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Still Clinging on to Old Man Winter
Most people are over it…I know.
Forecast is calling for snow in Carbondale tomorrow, yet for some folks that doesn’t really matter. They’ve said goodbye to “Old Man” winter and have signed up for spring. It’s time for shorts & flops, longer days, outdoor BBQ’s, float trips, bike rides and of course, weekend trips to Fruita and Moab. I’d bet the chances are good that these same people will be clamoring for winter come July?
Instead of fighting the tide, I decided to join some friends recently on an atypical spring pilgrimage to the desert. With temps at home flirting near 70 degrees, I packed up my skis and all my warm clothes and headed for the La Sal Mountains. The La Sals are located near the eastern border of the state of Utah, rising above the town of Moab. The maximum elevation is at Mount Peale, reaching 12,721 feet (3,877 m) above sea level. The range contains three clusters of peaks separated by passes. The peaks span a distance of about 18 miles (25 km). Having spent a majority of my winter preparing for the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse (for a race report), always having some sort of training objective in order, it felt great to be headed to the La Sals with only a few goals in mind: to explore a new mountain range & have fun skiing with friends.
OK, I have to be honest, we had some goals. Our first one was Little Tuk – 12,048 feet. Not the tallest peak that we climbed in the La Sals, but in my opinion one of the nicest ski lines. And then off to Mount Tukuhnikivatz – 12,482 feet (3805 m) – aka Big Tuk. Can you say Tu-kuhn-ik-ivatz really fast 10 times?
And lastly, it was off to Mount Mellenthin – 12,645 feet (3854 m), the second highest peak in the range.
For sure this was my best trip to Moab ever. And I was skiing. So cool to be looking at the desert floor from the peaks above! So for all of you like me, still clinging on to “Old Man Winter,” if it’s getting a little to warm where you are…keep an adventure like the La Sals in mind. Time to plan for my next ski trip on Saturday. Sounds like we will have some fresh POW…
Serotta Spins through Colorado
If you fancy yourself a a bike geek, or even just an avid cyclist, Serotta is a name you’ve probably heard before. Ben Serotta has been hand-crafting beautiful custom bikes in the US since 1972. In the 1980’s Serotta built bikes for the 7-Eleven team (though they were labeled as Huffy) helping legendary riders like Eric Heiden win the US Pro Championships, Davis Phinney win a stage of Tour de France in 1986 (the first for an American), and Andy Hampsten win the Giro d’Italia. Serotta also pioneered bike fitting, developing the first Size Cycle back in 1979 and organizing the industry’s first School for Professional Bike Fitting. Serotta also created the first double-butted titanium frameset, the “S” bend chainstay and the patented pivoted ST carbon seatstay. If you are looking for a new bike check out the best road bike here.
Today, Serotta is one of the most vertically integrated bicycle manufacturers in the world, with its own carbon fiber composites production facility in Poway, California and manufacturing in a state of the art facility in Saratoga Springs, NY. Serotta also just strengthened its leadership with the addition of Stan Mavis as the new president. Stan was a co-founder of Pearl Izumi and later president of Sugoi (not to mention a former world record holder in the half marathon and Colorado Running Hall of Fame member). The newly formed Serotta Sport company will continue to offer Serotta’s legendary custom, hand-built bicycles and also be the exclusive North American distributor of Catlike helmets and ETXEONDO cycling apparel.
For those of you in Colorado, Stan and the team from Serotta are making a few stops at their dealers to show off their latest handmade creations and talk about what’s new in the world of professional bike fitting. Serotta will be in Aspen today and then in Boulder on Saturday and Sunday. Here are the details:
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- Thursday 4/22: The Hub of Aspen, 3-6pm (970)-925-7970
- Saturday 4/24: Sports Garage, 1pm-4pm (303)-473-0033
- Sunday 4/25: University Bicycles, 1pm-4pm (303)-444-4196
The public is invited to attend all of the events to meet Serotta’s new leadership team and geek out on some beautiful custom bikes.
Backbone News
A bunch of stuff going on…
SmartWool, New Belgium and Aspen Skiing Company win Best Places to Work in Outside Magazine, for 3rd and 2nd times, respectively.
Skiing is wrapping up. Spring is here with good road riding in the RF valley in between snow storms and powder tours.
Backbone recently was named one of Colorado Companies to Watch by Colorado BIZ magazine. Backbone was one of 50 companies named out of a field of over 420. Additionally, Nate Simmons was voted one of Sporting Goods Business 40 under 40 – one of the most influential young industry professionals for his role as Global Director of Marketing for Polartec and partner here at Backbone.
On the fun side, Nate and Greg were up with Chugach Powder Guides with crew from New Belgium, Powder (thanks Kback!) and various film crews like MSP. Check out Adrian’s warm up video below.
KBack, G-Dub and Nate
Backbone has always loved to bike. Now we are spinning with new clients Serotta Sports, Honey Stinger, Velogear and Jett MTB. Along with this, Backbone is proud to announce Mike McCormack joining our team. Many may know Mike from his Trek, Yeti or Breck Epic days. Mike is a cycling geek and has a 120 lb. dog named Boo – which easily outweighs both of his boys JJ and Tavish. Mike’s wife Emily is a PR powerhouse in her own right and runs Hula Communications.
To see all the official news you can go to our pitchengine newsroom or check it out on our site. Lastly, our good man Ian Anderson and his wife Sari recently added a new son Axel to their family. I realize we don’t “do” baby announcement blogs here so I’ll include that Ian was recently promoted to Director of PR here at Backbone doubling up his responsibilities.
Excuse my French but Axel will be a next generation bad ass
"Find And Follow Your Beer Ranger" Socially Optimized Facebook Map
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Backbone Goes to ad:tech
Life has been busy for Backbone’s Media’s Media Buying and Planning Director, Greg Williams. After returning last weekend from a life-altering ski trip in Alaska, Greg is getting ready to head out the door again. This time, however, he won’t need his ski gear, but instead, will have to dig through his closet for some rarely-used city clothes.
This week’s destination is ad:tech San Francisco, one of the nation’s premier interactive marketing conferences. Greg will attend with client New Belgium Brewing and social media application developer Friend2Friend. Backbone Media, Friend2Friend, and New Belgium Brewery have been invited to speak about their joint efforts on Facebook. The presentation will include a case study of New Belgium Brewery’s evolving presence on Facebook, and will address topics such as attaining a critical mass of followers, engaging with fans in a meaningful way, and localizing social media messages.
Backbone, Friend2Friend, and New Belgium Brewery will be presenting alongside Levis Straus and Toyota- wish them luck!
To learn more about New Belgium’s Facebook efforts read the blog post by Melyssa Glassman, Creative Director at New Belgium Brewery, vist http://tinyurl.com/y2oz6ry. Also, be sure to check Backbone Media and Friend2Friend’s most recent New Belgium Brewery Facebook application (pictured below) at http://tinyurl.com/4t993. If you’re not a fan of your local New Belgium Facebook page, you should become one!
