ϳԹ Magazine, Jun 2006
Stories
POSTs
With on-call mechanics, high-energy meals, and leg massages, boutique bike hotels turn cycling into a destination sport on par with skiing
Meet the Champions Club, an elite group of bike-crazy execs who are richer than Croesus, can hammer with Lance, and are donating millions to ensure a gold-plated future for U.S. cycling
Get the most out of long summer days with featherweight performance gear for running, riding, climbing, and hiking
What happens when a Type A relaxation-phobe takes his first vacation in years? Life gets good again.
Ready to play your way to total fitness? We thought so. Kick-start your transformation with a visionary six-week approach to bringing body and mind together for strength, stamina, and your best performance ever.
The latest headphones deliver wireless freedom and truer sound for discerning listeners on the go
Just in time for the World Cup, Adidas is rolling out the world’s first modular soccer shoe. The F50 Tunit features interchangeable uppers (in the company’s proprietary ClimaCool and ClimaWarm fabrics, synthetic leather, and full-grain leather), footbed chassis, and spikes for maximum traction on hard, soft, or turf fields. Single-upper…
Knocking off adventure firsts is nothing to scoff at. But David de Rothschild plans to use his far-flung expeditions for something else entirely.
The worldwide search for expanded consciousness and free cocktails—and a par 11,880
Filmmaker Tristan Bayer brings a new spirit of adventure—and a touch of glam—to the wild kingdom
F E A T U R E S
FITNESS SPECIAL
GET YOUR GAME ON
Elite form is only six weeks away with our revolutionary total-body plan. Shape up with the prophet of functional training and sign on for our comprehensive program to amp your muscles, mind, and diet—and prime you for a lifetime of adventure. PLUS: World Cup soccer star Landon Donovan‘s speedy plan for elevating your game, plus the quick-recovery strategies of Tiger Woods, Kevin Garnett, and other stars.
BIKE RACING
HIGH ROLLERS
Ante up $100,000 and you too could hit the pavement with Thom Weisel and the Champions Club. BILL GIFFORD reports on a group of hard-pedaling rich guys who helped underwrite Lance—and are ponying up millions to make sure U.S. cycling lives strong for years to come.
CLIMBING
SHE ROCKS
Steph Davis is self-reliant, tough as granite, and a little quirky. (Who else would open an IRA while living in the back of her truck?) She’s also one of the world’s best women climbers, and when she spiders up the big walls at El Cap, the girl is unstoppable.
BY KATIE ARNOLD
DESTINATIONS
COSMIC WHIPLASH
A trip to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan may be the priciest pilgrimage on earth—and for good reason. We hitch a ride with Buddhist luminary Robert Thurman on a wild, luxurious ramble through a land where the peaks are never to be climbed and nirvana has nothing to do with rock and roll.
BY STEPHANIE PEARSON
DISPATCHES
» Parkour’s urban gymnasts take NYC; cleats for every field; luxurious Jackson Hole; and more. (LINK CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE)
» The tragic death of freeskiing pioneer DOUG COOMBS.
» A new generation of noise-crushing HEADPHONES means nothing gets lost between your ears and your iPod.
» DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD is heir to Europe’s most famous banking fortune; he’s also a polar adventurer hell-bent on saving the world.
» With Superman Returns hitting screens this month, we show you how to stand like THE MAN OF STEEL. And Chris Carmichael weighs in on sprucing up your MOUNTAIN BIKING SKILLS after their long winter nap.
» THE PULSE: Chocolate milk, the new energy drink; downloadable fitness; a calorie-counting scanner; and more.
» Cycling is now a destination sport, with BIKE-FRIENDLY HOTELS and post-ride watering holes.
» WOOL: It’s what’s for summer. That all-natural layer of the cooler seasons is now appearing in wispy T-shirts.
» TRISTAN BAYER, son of wildlife cinematographer Wolfgang Bayer, debuts his nature-documentary series.
» New TRAVEL BOOKS: Lawrence Osborne’s The Naked Tourist, J. Maarten Troost’s Getting Stoned with Savages, André; Tolmé;’s I Golfed Across Mongolia, and Steven Kotler’s West of Jesus.
» THE WILD FILE on cows predicting rain, why some eyes are blue, and the difficult art of tickling yourself.
REVIEW
During the long, hot days of summer, ULTRALIGHT GEAR for running, riding, hiking, and climbing—from a Patagonia pack to North Face shoes to an Arc’teryx jacket—will take you farther and faster before sundown.
STYLE
Behold the short-sleeve season’s most desirable CHRONOGRAPHS.
THE HARD WAY
What do Europeans know that we don’t? How to take a vacation. Fresh off his furlough in El Salvador, columnist MARK JENKINS calls for a RELAXATION REVOLUTION.