cover story on the new US rage for Eurostyle enduro racing. It's been booming in Europe, now it's here. Enduro mtbiking is a combination of XC and DH. Typical riders have been finding XC to be too uber-fitness oriented and DH too extreme with big air and ultra-specialized robo-monster equipment. ...  > Read Article

Wondering What Happened to Biff America, Ski Bum...
February 01, 2012 - I was just wondering about what might've happened to an old ski bum acquaintance from Breckenridge days in the mid-80's so I looked him up. Google is like that. Biff America (aka Jeff Bergeron) was a wild character who had a public access TV show. He was from Boston and still had the accent to prove it. For some reason I recall him telling me hi...  > Read Article

George Herter's Child-rearing Theory
January 31, 2012 - George Herter is a 50's-era hero of mine. He ran a sporting goods empire and wrote dozens of books on dozens of diverse topics that he sold through his sporting goods catalog. He was an opinionated bon vivant. Some say he knew what he was talking about, but his Bull Cook cookbooks are something else. How does he know all this food history? How does...  > Read Article

Skiing the Gatineau Big Loop! -- 95km in a Day!
January 31, 2012 - OK, they call it the "Grande Boucle" up there. It's an idea that has only been accomplished a few times. Here's a link to a report about a posse' of young'uns who ski-skated all around the whole Gatineau trail system a few springs ago. It was a sunny warm spring crust skiing sort of day. But I'll let them tell the rest... http://www.x...  > Read Article | Go to Website

Frank Allison Documentary: Funnest Michigan Band
January 29, 2012 - I've posted stuff about Frank here before, but it was with a post about Goober, so here he is on his own now, sheesh. Frank Allison and the Odd Sox was the funnest band ever. They were based out of Ann Arbor in the 1990's and they drew weekly crowds for about a decade, until Frank's vocal cords got injured (same as Diane Rehm's, as I recall). ...  > Read Article | Go to Website

Weird Fun Music, Michigan-Style
January 29, 2012 - If you like weird Michigan music (synonymous?) you gotta check out the YouTubes (and CDs) that I've linked to here before. No, Michigan isn't weird, it's special. Bold and distinctive. Doesn't mind being funny. I won't link to 'em again because I see they're still there down below, but here's a quick runthrough of some basics... (Feel fr...  > Read Article

Yankee Springs Resort: Cheap!
January 29, 2012 - The Long Lake Outdoor Center is a traditional CCC-built rustic resort located in the Yankee Springs Rec Area in Western Michigan. It rents on a scalable basis for about $6/head from 4 to 200 campers, summer and winter. Seems like a great secret getaway location, to me!  > Read Article | Go to Website

Why Not Give Star Students the Star Athlete Treatment?
January 28, 2012 - Every newspaper contains action-packed accounts of young student athletes -- many in grade school -- and the explanations their eager coaches have for their latest exploits. They also interview the kids as to what recently went down. Now there are also a lot of other action-packed kids and students out there who interact with teachers and other ...  > Read Article

Vintage Survival Skills Video, Courtesy of the Military
January 28, 2012 - "Tastes like chicken!" Here's a link to a YT video that seems kind of cute from this distance. I wonder how many times these skills were used in the war. I'd think only a few. I suppose parts of the training came in handy. It seems that reality would likely be a bit less tidy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyzF1PtwaXk&feature=related I...  > Read Article | Go to Website

Best Ski Culture DVD Ever! -- "The Cross Country Experience -- Bill Koch"
January 27, 2012 - I can't believe I haven't had any mention of this wonderful, potentially life-changing movie until now. Actually, I did post about it -- in a Comment to a Sled story years ago. Ha! Hardly the prominence it deserves! I should rep this flick. I'm its biggest fan. Well, until YOU watch it, that is! The fans of this flick stack up pretty deep over the ...  > Read Article

Crashing? Less Fun? --Check Your Binding!
January 25, 2012 - My skis have been throwing me more and more. I was wondering what was the matter. I have an idea -- they're kinda soft in the tails and that's a bit of a problem. But it turns out there's something else that was also a really big snag. I've been using Automatic NNN bindings more often lately. Why not, right? Well, I suddenly noticed that they...  > Read Article

Potto Raid 2012 Report & Pics
January 24, 2012 - The 7th Annual Potto Raid resulted in a broken ski and some bumps'n'bruises, but it's still the funnest, most challenging and most scenic XC ski race that nobody knows about. It also has the best prizes to fees ratio. Well, it's unbeatable there since the fee is zero, but the prizes are just plain dandy: Quality microbrew sixers! ...And various...  > Read Article

XC Trail Skiing Armor and Protection?
January 23, 2012 - My pals and I ski mostly ungroomed trails and look for challenges there. So our needs are different from groomer-skiers. Our needs overlap a fair bit with tele skiers. The topic of protection/armor comes up now and then. Skill makes it mostly unneeded, but everyone crashes, so we're thinking about it more. --For ourselves as we age, and for othe...  > Read Article

Singletrack Fever: Skills to Return to our Roots
January 22, 2012 - [NOW WITH PICS! 1/23/12] Here's a story of mine that "Silent Sports" ran last winter. It's a doozy! With lots of pics. Here's a link to the story on their website (http://www.silentsports.net/crosscountryskiing/117241278.html), but there aren't any pics. I'll run the pics after the text. Singletrack Fever: Skills to Return to our Roots ...  > Read Article

The Skidaddle: a "Must-have" New Trail-Skiing Technique
January 21, 2012 - It's common when skiing hiking trails to encounter eroded uphills with obstacles where the stride and herringbone aren't the only tools you need. You need a special new trick that's not mentioned or taught anywhere but here. (Dang! Where do we keep coming up with these finds? Why, the Real World, and nowhere else!) You need a compact side scampe...  > Read Article

Get Cold to Stay Warm
January 20, 2012 - How to stay warm this time of year? It can be tough. But there seems to be a knack to it. The main feature of the knack, as far as I've learned it, is that the first 15 minutes can be real cold and painful ... and that's OK. The key being: don't give up! Don't think "I'm not cut out for this," or that you're dressed wrong. If you're dressed rig...  > Read Article

America's Cup is to Sailing as Skate Ski Racing is to Skiing...
January 17, 2012 - I just saw a video about the America's Cup. I hadn't heard tell of it in decades. Didja know it's all about catamarans these days? They don't have sails, they have carbon wings. They go 40mph and are staffed with about a dozen body-builders who are all wired into the craft. There's not much boat there. All the cats look about the same. It seems lik...  > Read Article

Open Letter to Backcountry Magazine
January 17, 2012 - I just saw an old post on the "Fun til Death" blog (http://funtildeath.blogspot.com -- great bumpersticker) that caught my fancy. --Among all the posts that also caught my fancy. (Fun blog!) He's a Kalamazoo guy who loves outdoor fun. He wrote to the editor of "Backcountry" magazine asking that they include the Midwest in their coverage since...  > Read Article

Going Where The Weather Suits My Snow: Yankee Springs
January 16, 2012 - Three of us went to Yankee Springs yesterday, Sunday, for *5 hours* of nonstop ski challenge, fun and scenery. Perfect packed powder conditions. ...It was *so nice* to feel real winter underfoot. It was cold (25F) and sunny all day. Blue skies and face tans. That's the great thing about low-overhead events like the Potto Raid, or skiing "just pl...  > Read Article

Heikki Lunta! Heikki Lunta! --Make it snow, make it snow!
January 11, 2012 - OK, this is getting silly. But it's all going to change tomorrow. Right? Right!!! It's time to pull out all the stops! What we need to make it a sure thing is for everybody to do the Heikki Lunta dance and to sing the song. The Heikki Lunta story is a great one that everybody should know. ...How the poor Yooper Heikki Lunta danced and sang...  > Read Article

Thrifty Rackless Bike Luggage from Military Surplus!
January 09, 2012 - So didja know that a dozen different new and old-style military bags make great bike bags? Here's a big report on what I've discovered along these lines... (If you know a magazine that would like to publish it, lemme know! I've tried a bunch. No bites. Seems like a cool, original topic to me, though. You know, none else like it.) First, as y...  > Read Article

Standup Canoeing and Poling: a New Kind of SUP
January 09, 2012 - Here's all the idea of the various scattered SUC and Poling pieces wrapped into one. It's the text from a story of mine that "Silent Sports" ran this November... It's a nice summary of the "Everyman" variations on SUP that I'm promoting... Here's a link to the story on their website: http://www.silentsports.net/paddling/standup-canoeing-13299022...  > Read Article

Dune Skiing Lake Michigan...
January 08, 2012 - Here's a little local thin-snow ski inspiration. I saw it on the "Fun 'til Death" Michigan outdoor blog at http://funtildeath.blogspot.com, who in turn found it at TelemarkTips.com. It's a short video of skiing down the dunes at Benzie County, Lake Michigan... Read Article

Old Polish "All Mountain" XC Movie...
January 08, 2012 - That's the spirit! http://youtu.be/F__QS6FGX6Q  > Read Article

Vintage Military "All Mountain" Ski Skills -- with XC!
January 08, 2012 -  > Read Article

Tactical Duty Pack
January 02, 2012 - [$50 mailed in the US. (Non-US costs extra postage.)] This is a medium rucksack with a lot of mil-spec tech-pack bells'n'whistles. Its best special feature, I think, are the sizable pouches on the waistbelt. I really need to have access to a few goodies while I'm under way -- like: digicam, map, snacks. Details: Constructed of rugged ... > More Info > Purchase

Jumbo Modular Fanny Pack
January 02, 2012 - [$40 mailed in the US. Non-US extra.] This is a big super-versatile fanny pack. You could easily carry 10 pounds of gear in it for an all-day hike, say. Spare clothes, lunch, some gear. Carry a bladderbag above it for yer water. It also attaches to the back of either Modular Field Pack, which is neat. Details: Constructed of rugged tactic... > More Info > Purchase

Mike's Cool Vintage Bag
December 30, 2011 - Pal Mike has a neat old leather shoulderbag with an attached mesh bag. I wonder what it really is... Is there fishing involved?  > Read Article

All Hail the Deux Chevaux! Econo-Car Supreme!
December 27, 2011 - Are we ever going to see another thrifty, sippy, easy to work on, supergroovy car? I hope so! The Citroen 2CV used to satisfy all those demands. It would get 45mpg with one of its two cylinders tied behind its back. Today car makers strain to deliver 40mpg...and superhighhorsepower...and unrepairable sexiness. Well, simple is often sexy. ...  > Read Article

Best Way to Regain Lost Legs?
December 26, 2011 - OK, it's been a couple months since I did much riding. And for the past year I've ridden half of what I did the previous year. And the previous year was a fairly low point itself for mileage and effort because just a couple years earlier I had ridden a couple times a week with both kids in a trailer, in addition to weekly club rides. And those trai...  > Read Article

Favorite Puzzle Ever: Folk Dance
December 23, 2011 - I just had a big holiday puzzle-making thrill. ...My favorite puzzle ever! What made this puzzle special? Well, it's based on a wonderful painting of a rural folk dance scene, in the Thomas Hart Benton style, I'd call it. A lot of action, people and color. I really like how the people are actually doing a real dance of some kind. It's not ...  > Read Article

What's in a Name? --"Trail" or "Adventure" Skiing?
December 22, 2011 - I've been thinking that to give XC skiing a shot in the arm, a jumpstart, that it needs to be busted open, wide open. But how? And what do I mean, anyway? Right now, nearly all XC skiing is considered to be done on wide, groomed trails. And ski-skating has the reputation for being the fast'n'fun side of XC. That's cool except for the fact th...  > Read Article

Carolyn Chute & No-Wing Militia
December 17, 2011 - Carolyn Chute is peeking out of the forest. Probably because her huge new book just came out. (She says the manuscript was 2600 pages.) Here are links to stories from the reporters she let in the house and yard. They have different angles and all are worth reading. Catch that her hubby is illiterate. Whoa, is right! In the "Time" story noti...  > Read Article

Our National Music? Song? Dance?
December 14, 2011 - What's a good national song and dance? ...I watched "Long Way Round" the other day, about the two movie stars riding their enduro motorcycles around the world. Good buddy flick. As they visited countries the locals would show them hospitality and, in the case of the Ukraine in particular, during the resulting party their hosts would sing them so...  > Read Article

We Like Nite Bike Ride
December 12, 2011 - [UPDATE from 11/24/11. I finally made a picture of a memorable scene I saw when I looked back down the trail during our night ride. Nobody had a camera, so I had to make an oldschool to provide some art.] We've been having a local neighborhood Tuesday Nite mtbike trail ride this fall. But last night I wandered an hour away and hooked up with a ...  > Read Article

It's That Time of Year! --XC Ski Lessons! Sweet Ski Videos!
December 11, 2011 - Hey, if anyone wants to learn how to XC ski better, I'm for hire! : ) $20 for an hour lesson. Fixes are easy and will typically hugely improve skills for fun, racing, touring. Ditch the floundering and strain -- if you're not easily gliding *up* the hills, you need a lesson. A fun and super-helpful extra thing we could do is to videotape you skii...  > Read Article

The Michigan Bush Rats: Many Annual Winter Trips to the Bush
December 11, 2011 - Have you heard of them before? I hadn't. I'm glad Bob Yankus mentioned them to me in an email. They're the Michigan Bush Rats and they run MiBSAR trips into the wintery woods north of the Soo about 15-20 times a winter, I hear. This is the real rough stuff. They're getting ready and staying ready to go out and help find someone who's lost. "...  > Read Article | Go to Website

2012 Michigan Backcountry Ski Series
December 08, 2011 - Here's the schedule for this season's Big 3 homestyle DIY self-supported super-fun no-fee no-rules non-event ski outings! I daresay you couldn't have any more fun (or challenge) in the snow and not explode. Our dates always luck out with great conditions. So come ride the wave! You won't want to miss the apres' action, either. Bring good snacks ...  > Read Article

Quite a Bunch of Dudes
December 08, 2011 - Thanks, Chris B, for putting me onto this! It's an article about a new TV series. "Garden&Gun" --ha! What a mag/site title! Well, this here's a story about a great group of dudes. Dang, I like great gangs. Of course, they're rich folks who party together, but I won't begrudge 'em. Good groups come in all flavors. Color isn't only determi...  > Read Article | Go to Website

OYB Customer: Uses OYB Pannier Creatively on a Nice Bike
December 08, 2011 - Here are a few pics of nifty ways to mount the OYB Classy Retro Pannier, courtesy of customer Paul Carlberg of Grand Rapids, MI. If you want to do this with a pannier, let me know when you order and I'll install the clips appropriately. Or, you can request strap-slots instead which come with 3 leather straps for a more common way of installing a...  > Read Article

Ski What Ya Ride!
December 07, 2011 - "Ski what ya ride!" Break the addiction to grooming and free yourself on sustainable zero-impact singletrack skiing. Trail skiing is the mtbiking of XC ski. Groomers are for roadies. There's a place for both, but the hitch/opportunity is that most "real" XC skiers today are stuck on "road." But there are 10X as many trails out there as groomed area...  > Read Article

Lucius Beebe: Foppishly Refined Foodie
November 25, 2011 - Anyone know who Lucius Beebe was? My uncle Kent mentioned him so I looked him up. He was considered the best-dressed man back in the 30's-40's. He was a sassy dapper dan, a top food and culture writer, with several long-lasting columns spanning decades in newspapers and magazines like Gourmet. As a young newsreporter he would cover fires in formal ...  > Read Article | Go to Website

Secret Wild Food Feasts in San Fran... Do it here?
November 23, 2011 - Here's an LA Times story about a WILD FOOD DINNER that you don't find out about until the day of when you're emailed the address. They serve foraged food and wild-game, too. Something sounds cool about this. Maybe it's a way to avoid the overhead of a restaurant...and inspectors? But how to avoid a snitch... Is it possible to do out in the 'bur...  > Read Article | Go to Website

What I Learned on My Vacation: JP's Visit to Cali, 2011
November 20, 2011 - "Now, ya listen to a story about a dude named Jeff, got a phone call and left his family there. Then one day he was shootin' at some food..." Oh, forget it. I don't shoot my food, I pick it up off the road. So, my uncle Kent in Hollywood had extra miles on his card and doesn't fly anymore so he invited us to come out to visit, since they're not ...  > Read Article

Adventure Prize Candidate Promotes "Microadventures"
November 19, 2011 - National Geographic has an annual "adventurer of the year" people's choice award. This year includes a guy who is, I gather, a bigtime adventurer, only he recently stopped spending all that money jetsetting around the globe to scare himself and instead explored around his home town -- and had a great time doing it. So he then started promoting the ...  > Read Article | Go to Website

Bike/Action Lights Set-up & Tips
November 16, 2011 - Here's the bike light combo I've been using for a few years: *Headlamp; *Sticklight, floody-type, with bar-mount; *Red blinky tail-light; *Big ol' Spotlight. My set-up seems pretty good to me. Of course, I really do need a Spot-type sticklight, but whatever, I've been making-do with the Big Ol' Yeller. I use these lights for every other purp...  > Read Article | Go to Website

Link to the ULA Website: the Original "Occupy" Protest!
November 02, 2011 - The ULA never camped out in front of a city hall...because we were too poor to do so. We had jobs. But we DID doggedly protest elitist 1%-ers in in the literary world -- who were actively preventing relevant art for the 99%. Underground Literary Alliance heroes like Karl "King" Wenclas stood out in the cold with placards wondering why folk wr...  > Read Article | Go to Website

JP's 50th B-day & Halloween Shindig
November 01, 2011 - It started out as a small mtbike ride. (Including 2 MB1s & an MBZip!) With a bonfire, guitars, and potluck. But it grew into a feast with: smoked venison, roasted venison, squirrel stew, grouse, pickled pike, fried green tomatos, two kinds of homebrew from our yard hops, yard raspberry trifle (with double-boiler sabayon and homemade lady"mi...  > Read Article | Go to Website

Great Lakes Waves *Rocked* Last Weekend!
October 18, 2011 - Didja see the big news about the Great Lakes waves last weekend? Oct. 15-16, 2011. They were HUGE. Check out the "wolf map" for the weekend. (I love the map of Lake Superior. It looks like a wicked wolf, don't it? Mischievous.) Notice the 25+ foot waves in the SE corner? Whoa! I would LOVE to see some freighter pics or vids from that day. Think...  > Read Article

More Mini-Motos...
October 18, 2011 - Motorcycles don't have to be monstrous to be cool. Do they. Here are pics and links to a bunch of motos that have small engines and lightweight components. Many have pedals. You know I'm down with this kind of moto, having posted about it many other times before. Small, cheap, speedy -- far range, superhigh gas mileage, stylish. What's not to...  > Read Article

Great Lakes Surfer magazine
October 18, 2011 - Wind and waves = surf. Third coast.  > Read Article | Go to Website

Salon and I rant about the Avoidance of Culture
October 14, 2011 - After reading the following Salon post, I continue to be intrigued by the dominance these days of art which seems proud of having no content. The stifling cool of irony keeps clinging. Clever style, atmosphere and pose STILL seem to be the main values. What's there to actually INSPIRE anyone? I feel sorry for kids today. Kids need art. The pop song...  > Read Article

Global is Local: Bringing the Wars Home
October 12, 2011 - I usually only cover local topics here and basically only have a local knowledge of what's going on, partial at that. But I'm curious about the wars. It seems like they're the biggest deal in our lives since Vietnam. It's hard to imagine that the combination of their cost and the cost of homeland security aren't what's really behind most of our ...  > Read Article

Motorized Bicycles: a Big Scene!
October 05, 2011 - I've long thought that more could be done with bikes and little motors than the standard scooters and mopeds I've seen around. Actually, I haven't seen many mopeds. ...Saw one at a museum the other day -- a neat black 1960's-type item with the motor over the front wheel. I remember those! Seemed like a great idea. Our neighbor had one. I haven't se...  > Read Article

Original RAAM Racers Reunite for Big Race! 10/7
October 03, 2011 - The four founding fathers of ultra cycling are getting together for yet another big race! It'll be their first together in a long time, I bet. Lon Haldeman, John Howard, Michael Shermer, and John Marino did the first race across America in 1982. And these dudes have been active cyclists ever since. Chris Kostman set up the reunion to happen...  > Read Article | Go to Website

Here's a Quote...
"Throughout my life I've never turned from the glory road. You, sir, are on the glory road, and I shall follow."
— from Robert Heinlein's "Glory Road"---a subordinate says this to his leader as they're about to go to likely doom (possibly paraphrased)