Between April 17th and April 23rd, Team EcoAthlete converged in Moab to test new eco products over 5 days of epic mountain bike rides. Product reviews will be posted, but first a thank you to our sponsors! All products were generously donated by the following companies:
SublimationX: 99% recycled material semi-custom jerseys
END Footwear: Sustainable lightweight trail racing shoe
The XTERRA Eco Team and EcoAthlete.org have started collecting swim caps to be recycled into flip flops. Research and development is underway with a popular outdoor gear and clothing compay and we should know feasibility of the product shortly. If the flip flops don't work out, we'll think of something else! Got any ideas? Send them!
If you have a number of swim caps (latex only) in your triathlon or swim closet, you can send them to:
Yvonne Kraus
4614 Dayton Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103
One of the first questions I am asked when I talk about EcoAthlete as a resource is "What do I do with my spent bike grease?" Over the next couple of entries I'll post some ideas for this. But first, I'll start a list of alternative bike greases out there.
Yesterday I received the sad email from Nau announcing that they were closing their doors. I was just about to post a few product writeups! Their clothing is great, and for outdoor active wear they included just the right amount of design elements to make their clothing look different and unique.
When I heard about Nulethics' bamboo athletic clothing I wanted to give their line a try. (Read my blog entry for day 1 in Moab). Nulethics is a new company out of Alberta, Canada, that's making inroads in the environmentally responsible athletic clothing market. Nulethics uses bamboo fibers and bonds it to polyester derived from recycled plastics. Most of their garments have at least 45% recycled material. Their bamboo fabric is designed to improve moisture absorbtion, and bamboo naturally has anti-microbial properties that help control body odour.
April 20: The Porcupine Ridge trail started with a long climb, gaining 1500ft. All ten of the EcoAthlete girls were riding today, including pro mountain bike racer Dara Mark Marino - 5 months pregnant!
April 19: Today we rode a trail network north of Moab called Souvereign. We rode out in a chilly morning, quickly starting a technical single track climb up a ridge that had our lungs on fire! Enjoying the blue/greenish tint of the rocks in this area, we biked up and along the ridge for about two hours, on what turned out to be the wrong trail.
EcoAthlete is kicking off with a trip to Moab! Ten women are participating in a self-organized EcoAthlete Mountain bike training camp in Moab to test, demo, and model some of the green athletic products that are advertised on this site.
The products were generously donated by our favorite EcoAthlete brands:
