You are browsing the archives of 2010 July.

Fish On! I have heard these two words uttered in English, Spanish, with a southern accent, by a salty sea captain in the Gulf of Mexico, and many others commenting on the moment when fish and fly or fish and bait meet. This week my husband heard those words when a North Carolina Red Drum [...]

You think you’ve got mad skills on a bike? Watch this video of five-year old Jackson Goldstone riding his bike to kindergarten. The little dude hucks boulders, rides singletrack, and hits the skate park with style.

Want to save a couple bucks on your next visit to Shenandoah or the Smokies? The National Park Service just announced all park entrance fees will be waived on August 14-15. The free weekend pass is being given as an incentive to encourage more Americans to visit national parks. “This fee-free weekend provides an opportunity [...]

There’s something about riding a new bike that makes a girl just downright giddy. Not that I got a new bike, but I did borrow a demo from the bike shop…a really squishy one at that. Of course it was last year’s S-Works FSR, so I can hardly wait to try next year’s. Riding a [...]

Vote and tell us what you think and you’ve got a shot at winning an Apple iPad from Subaru!

One of the most common questions I am asked at expos and book signings is: “What do you eat?” As is the usual with me, I honestly care about questions I receive, not just on the surface but on multiple levels. First of all, I want to answer the question to best of my ability. [...]

Dear EarthTalk: What are the most important foods to buy organic? – Rachel Klepping, Bronxville, NY Given the usual higher prices of organic versus conventionally-grown foods, it can be a challenge to get the biggest bang for our buck while eating healthy and avoiding the ingestion of synthetic chemicals along with our nutrients. One approach, [...]

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has awarded a contract to conduct the study of Interstate 3 (I-3) planning, cost estimate and routing. If built, the interstate, which was proposed in 2005 by a Georgia Congressman, will travel from Savannah, Georgia to Knoxville, Tenn. through some of the most environmentally sensitive stretches of the Southern Appalachians. [...]

This weekend riders will suffer through the Off-Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell, which is a metric century complete with 11,000 feet of climbing—on some of the most challenging trails in the area. I rode Kitzuma last weekend, which is a mere fraction of what riders will see as they traverse 63 miles of gnar-gnar. The [...]

Read about the latest tunes from Keller Williams and other artists you can download for free in this month’s Trail Mix.

As the total number of marathon finishers increases, and the average marathon finishing times get slower and slower, the debate about how slower marathoners are ruining what it means to be a “marathoner” has raged on. To some extent, I understand the viewpoint of those who state that those in the five-hour range or slower [...]

Dear EarthTalk: I heard that some wind farms use fossil fuels to power their generators when the wind won’t. Doesn’t that defeat their whole renewable energy purpose? Why not let the wind power it or not? Also, I’ve heard that the low-frequency sounds generated by these turbines can harm people and animals. Is this true? [...]

A million little needles work a million strands of yarn. Gears shift. Machine arms adjust and spin, the mechanized anatomy of a knitting machine pulls raw yarn in one side and spits out a sock from the other end. It is a Thursday afternoon in Sheboygan, Wis., the factory floor at Wigwam Mills Inc. buzzing [...]

In my last post I discussed boiling and the use of tablets as ways to treat water on the trail. This time around, it will be mechanical methods. The MSR MIOX Purifier creates a solution from salt tablets that is added to water and gets rid of viruses, bacteria, giardia, and cryptosporidium, but you have [...]

Do you think your local golf course, public, private, would allow a group of well meaning folks to set up a picnic in the middle of the 16th fairway one Saturday afternoon? Do you think the golfers would be concerned to find a mother and small kids building sand castles in one of the sand [...]