Nick Bruckbauer

As a cross country and track runner in high school, college, and beyond, Nick has pushed the limits of dozens of pairs of athletic shoes, socks, shorts, and pants, technical shirts, jackets, cold weather gear, running watches, websites, and apps over the course of thousands of miles on the roads and trails. Understanding how an athlete’s relationship with their clothing and shoes can affect their comfort, performance, and enjoyment of a sport has helped him relate to the high school athletes he coaches.

After moving to California in 2008, Nick was able to deeply connect with his love of the outdoors, and transitioned from an avid runner to a devoted and obsessed outdoorsman. His repertoire currently includes trail and road running, road cycling, golfing, paddling, hiking, camping, backpacking, mountaineering, climbing, and skiing. Among his favorite experiences in the last two years are trekking in Nepal, completing a 3-week ski mountaineering leadership and guide course in Alaska, summiting and skiing Mt. Rainier and two other 14ers, solo climbing Mt. Whitney’s Mountaineers Route in snowy conditions, and introducing his fiancé to Yosemite backpacking and Colorado skiing.

The only uncertainty with Nick’s progression into outdoor sports is whether he enjoyed more the sports and activities themselves, or the research, acquisition, and use of the associated equipment. Bitten by the online shopping bug around Christmas 2007, Nick has scoured the ends of the internet to find the best-looking and fitting, best constructed, and most cost-effective pieces of clothing and equipment. Short of buying six pieces of the same gear to compare at home (which is never out of the question!), he found the best way to analyze the different models of gear was to make notes and charts comparing the different sizes, weights, materials, and specifications. Imagine his delight when he stumbled upon outdoorgearlab.com around 2015! It was a match made in heaven!