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Hard for most of us to imagine walking away from any well-paying job, but we have to assume it’s that bad and you’ve talked to your company’s leadership about these issues.
Consider also broadening your focus to the outdoor industry in general to give you more options.
Getting into an industry you may not be familiar with (at the level you describe which suits your skills), you may consider shadowing or volunteering if that’s possible. There’s probably a few obstacles to get there, but this gives you firsthand look at what the job is and is something you could add to a resumé.
Are you able to moonlight or freelance? Are your skills readily transferable that you cold be hired out occasionally until you build a relationship with a company?
Greg’s point is very insightful…. who says working for X bike company will automatically foster a non-hostile work environment?
As far as official clinics, not many (none?) that I know of in Portland area. There are a handful upstate WA near Seattle. I could comment on Oregon riding, but not sure exactly what you’re looking for. If you’ve some time, I wrote a big series on Hood River last year.
Start here:
The Hood Report: Shedding Light on the Shadows of Mount Hood
Theres also some great trails in SW WA just across the river. Bend and Oakridge are 2-3 hours away if you’re looking to go beyond PDX
Mid-mountain trail in PC is fun. Nice climb to a 20+miler traversing wasatch back. I like Deer Valley a lot, but haven’t been to Canyons. You’re right with wasatch crest and bobsled, and if you wanna throw in another SLC valley trail, check out Corner Canyon.
Need to explore more in WASHINGTON trails:
-Tiger Mountain
-Bellingham
-Duthie
-Capitol Forest
-Leavenworth
-Stephen’s Pass
Two family vacations are taking me to Utah and Wydaho so I’m def doing Grand Targhee and Wasatch Crest or Deer Valley Bike Park (or both!).
I do not own nor have I ever ridden one, but Breadwinner looks real promising.
Stinner for the paint job.
wishing ENVE would make underwear
Like most, only in car on way to TH:
Deftones – Head Up
Ice Cube – No Vaseline
Anything from Alkaline Trio
whats the OP’s internal rim width? I run DHF 2.5 but would caution with a wheel with below 30mm. That may be the cause of failure in many cases. The 2.5 are now labeled “wide trail” and says they’re optimized for 35mm but work fine on 30.
I ran DHF front and rear but prefer something a little racier for the rear like an Aggressor or Ardent for less rolling resist. Or maybe just get the DHF or HRII in a smaller width than the front.
The MaxxGrip is a very tacky, soft compound and will wear quicker than the MaxxTerra so take that into consideration in terms of durability.
but there’s also a level of penetration resistance the Bell Super does not meet with as many vents as it has. It’s the same reason an ASTM F1952-certified helmet doesn’t meet a DOT standard for moto.
As for Bell’s in-house testing… I’m sorry, but without comparative data with other helmets using a test Bell made up, it’s severely biased and questionable at best.
Alvin, except for the fact that the Bell is not ASTM1952 certified and the switchblade is. Bell is only cpsc and CE EN 1078.
To reiterate breathing… slow and deep. Too often during climbing you breathe faster and more shallow only pulling air with the top half of your lungs. When your lungs are upright, pulmonary circulation is predominantly in the base of lungs d/t gravity. Sending more O2 to the base means better gas exchange b/c better flow. As mentioned above, this also means removal of CO2, not only from lungs, but from muscles along a pressure gradient. Breathe deeper and send air all the way down, bruh!
I used to live in SLC (moved away 2010) so I know a lot has changed. One trail I was very impressed with due to recent advancements and proximity to the valley was Corner Canyon, Draper. Looked great for a quick rip and pretty fast DH stuff. I third the Wasatch Crest. And, not only Bobsled, but linking it to the Bonneville Shoreline trail starting out across the street from Hogle Zoo. Deer Valley is one of the best resort rides in PC, but you may wanna check out Sundance for sure. It doesn’t have the high speed/big jump stuff others may, but is much cheaper and fun in its own way. There’s also a pretty badass trail up Big Cottonwood about halfway from the mouth of the canyon and Brighton resort on the left as you go up. I forget what it’s called, but you climb all the way up to “THE SPINE” of the wasatch crest trail the bomb back down. I love mid-mountain in PC, but do people still ride the Park City town loop? I know, “town loop” sounds lame, but PC is stuffed into a mountain so it’s more of a mountain ride than it sounds.
To follow up on the Giro Switchblade…
From Giro.com-
“the Switchblade is optimized for the descent, and that’s why it’s certified to CPSC, EN-1078 and ASTM-1952-DH with and without the chinbar.”
“with and without the chinbar” is a critical threshold for ASTM 1952 testing. Perhaps the OP isn’t looking for such details, but I thought it was worth clarifying that, while the Bell Super 2r is technically a full face, there are other standards it fails to meet besides the chin strap when compared to “true” DH full face. Testing standards aside, I’ve used the Bell against the Giro CIPHER and Lazer Phoenix and if I were doing any serious speeds on DH trails, I wouldn’t go with the Bell Super 2r especially when you can get some good DH helmets for less than the Bell.
On a side note, MIPS is arguable at best. Your scalp does the same thing MIPS is claiming to do…
DH racing-approved lids must meet ASTM F1952 which is more stringent than CPSC and CE EN1078 (Super site). If you wanna read more, here’s a good explanation:
http://www.helmets.org/f1952standard.htm
It’s not just the chin strap and even if the chin bar meets ASTM 1952, doesn’t mean the whole package does. Doesn’t really matter as the Super is super expensive.
Check out the Lazer Phoenix. $99! My review:
Raymond, thanks for the input. I was in a hurry and guess I was just throwing in a quick 2 cents about my short time on a Trek which I enjoyed. By “blast going down” I should clarify that, for me, it rode the way I like bikes to ride when descending. It was in Copper Harbor that I demoed a Remedy for 2 days. CH doesn’t exactly have the most tech descents. In fact, most of it is machine-built flow style so many, many, many bikes would be a blast there. It sat deeper in its travel on descents yet never bottomed out and demonstrated good support in the final third of its travel. It was plush versus that racier feel you might get on say, a Yeti.
Question for you, Raymond: Looking at the Banshee Rune, it appears to have a very similar suspension design to the Canfield Balance/Riot (CBF). The Balance is high on my list of “next bikes” which also means Banshee might, too, especially after your experience on one. What are your thoughts on similarities vs differences? Are you familiar with Canfield? Have you spent any time on one?
Sorry for high jacking thread here!!
While I would agree that it’s hard to go wrong with most modern-built bikes that at least put some thought into suspension kinematics, I understand what the OP is getting at. Even a well-built single pivot with a good shock will perform reasonably well and be more maintenance-friendly than multi link bikes, but my guess is this person wants a more supportive platform that is more than often found in anything but a single pivot. Not having ridden EVERY bike, I can only speak to those I’ve tried.
Bikes like Niner, Pivot, Santa Cruz, BMC, Turner, Ibis and others employ short links nearest the bottom bracket in addition to a bell crank (most often referred to as a rocker link) connecting the shock to a solid swing arm. These are bikes that supposedly “decouple” pedaling forces from the bike and maintain active during braking. They pedal well and usually do not rely on damping (think FOX CTD) to enhance their pedaling characteristics. A single pivot’s rear end, on the other hand, tends to wallow if you leave the shock open and stand up to pedal.
Of course there are variations of Horst Link just as there are variations of Split Pivots and DW’s own design for the bikes they are found in (Turner, Evil, Ibis, Pivot, Devinci). Keep in mind, many bike companies don’t want to pay royalties to a sus designer so they all end up using very, very similar designs with just enough difference to stay out of court (do a search of Trek vs. Dave Weagle circa 2013 to see what I mean). I’ve demoed a Trek Remedy and found it very efficient while being a blast going down so I wouldn’t say at all that Trek is out of anyone’s league.
Like schwim- completely unweighting the front end -even lifting the front wheel just short of a wheelie- and blasting it hard enough to throw water away from ma shoes. If stream is wide enough that I come forward on the bike, I’m not likely going to endo cuz I started so far back and low, bro. Also, another beni of wider bars for stabilization.
I’m afraid comparing specific sus designs yields a less-than productive conversation. Opinions on this topic will vary as much as there are riders of each of these bikes. Since the OP mentions the importance of geo, I would first start off by saying geo comes before ANYTHING!
No matter how superior a platform is (even if proven, which will never happen), if I don’t like the geo, I’ll go with something else. It’s like buying shoes – may be the best platform for running, but if it don’t fit right, the better platform is useless. Case in point, the DW link on the Mach 6 is supposed to be one of those efficient platforms, but the seat angle and reach is horrible IMO. The Yeti also has an amazing platform (i rode an SB5 for one year) but I wanted something with a shorter chainstay. Geo and bike fit are important but I think the way geo effects bike handling is far more important than a sus platform.
Now, if you’re a snob about geo (which you should be), once you decide exactly what geo you want, there’s probably only 4-5 bikes you’re looking at.
I’ll chime in again later… curious to see where this goes.
Klondike Bluffs is a great area for what you say you’re looking for. I can’t speak for the whole system, but I really enjoyed the Alaska descent. Everyone here has given you some great advice, but to put a little spin on an answer, Jackson and Rockstacker are quite technical so, for now, I’d avoid those.
Take a look at Wydaho (Jackson Hole/Teton Valley, ID). I spent a week there in 2015 and I’m dying to go back! You can stay in Driggs or Victor, ID which is minutes away from Horseshoe Canyon for some nice short XC, Mill Creek Trail for a long climb and killer descent, and Grand Targhee which is a fantastic lift-assisted bike park. There’s a handful of other trails on the Idaho side that I didn’t get to, too. And this is just the appetizer…. Once over the Teton pass, you have a SLEW of amazing trails on the WY side. If you can arrange a shuttle or are taking a second vehicle, you can spend an entire day descending a bunch of trails from atop the pass (Lithium, Jimmy’s Mom, Black Canyon, and more). Then, further into Jackson, check out Phillips Ridge to Phillips Canyon, Cache to Game, Munger Mountain, and another lift assist in the Jackson Hole Resort. Good luck!
