ZEAL team rider Jonathan Cheever threw down an incredible run yesterday in the men’s Snowboarder Cross finals at the Stoneham World Cup in Quebec for his first podium of the season. He came in third and was the first American to cross the line, bringing home the bronze for the US. Congratulations, Jonathan!!

Eos is performance all the way. Whether you’re training for a marathon or going out for a quick jog at lunchtime, these super lightweight puppies are going to perform. They feature our hypoallergenic Proflex™ rubber to ensure they stay put not matter how long your workout is and our MyFit™ nose pads which are adjustable vertically and horizontally to give you an extremely comfortable, custom fit. As with all of our frames, they are crafted with our eco-conscious, castor bean oil based Z-Resin™ frame material and our incredible color-enhancing Hyperion™ lenses that protect your eyes from harmful HEV light.

Coming in at an easy $79.00 with four color options, they’re kind of a no-brainer. Check out all of the options here.

Happy Friday!

This week, we’d love to tell you about our Training Guru, Carl Walker. He has done everything in this company at some point from shipping and repairs to helping with marketing and event efforts. He is about to embark on an awesome cross-country adventure to spread the good word of ZEAL through store training. Besides the founders of ZEAL, he’s been here the longest and has a pretty cool story about how he became affiliated with ZEAL and where it has taken him.

Where are you from? Where did you grow up?

I grew up in the mountains, some deep dark woods to be more specific. If you find your way to where the North, Middle, and South Fork of the Swan River come together, well, welcome to my back yard. It was in these mountains and meadows that a passion for the outdoors became completely and inextricably ingrained in my blood. It’s the memories of those woods that drive me and it’s a location or state of mind that I am constantly working to get back to.

Awesome. And how did you get to where you are now, in the ZEAL family?

One sunny spring day in the desert of the southwest I walked into the original ZEAL shop in Moab, Utah to buy a pair of goggles. My single goal was to buy something unique and that would hold up to the abuse I put moto goggles through. Michael & Wink (the co-founders) decided to take me under their wings and sponsor me, in a sense. And here I am today, more than 10 years later, still part of the ZEAL family; I can’t be more proud of what we are continually building here.

What is your ZEAL product of choice?

ZEAL makes a specific product for whatever I’m doing but what I’m really proud of in our line is the way so many products transcend the boundaries of activity. I wear my Essentials all day around town and get right onto my mountain bike for a burner after work (that’s me getting back into the woods, even if only for a moment). I think it’s a solid example of what we are building here at ZEAL; stylish eyewear that is going to perform at the highest level. It’s mixing a great townie design with the performance features that really make it work on my adventures.

Two favorites songs right now…go:

Another huge passion in my life is music; I’m one of those people with an insatiable appetite for fresh tracks. Today I’m really enjoying musicians who incorporate classic elements into contemporary sounds. If you want to get down to the roots though I like anything that makes me dance, I just can’t help it. Here’s a couple examples that I truly hope will make you dance with me:
Marvin gaye – Sunny Mercury Edit II
Pretty Lights – Country Roads Remix

And last but not least, what’s your favorite part about working, playing and living in Colorado?

I like to go fast and feel the wind flying through my wild hair, to hear the freewheel on my bike clicking away furiously, and to feel the limits of traction like the tires on my bike are an extension of my body. I’m fortunate to live and work in a place where we find passion everywhere.

The process in which we take our sunglasses frames from the castor plant to final production can be broken down in six simple steps:

1. It  starts with a castor plant, 2. and the beans are harvested from this plant 3. The beans are then processed into castor bean oil 4. and used to produce our Z-Resin™ (rather than crude oil) 5. The Z-Resin™ is used as the foundation of all of our sunglasses 6. Which allows us to be globally responsible and protect the environment.

We love that we are able to incorporate ecologically responsible processes like this within ZEAL and are proud to have an entire line of “eco-friendly” sunglasses. We hope you love them too!

We had some great testimonies from new and old ZEAL fans and customers alike as they headed up the mountain. The weather conditions truly emphasized the benefits of our polarized + photochromic lenses; we had bluebird Colorado sunshine one minute and, quite literally, a snowstorm blowing sideways five minutes later.

Besides the weather, some major highlights of the weekend included Chad Kagy taking home the prize for the Teva Best Trick Bike event and Brian Smith and Sari Anderson being named the Ultimate Mountain Man & Woman for dominating the Ultimate Mountain Challenge; a grueling three day combination of Nordic Freestyle, Vail Uphill and Ski Mountaineering. Congratulations to all of the athletes that competed this weekend!

Were you up there this weekend? What was your favorite event? Check out some pics below of our snowy weekend:

p.s. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Epic is a versatile guy. He is super laid back and spends most of his winter on the mountain. He’s a huge fan of the avant-ski coffee stop and, of course, a few après-ski beers. He has a passion for art and always knows who’s going to to be “the next big thing” in the music industry. He’s just a cool dude. I promise, you want to hang with him.

The Epic is a great fitting pair of sunnies for a lot of different face shapes. It features our polarized Hyperion lenses, Proflex rubber to ensure they stay on your face and an eco-conscious Z-Resin frame. They come in five colors – check them all out here.

And on that note, this weekend we are up at Vail for the 2012 Winter TEVA Mountain Games! We have the trailer set up so feel free to swing by, see what’s new, check out the digs and demo some goggles for the day (yes, that even includes the Z3…you know you want to see how fast you can ski). We’ll definitely be checking out the concert on Saturday night and, of course, a bunch of the events during the day. Click here to see the full schedule. We’re especially excited for the biking events…which brings us to our Passion & Obsession feature of the week, check out these crazy dudes! Can’t wait to see this live tomorrow:

See you up there!