Keith cooling his heels at Rodale HQ

As with any other business or personal relationships, media relations requires quality time together. Which means every so often we put on a belt, tie our shoes, tuck in our shirts and head off into the big city.

Base Camp Comm. visited New York City and Boulder, Colorado to put in some face time with the media in their offices, their trails and their watering holes - the last being a very important ingredient where quality time is always well spent.

On many levels, Boulder and NYC are as different as ... our clients. Big city versus small college/mountain town. But, the common thread: media hubs. Both are hot spots for the media we like to spend quality time with and in March and April we paid a visit to our comrades in these communities to spread the Base Camp love.

In mid-March, Jackson, WY was more than 500 inches into a record season, while Boulder was 55 and sunny. A little vitamin D was a pleasant addition to the tour. Stops at Climbing, Backpacker, VeloNews, Rocky Mountain Sports and Women's Adventure magazines yielded genuine interest in new products, brand awareness recognition and a few technical questions. We also entertained five A-list freelancers and Skiing mag staff with pitches, including a dinner with writers Doug Schnitzspahn and Joe Lindsay who showed that a good Super Tuscan is the real way to get their undivided attention.

With a packed schedule in NYC, taxis are the quickest way to get from meeting to meeting, but catching one isn't always easy - especially when you're toting around an over-sized wheeled suitcase loaded with consumer goods. We managed, though, and during our three-day city shuffle embraced the Big Apple's diversity and media presence.

Hustling around midtown each day, we sat and chatted with editors in the offices of 15 magazines, shared meals with two freelancers who know how to write and caught up on our celeb dirt in the National Enquirer and National Examiner - thanks to meetings at Men's Fitness and Shape.

Besides educating our media friends with our client's latest creations, by the end of the tour we ourselves learned that chicks catch cabs way more efficiently.