Outdoor Gear Reviews | ub Outdoors

June 10, 2011 in Cycling, Featured by Bill Lobe

NoTubes products aren’t new on the mountain biking scene, but they sell one of those product lines that generate a lot of controversy in the cycling universe. Much like all other subjective controversies, you’ll get a different story from every mountain biker you speak to. Some love them unconditionally, talking about their tubeless setup like they witnessed its birth. Others will tell you it’s all hype and you’re wasting your time on a potentially dangerous product. Well, after polling my local group of dedicated bike geeks and digging through other popular (and generally misinformed–no names, not yet) mountain bike product review websites, I’ve concluded that most riders criticizing Stan’s products typically have their wheels set up incorrectly–be it for their weight or for their style of riding. It seems to be a weight saving issue–it’s always the 250-pound rider that wants to sport the Olympic lightweight racing rim, and then bitch when they get a blowout or can’t keep the tire seated to the rim in a tight corner. Does anyone else find it strange that the Clydesdales are always the weight weenies? I’m no scientist, despite holding dual PhDs in Sweet Lovin’ and Good Times, but there seems to be a correlation worth investigating. Also, let the record show that I float slightly above or below the Clydesdale high-water mark of 200 lbs., so I take my weight-to-durability ratio very seriously. 

June 6, 2011 in Featured, Fitness & Nutrition by Katie Vaughn

I’ve been using the classic blue Nalgene water bottle for as long as I can remember and have always compared other bottles against it. The KOR Delta water bottle takes basic water toting needs and delivers a water vessel that is high performing and sexy all at the same time. This bottle is sleeker and more stylish than the Nalgene bottle could ever dream to be. The clear ice blue body (other colors are available) is wrapped with a clean, modern, white casing that delivers a personality upgrade to the basic water bottle. 

May 22, 2011 in Featured, Fitness & Nutrition by Carl H. Martens

You’ve seen and heard of Powerbar, Clif Bar, Gu Energy, etc…you probably haven’t heard of Kate’s Real Food.  You have now.  You can thank us later.  Developed by Kate Schade initially as a fuel source for her personal outdoor adventures, it has grown into much more and that comes as no surprise.  The bars are absolutely delicious!  Kate’s story starts with the creation of what is now known as The Tram Bar.  Friends became curious and asked to try, not long after businesses had interest and requested to purchase and sell at retail.  In a nutshell that’s how Kate’s became what it is today. 

May 16, 2011 in Featured, Water by Carl H. Martens

Call it a crossover, a hybrid, or a do-all and you’d be correct.  The Approach 10.0 kayak by Dagger is all the above.  It features an adjustable skeg that drops down for tracking in high winds or rough waves.  The Polyethylene hull features a large cockpit and adjustable padded thigh braces, seating system, and foot brace system.  Located at the stern is a bulkhead to store gear in.  This is a great little vessel for river running, lakes or mild moving rapids. 

April 20, 2011 in Featured, Fitness & Nutrition by Carl H. Martens

A little over a month ago, a friend from college posted on Facebook a video link, “Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers really enjoys Chi Running“.  Being a fan of RHCP, I decided to check out the link and watch the video.  This led me to prompt a conversation with Shelly about minimalist running shoes and seek out some advice from her.  She is the Marketing and Social Media Manager at ChiLiving, Inc.  I’ve been an avid runner for years as a way to stay in shape, but as I age I’m finding it harder to keep unwanted weight off.  Prior to her post I had been looking into stepping it up a bit this year with my running regime.  As the weather started to warm up, I turned my focus to finding a replacement to my virtually indestructible Solomon XA Pro 3D XCR Trail Running Shoe.  I wanted to try a pair of minimalist shoes.

Shelly and I exchanged a few comments and messages back and forth on Facebook.  She was quite the resource for my new endeavor and got me pointed in the right direction.  After much research, I decided to purchase the New Balance MT10 Minimus Trail minimalist running shoe from the New Balance website. 

August 9, 2010 in Cycling, Featured by Carl H. Martens

Given that many of our readers have children we thought the following would make for a nice review. I asked a family friend to help out, Elizabeth Tate agreed to write the review and her son Gabriel was the tester. With the holidays right around the corner we thought this would be a fitting review.

What a pleasure it’s been to test ride the Strider Running Bike! Our little Gabriel loves it! Gabriel is 2 ½ but definitely feels like a “big boy” on his “big boy” bike! He has three older sisters and with his new Strider, has joined the ranks of capable bike riders in our family! 

April 5, 2010 in Cycling, Featured by Carl H. Martens

Singular Cycles is a small frame manufacturer from UK specializing in 29er bikes.  Although I’ve coveted one of these steel steeds for quite some time, they only recently became available here in the United States and are exclusively distributed by The Prairie Peddler in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. 

January 1, 2010 in Featured, Snow by Carl H. Martens

The Tubbs Flex Alp snowshoe intrigued us a great deal from the moment we first received news of its arrival into the snowshoe market.  The Tubbs Flex series are lightweight (4.4 lbs), compact (the 8″ x 24″ design makes for easy storage), highly functional in all types of terrain, and extremely easy to use.

Visiting my parents’ house for the holidays provided me with my first opportunity to test out these shoes.  My father and I went out in single digit temps to a local favorite for cross country skiers, Nelson Lake which is located in Batavia, Illinois.  From the tracks in the snow it was evident skiers, hikers and other snowshoers had been out before us.  My father had on Atlas BC24 snowshoes and I wore the Tubbs Flex Alp snowshoe. 

November 6, 2009 in Backpacking & Camping, Featured by Carl H. Martens

Back in October we hiked roughly 40 miles of the Appalachian Trail over a three day period.  We started our hike at the approach trail at Amicalola State Park in Dawsonville, Georgia and ended at Woody Gap.  Prior to this trip I had contacted Osprey Packs and asked if they would provide us with a pack for our trip, they kindly agreed to and sent the Osprey Atmost 50 backpack. 

October 9, 2009 in Cycling, Featured by Carl H. Martens

Ever since reading the article, First Ride On My Fully Rigid Singular Swift SS Mountain Bike on MTOBikes I have been fascinated with the Singular brand.  I love how the frames have a very classy, polished and vintage look.  Singular Cycles is based out of Herts in the United Kingdom so getting a frameset for review has been rather difficult.