Midsummer Nights Cyclocross Race 2011

The ultimate test of biking endurance on Raleigh's 2012 RXC Pro

Fighting gravel, dirt, grass, sand, mud and gravity, cyclocross is not for the casual pedal-pusher. The rugged style of bike racing combines criterium (intense short circuits) and cross country. Cyclists navigate multiple laps around a relatively short course—1.5-2 miles—while intermittently dismounting and remounting over obstacles and unrideable terrain. Still, recent years have seen the popularity of the near 100-year-old sport evolve into one of the …

Brooklyn Slate

Truly tough cheeseboards born and made in New York

Take two food-obsessed Brooklynites with a family history in rock mining, add an entrepreneurial spirit, and you have Brooklyn Slate Company. In 2009 co-founders Kristy Hadeka and Sean Tice started making cheeseboards using slate from Hadeka’s third-generation family quarry in upstate New York. The two saw the idea as “the perfect opportunity to participate in the local food movement” and since have hired on an …

Ochobags

Multipurpose accessories for the day-tripper

Born out of Genova, Italy’s school for industrial design, designer Arianna Vivenzio founded Ochobags in 2006. Centered on a modular and customizable bag, Vivenzo describes her mission as “obviously to combine function and aesthetics.” Staring with the idea of a “useful yet fashionable object, made of functional and mobile compartments that can contain and separate each one of the objects a woman carries,” she gradually …