El Gringo

Thank you, professor. Everyone has individual needs. My stepfather was involved in a very serious car crash in college - ejected from the vehicle and wasn't expected to live. Once he did pull through, the doctors said he would never walk or talk, he learned - through herculean effort to do both. He completed college and traveled extensively throughout the world, and spent most of his life reading.He's very well educated. He is now 81. He's not looking to go to the Dollar Store. He's looking for quality of life. We'd rather he be in quarantine with our family, rather than sitting alone in his own room - but we would have to make special accommodations for his situation. Respectfully, we took this much more seriously much earlier than most others did, and were prepared. The last thing we need is *education* from self-important armchair quarterbacks who think they have all the answers for everyone else. Quit wasting the tens-of-thousands of tax dollars I spend every year and let me use some of it to make my own decisions. I have a BA, an MBA, and a law degree, was a CBR warfare specialist, and spent 8 years working in infectious disease for J&J. If I can't be trusted to make sound decisions, then clearly education isn't worth anything.

6) Tax breaks to renovate residences/properties to accommodate parents currently residing in assisted living facilities. These people are now completely shut off from their families and the outside world. In humane. We are dealing with this personally. Give us the resources to give quality of life to our seniors and decrease/eliminate a vector for the spread of the disease. Much better ROI than than solar panels to warm your pool.

Things governments could do help out, if they really cared (Feel free to add on): 1) Open BCP/Forest Ridge to recreation to reduce density at parks/trails and keep up with Austin's population boom 2) Return the drinking age to 18. It used to be 18 (then 19) in Texas. Then, when Reagan tied highway finding to the drinking age, Texas raised it to 21. My son just moved back from Canada and could be fueling local establishments as he did in Canada, but he's only 20. He also pointed out to me that Texas should opt out of the funding anyway because it's a net loser for Texas: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Lawmakers-say-Texas-getting-shortchanged-on-13733169.php 3) Abandon the asinine proposal to send US troops to the Canadian Border. We continue to allow travelers from hot-spot countries in other parts of the world with no screening (first-had knowledge of this) but now we're going to militarize the Canadian Border - I think there's more useful ways to deploy our troops? 4) Instead of tax breaks for solar panels, hybrid vehicles, etc., provide tax breaks for people to prepare for emergencies (outbreaks, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.) so they don't freakout and clean out the grocery store at the last minute. A home freeze dryer is $2,600. Awesome for being prepared and prepping your own custom meals for camping, etc. and the food lasts up to 25 years. 5) Declare defeat in the War on Drugs. This sucks up $51B annually of US taxpayer money and results in having to endure pedantic PSAs. We recently made multiple border crossings between WA and Canada. I was a CBR warfare specialist in a previous life and took all the precautions to maintain a "clean" environment while we traveled through WA and OR. Our biggest compromises occurred at the border. In Canada, paranoia that we were trying bring in "cannabis products" at 1:30AM resulted in a secondary detention, complete with swabs of our bodies, a tear-down of my truck, and a drug-sniffing dog. Talk about vectors for infection. Coming back into the US, same thing - repeated questioning over marijuana and "party drugs" followed by the customs agent wiping his nose and then rubbing his hands all over our passports. Despite a growing outbreak in WA and OR, not a single question about where we had traveled, whether we were feeling, well, had recently been on a commercial aircraft. My cynical side wonders if they weren't trying to spread it. No concern for COVID-19, but great concern over a natural plant - which, by the way, is legal for recreational use both in Canada and WA.

I'm just curious . . . Who here has served in the Armed Forces? And in what capacity?

Totally fine with sharing the trails! The only thing that does annoy me is runners that run on obvious MTB features: specifically, running uphill on jump lines. Dangerous and adds maintenance to my routine. Other than that, glad to see ya out there! The more users, the more trails!

Yes. It was quite severe. Quite a large branch (actually, think small log size) went completely through the leg. As I understand, it went through the bones and completely dissected the achilles. I suppose there were multiple factors in play: 1) Given the size of the projectile and the extent of the damage, it would have been very difficult to transport him through BCGB terrain. 2) With damage like that, you are in danger of losing a limb (the doctors were concerned with this, but evidently they avoided that outcome). When I shattered my tibia and broke my ankle in AF, I was evac'd (by a Gator - very painful ride down the mountain) to the urgent care at the bottom of the mountain. After sending my x-rays to an ER ortho in Taos, they instructed me to get to Taos ASAP. They performed an emergency reduction on my tibia before sending me to Taos. The concern was that such massive damage resulted in reduced blood flow to the ankle. The ER ortho was concerned that I would "lose my ankle." Time is of the essence. I don't know the rider, but I understand he is a top athlete and has a long road to recovery. Keep him in your prayers.

And COVID-19 was just the flu . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_vvex_mfik

There are legitimate questions: https://emfscientist.org/

Turns out this was a friend of a friend. He sent me pics today. I'm not posting them out of respect for his privacy, but I will say . . . wow. I've had a similar injury that took out ~a tennis ball sized chunk of flesh . . . enough that the ER doc asked if his students could watch the stitching method. Nothing compared to what this rider had. He is a serious trooper.

I think dropper posts are still there.

Not really. First of all, it's surprisingly rare to encounter another riders on the trails outside of the bike park. Secondly, the terrain doesn't make it practical. Given the drops, etc. I'm not sure you could keep a speaker on the bike - but I agree, I don't like audible music so I've never tried securing anything like that to my bike.

Yep. She was climbing up a rock face we had been sesh'g to retrieve her bike. As she was pulling herself up to the top, she noticed bushes moving and a bear popped out. I think her mistake was letting go. She fell back to the bottom, which I think the bear perceived as fleeing. YOU DO NOT RUN FROM A BEAR. Everything you've heard about bears not being able to run downhill is complete rubbish. That thing came down that rock face so fast. It's an all-terrain animal. From there, Kendra did pretty much everything right. She stood her ground and shouted, "Bad bear! Bad bear! Go away bear!" At that time, I couldn't see him anymore, but I would see by where she was pointing that he was close. She later told me he was in a stalking walk coming toward her. At that point, We started talking to her. THAT stopped the advance and the bear stood on its hind legs. Not a sign aggression, but curiosity. What Kendra forgot to do was back away. She gets aggressive when she gets spun up and she started stomping her feet. In the bear world that IS a sign of aggression. By that time, I had made my way over there and backed away with her. The bear went back up the rock - and the most terrifying part of the encounter🤣 - started sniffing her bike. He eventually went into the bushes and I went up to get her bike. That was a nerve-racking recovery mission. This came a week after I almost ran into a sow and her cub. She displayed aggression, but didn't charge. I was within 10' of her. I got off my bike, put it in front of me and slowly backed away. Thankfully, the cub didn't come over to check me out, as they sometimes do. Here's some tips: 1. Make noise when you're riding in bear country. Bear bells DO NOT work. We shout to each other, sing, etc. Yes, we feel like fools. 2. Ride in groups of 2-3. When we're together, bears seem to see us as on entity. The bigger we look (like with mtn lions) the better. 3. Carry bear spray when practical. 4. Scan local resources for bear sightings/reports. 5. If you encounter a bear, do not run. Stand your ground and speak authoritatively to it back back away. 6. Pray. Just glad we weren't this guy - and yes, this video is real.

To be fair, the $10-12K price tag is the upper end. The price at the top of the article is $5,950. The Kenevo (which is the model we're interested in) is listed on their site at $6,345 (marked down from $7,550). That price point is still steep, but definitely has us thinking about it. The climbs in the videos I posted generally take an hour or so to complete. So to do 3 downhill runs in a day, you're looking at 3+ hours of climbing alone (mountains, not hills). For us, $6,345 is a strong value proposition to multiply the time we get to spend riding the fun stuff. A season pass to Whistler Bike Park is ~$600. While we would never consider foregoing the bike park, $6,400 to open up the ability to do more laps outside the park would be awesome! It's also interesting to note that the Resort Municipality of Whistler is (kind of) embracing eMTBs, allowing access on many trails, except in the alpine zones: https://www.whistler.ca/services/transportation/cycling/e-bikes. I think the issue of grizzly bear management may have to do with the increased traffic, but I'm not sure. I will say that an eMTB would have been nice to have last summer, when my wife got boxed-in by a grizzly. Her only escape route was a very steep downhill we had just come down. The bear was more interested in me, but I had a clear escape route. An eMTB would have given her a viable option to clear the area more efficiently. On that note, the bear activity was highly elevated last year (probably because of fires in surrounding areas the year before) and this was the first year we (my wife) were actually charged by a bear. We did this run Rock Work Orange - Korova Milk Bar - Wizard's Burial Ground. WBG is gnarly and my wife was gassed. She bailed out there. Given our encounters up there, we all would have felt better if she had one more tool in her quiver to get her back to the truck.

PM me if you want me to show you around.

Clearly, you didn't watch the video.

There's this, too: This is who eBikes are for . . . Honestly, I see a huge benefit for increased camaraderie and cross-pollination of skills. There are some riders I avoid riding with because they're hammers uphill and I am not. But I guarantee they'd have fun descending with me😀. I can totally sympathize with the situation of the guy who wants to do another lap but the other guy is like, "No way I'm going back up that hill!"

Then there's this: Paul Bas: The eBike is My Tool of Freedom Pay attention at 3:20. Imagine being "that guy" heckling the dude on an eBike only to get to the bottom of the trail and realizing you were dissing Bas. My heart goes out to, and I have the utmost respect for, those riders I see every year on some sort of adaptive MTB. That spirit to overcome adversity and go back to doing what you love is inspirational.

This is why: Whistler - Dark Crystal For those not into DH/Mtn riding, I guess I can see the mockery - though I wonder how many have actually been on an ebike. I demoed a Pivot Shuttle and it was awesome. Granted, I'm accustomed to riding DH, and my DH rig is ~ 40 lbs. The Pivot weighs in at ~45.5 lbs. It seemed a bit bulky at first, but after 5 min., I got used to it. Even at 45 lbs, it jumped just fine, felt balanced in the air, etc. Riding it at the trails we're building at the church, it made the uphills so much fun! As a trail builder, it opened up the possibility of doing flow trails uphill. Imagine getting done with the downhill and then pointing uphill and getting to do more flow and even jumps on the way back up. Sweet! We spend our summers in Whistler and we've done it for years. We have yet to hit half the trails outside the bike park. Anyone who thinks any type of assist in going uphill (ebike, lift, shuttle) is cheating, I challenge you to do 6 hours (or less) of DH. It's physically challenging and, to a much lesser extent than uphill, if you get tired and make a mistake, you're going to get hurt. There are epic trails outside the park, but the climbs to get there . . . oof. I would totally love to have an ebike up there. The riding level in Canada is insane. Shift right on everything - a black here is a blue there. And outside the park, shift right again. Honestly, it's a testament to a different mindset - I'm surprised (but pleased) the municipality allows some of those trails to exist, as they cannot only be treacherous, but have high consequence for failure. A trail like Dark Crystal illustrates the point. By the time you get to the trailhead and are ready to get down to business, you've already had a significant workout. Even though a lot of the climbing is on fire road, these are roads built for 4x4 access and they can be very steep - get off the bike and push steep. If I had the cash to buy two of these things (no way I could get one and not get one for my wife) I would, though we'd get the Kenevo. No way would I shame anyone for riding one those up there other than out of pure envy.

I tried an eMTB from Pivot during the demo days. I think I'm hooked. it was so fun!

To whoever made the lumber donation . . . THANK YOU!!! I can really use that stuff.😁

Church jumps were G2G yesterday evening, so I'd bet most/all of Ninja is good. Should be a great day!

Seriously? Hit us up. Let's session! The Christ Church jumps were running awesome yesterday - so fast. Tonight, we hit the Peddler jumps, b/c we knew the rain was coming in. We built them both, so you can't be shamed for riding when "wet":) So glad we got to do that, b/c it looks like days before we get to ride again. (Hint: build).

In its current state (before destruction) it actually saw a fair amount of traffic. RHR and FR512 riders use the bathrooms and showers, as well as the deck area to hang out. During events, it also gets a lot of traffic. A new saloon wouldn't make sense, but a pavilion with bathrooms would. That's also the main intake area for submitting waivers and day fees. A small fundraiser may prod rebuilding, but I'm pretty sure Grey has insurance to cover this if he wants to rebuild it.

Church jumps are running really well . . . just sayin'!