OLDF150 profile

This'll be a great alternative for a day or weekend trip from Kelowna instead of the usual Revelstoke!

NSMB and Mike Ferrentino, aging like a fine wine.  Just wanted to thank you for this, and all the wonderful comments that followed the article. MMM, coffee, bikes, and working washing machines.  Isn't life grand?

I joined a Bootcamp to help recover from a tibial plateau fracture in 2019.  Best decision my wife ever suggested to me and I still go to this day because the benefits to overall strength and flexibility, as well as learning proper movement, will last me a lifetime.  30 minutes each session and well worth the effort.

Hey Peter.  I'm sure you've ridden in the Okanagan before, but just for you and everyone reading this, please keep in mind, many people who come here from the coastal region get an unexpected number of flats because of all the sharp edged rocks in this region.  I live in Kelowna and it's not as severe as Penticton. Penticton has tons of it and I'd hate to see an awesome week become frustrating from too many unforseen flats.  Enjoy the Okanagan, it's such a great riding area.

This article really hit home for me as I'm transitioning from trying to improve jumps and speed to improving fitness and climbing ability.  The last few years, I haven't listened closely enough to what my body is telling me and have had injuries that'll last a lifetime.  But, I'm not ready to give up on riding, I love it too much.  So, I'm going to lean more towards climbing and tech skills and bring down the speed and for the most part, 2 wheels on the ground. But, I will always want to progress, as that is part of what I love about this sport.

I'm considering downsizing in travel from an Instinct BC to a Blur TR and your review was pretty inspiring Pete.  Thanks for all the good perspectives.

I hear ya there Tim, and the last time I used flats for an extended period of time(about 7 or 8 years ago), I had those same issues and ended up going back to clips until I broke my leg.  I don't know if shoes are better, or if its the HIIT training I do throughout the week, but I don't have any of those issues any more, so the flats are my go to.  @thedumpsters I change shoes, even being on flats.  Must be an old clip shoe habit, LOL.  I do sometimes miss that locked in feeling though.  Defintiely just a matter of what works for each person.  It's awesome that we all can find what works for our individual quirks these days.

This article really speaks to me Andrew.  Being 52 this year and on my 2nd tibial plateau fracture in 2 years, I was in need of flat pedal useage after the first one. I ended up enjoying it so much, along with a gym membership that allowed me to keep up with most of my riding group, that I didn't plan on going back to clipping in. But, I kept the enduro type bike and pushed the limits a bit too far and am now recouping from the 2nd tpf.  so, now I've decided I need to be more XC in my riding style, and was wondering, do people ride flats on XC bikes? I want to, but would the community allow it, LOL? My plan is to ditch the enduro bike for something closer to XC (eliminate the send temptation) and stick with the flats. Glad to hear I won't be the only person doing this combo! Thanks again for a great article.

Actually, I bet you can ride with about 9 friends.  You just have to lay down the other 8 in the bed and then use a couple tie down straps to keep them safe to the destination.

My big takeaway from this Uncle Dave, is that yes, we need a better metric for how far back from the cranks my seat will be.  Add that with the reach number and i'd finally have some useable data.  I'm not extremely tall at 5'11" but my long legs mean most bikes that I've owned over the years could stand to have way better seat tube angles.  Until I bought an XL Instinct BC and slid the seat all the way forward, I've never had an ideal seat tube angles.  Nice thing is, the latest bikes are finally starting to address this issue for those of us with long legs. Ahhh, the human body, such a PITA to find an ideal fitting bike since we all vary shape and size so much.

Fabien Barel has been messing with this geometry stuff since his Kona days. There was an article back then written in Dirt mag about all the testing of different geos for the Kona. The main thing they found was that the rider was in the best position when they were in the centre of the bike. Head angles weren't as important as get that centred position on the bike. My guess is that is what they are going for with this new geometry. Get you in the centre of the bike. They didn't touch on it but I wonder if the seat tube is less angled as well to get you in the centre of the bike. It'd be really interesting to compare two Foxy's, 2012 and 2013 to really see if there is a difference.