Podcasts about outdoor retailers

Welcome to Monday's on The Rock Fight your home for the best outdoor industry discourse! There are two big topics on the docket today.First! After checking in on the recently released Outdoor Retailer floor plan (04:59), Colin, Producer Dave, and Outdoor Industry Insider Eoin Comerford go through the key takeaways from the annual REI members meeting that went down last week. Here are the topics they hit along with time codes if you want to skip around:Takeaways from the earnings report including a look at revenue, merchandise/inventory, and payroll. (10:28)The impact and go forward options after REI's board failed to get three seats filled thanks to efforts by REI's union. (21:10)What's the brand vibe? Taking a look at the erosion of of goodwill when it comes to REI and how does all of this information impact the broader outdoor industry. (24:19)Second! Colin, Producer Dave, and Eoin present the inaugural inductees into the Self-Inflicted Wound Hall Of Fame. The history of the outdoor industry is loaded with numerous brand boners, some of which make you stop and ponder, "how did that happen?!" Today we present three hall of fame worthy examples and suggest how the outdoor industry can avoid such blunders in the future. (30:13)The 2025 Self-Inflicted Wound Inductees are:Lulu's See Thru's. Presented by Colin True. (35:45)Backcountry Sues Everyone. Presented by Eoin Comerford. (40:04)The Higg Index Debacle. Presented by Producer Dave. (45:02)Lastly, for The Parting Shot, Eoin wants REI to stop gaslighting us and it's a totally fair request. (53:33)Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC. Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to myrockfight@gmail.com.

What do you get when you mix raw adventure, music tours in war zones, bowhunting in Africa, and building one of the most respected survival gear companies in North America? You get Christian Schauf. In this episode, we go far beyond the typical founder story. From recording with Prince to launching survival kits that save lives, Christian opens up about what drives him: faith, fitness, hunting, entrepreneurship—and doing something meaningful with this short time we're given. We talk about moose hunting in BC, building gear that's actually reliable when things go sideways, learning from failure, and the mindset needed to push forward when most people quit. Whether you're into the outdoors, business, or just trying to live a more intentional life, this one's for you. https://unchartedsupplyco.com/   https://www.instagram.com/unchartedsupplyco https://www.instagram.com/christianschauf   ______ Silvercore Club - https://bit.ly/2RiREb4 Online Training - https://bit.ly/3nJKx7U Other Training & Services - https://bit.ly/3vw6kSU Merchandise - https://bit.ly/3ecyvk9 Blog Page - https://bit.ly/3nEHs8W Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors ____   00:00 – Podcast intro, Silvercore Club mention, and Christian's bio 01:15 – How Christian came onto Travis's radar: Half Face Blades and pack rafts 03:00 – Origin of the pack raft: military request, product design challenges 04:30 – Material development, Outdoor Retailer debut, slow early adoption 05:00 – Rafts used for hauling moose in Yukon and Alaska 07:00 – Living near elk and moose in Idaho/Park City, gratitude for the outdoors 08:00 – Reflection on time, legacy, and trying to do something meaningful 09:00 – Balancing ambition and faith; feeling overwhelmed; personal introspection 09:30 – Touring Iraq with a band, 39 trips for troop entertainment 12:26 – Using Prince's sound guy, building portable sound systems for Blackhawks 14:43 – Making the shows about the troops, not the band 17:00 – Transitioning from touring to building new ventures 20:00 – Founding Crispin Cider, selling to MillerCoors 21:00 – Working with GoPro, Harley, and other brands post-touring 22:00 – Moving to SoCal, culture shock, and the roots of Uncharted 23:00 – Hard lessons in entrepreneurship, trusting the wrong people 24:30 – Importance of endurance, triage mindset, and grinding through obstacles 25:30 – Being taken advantage of, learning to manage yourself 26:45 – Facing new tariff issues, adapting with mindset 27:45 – You have to get comfortable with the pressure—it's not going away 29:00 – Believing in your idea when others don't 30:00 – Responding to doubters and building resilience 31:10 – Quality vs. garbage survival kits, building trust in the Uncharted brand 32:35 – Real-life use cases: jump starters, storm kits, hurricane response 36:00 – Designing gear that prevents emergencies before they escalate 37:00 – Color-coded, instructional layout of kits to reduce panic and improve usability 39:00 – Making gear intuitive even for non-experts 40:00 – No formal training offered yet, but strong content and future plans 41:00 – Most popular products: jump starters, first aid kits, survival kits 43:00 – Essentials Christian always carries, layering gear in “concentric circles” 44:30 – Saving his dog's life with the Triage Kit 45:00 – Future of the company: growth, wholesale expansion, tariffs disrupting progress 47:00 – Transparent supply chain talk, China, FDA rules, and pricing realities 48:30 – Importance of American manufacturing and balancing affordability 49:30 – Drawing business parallels to survival mindset 50:00 – Upcoming hunts in South Africa (for school meat programs) and New Zealand 52:00 – Christensen Arms rifle use in mountainous terrain 54:00 – Travis's Molokai access deer story and equipment mismatch 56:00 – Reaffirming the value of knowing your gear deeply 57:00 – Touching on faith, legacy, and leading by example 58:00 – Christian's approach to faith: live it, don't preach it

Today on the show Justin Housman has the week off so Colin welcomes Shawnté Salabert as to the co-host chair! Together they run through some of the topics that have come out of the outdoor community over the past week.First up, The North Face has yet another collaboration with a fashion brand that has (almost) sold out! There has probably been too much TNF chatter around here the past few weeks, but this collection is super cool. (05:05)Jetboil has a new version of it's iconic stove out so Colin asks accomplished backpacker Shawnté to power rank the top 5 camp stoves ever! (13:25)The Everest pregame is on! News has started to come out of Everest basecamp including this story about how the famed Everest Ice Doctors will use drones to help map this year's route through the Khumbu icefall. (24:00)It's time for The Parting Shot! Colin is over the moon with his new pair of Norda's while Shawnté finds similarities between her recent experience at SXSW and the old days of Outdoor Retailer (33:46)Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC. Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to myrockfight@gmail.com.

Today on The Rock Fight Colin is joined by Rock Fight Consigliere Eoin Comerford and Producer Dave to discuss several news stories that paint a picture about the long term health of the outdoor industry. First they look at the recent earnings report by Newell (parent company of Marmot, Coleman, and Ex Officio, among others) which shows how the outdoor industry may be on the same path that was recently traveled by the surf industry. Eoin recaps how many iconic surf brands ended up being owned by Authentic Brands and how that past may serve as a cautionary tale for outdoor brands facing similar challenges. (02:55)Next they talk about a recent report that Dick's Sporting Goods is quietly leaving outdoor behind as it closes most of their remaining Public Land and Moosejaw locations. They talk about how this move will impact the outdoor retail landscape. (18:29)Then they dig into event news including the report that Europe's biggest summer show, OutDoor, is going on "hiatus" as well as the announcement of Outdoor Retailer's Industry Day. (29:15)Lastly it's a combined Parting Shot as the hosts weigh in on the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable's endorsement of Trump Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, as well as the organizations who co-signed that endorsement including the OIA, People For Bikes, and REI. They look at what missteps may have been made and what the focus should be going forward. (35:55)Check out hundreds of wildly cool products by visiting and shopping at Garage Grown Gear!Thanks for listening! The Rock Fight is a production of Rock Fight, LLC. Sign up for NEWS FROM THE FRONT, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter by heading to www.rockfight.co and clicking Join The Mailing List.Please follow and subscribe to The Rock Fight and give us a 5 star rating and a written review wherever you get your podcasts.Want to pick a fight with The Rock Fight? Send your feedback, questions, and comments to myrockfight@gmail.com.

Which is the bigger adventure: alpine skiing or starting a fashion brand? For Alta Reina founder Suzi Zook, they each provide their own set of thrills and challenges. In episode 108, Suzi tells of the peaks and valleys of starting her outdoor apparel brand made to fit tall women. From navigating sustainable sourcing of performance fabrics to overcoming pre-production self-doubt, Suzi is gearing up (in fun colors) for the long run. Suzi Zook is the engine behind Alta Reina, a clothing brand focused on high-quality, responsibly sourced materials and U.S. manufacturing. Tailored for tall women, Alta Reina offers vibrant, functional clothing with practical details like pockets, combining style and functionality for women who need more than the standard fit. Suzi holds a B.S. in Family and Consumer Sciences from Oregon State University, with a minor in music. A former rugby player and team president, she later became an assistant coach after graduation. Suzi has also worked as a substitute teacher in Oregon and Washington. After her time at REI, she pursued a graduate degree in Elementary Education from USC's Rossier School of Education. Suzi's seven-year tenure at REI gave her extensive experience across a variety of roles, including repairs, rentals, customer service, footwear, and marketing. Her marketing work involved creating promotional videos and making guest appearances on morning talk shows to promote outdoor recreation and REI products. Through her work at REI, she developed a deep understanding of how clothing and shoes fit and perform, helping customers find apparel that suits their bodies. At 5'11", Suzi has always faced challenges finding clothing that fits her athletic frame. After years of crafting her own clothes, marrying a 6'10" partner, and raising two tall daughters, she realized the need for a brand that catered to women like her. The struggles her family faced finding well-fitting winter gear and swimsuits inspired the launch of Alta Reina (originally considered "Mountain Amazon"). In 2020, Suzi explored the market potential for a tall women's outdoor brand at the Outdoor Retailer trade show. Although the concept garnered interest, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed her plans. After recovering and caring for her family, Suzi enrolled in the Factory 45 mentorship program. Over the next two years, she sourced fabrics and U.S.-based manufacturers, overcoming setbacks like factories pivoting away from small designers. Eventually, she found a manufacturing partner in The Bronx, NY, and launched Alta Reina's first line of base layers in Fall 2024. Suzi is committed to ethical production, opposing fast fashion and ensuring fair treatment of workers. While polyester is used for its durability and protection, she is dedicated to responsible sourcing. Her journey is fueled by a passion for creating stylish, functional clothing for tall women. Outside of work, Suzi continues to substitute teach and enjoys Nordic and alpine skiing, yoga, swimming, horseback riding, hiking, and mountain biking. She also sews and adds personal touches to her wardrobe. In this episode, you'll learn: What didn't fit about existing outdoor apparel in the market What is so special about niche brands How she got feedback on her brand concept before starting anything Why Suzi prefers to DIY many things in her business The point she realized she needed more education and accountability How Suzi is funding Alta Reina The point in development that scared her and how her husband's advice helped her move forward How Suzi got connected with her patternmaker (me) and her factory The factors that influenced what products she started with How Alta Reina balances sustainability with performance People and resources mentioned in this episode: Alta Reina website Alta Reina Instagram Outdoor Retailer trade show Factory 45 sustainable fashion brand accelerator Do you want fashion business tips and resources like this sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for the How Fitting newsletter to receive new podcast episodes plus daily content on creating fashion that fits your customer, lifestyle, and values.

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) Kent Ebersole, the president of the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), joins Colin to discuss the recent shift from its long-standing trade show relationship with Outdoor Retailer to a new partnership with Switchback.Kent talks about the rationale for moving on from OR and why they decided Switchback was the right move at this time. He and Colin also discuss the current state and purpose of the OIA and where the organization is headed. Chapters:00:00 - Support for Hurricane Relief01:02 - Welcome to the Rock Fight!01:11 - Interview with OIA President Kent Ebersole02:02 - The Shift from Outdoor Retailer to Switchback23:00 - Where the OIA is today and where should it be in the future?Hurricane Helene Relief Links:Fuel GoodsGoFundMe for Bubba O'LearysWestern North Carolina Hurriance Helene Resource GuideEast Tennessee Foundation Relief FundHead to www.rockfight.co and sign up for News From the Front, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter!Please follow and subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star rating and written review wherever you get your podcasts.Listen to and follow Gear & Beer! The newest show on the Rock Fight Podcast Network.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head), Outdoor Retailer Show Director Sean Smith joins Colin & Producer Dave to talk about the recent announcement that OR is putting Winter Market out to pasture and moving to one June event per year.Sean talks about the reasoning behind the move, the response, comments and criticism that has emerged since the announcement and how he and his team are working to ensure the future of the event.Head to www.rockfight.co and sign up for News From the Front, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter!Please follow and subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star rating and written review wherever you get your podcasts.Listen to and follow Gear & Beer! The newest show on the Rock Fight Podcast Network.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) Colin opens the show by offering his thoughts on two sustainability focused stories to come out of the outdoor industry in the past week.Flylow announced the arrival of it's secondhand e-commerce site while Cotopaxi launched a new collection of upcycled garments. And while both initiatives are admirable, outdoor brands are much to dependent on these types of avenues to claim that they are being 'sustainable' and/or 'circular'. Then Colin & Producer Dave give their initial thoughts on Outdoor Retailer moving to one event per year and wrap up the show with their parting shots.Head to www.rockfight.co and sign up for News From the Front, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter!Please follow and subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star rating and written review wherever you get your podcasts.Listen to and follow Gear & Beer! The newest show on the Rock Fight Podcast Network.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

In the latest episode of the GearJunkie Podcast, Yoon Kim, founder of Outdoor Media Summit (OMS), shares his journey through the outdoor industry and discusses the evolution of the Outdoor Retailer show, the state of outdoor media, and the importance of community and collaboration. One of Kim's key projects, OMS has grown into a vital event for fostering collaboration, and is dedicated to bringing together media professionals and brands to share insights, predict future trends, and enhance marketing strategies. The post Gaming the First Algorithm and the State of Outdoor Media: Yoon Kim on the GearJunkie Podcast appeared first on GearJunkie.

As an outdoor industry leader for nearly 30 years, Gordon has committed his career to building brands that practice a triple bottom line (people, planet and profit) approach to business.Gordon launched Toad&Co, a responsible lifestyle apparel brand in 1996. Now headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, he remains the CEO of the growing global brand. He also co-founded Planet Access 27 years ago, a social enterprise committed to providing life skills, vocational training and travel experiences for people with disabilities. Gordon spent 17 years on the Outdoor Industry Association Board including a 6-year stint as Chairman and Vice Chairman. He is currently a Board member for the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund, the Santa Barbara Film Festival and Chairs the advisory board of the Eco-Entrepreneurship Advisory Council at the Bren School Environmental Solutions graduate program at UCSB. He also serves as advisor to several early-stage responsible business start-ups. He received a BA in Psychology from Hamilton College and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from Wharton School of Business. Married with two 20 something daughters, between family and work Gordon enjoys just about anything the outdoors has to offer, especially if it is in the ocean, on a river or in the mountains near his family cabin in June Lake in the Eastern Sierras. Travel, film and birds are some of his other passions.In This Conversation We Discuss:[00:46] Intro[01:58] Thriving with responsible consumers[03:47] Handling first collection without ecommerce in '96[05:08] Pivoting business strategy after 9/11 crisis[06:25] Building best in class before expanding[08:34] Balancing retail and ecommerce strategies[10:08] Promoting brand awareness through various channels[12:26] Adapting brand for Gen Z and millennials[13:59] StoreTester: done-for-you conversion rate optimization[15:16] learning from fast-changing Ecommerce trends[17:36] Adapting to changing buyer behavior[19:18] Managing evolving market dynamics[20:43] Aiming for lasting positive impact[22:16] Inspiring ethical entrepreneurship[24:04] Authenticity in brand commitment[25:29] Staying committed to your passion[26:27] Balancing gut feeling and analytics in business[27:30] Surviving and thriving in niches[28:11] Sustainable, organic, & eco-friendly clothingResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeSustainable, organic, & eco-friendly clothing toadandco.com/Follow Gordon Seabury linkedin.com/in/gordon-seabury-3597a03/Done-for-you conversion rate optimization service storetester.com/If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Last November the show director of Outdoor Retailer, Sean Smith, joined THE ROCK FIGHT to tell Colin why the stalwart outdoor industry trade show was going to make a comeback starting in June of 2024.And if you listened to Colin's instant reaction of the June 2024 edition of Outdoor Retailer you know that Sean and his team delivered.Today on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) Sean returns to talk about how things went in Salt Lake City, how they intend to ride the momentum into the winter show, and offer his reaction to Switchback joining the June 2025 trade show slate.Head to www.rockfight.co and sign up for News From the Front, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter!Please follow and subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star rating and written review wherever you get your podcasts.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Welcome to a special episode of Future Commerce, recorded live from the Outdoor Retailer conference held at the beautiful Tracy Aviary. In this episode, Brian sits down with industry leaders to discuss the future of omnichannel retail in the outdoor industry. Discover insights into enhancing the customer journey, reducing checkout friction, and optimizing operations to create seamless, memorable experiences for both B2B and B2C markets.Key Takeaways[00:02:30] - Elcee Vargas: "The prevailing research right now is that 70% of carts are abandoned, which is an overwhelmingly large number."[00:07:00] - Jordan: "We do a ton of A/B testing to create the quickest checkout experience. Taking a 120-second checkout process down to 6 seconds makes a huge difference."[00:21:30] - Travis: "With payments being the lifeblood of your company, you can't disrupt the revenue coming in and where it's going."[00:36:00] - Ken: "The closer you are to the top of search results, the more opportunities you have to make sales. Shipping plays a huge part in this."[00:39:00] - Carl: "Making sure you've got something that feeds these different channels is crucial for scalability and success."Maintaining customer relationships during off-seasons helps keep the brand top-of-mind, ensuring readiness to purchase when the season returns.Ensuring that your technology stack is cohesive and scalable is essential for seamless operations across B2B and B2C channels.Automating processes and having real-time visibility into inventory and sales trends can help manage tax implications and optimize inventory management.Continual A/B testing and optimization of the customer experience, especially at checkout, can lead to significant improvements in efficiency and customer satisfaction.Associated Links:Links & Resources:Learn more about Klaviyo, Stripe, Avalara, ShipStation, NetSuite, BigCommerceCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) we're wrapping up a very busy trade show month by breaking down the newest trade show of them all: Switchback Spring!THE ROCK FIGHT had a busy trade show season. We attended GOA Connect and Outdoor Retailer and we even broke the news about the solo debut of Switchback (the outdoor show that launched at The Running Event in 2022). This new show has created a lot of buzz as well as a lot of questions.Today Show Director Christina Henderson joins Colin & Justin to talk about why Switchback is going solo and what attendees can expect when the show kicks off in Nashville in June 2025.Head to www.rockfight.co and sign up for News From the Front, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter!Please follow and subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star rating and written review wherever you get your podcasts.Gear & Beer has it's own podcast feed! Follow and rate G&B on Apple or Spotify.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Subscribe to Adventure Journal to get more Justin Housman in your life.Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

LIVE from Outdoor Retailer 2024In this episode, we explore the transformative trends shaping the outdoor retail industry LIVE from the Big Commerce Summer Camp during Outdoor Retailer. From the rise of resale markets, to the importance of real-time inventory data, we uncover how technology and cultural shifts are driving the future of outdoor retail.AI and Automation: A Double-Edged SwordKey takeaways:Walmart's strategy emphasizes creating a personalized, branded experience to engage Gen Z and Millennial shoppers, showcasing the importance of knowing your customer.Deck Commerce's focus on sustainable practices aligns with Gen Z's values, proving that eco-friendly initiatives can foster long-term customer loyalty.Feedonomics discusses the critical role of real-time inventory data in omnichannel retail, enabling instant commerce and enhancing the shopping experience.Walmart's restored program exemplifies how resale markets are gaining traction, driven by consumers' desire for sustainability and cost savings.The panel stresses the importance of modern, flexible technology stacks to meet the demands of the upcoming Gen Alpha shoppers, who expect seamless, immersive experiences.Bridging the gap between online and in-store shopping, brands must create emotionally engaging digital experiences that replicate the tactile feel of physical products.Me & the Bees Lemonade shows that having a strong, purposeful mission can create deep emotional connections and lasting customer loyalty.Associated Links:Links & Resources:Learn more about Walmart Marketplace, Deck Commerce, Feedonomics, Me & the Bees Lemonade, and BigCommerceCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

In the latest edition of Omni Talk's Retail Fast Five live from Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI and Sezzle Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: Buy ing Or Selling: Kohl's Return Drop? For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/8N2dDdOJ_5g

In the latest edition of Omni Talk's Retail Fast Five live from Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI and Sezzle Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: TikTok Launching Image Search – Should Google And Amazon Be Scared? For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/8N2dDdOJ_5g

In the latest edition of Omni Talk's Retail Fast Five live from Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI and Sezzle Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: Instacart Plugging Retail Media Data Into Youtube Shopping For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/8N2dDdOJ_5g

In the latest edition of Omni Talk's Retail Fast Five live from Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI and Sezzle Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: McDonald's Calling It Quits On Automated Ai Ordering At The Drive Thru . .. For Now For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/8N2dDdOJ_5g

In the latest edition of Omni Talk's Retail Fast Five live from Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI and Sezzle Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: What Retailers Should Do To Capitalize On The Adult Toy Trend For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/8N2dDdOJ_5g

Another week another trade show. Today on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) Colin is fresh off a flight home from SLC and is here with his off the cuff thoughts Outdoor Retailer.You know, Outdoor Retailer. The most popular topic of discussion within the US based outdoor industry! So what happened at OR this week? Was it a return to form? The bottom of the barrel? Well, you'll have to click play to find out.Head to www.rockfight.co and sign up for News From the Front, Rock Fight's weekly newsletter!Please follow and subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star rating and written review wherever you get your podcasts.Gear & Beer has it's own podcast feed! Follow and rate G&B on Apple or Spotify.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Subscribe to Adventure Journal to get more Justin Housman in your life.Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

In this week's Omni Talk Retail Fast Five news roundup, recorded live from the lovely Marriott in Salt Lake City, and sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Ownit AI, Avalara, Mirakl, and Sezzle, Chris and Anne discussed: - Whether Kohl's new return drop is a sign of an ongoing identity crisis within the retailer (Source: Retail Dive) - TikTok going after Google (and Amazon before it) with image search (Source: TechCrunch) - Instacart plugging into YouTube shopping ads (Source: Grocery Dive) - McDonalds calling it quits, for now, on automated order taking at the drive-thru (Source: Restaurant Business) - And they closed with a story on how adults are buying more toys for themselves than they are for pre-schoolers (Source: Retail Dive) There's all that, plus Microsoft's Rajen Raval of Microsoft stops by to give us 5 Insightful Minutes on improving supply chains with AI, and Anne and Chris get absolutely wacky with taxes in honor of Avalara and their upcoming work at the Outdoor Retailer conference. Music by hooksounds.com

Chapters: 0:00 Intro 5:55 Our Feelings about REI 15:12 What REI Could do Better 30:02 The Indie Outdoor Retailers 32:12 Great Experiences at Small Stores 36:10 Retail is Difficult 40:16 New Wave of Boutique Retail 1:00:00 Outro Watch this episode's video: https://youtu.be/Ofvxp0axRnk Subscribe to our beautiful printed quarterly, whose stories are only found in print, at ⁠http://www.subscribetoaj.com⁠ FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIAInstagram — ⁠https://www.instagram.com/adventurejournal/⁠ Facebook — ⁠https://www.facebook.com/adventurejournal⁠ Pinterest — ⁠https://www.pinterest.com/adventurejournl⁠ Tiktok — ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@adventurejournal/⁠ Adventure Journal is supported primarily by readers who subscribe to our printed quarterly and from small commissions received when you purchase through some of these links. AJ's reviews are not influenced by affiliates, nor do we accept sponsored content or paid placements or reviews. Opinions expressed here are solely our own.

Live at the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, UT we got to record for the 4th time, an episode in front of an audience. Always fun and Wendi Matthis Held is the guest co-host with Scott Ohsman for this show and brings a ton of Juicy Nuggets on how to leverage the power and reach of Amazon to make you, the brand money! Also, how not to lose money, which could be even more important. We cover all kinds of other topics and get some great questions from the audience. Always Off Brand is Ecommerce Simplified, Learn & Laugh!    QUICKFIRE Info:   Website: https://www.quickfirenow.com/ Email the Show: info@quickfirenow.com  Talk to us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickfireproductions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quickfire__/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@quickfiremarketing LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/quickfire-productions-llc/about/   Guest Co-Host - Wendi Mathis Held  Founder/CEO True Hero  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendimathisheld/ Website: https://trueherosales.com/ HOSTS: Summer Jubelirer has been in digital commerce and marketing for over 16 years. After spending many years working for digital and ecommerce agencies working with multi-million dollar brands and running teams of Account Managers, she is now the Amazon Manager at OLLY PBC.   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerjubelirer/   Scott Ohsman has been working with brands for over 28 years in retail, online and has launched over 200 brands on Amazon. Owning his own sales and marketing agency in the Pacific NW, is now VP of Digital Commerce for Quickfire LLC. Scott has been a featured speaker at national trade shows and has developed distribution strategies for many top brands. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ohsman-861196a6/   Hayley Brucker has been working in retail and with Amazon for years. She is currently a Senior Account Manager at Envision Horizons. Hayley has extensive experience in digital advertising, both seller and vendor central on Amazon. Hayley is based out of North Carolina and has worked in multiple product categories and has also worked on the brand side and started with Nordstrom on the retail floor.  LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-brucker-1945bb229/   Huge thanks to Cytrus our show theme music “Office Party” available wherever you get your music. Check them out here: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cytrusmusic Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cytrusmusic/ Twitter https://twitter.com/cytrusmusic SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VrNLN6Thj1iUMsiL4Yt5q?si=MeRsjqYfQiafl0f021kHwg APPLE MUSIC https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cytrus/1462321449   “Always Off Brand” is part of the Quickfire Podcast Network and produced by Quickfire LLC.  

A couple of weeks back right here on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) Colin posited that it was last rites time for Outdoor Retailer and vowed not to talk about the long running outdoor industry trade show again unless something newsworthy happened.You can listen to that episode by clicking here.Not long after that Colin's phone rang with an offer to bring Show Director of Outdoor Retailer, Sean Smith, on to THE ROCK FIGHT to chat about the state of the show, what the show should actually is and what needs to happen for the show to return to its former glory. Newsworthy indeed.And that is the interview you are about to listen to as today Sean Smith is on to THE ROCK FIGHT to huck a few stones of his own.Please follow and subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star review wherever you get your podcasts.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Subscribe to Adventure Journal to get more Justin Housman in your life.Support our partners!Head over to Gear Trade to turn your unused gear and apparel into cash money or to pick up that piece of gear you need for your next adventure! Check out Long Weekend Coffee for the best cup of coffee for your next adventure. Be sure to enter promo code 'rock10' at checkout to receive 10% off of your first order. Long Weekend Coffee...more weekend, please. Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Welcome back to THE ROCK FIGHT, an outdoor podcast that aims for the head!Today on the show we welcome one of the brightest new voices in outdoor media: independent journalist Kyle Frost. Kyle previously covered Outside.io (Outside Inc's failed foray into the NFT world) and wrote an amazing piece on the announcement of the Outside Festival which they are billing as the "SXSW of the outdoors". Kyle is here on THE ROCK FIGHT to talk about the backstory and challenges of the festival, what the hell is happening at Outside, Inc before he and Colin predict if this event even happens.Previous episodes of THE ROCK FIGHT covering The Outside Festival.Mammut Is Coming For America, Outdoor Retailer's Tiny Winter Market & Outside Has An Outdoor FestivalLeatherman's Reward Program, Suunto Uses Your Head As An Antennae, & More On Outside's Outdoor FestivalPlease follow and subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star review wherever you get your podcasts.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Subscribe to Adventure Journal to get more Justin Housman in your life.Support our partners!Head over to Gear Trade to turn your unused gear and apparel into cash money or to pick up that piece of gear you need for your next adventure! Check out Long Weekend Coffee for the best cup of coffee for your next adventure. Be sure to enter promo code 'rock10' at checkout to receive 10% off of your first order. Long Weekend Coffee...more weekend, please. Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

After a long career in the snow sports space developing the world's first digital avalanche rescue transceiver and promoting avalanche safety for all snow sports enthusiasts, Bruno McGowan has joined the Overlanding world as part of the founder group at Tune Outdoor. Tune Outdoor was specifically designed to let you spend more time in your natural state, out there, doing cool things . . . again and again. Brought to you this week by Creative LIVE Facebook​ ​Twitter​ ​Instagram​ Love the show? Subscribe, ​rate, review, and share!​ Sign up for my Newsletter ​HERE​. I'd love to hear your feedback about the show! You can contact me here: email: ​rick@theoutdoorbizpodcast.com​ Or leave me a message on ​Speakpipe​! Show Notes [00:04:37] Creating a successful product requires diverse competencies. [00:07:18] An innovative solution: spacious and outdoor integration with a platform for east-west sleeping. [00:11:16] Aluminum awning doors with accessories, including bed extension and tinted glass option available. [00:16:09] Bruno discusses design requirements and material selections for achieving a lightweight space with a high space-to-weight ratio. Molded corner brackets were utilized. [00:19:17] Stringent quality control requirements throughout the supply chain. [00:24:26] Organizing their first YouTube user group rally. No details yet. [00:27:45] Rick's favorite camp spot, Campsite A, is now popular. It's no longer secret. [00:30:18] Rick and Bruno discuss the possibility of the Outdoor Retailer trade show becoming more consumer-focused. [00:34:50] Bruno loves coffee and prefers simple, durable coffee-making tools.

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT, an outdoor podcast that aims for the head, we dig into the following 3 outdoor headlines from the past week (time codes included for your listening pleasure):First up is the story that Mammut is pulling out all of the stops to get their North American business over $100m by 2028 (00:58)Outdoor Retailer Winter Market reveals a tiny floor plan for the upcoming show (05:30)Outside and The Big Gear Show announced The Outside Festival for 2024 and they seem to be missing the point as they aim to be the SXSW of the outdoors (06:19)Please subscribe to THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star review wherever you get your podcasts.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Subscribe to Adventure Journal to get more Justin Housman in your life.Support our partners!Head over to Gear Trade to turn your unused gear and apparel into cash money or to pick up that piece of gear you need for your next adventure! Check out Long Weekend Coffee for the best cup of coffee for your next adventure. Be sure to enter promo code 'rock10' at checkout to receive 10% off of your first order. Long Weekend Coffee...more weekend, please. Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Welcome back to THE ROCK FIGHT an outdoor podcast that aims for your head! Today on the show Colin & Justin weigh in on recent headlines to come out of the outdoor industry and community. The boys break down the Guinness Book of World Records stripping Reinhold Messner of two records, Erin Ton's controversial FKT, Whoop's new AI product and the latest outdoor retailer to have (most of) their doors shuttered and another one that added a new location.Please follow THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star review wherever you get your podcasts.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Subscribe to Adventure Journal to get more Justin Housman in your life.Support our partners!Head over to Gear Trade to turn your unused gear and apparel into cash money or to pick up that piece of gear you need for your next adventure! Check out Long Weekend Coffee for the best cup of coffee for your next adventure. Be sure to enter promo code 'rock10' at checkout to receive 10% off of your first order. Long Weekend Coffee...more weekend, please. Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

This week we are thrilled to have Gabaccia Moreno joining us for a conversation about all the things - People Over Profit (inspired by our panel at Outdoor Retailer), doing life (and business) differently, paying people what they're worth, the Outdoorist Oath, and so much more! We recorded this episode together in the van in a parking lot in Salt Lake City - one of our first in-person interviews in awhile - and the joy we're sharing is palpable. Settle in for a great chat that will leave your cheeks hurting from smiling so hard, and inspired by the possibilities of business and life done differently. IN THIS EPISODE: We catch up with Gabaccia and take a walk down memory lane, recounting how we originally connected and how life has brought us full-circle Doing Business Differently: How the Outdoorist Oath is spreading the wealth, extending opportunities to the community “You can't put a price on the work we do” (at the Outdoorist Oath and Hiking My Feelings) Doing Life Differently: honoring the call of the great outdoors and downsizing to maximize living life on our own terms, not merely exchanging our time for money to help pay a landlord's mortgage Sponsors Who Walk the Walk: Why we're stoked to work with Sawyer And more! ABOUT OUR GUEST: Gabaccia Moreno is a first-generation Mexican-American multimedia storyteller, consultant, and passionate outdoor advocate. She holds a B.A. in Theater and Anthropology from SUNY College at Buffalo and an M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University. Growing up visiting the Maya forest gave her an appreciation for the land and its wildlife at an early age. , one that prevails today. Her works, whether artistic, creative, or entrepreneurial, have always intersected with the social and environmental issues that surround her.  She currently serves as the Executive Director of The Outdoorist Oath, an organization creating educational tools and models to help and encourage people to become allies for planet, inclusion, and adventure. She's the Director of Social Responsibility on the board of Hiking My Feelings and sits on the Joshua Tree National Park Association Diversity Council. Gabaccia has also served as National Monuments Fellow (via The Wyss Foundation) at Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project, where she worked on initiatives to ensure historically and deliberately excluded communities have access to the process of protecting our lands and waters. Other credits include contributions to Backpacker Magazine, hosting her own Live conversation series named Exploring Responsibly and Explorando Responsablemente on Instagram, and being the 2021 resident host for the She Explores Podcast. In her free time, you'll find her writing, advising businesses and nonprofits, or adventuring outside, probably taking photos, fishing, backpacking, hiking, practicing yoga, or conspiring with friends to make the outdoors more welcoming for all. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wellnessinthewilderness/message

In today's episode, I chat with Carl from the Backpacking & Blisters podcast about our experience at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Show 2024. We talk about the best gear we saw, trends of the show, and what we're excited about for next year. PackWizard: https://www.packwizard.com Backpacking & Blisters Podcast: https://backpackingandblisters.com/

Travel journalist Jeff Jenkins didn't step foot on a plane until he was 20 years old, but once he did, he started living by his mantra "life begins where your comfort zone ends." His mission is to inspire those who look like him to travel without fear and push past their perceived limitations to experience everything the world has to offer. Never Say Never follows Jeff as he travels the world testing the limits of his physical abilities -- from attempting to climb 70-foot mountain faces, to rafting class 5 rapids, to sailing in a windstorm at the end of the world. Throughout his global odyssey Jeff makes deep connections with locals and learns not just about the world, but also about himself.Jeff Jenkins is an award-winning Travel/ Food Journalist, speaker, podcast host, and Influencer based out of Austin, Texas. Jeff most recently is proud to add travel documentarian to his list of adventures as he stars in a show that explores diverse cultures, locations and overcoming fears, backed by National Geographic.In the summer of 2002, Jeff got on his first plane and started his journey as a camp counselor on American Military bases around the world through the program, Camp Adventure. He continued this work for six summers exploring new places, cultures and creating a love for adventure.Jeff knew he wanted to blog about traveling, it was then that he found, or rather didn't find Fat Black Men represented, with that, Chubby Diaries was born. Since starting Chubby Diaries in 2017, Jeff has added a podcast, Chubby Diaries Annual Travel Awards, and most recently a campaign to give people in his community financial access to passports. He has been featured in Forbes, New York Times, Washington Post, Google, Travel Noire, Essence, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, Texas Monthly, Outdoor Retailers, and The Points Guy. Jeff was most recently named one of Travel + Leisure's 50 Notable People in travel. Jeff is currently working on multiple projects and is excited for the National Geographic show to launch. Continuing his work and mission to “Redefine what it looks like to travel.”

Travel journalist Jeff Jenkins didn't step foot on a plane until he was 20 years old, but once he did, he started living by his mantra "life begins where your comfort zone ends." His mission is to inspire those who look like him to travel without fear and push past their perceived limitations to experience everything the world has to offer. Never Say Never follows Jeff as he travels the world testing the limits of his physical abilities -- from attempting to climb 70-foot mountain faces, to rafting class 5 rapids, to sailing in a windstorm at the end of the world. Throughout his global odyssey Jeff makes deep connections with locals and learns not just about the world, but also about himself.Jeff Jenkins is an award-winning Travel/ Food Journalist, speaker, podcast host, and Influencer based out of Austin, Texas. Jeff most recently is proud to add travel documentarian to his list of adventures as he stars in a show that explores diverse cultures, locations and overcoming fears, backed by National Geographic.In the summer of 2002, Jeff got on his first plane and started his journey as a camp counselor on American Military bases around the world through the program, Camp Adventure. He continued this work for six summers exploring new places, cultures and creating a love for adventure.Jeff knew he wanted to blog about traveling, it was then that he found, or rather didn't find Fat Black Men represented, with that, Chubby Diaries was born. Since starting Chubby Diaries in 2017, Jeff has added a podcast, Chubby Diaries Annual Travel Awards, and most recently a campaign to give people in his community financial access to passports. He has been featured in Forbes, New York Times, Washington Post, Google, Travel Noire, Essence, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, Texas Monthly, Outdoor Retailers, and The Points Guy. Jeff was most recently named one of Travel + Leisure's 50 Notable People in travel. Jeff is currently working on multiple projects and is excited for the National Geographic show to launch. Continuing his work and mission to “Redefine what it looks like to travel.”

Are balloons the new plastic straws? GearJunkie’s hunt-fish editor, Rachelle Schrute, walks us through the death, lies, and destruction of balloons, how they harm Earth’s cutest animals, and what will happen when our dwindling supply of helium finally runs out. Editor-in-Chief Adam Ruggiero takes on the comment section — do publishers have a responsibility to respond? Finally, AllGear Editorial Director Sean McCoy rehashes a week at Outdoor Retailer and weighs in on the once mighty trade show giant. What made OR the outdoor industry’s guiding force, and has it entered its final act? Check out all that and more on The Editors’ Take. The post The Editors’ Take: Deadly Balloons, Vicious Comment Sections, and the Fate of Outdoor Retailer appeared first on GearJunkie.

Our 3rd LIVE SHOW recording at Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, UT. This was our 100th episode (in the eyes of apple) it was really our 124th or so.. Anyhoo we had a great crowd and Hayley Brucker and Scott Ohsman talked through how to be profitable selling on Amazon! We played the “What's That Keyword?” game and an awesome question and answer session. Hope you learn and laugh. Big thanks to Outdoor Retailer for having us speak and we met so many amazing people and brands!   QUICKFIRE Info:   Website: https://www.quickfirenow.com/ Email the Show: info@quickfirenow.com  Talk to us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickfireproductions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quickfire__/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@quickfiremarketing LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/quickfire-productions-llc/about/ HOSTS: Summer Jubelirer has been in digital commerce and marketing for over 16 years. After spending many years working for digital and ecommerce agencies working with multi-million dollar brands and running teams of Account Managers, she is now the Amazon Manager at OLLY PBC.   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerjubelirer/   Scott Ohsman has been working with brands for over 28 years in retail, online and has launched over 200 brands on Amazon. Owning his own sales and marketing agency in the Pacific NW, is now VP of Digital Commerce for Quickfire LLC. Scott has been a featured speaker at national trade shows and has developed distribution strategies for many top brands. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ohsman-861196a6/   Hayley Brucker has been working in retail and with Amazon for years. She is currently a Brand Manager at Channel Key LLC. Hayley has extensive experience in digital advertising, both seller and vendor central on Amazon. Hayley is based out of North Carolina and has worked in multiple product categories and has also worked on the brand side and started with Nordstrom on the retail floor.  LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-brucker-1945bb229/   Huge thanks to Cytrus our show theme music “Office Party” available wherever you get your music. Check them out here: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cytrusmusic Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cytrusmusic/ Twitter https://twitter.com/cytrusmusic SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VrNLN6Thj1iUMsiL4Yt5q?si=MeRsjqYfQiafl0f021kHwg APPLE MUSIC https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cytrus/1462321449   “Always Off Brand” is part of the Quickfire Podcast Network and produced by Quickfire LLC.  

Welcome to Episode 390 of The Outdoor Biz Podcast featuring XGRiD Campers, founded by Loren Walker, an avid camper, RV'er, and outdoor enthusiast. Shredding a traditional trailer on one of Loren's adventures sparked the inspiration for XGRiD campers. After a bit of research and connecting with makers of the world's toughest off-road campers, Loren left his corporate job and XGRiD Campers came to life. With stores in Las Vegas and Knoxville XGRiD Campers is dedicated to helping backcountry adventurers find the Right Rig for their Journey. Facebook Twitter Instagram   The Outdoor Biz Podcast   Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!   Sign up for my Newsletter HERE.   I'd love to hear your feedback about the show!   You can contact me here: email: rick@theoutdoorbizpodcast.com   Or leave me a message on Speakpipe!   Presented to by: Show Notes You had a 23-year career in corporate strategy, branding, and partnership, developing software and platform technologies. Give us the Twitter version of what you did there. Yeah, definitely not too sexy, but it was a good career, really in software, technology channel, sales partnerships, and strategic planning for some big companies. And it was a good opportunity for me, but fast forward to Covid, and things changed. So we decided to go a different direction and kick off with XGRiD Campers. This is much more fun, How'd you get into the software thing? Were you just a software guy? One thing left, another more on the, on the sales side, corporate sales side. And then kinda evolved from there, so that was really it. Did a lot of partnership development and ran some sales teams and things like that. And so, how'd you get into the outdoors? I guess for years, your job kept you basically a weekend outdoor enthusiast. Yeah, that's what it was. I grew up actually near Yosemite, up in the mountains there. And, so, always backpacked and hiked and did a lot of fly fishing and that sort of thing. I was definitely an outdoors guy. But what we ended up doing as a family, after I had kids, we started to get into RVing. We had done our camping, and we got into RVs. We ended up buying a 27-foot traditional RV. And that type of trailer was not best suited for the types of adventures and experiences that we wanted to have. So started to research and looked at the off-road, and at the time, overlanding really wasn't a common term. But now we know the over landing camper market and found that there were some neat products coming to market. This is back in two thousand, 15, 16 type thing. And so that caught my interest, and that's what started us off on this journey. Where'd you grow up? I grew up near Coarsegold, up near Yosemite. So on the western side of the Sierra Nevada, we spent quite a bit of time up through the mountains up there. I guess the catalyst to leave the corporate job was just to switch gears from a work perspective. How was that? Yeah, so what happened is we had this idea to start an off-road, overland camping business years ago, but we couldn't do it cuz I had a job. And so it was one of those things that were on the back of our minds, a business plan was written and got dusty and everything. But, come COVID in June of 2020, I found myself with some free time after some downsizing from the organization I was with. And decided that was the right time to kick it off. So we had done enough research on the market, had built some relationships with some of the partners, and we kicked off XGRiD Campers. I say we and my wife and I got it going in June of 2020 as the pandemic and things were starting to open back up. Lucky for us, there was a little bit of a tailwind right then. There was a high demand for the products. We had zero access to the products at the time because of supply chain issues, but it allowed us to start building the brand and start getting some pre-orders in, and so that's what we did. We decided to venture off and start this. So when we started this venture, What was important to us was to really have a narrow focus on the types of products we wanted to carry. And provide a different type of experience for buyers or researchers, I'll say, that are in the market to potentially buy an off-road camper. It's a different type of product. There's a different knowledge base; there's different technology with them. And a lot of the shops that work in the more traditional landscape, this is a little bit foreign to 'em. And so we went into it saying, Hey, we're gonna focus on this niche. We don't sell traditional RVs, and we just source some of the best products now from across the globe. Yeah, you gotta be able to get yourself out of a jam. These are basically some of the skills that you need. If you have a flat back there, if something breaks, it's all on you to fix it. Yeah, exactly. And you need to know you have to understand first what you're going for with a camper, if you're out looking for an off-road camper, really what you're looking to do. So a lot of the time what we do with our customers is we sit down with them, and we talk about their lifestyle. We're actually working with them and figuring out where they wanna go. How long are they going out? What's the family situation? We're really trying to be their consultant or maybe their trail guide, if you will, right on that journey to try to find the right rig. That makes sense. We'll get back to that customer thing in a minute. I read somewhere that there was a trip in Southern Utah that pushed you over the edge. What happened on that trip? So that's when we had one of our traditional trailers and found some really cool spots to go fishing with the family. Got back on a small trail, and frankly, the trailer wasn't capable of doing what was needed for that trail. After getting hung up on some rocks and, bottoming out a little bit and breaking up some stabilizer jacks, scraping up the edges and the side of the camper going around trees, we just decided that we needed to find a different type of trailer to get back into the places that we wanted to go to. I saw some of the brands you carry; it's pretty awesome. Let's go to the brand thing. What are the criteria for you choosing brands? All the stuff that we carry has independent suspensions. And so what we do is we look a lot at how it's built, right? So we start with the suspension, we start with the frame design, and then we go up from there, and, a lot of stuff we're looking at, we're trying to stay away from wood. Some traditional trailers they'll use wood in the wall panels. Or sometimes even in the body itself, sometimes within just the cabinetry and that sort of thing. So a lot of stuff we carry is zero wood. Wow. But really, what we're looking for is how it's built. It's gotta be built in a way that can take very rugged terrain. And do you get to test most of the products that you choose to sell for most of the campers? Oh, it's been fun. Yeah, we have a rental line, and so we bring in a camper, a new one, and use it as a demo for a little bit and typically move it over to the rental. We get out there and get to test them, and we have four partners, Australian Offroad Track Trailers out of Australia, then Lifestyle Campers out of Australia. And then also Expedition Trailers outta Salt Lake City, that we are the only dealership in the US, we are the exclusive dealership for those. And so we work really closely with them, as well as our other partners, to help look at what the market needs for the US. What makes sense here? And they've been very supportive of us to provide feedback and continue to build upon them as well. So someone wants to rent one, they have to come pick it up? Do you deliver it to anybody? They'd have to pick it up. We started with deliveries a while back, but we've paused on that now. Most people come to our Vegas office, and they'll do the orientation with us here. We spend about an hour showing 'em how to use a camper. They have to have the right tow vehicle, which we, of course, check on that beforehand. We give 'em some training, and then, when they head out, some people take it out for a one or two-day trip just to test it out, see how they like it if they're in the market to buy. But a lot of people just use it as an opportunity to take a family vacation. You take them out for a week or two and go explore. There are a ton of places to go camping in the West. And we can give 'em some suggestions too if they're not really familiar with it. So what types of customers rent these or buy them? Is it people that are just like you and me, ready to get away, done with the corporate life? Or is a lot of folks that just want something to do on the weekends? I bet it's a broad variety. Gosh, it's so broad. We have millennials that are buying and going out and exploring, and we have retirees that maybe have Been living in a fifth wheel or a big class A that are looking to be more remote. And so, really, the demographic of the buyer is all over the place. But what they share in common is this desire to be off-grid and be away from the campgrounds and be away from the RV parks, but they still want some amenities and some comfort with the rig. We have customer groups that we call 'em Weekend Boon Dockers; they go out for the weekend or go out for a couple of days and then come back, maybe stay in a campground, which is great. You have the overland enthusiasts, which are out there taking longer trails, longer trips, maybe exploring parts of the country. And then we have full-timers too. We have full-timers that live in these rigs full time, maybe, homeschool kids or work remotely. And so what we're trying to do is really understand which of these categories you fit in so that we can make sure to recommend an outfit and the camper the right way for you. And there are all kinds of options these days. There's everything from popups, the old school popups, to some of these new things like Taxa. How do you figure out what works for them? You must go through a lot of questions. Yeah. It's getting into that lifestyle goal. Oh yeah. If you wanna be more remote and you wanna get down narrow trails, we gotta go small light. Obviously, we're looking at the tow vehicle and what the tow vehicle can handle. If you want the comfort of having a bathroom inside or an indoor kitchen, Maybe a hybrid or a caravan is the way to go. Are you comfortable being outside for doing your business, that sort of thing, and having a composting toilet or maybe a dry flush type toilet? That's important. And then really the types of trails you're going down. Are you staying on fire roads, which is great, or do you wanna be able to go explore and have the trailer be able to keep up with anywhere that you can go? That makes a difference. And so yeah, we're sitting down, we're talking about that a lot. Size, weight, amenities, and capabilities there. All play a factor as we go through that journey and select a trailer. How frequently does someone come in, and what they want? They're not gonna be able to tow. So it's driven by their vehicle. Does that happen a lot? It happens a fair amount. Although I would say most of the consumers in this space they're doing a lot of research. Okay. They really are; most people are very well-researched and educated. They're spending time on YouTube. A lot of times, by the time they come to us, they've selected a couple of campers, and they want clarifications or they want information that they can't get online. Once in a while, you do have a customer that says, Hey, I want to tow this, and we'll caution them or steer 'em in a different direction. So how is XGRiD different from other RV dealerships? Sounds like the service level is off the charts. It's fun. So what we do is we offer an indoor showroom. We're not a traditional lot. We keep limited inventory on hand. A lot of our stuff is pre-order. And so it's more of an experience of coming in, having more of a discussion about the lifestyle, understanding what we're trying to do, and then pairing it up. So it's more of a process like that because we're not trying to sell a lot of inventory off the floor. We're not pushing certain items, but we sit down, have a consultative conversation with the customer, and then build it from there. We're a small business, There are only five people in the Las Vegas office, and we have about five people now in our new location in Knoxville, Tennessee. It's an owner-operated business in both locations. Both of us are partners and are heavily invested in the day-to-day operations. And so when customers come in, they're working with us directly. And it makes for a nice experience. The main thing, I think, is being able to sit down and talk about the different capabilities and options out there and really get into the weeds and details for someone who wants that, for people that don't; great. Is there a wild customer story where someone came back from their trip, and you just looked at 'em as they're pulling up, looked at the trailer, and said, what the heck happened? What did you do? We've had a handful. We had a really gracious client; he took one of our rentals out on the Mojave Trail. And, it was actually, it was an Opus OP 4, which has a really good suspension and great frame and beat it up pretty well. Definitely came back with some bruises and everything. But the funny part about it actually is he actually bent the frame on his truck. So the fact that he bent the frame on his truck, but the actual camper came back and others some scrapes and bruises, it was actually sound. So that actually made me happy that my camper was okay. So it's terrible for him, but it just shows you that you can, in many cases, I don't recommend this for a rental, but once you have your own rig, you can get out there and beat it up if you need to. So you have shops in Las Vegas and Knoxville. Why those two locations? Las Vegas started cuz it was just time and opportunity. And that's where partners that we're working with, they needed a representation here. So that worked out well for us at the time. So we've been doing that for a couple of years now. And, what was important for us looking for a second location is helping these partners we're importing, particularly from Australia, to get them distributed through the US. So we looked for another location out east, and that way, we could support them really across the entire country. Knoxville it's just a great community. It's an outdoor community, very in tune with the same culture as our business. Other than Covid, or maybe since Covid, have there been a couple of challenges in the last two or three years that you guys had to overcome? Supply chain? Yeah, certainly, during Covid supply chain and high demand and then low inventory, was it. Now for that, though, we do have some inventory. The stuff that we import from Australia still takes a little while, but that's okay. People are comfortable with that. I think right now, the biggest challenge, especially on the consumer level, is understanding the products that are out there. There are a lot of products that are coming to market. A lot of the traditional RV manufacturers are looking to get into the off-road or land space. And so they, they look to make enhancements that might, on the surface, appear, feel like they're designed to be off-road, but maybe they're not. And helping the customer navigate this landscape of all the different options and what's really good and what's not, and really what fits their price point is sometimes the most challenging part. Do you also carry a handful of some of the more traditional outdoor products? Do you guys go to shows like Outdoor Retailer to buy other accessory-type things? Not only for the trailer itself but also for some of the camping stuff. Yeah, a lot of our outfitting we do for the trailers gear and accessories for the trailers; our Knoxville, Tennessee shop does have a full retail and outfit and shop too. So rooftop tents, awnings, coolers, power systems, and batteries. It's really geared around the overlanding market. We don't do anything really with suspensions and truck mods and things like that. It's really around the accessories and components that work with a lot of the campers we sell. Do you get outdoors much yourself? Do you have time to get outside and go camping? Yeah, we try to take a trip once in a while. We love doing client events. We try to do three to four client events a year. So, customers that have purchased from us, we get together on a trail meetup, and so that's a lot of fun. But then, between the expos and the different events throughout the year, to get some quiet time ourselves. But definitely places to go explore, and it makes it a lot of fun because it's work, but it's also what we enjoy. Do you have any suggestions or advice for someone wanting to get into the biz? Whether it's just the general overlanding biz or the rental biz specifically? I think if you're looking to be in the business, in some way, I'd say, find your niche, find what you want to do. I think there's a lot of noise. And do something different. Find that new problem to solve, and then go after that, and you have to commit to it. We see a lot of similar products out there, and hopefully, they last, but many don't. So I think those that thrive have found a new angle, a new problem, solved something different, and are committed to making it work. It takes a lot of work to do this stuff. There's a lot of investment with it and commitment to it. But the people are great. The industry's fantastic. It's a lot of fun. And so you get out there and certainly get the rewards of that too. Do you have a favorite piece of outdoor gear under a hundred dollars that you like to have on board at all times? Yeah. It's something I don't sell, but it's been with me for a long time since I was backpacking as a kid. I carry my same shovel, and I've got a collapsible shovel that has never left my side and have used it for everything, and it's in my rig all the time. Do you have a couple of favorite books? Do you read a lot? I used to, and I think probably what I've gotten into more than anything is just professional type stuff and developmental type stuff or strategy and business strategy and things like that. I would probably say this goes back a while back to my former days in sales, but I think for someone that is in sales or starting to do that, The Accidental Salesperson, I think had a big impact on me. I read that years ago, and, it impacted me, I think also right now, reflecting, again, going back 20 years probably The E-Myth was a book I read a long time ago. The Entrepreneurial Myth and, now that I have my own business creating the infrastructure and processes for the business to operate on its own, that was something, at the time, I read didn't quite fully comprehend the impact of that. But now, being a business owner, it has stuck with me. As we wrap up, is there anything else you'd like to say to or ask of our listeners? Get out there and explore. I think what's fun about this space is you can do a lot, and sometimes people are intimidated by the offroad over-landing space because they watch videos all the time of all the crazy stuff, and even when customers come in, and they're a little bit timid maybe about, I don't do this. And that's okay, whatever you have, if it's a two-wheel drive sedan, just go outside, just explore, go travel where you can. Take your time to build up to things. If you wanna get more adventurous, jump into different outdoor groups and Facebook groups. Go talk to people, go to these events, and you'll start learning a lot. Everyone wants to help people out. and it's a fantastic community, get into it. If you're not, continue to advance yourself if you are, and just enjoy it. And where can people follow up with you if they'd like to follow up? So XGRiD Campers.com is our website. Go to XGRiD Campers.com; both locations are listed there. Come visit us in Las Vegas and also in Knoxville, Tennessee, or follow us on Instagram, Facebook.

This week the microphone is turned the opposite direction with Dave Mable, host of Bike Talk with Dave, interviewing your host Craig Dalton. Dave had mentioned the many references I've made to my career and felt the audience should get to know me better. This is a re-broadcast of the original conversation from the Bike Talk podcast feed. Episode sponsor: Dynamic Cyclist (use THEGRAVELRIDE for 15% off) Bike Talk with Dave Spotify Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the podcast, I'm actually going to be the guest. So a little while back I was the guest on bike. Talk with Dave. With host Dave Mabel. Dave reached out to me and said, he's been a long time listener of the podcast. He and I connected earlier via one of his film projects. And he mentioned that he felt like I left a bunch of Easter eggs in each episodes. Easter eggs about my history or a little mentions of things that I've done in my life. And he was curious to unpeel the onion and get to know me a little bit better. And it dawned on me that so much of my time on this podcast is spent interviewing others that I rarely share that much about my history, how I found a love for the sport of cycling, how I became a podcaster. And what I do for my day job. So with Dave's permission, I'm going to republish the conversation I had on bike. Talk with Dave. That was originally found on his feed, just so you can get to know me a little bit. So I hope you enjoy the conversation again for the frequent listener. You'll get to know me a little bit. If this is your first time listening to the gravel ride podcast. Maybe this isn't the episode to start with, unless you want to get to know a little bit more about me in the meantime, I did want to thank the dynamic cyclist. I mentioned them in the last episode as a long-time sponsor of the show. At this point, dynamic cyclist offers a stretching and strengthening programs specific to cyclists. It's a video series. Each video is about 15 to 20 minutes long. It's designed to be easy to fit into your life. Something you can do. In addition to all the cycling training you're doing. But it's critically important, especially as you become older, that you really do strengthen and stretch those parts of the body that get overworked. You can imagine as a cyclist, we all sit in this kind of awkward, unique position, and it's important to kind of work other muscles as I'm learning more and more as I'm getting older. So I encourage you to check out dynamic cyclists, just go to dynamic cyclists.com. They've got a free one week trial. So you really know what you're getting into and very inexpensive, either monthly or annual memberships, if you're a gravel ride podcast listener, which obviously you are, because you're hearing my voice. Simply enter the code, the gravel ride, and you'll get 15% off. Either one of those programs. So I highly recommend making it part of your routine. And with that free trial, that's a no reason not to try it out. So with that, I'm going to hand over the microphone to Dave Mabel, who is going to interview me. [00:03:10] Dave Mable: Craig Dalton, I am so thrilled to have you on Bike Talk with Dave. You are the OG of Gravel Podcasts and just talking to you before this thing, I'm just having these flashbacks cuz I do listen to your podcast very, very regularly and even go back to before I started listening to podcasts to hear your old episodes. But it's a treat to have you on and hear your voice in my. Uh, yet another time today. So welcome to the podcast. Thanks for [00:03:40] Craig Dalton: Thanks. Yeah, thanks Dave. I'm, I'm appreciative of you having me and looking forward to the conversation. [00:03:46] Dave Mable: I wanted to have you on because, well, a, you've got a cool podcast and you've done some cool things, but you throw out these little teaser about your past history or past life, and you've just peaked my curiosity to be perfectly honest, and I'm like, I just gotta ask this dude. Who he is and how he came to be. So first of all, um, where you call it, where, where are you right now? [00:04:13] Craig Dalton: So I am in Northern California in the town of Mill Valley, so we're right at the base of Mount Tam, which is purportedly the birthplace of mountain biking. [00:04:22] Dave Mable: bike. No doubt. Do you have an old mountain bike? [00:04:25] Craig Dalton: I do, I've, I've, despite the Gravel Ride Pods podcast being my main public persona in cycling, I am an avid mountain biker and have been for, for a very long. [00:04:36] Dave Mable: So I asked you if you had an old mountain bike. How old? What's your oldest mountain bike? [00:04:42] Craig Dalton: My oldest mountain bike is probably 12 years old, [00:04:46] Dave Mable: oh, all right. It's getting [00:04:47] Craig Dalton: so not, yeah, not, not exceptionally old. And I probably, if I had enough room, I probably would've had a few more laying around. I do have one access to. [00:04:56] Dave Mable: to one [00:04:58] Craig Dalton: 25 year old Dean titanium mountain bike that is with my father right now. And the long term vision is that'll come back into my life and hopefully that'll be a bike my, my now eight year old son can grow into at some point. [00:05:13] Dave Mable: a, oh, that's that. That's pretty cool. You better hang onto to that. That's, that's very cool. [00:05:18] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's got a, you know, in addition to being like a neat titanium bicycle from that, that era, I actually, and we can get into this later, I worked at Dean Titanium. That was my first sort of professional job out of college. [00:05:32] Dave Mable: Oh, cool. Oh, I, I do wanna get into that cuz that's one of the things you throw out are little, uh, tidbits about you working in the cycling industry, um, and, uh, and being a lifetime cyclist. , I, I feel like cycling often leads us to cycling industry jobs. So am I guessing right that cycling came first in your life? [00:05:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah it did. And I'll, I'll take you on the way back machine for a minute here, Dave. So my father, my both my mother and father are from England, and my dad was an avid bicycle racer before he came to the us. And a little bit when he set foot on US soil, always a road racer. By the time I was around, he had transitioned into marathon running because having kids wasn't allowing him enough time to ride. But the bike has always been sort of around my life, but I, I certainly didn't pick it up with great interest. I did a little bit of BMX racing, which my father thought was. [00:06:35] Dave Mable: was completely [00:06:36] Craig Dalton: Crazy and uninteresting. He thought that was a, a discipline of cycling. He didn't understand. And thankfully my neighbors raced BMX and they would take me because my parents really had little interest in fostering my BMX career. [00:06:50] Dave Mable: Did your dad ever use the word silly? I'm just picturing an English guy. What are you doing with that silly sport? [00:06:58] Craig Dalton: E exactly. I mean, I think his progression to his progression from cycling as he would describe it, First he had a truck bike, so I had to translate that to being like, you know, beach cruiser kind of city bike style and then fell in love in, you know, in, in the UK they have a lot of cycling clubs that are fostering interest for the kids. So, you know, by the time they're 10 or 12, if they're showing interest. They're getting offered bicycles to use on the weekends and really kind of fostering them and developing them. In fact, my father is one of five boys, and I think four out of the five boys all raced as kind of teenagers into their early twenties. And it's a, it's been a, a unifying thread for the entire family, just the sport of cycling. In fact, my cousin from Australia, originally from the UK is staying with me right now, and he and I reconnected as an adult via Facebook as a platform and our love of cycling. And we ended up going and riding in Belgium together. But I completely digress my progression, again, BMX kind of then just used the bike for getting to and from school. My freshman year of high school, my dad took us on a, a bike tour. It was three of us, freshman in high school and him, uh, up through upstate New York and Vermont. We were living in New Jersey at the time, but it was still not a, something I was craving to do, riding a bike. It was just something. It was a great activity and a lot of fun. It wasn't until my freshman year of college and after my freshman year of college, my dad had bought a mountain bike, and this is to just to date me. That would be sort of around 19 86, 19 85 timeframe. So pretty early on he bought a Cannondale Mountain bike, and while I was home for the summer, I fell in love with it and I decided I really wanted to get a mountain bike. I was in school in Washington, DC. Um, got a job in a bike shop to bring that cost of entry down and ended up buying a Trek 7,000 aluminum hard tail and started cutting my teeth. Uh, mountain biking in Washington, DC for the uninitiated. Washington DC believe it or not, has a lot of dirt trails. You have to figure out how they're all interconnected and it, you know, it's certainly not like being in, you know, Iowa or Colorado, where there's a lot of open space to kind of pursue these. But it was there and it was a quite a fun community. So started racing mountain bikes, kind of my junior and senior year and falling in love with it. It coincided with me falling out of love with being a university student. And fortunately, maybe, I dunno, fortunately or unfortunately, I said to myself, if I can get a degree in business, I can apply that to anything. And in order to finish this degree, my intention is gonna be to go work in the bike. [00:09:48] Dave Mable: the bike. Oh, cool. Wow. That's pretty intentional. Did you end up getting the degree? [00:09:55] Craig Dalton: I did, yeah, I finished my degree and I was managing a bike shop in Washington, DC and I said to my son, you know, I was also bike racing mountain bikes at that time and being fairly competitive at the expert level in the mid-Atlantic region. And I decided, well, if I, if I'm just managing a bike shop, I can do that anywhere. Why don't I move to Colorado? And at the same time, I was applying to bike companies. Via, gosh, snail mail probably at that [00:10:21] Dave Mable: Right, right. Licking a stamp. [00:10:23] Craig Dalton: Yeah. And, uh, I remember, I, I had got some interest from Dean Titanium and Yeti. They both had potential positions available and I said, that's enough. And I packed up all my stuff, moved to Colorado, went down to interview at Yeti. That didn't work out. Moved to Boulder, got a job in a bike shop, connected with the team at Dean and they, they brought me in for an interview about a month after I. And that led to me becoming National Sales Manager of Dean Titanium. [00:10:54] Dave Mable: Wow. Cool. [00:10:56] Craig Dalton: That title would imply some lofty position and experience, but at that time it was, uh, that meant I answered the phone and tried to convince bike shops and customers to buy bikes. [00:11:09] Dave Mable: Fair enough. Fair enough. So what bike shop in Boulder in what year? [00:11:14] Craig Dalton: I worked for psychologic. [00:11:16] Dave Mable: Okay. [00:11:17] Craig Dalton: And that would've been, uh, 1993. [00:11:22] Dave Mable: huh? Okay, [00:11:22] Craig Dalton: And for, yeah, it was a pretty brief stint actually at the, at the shop before I ended up moving over to Dean. [00:11:27] Dave Mable: actually. Yeah. I had a little history with bike shops in Boulder. A friend of mine was part of the, uh, Morgo Bismarck crew and uh, and then ended up that closed and there was another cycle works, or I don't know. Anyway. [00:11:46] Craig Dalton: so many great bike shops there in Boulder. [00:11:48] Dave Mable: So many great bike shops there in Boulder and so much great riding there in Boulder. I spent a summer in Boulder and, oh, I mean, we still love to go back with our road bikes, believe it or not, and uh, and do some of those road roads either up into the mountains or out into the planes. Like some of those rides out towards Nawat and Longmont and, I don't know, just go east. Were awesome. [00:12:14] Craig Dalton: yeah, yeah, for sure. [00:12:16] Dave Mable: So how long were you at Dean? [00:12:18] Craig Dalton: I was at Dean for about a year and a half, and then I, I took a break and was focusing a little bit more on, on racing, which I was still doing. Turns out working for a small bike company doesn't actually give you a lot of time to ride and train on your bike, so I took a break and, you know, got some menial job and, and raced. And then I got an opportunity to move out to California to race for a team that was sponsored by Voodoo Bicycles. And Will Smith and I had a, had made a friend who was out in Palo Alto and got me a place to live out here, so I moved out to race for that team and I was able to get a job with a bicycle computer and accessory manufacturing company called aat. [00:13:01] Dave Mable: Aset. Awesome. I, I should have gotten 'em, but I've, I probably have three old AEC computers in my garage in some old box somewhere. [00:13:12] Craig Dalton: I would love to see them. [00:13:14] Dave Mable: Uh, Avice. I'm thinking of the wrong thing. Who made the Fat Boy? Was that Avice? Did they make [00:13:22] Craig Dalton: that wasn't. They did, yeah. They did have a very popular slick tire. Their computers were, um, had numbers associated with 'em. So Theat 20, [00:13:33] Dave Mable: Yeah. [00:13:34] Craig Dalton: 30, and the AAT 45. And then one of the big innovations that happened while I was there was the aviset vertex. And the vertex was the first. Watch, digital watch that could track elevation, gain and loss. [00:13:49] Dave Mable: I remember that. [00:13:51] Craig Dalton: And it was really, I mean, the older listeners will understand this moment. At that time when you were talking to your buddies about a mountain bike ride and the only piece of data you had was mileage. It was really difficult to compare one ride to another, right? So you could say, I rode 10 miles, but if you did 10 miles and 5,000 feet of climbing, that's a lot different experience than 10 miles and a thousand feet of climbing. So the, the v the vertex became this, this great unlock that we all take for granted today. Like when you go to a course profile for an event, they're always talking about mileage and, and elevation gain that you're gonna experience. But prior to that point, that just wasn't available as a data set. The average consumer. [00:14:33] Dave Mable: Yeah, it was a big deal, wasn't it? Uh, barometric, fresher based. [00:14:37] Craig Dalton: That's exactly it. Yep, [00:14:39] Dave Mable: Yeah, that's pretty interesting and pretty kind of vague. I mean, it's certainly not an exact science, [00:14:47] Craig Dalton: yep. Yeah. And it drifted, right? The barometric pressure would drift and there have to reset your elevation to a known elevation in order to get it to. [00:14:56] Dave Mable: yep. I, I remember those days. I never had one, but I do remember that I did have the ACET 20, ACET 30, whatever they got up to. [00:15:05] Craig Dalton: I think there was definitely a 40 and, and I can't remember if there was a 45, there was one that actually had that Vertex technology into it. Um, that might have been theat 50. [00:15:16] Dave Mable: yeah. [00:15:17] Craig Dalton: But my experience there was gr, my experience there was great. I, I ended up, um, uh, going to work on the national mountain bike circuit. So I would go to all the events and kind of represent AED and have an opportunity to do a little riding myself. I was able to go over to the tour of France once and represent aed. At that time. I mean, the, the thing that, that always, I always come back to with Aset, they used to have these bi, these ads in the bicycle magazines where they would show the front of the, the professional peloton, and every one of those riders had an aviset computer on their bike. And my favorite tagline was, what 90% of the workforce brings to work? [00:15:57] Dave Mable: That's awesome. I can picture that ad. [00:15:59] Craig Dalton: yeah. I was so sold. So I was one of those guys who went over and made sure everybody was dialed when, when onsite changed from their traditional yellow to their Tor De France pink. We gave them all custom pink computers. [00:16:13] Dave Mable: Nice. Nice. That's awesome. What a fun experience. What a great, great, uh, if you're a cycling enthusiast, what a great gig. [00:16:24] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think, I mean, the bike industry as an as as you know, like, it, it, it has its ups and downs. I do think, you know, as a young person in their twenties, it's a phenomenal place to work. It's just you have to start questioning your career path later in life. Like, where am I? Where am I gonna get to? Obviously the bike industry is fairly small. There's some exceptions, but you know, a lot of these businesses, unless you're the owner, it's kind of hard to really move up the food. [00:16:51] Dave Mable: Yep. And, uh, time is, uh, like if you want to have a family, it's, it's hard to be. At the tour of France for a month every year. And then the tour of Spain, and then the tour of California, and then the et cetera. Et And then you go to Interbike and then you go to the Outdoor Retailer show and you, you, you can be home, gone from home a lot, lot, lot. So it is a lifestyle for sure, but, uh, [00:17:18] Craig Dalton: to that, To that exact end, I, I ended up accepting a position with one of a's competitors, Veta and I moved over to Switzerland to be European. I forget, I was European sales and marketing manager. And effectively they, they, they had a person in the position who was um, usurping too much power. As according to the US bosses, and they wanted someone young who they could control, who was willing to live in Europe, travel around country to country and represent the company. And I was like, that's me. I raised my hand. I'll go. I had a great, I mean I had a great time. The, the company was, was in the course of my brief tenure over there, which was only about six months. The company was bought by a private equity firm and I had some issues getting paid, but I don't. I don't, uh, you know, I had a great experience for six months over in Europe living on someone else's dime. Again, just talking about bikes with people. But I will say after that experience, I was like, I need to take a professional break from the biking industry and go find something else to do. I'll still love riding my bike. In fact, I may even like it more if I don't have to talk about it, you know, 50 hours. [00:18:35] Dave Mable: There's true truth to that statement for sure. Uh, so what'd you end up doing? I mean, that's still a while ago. [00:18:42] Craig Dalton: yeah. Yeah, so I mean, I guess the sort of abbreviated version is, um, moved back to California, ended up going to business school and St studying technology management. Did a series of work for a series of small companies in the mobile. And then, um, in 2010, I founded a company that made iPad and iPhone accessories, a company called Dodo Case. And, and it ended up taking off, I won't belabor this since this isn't an entrepreneurship show, but ended up building a manufacturing facility in San Francisco. Our products were handmade. I a hundred percent referenced back to my early experience at Dean Titanium in terms. How to build a brand, how to build an aura, how to build quality products, how to, how to stand behind those products and really kind of take and accept consumer input as like the guiding principle of where you take the business. It was in the early days of social media being here in the Bay Area. We sort of understood the game that needed to be played at that time, and we amassed a pretty big following because we just had a great compelling story. I mean, who's hand building phone and iPad accessories in the United States? [00:19:58] Dave Mable: iPad. Yeah, nobody, [00:20:02] Craig Dalton: Exactly. So obviously cycling continued to be part of my life, but it was just a, a recreational activity. I wasn't doing much. I don't think I was attending any, I wasn't going down to Sea Otter, like I let most things come and go. Maybe I would pin a number on here and there as I sort of went out to Leadville and did the Leadville 100. I had a brief stint doing Ironman triathlons, but it was all just in the, you know, the pursuit of fun and scratching that endurance athletics itch. [00:20:33] Dave Mable: bag. Do you remember what year you did? Leadville [00:20:37] Craig Dalton: Um, it would've been either 2007 or 2009. [00:20:44] Dave Mable: Hmm, I'm gonna have to look. We were in that era, so we might have lined up together. [00:20:50] Craig Dalton: Amazing. [00:20:51] Dave Mable: you were probably ahead of us, but, uh, nonetheless, I think my first was like oh, three or four. I did it solo and then I told my wife, I was like, Hey, I think this is tandem about, and she believed me actually. She said, if we get a new tandem, I'll do it. I'm like, uh, I, I'm calling the bike shop right now. [00:21:15] Craig Dalton: Oh man, I can't e [00:21:16] Dave Mable: And she said, yes. [00:21:19] Craig Dalton: I can't even, I can't imagine going up Columbine nor down Columbine on a tandem. [00:21:24] Dave Mable: You know, up Columbine was a lot of pushing, as you can well imagine, and down Columbine. Uh, we bought a Ventana full suspension rig with the Maverick Fork. So six inches of travel front and rear, and I needed all six inches. Like you're going down Columbine and there's people coming up on the other side of the trail. And there's a giant rock in front of you. All you can do is hit it, you know? And so I did, but uh, we always made it down. Uh, the only time we crashed was going up the power line and uh, you know, it's just rocky and hard and. I, uh, come around a corner and the front wheel like just gets up on a lip and then hits another rock and just stops all of our momentum. And for some reason we leaned to the right and there was nothing but air below our feet. And so down we went. friend of us was, a friend of ours was with us at that moment, and he looked at us, he's like, you guys good? Yeah, we're all right. He's like, I'm outta here. [00:22:34] Craig Dalton: Goodbye. It's already been long. If you're on your way back up power line, it's already been long enough of a day. You can't, you can't wait for down soldiers at that point. [00:22:42] Dave Mable: No, that's true. That's true. We made it home though. Uh, so you have a lot of mountain biking in your history. Where did Gravel. [00:22:54] Craig Dalton: Yeah, so the story around gravel, I had moved from San Francisco to Mill Valley where I live today, and I was riding into the city, and for those of you who don't know the geography here, There's actually a lot of, um, there's the coastal range of hills that kind of go right from the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County, so you can actually ride in on the dirt. And so I had this new commute and I'm, I'm gonna mention that this was also when I discovered listening to podcasts. And we'll put a pin in that statement for a minute here, but I was riding into the city and I had an opportunity to ride on the dirt or ride on the trail. And I had had a cyclocross bike back in the day and I. [00:23:34] Dave Mable: in the, like [00:23:35] Craig Dalton: It was, this was would've been around 2015 timeframe just to give a, a, a timestamp there. So I bought a, a niner aluminum gravel bike with a max tire capacity, I think of maybe 33 millimeters. And I started riding that and it had mechanical disc brakes, and I started riding that into the city. And, uh, listening to my podcast and I thought, well, this is sort of an enjoyable hybrid of, you know, it's a drop bar bike, so it's efficient. So when I get on the pavement, I can ride to my office, which was, it was about a, an hour and 15 minute trip. Um, one way, but with probably 60% of that being on pavement. So again, like playing, playing in that mixed terrain angle. But I also started to recognize, One that I was enjoying it, but two, that the bike didn't have the capabilities that I needed. The, the hills were steep, so my mechanical disc brakes were requiring too much hand strength to brake, and I, it felt like a huge shortcoming, only having 33 millimeter tires around here. Disclosure, the gravel riding we have around here is, is rough, and many people would argue that it's mountain biking, but it's my cup of tea. But again, so I, I thought. How was I around the sport of cycling my entire life as we've just discussed? How did I botch this bike purchase and buy something that wasn't suitable? And you know, I was reading about the gravel market. It was obviously early days at that point in terms of like the amount of models that were out there, et cetera. And I just had like, I want to go all in on this. Like this is the type of riding I really like. I. [00:25:17] Dave Mable: I get [00:25:18] Craig Dalton: The best bike that I can afford. I want disc brakes and I want big tire capacity. So after a bunch of research, [00:25:27] Dave Mable: I think that's called a mountain bike. [00:25:31] Craig Dalton: possibly, possibly a bunch of research, I ended up, um, selling a road bike and pushing all in on a, an open up with two wheel sets. So I had a road wheel set and, uh, a gravel wheel set. And I absolutely fell in love with it. [00:25:49] Dave Mable: huh, what was the tire capacity of that? [00:25:51] Craig Dalton: Oh, I could run 40 sevens, six 50 by 47 [00:25:55] Dave Mable: huh. Wow. That's, I mean, that's, that's pretty early. I mean, those are, if you're talking 15, 16, like we're still riding cross bikes on gravel those days. I mean, that's, you go by a cross bike and that's your gravel bike. [00:26:10] Craig Dalton: Un unquestionably that open bike was visionary and ahead of its time. It's it. I would still argue that it's spec still holds up with the sweet spot of gravel cycling today. [00:26:23] Dave Mable: Huh, interesting. [00:26:24] Craig Dalton: Yeah, [00:26:26] Dave Mable: So I feel like you dove in Headfirst podcast and you're going all over the freaking world riding a gravel bike. [00:26:36] Craig Dalton: Yeah, so I, I pushed all in. I realized like one, I had a di, I had a, uh, caliber brake road bike and I was like, this thing's gonna be worthless a few years from now as people go to disc brakes. So I was like, I just need to clear out the garage, take the money I get from that, sell the niner and, and buy this one bike for me. The type of road riding I do, I found that the open totally cap. As a road bike with, you know, 28 sea tires on 700 sea wheel sets. And then as I said, with those six 50 B 47 s, incredible bike for everything we have in front of us here on Mount Tam. At around the same time. Now this is going to 2017, we ended up selling Doto case. The business I had. And I had mentioned as a little something, we put a pin in that I had been listening to a bunch of podcasts. Doto case was a manufacturing business. It was also an e-commerce business and a social media business. So I was always in front of a computer, you know, building websites con, you know, trying to convert E-commerce customers to customers. And I said to myself, I need to do something totally different for a break. And selling the company gave me, I don't have to get a job tomorrow. Money. It did not give me, I don't have to get a job ever money, but you know, it gave me a little bit of a window to just kind of explore my own creativity. So I said I'm enjoying podcasts. I'm flabbergasted that I managed to screw up this gravel bike purchase. There's so much going on in gravel. I get so many questions about how to spec a bike. I said, why don't I, you know, I took, I took a podcasting course and I began the Gravel Ride podcast in 2018. With this simple vision of, I was gonna interview people, product designers, and event organizers. [00:28:25] Dave Mable: which I feel like you've stuck to for on five years now. [00:28:31] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It's been pretty much the journey and I still, I mean I, you know, as you and I both as podcasters, there's days where you're like, can I keep up the energy and enthusiasm to do. Obviously being conversational podcasts like we both host, it's important that you're engaged and excited to talk to your guest. And I still am. I mean, I, I, I do think, you know in, as, as we hit 2023, some of the, the massive innovation in the, the bicycle design maybe is behind us for gravel. There was a long journey of many years. For designers to figuring out like, well, how do we get the right tire capacity? How do we get the right geometry? And I don't think the, the, there's not one single right answer to that. I think what has emerged is you've got this great category that as writers explore their own interests as they reconcile their own terrain, there's, there's the right bike for. And I'm always the first to say the bike setup I have here is not the bike set up for Kansas, for example. Like, it's just, it would, it would be way overkill. Um, and there's, there's nothing wrong with what I've set up my bike as, and there's nothing wrong with how you've set up your bike. [00:29:52] Dave Mable: with Yeah. Well, you would totally make fun of me. I'm still on a, uh, Uh, this is kind of interesting, a trek Crockett, the pink one, and, uh, flat bar, which is interesting. And it is signed by both Gary Fisher and Katie Compton. Which, I don't know, maybe that went down in value a couple years ago, but I feel like it still has value. I, I'm a Katie Compton fan, but uh, it was kind of funny cuz they were, it was at the TRX CX Cup and truth be told, I wanted spend nest to, uh, uh, to sign it. And every time as a journalist, every time he was available, I was working and. I wasn't working. He was working, coaching, doing whatever. So, uh, I walked past the Katy Compton compound and uh, I was like, Hey, you should sign my bike. She did. Gary Fisher walks by at that moment. He's like, well, how come she gets to sign it? I'm like, dude, here's a pen right here. And then they argue about who had more input into its design, which I just stood back, listened and. But, uh, you know, it's a pretty old sc I mean, it's a cross bike. It's a high, it's a high performance cross bike, and it is a bit sketchy on loose gravel, but on the, when the gravel is concrete, it is awesome. It flies. I have 33 millimeter tires on it, which people are like, I didn't know they still made those. Oh God, I saved them. But, uh, You know, looking at the, the well, 40 sevens. Holy moly, those are big. Uh, I could envision a pair of forties I could envision, um, you know, the, the benefit of a longer bike. Talking to a guy about, um, fat biking recently, he builds his own bike. You'll want to tune in, um, to Steve McGuire and, and hear how he has come up with his fat bike design. Um, Is long, like, really long chain stays because it acts like a keel in the loose gravel. And I'm like, oh, that, I mean, that really makes sense. So there is kind of something for everyone. I, I also have to say, like, I talked to a dude, um, the podcast I dropped today. The guy is, uh, the reason he loves gravel is nobody cares what you're. Nobody cares what you're wearing. Nobody cares how fast you are. They don't care what color your skin is. They don't care how you talk. Like it's just a gravel ride. [00:32:38] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:32:38] Dave Mable: uh, and he really appreciates that. So, boy, that was a rant, wasn't it? [00:32:43] Craig Dalton: a little bit, but we learned a lot about your bike. [00:32:48] Dave Mable: Like I said, there's little Easter eggs we can throw out in these podcasts, right? [00:32:52] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think that the, the sport of gravel's in an interesting place right now, um, just in terms of like the, for lack of a better term, the professionalization of the front end of the pack and that that's impact on the rest of the field. I mean, obviously like we talk about the spirit of gravel and the type of experience that anybody who's willing to sign up for one of these. Should have, like, we're generally, we're not at the front. We're really just just there for the experience, but there is this ongoing kind of evolution of what the front end of the pack looks like and act, you know, the requirements for safety and, um, competitiveness that need to be figured out. [00:33:34] Dave Mable: signal out [00:33:35] Craig Dalton: I'm. I'm, uh, sort of optimistic. There's a lot of experimentation going on this year. You know, Unbound just announced that they're gonna start the professional men by themselves, and then the professional women two minutes after that, and then the rest of the field, uh, eight minutes after that, which I think is interesting. I, I do think, you know, in talking to female athletes, it's, it's always been this curious race dynamic of clearly you're working with. [00:34:03] Dave Mable: men, [00:34:04] Craig Dalton: And other women throughout the day, like anybody would, right? No one wants to ride by themselves, but so much of that can come into play with who takes the win, right? If you, you could, you know, a strong woman can go off the front and someone drafting men could bridge that gap putting in, you know, 20% less effort. And that could be the difference between winning and losing and. I, I have no idea what the right answer is, but I, I do like this idea that they're gonna have some time to themselves to kind of strategically do one thing or the other, [00:34:40] Dave Mable: And [00:34:41] Craig Dalton: knows what those things will be. [00:34:42] Dave Mable: right? And at least have the opportunity to see where people are relative to themselves. Like, oh, there's five women ahead of me and there's 25 behind me. And then the men come and you get mixed in there. You still know like, okay, there's still five women ahead of me and 25 behind me, and so I'm in good shape. As opposed to just not having any idea where the rest of the women are. Cuz you lose them in the, the me. [00:35:09] Craig Dalton: exactly. So I know the, the Shasta Gravel hugger, which I just did an uh, episode with him a few weeks back. Uh, Ben, he's trying a few things. That'll be interesting to see. We'll see the results of that in, in March. Um, yeah, I just think it's gonna be an interesting year for. [00:35:23] Dave Mable: for sure. It, it is going to be an interesting year and it was an interesting year, especially with the world UCI, world Championships and that was definitely an interest. I wouldn't call that US style gravel, uh, women raced on a completely different day than the men. [00:35:44] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Not at, yeah, totally Not at all. US style gravel. In fact, I, I just had, um, the gentleman on, I haven't released the podcast yet, who's got, who's running the UCI world's qualifier out of Fayetteville for the second year in a row. Um, the name of the event is escaping me. It'll come to me in a minute, I'm sure. But it was interesting talking to him both on the podcast and offline. You know, the, the expectation, I guess, at the USA cycling level for a long period of time was that this first inaugural, um, uci, uh, you know, world Championships was going to be held in the US and I think they just, UCI just wasn't communicating really well with USA cycling. And ultimately it wasn't until, like the very sort of last quarter of the year that they really figured out and leaned in. Hey, if we're gonna pull this off, it needs to be in Italy. It needs to be somewhere, somewhere where they've run events and it's close to home and they can kind of, they, I think they just felt like that was the only way that they could execute. [00:36:49] Dave Mable: was, huh. Interesting. Um, yeah. U S USA cycling, I feel like instead of, it was just interesting who showed up, how they showed up. And then how the race went. And I feel like it was a sep kind of day versus a, or Keegan Swenson for sure. I mean, he probably could have, [00:37:11] Craig Dalton: Yeah, [00:37:11] Dave Mable: uh, but, um, but it was such a road race. It was like Perry Rube with gravel sections. [00:37:18] Craig Dalton: yeah, yeah. And, and obviously like shorter than we're accustomed to. I'm not necessarily opposed to like that shorter length because I do think. An argument to be said, to say, you know, it's hard to be racing after 200 miles, whereas everybody's racing hardcore after a hundred. Um, I don't know what the right answer is, but I'm, I'm like, my gut tells me like those ultra distance ones are like their own special thing. Um, while I, I just pulled it up. So it's the Highland Gravel Classic in Fayetteville, put on by Bruce Dunn at All Sports Productions. He's got the, the UCI qualifier for this. Um, in Fayetteville again. And I think the interesting thing is, um, you know, who's gonna show up? Like what is the process he and I were talking about, you know, as an age grouper, I could go to Fayetteville and if I'm in the top 25% of my category, I could go compete in the world Championships doesn't mean anything sort of, of my relative ability here in the United States across, you know, any of these big races we have here. But I have to say that that's, that's a compelling story. Like I, I would go to, I would go to Italy and represent the United States. I'm, look, I'm a tourist cyclist, but to like have that honor of like, in the 50 plus category to go over there, I would, I wouldn't, you know, snub my nose at it. [00:38:41] Dave Mable: it? Yeah, for sure. I'd, I'd, I'd jump at that chance. I've got a lot of work to do to even hope for top 25% of our group [00:38:49] Craig Dalton: You, you and me both. [00:38:51] Dave Mable: but, uh, but nonetheless, you're right. It, it would be super cool. I, I feel like there's room for all of it. You know, if you, I feel like gravel cycling. An analogy is marathon or just running road [00:39:06] Craig Dalton: Yep. [00:39:07] Dave Mable: And, uh, anybody can sign up. You can do 5k, you can do the local 5K in your neighborhood and get a t-shirt. Or you can do like the world's largest 5K in, I don't know, Boulder, Colorado. That'd be a 10 K. But, um, same with marathons and uh, you know, Chicago Marathon. 30,000 people, the front line's up at the front and the mid packers line up at their pace and then they go run it. And I feel like gravel's pretty similar. [00:39:40] Craig Dalton: I do too. I think, I mean, I think that the moment in time to build a big race, like a thousand plus person race, it's difficult to find a spot on the calendar where that'll work. [00:39:52] Dave Mable: mm-hmm. [00:39:53] Craig Dalton: Um, today I do think there are, there are always gonna be geographic opportunities, right? Like if there's not a lot of racing in upstate New York, there's an opportunity for someone to create a great race in upstate new. It's probably also important that the economics match up, right? So if, if you've got a, if you're gonna make, if a 200 person race is gonna be the size of your race, just understand that going in and don't overinvest, and you know, it's gonna have little, little bit more of a community feel and some of these major events that are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in their product. [00:40:27] Dave Mable: Yeah, it is kind of amazing having watched this happen. Everything from like the beginning I was in Trans Iowa, number two and uh, to full-time staff, full-time year round staff, multiple full-time year round staff running these gravel events. That's kind of crazy actually. Um, We can dissect the world of gravel forever. But, uh, I wanna know more about your podcast. Um, you've got a co-host with Randall, and, uh, I'm curious how that works. Uh, how'd you find him? And, uh, how do you guys, how's it work between the two of you? [00:41:08] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that's a good question. So Randall and I got connected. Randall Jacobs is the founder of Thesis Spike and more recently Logos components, which making, uh, some great carbon wheels. He and I connected because he started that business in San Francisco. He was offering people demo rides of the bikes, and, uh, Randall was an ex specialized employee, helped design the original diverge. I got to know him and appreciate his, his personality, his technical acumen. Um, ultimately ended up buying a thesis bike and riding one. So I transitioned from the open to the thesis. The thesis is a fraction of the price of the open. [00:41:48] Dave Mable: Yeah. [00:41:49] Craig Dalton: Incredibly capable. In fact, for anybody on video, it's the, the pink bike right behind me is my thesis. Bicycle, [00:41:56] Dave Mable: I love that pink bike. [00:41:59] Craig Dalton: but very much like the open. Anyway, so, um, he and I just became friends and became people. We, we rode together. We, we saw many elements of the, the, the industry and the world. Similarly, I also recognize that Randall became my go-to guy for technical question. [00:42:15] Dave Mable: guys [00:42:16] Craig Dalton: And it started out, um, first did an episode about thesis bikes and got to know him a little bit, and then I invited him to do a gravel bike 1 0 1 episode. So in kind of quizzing the community, what they were looking for, I realized, you know, a lot of time the starting point of our discussions on the podcast are a little bit more. I'll make the point that I absolutely endeavor to start at the beginning and try not to make too many assumptions, and I'm not trying to be a tech podcast at all. Um, but I brought Randall on and I was able to, he and I were able to have a discussion of, what do you look for when you buy a bike? Let's break it down. Let's help the listener understand at the time in which we recorded the first one, what should you be thinking? [00:43:03] Dave Mable: about? [00:43:04] Craig Dalton: We did the same thing a year later because I felt like the industry kept changing and it was just this great thing to have in the podcast feed, you know, 2019 Gravel bike 1 0 1 episode. Um, as he and I continued to communicate, it became clear, like there were probably some themes, some discussions, et cetera, with people in the industry that he was going to be a. Person to interview them with. So, Randall's episodes tend to either be more highly technical than mine. So for example, he did a great episode with Matt from Enduro Bend, uh, Barings. Where, where they really kind of dug into ceramic and stainless steel bearings and the viscosities of oil and stuff. That's kind of, you know, I can sort of, I'm smart enough to be, you know, it sounds somewhat intelligent about, but I definitely don't know everything those, those guys and girls know. So I said I'm loose on that. And then the other big thing he's super keen on is just community and the community of cycling and the, uh, frankly, the mental health value of cycling as an activity. Uh, and cycling the cycling community as something that, you know, we benefit from not only physiologically as athletes, but. Emotionally in that it, it, it does become this, this release for us when we get out there. And it is one of the things that's always attracted me about riding Off Road is that, you know, you ride a technical section and you just stop and you wait for the next guy or girl to come through and High five 'em, whether they crash or clean it, it's just, it's the best feeling in the world. [00:44:48] Dave Mable: No doubt, no doubt. I it really is. You mentioned community and you started a thing called the ridership. Uh, tell our listeners what it is and what's, why'd you start it? What, [00:45:03] Craig Dalton: Yeah, the the rider, the ridership, a free global cycling community. It has a sort of orientation towards gravel and adventure cyclists, but, Everybody's welcome. It serves two purposes. One, you know, I, I definitely wanted to have a, a easier back channel to me as a podcast host. I wanted people to be able to chat with me directly and, uh, but I also realized like I'm, I'm, I'm potentially a authority in the world of gravel cycling, but I'm not the a. And to my earlier comments about, you know, my technical shortcomings, I realized that, you know, I had this amazing community of listeners that are very capable of interacting with ano one another and they have hundreds of different experiences than my own, or, or Randall's, for that matter. So we're basically built, uh, a community on Slack, and that may not be, Going forward platform, but Slack, for those who don't know, it's just a, a program or an application you can get on your computer or phone and we can sort of segment the conversations into what are called channels. So we have a channel on tires, we have a channels on nutrition, and we have also have regional channels. And the vision was, you know, as gravel cyclists, when you're a road cyclist, it, it, to me, it seemed easy to find. Like I could go and there wasn't a lot of questions. Like as long as I knew the mileage and maybe the elevation gainer loss, like I kind of knew what I was gonna be pedalling on. But gravel, I feel, I felt like you, you missed the real gems. Like it's easy for me to tell you to go up old railroad grade and come down here on Mount Tam, but I've got 20 different, you know, little paths that I can take you on that are gonna create those high five. [00:46:53] Dave Mable: s [00:46:53] Craig Dalton: And we all do. And I wanted, so if I go to Iowa, I want someone in Iowa to tell me where I should go gravel ride, and I wanna ask questions of them. If I go to Europe, I wanna ask questions of someone who lives in the country that I'm visiting. So we started out with that basic premise that everybody's welcome. We've created this open platform that's free to use. Its devoid of any advertis. We, you know, I originally had like a Facebook group for the podcast, and it's like, I don't want to bring you into Facebook to have other ads shoved in your face. I want you to get out on your damn bike. So we wanted something that was like, come talk about bikes to your heart, heart's content, then put it away. We're not looking to be part of the attention economy. I'm not. Monetize your attention. We're just trying to create this community where we can share, share, and exchange value. [00:47:50] Dave Mable: can. Is it working? [00:47:52] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it is, you know, we've got a, a pretty passionate group in there. There's probably, I haven't checked lately, but probably around 2000 people that participate in the forum. The channel, you know, every day you go in, the channels are lighting up from, you know, people. Having a mechanical question that they're getting someone more technical to answer, or we tend to get a, a bunch of like event organizers who get in the mix there saying, Hey, you know, Shasta gravel huggers coming up. If you have any questions, I'm Ben, I'm the promoter. Just, you know, I'm happy I'm here to answer things like that. And then, you know, a lot of direct messaging, people sell stuff there to, you know, when they're getting rid of a bike or a wheel set or what have you. So yeah. Yeah, I would say it's working. It's not my day job. So, you know, we've, I believe we've created a thoughtful structure. We don't, we haven't had any issues that we've needed to police. Everybody's self-selecting as someone who's just there for information and the enjoyment of the sport. [00:48:51] Dave Mable: there. One of the, there are no rules in gravel, but one of the rules is don't be a dick. So maybe you have people who abide by the rules and are not dicks. [00:49:04] Craig Dalton: That. That's pretty much it, and for anybody who's listening, it's just go to the the www.theridership.com and you'll get a free invite to join. [00:49:13] Dave Mable: Perfect. I love it. I love it. So I want to ask a couple of podcast questions. Who is the guest that you were most surprised? Said yes. [00:49:29] Craig Dalton: Uh, I'll answer this in two ways. I think Rebecca Rush was that guest and the, the second part of that is she could not be a nicer person. [00:49:39] Dave Mable: correct. That is a true statement. [00:49:43] Craig Dalton: Unbelievably engaging, inquisitive, generous with her time like. That's the one I point to that I just, one super stoked that she came on and two super stoked to see that she is every, she shows up in a podcast interview as much as she does on her social media. [00:50:02] Dave Mable: on. Yeah. That's cool. That's kind of fun. What was a surprising moment for you with a guest? [00:50:10] Craig Dalton: Gosh. I mean, I mean there's, there's sort of tricky moments, I think, in any podcast interview sometimes, you know, I don't, I don't do a lot of, um, like pre-show interviewing because it's conversational. Like I just generally want it to happen. I've had a few guests who weren't as. Verbose as I would like them to be. [00:50:35] Dave Mable: or you have to like pull those words out of their mouth. [00:50:40] Craig Dalton: Exactly. I mean, we're obviously an audio medium and, uh, you know, we need people to talk and we need people to tell stories. And, you know, I, I wouldn't invite someone on who I didn't think had an amazing story. I've just had a, a few odd occasions where, you know, they weren't good at telling their own. [00:50:57] Dave Mable: occasions. Yeah. Yeah. I, I can relate to that. And only 50 some in, but, uh, yeah, you, you are right about that. Where, what's your vision? Where do you want it to go? [00:51:11] Craig Dalton: Yeah. You know, I think, as I mentioned earlier, like I, I still am excited to pull the mic in front of me and have these conversations. Um, if I wasn't, I wouldn't keep doing. [00:51:23] Dave Mable: a, [00:51:23] Craig Dalton: scratches an itch for me. As we said earlier, like I've been around bikes and bike racing my entire life, and I do enjoy. Having a foothold in this world and the Gravel Ride Podcast has provided me, you know, opportunity to build an audience and build a community and build relationships within the bicycle industry. I'm fortunate enough that I've got a handful of sponsors that'll come in and help me pay for some of the overhead of the podcast, and on a rare occasion, you know, give me an opportunity. Go to an event or attend something that otherwise might be difficult to get into. And that, you know, that, that to me was the in, in my mind when I started the podcast. That was the reward I was looking for since I'm going to be involved in this sport anyway, having a little perks here and there and, and opportunities because of the, the hours and hours of effort that I put into this podcast seemed like a fair, fair. [00:52:25] Dave Mable: fair, yeah. I actually had somebody ask me today, is this your full-time gig? [00:52:31] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:52:32] Dave Mable: So Craig, is this your full-time gig [00:52:34] Craig Dalton: you don't really understand the economics if you're asking that question. [00:52:37] Dave Mable: You're right. No, I did not win the, was it the Powerball $1.1 billion thing? I did not win that. [00:52:46] Craig Dalton: right. Any of you think about it? You mentioned when we were offline about some recent interviews we've been doing with cycling media. Uh, journalists and, you know, with outside laying off a bunch of staff and a bunch of publications, kind of grappling with what the future of media is. You know, I've always felt very blessed in the fact that I, the podcast has never had to provide income for my family. It has never had to put food on the table because that, that's complicated. I mean, the economics don't really work out. For this could not be a full-time position for me. And I am, I'm certainly empathetic to the plight of people who have dedicated their lives to become proper journalists, um, and who are struggling to sort of make ends meet in this current environment. [00:53:38] Dave Mable: Yeah, it's, uh, it's definitely a challenge. I actually was editor of a actual paper magazine that was printed on real life paper and you like, sat on the toilet and read it. Um, [00:53:54] Craig Dalton: Love it. [00:53:56] Dave Mable: And I feel like I am a Cartwright in 1912 when people are st starting to buy the, the Ford model A or whatever, and that I'm seeing the writing on the wall that like, in a few years, there will be no more Cartwrights. [00:54:15] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, I, I think it's a super difficult transition because, I mean, the obvious answer is like, consumers should pay for the content that they consume, whether it's audio or the written word, but the, frankly, like even if there's a willingness to do that, the mechanisms to do so are still klugy and create, you know, the minor hurdles for people to get over. Right. Do I want to get out my credit card to read a particular article that I, you know, became exposed to? N no. But if it was like embedded into my web pay, like into my web browser, like this micro transaction that could be made simple, like I would, I would do that. So I'm sort of, I'm stuck in that, like there are definitely content channels that I pay for, but there are certainly other bits of content that I enjoy consuming. That I like the mechanisms for paying for them. Just the, the friction's just too much for me to do. So, and you know, you, you as podcasters, we see this all the time, right? We, we occupy this very intimate place with the listener, right? We, we've spending, they spend an hour a week with us. And if you think about like that, that attention that we're, we're fortunate enough to garner from our listeners, that's a massive amount. Attention. People know a a lot about me from the years of podcasting and my myself on the mic. Yet [00:55:46] Dave Mable: Yet [00:55:47] Craig Dalton: it's very difficult for anybody to figure out how to compensate me for their appreciation of my words. [00:55:53] Dave Mable: Right, right. They could buy you a coffee. [00:55:57] Craig Dalton: Yeah, indeed. Yes. That's a little, I appreciate the plug, Dave. I mean, I have, I've always had this sort. Super modest, buy me a coffee account, buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. And I mean, I'm always like super appreciative if someone takes a moment and does that cuz it's not, it's not first and foremost, it's sort of like something I do mention, but I, I don't push it and I don't have a, like a, a really elaborate Patreon program that allows you to get bonus episodes. And if I had more time, I would love to do that. Cause I, I. A hundred percent like to provide more value for those people who, who are supporting me. [00:56:35] Dave Mable: yeah, I send, uh, my supporters as sticker. So it's, I mean, it's something, but you're right, it's, it's, it's a treat to get an email that says, uh, Hey, somebody bought you a coffee. Like, ah, that's super nice because it's, I mean, they do have to log on and they do have to like, get out their credit card and punch a bunch of things on their computer and push send and, and, uh, it's time outta their day to show their appreciation for what, what you're doing and, and what you're bringing them. And you're right. Uh, an hour a week and we're like, Like drilled into people's heads through their ears. Like that's, [00:57:14] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:57:14] Dave Mable: that's, uh, that's privileged space and time, isn't it? [00:57:21] Craig Dalton: Yeah, for sure. And I will say like, I think just to give the listeners some perspective, I think for every hour we publish probably is three hours of combined effort to kind of get to that hour. That's, that's sort of my, like back of the envelope math around like the effort it takes to kind of produce the podcast. [00:57:39] Dave Mable: Yeah, I feel like you're more efficient than me. [00:57:45] Craig Dalton: I mean either that Dave or my editing is, is really low pro. [00:57:49] Dave Mable: Oh, I don't know. You should listen to the podcast I dropped today. There was a moment where I just drew a blank in this conversation and I said to the guy, I was like, you ever like just have a blank moment and you can't come up with whatever you're gonna say? And he's like, yeah. And I was like, yeah, it sucks cuz I did not want to edit this and I'm gonna have to. And then as I was listening to it, as I was editing, I'm leaving that in there. Like, that's raw me. I'm leaving that in there. So I [00:58:17] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I do have to say Dave, like I, I, I had that issue early on in the podcast where I felt like I wasn't eloquent enough and I wanted to go in and edit everything out. And, you know, eventually I came to the conclusion like, the, the effort is not worth the. Meaning like people came for this kind of raw conversation and the fact that I may have stumbled over my words, et cetera, like that's just part of the conversation and yeah, just gotta go with it. [00:58:48] Dave Mable: Yeah. And it's, it's a, okay, uh, Don, uh, Dan Patrick says, um, quite a bit, [00:58:54] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:58:55] Dave Mable: you know what I mean? [00:58:57] Craig Dalton: exactly. [00:58:58] Dave Mable: Well listen, we've been, uh, just about an hour. I really have enjoyed getting to know you face to face here. I'd love to meet you on the bike sometime, whether I make it to Cal, California, whether you make it to Iowa or we meet somewhere in between. Uh, do you have any big rides planned this year? [00:59:18] Craig Dalton: I'm still like, I'm still thinking about my schedule and I probably spend too much time thinking about that. This is the off that one of those positive offshoots of like, I feel like I have the opportunity. If I, if I'm, if I can afford it and get the time off from the family and work, like, there's a ton of things that I can do. Um, and I, I need to get my head around here in January, like, what are the things I really wanna advocate for myself? There's a few races that I'm super keen to do. One being Rebecca's private Idaho. The second being, uh, the Oregon Trail gravel grinder. The weeklong stage. Both, you know, super great reputations. I love the idea of multiple day events because I feel like when you travel to go do one of these events, um, [01:00:10] Dave Mable: events, [01:00:11] Craig Dalton: you're taking up the time anyway, so you might as well ride and enjoy that area for multiple days versus popping in, being super anxious about a race and then just doing that race. So I'm really trying to think about that. I had the great fortune of going to Jer with track travel in November, and that was fantastic. So I'm super bullish on like just the general idea of gravel travel. So, Long answer to your question, definitely you'll see me at at at a handful of events this year, and definitely like I hope to do at least one cycling vacation type trip. [01:00:46] Dave Mable: Ah, very. Very cool. Well, you're, you're welcome to come out and put your 28 millimeter road tires on and do rag Bry with us. It's a fifth 50th anniversary of Rag Bry and I'm an old hat at Rag Bry, so if you want to come out and spend a week riding on the road and eating pie drinking beer, that's about it. That's about what we do. Ride our bikes. Eat pine, drink beer. Uh, you're always [01:01:13] Craig Dalton: uh, I appreciate that, Dave. I've had a couple Iowans on the podcast talking about various events there, and gosh, we, there's so many places to go. I would love to end up in Iowa, one of these years. [01:01:24] Dave Mable: Yeah. Well, you, you've got a, a friendly face here and you got my number, so look me up. Yep. [01:01:30] Craig Dalton: Right on. [01:01:31] Dave Mable: All right. Well thanks tons and, uh, good luck with the pod. Say hey to Randall. Tell 'em I enjoy listening to, uh, his conversations as well as yours and keep up the good work. [01:01:41] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I definitely will, and it was a pleasure being on the show, Dave. I appreciate what you're doing. [01:01:45] Dave Mable: I, uh, I appreciate that you're, uh, a good, um, role model for me. [01:01:49] Craig Dalton: Chairs. So that's going to do it for this week's conversation. Big, thanks to Dave Mabel for having me on bike. Talk with Dave. I hope you as a loyal listener, enjoyed getting to know me a little bit better. If you have any questions about the things that I've done or want to get connected with me. I encourage you to join the ridership. That's simply www.theridership.com. That's a free global cycling community. We created to connect gravel and adventure, cyclists. From all around the world. So I think we'll leave it at that this week. And as always until next time. Here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels.  

If there's one thing I love almost as much as getting active outside, it's sitting inside with a giant coffee, watching it snow and geeking out about start-uppy stuff with an outdoor industry entrepreneur (who also happens to be a woman)!My guest today is Michelle Boyer, the founder and visionary behind Arctic Lynx Maternity Activewear, based in Portland, Maine.Like many of us who become pregnant and retain some hope of getting outside once in a while in the Northeast, when Michelle transplanted to Maine from the south and found herself pregnant, she needed some appropriate clothing to keep her warm, dry and comfortable while she tried to stay active. When the best she could find on offer were her husband's old, ratty long undies, she did what any self-respecting woman would do - decided to take matters into her own hands and solve the problem!Michelle's scrappy journey from a law firm to the Outdoor Retailer show is what we're talking about today - and how she's evolving personally and professionally as she goes. Whether you've been pregnant, are thinking of it, or even just care one iota about your pelvic floor - and spoiler alert, you'd better care! - you're going to want to listen all the way to the end of this one.You can check out the Arctic Lynx Maternity capsule collection and accessories over at ArcticLynxMaternity.com, or @arcticlynxmaternity on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest. And when you're done shopping for the mom-to-be, check out some more fun links from our conversation:Emily HarringtonMaine Outdoor Brands(and check out MOB's Executive Director Jenny Kordick on Guides Gone Wild!)Outdoor Retailer ConferenceSCORE MaineFirst Pier (Portland, ME)Check out the Arctic Lynx Scarf and Baby Onesie here!Hills & Trails (Biddeford, ME)@expectingpelvichealthLD 1357 Acadia Gantz, Trail Running Baby Catcher

On this episode of the Outdoor Biz Podcast, I sit down with Actual Outdoors Founder, Pro Photographer, and Podcaster John Holdmeier. John is a lifelong outdoor enthusiast and a fantastic photographer. He loves getting outside, more often than not on a river and you can hear him on the Nature Untold Podcast. Facebook Twitter Instagram The Outdoor Biz Podcast Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Sign up for my Newsletter HERE.  I'd love to hear your feedback about the show! You can contact me here: email: rick@theoutdoorbizpodcast.com or leave me a message on Speakpipe! Brought to you by: Wolfgang Man and Beast Show Notes So let's start off with how you fell in love with the outdoors. How'd that come about? Yeah. So, it was really early on for me. I, consider myself super lucky in that my family was into the outdoors. And so my dad and my mom, to enough of an extent that she would come do stuff with us but it wasn't her first choice always. Older sister, and then I have a younger brother as well, but all of us were getting outside since my first memory. That looked like the normal travel vacation, hiking kind of stuff, early on, but also a lot of float trips going down to Southern Missouri. What inspired you to commit to an outdoor lifestyle, or did you learn that through becoming a river guide? It was definitely those experiences as a kid. My dad was into fly fishing pretty early on, and so I was fly fishing when I was really little as well. And that was the thing. I was so lucky to have all that, all the gear, and all the access to be able to do that. But yeah, it was those early experiences and really what made me feel like there was nothing else in life where I like couldn't wait to go do it. You weren't burning to be an engineer or an architect? Not even in the slightest at all. And it was different back then because this is probably nine late nineties that we're talking about here. I was lucky because my older sister worked at a gear shop and, she got to go to OR. I think it was in Salt Lake when she was going and she would always come back with these stories of what Outdoor Retailer was like and all the free gear that she would bring back and stuff. And that kind of gave me a little bit of a sense of oh, there, okay, so there's a bigger industry here. So did you work in the same shop? I did a little bit. So I was still closer to St. Louis and our local shop there is The Alpine Shop. That's where I started out. The crazy thing about my hometown in our area here in the greater St. Louis area in Missouri is that we have a pretty rich history of Outdoor industry companies being located here, and even manufacturing. Back in the day, Kelty and American Rec were based here. So did you just walk in and apply for a job? Were you must have known somebody. Yeah. it's a small town, right? I knew several people that had worked out there. And I actually just saw that they posted a position for a product development role. I think Facebook was around at the time and I think they posted it on Facebook. And so I reached out and said, Hey, I'd love to talk about this. Cuz at that point, I had 10-plus years of retail knowledge. And that's really the best kind of knowledge you can get from a product standpoint is figuring out how to learn about all that gear. It sounds like you enjoyed your time with HKD Global. Tell our listeners about your role there and about that. I'd say, I've had several of these experiences, in my development through my career journey where they've just been massively transformative. Starting that job at Alps was a really transformative thing to see how all the production and all that happened. And then HKD, my role there, they do OEM manufacturing. So we made, I think at one point, if not still, I'm not sure, it was something like 70 of the camping tents that you can buy in stores came out of our factories. My role there was a product manager and also a brand manager as we started trying to launch some of our own kinds of internal brands. It's a Korean-owned company and the headquarters are in Hong Kong. and the manufacturing was in Bangladesh, and then our office was in the U.S. We were a really small team in the US of, I wanna say probably six of us at the time. and so yeah, they needed somebody who understood the product and could design the product and, so it was, I say product manager, but it was really like product manager slash tent designers slash market marketing slash Yeah, six hats. So then in 2022, you launched Actual Outdoors, a complete shift from product into photography. What was the catalyst for that? Yeah. So you know, I have, like you just mentioned, I had been making products and on the product side of things for a really long time. so there was a little bit of a burnout feeling starting with that. you get to a point where you're looking at everything that you're doing and going, there are so many brands making so many products. Yeah. It's too much similar. Yeah. Yeah, I just, I really wanted to shift gears again because I keep having these moments where I see something new and interesting that I wanna learn more about and photography and I would say marketing in general and video and, the visual side of things like brand identity design and logos and colorways and all that. That was always like, just the most interesting thing to me, even though I had not. Done as much of a deep dive in my career into those things. And so, I started taking photos back in my H K D days because we needed photos for packaging. Oh, So, it was like we'd make these tents for Walmart or Cole or whoever it was, and they're like, Hey, we need a good photo of this And then we started looking around trying to figure out how much it cost to get a really nice photo. And then it's oh wow, okay. John, can you take a picture? And I was like, I wanna learn how to do this, so. Oh, cool. yeah, so I started there and then I would say like the creative process of that photography and video stuff, nothing has captured me like that, has since. And you also host the Nature Untold Podcast originally founded by Emily Holland. How did that come about? Shout out to Emily. She's one of the original outdoor podcasters I believe as well. I wanna say it's probably about a year ago now that I took over hosting. We're a show about sobriety and recovery, of all types of recovery in how those things interact with the outdoor industry and the outdoor space. And so my personal journey, I have over eight years of sobriety, so I went. to a rehab facility back in my Alps days. And, quit drinking. And so it was much needed. And by far the best thing that I've ever done for myself in my life. Yeah. it's made such a huge difference. And, I'm always trying to look for ways to be a part of and stay a part of that sobriety and, Sober curious, recovery community. And, Emily had also recently quit drinking. And she is a podcast person and she wanted to start this podcast about sobriety in the outdoors. And so she started it and I came on as a guest. And then, she did like connect one and connect two, and then she had, just a lot of things get busy in within her life. And, she's also doing her own new career thing after leaving a corporate gig. And so things started getting pretty busy on her end. And, she asked if I would be interested in hosting and I was like, absolutely I would love to do that. And so I've been hosting for about a year now and, So without giving away any state secrets, any projects, or future projects you're working on, you can talk about? Yeah, we've got a few things. We've been going for about a year now with Actual Outdoors and, we've done a few really cool projects this year so far. One that I would love to give a shout-out to is our project with Illumine. They partner with nonprofits and they sell apparel that has custom artwork for the nonprofit and then a pretty sizable percentage of the proceeds goes to whoever their partner is for that month. And so we did some branding, with them, brand identity and my partner Lindsay is the other half of actual outdoors, and she's a graphic designer by trade. And so, that's another big part of what we do. The coolest thing I'm looking forward to this next year, we're just getting into getting some of this stuff out to the public, is, we're working with a good friend of mine, Chev Dixon, who's based up in Yonkers, New York. He's just the past, eight years or so, he's been doing this amazing work in Yonkers where he's getting people from the community out on the water, on the Hudson River right there in New York. You can see the bridges in the city in the background. It's pretty wild. Yeah. And, they're getting tons of people out on the water. And so we've, we've helped with his website. That will go live soon. Sounds like you get outdoors a bunch, which outdoor activities do you participate in? Probably all of them. Yeah, it's a little bit of all of 'em. As I said, was super lucky growing up. We got to do everything, with my dad taking us outside, so I've dabbled in almost, every outdoor activity, but really the two biggest that stuck for me, anything around, like free-flowing water, clear water, rivers, so, whitewater kayaking and then fly fishing are the two biggest ones. Do you have any suggestions or advice for folks wanting to get into the outdoor biz? Yeah, absolutely. I would say, however, you can fit in or get into a spot, do it. Go for it. If it's retail if it's as an assistant if it's as some sort of like social media management, whatever, the role that you can prepare yourself to get into it, go for it. And don't be thinking like, I have to wait and wait and then get this amazing engineer dream job that I want, or whatever it is, as soon as you can get your foot in the door, do it. What's your favorite piece of outdoor gear under a hundred dollars? So I had to think long and hard about this. There are a lot of 'em out there and I use everything so much. I use it all the time and then it goes back with me through my history. The Sawyer Squeeze. Do you read a lot, or have any favorite books? I do read quite a bit and it's hard to narrow down what books have really made a big deal to me, but, going back, I loved reading everything from Ed Abbey. but also, I would say Ego is the Enemy is one of the biggest books, it changed my trajectory. And then, another one that I really loved, I read this past year was Subtract, and its subtitle is, the Untapped Science of Less. And to go along with that one, Essentialism by Greg McKeown. Stolen Focus is another one that I read this year by Johan Harry. And then the last one, I promise. But if you're in marketing at all, Mark Schaffer has several good books. Marketing Rebellion is a really good starting point for him. As we wrap up, is there anything else you'd like to say to our listeners? I'd say the biggest thing for me is I'd really love it if people could go check out what we're doing with Actual Outdoors. That's the biggest thing I'm trying to get to grow this year. And, we've been really learning a ton and growing in small steps and trying to do everything the right way for trying to get more people outside and make the outdoors more approachable and more accepting and more inviting. So, I would say that people can check that out and check out our website and reach out if they have any questions. That would be the big ask I  have. And the website is actualoutdoors.com. Actual Outdoors Instagram John Holdmeier Instagram for any, nature untold questions or sobriety questions or anything, I'm always down to talk to people and have conversations around that, there as well.    

Trade Shows. If you work in Customer Service, Sales, Marketing, Product Development, Operations...it doesn't really matter, you've likely been to a trade show. For the Outdoor Industry, historically the biggest trade show has been OUTDOOR RETAILER. But after years of dominance things for this twice annual nexus event is changing drastically. And with the emergence of events like THE BIG GEAR SHOW and calls to integrate consumers, the landscape of trade events itself is changing. To get an idea of what is going on and what to expect, Kenji Haroutunian joins THE ROCK FIGHT to help sort through it. Kenji is the former show runner of Outdoor Retailer and current show runner of The Big Gear Show so he knows a thing or two about this topic.Want to share your industry trade show thoughts or impressions? Send your feedback to myrockfight@gmail.com.To learn more about what Kenji is up to head over to www.thebiggearshow.comTHE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

For this week's episode we went on a road show to Outdoor Retailer's Snow Show '23, the big annual gear-fest in Salt Lake City put on by Emerald Holding Inc. (NYSE: EEX). Joining us on the pod were Emerald CEO Herve Sedky, CFO David Doft and Salt Lake City's Mayor Erin Mendenhall. The three have formed a unique alliance to help drive the city's growth and fuel the outdoor economy in the face of climate change. “O.R.”, as its regulars call it -- moving to three events each year to satisfy the immense demand for the stuff that gets us up and down mountains -- is a staple of Emerald's growing annual portfolio of 142 live events and 16 media properties connect entrepreneurs to buyers in the B2B space.   Inside the ICE House: https://www.theice.com/insights/conversations/inside-the-ice-house

1/9/2023See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I first met Patrick 12 years ago through our mutual friend Brad, and have been hanging out ever since. We've traveled to Nicaragua a couple of times to paint murals together with Love, Light and Melody, and also worked together when I was at Outdoor Retailer. When it comes to painting murals, Patrick is on the top of the food chain.Topics Include:Wrestling with inadequacyGetting past doubtMake the jump from amateur to pro artistThe side of Art no one ever talks about—mastering business Bio:"Nature, animals and design elements are themes that my drawings, paintings and murals focus on. My work sparks conversation on disappearing nature and the encroachment of the modern world with subjects and their surroundings depicted in a harmony and balance that they wouldn't normally interact with. Travel and personal experiences drive the imagery used to tell specific stories in my work. I weave rich surreal elements and high detail-intensive components to create a unique viewing experience. "Patrick has worked with brands like: Toms, Red Bull, Yeti, Denver Zoo, and Brekenridge Brewery. Contact:https://www.patrickmaxcyart.com/Instagram: @patrickmaxcyProduced By:https://wolfzillaproductions.com/Instagram: @wolfzillaproductionsInstagram: @maxwelljfrost

Citing lawlessness and “chaos,” Cotopaxi CEO Davis Smith announced on his personal LinkedIn page yesterday that he has closed the company's sole San Francisco retail location.“As of today, we are closing the store due to rampant organized theft and lack of safety for our team,” Smith wrote on October 18. “Our store is hit by organized theft rings several times per week.”

Welcome back to LAYERS presented by Polartec.  Today we introduce SURFACE LAYERS!SURFACE LAYERS are not so deep, hot takes on the outdoor industry.  Episodes are short, sweet, and sometimes to the point.On this SURFACE LAYER, we are talking about a topic that is near and dear to the hearts of everyone who works in the outdoor space: Outdoor Retailer.  The OR show has undergone some dramatic changes over its 40 year history, but remains a central point of conversation. In this episode, we take a look back at what the show used to be and what it is today - at least in my humble opinion. LAYERS is a production of Rock Fight, LLC

Hello listeners! Since I last recorded an episode, there has been the death of my mare, Shea, the wedding of my son and his new wife, a trip to Denver  and some cow work. Along with a few minor emergencies. In other words, life hit a bit of a streak! I continue to be buoyed by feedback and engagement from listeners. One of our listeners is Art, a rider and retired engineer from Michigan. He has a horse named Bandit. Art got in touch with me after Episode 25, a short bit I did on Sex, Power, and Best Practices. What follows is a quiet conversation on how this topic looks from one man's perspective. It was refreshing. Some of you may know that I write op-ed pieces about life in the rural west for the Washington Post. While I have a policy of not reading the comments, I am aware of the vitriol. And I was so pleased to talk with Art about gender, bullying, and personality styles with a civil, friendly back and forth.  While many of you might not agree with me, with Art, or with our other podcast  interviewees, we hope that you can find common ground and take a moment to consider different perspectives. Our title sponsor is Lucerne Farms, producers of quality forage feeds. Lucerne is this outstanding little company in northern Maine. Forage is chopped hay, an excellent option when you can't have your horse on pasture or when you need to add calories and nutrients to your horses' diet. We also thank Redmond Equine for being part of our sponsorship family. Redmond rocks and other offerings come straight from their mine in Redmond, Utah.  And we welcome back Pharm Aloe . Pharm Aloe offers aloe pellets and gel and other products to support horses' GI health, and immune system.  Additional notes: The Outdoor Retailer happens twice a year and brings together outdoor recreation brands, vendors, and buyers for everything from Osprey packs to tents to jeans to camp lights and freeze-dried good. I go to represent the horse community and make the argument that us horse owners are more outdoors-y than anyone else. Right? Here are some folks that stood out: Bertucci watches. I challenge you to find a Made in America watch that is as tough and reliable as a field watch from Bertucci. And when do you ever see the owner and founder of a company – in this case, Mike Bertucci – at a trade show? I particularly love the Super illuminated model. Two ways to light up the face. Perfect for late night barn checks and midnight emergencies. Also. Kimes Ranch Jeans. I've been singing their praises for years as a Made in America company that gets us. And by us, I mean riders. They continue to grow and can be found online and in stores like Big R, Murdochs, and other farm and ranch type stores. Loving their new style, the Lola. We thank Kate's Real Food and Patagonia WorkWear for their continued support. Did you know? All ya gotta do is comment or suggest a podcast topic or send us a training question here and you'll be automatically qualified for our monthly Patagonia WorkWear giveaway.

If you've spent any time in the outdoor industry, you've likely heard of Kenji Haroutunian. Kenji is an independent agent for change focused on events and the great outdoors experience. He has spent 33 years organizing outdoor events and expos and has been a teacher of outdoor skills (including advanced climbing and wilderness navigation courses) during/after completing his Geography/Environmental Policy degree at UCLA. Many of those years, he worked for Outdoor Retailer and helped grow it into one of the largest B2B outdoor expos in the world. Kenji has spearheaded multiple industry-focused programs, and has served on the board of several influential groups and nonprofits. Kenji's resume is impressive, to be sure, but what we loved most is how big Kenji's heart for change is and how he is spending his life making our world a better place. 

The push to unionize Starbucks workers started in Buffalo, New York, with one small group of baristas stepping forward to call for better working conditions at their cafe. Then slowly, one by one, workers at more than 120 Starbucks locations across the country petitioned for union elections at their shops, including here in Denver, where three separate Starbucks are now in the middle of organizing campaigns. Host Bree Davies sits down with two baristas — Jack Janzen and Hannah Mehlman — to hear why they're trying to unionize their Starbucks at Leetsdale and Holly, and how the coffee giant is pushing back.  WE'RE HIRING! We are looking for an audio producer who loves Denver as much as we do! We're looking for someone who wants to help us continue to tell beautiful, complicated, compelling stories about the people and things that make this city what it is. Think you or someone you know fits the bill? Take a peek at the official job posting here. In today's newsletter, Peyton has all the juicy gossip about the Outdoor Retailer show leaving Colorado and heading back to Utah. Find that newsletter and subscribe to future ones here: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/ By the way, tell us what you think of the newsletter! Fill out this short survey and get entered to win two tickets to RadioLab's Jad Abumrad live at the Paramount Theatre. https://denver.citycast.fm/survey/ Let's connect on Twitter: @citycastdenver Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Friday and we're chatting about stories big and small in Denver this week, starting with Union Station — which can't seem to get a decent headline in its favor these days. Producer Paul Karolyi is joined by host Bree Davies and Patty Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword, to discuss perceptions of crime downtown and the re-opening of a beloved Denver Mexican restaurant. Plus, the pickleball player who's landed himself in a real pickle with the police. Read the latest from Westword on crime statistics at Union Station here: https://www.westword.com/denver/Print?oid=13699478 For more on the pickleball power struggle, Denverite's Desiree Mathurin has been all over this story: Here's the original piece and here's the follow-up.  Get the whole backstory on the Outdoor Retailer trade show's move back to Salt Lake City from past City Cast Denver guest and Colorado Sun reporter Jason Blevins: https://coloradosun.com/2022/03/23/outdoor-retailer-leaving-denver-salt-lake-city/ The Denver Post story about the situation downtown and at Union Station that we talked about is here. Paul shouted out his father-in-law and his favorite Longmont brewery, Wibby Brewing. For directions to their taproom and more, click here: https://www.wibbybrewing.com/ Peyton's got a roundup of fun things to do this weekend in our daily newsletter: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/ Chit-chat with us on Twitter: @citycastdenver Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Oh, and we're hiring!! https://citycast.fm/audio-producer-city-cast-denver/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Always Off Brand  Season 1 Ep 34 “Oh Yea, Get Your Trade Show On!” with Sarah Hass 11/24/2021  Co-Hosts Summer Jubelirer & Scott Ohsman welcome Sarah Hass, Marketing Director at Outdoor Retailer, talking going virtual and back again. Huge show announcement that you do not want to miss!  Also, Hayley & The News. Warning, you will learn and be entertained at the same time.    QUICKFIRE Info:   Website: https://www.quickfirenow.com/ Email the Show: info@quickfirenow.com  Talk to us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickfireproductions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quickfire__/ LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/quickfire-productions-llc/about/   GUEST: Sarah Hass  LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-hass/ Email - Sarah.Hass@outdoorretailer.com   Outdoor Retailer & Snow Show - ​​https://outdoorretailer.com/ EmeraldX - https://www.emeraldx.com/events/ Elastic Suite - https://www.elasticsuite.com/ Snowsports Industries America (SIA) - https://snowsports.org/   Outdoor Retailer YouTube Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kQotdJcOxw Brand Summer mentioned - https://citybonfires.com/   Always Off Brand Session at Outdoor Retailer - Jan 27th, 2022 11am  MDT https://or.a2zinc.net/ORSnow2022/Public/SessionDetails.aspx?FromPage=Sessions.aspx&SessionID=16843&SessionDateID=899 HOSTS: Summer Jubelirer has been in digital commerce and marketing for over 15 years. After spending many years working for digital and ecommerce agencies working with multi-million dollar brands and running teams of Account Managers, she is now the Amazon Manager at OLLY PBC.   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerjubelirer/   Scott Ohsman has been working with brands for over 25 years in retail, online and has launched over 200 brands on Amazon. Owning his own sales and marketing agency in the Pacific NW, is now VP of Digital Commerce for Quickfire LLC. Scott has been a featured speaker at national trade shows and has developed distribution strategies for many top brands. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ohsman-861196a6/ Huge thanks to Cytrus our show theme music “Office Party” available wherever you get your music. Check them out here: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cytrusmusic Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cytrusmusic/ Twitter https://twitter.com/cytrusmusic SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VrNLN6Thj1iUMsiL4Yt5q?si=MeRsjqYfQiafl0f021kHwg APPLE MUSIC https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cytrus/1462321449   “Always Off Brand” is part of the Quickfire Podcast Network and produced by Quickfire LLC.

Always Off Brand  Season 1 Ep 27 “Hey Retailers, Brands Help Me Help You!” with Jenna Wadkins  10/6/2021  Co-Hosts Summer Jubelirer & Scott Ohsman welcome the retail queen Jenna Wadkins. She gives a clinic on how it should be done. Life as a rep, retailer, brand owner advice & a special Rant for all retail buyers. We have an important conversation about women in industry and where we have been, where we are and where we are going. Another great “Hayley and the News.” Warning, you will learn and be entertained at the same time.    QUICKFIRE Info:   Website: https://www.quickfirenow.com/ Email the Show: info@quickfirenow.com  Talk to us on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quickfireproductions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quickfire__/ LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/quickfire-productions-llc/about/ Guest Jenna Wadkins Company - Jenna's Retail Corner  LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenna-wadkins-retailspecialist/   More Stuff Mentioned: WWSRA - https://wwsra.com/ G.O.A - https://www.grassrootsoutdoors.com/ 360 Adventure Collective - https://www.360adventurecollective.org/ Outdoor Retailer - https://outdoorretailer.com/   HOSTS: Summer Jubelirer has been in digital commerce and marketing for over 15 years. After spending many years working for digital and ecommerce agencies working with multi-million dollar brands and running teams of Account Managers, she is now the Director of Ecommerce at a leading hydration brand, Hydralyte.  LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/summerjubelirer/   Scott Ohsman has been working with brands for over 25 years in retail, online and has launched over 200 brands on Amazon. Owning his own sales and marketing agency in the Pacific NW, is now VP of Digital Commerce for Quickfire LLC. Scott has been a featured speaker at national trade shows and has developed distribution strategies for many top brands. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-ohsman-861196a6/ Huge thanks to Cytrus our show theme music “Office Party” available wherever you get your music. Check them out here: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cytrusmusic Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cytrusmusic/ Twitter https://twitter.com/cytrusmusic SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VrNLN6Thj1iUMsiL4Yt5q?si=MeRsjqYfQiafl0f021kHwg APPLE MUSIC https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cytrus/1462321449   “Always Off Brand” is part of the Quickfire Podcast Network and produced by Quickfire LLC.