Further Reading: F1 Data, Ski Town Challenges, & Neil Armstrong's Search for Gold Tablets

 Totally agree. Keep it coming Mike Levy.

 Disappointed they missed these gems
www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/nascar-romance

 100% id say the non or barely bike content is some of my favorite stuff. Can only read session jokes and moaning about.....everything....so many times before a mtbless tonic is required

 Well its obviously just to push more Outside content. But yeah, It's a nice idea. Being the off season pink bike gets pretty boring anyway, people might aswell read.

 Worth it.

 I'll do that trade.

 @mikelevy: do you listen to Last Podcast on the Left? They have some fantastic alien episodes.

 The Art of the Deal

 They're trying to keep us from looking up by making us spend too much time looking down while working on the routing.

 @mikelevy: They're trying to get us used to the aesthetic of having cables going into our heads.

 Liberty Media desperately need new superstars to replace Sir Lewis, General Eyebrows and Seb. All the last few years have convinced me is that Max isn't it, he's the next Nelson Piquet (senior).

 he's definitely a great driver, but seems like he's trying to be very hard to like What I mean is, this guy seems like a dick.

 @Fix-the-Spade: Who TF is General Eyebrows?

 @slowmoe: LOL Alonso dude haha

 @mariomtblt totally agree, Max should do just like Lewis did to Anthony, "dad I am off to Mercedes, but it also means you will no longer micromanage my career, from now on you are just an spectator (and low key checo's dad lover ;P)" it worked out excellently.

 If Checo did crash intentionally, he's a way better driver than we all know.

 The reason Max is as good as he is due to his Dad. He’s destroyed his teammates so it must be working.

 @jclnv: yeah, and that’s legit. Good on them, I love seeing max shred the track. But off the track is what we’re talking about here, to act cooler, precisely BECAUSE is his skill

 @mariomtblt: What has he said that you take issue with? He reminds me of Senna or Schumacher a bit. I don’t think he’s got a lot of patience for the politics of the sport but he’s also willing to win at any cost which often puts him in a compromised position with the media.

 @Fix-the-Spade: Max is just being himself. He doesn’t car if people like him or not and will always speak his mind. Which of course makes him less likable than someone that is more PR-orientated like Lewis. I didn’t like the way he acted at the end of this season either, and quite frankly he lost some of my respect for him. You can’t however take away the fact that he is an amazing driver. The raw pace and the way he’s able to setup his car definitely makes him a generational talent. Whether you like him or not.

 Checo has always been a standup dude IMO. He made a name for himself with the Sauber podiums back in 12/13. But as an amateur racer myself, I have to agree with this guy. You don't make it to F1 without the muscle memory to do all the things that Perez should have done to save the slide without even thinking about it. Each step must have been deliberately overridden in his mind (full throttle with steering applied, no oppo correction, no backing off throttle), otherwise he had a stroke or a technical malfunction in the car. The only thing that is maybe explainable is the lower entry speed into the corner, which can happen abandoning a heater lap. But then, the other stuff...

 @iduckett: Exactly. If it was on purpose, which it sure looks like, he should be banned from the sport. It’s race fixing.

 @mikelevy: A ban is way too harsh though. Michael Schumacher didn't get banned for parking his car in Rascasse in 2006, and Rosberg didn't get any reprimand for running straight at Mirabeau in 2014. Why should Perez be banned?

This would all be solved by implementing a rule whereby if you cause a yellow or red flag during a quali session, you lose your times from that session. Hope this happens for 2023.

 @mikelevy: since when is qualifying result "race fixing"? Worst case scenario it's an exploit. And "banned from the sport"? lmaoooo bro go back to watching Drive to Survive

welcome to F1 dude
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBForKcFWoA

 @Crossmaxx: I agree with losing your times for causing a red, but that makes sense when a driver is legitimately trying to go quicker and improve and crashes because he pushes too hard. That's competition and consequence. Schumi parking his car was crazy dangerous, and Rosberg braking too late was also dumb, but neither of those involved crashing a hugely expensive and dangerous car on purpose to stop the session. We should probably expect more from Perez, no?

I feel like there should be serious consequences for crashing your F1 car on purpose during the most anticipated Q3 session of the year.

 @mariomtblt: It's pretty much race-fixing when it's Monaco qualifying. Bad anywhere else, sure, but worst there. So sorry this is my first time ever watching these zoomy cars, so fun so fast !! its fun to follow the drivers on tik tok too!

 @mikelevy: I understand that it may seem like a one-and-done, you're p1 so you auto-win. But you never know in F1. Penalties, mechanicals, strat, pit stops, yellow/red flags, restarts ...

Its never over until its over, and even then sometimes it continues with post-race BS.

 @mikelevy: I don't see much if any difference between what Schumi did and what Perez is alleged to have done. Both of them set out to ensure that no-one else could improve their qualifying session by blocking the track in a blind, slow-speed corner. The fact that Perez did it more convincingly by making sure to lose some carbon fiber in the process doesn't change things - it wasn't a big crash.

 @mikelevy: You would have hated the 90’s. Teammates intentionally drove into each other at 180mph in the first turn.

 @jclnv: I was watching in the 90s as well and Senna was excluded from that race (for a bad re-join, tbf) and that is what rightfully cost him the championship. Renault in 2008, major bans. Blah blah, bottom line for me is that anyone who crashes an F1 car on purpose should face a massive penalty. It’s not stalling in the tunnel or out-braking yourself into the run-off zone, it’s crashing on purpose. Craziness and Perez should be embarrassed.

 @mikelevy: embarrassed? He won Monaco that weekend dude, highlight of his season lmao. Idk, F1 is wild is what we’re saying and this isn’t so bad

 @mikelevy: Until Max came up with it to justify his behaviour in Brazil nobody gave the Monaco crash a second thought. The whole conspiracy theory is bonkers, not least because if Red Bull had the slightest inkling Perez had crashed on purpose to undermine Max he would have been out the door.

 @Fix-the-Spade: They knew. It wasn’t remotely worth the controversy for them to act on it.

As soon as you think of F1 as a business rather than a sport, these things make more sense.

 @Fix-the-Spade: Reb Bill knew he crashed on purpose that weekend.

 @mariomtblt: But he likely only won because he unfairly kept Max from going quicker in Q3 on Saturday. And with Ferrari’s help on Sunday haha I’ve watched F1 religiously since I was 13, well aware of F1’s shadiness and not great parts of the sport, but something about crashing an F1 car on purpose to keep others fro beating you crosses a line for me personally.

 @mikelevy: Mike, I never thought I would see you go down the ExtremeSided Keyboard Warrior Spiral. The bottom line is that no one knows and no one can prove if Checo did or did not crash on purpose. Not even Redbull, only Checo knows and if he did... he will take that info with him to the grave.

 @mikelevy: I mean thats fair, and FWIW F1 is never going back to Monaco.

 @Narro2: I disagree, the telemetry is pretty revealing. Sainz also commented on it, saying drivers know if someone bins it on purpose or if it's at least a little too "coincidental".

 You’d have to be a full on R-word to let your kid have a smartphone, or tablet.

 @wobblegoblin: You're right. Better to keep them locked in a bubble room with 2 helmets on.

 @bishopsmike: Thankfully theirs more than 2 options, and most of them I wouldn’t consider a form of child abuse (like giving kids electronics), you can ensure your kids have lots of books, toys and sports gear to use, as well as actually interacting with your kids.

 @wobblegoblin: I have no idea whether you're talking about 3 year old kids or 13 year old kids, but it looks like smartphones are here to stay and will likely be a very significant part of our kids' lives. It will be 100% be an advantage to have kids that are familiar with tech rather than thrown directly into the deep end of the pool when they're 16 or 18 years old. I am literally preparing my kids for the world they will be living in.

I think it is MUCH better to introduce them to the tech, show them what can be helpful and what can be harmful, set proper boundaries, and y'know, actually TEACH your kids about their world, rather than try to hide things from them until they're 16 or whatever. You can also try to never let them see a candy or never allow them to have a bank card/credit card, or you can educate them to understand that candy is delicious, but it can also be bad for you if you're not careful.

My kids also love to play Lego, go skiing, ride their bikes, read and play board games, and their parents are usually with them. They even get new ideas and inspiration from things they found online! Woahhh!

 @bishopsmike: I bet they do!!!

 @bishopsmike: Binary think much? There's a bit of room between your poles.

 @wobblegoblin: hhahah, i dont agree with your point, but the way you owned @bishopsmike was pretty good. Just dont be extremist guys.

 They only open two runs because we've had one storm so far this year. It's also the earliest opening we have had in 13 years. You can only open as many runs as Mother Nature allows. Their starting wage is $20 an hour now. Also if you buy a day pass for $200 that's just poor planning. You can buy a season pass for $450.

 @GBeard: The Epic/Icon monopoly is ruining alpine skiing.

 Wouldn't that be a duopoly?

 Short term vacation rentals ruined ski towns more than mega passes and ski corporations have.

 @GBeard: Fair enough. I blame them both.

 @GBeard: ski towns were filled with short term lodging and rentals since the dawn of time. There’s nothing new there.

 Ever heard of airbnb or vrbo? STVR’s raise rents, property values, and are pricing the average worker out of ski towns. You know the people you need for a town to function? It’s not just resort employees strugglng to make it. What do I know though, I’ve only lived in a “ski town” for the last 13 years and seen it first hand. I’ve also worked for Vail and I can tell you the worst part of the job was the whiny entitled customers who want to complain to you about everything and how Vail is the devil.

 @GBeard: I’m not talking about right now. I’m talking about after a major snow dump and two lifts will be open. And I’m not talking about seasonal wages, I’m talking about life saving and career jobs. I remember I was working my way through high school senior year and I wanted to be an EMT to get in to Fire. I was working in a ski shop making $bucks and hour and I got my first job with an ambulance company making $12 per hour. My first day I saw a mostly severed head, domestic violence, and lots of adult poop. I lates one month and went back to working retail, best decision for me ever. My point being that doing life saving and stressful work like EMT or ski patrol for less than living wage is insane to me, especially when we corporation heads make millions in salaries and bonuses. Like I said vail has spent sooooo much money buying up resorts. How can they not pay these jobs more. I’m not talking about lift line workers or cashiers( though some would argue for more pay for those too).

 @GBeard: my wife is a CEO. She could easily pay herself 1m or so. She takes a quarter of that and pays her employees well above industry standards, better benefits and more perks. She could slash all of those employee wages and benefits and hire some poor bastards who would be barely scraping by, but that’s not the company she wants to run. That’s why we have employees that have been there 30 years.

Vail CEO makes 2-4 million per year the last few years, they spend cash on everything except employee wages and benefits. Maybe if they paid people better they could buy homes and not get priced out.

I don’t have all the answers I’m just saying I don’t want to support companies like that. I would much rather go to Sierra or Mt Rose. And I used to slay heavenly. Back when burnside wasn’t burnt…

 @thechunderdownunder: Do you have any idea what it takes to open the lifts and runs every day? Let me explain. The mechanics get on their sleds and go to inspect each and every lift station, top and bottom, and then run them to do a ride around to inspect every tower. Then the lifts are open to employees to get to wherever they happen to be working that day. This includes ski patrol who have to inspect and rope off runs. Lift workers are the ones doing all of the shoveling to get the lifts ready which takes more time "after a major snow dump". Certain lifts like Sky Express will usually have a lot of rime on the haul ropes after a big storm which needs to have the chairs removed sometimes to deal it or the chair will fault over and over all day long, or worse have a catastrophic failure which could result in deaths. Do you expect all of these workers to clock in at 3am on storm days to get an early start just so entitled douchebag rich @ssholes can get their pow lap in at 9am? Get real.

I never said or even implied that Ski Patrol shouldn't be paid more I was only addressing the general hate towards Heavenly and lack of understanding of the actual logistics of running a ski resort. Also like I said about STVR's is that it's not just pricing out resort employees or seasonal workers. It's pricing out all retail and service employees which the town needs to run. Like grocery store workers, restaurant workers, retail workers, etc. Vail can't pay those workers more and if STVR's weren't raising the cost of living so dramatically people could possibly live off of Vail's wages (which btw happen to be the highest starting wages in town as well as our biggest employer).

 @GBeard: no one that is a normal worker in any ski town has been able to afford to live in those towns for decades now. Even in the 1990s no one could afford to live in town at resorts like vail or anywhere in the front range. Hell, not even in east coast resort towns either. STVR has nothing to do with that. It’s not like there were cheap apartments/house rentals in those towns to begin with for STVR to suck up. Cheap lodging for employees has never existed on any resort town once the resort becomes anything above a podunk level. Some resorts have their own subsidized housing for resort employees but that is not relevant.

 @EdSawyer: When I moved here (South Lake Tahoe, CA) in 2011 my rent was $900 a month for a 2 bedroom, and Vail already owned Heavenly so it wasn't "podunk level". The place I moved from was $750 a month for a 2 bedroom (Big Bear, CA). Rents are over $2000 now in this are for a similar unit. You don't know what you are talking about. I like how you reference the actual Vail, CO though, that's like saying no one could afford to live in Aspen in the 90's. No sh@t. I was talking about Vail corporation, the "Epic pass" people were referencing in this thread earlier. You are so uninformed you don't even know what you are arguing.

 @GBeard: I used to work for vail and heavenly bro, I lived in south lake for 2 years. Now I boycott. Have fun working there if you like it! Lots of people seem to like heavenly. I think it’s a poorly managed mountain, along with NS. Absolutely true that labor shortages and logistics are unbelievably tough for ski resorts. But I explained what I don’t like about vail and you ranted about non related stuff. Piece.

 @thechunderdownunder: I used to work there too, not anymore. Everything I said was a rebuttal to your complaining about 2 runs open after a storm and $200 day passes. Everything I said about housing was a response to @EdSawyer. Maybe reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit though. Have fun being supported by your CEO wife if you like it! Peace.

 @GBeard: Personal insults! Appreciate it.

 @thechunderdownunder: I was just assuming what you did for a living, exactly what you did. You can dish it out but can't take it? Also here you go in case you didn't read it above: "I never said or even implied that Ski Patrol shouldn't be paid more" we actually agree on that much. Everything else was in response to your complaining, not "ranted about non related stuff". Going get some laps in though so I'll continue this stupid argument later.

 @GBeard: lol. I worked for the corporate parent of both big bear and Sierra (and north star) at the time, visited them multiple times a year as I had direct reports stationed there. This was before Vail ownership. I spent many years in the ski industry so am at least as qualified as a 2011 liftrat Johnny-come-lately. Even back then
No one who worked at the resorts lived in those towns, except maybe a few execs. Truckee was expensive even then, same with south lake. 100% rent increase over a 12 year span sounds like just typical COL increases due to inflation. STVR is a non issue as it doesn’t compete for the same spaces as workforce employee housing. Get over yourself too btw.

 @EdSawyer:
I worked a single job and enjoyed the ski bum lifestyle from the late 90s until 2012. One of the homes that my wife and I paid $1000 for is now managed by a rental company. The company guarantees my former landlord four times what I paid each month. And usually pays him six times as much during season. The hotels have been turned into employee housing and the homes that my friends and I lived and partied in for over a decade are all nightly rentals now. You seem to be quite disconnected from what was actually happening in ski towns 10 years ago. That makes sense. As a snow maker, I was dumbfounded by the idiocy at the corporate level. They were just as disconnected. The only people that deny what short term rentals have done to ski towns are the ones that benefit from it. I’m not sore about it at all. In my valley, the Utes were forcibly removed 140 years ago. The majority of the Homesteader‘s that took their place also moved on when there wasn’t sufficient ability to make a living off of just 160 acres in this region. They were replaced with ranchers that were able to secure large plots of land. Those multi generational ranchers have begun to disappear with wealthy foreign fake ranch owners taking their place. The town workforce has moved 25 to 45 miles outside of the ski area. 5200 people drive through and from our small town to work at the ski town each day. The food service and hospitality workers no longer have raccoon face from goggles. They don’t ski so now ski bums are extinct. Ski towns are highly desirable environments and it makes perfect sense that wealth will inevitably take over.

 @IronWheel: so much truth in your words

 @EdSawyer @thechunderdownunder: I want to apologize for getting way too heated over this thread, and for any insults or rude things I said. I’m going to take a break from posting on the internet now. Hope you guys have a good day/week/month/year.

 @GBeard: all good bud. I certainly didn’t mean any insult or anything. I like hearing other viewpoint in general. I’m home grouchy with a torn groin, so I have been on this stuff way too much. Happy holidays and such.

 @thechunderdownunder @GBeard @EdSawyer @IronWheel

Nice thread everyone. I think we all share a passion for the mountains and they are getting more difficult to enjoy like we used to. @IronWheel brought a new perspective for me and I am thankful for all the years I spent in the Sierra. Change can be a disappointment.

 Can someone explain to me how 20 USD/h is a bad salary? That's what engineers earn in Sweden. And it's not like Sweden is a third world country or anything.

 edit

 Vail, and all resort towns are complete shitholes. You can't pay me to go near some of those ski towns these days, even in the summer. Too bad, skiing was at one point a very cool sport.

 I saw a UFO once, then I realized it said UFA

 Anything can be a UFO if you're bad enough at identifying stuff

 @DizzyNinja: Cardlock or Farm Supply Store?

 The truth is out there man

 Here is some amazing stuff on UFO's, or UAP's or CIA, or Pent A Gon... www.youtube.com/@secureteam10

 @DizzyNinja: I saw an alien once, then realized it was Focus CIS

 This is currently my favorite channel. Tons of mind-blowing old footage, interviews, etc, and it's constantly updated.

www.youtube.com/@EyesOnCinema

 I personally believe (without evidence) that the Universe is veritably teeming with life. Just cannot accept that life would only evolve once in a possibly infinite universe. Not to mention multiverse life as we do not know it.... That being said...

This was a fine example of Pseudoscience. But everybody loves a good conspiracy.

thank's pinkbike.

 Do they have headset routed brake lines though?

 @mikelevy: an account worth a follow is: www.youtube.com/@SETIInstitute/streams

@mountaincross: it's a whole field of study, back in my research days we spent years investigating amino acid or more hopefully peptides on carbonaceous chondritic material(high carbon content asteroids generally impacted in some fashion by water). Very fun, very lonely, very slow.

 @matt-15: if that's not from Mitch Hedberg then you're a comic genius.

 @sonuvagun: I did not come up with it on my own, I forget where I first heard it though

 @matt-15: it's all good, I hope that didn't come across as accusatory- it just gave me a good chuckle.

 I'll leave that to you

 "one of the most respected UFO researchers."
Low bar.

 Most apps and social media could be considered American spyware

 @ryansimonovich: all of the Internet really

 There’s a cave in Little Cottonwood Canyon they should check out next. Let us know what you find in there.

 @Hayek: well shit, I've been looking to far north

 Only one craft needs to be real

 @mikelevy:
I have a friend who was riding, slick rock Trail in Moab. Totally levelheaded guy, educated. Came back to Durango, and simply let his friends know about his UFO encounter. In broad daylight, I told him he has nothing to gain by this, some to lose. he agreed!

 Whoosh!

 Careful on those solo rides Henry, just a matter of time..

 And an introduction that tells you exactly what to expect in this article: "you will find long-form reads, thought-provoking stories, interesting videos, and other non-bike content that we've been following from across our network and beyond."

If you really need more words, just turn on closed captioning on the videos.

 @mikekazimer: lol

 LOL

 @mikekazimer: No. No. Please read books. You can do it on whatever preferred electronic device if you wish. I think/hope you know this.

 @mikekazimer: It was less about the videos and more that almost all of the non-video content was not "beyond our network". The only good articles this month just happened to be on a sister/mother site? That's less believable than the aliens stuff.

 @justinfoil: free website that thrives on clicks wants you to click on its other websites. Let me know when you get the manager on the line. I would also like to speak with them.

 And but parking in the tunnel or braking too hard, too late is very different to crashing a car on purpose. It’s like a player missing a shot on purpose.

 @mikelevy: No, it's pretty much the same. Intentionally stopping the session, and robbing other drivers of a chance to beat you and get the pole, is cheating no matter how you accomplish it.

 I think people definitely noticed, but they didn't have the access to as much data to prove it.

 @justinfoil: lol stopping play… it’s a 1,000hp car that people die in, dude, not a silly basketball game. You crash on purpose, no matter where or why, you should be banned for life. I feel like we must disagree on 110% of things haha

 @mikelevy: And parking in the tunnel in a live session isn't dangerous? Braking too hard and/or too late IS likely to cause a minor crash. And it doesn't take much of a crash to stop a session. For a professional driver it should be easy to fake a little understeer and bump a wing hard enough to make it unsafe and stop the session. Crashing INTO someone else is a different story, or just blasting straight into a wall and putting your own life at great risk is very also very different. But intentionally performing bad inputs with intention of taking away even a chance of someone else beating your time, whether the result is "parking in the tunnel", smoking all your tires so you have to get towed off, or bumping the barrier hard enough that you need to get towed off, it's all the same class.

BTW, you're the one that made the basketball shot comparison, don't shit on me for that. I just said the "parking" and the "crashing" had the same intention and should be treated the same.