Salsa Journeyman Apex 1 700: Initial Impressions/Review

Note: this bike was bought by me at retail. All opinions are mine. Interested in me reviewing your product?

  • Pros: Inexpensive, light-enough, comfortable, good bike handling for endless miles. 1×11 drive train, carbon fork
  • Cons: You really want a tubeless setup
  • Weight: 24lbs for 54cm model
  • Interesting To: dipping your feet into All Road/Gravel bikes, winter trainer
  • Price: $1500
  • More information: Salsa Cycles Website
  • Purchase at REI |Adventuron (although currently only the 650B looks available with the Apex groupset), or at your local bike shop.


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Bikepacking Talk + Workshop at the Colorado Mountain Club’s Mountain Fest: THANK YOU!

A belated thank you to all the people who showed up at the CMC‘s Colorado Mountain Fest and participated in my talk + workshop! Thanks to the CMC for having me. Below are a few of my favorite slides from the talk.

Here’s some more information on the talks I do – if you’d like to see me talk in your city, help out by telling your favorite outdoor gear/bike shop to get in touch with me. Tell them how stoked you’d be to have me share my stories, inspiration, and advice.

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A Beautiful Nolans 14 Failure

Summit of Tabeguache, as the sun was rising

I HAD SO MUCH FUN on my “failed” Nolans run. “Failed” in quotes, as I believe I set my intention on trying to do the best I could do to get through summiting 14 14ers in a row in less than 60 hours. But I came up short – only summiting 7. Cutting it short felt the best thing to do at the time.

Here’s how my 33 hours on the Nolans Line went down:

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Review: Ultimate Direction SCRAM

The Ultimate Direction SCRAM is a large-capacity running vest that’s been toughened up and given storage capacity for all-day missions, allowing you to take it anywhere to help in supporting you doing essentially anything.

  • Pros: Classic Ultimate Direction Running Vest Design, tons of storage, tough materials, minimalist.
  • Cons: Maybe too minimalist for some? Not perfect for a dedicated running vest: if you don’t need the storage, this isn’t the best vest for you.
  • Weight: 445 grams / 15.7 ounces
  • Storage Capacity: 23.5 Liters
  • Interesting To: mountain runners, skimo, fast-and-light climbing missions, bikepacking
  • Best For: those needing a lot of capacity, but not yet Fastpack-capacity; people who are very tough on gear
  • Price: $134.95
  • More information: The Ultimate Direction SCRAM | Adventure Collection
  • Purchase at Ultimate Direction | REI | Backcountry
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Training Journal 7/29/19 – 8/4/19

Thursday

Third Flatiron x3, Second Flatiron

Summit of the Third!
Summit of the Third, looking down toward Chautauqua
Hangin’ by the bottom of the rappels (I downclimbed, naturally)

Happy Third-sday! The Third Flatiron finally has been freed of its blanket raptor closures, which means everyone is now allowed to play on it.

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