Team Spotlight: Sadie
Who are you? Give us some outdoor highlights from your past
Hi! I’m Sadie. I grew up in Iowa working on my family’s ranch spending most of my free time outside walking through pastures doing chores and of course driving tractors! We did a few camping trips here and there but it wasn’t until I was in college and started working at my campus’s Outdoor Rec Program that I really got into the outdoors.
What really drew me into the program was the opportunity to work on gear repairs and helping people get outside. I helped lead trips ranging from quick overnighters to multi-day kayak and backpacking trips, while also working at our rock climbing wall as a belayer and a route setter, and also started my bike mechanic journey!
After college I moved out to Oregon to work closer in the Outdoor Industry and got more into ski touring, bikepacking, backpacking, and trail running. I’ve since completed 3 ultra-marathons, done a handful of some pretty cool bikepacking trips, surfed and epically failed, and more adventures in the docket for this year!
Tell us about a very memorable trip outdoors from the last few years
During the summer of 2023, I was going through a lot of personal hardships and felt pretty stuck and had found out at the last minute about this bikepacking trip in Seattle with Swift Industries that I thought “Why not!” I reached out to see if they would be ok if I tagged along even though it was technically full and they said “Why the heck not!” so I packed what bikepacking gear I had and drove up to Seattle!
I knew pretty much no one in Seattle at this point, but thankfully the ride leader (my now close friend) let me stay at her place the night before and showed me a little of Seattle before we had to pack our bikes up. The next morning when we met up with the other people joining the overnighter and started riding, the joy I felt riding with a bunch of people I had just met was something I had never really felt before. It was such a fun send off, sunny and riding by the water before hopping on the ferry and riding over to Vashon Island before we hit a vast set of hills. Let me also remind you that I am from a very flat state so when I say those hills aggressively humbled me, I am not joking.
Thankfully, after the hills, we hit some single track that was such a wild experience riding on fully packed bikes with a larger group (imagine 10+ aluminum cups all clanking around as we rode over rocks and tree roots). Eventually we made it to our campsite on a beach before playing some games and enjoying our food before hitting the hay. The next day we conquered those hills once again before grabbing some coffee before the ferry and heading back to Seattle to continue exploring the city with some new friends. I still keep in touch with a few folks from that trip and try to make it to Seattle each year for the Summer Solstice bikepacking trip.
What do you do at Minimal Gear?
I’m an Operations Associate at Minimal Gear. The majority of my job is packing and shipping orders so if you receive either a wholesale order or DTC order, chances I helped pack it are high! I also help with some final assembly of our ThruBottles and Diorite Poles, and lend a hand with anything else that needs done in the warehouse.
What is a running project you are working on at the moment that no one knows about yet?
I’m currently working to document and improve our SOP Procedures and improve our Bill of Materials (BOMs). I have a background in Product Design and Development working closely with SOP/Tech Packs and BOMs so this is a really exciting set of projects for me!
What is your favorite piece of gear that we make?
I would say either the PCTA VectoX or our Artist Series Vesicas. I love the teal colored caps on the PCTA Vecto’s and giving back to a local trail, but also love the personal expression on our Artist Series Vesicas as well.
What’s an interesting (or not-so-interesting) non-Minimal Gear factoid about yourself that is important to who you are as a person?
Coming from a pretty low-key outdoor activity state like Iowa, I had never really pushed myself super hard in really any outdoor activity. But after moving to Oregon, I ended up in the ER a couple times from either epically failing at surfing and catching a fin to the face or breaking my arm skiing the trees at Timberline. A pretty crazy initiation to the PNW! My mom was not stoked each time I called to tell her where I was at.
At the time, those moments weren’t as fun, but pushing myself past my comfort zone to explore new things and show myself I’m capable of so much more than I thought, are why these moments stick with me still to this day.
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