Since I started up cycling again, I’ve been thinking about how to help my body recover not only after, but during the ride. I drink a ton of water when I am doing cardio, but lately it occurred to me that if I’m going to be drinking anyway, I may as well bring electrolytes into the mix. Enter nuun (pronounced noon), a startup by a professor and student duo from Darthmouth’s business school. Nuun comes in five different flavors (such as orange ginger, lemon-lime, and citrus fruit) and is packaged in convenient tubes that hold 12 tablets each. Each tablet, when mixed with 500ml (16 oz) of water, forms the perfect hydration tool. It’s effervescent and two minutes after dropping it in (no stirring or shaking required) the tablet is completely dissolved. I love that once it’s dissolved, it’s not fizzy (harder than it sounds); the last thing I need to drink during my workout is something carbonated.

You are going to have to manage your carb intake because nuun has none. It is strictly sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. It contains no sugar nor does it leave a powdery residue at the bottom of your bottle. If you give nuun a try, tell us what you think!

When Corey Rich was 13, a teacher noticed that he had very capable biceps. This happened during a pull-up contest – one of those middle school battles to trick kids into fitness over fatness- and Corey had knocked out 35 to win first place by a stretch. The teacher was a rock climber, and he thought the kid might enjoy tagging along. He did.

There's a feeling that comes with experiences of psychological and physical significance, and it's best understood as a crazy mix of endorphins, wonder, and an honest appreciation of your insignificance in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't have an official name – just call it “the feeling that feels like exclamation points,” — but it's addictive as hell. When Corey was 13, he experienced that feeling, and he decided to try to capture it on camera.

It's been 20 years since Corey Rich first made friends with nature, and nearly the same amount of time since he began capturing it on film. Now one of the most sought after adventure sports photographers in the world, Corey's remarkable shots have landed in the pages of most publications worth mentioning, and in the advertisements for the world's most famous brands. We caught up with a freshly de-planed Corey to chat life, lenses, and what it takes to make them work so well together.

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ICFF time is almost here again, which means that our inbox is about to get flooded with contemporary furniture designers hawking their wares. One of the booths we will stop by though, is the Designboom Mart, which will feature new stuff from Ripple Design for the PAD Outdoor company. A couple of the inspired ideas we wish we came up with are an aluminum serving tray that has a perforated pattern which acts like a colander, and the Nuclear Planter, a playful pun shaped like the cooling towers from the infamous Three Mile Island disaster. If those aren’t your speed, not to worry. There’s only a 100,000 other products on the convention center floor. So make with the stoop sale, and clear some space in the living room, because we guarantee you’re going to come back to your apartment with decorative wheelbarrows full of home accessories.

Who knew that coming up with the perfect idea for making the perfect outdoor stool was as simple as replacing the letter ‘T’ in Stool with the letter ‘P’. Okay, so maybe that’s not how the Gillia Brothers, the driving force behind Bottega Montana came up with the idea for their outdoor Spool Stool, but what’s important is that they came up with it. This wonderfully practical seating option designed specifically for outdoor use, may look like it could possibly roll away on you, but in actuality it’s designed with sturdiness in mind. The grooved base allows for helps to maintain stability on uneven surfaces and along with the cylindrical hole give this cedar stool an ample design for aeration. The design also ensures ample drainage so that even after a hard rain falls, your underside won’t get all wet. We like a design that takes our wellbeing into consideration.

Related: Bottega + Paul Smith Skateboards

From Urban Outfitters, the nice folks who gave you Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters, comes a new concept in home and garden. Terrain is setting out to be your younger, fresher cousin to the staid blandness of a Lowe’s or Home Depot gardening center. Their first location, at the 11-acre Styer Nursery in Concordville, PA (it’s right outside of Philly) looks like it carries an assortment of well-edited potted shrubbery (yes, the kind that you’d give to your aunt, or a knight who says ‘Ni’) and gardening supplies that don’t make you want to put your head in a wood chipper. And, like the companies other retail outlets, if you wait a little less than a year, we’re sure one will spring up in your neighborhood.

Unless you’re from Alaska, brilliant light shows probably aren’t a nightly occurrence in your backyard. British company Firewinder has remedied this, by taking a typical outdoor mobile and putting tiny LEDs all over it. The result: a trippy, spiraling strobe that looks like Close Encounters of the Third Kind left a prop in our garden. And because Firewinder are environmentally-considerate Brits, their product is battery-free and recyclable…which is more than we can say about our lawn gnome.

Sick of your butt getting wet at the park after those pesky springtime sunshowers? No more, thanks to the Rolling Bench from Sungwoo Park, which features a hand-crank to ensure your rear gets a clean, dry piece of real estate to park itself upon. Sweet action.

Yanko Design via CH

A friend of mine just bought a condo here in Brooklyn. It’s quaint, charming, and cost about the same amount of money that a six bedroom house on an acreage in Utah probably does. Expenses aside, it has — and I’m speaking in common opinion terms here — the stupidest balcony any one of us have ever seen, owner included. It’s maybe a foot and a half deep, three feet wide, and looks headlong into the brick facade of the building opposite. After thinking a while on it, the quick fix for this space was a curtain, but you can be sure I’m sending along the link for Christian Lessing’s balkony (flash page, no permalink) as a happy alternative. The series of bars and hook-in add-ons make use of an otherwise useless space. The rest of his portfolio is well worth a click, too.

Stefano Merlo, an Italian designer, is behind this Edison-worthy bucket that collects light. In an interesting visual take on the ephemeral concept of storing natural energy, Merlo used photovoltaic panels to power a set of LEDs encased in the buckets housing. The panels collect enough organic energy during the daytime to give back at sundown in the form of an illuminated bucket, offering a nice glow for the year’s last outdoor dinner parties, as well as a subject of meaningful conversation. No word on whether Merlo has any intention to create more of these light buckets, but as a creative visualization of a complex concept, it seems probable that they could wind up getting the attention they need to back widespread distribution.

Via Inhabitat

Algae inspired decorations? Only from Vitra. Every time I walk through their West Village showroom, I lust after the decorative, snap-together pieces of their Algue — or Algae — system. It creates a beautiful combination of organic, natural lines that compliment the hard lines of the home perfectly. I’d always seen it used on a wall or wrapped around an interior column; it wasn’t until I came across Swiss design studio Fulguro’s design for Bar Nestle on Dezeen that I saw Vitra’s Algae in an outdoor setting.

The Algae provide a beautiful, delicate fence on their outdoor terrace, creating a dividing line without the visual impact of a wall or fence. Of course, if I’d ever bothered to click over to Vitra’s Site for the Algue system, I would have seen their picture of it in use outside as well. Regardless, the system works just as perfectly outside as it does mounted on a wall.

You probably know the team here is comprised of really active people who are naturally fans of Holden. I was recently informed of the launch of their new online catalog and I was immediately intrigued; after 5 minutes of learning how to use the site, I was entirely hooked by the novel interactive catalog and the use of videos instead of static models. The products are clearly separated into categories and all the pertinent information from type of fabric to breathability can be found on the specific product pages. The Carlsbad, California outfit offers a wide range of products, including no less than 10 different hats and hoodies as well as jackets, pants, and tops for both men and women. I particularly like the founder’s commitment to reducing impact on the environment. The order of the pages is not intuitive and I found it a bit hard to find information such as their stockists list, but technical complaints aside, I am going to keep my eye on Holden as a company that produces some fine clothing that can hold up to the rigors of the adventurist on the go.

August 17th through 26th will see the installation of Mark Reigelman’s “Stair Squares” on the cascading staircases of Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. A study in human interactions with public furniture made possible by a grant through the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, the installation will bring a fresh and welcome pop of color and modernity to a what’s considered a very classic piece of Brooklyn architecture. That’s not all Mark has to offer, though — his website is clean and slick and displays his highly creative and versatile portfolio brilliantly, and you can definitely expect to see more from this rising star very soon.

via Core77

Being that I live in Manhattan and have no backyard to speak of, I tend to get a little of the summertime blues, reminiscing about grilling outside. With the 4th of July just around the corner and families all over the country prepping for big barbecue parties, I busted out the ol' mini George Foreman to try and compensate. Sadly and somewhat predictably, it just doesn't hold its own in the ring with such outdoor grilling appliances as Fuego's upcoming Modular — a modern looking piece of equipment that goes far beyond merely making burgers to function as an entire outdoor kitchen. The bigger, badder brother of the Fuego 01, the Modular can hold up to six of its namesake components including grills, burners, warming drawers, storage and refrigeration in its slick aluminum frame. Theoretically, this makes it possible to never enter the house once the festivities get started ensuring you won't miss any of the things that define a good BBQ such as first dibs on the macaroni salad and the good beer. Launching in 2008, you will have to wait until next year to get your hands on what could easily be described as the ultimate grilling tool, but it will give those of you with lawns time to save up; the Modular is set to cost somewhere around 5k. Bigger, plus one additional pic after the jump.

–Mara Siegler

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Every summer, my friends and I make it a point to take a camping trip. Then, at the end of every summer, we whine about how we never made it happen. Maybe it’s because my friends secretly have no interest in the wild outdoors; maybe it’s because I lack sufficient planning skills; maybe it’s just that we’re lame, and really fooling ourselves in thinking we’ll ever wind up anywhere but a bar on the weekends. Whatever it is that holds me back from actually going camping, I’m still allowed to appreciate the Eureka N!ergy 1210; an 8-person, 3-Season, power outlet-equipped tent that might make it easier to get our tech-obsessed friends out into the real world every so often. When you connect the N!ergy Tent to it’s power-pack, the three 12-volt power-plugs located inside the tent can help to rev up the things you just can’t live without, like cameras, computers, and, um, hairdryers and stuff (seriously, though, I hope none of our readers are “that girl”). I don’t think this baby’s realistically set up for anything other than car camping (hiking in could be rough with those extra power-pack pounds) but for those looking to get away — but not necessarily away from it ALL — the N!ergy may be just what you need.

Can I get a ‘hip hip hooray’ for Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab, and Kevin Lin? The three ultra-endurance athletes just completed an 111 day run across the Sahara Desert. They ran the equivalent of 2 marathons per day to cover the whopping 4,000 mile breadth of the world’s largest desert. Their foot voyage took them across 6 separate countries– Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya and ultimately Egypt, where they submerged their hands in the Red Sea to signify the completion of their feat (and probably the completion of their feet as well). Upon completing their pan-Saharan jaunt, the three seemed to agree: this was a once in a lifetime type of thing; none are eager to attempt it again. Congrats guys! I love to see people push the boundaries like this– it’s truly inspiring. I also want to point out that H20 Africa is the charitable component of the adventure. It’s a clean water initiative for Africa– you can donate here if you’d like.