oldmanbuilder profile

Posted by: cerealkilla_
Again, adding a motor lets people do douche-bag things they wouldn't get away with on a mountain bike..,...such as boosting up the left side of the Mashiter and crashing into people coming down, or pinning it past people labouring on a climb and nearly running them off the trail. The motor simply enables more selfish behavior among people that already care little for others. Go figure.

Meanwhile, the ebike-pushers and marketers remain totally silent with respect to any discussion of courtesy. There has not been a peep from our resident walking-commercial about the extra responsibility that comes with adding a motor to the mix. No suggestion of riding in the direction of existing traffic. No discussion of giving people extra warning in advance as you scream up behind them.

Instead, I see ebike buddy posting videos of himself climbing up the downhill trails, whining about how he feels victimized when people call them mopeds, and then hypocritically ridiculing people on mountain bikes. 

If we can point a finger of blame for the broader pattern of (albeit rare) douche-bag behavior, it can point at those people that only seek to sell....selling out our sport, without a spare second to talk about courtesy. Solely focused on instant gratification, while offering every excuse in the book about helping disabled riders, getting a superior workout (while also making it effortless)....and so forth. 

There simply has been zero leadership from those that brought ebikes to the riding community, so it is little surprise that the minority of jerk-offs that do buy them, proceed to use them in such a manner. They are the same crowd that strip on front lawns, toss their empties, and blast loamers in the rain. Most people will use these rides responsibly. However, a motorized mtb provides a special attraction to those that really only care about themselves...minimal effort, maximum yahoo. 

If I ever get an ebike, and I won't rule it out, I sure as hell won't ride up Rupert and LOA, and will sure as sh*t slow down and give an extra friendly hello in advance as I seek to pass, and definitely won't use it to slap on fenders and pants so I can rip trails in the rain....but I guess that it's too much to ask that this is suggested to others. Wouldn't want to suggest that this extra fast toy comes with a bit of extra responsibility. Heaven forbid we infringe on that personal individual freedom.

thanks for taking the time to write this out.  i agree 100% but would never be able to pen such an eloquent statement.

Posted by: D_C_

DNV is closing some on-street parking this coming weekend:

https://www.dnv.org/programs-services/covid-19-updates-and-closures?fbclid=IwAR0BTqfwunsE9OalA5NcVBOsItXtblA18gjToGJdmcbI7s6DqRjZi1y41LQ#Closed

Onstreet parking is restricted in these locations used for accessing mountain trails:

Berkley Avenue, Hyannis Drive, Riverside Drive, Mountain Highway 

Riverside Drive North

Mountain Highway, south of Coleman

Woodlands, Indian River Drive – closed to public

finally some sanity

Posted by: syncro

Posted by: oldmanbuilder

our health care workers aren't just risking their lives, but also the lives of their family members. 

if the shit hits the fan all this recreational use needs to stop to ensure that no health care resources are spent on avoidable recreational injuries.  maybe we're not there yet, but the time may come when riding becomes an extremely selfish act.  i do not agree that the risk can be managed.  many people have serious accidents on easy sections of trails.

waiting for the trails to get shut down.  won't be disappointing.  at that point if you go riding, just be prepared to bleed out or crawl home and pray your bones heal in some usable manner.

if you need to workout to maintain your sanity there are less risky ways to do that.  if you think it's riding or nothing, see my selfish comment above.

Well people slip and fall in the shower, do we ban showers too? How about lightning strikes, they kill people, can we ban those? Alcohol causes issues too, better stop selling that. And cigarettes. And anything with sugar in it. And, and, and... Just how many people have serious accidents on easy sections of trails? What is the nature of these serious accidents, just how serious are they? Do you have ant data or info to back this up?

C'mon man, you haven't really thought through your statement and are trying to support it with a dubious claim. People can manage the risk, I saw lots of them doing it on Sunday.
However, I will give you points on the thought of whether some people are responsible enough to manage the risk, but that's a deeper conversation.

that the weakest argument you could come up with to try and troll me?  this is about people making decisions to reduce activities that may cause demand on the health care system.  i guess people really are too selfish to see the big picture.  the answer is me, me, me.  i'll keep doing whatever i want even though we're on the verge of being in a war zone.

god, i can only help the trails are shut down.

our health care workers aren't just risking their lives, but also the lives of their family members. 

if the shit hits the fan all this recreational use needs to stop to ensure that no health care resources are spent on avoidable recreational injuries.  maybe we're not there yet, but the time may come when riding becomes an extremely selfish act.  i do not agree that the risk can be managed.  many people have serious accidents on easy sections of trails.

waiting for the trails to get shut down.  won't be disappointing.  at that point if you go riding, just be prepared to bleed out or crawl home and pray your bones heal in some usable manner.

if you need to workout to maintain your sanity there are less risky ways to do that.  if you think it's riding or nothing, see my selfish comment above.

Posted by: LoamtoHome

waterproof shorts should come with a shovel so you can fix the trail damage afterwards....

totally.  unless you're riding the mapped NSMBA-maintained trails that can support wet weather riding.

the climbing trail is better than ever and frankly those who are complaining give me the mental image of a bunch of spoiled entitled brats.  sure saying this won't earn me any friends on here but no fucks are given.

think about how many hours of work have gone into this trail over the past 5 years.  think of all the blood sweat and tears. 

think about how much better it is than the boring road climb (give me a fucking gun to end it). 

think about how some of you are complaining about a 10-20 m loss in vertical, on the rolling break section.  who cares.  if you have any fitness it's only 10-15 mins longer than the road.  and instead of a boring road climb you've been on single track the whole time.

i guess the need to save 10-15 mins on the climb is the same need that drives people to e-bikes.  all about the descent.

the Fromme climb is one of the best trails on that mountain, excluding the old-school classics like Ladies, etc.  without a doubt the best trail improvement on Fromme in the past 15 years.  unless you like riding blown out too tight switchbacks of Espresso (meh).

downvote me to oblivion now please

Posted by: grambo
I was in Whistler on Friday and a group of 3 dudes on ebikes came flying up the Blackcomb road. They had already done two laps (Microclimate, Dark Crystal) by 11am and were on their third ride up to hit Dark Crystal again when one's battery died. They went back down to the village to get another battery and keep riding. They were friendly enough, and their POV was they are on holiday with limited time and want to ride everything... so there's an example of a somewhat sensitive trail that is getting punched hard (DC) by heavy bikes for multiple laps that would never happen except by the most fit riders on normal bikes.

perfect example of how these things will change usage patterns and mess up trails that were protected by difficulty to access.  good times in our future. 

i foresee more new trails being built iwith heinous hike a bikes.  that's the direction i would go in, anyways.

huck norris works as advertised, really reduces the impacts on rocks.  ran it on the back of my HT, which i run pretty low air.  downside is the really hard impacts will cut the foam right thru.  so after a season there's a handful of places where if i hit again it won't do anything.

looking to go to something that lasts longer and reduces impacts even more.  i would try cushcore if not so $$$.  maybe the vittoria next?

EX471 or EX511 without question

glad to see some people are thinking long-term.  we're still in such early days with adoption and technology that drawing any inferences about future issues from the current-day conditions is quite misguided.

combine the e-bike trend with the general trends of more sanitized trails and it's hard not to conclude that the sport is going to change significantly.  sure there will still be gnarly trails around that aren't swamped with people, but these will continue to get fewer and fewer, as they're pushed even further out in to the boonies.

i for one am not looking forward to the crowds and further sanitization of trails.