My Experience with BikesDirect.com (Updated!)

Bikesdirect.com is an online outlet that promises to save customers up to 60% off the price of a bike, and indeed the site does offer name brand bikes at substantial saving. Recently, I was approached by the promotional team from Bikes Direct about trying out the service, with company offering to send me a bike in exchange for me sharing my thoughts on the experience. Here's what I found out.

Bikes Direct ships bikes directly to consumers, cutting out the middle-man allowing them to cut substantial amounts of money off the price. In the video below, I share my experience of how the bike arrived at my door, and as I took it out of the box and went about assembling it. As you'll see, it was mostly a good experience, with a few minor issues.

The first challenge I had was that the box that the bike shipped in arrived at my door already damaged. The guy who delivered it, also propped it up at a weird angle, despite the box being clearly marked with a "This Side Up" label on pretty much every surface. This isn't Bikes Directs fault of course, as it was the shipper is responsible for getting it to our doors safely and securely. Still, it was a bit disconcerting to find the box damaged upon arrival.

Thankfully nothing inside the box was actually damaged, and when I took everything out the bike seemed to be just fine. But, after unpacking everything, I discovered another issue. It didn't ship with assembly instructions, despite the box actually listing the tools needed and stating that instructions would be included inside. Fortunately, this wasn't the first time I put a bike together, so I went about putting everything into place.

Assembly was fairly quick and easy for the most part, although inexperienced customers may find it more challenging without any instructions. Still, before long I had the semblance of a working bike. A fat tire model from Motobecane no less!

The bike is excellent in every way, with terrific components, disc brakes, large knobby tires, and a lightweight, yet durable frame. There was one small problem however. One of the pedals simply refuses to seat into its slot no matter what I do. The other pedal slid right into position and tightened up nicely, just as I expected. But the other one, simply won't tighten down, so I'm left with a bike with only one pedal at the moment. Replacing the pedal should be an easy affair, but it was disappointing to not be able to zip right off on my new bike after getting it together.

(Update: I've since learned that one of the pedals is threaded in the opposite direction. Turns out it was user error, with me actually trying to tighten it in the wrong direction. Once I learned this (Thanks Sean!), the pedal tightened down nicely.)

So what are my thoughts on bikesdirect.com at this experience? Mostly good. The bike itself is fantastic and the site does indeed offer great pricing for customers. But, the lack assembly instructions in the box could be problematic for some, although I suspect that most customers will receive them just fine. The broken pedal is a bit more of a challenge, but hopefully customer service will sort that out for me quickly enough. Other than that, the bike is ready to ride and looks like it'll be a lot of fun. What more could you ask for?

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Travel Tip: LeftOverCurrency.com

Frequent travelers take note; I've got a website that you're going to want to bookmark for future use. It's called LeftOverCurrency.com, and it gives us the ability to take all of that extra cash that we bring home with us from our adventures, and convert it back into money we can use. The site accepts a wide range of currencies, and offers very good exchange rates to ensure that you're getting the most value for the foreign money that you probably just have sitting around in a drawer somewhere anyway.

As someone who travels to foreign destinations on a regular basis, I always seem to come home with a few bank notes or coins in my pocket. Most of that cash ends up going into a box, along with other money that I've collected on my journeys. I currently have everything from Egyptian pounds to Nepali rupees, to Mongolia tögrögs rolling around in there, plus a few others too. But with LeftOverCurrency.com, I can get that money converted back into something I can use.

Here's how it works. Simply go to the website, select the currencies you want to exchange, and add them to your online wallet. After you've done this for all of the various types of money you want to swap out, you click on the wallet to see your current balance. Then, push the "Proceed to Exchange" button and fill out the information in the form to create your account. Doing this will lock in your exchange rate for 14 days, which allows you the time necessary to send your foreign currency in to be verified. After that, the website will either send you a check, or direct deposit your money into a bank or PayPal account.

The process works for wide array of currency types, including bank notes and coins that are even out of circulation. It is a quick, easy, and efficient way to get some real cash for the foreign money that you have left over, and your local bank won't accept. You can find out more by visiting the website and starting the process yourself.

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I've Joined the Team at Answers.com!

Last week I shared a new outlet that I am writing for in the form of OutdoorX4 magazine and today I have another announcement to make it terms of where I'll be writing next. The team over at Answers.com have asked me to take over their Outdoor Life section and moving forward I'll be working on filling it in with hopefully interesting and informative stories about the outdoors. Unlike this site, with which I cover a lot of ongoing news about what is happening in the world of adventure, sprinkled in with some gear reviews, opinion pieces and a variety of other stories, I envision the Answers.com page to be filled with less time-sensitive information and more of a repository of good knowledge that can be accessed at any time. It will also be a place where I'll be reviewing gear and sharing thoughts on

At the moment I only have a couple articles in place. One offers a few beginner tips for buying your first backpack and the other is a review of the Mongoose Beast fat tire bike. I have big plans for filling in new things soon however, so hopefully the library of articles will grow steadily in the days and weeks ahead. 

With any luck (not to mention a bit of hard work!) I'd like to see the Outdoor Life section become a great resource for outdoor lovers everywhere. I hope you'll keep an eye on it as the page grows and possibly visit from time to time to see what's new. I'm looking forward to this new venture sprouting roots and becoming a nice additional outlet for sharing the passion for the outdoors that we all enjoy. 

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bigblueproject: Face To Face With An Elephant On A South African Road

I wanted to take a moment this morning to plug a cool project that I contributed a story too that I think a lot of you will really enjoy. It's called bigblueproject and the concept is simple, yet brilliant at the same time. The project's creator, Burkhard Gruess came up with the idea of soliciting contributions of photos and travel stories then connecting them to a location on a map. Visitors to the site are presented with a map of the world with pins planted in various places where someone's story took place. Clicking on the pin will bring up that story and a single image that corresponds to it.

Burkhard kindly asked me to submit a story back when bbp was still in its conceptual stages, but I had a difficult time finding an opportunity to put something together. He circled back around a few months ago and asked me for a submission again, and this time I could really see what he was building and quite frankly I was very impressed. I loved the concept and the stories and images that people were sharing were excellent.

Of course, now I was excited to be a part of the project but still had a difficult time finding a spare moment to put something together. Yesterday, Burkhard nudged me once again and having a bit of a lull in my schedule at the moment, I went to work on getting something together. He's already posted my photo and story today, which you'll find by clicking here.

My contribution to bigblueproject involves a run in I had with a big bull elephant while visiting Kruger National Park in South Africa a few years back. The massive creature was wandering down the center of one of the main roads and was none to happy to come across the minivan that I was riding in along with a group of other writers and our guide. If you've ever been in a vehicle that has been charged by a full grown male elephant, who happens to be looking for a girlfriend, you'll understand.

Anyway. I hope you enjoy the story and the bigblueproject.

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Share Your Outdoor Adventures With Garmin Basecamp

Garmin, the company that makes a host of GPS products, including handheld devices, watches and more, has announced the launch of their Garmin Adventures website. The new site is a place for outdoor enthusiasts to share their latest adventures and pick-up some tips on where to go on their next one.

The site provides access to Garmin's Basecamp software (available for both PC and Mac) which allows you to create an interactive timeline of any journey. The software simply imports track logs from any GPS device (presumably even non-Garmin products) and allows users to build a nice online story of their adventure. Basecamp allows you to connect photos, complete with geotagging, YouTube videos, geocache locations, notes and more. Details of the trip, such as distance, duration, amount of climbing and descending and so on are also included. And when you're done building your trip profile you can easily share it with friends and family too.

This is an interesting way of creating more interesting and interactive logs of a hike or backpacking trip that others can enjoy too. Garmin has posted a couple of examples online to give us an idea of what Basecamp can do. For instance, click here for an example of a hike through Zion National Park or here to take a virtual trip through the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota.

I'm intrigued with what Garmin has created here. It's a bit rough around the edges, but I can see how this could be a really fun way to not only share an adventure with others but also discover some cool places to go as well. It even works with Garmin's new Fenix watch that I wrote about a few weeks back. If you're looking for a new way to creatively share your adventures, this may be just what you're looking for.

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Outside Online Lists Their Favorite Gear, Bike, Environmental and Adventure Blogs

The staff over at Outside Online has been spending a lot of time on the Internet lately. The site, which is the web companion to Outside Magazine, has been posting lists of their favorite blogs and websites in a variety of categories, including gear, bikes, the environment, and adventure. The lists will have some very familiar sites for regular readers of this blog, especially since I was lucky enough to be named to one of the list as well.

The Top 10 Environmental Blogs features such sites as Treehugger and The Cleanest Line, both of which are favorites of mine. That particular list is topped by the The New York Times Green Blog, which just should be an indication of the overall level of quality of the websites on this list. The Top 10 Bike Blogs includes Fat Cyclist and Bike Snob NYC, which I enjoy as well, with Red Kite Prayer getting top overall honors.

The Top 10 Gear Blogs was definitely a hotly contest category, as there are a number of good gear blogs on the Internet. But these are definitely the best of the best, featuring our friends over at the Gear Caster and The GearJunkie as well. Outside's top gear blog honors goes to the Outdoor Gear Lab, which is an excellent source of information on a dizzying array of products.

Finally, the Top 10 Adventure Blogs is practically a list of my favorite sites on the Internet. Some of the familiar names on this list include National Geographic Adventure and The Goat, which I link out to frequently, as well as Adventure Journal, which it tops in this category. That is impressive enough in and of itself, but the gang over at AJ also scored top ten listings on the Gear and Bike blog lists too! Well done to Steve and crew.

Finally, I'd like to thank the editors over at Outside for including my humble little slice of the Internet. I managed to rank 5th on the list of Adventure Blogs, and I'm excited and honored to be mentioned in the same breath with the other great sites on the list.

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Find Your Next Adventure At AvidTrips.com

Adventure travelers are always looking for new ideas and new ways to book their next escape, and a new website called AvidTrips.com has been designed from the ground up to assist in that process. The site allows you to search by a variety of categories, including destinations, activities, price, level of difficulty and so on. With that criteria set, AvidTrips will present a list of tour operators that can provide you the experience you are looking for in some of the best locations on the planet.

The interface on the site is slick and easy to use, offering up quite a bit of customization at your fingertips. There are also quite a few tour operators in the system already too, which means you'l have some good options when you decide on your next destination. The database that the site draws from is still being populated with more options and countries however, so if you have your heart set on a specific place, there is a chance it might not be available just yet.

AvidTrips has also launched a nice blog as well, with some great stories on exotic destinations from around the globe, each of which they offer access to. The editors of the site have also asked me to contribute some gear reviews and you'll find some of my own writing appearing there as well. The team behind the site is dedicated to improving it and providing more information for readers, and it looks like AvidTrips will be a great all-around tool for adventure travelers both now and into the future. I'm happy to play a small role in adding some content to the site.

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ExWeb Is Back With A Spiffy New Look!

We talked about it a bit last week, but Explorers Web is now back online, with a site redesign, and some new features that will help keep us all up to date on current events in the adventure world.

The first thing you'll notice when visiting ExWeb is that it has a nice, clean design that puts a lot of information right at your fingertips. There is a "latest news" section that gives you the most recent headlines across the entire site, whether it's dealing with big mountains, polar expeditions, sailing the oceans, or what ever. The top story is prominently displayed on the page, with a larger photo than we've typically seen in the past, and the whole thing feels more well organized and laid out.

ExWeb publishers are promising more coverage of the stories we enjoy, offering stories on adventure travel, medicine, politics that effect adventurers, as well as opinion pieces, on top of the regular climbing, sailing and exploration coverage. Additionally, all the images on the site come with geo tags, which means you'll be able to clicking a Google Maps link and see where the image was taken right in the map itself. We've also been promised refined search options, and the ability to share stories through Facebook, Twitter, and other types of social media. There are also new links for us to submit and contribute stories to the site as well.

The site went live yesterday, marking the 10th Anniversary of ExWeb, and it is the culmination of more than 400 programming hours to put all of this new design online. So far, I think it looks great and I like the new look. I'm sure it'll make keeping up with all the stories much easier. I also like that they did away with some elements that were handled in Flash before, so the site looks good on my iPhone, and future iPad, as well. Thumbs up from me.

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