Running's a good time. Especially when the weather turns a bit more favorable. But when you're an ultra runner, you've got to really like running, regardless of weather the sun's out. I mean, you must really really like running. Just take a look at Michael Kanning, who, at 16 years old, does a lot of running. Even when the weather isn't so hot...Here's the latest and greatest of what he's got up his sleeve—just a little 100-mile race and a bit of fundraising while he's at it. Not too shabby if I shall say so myself. In September 2007 I…

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Over the last few months, the Project Slingshot inbox has been filling with applications. Young folks determined to make more than just a dent in the fight against global warming sent us their words of wisdom. Artists, innovators and outdoor fanatics spilled the beans on how they planned to make an impact. After much toiling and discussion amongst our illustrious judging panel (Eric Larsen, Denis Hayes, Rocky Anderson, Judith Helfand, Jeremy Jones, Adam Gardner and Billy Parish), we're proud to announce the three lucky and talented winners (and a brief description of their grant-winning projects): Maya Donelson—Graze the Roof, San…

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The last official stop on the SOS tour and a follow up to The Drive. Meadows has been my home mountain for the past six years, so ending up here on the last day of the tour felt like a homecoming finale for me. It was great to be back at a mountain where i actually knew where i was going and how to get to some of the secret spots. With a posse of friends, we made our way up Mt Hood express, over to Hood River express and off into the private reserve. This is a chunk of…

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Mike, Marty McFry and Ben start their final journey on the 2008 road trip. At five thirty in the morning, myself and Marty McFry rolled up to Ben's house, ready to embark on the final weekend of the SOS tour. Surprisingly, Ben was not only awake, but also standing in his driveway, in the rain. Neither myself nor Ben are really much of morning people, so i was impressed to see he was off to an early start. Soon i found out, it wasn't that Ben was up early, but that he hadn't slept yet and was technically up late.…

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Ahh, spring! Birds chirping. Trees blooming. The sun, a wee bit warmer. Makes running all the easier. Right? Well, okay, maybe all those things just make it easier to get out the door. Whatever floats your boat, whatever gets you out of bed to get your run on, what a better time than now to celebrate one of our favorite sports. While we're at it (celebrating running, that is), why not celebrate those who qualified for one of the most beloved (and brutal) races—the Boston Marathon? We’re inviting all you Boston-bound runners to a little pre-race get-together. Join members of…

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Earth Day isn’t for a few more weeks (April 22nd, to be exact) but, why not join the likes of the rest of the WORLD (yup, that’s right, you read that correctly) and turn off your lights for one hour tomorrow night, 8pm (your local time)? Well if you do decide to flip the switch, then poof, you'll be participating in Earth Hour—a world-wide movement to get people to reduce their use of electricity. It’s all about taking one small step to show you care about Mother Earth. All you've got to do is turn off your lights for an…

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Happy St. Patty's Day! From your friends at Clif Bar & Company (+Le Sensation American)

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Mike snapped this photo of Ben when they happened upon their latest grease gold mine. Take a look at that jump. No photoshopping, either. Score for Marty McFry and the Save Our Snow Road Trip.

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Kevin has these really nifty shoes left over from our Disco Night. He proudly displays them in his office, in an easily accessible manner for anyone to use just in case they need a little…boost. Apparently, they’ve been collecting a bit of dust lately. Such a shame. This morning, Kevin decided to get those shoes strolling our hallways once again and offered up their helpful services at our Thursday Breakfast Meeting. Peter B. ended up as the lucky recipient (nominated by his cohort, Mel). It’s only been a few hours since he ditched his sneaks for these towering silver monsters…

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The Clif Bar Ski trip was last weekend. 160 of us descended upon Lake Tahoe, CA, skiing, boarding, snow shoeing, ice skating, basically taking over Northstar in full force . In fact, at one point there were sixteen of us heading down the mountain together, at the same time, sharing the slopes with all sorts of folks, including a few boarders competing in the Vans Triple Crown. While the majority of Clifs-ters are skiers (as deduced from a chair lift ride this very day and up for debate), those boarders managed to wow some of our wool socks off. In…

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It’s been a while since SR decided to throw a Waffle Wednesday. It's never easy to know when it might happen next. I guess since it’s applicably called Waffle Wednesday, one has a pretty good chance of figuring out which day of the week it could be. But the month? Completely up in the air. It all started when Pat got back from Europe and became stoked with all things related to nutella. Naturally, this obsession lead to the first ever Waffle Wednesday, which, despite the fact that the breakfast was declared as a long-standing event to occur the third…

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It's not all that often that we get an entirely *free* day; in fact, every four years. How do we get a whole free day? Every year, we accumulate a few hours of time over the 365 days we spend on this fine earth (or is it 365 1/4 days every year); so each 1/4 day, over four years essentially adds up to one whole lovely *free* day. *Free* in the sense that we don't even really know its accruing and then poof, there it is! Or, at least that’s how it works in Cristen’s mind (as discussed this morning…

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This is my new friend, "Doug." He’s a cameraman for the local ABC 7 News. He drove all the way out to our offices yesterday evening to film our hybrid and biodiesel fleet for a piece on commuter incentives. I guess folks in their office were inspired by the recent article in the Wall Street Journal and decided to come out and catch our green(er) vehicles in action. If you're local, you may want to keep an eye out on this evening's news; it's always a good time seeing friends on the tellie. He was only here for oh, maybe…

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Check out this video that Ben just sent in from the SOS Road Trip. Tons of snow at Powder Mountain. Lots of it. I mean insane amounts of snow. In fact, you may get major bouts of jealousy from watching this video, wishing that you were there. But rest assured, they took full advantage of that mountain (as exhibited in the film, thank you very much) and not an ounce of fun went to waste. Enjoy!

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Words from the wise, from Mike and the SOS Road Trip—take a day off every now and then. Now after a few hard working days at Powder Mountain and Park City, naturally you’d assume we need a day off. And what better way to spend it then at Brighton. This may be the best week all winter, we’re not going to waste it sleeping in, or going to the movie. Instead we called up Scott Stevens and his crew to go film some backcountry action here at one of Utah’s greatest ski areas. If you’ve never been to Brighton, you’ve…

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Mike's back...with another update from the snow-covered mountain tops of Park City! I always look forward to stopping at Park City. Such a fun resort with sick terrain and so many areas to ride. During our stop last year it was sunny and warm, with a major lack of snow. Lucky for us, this was not the case today. Ben, Kevin and myself were the first people on the scene this snowy and blustery morning. With a giant parking lot covered in a few inches of fresh, our inner teenagers took over as we slid Marty all over the place.…

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Mike's on the road again with the Save Our Snow Road Trip—part deux. Read on for the nitty gritty, the fine details, the adventures of how their first day panned out... For our first official stop of the 2008, Save Our Snow Tour, we set our sights on the reclusive and often overlooked Powder Mountain Ski Area, just a few hours north of Salt Lake City. We arrived early, well before the sun was up and made our way up the snow-covered access road. After fourteen miles of steep hills and sharp curves I was starting to get nervous, this…

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We're not psyched about the fact that our wrappers end up in the garbage. We've been working hard to come up with a more sustainable solution; since we haven't found the answer just yet, we've partnered with TerraCycle to launch the Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade. Get this: TerraCycle will convert all of the energy bar wrappers they receive into handy accessories and will donate two cents for every wrapper to the charity of your choice. Sign up for free and become a shepherd for the program.

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Mountain Town Ambassador, Marie, gives us a litle taste of what she gets to do on the "weekends." One of the joys of being a Mountain Town Ambassador for Clif Bar is that the lines between work and play are pretty darned blurry. One of the local groups I support with Clif Bars is the Whistler Coast Mountain Guides—a guide service that offers a variety of backcountry adventures ranging from day tours outside of the ski resort to multiple day ski trips in the backcountry. They also teach avalanche courses to help anyone travel and play safely in the mountains…

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CLIF Mojo and Focus the Nation present Project Slingshot, a chance for all you outdoor fanatics, artists and innovators to put your best foot forward and tell us how, in all your distinctive glory, you can help solve our global warming woes. The three winners will get rewarded with up to a $10,000 grant to slingshot their global warming solutions into action. Check out the video and find out how you can apply.

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Yes indeed. Who would have thunk that on a Tuesday morning, at 9:54am, the Consumer Service pod would be able to fit a whopping 11 people. Mind you that this is no small feat. The CS pod houses Bobby and Emily (two of the folks you get to talk to if you've got a question, comment or just want to say hello) in an approximately 15x15 foot area. At one time, this cozy spot had four people buzzily working about. Though Bobby and Emily have a bit more room than year's past, this morning we decided to push the limits…

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Inspired by the colder weather, some of us around the office are winter-izing a few of our favorites. Sleighing Salesman Pat brews up a "Mountain Mocha"—CLIF Hot SHOT Hot Chocolate mixed with one CLIF SHOT Double Expresso gel. Dietitian Tara, and yes, this is from the dietitian, microwaves a Chocolate Brownie CLIF Bar and adds a dollop of vanilla ice cream. And Captain Computer Ed, rips apart CLIF Nectar Lemon, Vanilla & Cashew and mixes it into his oatmeal for a cozy morning meal. Yumbo.

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We’re in the midst of a big storm here in Berkeley. The weather men and women are saying we can expect yet another bucket of rain throughout the rest of today and into the evening. Between howling winds and snow flurries on our local hills (exciting for all those snow lovers), all this winter weather gets me thinking about sunnier skies, warm water and the beach. But since that can’t happen, these photos from last week’s Mavericks Contest will have to do. I was off hanging out at the Eiffel Tower when they gave the green light to hold the…

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I love the smell of veggie oil in the morning. Reminds me of....the Save Our Snow Winter Road Trip. That's right it's almost that time of year again. The time when Mike and his trusted sidekick hit the road in a veggie fueled RV to share the global cooling love. Soon enough we'll be sharing pics and vids from the next road trip. But until then, we’d thought we’d share the trailer to the Save Our Snow Winter Road Trip DVD—an entire 45-minute documentary showcasing the crazy adventures of the 2007 tour. If you live in Northeren California and want…

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A few weeks back, I posted a little something about Brett Dennen and The John Butler Trio joining the GreenNotes family and how they were giving you a "Good Excuse to Get Involved" as they made their way along the West Coast. Well, time got away from me and I completely forgot to post photos from the day they visited San Francisco. How could I? So without further ado, here are a few pics from the cold and windy day when a few fine folks showed up to do a lot of clean up and listen to some tunes from…

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Last week was 2007's second installment of the bi-annual visit from "the field." There's a good lot of us who work here in Berkeley, but there's a pretty good chunk of the company that doesn't live right here with us. Kind of mobile Clif-sters who are located all over North America (Canada, too!). But last week, we were all one big happy family under the same roof. For the most part, the week was filled with lots of meetings, '07 recaps, '08 planning, delicious eats and out-of-office folks scrambling for vacant desks where they could send off a few emails between…

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We like doing good things, like spotting a friend when they're short change for a cup of Peet's, telling our coworker they've got something in their teeth oh and taking care of our environment. We like doing that, too.   We also like music. The good news is that two of the newest musicians to join CLIF GreenNotes like doing good too and so have decided to take a little break from their West Coast tours to give you a good excuse to get involved in your community. The John Butler Trio and Brett Dennen are making their way up…

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You're looking at a photo of a record-breaking commuting bike…faster than a speeding bullet, well, maybe not quite that fast. but pretty darn fast...  Jessica lives up on the hill above our office and rides this speedy two-wheeler the 4.5 miles to (downhill) and from (uphill) work everyday. In those early morning hours, it usually takes her oh say about twelve minutes door to door. But this morning she beat her time by a minute and a half, making it safe and sound to pod #1 in a mere 10 minutes and 25 seconds. That's 4.5 miles of windy roads, steep slopes,…

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Lots and lots of pie. Happy Thanksgiving from Clif Bar & Company.

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Allison's the SWAG queen. She has lots of friends who send her lots of samples—coffee mugs, hats, arm warmers, chapstick. She assesses and then tastefully plasters whatever sample she fancies the most with our logo and voila...we have CLIF SWAG. Every now and then she spreads the wealth and yesterday we got lucky. With the pod only 3/4 of the way full, Tara, Jessica, and I scored on some delightful matching beanies. Let's just say it pays to share office space with the knower of all promo items. And you better believe that Allison got in on the deal too.…

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Eric, just one of the many Clifsters responsible for getting our bars in stores, lives over in Virginia. Although we miss having him in the office, his cross-country living worked out perfectly for Ricardo, who couldn't make it back to Philadelphia to receive the Green Power Pilot Award from the EPA Green Power Partnership. Eric spared Ricardo the pain (and the giant carbon footprint) of flying all the way out East to the awards ceremony. Take a look at Eric, looking dapper in his suit (and Clif-Bar red button down) and filled pride as he receives the hand forged, 100%…

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I think it's safe to say that Pod One pulled through this weekend in the team camaraderie department. While some of our athletes were off competing in the Treasure Island Triathlon, Pod One was in full force at the 2007 ANA Ekiden Corporate Relay. Here's some proof of our happy go-lucky Pod One family (plus our honorary mascot) post run—see photo. Tara, Ricardo, Jessica and I ran our heart's out in hopes of snagging four round-trip business class seats to Tokyo. We didn't win the tickets but we did get seventh place out of the 20 co-ed teams who participated…

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It's that time of year again…time to bid for prevention and get a chance to be a member of the LUNA Pro MTB Team at the 2008 Sea Otter Classic in lovely Monterey, CA. The highest bidder will not only get outfitted in LUNA gear and receive an entry to the 2008 Sea Otter Classic but she'll also get (among other things!) an "official" LUNA Pro Team Orbea bike all her own (custom built!) and a year's supply of CLIF BAR products. Bidding ends on the 26th of October so don't wait too long (unless you've mastered the art of eBay).…

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I wish I a had a photo of the stairs I constructed today. Why, you ask? Liz and I have been working on the darn things for two days and apparently they were supposed to be 70 inches instead of 64. But that's how it goes when you have no background constructing homes; but we're learning! Lesson learned: measure twice, cut once. And the glory of it all came when we drilled the final screw into the last stair today. I have to admit, they were quite possibly the prettiest stairs I'd ever seen. Thirteen of us jumped on a…

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Summer's over but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy the great outdoors. Okay, well maybe what I'm about to tell you isn't directly related to enjoying the great outdoors during these colder months, but it's a way to test your wilderness skills so you can get out of a bind if you end up getting in one. Take CLIF MOJO's Worst-Case Scenario trivia quiz  and get entered for a chance to win three CLIF MOJO sweet & salty trail mix bars (yumbo!) and a copy of The Worst-Case Scenario Almanac-Great Outdoors (quite the handy handbook!)—two items that may be useful on your…

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Dylan's back in the office but I feel slightly obligated to post this one for The Team since I was the original recipient. Here's the latest from TCB athlete Brent Allen and his "surf trip" down in Costa Rica.  I have just returned from a 9-day surf trip in Costa Rica and lets just say it was interesting. On short notice, I made a decision to take a surf trip to central America with a friend that is a teacher and was going to be back in class. After race announcing at the Alcatraz Challenge Sunday morning in San Francisco, we flew out…

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Dylan's out of the office on vacay, so I've taken it upon myself to update with what's happening out in the wide world of Team Clif Bar. This race report comes from Brent Allen, who took a dip in the Pacific Ocean to race in the "officially unoffical Pier2Pier paddle board event" a few weeks ago. I tried to find more about the race, but couldn't—figures, given that it's technically unofficial. Here's what Brent had to say: For the past 14 years there has been an "officially unofficial Pier2Pier paddle board event" that falls on Saturday the weekend of the huge Wharf2Wharf running race…

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A few weeks back, we had our summertime Clif Bar gathering in the middle of a field a few miles from our office. The lovely festivities just happened to fall on quite possibly one of the hottest days this summer and so we lounged under the shade of the trees when we could and chowed down on some yummy eats. When we weren't in the shade, we were off tie-dying shirts, playing softball or making bubbles with clowns. Oh, and we had a pie-eating contest. Not just any pie-eating contest but a full-fledged battle of carefully thought-out pie-eating schemes. And…

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I'm somewhat amazed at my ability to seemingly forget to go outside during the day. By 5 o'clock I'm well aware of the deprivation and rush to get out to enjoy the sun (or fog, depending on the time of year). Interestingly we're not the only ones who need sunlight (duh)...indoor plants do too. Yes, indoor plants whose name seems to suggest that they don't need too much of anything. Case in point: I found two plants sitting at the front desk oh, about 4 months ago. They were up for grabs so Georgia and I each decided to take one…

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I'm not really a runner. I used to be but when my knees started to fall apart and my ankles took too many rolls, I decided to throw in the towel. Then I decided to do triathlons; I still had to run but managed to avoid pounding too much pavement and still cross the finish (barely). Then Ricardo, my illustrious pod mate, asked me to do the San Francisco Half Marathon with him. The hitch? He asked me last Tuesday—four days before the race. I couldn't say no so off I went to do the Half at 4 am Sunday morning with…

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Earlier this week, Melissa, our NorCal Field Rep, was in Marin handing out elixir and doing yoga as part of the LUNA and lululemon live free, eat well mobile tour. While out and about, she happened upon a very special Bay Area celeb... Can you look beyond those glasses and that silver chain and guess who it is? Yup, that's right; our very own resident comedian, Mr. Robin Williams. You better bet your bottom dollar that Melissa wasn't about to let him go without first snagging a photo. When it came time to document the momentous occasion, her partner in…

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Our good friend Geoff is up to some pretty neato things. Geoff left the world of Clif about a year ago to work for Peace Players in South Africa; he's since moved back to the states and is now working for Better World Books—a social enterprise that gives used books a new home while also supporting literacy around the world. Dinero generated from online sales goes toward non-profit literacy initiatives and organizations. You make a difference just by buying books from their online shop or, if you've got some books just hanging around on your shelf, send them to the…

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Fame is tough, especially when you can't escape it. Just ask Ricardo. This past week, he's been in magazines, newspapers and most importantly, was just crowned "Customer of the Week" at the Peet's coffee shop just down the street from our office. We're big fans of Peet's and apparently they're big fans of Ricardo, too. Every Saturday they announce a Customer of the Week. Just about every CLIF employee pays Peet's a visit at least once a day, but never have any of us received the coveted spot on the plaque by the espresso machine. But it was Ricardo's lucky…

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A few months back, we adopted our very own Elberta peach tree from Masumoto Family Farm—a modest 80-acre orangic plot just south of Fresno, CA. I've been meaning to post some photos because I'm just so proud of our little tree and how much it's grown. We haven't done too much on it just yet; in fact, the farm uses all-natural practices to care for our little munchkin during the early months—pruning, irrigation, pest control. Our hard work comes when it's time to hand harvest the goods—around late July/early August. Until then, we wait in wonder for news that the peaches are…

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Last Sunday, Andra (far right), our Northwest field rep, was off at Girls Night Out, a Mom's Day concert in Seattle. While she was out and about sampling LUNA Elixir, she met someone famous... Can you guess who? I'll give you  a little hint—think Howard Stern. Yup. Sanjaya from American Idol! After befriending one of the deejays and pulling a little "LUNA Girl" status, Andra and her reps were able to sneak backstage to eventually happen upon THE Sanjaya. Whether or not you're a fan, you can appreciate the complete randomness of the encounter. Fun Fact: apparently his teeth are…

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A group of us are illustrious members of the Clif Bar Organique Veggie Club—not as hoity toity as the name suggests but still pretty special. Every Wednesday afternoon, us non-exclusive club members get a delightful box of seasonal veggies straight from Riverdog Farm, a 200-acre certified-organic farm located up in Guinda, CA. It's always delicious to have fresh veggies delivered to your door but I have to admit that it can get a little monotonous eating the same things week to week, which is why spring brings such a welcome variety from the winter veggies. During those winter months, however,…

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Back in April, Bea left a comment asking for photos of the 2007 Team CLIF Bar cycling squad. Well, Bea, it's your lucky day because I was finally able to track down a whole slew of photos to share. A few weeks ago, the team got together up in the Berkeley hills and booked some time in front of the camera; our in-house photo guru Paul snapped these snazzy pics for Bea and all of you other TCB Cycling fans. Here they are posing nice for the camera; to see action shots, check out flickr.com.    

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Let's try this again... By now, you may have figured out that every now and then we like to share things…for free. A while ago we gave away CLIF ZBaRs; in the spirit of the changing seasons, we're trying something new. It's still free, but it's not a bar…it's a book—Gary's book: Raising the Bar—the story of CLIF Bar & Co, and it's now available in paperback. Gary tells about his journey to create the first CLIF Bar and to keep CB&Co. chugging along. And you don't have to be an entrepreneur or cyclist to enjoy the reads; heck,…

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If you're on our mailing list, then you've probably received the pre-Earth Day newsletter we sent out this morning. But we made a small mistake. We were just so excited to tell you about Earth Day, that we wrote the date down a whole day early. Yup. Earth Day 2007 isn't until the 22nd of April. That's a Sunday, not a Saturday as incorrectly noted in the newsletter. So change those calendar notes you may have made... I wonder how much more of a difference we could make if it wasn't just Earth Day but instead Earth Weekend, or maybe…

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Here's what happens when you combine unseasonably warm weather with spending too much time in a high altitude...Ah, if only this were true. How much would you pay to use this machine?

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Sorry to cause any confusion regarding the recently posted blog offer for Gary's book: Raising the Bar, The Story of Clif Bar & Co. After we posted the offer, we found that we were having some trouble with the forms—if you wanted the book, there was no way for us to get your information to be able to send it to you! Not very helpful for you avid readers. The forms are getting fixed and should be ready to take your information soon (keep your fingers crossed). I'll repost the offer once it's good to go. In the meantime, exercise your…

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As a food company that makes energy bars, we get requests to sponsor events—runs, tris, walks, and sometimes those folks we supply send us SWAG as a thank you. T-shirts, hats, and the occasional plaque are the usual but when this showed up at our door a few months ago, we knew we'd hit it big—a silver dog-collar chain with a slick medallion proudly displaying the Fall 50 logo (maple leaf included). We were ecstatic. Here's what happens near the end of the day, four months after we've had the dynamite award adorning our walls. We just couldn't resist. Good times.

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Last week a few of us went back to Double Rock community garden in San Francisco to install a greenhouse we promised Ms. Jackie we'd put together. The thing was like a giant Ikea project. If you've ever put together something from Ikea, you can imagine; the directions appeared clear, the parts all seemed to be there but the shear enormity was just overwhelming. I can't tell you how many nuts and bolts were strewn around the grass as we struggled to piece together different metal parts. And it was a bit dangerous too—heads proved their strength withstanding the brut…

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It's 2007 already and time to come up with some resolutions. But I'm not really a fan. As a matter of fact, I've never really liked to devise New Year’s resolutions. I’m forced to come up with something that I’m then forced to follow along with the rest of the world. So, I take it upon my own free will to come up with a few things throughout the year, small goals that aren’t too overwhelming. One of which is baking new and interesting things—in part inspired by the pink Kitchen Aid Santa left under the tree. I find that I…

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