If you've been opening your inbox expecting "Backyard Legends," you noticed something different today. Same writer, same perspective, new name — The Balanced Brief. Honestly, the old name never quite captured what we were actually doing here. This has always been about more than the backyard. It's been about the whole picture: the markets, the opportunities, the lifestyle you've built and the one you're still building.
The content isn't going anywhere — if anything, it's getting sharper. You'll still get the outdoor intel, the gear worth buying, the golf, the good whisky, and the travel worth doing. But I'm also going to lean harder into what I spend a lot of my time actually thinking about — where the money is moving, which IPOs are worth watching, what the Fed is really signaling, and how all of it connects to the life you're living outside of a spreadsheet. That's The Balanced Brief. Same voice, better scope.
— Cole Hargrove
Rivian didn’t build the R1T to cosplay as a bro-dozer, but software has a way of making unintended “features” show up in the wild.
Image via Car and Driver
We Figured Out How to Trick a Rivian R1T into Carolina Squatting
Rivian didn’t build the R1T to cosplay as a bro-dozer, but software has a way of making unintended “features” show up in the wild. Car and Driver found a simple hack: put the R1T into Camp mode—where the air suspension can be adjusted for leveling—and park it on an incline. The result is the “Carolina squat” look: nose up, tail down, like you’re hauling an invisible pallet of concrete mix.
This isn’t a permanent mod, and it’s not some underground tuning scene—just a modern EV doing what its adaptive suspension was designed to do, plus gravity. It’s also a reminder that as vehicles get more software-defined, the line between “function” and “behavior” gets fuzzy fast. What used to require wrenches now takes menus and a hill.
Read the full story at Car and Driver →
Image via Outside
Arches National Park Just Nixed Reservations. Here’s How to Avoid the Crowds.
Arches National Park is ending its timed-entry reservation requirement, which—depending on your temperament—either feels like freedom or like someone just rang the dinner bell for every rental SUV in the West. Outside reports that after several years of requiring advance planning to access peak congestion windows, the park is moving away from the reservation system that many visitors used to guarantee a smoother experience.
The practical problem remains: Arches is iconic, compact, and hammered during prime hours. If you want Delicate Arch without the shoulder-to-shoulder shuffle, the playbook doesn’t change much—go early, go late, and consider shoulder seasons. The park’s geology isn’t going anywhere, but your patience might if you show up at 11 a.m. on a sunny Saturday like you’re walking into an empty steakhouse.
Read the full story at Outside →
California v. The Cigar Industry
California’s long-running fight with premium cigars is back in the spotlight, with Cigar Aficionado framing it as a high-stakes clash between state public-health policy and an industry arguing that handmade cigars shouldn’t be lumped in with other tobacco products. The core tension is familiar: regulation and taxation on one side, carve-outs and exemptions on the other—plus a steady drumbeat of litigation.
For consumers, it’s another example of how lifestyle categories—spirits, tobacco, even certain outdoor and sporting goods—can get whipsawed by policy risk that has nothing to do with demand. Even if you’re not a cigar guy, this is the kind of regulatory weather that can move prices, squeeze retail availability, and reshape where niche luxury businesses choose to operate.
Read the full story at Cigar Aficionado →
Cole Hargrove | The Balanced Brief — Live Well. Invest Smart. No Apologies.
— Cole Hargrove