Amir Alrubaiy

“I didn’t want to work at Pizza Hut, and I didn’t want to join the Army. So I just decided to go out and be awesome.” – Henry Rollins.

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up; I just knew I wanted it to be rad. That simple pursuit has directed most of my life. Dad started me skiing at 5 yrs old. I got a skateboard at 11 and an electric guitar at 12. My first mountain bike at 18 squared the circle of passions.

I was a competitive freeskier during the salad days of the U.S. Extremes. I lived through the evolution of fat skis and twin tips and saw the backcountry explode with the invention of the BCA Trekker. 

I’ve also been riding, racing, and wrenching on mountain bikes since the early nineties. I’ve raced the Leadville 100 a few times and lined up at my share of XCO and CX races. Suspension forks on road bikes…not new. Tubeless tire plugs…ever heard of a rubber band?  

Finally, teaching architecture and design at The University of Colorado for 13 years helped me develop a keen appreciation for the simplicity and effectiveness in all scales of products. I’ve seen a lot of technology come, go, and come back again. The new stuff is great, but I still regularly wear the green windbreaker I got in ’96…stuff that works is better.

The radness, for me, now runs through Axistence: Training For A Life Of Adventure, where I help coach an amazing community of athletes in functional fitness. Preparing them with strong, resilient bodies so their gear breaks before they do. Hefty doses of Van Halen and barbells can prepare you for nearly anything. 

Performance and products come and go…radness is forever.