I thought I would take a couple of days after getting back to Boulder to reflect on all the experiences that accompanied biking from British Columbia to Baja to launch SWAE Sports before penning my magnum opus. It’s been an interesting couple of days as I’ve readjusted to civilian life. My initial realization was that most importantly, the 2-½ months on the road helped to solidify our team and define the direction of SWAE Sports.

After getting off the plane and driving back to my Rocky Mountain home, I immediately began to miss the other four guys that I’d spent just about every waking moment with since mid June. After feeding off one another’s excitement, sharing the hardships of the road, and waking every morning to the team immediately talking SWAE, life as it was began to seem, well, rather quiet.

When I separate myself from being a part of this whole expedition, it seems truly amazing that a group of five highly dedicated young men would undertake such an endeavor to launch a company.  As a consumer, it would hardly matter to me what it is SWAE was selling because if anyone was really that motivated, odds are that it was something I should be a part of.  I’d rep their shirt. It would get even crazier for me as I started to explore their website and realized that the reason those boys were so psyched was because they held in their hands a truly paradigm shifting business model for the adventure sports industry.  Of course they’d cycle 2,500 miles to spread the good news. It would all start to feel quite logical.

Whenever I return from a big trip it’s always a bit weird to think about the places I just was.  Sailing through the waters of the San Juan Islands, biking through the primordial Redwood forests of Northern California, and camping along the rim of Crater Lake begins to feel like a dream, or clips from a movie I watched before falling asleep. But they are my memories, my life experiences, the way I became a part of an organization that will undoubtedly shape the course of my life.

The greatest thing I’ll take from this trip is being witness to the fact that my actions along the West Coast will not only benefit my own life, but every outfitter, guide, and outdoor adventure school that sat down with us and subscribed to the dream that is SWAE.  I can only believe that they saw in our eyes the motivation to make our company’s principals a reality and that that kind of excitement was something they wanted to attach themselves to. When looking back over my notes, its almost ridiculous to see that the only companies we didn’t partner with after a meeting were those that didn’t want more business.  That’s crazy and yet it’s the truth.

The way people get outside is about to change, and I’m truly humbled to be a part of that shift. It’s happening because the team that comprises SWAE is actually our targeted customer. We live and breathe this lifestyle and we’ve somehow figured out a way to make a career out of doing the stuff we love. I don’t think I could be more stoked.

The successes of SWAE Sports on this West Coast cycling tour can’t just be measured in number of cities or outfitters the team have met, but from the experiences, the adventures, the people and the entire journey itself.

2,500 miles by bike to launch a company says it all and if it doesn’t, the above slideshow will paint a picture of the adventures SWAE Sports went through to promote conservation through adventure.

A view of the Venetians from our spot at Mr. Toot's Coffee Shop in Santa Cruz.

Although the sun had not joined us on our trip through Northern California, it was front and center as we settled into the laid back atmosphere of Santa Cruz. We spent our first night in a quaint home with a young group of people caught in post-college limbo. A surfer, an artist, a Wisconsonian and a cook let us sleep in their back yard and the next day, SWAE went to work.

Kyle Thiermann, our surfer host, had recently taken a six-week trip to a small town in Chile, where an American coal-mining plant is being proposed. Kyle spent his time speaking with locals about the impact of such a plant and what we in the U.S. can do to help prevent this from happening. Not only is Kyle an awesome surfer, he is incredibly passionate about supporting local industry and business, just like SWAE. Check out the video of his trip at www.claimyourchange.org.

Phone calls, research and meetings. While the sun hit the surf all day on Friday, Will, Elliott and Alex hit the streets to meet with outfitters. Will met and signed Venture Quest Sea Kayaking.

Since he has joined the trip, Alex has worked hard to sink into the pattern of finding outfitters and contacting them. In Half Moon Bay, just outside Santa Cruz, Alex met Chris Manchester and signed his outfit, Half Moon Bay Kayaks. In Santa Cruz, he was able to sign Pacific Yacht and Sailing.

Elliott and Will teach Ed Guzman, our host and surf instructor, how to slack line at his home near Manresa State Beach.

Elliott has had some great meetings since he joined up with SWAE in San Francisco. He got to go hang gliding in San Francisco and in Santa Cruz, met with two legendary surfers in Richard Schmidt and Ed Guzman, who are both owners of two of the largest surf outfits in Monterey Bay. The Richard Schmidt Surf School and Club-Ed Surf Camps are both well-established surf schools in the area. Elliott was able to line up an evening of dinner and videos with Ed, which gave us an opportunity to crash with his surf camp in Manresa State Beach AND take lessons from him in the morning.

There is no shortage of passion for the water in Santa Cruz. The stories Ed told us throughout Thursday night only reaffirmed this fact. Ed has spent time surfing some of the largest waves in California, just north of Santa Cruz in Half Moon Bay, as well as 50-foot swells in Ghost Tree, just outside of Monterey. Ed can talk surfing 24/7 and loves not only to talk about his experiences, but is adamant about helping people get into the water to learn the sport.

The crew get wetsuits as we get ready to surf with Ed, Friday morning at Manresa State Beach.

I am not a surfer by any means. On Friday morning, Ed thrust a wetsuit into my hands, handed me a board and was almost to the point of pushing into the water along Manresa Beach. This was my first time ever holding a surfboard. It felt oddly foreign in my hands, but I’m not one to shy away from an opportunity to learn something new. The waves were small, but surf-able and Ed and his staff are excellent teachers.

After some pointers on the beach, I was in the water, paddling out with Dan, Will, Alex and Elliott to make my first attempt at standing up on a surfboard. Ed spotted a reasonably sized wave and urged me to start paddling.

I stroked my left hand through the water, then my right, then both at the same time and with a little nudge from Ed, I was being jettisoned along the wave. I slid from my stomach to my feet and was surprised to find myself actually surfing and not eating salt water. It was a great feeling and after a few hours in the water, I was truly enjoying the surfing atmosphere with Ed and the SWAE crew.

Ed Guzman preps Alex and Elliott with fiber glass surfboards before we head into the water.

Santa Cruz is beautiful. A cozy town where the beach is one of its prime attractions. The beach, combined with blue skies and sun, make for a relaxed atmosphere where anyone is welcomed.

Although we only spent two days in town, I was inspired by the sights and sounds we were able to experience while we were there.

Saturday morning, we rode 30 miles down Highway 1, to Monterey, where SWAE will spend the next two days taking care of business. More to come as the adventure continues to unfold!

Some of the last scenes of San Francisco as we rode south towards Santa Cruz.

I haven’t disregarded the beauty of San Francico, but I’ve truly become restless with this booming metropolis. I’ve heard the echos of police sirens day and night through the city, seen masses of people stroll the sidewalks and warily watched traffic as I rode the streets. It’s been a great week in San Francisco, but it’s time to say good bye.

Alex and Bates left a day before Dan, Will and me and rode to Half Moon Bay, 30 miles from The City. The duo met Chris Manchester of HMB Kayaks for breakfast. The meeting went very well and Alex and Bates were able to sign HMB Kayaks on the spot.

On Tuesday, Aug. 4, Will and Dan met the Oceanic Society, a non-profit devoted to conservation of endangered marine life, stationed in San Francisco. The Oceanic Society is an incredible non-profit that shares like values with SWAE: Conservation and a dedication to local outfitters was what drove the conversation.  The Oceanic Society also organizes expeditions all around the world, from Antarctica to Sri Lanka and Will and Dan got them excited enough to join up as an Adventure Vendor on the spot!

A view of the beaches along Highway 1 were a relief to us as we rode to Santa Cruz.

We rode through San Francisco that afternoon towards our next destination, Santa Cruz. We began by riding south on Highway 35, which would eventually link us up to Highway 1. Dan, Will and I arrived at a junction, but were put into a dilemma as a street sign warned us to stay off Highway 1. Another cyclist confirmed that we should continue on 35 and it would eventually meet back up with our desired highway.

Mile after mile passed with no sign of a junction. We rode so far that we hopped onto Interstate 280, where we stopped a highway patrolwoman to ask her where we were and where we should head next. We were lost. She said we had missed the turn to Highway 1, which meant we had to backtrack three to four miles to continue in the right direction. It was 4:00 p.m. by the time we actually got to Highway 1 and we still had 65 miles until we would reach Santa Cruz.

The sun paints the skies with an array of bright colors. We didn't reach Santa Cruz by sun down.

We ate dinner just outside of Half Moon Bay and continued to ride, the sun slowly setting into the Pacific Ocean, painting the sky in pastel pinks, purples and soft hues of blue. As we rode, the sun yielded itself to a full white moon, rising over the crest of a hill as the evening light turned to dusk.

Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to Santa Cruz Tuesday evening. However, Dan found an awesome place for us to camp, in a grove of trees right along the beachfront. We could hear the ocean waves crashing against the shores, the froth from each surge fizzing as it dissolved into the sand. The wind rustled through the trees around us and kicked up small amounts of sand as we set up camp.

Will woke up especially early the next morning and was on the road by 7:30. Dan and I took a little longer to get packed up, but we still arrived in Santa Cruz at a reasonable time. The weather is as you would expect it in a town built on the beach. Bright blue skies, warm sunlight and a cool sea breeze was in the forecast for the day.

SWAE will be in Santa Cruz for the next several days. More to come as we explore the boardwalk and the beach of the city’s surfer’s paradise.

My culture shock aside, I’ve probably learned more about the adventure travel industry in these last few days than in my whole tenure as a SWAE Sports Adventurist. This is, in large respect, due to the fact that the industry was pretty much born in the Bay Area by people with an incredible amount of foresight.

On Friday I had a meeting with Dr. Olaf Malver, the CEO of Explorers’ Corner and I can’t begin to speak to the trove of knowledge this man possessed. In addition to running one of the most respected companies in adventure travel, Olaf’s resume of “firsts” ranges from sea kayaking Hao Long Bay in Vietnam, to exploring the uncharted island shorelines of the southwest Caribbean – populated only by the remnants of Carib Tribes.

Additionally, in recognition of his “true” explorations, Olaf is a lifetime fellow of the world-famous Explorer’s Club. It was an absolute privilege to sit down with him for almost three hours to talk about business strategies and long-term growth, what potential partners SWAE needed to speaking with, and how the systems we’re developing have the potential to truly affect the direction of eco-tourism.

Let me speak to the last point for a second. Because SWAE will never accept money for superior placement on our sites, it allows smaller companies to be able compete beside the big guys. The quality of each guide service is based upon user reviews and the niche in the market they’re filling. In addition, 10% of our company’s revenue is actually dedicated to providing local guides in the developing world with the necessary start up capital and expertise they’ll need to create their own eco-tourism business. Once their company has been created, they’ll have access to targeted marketing and the world of adventurists via swaesports.com.

In doing this, SWAE Sports has the ability to promote true eco-tourism, poverty relief, and sustainable outfitters in the developing world.  This model has been tailored in large respect to meet the challenges outlined by Bill Gates in the book Creative Capitalism, where he calls for a new form of capitalism that works to both generate profits and solve the world’s inequities.

It’s when I start talking about this aspect of SWAE, which is truly at the core of our mission, that I start to get really excited. It was wonderful to speak with a man like Dr. Malver, who in addition to the resume I’ve already lined out, also served as an eco-tourism development specialist for the United Nations.

I guess what I’m getting at is despite being taken out of my comfort zone of blue skies and expansive vistas, the Bay Area certainly has been one of the most important pin drops on our Pacific Coast Bike Trip. In addition to partnering with Explorers’ Corner, we’ve met, spoke, and partnered with some of the greatest companies out there from hang gliding outfits, to scuba diving and kayaking guides. Though we’re all ready to get back on the road, what we’ve learned from being in the city is sure to stay with us for a long time to come.

Bates in Sausolito before our trip up Mount Tamalpais.

I decided to follow Bates into Sausolito, where he met with Adnan Kadir of Life Cycle Adventures. Bates had breakfast with Adnan, who said he would ride with us to Bolinas. As an avid cyclist, Adnan knew the bike routes through the parks and he showed us a local trail up Mt. Tamalpais, over into Stinson Beach and towards Bolinas Bay.

We met Adnan at his house, where we prepared to set off towards Bolinas. From sea level, we rode through Mill Valley, up 2000 feet through trees, a winding road and at one point, a dirt track. The climb was amazing and it was a relief to get back on the bike.

While Bates and I rode up the hill at about 80% of our effort, Adnan, a former elite cyclist and mountain biking pro, was riding along at 45% of his normal power. It was amazing to ride with such a strong cyclist, plus his bike was SO rad!

Bates and Adnan at the top of Mount Tamalpais. Stinson Beach looked tiny from 2000 feet above sea level.

The grade of the climb was not bad, which meant Bates and I had a good time working up to the crest of Mount Tamalpais. At 2000 feet from sea level, Stinson Beach looked tiny along the coast. The white beaches and small shops seemed miles away, although it would only take us minutes to reach sea level again as we began our descent from the top of the mountain.

The road was smooth, the weather was beautiful and the downhill was amazing. Adnan flew past us like an arrow, hunched over his handle bars and taking each turn by bending his knee and turning his hip. Bates and I followed, enjoying every second of the ride.

We were just beginning to come into our first turn when I started to ride ahead of Bates. I pressed my back brake to slow down, but was astonished that it did not do much. The turn caught me by surprise and my experience of the next several seconds turned into slow motion.

Road rash and a gash in my elbow after a tough digger descending Mount Tamalpais.

My back wheel came off the road and my bike began to lower into a skid. I flipped over my bike as it hit the ground and my right hand met the concrete before any other part of my body. My elbow was next, scraping across the ground before I rolled over my right shoulder and onto my back. Fortunately, my backpack broke my fall and I did not hit my head. But I stood up to find a great gash on my elbow and blood running down my fore arm.

Our beautiful ride had been cut short. I was dizzy from shock and sat down to take a breather. My ribs were sore and my shoulder throbbed. It hurt to breathe, which worried both Adnan and Bates. Of course the bleeding down my arm and the hole in my elbow didn’t seem to surprise anyone.

We were able to get in touch with Adnan’s wife, Stacy, and she drove up to pick us up from the top of Mount Tamalpais. Stacy drove us back into the city to an emergency room to make sure I wasn’t broken. Bates and I were both grateful for their help throughout the entire day.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the hospital, waiting, waiting and then waiting some more. I was eventually called in at 6:30 p.m. and admitted into a room to change into a hospital gown. Both the doctor and the resident nurse had a look at my cuts and started the process of getting the concrete out of my skin.

After getting x-rays of my elbow and my shoulder, I was given topical anesthsia for my wounds. I must have left a chunk of skin on the top of Mount Tamalpais, because not much was left at the tip of my elbow. An hour later, my cut was deemed clean enough for the doctor to get to work repairing my body.

After three hours, three x-rays and eigtht stiches in my elbow, I was let out of the hospital. The doctor said the x-rays were negative, which meant no breaks to speak of. Since I had taken such a vicious fall at 20 miles an hour, I was lucky to leave the mountain with only a few cuts and scrapes.

I am out of commission for the next several days and my bike is also stuck in a shop to get repaired. I’ll be a bit sore as well, but nothing that a little tylenol won’t cure. More to come from SWAE’s adventures in San Francisco.

Elliott hard at work in Peets Coffee on Chestnut Street.

Dan, Will and Elliott spent the day doing research in a coffee shop on Chestnut Street in the Marina District of San Francisco. There are over 50 adventure outfitters in the Bay Area, which means the next several days will be devoted to setting up meetings to make the process move as efficiently as possible.

In the afternoon, Alex Pelley finally met up with the trio and will be helping sign outfitters down the California Coast.

Because there are such a large concentration of outfitters, the planning that has to take place between the team means that Will, Elliot and Alex will divide and conquer the Bay Area. Each adventurist will be riding to a different neighborhood in San Francisco, Oakland and the surrounding areas in order to move expediently.

Dan is interviewed by Christian and Miles from Conquer the Land.

Christian and Miles of Conquer the Land met with SWAE to do a short video on the motivations behind our cycling tour. Stay tuned.

The Marina District is a cozy neighborhood along the waterfront, just across the Golden Gate Bridge. The Palace of Fine Arts is a major attration to the area and is home to the Exploratorium, one of the first museums to develop hands-on exhibits in 1959.

The Palace of Fine Arts was built in 1915 during the Panama Pacific Exposition to commemorate the rebuilding of San Francisco. A destructive earthquake had levelled the city in 1906, and the Palace was one of the last structures to be finished after the devastation.

I had a chance to explore the palace for the day. Check out our most recent photos in the Rad Photos section.

The Palace of Fine Arts.

What a magnificent realization: we are dreaming with our eyes open. When I’m cycling across high desserts and in between glaciated volcanoes I feel as if I’m dreaming. When every single stranger we meet wants to talk with us, put us up in their houses, and give us their best wishes, I feel as if I am dreaming. Since we have already surpassed the original goal of partners signed on this trip and we are only three weeks into the ride, I feel as if I’m dreaming.

When we sit back at the end of an evening and share a local pint over stories of hilarity and success from the day passed, I feel as if I’m dreaming. When I’m able to write to the world with a simple declaration: this company will redefine the adventure industry, I feel as if I am dreaming. The most beautiful part is that I, and the rest of this team, are not dreaming. We are, in short, dreaming with our eyes open.

I remember about two months ago, a good friend of mine asked me what I dream about during the few hours-a-night I was sleeping at the time. My answer then was simple, I dreamt about business. How awful does that sound? To some extent, I think an obsession over a project, organization, or company is needed by any entrepreneur. But on the other hand, my own obsession occasionally caught me off guard.

The beautiful bit of it now, is that my dreams are becoming realized while my own eyes are wide open. And when I sleep; I don’t just dream about business. Although, if I were to be completely honest, last night, it was nearly all I dreamt about =).

So Hood River is sick. The Columbia River Gorge blazes its path through this arid high desert leaving an exposed convergence of land and water where the hot dry winds from the east meet the cooler damp winds from the deciduous west. What results is that these winds funnel between Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams with such ferocity that any kid or forty-something in a half pulled down wet suit with boards strapped to the top of their Subaru can tell you makes for the best kiteboarding locale on earth. Dan spent the last couple days meeting with guys like Kite the Gorge, Big Winds, and Brian’s Wind Surfing School and getting them stoked on SWAE. Next time you’re in the area look them up. If they can teach John Kerry to rip it, you stand a pretty good chance.   

To make this area even more of a playground, the White Salmon River cuts its way from Adams on the Washington side of the bridge and empties itself into the Columbia. If you’re not familiar, the White Salmon is the most intense commercially run river in the country. Two-thirds of the eight-mile stretch the guides take you down is Class III and IV with a Class V waterfall in the middle.  The water that forms is virtually continuous white froth that is a combination of glacier melt and water that seeps up through the area’s lava tubes to make its first appearance in daylight. What I’m getting at is this river will probably be the cleanest body of water you’ll ever lay eyes on. I had some wonderful meetings with rafting outfitters up there. My first day in town I met with All Adventures Rafting. They are a great hometown outfit and Karen took a lot of pride in the intensity and uniqueness the White Salmon had to offer. Our meeting concluded with her filling up my water bottle with some crystal clear spring water that bubbled up on the edge of her property. The next morning I peddled back up the canyon to meet with Jaco of Wet Planet Whitewater. Looking at their new site, I was seriously impressed not only by the skill of their graphic designer, but how it laid out everything their company was doing to minimize their ecological footprint: from using biodiesel in their buses to implementing a system of carbon credits. I am just always impressed when people use their businesses as a medium for social and environmental change, all the while doing what it is they love most.  

So that was written yesterday morning but I didn’t get around to posting it until just now. Currently, I’m sitting in a big Adirondack chair, whose back is a series of masterfully crafted inter-woven trout, along the banks of the Deschutes River in Maupin, Ore. We did a 60-mile tour yesterday through the rolling wheat fields of Central Oregon that I’m sure must have been the inspiration behind Katherine Lee Bate’s America the Beautiful. The Deschutes is apparently one of the best trout rivers in the country and thus, makes for a very good reason why world-class guides like Brian Silvey’s Fly Fishing, The Deschutes Angler, and the Deschutes Canyon Fly Shop call this quiet little town home. I’m waiting to meet with one more fly fishing guide this afternoon whose sign on the shop has informed me that he’s “gone fishin” and that there’s a good chance he’ll be back around 1:30 pm: right on!  I’ll leave it at that and hope all is well in your world.  We’ll talk again in Bend and to Claire: Happy Birthday Darling, I LOVE you and can’t wait to see you soon!