16. Leave a Motel Room
The act touches on mortality. It offers a small dose of the autobiographical sadness you feel after the moving van has gone and you take a last look around the place where you used to live. Travelers who must face this experience on a daily basis should brace for it with stoutness of heart and the comfort of ritual.

First, shower. Then put on all the clothes you expect to wear that day. (Your coat may be left until right before departure.) Fill your pockets with everything you normally carry, except for the room key. Place that in a prominent spot on top of a few singles or a five, for the cleaning people or THE DEMONS OF THE ROOM.

Pack your briefcase. Pack all other gear, and then your clothes. Take the suitcase out to the car first, leaving the room door ajar. (I flick the little metal-bar thing across the frame to keep it open.) Come back for your other gear. Leave your briefcase with the most important stuff last.

The slamming of car doors in the morning is the unwelcome rooster crow of the motel world, so I make it a point of honor to avoid slamming anything. Ideally, in good weather, I like to load up and leave without closing any car door more than twice. When the car is loaded, it's time for a final look around the room. Check the closet—and always remember the little hook behind the bathroom door. (I've left a lot of pajamas on those hooks.) For the very last, I always get down and look under the bed. I have never once found any forgotten object there, but I always check just the same. On family trips when I was little, my father always used to do that last of all. He has been dead now for 20 years; I like to imprint on my mind the same under-motel-room-bed vista that he saw. At this moment of transience, it gives me a reassuring sense of eternity.

IAN FRAZIER collects wrappers from motel soaps. His favorite is called First Date.
—IAN FRAZIER

17. Stroll Away from a Fall
Riding the ragged edge of your skill level is key if you want to break through in any sport, so brutal endoes, yard sales, and whippers are de rigueur. Soften those blows with a little preemptive TLC from the experts: Most MOUNTAIN-BIKING falls occur at slow speeds, says former world champion (and eternal badass) Ned Overend, and appropriate pedal tension will help you unclip before stalling out. Going ass over teakettle? "Put your hands out," he says. "As soon as they touch ground, recoil your arms, tuck to one side—whichever is more comfortable—and roll across your back to avoid any jolting impact to your outstretched arms or shoulders."
(1) A hyperextended thumb is a nasty SKIING injury, but a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL) is a real nightmare, says Dr. Kevin Plancher, an official surgeon for the U.S. ski and snowboard teams. Prevent these common boo-boos by closing your fists and sitting into a fall, which can save your knees from hyperextension.
(2) To weather a roped-lead fall while CLIMBING, keep your arms free and make sure you don't get inverted by tangling the rope around your legs, advises Don Mellor, author of 2001's American Rock. Use your hands to protect yourself from outcrops, but be wary of pushing off the face of a cliff; the more you push, the more, and harder, you'll swing back.
—MEGAN GAMBINO

18. Run Like the Wind
Or the breeze, whatever. The three keys, according to CHRIS CARMICHAEL, are a smooth stride, explosive power, and a strong torso. Here's how to get them: STRIDES, not all-out sprints, mean running as fast as you can while focused on form: back straight, head up, arms pumping in a straight line. Work them into normal runs, four reps of 20 seconds, resting 60 seconds between intervals. Best off pavement.
(1) SKIPPING improves fast-twitch muscle fibers and anaerobic power. Work in two sets of three 30-second reps; jog a minute between reps, three minutes between sets.
(2) PLANKS create core strength, which generates a quicker, more efficient stride—otherwise you're just flailing. Start in a modified push-up, on your forearms. With legs, torso, and head in a straight line, hold for 30 seconds. Three mornings a week, four reps, resting 30 seconds between. Work up to holding the pose for a minute.

19. Create a B&W Digital Photo
Make a nice black-and-white by shooting digitally in color and converting using Adobe Photoshop, advises mountaineer and photographer JIMMY CHIN: "Most people make the mistake of discarding the color information or desaturating the picture," he says. "Instead, use the channel mixer to FINE-TUNE tone and contrast."
(1) From the "image" menu, select "adjust," then "channel mixer," and check the monochrome box to gray-scale it. Determine the DOMINANT colors—red, green, or blue—in your shot.
(2) Add red to give skin tones more contrast, blue to brighten snow and ice. If the combination of numerical color values adds up to more than 100 percent, balance LUMINOSITY using the "constant" slider.
(3) Finally, be SUBTLE. Unless they're Civil War reenactors, no one wants to look like they're in a daguerreotype.

20. Drive on Sand
When the sweetest surfing or fishing spots are way the hell down a long (vehicles-allowed) beach, do like ranger Wouter Ketel, of North Carolina's Cape Lookout National Seashore (and don't, like, forget to check the tides): Take a 4x4 with good CLEARANCE.
(1) Mud and snow tires dig into sand; radials float. Drop them to 18 or 20 psi for better TRACTION.
(2) When you hit a soft section, don't stop; use your MOMENTUM or a slow acceleration to get through. And try not to make quick turns.
(3) If you start to sink, don't spin your wheels—you'll go deeper. DIG the sand away, lower pressure a bit more, and jam a board under a tire for grip—but keep in mind the possibility of said board hurtling toward yon innocent bystanders.
—MARK ANDERS