mmakuch

Romaniuk is now a local DJ in BC. He plays all the clubs, I don’t think he competes anymore which is a shame. Garret I have no idea, a lot of guys just aren’t interested in competing/laying it all on the line and risking death for peanuts and 14th place.

At summer gravity camps many many years ago Kyle J was the best instructor to have. So down to earth, extremely approachable, funny, he was really good at just making you feel at ease, at a time when it's a bit nerve-wracking to keep up with the fastest guys in your group. He never made anyone feel embarrassed, while simultaneously making sure the fastest guys weren't bored and were having fun. I dunno how he did it, just always the best days with him or Kyle Norbraten. Going up the chairlift he told me stories of how growing up mountain biking wasn't necessarily the easiest thing for his parents to accept, they wanted him to join the family business. Said a lot that resonated with me but also motivated me. It was just a whole different depth of relationship, truly like riding with a friend instead of a coach. Taught me how to whip when I asked, and a few days later when I had him again as a coach he actually remembered that I had asked and would whoop when I did shitty tiny whips on crank it up, which literally motivated the shit out of me. I did not expect this guy to remember or really care at that level, I mean realistically pros can kind of be distant or formal (not a bad thing) and with so many campers realistically you can't remember all of them every day, but he made a point to tell me the whips were coming good. Massive respects to this dude.

>moans >acts condescending >complains about reading the comments >complains about moaning condescending comments Literally your comment is just "waaah waaah it's my opinion that you all should stop having opinions" this whole "does anyone even ride or just complain" argument is stupid, writing a positive or negative comment (or a self righteous one like yours) takes the exact same amount of time and it's not like you're telling the positive comments to stop commenting and go ride. There isn't even all negative comments it's a mix of both, if you don't wanna be a part of the discussion don't go to the comments, click the little x in the top corner and choose another one of the 13 trillion webpages available to you.

@Robo88: literally all this is media frenzy to get clicks. The teams know what they wanna ride, they figure it out in the offseason forsure. Pinkbike just spins it to create hype. For example maybe gee had said "I like 29ers and will try one at fort bill but maybe not Lourdes" pinkbike versions: "GEE HAS JUST RIDDEN A 29ER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THIS SPY SHOT IS HE CHANGING TOO?" It just creates hype and probably helps with marketing the bikes. Imagine if at the start of the year pinkbike just said "most of the teams have 29 they have been testing them on the offseason, they may or may not use them depending on the riders preference and track" instead they get to hype up the 29ers before the race, and then post articles about "don't hype up 29ers too early 650b is still good" after the race. It's all clicks, views, polarizing discussion (lots of comments) and marketing for the new stuff.

Literally 99 percent of the 29er hype at Lourdes was fuelled by Pinkbike and now you're gonna condescendingly take the side of the general public as if we haven't been aware of this newfound "it's the rider not the bike" idea.

@kmayHD: Yup, slik wraps graphics cost a fortune especially shipping, just not worth it unless you go for the whole bike decals IMO. Obviously these are a little higher quality vinyl than just "stickers" that you would get at a skate shop or something. It's just creating a perspective that starts from a bias. Like me saying, 99 dollars for an aluminum handlebar and custom die-cut vinyl decals? Holy shit amazing. It's just how you word it. I often find, and it could be that we always get hosed in Canada and I'm used to it, but I find that people complain about prices and I'm always thinking that's normal. Aluminum bars are usually 79-120, carbon being 150+ usually. SRAM stuff is always expensive. Though I won't buy these cause chromag already makes all the colours and I hate SRAM, but it's meh to me. Doesn't seem outrageously priced.

@Muckal: "everything is still there" as an owner of 6 26" bikes I can attest that NOTHING IS ANYWHERE. No tires, no forks, no rims, anywhere. No bike shop has anything 26, it all has to be special order and it's EXTREMELY limited, once you could walk into a bike shop with a shredded tire or tacod rim and have a bunch of options, widths and price points. Now you are fucked day is over and you have to wait a week or so to get the one 26inch option the distributor still has that wasn't even the width or profile you wanted. The likelier scenario is they don't have it and you have to look online at shit selection and order, pay shipping, not support your local shop. Want a new fork? Too bad nobody has 26 inch forks anymore, even 2 years ago I couldn't get a Pike in 26 only a fox float and they only had the most expensive price point. Choice is virtually gone beyond the used market. I'm not complaining or making an argument about wheel size, but fuck this stupid ass "the choice is still there you're just whiney" argument cause it's obviously coming from a place of ignorance. The choice is not there to stay at 26. I don't go on Pinkbike much anymore because all of the new stuff doesn't apply to me, doesn't work with my current bikes. Can't drool over new tech cause it's rarely made for 26. I used to spend thousands a year on bikes, loved custom building bikes, and I genuinely love 26. I love my current frames, I want to keep them. But there's no more customization, pretty much stuck with what I have. I dunno why it's just a no brainer to some people that an industry can make 10 thousand dollar bikes go obsolete in 3 years. Not "oh it's not the new one" but literally obsolete, why? Oh cause gwin was 2 seconds faster on 27.5 and joe blow says it "accelerates faster". I don't care about either of those things, I'm trying to ride my bikes and have fun. There wasn't even much of a slow change, companies made 5 grand plus bikes for years, selling them to people who had saved up for a once in a blue moon purchase, full well knowing that they were planning on totally abandoning it.

Takes one to know one ;) you rock tippie and I am still shredding your Blue Rocky Mountain slayer 70, riding that thing right into the ground.