About

About me: I think we all need to spend more time doing things we love, going to places that make us feel small, remembering to laugh at ourselves, and getting a little cold, tired, and scared every once in a while. I’ve bicycled across America, ridden through the Grand Canyon on a raft and walked across it twice, and lived out of a converted van for three years, climbing and adventuring in the mountains around the West.

I am a writer, and most of my work centers around adventure, travel, and human experiences with both of those. I’m a contributing editor at Climbing, Adventure Journal, and The Dirtbag Diaries. My stories have appeared in Backpacker, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Men’s Journal, Sierra, Adventure Cyclist, and other publications. My books are available here.

Speaking engagements: I love to share stories with groups large and small, and present on inspiration, adventure, and how to live the best life you can and maximize fun while doing it. E-mail me at brendanpleonard [at] gmail [dot] com if you’re looking for a speaker.

Sponsorship: I work with a few select brands whose mission aligns well with the message of this web site. If you’re interested, I’d love to chat. I can be reached at brendanpleonard [at] gmail [dot] com.

About Semi-Rad.com: I have not been featured in a climbing video, or a ski film, and I will likely never win a bike or foot race. But I love the mountains, and being outside. I’m probably a lot like you. I like rock climbing, but start to flail when it gets vertical. I like bicycles, but not racing against other people on them. I like running and trail running, but I probably like ice cream more. I mostly avoid avalanches by not being a good enough skier to get on slopes steep enough to slide. But I sure like to get out there. Semi-Rad is enthusiasm for things regular folks can do, adventures for the everyman and woman. It’s a web site for those of us crushing it, kind of.

I wrote and performed the voiceover for this film in 2013, and it sums all this up better than anything else: