ProBar energy bar

Art Eggertsen worked as a congressional lobbyist representing nutrition-education interests before switching to a career in energy foods. As founder of ProBar LLC, a small company based in Park City, Utah, Eggertsen leaned on his knowledge of health and nutrition to create a unique new energy-bar product. The ProBar (www.theprobar.com) comes in two flavors, Original Blend and Whole Berry Blast, and it's made of an amalgamation of pumpkin seeds, dates, brazil nuts, corn flakes, pineapple juice, organic rye, hemp seeds, almonds, apples, oat bran, crisp brown rice, and several other natural ingredients. The Whole Berry Blast variety adds in whole dried blueberries and strawberries.



The ProBar

The end product is a hearty and tasty granola bar of sorts that the company claims has several specific nutritional advantages over current energy bar mainstays. For example, about 70 percent of the ProBar's ingredients are classified as uncooked and un-processed raw foods, which the company says preserves vital enzyme activity and makes nutrients easier to digest.

With easier digestion, the body absorbs nutrients faster, the company claims, translating into quicker energy during activity. ProBar also touts that the raw ingredients will result in less cramping because of their easy digestion.

The bar is 100 percent vegan, meaning there are no dairy products added. It has more fat and less protein than many competing energy bars because the company says during extended periods of exercise the body can conserve carbohydrates by metabolizing fats at a rapid rate.

I tried out both varieties of the ProBar and was impressed with their good taste. They cost about $3 apiece, which is twice as expensive as most energy bars, but the ProBar is larger and more filling.

The company's nutritional claims seem valid and logical, but in my tests I did not notice a dramatic difference in my energy level. ProBar does have a leg up on taste, however, and I would happily consume the company's bars for a regular afternoon snack.

During aerobic activities like cross-country skiing, cycling and running, I found the ProBar to be too heavy for eating on the go. In these situations, I prefer an energy gel like GU or Clif Shot.

But for hiking, climbing, backpacking and similar pursuits, the ProBar was a welcome filling, hearty and good-tasting snack.

Inov-8 mountain running shoes

These aren’t trail runners. They aren’t shoes you’d wear for a jog on the street, either. U.K.-based Inoveight Ltd. makes shoes for the oddball sport of mountain running.

Indeed, the company’s promotional literature says the shoes are designed for the complex, undulating terrain found in the mountains. Rocks, scree, talus, streambeds, icy goats trails, slabs and mountain meadows are all fair game.

The design of the Flyroc 310 and Terroc 330, two Inoveight shoes (www.inov-8.com) I recently put to the test, is a unique hybrid that melds the stability of a hiking boot with the speed of a trail-runner. Both feature aggressive treads, relatively stiff soles with embedded shanks, toe bumpers, low-profile mesh tongues, and extra thick, protective heals.

The Inoveight Terroc 330

The company -- which goes by Inoveight or, when feeling more catchy, Inov-8 -- strives to make shoes that “feel like an extension of your foot.” The goal is to design a supportive, protective shoe that is essentially invisible. Inoveight wants people to feel as though they are running barefoot.

At first, the barefoot design might seem weird and flat-footed. It did for me. Running on the road, the shoes initially will feel strange and clunky, especially if you’re used to cushy, roll-to-toe-off running shoes. But the company believes the special design will make you a stronger runner after some initiation to the concept.

In my tests, I never got over the strange feel of these shoes running on hard surfaces. They slap the ground on each stride with my running style, and I felt like I was training in stiff hiking boots when I took a jog through the neighborhood.

The Inoveight Flyroc 310

But Inoveight shoes are not designed for pavement. And when I got off the cement, I immediately began to appreciate the design. They feel stable on steep, muddy slopes. They run well in snow. They tromp and stomp with force off the trail, letting you crash through bushes and jump over logs without hesitation.

Another nice feature, especially if you’re a backwoods explorer, orienteer or adventure racer that often gets wet feet in the woods, is the shoes’ quick-drying design. Mesh uppers on the Flyroc 310 and Terroc 330 allow water to escape the shoe after a stomp through a stream.

While they are similar shoes, I preferred the Terroc 330 ($90) model over the Flyroc 310 ($90). The Terroc 330 fit my foot much better and felt more stable. The Flyroc 310, which is a slightly lighter-weight shoe, felt too wide for my feet, so be sure to try these shoes for fit if you can before a purchase.

I put the Terroc 330 shoes to the test on several recent trail runs and bush-crashing orienteering races. In my quest to find the perfect off-trail shoe, these are my new favorites.

Jog stroller show down

The Jeep Overland Limited Jogging Stroller and the BOB Revolution are three-wheel jogging strollers with similar basic design. They both track straight while running, are fast and smooth to push, and both have beefy inflatable tires to roll past cracks, small rocks and other obstacles on the sidewalk or on gentle dirt trails.

But their respective price tags -- $169 for the Jeep and $359 for the BOB –- immediately put the strollers in different product castes. One is sold at Target, the other at your local high-end bike shop.

The BOB Revolution Jogging Stroller

Up close, at first glance, I could immediately see that the BOB Revolution has a leg up in quality and craftsmanship. And at almost $200 more than the Jeep Overland it better be something special. Testing the strollers out over three months with our now nine-month-old baby the differences remained apparent, though not dramatic.

Overall, I liked the BOB Revolution more than the Jeep Overland. It is more streamlined and better built. It weighs 23 pounds and folds up small to easily fit in the trunk of my car. The Jeep Overland, in contrast, weighs 28 pounds and does not fold up very efficiently. Indeed, I could not fit the Jeep stroller in my trunk without removing the two rear wheels.

The Jeep Jogging Stroller

On the go, both strollers had similar functionality for straightforward sidewalk runs. BOB (www.bobgear.com) includes a shock-absorbing system with the Revolution, which I could not take advantage of with our baby, but might be nice for jogging off trail with toddlers. Jeep (www.jeep.com/gear) includes a hand brake on the Overland; the BOB model is brake-less. Jeep fixes the front wheel straight for tracking, but BOB allows users to release a pin and have an articulating front wheel, which is nice for maneuverability when walking slowly.

Both models have generous awnings that extend over baby to keep out harsh sun and rain. Both have aluminum frames and several pockets to stash diapers, energy gel and water bottles. The Jeep Overland even has embedded speakers and an amplifier to allow joggers to plug in a portable CD player and listen to music while running, but I felt too silly with this feature turned on to give it a thorough testing.

The harness systems on these strollers are similar. Jeep’s stroller supports kids up to 45 pounds; BOB says kids up to 70 pounds are fine in the Revolution, though I’d be amused to see a fourth grader wheeling by in a stroller like this.

In the end, if I were to purchase one of these models, I think I’d actually go with Jeep, even though the BOB model is nicer. I really do like the BOB Revolution. It’s superior in most ways to the Jeep Overland. Just not $190 superior, in my opinion.

Davis Instruments Knot-a-Bag

The humble plastic bag is an indispensable item for anyone who spends time in the outdoors. Whether stowing food for an overnight backpacking trip, transporting a wet swimsuit or wrapping up a cell phone to keep it dry in the rain, the ubiquitous plastic bag is a simple, inexpensive and low-tech solution.

Davis Instruments (www.davisnet.com), a company that sells products for the marine, weather and automotive industries, has a new product that is essentially a plastic bag dispenser created for the outdoors market. The Knot-a-Bag product is a compact container stuffed with tightly-wound polyethylene plastic film that pulls out through a small dispenser hole.

An integrated bag cutter allows you to slice the thin spool of plastic at any length, after which the material can be unfurled to form a plastic tube and knotted on both ends to create a bag with a 24-inch circumference.

Knot-a-Bag's bags are durable, waterproof and customizable...

The Knot-a-Bag’s cylindrical case measures less than 4 inches tall and about 2 inches wide. It weighs 3 ounces with a new roll of plastic film, which provides 32.5 feet of plastic-bag material. It costs $7 for the dispenser and two rolls.

You can create as many bags as desired out of the product’s roll of plastic, and they can vary in length from just a couple inches to 5-feet-long or more. Uses the company markets include packing food, stowing wet clothing, stashing trash, storing just-caught fish, and picking up after your dog on the trail. I’d throw in the ad hoc protection of electronics gear like cell phones and walkie talkies from unexpected rainfall, as well as the surreptitious stashing of soiled diapers while out on a nature hike with baby.

The bags are waterproof and about as durable as a standard plastic grocery store bag, with a thickness of 0.36 mil. They are made of a polyethylene plastic that can be recycled. The Knot-a-Bag case has a sturdy clip for attaching the product to a belt, backpack or dog leash.

Davis Instruments sells a Knot-a-Bag Refill Pack for $7, which includes three new rolls of plastic, each with 32.5 feet of spooled plastic for the creation of dozens of indispensable little bags.

Bike Fitting

Fine tuning a bike to fit a rider’s precise body dimensions -- down to millimeter increments -- is a regimen often associated with serious road bikers and Tour de France athletes. But there is a movement in the cycling industry to push professional fittings to bike commuters and recreational road riders, and proponents tout performance and comfort gains that will benefit even the once-in-a-while biker buff.

While specific methodologies vary, fitting a bike to a person’s anatomy can be broken down into a three-step process of measuring the body, calculating the measurements, and applying the results to the bike’s hardware. Qualitative assessments of the rider’s cycling style, physical shape, competitive aspiration and other facets are made by the fitter, and that criteria is also factored in with the measurements for the final fitting.

Bike fitting can be broken down into three steps...
Photo by Jeffrey G. Frane

The end result should be a bike that is custom fit to your body’s most subtle bends, angles and anatomical quirks. Advantages to a well-fit bike may include increased power and performance, injury prevention and a more comfortable ride, including, in the best cases, the elimination of saddle sores, numb hands, achy back muscles and overextended knees.

To test out these claims, I recently visited Freewheel Bike, a mid-size shop in Minneapolis, for a fitting. The shop charged $100 for the fitting session, which lasted about two hours and included all the aforementioned body evaluation and bike adjustments.

A well-fit bike can increase power and prevent injury...
Photo by Jeffrey G. Frane

Freewheel Bike uses a system called the Grand Master Fit Kit, which is a package of esoteric rulers and measuring devices plus a computer software program to calculate the results. My fitting started with a questionnaire to determine my rider type and athletic motivation. This was followed by a series of measurements to my body and then the final tinkering and tweaking of the bike.

Your body makes contact with a bike in three places -- the pedals, the saddle and the handlebars -- and a fitting focuses almost exclusively on those areas. Changing the height of the saddle, for example, allows the fitter to position your legs for optimal efficiency during a pedal stroke. By adjusting the handlebar stem, the angle of your back and the extension of your arms is corrected to maximize comfort and aerodynamics.

Bike fit prices range from $80-$150...
Photo by Jeffrey G. Frane

During my fitting session, Freewheel Bike's head fitter, Tyler Denniston, positioned my bike in a stationary spin trainer device to let me pedal naturally inside the store. After making some initial adjustments to the saddle and handlebar stem based off the Grand Master Fit Kit's software calculations, Denniston sat back and watched me pedal for a few minutes.

After this evaluation, Denniston switched the stem out for one that was a few centimeters shorter. He then made micro adjustments to the saddle and stem as well as the triathlon-style extension bars on my Specialized Transition Comp bike.

My primary concern with the fitting was increased performance. As such, Denniston adjusted my bike to maximize pedal power and aerodynamics. The final custom fit had me aggressively tucked for speed, but positioned so that I was not crunched up or slouched. My spine and torso were set in good posture to allow my lungs to fill completely with air, and my legs were unencumbered to efficiently spin the cranks for endless miles on the road.

Custom bike fittings are offered at hundreds of bike shops around the country, with prices ranging form $80 to $150 or more, depending on the program. Be prepared to pay more if the shop recommends switching out a component or two in order to maximize your exact fit on the bike.