meloroast profile

Yes to gently used gear! Luckily as a lady rider I've got the Mudbunnies Facebook group where folks often clear out closets of unused gear (where do people get all this stuff???) or newbies who opted to hang up their pads after a few not too successful rides. As long as it's only mildly used! 

I would probably stop short at helmets though cause really you never know and I'm not skimping on the noggin!

Getting in your fitness however you can is key. I had a bad fall in July 2021 (rotator cuff - so similar prognosis wrt time to full recovery being 6-12months) and while I couldn't ride for awhile, I continued trail running/hiking as much as possible. Now I'm also in the gym to keep muscle mass up. 

Not gonna lie, first few weeks were horrid and I fell into a bit of a depression. Time went by soooooooo slowly. It became easier once the initial acute phase had passed (a month or so) and I could move the bod in other ways. 

Great you've got solid family support! Tweaking my diet to support healing and recovery were also key. Good luck and heal up soon!

Well this is the most sane thing I've read on here so far. Completely agree. Especially the first sentence...let's all take a breath.

Maps of Home is mesmerising. Thx for reco!

Great timely article! And if people are wondering which trails are wet weather friendly they are marked on Trailforks!

I like the look of the kneepads and that they extend a bit higher than most. But it almost seems like they are also shorter not extending over the shins quite as much as typical knee pads...

This is a great list thanks Pete! Even something like this list...a quick and dirty summary of some key resources for newbies would probably go a long way. I just added that book to my queue.

I totally agree. Part of the reason why I chimed in here was just because I enjoy the site a lot but am at a loss when it comes to some content. That's the growing space though. Just because a reader doesn't find content at their level doesn't mean a site should necessarily shift gears. :) 

At some point I'd like to think I will be able to get more out of the super nerdy content!

Yes absolutely I've been advocating for MBs to do a course unfortunately with Covid all the in person ones have been cancelled in the past year. I'll definitely be looking around though.

Just reserved it from the library! Thanks for the suggestion.

Posted by: syncro

That's good, but goes to show the importance heart check-ups, especially after 40. A lot of people mistakenly think that just because they are active and eat fairly well that they don't have to worry about heart health - which isn't true.

Yes! And this is also very true for women...heart disease is the number 1 cause of death in women even though we hear way more about cancer.

I love this thread thanks everyone! I ride but I also trail run and one of my favourite things is to head out on a random loader and see where it takes me. So many gems out there.

Get these for your wife and you can start a new riding club at VanTan. 

https://7mesh.com/foundation-bib-short-women

It's such a cool trail! We did a trail run down it and loved seeing all the relics. I'm pretty sure there was a skinny that ended with a significant drop and a tree right in front of it!

Posted by: syncro

It’s a shame GMG got taken back by the forest. Not really a secret trail, it was on maps for a long time.  There’s enough cedar in that zone to rebuild it if someone wanted to take it on. I think what killed it was the difficulty and the climb, not enough riders willing to go up there to ride it.

I would think with so many people I read on here complaining about not enough tech trails etc this would be a great option! Just a tiny bit further than 7th, I would think there could be some decent interest if a builder took it on.

Ted Lasso - really funny, light but smart (appletv)

For All Manking - historical fiction based on what may have happened if the space race had continued (appletv)

Mare of Easttown - most have probably heard of this already but a solid piece of police drama but also indirectly looks at the impacts of multi-generational family trauma (I think hbo max...I downloaded)

I Shouldn't Be Alive - I was a bit obsessed with this series for awhile. Real tales and depictions of people who almost perished in the wild...forest, desert, ocean. (YouTube)

Alone - great series where people are dropped in the middle of nowhere and have to survive with their 10 items for as long as they can. Patagonia, Vancouver Island, Arctic...really interesting look at solitude and survival skills. (Netflix US...I think I also downloaded some)

Posted by: Couch_Surfer

This’ll be interesting.  How do they distinguish between Bro-shuttlers and people with bike racks shopping?

At some store lots they have security guards roaming around actually looking at where people go and whether they go into the store. Wonder if that's what will happen here?

I've been working with First Nations all over BC for about 17 years now (6 as a consultant and 11 for federal gov) and while I am by no means an authority on things Indigenous, what I have learned is that every organisation I've worked for continues to have inherently racist attitudes and policies wrt FNs. Every year I tell myself I have to leave, but I keep at it. Not sure why other than sometimes I feel like working from the inside may be more effective than from the outside. But banging your head against a brick wall really wears at you.

At least at this point in my career I voice my perspectives freely and call bullshit when I see it (not always well received). But let me be clear...reconciliation is a politically motivated shell game with no teeth. The government does not want to give up any control or actually engage in developing frameworks for shared or collaborative decision-making. They think FNs will walk away if we through enough cash and pomp and circumstance their way. They won't, and they shouldn't. But I do not blame them for taking the little being offered.

I was involved in an initiative where basically all we wanted to do was codify already existing shared decision-making protocols and even that was halted because they didn't want put it on paper for everyone to see and for us to be bound by (i.e., wanted to be able to renege on the few collaborative processes we have with FNs). I've also seen executives put their 'spin' on interpreting a legal agreement with a FN group because they didn't want to collaborate anymore (i.e., cough cough Harper gov). The layers of bullshit are flabbergasting.

I pay in cash (NSMBA annual membership) and sweat (trail building days). I think both are essential and should be mandatory BUT obviously not enforceable which is also a model I support. 

I put in a lot of trail building hours last year for the first time in my 6 years of riding and I loved it, made great friends, and learned a TON about the trails that have actually helped my riding. Highly recommend it if you can.

Totally depends on mood, energy level, time to ride, and whether I'm riding solo or w group/friend for me. I live at Mtn Hwy/Lynn Valley Rd so Fromme is closest but Seymour is up there and I also love heading to Squamish for the day. I've ridden SFU, Sumas, Burke etc but North Shore/Squamish are my favs. 

Locally, if I'm kinda tired from work sometimes I prefer the mtn hwy climb as a mindless grind. Sometimes I want to ride something familiar vs a trail with a lot more features I'm working on and have ridden less. My approach this year is to try new trails so I have more of a range to pick from. 

Vibe is also a factor...east Seymour (Old Buck) feels different from Hyannis entry etc. I definitely tap into intuition more than anything, especially if solo riding. 

But to answer your question...no! Live your life, ride your bike.