Most people would probably think that Robert Reed is just another UA graduate who's not working a job in his major field.

But ESPN and Men's Journal magazine saw it differently.

Reed and his partner, Chris Guibert, are the co-founders of Arizona Off-Road Adventures, a Tucson-based mountain biking and camping adventure company. Tomorrow, the company will be featured on Men's Journal Magazine's new television show - aptly titled "Men's Journal." The program airs on ESPN at 9 a.m.

Not bad for a guy who was a double major in philosophy and political science.

The partners first met while working together at Bargain Basement Bikes in Tucson and began competing in races together. But thanks to what Reed calls "a lot of B.S.," the two struck out on their own. After taking a touring course of their own, Reed and Guibert said they saw a market for off-road adventures in Arizona.

In 1993, Arizona Off-Road Adventures was born. Since that time, the two have worked out of their home on East 10th Street providing everything from half-day to week-long biking adventures in the mountains of Southern Arizona.

So, when "Men's Journal" visited Arizona to film spots for the show, it knew exactly where to go.

"We were in the Sonoran Desert and they were the No. 1 off-roading adventure company in the area," says Jocelyn Greenky, the director of broadcast media for Winter Media Group.

Winter Media is a New York City-based company that also represents Rolling Stone and US magazines.

Greenky says that Men's Journal was looking to make a presence on television, hence the new program. The company will make 13 shows in all for broadcast on ESPN. After that, the show's future is unknown, Greenky says.

Five editions of the show were filmed before the company came to Tucson, but Reed says he thinks he knows why they chose the off-road show as its premiere episode.

"Our show turned out so good because we went the extra mile for them," he says.

The two, who are the only full-time employees with the company, set out with the film crew for a full day of shooting, which included stops at Molino Basin and points along the Arizona Trail. The trail, when completed, will stretch the entire length of the state, from Mexico to Utah.

As for the "extra mile," Reed says that came in the food.

"We took them out and cooked them lunch and dinner," Reed says. "We cook gourmet meals."

But the gourmet meals are not just a mark of a company trying to impress some journalists.

Because all trips are accompanied by vehicular support, food can be carried in coolers. This eliminates freeze-dried food and other add-water meals and allows for the gourmet meals that Reed says are the high point of a trip.

Off-Road Adventures offers two week-long trips. The first is the "Southern Arizona Spectrum." The brochure says that the tour is designed "to create a true vision of the Old West - how it was built and won."

The trip is a seven-day, six-night excursion that involves rides through old mining towns and camping at Cave Creek Canyon and Cochise Stronghold, just "as the Apaches did."

The trek also includes a stop-over in Tombstone, where participants get a night off from camping to spend the night in one of the town's bed-and-breakfast inns.

The $650 trip is 80 to 100 miles of off-roading over elevations which range from 3,500 to 8,500 feet.

The "Extreme Dream" is much the same as the spectrum but with more challenging rides for the more experienced trail riders. After the Tombstone stopover, riders stay at Patagonia Lake State Park. The trip covers 100 to 120 miles over sometimes steeper and narrower trails.

The prices for the trips include meals plus mechanical and vehicle support. The company offers its week-long trips in the Flagstaff and Sedona areas as well.

For people who don't think a full week on a mountain bike is their cup of tea, Off-Road Adventures has shorter trips available.

For beginners, Reed and Guibert suggest the half-day and sunset tours. For $50 to $60 per person, riders get an introductory instruction session and a ride that includes some trail riding and some gentler pavement riding.

For $70 to $80, riders can take on a full-day tour that combines all the aspects of the terrain in Southern Arizona. Rides range from 10 to 30 miles and take anywhere from four to 10 hours of the day.

All of the half- and full-day tours include a professional guide, transportation, energy snacks, bike and helmet rental and a water bottle. The full-day tours include a trail-side lunch.

All that work is obviously more than Reed and Guibert could handle by themselves. So as needed, Reed says, the company contracts professional trail guides to lead tours.

Off-Road Adventures also offers what it calls eXTReme Tours, which sound like something out of a Mountain Dew commercial.

The brochure promises that along the tour, riders descend more than 6,000 feet over "some of the nation's steepest, tightest, gnarlyist, out-of-the-saddle, hiked back, creepy, single tracks in the nation ... and those are the easy trails."

Been there, done that.

For people looking for a getaway weekend, Off-Road Adventures provides tours which give the opportunity to stay in a hotel or camp in the back woods. Cost of the weekend trips is around $150 to $200.

The one feature Off-Road Adventures offers that proves Reed and Guibert have their fingers on the pulse of business is the corporate tour. Designed to "build group unity essential to the work place," the corporate tours can be taken anywhere for durations from a day to a week.

The company already has a busy schedule, but Reed and Guibert are projecting an even busier calendar after "Men's Journal" airs on ESPN. The program will be airing the company's 1-800 number and logo, so a big increase in business is expected.

"A million people are going to be watching," he says. "We're prepared to take a huge jump in business. We've got guides and investors lined up."

And if one of Arizona Off-Road Adventures' programs sounds like something you might want to try, be advised to call early.

"We were told that after some companies were on other shows," Reed says, "their business was booked solid for two years."

Pretty impressive for a guy who studied philosophy and political science.