A field guide to endurance gear, written for people who finish what they start.
Long-form reviews of swim, bike, run, and multisport equipment — published on the URL that hosted the Nautica Malibu Triathlon for thirty-seven years.
We test gear the way the original race tested athletes — slowly, in real conditions, and against the next thirty-seven miles.
This URL is a quiet rebuild. For most of four decades it pointed at the official site of one of the most iconic triathlons in the United States — a race that began on Zuma Beach in 1987 and raised more than fourteen million dollars for pediatric cancer research before its final running.
The race is gone. The address remains. We took the name because the audience that stayed loyal to it for thirty-seven years still deserves the kind of careful, unhurried gear writing that most modern publications no longer have time to produce. We will not test fast. We will not chase ten reviews a week. We will publish when a piece of equipment has actually been put through what it claims to be built for.
The Course
Four disciplines. Every review on the journal lives inside one of them.
Swim
Open-water wetsuits, racing goggles, swim watches, and the gear that handles cold Pacific mornings without a fight.
Enter the lane → 02Bike
Tri bikes, road helmets, GPS computers, power meters, and the small components that decide whether a long ride feels long.
Enter the lane → 03Run
Running shoes, hydration vests, GPS watches, and the equipment that keeps a four-mile finish from feeling like a fourteen-mile one.
Enter the lane → 04Multi
Tri-suits, transition bags, race nutrition, and the multisport gear that has to work across all three legs without a swap.
Enter the lane →We tested seventeen hydration vests across a year of long runs. Only four made it past mile twenty without rubbing. This is what the marketing copy will not tell you.
What seventeen hydration vests taught us about a four-mile finish
Read the full pieceLatest Dispatches
New writing from the journal. Arrives when finished. Never on a schedule.
- 8 Best Light Meters for Film Photographers (August 2026)
I learned this the hard way last summer. I burned through a $40 roll of Portra 400 shooting a beach wedding in mixed light because … Read more - 8 Best Color Calibration Tools for Photo Editors (August 2026)
When I first started editing photos professionally, I trusted my eyes completely. Then I printed a portrait that looked like a completely different person, and … Read more - 10 Best Gimbal Stabilizers for Videographers (August 2026)
When I started shooting weddings on a mirrorless body five years ago, my footage looked like an earthquake documentary. The day I strapped that camera … Read more - 10 Best Fluid Head Tripods for Video Shooters (August 2026)
I learned the hard way that a still photo tripod ruins video. After shooting my first interview on a ball head, every pan looked like … Read more - 8 Best Portable Recorders for Podcasters (August 2026)
I tested every Zoom and Tascam portable recorder I could get my hands on over the past three months, recording interviews in coffee shops, panel … Read more - 10 Best Beauty Dishes for Beauty Photographers (August 2026)
If you have ever wondered how beauty photographers get that signature creamy, sculpted light on a model’s skin, the answer is almost always a beauty … Read more - 8 Best C Stands for Film Sets (August 2026) Tested and Compared
When I started shooting my first short films, I borrowed whatever light stands the crew had lying around. Halfway through a scene, one of them … Read more - 8 Best Diffusion Panels for Photographers (August 2026)
I still remember my first outdoor portrait shoot where the midday sun turned my subject’s face into a harsh, contrasty mess. I had a great … Read more - 12 Best Spiralizers for Commercial Kitchens (August 2026)
Picking the best spiralizers for commercial kitchens in isn’t the same as shopping for a home gadget. Restaurant prep cooks push these tools through hundreds … Read more - 10 Best Battery Grips for Wildlife Photographers (August 2026)
I spent the last three months testing battery grips with my Sony A7R IV and a borrowed Canon R5, logging 1,847 frames in the field … Read more - 10 Best Cold Laminators for Sign Shops (August 2026) Review
Running a sign shop means every piece of vinyl, banner, or vehicle wrap that leaves your door has to look flawless and last for years. … Read more - 10 Best Heat Press Machines for T-Shirt Businesses (August 2026)
I learned this the hard way during my first year running a custom apparel shop. I bought the cheapest heat press I could find, ran … Read more - 8 Best Coverstitch Machines Activewear Brands (August 2026)
I have spent the last 18 months running a small activewear line out of my garage studio, and I have sewn through more Lycra, spandex, … Read more - 10 Best Mash Tuns for Nano Breweries (August 2026) Expert Reviews
When I helped a friend set up a 1-barrel taproom brewery, the mash tun turned out to be the most underrated decision we made. Most … Read more - 8 Best Glycol Chillers for Breweries (August 2026)
If you have ever lost a batch of lager to a temperature swing, you already know why the best glycol chillers for breweries are worth … Read more
Pace Notes
A wetsuit that does not fit you is slower than no wetsuit at all.
The drag from a poor seal at the neck and shoulders is measurable. Most athletes underestimate how much stroke economy they lose to a half-size error.
The cheapest performance upgrade on a road bike is a proper saddle fitting.
Before deep-section wheels, before a power meter, before any electronics — get the contact point right. Everything else is downstream of that one fix.
Running cadence matters more than running shoes, and almost no review will say so.
A shoe will not save a runner from a 158-step-per-minute habit. Cadence is free. The shoe industry quietly prefers we keep talking about foam stacks.
Course History
A short record of what happened at this address before the journal began.
The race begins at Zuma Beach.
Founded by Michael Epstein and inspired by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Robert Amiel Triathlon, the first Malibu Triathlon brings a few hundred athletes to the sands of Zuma Beach for a half-mile ocean swim, a seventeen-mile bike, and a four-mile run.
Robin Williams becomes the first A-list celebrity to enter.
The race quietly establishes itself as the place Hollywood comes to test its endurance. The celebrity division becomes a cultural fixture. Nautica signs on as title sponsor and stays for the next twenty-three years.
Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey both finish.
Lopez raises more than one hundred thousand dollars for charity and lands a podium spot in her division. The race becomes one of the most televised triathlons in the country and one of the largest single-event fundraisers for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Over fourteen million dollars raised, lifetime.
More than five thousand athletes compete each year. Registration sells out in three hours. The triathlon becomes a permanent fixture of the Southern California endurance calendar and a model for charity-anchored multisport events worldwide.
The City of Malibu permits expire.
After thirty-seven years and several ownership changes, the race is unable to secure its operating permits. The event is suspended. The original domain eventually lapses, and the URL becomes available to register again for the first time since 2003.
A new kind of writing, on the same address.
We took the name because the audience that trusted it for thirty-seven years deserves something more careful than the current state of gear publishing. The race is over. The reading continues.
Cross the line, then start reading.
Written by people who train, race, and read datasheets. New work arrives when it has been earned. The archive grows the way a long ride grows — one mile at a time.