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 Golf Cart Soundbars for Lifted Carts (September 2026)
A lifted golf cart changes everything about how audio works on your ride. The taller stance adds wind noise, bigger off-road tires add rumble, and … Read more - 12 Best Slip Rollers for Sheet Metal Shops (September 2026)
I still remember the first time I tried to bend a piece of 20-gauge steel around a coffee can in my garage shop. The result … Read more - 10 Best Tube Benders for Exhaust Shops (September 2026)
Picking the best tube benders for exhaust shops changed how our shop runs day to day. I run a small muffler and custom exhaust shop, … Read more - 8 Best Vacuum Forming Machines for Prototyping (September 2026)
Vacuum forming is a manufacturing process where a heated plastic sheet is shaped over a mold using vacuum pressure to create detailed plastic parts. I’ve … Read more - 8 Best Forging Presses for Damascus Knife Makers (September 2026)
When I built my first Damascus billet, I spent four hours under a 4-pound hammer trying to forge-weld a 30-layer cable stack. The welds kept … Read more - 12 Best Studio Lighting Kits for Product Photography (September 2026)
Spending hours hunting for the right studio lighting kits for product photography can leave you more confused than when you began the search. After testing … Read more - 10 Best Spot Welders for Auto Body Shops (September 2026)
When a vehicle arrives at your shop with collision damage, the way you put it back together affects everything from crashworthiness to insurance approvals. I … Read more - 10 Best Plasma Tables for Metal Fabrication Shops (September 2026)
Picking the best plasma tables for metal fabrication shops used to mean hours of phone calls, spec sheet comparisons, and trade-show visits. After spending three … Read more - Best CNC Plasma Tables for Sign Fabricators (September 2026)
I run a small sign shop in my garage, and the day I unboxed my first CNC plasma table changed how I work. What used … Read more - 8 Best Honing Machines for Engine Rebuilders (September 2026)
I rebuilt my first engine in a one-car garage with a cheap ball hone and a corded drill. The cylinder walls looked decent, the rings … Read more - 12 Best Lapping Machines for Precision Machine Shops (September 2026)
Finding the right lapping machines for precision machine shops used to mean calling three manufacturers and waiting two weeks for a callback. I learned this … Read more - 8 Best Tube Notchers for Tube Fabrication Shops (September 2026)
I remember the first time I tried to cut a coped joint by hand on a roll cage project. I spent 45 minutes with a … Read more - 8 Best Threading Machines for Pipe Fabrication Shops (September 2026)
Pipe fabrication shops live and die by thread quality. A sloppy NPT thread on a 2-inch steel pipe can leak gas, fail inspection, or cost … Read more - 8 Best Auto Darkening Welding Helmets (September 2026)
I’ve spent more than 800 hours under a welding hood in the last decade, and I can tell you the difference between a $50 helmet … Read more - 10 Best Welding Curtains for Weld Shops (September 2026) Guide
If you run a weld shop, you already know that the arc does not just hurt the welder in the booth. The UV and blue … 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.