DanL profile

Too true on the gym issues, AJ. I rarely encounter a trail feature or a climb where the bike is holding me back compared to my fitness and recovery level. I can hear my dad's voice saying "get fit to play squash, don't play squash to get fit" but it's a lot of discipline to not just go out and ride instead!

Cornflour paste tyre inserts are the future

I went to test out chain wax after a thread on here. It was fairly easy process - remove all leftover crap using auto brake cleaner and slosh the chain around it in a can for a day. Then clean up and let the cleaner evaporate. That's the flammable, dangerous stuff done....
Then I laid the chain out and dripped 'Squirt' wax chain lube on each roller, let it dry, flipped the chain over again and repeated. Wiped off, linky linky clicky clicky and off I rode. Removing and waxing is a fairly easy setup and I have accumulated zero gunk on pulley wheels, drivechain etc so far. Nice sounds too.

Have a look at the Somewear  - it ticks an awful lot of boxes for this - Jeremy Jones appropved as well! 

Also, chainbreakers - the only thing I have to find a place on my bike for as my EDC has the plug/bacons. I knew I was missing something.

dang it, they have such a charming name!

late to the party but I just saw Kona Wee Wee flats for sale - these look like a great option if the composite deitys/stamps/wahwahs are too big

Yes - Stamp composites have been a staple for the entire family, love em!

Although I couldn't afford a full Spawn they have a full set of cranks and options which really worked out to move my daughter's 20" bicycle to a 1by for minimal expense and made it so that I could use a real chainring instead of those stamped plates.

But then I'd have to move!

You're all getting sidetracked with these half measures - all dropper posts are half working - I am waiting for one that drops without me sitting on it. Don't get distracted by the Big Dropper industrial complex.

I christen it "moon on a stick"(tm) and I desire it.

Although BMC showed one in 2019

"my only regret is that I have boneitis"

Oh, you read me wrong - I'm over the moon that it was 3 days.

I scored a pair of Iguana green ones and slap me with a fish and call me Shirley, they meet the hype and go way past it. 

Never having worn long longs on a bicycle and combined with the fact that I sweat really easily, I was having a little buyer's concern in the 3 days it took them to ship to me (3 days!).

Now how good did they feel for me? I bought different knee pads for them, that's how good.

My 7idp flex knees fit under them fine but I found that pads with a cutout at the back started to rub on hamstrings, so the 7idp Sam Hills stopped that straight away. If the NFs weren't as good as they were I would have sold them on.

Thanks Kevin - I think Howler will be a great one and I always enjoy the chill pedal back from trails in Whistler after a session, so parking probably won't rear it's head

I assumed it was still snow covered! Otherwise, hells yes! Do you park at Meadow Park or is there other street parking?

I've got the opportunity to get in a ride this weekend in the Whistler area but it looks like there's some rain coming through - I've got a choice of either BusinessTime/Tunnel Vision loop, Pura Vida+Danimal/ButterFlies or Yummy Numby->Comfortably Numb Foreplay descent

I was wondering if there was a list of which trails hold up better in the rain or if anyone can comment on the choices I have available or whether there's something else I should have a look at -

I can still get by with their mishmash of softwares, but yes, I'm really unable to find something that combines the longevity and feature set. Once I figured the turn by turn setup to export out from maps, it was all gravy

I'll throw my super low budget option in - Suunto Ambit Peak3 - good GPS tracking, amazing battery life, many functions including the heart rate stuff, ok software support and ability to build your own turn by turn gps routes from any decent mapping website that exports the right file formats. And because it's in weird not supported limbo at Suunto it's very cheap.

Downside, it's basic with a B&W display and looks (is) old compared to the latest Fenix/Suuntos/Garmins but you can pick them up for next to nothing - same as a set of tires. I'm looking at replacements but this thing is also bulletproof so it's hard to get rid of it

April 19th - some thick snow patches above last switchback on the way to 7th to walk or power through. Made for a great way to cool down after a hot climb. Then thin slush/snow on the first 100m of 7th but probably due to it being sheltered from the sun. It looked like Bookwus/Upper OC is clear from the get go.

I think that no-one plans to crash, for sure, but echoing words from Steve Vanderhoek "If you choose to pick up the bike you are accepting there is no way to mitigate all the risks" and now that ICUs are about to go into proper, scary triage it's worth thinking about the impact it would have.

The messaging has been particularly awful imho as this pandemic has gone on; with vague requests and zero real enforcement - but the start of last summer for crowds of riders, post and pre ride gatherings and shuttling was a shit show on the the north shore. And this was before it really took off.Many, many residents got really pissed off having to navigate around groups of riders on sidewalks etc etc etc and spoke of this as a primary concern to the DNV. Look how quarry rock got shut and look how quickly parking restrictions (and specific no shuttling signs) got thrown down in a reaction to resident complaints.

Lynn Valley was the first epicentre of covid for BC with 7 lost almost straight away and people aren't going to forget how this unfolded last year and the casual disregard from many visible trail users that was on display - the trouble is, a car loaded with bikes is a really easy target to aim at when talking to the DNV compared to a car full of hikers/dogwalkers/whatever which makes the whole thing come down on the riding community really hard. So considering how residents remember this last year you gives a little context to this request, right or wrong. 

I watched this unfolding from my window daily - it really pissed me off and I advocate for riding on the North Shore as much as anyone else here. I was genuinely worried that we were going to see all trails shut, maybe for good. So many people in the area just could not believe the nose thumbing they had to deal with on top of everything else that was happening. 

And I'm preaching to the choir here. Does it help to stop all non-local travel for recreation? I have no real data to look at apart from maybe PEI and the other atlantic provinces, but it seems like a reasonable idea when many travel to a single place to enjoy a public resource with limited methods for access. 

What's the answer? No idea with the current 'hope that people do the right thing' methodology. My family are spread across three continents and have been through various degrees of lockdown from full police state to curfews and I can see which has worked and which hasn't in that exact context. But try to please understand where people are coming from when making decisions that are for a temporary time but may have long lasting impacts - be sneaky, be quiet, don't be obvious and all those other things.