meloroast profile

Great profiles thank you for posting!

Yes to gently used gear! Luckily as a lady rider I've got the Mudbunnies Facebook group where folks often clear out closets of unused gear (where do people get all this stuff???) or newbies who opted to hang up their pads after a few not too successful rides. As long as it's only mildly used! 

I would probably stop short at helmets though cause really you never know and I'm not skimping on the noggin!

Getting in your fitness however you can is key. I had a bad fall in July 2021 (rotator cuff - so similar prognosis wrt time to full recovery being 6-12months) and while I couldn't ride for awhile, I continued trail running/hiking as much as possible. Now I'm also in the gym to keep muscle mass up. 

Not gonna lie, first few weeks were horrid and I fell into a bit of a depression. Time went by soooooooo slowly. It became easier once the initial acute phase had passed (a month or so) and I could move the bod in other ways. 

Great you've got solid family support! Tweaking my diet to support healing and recovery were also key. Good luck and heal up soon!

Well this is the most sane thing I've read on here so far. Completely agree. Especially the first sentence...let's all take a breath.

Maps of Home is mesmerising. Thx for reco!

Great timely article! And if people are wondering which trails are wet weather friendly they are marked on Trailforks!

I like the look of the kneepads and that they extend a bit higher than most. But it almost seems like they are also shorter not extending over the shins quite as much as typical knee pads...

This is a great list thanks Pete! Even something like this list...a quick and dirty summary of some key resources for newbies would probably go a long way. I just added that book to my queue.

I totally agree. Part of the reason why I chimed in here was just because I enjoy the site a lot but am at a loss when it comes to some content. That's the growing space though. Just because a reader doesn't find content at their level doesn't mean a site should necessarily shift gears. :) 

At some point I'd like to think I will be able to get more out of the super nerdy content!

Yes absolutely I've been advocating for MBs to do a course unfortunately with Covid all the in person ones have been cancelled in the past year. I'll definitely be looking around though.

Posted by: chupacabra

Posted by: meloroast

The goc is not actually forced by legal decision in practice. I worked for GOC for 11 years on Indigenous files and there are multiple legal decisions against GOC, but with little weight for implementation. The courts often make rulings but then "leave it up to gov" to define and determine how to actually implement the decision in concert with the Indigenous group. When it comes to resource sharing like fish, the only way to allow Indigenous groups more access to fish, is to "take away" from the non-Indigenous commercial sector...which DFO never wants to do.

To say the GOC drags its feet would be an understatement. How to define "moderate livelihood" for east coast lobster fishery is a perfect example. The Mi’kmaw right to fish for the purposes of earning a moderate livelihood was made via SCC decision 23 years ago and DFO has been twiddling their thumbs for decades. There is very little recourse the Indigenous groups other than going back to court, often a resulting in courts saying "hey we made our decision now you guys go figure it out".

As slow as it may be, there is still more incentive to actually do something than there is for the Catholic Church. I also think when legal decisions are made using terminology like "moderate livelihood" they are setting the system up for failure. There is almost no way to define that. Personally, I think any commercial activity should be managed as one and not divided. There are a large number of indigenous fishermen in the "non-indigenous fishery" anyway, so their share could be increased by buying licenses from the open market for the various bands without taking the fishery from anyone, but that is a whole other discussion. I think food fishing should be managed completely separately, but it needs to be managed.

It's not as simple as you are making it out to be. Food, social, ceremonial (FSC) fisheries are and have been managed separate from commercial for decades. It always leaved Indigenous groups far behind so saying "hey just go buy licenses on the open market" is not a solution. It is what most executives at DFO also see as the solution, but that playing field is not levelled so it's basically an easy way to just keep status quo going (which has historically always allowed those 'with' to continue gaining more while most FNs in BC continue to struggle in poverty). 

As one example of complexities of FSC vs commercial...often, due to migratory timing, commercial sector fishes a stock BEFORE FSC. Even though FSC has constitutional priority. Think herring and salmon. This means DFO estimates stock size (almost always wrong), commercial sector fishes, then oops, actually the returns are smaller so FSC fishery gets little to nothing. But DFO doesn't want to impose more conservative returns due to industry pressure. Who loses out? I wonder...

And there is a definite need for a 'livelihood' based commercial fishery for Indigenous groups, primarily to support basic community needs (that also includes cultural elements) and alleviate the current poverty model (that also taxes the system). Yes, managing the commercial sector "as one" is easier. Especially from a "white" or colonial lens. Indigenous communities do not view the fisheries in the same way. So if we actually want to support reconciliation, it has to include an alternate view of the world, not just the old colonial ways.

Anyway, it's very complex. I've worked in it for almost 20 years and I wish these complexities were communicated to the masses more often. Only way to reconcile is to let go and allow change to permeate the system. We can't continue as we've been doing and expect fish and licenses to just show up. They are very limited. Even with GOC throwing money at FNs, they is always going to be the challenge of limited entry licenses/quotas and of course, fish.

Posted by: FLATCH

Not the shore but a little while back, a month or so, a FV running club closed Sumas on a Saturday. The whole mountain! Got to the gate and the organizers were turning everyone around. No notice on FB or FVMBA page. It would seem no one but the local running club knew. Huge wtf. How does one user group get to close a whole mountain. Surely they didn’t use every trail on the hill.

No idea how FV works but I've been involved in many trail races between north shore and whistler and areas have never been closed. Notices are also usually posted a week before and trail orgs are alerted and also send out info to user groups.

I'm gonna chime in on behalf of Gary and other CMTS race organisers...Gary Robbins lived on the shore for MANY years, and MTBs/skies, along with trail running. I think they will for sure re-route this in the future for sure. He is very sensitive to maintaining a positive relationship with the trail community in NVan and is typically very sensitive to ensure the safety of all trail users. Definitely shoot them an email with your concerns. 

Also as FYI, I remember seeing hikers coming up Severed once and thinking how nuts that was. Then asked Penny D about it and Severed actually used to be a hiking trail only when it was first created and was modified over time to accommodate both bikes and feet. But that's why it wouldn't ever be designated bike only and also why there are steps next to some of the new wood work. I found that super interesting! So it's a legit option for a trail race imo. 

Lastly, trails are typically never closed for races, whether mtb or trail running. And as someone who has vollies at trail races often, I know for fact they do their best to remove every single flagging tape once the race is over.

Posted by: chupacabra

Posted by: syncro

The "apology" was light on substance and seemed to be said more as an individual member of the Catholic church, not the church itself. However, there apparently is more to come and that will really determine the extent of this apology and what steps the church is willing to take to try and make some amends for what happened. I think one of the other unfortunate things is that this is taking some heat off of the federal government and our own responsibility in trying to correct the wrongs that have happened and more importantly, wrongs that continue to happen.

For the moment, but earlier it seemed to be the church that was dodging their role so it is good the church has the heat on them for a while. In a way, this is more important because ultimately the church is only compelled to act due to public pressure, but the government is forced by legal decisions.

Either way, I have little faith in the Catholic church to do a whole lot besides thoughts and prayers. The current Pope is the best one yet, but he is still the pope.

The goc is not actually forced by legal decision in practice. I worked for GOC for 11 years on Indigenous files and there are multiple legal decisions against GOC, but with little weight for implementation. The courts often make rulings but then "leave it up to gov" to define and determine how to actually implement the decision in concert with the Indigenous group. When it comes to resource sharing like fish, the only way to allow Indigenous groups more access to fish, is to "take away" from the non-Indigenous commercial sector...which DFO never wants to do.

To say the GOC drags its feet would be an understatement. How to define "moderate livelihood" for east coast lobster fishery is a perfect example. The Mi’kmaw right to fish for the purposes of earning a moderate livelihood was made via SCC decision 23 years ago and DFO has been twiddling their thumbs for decades. There is very little recourse the Indigenous groups other than going back to court, often a resulting in courts saying "hey we made our decision now you guys go figure it out".

Got my first bike in 2013 (trek Fuel EX8). New bike late 2019 (SC Hightower 29"). It was mainly geo changes for me. Also just kinda outrode my first one and wanted something for more janky trails I started enjoying. I will definitely ride this one for awhile. My only complaint is it's a bit heavy so feels kinda tank-ish, which is nice, but I may want to play around a bit more as I get better...no clue. But def won't be looking for a few more years!

There's been a lot of work done on BP by Sean B between Expresso and Mtn Hwy in the past few years. It buffed out some gnarly sections and made it pretty rideable for intermediate riders. Maybe not beginners but I don't think the point is to make everything perfectly coherent/rideable for beginners. If we did that the nature of the shore would shift dramatically. Also if you are beginner and hitting Expresso you're doing ok! 

For beginners there are great options in lower sections of Fromme like Bobsled/griffens/roadside/king of shore/cc/kirkford and off No quarter there's Lower expresso/lower digger/lower dreamweaver/penzoil. 

As someone who just started riding 8 years ago I welcomed the challenges on BP and just walked what I didn't want to ride.

Heya, we found a Toyota car FOB/single key heading up the climb trail. I hung it at the Dempsey/Braemer kiosk.

Posted by: syncro

That's good, but goes to show the importance heart check-ups, especially after 40. A lot of people mistakenly think that just because they are active and eat fairly well that they don't have to worry about heart health - which isn't true.

Yes! And this is also very true for women...heart disease is the number 1 cause of death in women even though we hear way more about cancer.

I love this thread thanks everyone! I ride but I also trail run and one of my favourite things is to head out on a random loader and see where it takes me. So many gems out there.

Get these for your wife and you can start a new riding club at VanTan. 

https://7mesh.com/foundation-bib-short-women