Lowcard profile

I'm proud of what you/we accomplished Dustin. We truly started out knowing absolutely nothing about carbon fibre to making great product within 6 months to market. I remember you coming into my place of work at the time and saying, "I have an idea". Although our stars didn't align, I'm proud to be employee number one.

I'm in the interior, where smooth & long dirt roads outnumber paved ones, so it only makes sense to own a gravel bike here. I would never own if I lived on the coast, as it would never get used.

Gravel riding blurs the line with bike packing/adventure biking waaaay more than gravel/light duty mountain biking. At least, that's how I envision gravel riding to align itself in the market.

I'm never one to needlessly suffer, so maybe that's why I would never take my gravel bike on technical singletrack. Unless I was connecting points, as Cooper said.

The best analogy for me would be motocross bikes vs adventure/dual sport bikes.

My sentiments exactly.

I'm semi immersed into the gravel scene now, after nearly 3 decades on knobbies. I love the different perspective that curly bars and smaller tires gives me - it opens up new possibilities to see the world by bicycle. But one thing I have learned about myself is that I don't quite understand the grey areas that people are using their gravel bikes for. If the trail requires front suspension or tires approaching 2" wide, why not just use a hardtail mountain bike? To me, gravel is gravel. Dirt roads and long distances (and not much else). Mountain bikes are so much more versatile when venturing into singletrack. To me, gravel bikes are essentially road bikes with wider bars & tires and more forgiving gearing. Is that just me?

My first bike purchased from a bike shop was a '95 Univega Alpina 503

I recall racing a national DH at Tremblant and on the course was a super sketchy off camber rock face covered in green slime. Nobody was riding it clean. I stepped up to the plate after bragging about having the North Shore as my training grounds. Then the moment my front tire hit the slime, I was sliding on my ass down the face before I even realized what had happened. I had to eat a very large crow, taste an entire humble pie, as I sheepishly coasted to the bottom of the run. Wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

So true, and knowing about these big secrets that were going down in our backyards was something special to witness or even hear about. I loved the mysticism around secret lines and what was being done on them. That's why I compare that era to Dogtown, the similarities are hard to miss.

Cheers buddy, appreciate it

100% true. Thank you

Posted by: switch

Always amazes me how some small town peeps have to constantly express their big city inferiority complex.

Ahh that condescending Vancouver attitude. Well played.

My first experience driving in Europe really opened my eyes as to how horribly selfish we North Americans are at driving.

Posted by: chupacabra

Posted by: Lowcard

The wife and I have a place in North Van, but would we ever live there again? Not a fucking chance. We'll rent it for a few years then sell it. I like visiting the area, especially in the winter when we're socked in with snow in Kamloops, but the city has lost all it's appeal for us. It's so busy that I feel claustrophobic, like I can't get away from people. So many folks are just wasting theirs lives stuck in traffic, or planning their lives around when they can leave their house. We value our freedom of movement and our personal time - to get up any morning and just go wherever we want within a reasonable driving distance. There's more to life than frittering away money.

Then there's Vancouver's cost of living and housing prices. If you're into the market already, then good for you. If you can cash out and work elsewhere, do it.

We bought a place in Newfoundland a couple years ago. $155k west facing, ocean views, fully renovated. Eventually we'll move back there because it's cheap to live and thrive, the island is beautiful, and the people are beyond amazing. I can't describe how good it is, you just have to experience it.

My brother spent a year working in Placentia and he did not share your view of NFLD.  He said the people there were quite insular and didn't really enjoy out of province people much.  He can be an asshole though, so who knows.  He is planning on moving the Nova Scotia for similar reasons to yours.

I'll admit, there are shitholes there and Placentia is one of them. Best to avoid. But the good spots make up for it. Conversely, there are dumpy places in BC and nobody seems to mind. The nice thing about NL and the Maritimes is that small towns are generally really nice places to visit. Can't say that about small town BC. Have you visited 70 Mile recently?

NL has a late spring. Really starts getting warm in June, but it can be warm into late October. Relatively speaking. We were there from July to January and the weather was amazing. Drove both directions.

The wife and I have a place in North Van, but would we ever live there again? Not a fucking chance. We'll rent it for a few years then sell it. I like visiting the area, especially in the winter when we're socked in with snow in Kamloops, but the city has lost all it's appeal for us. It's so busy that I feel claustrophobic, like I can't get away from people. So many folks are just wasting theirs lives stuck in traffic, or planning their lives around when they can leave their house. We value our freedom of movement and our personal time - to get up any morning and just go wherever we want within a reasonable driving distance. There's more to life than frittering away money.

Then there's Vancouver's cost of living and housing prices. If you're into the market already, then good for you. If you can cash out and work elsewhere, do it.

We bought a place in Newfoundland a couple years ago. $155k west facing, ocean views, fully renovated. Eventually we'll move back there because it's cheap to live and thrive, the island is beautiful, and the people are beyond amazing. I can't describe how good it is, you just have to experience it.

Lynn Valley is no longer quaint, nor a desirable place to live.

Posted by: Schnickelfritz

Posted by: syncro

Yeah, it's something I "battle" with in the scope of this forum. I also don't like letting misinfo go unchallenged, but just questioning the methods to do that when the reach of this forum is limited and a lot of people on here either have friendships beyond the screen or have know each other via screen names for a long time. In situations like this I think it would be more effective to lead someone to challenge their own views via questioning how they got to their understanding than just pointing out why they are wrong where they might be inclined to just ignore it and/or trust their own sources.

Totally agree, for the most part. The only reason that I said anything was honestly Lowcard's response, when we start engaging with misinformation as if it were true, it becomes even more convincing to those who are inclined to believe and spread it. 

Posted by: Lowcard

In a case where so much stupidity and dangerous misinformation is being spread, then yes, it should be censored. That goes for any side of politics.

Marry me

Posted by: three-sheets

Also, ive recently learned that the feds have the "right" to censor the media via the emergencies act.

Who do you trust.....

In a case where so much stupidity and dangerous misinformation is being spread, then yes, it should be censored. That goes for any side of politics.

Posted by: KenN

Displaying the expected level of intellect, Tamara Lich's husband Dwayne says he thought she was just exercising her 'first amendment' rights while testifying at her bail hearing ...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-bail-hearing-february-19-1.6358307

Explains a lot doesn't it?

The vast majority of people are quietly getting vaccinated and moving forward to help end this. The loud minority is throwing a tantrum like a bunch of bratty toddlers.

There's also a correlation between rural vaccination rates and participants in the Karen convoy (read: the rates are much lower). This explains all the pickup trucks and camo I've been seeing in these convoys.

Posted by: bux-bux

For the record I'm not opposed to these people protesting, we have freedom to do that. I do have a problem with them buzzing hospitals, harassing nurses and medical staff.

I had no idea we had so many mentally unstable people in this country.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8593962/new-westminster-vaccine-clinic-protest/

Have you met people? The average person is dumber than a bag of hammers, and 50% are below that.

We drove by the freedumb convoy through the valley on the weekend. My middle fingers were getting sore from flipping them off. Seriously, they're mostly just rednecks and wilfully ignorant people who are confusing inconvenience with oppression.