Jake Rudnick Interview

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1) What is your favorite place that you have been to on the planet?

I’ve seen several very unique places in the world…but so have many others as these places are famous. My favorite places on the planet are places where I feel only I’ve ever seen it. I have experienced several places growing up as a child in the Southern Sierra Nevada’s. The #1 place is the Big Whitney meadow in the Golden Trout Wilderness of California. Just west of the famous Mt. Whitney…it’s a huge meadow that is absolutely on top of the world. Very grand and virgin to the touch of man this place imbues a primal energy in the person that trends upon the ground and reawakens the primal man we all hold inside.

2) Do you shoot pictures with a digital or film camera?

Borrow my parent’s or friend’s digital camera. Analog is so yesteryear.

3) When you have 2 hours to squeeze an activity on a Saturday morning, what do you do?

2?..,I take 4! I find the closest single track and go for a race with myself or friends. Like a friend of mine says “mountain biking is meditation” and I agree…as a person with heighten focus and observation skills the downhill speed of a beautiful single-track calms my mind and sends my spirit soaring.

4) What is the number one reason why you don’t get outside as much as you’d like?

Gotta pay the piper! But once I have a stash and can afford to play, then I’m planning on being an outdoor guide.

5) Where would you build your ideal vacation house?

Does a cot and bedroll out and open to the clear night desert sky count? I mean…a vacation house? Who wants to spend time inside…and the cleaning! Give me the basics and a pristine night sky and that’s ideal vacation for me!

6) What adventure, that you have yet to do, is number one on your list?

Work for a season in Antarctica! Seriously.

7) What is the most significant gear invention?

A good buck knife. Great for making things, defense, hunting food, light and portable, manly butch factor, and o so much more!

8) What is your number one priority when buying a car?

4x4, that’s why I own a Jeep Wrangler that I can clean with a water hose…inside and out. And just look at all the options and add-ons! What other vehicle is there?

9) What do you do to enhance your outdoor fitness?

Train at the local gym with weights 3-4 days a week, advanced spinning class once a week, and swimming laps 1-2 times a week. Plus I buy top notch equipment to play with. Feed myself with yummies from Cliff. And go with at least one buddy for safety and laughs.

10) What was your scariest moment on an outdoor adventure?

September 2006, first serious mountain biking ride, decided to do Slate Mountain just 1 hour north of Kernville, CA. Had my parents drop me off and started up the trail. Once they left and I was about a mile into the ride I realized that I was totally alone…excepting the random bear or mountain lion that could attack me. That was an adrenaline filled 15 files of climbs, downhills, one superman crash over the handlebars on a crazy switchback, and that filling of being in nature that only being a bit out of your league can give you.