All Out Events is looking for a marketing manager!

All Out Events is hiring!

We are looking for an outgoing, enthusiastic individual to help develop our new zipline business.

Marketing manager – You will be in charge of doing the leg work to promote Margarita Adventures, the only zipline tour on the central coast. You will meet with business people and visitors’ bureau contacts throughout SLO County, setting up promotional deals and zipline tours, work trade show booths, and drop off promotional materials when appropriate. Work with the owners of the Santa Margarita Ranch and Ancient Peaks vineyards as well as your favorite crew at All Out Events.

Requirements:

- Should have reliable transportation and be able to speedily cover the entire San Luis Obispo county as needed

- Should have internet access and be familiar with Twitter and Facebook

- Should be eloquent both in person and in writing

- Able to spend between 10-20 hours a week during working hours (9-5) and/or weekends in meetings and developing marketing plan

- Demonstrated ability to work well with a team

- Deadline oriented

- Innovative – always looking for a new approach to the system or opportunities

Pay is hourly with incentive bonuses for successful performance. Please submit a cover letter and resume that speaks to our requirements.

Deadline for job application is 12/12/2011. We will follow up with applicants in the following week and be hiring immediately.

The New Santa Margarita Zipline: “Extreme Pleasure”

We’re so proud of our newest venture and how happy people are with their experiences!

From recent rider:

Hi Margarita Adventures.

I am emailed this in case my post does not come through. I had the extreme pleasure to take the zip line tour with you and promised I would write up something. I have also used this for the Adelaide Inn website blog. Thank you to all your staff for the fun my friends and I had today. Please feel free to post this to your web site as a positive review.

Best wishes

Charlie

Wonderful Time Zipping through the Countryside

I thought I would share my experience with Margarita Adventures. I and a group of my fellow employees were granted the pleasure and thrill to participate with this event on a  Sunday afternoon. The weather really cooperated with us, being sunny, warm, and just enough breeze to stir the air amongst the oaks of Santa Margarita Ranch. The staff of Mike, Matt, and Patrick were friendly, informative, helpful, and overall, just plain fun.

You start off at Ancient Peaks Winery in Santa Margarita where you can get free wine tasting either at the start if you need some liquid courage, and after where you can relax and talk over all the fun and thrills you have just come from.

The Zip Lines are all placed on Santa Margarita Ranch, which is one of the argest Mexican Land Grant Ranchos still in operation.On the drive up you will be given a nice background on the Ranch, how the strive to use sustainable growth in their agricultural as well as cattle raising. You slowly drive up the dirt track and go between various ecosystems. From grazing to wine fields of various types and varietals, on through oak trees, until you get among the chaparral. The views when you are at the start is just breathtaking. It adds that almost all you see in encased by the Ranch's 14000 acres itself. With hawks, crows, turkey buzzards in the skies above to the deer, bears, bobcats and the ever present cattle that stride on the ground. Rabbits, gophers, and other rodents dart in and out of the bushes
and trees.The smells of nature add to the ambiance may give you the added treat that will await you.

The first zip line is  Renegade, which stretches for over 1300 feet. This is not only the longest of the four stretches of cable where you will zoom along yelling and screaming in delight, but also one of the most breath taking for its view. Here you will gear up in your harness, gloves and safety helmet. The staff are here to assist you if needed as you start to psych yourself for your beginning run, but also will allow to get some last minute water and leave behind any excess clothing and bags you may have. I was the first of my group to go, and as the guinea pig for them to see if I fouled up somehow. The first step is a doozy, but if you just let yourself go and step off, you will get a wondrous rush as you fly down the cable and allow the harness and lines to guide you down. The sights as you glance about are a treat and when you get to the end, you almost want to go
again. I helped to cheer on my other mates as they one by one came down the line. One of my friends was deeply afraid of heights, but then she allowed herself to take a leap of faith. Though her eyes were closed for the first run, at the end she was also browsing nature and having good times.

The next stretch was the 800 foot long Woodlander. This was one of my favorites, after the Renegade. You seem to go faster because of the perspective, as you will go between some huge oaks as you fly around their branches and turning leaves. I was later told that if you stretched out your arms and hands, you could actually touch them as you zoomed to your finish.

Third was the Hilltopper a short jaunt between two hills. Here you  need to get a running start to get your speed. I tried to be a little more daring and go freestyle. I ended up tripping over my own big feet. I still had a blast and laughed off by bungling of the start. My friends all joined in with the laughter and we continued to just have take in the zips, each others company, and the banter of the staff. Even as a couple of us did not quite make it to the end, the guides quickly stepped off with a secondary rope that you could grab and they pulled you on to the landing stage.

The last line you zip the finish line is the Archway. There is an actual
arch that you will sway back and forth as you start to straighten out for the finale of your flying through the air. The wooden ramp is angled to allow you to lift up your legs and allow your body's adrenaline to subside.

Once your group has wrapped up their own fun you will remove our gear and the guides will drive you through more of the ranch and tell you more on how they grow some of the wine grapes. I had the pleasure to see a herd of does who were grazing along the cattle. They did not get spooked as we drove along. Just slowly worked their way up a hill side as the cattle ignored us. At most the various mothers would stare us down as we tried to drive past them, only to stride away as we got close enough.

The overall experience for my group and I was just fantastic. I will highly recommend then to any who want to have fun, try something different, and still have a nice glass of wine to relax to. For a cost of $99 and 2-3 hours of your time, I think this is a great treat. No matter if it is a guy with his buds, a bachelorette party wanting a unique experience, or a family wanting some bonding time, this tour may well be for you.

Want to try for yourself? http://www.margarita-adventures.com

Internship Offered for All Out Events

All Out Events was established in August of 2010 as a two-member LLC. Prior to that, it was a sole proprietorship. Its focus is on human-powered outdoor events. Its 2012 lineup will likely include an adventure race series, triathlon, mountain bike race, gran fondo, climbing festival and competition, and mud run. All Out is committed to community service and gives a percent of its proceeds to a non-profit. It self-produces and also is available for hire if the right fit is met.

All Out Events has internship opportunities in the following areas:

Marketing
· Assisting in devising an ongoing marketing campaign for all events
· Creating content for its blog and ebooks for download
· Creating promotional videos
· Designing and updating the websites
· Contacting various media and developing/sustaining relationships with them
· Promotion of non-profit that benefits from the events

Sponsorship
· Developing relationships with larger companies for event sponsorship
· Contacting local companies for sponsorship and vendor opportunities
· Assisting in development of sponsorship packet and opportunities

Day of Event Management
· Operations – setup/takedown and management of event
· Volunteer recruitment and management
· Festival development

All Out Events is looking for energetic interns who are self-motivated and self-starting. They should be enthusiastic about not only the sports involved but the products and non-profits they come in contact with. They must be committed to 10-15 hours a week and be available at least one day during business hours for the work for a quarter’s length of time, with opportunity for extension and paid positions.

We are willing to work with any level college student and majors that best fit can include: business administration or marketing, communications, English, recreation administration, speech, journalism, etc. We are open to anyone who has a sincere interest in gaining experience in any aspect of this industry.

The internship is paid by day of event and not hourly, however the opportunity exists for it to become a longterm paid position in the future.

If you are interested in an internship with All Out Events, please contact Kristin McNamara at Kristin@all-outevents.com. Provide a resume, and cover letter stating which positions would best fit and why you feel your internship will benefit both of us.

Adventure Racing is Dead.

Got ya with the headline, didn’t I. But the thing is, am I so wrong? It seems like everyone is saying it behind closed doors and no one’s being public about it. But you have to. If you love it, this conversation needs to be had.

This last year, our sprint races had half the participants as last year. It was the first year in the nine years of our May race that we lost significant money on it. The 12-hour race had a big field, and we’re grateful for that, but more and more race directors are reporting dwindling numbers.

Things people are trying to do: teach people how to adventure race by holding clinics and forming clubs; creating points series to encourage participation at more events; simply having more races on a smaller budget to make up for the lack of participation (but this also limits the possibilities of the experience). But none of it is really working.

The Outdoor Retailer market report said that AR had grown by 20% in the last year, but you know what AR they’re talking about? Mud runs.

To Adventure Race purists, this is nothing. In fact, while we have the highest attended race series on the west coast, it’s our Mud Run that we had last year that paid the bills and enabled us to sustain another event season. We put it together in two months and it was the highest attended event we’ve ever had.

People like mud. And they like running. But we just can’t seem to get them to love real AR.

Why do you suppose? I have my theories:

1. Multisport is scary. There are some multisport athletes, but not like there are single-sport ones. When people write in for advice on how to train, we’re speechless. Just be able to ride a bike, hike, and the paddling, well, no one is good at that anyway.

But having put on enough races and been on course, I am coming to the conclusion that most people really can’t ride a bike. And if you can’t ride and we put you on amazing singletrack, you aren’t having fun.

2. People that are attracted to AR don’t race. As someone who does multisport (climbing, biking, hiking, running, kayaking, etc), I’m also not the type to race. I just do stuff because it sounds good. If I’m on vacation and I have my bike, I’ll use it to get to cool stuff. There’s no motivation to beat someone else at something I know I can do and not pay for.

3. Too much commitment. Tough Mudder – it’s running, in a small area, no navigation, nothing awful. You get tired, you give up. No one has to rescue you. Mud Runs – cool obstacles, short time period.

4. Lack of festival atmosphere. We tried, but when you’ve spent the morning running around in the fog, you kind of just want to go home, not party with a beer.

Am I wrong? Is AR dead because we’re not easy enough? If you were us, what would you do? Change up the traditional approach to go with the trends, or hold on to the purity and just suck it up and wait for people to get tired of mud runs? What do you think?

Epic Rescue–What We Did On Our Summer Break

So, it’s a few weeks out from the events for the spring, and Yishai and I decided to go on a mini vacation by driving all around Northern California: Arcata to Whiskeytown Lake to Lassen National Park to Downieville with some stops in between. If you haven’t been to this area, you should make sure you do. We were so inspired by the trees, the jagged mountains, the pot-smoking hippies, and the awesome ability for RVs to get just about everywhere.

We ended up going to Downieville kind of on a lark. We were driving out of Lassen and the truck is feeling . . . wobbly. We pull over and Yishai looks and sees nothing is wrong, so we keep going. And now we have a choice – we can go to Downieville, or we can go to the Bay Area for the weekend. After hemming and hawing, we decide that we should go to Downieville and then – BLAM:

The tire peels apart and literally attacks the entire back of the truck. Very, very sad pandas for us. In case you were wondering, event production, at our size and scope, doesn’t pay too much. This hurts. A lot.

We end up in Chico, getting a new spare tire, and then it’s a question of . . . the sun will be setting soon. What do we do? Stay in Chico? Give up on Downieville? No. We should go.

So we go. And we get lost. But then we get un-lost. And as the sun is beginning to set, we pull into the most idyllic town ever and the second hotel we stop at (enough of camping, we want comfort in this cute town) has one vacancy due to a car malfunction and we are saving that party from having to pay for the night anyway. Meant to be.

The hotel is cute, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the owner of the Riverside Inn – if you ever make it there, say hi.  

Anyway, we decide that I will shuttle Yishai to the start of the dirt road so he can “cross country” the approach to the famous Downieville Downhill. The Downieville Outfitters told us it averages people four hours to do the downhill, and knowing Yishai’s fitness, I figure it will take him four hours to ride up to the start and do it.

But he is sore from running on the beach without shoes a few days before. And it’s hot. Very hot. And he has very little water and food.

But whatever, he’s good.

So the dogs and I go down to the river for the day (thanks to the fact I’m still recovering from shoulder surgery), playing around, talking to locals and feeling the general Downieville good feeling.

Dogs at the gallows – don’t worry, it was only used once.

So four hours later, I go to our rally point – the truck in the parking lot. And wait. And wait. And wait.

Two hours later, I am starting to worry so I truck on over to the Downieville Outfitters again and ask if there’s been any epic reports. To my surprise, they are really, really involved in trying to help me – she tells me she’ll have the number forward to her home if I need to call her and I find out where he comes out so I can hike up and find him as it gets dark. But, this is a well trafficked trail. Maybe he’s just walking down from too many flats? People would say something happened as they passed.

So, about two hours late, and six hours into this, here’s how he shows up:

Stoked and covered in blood. So I am not too worried about him, but the story unfolds . . .

So he is riding up the dirt road, eight miles of slogging in full sun which he will never.do.again. and does not recommend – but it is pretty:

There are lovely things to see along the way, he takes photos for me so I can see:

After building bridges for the Ancient Peaks Classic, we approve of really nice mountain bike bridges.

And he’s not being passed by anyone, in fact, he passes people that were dropped off long ago by the bike outfitters. He tells me later that this was a trail that I could definitely do, and enjoy, and that all these people with armor and hardcore downhill bikes are definitely not in need of that for the ride.

So he’s thirteen miles into the ride, about to finish in only three and a half hours from drop off at the dirt road to the truck, when he comes across a guy lying on the side, moaning, unable to move.

Yishai no longer has his certifications, but he has Wilderness First Responder and EMT training, and he loves using it. So he casts his bike aside and checks on the guy. He’s helpless. Can’t move his leg. The pain is excruciating. He does the formal checks and determines he’s got a huge 4” laceration that’s very deep above his hip, and extreme pain on palpation. He’s also bleeding – a lot. Huge clumps of clotting blood plop out as he examines.

So Yishai cleans out the wound with his Lezyne water pack, packs the wound and puts pressure on it. And then, in time, they decide they can move him. There’s no cell phone reception, so it’s going to have to be a carry.

By now, more San Luis Obispo people show up (we find it funny that they have Wheelmen and Foothill jerseys – represent) to help. Yishai, along with two other guys, try a chair-carry, but it’s not working, so “Ox” – a huge guy, 6’3” and 220lb + suggests piggy backing, and Yishai holds him from behind because he can’t cling with his legs. They start down the trail.

And then a guy comes riding toward them, yelling, “YOU’RE IN THE WAY!” and rides up on the side . . . which is jerky in the first place. But more jerky is that as he rides on the side of the trail, he rams a wasp nest, unleashing thousands of angry stingers!

The guys are helpless, they have to set the injured guy down, fighting the bees, throwing water on them, wondering if they should drag him out of the way or what. The end up telling him to just lay there and not move so they will calm down.

And then, when that happens, they climb on down the hill.

His friend is there with his new pickup with leather seats – “I am going to ruin it with this guy’s blood!” Bah! Help your friend- you can wash your truck!

Anyway, he get loaded, they drive off, and Yishai shows up.

I tell him I need to go to the Outfitters to tell them we found him and they are so stoked at the heroics of the three guys that they hand out socks.

Awww. The guy ended up with a broken pelvis, but is going to be okay. Three cheers for being there when he needed it!

That’s a wrap–the Ancient Peaks Classic

Photo by Chris Bersbach

First, I want to start this post with gratitude. Events don’t happen when it’s a two-person show without a lot of support. Huge thanks to SIDI for deciding to support us early on and defraying half the costs of developing the course and putting on the event. To Josh Cohen and Foothill Cyclery for the enthusiasm, the man power, driving shuttles, and being our other title sponsor.

Photo by Chris Bersbach

Thanks to Karl Wittstrom, Doug Filliponi, and Ron Rossi for allowing us to take their beautiful ranch and show it to our event attendants. There is so much interesting stuff out there to find out about! And where elsewould you be able to take a ranch and turn it into an event mountain bike course?

Photo by Chris Bersbach

Huge thanks to the crew that not only pretty much devoted the last few months to helping us finish the trails, but run the event: Todd (of ToddBuilt construction – let us know if you have general contracting needs!), Mitch, Eddie, Ryan, and Mimo (Demitri). And for his toys, enthusiasm, and man power: Josh Machado at Mac2 Build. Huge thanks to Jim of Central Coast Brewing for beers and donating half the proceeds to our event to defray costs. Thanks to the rest of our friends for showing up and filling out the venue – Lezyne, Smartwash, Fluid, Elemental Herbs, Voler (supplier of the prize jerseys), SLO County Search and Rescue, CalStar, Ira’s Bike shop, and CBO.

Photo by Chris Bersbach

Thanks to all of you who came out to support us, take photos, race, ride, or spread the word. Thank you so much to the volunteers that came when they said they would, spread the stoke, and kept everyone safe!

Photo by Brandon Sampson

Out all day, home at dark, dinner at 11 pm – that was the last few months. If there wasn’t computer work to be done, there was driving. There was sunburns. There was soreness. There was so much poison oak that my car gives it to me when I drive it.

Photo by Brandon Sampson

But, honestly, while we were terrified we wouldn’t be able to break even this year, the amount of commitment to the dream from the people that were supporting us kept us going. I loved watching Nate talk about his work, hearing feedback from his friends who were testing the course, and the thrill of the community of Santa Margarita (which, if you haven’t spent time there, you should – the Range is the best restaurant in SLO County, and that’s saying a lot!).

Photo by Lloyd Baggs

The weather was perfect, if a little windy, everyone was super cool, and we had no major injuries. Yishai kept reminding me that “WE COULD KILL SOMEONE.” Of course, I wasn’t too worried about the cross country course – you might fall into a pile of poison oak or into a creek, but mostly it was just rolling grassy hills. I had resigned myself to a couple helicopter rides after hearing about how Parkfield usually goes, and I was totally thrilled when the last Pro went down the hill and the med supplies went mostly unused. Huge props to Nate for creating a downhill course that was not only badass, but safe. 

Photo by Scott McDowell – Sweet digger, but he/she survived!

There were only a few problems (most out of our control), and I ended the weekend a pretty solid almost-semi-truck driver – but overall, this may have been the best event we’ve ever done and it comes down to this: support of the community, of the racers, of the companies we’re promoting, and the huge payoff of seeing almost a year’s worth of work come to an end.

Photo by Scott McDowell

Now, to continue lying on the couch in recovery.

SmartWasher–For You Cyclists Out There!

We asked our newest Ancient Peaks sponsor to tell us about themselves, and here’s what they sent.

But to cut to the chase, come check him out – he says he can get a muddy bike that hasn’t been cleaned in a season dry in fifteen minutes. Who care’s about science!

SW423 SMARTWASHER INTRODUCED TO THE BIKE INDUSTRY

http://www.chemfree.com/

ChemFree Corporation’s bioremediating parts washing system, the SW-423, receives rave reviews from the bike community for its cleaning performance and  its commitment to a clean environment.

The SW-423 SmartWasher, a bioremediating parts washing system, can keep your bike looking and performing like new. Although the SmartWasher parts washing systems have a long track record in the automotive and industrial markets, it is brand new to the bicycle service industry and is already getting rave reviews. With special accessories for washing bicycles along with award winning SW4 OzzyJuice and a microbe impregnated filter, called an OzzyMat, the SmartWasher system will outperform any previously available bike wash product with zero impact to the
environment and no danger to users. Don’t let dirt and grime diminish your investment; a clean bike works better and lasts longer.

Founded in 1993, and located in Norcross, GA, ChemFree corporation is a subsidiary of Intelligent Systems Corporation, a publicly traded corporation (AMEX symbol: INS). Manufacturing the patented SmartWasher® Bioremediating Parts Washing System, ChemFree Corporation provides an alternative method to cleaning vehicle and maintenance parts without harming humans or the environment. The SmartWasher® system consists of the SmartWasher parts washer equipment, OzzyJuice® Degreasing Solutions and OzzyMats™which are microbe impregnated filters. The combination of these products, “the system”, allows the user to eliminate or dramatically reduce waste streams, the expense of hazardous waste removal, the associated liabilities of generating waste, and the hassles of regulatory compliance. Uniting superior performance and environmental responsibility, the ChemFree product line is sold in more than 40 countries worldwide. ChemFree holds 27 patents—11 in the United States and 16 in other countries.

“More than ever, organizations are looking for innovations that allow them to operate
more responsibly. But innovations are not practical if they are expensive or hard to
use. The products that we develop merge environmental responsibility with the things
that businesses have always sought like cost effectiveness, safety, durability and most
importantly, a product that works,” said Tom McNally, ChemFree’s Vice President.

ChemFree manufactures a wide range of SmartWashers that are used for degreasing parts. Bioremediation allows the user to eliminate or dramatically reduce waste streams, eliminating the expense of hazardous waste removal contracts and associated liabilities.

If you would like more information about this topic, the ChemFree product line, or to schedule an interviewplease contact Melissa Page-Hale at 770-564-5589 or mpage@chemfree.com (www.chemfree.com)