FlipFantasia profile

I think Dave covers off most of that, fwiw.

I'm 5'9" on a large gen 3 bronson, with shortest (31mm) chromag ranger stem and 35mm rise bars, and would prefer medium I think, but also 0 ape index...my proclivity toward manoeuvrability and handling over riding a plow probably contributing to that! haha

subtlty and discretion are a lost art.

unintended consequences of policy driven by ideology and ego is something I have to deal with way to often! lol

yeah, you'd think. The CCF is a whole'nother mess...and they've only pulled the 3 smaller ampm/IBT area blocks, seems SCAP/High Side has not been amended yet, not sure how or if they plan on avoiding impacts there.

and to be fair, I have no problem lobbying entities like CCF to avoid impacting existing trails regardless of their official status as there are lots of mitigation options, although I also believe that when one builds a trail without approval on crown land you can't be too indignant about it if and when it's impacted by other land use considerations.

Seb deserves a heap of kudos too! but thanks, Brian!

yup, and the other issue that raises, is that while people (Trail orgs) wait to do things "properly" there are lots of examples where unsanctioned building moves into those places and impacts those plans in the interim...happening in places in Whistler.

I have a mini, granted it was a gift, but since not getting cell signals within close proximity to town is a reality of the sea to sky I find it reassuring to have with me either riding, hiking, dog walking, or driving on FSR's. Find my friend also is handy for that, but not as reliable given the cell coverage issues.

I just share my inreach tracking with my wife.

Far Out/Flashback took that long for a number of reasons, that didn't really have to happen, but we were playing by the rules we were being presented with and in the end the process took that long, unfortunately. 

It's somewhat validating, however, to see that the importance and need for those trails was immediately realized and the passion with which the community came together to help build it out over the past few years. I personally have a lot invested into that project and can look at it with a lot of pride in what we are achieving with it.

**Posted by: cooperquinn

**I'm honestly less concerned about e-bikes creating access challenges than the explosion in mountain biking as a whole, and just people generally being narcissistic, entitled..... nevermind.

Mmmmmhmmmmmm, hard to stay passionate about advocacy in the current environment

stepping into this geo discussion a bit late, but I think I'm in the minority when it comes to this, but I generally really prefer the steeper head angles, and while I know running a 160mm slackens my Samurai out somewhat over stock I overall like that faster old school handling, especially on technical singletrack that reacts quickly to rider input to get on the smoother lines and whatnot. That being said I recognize that I also choose my weapon depending on the ride, and generally wouldn't choose the hardtail for higher speed, and rougher sustained descending rides, so I think so of the benefits of the longer/slacker newer generation hardtails is *generally* lost on me personally. Does this make me a retro-grouch? lol

Posted by: PowellRiviera

Awesome ride man Flip. Inspiring. 

Last summer I picked up a 2015 26’er samurai for my son. It’s such a sweet ride. We have the 130-160 pike as well which is a great fit for it. 

Thanks again for the teport

cheers! are you sure that 2015 isn't 27.5? pretty sure 2013 they switched to that, I think my frame was one of the first 5 of the production run Mike Trulove did.

Posted by: fartymarty

Thanks. Is that bar tape or extra grips inside the brake levers?

athletic wrap for Flip Jr. when he's on the mac-ride! hahaha, but also doubles as nice place for hands when you're leaned over into a unrelenting headwind flailing at aerodynamicness....

at the request of fartymarty from the meatpowered thread...my 2013 Chromag Samurai65 decked out for the Merritt Crown last Saturday

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Awesome effort FF! My legs are cramping just thinking about it.

What did you do in terms of foodstuffs?

I’d like to get out and do some events once I get my back sorted.

In terms of food I was pretty over prepared...they had 3 aid stations ~ every 30km which were well stocked and had our drop bags. I carried a baggie of home made trail mix, which was just nuts, sour keys, gummy worms, and some chocolate chunks, a zip loc of pepperoni sticks and jerky, and then some concentrated fruit bars and some gels and would restock from my drop bags at the aid stations. I took a lot of my food home! haha!

Here ya on the back issues, one of my concerns was that my upper back/thoracic would get super tight and sore, which is normal for me, but it stayed pretty okay which I credit to the aforementioned fit of the bike. And while I've definitely mulled the mullet, tbh, more concerned about how it might eff what I love about the quick handling nature of the bike...it does currently have an older travel adjust pike rc on it, and I use the 130mm setting quite a bit on this bike, but it sure is nice to be able to go back to the full 160 when it gets steeper and more technical.

This group will appreciate this...Just did the 117km/3000+m Merritt Crown XC event on Saturday, originally started thinking I should n+1 and get a carbon 29'er hardtail, but the used market was mediocre and couldn't bring myself to drop on a new rig even if there are some deals around.

After reacquainting myself with my 2013 Samurai65 on longer trail rides (it's been in use as Flip Jr's mac ride chariot for the wife and I the past 4 years), it was decided, n will be sufficient. In true min-max fashion, it also features a 12-speed hg SLX/Deore drivetrain, and pnw post I put on last year. Found some 2.2 EXO Ikon's online (impossible to find on the coast), to put on the 2015 Giant Reign OEM wheelset I had re-laced with new nipples in 2016 and they've run straight and true since. The brakes are the original 2013 XO Trails which have been incredibly reliable over the years, the 50mm stem a chromag ranger that I believe is also original.

Well, fact is, this bike continues to be amazing even a decade in. Reliable, responsive, fun. I've ridden quite a few bikes since I got this, but even with all the modern geometry 'improvements', this is still hands down the most comfortable bike I own and it just feels right every time I get on it.

The race was sick, albeit certainly a hard challenge. One wrong turn at the wrong time added about 4km and 350m of climbing to my day so final stats were 120km and 3349m of climbing and I finished in 9h7m. Rode with some guys I really respect as fast riders most of the day, didn't cramp, and had pretty solid legs throughout. 30-40+km/h headwind on the back 50km was incredibly challenging, physically and mentally. Finished 22nd overall out of 67 starters, and 5th in the middle aged class. Do challenging things, it's good for your brain and soul!

Posted by: grambo

Curious for some reviews of the new Creekside trails once they open this weekend. Especially the new double black tech one and also the Lemon Drop trail off top of Garbo.

pumpkin moon is really fun, didn't realize they were rating to double though, not sure it's that hard...not very long. Odesa/Spingnar/Call Me Maybe are all really good too, but unfortunately they were really dry in the fall, and we haven't really had much moisture this spring, so I'd imagine it will be rather sandboxy in places.

the jockification of mountain biking to kids is one thing that really disappointments me, as the non-traditional nature of the sport is what drew me to it initially. It was devoid of a lot of the things that annoyed me about traditional team sports in high school, them being cliquey and arrogant. The bike group was everything those sports weren't, and now unfortunately I'd argue that isn't the case, and that's a shame.

I love the youth camps that many of the local clubs do since they're mostly focused on skills development, being outside, socializing and developing life long riders...unfortunately the plethora of race focused stuff, even for pretty young kids, feels like we're just perpetuating the jocky self-interested nature of the sport rather then the community aspects...but, I'm just an old ranty man lamenting the 'old days'....hahaha

Posted by: cooperquinn

Just... to set the scale, though. 2000 tons of rock is.... a cube about 9m on each side.

yup, not a lot, but enough to make people bristle