by J-Tree Dave
With 90° weather, a good dose of humidity, and sunny sky’s reported back home on the lake in Michigan, Torr and I decided to end the road trip a few weeks early and B-Line it back to Pinckney. We are taking the month of July to get caught up on work around the office and at the shop, visit friends and family, restock the RV, and get ready for our next jaunt out west for the Out Door Retailer in SLC August 3rd. Of course with weather like this, we are also taking the opportunity to hit the water for some wake boarding everyday over our lunch break. Torrent loves the water, and he thinks he is a lifeguard for people wake boarding. He’ll be jumping off the dock right after you, even if its a high dive, and barking when you crash behind the boat.
Summertime in Michigan
July 6th, 2010Bend Oregon - Our Favorite town
June 10th, 2010
Santa Cruz had the lead for our favorite town of the trip… that was until we got to the home of our favorite pet products company Tazlab (this is a link… check it out!).
Bend has it all (within a half hour of downtown)
- Mt Bachelor
Smith Rocks
- The perfectly groomed single track Whoops Trail trail with big banked corners and rolling table-top jumps
- White Water Rivers
- Wakeboarding Lakes
- Surfing - just a few hours away.
- To top it off, there is a brewery on every corner!
Bend wasn’t all play though… we got plenty of work done at the Tazlab headquarters. between bike rides and climbing, we were developing strategies to help them sell our Pet Salve, and working on a super awesome new project called Silipint (another link here!).
Check out how cool these squishy pint glasses are! Un-breakable, re-usable, and imprint-able with custom logo’s. Just wait till you get your hands on one!
Sick Mountain Biking in Santa Cruz
May 14th, 2010By Skittles
Following the Sea Otter Classic, we made our way north to find out what everyone at the race was talking about: the epic-ness of the Santa Cruz mountain bike trails. And OMG were they sick!
Most of the trails we rode started with long long long climbs to be followed by bomber downhills. After one epic ride, both David and I were wishing we had some plush full suspension bikes to cruise the trails on! Lucky for us, our friends Ryan and Val, let us demo some of their awesome Bionicon bikes that have a unique feature that let’s you adjust your geometry on the fly!
Our biking adventures in Santa Cruz wouldn’t be complete without some of the new friends that we were lucky enough to make. Troy, Haley, Johnny and Ashley all came into our lives after meeting some of their mutual friends while we were on the road. Thanks for showing us the goods in SC guys!
For anyone in the SC area, you need to check out these awesome trails: Magic Carpet at UCSC, Enchanted Forest in Nisene Marks and the Top of the World!
Group Rides
May 5th, 2010by Dave
So, we have established that SC has some sick trails… well they also take their social riding to a whole new level. Our friends Troy and Hailey invited us on their wednesday night group ride. We left his house, rode across town, picked up two more guys, swung through the beer store, and loaded up our jersey pockets and camel backs with frosty cold brews, then embarked on a 45 minute, 2,500 foot, nauseating, climb to the summit of the UCSC campus. As we crested the summit, onto a big grassy meadow, we were met by about 50 other riders… all drinking beer! Laurel and I were miffed by this… we usually just drink a beer with the guys when we get back to the parking lot AFTER the ride!
The sun was getting low in the sky, and temps were dropping quick, so we hastily passed out samples of cycling salve for everyone to help heal their saddle sores and rock scrapes (gotta work, even we were playing!) We put back a cold one, and embarked on the gnarliest, most technical down hill of our lives! We both made it out, mostly unscathed, but it sure would have been nice to still be riding that plush Bionicon from last week!
Pinnacles
May 3rd, 2010by Dave
On our way back to Santa Cruz (yes… going back - we love this town) from the Wildflower, we took a quick detour up to Pinnacles National Monument. Massive monoliths, spires, sheer-walled canyons and talus passages define millions of years of erosion, faulting and tectonic plate movement. Pinnacles also offers some climbing, so we thought a day hike through the Talus Caves might give us the opportunity to swag out some climbers with our hand salve. We choose not to climb ourselves, as unanimous advise from our friends was that the rock quality was dangerously low, and even drilled bolts sometimes failed. The hike was pretty cool, and topped out at a big lake for the dog and I to swim in. We didn’t actually meet any climbers, but we did see the SAR (Search and Rescue) team blazing up the trail on our way down in response to a climber fall!
World Tour Check-in :: 4 Months (has it really already been 4 months?)
April 27th, 2010By Skittles
So today, April 27, 2010 will officially put David, Torrent and I on the road for over 4 whole months now. We are kind of surprised that it has been that long already. I personally can’t believe that much time has flown by already! Perhaps a year long adventure may turn into another? Can’t say for certain at this point, but just that we are having the time of our lives!
Days on the Road: 132
Miles Driven: Approximately 11,000
Odometer Reading Today: 44,611
National Parks Visited: 4
Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwiches Eaten: 2
Number of times we wanted to kill each other living the RV: 3
Trade Shows Attended: 3
Festivals Attended: 3
Bike Races Attended: 1
Bags of Dog Food Torrrent’s Eaten on the Road: 3
Major RV Repairs: 1
Minor RV Repairs: 6
# of Repairs Caused By David: 6
# of Repairs Caused By Laurel: 1
Miles on the MTB: 141
Days of Rock Climbing: 17
Days on the Slopes: 8
Ski Resorts Visited: 6
Number of States Visited: 11
Friends & Family Visited Along the Way: John, Clint, Mike, Kelly & Mike, BJ & Setsuko, Trevor, Skyler, Brian, Brian & Andrea, Mom & Tom, Elizabeth & Jason, Steve & Sharon, Ryan & Val
Friends & Family Who’ve Stayed with Us: Bentley & Jessica, John, Clint, Mike, Sara Climber Girl, Trevor & Darcy
Parking Tickets: $105
Davenport - Camping Surfside
April 24th, 2010by Dave
The controversial ‘anti-homeless’ law in Santa Cruz states that no one is allowed to sleep in, on, or near a vehicle between the hours of 11pm and 7am. This created a bit of a hassle for us in the RV. We did pretty well at picking new, obscure spots to park each night, but the most disappointing part was that we never got to wake up to the morning sea breeze and crashing surf. Then we discovered the town of Davenport. A dozen miles North of Santa Cruz, with a big dirt lot right on the bluff over the water, was our camping spot of choice! A big sandy beach at the bottom of the bluff with HUGE crashing waves, and a couple really cool streams cut into the rocky bluff, scattered with crabs and bright green algae. Torr loved it!
Sea Otter Classic, Oh yeah!
April 18th, 2010By Skittles and Torrent
Wow, what a weekend! For those of you who have not yet had a chance to attend or race the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA - holy heck, what an event for both racers and spectators! First off, a huge shout out to, Skip, one of the coolest race directors we’ve come across. He hooked us up with a sweet booth spot for the weekend which literally made ALL the difference. Thanks for everything Skip!
Our time at the Laguna Seca State Raceway started on Wednesday night after a beautiful, but grueling drive up the PCH 1 from Santa Barbara. The Pacific Coast was a sight to see from our huge RV windows and we made a couple of touristy stops at the Hearst Castle and to see the elephant seals (who were beached to go thru their annual molting process - ewww gross!) along the way. However, after about an hour into the drive, the twisty, narrow roads got to us and we were so so glad to finally hit some freeway heading towards the race venue!
This was our first bike race of the trip and we were stoked to be able to get the word out about JTree products to so many racers, enthusiasts and fans. The weather for the 4 days of the race couldn’t have been any better - sunny and 70! Perfect! (Apparently, it beats the rain they’ve had at the race for the past two years.) To add to the excitement of our first Sea Otter, it was also a chance to see our friend Kelli, who was also racing for Giant bikes that weekend. It was really exciting to watch Kelli’s races and to cheer her on from our booth! I also had the chance to duck out of the booth for awhile to do a group pre-ride of some of the pro-xc course with her - good times! Both the Giant and Gary Fisher teams were hooked up with some JTree products over the weekend - we hope those folks enjoy our stuff!
As for our booth….it was probably our most EPIC event yet! We handed out over 1500 samples of our JTree Cycling Salve, and educated everyone receiving one that it is super awesome for healing road rash, saddle sores and just about any other skin irritation you could think of. A sick crash cream and chamois ninja sauce all in one! Booya! A great story from the weekend was this older gentleman that stopped by our booth after finishing the 100 miler Gran Fondo. Dave gave him the run down on our product line and he reluctantly took a sample saying that he would give it a try, even though he said that “this kind of stuff never works.” Well, the next day, bright and early as Dave was setting up the booth, he walks up with his wallet out to buy himself a big jar of our Cycling Salve. He didn’t say much, but his actions spoke louder than any words his nether region could muster praising our product!
After two beautiful days of Sea Otter Expo WE SOLD OUT OF SUNSCREEN! Unfortunately, we had underestimated the number of folks at the race who would be looking for functional and organic ways to protect their skin - both our Sun Stick SPF33 and Mountain Mint SPF 18+ were a hit!! We even had folks buying our Winter Stick SPF15 to apply to their arms and shoulders because of it’s smooth slippery feel. Hey, whatever works to protect your skin! Thanks to Torr for helping write this blog!
Soaking Up the Sun in SoCal
April 12th, 2010By Skittles
Following our epic times in Vegas, it was time to start the trek up the west coast! Since we didn’t get enough “play” time in while we were there in January, we decided to head back to JTree for a week to hone our crack climbing skills. Unfortunately, at about the same time, Mother Nature decided to throw in 50mph wind gusts to add to the challenge of climbing rocks in JTree. Have you ever tried to finish on classic JTree slab moves while the wind is pushing you sideways? Scary! Towards the end of the week, we were joined by Dave’s long time friend, Trevor, and his girlfriend Darcy. It was fun introducing them into the world of climbing and climbing in JTree!
After yet another humbling experience climbing at JTree, we headed towards San Diego to spend some more time with Trevor and Darcy. It was an opportunity for us to get some much needed “work” time in, as well as visit local retailers to carry our product line. But best of all, we finally got to take Torr to the beach! And he LOVED it! The first day at the beach, he was doing hot laps up and down the beach because there were FINALLY dogs to run with and there was water (although he said it was salty and tasted bad). A huge thanks to Trevor for the hospitality, hooking us up with a lifetime supply of GU and for giving us a sick original Gordon Smith surfboard!
Our time in SoCal seemed like a whirlwind of internetzing, visiting shops, spending time at doggie beaches, checking out local MTB trails and visiting with friends as we made our way north up the coast. Good times catching up with the Shepherds in Huntington Beach, then with Dave’s friend Skyler who now runs, Tony’s, a bar in the up and coming part of downtown LA (literally blocks from Skid Row) and sharing some amazing food with Setsuko and BJ in Glendale (if you are ever in Glendale, go to Porto’s for the best cuban food ever!).
Continuing north, we headed to Ventura to holla at our friends at Real Cheap Sports who sell our products like crazy! And of course, what stop in Ventura can be complete without stopping at Patagonia’s first retail store and neighboring surf shops?!? Outfitted with a vintage 7′6″ surfboard, ‘new’ retro leash and wetsuit top, David was all ready to go catch some waves. Unfortunately, the beach that we chose to spend the night at had some of the roughest breaks and David got more of a thrashing than any actual surfing.
BTW, thanks for reading our blog. If you’ve liked what you’ve read so far, use the following discount code at our online store to take 20% off your order this month: TLUVSDABEACH.
Back to Vegas Baby!
March 27th, 2010By Skittles
By the time we were wrapping up our play time in Arizona, I really couldn’t wait to get back to Vegas. The last time we were in Vegas we really didn’t have enough time to play and this time we were going to be back in town for two weeks for the Red Rock Rendezvous.
Not only were we looking forward to the RRR, we were also stoked to have so many of our good friends coming to the event that we hadn’t seen since Winter OR. Clint C-Dog, Mike and Sara ClimberGirl joined us for the weekend and OMG, we had an absolute blast! The social festivities kicked off in where else but the Last Vegas Strip for St. Patty’s Day. Though the boys were able to stay out of trouble we woke up to an RV full of strippers!
Fun on The Strip: check. Next stop: RRR! We had the best time over the course of the long weekend out at the Spring Mountain Ranch. A huge shout out to the folks at Mountain Gear: Paul, Phil and Alena! Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to be a part of such an amazing event…thank you, thank you, thank you! The exposure to so many climbers and mountain bikers was great and we were stoked to be picked up by the local gear shop, Desert Rock, as well as the Mountain Gear Retail Shop! Yeah!
Aside from the “work” part of the event, we had a great time with all of our friends. Our RV, became somewhat of a home base for the JTree crew and it was like having a slumber party every night. I don’t think I went to sleep one night during the event that I didn’t hear “Do you wanna pet the kitty” only to be responded with thunderous laughter to put me to sleep. It was great and I can’t wait to hang with Clint, Mike and Sara again!
Post-RRR, we were able to get some chillaxin’ in and out to the park for a couple of days of climbing. We were also able to catch up with our friends Lisa and Tim, Loren and Salone, and my cousin Wyatt! We took Wyatt to Panty Wall and he did his first outdoor rock climbs ever with no falls!! I hope he had a good time and gets out rock climbing again sometime soon.
Our time in Vegas would not be complete or made possible the one and only, John Wilder. He has in a way become part of the JTree family! We are already starting to plan our next trip to meet up somewhere, since we can’t wait until Summer OR in August!
