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Author: Yakima
yakima unracked

Unracked: 5 Tips for a Successful Mountain Biking Trip

Raul Bonifacio : Customer Service Lead Raul Bonifacio lives to bomb around on his bikes – both Mountain and Cyclocross – but also loves to unrack by quietly hanging out in nature with his wife, Jennifer, and sometimes… a couple of owls. His day job is helping people out. “I work as a customer service lead, helping consumers and my team with fitting racks on cars, teaching them how our products work, and how the products will make their lives easier. Turning people onto the product is really fun.” And sometimes service means stepping up big. “I call this story ‘Ship happens.’  I recently got a call from a customer, ‘Hey man, I’m a ski instructor and believe in karma.

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September 14, 2017
yakima unracked

Unracked: SkyRise Tent Tips & Tricks

Ian Betteridge : Product Integrity Lead No one has spent more time with our SkyRise rooftop tent than Ian. Ironing out bugs and refining new products – it’s a reality of a business, and Ian is the guy to do it. “I’m basically a problem solver, he says. Adding, with a laugh, “I am The Wolf. Like Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction – ‘It takes thirty minutes to get there in traffic? I’ll be there in ten.’ When we are met with challenges from dealers or consumers, they come to me as the first attempt to find a solution.” He cites the SkyRise as an example. ““We take feedback from the market – if there’s a way we need to

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September 12, 2017
yakima unracked

Unracked: Kayaking with Tex Alexander

Tex Alexander – Fit and Technical Training Lead Tex makes sure your rack is gonna fit. “My job is to go out to auto dealers, or customers who are willing to let us use their brand new cars, and assess the auto/rack interface. We have a network of car dealers in Portland, so we have access to new vehicles once they come to the market. We look them over, take measurements, check structural integrity, gather all the data. Say a new Ford Fusion comes out, we’ll go out and test it in the field, relate that to our internal testing, measure everything, then post the info up for consumers.” Tex loves racks. But his true love is paddling. He’s so

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September 5, 2017
yakima unracked

Unracked: Family Vacation Essentials

Garrett Barnum – CATEGORY DIRECTOR Garrett Barnum and his wife love to pile their five kids into the Suburban and head out to set their base camp – wherever that might be.  They’d love to do that all the time, but a guy also has to earn a living. Garrett is our Category Director for Top of Car and – of course – Camping. “I am responsible for what lives and dies in our product line, and I help to look forward and decide what we should develop next,” he explains. “I gather information from a lot of different sources – consumers, retailers, our customer service – and I get ideas from random inventors and people that think they’re inventors

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August 26, 2017
yakima unracked

Unracked: Paddleboarding with Jenna Fallon

Jenna Fallon – Digital Director Jenna loves to stand-up paddle. “Every moment in the sunshine makes me do a happy dance.” And she makes it a point – even living in the rainy Pacific Northwest – to do her SUP and sun inspired happy dancing as often as possible.   But she does have a day job. Jenna is our Digital Director. “I manage the yakima.com user experience. My job is to help consumers find what they need on our website to create their first-ever roof rack system by setting up the online process that helps you figure out how to find the right one for your car as simply and easily as possible.” But when she gets the time, she loads up her husband, their kids

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August 21, 2017
yakima unracked

Unracked: Road Biking with Kenny Graham

Kenny Graham – Product Integrity Specialist “I ride as much as I can,” says Kenny.  “I ride to work  – an hour and a half commute – then I’ll commute home, and after work I try and ride for a couple more hours if I can. Plus long weekend rides.” What about lunch? “Sometimes. But lunchtime rides are over too quick.” Kenny is a Product Integrity Specialist, but that’s just a title. “I like to share the Yakima culture – I consider myself to be a brand ambassador. I want to make sure the cycling community knows what Yakima is about, what our presence is in the cycling world – and in the outdoor community, too – so I work hard to insert our involvement so people

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August 14, 2017
The Gambler 500

The Gambler 500

Born from a dream. A dream of giving forgotten, tossed aside and abandoned autos new life. A chance to become legendary. How do they become legendary?  By completing a 500 mile off-road journey through the beautiful wilderness of Oregon.  Imagine a train of beaters, gimmick rides (think sketchy ambulance), and woefully “off-road unready” vehicles charging through the dirt roads that surround Mt Hood and other parts of the scenic Oregon landscape.  It makes for quite a show. It all began in 2014, when co-founder Tate Morgan said to his friend “It would be cool to get a bunch of guys together, go out and buy $500 cars and see how far we can go.”  That simple statement started with 14 vehicles, and three years later the

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July 13, 2017
Outdoor Afro

Outdoor Afro: Rediscovering the Inner Nature Swagger

Outdoor Afro helps to reconnect people with their “inner nature swagger.” We’re psyched to partner with them, and recently joined them on a trip to Olympic National Park to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Buffalo Soldiers. Started as a blog by Rue Mapp in 2009, Outdoor Afro leverages social media and technology to create an adaptive, responsive network of networks that gets African Americans involved with nature. It may start with going on a hike. It may simply be looking at pictures from someone else’s hike on Instagram or Facebook. How you initially connect doesn’t matter, what does matter is shifting the visual representation of who gets outdoors. You can get involved as deeply as you want, any way

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June 29, 2017
DeathGrip

Yakima X Deathgrip

Brendan Fairclough is one of the world’s best mountain bike riders. Clay Porter is one of the world’s best mountain bike filmmakers. They’ve been good friends for a decade. You know they had to do a film together. For the last two years, Porter and Fairclough have been shooting and editing Deathgrip. Fairclough—joined by a squad of some of this generation’s most influential riders—and Porter traveled the world to push mountain biking’s envelope and bring it to the people. Says Porter, “Deathgrip is essentially a byproduct of our 10-year long professional relationship with the sport of gravity mountain biking. We are using our collective experience working with each other to give our audience a futuristic vision into the sport and

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April 24, 2017

5 Incredible National Parks for Cycling

From the seat of a bike, exploring America’s national parks takes on a different view. As you pedal slowly through these protected lands, awareness of nature becomes strong, filling your nose with the smells of wilderness, while you feel the wind on your face. From cycling on the rim of a volcano and biking next to herds of bison to pedaling through the deserts of Utah and everything in between, these parks give cyclists of all levels amazing experiences in nature. It is a great way to bond with your family, your friends, or as a couple in the majesty of the great outdoors. The views, trails, and roads are awesome, but what lingers are not the miles you put

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April 17, 2017

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