3 days till we fly, and the list is getting longer.  In the 'tie off loose ends phase', making sure we have a house to come back too, bills paid, tickets paid for, and oh yeh, stretching Stevies skin while he gets a ta moko tatoo!!!   Post the photo later tonight

Location: PostList

“yep, your place at 5am, let do it”

I tossed and turned all-night with the anticipation of paddling the South Brach of the Middle Feather. It is a renowned for being on of the best class 5 waterfall run in California.

As the alarm sounded I was already awake. A quick boil of the kettle, cup of tea and in the car to Steven Wright place, to load and go.

There was always a risk this 5hour road trip would be a waste of time as we could be blown out by too much water. But Darin Mcquoid got it right, we where on the side high of good.

With the ideal warm up Darin lead the charge thought the class 4 boulder garden before we started to see the walls creep inward and horizon lines appear.

First we had to negotiate the hardest rapid of the run before all the really good stuff. Hard to scout and judge its depth. Also adding the challenge line (made up of 4 critical moves) was a river wide log 20 ft down stream of the last drop you had to get right of!

I personal nailed the first move missing the piton rock but then found myself surfing a hole…losing my speed for the following moves. Surfing out of the hole I charged left tiring to get some tracking speed to make the final moves. I was a little to far left and hit the rock ledge flipping me, knowing the log was down stream I rolled just in time to broach myself up against the log.

I have a distinct memory of looking upstream as I was negotiating the log to see Steven Wright nail the boof and clean the drop! Beautiful.

From this point the river became a heavily waterfall play ground.

First came the twin 20ft waterfalls. Then some 10fters then an offset twin 15ft waterfall. You want me to go on, well it continues like this with the perfect 50ft waterfall at the end.

The early start, the hour long climb out of the gorge, the 10hours in the car the 20hour day. I would do it again at a heart beat!

California Creeking at it finest!
 
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For those of you who haven't heard of the Gnar yet, this one is for you...introduced this past Spring 2009, the Gnar is the newbie to Teva's watershoe collection. 

Our product team took to the drawing board with the help of our youngest member of the team, Darren Howard.  Darren's passion and experience with wakeskating and the collaboration of our Teva Tribe athletes led to a whitewater/wakeskaing hybrid that has been an instant favorite with our athletes (check out Pat Keller and John Grace's new videos at http://thegnar.lvmvideo.com/)  and river guide professionals like OARS who have been testing the Gnar over the last couple months. 

The Gnar utilizes the same outsole as Teva's Avator bootie but applies it to a syle you can take to the streets.  Proven performance mixed with a new look at the outdoors, the Gnar has been tested and approved.  Ceck out Darren's post about testing the Gnar tomorrow.

Location: PostList

 

TevaMeansNature  

Teva is now joining the micro-blogging community on Twitter and LOVING it.  You can find us at TevaMeansNature where we'll be saying....well, pretty much anything goes.  From events and promotions to what's on the drawing board and what's in fridge (which happens to be RedBull, Gatorade and some organic peanut butter for when times get too busy to stop). 

 The fun never stops and our passion for living the outdoor lifestyle is what keeps us going.  Tweet the tribe...sorry I had to say it.

http://twitter.com/TevaMeansNature

Location: PostList

With perfect weather, 300 runners and over a dozen dogs readied themselves for the final installment in the SBXC No Waste Race Series.

The course varied by race, from 1 mile to 10k, winding through the UCSB campus and around the beautiful Lagoon. All proceeds (final tally to come in, but estimated to be near $10,000) is going directly to a scholarship program called 'First in Family'. This scholarship gives money to UCSB students who are the first person in their immediate family to attend college.

We first saw Paul Bryan finish the 1 mile Dioji Dog Dash in a quick 5:10, earning 6 months of dog food. The most exciting part of the day was definitely the finish of the men's 10k, where first (Ian Leitch) and second (Armando Flores) were only eight seconds ahead, with a winning time of 34:39. Leich won a new beach cruiser for his sub-6 minute mile pace.

Not to be outdone, over a dozen Teva employees showed up to show off the X-1 Evolution in action. Check it out here. Below is the Teva team after the race, and Matt Ruane, winner of a new pair of Teva X-1 Control 2 running shoes, seen here.

Now that the SBXC Series presented by Teva is over, it's on to Nite Moves!

See you out there!!!

Location: PostList

You never know where, when or who might show up with a good idea that can change the way we think about a product launch entirely. 
 
For the last few months, I was convinced that Teva needed to build an iphone application to support a new hiking product we have coming out this July. I called developers, phone companies, and friends who had built mobile apps., widgets, and tricked out websites.  One day, after many months, meetings and conversations I found myself on the phone with Decon, the agency we work with in NY, plotting out some details for the launch of our new B-1, a multi-sport shoe that hits stores April 30th.
 
“What do you think of the iphone app. idea? We’re launching this hiking shoe with an app that will track all the hikes you do, you can share it with your friends, post it to your profile with a facebook app, etc.”
 
“Yeah, I guess that’s cool,” said Decon’s VP of Strategy, Sebastian, a friend I had started working with after we met at the Teva Mountain Games three years ago.
 
“Well, do you have a better idea?” I said.
 
On speakerphone from their conference room, we kicked some ideas back and forth.  Nothing was really sticking and just as we were ready to throw in the towel, a *comedian Sebastian had been working with on a Netflix promotion walked in. 
 
“Hey,” Sebastian said to the *comedian.  “Do you have any ideas for a promotion to launch a new hiking shoe for Teva?”
 
Three weeks later, the iphone app was dead, and I found myself deep in the Catskills of New York shooting this:
       

*Check back next week and I'll reveal his secret identity!!

Location: PostList

NAWFest was bigger and badder than ever this year; opening by being the first competition on the year, as well as being the only competition on the year with a Freestyle Off the Lip Competition. This is the only competition were you huck yourself off the lip of a waterfall trying all sorts of crazy moves.

We were mainly dialing in the Mcnasty off the lip. This is a move I have been working on for a while, with last year being the first time I had stuck it. It was a little lower water levels this year which was actually better for mcnasty's. There were a handfull of us trying them, though most ended with some sweet face plants.

I was excited with a second place, mainly because I had really started to get a feel for the Mcnasty, even though I did break a paddle in the procress. In the end, Dane ended on top with a couple great Mcnasty's, Back Panam's, and a Rockspin to Freewheel.

As for the Rodeo I am proud to say the Canada took the top two places, even though Billy Harris beat me in the Finals I'm still excited that we represented Canada well. Finals for the Rodeo were really cool, this was the first rodeo I have ever competed in that had a tournament style finals, were you went head to head to see who went on. In the end it was Billy Harris, myself (Nick Troutman), EJ for the top three.

At the end of the night I was also stoked to be prized with the overall win of the weekend, with the 2nd place in the Rodeo and Freestyle off the Lip and winning the unofficial Boater-Cross. 

Here is a little video with some sweet crashes and a couple good moves too.

Nick Troutman

 

Location: PostList

For the past 2 weeks my weekend debut for trail and mountain running have been "delayed" by heavy spring mountain snowstorms here in Colorado.

Those that know me, know that most of my training is done on flat terrain during the week, with mountain trail running done on the weekends.

Determined to get into the mountains this weekend I headed 90 min south to Taos, New Mexico . There I found abundant sunshine, dry trails and even two fellow runners from Colorado Springs ( tis a small world ).

The goal was to get my body  used to some climbs, descents and most important to stay on my feet. I did 80 min total on the Davisadero Trail ( located in the Taos Canyon, as one leaves town ).  Mindful that I was planning some quality work on Sunday, I ran a relaxed pace.  The views were spectacular and it was nice to start visualizing my goals for the season.

Training April 20- April 26

 Monday  am  60 min easy   pm   40 min easy

Tuesday  am  65 min easy  pm 42 min easy

Wed    am   80 min total  "paved intervals"  8 x 1km averaging 2.59 with 2 min rest   pm  40 min elliptical  x training/ weights

Thurs   am 61 min  ...slow, good and tired from wednesday    pm   45 min  easy run

Friday  am 65 min for 10 miles  brisk run        pm 38 min.....yeah weekend is here, off to Taos....

Saturday  am Trails 80 min easy     pm  40 min w strides

Sunday   am   80 min total    "Threshold run 6 miles) 31 min  (  last mile 5.16 after first half mile in 2.25 )  pm  elliptical  45 min

 

Location: PostList

Just arrived in Ottawa, Canada in time for the spring steakout. $250 for my boat and none of my bags made it. Standard start to so many trips... I'm lucky to be arriving to great levels and good weather... This is always one of my favorite spots to chill out with all the boys, surf waves, film, party, and focus on big wave freestyle. I find that I get in the best shape when i'm surfing a wave like Mini Bus every single day... I'll be hanging out with all the usual suspects including Pat Camblin, BC Boys, Ben Marr etc. I'm training hard to try and make the U.S.A. Team for my 4th World Championship, as well as for the Teva Mountain Games. More soon...




Location: PostList

The rain forecast for March 1^st didn’t keep the hardy trail runners from coming out for the third annual San Luis Mountain Run. Located near the heart of San Luis Obispo at Laguna Lake Park and Cerro San Luis the San Luis Mountain Run has one of the most beautiful venues around and enough challenging terrain for any level athlete.

The race started with a, fast, half kilometer of paved road then gave way to another kilometer of flat fire road. Then the business, the radically steep climb where participant gain the majority of the 1000 feet of elevation that the run has become notorious for. After a quick stop in the water station the race turns into a combination of single and double track that highlight San Luis Obispo’s beauty with views of Pismo Beach, Morro Bay, The Santa Lucia National Forest and of course Downtown San Luis Obispo.

Cal Poly triathlete Alex Padilla set this year’s course record with a smoking time of 41:34. However this year’s first place time was a bit slower than last year’s winner Kevin Koeper, who completed in 40:17. This is most likely due to the cattle gate that was closed right before the race, by a rancher trying to contain his livestock, requiring participants climb up and over.  The Woman picked it up a notch this year with Kristin Zaitz Shaving 1:38 off of last years winning time and setting the woman’s record at a speedy 51:53.

Adding to this years festivities were booths by Teva, REC Solar, Fluid, GH Sports, Live in Peace, Vraja’s Kitchen and massage therapist Theresa Blackner.

Location: PostList