- The Northern Light (Blaine, Wa.): Former Blaine resident embarks on cross-country journey, by Jack Kintner – Last Tuesday afternoon three young men bicycled into Peace Arch State Park, circled one of the border monuments on the lawn and then rode south, headed for Mexico. Nothing much unusual about that, except the three are also partners in an outdoor referral service they’ve created called SWAE Sports. Read on.

- The Daily Camera (Boulder, Col.): CU grads bike to build business, by Heath Urie – In 2004, a group of friends at the University of Colorado began a vision to create an outdoor adventure company dedicated to connecting outfitters with prospective clients. Today, they’re biking from Canada to Mexico to raise awareness — and partners — for their newly born business venture, SWAE Sports. Read on.

- The Examiner (online): SWAE Sports wrapping up 2,000-mile bike trip to promote new business, by Eric Duncan, Hidden Adventures Examiner – On June 16, 2009 a group of five adventurers set out from British Columbia on a 2,000 mile bike trip that would take them down the pacific coast, soon to end up in Mexico. Promoting the launch of their new business, this group of adventurers has traveled through places such as the beautiful Puget Sound in Washington State, a summer festival in Bend, Oregon and parasailing in Santa Cruz, California. Read on.

The SWAE adventurers’ 2,000-mile journey is ‘just the beginning, by Eric Duncan, Hidden Adventures Examiner – On August 29, 2009 the five adventurers that left British Columbia on June 16 completed their 2,000 mile journey, touching the Mexican border. This group of outgoing adventurers has been promoting and selling their new business to likely customers, vendors and suppliers very successfully for the last three months. Read on.

- The Santa Barbara Independent (Santa Barbara, Cal.): Biking for business: SWAE Sports hooks up adventurers, outfitters online, by Katherine Perry – Daniel Epstein was a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder when he came across a problem. The adventure enthusiast was hoping to go paragliding with friends, but had a very difficult time finding a group of outfitters to take them. Epstein had found a gap in the adventure sports industry—communication. Read on.

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.

To sum it all up, the trip was a great success. We have partnered with 110 adventure sports companies since we started approaching them in June. The fact that we have so many partners screams that our idea is a damn good one, and that we are certainly not the only people who know that SWAE will be successful. As I write this, 10 more trips to sick destinations were just posted on the SWAE website.

The next step begins. Colorado must be tackled and our website must be launched. But launching just begins a cascade of great ideas that will become implemented over the years. To be a part of it now is incredibly exciting, and I am thrilled to have a job that allows me to combine my passion for adventure and travel with my outgoing personailty. I am required to go to beautiful places and meet great people who have made a life for themselves through outdoor sports.  I can say with pride now, that I am also one of those people.

To sweeten the deal, I work with great people. Will had been a great friend of mine before we ever became co-workers. We met 600 feet up on the side of El Cap over 4 years ago, and now we will travel the world together in the name of SWAE. Epstein’s drive for greatness is contagious, and he gets all of us so psyched that we want to just freak out sometimes. All of my rants about how amazing this trip has been, is all thanks to Dan.  Rob deserves a huge shout-out as well because our website, which outfitters love, is all of his design. I look forward to the day that Rob moves to Boulder. Jesse is returning to Seattle to begin what will become a highly successful bike racing career, and while he was on the trip with us he did a great job documenting our journey and getting us press. He is also pondering a Boulder move.

Thanks to those of you who followed our blogs, and gave us support along the way. You can continue to support SWAE Sports by booking trips (once we launch), getting lifestyle cards (someday in the future), and of course- by telling your friends!

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.

Daniel wanted to finish the trip strong and everyone agreed. So, with 150 miles from our place in Manhattan Beach, we decided to make the final push to the border in one epic day.

I awoke at 5:30 a.m., Sunday, August 23 in Manhattan Beach. There was a quiet concentration among the group as we packed up and prepared for the longest ride of the trip. We left by 6:15 and began our ride south along the coast. It was a gloomy Sunday morning and the streets were empty aside from a few cars. Beside the fact, we were still had a close call with a bus as it whizzed past on the Pacific Coast Highway. Daniel swerved after the bus came inches away from us as we rode the shoulder of the street.

The flat terrain of Southern California made riding 150 miles seem less daunting and as we pedaled mile after mile, we met large groups of cyclists on morning rides.  This made riding that much easier and all four of us found different groups to keep pace. At this point we had all hit stride, pedaling at a consistent rhythm. After a section of flat riding, we encountered several miles of rolling hills, into San Clemente.

Daniel takes in the view at La Jolla Cove.

Dan and I managed to keep a strong pace with a group of riders for more than 80 miles and decided to stop for lunch at noon in Oceanside. Brendan had busted a tire during the first stretch of the trip and stopped in a bike shop in Laguna Beach to get it fixed, while Will reached Oceanside just a little while after us.

Refilled and refreshed, Dan and I set off from Oceanside into the high noon heat for the second half of our ride to the border. We continued to see cyclists all day while we rode along the marked bike routes running adjacent to the freeway, the surf crashing along the coast to our right.

This ride was a culmination of eight weeks of riding. After 2,400 miles, we had been exposed to almost every kind of cycling that could be done on the west coast. We had cycled through heatwaves, up mountain passes, along rolling hills and through long hours of cranking pedals. The road to Mexico threw everything it had at us, but we had prepared.

The sun became intense as the day continued on. Flashbacks of Oregon heatwaves came to mind as Dan and I continued along the bike path. We were already caked in dirt and dripping sweat as the path wound back and forth under the freeway.

We arrived in La Jolla at 4:30, the heat of midday giving way to a warm afternoon as Daniel and I took in the view of people in the water along La Jolla Cove. Just north of San Diego, we only had another 30 miles to reach our goal. The trials of the day’s ride began to take its toll as we began to make our way towards downtown San Diego. My legs were working hard to keep pedaling and my stomach, deprived of any substance besides Clif Bars, began to growl as the sun began to fall along the western horizon.

Dan lifts his bike 100 yards from the border.

Because Dan and I had stayed along the water, we missed the opportunity to shorten our route by heading straight through the city of San Diego. We had some trouble getting back on track, but after asking a few people along the way, we were able to make it to downtown in a reasonable time. I had to stop for a quick bite as I began to run on fumes for the last stretch of such a grueling ride.

We finished our last push to the border as the bright afternoon became a fading dusk. Dan pointed out the rising hills along the horizon which were not part of the U.S. We were close and could both feel it.

Our instincts were correct as we encountered the final stretch of bike path with a sign pointing us in the direction of Mexico. We followed the streams of people heading towards a fenced entrance and found Brendan and Will waiting for us. The black fences and fluorescent lights gave the place a very inhuman glow, but we were too excited to care.

As I sat and watched the people streaming into the border, we touched our bikes as far as they could go without going through the trouble of customs. We had all pushed ourselves to the point of physical and mental exhaustion.

For the next several days, Will, Dan and Elliott will spend time in San Diego working with outfitters before flying home on August 27. What a trip, what an adventure and a great success.

SWAE Sports wrapping up a 2,000 mile bike trip to

promote new business

By Eric Duncan, National Hidden Adventure Examiner

On June 16, 2009 a group of five adventurers set out from British Columbia on a 2,000 mile bike trip that would take them down the pacific coast, soon to end up in Mexico. Promoting the launch of their new business, this group of adventurers has traveled through places such as the beautiful Puget Sound in Washington State, a summer festival in Bend, Oregon and parasailing in Santa Cruz, California.

The group’s real purpose for the trip is to network and meet with people and businesses in every little town they ride through, meeting with equipment and gear shops, outfitters and breweries and signing up those companies to be outfitters or suppliers on the new website. “We’re out to create a grassroots awareness of what we feel is a better way of doing business,” says Daniel Epstein, the Founder of SWAE.

SWAE is an acronym for Snow, Water, Air and Earth sports. SWAE’s goal is to create a more efficient outdoor industry by bringing adventure and ecotourism outfitters together in one place where outdoor enthusiast can find their next adventure or gear that they need.

The SWAE website is soon to be a major hub in the adventure sports and ecotourism venue and the next online home for adventure sports. Finding adventures and good deals is what SWAE Sports is all about. Soon the SWAE Lifestyle Card will be available for purchase that will give the user even better discounts and deals. Not to mention that SWAE is donating 100% of the profits from the Lifestyle Cards toward environmental causes.

Daniel Epstein stated, “In essence, we believe that business has the transformative power to change the world for the better. If we don’t seek to find ways to make industry more efficient while working towards creating a healthier environment, adventure sports and the things we love most will cease to exist for the next generation.” Promoting both adventure and the preservation of our natural places seems to be what SWAE sports is all about and their actions are backing up their statements.

To get hooked up with SWAE Sports, check out the ongoing blog of their 2,000 mile journey from Canada to Mexico. Reading their blog is one way to live through these adventurer’s trials and successes. They have hundreds of pictures and blog posts for every encounter! The uniqueness of their efforts are a breath of fresh air in the struggling economy and the typical business world.

Elliott and Will have split up our last two cities on this trip and Elliott has gone on to the San Diego area to work down south, while Will is concentrating his efforts in Los Angeles. Only one more week remains on SWAE’s summer adventure. It’s strange to think that this tour is nearing it’s end.

The graffiti'd walls of Venice Beach.

Since we have ridden into Southern California, we have made a transition from lawn surfing to couch surfing. Because the sprawl of the cities in So Cal are so expansive, we have been able to contact friends in the cities we ride into, and have slept with roofs over our heads for a majority of the time. Dan’s brother, Josh, took us in for our first night in Santa Monica, and Dan and Brendan have made his apartment their homebase for our time in L.A.

Dan has also been spending some quality time with our programmer Rob, and they are beginning the last steps of testing to completely perfect SWAE’s Web site.

Will and I have been working in and out of Manhattan Beach, where his friend Jordan has been nice enough to take us in. The spread of Los Angeles is quite a bit more intense to try and get around by bike than other cities we have visited along the trip. Drivers barely notice us as we pedal along the shoulder of the road, sometimes only looking one way before turning out into the rest of traffic. It has been quite an unnerving experience and I am looking forward to riding in a less hectic area once we leave L.A.

The neighborhoods of L.A. are expansive and this metropolis is as overwhelming as any we have been in along this trip. The constant bustling of people is almost too much to handle.

We have all made an effort to stay close to the coast and the pristine beaches are an incredible juxtaposition to the concrete jungle further inland. The winding bike path makes moving from one neighborhood to the other less complicated compared to the network of streets and freeways dominated by cars.

While an article on SWAE is still being written in Santa Barbara for the SB Independent, another was written for the Examiner.

Eric Duncan, a Hidden Adventures Examiner, wrote an article on SWAE for the Recreation section of the Examiner’s Web site. Check out the full article here.

We had reviewed the weather for the day’s ride and decided to start in the afternoon on August 13, stop in Santa Ynez and cycle to Santa Barbara the next morning. There has been a drastic change in the terrain from Northern to Southern California. I was surprised to find how extremely flat the road was, which made riding with a tailwind amazingly simple.

Flat roads leading us to Santa Ynez

Although there were a few hills to climb, this type of riding is nothing like climbing a mountain pass or getting a rhythm of the rolling hills earlier on our trek. We pedaled and cruised at speeds upwards of 20 miles an hour. At one point, Dan and I hit 33 miles per hour on flat ground! Our group had a consistent view of a cloud of smoke caused by a raging fire farther inland, just over the ridges between SLO and Santa Barbara.

We stayed with some of Dan’s family friends in Santa Ynez, in a gorgeous house with a pool and a cozy bed to sleep. I would again like to thank our hosts for their generosity and kindness at letting five smelly guys sleep in their home. Thanks Cyndy!

We left Santa Ynez early, our stomachs full from a delicious breakfast in Cyndy’s house. Although we only had 30 miles to Santa Barbara, there was a mountain pass between us and our destination. It felt great to ride San Marcos Pass, which was a consistent incline for nearly 15 miles. Dan whipped me into shape early in this trip and I have since become a “monster” on the bike.

I arrived in Santa Barbara with some good news via a voicemail. Katherine Perry from the Santa Barbara Independent was going to meet with us in the afternoon to do an interview for the local paper. Elliott met and signed the Santa Barbara Surf School, Fly Above All Paragliding and Circling Hawk Paragliding.

Will met with Eagle Paragliding, Santa Barbara Adventure Company and Captain Jack’s Santa Barbara Tours and signed all three of the outfitters. We had quite a bit of success in SB and our living accommodations were out of this world.

Jane Gottlieb and David Obst house at the top of the Rivera neighborhood.

In the evening, we biked up Mission Drive, up a long winding hill to a ridge in the Riviera neighborhood and stopped in front of a purple fence. As the gate slid open, we were greeted by five barking dogs and a smiling couple. They stood on steps that led up to a house that looked like it had been painted by a pack of wild Easter bunnies. The garage was lime green and bright pink. The window frames were sunshine yellow while the rest of the house continued in the same motif. Colors from across the spectrum were symmetrically painted onto different parts of the structure. I could barely comprehend living in a home of such colors, but the longer I stared, the more I got used to the idea.

David Obst and Jane Gottlieb had been living in Santa Barbara for years. They each have had successful careers in writing and photography respectively. Jane’s inspiration for the house came from her art, which was displayed throughout the inside of the house. Photos of lawnbowlers and vintage cars, splashed with hues of green, yellow and blue. She had spent years traveling around the world, and growing up in Berkley in the Sixties, was inspired by the age of love, peace and revolution.

Dave is a writer and journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for his work in the Pentagon Papers investigation. He is also the producer of the movie “Revenge of the Nerds,” and helped with the movie on Woodward and Bernstein. Amazing people, amazing experiences and just as hospitable as all of our hosts throughout this trip.

We had stepped into another world of bright colors, trippy sculptures and a scenic view of the ocean.

The Santa Barbara Mission.

Brendan Mulholland, Dan’s childhood friend, joined us in Monterey for the final leg of our trip to Mexico. He had just finished Alaska fishing season and was preparing to disappear in South America for an extended period of time. Needless to say, I finally had a photography buddy to explore Santa Barbara.

Our first full day in town we spent the afternoon at the famous Mission and rose gardens in Santa Barbara. The afternoon sunlight was a golden-orange, which was absolutely gorgeous to shoot in. The rows of different colored roses outside the mission glowed brightly and the mission’s spires cast some interesting shadows all around.

Brendan and I then made a trip to El Presidio, an old fort in the middle of Santa Barbara and then explored Stearn’s Wharf. I enjoyed blending in the a crowd and having hayday with my camera. Check out all the photos in our “Rad Photos” section.

I completed my first century ride last week from Big Sur to San Luis Obispo. The mental aspect of such a long distance was, for me,  more difficult to grapple with than the physical punishment of being on a bike for six and a half hours. As I started riding out of the foggy campground in the morning, I tried not to think about the 100-mile stretch in front of me, and what I was about to go through. I expected pain, burning legs, and bonking. I struggled to not stare at my bike computer to see how far we had gone. As the day rolled on though, the miles ticked off faster and faster, and all of the sudden we had hit 50 miles. Almost no time after that we were at 80, then 90, then we were there.  I had learned a great lesson in what my body is capable of doing in a relatively comfortable state, and I threw back a few celebratory beers that night, feeling like I had achieved a new and exciting feat.

Another 70 miles two days after the century ride hurt. The day after that, 40 miles over a mountain pass felt like nothing.  Some days you just don’t feel the chain, other days every pedal stroke feels difficult. I obsess over what type of electrolyte drink will help recovery and boost my energy level on the bike. I am still searching for the best product. Epstein and Brendan tried mixing sugar and salt packets from restaurants while I payed $15 for a bottle of accelerade.

Epstein is still faster.

Between rides we stop and work in small California towns, where I find myself thinking about housing prices and moving. I’ve already pitched it to my girlfriend. My mom grew up in So. Cal, and I really believe the ocean is in my blood and that at some point, I’m going to have to live near it.

I have been able to connect even more with the California lifestyle by meeting with many great owners of surfing companies. In working with surfers, I see the value of partaking in the sport myself. I noticed this before when I was in Colorado working with rock climbing outfitters.

Being able to swap stories of the experiences you’ve had out on the water or up on a wall really helps to level the playing field and break the ice. Outfitters appriciate the fact that we practice what we preach, and that we are not just corporate posers. During a meeting with Bo at Circling Hawk Paragliding today, he claimed that he “thought we were serious” when I told him how we are biking the coast to start this company. Not that I needed the validation, but it was nice to hear that our dedication to adventure, through this bike trip, is what got him interested enough to meet with me.